Surprise! Drakengard 3 (aka; how to damn "nier" lose your shit about old title)

[Yggdrasil]

Looking forward to the soundtrack.

[kyuusei]

Scans.  Flower out of the eye.  Sounds painful. D:

As I said on the front page, she should really see a doctor about that.

Looks interesting so far.

[cj_iwakura]

Love the art, cautiously hyped, but less for this being a Drakengard successor and more for it being a Nier one.

[Aeolus]

I've never actually played a Drakengard game, but after Nier I'm intrigued.  Should I go back and play the first two?  Is the gameplay as bad as they say?

The gameplay in the first game is, unfortunately, kinda mediocre. One can basically sum it up as Dynasty/Samurai/Whatever Warriors gameplay but instead of dozens of fairly similar dudes murdering thousands upon thousands of faceless mooks set against ancient China/Japan/etc, its one dude (plus a few ally helpers who can be called in briefly) wielding dozens of fairly similar weapons murdering thousands upon thousands of faceless mooks set in a generic medieval fantasy. The big mechanical difference though is his Dragon (and a particular rhythm minigame, but the less said about that, the better) which not only has her own aerial based missions but can also be called down and used during most foot missions as well to either rain hellfire down upon the waves of trash mobs (except for the ones specifically designed to counterattack your dragon's attacks which do a fuck ton of damage to you as well as forcing you to dismount) or to cover large distances quickly.

That said through, that's not the real reason why Drakengard 1 is so memorable. No. Its the fact that both the narrative and the ascetics grow more and more grimdark/crazy until it hits full on batshit insanity. Its entirely a game about increasingly bad shit happening to bad people while everyone becomes more and more fucked over. In a way, it turns most JRPG plots onto their sides, since, as often happens in video games, the world starts off peaceful but grows ever more dangerous as the events in the game goes on, but with the caveat that unlike in those games, the hero doesn't magically save the day by beating the big bad, and in fact, doing so just makes matters worse.

Drakengard 2 however is a more technically competent game by having more than one proper playable character, but the few mechanical upgrades it enjoys come at the cost of not even going near the levels of batshit insanity that the first game does, but instead, opts for a lot more generic anime stupidity (and the mechanical upgrades do not nearly offset the stupidity surrounding the rest of the game). The only good thing in Drakengard 2 is that Caim, the protagonist of the first game, continues to be the same homicidal maniac he was in the first game (only more pissed off).

Really though, these games are best served by LPs so I'm just going to go ahead and leave this here.

http://lparchive.org/

It has both Drakengard games and Nier for your perusal.

Well, it's far from the worst controlling I played, plus in the second half of the game you can get a weapon that just trashes everything, letting you steamroll just to see the story.

EDIT: Caught this on Neogaf:

Yoko and Okabe are back confirmed :D

EDIT 2: Got more:

According to the regular guy who breaks news on 2ch:

Creative Director: Yoko Taro
Character Design: Kimihiko Fujisaki
Music Director: Keiichi Okabe

Dragon aerial sequences are also confirmed.

I'll update the OP when we have a "visual" confirmation.

So yeah, really interested now. Just play decently enough or let me steamroll the game rather than being a nightmare like Drakengard 1 seemingly was.

Excellent! Simply excellent!


Also, you know that they're going to troll players by throwing in something batshit crazy difficult to do into this. I just hope they take the Nier route and not stick the ending that leads to the not shitty game behind a batshit hard rhythm game.

http://gamingeverything.com/wp-content/gallery/drakengard-3/drakengard_3_scan-1.jpg
http://gamingeverything.com/wp-content/gallery/drakengard-3/drakengard_3_scan-2.jpg

Scans.  Flower out of the eye.  Sounds painful. D:

God I love Fujisaki's weapon designs.  They look like you could ...kill...things with 'em (I'm out of wit/creative commentary).

Hate to say it, but that sword looks familiar (also the blonde chick, I hope to god they're not Noway & Manna's children).


Edit: More details and another pick for the pile. http://gematsu.com/2013/03/drakengard-3-announced-for-playstation-3

[Dice]

I loved Drakengard 1 a 2's first cutscene....because, y'know...shit is still "normal" then.

The Drakengard games have a lot of potential though, I love the mythology and world, and while I don't wonder if they'll "lighten up" (mind you, I can do without the giant cannibal babies), they obviously can't hit the same plot a third time (the seals, the red sky, etc.) -- so I just wonder what the plan is.
Either way, their poor world just can't catch a fucking break.  I'm already sure the third game is just gonna end with blowing up the world so no one else has to deal with anymore shit (yeah, it's that bad, read on at the Tropes site).

Also, a Nier sequel I don't think /can/ be in the cards any more than maybe another reference in Drakengard

Code:

IIRC, the end of Nier basically indicates that humans *will* die out, and your daughter isn't really cured, and in one of the endings you don't even exist anymore.

Even still, I wonder what the series will be like *without* Cavia.  Quite frankly, the only thing they really had going in Nier was the talent that's just been announced for Drakengard3 (the composer, artist, and director/writer combo); Nier was hardly a standout in gameplay unless you count its fun use of ripping-off other gaming genres (from Zelda to Diabo's 3/4 perspective in maze dungeons, to even bullet hell segments) and kinda fun spread of spells at your disposal.  I'm actually optimistic and hoping for better gameplay this time around; with all due respect to [the now defunct] Cavia, they really didn't have a good grasp of how to make a game that was all that fun to play.


...anyways, I also liked Drakengard II; thought it was pretty cool.  Urick bumps it half a letter grade.

EDIT:  Now having played Nier, Ending E in Drakengard is pretty cool.

[Kevadu]

Really though, these games are best served by LPs so I'm just going to go ahead and leave this here.

http://lparchive.org/

Are there LPs where people just shut up and play?  I've never been into the LP thing...tried it a couple of times and was completely turned off by the constant banal commentary...

[Lard]

Nier was hardly a standout in gameplay unless you count its fun use of ripping-off other gaming genres

Don't make me hurt you.

Edit: More details and another pick for the pile. http://gematsu.com/2013/03/drakengard-3-announced-for-playstation-3

“It’s not Drakenguard or Nier,” said creative director Yoko Taro. “If you’re expecting that, you’ll be disappointed.”

Kind of what I figured.

[Dice]

Nier was hardly a standout in gameplay unless you count its fun use of ripping-off other gaming genres

Don't make me hurt you.

*groan*  It certainly wasn't too thrilling.  The bullet hell was kinda cool -- if you like bullet hell (another way to see it is really lazy attack patterns).  But the game obviously made a point to [at least] parody Zelda.  I'm not saying it was bad, but it wasn't exactly original, and it's been done better.

ANYWAYS.  I'm guessing I'm not the only one who noticed that the chicka with the flower in her eye looks exactly like (or very similar to) Kainés.

...I wonder if Evans is coming back to sing a bit.

[Lard]

*groan*  It certainly wasn't too thrilling.  The bullet hell was kinda cool -- if you like bullet hell (another way to see it is really lazy attack patterns).  But the game obviously made a point to [at least] parody Zelda.  I'm not saying it was bad, but it wasn't exactly original, and it's been done better.

I will kill you slowly and then dance about on your grave.

[Dice]

*groan*  It certainly wasn't too thrilling.  The bullet hell was kinda cool -- if you like bullet hell (another way to see it is really lazy attack patterns).  But the game obviously made a point to [at least] parody Zelda.  I'm not saying it was bad, but it wasn't exactly original, and it's been done better.

I will kill you slowly and then dance about on your grave.

You say stuff that says nothing.  What is your point, man!?

If it helps, I had fun with it.  I had more fun with the story though. :D

[Aeolus]

I loved Drakengard 1 a 2's first cutscene....because, y'know...shit is still "normal" then.

The Drakengard games have a lot of potential though, I love the mythology and world, and while I don't wonder if they'll "lighten up" (mind you, I can do without the giant cannibal babies), they obviously can't hit the same plot a third time (the seals, the red sky, etc.) -- so I just wonder what the plan is.
Either way, their poor world just can't catch a fucking break.  I'm already sure the third game is just gonna end with blowing up the world so no one else has to deal with anymore shit (yeah, it's that bad, read on at the Tropes site).

Also, a Nier sequel I don't think /can/ be in the cards any more than maybe another reference in Drakengard

Code:

IIRC, the end of Nier basically indicates that humans *will* die out, and your daughter isn't really cured, and in one of the endings you don't even exist anymore.

Even still, I wonder what the series will be like *without* Cavia.  Quite frankly, the only thing they really had going in Nier was the talent that's just been announced for Drakengard3 (the composer, artist, and director/writer combo); Nier was hardly a standout in gameplay unless you count its fun use of ripping-off other gaming genres (from Zelda to Diabo's 3/4 perspective in maze dungeons, to even bullet hell segments) and kinda fun spread of spells at your disposal.  I'm actually optimistic and hoping for better gameplay this time around; with all due respect to [the now defunct] Cavia, they really didn't have a good grasp of how to make a game that was all that fun to play.


...anyways, I also liked Drakengard II; thought it was pretty cool.  Urick bumps it half a letter grade.

EDIT:  Now having played Nier, Ending E in Drakengard is pretty cool.

Urick would've been cooler if he either kept his helmet on for longer or didn't get killed by Caim so hard that Death itself also died (hooray for pact beasts). Now Eris, on the other hand, gets points for being only semi retarded and for her enthusiasm towards witch burnings (or at least her enthusiasm towards getting rid of potential love rivals).

And Nier was totally planed to have a sequel where aliens got involved and made things worse because there's always a way to make things worse.

Code:

Sure humanity may be screwed over completely, but they ain't dead yet. And at the very least, they could always hop on over to an alternate world, its worked before (even if it completely screws over said world in the process).

[Yoda]

Nier was hardly a standout in gameplay unless you count its fun use of ripping-off other gaming genres

Don't make me hurt you.

*groan*  It certainly wasn't too thrilling.  The bullet hell was kinda cool -- if you like bullet hell (another way to see it is really lazy attack patterns).  But the game obviously made a point to [at least] parody Zelda.  I'm not saying it was bad, but it wasn't exactly original, and it's been done better.

ANYWAYS.  I'm guessing I'm not the only one who noticed that the chicka with the flower in her eye looks exactly like (or very similar to) Kainés.

...I wonder if Evans is coming back to sing a bit.

Three cheers to Dice. Nier has certainly proven to be the most overrated of the RPG waters I've tasted because of this lot.

[Aeolus]

Really though, these games are best served by LPs so I'm just going to go ahead and leave this here.

http://lparchive.org/

Are there LPs where people just shut up and play?  I've never been into the LP thing...tried it a couple of times and was completely turned off by the constant banal commentary...

Unfortunately, I don't know too many that just tells you what's going on and nothing else.

That said, these are all from Something Awful which is typically, but not always, better about the inane commentary than the common Youtube LPer. Plus, the LPer's commentary in these LPs is denoted with italics which makes it easier to see the game's actual dialogue over the LPer's remarks.

And besides, there as my earlier post was trying to say, there's really not a lot about Drakengard 1's gameplay that was worth playing through the actual game itself. It's very much a game that people either have played, or shouldn't play, because its just not that good. I ended up playing through it about a decade ago because one of my brothers got it and didn't have nearly the backlog that I have today (I only got the last ending back in '010 because the thread that the LP that I linked too was conducted in gave a hint that motivated me to finishing that rhythm game).

[Dice]

Nier was hardly a standout in gameplay unless you count its fun use of ripping-off other gaming genres

Don't make me hurt you.

*groan*  It certainly wasn't too thrilling.  The bullet hell was kinda cool -- if you like bullet hell (another way to see it is really lazy attack patterns).  But the game obviously made a point to [at least] parody Zelda.  I'm not saying it was bad, but it wasn't exactly original, and it's been done better.

ANYWAYS.  I'm guessing I'm not the only one who noticed that the chicka with the flower in her eye looks exactly like (or very similar to) Kainés.

...I wonder if Evans is coming back to sing a bit.

Three cheers to Dice. Nier has certainly proven to be the most overrated of the RPG waters I've tasted because of this lot.

It was enjoyable enough; but it's one of those rare cases where Cavia was just a better storyteller than gameplay designer (aside from a few unique elements -- and by god, I loved levelling up weapons for the stupid-awesome stories).  Lard apparently begs to differ, of course.

But I'm not too sure what you were going in expecting; the praise was more geared to story and world and characters -- and you're not exactly the biggest JRPG-pundit going around here.... but I like you for your personality and great taste in art and sometimes music! :D

[Lard]

You say stuff that says nothing.  What is your point, man!?

If it helps, I had fun with it.  I had more fun with the story though. :D

I'm just teasing. It just bums me out when I see one of the few games this gen that had a real spark of originality get dissed. :/