NieR is a spin-off from the Drakengard series (Drag-On Dragoon in Japan), but I didn’t know that when I played the game. I learned this information when I looked up more about the game on the internet. By the way, this game was a complete surprise for me. I finished it a few days ago, and I’m totally in love with it. It’s probably one of the best RPGs of this console generation (PS3/360), and probably one of my personal favorites.

The premise of NieR is very dark and mature. I really loved the story of this game. Even though the graphics weren’t particularly great, the rest of the game was seriously good! I don’t understand why a lot of game critics didn’t like it. Playing this game also made me want to check out the rest of the Drag-On Dragoon franchise!

The book I’m presenting to you today is Grimoire NieR, The Complete Guide + Setting Guide. This is more of a guide than an artbook, but there is some artwork. You’ll find a huge amount of information about the game, the characters, the monsters, etc. Unfortunately, it’s in Japanese, so if you don’t understand Japanese, you’ll be out of luck. Fortunately, there is an English fan translation that I started to read! You can find it at this adress.

Note that this book covers both NieR Gestalt and NieR RepliCant. If you’re confused, let me explain. Two versions of this game were released in Japan: NieR Gestalt on PS3, and NieR RepliCant on Xbox 360. The difference is the relation between the characters Yonah and Nier: In Gestalt, Nier is the father of Yonah; whereas in RepliCant, Nier is the brother of Yonah. There are also some minor differences in the dialogue in order to be coherent according to the relation between the characters.

Overall, this book is very interesting, especially if you read the translation given in the link above. I only wish that it contained more artwork. 🙁