Should I play Drakengard 3 before Nier? Spoiler free please

[Sergey.]

Hello,

I just getting my copy of Drakengard 3 today, while still waiting for Nier's to come.
I played Nier Automata, read Drakengard 3 the prequel novella, and watched Drakengard "Lets Play" for the story.
I know what is the chronological and the release orders, and I know the fact that the gameplay isn't the highlight in any of these games.

Mostly I care about the story and the references if exist, and thats why I want to ask is it ok to start with Drakengard 3, or can it be more enjoyable after playing Nier first?

Thank you and sorry for the bad grammar.

[Cxjey2025]

That castle place is connected to old nier games?

[Sergey.]

To avoid spoiling for myself I didn't read the details, so I can't answer you about that.
Thats why I created this discussion.

What I do know is that they share the same universe, and if your really want to know the time line, you can have it here:
http://nier2.com/timeline.html

* Haven't read it because I'm sure it contains spoilers so be aware.

[synthohol]

No, you can play Automata without having played any of the Drakengard games or Replicant/Gestalt before. Its story is conclusive without knowledge about previous games, however, having played them (or at least having watched a playthrough of them, which can also be done after finishing Automata) will increase intensity of several events and appearances in it.

[Sergey.]

I know that, and I mentioned that I had played Automata already.
Actually I decided to play these games now, before giving Automata a second run.

My question was about Nier Gestalt (=Nier) and Drakengard 3.
I know that they are self contained as well, but as playing Nier before Automata can benefit for enjoying Automata even more, I want to know if is the same case for playing Nier before Drakengard 3 applies as well.

[synthohol]

Arg... Yes, I'd better read properly next time.

TL;DR: No, you don't have to play Drakengard 3 prior to NieR:Gestalt/Replicant, although this comes from someone who has only watched playthroughs of these games. Storywise you'd have to play Dragengard 1 anyways as it is the link between Drakengard 3 and Gestalt/Replicant.

Elaboratorive: I have only watched playthroughs of both games and found the connection to be too lose to say that one has to have played Drakengard 3. I was only able to get one, maybe two links between Drakengard 3 and Automata, none I can remember of between Drakengard 3 and Gestalt/Replicant, whereas Replicant/Gestalt continuously hit me with one link after another to Automata (or vice versa, if you like).

Actually, I found Drakengard 3 to be unfitting to Replicant and Automata due to its blatant vulgarity and obvious lewdness. Ok, Replicant/Gestalt has its own form of vulgarity as you will discover, but in the way it is presented, it is rather charming than repulsive, like the lewdness Automata is often accused of.

[Sergey.]

Did you watch the full gameplay walkthrough or "movie" version like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkmtlWhn_20&t=10977s

And I guess asking about PS3/Consoles exclusive in Steam community lower the probability of finding players who played these games.

Anyway sounds like I can start with Drakengard 3 with no problem, so thank your for your effort and help.

[synthohol]

No, I watched playthroughs (uncommented Let's Plays) of both games. This brings to my mind that I started watching one of Drakengard 1 earlier this year, but never finished it.

Anyways, have fun with Gestalt/Replicant!

[Agenta]

As others have said, no you don't need to play ANY other game in the franchise to understand Automata, or any of the other games for that matter.

Each game completely works as a seperate game (they were actually originally written so that every game can be played by someone who has never played any other game in the franchise), they are just linked through story-details that connect the games together.

Some will even argue that to get the "best" experience out of Automata, you should actually NOT have played NieR Gestalt/Replicant. (Obviously this will be impossible for those who have already played the game, which is why "best" is in air-quotes).

Originally posted by randomisator:

Arg... Yes, I'd better read properly next time.

TL;DR: No, you don't have to play Drakengard 3 prior to NieR:Gestalt/Replicant, although this comes from someone who has only watched playthroughs of these games. Storywise you'd have to play Dragengard 1 anyways as it is the link between Drakengard 3 and Gestalt/Replicant.

Elaboratorive: I have only watched playthroughs of both games and found the connection to be too lose to say that one has to have played Drakengard 3. I was only able to get one, maybe two links between Drakengard 3 and Automata, none I can remember of between Drakengard 3 and Gestalt/Replicant, whereas Replicant/Gestalt continuously hit me with one link after another to Automata (or vice versa, if you like).

Actually, I found Drakengard 3 to be unfitting to Replicant and Automata due to its blatant vulgarity and obvious lewdness. Ok, Replicant/Gestalt has its own form of vulgarity as you will discover, but in the way it is presented, it is rather charming than repulsive, like the lewdness Automata is often accused of.

Drakengard 3's links to Automata are quite subtle, mostly through fan-theories and external-content. They ARE there though, and quite a few of them at that. Although Drakengard 3 does lead directly into Drakengard 1 (Even though THAT is an even more complicated connection then going from Gestalt/Replicant to Automata).

Drakengard 3 is also probably the weirdest game out of all of them. Also easily the most confusing story.

[H.U.N.K]

Originally posted by SergeyG:

Hello,

I just getting my copy of Drakengard 3 today, while still waiting for Nier's to come.
I played Nier Automata, read Drakengard 3 the prequel novella, and watched Drakengard "Lets Play" for the story.
I know what is the chronological and the release orders, and I know the fact that the gameplay isn't the highlight in any of these games.

Mostly I care about the story and the references if exist, and thats why I want to ask is it ok to start with Drakengard 3, or can it be more enjoyable after playing Nier first?

Thank you and sorry for the bad grammar.

Was looking into buying drakenguard 3 for my ps3 but its still dam expensive its £30 so can you tell me if its any good and worth the buy?.

[Agenta]

Originally posted by H.U.N.K:

Originally posted by SergeyG:

Hello,

I just getting my copy of Drakengard 3 today, while still waiting for Nier's to come.
I played Nier Automata, read Drakengard 3 the prequel novella, and watched Drakengard "Lets Play" for the story.
I know what is the chronological and the release orders, and I know the fact that the gameplay isn't the highlight in any of these games.

Mostly I care about the story and the references if exist, and thats why I want to ask is it ok to start with Drakengard 3, or can it be more enjoyable after playing Nier first?

Thank you and sorry for the bad grammar.

Was looking into buying drakenguard 3 for my ps3 but its still dam expensive its £30 so can you tell me if its any good and worth the buy?.

It's actually arguably better to emulate the game on PC through RPCS3. The PS3 version has some SERIOUS performance issues (and this is from a person who is perfectly fine with playing games at 30 FPS). I don't believe many of these are present when you emulate the game on RPCS3. However that still requires the actual game, and some extra steps, along with a fairly beefy PC.

Is the game good? Arguably yes, arguably no. The gameplay, while it might look good, can be extremely frustrating at times. The game also requires a large amount of grinding in-game currency to access the final branch of the game's plot and gameplay. The positives are the story and the OST (some tracks are very good. This one in particular https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krRNjUJIfFk ). The story however can be extremely confusing. You also basically need the "Sisters Prologue" set of chapters to get the full story of the game. Which is an extra added fee.

If you are fine with some serious performance issues, some occasionally frustrating gameplay, some heavy grinding to finish the game, and are possibly interested in the story of the game, yes it's worth playing. I would also argue it's also worth playing if you are interested in diving into the lore of the Drakengard/nier franchise. Just realize it's going to be qutie different in comparison to any of the Nier games, or most games released today.

[Sergey.]

I had only an hour yesterday to try it out, so it's only an initial opinion but I can say that I really liked it and I'm just waiting for the next opportunity to get home and continue playing it.

Lets start with the cons so I can finish with the pros:
the gameplay indeed feels as it stuck on the alpha stage of the development, and the graphic in-game is far away from being called decent. As mentions, the game has noticeable fps drops, and the camera in not moving smooth as it should have been (especially for fast-paced action game like this).
In addition, if you want the Japanese voices, you have to pay additional $5 for a dlc, and you also have another very pricey dlc (Sisters bundle) which should have been part of the game since launch.
These facts alone can justify the lower score that the game received. It's abysmal how the developers and SE didn't give a ♥♥♥♥ and rushed to release this game as soon as possible, ignoring the fact that they released an alpha version of the game for sale, and cut essential parts of the game for milking more money for a broken game.

Now, if you can ignore these flaws as I did and you think that this niche game looks interesting for you, I believe you can enjoy this game quiet a lot.
Because I made some "pre-game preparations" like reading the novels, and listening to most of the soundtrack, I can enjoy this game much more.
The gameplay even if broken, is still fun fast-paced action RPG, followed by an astonishing soundtrack which is my favourite from what I have heard in my gaming history (even better than Automata's in my opinion). Because of this, I kept sticking in every possible place to keep listening to the music, like at the bonfire here:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqahHlWhZhQ9hlt2jdrmqj5mirow
Kept listening to this for a 10-20 minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq0T00_QFlA

another examples for battle OST:
https://soundcloud.com/robert-bell-51/drakengard-3-ost-four-2nd-battle-theme
https://soundcloud.com/adriou/02a-1

Next, the cutscenes in the beginning were gorgeous with high quality sound, which were far more superior than what the game gives you later in the gameplay section. That gap was so huge that it felt like it was taken from a whole different game (or from what the game should have been in a first place).

Also the dark humour is great, and knowing the background for most of the characters from the novel, makes it much more enjoyable.
About the plot is too early to judge, but I trust Yako Taro about that.

In summery it seems like a very promising and awesome game but with a lot of technical flaws. If you can tolerate it and liked Automata, I guess you can enjoy this game quiet a lot. Just make sure you read first the short novella (I can address you to what and where to read if you are interested), it will give you an initial idea about the world and the characters, so you can have a basic idea if you are interested in this universe or not.

Anyway you can get it for $25 now from Amazon, so enjoy:
https://www.amazon.com/Drakengard-3-PlayStation-x/dp/B00J6DLPLK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546422290&sr=8-1&keywords=drakengard+3
But be ready to spend more for the dlcs If you will like the game eventually (+$30):
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0082-NPUB31251_00-B000000000000384

Later when I'll finish the game I can give my final thoughts.

[Sergey.]

While reading the weapon stories, I had noticed that Kaine's weapon hints about some spoilers about her in Nier, so I stopped myself from reading them.
That's why I was willing to hear an opinion from people who played the game.
I just hope that beside this, nothing else will spoil Nier for me.

By the way about the PC emulator option. Is it possible to transfer and use the dlcs aswell?
And as I don't have an optical drive on my PC, can I directly connect my PS3 to the PC to transfer the game data?

[synthohol]

I think for the PC emulator an optical drive is required, one of a few selected bluray drives, if I'm not mistaken.

[13LACK ORDER]

No you don't have to. You can play Automata without any prior knowledge from the previous series

[Darktoast]

Originally posted by Sergey.:

In summery it seems like a very promising and awesome game but with a lot of technical flaws. If you can tolerate it and liked Automata, I guess you can enjoy this game quiet a lot. Just make sure you read first the short novella (I can address you to what and where to read if you are interested), it will give you an initial idea about the world and the characters, so you can have a basic idea if you are interested in this universe or not.

Hey, can you tell me which novella this is? I just downloaded Drakengard 3 on my Computer but would like to read whats necessary first to full understand the story :)