It pays off if you have great patience.
I purchased the game and played it that night, in the first hour it reminded me straight away of a cheap version of Hyrule. The village and the fields surrounding felt strangely nostalgic even though I hadn't played this game - it just reminded me so much of Zelda.
Putting these things aside the story is beautiful, it is really quite sad once you get deeper into the game, it helps that the characters are all so strong in personality.
One thing that really stood out in NIER was the music, after completing it the soundtrack is almost hard-wired into my brain because it is that good! I think the best thing I can say about this game is play it if you are a patient person, do not expect it to be fantastic as soon as you start playing but once you get further into the game it really is hard to put down and is definitely one game in my "hidden gems" collection - I loved it.