Oh It is *something* alright
I really hope you enjoy it.
Yeah. It also stays very true to the characters and their personalities through out the story, while making sure that they don't become annoyingly repetitive in who they are what are their desires.
I don't know if Taro did all the writings himself or if he had help, but either way, I hope we get the same writing team to do dialogues for Nier Automata.
Oh man, you weren't kidding lol, that boss is beyond words.
Tried for a while but I loved this game (and that song) way too much to frustrate myself into hate because of dumb game design, so just said eff it and watched the ending on youtube. This BS has to be seen to be believed, I'm honestly shocked anyone okayed this.
The saddest part is that the boss itself and the setup is actually pretty damn epic, such a shame they had to ruin the gameplay portion like this. Just watching the sequence on YT, it is one of the more memorable set piece bosses out there from a story and visual standpoint imo.
That aside, a lot of smart and super convenient decisions going on with the mission design, Bayonetta and DMC could learn a lot from this.
You know how we all wanted Bayonetta to have verse select within chapters (so we could skip those dumbass mini games)? This has that, all checkpoints are separated conveniently on the chapter select. This makes replaying specific sections or going back to get collectables super convenient. Not only is there an indicator for the chests you have found in a level but they even give you an approximate idea of where you might have missed one (beginning, middle or end of a level, so just pick a checkpoint close to that).
Bosses have also been separated into their own verses, so no need for a boss rush mode.
I'd love it if DMC stole the idea of sidequests from this. All accessible from the menu and all combat focused. They also have a section with basically bloody palace missions. You know how we wished DMC4SE would let us select floors so we could skip the lame stuff? Drakengard 3 separates them into separate quests with certain numbers of floors (7, 8, 9 etc.) to them with very different enemy types and difficulty, instead of sticking everything into one chunk of 100 floors that you have to get through from start to finish.
There is a grinding component for money to get to the final portion of the story, but convenience strikes again and they actually built in a grinding feature into the game's sidequests. You can get a lot of money in no time.
I was really surprised at how well the combat was handled, it may not have had the budget of DMC/Bayo but it's definitely character action game level stuff. The flow is very solid with four distinct weapon types that all have their uses and distinct feel. Can't remember the last time I enjoyed using a spear in a game this much. Felt so damn good running at full speed with it through a bridge filled with other spear men running at you, with shield bearing soldiers behind them and horseman and you just cut through all that. Yeah, that looks as cool as it sounds.
Lots of enemy types and even different behaviors between similar looking enemies. Enemy attacks have proper wind up animations and tells as well.
In terms of level design I always wondered what DMC and Bayo would be like without all the dumb platforming, puzzles and gimmicks in their level design, just straight action. Drakengard 3 has done pretty much that and it is excellent, most of your time is basically spent enjoying the core combat thanks to this.
Loved the game overall. The story, music and gameplay were fantastic. The characters were very memorable, especially Zero and her crew. Really high hopes for Nier 2.
