NIER Part #21 - Episode XX: Cold Steel Coffin

Part 21: Episode XX: Cold Steel Coffin

Episode XX: Cold Steel Coffin

Well, that was a nice little diversion, but I think we really ought to get over to the Aerie already. It's been like a week since Nier learned they were getting overrun by Shades. Plus...you know...the three story tall alligator-testicle-neck-dog was roaming just outside town prior to that...

A dash across the Northern Plains later...

Music: The Aerie Chant

As soon as we enter the outskirts of the Aerie, Nier finds Kainé handing some Shades their asses. I suppose we ought to l lend an assist to the angry, scantily clad lass.

"Thought you could use a hand."

"You came to help me?"

"Yes, and I do believe that a heartfelt thank you is in order, hmmm?"

"Yeah, that's not happening."

"What could have caused these Shades to appear in such force?"

"I don't know, but they're all over the village, too."

"Let's go. We need to find the Sealed Verse."

Kainé and Nier mop up the rest of the Shades in the outskirts of town...

So, Kainé has now temporarily joined our merry band of violent misfits. Hmm...an angry sword wielding dude...an ancient powerful magical entity that thinks it's better than everyone...and now a half psychotic chick...? Well, we've passed up on the boring pedophile but I do believe we're getting the old band back together.

Unlike Drakengard, where ~~Arioch was summoned to nuke the shit out of everything~~ party members were just swapped out for a brief time to help in combat like a summon, NIER's party members will always be present in combat.

You can actually order them around in the menu. There is never, ever a time I have used this and it can safely be ignored. Allies don't have any stats you need to manage or hit points to worry about. They pretty much just do their own thing and are effectively immortal.

They're not all that helpful in battle as Nier will still be doing most of the heavy lifting work. But, they can be helpful in taking out a few stray Shades here and there. Plus hey....someone new for some banter.

Further in the tunnels, Nier will come upon Shades with red energy shields surrounding them. Hey, guess what mechanic is back from Drakengard...?

Red Dudes! Better known as anti-magic jackasses. Oh joy...

Using magic based attacks on ~~Red Dudes~~ shielded enemies, like in Drakengard, will both do little to no damage and also cause energy orbs to immediately shoot back and damage Nier.

Luckily, anti-magic jackasses are far more manageable in NIER and not remotely as frequent. Doing any melee attack which knocks shielded enemies on their asses will temporarily disable said shield until they regain their footing. Nier is free to Dark Fist the assholes to his heart's desire while they're face down on the floor.

...

...

Wait that came out wrong...

The trio rush to the Aerie proper...

Well, it seems the town is relatively intact. I guess we got here early enough to avoid any causalities.

Perhaps I spoke too soon. It seems our old pal Hook is back for a rematch. Good thing the citizens of the Aerie erected three huge boss sized platforms or thing could have gotten a bit crowded around here.

Music: The Aerie Battle

So, this first round with Hook is limited to him just ground stomping periodically while Nier and Kainé pound away at his feet. Kainé some choice words for the brute,

"Did...did you just say what I think you said?"

"I'll tear out your eyes and piss in the sockets!"

"Good sweet lord! I have never heard of such a thing!"

"Great. Now I'm gonna have that mental image for this entire fight..."

After depleting Hook's health by a quarter, an attack gauge will appear by one of its hands. We'll be seeing a lot of this during this clash. I hope you enjoy blood magic energy fisticuffs.

Nier uses the build-up of blood from the first round of violence to produce a gigantic Dark Fist.

And then he utilizes said enormous fist to punch the living shit out of the boss. Crude...but effective.

Well, except for the part where the boss Shade goes hurdling across the canyon and crashes into several houses, likely killing everyone inside. Uhh....whoops?

Unfortunately, being a giant lizard-dog...thing, Hook manages to cling to the edge of the canyon wall and recover from that slobberknocker. It takes up residence at the second huge, conveniently boss sized platform of the Aerie. Who designed this pl...oh yeah, Nier already asked that.

Hook also seems to have grabbed hold of one of the houses with its tail-hand. Did I mention Hook had a tail-hand? No? Well, Hook has a tail-hand. And I think the occupants of that repurposed cargo tank house are a bit boned. But, that's okay...

Hook is loving this shit! How did that become the running gag for all my avatar changes, anyway? You guys are silly.

Kainé has access to super ass anime jumps both in and out of cutscenes. Sadly, the ability to completely shit on gravity to absurd degrees is limited to cutscenes only for Nier. Well...other than the double jumping, mid-air rolling, and wall jumping. Did you know Nier can jump off walls? Completely useless ability. Didn't realize it existed until I started this LP. I wonder what else I mi-oh right... Boss battle...

Hauling ass across the Aerie to help Kainé...

"You brought these Shades here!"

"We don't want you! Just leave us in peace!"

"Not the friendliest town in the world, is it?"

"You disgust me! You disgust us all!"

"Don't you dare call yourself human!"

"Get out! Get out of our village!"

"Will you people please shut up and let her save your lives?"

"Don't defend me!"

Finishing the trek to meet up with Kainé...

"You don't care what these people say about you?"

"No, screw 'em."

For this next stage of the battle, our target is the house the monster is holding. This probably isn't too healthy for the occupants. But, try not to have any moral dilemmas about that one...

The thing has apparently been overrun with the little spherical Shades that Hook coughed up in that earlier fight. Sucks to be them.

Anyhow, pounding away at the tank for a while will eventually cause Hook to slam it into the ground and allow Nier to completely destroy the Shades spawning vat and charge up for another Finisher at the same time. Spiffy.

Nier charges up another uber-Dark Fist but switches things up this time.

Using the dark arts, Nier grabs that sonuvabitch by its tail...

...and lobs that fucker into the stratosphere.

Or at least into another wall away from the better part of the village. Blood magic is fun.

Sadly, Hook is one durable bastard and is still ticking despite two rounds of face colliding with rock and spectral fist.

"I got this. Get up there and wait for him!"

"Okay. Watch yourself."

The far eastern part of the Aerie is/was apparently under construction and is a maze of scaffolding now occupied by dozens of the spherical Shades for some side-scrolling platformer action as an interlude to the next round of lizard-dog ass kicking.

Nier must defeat several exceedingly beefy sphere Shades to charge up for another volley of colossal Shade over-the-top brutalization. But, there is a bunch of support Shades to be dealt with also.

The Dark Blast and Dark Lance both are quite handy for platforming and Shade slaughter. Dark Lance will fire straight down a column in the direction Nier is facing and is a one-hit kill on any standard round Shades (two hits for the attack gauge sporting ones.) Meanwhile, the Dark Blast can be aimed 360 degrees using the right stick to aim Weiss (in static camera angle sequences, the camera movement control is shifted to Weiss movement. Pretty handy.)

After much roundness oriented Shade butchering, Nier eventually catches up with Hook and has enough juice for one more finisher.

Nier sticks to what he enjoys and socks his foe half way across the Aerie, destroying the better part of the town's eastern bridges in the process. Whatever...the villagers need to rebuild those things with some damn guard rails anyway. Post Apocalyptic OSHA would shit a brick at this place's design.

Unfortunately, Hook once more employs his tail-hand and avoids careening into the jagged chasm below and just so happens to do so by grabbing onto the third and final boss arena platform. This is getting ridiculous now.

Too bad for the creature, as someone in a very pissy moody is there waiting for him. Let's finish this thing already...

A bit more platforming, minor enemy killin', and bridge based travel later...

For the abomination's last stand it really breaks out its ace in hole it had been holding back this whol-

--no, I'm kidding. It just spams ground pound shockwaves. That's really the only trick it had up its scale covered sleeve.

"I hate compliments."

"....."

"Just try and keep up, all right?"

"Let me work on that."

After much stabbing, slashing, and Dark Magic punching, Kainé will eventually get fed up and bum rush the thing while it's stunned.

But, while in-game Hook might have run dry on tactics about five rounds ago, cutscene Hook has one more trick: ~~Joker Gas~~ a hallucinogenic miasma of which Kainé gets a face full of for her trouble. After staggering about for a bit from the noxious fumes of Hook's onion breath, the eldritch horror begins to...speak...

Music: Dispossession ~ Piano

"Oh, how you've grown."

"Oh, it gladdens my heart to finally see you again."

"...G-Grandma?"

"Come, Kainé. Come to your Grandma's side. You've been lonely for so, so long... So much pain... So much despair... Why go on living anymore? ...Kainé?"

Kainé immediately stops staggering around after hearing that last line...

"Hmm?"

"...Are you done talking?"

"Kainé, don't speak to your Grandma like that-"

"You're going to stop talking now."

Music: Grandma

"Extend my hand, reach into your chest, and PULL OUT YOUR FUCKING HEART!!!"

Kainé hulks the fuck out and goes full on blood rage on Hook from here on out.

"Hehehehe... HAHAHAHA!!"

"She'd never tell me to give up on life! Never! I've spent my entire life searching for a way to avenge her death! She gave me the strength to deal with this goddamn mutant body! Do you know how long I've been like this? How much I loathe myself?"

Hook gains one last power-up of charging an energy shield and attempting to ram Nier and Kainé. It is a bit too little too late at this stage in the fight. Let's finish this thing once and for all.

Nier produces double ultra-Dark Hands for the coup de grâce Finisher on Kainé's least favorite Shade and leaps high above it while it's stunned.

He then balls them together...

...and smashes the fits down on Hook's head so hard it shatters the entire platform by its force, sending the monster right through the bottom of its perch.

...and it indeed destroys the better part of the eastern edge of the Aerie's bridges. That might have been a bit overkill.

In the process, Kainé herself is pretty much flung into another time zone from the combined force of the attack and the platform she was standing on being reduced to splinters. Whoops.

But...at least that finally did it. Hook gets impaled on the support beam through what I vaguely call the area vital squishy bits would be on Lovecraftian nightmares and dies. Welp, we destroyed half the town and caused a ridiculous amount of damage to the area's infrastructure and maybe even seriously injured our new ally