The universe of Drakengard is split into multiple timelines, with some of the events detailed in either games or supplementary material leading into different entries in the series.

[7][8] The original game's characters were created by director Taro Yoko, and producers Takamasa Shiba and Takuya Iwasaki.

The main writer for the first five games was Sawako Natori, while Emi Nagashima was involved in writing supplementary material under Yoko's supervision.

[9][15][10][16][17] Multiple aspects of the original game's story were dark, sad and serious in tone, contrasting with the likes of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.

[6] A recurring aesthetic element across all the games is the representation of magic using the Celestial Alphabet, with the most common letter arrangement representing the human gene.

[3][19] For the first game, Yoko took charge of creating Seere, Leonard and Arioch, while Iwasaki was involved in developing Verdelet, Inuart and Caim.

[9][12] An anime series which influenced the first game was Neon Genesis Evangelion, with a comparison being drawn between them due to a shared trait: while having standard premises, darker narrative elements were hidden in its content.

[9][6] Caim, the main protagonist, was meant to be an examination of the typical action game hero, which Yoko felt should not have a happy ending in a story focused on violence.

[20] Furiae was designed by Yoko as both an explanation for Caim and Inuart's rivalry, and as a representation of his distaste for the kind of forgettable character she represented.

The relationship between Caim and Furiae, as well as their ultimate fates, was Yoko's response to the standard happy ending found in most role-playing games at the time, which he felt did not fit in with a protagonist who had killed hundreds during their quest.

[21] Verdelet was portrayed as the "despicable elder", who cared for no-one except himself: his personality was intended to be both ineffectual and bossy, even in the face of catastrophe.

[26] Drakengard 2 was designed to keep some of the dark aesthetics of the original, but at the same time tone down or remove others to increase the series' appeal to mainstream gamers.

[22] Shiba had mixed feelings about the final fight between Legna and Nowe, which he saw as a drastic change from both the first game and the series mechanic of the protagonist riding a dragon.

Shiba ended up writing their dialogue to emphasize their relationship and the difficulty of them fighting each other, paralleling earlier scenes between Caim and Angelus.

[22] The deaths of Caim and Angelus was intended to be "short and ruthless", but Yasui had it changed to the more sentimental version present in the game.

[30] In contrast to the previous games, the team made Drakengard 3's protagonist a woman, with many of her design aspects meant to evoke the dark atmosphere.

Yoko wanted Nagashima to write Cent to be as much of an idiot as possible, while she received some negative feedback for her portrayal of Decadus despite her best efforts.

While writing Mikhail's dialogue, Natori was asked by Yoko to embody the good qualities of animals and children in him.

[2] The characters' number-based names and differing eye colors were meant to help players identify them, while aspects of Zero's design were incorporated into the other Intoners to emphasize their connections.

[2] Prior to Drakengard 3, his artwork for the series dragons had been of them in flight or in action: when he needed to create tenth anniversary artwork featuring the main protagonists of all the Drakengard games to that point, he was faced with the difficult task of drawing the three main dragon characters in passive poses.

[2] For Nier, Yoko said that he shifted away from the darker themes of Drakengard, instead focusing on friendship and the combination of effort to overcome obstacles.

The term "Replicant", one of the key story elements, was coined by Yoko from the 1982 science fiction movie Blade Runner.

This was suggested by western staff, and while initially uncomfortable, it offered Yoko the chance to explore two different relationship dynamics using the same characters.

[40] The main character of Nier received two different designs: the original one was a teenage boy, while the other was an adult: the former was cast as Yonah's brother, and the latter her father.

[42] For Nier: Automata, main character designs were by Akihiko Yoshida, whose most notable work has been on the Final Fantasy series.

Initially, the production team thought he would refuse due to his busy schedule, but many staff members at his company CyDesignation were fans of the original game.

Eurogamer's Simon Parkin was highly critical of protagonist Nowe, citing several points where his behavior was unbelievable given the situation, eventually calling him "a little nauseating to watch".

[103] GameSpot's Heidi Kemps also commented on the inter-character dialogue, calling it "frequently amusing and well written", and commended the localization team for their work.

[104] GamesRadar's Becky Cunningham generally praised the voice acting for the characters, and stated that the relationship between Mikhail and Zero "adds gravitas to the story.