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

[Misplaced_Marbles]

Words from a person who's never played any of the Souls games... or doesn't read item descriptions.

Even though Souls Games are very indirect with their story there's enough details to piece a story together that actually makes sense in its own world, the same can't be said for the Nier raids, which clash heavily with the world their introduced to, just kind of show up, cause havoc, and leave with very little concern for integration into the existing world and being about spectacle more than anything else.

I guess some comparisons to DS3 with it's "remember DS1" bullshit it likes to throw around (such as Anor Londo, Vinheim suddenly existing again, and Eingyi being remembered after being forgotten) comes close to this, but it at least TRIES to integrate it into the lore of the world its in, rather than having it there for the sake of having it there.

Exactly like people have said: mental gymnastics. The writer threw in some vague breadcrumbs and the only reason you might get anything coherent from those is if you do it like some conspiracy theorist. Which is to say, only you can see it and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. You're not crazy, everyone else is! Anyway, that ship sailed years ago, so it isn't really relevant. I just wanted you to know that.

Also, DS3 was simply selling nostalgia. I guess they paid the guy well since he was less than inspired by the idea.

[Jojoya]

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?

What about those of us who aren't Yoko Taro fans, have never played any of the games he's made and certainly won't be after that mess of a raid series?

We're paying to play FFXIV, not play Yoko Taro games. That was a huge amount of development resources that could have into creating a raid series that would have expanded the FFXIV universe instead of being wasted on a big middle finger pointed at FFXIV players from someone who doesn't care about FFXIV.

[Alleo]

It's Yoko Taro works outside his unique realm. Most of his tools were unavailable to make it a spectacle like he normally does. Take this raid series as a grain of salt for judgement on the Nier games. We only got to experience some themes/atmosphere and engage with a few known faces.

Also, the Nier raid story was still clearer than darks souls ever would be.

IMO a writer is only really awesome if they are able to create good stories even in situations that are not optimal for them. Instead of a big story he simply had to create a short one. It could have been open ended too, leaving some mysteries behind, as long as the main deal was great.

Honestly if he was out of his league with this then maybe the FF14 devs should have written a story and he should have just given some thoughts about it.

For me this whole raid feels like he wanted to do so much more (like he said how he would love to destroy the servers or something like that) but Yoshida thankfully stopped him there thus he stopped caring about it too. Heck who knows if he truly even wanted to do one.

[ItMe]

Matsuno was out of his usual medium, too, and he did wonderfully. That's what makes me think Yoko Taro just didn't even give a crap.

Honestly the Ivalice raids are one of the lowest points of FF14 for me. It's all just YMMV.

[TheMightyMollusk]

The Ivalice raids were good (aside from the bosses in Orbonne just never shutting up), but the story was kinda boring, especially as someone who's never played the Ivalice games and has no nostalgia to bank on.

[Iscah]

It's Yoko Taro works outside his unique realm. Most of his tools were unavailable to make it a spectacle like he normally does. Take this raid series as a grain of salt for judgement on the Nier games. We only got to experience some themes/atmosphere and engage with a few known faces.

So what's so special about his "unique realm" that he can't possibly write an enjoyable story in this format? If it's so incompatible with FFXIV's storytelling, why did they even try to dedicate such a massive chunk of storytelling to it?

I barely got a sense of themes in any meaningful way. I like atmospheric games (ICO remains my favourite) but this didn't seem to have an atmosphere.

I get that Automata has a theme of the machines having human-like consciousness but they didn't explore that. It was just sort of dumped in front of us that the machines are being emotional and then in the third raid we have 2B and 9S repeatedly telling us "ignore them, they don't have feelings". The end. If this was supposed to be an important theme in the original, it's had all the emotion sucked out of it and isn't being treated well at all.

[Aldora]

I dont see the fuss, I enjoyed Nier immensely. Loved it. I will be getting Replicant when the price (grrrrrrr ) drops..almost $100 AUD = OUCH.

It was new and interesting, the byplay and background on Anogg and Konogg was fun, the ending very, to me, serene. They are where they need to be, and they are together. It was a peaceful and happy end, fitting given all they had been through. So it was a load of fun.

Same here. When i heard that Nier was going to be the next 24-man Raid when Shadowbringers was announced, i had only heard of the Nier games. But, that was about it. It was the reaction of the community to said announcement, that i picked up Nier Automata and cleared it (all the way to the good ending) before Shadowbringers was released. I loved every minute of that game, so i was excited to see what they would do with it in a FFXIV setting. However, since the beginning of it (just like with the Ivalice Raids), i've looked at it as a seperate story involving existing character from their respected games and how they were portrayed in both of them.

I wasn't looking for "answers", but I did get that nostalgia feeling, when we entered each individual raid. Running around in those areas, fighting the robots and listening to the music felt really good. The story might not have been close to what Yoko Taro accomplished with the original games, but i thought that the story of Konogg, Anogg, the Androids and the Machines was still pretty interesting. The ending got me pretty good. It gave me the same vibes as quests in Nier Replicant, that sense of loss and helplessness.

The twins (Konogg and Anogg) themselves reminded me of Popola and Devola from the Nier games.

Reference to the "Popola & Devola's Memories", "[Record: Transitions in the Project's Initial Phase]":

But we existed as a pair. We shared destiny's burden as a pair.
And because of that, all hesitation was swept away.

You get the same vibes from Konogg and Anogg as well. That one cannot go without the other. This became apparent when Konogg set out into the world trying to find a way to get Anogg back and losing himself in the process.

In short, i really loved this Raid and i'm looking forward to the next one.

[Krotoan]

Yoko Taro:

I just really like Girls

/endthinkies

[SannaR]

Same here. When i heard that Nier was going to be the next 24-man Raid when Shadowbringers was announced, i had only heard of the Nier games. But, that was about it. It was the reaction of the community to said announcement, that i picked up Nier Automata and cleared it (all the way to the good ending) before Shadowbringers was released. I loved every minute of that game, so i was excited to see what they would do with it in a FFXIV setting. However, since the beginning of it (just like with the Ivalice Raids), i've looked at it as a seperate story involving existing character from their respected games and how they were portrayed in both of them.

I wasn't looking for "answers", but I did get that nostalgia feeling, when we entered each individual raid. Running around in those areas, fighting the robots and listening to the music felt really good. The story might not have been close to what Yoko Taro accomplished with the original games, but i thought that the story of Konogg, Anogg, the Androids and the Machines was still pretty interesting. The ending got me pretty good. It gave me the same vibes as quests in Nier Replicant, that sense of loss and helplessness.

The twins (Konogg and Anogg) themselves reminded me of Popola and Devola from the Nier games.

In short, i really loved this Raid and i'm looking forward to the next one.

Sadly that's not how Yoko Taro or his lore work. Anything and everything in the Nierverse is cannon. Well except maybe Drakengaurd 2 as Yoko Taro didn't work on that one. This includes the three stage plays and the various books/graphic novels. So, anyone who knows all the nods and the time line. Which ending leads to which game ect will be trying to comb through it looking for the links. Yoko Taro can get away with vagueness in his games as they're meant to be played multiple times.

However the raid just comes off as wanting to be vague just to be vague. While not tying it into the world of XIV. Many got told by die hard Yoko Taro fans that those who were calling the raid and post raid as crap to wait for the ending. That the ending should give us something as Yoko Taro on certain endings does eventually give us something. Yet when the epilog came it made many go wait that's it? While also pondering if we'll get something different if we do a NG+ and chose the other dwarf just to see if things change. Most however won't due how badly the story delivered.

I enjoyed the fights and parts of the story with the Dwarves, but that's it. Everything else was just meh. And this is from someone who knows most of the nods the raid has in it.