 Nier is intended to be set 1000 years after the events of Drakengard 's fifth ending . In this scenario , the game 's protagonists Caim and Angelus travel across a dimensional boundary to fight a monstrous beast . After winning the battle and killing the monster , they are shot down by a fighter jet and killed ; the remnants of their bodies cause the Black Scrawl . According to Yoko , after the dark story of Drakengard , Yoko focused on more positive themes of friendship and combined effort . Much of the game was inspired by the September 11 attacks and the War on Terror . Yoko took from it the idea of a terrible event where both sides believed they were doing the right thing , and wanted to show the player multiple perspectives of the same events . The term " Replicant " was coined by Yoko from the 1982 science fiction movie Blade Runner , although Yoko did not cite a particular source for Nier 's name , passing it off as a codename that persisted through development . 
