NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139.... and Re:[in]carnation: they're video games!

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These were both announced a while back but yesterday during the NieR TGS stream we got a release date for Replicant(April 23rd 2021) and a worldwide release confirmed for Re:[in]carnation(mobile)!

Vibes trailer for Replicant:

First look at the remastered gameplay:

and the Re:[in]carnation trailer:

For those who may not know!:

NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… is a remakester of the original Nier. It’s based on the Replicant version of the original game and features a younger protagonist. In the West we got the second release of the game, NieR Gestalt, which has the older adult protagonist(he’s a Dad).

NieR Re:[in]carnation is…a gacha mobile game that I don’t actually know that much about. It’s a party-based game with gameplay that sorta looks like any number of those turn-based combat gacha games. Some of the imagery in the trailer is from Drakengard so it’ll have some kind of connection to the series.

My thoughts on what we’ve seen so far:
I really like the direction they’re going in with this version of the game! I was worried it would have the Bluepoint effect that Shadow of the Colossus had where like, yeah, you made the game look great but the original aesthetic vibe is now gone and replaced with something else. For this one they’re avoiding that from what I can tell!!! The game has the same misty, soft look that it had before while having the assets appropriately updated.

Combat looks very very very much improved while still kind of retaining a bit of the look and feel of the original. One of the biggest knocks against the original game is that it played terribly. FWIW I always thought it felt more like a budget PS2 action game than something that was inherently impossible to like but I’m very much not in the majority in that position. One of the things about the character Nier is that he was not supposed to be some expert fighter(unlike 2B) so he naturally has a more choppy style of combat. From what they’ve showed I think they’re still capturing that while making the controls look a lot more snappy and responsive.

Lastly I wanna give my pitch on why I think this game is so special and why I hope all the people who have only played Automata give it a shot.

Here is Yoko Taro talking about the initial idea and philosophy behind NieR:

Unfortunately I think some of what made the original NieR special has been lost. If you’ve played through Automata then you’ve seen a lot of Yoko Taro’s storytelling and gameplay tricks. Almost all of these tricks were not introduced in Automata! You’ll see versions of them in the original NieR and even Drakengard back in the day. The good news there is that if you liked his unique approach to storytelling and gameplay in Automata then you will absolutely love a lot of what the original NieR has to offer. IMO some of these elements are even more interesting in the original because they really are these wild stabs at different concepts and Automata, rightly, refined them to become more palatable. This original game is more flawed and raw but I think it makes for an even more exciting piece of art.

There is also the element of actually learning about who Emil, and tbh what a lot of stuff sprinkled throughout Automata(especially stuff in the end-game), actually is from this game. If you have any interest in the wider lore and world of NieR then this game is going to give you a much better look at all of that and will most likely make you appreciate some aspects of Automata’s story even more.

As its own thing though NieR really stands out because it has such a unique cast of characters that make the whole game work. Like the gameplay these characters are not as refined but they are exploding with life and personality. The music is gorgeous and daring and strange. I’m really excited for more people to experience it.

So if you’ve played Automata are you looking to get into this? What was your perception of the original game when it came out? If you played the original what are you hoping we get with this game? What even is that mobile game?

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OG Nier’s combat was serviceable. It was neither bad nor good. But I do like what I see of the new combat. More than direct combat it’s the Grimoire that seems like the most noticeable improvement. Casting magic in the original was really slow and usually locked you in place, but now it looks you have free movement and it casts way faster. That alone will make the combat much smoother.

I’m still sad there’s no sign of Papa Nier yet, but I’m hoping Yoko Taro pulls a Yoko Taro move and there’s a surprise subplot that makes the two versions canonically connected. But more than that I hope route B does what the original should have done and have a proper protag swap. That alone would improve the second half of that game dramatically.

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I already preordered the swanky edition that comes with the soundtrack because I will follow Keiichi Okabe to the gates of Hell.

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I meant to play Nier back in 2009 but didn’t because I was in college and poor and could afford like five games a year maybe, and only if they were handheld. Sorry, Jeanne d’Arc and DQIX were more affordable.

So this is must-place.

As for the gatcha game. I’m curious enough at Nier’s overall story that I would dare play this. But I dunno. SinoAlice isn’t bad apparently.

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I’m psyched for this! I just played Nier this past February, and I loved it! The combat was fun, but it definitely wasn’t the reason I kept playing, so it’s cool to see it overhauled to be a little more dynamic.

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…They’re video games!

NieR is so wild that even this might be wrong

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If anyone could slap $60 and a publisher name on something and have everyone say “…video game?” it’s either Kojima or Yoko Taro

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The original game is so strong because of the principal cast. Kaine, Weiss, Emil, and Papa Nier. The way they bounce off each other is hilarious and honestly kind of true-to-life at least by JRPG standards. I don’t know if it’s more because Taro wrote a strong script or rather that the localization was simply on point but the banter in this is some incredible stuff. For new players joining in, the original Nier is actually a much less serious game than Automata. The bulk of the game (and the bulk of why I love it so much) is just two certain characters relentlessly tossing insults at each other lmao.

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I havent played og Nier but I have seen Kaine cursing like a sailor in videos and it would be very sad if they decided that’s too spicy this time

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I haven’t heard anything about the English dub yet, but I really hope they can keep the old one mostly intact. Kaine’s VO in particular has an anime fan dub energy to it, and it’s kind of perfect!

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