Perhaps few remember the first titles of the ‘ Drakengard ‘ franchise , a project that Square Enix and Cavia were commissioned to carry out on the now veteran PlayStation 2 back in 2003. I remember playing the title without really knowing what was going my way. to offer or what to expect from him. It was one of the last titles that I rented at the video store closest to where I lived and the first project in which Yoko Taro , now internationally recognized, took over directing duties. This project, which was more successful in the Asian and international markets than in Spain, served as a prelude to present us in 2010 a spin-off known as’ Nier’, also from the hand of Cavia. In it we returned to the peculiar world presented in the previous franchise, but now with new approaches and characters.
As I said, it was 2010 and this new proposal by Yoko Taro arrived on the market , which for the occasion put us in the shoes of a father whose maxim was to save the life of his daughter, Yonah , who suffered from a strange disease from which there seemed to be no cure or treatment. This is the story we knew in the West. The only one that reached our market, but in Japan, and as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, ‘ Nier: Replicant ‘ was also on sale , the same version of the story, but told from the point of view of Yonah’s brother. .
Celebrating the anniversary
Eleven years after its launch, and to celebrate its anniversary, from Square Enix they bring us this vision of history to the West, and since so much time has passed between the two, a fine-tuning of the title became almost a duty for the studio , which offers us a game that walks between being a remaster or a remake. For those of you who want to quickly fit into either category, I have bad news: you can’t exactly fit into either category.
The title has enough incentives to be attractive both to those who already played the original in 2010, as well as to those who first approached the franchise after the success of ‘ Nier: Automata ‘, but at no time did they opt for be a remaster without more or a remake with all that that entails. We have new content that we did not see in the West, it was to be expected if we consider that the ‘Nier: Gestalt ‘ version arrived here , the one starring the father, but we also have new content that the original Asian title did not have and that This is not the time to reveal if you are really interested in discovering the whole history of the title.
That is one of the points that remains almost intact with respect to the 2010 title. We will see Popola , Devola , Kainé or Emil again , and that is, although an extra chapter has been added to what we already met. The story and its development remain exactly the same, for better and for worse, which means that, as a positive part, we will once again have various endings, one of them completely new for this occasion that greatly expands all the lore generated in around this franchise.
In short. The story, not to reveal much, puts us in the shoes of “Nier”, who must find the cure for his sister Yonah’s illness. To do this, he must travel the world with Grimore Weiss , a talking book that has lost his memories, and with them, the sealed verses that allow him to perform black magic, like his antagonist, the Grimore Noire , in the hands of the lord of the shadows.
The appearance of Weiss is of vital importance, not only to try to solve Yonah’s illness , but to combat the shadows that plague the world. It will also serve as a companion in combat to be able to use its magic, or as an inventory management resource, because through it we can improve our weapons, defenses or the magic skills that we are able to link to the book, where we must link them to through words.
There are no major changes in terms of plot or narrative, although some extra lines of dialogue have been added to accommodate the change of character and the unpublished extra chapter, but that at no time imply a great variation in the story that we already knew in 2010.
Old mechanics, new approaches
Yoko Taro assures that this project is an ” improvement ” with respect to the original, and that is evident, above all, in the playable section. We once again have the same mechanics that we saw in the original, which puts us in front of an action rpg with a good rhythm in terms of combat, but which is far from other titles focused on similar action.
To maintain this good rhythm in action and agility in decision-making, the fact of being able to configure the DualShock 4 to apply the attacks, magic and defenses as we see fit, something that was already very comfortable in the original and that returns here to demonstrate its success, although if I must highlight some ” but ” to this fact, it is probably the access through the ‘options’ button to access the menu. Perhaps using the touch zone for this, in my view, would have been something more comfortable.
Obviating this fact, which does not imply anything that implies drama, the roots of the mechanics remain intact and add some improvements, hence the new approach, seen in ‘ Nier Automata ‘, such as the ease of fixing and targeting enemies, as well as the various secondary missions that we can accept throughout the title, which have been slightly improved.
Great design, good technical
I already said it at the beginning. We are not facing a remake, but neither are we facing a remaster, and as for the graphic section, we follow this trend. The designs of characters, cities and natural environments remain as the original, which already indicates a good level, regardless of whether later, when it comes to putting it into practice, we find very slight improvements in terms of technology. . The title has been adapted to 4K resolutions , in fact I have played it on a PlayStation 4 pro connected to a 4K HDR television and it looks great, without being anything that makes a big difference, although modeling and drawing distance have been improved.
In the technical aspect linked to the sound, there are some other more remarkable novelties. The actors who gave voice to the original characters are re-counted, re-recording some of their takes, incorporating other new voices and, most importantly in this sense, improving a soundtrack that already sounded at a good level a decade ago.
Keiichi Okabe , composer of the original, returns with an expanded soundtrack. Some themes have been extended in duration and others have been created specifically for this enhanced version. It also adds some integers that we can enjoy the title by applying the soundtrack of its sequel, ‘ Nier: Automata ‘.
Overall, when it comes to enjoying the title visually, we cannot help being aware that perhaps Yoko and her team could have chosen more to approach a remake without losing their identity along the way, such as the peculiar use that makes the camera, almost always free in outdoor environments, but when entering certain places or moments in history it alternates between zenith and lateral positions that remind us of more classic games.
Conclution
Players who have already enjoyed the original can find in this version a new approach to the lore of the franchise, since the main claim for them lies in the incorporation of the new ending. Those who enjoyed ‘ Automata ‘ and did not play the original do have in it an opportunity to join the franchise and see first-hand all the elements that have been shaping it in the best possible conditions based on what already existed and, Finally, for fans of the saga or Taro, well, the extra content may play in their favor, as long as they are clear that they will not find many elements that they have not already seen throughout this decade.
