Yoko Taro’s cult work returns with a new version that updates, improves and expands a unique and unrepeatable game.
Analyzing a work like NieR is not easy. At the end of the day, we are talking about a game that if we value it according to the usual criteria by which we usually go to “measure” the quality of a title, it is most likely that we will be left with a product full of defects with some virtues . And yet, more than ten years after its original release for PS3 and Xbox 360, we continue to remember it as one of the best and most unforgettable experiences we have ever had with a video game , shattering any kind of sense that a video game may have. numerical note.
Video analysis
But why is it so special? This is probably one of the most personal questions you can ask us, since it uses the language of the video game with such mastery that it is practically impossible to explain it without experiencing it in the first person with a controller in your hands. We could tell you that it is because of its incredible soundtrack, because of the way in which it flirts with tons of genres to surprise us at every step, because of its wonderful narrative, because of its unforgettable characters or because of its incredible story, but the truth is that, in the end It is the complete set that has remained in our memory and even the things that we did not like helped to give it that unique aura.
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However, the success among the general public of this series that was born as a spin-off of Drakengard did not arrive until the premiere of its sequel, NieR: Automata , a great game of volume and spine to which little fault can be put. For this reason, Square Enix has considered that now is the ideal time to recover the original with a new, improved and expanded version that gives the opportunity to all those who missed it at the time to discover why it is a cult work that he left marked so many players in their day. And yes, the final result has left us very satisfied.
An unforgettable story
Thus, NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 … is somewhere between being a remastering and a remake of the first NieR , although Yoko Taro, its creator, prefers to define it as “a new version” of that game . Regardless of what we want to call it, this is an extremely faithful recreation of this action RPG adventure that now features all-new graphics, an updated and remade combat system, and some new content.
The NieR We Never Play
An important detail that should be noted is that this new version of ‘NieR’ corresponds, as its name suggests, with ‘NieR Replicant’, an exclusive edition of PS3 for the Japanese market that was never marketed in the West. The one that we were able to play originally was ‘NieR Gestalt’, in which the protagonist was an older middle-aged man whose relationship with Yonah was that of father and daughter, instead of brother and sister that we will enjoy with his adolescent version of ‘Replicant’. Although the game is the same, there are subtle and important differences in the personality of our protagonist and his relationship with the rest of the characters, thus giving added value to this new version for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
In this way they will tell us the story of NieR , a young man who struggles to find the cure for a mysterious and unknown disease suffered by his little sister , which will take us to travel around the world looking for clues while we enter dangerous dungeons and face each other. strange creatures known as Shadows. From here, a unique plot is developed , full of surprises, with gigantic twists, that dares to masterfully touch very complex and human themes, and that is capable of turning us inside out in more ways than one by transmitting very difficult sensations. to describe and that invite personal reflection and that we rethink many things in our life and our way of seeing the world.
Everything we can tell you about the narrative of this work will not do justice to what has been achieved with it, since it speaks directly to the player not only through videos and dialogues, but also through its own playable mechanics, its music, its visual section and the situations that will be presented to us throughout the entire odyssey, as well as in countless small and very subtle details that we will not be aware of at first.
So much so that this replay that we have enjoyed has seemed to us an equally enriching experience than the one that our first game with the original offered us a decade ago , because knowing what its history hides we have been able to see and feel everything from a very different prism and look at things that have left us with our mouths wide open when we have finished understanding them. We do not want to extend further here, since to continue delving into its narrative benefits we would have to delve into the dangerous terrain of spoilers , but if we can assure you something is that you are going to live a unique, atypical, very special trip, which is not afraid to bother to the player and that has characters that will be etched forever in your memory.
An amazing adventure
Regarding its playable development, it should be noted how tremendously faithful it is to the original work, respecting to the millimeter the design of its world, dungeons, enemies, bosses, videos and missions . Broadly speaking, we are no longer the same game, so you can expect a very entertaining adventure that manages to surprise and honor a multitude of different genres with each step we take. As soon as we will be having cakes with the camera in isometric perspective in the purest Diablo style, we will be touring a mansion with fixed planes and limited mobility in a clear tribute to the first Resident Evil , to mention just a couple of the many examples that we will find. .
The title is always playing with the camera and its position to emulate different genres and honor great classics.
To be honest, the design of dungeons is quite flat and these are still a succession of corridors without too much grace that, in some cases, we will have to repeat several times without major changes , although the game knows how to manage so as not to get bored by how varied it is. It turns out from start to finish, with lots of different situations that will invite us to continue playing to discover what is the next madness with which they intend to surprise us.
You might think that his would have been to take advantage of the occasion to improve and polish the design of these dungeons, although Square Enix have wanted to remain faithful to the spirit of the original, which also translates into some aspects that will not be everyone’s taste buds. the world, like its gruesome side quests: pure errand orders that will make us go around a thousand times and suffer some “farmeos” that are a real torment, something of which the game itself is very aware and that leaves us some very … peculiar conversations. Some of them have more or less interesting plots and objectives, but they are the least and, in general terms, the feeling they leave us is that of wasting time with tasks that do not contribute anything. Obviously this also applies to the very process of improving our weapons, something for which we will need to collect an overwhelming amount of materials that are not easy to obtain. At least, everything mentioned is still mostly optional content.
Nor do we want to forget to highlight how important it is to continue playing after the first credits titles to be able to finish seeing the story in its entirety and discover the authentic narrative genius that is kept under the arm, something that will lead us to repeat several times a great portion of the game with few playable changes. This may not seem very appealing at first, but we assure you that it is very worth it and that you will not see things the same way.
If you miss the Nier ‘father’ of Gestalt, you will be happy to know that you will be able to play with him in the part that corresponds to the paid downloadable content that the original game had, included here as standard.
If we get to the point it will take between 12 and 15 hours to reach its first finish, although if we want to see everything that the following laps offer the figure easily rises to 30 and 35 hours . If, in addition, you want to complete all their secondary, trophies / achievements and additional content, the thing shoots up well beyond 50.
A new combat system
As you can see, broadly speaking, it is still the same game that we already know, although this does not mean that there is no news . Probably the most important of all we have in its new combat system, which has been redesigned to be much more satisfying and versatile , so all the animations of our protagonist have been redone so that his way of moving is more or less in line with what we enjoy at NieR: Automata .
When you take down an enemy you can execute it by just approaching him and pressing the corresponding button. This is usually the fastest and most effective way to finish them off on Hard difficulty.
Thus, we have a combo of simple attacks, another of heavy attacks to break defense and the possibility of charging either of these two types of blows to unleash new techniques . To this we must add things like being able to fix rivals or throw our enemies into the air to perform aerial combinations, a movement to dodge, another to quickly place ourselves on the back of our enemy with a fleeting maneuver, the possibility of blocking attacks and even of make perfect parries if we defend ourselves just when we are going to receive a blow, which will open the doors to a powerful counterattack. Additionally, we keep the same magics as the original, although it is now possible to charge and use them while we fight hand-to-hand .
All this results in a system that, without being extremely deep, is very fun, agile and frantic , making the battles considerably more satisfactory and spectacular, something that reaches its peak in the fights against the bosses, who will surprise us with crowds. phases and very varied designs.
When we say that it is basically a bullet hell disguised as ARPG, it is not an exaggeration.
We do not want to finish talking about their fights without mentioning how much the fights of this shmup game drink , with battles that are a love letter for this genre and that are more similar to what we could expect from a bullet hell than of an ARPG, where hundreds of bullets and projectiles flood the screen as we try to defend ourselves by dodging and firing magic as if there was no tomorrow. And the best thing is that all this is something that it does surprisingly well , leaving us with some of the best moments of the game in terms of playability and staging, having here another of those unique details that give such a marked personality to this production.
The news
Continuing with the news, we have to comment that stories have now been added to the descriptions of the weapons and that it includes the small downloadable adventure that the original had as standard , now becoming a mandatory content to reach the true end. Additionally, we find new narrative sequences in the second and third round, in addition to a completely new part that was not in the original and that has been surprisingly naturally integrated into the plot, leaving us, in addition, with one of the best bosses in the game. Do not expect anything too long (it barely reaches 30 minutes), but you can be sure that you will not be disappointed.
Everything related to the new content that has been included is a real pass.
Finally, we have to anticipate that there is a completely new plot route that leads us to an unprecedented ending . It is not too extensive content, but everything that happens and we play in it has seemed absolutely incredible and has made our hair stand on end not a few times, automatically becoming one of our favorite parts of the entire saga. Of course, we are already warning you that accessing it will not be an easy task without a guide or a minimum of prior knowledge of the background that surrounds the series.
A new coat of paint
How could it be otherwise, on a technical level it has received a good face lift, updating models, settings, animations, effects and performance . From the outset, the first joy that we have taken is that, at least on PS5 (where we have played thanks to its backward compatibility with PS4) it works at a resolution of 4K and 60 images per second , which translates into a very sharp image and Clean and fluid gameplay that makes a world of difference with the faltering 30 fps that the original almost never reached.
On an artistic level it is still a beautiful game.
Now, do not expect any technical marvel , because the textures leave much to be desired, the modeling of the NPCs is still extremely basic and the popping is very present, not to mention that many more details have not been added than already They had to places that we will visit. Of course, its artistic section is exquisite and is capable of leaving us very beautiful and evocative prints that more than compensate for its visual deficiencies, although we warn you that the design of the faces of the characters has been modified so that they are in the line of Automata , something that also applies to the use of the color palette, much grayer and cooler in this new version.
Finally, we can only say wonders about the soundtrack. The original is one of the best ever composed for any video game and this time it was Keiichi Okabe himself who has been in charge of retouching and remastering them with new arrangements that sound better than ever and that behave dynamically . A real delight for our ears that you will not tire of listening to and that even brings completely new songs. In addition, with music there is a little secret that fans of the saga will like a lot, although we will leave it to you to discover it for yourself.
The translation into Spanish of this new version is one of the best news that they have been able to give to our market.
The sound effects are also at a very high level and the dubbing has been re-recorded in both English and Japanese, giving us the option to choose between the two , a very difficult decision if we take into account the gigantic quality they treasure. But, without a doubt, the best news for our market is that it comes to us, for the first time, with texts in Spanish , although we warn you that these correspond to the English translation and sometimes they lack some force and force when Kainé gets to swear, a little “but” for a commendable job, necessary and much appreciated.
Conclusions
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… is a very good update of one of the most unique and special games we have ever played and our reunion with him has been as magical as we expected . Yes, it still has some rough edges and some questionable design decisions that could have been improved, but there is no doubt that this is by far the best version to enjoy its fascinating and particular narrative thanks to the graphic facelift it has received, to its playable improvements, to its new content and to its desired Spanish translation.Whether it is your first or fifth time, here you will enjoy an unrepeatable experience that you will not find anywhere else and an adventure that will remind you of the infinite potential that video games have to tell great stories and make us feel things that no other medium is capable of. replicate. And for that alone it is already a purchase that deserves every last euro it costs.
