Welcome to the first in an on going series I’m calling first to 10, where I will be giving my thoughts and impressions on games new and old after my first 10 hours of playing them. I chose 10 hours because of the old 40 hour JRPG rule. 10 hours would be about 25 percent of the game. These days JRPGs can be 80 and 100 hours, sometimes even more, but I’ll stick to 10 to keep things simple.
A New Fantastic Point Of View
Nier Replicant is a remake of Nier released in April of 2010. It’s the predecessor of Nier Automata. I would see this game in stores but I never got around to picking up. Honestly I had a really busy 2010 and I didnt have a channce to look this game up thorougly. So I judged this game by its cover, which looked confusing and somewhat generic to me at the time to me at the time. But apparently I missed out in a big way because Nier Replicant is a wonderful game. Even judged by today’s standards.
I really felt in tune with the main character as i walked out into the village and observed the surroundings. I was truly peaceful.
We all know how amazing Nier Automata was and still is today. When these game released in 2017 it got tons of praise for its gameplay, soundtrack and story that spanned multiple playthroughs. But surprisingly, Nier had alot of those accolades but none of the fame. So if you are reding this to find out if the game is good, let me answer you with a resounding yes and save you some trouble. But the question i encounterd the most when i was telling my friends about this game and encouraging them to buy it was definitely, “is it going to be like Nier Automata?
While I think Nier Replicant is a great game and definitley should be judged on it’s own and not compared to Nier Automata, I understand this question wholeheartedly. For many, including myself, Nier Automata represents the gold standard in action rpgs. Also with all the amazing games being released and the mounting pressure of enormous videogame backlogs breathing down the back of our necks, is it worth your time to dive into a remake of a game that is now more than 10 years old?
First lets dive into what i usally find is the biggest barrier for people who love video games but are nervous or in some cases flat out refuse to play older games, graphics. Now for Retro Gamers especially of the JRPG variety, this is a non issue. These are the people who will rate Chrono Trigger against Final Fantasy XV and never even take graphics into consideration. Since I am one of those people, I tried to be as impartial as possible but i found it difficult. So instead i just compared it to Nier Automata.
I can honestly say that in some ways this game looks better than Automata. In fact i would say that over all it is an improvment. that shouldnt come as a suprise given that Automata is 4 years old at this point. But I think that should calm the fears of anyone who doesent want to spend their journey staring at jagged edgeds and graphical glitches. they polished this game wonderfully.
Nier As Possible
When it comes to gamplay things are a little more difficullt to explain. I think this is where you can feel age of this game but not in a bad way. In the early hours of Neir Replicant like many other JRPGs there are fetch quests. You need to run errands for towns people which include things like fighting montsters but also things like shopping, fishing and carrying fragile parcels from one town to the next without rolling or being knocked down by monsters. This is something hard core jrpg fans are more than accoustom to after years of gaming. No bird, bunny or sentient flower is safe from levels one to ten and if they venture near the starting area they will not be met with mercy.
But one thing that made fetch quests and the likes so tidious in older games was the lack of direction. You would not be told excatly where to find the monsters beyond a general northeast or southwest that was given to you by the towns people. many times, at least for me, that would be the hardest part. I would get stuck trying to find an area or monster and be unable to progress in the game for hours until I accidently stumbled upon it 2 game sessions later.
Nier Replicant does have some of this feeling but they remedy it with a great map that shows you objectives and a list of your quests that shows you detailed info about your quests. while there is still some ambuigity to certain side quests that may leave you staring at your map screen, its more than managable. Also the important thing to mention here is that the main story quests are easy to find and figure out. By easy I just mean that it flows from section to section without to much pause in the action
There are many places in a JRPG that can be just passible and still make for an enjoyable game but for me story and combat are not in that catagory. If the combat isn’t fun or the story is completely uninspired, its not very likely that I will choose to continue my journey in that world. Here is where I feel most people are trying to hoan in when they ask the question ” is it like Nier Automata?’ and it is also hear that I feel that Nier Replicant shines brightest.
Im not even halfway done with the game and i almost feel as though I like this game better than Automata. I like lush green backgrounds, great music and action. While Automatas Distopian Future was intersesting, the scenery didnt get me as excited as i would have liked. That is not the fault of the game, just a personal preference. Here in replicant im spending a lot of time in nature as I take out enemies with only a brief excursions into temples and scrap yards to do a quest. I mention that to reitterate that the backdrop is wonderful.
Nier Perfect
Coupled with Amazing Combat that is very much like Automata and a story that is just as amazing so far, I think this is the perfect game to serve as a follow up to to your time in Automata for those who were in love with it, but were reluctant to cross the hurdles of graphics or backwards compatibility to play the original game. it also has enough new content and polish to make it worth while for those who played the original and want to experience it again.
I will finish this game and follow up this impressions post to let you know how things develop but as if right now, Im just excited to find out. Have you Picked this game up yet? or are you planning to do so? let me know in the comments below.
Thank you for reading!
Awesome blog post! Love the details and pictures and videos too! Continue the awesomeness man! Look forward to the next one.
Thank you so much!!