Honestly I didn't find the first two routes absolutely amazing but it did start getting really interesting at the beginning of Route C. But I was swept up in the Persona hype I guess haha. I just watched a few vids as a refresher, I'll jump back in tomorrow.
Pretty sure I'm at the point where you first control A2 and have to go kill some machines in the desert.
A few random questions since I took a break from the game. Do they explain how 2B got infected? Didn't 9S hack her to prevent the virus from infecting her? Or did he just delay the inevitable? Also 9S was the one who spread the virus when he noticed that glitch in the network right? But he himself isn't infected?
Honestly I didn't find the first two routes absolutely amazing but it did start getting really interesting at the beginning of Route C. But I was swept up in the Persona hype I guess haha. I just watched a few vids as a refresher, I'll jump back in tomorrow.
Pretty sure I'm at the point where you first control A2 and have to go kill some machines in the desert.
A few random questions since I took a break from the game. Do they explain how 2B got infected? Didn't 9S hack her to prevent the virus from infecting her? Or did he just delay the inevitable? Also 9S was the one who spread the virus when he noticed that glitch in the network right? But he himself isn't infected?
It's heavily implied that she got infected like everyone else, it's just that 9S disconnecting her from the network earlier slowed down the process, so that as well as him "hacking" it out of her made it take a lot longer for her to succumb to it.
I don't think he spread it. I don't think I can tell you since you haven't finished the route lol
It's heavily implied that she got infected like everyone else, it's just that 9S disconnecting her from the network earlier slowed down the process, so that as well as him "hacking" it out of her made it take a lot longer for her to succumb to it.
I don't think he spread it. I don't think I can tell you since you haven't finished the route lol
Did 9S, after stabbing A2, fall on her sword and impale himself? lol, what an idiot. Goes on to cry like a little bitch about it. I liked his character at the beginning, so shame this is my final impression of him.
Also finished Ending E
DIE Quality Assurance! lol. I liked this. I'm a sucker for happy endings, so I'll take this.
"Being alive is pretty much a constant stream of embarrassment." lol. Pods are the true heroes here.
Anyways, got a few question I'd like cleared up, so I'll probably pop into the spoiler thread later on. Will post final no-spoiler impressions here after that..
About a dozen hours into the first route, some brief thoughts.
I absolutely love the music in this game. It always seems to fit the area you're in perfectly, really adds to the immersion and mood. Otherwise, there are just so little touches in terms of dialogue, animation, localisation etc that you add to the gameplay and story, and overall this just seems like a special game. The combat is great fun but I feel a little OP, you can dodge basically everything and my health regens during combat so might turn it up to hard.
Only negative I have really is the draw distance. Love it overall though.
Man I thought I would enjoy this after playing demo, Im pretty early in game but I just find it boring to be honest, I dont really like the open world at all and how the enemies look, the side missions are just bad, also can get kind of confusing on how to get to a certain location, just not for me I guess, I did like the demo, maybe I would prefer it were my linear like that.
Just got the CDE endings. Damn that was strong ending. Not sure if I understood everything about the story but still liked the game a lot. Also a question about E ending
Were the saves of the people who died during the credit sequence actually deleted?
Alright, so I'll have to retract most of my complaints from yesterday after getting further into the game:
- Combat, item usage, etc complaints were solved for me by adjusting my control scheme to something that felt better. In particular I think that items on d-pad down and dodge on the trigger (I had no problems with this in Bayo on 360, so this must just be a PS4 controller trigger thing) were huge problem for me. Moving them to buttons helped, as well as shoot on L1 so I have to problems holding it down almost all the time.
- Open world complaints (barren, little to no enemies) were resolved after progressing the story a little further. All of a sudden there is a ton of shit to do. Almost too much, feels like I can't walk 5 feet without something new! The way that
City Ruins changes
makes it super cool to traverse too. I haven't had a chance to revisit other zones yet but I hope they'll be similarly upgraded. In particular the
Amusement Park
feels more like a town than anything right now.
I maintain that the map system is shit, annoying that you can't manage quest markers (especially those ones that make the map glow red) but it seems they were aware of that and just don't give a fuck based on what some characters say. Maybe it'll get an upgrade like the androids are hoping for and I'll have a super meta moment.
Play the prologue on easy or normal, you can't save for like 30-40 minutes so it's a good idea. You can change difficulty anytime afterwards. And yeah, Very Hard is 1 hit kills from anything in the game. Hard is also still difficult until you can get a good loadout for the upgrade system.
Just got the CDE endings. Damn that was strong ending. Not sure if I understood everything about the story but still liked the game a lot. Also a question about E ending
Were the saves of the people who died during the credit sequence actually deleted?
Got an email from Square today that they had restocked the CE today (EU only?), so now I can finally make up for my mistake of not getting it quickly enough the first time.
So, I am spending my last week in Japan and am still undecided whether or not I should grab a more expensive Japanese PS4 physical version or buy a cheaper Physical one back in Europe. I know that the Japanese version of the game has English text included and X and O buttons are switched, but there are a few more things that I would like to know before I commit to one version
So I have a couple of questions:
- The main reason why I am interested in the Japanese edition is the cover artwork (This one), which I vastly prefer over the one for the western one, but I heard that the western physical retail PS4 release has a reversable cover with the original one on the back, so all I would have to do is turn the cover around and I would basically get the same deal?
- Does the Western release of the game have dual audio with both Japanese and English audio included? The Japanese release is limited to Japanese Audio, right? I loved the English Dub in Nier 1 but usually play dual-audio games in Japanese if I get the choice, so being able to compare both of them and stick with the audio I prefer is a pretty big thing for me.
Thanks in advance, really want to play the game but those things are nagging me quite a bit ^^.
So, I am spending my last week in Japan and am still undecided whether or not I should grab a more expensive Japanese PS4 physical version or buy a cheaper Physical one back in Europe. I know that the Japanese version of the game has English text included and X and O buttons are switched, but there are a few more things that I would like to know before I commit to one version
So I have a couple of questions:
- The main reason why I am interested in the Japanese edition is the cover artwork (This one), but I heard that the western physical retail PS4 release has a reversable cover with the original one on the back, so all I would have to do is turn the cover around and I would basically get the same deal?
- Does the Western release of the game have dual audio with both Japanese and English audio included? The Japanese release is limited to Japanese Audio, right? I loved the English Dub in Nier 1 but usually play dual-audio games in Japanese if I get the choice, so being able to compare both of them and stick with the audio I prefer is a pretty big thing for me.
Got an email from Square today that they had restocked the CE today (EU only?), so now I can finally make up for my mistake of not getting it quickly enough the first time.
More than once he was getting in the way when enjoying the open world view with 2B while playing through route A. (Still haven't really started route B yet)
Here's a list of recommended sidequests if you ever change your mind, but the main quests will not be listed under Active Quests. The main objective is clear when you pull up the menu, and on the map, it has its own unique icon that is different from the sidequest icons.
Here's a list of recommended sidequests if you ever change your mind, but the main quests will not be listed under Active Quests. The main objective is clear when you pull up the menu, and on the map, it has its own unique icon that is different from the sidequest icons.
I'm having some difficulty with the YoRHa Betrayers sidequest. I've gone to one spot at the top of a building and fought them once, then they retreated. I go to the other two places marked on the map and can't find anything. What am I missing?
I'm having some difficulty with the YoRHa Betrayers sidequest. I've gone to one spot at the top of a building and fought them once, then they retreated. I go to the other two places marked on the map and can't find anything. What am I missing?
I'm having some difficulty with the YoRHa Betrayers sidequest. I've gone to one spot at the top of a building and fought them once, then they retreated. I go to the other two places marked on the map and can't find anything. What am I missing?
Yeah, that quest is weird. What worked for me is to quit out of the game and restart it. For some reason they don't consistently show up where they shoud.
I'm having some difficulty with the YoRHa Betrayers sidequest. I've gone to one spot at the top of a building and fought them once, then they retreated. I go to the other two places marked on the map and can't find anything. What am I missing?
Oh, it's a random spawn thing where they might appear at the available spots? Thanks. I think my issue was that I simply didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing anymore. I went back and forth, checked everywhere, and couldn't find anything to trigger something new. Annoying.
But damn, Romeos and Juliets sure was something. A lot of the sidequests are very weird, in a good way. Especially in terms of how they resolve. I like how the conclusions seem to exist entirely to incite some sort of emotion or reflection from the player, instead of a specific physical reward.
Cant I select which side mission I want to do and it highlights or do I have to constantly look at map icons to see where mission is, if so, that will suck.
Also for some reason my missile pod stopped working, Im pretty early in game.
Oh, it's a random spawn thing where they might appear at the available spots? Thanks. I think my issue was that I simply didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing anymore. I went back and forth, checked everywhere, and couldn't find anything to trigger something new. Annoying.
But damn, Romeos and Juliets sure was something. A lot of the sidequests are very weird, in a good way. Especially in terms of how they resolve. I like how the conclusions seem to exist entirely to incite some sort of emotion or reflection from the player, instead of a specific physical reward.
Cant I select which side mission I want to do and it highlights or do I have to constantly look at map icons to see where mission is, if so, that will suck.
Also for some reason my missile pod stopped working, Im pretty early in game.
But damn, Romeos and Juliets sure was something. A lot of the sidequests are very weird, in a good way. Especially in terms of how they resolve. I like how the conclusions seem to exist entirely to incite some sort of emotion or reflection from the player, instead of a specific physical reward.
A whole section of the soundtrack is just songs that play after finishing quests. ("Scenarios" on the in-game jukebox) It's great.
Plus the game never judges you mechanically using the rewards (unlike Nier 1, which had a 20-minute-long quest that called you an idiot for finishing it and gave you nothing). Making your own choices is a real theme in this game.
Finished the game last night and here are my final thoughts on the game.
Positives
-story is very good. It's a sort of post-apocalyptic world with humanity pushed into a corner by a world ruled by machines. Throughout the game, you're constantly being thrown thought-provoking ideas about what makes a human and what makes a machine, whether through the main story, sidequests, or just bits of lore you pick up here and there.
-speaking of sidequests, they are all pretty great. All of them add to the world/story and they never feel like a simple fetch/kill quest. Throughout the entire game I actively looked forward to doing them
-the characters, for the most part, are pretty interesting. The game does a good job of portraying them as the battle androids they are who become conflicted in certain situations as they come across things that aren't as black and white as their mission objectives are
-the music is great in this game. Not counting remixes of old songs and the like, my favourites were Amusement Park, Vague Hope and Weight of the World.
-the combat was fast and fluid, and easy to get into. Pulling off combos and dodging at the last second was easy and rewarding
-the chip system was a nice layer of strategy that allowed you to customize your character to your playstyle/situation
-visually, though not graphically impressive, the game was rather nice and stylish at times
Negatives (kinda, more like eh, this could've been better)
-Route B did not seem necessary at all. There were no huge revelations or significant story lore that could not have been in Route. Should have just let us switch between B2 and 9S during Route A
-boss fights were somewhat lacking. There were a few good ones, but most were forgettable.
Overall, this game really captivated me and I truly enjoyed my time with it. I'd give it a 9/10.
Some comparisons to Nier Gestalt:
Overall, I like Nier Gestalt better. Though Automata clearly has better combat and visuals, I enjoyed Nier's combat and thought the visuals were just fine (though I do realize I'm in the minority with that opinion). What really made Gestalt stand out to me was the story, characters and music. Though Automata's story is just as interesting, the execution was definitely not as good.
When going through Gestalt for the second time, it was an extremely memorable experience and a huge revelation that just kept tugging at your emotions. Meanwhile, we needed Route B to find out why the opera boss was shouting beautiful or what Adam and Eve were doing during their spare time, which, frankly speaking, wasn't interesting. There were also times were I felt the game was being sad just for the sake of it. Like, Pascal's village. I did not feel anything was added by killing them off. Killing off an entire village just to give us an option to kill/wipe/walk away from Pascal?
Next, the characters. Nier, Weiss, Kaine and Emil were much more interesting than 2B, 9S and A2. I guess I can't really fault them, as they are supposed to be battle androids with forbidden emotions. A2 seemed more interesting, but we only got to play as her for about 6 hours. And one thing that bugged me was that how 2B and 9S kept saying machines can't have emotions. Like, don't they realize they're machines with emotions? 9S also really shit the bed by going crazy in Route C. Hope 2B bitch slaps him into oblivion for that once they wake up from being put back together by the pods.
And the music, though very good, does not hold a candle to Nier Gestalt's OST. The best tracks in Automata are remixes of tracks from Gestalt, lol (namely, Kaine's Salvation, Emil's Despair and Song of the Ancients).
Finished the game last night and here are my final thoughts on the game.
Positives
-story is very good. It's a sort of post-apocalyptic world with humanity pushed into a corner by a world ruled by machines. Throughout the game, you're constantly being thrown thought-provoking ideas about what makes a human and what makes a machine, whether through the main story, sidequests, or just bits of lore you pick up here and there.
-speaking of sidequests, they are all pretty great. All of them add to the world/story and they never feel like a simple fetch/kill quest. Throughout the entire game I actively looked forward to doing them
-the characters, for the most part, are pretty interesting. The game does a good job of portraying them as the battle androids they are who become conflicted in certain situations as they come across things that aren't as black and white as their mission objectives are
-the music is great in this game. Not counting remixes of old songs and the like, my favourites were Amusement Park, Vague Hope and Weight of the World.
-the combat was fast and fluid, and easy to get into. Pulling off combos and dodging at the last second was easy and rewarding
-the chip system was a nice layer of strategy that allowed you to customize your character to your playstyle/situation
-visually, though not graphically impressive, the game was rather nice and stylish at times
Negatives (kinda, more like eh, this could've been better)
-Route B did not seem necessary at all. There were no huge revelations or significant story lore that could not have been in Route. Should have just let us switch between B2 and 9S during Route A
-boss fights were somewhat lacking. There were a few good ones, but most were forgettable.
Overall, this game really captivated me and I truly enjoyed my time with it. I'd give it a 9/10.
Some comparisons to Nier Gestalt:
Overall, I like Nier Gestalt better. Though Automata clearly has better combat and visuals, I enjoyed Nier's combat and thought the visuals were just fine (though I do realize I'm in the minority with that opinion). What really made Gestalt stand out to me was the story, characters and music. Though Automata's story is just as interesting, the execution was definitely not as good.
When going through Gestalt for the second time, it was an extremely memorable experience and a huge revelation that just kept tugging at your emotions. Meanwhile, we needed Route B to find out why the opera boss was shouting beautiful or what Adam and Eve were doing during their spare time, which, frankly speaking, wasn't interesting. There were also times were I felt the game was being sad just for the sake of it. Like, Pascal's village. I did not feel anything was added by killing them off. Killing off an entire village just to give us an option to kill/wipe/walk away from Pascal?
Next, the characters. Nier, Weiss, Kaine and Emil were much more interesting than 2B, 9S and A2. I guess I can't really fault them, as they are supposed to be battle androids with forbidden emotions. A2 seemed more interesting, but we only got to play as her for about 6 hours. And one thing that bugged me was that how 2B and 9S kept saying machines can't have emotions. Like, don't they realize they're machines with emotions? 9S also really shit the bed by going crazy in Route C. Hope 2B bitch slaps him into oblivion for that once they wake up from being put back together by the pods.
And the music, though very good, does not hold a candle to Nier Gestalt's OST. The best tracks in Automata are remixes of tracks from Gestalt, lol (namely, Kaine's Salvation, Emil's Despair and Song of the Ancients).
I don't think the emotionless part strictly applies
for YorHa. It seems like it's a rule, but one that is obviously ignored by the Yorha androids because there are so many examples of them being emotional. 9S himself is pretty emotional, even at the start. It's more like 2B is being very specific about being emotionally distant in order to emotionally protect herself. It's actually pretty apparent in the writing if you revisit A.
Next, the characters. Nier, Weiss, Kaine and Emil were much more interesting than 2B, 9S and A2. I guess I can't really fault them, as they are supposed to be battle androids with forbidden emotions. A2 seemed more interesting, but we only got to play as her for about 6 hours. And one thing that bugged me was that how 2B and 9S kept saying machines can't have emotions. Like, don't they realize they're machines with emotions? 9S also really shit the bed by going crazy in Route C. Hope 2B bitch slaps him into oblivion for that once they wake up from being put back together by the pods.
And the music, though very good, does not hold a candle to Nier Gestalt's OST. The best tracks in Automata are remixes of tracks from Gestalt, lol (namely, Kaine's Salvation, Emil's Despair and Song of the Ancients).
I dunno if you noticed, but only 2B actually tries to consistently follow that mantra. Look at Operator 6O. 9S. Various other YoRHA members. And that's mainly in regards to her attempting to keep her emotions in check around 9S,
to not get too attached to him, considering their... history together. Not that it mattered, since there were clearly various moments where 2B faltered as well. I don't recall 9S ever saying that himself; at best he'd say "Yeah, yeah..." in response to 2B or Operator 21O saying that. It's not a strict rule, or something programmed into them as far as I know.
As for the music, I don't particularly care if someone prefers the first game's OST,
but I personally loved this one more. What made it barely win out against the first game was the fact that they used the tracks in a much more clever manner. Stuff like "This Cannot Continue", "Become as Gods", Ending E's version of Weight of the World,
the hacking tracks, etc. It all gets used when necessary at the best of moments.
I stridently liked Ashes of Dreams over Weight of the World until I finally hit the last version of Weight of the World, when I got what they were going for.
Really, it's too melodramatic if you think it's just about 2B. But then you realize it was actually about
every one of us
, during ending E.
Plus you also realize that they were going for the Hey Jude ending, and you need to be a little upbeat for that.
I don't think the emotionless part strictly applies
for YorHa. It seems like it's a rule, but one that is obviously ignored by the Yorha androids because there are so many examples of them being emotional. 9S himself is pretty emotional, even at the start. It's more like 2B is being very specific about being emotionally distant in order to emotionally protect herself. It's actually pretty apparent in the writing if you revisit A.
I dunno if you noticed, but only 2B actually tries to consistently follow that mantra. Look at Operator 6O. 9S. Various other YoRHA members. And that's mainly in regards to her attempting to keep her emotions in check around 9S,
to not get too attached to him, considering their... history together. Not that it mattered, since there were clearly various moments where 2B faltered as well. I don't recall 9S ever saying that himself; at best he'd say "Yeah, yeah..." in response to 2B or Operator 21O saying that. It's not a strict rule, or something programmed into them as far as I know.
Yeah, I definitely didn't mean that they don't have emotions. Something like that would be very hard to miss, lol. More like they're trying to conform to the rules and beliefs of Yorha, hindering their personalities somewhat, which wasn't an issue with Nier/Kaine/Weiss/Emil.
(Still haven't really started route B yet)