====== NieR ======

**//NieR//** (alternatively spelled **//NIER//**) was [[company:Cavia]]'s final game, and an action RPG for the [[hardware:Xbox 360]]/[[hardware:PS3]]. It is set in the same universe as the //[[Drakengard]]// series, and has some story connections, though these are not confirmed within the game itself.

The Japanese version is known as **//NieR Gestalt//** on the 360, and **//NieR Replicant//** on the PS3. Gestalt stars a father protecting his daughter, while Replicant is about a brother doing the same for his sister. The games are identical otherwise. Gestalt is the version that the West got on both platforms.

Due to poor marketing by publisher [[company:Square-Enix]] and the game's failure to meet players' expectations of a tarted-up brogamer epic, **//NieR//** was a critical and commercial failure in the West, but saw wider recognition in Japan.

===== Games and game genres referenced in NieR =====
(pics./videos would be nice here)

  ***[[the_legend_of_zelda_series|Zelda series]]**: A dungeon full of blocks and locked rooms, culminating in the acquisition of an item with a very familiar animation and jingle.

  ***Harvest Moon series**: You can grow crops and flowers on the land next to your house.

  ***Monster Hunter series**: Hunting animals and scavenging the land for materials, which are used to complete quests and upgrade weapons.

  ***Text adventures**: A text-based maze in a horror castle.

  ***Visual novels**: Not quite, as there is no visual component to the novel segments, but the writing is in a very [[people:Kinoko Nasu]] style.

  ***Arcade racers**: When riding boars, you can drift them like in **//[[OutRun 2]]//** and similar games.

  ***Resident Evil series**: A haunted mansion with giant spiders, fixed camera angles, and a history of secret lab operations.

  ***Twin-stick shooters**: When the camera moves to a fixed overhead view, magical attacks are directed with the right stick.

  ***Manic/"bullet hell" shooters**: Many enemies fire elaborate patterns of 2D bullets, which can be cancelled and absorbed with attacks.

=====See also=====
  * [[theory:genre_guise|Genre Guise]] (sort of)
  * [[http://forums.selectbutton.net/viewtopic.php?t=27198|NieR....OR....i thought we used to like Cavia?]] - SB forum thread.
  * [[http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2011/07/nier-status-messages.html|Nier Status Messages]] - HG101 blog post listing the game's PSN status messages.