Drakengard is an action role-playing game released on PlayStation 2 (PS2) in 2003 in Japan and 2004 in the West. The first entry in a series of the same name, it spawned two follow-up titles; a direct sequel Drakengard 2 (2005), and a prequel Drakengard 3 (2013). A subseries spun-off from one of the original game's endings began in 2010 with the release of Nier, which was followed by Nier: Automata (2016) and Nier Reincarnation (2021). Both the Drakengard and Nier series have been supported by expanded media.
The universe of Drakengard is split into multiple timelines, with some of the events detailed in either games or supplementary material leading into different entries in the series. The main setting used by the Drakengard games is Midgard, a dark fantasy version of Medieval Europe drawing inspiration from the folklore of Northern Europe. A key aspect of the Drakengard universe is the "pact", a ritual that links souls and grants a human great power in return for some aspect of themselves (such as their voice, charm, aging ability) while the beast partner feeds on their negative emotions. The Nier titles take place in a reality stemming from the fifth ending of Drakengard, although the connection is minimal.
The original game's characters were created by director Taro Yoko, and producers Takamasa Shiba and Takuya Iwasaki. Other contributors over the years include series writer Sawako Natori, and supplementary writer Emi Nagashima. The first game's characters were created as a deliberate contrast with the casts of other popular role-playing games of the time. For Drakengard 2, director Akira Yasui insisted on a tonal shift, influencing both the story and character designs. For Drakengard 3, the majority of the main characters were female and inspired by multiple sources including contemporary anime. Character designs for Drakengard were done by Kimihiko Fujisaka and Taro Hasegawa. The characters original Nier characters were designed by Korean artist D.K, with the game notably using different versions of the main protagonist for Japan and overseas releases. Later Nier titles saw contributions from several artists including Akihiko Yoshida.
Reviewers have been mostly positive about the games' characters: the first game's cast received favorably, and many praised their dialogue. Opinions were more mixed about the characters of Drakengard 2, which certain reviewers claimed were weaker than those of the previous game. Drakengard 3 was criticized for uneven writing, but it received praise for its unusual characters and their interactions. Niers cast and the relationship between its story and characters were lauded. The characters of Drakengard and Nier have gained a strong following in Japan.
Concept and development Drakengard The core concepts of the Drakengard series, along with many of their narrative elements, were created by series director Taro Yoko, who also contributed to the games' scenarios. Other contributors across the series' lifetime include producers Takamasa Shiba and Takuya Iwasaki. The main writer for the first five games was Sawako Natori, while Emi Nagashima was involved in writing supplementary material under Yoko's supervision. The main theme of the Drakengard series is immorality, which is shown through the characters' dialogue. Other themes included war and death (Drakengard 2), showing conflicting yet valid views in the aftermath of a terrible event (Drakengard 3, Nier), and struggling out of a bad situation (Nier: Automata). Multiple aspects of the original game's story were dark, sad and serious in tone, contrasting with the likes of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. A recurring aesthetic element across all the games is the representation of magic using the Celestial Alphabet, with the most common letter arrangement representing the human gene. The concept of multiple endings, a theme extended across the Drakengard multiverse, was originally included as Yoko was told Drakengard would be a one-off game project.
For the first game, Yoko took charge of creating Seere, Leonard and Arioch, while Iwasaki was involved in developing Verdelet, Inuart and Caim. An anime series which influenced the first game was Neon Genesis Evangelion, with a comparison being drawn between them due to a shared trait: while having standard premises, darker narrative elements were hidden in its content. Another anime which influenced aspects of the game was Sister Princess. Caim, the main protagonist, was meant to be an examination of the typical action game hero, which Yoko felt should not have a happy ending in a story focused on violence. The nature of Caim and Angelus' relationship underwent changes during development: Yoko had conceived their relationship as a parasitic one, but Iwasaki wanted to create a different type of romance, and so wrote the love story for the two of them. Inuart was originally designed as the main protagonist of Drakengard, with him being a "useless hero". A pivotal scene in the game, where he first clashes with Caim, became one of the ways Yoko was able to properly project his vision of the game's world.
Furiae was designed by Yoko as both an explanation for Caim and Inuart's rivalry, and as a representation of his distaste for the kind of forgettable character she represented. The relationship between Caim and Furiae, as well as their ultimate fates, was Yoko's response to the standard happy ending found in most role-playing games at the time, which he felt did not fit in with a protagonist who had killed hundreds during their quest. Caim and Furiae were respectively based around Guts from Berserk and Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion, with Caim being codenamed "Guts" during development. Verdelet was portrayed as the "despicable elder", who cared for no-one except himself: his personality was intended to be both ineffectual and bossy, even in the face of catastrophe. Manah's role in Drakengard was designed to represent unloved children. Natori admitted to being embarrassed by her dialogue for Manah and her brother Seere when she heard it performed during voice recording.
Drakengard was artist Kimihiko Fujisaka's his first job as a character designer: his designs were firmly seated within the Medieval European aesthetic. To achieve this, he imagined that he had been sent back to that historical period. His designs were inspired by the character designs of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Caim was one of the earliest characters created for Drakengard. In Inuart's design, Fujisaka incorporated heavy armor into his design to give a more forceful impression for players. His ultimate role and final design were based around the idea of him being Caim's rival. Legna's design did not impress Shiba, who considered cutting him from the final product. Manah's red clothing was designed to evoke both its status as the game's key color, and her status as the leader of the Cult of the Watchers Shiba approved of the design, feeling that it contrasted nicely with Furiae's predominantly white design. Fujisaka also helped design Furiae's monster form for the game's second ending. In hindsight, Fujisaka was dissatisfied with his work on Drakengard, particularly his work on Caim. Monster designs were done by Taro Hasegawa.
Drakengard 2 was designed to keep some of the dark aesthetics of the original, but at the same time tone down or remove others to increase the series' appeal to mainstream gamers. One of the main people behind this was director Akira Yasui, who ended up having creative clashes with Yoko over the matter. One of the main concepts for main protagonist Nowe was surpassing one's father. For the fight between Nowe and Legna, special gameplay functions and mechanics needed to be created for Nowe. Shiba had mixed feelings about the final fight between Legna and Nowe, which he saw as a drastic change from both the first game and the series mechanic of the protagonist riding a dragon. Shiba ended up writing their dialogue to emphasize their relationship and the difficulty of them fighting each other, paralleling earlier scenes between Caim and Angelus. The deaths of Caim and Angelus was intended to be "short and ruthless", but Yasui had it changed to the more sentimental version present in the game. Dialogue from Caim for the scene was cut from the game due to it clashing with his previous portrayal as a mute. Urick was created to be the supportive "big brother" of the party.
For Drakengard 2, Yasui wanted to make the game the "opposite" to Drakengard, which partly involved the game having a broader color palette. While Fujisaka designed the main characters for Drakengard 2, the dragon Legna was designed by Taro Hasegawa returned to design both Legna and the second game's monsters. Nowe, in contrast to the other protagonists of the Drakengard series, was designed around the concept of a stereotypical hero. Nowe was one of Fujisaka's favorite characters to design, although Shiba was less enthusiastic. Manah's redesign in Drakengard 2 reflected both her evolved personality and her more traditional depiction as a fantasy heroine. Elements of their designs were taken from Caim and Furiae, representing "passing the torch" between characters. Because of Legna's different roles in Drakengard and Drakengard 2, his design and movements were altered for his second incarnation. Eris's design was inspired by Casca, a character from Berserk: while he tried not to copy any parts of Casca's design, Fujisaka tried to convey it using aspects of her personality. He also tried to balance this part of her depiction with a tender and more feminine side. Another idea he had in mind was the image of an honors student. Her dance-like fighting style was generally suggested by the game's staff. Urick was created to be the supportive "big brother" of the party. An interesting piece of the design for Fujisaka was the character's exposed navel. It was Shiba's idea for the character to wear a mask. In hindsight, both Shiba and Fujisaka felt that the mask was unnecessary. The symbol for his pact partner was incorporated into his weapon. Caim's redesign was meant to represent his status as a wanderer.
For Drakengard 3, a prequel to the first two games, the developers wanted to create a balance between the previous games' dark atmosphere and stories, and additional moments of humor to help lighten the atmosphere. In contrast to the previous games, the team made Drakengard 3s protagonist a woman, with many of her design aspects meant to evoke the dark atmosphere. Ideas to make the setting a modern one and the protagonist a contemporary schoolgirl were rejected at an early stage. Yoko, Natori and Nagashima were jointly responsible for creating the disciples' personalities. Yoko wanted Nagashima to write Cent to be as much of an idiot as possible, while she received some negative feedback for her portrayal of Decadus despite her best efforts. Octa was the character Natori and Nagashima best understood, though Nagashima found it difficult writing his novella. While writing Mikhail's dialogue, Natori was asked by Yoko to embody the good qualities of animals and children in him. Instead of being realistic, Natori borrowed elements from other fiction to create his personality, finding him the most fun to write. The dialogue between Zero and her disciples was written by Yoko to contrast in content with the violent combat.