WTF, I look at the game Nier by Cavia games and all I can do is get angry and feel slapped across the face. That game just packs everything I hate about this generation of gaming coming from Japan and boils it down to a noxious sludge.



I can freely admit my taste are no everyone's, but I like to think under my crusty exterior I like to think I have warm fluffy interior that can appreciate things for their own merits. But a few times a year there are just games, like Nier, that make me ask a developer, "Why are you so damn stupid?" Even as I say that I feel bad because the game isn't even out yet; but, no, I must stand firm when it comes to a game like Nier I truly believe the developer is making a steaming bowl of diarrhea soup.

On the surface Nier (or Nier Gestalt in JP) would seem like a terrific step forward. Its an action role-playing game with a decidedly Japanese aesthetic for the art and characters. I've been waiting for something like that for a long time since I've grown increasingly dissatisfied with typical jRPGs. I actually make the art and worlds most Japanese developers make, if nothing else they have a creative aesthetic that is different and often refreshing. If the Final Fantasy art were dropped into an RPG with Elder Scrolls game play and game mechanics I think it would make an incredible combination. And even the idea of Nier could be good, adding a bit more depth to an action game with a look that is close but not exactly like Dragon Age from what I have seen.

The problem is when I see videos and screen shots of Nier it makes me want to puke. This game is being made for a western audience that is clear or at the very least made for a world wide audience give Square-Enix want to publish this game for PS3, XB360 in multiple territories and has planed that from the start. However, when you watch the teaser trailers alls you see if dad voice acting, impenetrable bizarre & ugly characters, idiotic story, and a melodramatic presentation that saps any 'gravitas' from the admittedly already poor presentation. And that is why when I see this game and read about it I'm left questioning the developer's sanity. It is not that Cavia, the developer, hasn't had issues making decent games before too. In the west, they likely best known lately for Bullet Witch. That was a terrible game that was poorly made and lazily executed.


I mean what si up with this guys face? No, really who though this Beauty & The Best idea as cool?

The above would be bad enough but despite saying it is an action RPG, the majority of the game takes place from a third-person perspective and plays like standard action games with a similar perspective. That means that in reality this game is completing against Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and God of War in terms of game play. Oh sure, It could go one of two ways: The RPG elements add a tiny amount of spice to the typical action slasher OR the RPG bits bogged down fast game play with menus you must fiddle with between fights.