124-627: Nier is an action role-playing video game developed by Cavia and published in 2010 by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 . In Japan, the game was released as Nier Replicant for the PlayStation 3 with a younger main character, while an alternative version titled Nier Gestalt with an older main character was released for the Xbox 360; Gestalt was released outside of Japan as Nier for both platforms. A remaster of
248-429: A Famitsu reviewer saying that they "didn't see much purpose" to them. Clements said that the combat had "a fair amount of satisfaction", though players should "not expect anything too extraordinary", and Kolan termed the combat as "moderately deep". Critics gave a generally positive review to the plot and characters; VanOrd liked most of the characters but thought Nier was bland and the story "soggy", while Schiesel called
372-446: A "role-playing shooter" due to the heavy RPG elements within the game, such as quest-based gameplay and also its character traits and leveling system. Half-Minute Hero (2009) is an RPG shooter featuring self-referential humour and a 30-second time limit for each level and boss encounter. Other action role-playing games with shooter elements include the 2010 titles Alpha Protocol by Obsidian Entertainment and The 3rd Birthday ,
496-593: A 1991 issue of Computer Gaming World criticized several computer role-playing games for using "arcade" or "Nintendo-style" action combat, including Ys , Sorcerian, Times of Lore, and Prophecy . In 1991, Square released Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden , also known as Final Fantasy Adventure or Mystic Quest in the West, for the Game Boy . Like Crystalis , the action in Seiken Densetsu bore
620-464: A character as he or she moves through an enemy-infested area. A majority of the time, the quest will demand the player to slay multiple enemies to ensure the safety of the NPC. Escort quests can be beneficial, forcing the players to focus on a particular area in order to play out a scene or reveal a section of the plot. Escort quests can also be used to funnel a character from one location to another, leading
744-512: A character to collect a number of items. These can either be gathered from a location or environment, or require the character to kill creatures in order to collect the required items. The quest may also require the character to collect a number of different items, for example to assemble a device. The Escort quest is a combination of killing enemies to maintain the well-being of a non-player character (NPC), while exploring an area alongside that NPC. A typical escort quest would involve protecting
868-538: A feature from the Drakengard series and Nier: Automata , were also incorporated. The fifth ending, originally a backup plan in case the original save data deletion was dropped and later written into a novella, was included both due to Saito's request for fan service and having the budget to incorporate it. Tying into later developments in the series, elements of the fifth ending featured advanced technology. ver.1.22474487139... features new Japanese voicework to make
992-422: A game. Typical quests involve killing a set number of creatures or collecting a list of specific items. Some quests may take only a few minutes or hours to complete, while others may take several days or weeks. Often, the larger the reward, the longer the quest takes to finish, and it is common for a quest to require characters to have met a certain set of pre-conditions before they are allowed to begin. Questing
1116-464: A general rule, the completion of sidequests is not essential for the game to be finished, but can bring various benefits to the player characters . A kill quest sends the character out to kill either a specific number of named creatures, or a specific NPC (non-player character). These types of quests often require the character to bring back proof of their work, such as trophies, or body parts (boar tusks, wolf pelts, etc.). The combo quest requires
1240-650: A heart monitor to represent the player's Attack Power and Armor Class statistics. Another controversial aspect of the game involved taking drugs (instead of potions) that increase/decrease attributes, but with side effects such as heart-rate increase/decrease or death. Origin Systems , the developer of the Ultima series, also released an action RPG in 1988, titled Times of Lore , which was inspired by various NES titles, particularly The Legend of Zelda . Times of Lore inspired several later titles by Origin Systems, such as
1364-580: A lot of popularity on the 2010s with titles such as Warframe (2013), Destiny (2014) and Destiny 2 (2017), The Division (2016) and The Division 2 (2019). Sidequests A quest , or mission , is a task within video games that a player-controlled character , party , or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward. Quests are most commonly seen in role-playing games and massively multiplayer online games . Rewards may include loot such as items or in-game currency, access to new level locations or areas, an increase in
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#17327835575801488-979: A more dialogue-heavy experience akin to the Baldurs Gate games and even older series like Falcom's Dragon Slayer/Xanadu series had its outing Xanadu Next with similar Diablo influences. The influences also come full circle when the first Diablo game was inspired by rogue-likes Umoria and Angband and in more recent years many games in the rogue-like genre are inspired by more classic dungeon crawler ARPGs that Diablo helped spawn. In this sub genre there are such recent titles as Path of Exile (2013), Grim Dawn (2016), Zenonia S: Rifts In Time (2015), Book of Demons (2018), Shadows: Awakening (2018), Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl Gold (2017), Titan Quest: Anniversary Edition (2016) and its expansions Titan Quest: Ragnarök (2017) and Titan Quest: Atlantis (2019), Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem (2020) and Minecraft Dungeons (2020). The prominence of Diablo 2 in
1612-483: A more traditional RPG-esque system, including experience points and levels with action game elements. Unlike its predecessor, Zelda II more closely fits the definition of an action RPG. Another Metroidvania -style action RPG released that year was System Sacom 's Sharp X1 computer game Euphory , which was possibly the only Metroidvania -style multiplayer action RPG produced, allowing two-player cooperative gameplay. The fifth Dragon Slayer title, Sorcerian ,
1736-491: A new Nier video game, but instead for a live evening concert for Nier's music titled "Nier Night ~ Evening of Madness" which took place on October 28, 2011. In March 2011, there were plans made between Yoko and Takuya Iwasaki, one of the original producers for Drakengard , to develop a port of Nier for the PlayStation Vita at Iwasaki's company Orca. The port would have incorporated material from both versions of
1860-424: A player to attack certain enemies or structures with a combination of attacks until the required number of combos is reached. Enemies in these quests are usually either immortal or infinite in number, until the player is successful. At this point, the enemies would either be killed, or stop appearing. Another type of quest is the delivery quest , also known as a FedEx quest or fetch-carry quest. This involves
1984-656: A singer from England living in Tokyo. She is the singer for the band freesscape, and had previously worked on video games such as Etrian Odyssey . In addition to singing, Evans was asked to write her own lyrics in futuristic languages. The composers gave her preliminary version of songs and the style they wished the language to be in, such as Gaelic or French, and she invented the words. Evans wrote songs in versions of Gaelic , Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, English and Japanese, where she tried to imagine what they would sound like after 1000 years of drifting. Square Enix released
2108-582: A skeletal being the villagers fear. Under Devola and Popola's guidance, the party seek out parts of a stone key that will unlock a pathway to the Shadowlord. After defeating five Shades and assembling the key, the team goes to defeat the Shadowlord. Devola and Popola then confront the party, revealing themselves to be allied with the Shadowlord in the name of a greater plan. 1300 years prior, humanity faced extinction due to an incurable disease. In an attempt to survive, they separated their souls from their bodies;
2232-549: A soundtrack album of music from the game, titled Nier Gestalt & Replicant Original Soundtrack , on April 21, 2010. The soundtrack album reached number 24 on the Japanese Oricon music charts, and remained on the charts for 11 weeks. As preorder bonuses for Nier Gestalt and Nier Replicant , two mini-albums, Nier Gestalt Mini Album and Nier Replicant Mini Album , were included. An album of arranged music, NieR Gestalt & Replicant 15 Nightmares & Arrange Tracks ,
2356-580: A strong resemblance to that of Legend of Zelda , but added more RPG elements. It was one of the first action RPGs to allow players to kill townspeople, though later Mana games removed this feature. Arcus Odyssey by Wolf Team (now Namco Tales Studio ) was an action RPG that featured an isometric perspective and co-operative multiplayer gameplay. In 1993, the second Seiken Densetsu game, Secret of Mana , received considerable acclaim, for its innovative pausable real-time action battle system , and its innovative cooperative multiplayer gameplay, where
2480-423: A temple after she wanders there looking for a rare flower, the protagonist meets the talking book Grimoire Weiss, which suggests that the two team up to use Weiss's magic and to find a cure for Yonah's disease, identified as the terminal Black Scrawl. In their search, they encounter Kainé , a hot-tempered and foul-mouthed swordswoman; and Emil, a blindfolded boy whose eyes petrify anyone they see. After journeying for
2604-430: A terrible event where both sides believed they were doing the right thing, and wanted to show the player multiple perspectives of the same events. The term "Replicant" was borrowed by Yoko from the 1982 science fiction movie Blade Runner , although Yoko did not cite a particular source for Nier ' s name, passing it off as a codename that persisted through development. The characters were designed by an artist under
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#17327835575802728-418: A time, the protagonist's village is attacked by a giant Shade. The battle ends with Emil being forced to petrify Kainé to seal the shade, and Yonah being kidnapped by a master Shade dubbed the Shadowlord. The game jumps forward five years, with the situation worsening. The protagonist and Emil successfully find the power necessary to free Kainé and kill the giant Shade, but getting the power transforms Emil into
2852-480: Is "the earliest game I'd feel comfortable calling an action-RPG" but notes that "it doesn't fit neatly into our modern genre classifications", though came closer than Bokosuka Wars released the same year. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com argues that Japanese developers created a new brand of action role-playing game; these new Japanese games combined the role-playing genre with arcade-style action and action-adventure elements. Shaun Musgrave of TouchArcade also traces
2976-693: Is "the very first action-RPG ever made" according to GameSetWatch. Originally released for the PC-8801 computer in September 1984, it abandoned the command-based battles of earlier role-playing games in favor of real-time hack-and-slash combat that required direct input from the player, alongside puzzle-solving elements. In contrast to earlier turn-based roguelikes , Dragon Slayer was a dungeon-crawl role-playing game using real-time, action-oriented combat, combined with traditional role-playing mechanics. Dragon Slayer's overhead action role-playing formula
3100-412: Is a prerequisite to beginning the next quest in the chain. Quests usually increase in difficulty as a player progresses through the chain. The quests typically reveal a single plotline in stages, where events during the stages of the plotline explain the reason or reasons for the different quests. Quest chains can also start with opening or breadcrumb quests, in order to encourage characters to journey to
3224-412: Is a tool used in role-playing games to avoid putting players in a position where they only perform a repetitive action, such as killing creatures. Players may be performing this activity in order to gain new skills and progress to new areas, or to gain in-game money in order to buy new items, such as armor and equipment. This process, commonly known as " grinding ", can slow down a character's progression in
3348-544: Is considered the first example of an immersive sim , a genre that combines elements from other genres to create a game with strong player agency and emergent gameplay, and has influenced many games since its release. The engine was re-used and enhanced for Ultima Underworld ' s 1993 sequel, Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds . Looking Glass Studios planned to create a third Ultima Underworld , but Origin rejected their pitches. After Electronic Arts (EA) rejected Arkane Studios ' pitch for Ultima Underworld III ,
3472-438: Is covered in black markings, worsening her condition. The story moves to over a thousand years later, with the current feudal civilization in decline and the black creatures—dubbed Shades—becoming more hostile. The protagonist and Yonah live in a village built within post-industrial ruins, with the protagonist taking odd jobs from the village leaders Devola and Popola to earn money to support the sick Yonah. While rescuing Yonah from
3596-617: The God of War series of games, which both Taro and Saito enjoyed. While the games had not been as popular in Japan as in North America, the two felt that the idea of having boss fights with different combat styles than the regular battles was an idea that would appeal to players in both regions. The changing styles, as well as the occasional changes in camera angle and movement, were meant to "accentuate [the] gap between real, modern scenery and
3720-860: The Princess Crown series, including Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade . Princess Crown had a more cartoon-like visual appeal. It still had quality visuals due to the George Kamitani style. LandStalker's 1997 spiritual successor Alundra is considered "one of the finest examples of action/RPG gaming", combining platforming elements and challenging puzzles with an innovative storyline revolving around entering people's dreams and dealing with mature themes. Ultima Underworld ' s influence has been found in BioShock (2007), and that game's designer, Ken Levine , has stated that "all
3844-616: The Dragon's Crown Artworks foreword: "The motif within Dragon's Crown is all the fantasy works that has affected me until now: the PC RPG Wizardry that I first came into contact with as a student; Ian Livingstone 's gamebooks; games like Tower of Druaga , Golden Axe and The King of Dragons ." He also cites his early 20s work on Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom as "truly something that I had aspired for". Dragon's Crown
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3968-399: The Drakengard games. Square Enix had minimal input on Yoko's vision for the game's atmosphere and story, allowing him high creative control. Nier is intended to be set over 1000 years after the original Drakengard ' s fifth ending. In this scenario, the game's protagonists Caim and Angelus travel across a dimensional boundary to fight a monstrous beast. After winning the battle and killing
4092-790: The MMO vehicular combat game Auto Assault (2006) by NetDevil and NCsoft . Other action RPGs featured both hack and slash and shooting elements, with the use of both guns (or in some cases, bow and arrow or aerial combat ) and melee weapons, including Cavia 's flight-based Drakengard series (2003 to 2005), and Level-5 's Rogue Galaxy (2005). Other RPS games include the Mass Effect series (2007 onwards), Fallout 3 and subsequent Fallout titles (2008 onwards), White Gold: War in Paradise (2008), and Borderlands (2009). Borderlands developer Gearbox Software has dubbed it as
4216-463: The War on Terror , while its gameplay was partly inspired by God of War series. Due to Western feedback, multiple versions of the protagonist were created. The music was composed by Monaca, a music studio led by Keiichi Okabe , and several albums have been released. Nier was released to mixed reception; reviewers praised the story, characters and soundtrack and were mixed in their opinions of how well
4340-503: The first installment of its Ys series in 1987. While not very popular in the West, the long-running Ys series has performed strongly in the Japanese market, with many sequels, remakes and ports in the decades that followed its release. Besides Falcom's own Dragon Slayer series, Ys was also influenced by Hydlide , from which it borrowed certain mechanics such as health-regeneration. The Faery Tale Adventure offered one of
4464-414: The 1990 games Bad Blood (another action RPG based on the same engine) and Ultima VI: The False Prophet , based on the same interface. Also in 1989, the enhanced remake Ys I & II was one of the first video games to use CD-ROM , which was utilized to provide enhanced graphics, animated cut scenes, a Red Book CD soundtrack, and voice acting. Its English localization was also one of
4588-591: The 2021 NAVGTR awards in "Outstanding Animation, Technical", "Outstanding Game, Franchise Role-playing", "Outstanding Original Dramagic Score, Franchise", and "Outstanding Song, Original or Adapted". Nier was the last game that Cavia made; the company was absorbed into its parent company, AQ Interactive , in July 2010. Square Enix executive producer Yosuke Saito later commented that "a number of things" related to Nier were in progress, and that an announcement could be due in 2011. The only announcement ended up not being for
4712-523: The AI, restoring the protagonist in his young form; all of the player's save data prior to the fourth ending is consequently restored. The concept that would become Nier was first proposed following the release of Drakengard 2 and the reveal of seventh generation consoles. The original concept was for a third entry in the Drakengard series. As the project evolved, the original ideas were reworked and
4836-419: The Japanese version, Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139... was released for PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , and Windows in 2021. The game is a spin-off from the Drakengard series, following the fifth ending of the first game , the events of which have left Earth in ruin. Set over one thousand years later, the story follows the unnamed protagonist attempting to find a cure for a terminal illness afflicting
4960-462: The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 , along with its developer and publisher. The localizations for the game—in English, French, and German—were produced during development so that all of the versions could be released at the same time, and so that Cavia and Square Enix could solicit feedback from North America and Europe on the game so that it would appeal to players outside Japan. Due to its high violence,
5084-495: The Square Enix online store. Pre-orders came with a digital soundtrack and platform-specific art-based bonuses. An updated version of Grimoire Nier was released in Japan in 2021, and for the first time in English in 2023. Yosuke Saito returned as the producer, Yoko Taro remained as creative director, and the role of game director went to Saki Ito. Development was handled by Toylogic [ ja ] . The combat redesign
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5208-527: The West, Yoko decided to feature the brother in the remaster. The father protagonist was featured as the player character in the "15 Nightmares" content, originally released as DLC dubbed "World of Recycled Vessel". The Mermaid story, featuring new character Louise, was planned for the original game but cut due to budget and reworked into a later novella. Yoko decided to include it given the opportunity, but did not incorporate other novella material as those were original stories rather than cut content. Weapon Stories,
5332-453: The camera around the characters, which allows for a 360° view of the surroundings. The three-dimensional world is divided into areas separated by loading screens, and the player can move freely throughout these areas by walking, running, jumping, and climbing ladders. In some rooms and buildings, the camera swings to the side and the main character is restricted to moving as in a two-dimensional platforming environment, while during certain battles
5456-531: The camera pulls up to simulate a top-down shoot 'em up or other video game genres. While traveling the player is frequently attacked by monsters, which include shadowy figures called Shades, large animals, and robots. Defeating these enemies gives the player experience points that can increase the main character's power, and money that can be used to purchase items. The player's weapons can be customized to have greater damage and abilities using materials that can be purchased, dropped from monsters, or scavenged around
5580-535: The camera to some degree. As such, these are often grouped with other "isometric RPGs". The popularity of the Diablo series spawned such franchises like Divinity , Torchlight , Dungeon Siege and Sacred . Commonly, these games used a fixed-camera isometric view of the game world, a necessity of the limitations of 2D graphics of early computers; The Diablo series spawned many terms like being referred to as "dungeon crawler" "slasher RPG" "hack and slasher",
5704-429: The character being sent to deliver an item from one location to another. Sometimes, the character may need to collect the item first, instead of being handed the item to deliver when starting the quest. These quests are made challenging by asking the character to journey through unfamiliar or dangerous terrain, sometimes while facing a time limit. Gather quests , also known as collection quests or fetch quests, require
5828-440: The character's experience in order to learn new skills and abilities, or any combination of the above. Quests often fall into several types, such as kill quests, gather quests, delivery/"fetch" quests, and escort quests. However, quests can include more than one mission, such as gathering something and transporting it somewhere. Quests can be linked together to form quest series or chains. In this manner, quests are used to provide
5952-456: The characters, setting the standard for first-person computer RPGs for several years. It inspired many other developers to make real-time dungeon crawlers, such as Eye of the Beholder and Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos . Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss , released in 1992, has been cited as the first RPG to feature first-person action in a 3D environment. Ultima Underworld
6076-553: The characters, was released on February 18, 2021. Owing to the success of Automata , Nier was reprinted for the PlayStation 3 in PAL territories in April 2017. Action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG ) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Action role-playing games emphasize real-time combat where
6200-433: The combat, but disliked the archaic design and was uncomfortable with some of Kainé's storyline. Malindy Hetfeld of Eurogamer did not like the game as a whole, but enjoyed its later narrative and noted that the graphical and gameplay improvements had made it playable for modern audiences and series fans. Replicant ver 1.22474487139... won the "Best Score/Music" category at The Game Awards 2021 . It also saw nominations at
6324-401: The control unit recording Replicant memories. Kainé, who is talked to by the control unit's AI through twin childlike avatars. Kainé is aided in fighting past machine duplicates of her by Emil, eventually entering the tree's mainframe and battling enemies drawn from her memories, culminating in a battle with a more-powerful Hook helped by the data remains of Grimoire Weiss. Kainé destroys Hook and
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#17327835575806448-518: The correct syntax to carry out a (typically simple) operation. Elements from the above types can be combined to make more complex quests. For example, a quest could require that the player find the parts needed to assemble a specific weapon (Gather Quest), and then use these parts to kill a specific foe (Kill quest). Hybrid quests may also include puzzles and riddles. A quest chain is a group of quests that are completed in sequence. Quest chains are also known as quest lines . Completion of each quest
6572-537: The current humans are the artificial Replicants who developed their own personalities, while the Shades are human souls—dubbed Gestalts—who are slowly losing their minds through being unable to reunite with their bodies. The Black Scrawl is a side effect of the Gestalts' insanity degrading their Replicant counterparts. The Shadowlord is the prime Gestalt used to stabilise them, and Devola and Popola are androids who oversee
6696-461: The decision to have a main character in his 30s for the international version, as well as more blood and swearing than typical in a Square Enix RPG. The fusion of different gameplay styles was included as a homage to earlier gameplay styles and genres. The soundtrack to Nier was composed by a collaboration of the studio MoNACA, directed by Keiichi Okabe and including Kakeru Ishihama and Keigo Hoashi, and Takafumi Nishimura from Cavia . Okabe served as
6820-424: The designs for the king of Facade, his queen Fyra, the father protagonist, and designed new character Louise. The game included new story content, content creating a narrative link to its sequel, and story content originally cut from the game. For the remaster, Yoko chose to exclusively use the brother version of the protagonist as he had initially wanted. As the father character had apparently seen mixed responses in
6944-401: The developers made no changes between the two versions; it was initially believed that the older protagonist was the character's original design. Many characters underwent changes during development, and some needed to be cut. There were originally thirteen Grimoires, with all but three—Weiss, Noir, and Rubrum—being cut. Emil's character was derived from a female character named Halua, while Kainé
7068-595: The development of Dragon Slayer (1984) and Hydlide (1984). Dragon Slayer , Hydlide and Courageous Perseus (1984) "vie for position as genre precedent" according to John Szczepaniak, and there was an ongoing rivalry developing between the Dragon Slayer and Hydlide series over the years. The Tower of Druaga , Dragon Slayer and Hydlide were influential in Japan, where they influenced later action RPGs such as Ys , as well as The Legend of Zelda . Falcom's Dragon Slayer , created by Yoshio Kiya,
7192-406: The different styles were "interesting" and one of the game's biggest strengths, they suffered from poor execution and cohesion and left the game "with split-personality disorder". Clements said that "the developers' ideas sometimes outshine the actual implementation", while highlighting the gameplay elements as part of what made the game fun. Adriaan den Ouden called out the variety as the best part of
7316-438: The disparate gameplay elements were connected. The execution of some gameplay elements was criticized, notably the side quests, and the graphics were regarded as substandard. Despite this, the game acquired acclaim among players over time, becoming a cult classic . The original Nier sold 500,000 copies, while the updated version shipped 1.5 million copies worldwide. A sequel developed by PlatinumGames , titled Nier: Automata ,
7440-434: The effectiveness of the multiple styles of gameplay presented. Seth Schiesel of The New York Times said that while "there are plenty of games that surpass it in each area," that Nier pulled all of the styles together into a "coherent, compelling whole" instead of feeling "disjointed"; he especially praised a section of the game that is presented entirely through text. Patrick Kolan of IGN Australia, however, said that while
7564-414: The estimates for the original version. As of November 2022, Replicant ver 1.22474487139... has shipped 1.5 million copies worldwide. Famitsu lauded the gameplay improvements and visual upgrade, though one reviewer noted the lack of fast travel and another said some players might be thrown off by "quirks" in the design. Electronic Gaming Monthly 's Mollie L. Patterson enjoyed the remaster, liking
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#17327835575807688-413: The fantasy world" as a tie-in to the game's story. The game was designed to have gameplay that would appeal to non-Japanese players in mind, with producer Saito stating that they wanted to depart from menu-based combat. The game was meant to appeal to older players; it was intended as an action-role playing game (RPG) for an older market than Square Enix's action-RPG series Kingdom Hearts . This influenced
7812-538: The first to use voice dubbing . The game received the Game of the Year award from OMNI Magazine in 1990, as well as other prizes. Another 1989 release, Activision 's Prophecy: The Fall of Trinadon , attempted to introduce "Nintendo-style" action combat to North American computer role-playing games. Action RPGs were far more common on consoles than computers, due to gamepads being better suited to real-time action than
7936-834: The following games released prior to 1984 as action RPGs: Temple of Apshai (1979) and its sequel Gateway to Apshai (1983), Beneath the Pyramids for the Apple II (1980), Bokosuka Wars (1983), and Sword of Fargoal (1983). Jeremy Parish of USgamer claimed that Adventure (1980) was an action RPG. Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton claimed that the Intellivision games Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1982) and Treasure of Tarmin (1983) were action RPGs. Shaun Musgrave of TouchArcade notes that Adventure lacked RPG mechanics such as experience points and permanent character growth, and argues that Gateway to Apshai
8060-545: The game a higher score than most, said that "the environments are bland and poorly rendered". The music and voice acting, however, were praised; Clements said that "both are quite excellent", den Ouden called the soundtrack "absolutely fantastic", Chris Schilling of Eurogamer said that the music was full of "memorable themes", and one of the four reviewers for the Japanese Weekly Famitsu termed it "a cut above". Reviewers were divided in their opinion on
8184-402: The game and create something to please fans of Nier: Automata . The characters were redrawn by Akihiko Yoshida , Toshiyuki Itahana, and Kimihiko Fujisaka; all three had contributed to the Drakengard and Nier series, and were brought in at Yoko's request. Yoshida worked on the redesigns of the young protagonist, Kainé, Yonah and Emil; Itahana redesigned Devola and Popola; and Fujisaka reworked
8308-453: The game and ultimately limit the player's enjoyment. Having a number of quests for characters to tackle is seen as a way to provide variety, and to counter the need to grind in these types of games. A sidequest is an optional section of a video game, and is commonly found in role-playing video games . It is a smaller mission within a larger storyline, and can be used as a means to provide non-linear structures to an otherwise linear plot. As
8432-450: The game eventually became a spin-off from the main series. Despite this, the game's director Yoko Taro continues to think of it as the third Drakengard game. Different reports described its planned platforms. An earlier report stated it was intended as an Xbox 360 exclusive, then expanded onto the PlayStation 3 (PS3). Yoko later stated that the PS3 version was the original one planned due to
8556-579: The game fully voiced, and both new and rearranged music. The score was arranged by Okabe, Hoashi, Ryuichi Takada, Kuniyuki Takahashi, Shotaro Seo, and Oliver Good. Okabe and Hoashi composed the new tracks. Evans returned to perform vocals with Saki Nakae. The chorus work was done by Evans, Nakae, Okabe, Shotaro Seo, Yukino Orita and KOCHO. Most of the English original cast returned, including Laura Bailey (Kaine), Liam O'Brien (Grimoire Weiss), Julie Ann Taylor (Emil), and Eden Riegel (Devola and Popola). The protagonist had two voice actors; Zach Aguilar voiced
8680-448: The game is played from a third-person perspective. Players can customize their player character , which learns to cast spells, brew potions, and master combat abilities, eventually developing their own special combat style. In late 1987, FTL Games released Dungeon Master , a dungeon crawler that had a real-time game world and some real-time combat elements (akin to Active Time Battle ), requiring players to quickly issue orders to
8804-725: The game was given a CERO D rating in Japan. In Japan, two versions of the game were released; Nier Gestalt for the 360 which would use the adult lead, and Nier Replicant for the PS3 which used the young lead. In the West, the Gestalt version was released on both platforms under the title Nier . The PS3 version had a Japanese voice cast, while the 360 release used the English dub. Nier released worldwide by Square Enix in April 2010: it released on April 22 in Japan and Australia, April 23 in Europe, and April 27 in North America. A supplementary guidebook, Grimoire Nier: The Complete Guide + Cels ,
8928-409: The game's mouse-based combat were mixed. In 1997 Blizzard's Diablo was released and became massively successful. It was an action RPG that used a mouse oriented point-and-click interface and offered gamers a free online service to play with others that maintained the same rules and gameplay. Diablo ' s effect on the market was significant, inspiring many imitators. Its impact was such that
9052-530: The game, likening it to a buffet table, while also acknowledging that none of the sections were "amazing" on their own and could easily be looked upon poorly. The regular combat was reviewed as solid, if not exceptional, and the sidequests were seen as repetitive, with Quillen saying that "the side quests in Nier are about as numerous as they are totally mindless," VanOrd calling them "a series of monotonous events, often connected only by long stretches of nothing," and
9176-410: The game. When Orca was chosen to help develop Dragon Quest X , the project was shelved. A number of key staff from Nier ' s development, including director Yoko and Okabe, would later reunite to work on a new entry ( Drakengard 3 ) in the Drakengard series from which Nier was spun off. A sequel titled Nier: Automata , developed by Square Enix and PlatinumGames for the PlayStation 4 ,
9300-585: The gaming market and its influence on the MMORPG genre later popularized the strongly used mouse-oriented point and click combat. While in the Diablo series this type of combat does not have a lock-on key, World of Warcraft and most MMO games uses some kind of key to target an enemy, usually TAB, to lock into it, usually referred to as "tab-target". In tab-target combat the player's character automatic do attack animations with some kind of regular attack, while
9424-519: The genre's roots to Japan, noting that the "Western game industry of the time had a tendency to treat action games and RPGs as separate things for separate demographics". Jeremy Parish argues that action RPGs were popularized in Japan by The Tower of Druaga . It was released for arcades in June 1984, and was intended as a "fantasy version of Pac-Man , with puzzles to solve, monsters to battle, and hidden treasure to find". Its success in Japan inspired
9548-401: The girl Yonah—either his sister or daughter. The gameplay borrows elements from various video game genres , occasionally switching between them and the main role-playing -based gameplay. Beginning production in 2007, the game was directed by Drakengard creator Yoko Taro , who was given a lot of creative freedom with the project. Its storyline drew inspiration from September 11 attacks and
9672-537: The incarnation of Nier other than the one in the specific version of the game. Nier enters the battles in a dream world accessed through a diary in his house. The expansion offers new costumes and weapons for the game. A CD drama, NieR Replicant Drama CD The Lost Words and the Red Sky , was released on April 27, 2011. The CD covers additional stories related to the game's backstory and characters. An updated version of Replicant titled Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139...
9796-521: The keyboard and mouse. Though there were attempts at creating action-oriented computer RPGs during the late 1980s and early 1990s, very few saw any success. Times of Lore was one of the more successful attempts in the American computer market, where there was a generally negative attitude towards combining genres in this way and more of an emphasis on preserving the purity of the RPG genre. For example,
9920-448: The largest worlds at the time, with over 17,000 computer screens without loading times. In 1988, Telenet Japan 's Exile series debuted, and was controversial due to its plot, which revolves around a time-traveling Crusades-era Syrian assassin who assassinates various religious/historical figures as well as 20th-century political leaders, The gameplay of Exile included both overhead exploration and side-scrolling combat, and featured
10044-432: The lead composer and as the director for the project as a whole. Okabe was brought onto the project when the concept for the game was first being devised, and worked intermittently on the soundtrack for the next three years until its release. The music for the game was generally composed entirely separately from the development of the game. The music was designed for different motifs to appear in various arrangements throughout
10168-440: The lessening importance of the PlayStation 2 , which Drakengard 2 had been made for. Including concept planning, the total development time lasted three years, with two years spent actually developing the game. It was initially a small-scale project, but during planning it grew into a full-fledged role-playing game. Development was handled by Cavia with help from Square Enix , who had previously provided development support for
10292-411: The moniker D.K. Two character designs for the protagonist were created for Nier . The developers believed that the Japanese audience would respond more strongly to a younger protagonist, while non-Japanese audiences would prefer an adult protagonist character. Other than changing the protagonists appearance and modifying a few lines of dialogue to fit with him being a father rather than a brother to Yonah,
10416-522: The monster, they are shot down by a fighter jet and killed; their introduction of magic to the world leads to magical research that results in the Black Scrawl. According to Yoko, after the dark story of Drakengard , Yoko focused on more positive themes of friendship and combined effort. Much of the game was inspired by the September 11 attacks and the War on Terror . Yoko took from it the idea of
10540-610: The most favorably said that he was "blown away" by the multiple endings, and that "nothing like it's been done in gaming". In 2015, Jeffrey Matulef of Eurogamer characterized Nier as "the rare game that gets better with age". Despite "poor sales and tepid reviews", he wrote, the game had acquired a cult following, which he attributed to its "sense of wonder" due to its cryptic storytelling, mashup assortment of game mechanics and melancholy mood. By June 2021, Replicant ver 1.22474487139... had shipped over one million copies worldwide in both physical and digital sales, noted as being double
10664-401: The player along a route or path. However, problems with this type of quest can occur if the artificial intelligence controlling the NPC causes the NPC to behave in unexpected or unmanageable ways. Because many escort quests are often perceived as being poorly done, they are very unpopular amongst the gaming community. A phenomenon unique to text-based games, syntax quests depend on guessing
10788-746: The player can focus on activating other skills and items by pressing other keys. Usually this type of combat is not heavily based on aiming or hit boxes thus the player can hit enemies from different distances and even from a far. Some tab-target MMOs have other targeting options such as an "Action mode". Shooter-based action RPGs include Strife (1996), System Shock 2 (1999), the Deus Ex series (2000 onwards) by Ion Storm , Bungie 's Destiny (2014), Irem 's Steambot Chronicles (2005), Square Enix's third-person shooter RPG Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (2006), which introduced an over-the-shoulder perspective similar to Resident Evil 4 , and
10912-580: The player enters further playthroughs , events start just after Kainé is freed. Kainé's past is focused on, showing the discrimination she suffered due to her parents' deaths, being born intersex , and later being partially possessed by the rogue Gestalt Tyrann. Through Tyrann, the player can understand the previously-garbled speech of Gestalts. New story sequences show the Gestalt antagonists' motivations and backstory, showing them to be sentient and fighting for their own beliefs and goals. The second ending shows
11036-405: The player experience points and money, as well as fishing and farming segments. In the mid 21st century, in the midst of a snowstorm in summer amid a ruined city, the protagonist fends off ethereal black monsters to protect the sick young girl Yonah—either his younger sister or daughter, depending on the version. The protagonist uses a magical book to fend off the creatures, but Yonah touches it and
11160-512: The player has direct control over the characters as opposed to turn or menu -based combat while still having a focus on character's stats in order to determine relative strength and abilities. These games often use action game combat systems similar to hack and slash or shooter games . The term "action role-playing game" may also describe action-adventure games , which include a mission system and role-playing game mechanics, as well as MMORPGs with real-time combat systems. Allgame listed
11284-408: The player with further background to the setting their characters are in. This mechanism is also used to advance any story or plot the game might have. Many types of quests are referred to as "sidequests". These are quests which deviate from the main plot and are not required to complete the game. In the most general sense, a quest is a "hunt for a specific outcome", in contrast to simply winning
11408-445: The player's save data. The updated version of Replicant adds a fifth ending after a new game is begun following the fourth ending, beginning following the defeat of Kainé's Shade nemesis Hook. Three years after the Shadowlord's defeat, Kainé continues having nightmares about losing something precious, and fights increasingly-hostile Shades. Investigating a settlement, she finds its people killed by robots emerging from its central tree,
11532-426: The player's stats, or as a currency to purchase items, and penalizing player deaths without imposing an outright failure state. It also incorporated online features allowing players to leave messages in the overworld that can be read by other players, to temporarily join other players' sessions to assist them cooperatively, or "invade" another player's session to engage in player versus player combat. Especially after
11656-545: The red, but it wasn't exactly a success either". Nier received mixed reviews. Reviewers criticized the graphics, with Ryan Clements of IGN saying that "one of Nier's greatest flaws is its visuals," while GameSpot 's Kevin VanOrd bemoaned the "flavorless visuals" and "lifeless environments". Dustin Quillen of 1UP.com said that the game "looks downright primitive", while Adriaan den Ouden of RPGamer , who awarded
11780-514: The release of its spiritual successor Dark Souls (2011) and its sequels, other action RPGs emerged in the 2010s that incorporated mechanics influenced by those of Demon's Souls , which have been popularly referred to as " Soulslike " games. In 2013, Vanillaware released the fantasy beat 'em up ARPG Dragon's Crown , a spiritual successor to Princess Crown and a "deeply moving product" of Vanillaware director George Kamitani. Kamitani cites many classic RPGs as his inspiration, stating in
11904-416: The repetition in later areas and the side quest design, but praised the graphical and gameplay updates along with the new story content. Julie Muncy of PC Gamer positively noted the improvements to combat and general movement, and praised the story's tone and additions, but highlighted that the original's pacing issues were also retained. Chris Plante of Polygon enjoyed the slow pace of the narrative and
12028-459: The second or third players could drop in and out of the game at any time, rather than players having to join the game at the same time. The game has remained influential through to the present day, with its ring menu system still used in modern games and its cooperative multiplayer mentioned as an influence on games such as Dungeon Siege III (2011). Most other such games, however, used a side-scrolling perspective typical of beat 'em ups, such as
12152-411: The series was also heavily criticized by players and media for not being a proper RPG due to it being focused more on fighting enemies and creating character builds than following a proper narrative and dialogue-heavy journey. After its success many other games tried to mix its influences with different structures and narratives, there are multiple games like Divine Divinity that were an attempt to have
12276-403: The soundtrack, and also to convey a sense of sadness even during the "thrilling" tracks. Okabe was allowed a great deal of freedom regarding what the music was to sound like; game director Yoko Taro's main request was that he use a lot of vocal works. The soundtrack to Nier is largely composed of melancholy acoustic pieces which heavily feature vocals by vocalist Emi Evans (Emiko Rebecca Evans),
12400-589: The spirit of the Gestalt protagonist and Yonah reuniting in the afterlife, and reveals that Emil survived; further information confirms that the Shadowlord's death will lead to humanity's extinction as Replicants and Gestalts can no longer be rejoined. In a third or further playthrough, Kainé becomes overwhelmed by Tyrann, going berserk and forcing the protagonist to fight her. The protagonist can either kill her to end her suffering (the third ending), or sacrifice his life for her (the fourth ending). The latter choice erases memory of him from Kainé and Yonah, and deletes all of
12524-403: The story "provocative" and "profound", saying that it "succeeds at fostering an emotional investment in its characters and in its world". Quillen said that the plot "takes some fascinating and truly original turns" and that Nier has "a supporting cast of genuinely interesting folks," and Schilling said that the story made the game "difficult to dislike". The Famitsu reviewer that viewed the game
12648-506: The studio instead created a spiritual successor : Arx Fatalis . Toby Gard stated that, when designing Tomb Raider , he "was a big fan of ... Ultima Underworld and I wanted to mix that type of game with the sort of polygon characters that were just being showcased in Virtua Fighter ". Ultima Underworld was also the basis for Looking Glass Technologies' later System Shock . The 1988 Origin Systems title Times of Lore
12772-455: The system. The party defeat them, with Emil sacrificing himself in the process. The remaining group then defeats the Shadowlord, revealed to be the Gestalt of the prologue's protagonist, with his actions driven by the wish to save his Yonah by reuniting her Gestalt and Replicant. The Gestalt Yonah dissipates to save her Replicant version's life, and the protagonist kills the Shadowlord after Grimoire Weiss sacrifices himself to weaken his power. If
12896-410: The team felt it fit in with many other aspects of her gritty backstory. Kainé's status as intersex caused some "commotion" in western territories, which is something the team did not actively intend. Yoko attributed the original suggestion to female staff members working on the game. The in-game cutscenes were created and directed by Studio Anima. The combat and action elements of Nier were inspired by
13020-620: The template for many future action RPGs, even though it does not strictly fit the definition of later action RPGs. In contrast to previous action RPGs, such as Dragon Slayer and Hydlide, which required the player to bump into enemies in order to attack them, The Legend of Zelda featured an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen. It was also an early example of open-world, nonlinear gameplay , and introduced new features such as battery backup saving. These elements have been used in many action RPGs since. In 1987, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link implemented
13144-427: The temples to refuse to level him up. Xanadu Scenario II , released in 1986, was an expansion pack , created to expand the content of Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu . Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness (1985) also featured a morality system. Eurogamer cites Fairlight (1985) as an early action RPG. An important influence on the action RPG genre was the 1986 action-adventure The Legend of Zelda , which served as
13268-468: The term "action RPG" has come to be more commonly used for Diablo -style games, with The Legend of Zelda itself slowly recategorized as an action-adventure. Very commonly, these games used a fixed-camera isometric view of the game world, a necessity of the limitations of 2D graphics of early computers; even with 3D graphic engines, such point-and-click games are still presented from a similar isometric view, though providing options to rotate, pan, and zoom
13392-713: The things that I wanted to do and all the games that I ended up working on came out of the inspiration I took from [ Ultima Underworld ]". Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski also cited it as an early influence, stating that it had "far more impact on me than Doom ". Other games influenced by Ultima Underworld include The Elder Scrolls: Arena , Deus Ex , Deus Ex: Invisible War , Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines , and Half-Life 2 . FromSoftware 's Demon's Souls (2009) emphasized unforgiving enemies and environments, combined with risk-and-reward mechanics such as limited checkpoints, collecting "souls" that can be consumed as experience points to increase
13516-553: The third game in the Parasite Eve series, features a unique blend of action RPG, real-time tactical RPG, survival horror and third-person tactical shooter elements. Shooter-based RPGs include Imageepoch 's post-apocalyptic Black Rock Shooter (2011) , which employs both first-person and third-person shooter elements, and Square Enix's Final Fantasy XV (2016) , which features both hack and slash and third-person shooter elements. The online live service version gained
13640-421: The world. Multiple varieties of each weapon type can be acquired. The player can also use magic spells, which require enough energy from a constantly regenerating amount to cast. These spells include projectiles and large shadowy fists, among others; new spells are acquired in the first half of the game by completing specific battles. In addition to the main plotline, Nier includes numerous sidequests , which give
13764-544: The young version of the protagonist better than the earlier adult version and praising its reworked gameplay and additions. Jason Guisao of Game Informer felt the visual upgrade was inconsistent and disliked the side quest structure, but lauded the overall narrative and improvements to the game's mechanics. GameSpot 's Michael Higham was generally positive about the game, praising its narrative, new elements and music while finding its gameplay and world held back by archaic design. Mitchell Saltzmann of IGN negatively noted
13888-488: The younger version, while Ray Chase voiced the older version after the time skip. Nier Gestalt sold over 12,500 copies in Japan the week of its release, while Replicant sold over 60,000 and was the top-selling video game in Japan that week. Replicant sold over 121,000 copies in Japan by the end of May 2010, and ended the year with over 134,000 copies sold. In 2019, Yoko estimated that Nier had sold around 500,000 copies worldwide. According to Yoko, "we weren't really in
14012-478: Was also one of the earliest action RPGs. Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu , released in 1985 (billed as a "new type of real-time role-playing game"), was an action role-playing game including many character stats and a large quest. It also incorporated a side-scrolling view during exploration and an overhead view during battle, and an early "Karma" morality system where the character's Karma meter will rise if he commits sin (killing "good" enemies), which in turn causes
14136-508: Was also released that year. It was a party-based action RPG, with the player controlling a party of four characters at the same time in a side-scrolling view. The game also featured character creation, highly customizable characters, class-based puzzles, and a new scenario system, allowing players to choose from 15 scenarios, or quests , to play through in the order of their choice. It was also an episodic video game , with expansion disks later released offering more scenarios. Falcom also released
14260-433: Was an action RPG with an icon-based point-and-click interface. Bad Blood , another Origin Systems game from 1990, would use the same interface. The designers were inspired by console titles, particularly The Legend of Zelda , to make their interface more accessible. The 1994 title Ultima VIII used mouse controls and attempted to add precision jumping sequences reminiscent of a Mario platform game, though reactions to
14384-506: Was announced in March 2020 as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations for the series and was slated for a worldwide release for PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , and Windows . It was released on console in Asia on April 22, 2021 in Japan and Asia, and April 23 in the West. The Windows version released worldwide on April 23. The game came in both standard and a limited "White Snow" edition exclusive to
14508-461: Was originally a far more feminine type who hid her violent nature. Yonah's original Japanese name was derived from the Biblical name Jonah ; this could not be taken verbatim into its localized form due to the name being associated with a man, so the name was changed to "Yonah". Yoko was initially shocked at Kainé's design, but warmed to it and had it kept. Kainé's character was made intersex , since
14632-579: Was published by Square Enix on December 8, 2010. The arranged album reached number 59 on the Oricon music charts, a position it held for a week. Another album, NieR Tribute Album -echo- , was released on September 14, 2011, and an album of piano arrangements, Piano Collections Nier Gestalt & Replicant , was published on March 21, 2012. Nier was officially unveiled in June 2009 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 for both
14756-575: Was re-released with a PS4 "Pro" edition in 2018. Assassin's Creed , a long-running Ubisoft franchise, also shifted towards the action RPG formula, inspired by the successes of The Witcher 3 and the Dark Souls series, with its titles Origins (2017), Odyssey (2018) and Valhalla (2020). Avalanche Software released Hogwarts Legacy in 2023. Set in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and its surrounding areas,
14880-534: Was released in 2017. Nier is an action role-playing game in which players take on the role of an unnamed protagonist ; the protagonist is a middle-aged man in Nier Gestalt and a teenage boy in Nier Replicant , named by the player. The player directly controls the main character through a third-person perspective to interact with people, objects, and enemies throughout the game. The player can turn
15004-513: Was released in Japan on February 23, in North America on March 7 and worldwide on March 10, 2017. The PC version of Nier: Automata was released on March 17, 2017. The Xbox One version was released on June 26, 2018. The Nintendo Switch version was released on October 6, 2022. Yoko, Saito and Okabe returned to their previous roles. Other staff members include Yoshida as lead artist and producer Atsushi Inaba . A mobile game, Nier Reincarnation , produced by Applibot, with Yoshida returning to design
15128-403: Was released on May 28, 2010 by ASCII Media Works . The guidebook included documentation of in-game elements, developer interviews, and novellas detailing both additional character stories and a post-game ending scenario. On May 11, Square Enix released a piece of downloadable content for the game, titled "The World of Recycled Vessel". The small expansion features a series of fifteen battles with
15252-454: Was supervised by Takahisa Taura of PlatinumGames , who had worked on the game's sequel Nier: Automata . Toylogic was brought on board due to Yoko knowing its founder, Yoichi Take, from their time working together at Cavia. Kazuma Koda, who worked on later Nier projects, contributed promotional artwork. Ito described his work reworking the combat and graphical design as preserving as much as possible while matching his own idealised memories of
15376-571: Was used in many later games. T&E Soft 's Hydlide , released in December 1984, was created by Tokihiro Naito, who was influenced by The Tower of Druaga . It was the first action RPG with an overworld . The game was immensely popular in Japan, selling 2 million copies across all platforms. According to John Szczepaniak, it "cannot be overstated how influential Hydlide was on the ARPGs which followed it". The same year, Courageous Perseus
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