Slow start and boring side quest weaken this otherwise great game. Has one of the best soundtracks ever heard in games.
After the intro we'll skip over thousand years to future, to peaceful and quiet town, that remains unnamed through the game. Nier doesn't bother to explain why the sudden time-skip or the change of scenery, but a bit surprisingly it works well, leaving you to guess what has happened to the world. Everywhere around you remains of the old world is seen: abandoned factories, remnants of railroads etc. It's an interesting place, where advanced technology from a civilization far gone meets might and magic that controls the world. The only thing that remains the same after the intro, is father and his daughter. Our protagonist's (who the player can name him/herself) mission is to find a cure for his daughter.
So the father sets out and is soon accompanied by a strangest creature: a grimmoire called Weiss. After this the father is bestowed by a variety of powerful magic attacks, although during the course of the game only a few of them truly shine as really useful. The party is later completed by a foul-mouthed girl, Kainé, and a kind-hearted boy called Emil. The characters are well written and it's fun to listen to them talking in the midst of a quest.
Talking about quests, Nier offers dozens of side quest for the player to complete. Sadly most of these quests consist of boring item fetching or running other errands for townsfolk. Lack of locations further decreases the fun factor from these, although you might find yourself completing them just to hear what Weiss has to comment about the task in hand.
Some of the quests as well as the main story, bring you in contact with shades, who are shadowy like creatures trying to hinder your progress. Not much is told about who or what these creatures are, but later in the game, some surprising facts about them are discovered. The combat itself feels much like other action games out there. The father can use one of the many weapons he has, to strike his foes down. In addition, with the help of Weiss, father's not limited only to melee, but can also summon might of the grimmoire to help in battles. Fighting is in the end very simple and unfortunately overly easy. Still, the fast action and the ease of performing the moves is nice.
So far Nier might've sounded like a typical action-RPG game with strong focus on story and fighting. Indeed Nier has many typical features from the RPG genre, with level ups, collectible and upgradable weapons, fishing, gardening, side questing... you name it. However, there's moments when you'll go through bird-eye view box puzzles, 2D platformers, bullet-hell shooters, text adventures etc. So the variety is great, and you'll even find some homage to old Resident Evil games and a funny nod towards Zeldas.
Despite boring and lengthy side quests and over-all a slow start of the story, Nier is an excellent addition to any RPG fans collection. Once the story really starts to pick up pace, you'll be finding one interesting plot twist after another, not to talk about the ending (there's actually 4 different to discover). Another, and surprisingly perhaps the best, part of Nier is the soundtrack. The overall style and powerful choirs truly make for one of the best soundtracks ever in games, heck, even if you'll compare it to any soundtrack out there. The game would definitely be worth your time, even if just to listen to these awesome tracks. So Nier's a good game. It's not the best you could wish for an RPG, but it certainly has it's moments.