Nier: Replicant Irrational Number-All

This remaster of the 2010 Nier releases on April 23, 2021.

Prior Threads:

Nier Catch-All

NieR Automata (aka Nieronetta) Catch-All

Waiting breathlessly for my white box edition!

Whoa

So producer... Yosuke Saito? ...confirmed there will be a DLC (day one?), and given that Papa Nier was blurred out on the graphic of PS4 avatars that will be available for the game, people are theorizing that Papa Nier will be downloadable.

To what extent I dunno. We're talking about a company that made people pay for a huge several-gig sized Japanese audio download for Drakengard on PS3. Could just be a new skin or could be all the changes to voice and dialogue. Or it could be nothing at all with the avatar as an amusing little throwback.

I'm really looking forward to this remaster. After hearing the buzz, I played the original in 2011, but I only played a few hours. Since then , Nier: Automata has become one of my favorite games of all time. I've spoiled myself on the story, but I have forgotten most of it.

Yeah, they covered the story when I saw the concert during late pre-Covid times, but the details all fall out of my head when I turn around too fast.

This game is of my interest..!!!

My fancy pants white box edition shipped today!

I suppose fans of NieR won't need this, but I (a casual onlooker) was wondering what had happened to the protagonist as I'd known them.

Also. That gameplay looks great. I may be in for this.

My digital copy for PS4 seems to be unlocking at 8:00 PDT.

Looks like that's the same time for Steam.

My physical copy is supposed to show up tomorrow!

Aristophan wrote:

My digital copy for PS4 seems to be unlocking at 8:00 PDT.

At some point the time adjusted to 9:00 ....

9:00 PDT would match midnight Eastern, which makes sense.

Unfortunately Steam seems to operate in a far more inconvenient manner, as the game still says "Releases April 23, 2021", which it has been (on the East Coast) for about 8 hours now.

I can't even play it yet. I just want to install it so that I can boot it up once I have free time. Lame!

I read Aristophan's message as 8:00AM PT -> 11:00AM ET, which is what Steam seems to agree with. It now says "Unlocks in 3 hours"

Installing now, ~18GB on Steam.

In case you are getting frustrated by the "Fragile Delivery" quest:

Spoiler:

Apparently it will be easier later in the game, as the shades will not spawn in The Aerie.

Yeah, I did it. It's not actually all that tough, just...

Spoiler:

...really difficult on your first visit there. However, even if you break the package, you can go back and get another one. I basically did the story bits there, found a spot I could cheese the boar to keep running into a rock in order to complete that quest, and then just ran the quest from the gate to the chief. You can outrun any foe on the plain, and you can easily take out the bats in the cave of the Aerie with the dark blast. Smooth sailing from there.

I've never never played any of the earlier Nier games - only Automata - and I've been purposefully avoiding any trailers or other footage. When Weiss joined my party, I cackled like a madman; it's so silly for me to realize that that game mechanic started in Replicant, but suited Automata so perfectly.

Anyway, I made it almost all the way through The Aerie (including the maze up against the wall) with the package, and then got hit the tiniest bit by an enemy on that final bridge. Grr. The second time through The Aerie was trivial, of course.

And I just made it to Seaside. I wandered around far enough to find the save spot, but I think I'm going to call it a night. An excellent game so far. I'm really enjoying the music, too; did you notice that the lyrics quietly fade away from the Song of the Ancients when you're speaking with Devola (at the fountain in town), because she's the one singing? It's such a tiny, insignificant detail, but it's those details that make a game so endearing for me.

Ok, the combination of James Mason and Barbara Stanwyck is growing on me quickly.

Feels like my memory of the original, so they probably did a perfect job! Really interesting to go through this again. I don't think I'll bother with the platinum on it but who knows? I am a glutton for Yoko Taro punishment. I wonder if they changed the trophies...

At the Lost Shrine. The updated soundtrack is freakin me out.

I made it up through Facade, so I’ve made some decent progress into the game. Just putting down some observations, but since there are some light spoilers, I’ll put them in spoiler tags.

Spoiler:

Loved the intro. The main character himself saying not to touch the book before taking it anyway for power, rapidly leveling up after accepting dark powers, big ominous choral music. It all came together nicely. I don’t know exactly what’s coming, but I played Automata last year so I may be able to guess some of the shenanigans. And I bet this scene will hit very different later.

Also, I can hear som musical references between Automata and Replicant, like the song Devola was singing in the village. It’s pretty neat.

That rooster sound is almost straight out of OOT.

Man, everything in the shrine was giving me a sense of foreboding. Like how the small Shades in the shrine don’t actually seem to attack you, just stand around. Or everything with Weiss when you first obtain him.

After the Kaine fight, I was going back through the northern field, and the little monsters kept massacring the sheep. Like, all over the field. And then the next time I came through, the sheep were gone, and there were a ton of monsters now instead. Super weird. The sheep came back later, so I still don’t know what happened there. I assume it was scripted, but I guess I can’t know for certain.

Also, I’m running all over the place doing sidequests now to get big money and buy all the weapons, and the movement isn’t near fast enough, even with a ride in some areas. I liked how in Automata, I could put a bunch of chips into movement and jumping to move much faster. I really hope this game gets faster movement down the line.

Regarding part of your spoilers:

Spoiler:

The reduced number of sheep is bound to be intentional for thematic purposes and also a clever method of dealing with limited resources. They can probably only have so many things on the map at once, so the number of sheep need to be reduced in order to increase the number of shades. At the same time, by showing an abundant number of sheep right at the start to decreasing their quantity allows you to understand the threat to the villagers and their food chain. So it's all pretty cleverly done.

I... spent most of my almost three hour play session yesterday fishing... They at least translated the very brief instructions on how to fish correctly this time (I recall the original Nier telling you the opposite of what you should do), but it can still be a pain. Specifically, trying to get the seven blowfish rather than another 15 sardines, some cans, some seaweed, and three stinking Bream. It felt like I was more likely to catch a Bream than a blowfish.

I never got all the endings of the original Nier, so I figure why not torture myself with the remaster and hope they made some Quality-of-Life changes.

ccesarano wrote:

I never got all the endings of the original Nier, so I figure why not torture myself with the remaster and hope they made some Quality-of-Life changes.

Dooooo iiiit.

I'm about 9 hours in so far and loving it. Looking at my trophy list from the original, I've gotten further than I had before. I wonder why I dropped it? I have heard the combat is better, and I can see myself getting frustrated with certain subquests.

I know that the fishing difficulty is a meme, but in this version I felt that they really made sure you go to the right place to get the first fish. I also had difficulty with the fishing at fist, but I have finally figured it out. Also, many websites have created guides for this game telling you where to find each of the fish.

I also watched an unboxing of the physical collector's edition. Looks beautiful!

Side quest worth it for this quote:

Yap yap f*ckin' yap

Around the 12 hour mark, I hit a midpoint/change in narrative.

Spoiler:

Meaning a timeskip. Up to this point, the game was kind of a slow burn, and I wonder what people playing the original thought of it up to this point if they didn’t really know the nature of Yoko Taro and what his stories do. In my case, having played Automata, I was waiting for the game to start Niering. Well, it finally started Niering.

I’m sort of mixed on the sidequests. They require a bunch of running back and forth, so I try to bundle them where possible. A bunch are boring item gathering, but some pay real well (especially once you get to Facade), and others have abruptly dark results. The one with the runaway son and the one with the lighthouse were probably the two most interesting so far. I have large stacks of money now, regardless.

Sundown wrote:

Around the 12 hour mark, I hit a midpoint/change in narrative.

Spoiler:

Meaning a timeskip.

Spoiler:

You mean, other than the timeskip that occurred right after the intro/combat tutorial at the very beginning of the game? That very first scene was set in 2030 (I think?), and then it faded to black and said "1400 years later...", and then it's the year 3400ish.

merphle wrote:
Sundown wrote:

Around the 12 hour mark, I hit a midpoint/change in narrative.

Spoiler:

Meaning a timeskip.

Spoiler:

You mean, other than the timeskip that occurred right after the intro/combat tutorial at the very beginning of the game? That very first scene was set in 2030 (I think?), and then it faded to black and said "1400 years later...", and then it's the year 3400ish.

Spoiler:

Yeah, I mean a different timeskip

I ripped, tagged, and proper cover arted the 2 disc Weiss Edition soundtrack so that I can listen to it in my car and on my phone. Disc 1, Another Edit Version, is really amazing to exist. It's extremely refreshing to someone who has listened to the regular soundtrack and other versions so many times.

I'm really curious how they will integrate these remade tracks into the remake.