Nier -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNu2iGk4TLIThat is all.
Okay, maybe not.
(NOTE: Playing on Hard mode, supposedly Normal mode is a lot easier.)
So I start out controlling a UOM (Note: May or may not be O, I dunno, he kinda looks O though) and killing shit and then I get a book and then I get magic and shit and then kill some more dudes for awhile and level up 16 times and then BOSS and then I do all this dodging and shit while hitting it with magic and then I knock it down and then I have to attack it to deplete its second lifebar for a limited time but fail because I couldn't do enough damage so I had to knock it down again and repeat until I kill it and then I level up 13 more times and then PROLOGUE END.
Real game starts and I still control UOM (yay!) but I lose levels (not yay) and have to go out of time to kill sheep for someone and then I go up to sheep and try to attack--LOL HAMEDO HEADBUTT and I go flying into the wall. I go behind and LOL HAMEDO FOOT KICK and go flying again. Sheeps don't fuck around. I have to attack them from the side to win. Oh and there's also goats that randomly headbutt you.
So I kill sheeps and finish that quest and then another one that didn't have uber sheep so it's not important and then have to go to this temple place. I go through dungeon which takes awhile because I backtracked to see if there was more shinies (there weren't any). Enemies in there were pretty tough and took awhile to beat (probably due to hard mode). Anyway, at certain parts in the dungeon the game changes from normal 3-D ARPG style to top-down Zelda style gameplay for some reason. Eventually I get to the bosses and get my magic back. Two statue things that like to charge at you, though one of them stops doing anything at all soon after the fight starts (and immunes damage too). After killing the first one (having go through that second lifebar thing like before), the second one gets back up, summons some little annoying support guys, and starts shooting bullets at you like it's some kind of danmaku game. It's kind of tough at first since the support likes to get in your way and/or attack you but after getting rid of them it's pretty straightforward, but still long. Anyway, kill boss, go back home.
And then once I get back home, I now get to do a lot of optional quests, some of which are easy (go put books on shelves!!), while some of them actually take some effort. I go buy a new sword while I'm at it because why not. Anyway, back to the first field area with the sheeps. Now there's a big boar walking around that needs to be killed for one of the quests. Yeah, sure, no big deal. I jump on rock and start blasting it with magic so it can't hit me. Except it somehow goes around and finds a way to get up the rock and charges into me for a OHKO.
Fuck ow.
Time to try that again. Go back onto plain, boar is in different place. First I find another rock that's taller and safer and remember where it is. Then go look for boar. Boar is pretty far away from rock, so I hit it with magic and then run like hell towards rock. Boar chases me. And then charges me. At like twice the speed as my running. I didn't notice until too late and got raped while trying to dodge.
ffffffffff
I'll get that boar later.
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So anyway, a few impressions. I'm not really all that far in, so any opinions I have here could change easily. The game's pretty much an ARPG, though it seems to try and mix elements from different genres in. Like top-down old school Zelda style gameplay and bosses shooting danmaku at you. So far, it's mostly just kind of novel rather than anything impressive.
Gameplay's not too complicated. You got your basic attack combo (up to five hits) and you can charge up your attack for an area wide attack that can knock things down (I wish I figured out how good that was earlier, since it helped in the dungeon once I did). Different weapons have slightly different attacks, though nothing huge so far. After a certain point you get magic attacks as well, which use MP. MP regenerates really fast, so spamming magic is really viable. So far I have two spells. One that shoots bullets repeatedly which also charges up for a homing bullet attack (charging still shoots normal bullets too). Seems like a primitive PC danmaku attack, really. Weird thing is that the aim of the bullets depends on
camera facing rather than the PC's facing. Kind of hard to get used to. The other one is a piercing lance attack that does much more damage, but requires some charging up. You have to aim while charging it up, but time slows down while this happens, so it's not too difficult to use. It can also knock things down too, I think.
Voice acting's pretty great so far. Grimoire Weiss's (the book you get to use magic) voice fits perfectly, as does the PC's to a lesser extent. I haven't seen many other major characters yet, though. Music's really good, too. The town theme is pretty amazing, though the vocals only kick in while near the person singing. Neat touch but pretty annoying since you don't spend much time near her. First field music is good too.
Writing kind of switches between bland and actually good. Most of the voiced lines are good, but the non-voiced lines don't seem to have much effort put into them. Kind of like if you just got a direct translation with no spice. After getting Weiss, there are some chats between the PC and Weiss while running around, which are amusing. Story seems okay so far, but I don't expect much anyway. Basically, PC's daughter is sick and you have to go figure out how to cure the disease. Don't know much more outside of that yet.
Overall, I'm liking it so far, but like I said, I'm not far in. The game could easily get boring in a few hours. Especially since it's an ARPG and those are more prone to "samey" syndrome. But we'll see.
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And that's my long post for the year. Don't expect another one until 2011.
