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  • Locked thread
Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
I just finished the village boss that attacks the library. That whole sequence was awesome and intense! The game really picks up after a while and never gets too repetitive (unless you're unlucky when grinding for mutton and hides). The part where you enter people's dreams was pretty unexpected and different for a action game, and the mansion was pretty much action RPG "Resident Evil" - they even disabled your ability to dodge so the controls would be as restricted as in RE! (Yeah, I'm convinced it was intentional).

This game is this year's biggest surprise to me.

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Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
Pro-tip - don't read the trophy descriptions. I did :(

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
I'm at 98% quest completion, and the woman who gives you quests doesn't have any left. I have found the secret quest in the desert, and don't have any uncompletable quests in the list. Apparently there are missable secret quests. Now that's loving cruel :saddowns:

Sigh. At least I have managed to gather 600,000 gold and Nier is an unstoppable killing machine at this point.

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 22:39 on May 7, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
The pink ones? Yeah. That's quickly done if you abuse the PS3's system clock.

I've looked it up and apparently there's a quest in Part 1 called The Pride of a Lover given to you by a guy close to the lighthouse in Seafront. You have to talk to him several times before he gives you the quest. So cruel. I don't know if I've missed anything else.

Does the game at least save your quest progress when you replay it?

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 22:48 on May 7, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
Well if I want to complete the missing quest I have to start over from the beginning. I've heard there's a trophy for beating the game in under 15 hours so I suppose there's a way to replay the whole game with your stats intact?

Oh. I just checked and there aren't any trophies for beating all the quests :doh:

So I suppose I'll just load one of my earlier saves and complete that quest - so I at least can tell myself I completed them all. If you already have 98%, you REALLY want to make it the whole way.

It's a really fun game, anyway. It's taken me 39 hours to reach the end (first play through) because of all the side quests, and I'm still not bored.

By the way - I'm trying to cultivate the white flower - does anyone know if I can just reload my save until I get one, or if I have to put in new seeds and wait for them to grow again?

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 23:23 on May 7, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Policenaut posted:

There is a Trophy for that, but you have to do it legit starting from scratch.

Ouch. I think I'll just get all the endings and take a break before I do that. I still haven't finished Resonance of Fate, and those turtles in FFXIII won't kill themselves!

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
Just got the Legendary Gardener trophy. Hell yeah. Now to plant those delicious seeds and sell the white moonflowers for 5K a piece. Nier is on his way to becoming a millionaire! Well, he's earned it.

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
I'm going for ending B and Holy poo poo. When fighting them for the first time, I wondered why the shades in the Gretel fight were so useless, I got teary-eyed when the king of Facade killed the wolf leader because it looked so sad, and I wondered why the hell the swordsmith blamed the robot for the death of his brother when it didn't actually do anything. But I never thought those things were intentional until I started the new game+, and now it's safe to say I haven't felt this bad for killing bosses since Shadow of the Colossus. When the pack leader had his little flashback I just about started bawling right there on the sofa.

This whole game really tugs on your heartstrings. The whole plot about saving your daughter - the wedding scene - Emil's death ( I didn't even LIKE him and I could feel my eyes watering as soon as I understood what he was going to do) - Popola and Devola ("Can't you just...go back to the village?"). Heck, even some of the quests were real downers.


I blame the superb music. That little song with the choir boy and strings is just so god drat sad :(

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 18:13 on May 8, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
What do you guys think is the best location for farming gold ores?

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

UselessLurker posted:

I bet the protagonist seems a LOT less sympathetic and righteous now, eh?

Major spoilers: Well you can't really blame Nier for trying to save his daughter and all the others. It's sad about the neutral/friendly shades, but like Weiss says - the shades/humans and the replicants can't co-exist. Eventually the shades will kill/possess everyone unless someone stops them. But if all shades are killed, the real human species will be extinct :psyduck: This game has not the most uplifting story.

Thankfully the characters are funny and at least somewhat fleshed out so the players can ignore the whole back-story if they want :)

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 00:43 on May 9, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Ddraig posted:

They sent the letter out because they wanted to reintegrate with the world. They wanted to try and live peacefully alongside the replicants, which was somewhat strained when the genocidal madman turned up and insisted that he would kill every shade in existence. The battle was only really started when that one shade snapped and attacked you, and your retaliation pretty much sent the entire village into chaos.

Reading this made me realize just how hosed up the situation in the Aire was. The shade Kaine kills in the cutscene must have murdered the girl and possessed her body, and her brother was fine with it as long as he still had someone to call sister :gonk: One of the unseen NPCs also mention how his wife is "different", so obviously not all villagers were aware of the shades "living peacefully" among them.

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 01:06 on May 9, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

UselessLurker posted:

Or...

Kaine could have just been being the horrible bitch she really is and is just killing the girl because she just is somewhat possessed by a shade. I mean who else is possessed by a shade and yet kept their humanity too? :ssh:

B run spoilers.
Kaine's special since she actually struck a deal with her shade. He let's her be in control as long as she keeps killing things and doesn't try to settle down (which is why she has to reject Nier's offer in ending A). I think the game makes it pretty clear that she's a foulmouthed woman with the her heart in the right place, but with an unfortunate fate, and not a murderous psychopath. She joins Nier in his quest save his daughter without question, saves kids in trouble, is nice to Emil, and doesn't kill anything except shades and animals that attack you :colbert: It'll be interesting to see if they give her a slightly more upbeat ending in C or D (I doubt it)

What strikes me about this game is how nice all the main characters are, in contrast to their appearance and, in one case, foul language.

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 09:38 on May 9, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Notinghamington posted:

What the gently caress, this game has me totally confused. First I have to hate the Shades, now I don't even wanna play anymore because I fear I might burst into tears again. The part with the wolves was so loving depressing, when it got to the reminiscence of the wolf Shade I had to stop myself from crying for fear that my boyfriend was going to laugh at me.

It's OK, you're not the only one :smith:

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Ddraig posted:

When you first meet Weiss He's in an impenetrable barrier, with the two guardians, which has blocked off the "Shadowlord's castle" (which is probably just code for the place where all this stuff will start). I always got the impression that Weiss is the "program" that will initiate the rebirth of the true humans and that Noir is the decryption program. Nier fucks up the system somewhat by destroying the barrier by physical means and Weiss knows virtually gently caress all. It's only when he meets up with Noir that Weiss starts understanding what's going on.

If Nier never got involved I imagine that Noir would get to Weiss, explain what's happening, and the process would go smoothly. Nier's presence threw that off kilter. To make an incredibly lovely analogy, Nier is this world's Neo and managed to infect the Matrix



This is pretty much how I saw it too. But I still have no clue what the "Black Scrawl" or White Chlorination are supposed to be. I haven't watched C or D yet, though, so I suppose there might be an explanation later on, even if I'm not holding my breath.

I'm stuck farming crap for my weapons now. I know what I have to do to see the last ending, but I'm NOT giving up on my Platinum trophy! I haven't tried it myself yet, but can't you copy the savefiles to a memory stick? I know some games don't allow it but it can't hurt to try. Not counting the endings and the final fight and the 15 hour playthrough, this is all I have left to do. Too bad they just had to spoil the game somewhat by making farming so god drat time-consuming. Now I wish I hadn't wasted all that material doing all the quests...

Especially the Florite, Large Gear, and Memory alloys are testing my patience :(
But after finding all the Eagle Eggs nothing else is going to make me stop farming!

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 15:58 on May 9, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
I just went up and down the Lost Shrine (3d playthrough with all keys) ten times and not a single earring, watch or forlorn necklace :smith:

I have 14 weapons fully upgraded and I'm NOT giving up now. Why do you hate me, Cavia? :smith:

Still love the game, though. I'd never put myself through this bullshit if I didn't.

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 20:16 on May 9, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Policenaut posted:

Square-Enix Europe let the cat out of the bag about the new Nier DLC, which comes out in Europe on May 12th (and hopefully around the rest of the world.

It's called The World of Recycled Vessel, based on Nier's late wife who was infected too with Black Scrawl. Nier and Weiss apparently travel through time in 15 different fights in what appears to be a boss rush (as mentioned in the Brady Games guide) and for those who win they'll receive three new weapons and two bonus costume sets for Nier, Emil, and Kaine. This DLC also features a bonus quest where you can apparently fight sheep (good for those who need "The Sheep Whisperer" trophy) and :swoon: new music :swoon:

Now please enjoy this picture of Emil.


This is going to be awesome. Looks like Emil found a pair of legs at least :unsmith: Are there any EU Nier fans who wants a share group for the PS3 DLC? I just hope I haven't smashed my PS3 until then. Those god-drat watches and dark pearls :cry:

I have a question to those who have finished the D ending. If I've understood it correctly you will fight a new boss and your save games will be erased. But there's a trophy for beating the last boss quickly! It's pretty much impossible to get a boss trophy if you want to hear the in-battle dialogue and watch the post-fight cutscene. Do you get the prompt for deleting the files AFTER the fight so you have the opportunity to retry the fight if I didn't get the trophy? I'm going for the Platinum, and I'd be pretty sad if I had to beat the game four times again for a shot at the trophy just because I wanted to see everything...

Sure, it wouldn't be as bad as all the farming, especially if I bought the DLC, but still...

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

UselessLurker posted:

Hidden technique for getting that last trophy:

You fight the boss before C OR D. Do it and pick Ending C. You can reload your save from the last save point and go ahead and get D right afterwards. :v:

I imagine that the Jap version of the DLC has you running around as 'Old Nier' and busting heads for the sake of some loving thing or other.

Alright, thanks! I just need to upgrade my weapons before erasing all my saves. Cavia are the best trolls.

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Policenaut posted:


edit: Also for anyone searching for those god awful annoying Dented Metal Bats and Stopped Clocks, it turns out that in Part 2 the lab beneath Emil's mansion is great for these. You get into the second zone, fight a bunch of little melee Shades then go back into the first zone for a room or two and fight some sword shades for the Stopped Clocks.

Thanks for the tip! We farmers need to help each-other! The fortune teller gauntlet is GREAT for farming materials from shades (like Broken wristwatches, bats, saws), and is actually pretty fun to play, but you need to find all keys before she (and/or her quest) shows up. The roof of the Lost shrine is great for broken earrings

By the way - can you use the books (school book, used coloring book etc.) you find on shades for something or are they just there to drive home the fact that you're slaughtering kids in the thousands?

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 22:21 on May 10, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Cyrai posted:

Also, I like how all the shades in the Notrthern Plains have a parent to make sure the kids don't get lost when they're out for their walk

Haha. I never though of that!

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
I'm almost done with the weapon upgrades now. The only thing left I really dread collecting are the Black Pearls (12 left) and Flourite (11).

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
^^^^ Nope.

The DLC is way to short. I'm level 46 and annihilated everything easily (on Normal) except the final boss in no time at all. You don't really get any character or story development either. Only get this if you want the remixed music (pretty cool) and character skins (pretty bad).

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 20:41 on May 13, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
Just got ending C. I've spent too much time farming poo poo like forlorn necklaces and am honestly a bit tired of the game, so the ending didn't really resonate with me until the camera cut to the Moonflower Nier gave to Kaine. That part made me pretty :smith:

By the way, regarding ending A:Does anything special happen if you enter the wrong name (the one Youna loves most) or does the game just tell you to try again? Or is it just a fade to black and Game Over? Is it worth trying out? And does anyone have any tips for farming forlorn necklaces? I've spent HOURS killing shamans on top of the Lost Shrine (with +30 item drops) and gotten a grand total of one (1) of the things. I need two more :(

Edit: Holy poo poo, just one more.
Another edit: I got the last two in the span of ten minutes. I can't believe it. drat you, probability!

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 19:54 on May 14, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Alter Ego posted:

As someone who's actually done it, I can tell you that absolutely nothing happens. The game goes "Wrong, stupid! Try again!" and gives you the entry box again.

Haha OK, I thought so. It would have been funny if they'd given you a "bad" ending, though.

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Heroic Yoshimitsu posted:

Just picked this game up a couple of days ago, and wow. I heard good things about this game, but it's even better than what I thought it was going to be. The story and characters are some of the best from any jrpg, and combat is fun for the most part. I think this may be my favorite jrpg of this generation, which I guess isn't saying since I played maybe 3 of them.

But I think I am closing in on the end of the game. I just found all 5 keystone pieces and am supposed to go to the Shadowlord's lair. Will following that take me to the end of the game, or is there still more after that?

It's at the end of the game, but there are four different endings, and a surprise or two when you play a New Game+.

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
I just upgraded the DLC weapon Fool's Lament to lvl 4, raising its attack power to 999. It's just as insane as it sounds.

I personally like the idea of trophies, but for some reason some developers think of it as an excuse to triple the game's length but with no in-game rewards, which is insane. The only games I have Platinum on required at least some skill, while not going overboard on crap collecting, like the Uncharted games and Bayonetta. I just upgraded the 30 weapons in this game, and this required no skill at all, just patience, a gently caress-load of free time, and luck. It was also no fun at all and didn't actually give me any in-game benefits since you really only need to upgrade 2-3 weapons to be unstoppable. The rest of the trophies I have left should be pretty fun to complete though, like the speed-run trophy.

The weapons upgrade crap taught me a lesson, though. I'm never going to consciously try to complete all the trophies in a game, ever again. So this game has saved me from completing the crazy time-sink that is FFXIII's achievements. Thank you, Cavia.

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 13:58 on May 16, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
I guess I just enjoyed this game more than FFXIII, then :shrug:

Edit:
Haha I decided to try the DLC maps on hard before getting ending D, and it's HARD, at least when you compare it to the rest of the game.

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 14:56 on May 16, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
There's some french thrown in for good measure, too.

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
Ending D. Making you watch the game erase everything in your grimoire one page at a time was a nice touch. I've never seen a more apparent "gently caress You" in a game. Watching 70+ hours of gameplay disappear felt kind of bitter-sweet, but at least the game leaves a piece of evidence that Nier actually existed (the Moonflower at the title screen). And you can't complain that the game erases your saves without warning, at least :)

About Kainé: Does the game at any point tell the player what happened when her parents (not her grandmother) died, and why she she became an outcast in the village as a result? Every thread I've read through says she became possessed by a shade and became a hermaphrodite :psyduck: but I can't remember anything even remotely like this from playing the game. The text-part in NG+ says that she became part-possessed by Tyrann (who decided to take residence inside her heart) when her grandmother was killed, but that has nothing to do why she was bullied. Was he already inside her at that point but couldn't take control until she was injured? Am I missing something, or is it Japanese story-telling that strikes again?

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 18:23 on May 16, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Ddraig posted:

I figured that the whole "Kaine is a hermaphrodite" thing was just Kotaku-style misrepresentation of the idea of her being possessed. I guess they somehow think that having a male spirit possess a female body is somehow equivalent of her being a dude.

I always took the idea that she was an outcast to be the fact that she was incredibly tomboyish and not at all like the other girls that you see throughout the world. That's why her and her grandmother got along so well, as they were both outcasts in that regard..

I suppose the whole hermaprodite thing really was just bullshit. But I'm not sure about your theory. The "novel" says something about her parents getting killed. OK, I have a theory. Back when Kaine was a kid they weren't used to Shade attacks, so when her parents were killed by shades this was a shock to the whole village. Kaine survived the attack, but everyone branded her as a bad omen - they focused their hate for shades by bullying the little girl who had "brought" the shades to the village. She even started blaming herself until her grandmother knocked some sense into her. So she was a victim of the mentality of a small secluded village and superstition. Like she says several times - the place is a shithole. This would make the village's fate in part two deliciously ironic. I can't stand abandoned plot threads so it's fun theorizing a bit.

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

ImpAtom posted:

No, there's an indication in the game that it wasn't. Kaine mentions something about her body being "strange" even before the Shade thing happens.

Ugh. Forgot about that. It's a mystery I suppose.

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

THE AWESOME GHOST posted:

Ok I think I figured out what New Game + is gonna reveal and now I'm kinda bummed out because I think (speculation haven't beaten it yet) I heard a small shade tell me it loves me

When did that happen?

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

ImpAtom posted:

Edit: Wired also has an interview on the subject http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/03/nier-interview/

Thanks for the link! The Japanese sure love making important character information as ambiguous and unclear as possible in-game (see every JRPG ever).

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Spite posted:

No, I still think it doesn't make sense. They clearly care for Nier, up until they suddenly don't. It doesn't make sense for them to help Nier at all - they should just deliver his and Yonah's bodies to 'real' Nier and be done with it. Why get the keys? Why have you do quests? Why lead you right to the Shadowlord's door just to show up there and say "Umm, wait, I know we sent you here, but you should turn around." It's lazy - their motivation makes no sense outside of "We need someone to give the player quests, and we want a plot twist."
I get that they are helping the real Nier, but that's not a good enough explanation.

I'd have to read the Gestalt docs again, but doesn't it say the two of them aren't Shades or Shells, but robots?


I figured they helped Nier out for two reasons: 1) They needed someone to weed out the "defective" insane gestalts. 2)They actually did care about him and Yonah (heck, they were the ones who took care of Yonah while Nier was gone on jobs). Sure, they had their mission, but they had apparently grown "human" enough to care for someone (which is why they have actual feelings and are able to cry and all that). Like they say when you fight them - they wanted to "put off" having to return Nier's body to its rightful owner, since they had grown fond of him.

When Nier starts looking for the key pieces they probably realized he was starting to get too close but it was too late for them to start holding him back. He would've found the pieces eventually with or without their help and they didn't want to confront him and risk blowing their cover. When Nier and Co finally reaches the castle they basically go "Screw it" and make a last-ditch effort to convince Nier to head back, even if there was no chance of that happening.

When Nier refuses they have no choice but to confront the party. Why they just leave after the first fight, I don't know. Anyway with the cat out of the bag they could more easily follow their mission/programming. Most of their "evil" and sarcastic lines are directed at Weiss and not Nier, anyway. There
was no way for this story to end happily for the twins - they were just putting off the inevitable.


Crowbear posted:

Is there a list somewhere of the materials needed to upgrade each weapon?

This one is pretty good. http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?p=3057551
Just replace "broken egg" with "broken earring".

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 23:46 on May 16, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Policenaut posted:

fake edit: damnit I was writing up a big thing but Renoistic basically detailed it in less words before I could.

Popola and Devola, in a nutshell, is Duty vs. Desire.

Sorry :(

Living with a bunch of people while secretly herding them until the day they are going to be killed/possessed must really suck.

Renoistic fucked around with this message at 00:13 on May 17, 2010

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Xythar posted:


Someone should do a gif of unsmith fading away into nothingness. :endingd:

By the way, I made a clear recording of what Emil says after the second battle with you-know-who so we can lay this thing to rest once and for all. Obviously don't listen to this unless you've at least gotten to ending A. Sorry for the file format, blame Apple :colbert:

http://www.notesmash.org/dropbox/emil-spoilers.m4a

As you can see, although the subtitles show whatever name you entered for yourself (e.g. Nier), he says "Kaine". I have no idea if it's just a script error or intentional :psyduck:


Thanks for the effort! That's pretty weird alright...

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
I was pretty disappointed because Kaine and Weiss didn't get to insult each-other one last time after the final battle :(

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
Haha I'm checking this after work, but usually the textures are too blurry close up. Guess I'll try the same location. Oh you, Cavia.

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

TheOriginalEd posted:

I care about quest completion. Should I start over? am just after that part.

Or if I start over again after doing everything else with a new save will doing those quests in a new game contribute to the total? Sigh it would suck to miss out on like 3% because I got caught up in the story...

There are some missions you can't get from Devola, so watch out...

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Heroic Yoshimitsu posted:

Do the +% Item Drop words increase the chance of rare drops, or just increase the chance that any item will drop?

Just the chance that an item will drop, I think.

Something hit me yesterday. This game is what Brutal Legend should have been. It has brutal monster slaying, giant axes, enormous bulls to ride, and a dynamic soundtrack. Just change the characters and story/dialogue/music, add a couple of monsters and bikes to ride, let Dio and Ozzie give you quests to fight monsters from hell and you're good. I would buy that game.

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Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
I got my Platinum just this minute! I loved the game and don't regret getting all the items. However I REALLY can't recommend going for Platinum unless you're truly determined. My save before getting ending D had almost 80 hours worth of play-time, and that's not counting all the reloads I had to do. It's almost funny how I afterwards blazed through the game in 7 hours.

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