Nier begins with the end of humanity. Disease is killing off humans, leaving them to fend for themselves. After a short combat tutorial surrounding a father trying to protect his daughter, we're flung into the future where humans have reverted back to an almost primal way of life.
Like Final Fantasy XIII, Nier is a slow burn. The first ten or so hours are spent playing as a father whose only concern is caring for his sick daughter. Though this sometimes takes him into a dungeon or two, a majority of the time is spent running UPS errands. The first part of the game is stuffed with dull, meaningless fetch quests. These are your only way to earn money, but unless you're dying to collect weapons, you can find most of what you need by scavenging through levels. You'll want to complete a few quests just to get some spending cash, but these are mostly just time wasters to pad playtime.
The big question surrounding Nier is how the fathers' similar plights relate to one another. One playthrough offers a shaky answer, but it takes four plays to get the entire story. To its credit, subsequent games are more enjoyable than the first. The ten or so hours of "fluff" are cut out, leaving the last bit of meat. It's provides a good incentive to keep playing, but by the time you complete your first 20+ hour game, you're worn out.
The back-and-forth between Grimoire Weiss, an age-old talking book, and Kainé, a foul-mouthed lingerie-clad fighter, remove some of the tedium from side-quests. Weiss is the player's "voice" within the game. Everything you've ever thought while playing ("Why am I collecting flowers when I should be saving the world?"), Weiss says. Kainé's language is a bit rough, but her string of curses and bravado make her endearing. She sounds like a real person. It's like having Alan Rickman providing a running commentary while playing with someone over Xbox Live. Little, playful moments like this show a referential sense of self; Nier doesn't take itself as seriously as say, Final Fantasy XIII, and for that I can excuse some of its flaws.
