#oneaday Day 833: Some Further Thoughts on Nier

I haven't yet finished Nier, but I thought I'd take a moment to write a little more about it since I've been playing it quite a bit over the course of the last week or so.

Nier is a game that rewards patience and perseverance. The game's enormous number of completely optional sidequests is testament to this fact. These sidequests tend to fall into one of several categories — gathering materials, killing things or delivering things. There are a couple of outliers (one of which I'll discuss later) but for the most part they are mechanically very simple, and usually simply involve beating up a bunch of monsters or running from one place to another.

In gameplay terms, they're very boring, and this is one of the reasons why Nier received rather mediocre reviews on its original release. But thematically, they are entirely appropriate. Nier himself is known among his peers as "that guy who will do anything" and so is regularly called upon by various villagers to do things for them. Some are respectful and kind about this, others less so.

The key thing about the gruelling experience that is attempting to 100% the sidequests in Nier is that it reflects Nier's own struggles. Life in his world is hard, and everyone has to pull together in order to survive. This sometimes means knuckling down and doing things you don't really want to do, or things that are time-consuming, or things that are expensive. By completing these quests you may not be directly making Nier himself any stronger, but you as the player come to understand his strength of character and his resolve to do the right thing. Couple this with Grimoire Weiss' sarcastic comments about the inane nature of the tasks his companion is asked to complete (which reflects what the player might be feeling about taking on such seemingly meaningless missions) and you have a very clever piece of characterisation and storytelling that would only really be possible in the medium of video games.

Some aspects are just ridiculous, however, the most notorious of this being the farming minigame, where Nier is able to grow various crops outside his house and then harvest them, hopefully for profit. The thing is, these crops grow over the course of a day or so of real time, meaning that anyone getting serious at farming is going to have to do one of two things: play Nier for weeks at a time, or take the path of least resistance (which I don't know anyone who has played the game that hasn't done) and start messing around with your console's clock. I can't speak for the process on PS3 as I haven't tried it, but on Xbox this is an unnecessarily cumbersome experience that involves quitting the game entirely, turning off the Internet connection (to stop the clock being automatically set), resetting the time and then reloading the game. It works, though, and allows for a considerable amount of harvesting in a very short period of time.

One quest in the game (and a related achievement/trophy) practically requires that you do this. It involves cross-breeding various colours of flowers in order to produce rare breeds. The trouble is, the game doesn't explain how this works anywhere, and debate still seems to rage on the Internet at large as to what is actually necessary in order to perform this task in the most efficient manner possible. In some senses, this could be argued to be another aspect of the game inviting the player into Nier's shoes and tasking them with finding out how this flower cross-breeding works, then applying that knowledge in the game — because it sure as hell isn't going to tell you.

How anyone was expected to do that without a strategy guide to hand is anyone's guess. Still, even when simply following instructions on how to do it (with something along the lines of a 10% chance of success each time) it's strangely satisfying when it does all come together.

I'm about 77% of the way through the sidequests in the game now, meaning that shortly I'll be able to pursue the rest of the game's main plot, which has been both interesting and unconventional for a Japanese game so far. I'll talk more about that when I come to do more of a "review" of the entire experience, however. The game also supposedly encourages repeat playthroughs (minus the sidequests, thankfully) to get to several different endings, but how this actually works I haven't found out yet.

In fact, I've managed to remain completely spoiler-free for the entire game so far, meaning I've been able to appreciate all the game's unexpected and bizarre things as they happen. This has been a big part in why I have come to regard the game so fondly; though the characters, writing and music are all excellent too. Again, though, further thoughts on these when I've actually beaten the whole thing.

For now, I have some white moonflowers to harvest, if you'll excuse me.

#oneaday Day 829: Nier: Some Early Impressions

I've been playing Nier, a game I've been meaning to try for absolutely ages and struggled to find a copy of. As it happens, my local second-hand games emporium had a copy, allowing me to sample its delights. Like many titles I've wanted to try for a while, I've managed to go into the experience with a relative sense of "beginners' mind", allowing me to enjoy it as if it were "new", so to speak. This, I feel, is a key part of the Nier experience, since it continually throws you curveballs as you play, remaining constantly surprising.

At its heart, Nier is a simple action RPG, but to call it that is to do it a gross injustice. The hack-and-slash combat may be a bit simple, but when combined with the variety of bizarre magical attacks Our Hero gains the capability to perform over the course of his adventure, the gameplay is shaken up regularly enough to keep you questioning exactly what sort of game it is that you're really playing.

So far I've experienced open-world "run around and kill shit to get their stuff" gameplay; lots of "fetch quests"; side-on platforming sections; top-down Zelda-style sections; fishing; "bullet hell" shooter sections… and I have little doubt that the game has further surprises along the way.

Nier subscribes to the "less is more" viewpoint by taking place in a relatively limited geographical area. Within these relatively few zones, however, lots of things happen. Locals have their own little questline stories to follow, many of which end in surprisingly bleak tragedy. Some people drop a few hints about Nier's curious far-future setting. It's quite a believable world at times, and your attachment to it as a player grows as Our Hero tries his very best to Do Good.

One of my favourite things about the game so far has been the stark contrast between the random errands you find yourself doing for locals and the more intense, "main story" stuff which tends to culminate in ridiculously over the top boss fights. For the best part of 10 hours, for example, I barely gained any experience points whatsoever, instead choosing to pursue quests. In the process I acquired plenty of items and money, but most importantly I learned a great deal about the world of Nier and its characters. It's a vaguely similar approach to what The Last Story does with its completely optional, often seemingly reward-free sidequests on Lazulis Island. By immersing yourself in the lives of the characters going about their day to day life, their struggles carry greater meaning when things start to get a bit crazy.

The writing is worthy of note, too. Early in the game, Our Hero acquires a sentient magical book known as Grimoire Weiss, and there are some extremely well-scripted sequences between the two of them prompted by all sorts of things — starting a new quest, going fishing, coming across a new location. The very British-seeming sarcasm of Weiss is juxtaposed beautifully with Our Hero's stoic determination — but Nier himself isn't above the odd sarcastic comment. "Try not to get crushed!" yells Weiss during an intense boss battle that carries the risk of being crushed. "That's good advice, thanks," spits Our Hero sarcastically as he rolls to escape the aforementioned fate.

I'm given to understand that there are numerous endings to the game requiring several playthroughs to fully appreciate, so I'm going to reserve full judgement and further comment on the game until I've done exactly that. I will say, however, that I am having a blast with it so far, and am even enjoying running back and forth doing errands for the people of Nier's world.

Expect further bulletins as events warrant!

#oneaday Day 762: So, Should You Play Final Fantasy XIII-2?

I've been playing Final Fantasy XIII-2 for most of today and am almost at the end. I have reached the final boss, in fact, though haven't beaten it as yet.

You are doubtless wondering whether or not it is worth playing this game, as you may have heard mixed reviews from around the Internet. I therefore present a list of bullet points which you may wish to take into consideration when deciding whether or not you actually want to pick up a copy and try it for yourself. I am going to present each point as neutrally as possible, as some people may react strongly one way or the other to each factor, and those reactions may not coincide with my own feelings!

I'm assuming at least passing familiarity with Final Fantasy XIII here.

The main story can be completed in approximately 25-30 hours, making it significantly shorter than a lot of other RPGs in this generation.
Following completion of the main story, there is a veritable shitload of stuff to do. Progress in the game is measured through your collection of 160 fragments. At my current point (final boss) I have 62. There is plenty more I can go back and do after the credits have rolled.
The main story is somewhat confusing, and all the more so thanks to its non-linear structure. The antagonist's motivations are not made entirely clear until the very end of the game.
You play the same two characters all the way through the game. Neither of them have particularly "personal" stories to follow, though there is an underdeveloped narrative thread regarding Noel's memories.
There is a squeaky-voiced companion character present throughout the entire game. It is a Moogle, true in every way to past incarnations in the series, right down to ending almost every sentence with "kupo".
Final Fantasy XIII's characters all put in at least one guest appearance throughout the course of the game, but only one plays a major role in the story.
When you meet Hope, he is older than he was in Final Fantasy XIII and seems to have got over his "issues".
The time travel mechanic is more of a location menu. There aren't any particularly clever time manipulation puzzles throughout the course of the game, though there are a few sections where you revisit the same areas in different eras.
There are puzzles in certain areas. These take the form of "anomalies" in which you have to complete one of three different types of puzzle — finding a route over a board of tiles which disappear when you step on them while collecting crystals; joining like-coloured crystals with lines to form pictures; and a complex clock-themed puzzle that requires either forward planning or a lot of patience.
The game does not hold your hand as much as Final Fantasy XIII-2. This is most apparent around about 15 hours in when you are given a quest to go and find five items throughout time out of a possible seven, and given only vague clues and a picture to help you locate them. Said items are almost invisible in the field, but the Moogle reacts to them when you are close.
There is a quest system, where certain characters will exchange a Fragment for completing a small task, which usually takes the form of either a fetch or kill quest. There is no means of visually distinguishing questgivers from just people you can normally talk to, though once you have accepted their quest they get a marker above their head and on the map.
Collecting set numbers of fragments rewards you with extra special abilities.
Gameplay has a much stronger focus on exploration and observation than Final Fantasy XIII's straight-line corridors.
The automap is good and tells you how much of an area you have successfully explored. There is a quest late in the game to 100% as many maps as possible. Areas which you visit in different time periods share map completion percentage.
The weapon upgrade system from Final Fantasy XIII is no longer present. Instead, certain new weapons which you purchase require certain components acquired from monsters.
The Crystarium level-up system is a little different to Final Fantasy XIII. Both Serah and Noel do "laps" of a single crystal formation rather than having a longer "map" per role. On a lap, they can distribute their levels across any of their available roles. On completion of a lap, they can either unlock another role, enhance the bonus of one of their existing roles or extend their Active Time Battle bar, allowing them to complete more actions in succession.
After 25 or so hours, I have maxed out 3 of the 6 possible roles for both Noel and Serah. Progress slows with each lap around the Crystarium, requiring more Crystogenesis Points (acquired by defeating monsters and recovering Fragments) for each level gained.
There's a monster collection and training aspect. You can equip up to three monsters at once, each one specialising in a single role. These can then be incorporated into the Paradigm system to create custom party lineups.
Monsters are levelled up by feeding them special items rather than spending CP. When a monster completes a lap of its own Crystarium, it starts requiring rarer and/or more expensive items to level up further.
Monsters can be renamed by choosing from a large list of preset names, and adorned with decorative items found throughout the game.
Content has been withheld for DLC. This is most apparent in the "casino" area, where asking an attendant to explain the card games pops up a window that simply says "reserved for future DLC."
The music is very good and features a mix of both brand new tracks and recognisable ones from Final Fantasy XIII.

So there you go. A series of facts about Final Fantasy XIII-2 which may assist you in the decision of whether or not you want to give it a go. For what it's worth, I've been enjoying it more than I thought I would at the bewildering outset, but it's not the strongest Final Fantasy there's ever been, not by a long shot. It is significantly better than Final Fantasy XIII in most respects, however, so those who disliked that may wish to give this one another chance.

I've got a few days to finish this off, and then a copy of The Last Story is on its way to me. Given that that game is made by many members of the old Final Fantasy team (notably Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu), I am very interested to see what it offers.

#oneaday Day 73: The Late Review - Final Fantasy XIII

[This post contains spoilers.]

Final Fantasy XIII is a game about control in its many forms. What happens if the State or Church has complete control over the populace? What happens if beings beyond our understanding control the resources that determine humanity's survival? How do you challenge a fate which seems to be set in stone?

This theme permeates the entire game, from its visual design through its progression structure to the oft-criticised linearity. The game starts with the Sanctum-endorsed "Purge" sending hundreds of citizens to their death. Lightning and her soon-to-be companions are the ones who step up to challenge this seemingly-inevitable fate, but they don't really have a choice. It's fight or die, and to our heroes, death is not an option. This sets them on their path, and once they're on this path, there's no escaping their destiny: they are going to become Pulse l'Cie and receive their Focus: to destroy Cocoon as Ragnarok.

This inescapable destiny is reflected by the fact that there's no deviation from the path on which you, the player, can move. The first part of the game is completely linear for some time, and this is entirely appropriate for the theme. It reflects several things: the tightly-ordered society that is the Sanctum-dominated Cocoon, and the inevitability of preordained destiny. It's not until much, much later in the game that our heroes come across the verdant green hills of Pulse, a land devoid of human life and thus free of the "control" and corruption which the Sanctum and, by extension, the fal'Cie hold over the heads of the population of Cocoon.

But there's subtler things, too. As our heroes progress along their path, they grow in power. At the start of the game, they don't learn from their experiences. Shortly after they become l'Cie, they have the opportunity to develop themselves in the disciplines in which they're good at. Shortly before they arrive at Pulse, when they make the decision to challenge the unjust fate which appears to lie before them, their options open up. The player is able to develop them down pathways which were formerly closed to them. It's harder work for seemingly relatively little benefit, at least to begin with, but the option is there. The path of least resistance still allows the greatest benefits, but those who are willing to make the effort and invest the time will find it pays off later. And as their l'Cie brands advance, bringing them ever-closer to their inescapable destiny—destroy Cocoon or endure an existence worse than death—ironically, their options open up and their potential for advancement becomes ever stronger.

It transpires throughout the course of the story that the party has, in fact, been manipulated for nefarious ends. The interesting thing about the end section of the game is that it jumps firmly back onto rails, but this time it's rails that the party (and/or the player) has chosen to jump onto and follow to their conclusion. There's nothing stopping the player keeping the party down on Pulse, indulging in sidequests, trying to hunt down elusive treasure and wondering if they'll ever be tough enough to take down one of those enormous Adamantoise creatures. The player makes the choice to return to Cocoon and see the story through to its eventual conclusion. And when the final confrontation ends up causing that which the party had struggled so hard to avoid, it's through strength of will that Fang and Vanille manage to use Ragnarok's power to make a choice. A choice not to destroy Cocoon, but to save it instead. The two worlds are changed forever by their actions. The choices that they made put into motion a chain of events that inextricably tie Pulse and Cocoon together—literally, physically.

Ironically, of course, the ultimate control of Final Fantasy XIII's world is that which the creators hold over the player. The characters make choices for themselves and the player is powerless to do anything about it. The player is just along for the ride. But the lengthy setup, the introduction of the characters and the resolution of all their personal stories by the time the party reaches the relative "freedom" of Pulse—if the player has let themselves become invested in the fates of these diverse characters, if they can let themselves look past these characters' first impressions: that Lightning is an aloof, arrogant arse; that Snow is an idiot; that Hope is a whiny brat; that Vanille is an irritatingly girly girl; that Sazh has a stupid name and never quite seems to understand what's going on; that Fang is all too quick to jump off a metaphorical cliff at the slightest provocation—then they'll be right there with them, rooting for them as they decide the fate of the world.

Final Fantasy XIII isn't for everyone. The mixed critical reception the game got on its initial release is more than enough to make that abundantly apparent. Is it the large tracts of linearity, the characters, the fact it's not Final Fantasy (insert number here) that puts people off? I don't know. But I absolutely loved it. It was a spectacular thrill-ride with characters that despite occasional pretensions of obnoxiousness that they display at the outset, end up being a good, memorable ensemble cast—and seriously, what JRPG cast doesn't have occasional pretensions of obnoxiousness? I found it fun to play and beat it with a sense of satisfaction and closure, not least because of the fact that I know that it's over (until the full-on sequel of course) and won't feel obliged to return because of some piecemeal DLC.

I am half-tempted to go Trophy-hunting and/or finish off the last 24% of sidequests on Pulse that I didn't complete—but if I don't, I still feel like I've had a satisfyingly "complete" experience. And that, in this day and age of games that keep getting extended, extended, extended and thus losing the impact of their original "ending"… that's something to be celebrated.

#oneaday, Day 44: The Late Review - Final Fantasy XII

Since I'm currently going through my backlog of games and beating them one at a time, it seems only fitting that I should write a sort of "review" of each one as I come to their (hopefully inevitable) conclusion. So tonight it's the turn of Final Fantasy XII, one of several "black sheep" of the series thanks to its complete defiance of established series conventions and adoption of a quasi-Western RPG style of gameplay. I will try and avoid as many spoilers in this post as possible.

I will preface this by saying, as always, that I am a total Final Fantasy fanboy. I don't care if they're clichéd, I don't care if big tentacley angel monsters as final bosses are overdone, it's what I expect from a JRPG, and it's what I inevitably get from the Final Fantasy series in particular. Overwrought melodrama, gratuitous and unnecessary love stories and the inevitable destruction of the world that only a plucky band of teenagers (and one guy in his twenties who inevitably gets referred to as "old man" throughout) can prevent? Sign me up. I love it.

So it was something of a surprise that Final Fantasy XII eschews most of these things. The melodrama is kept to a minimum, any romantic subplots are handled with the subtlest of nudges and winks rather than faintly embarrassing scenes accompanied by someone singing and the small ensemble cast is likeable, realistic and "human", typically ridiculous Final Fantasy costumes aside. (Penelo must be really sweaty by the end of the game.)

In fact, for once in a Final Fantasy game, the plot almost takes a back seat to the gameplay. There are large tracts of the game where you're given a lot of freedom—something happens, the party comes to the conclusion that what they really need to do next is travel to something that is inevitably on the complete opposite side of the game world to where they are right now and then it's up to the player how to proceed. They could go straight there using the various means of fast travel. They could walk straight there. Or they could wander off and go and do some of the many, many sidequests, most of which are available throughout the game rather than the usual Final Fantasy trick of saving them all until just before the world really needs to be saved right now please. Granted, you still have the somewhat silly opportunity to go and do all these things while the final confrontation patiently waits for you right in the middle of the map, but you just know that people would bitch and moan if you didn't have the opportunity to do this. It's also worth noting that the amount of time between the "point of no return" and the ending of the game is actually pretty short, so it's not as if you have to go off and do all the sidequests then spend 6 hours battling through the final dungeon. This is a refreshing change.

By far the most refreshing thing about the game is the battle system, though. I waxed lyrical about this back on Day 5, but it's worth mentioning again. The combat system, combining the best bits of a quasi-real-time MMO-style combat system and the "active pause" style of a BioWare RPG whilst keeping it optimised for a console, works astoundingly well, especially once you get the hang of using Gambits. By automating common actions such as curing and buffing, you're not making the game unnecessarily easy, you're making your play more efficient. Are you really getting any more from a game where you're manually selecting to cast "Haste" on your attackers every few turns?

I described the Gambit system as being akin to the "huddle" you have when playing an MMO with a well-organised group. The best way to use it appears to be to give everyone clearly defined roles. For me, this means one tanking attacker, one who solely focused on healing HP and status effects and a third who focused on buffing the tanking attacker with Protect, Shell, Regen and Haste. All of them got stuck in hitting things with sticks and hammers when they didn't have anything else to do, but this setup worked extremely well and saw me through most of the game. Any mishaps could be quickly dealt with by popping up the menu and dealing with them manually. And in boss battles where circumstances suddenly shifted, such as them suddenly becoming immune to physical attacks? Well, that was just a case of popping open the main menu and adjusting the attacking Gambits to use Magicks instead.

It's a great-looking game for a PS2 game, too. Sure, there's rough edges when playing on an HDTV, but it's clear to see this is a well-crafted, well-designed world with distinctive-looking characters. The animations in cutscenes are excellent, too, with some high-quality facial animations doing a great deal to help forget the laughing scene in Final Fantasy X. One tiny bugbear with the graphics is that all the FMV sequences are in 4:3 while the game itself happily runs in 16:9 but this is a minor issue, as the vast majority of story sequences are rendered in-engine.

The sound is probably the weakest bit of the game. The voices are heavily, heavily compressed, though the acting itself is generally very good. The music is unmemorable, however, which is quite unusual for a Final Fantasy game. It has character, and sounds like Final Fantasy Tactics (which is understandable, given their common setting) but there's nothing anywhere near as iconic as One Winged Angel on display here, which is a shame. There's also a couple of areas that repeat music from earlier in the game, too, which seems a little lazy, given that the vast majority of areas have unique music. It's hardly a deal-breaker, though.

Final Fantasy XII is often described as the FF for people who don't like FF. And it's absolutely true—the crushing linearity of earlier entries in the series is nowhere to be seen (although the main plot is firmly on rails, you're free to wander off and do your own thing at any time right up until the finale) and there's very little need to "grind" by running around in circles waiting for random battles to happen. In fact, it's possible to "grind" without noticing simply by travelling from one place to another—the numerous long-distance journeys that the plot tasks you with seem to set you up to take advantage of this fact.

At the same time, these elements may put some people off. Some people enjoy the tight focus that a strictly linear plot gives, and indeed in FFXII it's very easy to lose track of what happened in the story when your last cutscene was eight hours ago. The plot picks up pace towards the end, though, and you find yourself wanting to press forward and see things through to their conclusion. How quickly you choose to do so is entirely up to you—so if you're a fan of a tight plot, you could probably romp through fairly quickly. If you're a completionist, though, there's plenty to keep you occupied here. I beat the game after 98 hours with barely half of the sidequests completed. Then there's secret weapons to find, a boss with 35 million HP to take down, secret Summons, optional areas to explore and doubtless many other things besides.

So in summary then, I was very, very impressed with the whole game. As a Final Fantasy fanboy, I enjoyed the fact that it still felt like a Final Fantasy game whilst playing very differently to the more "traditional" entries in the series. And as a fan of good games? Well, this is very much a Good Game.

The only thing that makes me a little sad is how few people will probably be inclined to play it these days. With the lack of backward-compatibility on new PS3s, playing it will either involve tracking down a PS2 or using an emulator. It's wholly worth it, though, as it is without doubt one of the best RPGs I've had the pleasure to play for a long time, and certainly one of the finest entries in the Final Fantasy series. A pity we probably won't see its like from Squeenix again.