 If the player plays the game again , they start just after the five @-@ year skip . They learn about Kainé 's past , including that she is intersex , which along with the death of her parents resulted in her ostracism as a child , and that she is partially possessed by a Shade . The player gains the ability to understand what the shades are saying , including the one possessing Kainé , though in @-@ game Nier , Weiss , and Emil are still unable to . Additional cutscenes are also shown , giving the motivations and backstory behind the Shade bosses that are fought and showing them as sentient people trying to defend their friends against Nier . The ending to the second playthrough shows that Emil survives his sacrifice , and that Gestalt Nier and Yonah are reunited in the afterlife . A third playthrough presents the player with a choice in the ending to save Kainé , who is seen to be dying in agony ; Nier can either kill her to end her suffering , or sacrifice his life for her . The latter choice not only erases all memory of him from the other characters ' minds , shown in a final cutscene , but also deletes all of the player 's saved progress , as if the game had never been played . Moreover , if the player wants to start a new game , they will be unable to enter the same name chosen for the previous playthrough for the Nier character . 
