The Answer to the Nier Raid Everyone has Discovered but No One has Realized. (Spoiler

[Eloah]

Okay, so I've seen a lot of people trying to figure out what the meaning of the Nier Raid was. Fans of the Drakengard/Nier series are like, "It's Yoko Taro, he always throws in some symbolism and psychological torment", and he has, but not how people expected. In the simplest of terms, Yoko Taro played with our expectations by subverting them. I'll try and explain.

Going into this raid series, everyone was expecting something grand, because it was being made by Yoko Taro. People were expecting revelations at the end that were hinted at in the beginning, but ultimately this amounted to nothing. But the players are still discussing what could be there; there has to be something with the numbers, try playing New Game +, it has something to do with the twins, etc. But in the end, none of that seems to mean anything, and that is the true meaning of this raid series: Meaninglessness.

Yoko Taro psyched us out by not giving us a twist when we were expecting one. Everyone headed into this raid series expecting something, and tried to find meaning in many things, but in the end it was meaningless. There was no deeper meaning to anything. Sometimes life is just strange, and you'll drive yourself mad if you try to make rhyme or reason out of everything. Just enjoy the wild ride that you're on, cause you never know when something meaningless will happen to you.

I'm sure many people will claim that I'm just trying to give credit to a "bad" story, and maybe I am. But if you are a fan of Yoko Taro's and know how he likes to add in all of these little nuances, isn't this exactly something he would do?

[LariaKirin]

Sure, let's pretend this garbage is not the garbage it actually is.

[Vahlnir]

That's some hardcore mental gymnastics. I'm actually kind of impressed.

[lezard21]

A new Nier game was coming out. The Nier raids were made to promote said Nier game. There's your meaning. We just played through a 3 part ad.

[Iscah]

A new Nier game was coming out. The Nier raids were made to promote said Nier game. There's your meaning. We just played through a 3 part ad.

A three-part ad convincing me that I never want to willingly sit through any further storytelling by this writer if it's going to be as poorly explained and unengaging as this was.

[MilkieTea]

A three-part ad convincing me that I never want to willingly sit through any further storytelling by this writer if it's going to be as poorly explained and unengaging as this was.

I was engaged just enough to be intrigued and confused, but not engaged enough to want to buy the game. I wanted to understand but... what am I trying to understand?

[Vahlnir]

I was engaged just enough to be intrigued and confused, but not engaged enough to want to buy the game. I wanted to understand but... what am I trying to understand?

Honestly, the raids didn't do the games justice. At all. Nier Replicant and Automata are works of art, though I'd say Replicant takes the cake there and then some. I would highly recommend buying the games, or at least one of them. Unlike the crossover raids there's some actual story telling and character development. I get that the crossover probably didn't make the greatest impression, but I wouldn't hold it against the series itself. They are worth it. The raids in this game were better enjoyed if you didn't really question anything, because none of it actually made any sense. The epilogue did very little to address this either.

[MilkieTea]

Honestly, the raids didn't do the games justice. At all. Nier Replicant and Automata are works of art, though I'd say Replicant takes the cake there and then some. I would highly recommend buying the games, or at least one of them. Unlike the crossover raids there's some actual story telling and character development. I get that the crossover probably didn't make the greatest impression, but I wouldn't hold it against the series itself. They are worth it. The raids in this game were better enjoyed if you didn't really question anything, because none of it actually made any sense. The epilogue did very little to address this either.

That seems to be the overall consensus. My boyfriend's brother has the game so I can take it for a test drive before I buy it myself, see if it's something I'll like.

One thing I will say though - the raids are GORGEOUS. Character design was very good, and I liked the music.

[elioaiko]

Having nier storytelling in an MMO fashion probably wasn't the best choice and honestly SE went for it because it's a SE franchise so it's easier with communication and rights to works and stuff.

But also, Yoko Taro does have an interesting way of telling a story, but having it in XIV made it clear that nuanced storytelling isn't really profitable. It's not easy to figure out and a lot of people tend to not read texts or even have played his games as well.

It's natural for people to just ignore because a lot of people will play the raids for the visuals and the gear. If the story isn't super easy to understand, most people will pass on trying to understand it.

For those saying his works aren't good are doing themselves a disservice by not trying his actual titles out. While some people say that Nier Automata was overrated because of how popular it is, it's a very deep story and one that sticks with you once you wrap your head around it. Nier Replicant was probably one of his best works with a remaster to spruce up the mechanics as well.

Tldr: Yoko Taro's storytelling works better as a single player game where you're focused on the world of it rather than an MMO where many are not invested in story rather than gameplay and rewards.

[Caurcas]

Nier, storywise, was the worst 24 man series by far. Gear looked pretty bad as well.