Updated: Sunday, May 4, 2025 – 22:05

⚠️ Nothing overtly spoilerish is stated here, but you might want to be a little careful if you want to entirely avoid any and all spoilers — it’s the type that you won’t understand without the necessary context.

---

I have yet to read the chapters of the NieR 15th Anniversary Web novel in their entirety, but I found it interesting that the ending chapter included several of the backend string IDs to call up a specific scene. I wrote a whole thread about it, so it might be better just to read through them, but for those not on Twitter, I’ll summarize what I was talking about below.

▶︎ The Chapters

1. – 無ノ檻 – / Cage of Nothingness
2. NieR:Automata「廃棄ノ記録」Record of Disposal
3. – 花ノ庭 – / Garden of Flowers
4. NieR Re[in]carnation「覚醒ノ記録」Record of Ascension
5. – 禍ノ風 – / Wind of Calamity※
6. NieR Replicant「流転ノ記録」Record of Transmigration

※禍 may likely be a reference to recent usages such as「コロナ禍」as in the coronavirus pandemic, so the context is a little different from a general “disaster”.

▶︎ The Writers

Karin Harada (原田香林) – Square Enix
　- NieR Re[in]carnation scenario writer　

Miku Fukushima (福嶋美久)
　- Young GanGan Editorial Department

Yuuto Doi (土井裕斗)
　- YoRHa 1.3a/aa (No6)
　- Thou Shalt Not Die Zero_KAI (Mizukaki)

Sotaro Hiroe (廣江聡太郎) – Square Enix
　- NieR Re[in]carnation (The People and the World) Scenario Writer

Yuki Wada (和田侑樹) – Square Enix
　- NieR Re[in]carnation (The Sun and the Moon)
　- Voice of Cards
　- Replicant Ver.1.22 Scenario Writer
　- Yuki Wada actually came to our Tsuki Oke concert last year! Thank you!!

---

NieR 15th Anniversary Web Novel
⚠️Discussion & Spoilers⚠️

We get a couple line callback codes from the game and are also listed in the scripts. These are the scenes that are meant to be called up at these branching points in the novel.#NieR #NieR15th#ニーア #ニーア15周年 pic.twitter.com/LhujQ9w20v

— Rekka Alexiel (@RekkaAlexiel) May 3, 2025

I’ve edited the text in the image a little bit, as you can see below:

　　Chapter 6
　　NieR Replicant「流転ノ記憶」”Record of Transmigration”

　　　日本語音声収録台本　＜メインA（少年期）-1＞　Page 2
　　　EID_0050_a0010　
　　　※ニーア（オリジナル）が雪の東京で凍える。
　　　*Nier (original) is freezing in a snowy Tokyo.
　　　(This is the start of the game) 


　　　日本語音声収録台本　＜メインB（青年期）-2＞　Page 179
　　　EID_9400_a0270　
　　　「大切な人」を取り戻す
　　　Take back your “precious person”
　　　(This is the end of the game, Branch E)

I don’t want to go as far as to translate 流転 as “reincarnation” at this point because it’s still many, many years prior to the events that lead into NieR Re[in]carnation, so I wanted to keep it a little unique and special even if the meaning is pretty much the same.

For greater context on the dev side, every single line of text has an ID that the game is able to callback whenever. This is also how scenes are loaded into the system. So, really, this sequence is playing out very much like a game and we’re seeing the backend code to do it.

---

Comparatively, DOD1 used slightly different callback codes, which we can see in the scripts that were included in the DOD 10th Anniversary Box.

The scenario voice recording script uses a pair of dual digits plus a two letter code to designate scenes. (ie. 01-01 MV). Other codes include EA, GA, AC, and GG.

Since the scenario recordings don’t require codes for every single line, the same is not true for the window message recordings. For these, each individual window will have a callback code (ie. 01-04WM01E that lives within 01-04 GG). Here WM likely stands for “window message”.

Depending on the game engine they’re using, the script callbacks will look different, so I’m not exactly sure what they were using for DOD1.

---

I get how people are translating 流転 as “transience”, as that’s the most common meaning, but this will change depending on the context, which is why I translated it as “transmigration” instead because this is literally the point when a certain person returns…

It may be important to understand the difference between these two words and you’ll understand why one is more appropriate to use here than the other. Because I’m lazy, this is a ChatGPT explanation:

So, “transience” generally means temporary, changing… something that will not last for long, where as “transmigration” is a form of reincarnation, so I don’t think we need any more explanation there…

Moving on, let’s take a look at these EID_ codes. If anyone remembers DOD3 at this point, you should recognize this from Accord’s timelines that we saw even within the game. Please take a look here for further reference (of course, beware of spoiolers): https://firesanctuary.com/branches.html

So, although I get why they probably used these codes in the new webnovel… but I can’t help but ALSO think of Accord at the same time, similar to how she is able to jump from place to place within time. It’s very much like how the game actually works on the backend.

---

Additionally, Haruto on Twitter also found similar string IDs that call up specific points along the story:

ゲームファイル内まで潜りきれませんでしたが
MOVIEの圧縮ファイルにEID表記を発見💡

EID_2000：少年期 魔王襲来
EID_4430：青年期 崖の村(ウェンディ戦)
EID_6000：魔王の城
EID_9400：失ワレタ世界#ニーアレプリカント pic.twitter.com/si4VAIa2z6

— はると＠ゲーム考察/解説の専門家 (@haru10handeko) May 4, 2025

ARC is a lossless data compression and archival format by System Enhancement Associates (SEA). The file format and the program were both called ARC. The format is known as the subject of controversy in the 1980s, part of important debates over what would later be known as open formats. ーWikipedia

For those who are familiar with the backend of game development, you will know that each and every line of text also comes with a specific string ID so that it can be called up at any moment. This also helps to save space, so you can use a single string multiple times in different locations within the game.

What’s also interesting is that we’ve seen these specific string IDs before, in DOD3 as directly stated by Accord.

▶︎ Please note that the numbers following “EID_” do not designate a year within the Yokoverse. This is specifically used within the coding of the game itself.

Although I see them dropping these string IDs in the Web novel as a clever way of showing a bit of the backend of game development, I also get vibes of Accord and how she easily jumps from moment to moment. It’s curious that she would actually use these string IDs, almost as if she were a developer herself.

▶︎ Also read here for more revelations about Accord.

So, is Accord a game designer in disguise? xD