I haven't played this in about 15 years, so looking it up recently I was surprised to find that it had carved a badge of infamy for itself. I was obsessed with this as an impressionable, un-diagnosed ADHD teen who liked hacky/slashy combat and hadn't been exposed to much dark fantasy, and so the certifiably bananas Yoko Taro insanity this visually and narratively gives way to seared itself into my brain. The ending that eventually birthed Nier blew my mind. I've got a big giant soft spot for this game, and I'm so glad Taro went on to become a big weirdo game creator.
My rating is based off the gameplay alone.
I can't in good conscience recommend this as a game, because the gameplay is just godawful. It's a 3D beat 'em up and the game is mission-based, separated into two-types of missions. The ground missions are musou but worse, and the aerial missions, while serviceable, are very boring. There are two really good boss fights, out of several, and that's all you get. I fell into Stockholm syndrome, and eventually just got used to it, but it's not good. If you're insane enough to go through the madness that Yoko Taro's mind, you'll be greeted with an interesting metanarrative that escalates extremely well until the final cutscene. It's full of "this is just okay enough that we won't get sued"-style Berserk references, which as a Berserk fan, kept me engaged, which I needed, as the narrative only begins to pick up after you get a couple of endings. However, the narrative gets so wild beyond that, that I think it's very worth experiencing. If you're willing to put up with a lot of shit, you'll get rewarded by the end. Make sure to get every ending.
I can't in good conscience recommend this as a game, because the gameplay is just godawful. It's a 3D beat 'em up and the game is mission-based, separated into two-types of missions. The ground missions are musou but worse, and the aerial missions, while serviceable, are very boring. There are two really good boss fights, out of several, and that's all you get. I fell into Stockholm syndrome, and eventually just got used to it, but it's not good. If you're insane enough to go through the madness that Yoko Taro's mind, you'll be greeted with an interesting metanarrative that escalates extremely well until the final cutscene. It's full of "this is just okay enough that we won't get sued"-style Berserk references, which as a Berserk fan, kept me engaged, which I needed, as the narrative only begins to pick up after you get a couple of endings. However, the narrative gets so wild beyond that, that I think it's very worth experiencing. If you're willing to put up with a lot of shit, you'll get rewarded by the end. Make sure to get every ending.