Nier 2: Automata Preparation Thread - The Story of Nier

[Sephiroth]

I will post more and more of it today and the next days but that is all I have for now. It is not like really all of it is necessarily needed for Nier 2, I guess. However, I think it is nice to know.

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NIER

Every Life Is To Be Cherished ... And Yet ... Don't Tell Me You Would Not Choose Those You Love Over The Others ...


Nier is the story of a brother and his sister (Replicant version: Japanese version PS3)/father and daughter (Gestalt version: Western Version, Japanese XBOX 360). The overall story's writing stays the same, the roles being changed though dramatically changes the way some might look at it. Though also much understandable with brother and sister the very fact that the story in the West is about father and daughter this game has become my #2 favourite of all time, reflecting how much I actually want children and what I would do for them.


This summary talks about the Gestalt version.

I. Prologue "Snow in Summer"




The world is dying and two people are sitting in a building, hungry and homeless. Next to them a black book lies on the ground. A book destined to change everything. The taller person, Nier, a middle-aged man kicks it away.
Next to him there is a young coughing girl in an obviously bad shape.
His daughter Yonah.
Weird, black and yellow shining creatures succeed in finding their way inside the building. Strangely humanoid looking and yet not being human at all they slowly move, approaching the two step by step. Their creepy noises remind more of an animal's roar than normal human speech.
A father like Nier would never want something to happen to his little child. Armed with an iron pipe he faces the ... monsters known as "Shades" and defeats them one by one. It is not too long until he is overwhelmed by their power though. He is being blown back by the creatures, lying on the ground near Yonah.
Craving for more power and being able to protect her, he's reaching out for the black book, getting its power.
Soon after he gathers the blood around the area, shaping it to a weapon with the power of magic and using it against the enemies. More and more of them gather but with them, small ones and tall ones but Nier also gets the chance to use more of the book's power. The blood magic uses the blood of its prey in versatile ways, stabs them with lances, shoots at them with magical spheres or just beats them down with a gigantic hand ... just for Nier to harvest more and more blood again and use it once more.
At last, with the final enemy, a gigantic creature, looking even less human than the others being killed, Nier has finally done it.
He returns to his Yonah, checking if she is right.
She actually managed to find a cookie. He wants her to have all of it but Yonah insists to share so they both at least have eaten something.
It is then when he notices, that she has also touched the book ...
A fate that a father would never want for his child ...
No help is near. There is no help for this.
They are all alone.




II. The Lunar Tear - I Don't Want You To Worry Anymore




A very long time has passed.
Nier cares for his sick daughter, keping sure she does not do anything that might be too stressful for her.
She has the Black Scrawl. A disease where black runes from time to time appear on someone's body. A fatal sickness with supposedly no cure. Yonah's cough is getting worse, her body is already heavily influenced by the sickness. Everyday Nier is helping the villagers to solve their problems and in the end at least get a bit money or medicine to ease his little girl's pain.
The village's equivalent of a mayor, a young red-haired woman called Popola, one of the Popola-Devola twins tries to help them as good as she can and provides them with the requests of the villagers or gives them new information whenever she thinks it might be helpful.
At one point though Nier makes a mistake. Finally being home again he tells his child a fairytale about a White Moonflower, the "Lunar Tear" - a rare plant, said to be able to grant wishes in the legends. Yonah wonders if the Black Scrawl might go away with her finding one of those flowers.
He should never have told her about this though. Children tend to think about many thinks way more and with an incredible innocence, yet not what else could happen.
She has already planned to go and look for the flower.
Yonah though, is a girl that Nier does not even want to leave home. She is in such a bad condition, that once he finds her in Popola's library, he immediately he worries about how much strain it might have put on her. She hardly can take care of herself, even her hair band is about to fall off and all that ...
He sends her back home.
Once being there, he sees her still not being back in her bed.
Nier gets the news from Popola though, that Yonah wanted to know from her about the Lunar Tear. She told her that the flower is said to grow in a ruined place called the "Lost Shrine", not knowing what Yonah was up to. Of course Nier almost gets a heart-attack from hearing that. He immediately has to follow his little child.
Next to the village's gate he finds Yonah's head band. Now he has to hurry to bring her back.
Following the mountain path outside of his home village as fast as he can he eventually faces a dead end. A path blocked by scree avalanche. Nier just prays Yonah is safe. Taking another way to still get to the Lost Shrine he finally runs over the bridge that leads to the giant building, entering it to hopefully find his little Yonah.
Damn, this sick kid in bad shape is faster than her grown-up worried-to-death father!
Nier has to run all the way up to the Shrine's top. trout! There are Shades in this building! Things could possibly not get worse for a father, could they?!
Once he reaches the roof, a wide and open area, he finds the last room. Yonah is lying there on an altar behind a barrier in which's centre a white book floats.
Running towards his meaning of life, other Shades have to meet their immediate doom. There are two bigger ones, though. The guardians Hänsel and Gretel. Big shades, protected by golden armour.
They cannot stop Nier though. His iron will to save Yonah is stronger. By breaking the barrier he wakes up the white book, "Grimoire Weiss". Not being just slightly surprised that Weiss is, though being a book, also very well a speaking person, intelligent and for Nier super-annoying, he teams up with him to get rid of Hänsel and Gretel.
And thus is able to save his Yonahm the little girl that just wanted to wish for her healthiness so her Dad would not need to worry so much anymore, not need to put so much effort into it anymore and could just be back home again with her.
There is no time to be wasted though. Nier, with his daughter on his back and followed by Weiss, quickly has to leave the Shrine, which partially collapses.
And yet, he finally has his daughter back.




III. The Hussy




With Yonah being brought back Nier continues his ordinary life of taking care of her and doing his daily thing for their neighbours.
Nier gets to find out that the so called "Sealed Verses" that he can find might help Yonah.
When Popola sends him to the Aerie, a place beyond the Northern Plains where some people live in containers attached at a ravine's sides, Nier is pretty displeased about how no one there actually bothers even exiting their home for him.
On his way back he has to face Kainé, a very pissed-off young woman with the sore mouth of a trucker. She starts attacking him and Weiss, yet their battle is interrupzted by Hook, a giant lizard-like Shade, that haunts the Aerie for a long time by now. The father is suddenly accompanied by Kainé . When they actually manage to scare the Shade away, Kainé insists on being left alone.

Back in the village it is up to Nier to head to Seafront as he has to catch some Shaman Fish so Yonah's medicine can be made again. Meanwhile Nier already notices how much of a nuisance Weiss can be from time to time and how they are perfect for arguing with each other - a fate that Weiss and Kainé also are supposed to share.
Seafront is not less to be pitied than the rest of the world. Everywhere there are people with problems that Nier tries his best to help with and some of them might even make the one or other shed a tear - such as the story of the old lighthouse lady who waits for her husband for decades, not knowing that he is already dead and instead exchanging letters with the postman.
When she finally realizes, she is already about to die. Even worse, just from hearing what some people here say in Seafront it becomes obvious that the Black Scrawl is also a problem for some there.
Having finally returned to his precious little girl he can provide her with the medicine she needs.



Of course there are way more peope who actually need help. With Nier being sent to the Junk Heap, a big place with old rusty machines of the old world, he meets two brothers who miss their mother. Nier agrees to look for her within the mountain, only to ultimately and after mowing through tons of machines find their mother and a supposed lover dead. He has to tell the brothers the sad news though the older one actually suspected that much as well as that she had a lover and is happy that at least she did not die alone.

Once more visiting the Aerie, Nier and Weiss find Kainé fighting new Shades. It is then when Hook returns. This time though Kainé and Nier are determined to end it. A long battle where some of the Aerie villager's houses as well as their lives are in danger begins. When Hook is close to death he tries to trick Kainé by making use of her past. Together with Nier though she manages to not be fooled and instead defeats him. With the intent of dying, now that the battle she longed for has ended and the revenge she wanted was hers, she's just lying on the ground. Nier though has other plans - he thinks they are friends now and can count on each other. She can rely on them and should never give up living.
And thus the hussy with the soul of a trucker joins them.


IV. Too many Words for Nier



Nier's next trip leads him and the others through the Desert to reach a faraway kingdom called Facade. There another very fascinating culture awaits them. Kainé actually is familiar with this place yet she prefers to stay at the gate. Nier and Weiss get surprised very quickly by noticing that the language the Facaders who all wear masks, speak, is a very special one, though Weiss manages to translate it for Nier after learning it from a silent girl named Fyra who communiated with him without words. Facade is a place not just with its very own language but also a lot of rules - a lot which seem way too exaggerated and ridiculous for Nier and Weiss.
They get to know that the prince who is soon to become the new king has gone to the Temple in the desert. Their rules forbid them to follow him though so Nier decides to go instead with Fyra leading them through the sandstorm.
In the temple, with Fyra waiting outside, Nier and Kainé almost lose it because of the magical rooms and blocks that play their own little game with them, not to forget how Kainé is actually brought away from one of them.
In the final hall and after destroying the collective of blocks they finaly find the prince who has achieved his own mask.

Leaving Facade for now their next stop is the Forest of Myth near the Aerie. There the inhabitants are stuck in their own dreams, haunted by the "Death Dream". Nier and Weiss have to dive into their dreams solving the word puzzles, breaking the fourth wall which will not be the last time and finally manage to wake them up and save their lives.


V. The Blind Boy



Nier finds out Yonah got a pen friend. He goes to the villa where the boy supposedly lives but find his butler who actually wrote the letter instead. He wanted Nier to read it but Yonah did not understand. Nier wants the butler to write back though as Yonah in her condition hardly has any friendly sadly. The villa's owner, Emil, a young boy who is blind and whose gaze can turn organisms into stone asks Nier for help. Nier should look for a book in the library to help the boy with his problem. Meanwhile Kainé has disappeared once again. After fighting a cursed book in the library they leave for a while.
Back in the village. not too long after that, Nier finds Emil who ran all the way alone to them. He tells them Shades are coming. Nier has to fight them all by himself but one coloss of a Shade reaches even the library where Yonah is. Nier manages to partially destroy it but its head has to be fought and sealed away in the library's basement with Kainé blocking the door and Emil turning her into stone ...
When it seems that thing have finally calmed down, Nier confronts the Shadowlord ... a Shade with a face identical to himself ... he is defeated by him and he takes away Yonah ...




VI. 5 Years Later ...



Nier and Emil look for a way to free Kainé. Below the blind boy's manor there is a hidden laboratory. Exploring it they find several documents hinting an experiment from long ago. The end of the hidden complex reached, Emil introduced Nier to his sister Halua. Nier cannot believe it when he sees some monstrosity sealed away. Emil and Halua were both part of the project and Halua looks like that because of it just as Emil has his blindness and stone gaze. He assures Nier that he tries what he can do: He wants to merge his body with Halua's and gain control over it to have the power that might help to save Kainé. In a long battle where Nier and Weiss fight Halua before she can absorb Emil, they finally manage to defeat her. Emil fully merges with the body and converts it. He is embarassed of what he became though - Nier does not mind at all though and the boy is just glad that he can finally see Nier who looks cool in his eyes.

Kaine dreams for a long time. Of a past long forgotten. A past in which she was always mocked for what she was and an old woman took care of her. A woman with a bad mouth. They were happy together but one day the woman was killed by a giant Shade. When Kainè also was close to death, another Shade called Tyrann/Tyrant tried to get her body. She was not ready to accept it though. However, he connected with her heart and gave her the powers she needed to hunt down the Shade that killed her grandmother. The Shade was a person that would always be with her and annoy her until she would finally be giving up her body so he could have it.
Even now she can hear him.
Kainé wakes up after her long slumber, cured by Emil. The team finally reunited meets Popola and Devola who say the villagers are scared of Emil and the woman. Nier does not like it at all but the others do not mind sleepung outside as they always did. Because of that Nier feels guilty because he never thought about that.




VII. The Key



To get more hints of how to reach the Shadowlord, they go back to the Northern Shrine. After a battle with one of the Stone Statues Shades they get the first fragment of the key that can open up the portal to the Shadowlord's keep.
Nier and the others find themselves once more visiting the old places where they have met and helped other people. On their search for more key fragments they have to witness a lot of loss and tragedy. People they know have died or die before their eyes. Young Fyra is killed by a Shade Wolf during her wedding, the Aerie is absorbed by a collective of Shades that they have to face and the Junk Heap now only is watched over by just the younger brother who has lost his older one years ago through what he thought was because of robots - he never realized it was an accident though.
Many stories and lives end with both sides to be somewhat pitied.
However, to find his daughter Nier overcomes everything. No matter what.

Once the key is complete the door in the Northern Shrine is open.




VIII. Nier Replicant VS Nier Gestalt - The Battle of Fathers



Entering the Shadowlord's Castle they have to deal with a lot of things. Popola and Devola are not who they seemed to be! They are on the Shadowlord's side! They try to convince them to go back to the village but after Nier denies, a battle engages. Then they retreat. Meanwhile they have to face more Shades. And not just that - the Facaders and their king help them to get to the Shadowlord, showing that they can always count on them. With this the king and the Facaders sacrifice their own life, fighting for Nier and for Fyra.

Reaching Popola and Devola once more the others get to know the truth:

Long ago a disease that no one had a cure for eradicated humanity. To save the lives of people and in hope they could live again normally one day a Project called Project Gestalt was thought of. It existed to seperate the body and consciousness of people. The consciousness of everyone should continue to exist until a cure was found for the body. Meanwhile new bodies were created that the original people were supposed to inhabit one day. Popola and Devola who are two androids were a part of this project just as Grimoire Weiss and Grimoire Noir as well as the Shadowlord. The consciousness of people should be taken care of by the man who was destined to become the Shadowlord. However, many things did not go as they planned. The former people who became what Nier know as Shades over time lost control. For a while you still are conscious in a Shade manifest but one day you are overwritten and completely overwhelmed by the monster. The most unplanned thing was what happened with the clone bodies: Supposed to be empty but connected to the soul of the original, the bodies one day got their own consciousness and became living individual people. The Shades did not care about that. They just wanted to have the bodies that were made for them and with this the plan is revealed to Nier - as nobody cares about the clones lives and just wants to have their bodies.
Nier does not care either though. He wants to protect his daughter. He, the clone of the Shadowlord whose daughter is possessed by the original Yonah ... because just as the Shadowlord who loves his Yonah he would do everything for her ...
After Devola is defeated, Popola loses it. Emil seemingly sacrifices himself so Nier, Weiss and Kainé can safely go away.

When finally reached the end, Nier Gestalt, the original Nier, kneels next to Yonah Replicant's body. The body is unconscious. Nier Gestalt just assures his daughter everything will be fine soon, now that the body that was supposed to be for him comes to them ...

Nier Replicant, the father who is not worth more or less than the original, faces the original. First they have to destroy Grimoire Noir. Then Nier finally and to save his daughter fights against the original with the intent to kill him.

A hard battle engages. In the middle of the fight, Yonah Gestalt wakes up in Yonah Replicant's body. It is then when Nier Replicant realizes that his daughter is possessed. The original Yonah knows the clone daughter has the right to live her own live with her father. She can hear her crying. She wants to see her father again. Nier Gestalt cannot accept this. For him they are just the bodies that were made for the original. Yonah however can respect the live that was born within this body.

She sacrifices herself.

Her father, the original Nier now completely desperate fights his last battle with Nier. And together with Weiss' sacrifice, Nier can defeat the Shadowlord and end his life.

Like many other lives of normal people that became Shades, Nier Gestalt lonely sits in the afterlife, sad about what happened. It is not really all that sad as it seems though. When he needs her, his own Yonah accompanies him.

Because in the end it does not matter where you are together with those you love. It may be sad what happened, but the only thing that matters is that they in the end meet each other again.

Now the Shadowlord is defeated. Yonah is unconscious and Kainé is about to go. But when she tries, Tyrant overwhelms her body ... Nier has to fight Kainé in her Shade form, something he already had to do once before in the Northern Shrine. Tyrant says, once the person is overwritten by the Shade there is no coming back. The person is gone. Nier defeats Kainé. Then he has the choice to end her life and bring her peace or ...

Canonical Ending:

Nier sacrifices his own existence to free Kainé from her connection. She wakes up together with Yonah. Both forgot about Nier. There is this one glimpse of Nier in Kainé's mind though about Yonah's father though ...

Extended version of it that is mentioned in Grimoire Nier:

Nier can be brought back in a new body by making use of the memories and with the help of the Tree in the Forest of Myth.