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The E ending [REDACTED] and its dramatic gameplay change were added by him and a small group of developers to be a "surprise joke" for players –following a similar train of thought as the UFO endings in Silent Hill. The ending wasn't shown to the entire team until the very end of development; Shiba hated it once he saw it. Yoko became quite fond of the reaction it had on the team and players, and it was one of the reasons why it was revisited again for Drakengard's alternate continuity, Nier. He adds that the phrase used for this ending is "a rip-off" of The End of Evangelion, which is a series he considers a spiritual inspiration of sorts for Drakengard's gloominess.
Years later, in an interview with GameInformer, Yoko reveals that the original, rejected plan for Ending E consisted of the player battling a giant version of J-pop idol Ayumi Hamasaki in a singing competition to decide the fate of the world.
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