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[Crevox]

Just finished, a couple questions...

Members of Pascal's village "suddenly" go angry and start eating each other, with the only ones surviving are the children and Pascal. Why does this happen? They aren't connected to the network, so what drives them to do this? This feels like a "too bad that happened" kinda thing unless there's actually a reason.

Secondly, the first time you encounter A2, she says that command betrayed them. Is she simply saying this because she knows about the cycle of redoing Yorha over and over? And command wants to kill her because she knows the truth? Her only goal seems to be to kill all machines, but why does she sympathize with 2B or even care about her, agreeing to carry on her mission? Why was she avoiding Anemone and the resistance camp forever?

Lastly, ending E results in the tower sending stuff to the moon, followed by it crumbling. What is the tower's role? It seems to have spawned Adam and Eve, but Adam doesn't necessarily want to attack the humans, he wants to learn more about them. The goal of the tower seems to be to nuke the moon, which doesn't line up with Adam's intentions. Eve doesn't seem to care about anything other than his oniichan.

Since the tower changed its goal and didn't nuke the moon (and then crumbled), does that mean machines are no longer going to attack androids? Will Yorha even reform after the pods' decisions? What is the future here?

Thanks in advance if you have any ideas on the answers to these.

 

[Razmos]

I lent it to my boyfriend who has never played a Yoko Taro game or a platinum game. Can't wait to hear some feedback from him haha. I know he was playing it all yesterday so he's definitely into it

 

[texasairhead101]

So the end of ending C's choice does have a different impact.

also if anyone doesn't mind sharing. how much longer for the main endings if I'm starting D?
really trying to finish this before persona.

 

[Jintor]

Just finished, a couple questions...

Members of Pascal's village "suddenly" go angry and start eating each other, with the only ones surviving are the children and Pascal. Why does this happen? They aren't connected to the network, so what drives them to do this? This feels like a "too bad that happened" kinda thing unless there's actually a reason.

As I understand it, the logic virus can transmit even to creatures that don't have a network connection - hence why 2B and 9S eventually contract the virus. It's either that, or aspects of the Machine Collective that were 'off the network' were actually just allowed by the Network to go 'off the grid' to attempt to further evolutionary pressure and when the Network went beserk they were backdoored in again.

Secondly, the first time you encounter A2, she says that command betrayed them. Is she simply saying this because she knows about the cycle of redoing Yorha over and over? And command wants to kill her because she knows the truth? Her only goal seems to be to kill all machines, but why does she sympathize with 2B or even care about her, agreeing to carry on her mission? Why was she avoiding Anemone and the resistance camp forever?

A2 doesn't know anything about YorHA or the moon humans or any of the conspiracy stuff, but she does know that command essentially sacrificed her squad to take out the machine base in Pearl Harbour 2 without any loyalty to the androids within, and then marked her as rogue when she turned out to have survived.

I think she sympathises for 2B initially because she sees that she's been apparently betrayed by YorHA like herself, and then secondly because she got her memories in the sword.

Lastly, ending E results in the tower sending stuff to the moon, followed by it crumbling. What is the tower's role? It seems to have spawned Adam and Eve, but Adam doesn't necessarily want to attack the humans, he wants to learn more about them. The goal of the tower seems to be to nuke the moon, which doesn't line up with Adam's intentions. Eve doesn't seem to care about anything other than his oniichan.

Since the tower changed its goal and didn't nuke the moon, but then crumbled, does that mean machines are no longer going to attack androids? Will Yorha even reform after the pods' decisions? What is the future here?

Thanks in advance if you have any ideas on the answers to these.

The tower was initially designed as a cannon to destroy the moon server, but part of the machine collective decides doing something like that will just further the endless cycle and opts to fire themselves into space instead.

Presumably there is a part of the machine network that remains on earth, and perhaps aspects of the android-Yorha cycle will re-emerge given time, but 2B, 9S and A2 will presumably have their memories post-game, so there is the potential for things to change.

 

[Mailbox]

Hrmm, even in Route C when Nines is fighting memory 2B in his hackbrain he freaks out about losing his memories.

interesting

by the way, one of the more unexpected moments to me was 21O's "One affirmation will suffice" really coming back to kick me in the teeth

My interpretation of that scene with the hackbrain memories:
His memories aren't erasing, and its all symbolic.
He's perverting the good memories of 2B and making them into fuel his rage and hatred.
Note how the pixel-adam/eve use both adam and eve's abilities (since Adam and Eve are 2 sides of hatred) its implied that the figure he is fighting is some sort of creation of complete hatred. It ends up being 2B.

9S has killed his memory of 2B, erased all positive moments and made her very existence to him nothing more than a reason for hate. Its all 9S doing it to himself.

And that's fucking tragic

 

[Jintor]

Anyway I bit the bullet and went back and sacrificed my save. Unfortunately I... uh... was bad at surviving so all up a net negative.

I'm assuming the server-side stuff is cheating anyway, but I really hope they're recording stats on people that are sacrificing themselves. I'd love to see that data in a few months.

Anyway, I think i got what I want out of playing Nier: Automata. I think definitely one of the best games I've ever played.

 

[Crevox]

As I understand it, the logic virus can transmit even to creatures that don't have a network connection - hence why 2B and 9S eventually contract the virus. It's either that, or aspects of the Machine Collective that were 'off the network' were actually just allowed by the Network to go 'off the grid' to attempt to further evolutionary pressure and when the Network went beserk they were backdoored in again.

It seems strange if this thing can spread to machines, but I guess plausible... seems like a potent weapon not used in the war, but instead against themselves.

The tower was initially designed as a cannon to destroy the moon server, but part of the machine collective decides doing something like that will just further the endless cycle and opts to fire themselves into space instead.

Presumably there is a part of the machine network that remains on earth, and perhaps aspects of the android-Yorha cycle will re-emerge given time, but 2B, 9S and A2 will presumably have their memories post-game, so there is the potential for things to change.

This seems plausible but I guess there's just not enough information for a sure answer here... maybe the DLC will explain more.

 

[Jintor]

I mean, machines are androids, and androids are machines, so...

 

[Crevox]

I mean, machines are androids, and androids are machines, so...

Yeah, same core and everything, but seems odd that they would create a virus (a weapon in the form of a program) and use it purely on themselves.

 

[Antiwhippy]

It seems strange if this thing can spread to machines, but I guess plausible... seems like a potent weapon not used in the war, but instead against themselves.

Yorha androids are made from machine parts. One of the notes from the resource towers gives that away. Because it would be too "cruel" to give standard ai to beings that are ultimately meant for sacrifice.

 

[LotusHD]

Played Persona 5 most of my day. Didn't really help me. Maybe someday I'll be free.

Only way to become free is to become as gods.

 

[Yu Narukami]

I'm going to play the original Nier after P5 even if I spoiled myself. I hope it aged well.

 

[Armaly]

We're getting Beepy dlc, right?

Spoiler

pls

 

[chrono01]

My interpretation of that scene with the hackbrain memories:
His memories aren't erasing, and its all symbolic.
He's perverting the good memories of 2B and making them into fuel his rage and hatred.
Note how the pixel-adam/eve use both adam and eve's abilities (since Adam and Eve are 2 sides of hatred) its implied that the figure he is fighting is some sort of creation of complete hatred. It ends up being 2B.

9S has killed his memory of 2B, erased all positive moments and made her very existence to him nothing more than a reason for hate. Its all 9S doing it to himself.

And that's fucking tragic

There's a post on Reddit that I found really interesting, in regards to 9S and his memories.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nier/comme...emories_spoilers_for/?st=j10emt15&sh=31a5e87c

The biggest evidence I see that 9S is possibly (secretly) storing some segments of his memories across revivals is his memory of 2B and himself facing the Goliaths. According to 9S, his data was backed up just before meeting 2B for the first time, so when they detonate their Black Boxes to destroy the horde of Goliath, he never should had had a memory of that point when he encounters the Hackbrain segment.

 

[Mailbox]

There's a post on Reddit that I found really interesting, in regards to 9S and his memories.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nier/comme...emories_spoilers_for/?st=j10emt15&sh=31a5e87c

The biggest evidence I see that 9S is possibly (secretly) storing some segments of his memories across revivals is his memory of 2B and himself facing the Goliaths. According to 9S, his data was backed up just before meeting 2B for the first time, so when they detonate their Black Boxes to destroy the horde of Goliath, he never should had had a memory of that point when he encounters the Hackbrain segment.

That is a super good catch. I don't think this makes my point wrong though, since it still fits even w/ that interpretation

Hell it makes even more sense since nothing really got erased at the soul box.

 

[Aizo]

Just got ending E and had a couple things I still don't understand.

There was that backdoor prepared for when the combat data was sufficient, and then command and Yorha were planned to be completely destroyed to keep the lie about humans on the moon believed, but for whose sake? If Yorha and command would all be destroyed, were there many androids still elsewhere? If command didn't know about this plan, who created this, and what was their goal in the end? Give the rest of the androids a reason to continue fighting? Trick the machines into believing humans are still alive?

Who are the two girls that represent the machine collective, and why is the collective split in two? How were they appearing throughout the 9S playthrough in the background? Did many other people notice? I was starting to believe I was in a simulation and those were supposed to be bugs or observers for a while. I believe I saw them one time even in the command hangar.

 

[Pinkuss]

Is there any update on the white screen issues? (I aren't prepared to roll back drivers).

I contacted support on 23rd March, provided them my system info on the 24th as requested and then they went quiet.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Soundtrack arrived yesterday. They rearranged some of the tracks on it that sounds different from in-game (and thus sounds different from the gamerip soundtrack on YouTube at the moment). It's fantastic and they elevate some of the tracks even further with more build up and additional backing before the crescendo. Tracks seem to be split equally between Keiichi Okabe and Keigo Hoashi (the other composer on these games that people forget about) and for some tracks they mixed the various movements of each piece of music together into one track rather than there being tracks split off for each movement.

The liner notes include comments from the development staff including an indecipherable message from Yoko Taro (that's all numbers). Also features some concept art in it. There's three CDs (each with 15 tracks apiece for CD 1 and 2 and CD3 has 16 tracks) with the hacking tracks on a separate 4th CD, which has its own case.

Overall, the soundtrack was well worth the money and is another masterpiece of a soundtrack that fits right alongside the original NieR for me.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Yes the OST is worth its weight in gold

 

[Armaly]

I'm happy that they made a chip tune version of Dark Colossus. Been wanting it ever since I listened to the Drakengard chips album.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Just got ending E and had a couple things I still don't understand.

There was that backdoor prepared for when the combat data was sufficient, and then command and Yorha were planned to be completely destroyed to keep the lie about humans on the moon believed, but for whose sake? If Yorha and command would all be destroyed, were there many androids still elsewhere? If command didn't know about this plan, who created this, and what was their goal in the end? Give the rest of the androids a reason to continue fighting? Trick the machines into believing humans are still alive?

Yes. The whole point of YorHA was to create an illusion that humans are still alive for the androids on the surface, because that is their literal purpose of existence. The resistance group are meant to be the actual androids, and you get the snippet that YorHA aren't the same build because they were given parts made from machine technology rather than standard AI.

Who are the two girls that represent the machine collective, and why is the collective split in two? How were they appearing throughout the 9S playthrough in the background? Did many other people notice? I was starting to believe I was in a simulation and those were supposed to be bugs or observers for a while. I believe I saw them one time even in the command hangar.

I think it's implied that 9S, who hacked into machines so many time, have created a pathway of sorts to the machine network, seeing that he hacked into machines from the bunker to save 2B from the factory. No reason why the machine network can't repay that favour.

As for why they're in two...? Yoko taro I guess lol. But I think it's to send the message that to move towards humanity is to move towards individuality and conflict.

 

[abrack08]

So the end of ending C's choice does have a different impact.

also if anyone doesn't mind sharing. how much longer for the main endings if I'm starting D?
really trying to finish this before persona.

After you beat C, you're pretty much done. It unlocks chapter select, you just have to replay the final A2/9S fight and choose the other person (D) then say Yes to the Pods 2 questions during the credits for (E).

 

[Shandy]

The liner notes include comments from the development staff including an indecipherable message from Yoko Taro (that's all numbers).

Oh, it's perfectly decipherable, it's just a hassle. It's UTF-8 hexadecimal.

 

[abrack08]

Is Emil's secret spot below the Shopping Center supposed to be Kaine's house? Like her literal house, not a recreation? Because it being under a mall and forest doesn't seem to line up with it being in an open cave right next to a city of a bunch of suspended huts and bridges over an infinite pit, haha.

Also if that's really THE Facade in the desert, we probably should have seen the giant destroyed modern city or apartment complex in Nier 1. Not a legit complaint, of course.

I definitely need to redo ending E, I was so stressed out I was gonna choose the wrong option and have my data deleted (didn't realize how obvious it would be) that I barely paid attention to/understood what the pods were saying.

It's almost kind of a shame this game came out this year. It would easily be my GotY any of the past 3 or 4 years at least, but this year, I don't think it'll be above Zelda for me, and the way I'm anticipating Persona it's may get knocked down to 3rd. I really hope it doesn't get too overlooked, the Yoko Taro/Platinum combo is too good not to get another game out of.

 

[LotusHD]

Zelda's open world and physics is just perfection, but damn, I dunno anymore. I just don't see myself forgetting this game anytime soon, especially since I'm a guy that prioritizes a good story above all else.

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

Zelda's open world and physics is just perfection, but damn, I dunno anymore. I just don't see myself forgetting this game anytime soon, especially since I'm a guy that prioritizes a good story above all else.

I am continuing Zelda but all I can think about is Pascal and Emil. ;_;

 

[abrack08]

Oh yeah, is there ever a logical reason given for the blindfolds? I think I get the symbolic reason for it, but in practice what would be the benefits of being blindfolded? Heighten/use other senses? Do they actually see through their pod, or echolocation or something?

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

Oh yeah, is there ever a logical reason given for the blindfolds? I think I get the symbolic reason for it, but in practice what would be the benefits of being blindfolded? Heighten/use other senses? Do they actually see through their pod, or echolocation or something?

They are their HUD goggles no? Aside from all those symbolic reasons.

 

[Astrael]

Zelda's open world and physics is just perfection, but damn, I dunno anymore. I just don't see myself forgetting this game anytime soon, especially since I'm a guy that prioritizes a good story above all else.

Yeah I had just finished Zelda right before starting Nier and I dunno. I appreciate the really well thought-out sandbox game design and world of Hyrule and all, and that's saying something because I really don't get motivated to finish open world "choose your own path" kind of games. But Nier is something else; it's a story that actually reaches out to you as a player and personally challenges your perception of the world. That is something not lost on me. I'm usually pretty shy about posting anywhere and while Zelda had its moments, I actively have to get myself not to spam this thread with thoughts from how excited Nier has made me to experience it.

I'd probably be starting a new run at the game right now if Persona 5 wasn't a couple days away. Guess that'll have to wait til after

 

[Baalzebup]

Oh yeah, is there ever a logical reason given for the blindfolds? I think I get the symbolic reason for it, but in practice what would be the benefits of being blindfolded? Heighten/use other senses? Do they actually see through their pod, or echolocation or something?

The blindfolds limit their vision about as much as Raidens 'eyepatch' limits his, AKA not at all. They are high tech visors with HUD functions etc.

 

[JackelZXA]

Simpsons meme where hideo kojima is the simpsons sheep gif and yoko taro's big dumb moon head is the cuter simpsons sheep that the family likes better now.
"Get out of here, you!"

Is Emil's secret spot below the Shopping Center supposed to be Kaine's house? Like her literal house, not a recreation? Because it being under a mall and forest doesn't seem to line up with it being in an open cave right next to a city of a bunch of suspended huts and bridges over an infinite pit, haha.

Also if that's really THE Facade in the desert, we probably should have seen the giant destroyed modern city or apartment complex in Nier 1. Not a legit complaint, of course.

I definitely need to redo ending E, I was so stressed out I was gonna choose the wrong option and have my data deleted (didn't realize how obvious it would be) that I barely paid attention to/understood what the pods were saying.

It's almost kind of a shame this game came out this year. It would easily be my GotY any of the past 3 or 4 years at least, but this year, I don't think it'll be above Zelda for me, and the way I'm anticipating Persona it's may get knocked down to 3rd. I really hope it doesn't get too overlooked, the Yoko Taro/Platinum combo is too good not to get another game out of.

I think Emile moved and protected her house. (Maso Magic)
If the shadowlord's castle can be behind the shrine, then that city can be behind the mountain behind fascade!

I like this more than zelda botw. Less bloated, better story, more focus, more gameplay and level variety, faster paced, better on replays...botw feels like a game that will be perfected in its sequel, but nier just put the sequel already in this game as playthrough 3! =p

 

[Taruranto]

Just finished, a couple questions...

Members of Pascal's village "suddenly" go angry and start eating each other, with the only ones surviving are the children and Pascal. Why does this happen? They aren't connected to the network, so what drives them to do this? This feels like a "too bad that happened" kinda thing unless there's actually a reason.

They should be.
http://nierautomata.wiki.fextralife.com/Machine+Research+Report

- In order to resolve this inherent contradiction, the machine lifeforms began to intentionally cause deficiencies in their network, diversifying the vectors of evolution for all machines. This is the cause behind some of the more "special" machine lifeforms, such as Pascal and the Forest King.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Man, going back to the game really made added a lot of context to intereactions between 2B and 9S. What I thought were some awkwardly written character interactions turned out really heartbreaking.

2E... ;_;

 

[wesStyle]

Yesterday on stream Kyle McCarley literally cried at the beginning of C when 2B dies.
Apparently, voice actors didn't fully know the whole dialogs and plot(only their parts) and he was surprised by how things turned(he knew 2B will die tho obviously).

Then at the end of the stream, he asked chat which quest they want him to do next and he visited flooded city and found crashed flight unit.
Dem feels.

 

[Sändersson]

Endings C and D are separate to one another. In C A2 defeats 9S and destroys the Tower and kills all the Machines. She uses her Pod to save 9S and dies in the rubble.

In D 9S kills A2 and accidentally impales himself on her sword and dies. His consciousness then connects to the Machine network which reveals they converted the missile to the moon into an ark carrying the Machine consciousness and a reborn Adam and Eve, who then offer 9S the opportunity to come with them in search of a new planet.

In Ending E, the Pods begin their protocol of wiping out their YoRHa users' memories, but Pod 045 and 153 decide to rebel against the system in order to save 2B, 9S and A2. What you see at the end with their bodies laying there is the Pods reassembling them and bringing them back to life.

Aaaa okay I get it, thanks. Any words on possible dlc? Sorry if it has been asked already. :"D

 

[Yohane]

Zelda's open world and physics is just perfection, but damn, I dunno anymore.

Dunno about Zelda perfection, after playing Automata going back to controlling Link just feels clunky.

 

[N° 2048]

I love this thread.

 

[Primethius]

I've slept on the ending for a few days and I think at this point, I can safely say, I disliked it and the game clearly didn't resonate with me the way it has others. Which sucks.

There were a lot of utterly fantastic moments throughout this game but when I finished route C, I was expecting another route that answered a few more questions.

I think this game, while thematically interesting in a lot of areas, does a really poor job of being a sufficiently standalone story. I'm glad I played the original Nier so many years ago, but I can only imagine what someone who hasn't played the original going through this game feels like encountering terms like Project Gestalt or Replicants that never quite get explained feel. Even I missed quite a few connections because I hadn't brushed myself in the original Nier. Perhaps it's not an issue but I felt in my playthrough, that Nier 1 not being fresh in my mind was actively dettering my enjoyment of the story.

And I don't think that by itself is a problem. My issues are more additive in nature. I don't think the game did a very good job at answering enough questions posed by it at the end of the game.

As a player, I was sort of lost. Did I not understand something because the game was being vague or was it my lack of knowledge of past Yoko Taro games? And that severely lessened any the impact of the ending. But the game does both and I sort of had to delve into this thread and other explanations to fully understand it and piece the story together. And again, not an issue by itself but where Nier Automata truly lost me is I honestly did not feel like the story was finished. I expected 1 more perspective, 1 more route to to tie somethings up. By the end of the game, there was too many things I had to piece together outside of the actual game experience to find the experience impactful.

It wasn't just that I needed to delve deeper to understand one particular apsect such as the machines. It's that I needed to do so for almost everything such as the Android's, machines, Yohra, past titles etc.

It's a 6/10 experience for me. I liked 2E/2As combat a lot but 9S got too much screentime with his limited moveset. The best boss was fairly early on and I had a lot of issues with the actual gameplay segments. Combined with the disappointing story, I feel more let down by the game having finished it than when I was playing it.

 

[h4t3]

somebody got a clue why 2B or 9S won't help to attack the animals in game?

 

[Antiwhippy]

I've slept on the ending for a few days and I think at this point, I can safely say, I disliked it and the game clearly didn't resonate with me the way it has others. Which sucks.

There were a lot of utterly fantastic moments throughout this game but when I finished route C, I was expecting another route that answered a few more questions.

I think this game, while thematically interesting in a lot of areas, does a really poor job of being a sufficiently standalone story. I'm glad I played the original Nier so many years ago, but I can only imagine what someone who hasn't played the original going through this game feels like encountering terms like Project Gestalt or Replicants that never quite get explained feel. Even I missed quite a few connections because I hadn't brushed myself in the original Nier. Perhaps it's not an issue but I felt in my playthrough, that Nier 1 not being fresh in my mind was actively dettering my enjoyment of the story.

And I don't think that by itself is a problem. My issues are more additive in nature. I don't think the game did a very good job at answering enough questions posed by it at the end of the game.

As a player, I was sort of lost. Did I not understand something because the game was being vague or was it my lack of knowledge of past Yoko Taro games? And that severely lessened any the impact of the ending. But the game does both and I sort of had to delve into this thread and other explanations to fully understand it and piece the story together. And again, not an issue by itself but where Nier Automata truly lost me is I honestly did not feel like the story was finished. I expected 1 more perspective, 1 more route to to tie somethings up. By the end of the game, there was too many things I had to piece together outside of the actual game experience to find the experience impactful.

It wasn't just that I needed to delve deeper to understand one particular apsect such as the machines. It's that I needed to do so for almost everything such as the Android's, machines, Yohra, past titles etc.

It's a 6/10 experience for me. I liked 2E/2As combat a lot but 9S got too much screentime with his limited moveset. The best boss was fairly early on and I had a lot of issues with the actual gameplay segments. Combined with the disappointing story, I feel more let down by the game having finished it than when I was playing it.

I didn't play nier 1 at all and I didn't feel that it detracted from the game at all. I knew snippets of it but wasn't that brushed up on it.

I don't really think it matters that much? Ultimately humanity going extinct is humanity going extinct irregardless if they were gestalts or replicants or whatever. In the end the androids still had to grapple with their existence which was solely contained in this game.

Which part did you think wasn't too fleshed out?

Even going back now to flesh out nier 1's story and comparing it to automata, while using similar tones and story telling devices, automata is about an entire different theme and story altogether.

 

[Astral]

Man, going back to the game really made added a lot of context to intereactions between 2B and 9S. What I thought were some awkwardly written character interactions turned out really heartbreaking.

2E... ;_;

"It always ends like this."

A scene that is a little melodramatic at first becomes so much more meaningful after beating the game.

 

[Astrael]

I've slept on the ending for a few days and I think at this point, I can safely say, I disliked it and the game clearly didn't resonate with me the way it has others. Which sucks.

There were a lot of utterly fantastic moments throughout this game but when I finished route C, I was expecting another route that answered a few more questions.

I think this game, while thematically interesting in a lot of areas, does a really poor job of being a sufficiently standalone story. I'm glad I played the original Nier so many years ago, but I can only imagine what someone who hasn't played the original going through this game feels like encountering terms like Project Gestalt or Replicants that never quite get explained feel. Even I missed quite a few connections because I hadn't brushed myself in the original Nier. Perhaps it's not an issue but I felt in my playthrough, that Nier 1 not being fresh in my mind was actively dettering my enjoyment of the story.

And I don't think that by itself is a problem. My issues are more additive in nature. I don't think the game did a very good job at answering enough questions posed by it at the end of the game.

As a player, I was sort of lost. Did I not understand something because the game was being vague or was it my lack of knowledge of past Yoko Taro games? And that severely lessened any the impact of the ending. But the game does both and I sort of had to delve into this thread and other explanations to fully understand it and piece the story together. And again, not an issue by itself but where Nier Automata truly lost me is I honestly did not feel like the story was finished. I expected 1 more perspective, 1 more route to to tie somethings up. By the end of the game, there was too many things I had to piece together outside of the actual game experience to find the experience impactful.

It wasn't just that I needed to delve deeper to understand one particular apsect such as the machines. It's that I needed to do so for almost everything such as the Android's, machines, Yohra, past titles etc.

It's a 6/10 experience for me. I liked 2E/2As combat a lot but 9S got too much screentime with his limited moveset. The best boss was fairly early on and I had a lot of issues with the actual gameplay segments. Combined with the disappointing story, I feel more let down by the game having finished it than when I was playing it.

Not every story is going to work for everyone for sure :/ But I can say for my part, I never played NieR or Drakengard series before this game and never felt lost. The core message of the story was what had me in the moment. Now, the stuff that links to outside of the game, like the Devola/Popola callbacks and even Emil (who I only recognized from Yoko Taro himself lol), stuff like the even more obscure Drakengard references, sure I didn't have the same emotional attachment at the time, but it made me want to learn more. I appreciate games that inspire me to dig in to the lore found inside and out. Also, I got the gist of the Gestalt project being the failed experiment that was supposed to save humanity from a strange incurable disease by the end of the game, and another pair of Devola and Popola were blamed for the failure of the project and the death of humanity. I guess that's all I felt was really important at that time.

Do you think you would have enjoyed it more if you gave NieR another playthrough first and then Automata again with all the context fresh I wonder?

BTW, speaking of Devola and Popola, is there any reason given why Devola is rude to 2B in Route A? She flat out says that whatever doesn't make them friends lol. Is she like that in the original game naturally? Because when you talk to them as 9S later on they certainly are a lot nicer overall.

 

[Astral]

Devola was kinda mean and more foul mouthed in the original too. It's just how she is lol. I think they're a lot nicer to 9S because at that point he's lost 2B. Being twin models, they sympathize with him.

And I can understand not enjoying the story because you had to piece it together by reading online and stuff, but now that I'm replaying the game I realize that a lot of the stuff I didn't understand at first was because I didn't pay close enough attention. I feel like the game answers pretty much all of the important questions.

 

[Philippo]

When i saw this scene:

The only thing that came to mind was;

And i literally said "don't tell me i have to fight theme here too?!".

Nice troll Taro

 

[Antiwhippy]

I mean this story is pretty self contained considering that the immediate prequel is a fucking stage play by a girl idol group.

 

[Astral]

When i saw this scene:



The only thing that came to mind was;



And i literally said "don't tell me i have to fight theme here too?!".

Nice troll Taro

I had the same reaction lol. I was kind of upset at first actually. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

 

[Weiss]

I had the same reaction lol. I was kind of upset at first actually. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Yeah that scene was great with Song of the Ancients kicking in.

Their epilogue scene with their dead bodies cradling one another, that this time they got to at least die together, jesus that caused me to tear up in between the rest of the heart stabbings that was Ending D/E.

 

[Primethius]

I didn't play nier 1 at all and I didn't feel that it detracted from the game at all. I knew snippets of it but wasn't that brushed up on it.

I don't really think it matters that much? Ultimately humanity going extinct is humanity going extinct irregardless if they were gestalts or replicants or whatever. In the end the androids still had to grapple with their existence which was solely contained in this game.

Which part did you think wasn't too fleshed out?

Even going back now to flesh out nier 1's story and comparing it to automata, while using similar tones and story telling devices, automata is about an entire different theme and story altogether.

Not every story is going to work for everyone for sure :/ But I can say for my part, I never played NieR or Drakengard series before this game and never felt lost. The core message of the story was what had me in the moment. Now, the stuff that links to outside of the game, like the Devola/Popola callbacks and even Emil (who I only recognized from Yoko Taro himself lol), stuff like the even more obscure Drakengard references, sure I didn't have the same emotional attachment at the time, but it made me want to learn more. I appreciate games that inspire me to dig in to the lore found inside and out. Also, I got the gist of the Gestalt project being the failed experiment that was supposed to save humanity from a strange incurable disease by the end of the game, and another pair of Devola and Popola were blamed for the failure of the project and the death of humanity. I guess that's all I felt was really important at that time.

Do you think you would have enjoyed it more if you gave NieR another playthrough first and then Automata again with all the context fresh I wonder?

BTW, speaking of Devola and Popola, is there any reason given why Devola is rude to 2B in Route A? She flat out says that whatever doesn't make them friends lol. Is she like that in the original game naturally? Because when you talk to them as 9S later on they certainly are a lot nicer overall.

For me particularly, it's not that the game references Nier that's an issue. Its how open ended the game leaves some of the plot strings for the player that the issue becomes compounded and problematic. Because at that point, I start to wonder if my understanding of a particular point is because of how much I do or don't remember the original Nier vs. the game leaving that plot point intentionally vague for the player to interpret.

As someone who had played the original Nier a long time ago but the game wasn't fresh on my mind, my immediate thought after beating the game was your very question Astrael:

Would I have enjoyed the story more if Nier 1 was fresh in my mind? And I think having that question on my mind really detracted from the enjoyment. Because I don't think that is something I should be wondering having just beaten a game.

Even if knowledge of Nier isn't really required, that the game made me feel that way speaks to an issue with it's story telling I had overall

It was a slight expectation of something more. A few more answers in-game, a few more finishing up the several plot strings just a bit more concretely. By the time I had finished the game, one of the few plot lines I was satisfied with was Pascal's, and even that one was shrouded in somewhat of a mystery because I had to come here and read up on why machines that were not networked became corrupted. Which was honestly one of the things I was expecting to find out as I finished the game.

Maybe my expectations for the game tieing up some of the plot details was unreasonable, but I don't think I was expecting a lot of concrete answers. I just didn't think I'd have to go out of the game to piece so much of it together outside of the core 2E/9S/2A story.

 

[Astrael]

Devola was kinda mean and more foul mouthed in the original too. It's just how she is lol. I think they're a lot nicer to 9S because at that point he's lost 2B. Being twin models, they sympathize with him.

Aha, thanks! I'm determined to play the original next time I get some extra cash to spend, so other than the story I don't know much about their personalities hehe.

 

[Eumi]

This game is so self contained it's almost weird it's called Nier. Litarally, besides superficial elements like Emil and the library (who both work in their own context anyway), the only plot thread taken from the first game is the extinction of humanity.

Which the game catches you up on. When they say humanity is extinct.