Part 111: Episode CIV: The Fifteen Nightmares
Episode CIV: The Fifteen Nightmares
So at this point we're free to return to Popola and she'll flip a coin and decide where our next adventure lies (it's the Aerie this time for...some reason...) But, you may have noticed I quickly skipped over the Forest of Myth last time to progress with the rest of the Junk Heap's main quest. That's because the Memory Tree plot thread doesn't gain any new material in New Game Plus. Really...there isn't much to add we didn't already know. There was a sentient Shade/Gestalt that could communicate and everything. Nier was a dick and killed it. The end!
So I reckon now is as good a time as any to cover the solitary NIER DLC: The World of the Recycled Vessel. The trouble is...I ran into a myriad of technical difficulties trying to actually capture anything from the damn thing. For troubles actually buying the damn thing off the PSN due to Sony hating money or something and my capture card absolutely shitting the brick when I finally found an alternative. So, I'm basically just going to summarize the thing since fuck it...it kind of sucks to begin with, lasts only twenty minutes, is mostly boring filler, and my patience has long since dissolved for the damn thing.
The World of the Recycled Vessel is framed as Nier reading the diary from his dead wife she wrote while she was on her deathbed. That said, the actual events of the DLC have jack shit to do with Nier's wife or...really anything of relevance. It's just an excuse to go do 15 battle gauntlets.
Upon reading the diary, Nier will be transported to a mysterious white room containing three doors. Trust me, there are three. The third one on the left is just obscured by the omni-present
You may also notice Nier has...changed a bit. We're playing as
Each of these three massive doors lead to a gauntlet of five challenge maps Nier must fight his way through by himself. Kainé and Emil sit this one out since it's possible to do this DLC at any time (though you'll get your ass handed to you unless you're at least Level 20+.) Anyway, let's see what's behind Door #1!
Each map is pre-empted by a rather ominous loading screen with a bunch of doomsaying jibba-jabba. It's like Cavia realized they forgot to make a Verdelet analog in NIER and decided this would be a good place to stick his potential script. Sure, why not?
Music: Emil ~ Ultimate Weapon No. 7
(Hey! Listen to the kickin' rad music in this part! It's the only good thing about the DLC!)
Welcome to the first map. No, you don't have glaucoma. Cavia saw it fit to put the most godawful ugly filters ever over each of these maps to make them look like saturated liquid asshole. I almost scrapped this update since it came out looking like ass no matter what I did. But...oh well, I'll make it quick.
This first map is the spiral staircase from The Shadowlord's Castle where Goose pursued Nier in a very annoying chase sequence. This time Nier has to go down to the bottom of the staircase while fighting bats and assorted Shades. Yup...that's about it. There's a mini-boss at the end if you cared. Moving on...
Next up is fighting a ton of Shades just outside the Haunted Manor with a thick yellow fog giving the draw distance of Turok 2 engulfs the area. MY EYES!
Music: Shadowlord ~ Crying Yonah Version
I always liked to think that load screen was talking about our old buddy Caim. Anyway, up next is a big brawl with a ton of Shades in a blue tinted Library. Gaudy. Finishing this room earns a pretty spiffy new exclusive weapon!
The one-handed sword: The Fool's Embrace. Hey... That looks kind of familiar, don't you think...?
Why, I do believe it is a weaponized version of our old pal Angelus the Red Dragon. Fancy that! To go along with our Drakengard themed weapon, I've got a Drakengard themed story too...
Grimoire Nier posted:
FOOL'S EMBRACE
I was saved from that entrapped despair.
I was able to abandon that cursed fate.
I was able to calm those wrath-filled flames.
That day of our meeting changed me.
I shall burn the ground to a crisp with my flames.
I shall sip blood with my fangs.
I shall tear apart thine enemies with my claws.
I shall soar through the sky with my wings.
If light was to be deprived of thine eyes.
If blood was to stain thine skin.
If thine sword is heavy.
If thine mouth can no longer speak.
Even if this body burns up.
Even if these words are taken away.
Until the ends of this contract.
Until I lose this warmth.
Red and Caim - BFFs for life.
Music: Shadowlord's Castle ~ Iron Fist mix feat. DJ-BKO
Yeah, okay maybe Angelus' body was directly responsible for humans mucking around with magic and you could probably link it straight back to fun stuff like Emil turning into an eternally grinning lich and stuff. But that's still a bit harsh. Oh yeah, and there's fighting in a very dark version of the Lost Shrine's boss room.
This last one actually takes in a brand new area. Well, a new area re-using assets from the Barren Temple. But still, better than the last four joints.
The perspective here is locked in a 2D, slightly overhead angle reminiscent of old beat-em 'ups. Sadly, there are no throwable barrels or chicken hidden in crates.
But, there is a fair bit of 2D platforming to mix things up. I am pretty sure this is a cut area from the game. There are a couple more similar desert temple themed new areas. I always thought it was odd that Facade didn't get any new dungeon bits on the second main quest visit. Anyway, defeating this challenge unlocks a stylish new wardrobe for Nier and the gang:
Kabuki costumes! Why Kabuki? Why not! Costumes can be changed at any time in the options menu. You need to turn on the whole set. No mixing and matching.
After that we're dumped back in the central white room. Nier can leave at any time back to the real world by just entering the gate behind him. But, let's press on through Door #2, mmm?
Music: Blu-bird ~ Hansel und Gretel
The first out of five is a remix of the final Barren Temple challenge only with a much higher level variant of the mini-boss and an eye-searing inverted color scheme. I'm glad the natives of Facade never discovered the grave secrets of colored lighting from before the fall of civilization. That's one old magic that needs to stay sealed.
Next is a rather forgettable grind through the B2 Basement of the Junk Heap with Shades instead of robots. Exciting.
Music: Shadowlord ~ Crying Yonah Version
The middle-weight challenge takes place in some odd alternate version of the Junk Heap's boss arena, with the background being endless columns of grey pillars. There are also about a hundred robots absolutely flooding the platform. But, at least this room has another weapon reward:
Fool's Lament, a two-handed sword of complete shit wrecking. I do believe fully upgraded it has an attack power of 999 and can one-shot anything in the game. Just a touch overpowered, that. And hey...it too looks familiar...
It's the Chaos Dragon form of Red from the ending where she did the big heel turn and Caim had to put her down. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the third weapon in the DLC just might be the Level 3 Dragon from the false Drakengard 2 canon ending.
Grimoire Nier posted:
FOOL'S LAMENT
Memoir 2003/06/12 at 15:00
A giant white humanoid weapon (referred to as "weapon" in the beginning but "giant" now) falls from the sky in Shinjuku, Tokyo, bringing a huge amount of casualties in the area. Also, at the same time, an organism bearing likeness to that of a red dragon ("dragon" here on) appears and was seen to engage the "giant" in combat. However, the principles and effects of its attacks remain to be determined. An emergency cabinet is formed while the self-defense squad examined offensive methods against its targets.
Memoir 2003/06/12 at 16:00
The "giant" that battled with the "dragon" suddenly began to crumble. The cause remains unknown. The remaining "dragon" was shot down by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's 6th Air Wing, 303rd squadron. No records were made of who ordered an attack on the "dragon". Also, the corpses of the "giant" and "dragon" were being collected, but even we could not get an official confirmation from the organization responsible for the collection.
Memoir 2003/12
First case of "White Chlorination Syndrome" confirmed in Tokyo, Shinjuku.
Memoir 2004/7
More and more humans become vicious due to the "White Chlorination Syndrome". The conflict worsens in polluted areas. While the reason still remains unknown, the infected are separated and the rioters neutralized. Main streets are blocked, and railroads are shut down, leading to the later lockdown of Shinjuku. At the same time, America offered military support unofficially, but the Japanese government remained on the fence about this issue. On one hand, research was being done within the government on the demonic element gained from the "giant" and "dragon", as well as a counter to "White Chlorination Syndrome", leading to the Gestalt Project 10 years later.
Thanks for the backstory cliff notes. I think I've got it handled.
Music: Shadowlord's Castle ~ Iron Fist mix feat. DJ-BKO
The next area is pretty neat. Who's up for a bit of B-Ball?
This one takes place in a large "modern" basketball court back in good ol' Tokyo. Given the Shadowlord Castle remix playing in the location, it's probably an area cut from the final dungeon. Shame. I would have liked to explore more of the post-apocalyptic ruins of the city. Anyway, there's a bunch of big annoying armored bastards to fight here. Moving on.
Now this one is definitely an unusual one. This time we're taking a sepia tinted sand skiff tour of Facade...
Since, if there was one element of weird genre shifts missing from NIER, it was definitely a first person rail shooter segment. Too bad it's about as tedious and non-fun as most every rail shooter in video games. But hey, another unlock...
Samurai Costumes for everybody! Aww yeah! Emil gets a sweet samurai helmet and Kainé gets a much less stupid looking haircut and Nier finally wears a shirt. Not bad.
Welp, that's two doors down. One more to go in adventures of battle grinding and eye molestation...
This next area is a strange one. It's a massive port filled with ships and cargo outside Seafront. And when I say "outside Seafront" I mean like a good mile offshore. It's actually situated closer to the ruins of the old bridge over the ocean than anything. Odd. Oh yeah there's a lot of fighting and such.
The second of the final five challenges is Nier vs. three boars and a bunch of Shades in an unused room from the Haunted Manor. These boars are pretty high level and can ruin Nier's day pretty quickly. But, they'll leave him alone as long as he doesn't attack, allowing him to take out the pesky Shades running around before making bacon.
The third battle gauntlet is in a sepia filtered version of the B2 Basement of the Underground Facility. Tons of Shades, tons of boxes filled with very rare material (one of the small benefits of the DLC.) The trial runs all the way up to and including the room with the boss battle against Number 6. Thankfully, there's no battling that creepy thing again. But, there is the third and final DLC weapon:
Fool's Accord - the Angelus themed spear. Also one of the most powerful weapons in the game. All three of the DLC weapons are just a wee bit broken. Anyway, have the most Drakengardiest of the weapon tales. And indeed, the very last one we'll hear in all of NIER.
Grimoire Nier posted:
FOOL'S ACCORD
This is a story about a sad prince. A story from long time ago set in a kingdom far away. A dark force attacked the kingdom. In a single night, an army of red-eyed monster decimated the kingdom along with enough black dragons to cover up the sky. It's been said that the King and Queen were disembowels in the royal city under the claws of the black dragon, and the entire place was a sea of blood. The Prince and the sister were able to escape, but the prince vowed to become a demon of vengeance after witnessing the disaster.
This is the story of a frightening Prince. A history of a war from very long ago. A cruel and murderous prince indulged himself in the violence of vengeance. He killed all fleeing enemy as if it was a casual affair. Some people have even seen the prince stabbing the enemies' fallen bodies' multiple times. Not even the commander could hold him back, as the prince threw himself into the cruel battlefields.
This is a story about an unfortunate prince. A story about a rocky and unfortunate path of fate. The next battlefield was where a goddess was to be protected. The prince slashed at the enemy, cut off their limbs, opened up their bowels, cut off their heads, and gouged out their eyes. He couldn't even tell if the blood on him is his or the enemies'. The heavily wounded prince fell at last. The prince experienced excruciating pain as he lies in a puddle of blood. He looked up with blurry eyes, and saw the shape of a cursed dragon.
This is a story of a mad prince. A story from long ago about the encounter with a dragon. In front of the prince was a heavily injured red dragon. The prince wished to kill it. Even though the dragon wasn't of the right color, their species was still responsible for his parent's death. The dragon spoke as the prince raised his word. "I will let you live. We will exchange our soul, and I will give you power." The Prince thought about it long and hard, and decided to enter into the pact with dragon. It didn't matter what he'll lost, it didn't matter if it is a dragon, noting else mattered as long as he can wield his blade of vengeance. The only thing in the Prince's heart was a pitch black desire to kill.
Drakengard! Really this time...
Eye strain in the long corridor with the Entombed Shade. Also lots of Shade killin'. Almost done with this slog...
The final area is pretty spiffy. It's almost definitely from a cut dungeon. This ultimate trial takes place in a huge underground desert chamber peppered with broken bridges.
Nier must drop down to bridges below, taking on hordes of Shades as he goes further down the abyss. I'm not sure where the hell this place is supposed to be, other than the desert locale. One of the random NPCs in Facade mentions rumor that there is a massive structure buried deep beneath Facade, but nothing ever comes of that. Maybe this was going to be that place?
Anyway, at the end of the trial is the hardest fight in the entire game against super high level, completely armored variants of every single mini-boss type in the game one after another. Fun times. I don't even want to know how long of a slug fest it would be to grind away on these things in Hard Mode.
Anyway, completing the final of the "15 Nightmares" rewards Nier with 10,000 experience points, 50,000 gold and dumps him back into the real world with all his goodies obtained from the somewhat mediocre adventure.
"Huh?"
"Is this the final entry of the diary?" "Yeah. That's it." "Interesting." "You figure out anything?" "I fear not." "Didn't think you would." "My eyes hurt from all that reading..." "Indeed, mine are having trouble adjusting as well." "Let's go kill some Shades. At least that doesn't make me see double. Usually..." "Sounds like a plan."
Music: Song of the Ancients ~ Lost Androids Mixuxux
Music: Blu-bird ~ Hansel und Gretel
Music: Shadowlord's Castle ~ Iron Fist mix feat. DJ-BKO
Music: Emil ~ Ultimate Weapon No. 7
Music: Shadowlord ~ Crying Yonah Version
Brother Nier Poster