2011年06月20日
Been Playing: Nier (ニーア)
Recently, I've been playing a little more of a Christmas gift I got, Nier for PlayStation 3.
Having been stuck with mostly portables lately, it was nice to see something on the big screen. (Portables are not always a bad thing, it's just worth note that they've been my only source of gaming for some time.)
Nier has some broken gameplay mechanics such as its wonky magic aiming and occasionally faulty camera that really get in the way during some boss battles. It's like they're difficult not because the developers designed a hard game, but because the player must wrestle these broken aspects in addition to the enemies.
But I can't hold this game down. Nier is a game whose real power comes from its atmosphere and story -- and I even say this as a guy who hugely prefers gameplay over story.
It goes against the JRPG grain of being about a bunch of teenagers out to save the world from an evil empire, for one thing. Man, that got old 10 years ago. Nier -- at least the Gestalt version -- is about a man looking out for his daughter, struggling to make it through an everyday life in a post-apocalyptic world while searching for the fabled cure to a disease she's been stricken with. I don't have kids yet, but I've got 8 younger siblings and my wife and I have wanted kids for some time; a buddy of mine recently had a kid; I work with children as a profession; I feel close to this plot. If anyone ever did anything to hurt my siblings or students, I would do my best to end that person. That's just me. Evil empires, meh, I've gotten used to those.
But it's not just the premise that gives the plot it's strength, and attempting to describe it is making me feel weak as a writer. It defies convention by taking a lot of risks, and the results are brilliant. One example that comes to mind is a problem that arises in which a village is plagued by dreams that involve...words. The theme of the whole town and subplot is "words." So for a time, the game gradually switches from being an interactive video game in the traditional sense and becomes something more of a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Thing is, it does so gradually, with the brightness of everything fading and words becoming brighter just slowly enough that the characters are taken by surprise when they realize everything has faded and all they can see are words, as if they're stuck in a book. Some will find this silly and stupid, doubtless. I however found it quite fun.
The graphics aren't exactly cutting-edge HD, but the music is perhaps my favorite game sountrack of all time. I mean, holy crap. Go through YouTube and check that out. It's one of very few game OSTs I enjoy outside of the game.
Just beautiful, really.
The game has some shortcomings for sure. Even so, I can't deny that every time I play it, I have fun. I can't put a score on it because I feel like I should finish it first, but it's definitely been worthwhile so far.
(『ニーア レプリカント』 Or, in English: Nier Replicant; 『ニーア ゲシュタルト』 In English: Nier Gestaltは、2010年4月22日にスクウェア・エニックスから発売されたアクションRPG.)
Having been stuck with mostly portables lately, it was nice to see something on the big screen. (Portables are not always a bad thing, it's just worth note that they've been my only source of gaming for some time.)
Nier has some broken gameplay mechanics such as its wonky magic aiming and occasionally faulty camera that really get in the way during some boss battles. It's like they're difficult not because the developers designed a hard game, but because the player must wrestle these broken aspects in addition to the enemies.
But I can't hold this game down. Nier is a game whose real power comes from its atmosphere and story -- and I even say this as a guy who hugely prefers gameplay over story.
It goes against the JRPG grain of being about a bunch of teenagers out to save the world from an evil empire, for one thing. Man, that got old 10 years ago. Nier -- at least the Gestalt version -- is about a man looking out for his daughter, struggling to make it through an everyday life in a post-apocalyptic world while searching for the fabled cure to a disease she's been stricken with. I don't have kids yet, but I've got 8 younger siblings and my wife and I have wanted kids for some time; a buddy of mine recently had a kid; I work with children as a profession; I feel close to this plot. If anyone ever did anything to hurt my siblings or students, I would do my best to end that person. That's just me. Evil empires, meh, I've gotten used to those.
But it's not just the premise that gives the plot it's strength, and attempting to describe it is making me feel weak as a writer. It defies convention by taking a lot of risks, and the results are brilliant. One example that comes to mind is a problem that arises in which a village is plagued by dreams that involve...words. The theme of the whole town and subplot is "words." So for a time, the game gradually switches from being an interactive video game in the traditional sense and becomes something more of a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Thing is, it does so gradually, with the brightness of everything fading and words becoming brighter just slowly enough that the characters are taken by surprise when they realize everything has faded and all they can see are words, as if they're stuck in a book. Some will find this silly and stupid, doubtless. I however found it quite fun.
The graphics aren't exactly cutting-edge HD, but the music is perhaps my favorite game sountrack of all time. I mean, holy crap. Go through YouTube and check that out. It's one of very few game OSTs I enjoy outside of the game.
Just beautiful, really.
The game has some shortcomings for sure. Even so, I can't deny that every time I play it, I have fun. I can't put a score on it because I feel like I should finish it first, but it's definitely been worthwhile so far.
(『ニーア レプリカント』 Or, in English: Nier Replicant; 『ニーア ゲシュタルト』 In English: Nier Gestaltは、2010年4月22日にスクウェア・エニックスから発売されたアクションRPG.)
