NieR Has Yoko Taro
If you haven’t heard of the name Yoko Taro, allow me to enlighten you. He created the Drakengard series and has directed three games in total thus far: the original Drakengard, NiER, and Drakengard 3. The interesting thing about all three games is that even though they’re action RPGs, they all tell wildly different and unique stories. Drakengard 1 told an extremely dark tale about an unlikeable protagonist who traveled with a child-eating demon and a pedophile. That game had no happy endings, very little sense of humor, and existed mostly to make players feel as uncomfortable as possible – and hell, it definitely succeeded.
NiER was a big departure from Drakengard in terms of tone, and it delivered a much more endearing and heartwarming, if not a little dreary, story. NiER was all about focusing on a father’s efforts to save his daughter from a deadly disease, and his struggles as he slowly discovers a shocking truth about the world he lives in. Unlike Drakengard, NiER threw in a bit more humor, as well as some really well-written and tragically relatable characters.
As for Drakengard 3, it could be described as the biggest slap in the face for NiER fans who were looking forward to more of Yoko Taro’s heartwarming stories and writing. Instead of giving us characters we could latch on to, Drakengard 3 presented us with foul-mouthed women with a taste for bad sex jokes, and a dragon with an unbelievably whiny voice. Drakengard 3 was nothing like its predecessor, and it certainly didn’t have the emotional edge of NiER. Not to mention, the game gives you a final boss fight that’s essentially an incredibly difficult rhythm game that’s meant to be deliberately unfair. Of course, you do get rewarded with a beautiful ending if you beat it, but that rhythm game is certainly nothing to joke about.
Here’s the thing about Yoko Taro: he’s a risk taker. He likes exploring the unconventional, and he definitely has a taste for the weird. And it’s precisely this quality of his that enables him to write such unique stories and allows him to never make the same game twice. Sure, NieR: Automata is already looking like it’s hitting all the beats that made the first game so great: fast-paced combat, astounding soundtrack, interesting character designs… but you can be almost certain that Taro will have more surprises in store for fans waiting for this game to finally be released.
On the other hand, Final Fantasy XV certainly doesn’t look like it’s breaking any new ground in terms of storytelling. Sure, it’s making a lot of changes in its gameplay and combat, but the story and tone of the game haven’t really deviated from the standard formula of the series. Of course, this is completely understandable. Final Fantasy is a big franchise, and Square Enix certainly isn’t going to take major risks with it and bring it to a completely new direction. Still, we already know what we’re in for with Final Fantasy XV. Why not pay more attention to NieR: Automata, Square Enix’s other JRPG that’s looking to be much more innovative and different from what we’re used to?
