I never played Nier and really felt like I was missing more than half of what was going on because of it. They really relied on people being familiar with the source material to tell parts of the story. Sure it was spelled out enough what was going on with the dwarves and what not, but the imagery and the things that happened inside the raids were a complete mystery. Who was that last boss, where did they come from, why was the last dungeon designed the way it was so differently from the previous two? Maybe I just wasn't smart enough but the actual raids themselves were a complete bewilderment to me.