History Franchise / Drakengard

[[caption-width-right:350: Our main "heroes." [[labelnote: From left to right]] [[SociopathicHero Caim]], [[HumansAreBastards Angelus]] (the red dragon), [[KnightInShiningArmor Nowe]], [[CheerfulChild Mikhail]] (the white dragon), [[GrumpyOldMan Legna]] (the black dragon), [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Nier]], [[DeadpanSnarker Grimoire Weiss]] (the book), and [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Zero]]. Not pictured: [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots 2B, 9S, and A2]]; [[AGirlAndHerX Fio and Levania]], [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Hina and Yuzuki]][[/labelnote]]]]

* GreaterScopeParagon: Accord of ''VideoGame/Drakengard3'' is possibly one for the franchise as a whole, as she is [[spoiler:an android (or a HiveMind thereof, though there is an unknown "original Accord" somewhere out there) created to "observe" the multiverse for reasons that are not fully explained but appear to be related to fixing the series' StableTimeLoop which is currently placing the games in a self-fulfilling cycle of destruction, and/or preventing a "Fall Down", a phenomenon wherein one (or ''all'') timelines [[TimeCrash get completely annihilated]]]]. That being said, even she does not seem to fully understand the whole picture, especially with regards to the "God" mentioned below, and she's explicitly forbidden from [[AlienNonInterferenceClause directly interfering with the timeline]].

** ''“The Story of the People and the World”''

* MacGuffinSuperPerson: A person (or sometimes an artifact or a place) whose effect on causality is so massive that it leads to the creation of new timelines ("Shifts") is known as a "Singularity" and they serve as an important subject of observation by the likes of the Administrators from ''Nier'' and Accord. They appear to be ImmuneToFate for better and for worse as most of them are [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Unwitting Instigators of Doom]] whose relentless attempt to fight against destiny lead to less-than-favorable results in the timelines they helped create. Thus far, the characters explicitly named as Singularities in various games/[[AllThereInTheManual guidebooks]] are [[spoiler:Caim (of both ''Drakengard 1'' and the alternate timeline novel ''Drakengard 1.3''), Nowe, Nier (both Replicant Nier and the Shadowlord/Gestalt Nier), Kainé, and all Intoners (no word regarding ''Automata'' characters yet). The term has also been thrown around in ''VideoGame/{{Sinoalice}}'' but its connections to this franchise and its Singularities is somewhat unclear.]]

* RunningGag: "Thank you so, so much for playing"![[note]]In Japanese: "本当に、本当にありがとうございました！"[[/note]]. A sadistic parody of ThankingTheViewer, this phrase is spoken with utmost joy by [[BigBad Manah]] after clearing all the endings of the first game in a way that serves as the cherry on top of the [[GainaxEnding insanity sundae]] that is [[EarnYourBadEnding Ending E]]. The phrase reached meme status in Japan immediately after the game's release and has since become synonymous with the ending itself and other similarly-bleak endings in different media. It's since been used in every game in the series, often in a similar context, except for ''Drakengard 2'' where the sound byte from the first game is played [[SdrawkcabSpeech in reverse]] in the game's opening. ''Nier'''s "parting greeting" has the main cast come together to try and say the phrase, and in ''Drakengard 3'' [[spoiler:Accord says the phrase to ''the player'' as according to Creator/YokoTaro she's meant to be [[BreakingTheFourthWall peeking into our dimension and examining the way it influences her own.]]]] However, the phrase is genuinely played straight in [[spoiler:the final ending of Automata, where the Pods directly address the player.]]

The series is considered highly popular in Japan, having sold well and gaining a cult following, though it appears to be a niche series in western countries. The main games have become noted for their dark storylines and mixture of ground-based and aerial combat, while Nier stood out because of its mixture of gameplay styles. The series has received mixed to positive reception in both Japan and western countries: the majority of praise has been given to its story and characters, while the gameplay has been criticized for repetitiveness. ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' seems to have finally broken this trend, releasing to excellent reviews and being showered with praise in both the gameplay and story departments.

** ''“The Story of the Girl and the Monster”'': The First Arc (total of twelve main story chapters) features a Girl of Light awakening in a world of "The Cage”, accompanied by a ghost-like figure called “Mama”, to regain her lost memories and recount her “past sins” while encountering a Dark Monster roaming around the higher levels of "The Cage”.

** ''“The Story of the Sun and the Moon”'': The Second Arc involves two high school students of modern-era Japan being transported to “The Cage”, both determined to return home to one of their parents (the father for the girl and the mother for the boy). Unlike the previous arc, players can choose either the Sun route (the female student) or the Moon route (the male student).

* RunningGag: "Thank you so, so much for playing"![[note]]In Japanese: "本当に、本当にありがとうございました！"[[/note]]. A sadistic parody of ThankingTheViewer, this phrase is spoken with utmost joy by [[BigBad Manah]] after clearing all the endings of the first game in a way that serves as the cherry on top of the [[GainaxEnding insanity sundae]] that is [[EarnYourBadEnding Ending E]]. The phrase reached meme status in Japan immediately after the game's release and has since become synonymous with the ending itself and other similarly-bleak endings in different media. It's since been used in every game in the series, often in a similar context, except for ''Drakengard 2'' where the sound byte from the first game is played [[SdrawkcabSpeech in reverse]] in the game's opening. ''Nier'''s "parting greeting" has the main cast come together to try and say the phrase, and in ''Drakengard 3'' [[spoiler:Accord says the phrase to ''the player'' as according to Creator/YokoTaro she's meant to be [[BreakingTheFourthWall peeking into our dimension and examining the way it influences her own.]]]]

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Most of the conflict in the series isn't "good versus evil" so much as it is "people trying to protect the interests of their own social group/species/loved ones versus other people trying to do the same thing". Characters that attempt to bridge the gap via communication or compromises [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth will usually be crushed under the weight of the partisan conflicts]]. [[PerspectiveFlip Perspective Flips]] are often employed to show how little it takes for characters that initially seemed "evil" to be sympathetic and "heroes" to be murderers. There are occasionally conflicts that involve [[BlackAndGrayMorality irredeemably evil forces]] or [[BlueAndOrangeMorality alien/incomprehensible threats]], but there are few characters that are fully without sin (and survive long enough to cause meaningful change).

* MacGuffinSuperPerson: A person (or sometimes an artifact or a place) whose effect on causality is so massive that it leads to the creation of new timelines ("Shifts") is known as a "Singularity" and serve as an important subject of observation by the likes of the Administrators from ''Nier'' and Accord. They appear to be ImmuneToFate for better and for worse as most of them are [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Unwitting Instigators of Doom]] whose relentless attempt to fight against destiny lead to less-than-favorable results in the timelines they helped create. Thus far, the characters explicitly named as Singularities in various games/[[AllThereInTheManual guidebooks]] are [[spoiler:Caim (of both ''Drakengard 1'' and the alternate timeline novel ''Drakengard 1.3''), Nowe, Nier (both Replicant Nier and the Shadowlord/Gestalt Nier), Kainé, and all Intoners (no word regarding ''Automata'' characters yet). The term has also been thrown around in ''VideoGame/{{Sinoalice}}'' but its connections to this franchise and its Singularities is somewhat unclear.]]

* MacGuffinSuperPerson: A person (or sometimes an artifact or a place) whose effect on causality is so massive that it leads to the creation of new timelines ("Shifts") is known as a "Singularity" and serve as an important subject of observation by the likes of the Administrators from ''Nier'' and Accord. They appear to be ImmuneToFate for better and for worse as most of them are [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Unwitting Instigators of Doom]] whose relentless attempt to fight against destiny lead to less-than-favorable results in the timelines they helped create. Thus far, the characters explicitly named as Singularities in various games/[[AllThereInTheManual guidebooks]] are [[spoiler:Caim (of both ''Drakengard 1'' and the alternate timeline novel ''Drakengard 1.3''), Nowe, Nier (both Replicant Nier and the Shadowlord/Gestalt Nier) and all Intoners. The term has also been thrown around in ''VideoGame/{{Sinoalice}}'' but its connections to this franchise and its Singularities is somewhat unclear.]]

* MacGuffinSuperPerson: A person (or sometimes an artifact or a place) whose effect on causality is so massive that it leads to the creation of new timelines ("Shifts") is known as a "Singularity". These are generally the protagonists of the games (though the only characters explicitly named as Singularities thus far are the [[VideoGame/Drakengard3 Intoners]] and [[VideoGame/{{Nier}} Kainé]]) and they're an important subject of observation by the likes of the Administrators from ''Nier'' and Accord. They appear to be ImmuneToFate for better and for worse as most of them are [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Unwitting Instigators of Doom]] whose relentless attempt to fight against destiny lead to less-than-favorable results in the timelines they helped create.

** ''“The Story of the Girl and the Monster”'': The First Arc (total of twelve main story chapters) features a Girl of Light awakening in a world of "The Cage”, accompanied by a ghost-like figure called “Mama”, to regain her lost memories and recount her “past sins” while encountering a Dark Monster roaming around the higher levels of "The Cage”. [[spoiler:The little girl and the monster switched bodies before the start of the game]].

* GreaterScopeParagon: Accord of ''Drakengard 3'' is possibly one for the franchise as a whole, as she is [[spoiler:an android (or a HiveMind thereof) created to "observe" the multiverse for reasons that are not fully explained but appear to be related to fixing the series' StableTimeLoop which is currently placing the games in a self-fulfilling cycle of destruction]]. That being said, even she does not seem to fully understand the whole picture, especially with regards to the aforementioned "God", and she's explicitly forbidden from [[AlienNonInterferenceClause directly interfering with the timeline]].

* MagicallyBindingContract: One of the core concepts of the setting is Pacts, which allow humans (or elves) to make a contract with beings of different species such as fairies, dragons, golems or elementals for power at the cost of something. This is typically a physical aspect of the mortal such as being unable to speak or see, but in some cases can go beyond and range from losing one's ability to have children to being unable to age or feel full from food. The Pact central to the backstory of the ''VideoGame/{{NieR}}'' setting is more one-sided; those who become infected with White Chlorination Syndrome either die or must make a Pact with the JerkassGods of ''Drakengard'' and join the [[ZombieApocalypse Legion]].

** In ''Nier Automata'', the Machine Lifeforms are named after [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous philosophers]] and often have quirks that are related to their namesakes' beliefs (Pascal, Plato, Kierkegaard...). The [=YoRHa=] units meanwhile are simply named after their production number + the initial of their unit type (2B, 9S, A2...). Also, the androids of the Resistance introduced in [[Theatre/YoRHa the stage plays]] are named after flowers (Anemone, Rose, Lily...).

** In ''Nier Automata'', the Machine Lifeforms are named after [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous philosophers]] and often have quirks that are related to their namesakes' beliefs (Pascal, Plato, Kierkegaard...). The [=YoRHa=] units meanwhile are simply named after their production number + the initial of their unit type (2B, 9S, A2...).

** In ''Drakengard 3'' the Intoners are named after English [[NumericalThemeNaming numbers]] ([[MyHeroZero Zero]], One, Two...) while their Disciples' names are derived from Greco-Roman numbers (Dito, Octa, Cent...)

** In ''Nier Automata'', the Machine Lifeforms are named after [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous philosophers]] and often have quirks that are related to their namesakes' beliefs (Pascal, Sartre, Kierkegaard...). The [=YoRHa=] units meanwhile are simply named after their production number + the initial of their unit type (2B, 9S, A2...)

* TidallyLockedPlanet: At some point in the backstory leading up to ''Nier'' (following up from [[spoiler:Ending E of ''Drakengard'']]), a certain unclear series of events in the 27th century that involved the moon being partially shattered [[NoodleIncident or something]] lead to Earth's axis shifting in a way that locks part of the world (roughly the Asia-Pacific region) in EndlessDaytime while the rest of the earth is in [[AlwaysNight perpetual nighttime]]. The games take place exclusively in the former region (specifically the area where Japan used to be, more specifically the [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Kanto region]]), which is the reason night never seems to fall.

* TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse: Shinjuku to be exact, and "center of the universe" might be an ''understatement'' depending on your view of the lore. [[spoiler:''Drakengard 1'''s Ending E has Caim, Angelus and the Queen Beast teleport from the Imperial Capital to real-life Shinjuku, an event which would lead to the introduction of magic to that world and build up to the events of ''Nier''. Shinjuku would later lose its importance [[note]]Despite the government's attempts to quarantine Shinjuku and the magical particles ("Maso") it contains due to their awful effects on humans, the US Army's decision to [[HistoryRepeats nuke Japan a third time]] would inadvertently spread the particles to the whole world[[/note]]; ''however'', there's evidence to suggest that Shinjuku is one and the same as Drakengard's Imperial Capital, which is in turn one and the same as Cathedral City, the city that was transferred from the world of Nier to Drakengard's year 856 [[note]]The city was described as being "full of high-rise concrete structures", and indeed the Imperial City in ''Drakengard 1'' does look eerily modern compared to the rest of the setting[[/note]], which was equivalent the real world before this event introduced magic to it. To summarize: Tokyo is the central point of an enormous TemporalParadox which could be the reason the whole universe is stuck in a StableTimeLoop of destruction and misery.]]

* TidallyLockedPlanet: At some point in the backstory leading up to ''Nier'' (following up from [[spoiler:Ending E of ''Drakengard'']]), a certain unclear series of events lead to Earth's axis shifting in a way that locks part of the world (roughly the Asia-Pacific region) in EndlessDaytime while the rest of the earth is in [[AlwaysNight perpetual nighttime]]. The games take place exclusively in the former region (specifically the area where Japan used to be, more specifically the [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Kanto region]]), which is the reason the games take place entirely in daytime. [[NoodleIncident Also, the moon may or may not have been partially destroyed while this shift was happening.]]

** Within the games themselves it's not uncommon for there to be a sudden UnexpectedGameplayChange every now and then, with common genres being [[RhythmGame rhythm games]], [[ShootEmUp shmups]] and [[VisualNovel visual novels]]. ''Nier'' even has a segment that's a parody of the first VideoGame/ResidentEvil1.

* AmbiguousSituation: Creator/YokoTaro is a strong proponent of DeathOfTheAuthor which is the reason a lot of the series' lore is ambiguous, confusing and secretive; by his own admission, he prefers to see himself not as an all-knowing deity of the lore but as a fan who is "discovering information" much like any other player, and his interpretation of events that ''he himself wrote'' is not necessarily meant to be absolute.

* {{Deconstruction}}: The series is known for deconstructing various storytelling and RPG tropes, with an especially strong emphasis on GreyAndGrayMorality, the nature of war and protagonists which are at best [[VillainProtagonist villainous]] and at worst "good people" that have reasonable motives but fail to see things from the perspective of [[{{Mooks}} those they consider evil]], typically to [[DownerEnding horrifying results]]. That being said, it's also a DeconReconSwitch as Creator/YokoTaro stated that he doesn't write scenarios that are ''too'' [[TooBleakStoppedCaring constantly introspective and realistic]] and instead allows a lot of room for conventional storytelling and RPG tropes that are played perfectly straight, which allows the deconstructive elements to stand out when they do show up. And then there's ''Drakengard 2'' which [[OddballInTheSeries wasn't written by Yoko Taro and is not really deconstructive at all]].

* MultipleEndings: All games in the series have multiple endings which generally all need to be viewed to experience the plot in full, and as such are designed in a way that clearing the "first ending" is technically just the midpoint of the games.''Very'' rare to have an EarnYourHappyEnding. All endings are canon due to branching timelines (a concept explored most thoroughly in ''VideoGame/Drakengard3''), and ''VideoGame/Drakengard2'' and ''VideoGame/{{NieR}}'' stem from different endings of ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}''.

* TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse: Shinjuku to be exact, and "center of the universe" might be an ''understatement'' depending on your view of the lore. [[spoiler:''Drakengard 1'''s Ending E has Caim, Angelus and the Queen Beast teleport from the Imperial Capital to real-life Shinjuku, an event which would lead to the introduction of magic to that world and build up to the events of ''Nier''. Shinjuku would later lose its importance [[note]]Despite the government's attempts to quarantine Shinjuku and the magical particles ("Maso") it contains due to their awful effects on humans, the US Army's decision to [[HistoryRepeats nuke Japan a third time]] would inadvertently spread the particles to the whole world[[/note]]; ''however'', there's evidence to suggest that Shinjuku is one and the same as Drakengard's Imperial Capital, which is in turn one and the same as Cathedral City, the city that was transferred from the world of Nier to Drakengard's year 856 [[note]]The city was described as being "full of high-rise concrete structures", and indeed the Imperial City in ''Drakengard 1'' does look eerily modern compared to the rest of the setting[[/note]], which was equivalent the real world before this event introduced magic to it. To surmise: Tokyo is the central point of an enormous TemporalParadox which could be the reason the whole universe is stuck in a StableTimeLoop of destruction and misery.]]