• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

On top of that I usually have no idea where I'm going because I usually have four main quests going and all are on my map icon. I'll just wander to the largest dot on the map. I can use transport but that hasn't really helped.

Any tips? I'm about to put it down and move to something else but I do really enjoy the music and story.

If you open the menu and scroll through the map, it'll tell you what the Quest icon/circle is related to if you hover over it. Either quest name, ???, or Current Destination (which is the main story)
 

ghibli99

Member
Just got all the main endings today.

This is up there as a GOTY contender for me alongside BOTW.

My main critique is the story and characters... they're still DAMN good, but compared to what we got in the first Nier, it just didn't quite carry the same weight for me, which is likely just personal tilt based on my own values. Nier felt so much more intimate, and I think it did major NPC relationships/stories better as well.

Everything else, though: gameplay, variety, music, combat, etc., were all on-par, and in some cases superior to the first, especially combat, where Platinum's expertise was wonderfully realized and never got old.
 

1upsuper

Member
Got a quick question for you guys. I just got my first "real" ending
that is,
A
and I only got like 42% side quest completion. I wanted to do all of them, but the ending kinda snuck up on me. I asked before in here about missables and I heard not to worry - should I just keep going? It'll all work out?
Just triple checking because NieR1 had permanently missable ones.

Also holy shit this game is amazing. Superior in some respects to NieR 1.
 

LotusHD

Banned
Got a quick question for you guys. I just got my first "real" ending
that is,
A
and I only got like 42% side quest completion. I wanted to do all of them, but the ending kinda snuck up on me. I asked before in here about missables and I heard not to worry - should I just keep going? It'll all work out?
Just triple checking because NieR1 had permanently missable ones.

Also holy shit this game is amazing. Superior in some respects to NieR 1.

You can redo some of the ones you missed in Route B, but yes, even if you still miss that as well, nothing is permanently missable.
 

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
Really, no fucking save point before the first boss? I liked the first bit but not enough for me to play through it again to potentially just get killed by the boss again, and then have to play through the same thing 3 times. Boss basically instakilled me so I'm doubtful I'll beat the boss in even several tries.

Maybe I'll switch to easy, but I don't think a game should make me spend hours replaying the opening to get to a save point.

I guess I'm just not very good at the game but on normal I didn't expect this. It's also getting late and I'm pissed there's no save before the boss and I'm not going to replay it again tonight. Honestly might not ever. Don't really appreciate games that don't respect the player's time intentionally.
 

Gbraga

Member
Really, no fucking save point before the first boss? I liked the first bit but not enough for me to play through it again to potentially just get killed by the boss again, and then have to play through the same thing 3 times. Boss basically instakilled me so I'm doubtful I'll beat the boss in even several tries.

Maybe I'll switch to easy, but I don't think a game should make me spend hours replaying the opening to get a to save point.

I guess I'm just not very good at the game but on normal I didn't expect this. It's also getting late and I'm pissed there's no save before the boss and I'm not going to replay it again tonight. Honestly might not ever. Don't really appreciate games that don't respect the player's time intentionally.

There are no difficulty-related trophies, so just switch to Easy for that part and then back to Normal once you can save. It won't take as long on your second time, the most annoying thing will be the unskippable bit right at the start, but everything else is skippable.
 

LotusHD

Banned
Really, no fucking save point before the first boss? I liked the first bit but not enough for me to play through it again to potentially just get killed by the boss again, and then have to play through the same thing 3 times. Boss basically instakilled me so I'm doubtful I'll beat the boss in even several tries.

Maybe I'll switch to easy, but I don't think a game should make me spend hours replaying the opening to get a to save point.

I guess I'm just not very good at the game but on normal I didn't expect this. It's also getting late and I'm pissed there's no save before the boss and I'm not going to replay it again tonight. Honestly might not ever. Don't really appreciate games that don't respect the player's time intentionally.

Eh, it really should not take you hours, especially if you aren't playing on Hard. At some point you have to just not be stubborn and lower the difficulty in order to get past that section. Then you can save normally and do whatever you want.

There's a point to be made about them intentionally not letting you save in the beginning, but damn, if I was there for hours, I would change the difficulty...
 

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
Eh, it really should not take you hours, especially if you aren't playing on Hard. At some point you have to just not be stubborn and lower the difficulty in order to get past that section. Then you can save normally and do whatever you want.

There's a point to be made about them intentionally not letting you save in the beginning, but damn, if I was there for hours, I would change the difficulty...

Even having to replay it once would be over an hour of play time is my point. I just think they've intentionally made the game very inaccessible. It's dumb. Maybe I'll switch to easy and give it another go, not tonight​ though. I'm honestly just considering selling it on amazon though because this kind of shit isn't my cup of tea (the save stuff). I liked what I played and a friend recommended and I watched a YouTube video and it looked cool. Didn't know about the bs no save into segment though.
 

LotusHD

Banned
Even having to replay it once would be over an hour of play time is my point. I just think they've intentionally made the game very inaccessible. It's dumb. Maybe I'll switch to easy and give it another go, not tonight​ though. I'm honestly just considering selling it on amazon though because this kind of shit isn't my cup of tea (the save stuff). I liked what I played and a friend recommended and I watched a YouTube video and it looked cool. Didn't know about the bs no save into segment though.

Eh, it doesn't take an hour if I recall correctly, more like 30-40 minutes, and that's ignoring the fact that if one wanted to, they could just run past a lot of the threats in this particular section. Or of course the easier difficulty mode. You're not the first to complain about this. I don't really feel any particular way about it, I just tell people to not be stubborn, and do what is neccessary to quickly move past it.

As for it not being your cup of tea, again, it's literally just for this section. Although there is no auto-save, you need to do so normally near what is essentially a Wifi hotspot, and the reason for that is justified through you playing as an android.
 

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
Eh, it doesn't take an hour if I recall correctly, more like 30-40 minutes, and that's ignoring the fact that if one wanted to, they could just run past a lot of the threats in this particular section.

As for it not being your cup of tea, again, it's literally just for this section. Although there is no auto-save, you need to do so normally near what is essentially a Wifi hotspot, and the reason for that is justified through you playing as an android.

Well right, but having to replay the intro at all makes it a total investment of 80 minutes just to save the fucking game, and I'm not even sure I can beat the first boss on easy in just one go either, given I basically died instantly on normal. If I have to play the intro 3 fucking times I'm probably just not going to play the game. I'll give it a go on easy but if I die at the boss again I'm done. I'll just list it on Amazon. Won't lose all that much as I got it on sale, so hopefully it goes back up to $60 so I can sell it for around $40.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Well right, but having to replay the intro at all makes it a total investment of 80 minutes just to save the fucking game, and I'm not even sure I can beat the first boss on easy in just one go either, given I basically died instantly on normal. If I have to play the intro 3 fucking times I'm probably just not going to play the game. I'll give it a go on easy but if I die at the boss again I'm done.

You definitely do not die instantly on normal. Also easy is super easy.

You do die instantly on hard though. Take it from someone who tried to go 3 times on hard before deciding to not be dumb.
 

LotusHD

Banned
Well right, but having to replay the intro at all makes it a total investment of 80 minutes just to save the fucking game, and I'm not even sure I can beat the first boss on easy in just one go either, given I basically died instantly on normal. If I have to play the intro 3 fucking times I'm probably just not going to play the game. I'll give it a go on easy but if I die at the boss again I'm done.

Pretty sure nothing kills you instantly in Normal, unless you were low on health and didn't heal in time. Hard on the other hand, yea, shit like that can happen.

In the end, you do what you want, I'm not trying to convince you that there is nothing wrong or at least frustrating with the intro. I just tell you and others the obvious solution to dealing with it (Easy/Normal, with Easy having auto-chips if it is really that challenging for you), and that's that.
 

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
Pretty sure nothing kills you instantly in Normal, unless you were low on health and didn't heal in time. Hard on the other hand, yea, shit like that can happen.

In the end, you do what you want, I'm not trying to convince you that there is nothing wrong or at least frustrating with the intro. I just tell you and others the obvious solution to dealing with it (Easy/Normal, with Easy having auto-chips if it is really that challenging for you), and that's that.

I'm pretty sure normal auto heals, I just hardly had any stuff to heal with for the boss battle so the saws killed me pretty much immediately.
 

LotusHD

Banned
Those freaking exploding enemies in the
God Box
beg to differ.

I got pissed XD

I'm talking about the beginning section lol

That happened to me too in my 2nd playthrough lmao, I was like wow...

I'm pretty sure normal auto heals, I just hardly had any stuff to heal with for the boss battle so the saws killed me pretty much immediately.

Oh well that's different. The way you said it, it made me think you were saying it was some 1-hit type deal.
 

Ventara

Member
Just finished Route C.
9S really went nutso there. Poor Pascal :( I'm starting to dislike how the story just dangles something nice in front of you just long enough for you to grow a little attached just to pull the rug from beneath you. Glad things were cleared up with Devola and Popola. Not sure if any of that was explained or hinted at in old Nier, since I pretty much don't remember any of that. So the human genome on the moon is just Replicant genome, meaning humans really are dead dead. Then again, Replicants were going to be the human bodies of the human souls, so maybe that doesn't change anything.

Anyways, so if I understood correctly, the robots from the aliens created a network of consciences that after killing the aliens, were able to hack Yorha, but secretly chose to let them continue to help them evolve? And I guess they created Adam and Eve to help that? And this network created the 2B models to kill any android that learned of this?

There are still stuff I'm wondering about, like A2's past, or how some of the robots in Pascal's village got infected (I thought they were out of the network, or was that just some of them?).

I think I just need to let it all sit for a bit. Still got a few story endings to go I think.
 
Just finished Route C.
9S really went nutso there. Poor Pascal :( I'm starting to dislike how the story just dangles something nice in front of you just long enough for you to grow a little attached just to pull the rug from beneath you. Glad things were cleared up with Devola and Popola. Not sure if any of that was explained or hinted at in old Nier, since I pretty much don't remember any of that. So the human genome on the moon is just Replicant genome, meaning humans really are dead dead. Then again, Replicants were going to be the human bodies of the human souls, so maybe that doesn't change anything.

Anyways, so if I understood correctly, the robots from the aliens created a network of consciences that after killing the aliens, were able to hack Yorha, but secretly chose to let them continue to help them evolve? And I guess they created Adam and Eve to help that? And this network created the 2B models to kill any android that learned of this?

There are still stuff I'm wondering about, like A2's past, or how some of the robots in Pascal's village got infected (I thought they were out of the network, or was that just some of them?).

I think I just need to let it all sit for a bit. Still got a few story endings to go I think.
Regarding 9S I think anyone would
go nuts if they managed to get 2B to agree to go on a date with them only to see her killed.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Just finished Route C.
9S really went nutso there. Poor Pascal :( I'm starting to dislike how the story just dangles something nice in front of you just long enough for you to grow a little attached just to pull the rug from beneath you. Glad things were cleared up with Devola and Popola. Not sure if any of that was explained or hinted at in old Nier, since I pretty much don't remember any of that. So the human genome on the moon is just Replicant genome, meaning humans really are dead dead. Then again, Replicants were going to be the human bodies of the human souls, so maybe that doesn't change anything.

Anyways, so if I understood correctly, the robots from the aliens created a network of consciences that after killing the aliens, were able to hack Yorha, but secretly chose to let them continue to help them evolve? And I guess they created Adam and Eve to help that? And this network created the 2B models to kill any android that learned of this?

There are still stuff I'm wondering about, like A2's past, or how some of the robots in Pascal's village got infected (I thought they were out of the network, or was that just some of them?).

I think I just need to let it all sit for a bit. Still got a few story endings to go I think.

The person who created yorha allowed a backdoor where the machine network can easily access because the whole point of yorha is to establish that there is a link between the across on earth and the humans in the moon, and with the link gone there is no way to verify that humans are long dead. 2B is just the survival E model assigned to 9s, who is an advanced model who is too good at his job and naturally curious by design.
 

Kyuur

Member
I'm pretty sure normal auto heals, I just hardly had any stuff to heal with for the boss battle so the saws killed me pretty much immediately.

Just starting playing the game on Normal myself last night; by the boss I easily had 20~ healing items stockpiled. Were you picking up all the drops and opening chests etc?

Also can anyone explain exactly how the autohealing works? Is it still possible to die by taking too much damage or does the autoheal save you as long as you have items in the inventory?
 

Golnei

Member
Also can anyone explain exactly how the autohealing works? Is it still possible to die by taking too much damage or does the autoheal save you as long as you have items in the inventory?

The auto-heal chips heal you from a certain percentage (I think it varies based on the individual chip; I didn't use it after the prologue, but I remember seeing one listed as 30%) - if you receive damage that would ordinarily kill you from above that percentage, the items won't kick in. There are other healing options as well - if you haven't run into them yet, there's more standard regenerating health, healing based on damage output (Offensive Heal), and healing triggered by killing enemies (Deadly Heal). None of the latter three categories use up recovery items.
 

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
Just starting playing the game on Normal myself last night; by the boss I easily had 20~ healing items stockpiled. Were you picking up all the drops and opening chests etc?

Also can anyone explain exactly how the autohealing works? Is it still possible to die by taking too much damage or does the autoheal save you as long as you have items in the inventory?

I basically just didn't know about spamming Dodge so was just taking a lot of damage.
 

Golnei

Member
Stubby merchandise is obviously the ideal, but I wouldn't say no to a stuffed Pod.

tumblr_opxlb6QsDh1vrh3s9o1_540.jpg
 

myco666

Member
How far into route C I am if I have done following

Wiped Pascals memories

Finished Soul Box and got 9S fixed by Devola and Popola
?

Wondering if I should power through it today or do I still have bunch of hours to go before the ending.
 

LotusHD

Banned
How far into route C I am if I have done following

Wiped Pascals memories

Finished Soul Box and got 9S fixed by Devola and Popola
?

Wondering if I should power through it today or do I still have bunch of hours to go before the ending.

You can get through it today.
 

Deimo5

Member
Is there some way to unbug the Family Squabbles side quest?
I messed up on my first attempt and now on subsequent attempts the kid eventually just stands there instead of moving when there are no enemies around. Initially I had just moved on and continued the game but even now doing post-game sidequests he acts the same.
I actually see enemy icons on the map but the real enemies aren't existing in-game.

Edit: Seems to have fixed itself, maybe it's just finicky, I dunno. Before I had spent like 10 minutes trying to get him moving one time.
 

Kyuur

Member
So I've put about 3-4 hours into this now, just got into the
Machine Village
.

Boy is it janky after the tutorial area. Open world feels pretty unnecessary thus far, way too many pointless pickups with no enemies to fight. The combat and controls feel kind of awkward. It's hard to lock onto the right enemies (namely the non-fodder ones), melee attacks by small enemies hardly register visually sometimes so I find myself seemingly randomly hit unless I dodge spam, items are a pain to use. I have a ton of these buff items that I probably will never use since it seems I have to go into the menu in the midst of fighting to do so. There's all these chests I can't open and I have no idea why. The minimap sucks and the actual map is even worse. The game is unexpectedly ugly in places too. The
desert
was a particular assault on the senses.

The demo/tutorial area was good and the
Amusement Park
boss was fun. The plot is intriguing as well, so I'll continue. I just hope I can adjust to the controls and gameplay more and that there is some better level design down the road.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
You might want to remap controls. I had to do that because the default was completely unintuitive to me.

Personally i go L1 lock on and R1 shoot.
 

1upsuper

Member
Automata is janky? Lol. Don't ever play NieR 1.
NieR 1 has a bit of jank and Automata has none.
Automata is an absolute joy to play.
 

Kyuur

Member
You might want to remap controls. I had to do that because the default was completely unintuitive to me.

Personally i go L1 lock on and R1 shoot.

Yeah, I will do that: I just fooled around a bit, put pod and shoot both on left shoulders, item and dodge to buttons, lock-on to R-click. Melee doesn't feel that great on the triggers though, but neither does jump/interact. Will continue to tweak.

Automata is janky? Lol. Don't ever play NieR 1.
NieR 1 has a bit of jank and Automata has none.
Automata is an absolute joy to play.

Maybe I shouldn't have included combat in that paragraph; more of a separate problem. Everything outside of that is has jank comparable to something like No More Heroes. Just a mess of open space thus far.

Edit: I've been replaying the beginning with my new control scheme and just heading straight for objectives; all of a sudden the game is a lot more fun. Maybe I was in the wrong mindset coming into the game after playing BotW. Will I be missing out on much if I don't explore a bunch and just follow markers? Are most quest-givers located in hubs like the Resistance Camp and
Machine Village
?
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Put item to the triggers. You don't have to use it in the heat of the action.

Attack and jump are all on buttons for me.
 
Started playing in earnest a few days ago. Man its good. I'm really digging the world and how mysterious it is so far despite me playing the first Nier. Story missions are equally intruging and epic. All about it.

Don't think I'll do all the side quests (is that needed for certain endings?) but I might do most since even though I hate, HATE modern side-quest usage of having a million of them but 20 story ones to flesh out your world, they are not so tedious and even silly ones that seem time wastey have some pretty interesting twists or moments. It's just finding my way to a few of the markers that gets a bit tiresome.
 

duckroll

Member
I'm not far into the game. Only reached the Machine Village and then returned to the Resistance Camp. My impressions thus far is that the bestest thing about the game is the special in-game pop-up whenever you get an achievement. I love that so much.
 
I'm not far into the game. Only reached the Machine Village and then returned to the Resistance Camp. My impressions thus far is that the bestest thing about the game is the special in-game pop-up whenever you get an achievement. I love that so much.

...Wait, what?

I had to look up what you're talking about, because that's not part of the game. The FAR mod changes the default Steam achievement popup for no apparent reason.
 

duckroll

Member
...Wait, what?

I had to look up what you're talking about, because that's not part of the game. The FAR mod changes the default Steam achievement popup for no apparent reason.

What?! The best thing about the game isn't even from the game? So not only did the mod fix a serious problem which S-E didn't bother to, but it added the best feature ever? Wtf?!
 

Rainy

Banned
I really should come back to this soon. I beat Route A and B, and just started C before Persona 5 came out and I've been playing that since then. Maybe I'll take a break from P5 and beat Route C soon.
 
Top Bottom