Grimoire Weiss sigma

FIGHISSIMO OMMIO DIOO KAINE HAI ANCHE QUELLO DEL MASCHIO?? POCO IMPORTA SLURP SLRUP

***i have played this game before, but i'm replaying again on steam after being gifted it, just for transparency.***
nier replicant is one of the absolute greatest games of all time. this game genuinely changed my life. i am so soul-bearingly genuine in what i say about this game, it means everything to me. the story hits every time, keiichi okabe's music still brings me to tears after all these years since i played OG 2010 nier, the characters still make me feel something, nier replicant v1.22.. is a masterpiece. automata is good, but replicant is on another level.
that being said, it can be grindy and stuff if you do all the side content/want to get all the achievements(especially cultivating a lunar tear, auugh), but if you just straight shoot for the story it isn't so bad. this series, including drakenier, emphasizes a lot of exercises in futility/nihilism/such cases, so. yes. it's kinda meant to be painful at times. i am on the drakenier "it's bad on purpose!" cope train, sure, but it makes sense if you don't think about it.
anyway 11/10 game, half of my personality is drakenier, please play it.

Absolutely heartbreaking almost constantly, incredible experience

Incredible story and characters. Good gameplay.
It takes some time until the game starts to get really good.
And about the side quests: In terms of gameplay, i didn't liked any of them. But in terms of story, some are good, others are not.

I played this game almost through its entirety and saw all the five endings this game had to offer.

Positives:
-> Music, stellar in every way (even better than Automata imo but it was a tough call)
-> World building and lore (loading screens had journal entries, ancient world documents, etc)
-> Environmental story telling (and by extension some side quests that had stories in them)
-> Fluid and fast character movement (not insanely fast like in Automata, characters are still "human")
-> Satisfactory combat mechanics (nothing complex as DMC, nor is it too simple)
-> Voice actors went full out on this game, all the characters felt alive. Almost every single dialogue in this game is voiced.
-> ** (can be a subjective take rather than an objective one) Graphics and overall art style. Even though the game doesn't look next gen, the game holds up well and definitely gets the visual tone of 7th generation console games. Pretty nostalgic.
-> Very unique story ending mechanic in this franchise, few games get this deep into 4th wall breaking.
-> Variety in gameplay. 90% of the time you will be playing an action game but sometimes you end up playing quizzes/word puzzles, fishing, side scrolling platformer, bullet hell sequences, etc. It's a nice change of pace.

Negatives:
-> Main story. Without spoiling anything the game's plot just sort of happens where the biggest calamities would've been avoided if characters on both sides (and those in between supporting both factions) had a normal interaction. But alas Yoko Taro thought it'd be genius to have these forced scenarios where the two sides will always be at odds.
-> Characters seemed too selfish and focused on the immediate future, never thinking twice on what they do. Adult Nier makes Caim from Drakengard 1 look like a hero in comparison and that says a lot. Literally none of the protagonists in this game are redeemable because of what they end up doing. I couldn't care less for anyone in the game, the antagonists seemed more relatable (even though they too were poorly written with their lackluster motivation and unnecessarily "cartoonishly evil" vibes).
-> Pacing in this game is one of, if not, the WORST I have ever seen in a video game. Its literally a chorefest of a game, you run back and forth one town to another across the entire map multiple times for the most mundane fetch quests.
-> Very few number of narratively rewarding side quests, most side quests are "delivered x number of items here" or "go find this person".
-> Replaying the second half of the game at least 3 times to get all endings. This is a blatant example of artificially increasing the play time of this game. Worst is that you cant skip through all the cutscenes in the game. The game gets too tiring to finish.
-> No proper enemy design (very little enemy variety as well), nor any good boss design. I don't expect souls like bosses in these games but I sure don't expect literally punching bags for enemies that have only 2 attacks in their moveset.
-> Very bad difficulty scaling even on normal. Enemies are literal bullet sponges, it takes ages to kill a single small enemy. This does get remedied by the time you replay through the campaign for the other endings but again it takes a long time to get there.

Do I recommend this game? Unless you really REALLY like Yoko Taro and his work, I'd say pass this time waster up and play more rewarding games. I personally didn't see anything remotely "masterpiece" material in this game. 5.5/10.

This ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game is so stupid. Firstly the the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ backtracking is insane and by the time I unlocked the "fast travel" option, I was so late into the game, any sense of exploration was already diminished. And i have patience I've finished Zelda SS 4 times and played through all the ending in Automata and beat hath of death stranding. Speaking of the ending, it was ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and you gotta beat the game 4 more times to get the whole story. Absolute cinema. The charecters are all ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ silly the main guy is such a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ loser, Hero complex looking ass. The kid is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boohoo cry baby, I make people turn to stone and now I'm ugly and gay, what a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥. The chick, hly ♥♥♥♥ that ♥♥♥♥♥ is such a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥ looking ass, I could not take her seriously walking around looking like that, had to download the dlc that at least puts some clothes on her.
The reading sections are all so uninspired and lazy. When you beat the game, you get a pop up that says, that now you'll experience Kaine's story. I thought oh cool we'll ill at least I'll get to play as her, with all her moves, magic and what not. ♥♥♥♥♥ no. You play as the main guy all over again. But this time the shades..... they have feelings? 😲😲😲😲😲😲😲 I'll be buying one million copies thank you. One piece ass game

automata is better

Incredible game, I absolutely love the story and soundtrack, get ready for a lot of gut punches.
I have to say I was not expecting the twists it had in store for me, I'll just say you're playing a completely different game than what you're thinking during your first playthrough.
As pretty much everyone else said it does get repetitive, considering you have to play the 2nd half of the game 4 times in order to see the actual ending of the game, but every time you do so new cutscenes and information are added, broadening your perspective of the world and what you're really doing in it. The story is definitely worth it, I cannot recommend it enough.
This version in contrast to the original Nier also has a new story arc and a new true ending, adapted from the side materials that connects to the overarching time loop/time branches narrative that Yoko Taro has been developing since Drakengard 3, so it's very important to the overall DrakeNier universe.

music gonna have you like <><><><>^v^v^v^v<><>