Squeenix NieR: Automata from Yoko Taro and Platinum Games

[Sentinel]

That game is 3 years old

 

[vonAchdorf]

First new NIER game is out.
https://www.gematsu.com/2020/03/sinoalice-launches-july-1-in-the-west
it's a mobile game

Spoiler

 

[Sentinel]

The stage play is cringe but the violin mixing (despite being out of tune) and the vocals are absolutely incredible. Emi Evans is an impressive singer. Thought it was worth sharing with my nier chads.

 

[oasis789]

So I just started this game for the first time. Anything I should know before I start? FAR mod etc.

 

[janior]

I recommend skipping side missions

 

[ebPD8PePfC]

Some side missions are fun, and they flesh out the world quite a bit. Don't skip them, unless you're trying to speed run the game.
Play it on normal. Hard mode is just bigger number mode, and doesn't require any more skill. Regardless, play the first 30 minutes on easy mode. There's no save point until them, and it ends with a boss. It really sucks to do it all over again, and you can change the difficulty afterwards.

 

[janior]

30 minute fetch quest to get some ironic two liner about how it is a waste of time doing some fedex, epic and worth it, do all the fetch quests for a&b playthrough is totally worth it

 

[AN4RCHID]

A lot (all?) of the side quests can be done on B run, so I would say focus on story the first playthrough and then clean up the side stuff on the second playthrough. Someone correct me if I'm wrong and you can actually miss stuff in A run though. There's a lot of good backstory and character stuff in the optional content.

On normal and easy difficulty you can rely on your gunner robot a lot, but it's boring. Try to get good at the CQC. If the B route starts to drag, you can run past most of the enemies.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

First playthrough do second to hardest difficulty.

Second playthrough do hardest difficulty.

Third, second to hardest again.

The hardest difficulty sucks because it's one hit, one kill, regardless of how much armor or HP you have. But you should have the items and skill to manage it for the second playthrough.

It's no fun for the third playthrough because it removes all strategy from the game beyond precise gameplay.

 

[oasis789]

Thoughts after E:

Coming in from Nier and Drak3, I expected the plot and character motivations to make zero sense, so I was pleasantly surprised. There was nothing absurd and ridiculous like a twin brother out of nowhere or time traveling robots or mass amnesia. Everything was telegraphed loud and clear: Mysterious council that never appears on screen. A bunch of side quests to kill "rogue" androids but the details are all classified.

On the other hand, I got exactly what I expected with the nonstop tragedy. Nobody has a happy ending, not the androids, not the machines, not the cameos from Nier, not even any of the side quest NPCs. Even the ark spaceship is blown up. Jesus, can't Yoko let anyone catch a break.

One of the big disappointments is that the hype I heard about this game being all Deep and Philosophical, which is true if comparing against the other squeenix games since the bar they set is so low, but this game itself actually never even touches on the concepts and issues I had thought it would naturally be drawn toward. Like the nature of androids as copies and clones of their past selves and whether or not the discontinuities affect their sense of being the same person, whether there would be multiple instances of the same android running around simultaneously, whether the androids/machines are "truly" conscious or if they are p-zombies etc etc. Yknow the usual tropes that would come up in an SF story about robots, like the one my avatar is from. But we didn't get any of that, not even a cursory mention. I get the sense that Yoko isn't really interested in the ideas of SF as much as using them as a setting for melodrama and existential angst over being human and feeling pain. Which is perfectly fine, since that is what he is good at. It's just that I didn't feel much of anything from it.

 

[Dayyālu]

On the other hand, I got exactly what I expected with the nonstop tragedy. Nobody has a happy ending, not the androids, not the machines, not the cameos from Nier, not even any of the side quest NPCs. Even the ark spaceship is blown up. Jesus, can't Yoko let anyone catch a break.

Been years, but

Spoiler

Don't the protagonist androids get rebuilt by the Pods, the pods themselves get some agency, the Machines escape from their eternal repetition of senseless aping - even the robots with "emotions" are almost nothing but a imitation built as an attempt to escape the conundrum. i'd call it a great ending for a Taro franchise, bar for all the YoRha bots being blown up - but the Resistance is still up and the YoRha bots were a suicidal force by design after all -

Which is perfectly fine, since that is what he is good at. It's just that I didn't feel much of anything from it.

It's an anime game. I liked it a ton, but don't expect depth from it.

 

[oasis789]

To expand on what I mean in greater detail:

Spoiler

Automata felt to me like Yoko's much discussed writing style of working backwards from High Melodrama moments (self-sacrifices, mercy kills, fateful duels etc) has improved in the sense that he is now better at constructing a plot that makes logical sense leading up to those moments, but he hasn't really gotten better at giving them emotional weight. Literally every boss enemy has a little vignette about their tragic background, but because its every time, it always feels so contrived that I just don't care at all. Making me play for 5 minutes as a robo kid tripping over junk and bringing machine oil to robo nii-chan, then having him only appear again in a boss battle much much later, is the clearest example of this kind of setup. The player characters felt nothing at all wiping out rando robo kids just trying to protect their nii-chan from the bad androids, and neither did I.

I think Automata would have had that weight if it had really focused on 2B and 9S's interpersonal tragedy instead of all that other stuff. Yes yes its implied that 2B has been 9S's assigned informant/executioner for ages now and the big reveal colors all their past interactions, that's all very clever, but it doesn't really resonate because it comes in at the very end of C, which could be some 40 hours from the start of the game. A buildup throughout A and B would be something like, dunno if this would make sense, but 2B should have had to die on screen with 9S many, many more times, perhaps once every other chapter after a boss battle. 9S should have had to reset his memories over and over again, only to keep coming to 2B's rescue every time, because that's just the kind of guy he is, and that's why 2B over the course of Route A falls in love with him and resents the cruel fate of having to sacrifice him. After the Bunker explodes and there is no more backups to count on, 2B decides she's not going to sacrifice 9S again this time, and that's why she is captured by the machines instead. The final boss should have been 9S trying to save but having no choice but to defeat a Red-corrupted 2B and the C ending inverts the ending of route A/B. A2 shouldn't even have been a player character at all, given how little personality she has, so we can just focus on 9S's rescue arc instead of a pointless revenge arc.

 

[Dayyālu]

Spoiler

The matter is amusingly, that the robot kid is shown to be merely repetition. Maybe it's my interpretation of the thing, but ALL the mimicry of the Robots in Automata is simply mimicry. They aren't exactly having emotions or developing in new ways, they're simply a scattershot attempt to try something new to escape their programming (meaning there's no real difference between Pascal, the brothers, the clowns, the knights or your generic mook) . Most glorious example are the Medieval Robots, that built a Kingdom and kept it up in complete repetition. I guessed it was an attempt from Taro to diversify from the Shade thing we got in Nier.

It is rather unarguable that the true protagonist of Automata is the fucking twit 9S, but I'd argue in this case that the build-up is not particularly ill-managed. The routes before C are essentially one of the many, many adventures the couple got before 2B shot in the head 9S, and we get time to appreciate and like the characters. It amuses me to no end that 2B, despite being the ass face of the game, has ultimately the least development and importance.

A2's is a completely different perspective, not having lived in cycles. I do agree she's underused and the typical example of a stereotype Taro likes a lot (ANGRY VIOLENT WOMAN, see also: Khainé, see also: Zero) but she makes a fitting counterpart to 9S that breaks. The final fight of Automata is between a guy who broke after losing everything and a gal who didn't. It's clumsy and melodramatic, but hey, ANIME narrative. I would have liked to get more of A2, but that's me.

 

[oasis789]

Spoiler

but I'd argue in this case that the build-up is not particularly ill-managed. The routes before C are essentially one of the many, many adventures the couple got before 2B shot in the head 9S, and we get time to appreciate and like the characters.

Spoiler

That's kind of the problem. If Yoko has a huge chunk of the important character development for their relationship taking place offscreen and only ever implied at the very end of the game, its hard for me to feel like the characters actions are making emotional sense while they are happening. 9S going apeshit on everyone and slowly self-destructing in C felt like was this even the same character anymore. Feels less organic and more like Yoko needed it because he was working backwards from a fateful duel with a tragic end.

 

[dalnioam]

Spoiler

A2 shouldn't even have been a player character at all, given how little personality she has, so we can just focus on 9S's rescue arc instead of a pointless revenge arc.

This.

 

[Ivan]

Since Nier Auto-tomato is never steeply discounted on steam, I figure I'll play the impending remaster first

 

[Sentinel]

I want Papa Nier.

 

[yellowcake]

I'm actually glad it's the brother so it may be different enough to justify a replay.

 

[Ivan]

Picked this up after it dropped to 50% some time ago. Some thoughts after completing Route A (quite surprised by how brief it was, upon reflection):

I was surprised by how free and open the playspaces are, considering Platinum are primarily known for their tight, restirctive levels. It made me feel like most combat encounters were entirely skippable. You're seldom locked into a room to duke it out against the lowly machines. I love how much breathing room there is to explore the playspace. It reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus in that respect. I'm enjoying the side quests a great deal, learning more about the machines with each new piece of content. There's so much soul here that I don't even think about how low-poly some (many) of its textures are.

Excited to start Route B and spend more time in this world, hear new tunes, do more side quests.

 

[spekkio]

I don't even think about how low-poly some (many) of its textures are.

https://www.nexusmods.com/nierautomata/mods/5

 

[Ivan]

I don't even think about how low-poly some (many) of its textures are.

https://www.nexusmods.com/nierautomata/mods/5

I saw that, but I like the charm of the low poly original. I enjoy its imperfection/ugliness

 

[Silva]

I don't even think about how low-poly some (many) of its textures are.

https://www.nexusmods.com/nierautomata/mods/5

I saw that, but I like the charm of the low poly original. I enjoy its imperfection/ugliness

Admit you're on console, you pleb.

Spoiler

Like me.

 

[Ivan]

My last console was the Wii-U b/c I needed my nintendo fix after the N64 days (have since moved it on Ebay and it's found a new home). The only PC related issue I'm experiencing is occasional AUDIO stutter (using FAR mod) nothing major.

 

[Max Damage]

So, I played this up to after 1st Adam fight on 9S playthrough. Music and 2B's asscheeks aside, this game is pretty bad. It tries to do many things at once and does them meh at best. DMC - style combat (what you do most of time) is ok as long as you don't do sidequests or try to explore too much, because as soon as you fight anything above your character level, you suddenly lose your ability to launch enemies into air, thus losing good chunk of your fighting power. If the difference in "levels" is too big, your attacks do next to no damage as well, so there goes the incentive to go off the obvious path. You can try different weapons and special attack for your pods, but I didn't find a reason to use anything besides your starting swords and laser - everything else is slower, pushes enemies away, does no/less damage, or gives redundant protection. Maybe other weapons are better when maxed out, but saving up enough materials to reach even 2nd upgrade takes very long time. In the sidequest where you fight traitor androids I was higher level and cinematic attacks kept zooming onto 2B slashing furiously at empty air, very dramatic.

Shooting game parts and boss fights are underwhelming, trivial, and take way too long (except for hacking minigame, which is also mostly optional). Naturally, lowest point of 2B's playthrough for me was sinking ruins' boss fight. 2D - style action parts felt like watered down main game, mostly because the moveset doesn't change, and dodging becomes useless. There really isn't much else to say about STG and 2D-fighting sections: whether it's twin stick, vertical, horizontal, or diagonally confused - you just keep firing from the pod and mash your sword attack, nothing will ever hit you until you start falling asleep. These sections wouldn't be too bad for a change, except whole levels like sinking ruins and factory are 90-95% are dedicated to them. These get old very fast.

Plot - I don't know what to say, the game has it? 2B's route felt completely flat during emotional moments, characters talk to each other time to time, but nobody has any development, and then it just ends. You then play from the start again as 9S, who has more STG sections in the beginning and uses hacking instead of charged/heavy attack. In practice, this doesn't change much - hacking is useful against beefy big robots and spongy groups of enemies, but you'll have to hack them at least several times during fight if they're even close to your level, I didn't notice it being faster than sword + pod's laser. Humorously, hacking is one of the few things you can fail in whole game - 3 lives per attempt, no invincibility, need to think ahead and seek out weak spots while simultaneously hiding from bullets.

Biggest downfall for me, I think, is that the game refuses to stick to one style of gameplay, so they all feel half-baked, and there's way too much running back and forth, on foot or using teleport service. Worse even, there are invisible walls in places that shouldn't have them, and on your first playthrough you can't unlock certain chests that require hacking (I guess 2B is too proud to ask 9S or her pod) or do much sidequests because you're underleveled for almost anything but main story. Which I'm not sure is much of a drawback - they just keep going, asking you to go fetch things from places you've already been to, escort some robot(s) while they walk at snail's pace - all for a fistful of materials, some cash, or purely cosmetic item. I don't think the game would be great if it was more linear, but it surely wouldn't lose much from discarding (j)RPG elements besides chip system. There's just way too much padding for the sake of padding, they even make you watch same unskippable cutscenes and do same quests as 9S ffs. The way the game is, it has all drawbacks of open world and jRPGs while having no particular strengths aside from some parts sucking less than others.

 

[janior]

stick with it, despite some not so good parts, it's all worth it in the end