Nier Replicant
Main game
4.19 average rating based on 748 ratings
- Developers
- Cavia
- Publishers
- Square Enix
- Franchises
- Drakengard
- Series
- Drakengard, NieR
- Platforms
- PlayStation 3
- Genres
- Adventure, Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Role-playing (RPG)
- Themes
- Drama, Fantasy, Open world, Science fiction
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Nier Replicant?
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Terinati's review of Nier Replicant
The main gameplay (3rd person action RPG) is a bit underwhelming/dated (just played it for the first time now on remaster in 2024), but not terrible. Fortunately, each "dungeon" level switches up the genre of gameplay so it stays pretty fresh for a playthrough. Unfortunately one must go through a lengthy replay several times to get each additional ending. The side content (optional quests, gardening, fishing) are all a bit lackluster, leaving a lot to be desired. Fortunately, the narrative is engaging and provocative. Ultimately it's the quality of the story, characters, and worldbuilding that won me over.
Ok, second playthrough done.. After Automata, whcih did the multiple character thing with extra content and Drakengard 3, which went for full-on alternate realities, going through the same exact gameplay with the same character with just a few extra scenes felt very underwhelming.
I do have a heart, so the little vignettes before each encounter got to me. It is affecting to see the inner lives and personal objectives of all the monsters you kill. At the same time, I didn't feel that most of them really recontextualised my actions.
During the fist playthrough the protagonist already sounded like a genocidal maniac when screaming about "killing them all", and we've already seen signs of intelligence from the Shades. Enemies also attack you, so it's not like neither the player character or the player themselves has any choice.
The small Emil vignette also doesn't add much to his story. We already knew that he
Similarly, we already knew Kainé was possessed by a shade. Her story is a bit more fleshed out, but I'm …
Ok, second playthrough done.. After Automata, whcih did the multiple character thing with extra content and Drakengard 3, which went for full-on alternate realities, going through the same exact gameplay with the same character with just a few extra scenes felt very underwhelming.
I do have a heart, so the little vignettes before each encounter got to me. It is affecting to see the inner lives and personal objectives of all the monsters you kill. At the same time, I didn't feel that most of them really recontextualised my actions.
During the fist playthrough the protagonist already sounded like a genocidal maniac when screaming about "killing them all", and we've already seen signs of intelligence from the Shades. Enemies also attack you, so it's not like neither the player character or the player themselves has any choice.
The small Emil vignette also doesn't add much to his story. We already knew that he
Similarly, we already knew Kainé was possessed by a shade. Her story is a bit more fleshed out, but I'm disappointed that they didn't really reveal that she's
Going through second route. It's got some impactful moments and some interesting character vignettes, but so far it's the same exact playthrough, which is very disappointing.
There was 1 (one) metanarrative nod when we start a quest that rewards us with a new weapon. Nier goes "Wait, don't we already have this weapon", to which Weiss responds "Shh, this kind of thing tends to happen the second time arround". Very cute. But then why can't we use similar metanarrative tricks to glose over all the meaningless nonsense that forces you to run from one corner of the map to the other to talk with Popola or go check your mail?
Ok, that's ending A in the bin.
My feelings towards the story are a bit more positive now, but the gameplay was still too bland. Again, comparisons with Drakengard 3 are inevitable. In that game, the gameplay was atrocious but because it was frustrating, it was at least engaging; it sparked some emotions. Nier's combat is serviceable but boring to the point of mindless and without the constant chatter to make it entertaining.
I'll continue with the next part of the story, though. Let's see how it goes.
So I'm 10 hours in and so far I'm a bit lukewarm on it. The core issue, I think, is that it sits in an uncomfortable middle ground between the utterly deranged irreverence of Drakengard 3 and the more sublime seriousness of Nier: Automata. It's got it's good moments, like any time Kainé is on screen cussing her mouth off, but it's too padded out for it's own sake.
The white book is called Grimoire Weiss. The black book is called Gromoire Noire. Did the devs though "Weiss" was french or that "noire" was German?
Interesting story with multiple outcomes, which are required to really experience the unique story and environment of the game. Good music and setting. The actual gameplay and graphics are padded and dated, but worth playing once.
"How could I end up with such a... hideous... body...
And yet... this world... This world is so full of beauty..."
I did it. I finished the game finally. Well, sort of. I finished the game and got ending A, but I didn't really understand what was going on, so I googled the context and found out Nier Replicant has multiple endings and you need all of them for the full story.. Oy.
Big debate happened in my brain. Keep playing this game and get all the endings, or move on because I have a million other games in my backlog I want to play. Well, I decided to move on because I want to return to the Final Fantasy hunt, but I'm going to leave Nier installed so I can pick it up again when I have an itch to play it. I did finish all 71 side quests (
I bought this two books and absolutely loved. They're not just artbooks or strategy guides, they have official shorts stories, deep dives at the lore and Even interviews with the creators.
Now I wish every game I love would have a companion book like this.
Really wish I'd played Nier Replicant before I played Automata. Even the remaster of Replicant is just so lackluster in comparison.
Just finished it - took around 30 hours for one ending. There's another part but I will get back to it later - overall? I dug it. Good music but the story can get a little sappy at times - tropey even.
"Do you want this weapon so you can unlock the rest of the endings? Okay, you have to do this stupidly long sidequest. Which requires a material that only an specific enemy drops. An enemy which only spawns on a single room and if you kill them and if it doesn't drop it you have to walk all the way back so it respawns. Also the drop rate is stupidly low even with words that raise your drops"
Ah yes. Fun. A delightful time to be had.