Square Enix held on December 24 a specialNieRSeries 10th anniversary Christmas stream, with new details onÂNieR Replicant ver.1.22. Often called a remaster, noteVer 1.22is more akin to a different game with its new battle system, additional voiced dialogues scenes, etc. Read all the details with our past coveragehere,here. andhere.TheNieRChristmas special stream included (nearly) at all timesNieRseries producer Yosuke Saito,NieRseries creative director Yoko Taro and Hiroki Yasumoto, the seiyuu voicing Grimoire Weiss inVer 1.22. However, the stream as a whole was divided into multiple segments. with several guests, mainly staff members and seiyuu, appearing in each segment.
Here are time stamps for each of the segments:
Beginning:NieR Reincarnationsegment. WithNieR Reincarnationdirector Daichi Matsukawa.
46:05 - 1:37:50Nier Replicant ver 1.22segment.WithNieR Replicant ver.1.22director Saki Ito, Mai Kadowaki (Emil), Nobuhiko Okamoto (NieR Replicantyoung protagonist).
1:37:56 - 2:32:13NieR Automatasegment.With Takahisa Taura, Yui Ishikawa (2B), Ryoko Shiraishi (Devola, Popola), Enako. Fun to listen to if you’re a seiyuu aficionados and have some time at hand.
2:39:56 - 3-29-19Shoujo Yorhasegmentwith the actresses of the stage play. Very fanservice oriented as only truly worthwhile if you know about the stage play’s content.
3:32:52 - 4:07:31FF XIVsegmentwith YoshiP. For NieR fans who also playFF XIV.
4:07:31 Music and Gems Company segment.
4:44:10 Concert
TheNieR Replicant ver 1.22segment lasted for around an hour. The staff and seiyuu chatted about the game’s development. The original game’s reception. Why only the dad version was released in the West. And also answered various questions by fans through Twitter. Here are some of the biggest point brought up.
Nobuhiko Okamoto explained his voice acting changed a lot in ten years so the protagonist sounds a bit different inNier Replicant Ver 1.22. Mai Kadowaki also voiced Emil inAutomataso she probably didn’t change much. Yoko Taro jokingly mentioned those who only playedAutomatamust think Emil is just an idiot so they’re in for a shock withVer 1.22.
Hiroki Yasumoto really likesCyberpunk 2077.
BGMs inNieR Replicantwill be around twice as long as the ones from the original.
NieR Replicant Ver 1.22, unlike the original, is fully voiced. When voicing scenes for the first time, they discussed a lot on how to do it, and ended up doing a lot of retakes. However, there were barely no retakes when redoing scenes that were already voiced in the original.
The originalNieRgames didn’t sell well, so it’s ironic that it has such a huge reputation now. With that said, it’s thanks to the games' poor reception back then that they have the occasion to make an enhanced version now.
Square Enix told them back when the original released that the macho and dad version of the protagonist would sell more than the brother version, that’s why onlyNieR Gestaltreleased in the west. That’s what Square Enix decided, but they did knew back then that there are a lot of people outside Japan that are used to anime culture and would have preferred the younger protagonist. Similarly, there are also people in Japan who prefer the dad protagonist, as both versions released there.
The dad protagonist isn’t inNieR Replicant Ver 1.22.
Yosuke Saito:“Maybe we’ll do a version with the dad protagonist ifNieR Replicant Ver 1.22sells a whole lot.Like maybe half asAutomata.
Yoko Taro:“So, 2.5 million copies? That’s impossible. Dad protag fans, don’t get your hopes up, it’ll never happen”.
Yosuke Saito:“Maybe it is possible. Since this is technically the first time the game releases in the West. And if every buyer in Japan gets three copies.”
Yoko Taro explained the protagonist isn’t called Nier, even though he’s sometimes officially referenced as such. You can pick the protagonist’s name and it’s a reference toDragon Questgames.
Graphics-wise, director Saki Ito explained the staff did its best to reproduce the original game’s feel and graphics while at the the same time bringing it up to today’s standards. Overall quite a bit has changed compared to the original PS3 game.
That’s all for theNieR Replicant ver 1.22segment. Time doesn’t permit me to write a summary of the whole stream, so we’ll be stopping here. Merry Christmas everyone.
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…launches on August 10, 2025, on PS4, Xbox One, and Steam.
