The game world will show an awareness of its predecessor, meaning that players will potentially hear of Nier, Yonah, and Kainé. It is confirmed, however, that Emil will make an appearance. The runic text that appeared in the announcement trailer reportedly says "doll, human, machine." The meaning is of course vague, but players of the original game will recognize these three categories -- and the potential fluidity between them -- as a major theme.
Yoko insisted that the game would have a happy ending this time around -- perhaps a surprise to players of the original Nier and certainly a surprise to producer Yosuke Saito, who was also present for the interview. Despite the fact that Saito is, um, producing the game, Yoko assured him that it would manage to end happily.
It seems, from early images and comments, that there will be larger and more ruins in the Nier sequel. The overall impression is that the world will be larger overall this time around. There will be multiple things (creatures? machines?) available for players to ride this time around (not just a boar).
There will be three playable characters; it seems that players won't be able to switch characters freely, but that these switches will be mandated based on overarching plot, player in-game decisions, and the number of playthroughs. The different characters will have different weapons with different commands and combos.
Finally, there was the customary talk of negotiating between maintaining the spirit of the original Nier while still doing new things. While Yoko cautioned that it would be impossible to capturing the same feeling as the original Nier, the staff at PlatinumGames, the company working with Square Enix on the title, have professed a liking for the original and are evidently committed to recreating that spirit. It was agreed that this new title is "very Nier." Nothing to worry about then, right?
Ed. Note: The first iteration of this post mentioned, in error, the presence of Kainé in the trailer.
Source: Siliconera
Posted in: Square-Enix News