What was the Japanese reception to Nier crossover?

[linayar]

That's why I agree the Nier story was disjointed and disconnected.

It's not a Nier story, though. It's a FFXIV story borne out of a collaboration with Nier creators. The story of Yorha is canon to FFXIV unless otherwise stated, not canon to Nier, unless otherwise stated.

[MorionQ]

Frequently the Nier raids get called out for not really being connected to FF14 lore, which I can certainly understand and agree with. But what I find funny is that, outside of the Nier raids, it feels to me like most of the other side content we've received in ShB had been notably more lore connected than similar bits of extra content were in the past. Things like Bozja with Castrum and Delubrum, the Ishgard Restoration, the Eden trials, Sorrow of Werlyt series, etc. are all very hooked into the world and lore. So, intentionally or otherwise, we may have exchanged directly lore connected 24 man raid content for a bunch of directly lore connected other stuff.. yet everyone just loves to call out the Nier raids without acknowledging the rest.

My response to that quirk is that side content being lore filled is not new, but ShB had the unique situation of the vast majority of it taking place on an entirely different planet that needed lots of explanation and that it had a few new writers that clearly have great chops.

I watched a few videos of players finishing the raids and noticed the diametrically different reactions players who had played past Nier/Drakkengard titles had verses those that hadn’t, and I posit a theory. These raids were made by Yoko Taro as a giant love letter for his fans specifically, not to bring in new people into Nier. Taro’s uncompromising aesthetic and design philosophy forced into a wildly different game just feels like a mostly failed experiment.

Let’s not forget the complaints about how physically difficult and potentially dangerous Paradigm is to play due to the myriad aesthetic choices.

[Saefinn]

nier raids kinda blew

cool music, cool atmosphere but none of it felt particularly well connected to the world of XIV and, while I didn't really care about the Ivalice Raid Series for the Tactics bits, it did expound a little upon the lore of the world and did feel relatively connected to the game's history and setting.

mechanically I didn't really enjoy the raids that much, 9s operated whatever was prolly the coolest one and that had a long, boring intermission. Puppet bunker ozma was kinda fun, and uhhh... for the last one Red Girl was neat but that one triggers epilepsy something fierce. Looking under the arena for the building was neat, though, on the last one.

but they were all very "oh cool" the first time (except the first boss of Paradigm he sucked and was a let down and we basically just fight him again as a trash mob on the motion sickness elevator), but don't feel fun to do more than the 1 time. None really did anything interesting, anything that new.

The story was more forgettable and less interesting than Eden's raid story, at least from someone who never played Nier (and I mean, Omega's story was pretty bland for someone who doesn't really care who tf Kefka is, but Kefka was at least fun to fight).

just felt like one big ad. which it was, but it had no soul.

Maybe the actual games are more interesting and more well-written, but this raid series kinda killed what little interest I had in Nier to begin with.

Kefka Normal was 'eh' and lacked any gravitas of the original Kefka fight. Kefka savage was fun at least. I agree about Omega plot and the only bit that hooked me was the last leg, that was good and I'd have been more invested if the rest of it was more like that.

I feel the game has a mixed way of handling fan service, sometimes they do a good job, Eden felt appropriate, Crystal Tower was mixed very well into the world. Ivalice was somewhere in the middle. The cross over events were blatant advertisement cameos. Nier and Omega for the most part felt jarring.

Which is a shame because I think I'd have been more invested and it'd have been cooler if Yoko Taro was given the FFXIV world as his clay to make a raid out of it rather than a raid to reference his back catalogue of Nier and Drakengard...I mean he still could reference it as this game itself is filled with references, just they're not tacked on.

None of the Nier raid is canon to Nier and it doesn't blend with the world it's set and it doesn't give a great representation of Nier to sell it because it's like using Eureka to sell FFXI, the games just play too differently for a fair representation of what those experiences are like. They're fantastic games IMO, I felt Replicant/Gestalt got none of the love it deserved on release, so I am happy seeing it get some now. Admittedly I never finished Automata, but I adored Gestalt and am glad Automata was such a big success.

[Erendis]

You have no idea what happened where? Do you really think nothing at all about it makes any sense whatsoever?

Yep, absolutely no idea. Wth there is an old alien factory? Why did aliens decide they needed to destroy the First? Why are aliens on the First when all other aliens ended up on the Source?

It's not a Nier story, though. It's a FFXIV story borne out of a collaboration with Nier creators. The story of Yorha is canon to FFXIV unless otherwise stated, not canon to Nier, unless otherwise stated.

Yoko Taro said it will be canon to both, but for sure it is not canon to FFXIV. No clue about Nier though.

[Alleo]

Yoko Taro said it will be canon to both, but for sure it is not canon to FFXIV. No clue about Nier though.

Did he even say that? Ethys talked about this, that he searched through countless of interview and stuff but couldnt find any sort of evidence that he ever said that. So I too would be curious if he stated that or if this was something someone just dropped once and it took of from there.

[CKNovel]

nier raids kinda blew

cool music, cool atmosphere but none of it felt particularly well connected to the world of XIV and, while I didn't really care about the Ivalice Raid Series for the Tactics bits, it did expound a little upon the lore of the world and did feel relatively connected to the game's history and setting.

but they were all very "oh cool" the first time (except the first boss of Paradigm he sucked and was a let down and we basically just fight him again as a trash mob on the motion sickness elevator), but don't feel fun to do more than the 1 time. None really did anything interesting, anything that new.

The story was more forgettable and less interesting than Eden's raid story, at least from someone who never played Nier (and I mean, Omega's story was pretty bland for someone who doesn't really care who tf Kefka is, but Kefka was at least fun to fight).

Nier suffered from the "Omega" effect aka it's in its own bubble to allows creators to go wild and introduce Exdeath, Chaos or Kefka. But once you make it explode, it disappears without leaving a trace. I would have loved Chaos and its 4 minions outside of Omega.
On my part, I'm kind of a FF fan so every bosses talked to me and I was "Woaaah" when I saw Omega vs Shinryu, their rivality explained and established again.

But I progged E1S to E8S with people that were not fans of Final Fantasy franchise, so they were like "who this" so when they saw Neo Exdeath, it was just a second phase to them.
On top of that, everything Omega did had no impact and will not have an impact on the outside world. Alexander, bless this raid, had an strong connection to the outside world.
Eden felt like the additionnal chunk of game after the credits scene. It wasn't amazing, it exist to fill the plothole that was the vast emptiness.

I haven't played UCOB, sooo... I can't say how the story was. But I definitely have good memories of Alexander!
Even if you had no idea of Alexander or Ark, it felt part of XIV's story and any player can connect with it.

Did he even say that? Ethys talked about this, that he searched through countless of interview and stuff but couldnt find any sort of evidence that he ever said that. So I too would be curious if he stated that or if this was something someone just dropped once and it took of from there.

I don't have the source but I definitely remember something like that but I think it was in the lines of "Nierark Apocalypse will have its impact on Nier's world".

[Erendis]

Did he even say that? Ethys talked about this, that he searched through countless of interview and stuff but couldnt find any sort of evidence that he ever said that. So I too would be curious if he stated that or if this was something someone just dropped once and it took of from there.

It was not a written interview. I can not for sure say when it happened, but it was a panel dedicated to Yorha. Might have been in one of ShB fanfests. I vaguely remember it having on line translation.

[Saefinn]

Nier suffered from the "Omega" effect aka it's in its own bubble to allows creators to go wild and introduce Exdeath, Chaos or Kefka. But once you make it explode, it disappears without leaving a trace. I would have loved Chaos and its 4 minions outside of Omega.
On my part, I'm kind of a FF fan so every bosses talked to me and I was "Woaaah" when I saw Omega vs Shinryu, their rivality explained and established again.

But I progged E1S to E8S with people that were not fans of Final Fantasy franchise, so they were like "who this" so when they saw Neo Exdeath, it was just a second phase to them.
On top of that, everything Omega did had no impact and will not have an impact on the outside world. Alexander, bless this raid, had an strong connection to the outside world.
Eden felt like the additionnal chunk of game after the credits scene. It wasn't amazing, it exist to fill the plothole that was the vast emptiness.

I haven't played UCOB, sooo... I can't say how the story was. But I definitely have good memories of Alexander!
Even if you had no idea of Alexander or Ark, it felt part of XIV's story and any player can connect with it.

I've bolded the point that I think that hits the nail on the head for the problem with fan service content. If it doesn't fit, it only has more potential to tickle fans, if made to fit then it has more potential to tickle anybody. I think Omega relied too much on the weight of the old Final Fantasy bosses to carry the interest...until the end, which I am sad we didn't get more of.

And Coil of Bahamut was a great story and I adored the raids.

I think Coils and Alexander are examples of how raids should be done. They offer great things for fans of the series in reference to elements they love, they offer new stuff with it that fits within the world, its story, lore and has the potential to connect with people new to the game or not fans of the games it references and of course, Coils and Alexander actually felt like raids - not tougher trial fights. But I feel Eden was done closer to how Omega should have been done. I hope what we get in Endwalker returns to that feel.

[ItMe]

Yoko Taro said it will be canon to both, but for sure it is not canon to FFXIV.

Wait... in what way are the raids not cannon to FF14?

[Erendis]

Wait... in what way are the raids not cannon to FF14?

In what way are they canon? They are about as canon as FFXV and FFXIII events if not less...