Protagonist (Nier)

The protagonist of Cavia and Square Enix action role-playing game Nier is a player character whose identity differs depending on the three versions of the game. In the original Xbox 360 version released worldwide, the protagonist is an elder skilled in combat who seeks to find a cure for the disease of his daughter Yonah. In the PlayStation 3 version, the protagonist instead takes the form of a teenager whose relationship with Yonah is instead that of a sibling. When the game was remastered, the protagonist was instead the young one with the father appearing only as downloadable content. The elder Nier is voiced by Jamieson Price in English and Ken'ichirō Matsuda in Japanese.The young Nier is voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto in Japanese during his child persona while Koji Yusa replaces him after the time-skip. Zach Aguilar and Ray Chase voice the character in English.

The decision to create two different protagonist came from the developers' desire to appeal to different culture, believing a middle aged warrior would fit more the Western audience while the Eastern would enjoy more a young one. Director Yoko Taro took a preference to the latter when the game was remastered but in order to see the narrative be seen from a different point of view for the Western audience.

Though critical response to the elder Nier was generally positive for his caring personality that contrast his barbarian and relationship with his daughter, the decision to alter the design was the subject of discussion by several writers due to the need to appeal to Westerns being too much. Meanwhile, the young Nier was praised for his energetic persona and being seens as a better protagonist once the time-skip reflect a major change in his look.

Creation

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. The game was meant to appeal to older players; This influenced the decision to have a main character in his 30s for the international version. The main theme of the story is that of "family love" regardless of the protagonist's nature when interacting with Yonah. The final scene involves the main character enjoying his happy life with Yonah as requested by producer Yusuke Saito. Producer Saito felt this type of happy ending was different from Yoko Taro's previous works but Taro still accepted it. Kainé's relationship with the protagonist was not portrayed as explicitly romantic in-game as Yoko both felt unequipped to write a romance and saw the group dynamic as familial.

Saito and Taro had staff members from the United States and Europe gather and have a heated discussion. They found the concept of a man with a small body carrying a big sword was too ridiculous. They noticed that main characters seen in the United States were more well-built like American football players. Yoko Taro ended up wanting an adult character when talking with Saito. When talking with French developers, they noticed they wanted a young character instead which motivated them to try both takes. During development of the game, Cavia had meetings on a daily basis, asking confirmation on points that they were concerned about, and we incorporated opinions on characters, motion, and art. As for the art, they had Cavia go to Los Angeles for a location.

The original idea for the protagonist would be a macho character with a mature personality. However, since the game was a commercial failure in North America, Yoko Taro believed the Westerns instead like a younger protagonist similar to Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII. In terms of having two different perspectives of these protagonists and how it would affect the storytelling. Yoko Taro thinks that would depend on player interpretation. But from he has observed between Japan and the West, he does feel that the way adults are perceived is different. "The West tends to have like this clear borderline of "this is child, and this is adult." You wouldn't see an adult playing with a stuffed animal." They kind of graduate from being a child and into adulthood. Meanwhile, the case of Japan it is a gradation where childish people are childish, no matter how old they are. Meanwhile, people with a wise old soul can be very young, but still sage at the same time. As a result, he believes the narrative would be highly different depending on the audience. From a creative standpoint, the designer figured it was just a matter of changing the perspective to a similar family member. Yoko Taro thought that he would not have to fix too many elements, but once he opens up the box and they realize there are a lot of things where they need to go in and change, so it was a challenge to get through that.

In the original game, in his mind, the developer had pictured Weiss constantly floating by the protagonist’s side and watching over him. The protagonist would be interweaving his weapon and magic attacks while stylishly hopping around. This was improved in Replicant. In retrospect, producer Yosuke Saito said the old protagonist still had fans. The new game allowed Saito to add new combinations between Nier and Weiss. The remaster featured an appearance and role for the father protagonist used in the original Western release.

Portrayal
The elder Nier is voiced by Jamieson Price who found his work enjoyable as he could relate to the father as he the actor also has a daughter. Ken'ichirō Matsuda voices him in Japanese. Price said Nier's motivation to protect his daughter made the dubbing easier to see the character. When the remaster was released Price expressed sadness that his character was no longer being used. He understood the situation when he met the voice actors of the young Nier, Aguilar and Chase while appreciating that his take was still being sightly used for the downloadable content.

The young Nier is voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto in Japanese during his child persona while Koji Yusa replaces him after the time-skip. Zach Aguilar and Ray Chase voice the character in English. Aguilar found himself nervous when auditioning for the character as he had never played the game and did research online instead. He was given a guidebook to Nier which was heavily detailed but easy to understand to him. He found other performances grounded and had to keep with an anime-like performance when doing the voice. For him, the protagonist voice was a  Chase was not invited to auditions for, but was instead referred to directly by John Ricciardi, as they could not find what they were looking for initially. Recording took around a year and a half. Chase found the protagonist interesting, especially after watching Youtube playthrough of the game.

Appearances
The protagonist and Yonah are living in a village built upon the ruins of an old town. Depending on the game version, the protagonist is either a middle age man father of Yonah or instead her older brother. As Yonah's illness, the Black Scrawl, is terminal, the protagonist sets out to look for a cure. He finds a talking book, Grimoire Weiss, which suggests that the two team up to use Weiss' magic and to find a cure for Yonah's disease. In their search, they encounter Kainé, a hot-tempered and foul-mouthed swordswoman; and Emil, a blindfolded boy whose eyes petrify anyone they see. After journeying for a time, the village is attacked by a giant shade; the battle culminates in Yonah being carried away by a master Shade that appears—the Shadowlord—who carries his own book, Grimoire Noir. The protagonists spends his next years searching for Yonah while continuing his fight against shades.

The protagonist defeats two of his former friends, with Emil sacrificing himself to ensure his friends' progress. It is revealed that the Shadowlord's true identity is the Gestalt form of the protagonist from the prologue; the protagonist the player has been controlling for the majority of the game is his Replicant. Driven to protect his Yonah, he was the first Gestalt and has combined her with the Replicant Yonah. The protagonist defeats the Shadowlord after Weiss also disappears. The original Yonah, however, tells the Gestalt protagonist that she can hear the new Yonah inside her, and that she loves the Replicant protagonist and deserves the body just as much. She vacates the body, and the protagonist and Yonah are reunited.

An alternate ending involves the protagonist sacrificing himself to restore Yonah's health at the cost of his existence and eveybody forgets him. The updated version of Replicant adds a fifth ending that begins three years after the Shadowlord's defeat. Kainé destroys Hook and the AI, restoring the protagonist in his young form. In the downloadable content pack "The World of Recycled Vessel", the younger incarnation of Nier is playable for a short time in the original version after reading a letter from his late mother. In contrast, the older incarnation of Nier is playable for a short time in Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139, thinking of his late wife. In two novels, Kaine restores the protagonist's human form after a confrontation with the plant-like Sleeping Beauty computer system.

The young protagonist also appears in the anime Nier: Automata Ver1.1a as an flashback from Emil. He appeared in a collaboration with the mobile game SINoALICE alongside Emil. The two versions have also appeared in the mobile phone game Nier Reincarnation. Square Enix also developed a Replicant figurine in his older years.

Reception
In response to the character, GameSpot found Nier bland. On the other hand, RPGamer said he was surprisingly likable as a result of his relationship with his daughter and companions despite his design making him come across as a barbarian. RPGFan agreed, saying the game "made me feel like a father" due to how the main character is obsessed with taking care of Yonah, but felt some of his tactics will question the player. In a bigger article, the same site noted that Nier is one of the best fathers in gaming history due to his soft side which contrast his dark appearance. Destructoid found the relationship between the father and the daughter "touching" and that his other bonds also help improve the narrative. Several writers said that the elder protagonists was one of the earliest examples appealing fathers in gaming, noting it appears to have led to next similar characters like Kratos from God of War or Joel Miller from The Last of Us.  In retrospect, Hobby Consolas said that while Nier's characterization and role might be common within role-playing games, the major plot twists the game presents surprised the audience who believed the title was poor at first. 

Aitor Fernández from  noted that the trio of Nier, Kaine and Emil represented the people rejected by society with Nier's wounds serving as a mark of what defines his exile though Fernandez noted that Emil is the one that stands out the most. When comparing the localization Nier had between Western and Eastern release, Ramon Mendez Gonzalez frin  Universidade de Vigo wondered if there really such a necessary to heavily alter the original protagonist for the former release. He felt it was common for Western players to have characters similar to the father as protagonist in action games, comparing him to each other and finding the result chaotic. In general, Z. Zhou from University of British Columbia sees the protagonist to go through deconstruction of the typical hero’s journey found in Japanese video games with a fantasy setting. When comparing the two versions of the protagonist, Zhou claims that the father attracted several fans to the point of calling it "daddening". Meanwhile, the brother incarnation was compared to 9S from Nier: Automata based on their looks. The young protagonist noted to appeal more with the Eastern audience accoridng to Ramón Méndez González from Universidad de Alicante Palabras.

In the book Transnational Contexts of Culture, Gender, Class, and Colonialism in Play, the handling of the two Nier leads was compared to the way Westerns view role-playing game heroes such as Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII alongside his nemesis, Sephiroth, as overly femenine and Japanese due to the handling of masculinity depending on regions. This is reinforced by how Westerns tend to portray Final Fantasy VII characters in Machinima parodies of the game in a negative fashion. Nier is seen as an unfitting Japanese protagonist while the brother is instead seen more fitting for the Japanese audiences due to how his designs is more fitting with the Final Fantasy fans. In Believing in Bits, the protagonist is described the main character as tricky due to how both he and the player discover across the narrative the true nature of the civilians the player encounters and the close relationship Yoko Taro gave Nier to the final antagonist who instead comes across as more sympathetic as a result. This is more notable in replays, where the player can understand the dialogue of the enemies Nier battles.

With the release of Nier Replicant in Western regions, Replicant take on the younger main character was compared to deconstructions of famous games like Final Fantasy or The Legend of Zelda. Kotaku had found him boring, the writer still felt he was too cliche in role-playing games to the point he often wanted Kaine to replace him as the main character. In another article, Kotaku felt that the plot of game does not carry the same strength as the original due to the handling of the hero. He compared the two Niers, praising the brother for his energetic youth in contrast to the father whom he found tired whenever he was not dealing with his daughter. The fact that the time-skip notoriously changes the brother to the point he is voiced by Ray Chase rather than Zach Aguilar also appealed to Kotaku. While finding his story simple, RPGamer still liked the dynamic Nier has with the rest of the supporting characters. RPGFan and Electronic Gaming Monthly said found that the brother makes a better relationship with Yonah than the original father due to how his characterization noticeably changes in the time-skip. Aguilar and Chase's performances were also praised by Anime News Network they "split the billing as Nier at different points in his life, and they capture the character's many nuanced shades of anger, resilience, compassion, and undying loyalty."

References

Drakengard
Male characters in video games
Fictional swordfighters in video games
Role-playing video game characters
Square Enix protagonists
Video game characters introduced in 2010