This Dream - Keiichi Okabe

 Something very special. 

Premise

In 2003, a strange cataclysm occurred, changing the world irreversibly.

Many, many centuries later, after being ravaged by disease and shadowy monsters, humanity lies on the brink of extinction.

In the midst of it all, a man wants to save the only family he has left -- and he'll do anything to save her.

A Note on Versions

NieR is a 2010 game released by Square Enix, which came in 2 versions. Depending on where you lived and what console you owned, you would be treated with a slightly different protagonist. International players and Japanese XBOX 360 users would be play NieR Gestalt, or NIER, as it was known globally. The story features a middle-aged widow looking to save his sick daughter. Japanese Playstation users, on the other hand, would experience the same story in NieR RepliCant, except with a teenaged orphan helping his younger sister.

In 2021, RepliCant was remastered and internationally released as NieR Replicant ver 1.22474487139.... The game has remastered graphics, reworked gameplay, a rearranged soundtrack, new stories, and additional content cut from the original version.

"The Protagonist" (Nier)

The determined brother/father of Yonah, a young girl who is his only remaining family. He aims to collect the Sealed Verses to free Yonah of her incurable sickness.

The protagonist does not technically have an official name, but most fans and outside materials refer to him as Nier.

Grimoire Weiss

A grouchy old tome of magic found by Nier in an old temple. After being awoken from his ages-long rest, he reluctantly joins the stubborn fellow on his quest in hopes of regaining his former power and memories.

Yonah

Nier's cheerful and loving sister/daughter. She's been frail and sickly since birth, but her illness, the Black Scrawl, has grown significantly worse in recent months. Despite her ailing condition and hardships, she still remains optimistic.

Kainé

An abrasive and foul-mouthed warrior from the Aerie. Her rather unusual outfit and strange bandages mark her as an outsider. She seeks to avenge her grandmother's death at the hands of a cruel Shade.

Emil

A quiet young boy from a gloomy manor by Seafront. Due to his mysterious, uncontrollable ability of turning anyone he looks at into stone, he wears a blindfold and hides away from the world, his only company coming from his strange butler, Sebastian.

Devola

One of the two twins in charge of Nier's village.

A cheerful and spirited woman, she can often be found playing music by the fountain or at the tavern. She often helps Nier find odd jobs to do.

Popola

One of the two twins in charge of Nier's village.

A kind and wise woman who does much of the administrative work in the village. She is a librarian and can usually be found working in her study.

Gameplay

NieR is, at its core, a 3D action-RPG with genre hallmarks like skill customization and hack n slash styled combat. However, the game has a strange and unique blend of numerous other genres, which keep its gameplay fresh. Orbs emitted by monsters, as well as Grimoire Weiss' ability to fire magic bullets, add a bullet hell element to gameplay. Different sections of the game change to entirely different gameplay styles, such as platformer, puzzle game, and even text adventure. Some sections change to resemble other games. For instance, one area has two sections where the game takes a fixed camera perspective.

My Personal Experience With NieR

In 2021, I played NieR Replicant ver 1.22... the day it was released. I had played its better-known sequel several months prior, and since it had fun gameplay and made me cry several times, it was an enjoyable game. It was enough to make me curious about its predecessor.

While I don't like stating my exact age, scouring my site will indicate I was somewhere in my teens. I was mature enough to be curious about the purpose of a piece of art and the decisions made during its creation, but I was still immature enough to be in the (insufferable) headspace of "hey, maybe the curtains are just blue."

It absolutely consumed me.

I played the game every single day after school for as long as I was allowed to. The story drew me in and never let go of me. I immersed myself in the game by creating memes and fanart, listening to the soundtrack, and scouring the internet for any additional short stories and artwork. I'll admit that I have engaged very little in fanfiction -- I've never been into it -- but NieR managed to get me to write some. Most importantly, though, was that I was genuinely thinking about the story. I did my best to find what others had written about the themes of the game, and then I would try to come up with my own interpretations and analyses. I was in love.

These days, I am more critical of NieR. It is very experimental, in terms of its story structure and gameplay, and, as is the case with most innovations, some create some of the most stunning moments in the game, whereas others expose its greatest weaknesses. I have come to be especially more critical of the remake, as some of the story additions undercut other moments and/or hurt the pacing. I have, perhaps worst of all, noticed a sort of "Automata-ification" of the original game: a fear to embrace the original's identity so strong that any rough edges which gave the original its personality are sanded away in favor of the more familiar, refined visual and musical identity of the sequel.

However, in spite of NieR's flaws, its world has stuck with me. I still think about its characters and how they made me feel. I still look at my silly Emil plush and smile.

Most of all, its message registered with me when I was younger, but as the world has become more outwardly hateful and violent, more apathetic in regards to hostility, erasure, and genocide of "the enemy", I have thought more about it. I understand its warning, for it is relevant every single day.

I wish it wasn't.

I do want to write an essay eventually, mostly for myself, reflecting on more on these things. It's a bit embarassing to have a 7/10 JRPG be the story that acted as a catalyst for my brain development, instead of, like, a classic book with years of analysis dedicated to it, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I have much love for this game, no matter its flaws. I'm so glad that I experienced it at the point in my life that I did.