Nier Replicant is the superior version of NieR to me because it is the version that remains true to the creators artistic vision and is the version the creator he himself considers the true version of NieR. Some one may prefer Nier Gestalt over Replicant, either because you find the father/daughter relationship more appealing to you and something more relateable to your life experieince, but the fact of the matter is that it is not the version the game he wanted to make, nor is it the story he wanted to tell - it's a version that came as a result of creative limitations imposed on him by the higher ups.
The outcome of Nier replicant is a result of pandering to a specific audiences tastes and creating a character the mainstream could more identify themselves with in Nier. It probably "worked well" for you, but then you have to wonder what they had to remove from both versions of NieR to make it "work well". I don't want developers to make games for me or anyone else, I want them to tell the story they want to tell, and make the game they want to make, with as less creative restrictions as possible.
I prefer the brother sister/angle of NieR because I think it worked much better with the world they created in NieR. A very bleak and depressing setting with life near extinction. And you have these 2 defenseless orphan characters attempting to survive in NieR's world. The main character is about to lose the only family he has left leaving him alone. I can't find myself to care anywhere near as much for Old Man Nier than I did for Young Nier as one look at him shows he could just rip off the head of any shade with his pinky. I never felt their was ever any great threat to Old Man Nier besides
, unlike Young Nier where the entire game felt like the odds were stacked against him and Yonah.
Too many scenes with Old Man Nier came off as bizarre like the monster destroying the city and being locked away because Nier couldn't kill him, 5 years later he can finally kill him even though nothing about him has really changed at all (besides an eye patch). Compare that with Young Nier fighting him as a boy and losing, then fighting him a 2nd time as a man and winning. Makes more sense.