How does main character change make sense?

[geøstigma]

I haven't played the original but I am (and was even back in the day) well aware of it. I don't particularily care for the story or lore that much either but I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by what Automata had to offer regarding that.
Because of that, I was just curious enough to ask how does completely replacing the original character with one that has no resemblance to him actually work or does it even?

Are they just after the fan service fame that Automata managed to amass, or is there an actual explanation to why this is the case or how is it possible to begin with? :D

[Bikanel desert]

omg just google. has been answer already many times here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nier_(video_game)

[jdulzo]

They used the Japanese PS3 Main Character there was no change.

[geøstigma]

Originally posted by jdulzo:

They used the Japanese PS3 Main Character there was no change.

From what I remember about Nier from PS3 is that the main character was much older and masculine. I know that Japanese and EU versions had different names but, did they have different characters as well because I wasn't able to find anything about this.

[Infected Shogun]

I'm shocked you can't find anything on this so you must not have tried lol.

Yes Nier Replicant used the younger main character, this is a "remake" of that not Gestalt.

They're mostly the same thing just the age difference and dialog changes etc... to reflect said change.

[Miyokari]

Originally posted by geøstigma:

Originally posted by jdulzo:

They used the Japanese PS3 Main Character there was no change.

From what I remember about Nier from PS3 is that the main character was much older and masculine. I know that Japanese and EU versions had different names but, did they have different characters as well because I wasn't able to find anything about this.

No, for the most part the difference is just in design and some dialogue changes to fit better between father and brother

[Ogami]

Originally posted by geøstigma:

From what I remember about Nier from PS3 is that the main character was much older and masculine. I know that Japanese and EU versions had different names but, did they have different characters as well because I wasn't able to find anything about this.

In 2010 two Nier games released in Japan, Nier Replicant with the brother as the main character and Nier Gestalt which had the father as the main character.
Both games are canon to the Nier timeline but the father story is set a hundred years before the brother one.
When it was time to release Nier in the west they decided to only publish Nier Gestalt because they thought the old dude was more marketable in the west.
But in Japan Repliciant outsold Gestalt like 6:1.

Also Yoko Taro stated that its the brother timeline that leads to Automata which was the main reason they remade that game, especially with the newly added ending E that links it to Automata.


I hope that answers your questions.

[geøstigma]

Originally posted by Ogami:

Originally posted by geøstigma:

From what I remember about Nier from PS3 is that the main character was much older and masculine. I know that Japanese and EU versions had different names but, did they have different characters as well because I wasn't able to find anything about this.

In 2010 two Nier games released in Japan, Nier Replicant with the brother as the main character and Nier Gestalt which had the father as the main character.
Both games are canon to the Nier timeline but the father story is set a hundred years before the brother one.
When it was time to release Nier in the west they decided to only publish Nier Gestalt because they thought the old dude was more marketable in the west.
But in Japan Repliciant outsold Gestalt like 6:1.

Also Yoko Taro stated that its the brother timeline that leads to Automata which was the main reason they remade that game, especially with the newly added ending E that links it to Automata.


I hope that answers your questions.

👍👍👍

[Roberto]

Pretty sure brother Nier has always been more canon and father Nier. Just look into some of the stuff he did to support Yonah, it seems questionable that a full grown man would do the things he did. Whereas a young naive boy makes more sense.

[Commander Hitman2b]

Originally posted by geøstigma:

Originally posted by jdulzo:

They used the Japanese PS3 Main Character there was no change.

From what I remember about Nier from PS3 is that the main character was much older and masculine. I know that Japanese and EU versions had different names but, did they have different characters as well because I wasn't able to find anything about this.

Both bother nier and father nier are cannon but japanese got the brother and american and other got the father because yoko or the japanese was scared about the reception the brother would get

[Ogami]

Originally posted by USG Hitman2b:

Both bother nier and father nier are cannon but japanese got the brother and american and other got the father because yoko or the japanese was scared about the reception the brother would get

Nothing to do with Yoko Taro, it was Square Enix that just wanted to release the Father Nier version in the west. Taro wanted both versions to release just like in Japan but Square did not want to do that.

[Infected Shogun]

Originally posted by Roberto:

Pretty sure brother Nier has always been more canon and father Nier. Just look into some of the stuff he did to support Yonah, it seems questionable that a full grown man would do the things he did. Whereas a young naive boy makes more sense.

I saw nothing that made less sense for old man nier and more that made less sense for young nier. They both work tho overall.

I'd say there is more things a father would do for his daughter than a brother would do for his sister.

issue seems to be people think old nier wouldn't help his own town with the fetch quests or are basing things on lines that were changed.

[Amygdala]

IMO the only confusion between Brother and Father comes if you talk about the side materials, ingame there's no issue

[黒猫]

Originally posted by Ogami:

Originally posted by geøstigma:

Both games are canon to the Nier timeline but the father story is set a hundred years before the brother one.
When it was time to release Nier in the west they decided to only publish Nier Gestalt because they thought the old dude was more marketable in the west.
But in Japan Repliciant outsold Gestalt like 6:1.

Lol no.
Replicant is canon, old geezer was forced on Yokoo Tarou by that garbage localization company. He didn't want to change main character till the very end. Read the interview with him.

[CrumbleCat]

Originally posted by 黒猫:

Originally posted by Ogami:

Lol no.
Replicant is canon, old geezer was forced on Yokoo Tarou by that garbage localization company. He didn't want to change main character till the very end. Read the interview with him.

Link it ples.

[Minneyar]

People sure do like to misremember things Taro said and take them out of context.

Here's an interview with him from four years ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nier/comments/5z0r5c/additional_yoko_taro_interview_from_pax_east_some/

4: Which version of the character nier does Yoko like better? father or brother?

-When we were creating the original nier, we started with developing with the brother. Midway, we decided to develop for the xbox 360 with the father as one of the protagonists. As I was working on this father for about a year, I started to like him more as a character. As this point, I like both equally.