 The game is a spin @-@ off from the Drakengard series , and follows the fifth ending of the first game , the events of which have left the planet Earth in a state of decay . Set over one thousand years after this , the game puts the player in control of the titular protagonist Nier , as he attempts to find a cure for an illness , known as the Black Scrawl , to which his daughter Yonah has succumbed . Partnering with a talking book known as Grimoire Weiss , he journeys with two other characters , Kainé and Emil , as he attempts to find a remedy and understand the nature of the creatures known as Shades that stalk the world . The gameplay borrows elements from various video game genres , occasionally switching between them and the main RPG @-@ based gameplay . 
