Squeenix NieR: Automata from Yoko Taro and Platinum Games

[Delterius]

Enjoy it while its still up.

 

[LESS T_T]

This game was originally planned as a PC exclusive: https://wowjapan.asia/2017/10/inter...suke-saito-nier-automata-originally-meant-pc/

Did the choice of release platforms affect the game’s design?

Yosuke Saito: Actually there was no special arrangements made for either platform (PS4 and PC), but since most of the development process is done on the PC anyway, we ran with it. Actually we had planned to release the game only for PC. However, following input from the publishers the decision was made for the game to be released on the PlayStation 4 as well. The game was created on Platinum game’s engine, which was geared towards the PC. So ultimately the platform choice had no bearing on the way the game was designed.

Apart from the ironic state of the PC "port" and the shenanigans around PC release date, I think it also tells you that this was planned as a (even more) low-budget digital-only project. Probably that's where Sony's money comes in.

 

[Perkel]

Developing on PC =/= PC exclusive for some reason.
Nier never was a PC exclusive.

To further make a point. If you want to develop game on PS4 you are given Visual Studio based SDK along with dev kit where you can test things out. So every asset, code etc. is made on Windows and put together on windows.

Thing is that SDK on which they work simply doesn't work with almost all Windows hardware aside from very specified setup where most of drivers aren't some AMD crimson drivers but custom made by sony to emulate console hardware (more or less).

So in other world while they make game on Windows game still needs to be ported to run on Windows because they are not using OpenGL/Vulcan/DirectX etc but Sony/MS console API.

Which is why there are so many problems when console game makers release pc games. Because they need to port game not just hit "release button".

At least that is general gist of it.

PS1/2 era was differnt though. You mainly created things on dev unit itself which often had waaaay more power, memory etc than normal unit.

 

[LESS T_T]

Developing on PC =/= PC exclusive for some reason.
Nier never was a PC exclusive.

He's talking about actual release platform, not just development:

Actually we had planned to release the game only for PC. However, following input from the publishers the decision was made for the game to be released on the PlayStation 4 as well.

 

[Gerrard]

This game was originally planned as a PC exclusive: https://wowjapan.asia/2017/10/inter...suke-saito-nier-automata-originally-meant-pc/

Did the choice of release platforms affect the game’s design?

Yosuke Saito: Actually there was no special arrangements made for either platform (PS4 and PC), but since most of the development process is done on the PC anyway, we ran with it. Actually we had planned to release the game only for PC. However, following input from the publishers the decision was made for the game to be released on the PlayStation 4 as well. The game was created on Platinum game’s engine, which was geared towards the PC. So ultimately the platform choice had no bearing on the way the game was designed.

Apart from the ironic state of the PC "port" and the shenanigans around PC release date, I think it also tells you that this was planned as a (even more) low-budget digital-only project. Probably that's where Sony's money comes in.

Why does it run like shit then?

Also I notice Japanese publishers have some problems with pricing indie games for the western market (ArcSys publishing some third party games is a good example of that).

 

[Jaedar]

Why does it run like shit then?

Dev machines are usually incredibly overpowered.

 

[Jaedar]

Not bad, also it's quite amusing when he sings the "But I'm only one girl" line.

Sometimes this song gets stuck in my head, and it always feels a bit weird when I start humming that part of the lyrics

 

[Dayyālu]

Sometimes this song gets stuck in my head, and it always feels a bit weird when I start humming that part of the lyrics

Can't quite withstand the English version. Dunnow why.

That said, got hit by the bug to replay (and at last 100% from my old save) Automata. Is the DLC worth it for some mindless fun? I guess it's a steal at 14 bucks, but maybe I can get it from the usual post-Soviet key resellers. Should I even bother?

 

[80Maxwell08]

Sometimes this song gets stuck in my head, and it always feels a bit weird when I start humming that part of the lyrics

Can't quite withstand the English version. Dunnow why.

That said, got hit by the bug to replay (and at last 100% from my old save) Automata. Is the DLC worth it for some mindless fun? I guess it's a steal at 14 bucks, but maybe I can get it from the usual post-Soviet key resellers. Should I even bother?

The DLC in both Nier games is basically if you are going to grind upgrades. Automata's is just combat arenas which get really bullshit at the end.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Are y'all playing this on PC? I keep reading about how it was optimized for shit but I'm super intrigued.

 

[Zombra]

Are y'all playing this on PC? I keep reading about how it was optimized for shit but I'm super intrigued.

It plays fine on my modern rig.

 

[yellowcake]

It is known to crash NV driver on 700 series cards frequently in some areas. I did manage to complete it on an 780 GTX though some parts took me few days of trials. Make sure to use FAR unofficial patch. The most stable version for me was 0.7.11 not the newest 0.7.14. The guy making the patch is apparently nearing completion of 0.8 version that is supposed to resolve rest of the problems.

 

[LESS T_T]

https://gematsu.com/2017/11/nier-producer-yosuke-saito-teases-series-future-developments

NieR producer Yosuke Saito teases series’ future developments

NieR series producer Yosuke Saito was asked about the series’ future developments in the latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation.

“As for a game, we’re making preparations for the setting which you could guess from the fact that we were recruiting a scenario planner,” Saito said. “I hope you will look forward to it.”

As for the question of whether NieR: Automata director Yoko Taro is up to the task, Saito said, “He is… I would like to believe (laughs). Yoko says he will do anything as long as he receives money for it, but there is no one who doesn’t move for money as much as that man. He only wants to do what he wants to do. So I’ll try my best to explicitly say what he doesn’t want to do to guide him towards what I want to do (laughs).”

 

[aweigh]

The video is my most exciting play experience in a long, long time in terms of pure action and thrill and oh-shit!

I don't play many non-RPGs, I used to I used to even play Counter Strike for like 3 years straight, and I was sooo fukn good mahn, but slowly I realized that "pure" action games are literally the least fun types of games I can imagine myself playing.

I then decided to dedicate my energies to RPGs, give or take a few exceptions, and didn't look back. The only exception has been fighting game, and even there relegated mostly to Street Fighter. I don't consider SF / or good fighting games for that matter, as games that should be categorized as action and I don't believe they belong anywhere near the action-type video games, you know, the stuff that is purely about the twitch fibers in your arms!

To keep this short it is because FG's foment competitive scenes and and it is actually thanks to EVOLUTION TOURNAMENT every year and thanks to my becoming personally attuned to the lives, both off the street fight and especially during the game play; I realized that I finally fucking understood the appeal of sports!

I realized I spent almost every single day checking up on my favorite fighting game pro players, viewing footage of their wins, their defeats, searching their interviews and analyzing their current ways of playing, etc. Then when it came time to watch the BIG EVENT, i.e. the CEO Tournament, the CANADA CUP, the EVO TOURNAMENT, the fucking CAPCOM COP: It crystallized for me perfectly the following thought:

"omg, I'm a fucking sports junkie. I'm here screaming and jumping around while watching my equivalent of the superbowl. Hmm, I guess I now have a better understanding of the appeal of traditional, mainstream sport,s or at the least I now no longer consider "jocks" to be automatically-dumb dude-bros!".

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE POINT OF THIS POST:



NIER AUTOMATA has, in the same way my Fighting Game epiphany did for me, made my living soul and its hollow crevices receive the airy grace found in the immediately stunning game play, story, and more than either of those elements: in the soul-saving surety with which the auteur's skill is relentlessly molding each single scenario of this action game and it's, for lack of a better word... it is an action game that does something that metal gear solid did decades ago except it does it by utilizing the entirety (or as close to as currently possible, perhaps) of the chimeric tools that the interactivity of the video game exudes, when in handled as balls-to-the-wall confidently as in NIER AUTOMATA; it is, I believe, the first mainstream pure action game that succeeds in developing every single bullet point found in other genres, most notable in RPGs, without ever resorting to utilizing any of the design templates from those types and instead the game is always, always doing every single thing, every moment, every step of the way; it does EXACTLY what the designers wanted it to do.

Regardless of the medium when one is lucky enough to experience such an unassailable authorial contract, well, hence why I say NIER AUTOMATA revived my enjoyment, or actually: that NIER AUTOMATA has kindled within me for the first time the POSSIBILITY of being able to appreciate "those blah action games with combos n shit" for what they can ACTUALLY BE, (a similar story which touches all video game sub-genres equally).

Street Fighter allowed me to allow myself to understand the appeal of being a fan of a sport (i.e. it's because of player attachment, or team attachment, natch: ironically, the "game" itself has the LEAST to do with that psychological makeup, and yes the same holds true in FG scene tournaments... NO ONE shows up to see Daigo play, they show up to see DAIGO... PLAY)--

--and now that NIER has awakening this sudden possibility of a new venue for me, it is why I am now playing thru ELEX and actually enjoying it, and yes, fully aware that ELEX and NIER AUTO are as different as two games can be while still being marketd in the same "pool".

If I had not by chance played NIER AUTOMATA and been so impressed and lucky enough to live thru that game, I would *not* now be able to ever play, ELEX for example: I would look at it as a simple mindless action-RPG hybrid with fake open world, completely cosmetic RPG elements/choices, muddled story, if any, and a complete lack of focus on actual, tangible RPG "game play".

No, now I gave it a show cos it's kind of like NIER, and to me at least both play uite similarly: you do essentially same shit in both but remember: I'm a complete ignoramus cock-gobbler cerning this "subject".

 

[aweigh]

btw, guys, all that beautiful ELEX/Nier footage I posted a bit ago I was using my Arcade Stick to play.

so!? what dya say now huh ? could u even tell the difference !!!!!!!!!

heh.Seriously, the only thing you really fucking need to do is have right-analog stick's camera movement, specifically the horizontal kind, tie that shit simultaenously with the arcade stick's joystick left/right movements that's fucking that. If as a bonus for you the game has a "Camera reset" button/function then use the controller/joystick emulation program of choice that tie THAT camera reset function into something you use while moving and, like for example making every time you press to walk BACKWARDS: boom, immediately trigger of reset camera function since you made DPAD/Axis-etc DOWN be tied via emulation with that other thing.

The only games one can't enjoy with proper stick and proper piano style button layouts, i guess would be really fast ones which require constant manipulation of the camera in order to "always have a grasp" of the vertical / bird-s eye view /something like that.

BTW, the "tank controls" in ELEX which i'm sure many have deemd throwback turd-shit design actually are a fucking JOY when using an arcade stick: dunno if u guys, uh, remember, but "tank like controls" originated from myriad long-forgotten arcade machines.

those sticks, btw, used to utilize a 4-way gate, restricting the stick's movement for specifically the (what we NOW call...) "tank like" type of movement.

Then again we can't just overlook fact ppl are fucking dumb as fuck and no telling amount of brains with multiple aneurysms the second they want walk back but video game make them not do it!!!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

btw, guys, all that beautiful ELEX/Nier footage I posted a bit ago I was using my Arcade Stick to play.

so!? what dya say now huh ? could u even tell the difference !!!!!!!!!

heh.Seriously, the only thing you really fucking need to do is have right-analog stick's camera movement, specifically the horizontal kind, tie that shit simultaenously with the arcade stick's joystick left/right movements that's fucking that. If as a bonus for you the game has a "Camera reset" button/function then use the controller/joystick emulation program of choice that tie THAT camera reset function into something you use while moving and, like for example making every time you press to walk BACKWARDS: boom, immediately trigger of reset camera function since you made DPAD/Axis-etc DOWN be tied via emulation with that other thing.

The only games one can't enjoy with proper stick and proper piano style button layouts, i guess would be really fast ones which require constant manipulation of the camera in order to "always have a grasp" of the vertical / bird-s eye view /something like that.

BTW, the "tank controls" in ELEX which i'm sure many have deemd throwback turd-shit design actually are a fucking JOY when using an arcade stick: dunno if u guys, uh, remember, but "tank like controls" originated from myriad long-forgotten arcade machines.

those sticks, btw, used to utilize a 4-way gate, restricting the stick's movement for specifically the (what we NOW call...) "tank like" type of movement.

Then again we can't just overlook fact ppl are fucking dumb as fuck and no telling amount of brains with multiple aneurysms the second they want walk back but video game make them not do it!!!

Go lie down, bro.

 

[spekkio]

This is what happens when you post on the 'Dex for over 10 years...



(Checks his registration date)

 

[Cowboy Moment]

So, after seeing so much praised get heaped on this game (and after growing tired of waiting for a patch which obviously wasn't coming), I bought it on a Steam sale and have been steadily progressing into it. Thus far, I am extremely unimpressed.

The combat is probably the worst I've seen out of Platinum. The base mechanics themselves are fine, and the game controls well, but enemy design is pretty bad, both mechanically and visually. Their behaviour is really boring, most of them just sprint at you and attack, or float away and shoot; the difficulty is completely reliant on their numbers and on the ridiculous damage they do (at least on Hard). Then we have the shmup and twin stick shooter segments, which are mediocre at best, as they always are with Kamiya, except in this case it feels like there are more of them than the Platinum average. The normal combat system doesn't seem to have much depth in and out of itself either, and just mashing dodge is way too effective.

Same is true for the bosses I've seen thus far (most recent one were the prettyboy twins, though that hardly feels like a real bossfight) - very simplistic and unsatisfying. The singing lady wasn't bad I suppose, though the vast majority of that fight's difficulty came down to the one-shot fire rings at the end. I'm not completely sure if I'm constantly underleveled and undergeared or if the balancing on Hard is supposed to be this way, where most things hit for upwards of 70% of my total HP, and some are straight up one-shots.

Honestly, I just feel like the game is wasting my time for the most part. The feeling took root in the tutorial which I had to do thrice (oneshot by the final boss the first time, and crashed during the fight on the subsequent attempt), then I spent a lot of time just running from place to place in an empty and featureless "open" world, and occasionally repeating stuff because of the save system some overzealous fan of Souls put into the game. I normally try to approach games with an open mind and understand the rationale behind their design decisions, but I'm coming up blank here. Why does not recovering your body make you lose substantial amounts of stuff? Games which punish you harshly for failure typically also focus on risk/reward decisions, which Nier: Automata completely lacks - safe play consists of shooting enemies from afar (a tactic they have no way of countering), and therefore makes the game even more boring.

On a more positive note, the plot features some compelling mysteries, though it does so in a very abstract way characteristic of JRPGs. Writing is ok, not amazing but not bad either, about D:OS2 level.

I do know that I need to finish the game at least one additional time, and then play through some shorter routes, in order to get the full story, which at the moment is not a very exciting prospect. I guess I'll complete it once and then see if I'm invested enough in the narrative to waste however many hours replaying the thing.

 

[Jinn]

Sounds like you should stop playing right now, or switch the difficulty to normal. The point is to essentially never, or rarely, get hit on Hard, and a lot of the time the fun comes from doing so in melee. Also, chips do matter.

 

[sullynathan]

The combat is probably the worst I've seen out of Platinum.

After trying the demo after a year I have to agree. The combat wasn't very good at all.

 

[Haplo]

Why does not recovering your body make you lose substantial amounts of stuff?

Well, wait till you loose some optimized Tier V-VI chips you've been building all game. Loss of chips IS crippling. I would probably rage-quit if I couldn't recover them at some point.

I think on Hard you should either focus hard on the defensive ones (+HP, damage reduced), which will allow you to avoid being one-shot and perhaps get something like Overclock (time slow on successful evade) and Anti-Chain (prevent damage for some seconds after being hit) too, which can effectively make you immortal with careful gameplay.
The Shockwave is really good too, as it greatly extends attack range - which makes combat with stuff like spears much safer (I've mostly played with spear+greatsword (aoe) combo.. later switched to dual greatsword, but that was on normal).

 

[Trash]

http://www.pcgamer.com/nier-automata-still-needs-a-patch-on-pc-8-months-later/

Typical anime bullshit and creepy pervert outfits made me disregard this. Then all the positive reviews flood in and I get some interest back, only to learn the pc port is shoddy and still has no patch 6 months in. So, any word of a pc patch or are the devs just going to keep a massive bestseller languish?

Seriously, fucking nips.

 

[Haplo]

Not sure what's supposed to be wrong with the port. ..

 

[Suicidal]

Yeah, game ran pretty much perfectly on my PC. Didn't have to apply any fixes either.

 

[Saark]

Just use FAR which has been linked in this thread plenty of times. The game ran perfectly fine for me and I bought it on release. If you want to play with KB&M you may want to look into using an autohotkey script that enables you to bind dodge to a single key instead of having to doubletap movement-keys.