Been meaning to pick this game up for awhile after hearing amazing things about the story. I also heard it's phenomenal at the last arc but how's the quality before that?

It's a divisive game. There is a loud contingent of people who will tell you it's one of the best JRPGs to come out in a while, and then there's a contingent of players who think it's stupid and awful.

If you have a strong wish to play it, then get it. If not then maybe skip it; I don't know.

It's janky as hell but if you can get past that there's a lot to like.

One thing I have noticed is that most people that love REALLY love it. It drops in parts but It is one game that stuck with me long after I played it. To this day even. Fantastic soundtrack too! They did a quick look on it. XD If you give it a shot let us know what you think!

I was like yourself a very late comer after hearing a lot of interesting things on these forums. The gameplay is not awful but it's not exactly great either. In the beginning the game might seem a bit trite and formulaic but there is a decisive turning point. One thing that is really great is that all the bosses employ unique mechanics and the developer gets pretty creative with camera usage throughout the entire experience.

There are different cutscenes and different endings that flesh out the enigmatic story after subsequent playthroughs. This of course means you will have to actually play the game again, but it's after a checkpoint about 1/2 through and you retain all your powers which makes it a breeze.

$20 is a bit much for such an old game but in many ways it's really worth experiencing. Truly a game in a weird class of it's own, also an extremely depressing one.

Game has a cult following, and I've noticed people on these forums rave about it.

Might be worth the risk in case you become one of those people.

@corevi: The gameplay is simple and mediocre as heck but I wouldn't call it janky (if by janky you mean broken or buggy anyway). It totally works, it's just not super fun to play.

Anyway, yeah, buy it for sure. Amazing story and soundtrack.

I liked it quite a bit. I think I was in the mood for exactly this kind of game when I happened to try it out so it worked for me. As others have said, the soundtrack alone really makes it something worth trying. Story gets very interesting in spots.

The gameplay is pretty awful but the overall experience is definitely worth it, especially for 20 bucks.

it's worth 200 dollars!

Very mediocre gameplay, but a very interesting story and one of the best soundtracks of all time make it easily worth $20.

Watch Drakengard's last ending, if it interests you, buy Nier

The story, music and characters are the reason to play this game. I'll admit that the gameplay isn't great, but there was enough there for me to go back and replay the game for all the endings. As someone who remembers the first Drakengard, reading about its connection to this game was cool too.

At $20 bucks it's definitely worth it in a vacuum, but since it's a lengthy RPG what you have to ask is whether it's worth the time taking into consideration the opportunity cost of playing another game instead. If you're light on other options that are very compelling I'd say go for it.

It is the game of the previous generation so it is absolutely worth that price.

yep. me and you, we know what's up

I agree with this 100%. This game has some of my all time favorite music. And the way they use it in the game can be very powerful when you are reading a sad story about a little girl who is sick and dying. I would say the only game that does this better last gen is Lost Odyssey.

I've never heard of this. Now I'm interested and feel like I need to buy it. Thanks, assholes

@frostyryan: I'm weirdly surprised that someone that seems to like a series like Shin Megami Tensei has never heard of Nier before. BUT YES BUY IT

Let me tell you about the first quest. You go and collect 6 wool from some sheep. Let me tell you about the second quest. You go and collect 10 mutton from some sheep. There are some good parts to the game, even some good quests, but there is A LOT of bad game here. The fourth ending is pretty interesting, especially in a way that doesn't translate to youtube. The game doesn't need to have four endings though. It could all be covered by two. There is a lot of filler. Are you like Vinny and have a need to do every quest when you play a game? Then this game isn't worth your time or money. Can you show some restraint and skip side content? Then it might be worth your time, but $20 for a game this old seems steep. I bet you can find a better deal.

Cool story, great music, pretty meh gameplay that feels fresh out of 2003-4. Overall worth playing, though.

Nier was one of my favorite games of the last generation, and I say that as someone who could barely play any games out of Japan during the last generation. The art direction is fantastic, the action feels solid, the combat scenarios are diverse, the characters are endearing...I may have just talked myself into digging it out tonight for another play-through.

Exceptional game, one of my personal favorites of last generation. I actually bought it day of release for 60$ and couldn't be happier with it. Go for it!

@steadying: I'll consider it once I get through with my laundry list of other RPGS in my backlog.

Great soundtrack, cool story, but the game looks and plays like a PS2 launch title which is really too bad because I think there's a lot of potential in the kind of third person, bullet-hell gameplay that it periodically gets right. It's also a bit of hot bullshit that you have to play through the second half of the game four times over to get all of the story.

yes because it has one of the best soundtracks and storys in gaming ever.so everyone should try it atleast once,but understand that it has some problems.if you can forgive the issues you will never forget this game by the time you know the whole story.

I think it's great.

I like the characters and the story but it's a pretty tedious slog on the gameplay front.

Is this game better or worse than Drakengard 3? because I did not like Drakengard 3.

Absolutely. Far more than that, actually.

It's a completely different game. That's all I can say cause I haven't touched either. I watched my friend play some of both.

as a person who thought drakengard 3 was good,nier is so much better.in fact despite liking it i was disappointed with drakengard 3.like i said earlier and in other threads,nier has one of the best soundtracks and story ever in gaming.the only thing that holds nier back is the gameplay not being as good as it could be,but its not bad and is still fun enough that its not a slog just to see the story.theres also the fact that you need to beat the game multiple times to see the amazing story it has,but you can just watch a playthrough real quick if you dont want to play it again.

It absolutely is. I was very hesitant about Neir at first but once I started playing it quickly became one of my favorite 360 games. if you have the chance to play it you should.

Ignore the people who think it's stupid and awful.

As long as you skip literally all the side quests which are filler of the worst kind it should be fine.

The game is tedious as fuck and the combat is boring. The story is alright for most of it, but it excels in NG+. I would go so far as to say you shouldn't even play it at all unless you go for ending B. The other endings are fun too if you are invested, but the second playthrough is THE thing that makes Nier what it is.

Also Nier has one of the worst box puzzles I've ever seen.

How is this supposed to be fun. I have never seen a puzzle be such shameless waste of time. Worst part is that the door opens outwards, so THEY SHOULDNT EVEN BE IN THE FUCKING WAY. THIS PUZZLE TAKES LIKE 10 PULLS TO DO AS WELL. FUCK YOU NIER FUCK.

Game is alright, you should play it.

I'd say yes. The story is superb, and the combat isn't nearly as bad as people make of it, it's just really uninspired and has tons of wasted potential. A bigger problem are sidequests, which you should avoid like the plague.

This. I don't fall on either the ''amazing!" or "terrible!" camp; its just ok. Some clever ideas, great voice acting and characters and 'feel'/atmosphere but there is a lot of crap in it. I just dropped it to easy and went along for the ride; you only need two endings to 'get' it, for the rest I didn't want to play anymore and just read up on them and that was enough for me.

Its a frustrating game. On the on hand it does amazing things, on the other, it just doesn't. Still don't know how to feel about it or if I would recommend it but there you go. Its that kind of game.

There are probably better games for $20 to buy. It is that simple, it hardly matters the divisiveness...either there are better games you don't have to by first.