Nier director Yoko Taro kept the 2010 action-RPG's save-deleting final ending a secret from producer Yosuke Saito, and although it was revealed to him in the end, he let it slide because he assumed it was a nod to Dragon Quest's multiple endings.
For Nier's 15th anniversary, Square Enix got Taro and Saito together for a back-and-forth in which they reminisce about the game's development, and at one point the pair is asked about their favorite memories. Taro rather amusingly recalled the higher ups from Square's US office telling him to "'make the main character's torso bigger! Bigger, I say!'"
Saito, however, remembered learning about the game's true ending requiring players to delete their saves and play through the whole game again.
"Mr. Yoko kept the fact that the game deletes your save file a secret from me, but some other members of the team revealed this to me in secret. My favourite memory is probably choosing to let this slide. 'It's fine!' I said. 'It's probably just an homage to Dragon Quest!'"
I'm not sure why Saito thought this could've been a reference to Dragon Quest - as far as I know, there aren't any Dragon Quest games that make you delete your save for any reason - but he ultimately concluded: "Although apparently it wasn't an homage to Dragon Quest (laughs)."
Nope, just Yoko Taro being Yoko Taro.
