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 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 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 publisher
Square Enix, who had previously provided development support for 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 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 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
Niers name, passing it off as a codename that persisted through development. The characters were designed by an artist under 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, 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 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 the team felt it fit in with many other aspects of her gritty backstory. Kainé's status as intersex caused some "commotion" in some regions outside of Japan, 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 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 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 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.
Music 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
Cavia's Takafumi Nishimura. Okabe served as 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 game's development. The music was designed for different motifs to appear in various arrangements throughout 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 that heavily feature vocals by vocalist Emi Evans (Emiko Rebecca Evans), 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 1,000 years of drifting. Square Enix released 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, 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. ==Release==