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NieR: Automata |OT| "I wouldn't expect too much from this game if I were you."

LotusHD

Banned
how do side quests work, is it clear when / where you get them, or do you have to comb the maps to find them?

I just got into the open world for the first time, and insted of going to the mission objective im just walking around finding things, or trying to, mostly just killing robots attacking the data points, but it feels like im wasting my time and should just go to where the mission told me to go.

I would suggest unlocking fast travel first, so as to not burn yourself out on the sidequests. As for finding them, they are marked as dark red dots on your map.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
I would suggest unlocking fast travel first, so as to not burn yourself out on the sidequests. As for finding them, they are marked as dark red dots on your map.

but this camp just gave me two sidequests Lotus. I have to go do them.

I have to dont you see? ;_;
 

simtmb

Member
Doesn't sound right. 60+ hours on my Pro with disc and zero crashes.

I have the exact same combination and I've had exactly one count of the game freezing on me when trying to load the Resistance Camp. And I've more or less completed the game now, just a few loose ends to tie up.

Hmm, perhaps I'll try clearing the game data before I play next...can't really think of anything lol.
 

LotusHD

Banned
but this camp just gave me two sidequests Lotus. I have to go do them.

I have to dont you see? ;_;

Well I mean, I don't particularly care if you do a few sidequests, or all of them, just felt like the best response to give since I see that people (including me) don't like the tedium of going around the map to do these quests before unlocking fast travel.

If it's not a big deal to you, then by all means go for it lol
 

JJShadow

Member
This game is crashing for me fairly often, quite randomly as well. Very frustrating.

Anyone experiencing the same? Disc, PS4 Pro.

I've also had a couple of random crashes in 23 hours of playtime, OG PS4 and disc

Make sure you save every time you have a chance
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
but this camp just gave me two sidequests Lotus. I have to go do them.

I have to dont you see? ;_;

I really highly recommend just playing to the point you get fast travel before doing them, there is a cutoff point but it's after this happens.

I stopped and did a ton of sidequests right before getting fast travel and it was kinda a pain in the ass and part of the reason route A took me like 17 hours. A lot of them make you ping pong all over the place.
 
Yeah that part was fucked up. Some commentary on our society and how women are raised.
Especially the eating other women to get men to notice you part.

Yeah,there' something to be said about why the machine's get the point across so well.

Can't quite put it into words yet ,but perhaps their apparent "innocence" makes it absurd yet emphatic.

It hits hard.It works on a primal level due to the animation and their visual design.

I see stuff like this as one of those things where relying on non-humans tend to make it a lot easier to convey these type of thoughts. Where you see something that isn't human look at all the things we do without giving it much thought, and basically think to themselves "Why do humans do this?" Or they willingly do those things themselves, which makes it much easier to realize why said thing is odd, dumb, silly, etc. when you really think about it.

You see it a lot in animated films, and this game certainly doesn't lack in this regard either.

That's exactly it, I think that's what really drives it home as well as the fact these are robots who are learning what individuality means and feelings.

And god
The forest kingdom backstory is so damn sad makes you more sad and a bit angry at what A2 did.
 

Squire

Banned
It's their best game yet imo, well deserved

I think I came around to this tonight myself, yeah.

I know people have an almost Pavlovian instinct to respond to this with "but the combat! The combat!!" and no, it's no Bayo. Probably not Reveangence either. But I think there's more depth to it than people are commonly acknowledging and really, it's just so much more than its combat anyway.

PG now has not only another fantastically composed game on their belt, but one with easily the best-written, most meaningful story in years.

PlatinumGames. The MadWorld guys. The Bayonetta dudes. Best story in years.

No one saw this coming at all.
 

Baalzebup

Member
No one saw this coming at all.
Oh, I don't know. The *NieR* in the name of the game implied a great story from the beginning. The Yoko Taro fanclub didn't spawn from nothing and it sure as fuck didn't spawn from the actual gameplay elements of Drakengard :p
 
I think I came around to this tonight myself, yeah.

I know people have an almost Pavlovian instinct to respond to this with "but the combat! The combat!!" and no, it's no Bayo. Probably not Reveangence either. But I think there's more depth to it than people are commonly acknowledging and really, it's just so much more than its combat anyway.

PG now has not only another fantastically composed game on their belt, but one with easily the best-written, most meaningful story in years.

PlatinumGames. The MadWorld guys. The Bayonetta dudes. Best story in years.

No one saw this coming at all.

I'd say this is the best written game in the last two generations. Just amazing considering the fact that story is not part of Platinum's repertoire.
 

Ruff

Member
I only gave this game a glance because of Platinum expecting the story to be 'bleh anime' or just pure cringe/barmy like MGR (Had not heard of YT or much of the other nier games before now) and I'm damn glad I did. Came for the Plat gameplay, stayed for the Yoko feels.
 

Nasbin

Member
Game feels great to play and Hard mode is legit. Took me hours and hours to beat the prologue but damn was it ever satisfying to finally do so. I really, really like the spin Platinum put on the dodge mechanic that 2B has - feels much more interesting than Witch-time by comparison.
 

Squire

Banned
I'd say this is the best written game in the last two generations. Just amazing considering the fact that story is not part of Platinum's repertoire.

Agreed. I liked a lot of stories last generation, but nothing like this. Tons of stuff played at big ideas, but Automata actually gets into things and many at that.
 

HeelPower

Member
I see stuff like this as one of those things where relying on non-humans tend to make it a lot easier to convey these type of thoughts. Where you see something that isn't human look at all the things we do without giving it much thought, and basically think to themselves "Why do humans do this?" Or they willingly do those things themselves, which makes it much easier to realize why said thing is odd, dumb, silly, etc. when you really think about it.

You see it a lot in animated films, and this game certainly doesn't lack in this regard either.

Yeah. Because its non-human the issues become more blunt and raw,whereas trying to convery it with humans could be cheesy or overbearing.Though adam and eve worked really well too here.
That's exactly it, I think that's what really drives it home as well as the fact these are robots who are learning what individuality means and feelings.

And god
The forest kingdom backstory is so damn sad makes you more sad and a bit angry at what A2 did.

Yeah,its quite shocking :(

But then you realize this sorta thing probably happened quite often in the real world.
 

SilentRob

Member
I think I came around to this tonight myself, yeah.

I know people have an almost Pavlovian instinct to respond to this with "but the combat! The combat!!" and no, it's no Bayo. Probably not Reveangence either. But I think there's more depth to it than people are commonly acknowledging and really, it's just so much more than its combat anyway.

PG now has not only another fantastically composed game on their belt, but one with easily the best-written, most meaningful story in years.

PlatinumGames. The MadWorld guys. The Bayonetta dudes. Best story in years.

No one saw this coming at all.

Everyone who played previous Yoko Taro games did :p Because Platinum had nothing to do with the story.
 

Ikkarus

Member
Sorry if this has been asked a hundred times before. Regarding side quests, do they eventually disappear when you continue the main story quest? Is there a certain main story quest which triggers side quests disappearing?

I'm conscious of the fact I've poured in quite a few hours in to some of these quests and I would hate for them to disappear!
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Oh, I don't know. The *NieR* in the name of the game implied a great story from the beginning. The Yoko Taro fanclub didn't spawn from nothing and it sure as fuck didn't spawn from the actual gameplay elements of Drakengard :p

That's true....there's a reason many of us were excited about Platinum games partnering up with YT, the man has always been a visionary

The way he has elevated Platinum's story telling capability is almost unbelievable. The weird, silly nonsensical throw away 8 to 9 hour campaigns bayonetta, MGSR, Vanquish and other Platinum games get up to in order to give excuse to combat scenarios are nowhere to be found here.
 

Squire

Banned
Everyone who played previous Yoko Taro games did :p Because Platinum had nothing to do with the story.

They just made everything around it tolerable and genuinely fun. :b

I'm not saying it's their story, but it is their game. And it's story is incredible. It's a win for them as much as Taro.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
They just made everything around it tolerable and genuinely fun. :b

I'm not saying it's their story, but it is their game. And it's story is incredible. It's a win for them as much as Taro.

I feel like Platinum needed YT more. YT just needed a team that wasn't bottom of the barrel trash tier.

Platinum actually needed a director and story writer and an actual base to give their games meaning and a direction.

I feel like combat for the sake of combat is not something that can hold up especially after so many Platinum outings going over the same type of thing, even if their polish is on point
 

HeelPower

Member
I feel like Platinum needed YT more. YT just needed a team that wasn't bottom of the barrel trash tier.

Platinum actually needed a director and story writer and an actual base to give their games meaning and a direction.

I feel like combat for the sake of combat is not something that can hold up especially after so many Platinum outings going over the same type of thing, even if their polish is on point

From my experience playing PG,their games usually lack variety and a sense of progression.

Its usually about a very tight,well made system ,but if it didn't catch your attention there wouldn't be much else to fall back on.
 
Lol, I am 17 hours in and only just killed the Flooded City boss. I'm guessing you skipped all the side quests which is a shame because some of them have some brilliant moments.

Similar to me - I'm on the second quest after the Flooded City boss and I'm at around the same amount of hours. Some of the sidequests do have lovely moments, though a lot of it is just me being near-ish an area and wanting to tick it off! I'm trying to focus on the main story now as I know I can go back and do side-quests on other play-throughs but it's hard to ignore them.

Talking of Flooded City, I stumbled across a machine protecting
a locked door around the back of one of the fallen tower blocks who self-destructs - nothing to interact with after but I presume something happens later on?
 

Squire

Banned
I feel like Platinum needed YT more. YT just needed a team that wasn't bottom of the barrel trash tier.

Platinum actually needed a director and story writer and an actual base to give their games meaning and a direction.

I feel like combat for the sake of combat is not something that can hold up especially after so many Platinum outings going over the same type of thing, even if their polish is on point

I think they both needed each other just based on how much better this turned out than I had already figured it would, but you do have a good point with the boldest. People liked PG (and Clover before that) because they had a varied portfolio; they always surprised people while managing to be very consistent.

But Bayonetta created a certain template that you see in its sequel, in MGR, the Activision ganes, even Vanquish has Witch Time in it and it's a shooter.

And obviously a lot of those constants made it into Automata as well, but now they're pieces of a much bigger whole. It's a shot in the arm they needed, yes.
 

Sayad

Member
Save/reload your save. That has always fixed it for me.
If you're cautious about saving the big, save it in the next slot. The game gives you 3.
Thanks, hopefully it spawns next time I load the game, just spent about an hour an half wondering aimlessly before it hit me that the mission is probably bugged, a shame too this was the shop keeper's first mission right at the start of the game, my fucking luck. >_<
 

Baalzebup

Member
Thanks, hopefully it spawns next time I load the game, just spent about an hour an half wondering aimlessly before it hit me that the mission is probably bugged, a shame too this was the shop keeper's first mission right at the start of the game, my fucking luck. >_<
The weapon shop guy? With the quest leading you to a slightly larger opening in the middle of the city? Cuz the items you need to pick up for that are on the ground. You don't need to kill anything to get them.
 
I have. I mean, it's not much different from doing it for another weapon. Fists do seem to have a higher combo string if I recall correctly; said 8 instead of the usual 7.

I see. I guess I'm still trying to figure out why even bother leveling more than 1 or 2 weapons at all if they all generally feel the same (outside of the large weapons).

I understand the combat engine isn't exactly Ninja Gaiden Black, but I guess somewhere in my mind I'm hoping that combat will feel different and maybe that differentiation happens at level 4. Maybe not. I suppose if everything kills, it shouldn't really matter, but hell...they put all these weapons in the game so I'd like to think it was because they offer something that justifies their existence other than a cosmetic difference. But maybe that's all it really boils down to.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
just did what I assume would be classfied as the first proper quest...

the fuck is going on in this game fam? :eek:

anyway are weapons drops/pick ups or do you have to buy them? I only have the quick swords, my heavy attack is some lame kick, I want a big sword :/
 

dlauv

Member
I didn't mean to, but I played this for 8 hours straight tonight.

I think I did like 50% of the side-quests before unlocking
fast travel
. Which was irksome but oh well.

Such a compelling game. You never know what it's going to throw at you next.
 

OniBaka

Member
just did what I assume would be classfied as the first proper quest...

the fuck is going on in this game fam? :eek:

anyway are weapons drops/pick ups or do you have to buy them? I only have the quick swords, my heavy attack is some lame kick, I want a big sword :/

Big sword would be where you died during the intro.
 

Baalzebup

Member
just did what I assume would be classfied as the first proper quest...

the fuck is going on in this game fam? :eek:

anyway are weapons drops/pick ups or do you have to buy them? I only have the quick swords, my heavy attack is some lame kick, I want a big sword :/
You find some from the world and buy others from various shops. Your commander drops you a message very early on, informing that you can pick up your missing shit from the intro mission area, which will include the big white oar you had.
 
just did what I assume would be classfied as the first proper quest...

the fuck is going on in this game fam? :eek:

anyway are weapons drops/pick ups or do you have to buy them? I only have the quick swords, my heavy attack is some lame kick, I want a big sword :/

You can buy stuff at shops.

Some items are only found hiding in the game world.

Others are quest rewards.

But yea, you'll get a wide array of weapons, starting at the main Camp's weapons dealer. That's the good news. The bad news is that weapon variety feels largely cosmetic. All the "small" swords generally feel the same. All the "large" swords generally feel the same. And so on through all the weapon types. They don't start to differentiate until they're max leveled, which takes a long time and even then it's not the biggest sort of differences.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
You find some from the world and buy others from various shops. Your commander drops you a message very early on, informing that you can pick up your missing shit from the intro mission area, which will include the big white oar you had.

Big sword would be where you died during the intro.

dont I need fast travel to go back there? I just found a spear on my way to the
amusement park
anyway, its all good, I just wanted a second weapon.
 

Milijango

Member
dont I need fast travel to go back there? I just found a spear on my way to the
amusement park
anyway, its all good, I just wanted a second weapon.

The prologue area is part of the open world. You get to it by climbing one of the partially collapsed highways.
 

Baalzebup

Member
dont I need fast travel to go back there? I just found a spear on my way to the
amusement park
anyway, its all good, I just wanted a second weapon.
Uh, no. It is very much a part of the open world section directly available to you as soon as you get back to Earth. The broken highway very near your initial landing location leads there and you can get on the highway by jumping on the truck. The area is to the left when you exit the Resistance Camp.
 

Philippo

Member
So i remember being told that other Routes save your missions, so why the weapon guy in the resistance camp gave his one? You have to redo quests that open shops i guess?
 

JJShadow

Member
So i remember being told that other Routes save your missions, so why the weapon guy in the resistance camp gave his one? You have to redo quests that open shops i guess?

Both the weapon guy and shop guy sidequests are actually main missions, you need to complete them in order to proceed with the story
 

Baalzebup

Member
Oooh ok, didn't even think about that lol

Also, does the level of enemies in sidequests scale? I remember bailing out of a few ones because they were too hard, and if they scale nothing will change :/
Nah, the enemies scale only in some of the flight unit shooter portions.
 
Everyone who played previous Yoko Taro games did :p Because Platinum had nothing to do with the story.

Hey, just got done listening to your spoilercast, really enjoyed it. This is a special game.

FWIW, I think it would be nice to have a game from him that has no connections to Drakengard and Nier.
 
Hey, just done with your spoilercast, really enjoyed it. This is a special game.

FWIW, I think it would be nice to have a game from him that has no connections to Drakengard and Nier.

For sure. I think there's loads of scope for exploration within the shared 'universe' and I really enjoy the fan service and connections to YT's previous games in N:A, but I'd certainly be interested in seeing what he could come up with for an unrelated game. Now that N:A has had a, broadly, really good critical reception and his work is getting the attention it deserves, maybe he'd be more likely to get backing for something now. Considering how well Platinum has done with this game, I'd love to see more Yoko Taro + Platinum collaborations in totally different universes.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Hey, just got done listening to your spoilercast, really enjoyed it. This is a special game.

FWIW, I think it would be nice to have a game from him that has no connections to Drakengard and Nier.

I personally hope he continues Drakenier for the foreeable future...there's tons of possibility to different games set in points in the lore and room for even more expansion. Until we get a few more solid answers overall i don't think trying to leave is advisable for those in the dedicated Drakenier community who have stuck through to see what else happens.

Drakengard 3 gave us a lot of answers to certain questions from D1, but Nier A just added even more
 

Shock32

Member
I'm about 60% thru route B.

But this side quest i stumbled upon.
In the ravine with the robots jumping to their deaths and you killing the ones that survive. damn.

I looked at these machines for the longest time as just tin cans, after everything in A and now at the point in B.

feels-bro-aliencs.png
 

Exentryk

Member
So when does Fast Travel unlock? I've had the events where the
Goliath attacks and the underground stuff revealed. Haven't been to the Forest area near Machine village.
 
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