It's disheartening to see people just stop partway through. I can't imagine not immediately wanting to experience everything the game has to offer and explore every inch. It's one of those games that gels with me so much that it almost feels like a personal insult when others don't love it, haha.
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NieR: Automata |OT| "I wouldn't expect too much from this game if I were you."
- Thread starter BRSxIgnition
- Start date
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Eh, if people don't gel with it they don't gel with it. Honestly, I had the same thoughts when I first played A, rushed through because I just kinda wanted to see it through, but then got more intrigued during B and spent most of my playtime in it exploring the world and side quests, and loved it.
It's a game that asks a lot out of you honestly, and some won't be willing to give it.
It's a game that asks a lot out of you honestly, and some won't be willing to give it.
I think Route A is a solid 7.5/10 action rpg, with shallow combat but quite a number of fun toys. Obviously a very cheap game with tons of smart asset and area recycling.
Route B opens a lot of stuff up both story and gameplay wise and feels much more like a complete RPG. Felt 8/10 by the time I finished it.
Route C/D/E is totally a 9/10 really polished and super satisfying sequel to all that. More action. More story. More emotion. More stakes. Crazy good direction. Lots of 9.5/10 moments throughout too.
If people stop after A thinking that's all the game has to offer and aren't impressed, I can't blame them. This is a game you need to give the benefit of the doubt to, before you can fully enjoy and appreciate it to the end.
Route B opens a lot of stuff up both story and gameplay wise and feels much more like a complete RPG. Felt 8/10 by the time I finished it.
Route C/D/E is totally a 9/10 really polished and super satisfying sequel to all that. More action. More story. More emotion. More stakes. Crazy good direction. Lots of 9.5/10 moments throughout too.
If people stop after A thinking that's all the game has to offer and aren't impressed, I can't blame them. This is a game you need to give the benefit of the doubt to, before you can fully enjoy and appreciate it to the end.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Though really, one thing I don't think people give credit enough for AB is how well it sets up C. If you go straight to C without A/B I don't think it'll work at all.
Also once you go back to A you see so much foreshadowing in a pretty tragic way.
My one biggest complaint about the gameplay is that the game remembers individual weapon selections for 2B and 9S, but insists on sharing the same chip loadout equip. It's insanely annoying because I made specifically unique chipsets for 2B and 9S separately, and the game even has 3 available loadouts for you to play with. But it can't just remember that 2B is equipping Chipset A and 9S is equipping Chipset C? Really? Annoyed me to no end when the game would switch between characters later.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Spoilers!
But yeah, I didn't actually play around with chipsets too much.
But yeah, I didn't actually play around with chipsets too much.
Playing multiple characters is not a spoiler! It's a fucking feature!!!!!! Lol.
I didn't play with chipsets too much at first, but then I realized how they could make a real difference. First thing I did in Route C was spend all my 200k or so fusing all the chips I had to filter out all the junk low level ones.
The main thing is, with 9S I basically never used melee attacks at all, so everything was focused on passive buffs and range attack for the pods. Meanwhile I had the other setup which was heavily weapon damage focused. Having to manually equip each one over and over was so annoying!
Meccs
Member
In my case I think that I am kinda over open world games in general. I like the Dark Souls style more where you can still go to area #1 or area #2 but when you go to area #2 you have a tightly designed experience. You can still navigate that area how you like but at the end the destination is always the door with the boss fog and the game at least tries to funnel you towards it. I hate the running around in games like Nier. The long time where nothing happens... the combat had so little depth to it that I never felt the need to fight my way to a side quest or to a new location. You just run past all the enemies because it is more efficient and faster. I liked the Amusement Park though. When you got to a new location and the story continued it was a very fun game, I just didn't like the open world part of it.
That's a weird complaint when this is barely an open world game at all. Other than areas all being seamlessly connected there's nothing open world about it. You start in a limited area, and a new one opens up every time the story progresses, there's a huge objective marker, you head right there and there's a new stage you play through with a boss at the end.
Combat design is more than just the options the player has. It is also encounter design and balance. You can say that the combat mechanics are intended to have depth, and that would be fair, but it is absolutely true that the actual combat in the game is incredibly shallow. It's a deliberate design where the player can equip support chips which completely trivialize the combat because it's meant to be a mashy RPG rather than a pure character action game.
SunhiLegend
Member
jasminlovesyoux
Banned
This is such an accurate assessment. Exactly how it went down for me and a couple others I know as well.
That's probably why during my play through I rated route A a 8.5/10 because I didn't really utilised the chips making me play similarly to devil may cry. Route B to me was a 8, though I did enjoying hacking a lot.
But yeah when others ask about gameplay I generally just say it's an advanced form of kingdom hearts gameplay.
petethepanda
Member
I really wish there were fewer effects during combat. There's so much sparks and smoke and stuff going on that when I'm fighting more than a couple enemies at once it's just about impossible to track their movements, forcing you to resort to the red eye flashes for dodging. It works, but it feels like it robs it of a bit of the finesse it might have otherwise. I dunno.
(Also, I wish there were a way to track the location of the "I can't open this right now" chests.)
Still. I assume I'm getting towards the end of ending A, having a lot of fun. Excited to see where it goes from here.
(Also, I wish there were a way to track the location of the "I can't open this right now" chests.)
Still. I assume I'm getting towards the end of ending A, having a lot of fun. Excited to see where it goes from here.
W, wha...? You finished A-C, but didn't want to take the extra ten minutes to control endings D and E on your own? It's worth going back to.
You're right on the magnificent final boss layout on route C. The way the music and the design come together is really astounding.
Unusual opinion alert: I still think that you can also think of route A as a perfectly normal conclusion to a game, followed by optional included sequels that explore more!
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
The character writing is kind of awful if you stop at A, though.
Yea, I didn't go in-depth, but you pretty much hit the nail on the head. There's "depth", but like you said, what's the point where there's so many factors that trivialize it anyways lol
Oh well, still fun as fuck for me.
Meh, if Nier really ended with Route A, that'd be lame as fuck for me personally. It's an ending and all, but I definitely wouldn't describe it as being "perfectly normal".
petethepanda
Member
I have an irrationally intense need to know what Yoko Taro thinks about Undertale.
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
iirc, he said that he was interested in it. I assume he hasn't played it since it's not in Japanese.
I feel like this game low-key answers that.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
I thought someone translated it for him.
Though in some ways i think that nier's message kinda dunks on undertale's lol.
I'm actually less interested in what Yoko Taro thinks of other similar types of games, because I don't think there's probably much of a discussion there. When it comes to shared interest in themes, he'll probably finds it all interesting, but he has his own things to say.
What I'm personally curious about is what sort of popular fun action titles Yoko Taro has played recently and what inspirations he might draw for future games. In the past he was stuck working with Cavia and Access Games and they put out really bad work. There was probably this impression that like Suda51 and Swery (actually part of Access Games!) Yoko Taro likes to make "bad games" which tell interesting stories and themes. But with Nier Automata it's clear that it is not the case. He really does enjoy action games and whatnot, and would be happier if the action were fun and well implemented.
Route C early spoilers:
So with that in mind and knowing that Yoko Taro originally made Nier because he loves God of War, twin stick shooters, and shmups, I'm really curious what sort of new inspirations he has for the next franchise he creates. Assuming he doesn't just keep making Nier forever now that it finally sold for S-E.
What I'm personally curious about is what sort of popular fun action titles Yoko Taro has played recently and what inspirations he might draw for future games. In the past he was stuck working with Cavia and Access Games and they put out really bad work. There was probably this impression that like Suda51 and Swery (actually part of Access Games!) Yoko Taro likes to make "bad games" which tell interesting stories and themes. But with Nier Automata it's clear that it is not the case. He really does enjoy action games and whatnot, and would be happier if the action were fun and well implemented.
Route C early spoilers:
The entire opening setpiece in Route C with you clearing each group of machines and gaining more YoRHa teams following you to the next point, ending with them all turning against you because of the virus, is the best Dynasty Warriors moment in the entire game, and sold the scale of the war in Automata's limited way really really well. It would be a far worse set piece if the gameplay were crappy.
So with that in mind and knowing that Yoko Taro originally made Nier because he loves God of War, twin stick shooters, and shmups, I'm really curious what sort of new inspirations he has for the next franchise he creates. Assuming he doesn't just keep making Nier forever now that it finally sold for S-E.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
In the toco toco TV interview he asked the platinum team to sign pretty much all of their games for him and it also showed him playing the last guardian.
Man.
What if he made a game like the last guardian.
Man.
What if he made a game like the last guardian.
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
I was about to post that I would love to see a Yoko Taro platformer. That would be amazing.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Why do you want more suffering for Emil.
Hasn't he had enough.
Hasn't he had enough.
　While I suppose I should grudgingly admit that December 2001 is no longer "recent," the most important thing anyone needs to know is that his favorite game is Ikaruga. Would that the rest of the world was as wise.
Remembrance
Member
So with that in mind and knowing that Yoko Taro originally made Nier because he loves God of War, twin stick shooters, and shmups, I'm really curious what sort of new inspirations he has for the next franchise he creates. Assuming he doesn't just keep making Nier forever now that it finally sold for S-E.
The pattern seems to be that he likes easy-to-pick-up genres that you can play alone.
He needs to make a third-person shooter that occasionally turns sideways into a run-and-gun. That would be amazing, and what more straightforward genres are there that he hasn't touched yet.
Was there ever any doubt, considering that he keeps making final bosses where you get blasted with overwhelming waves of bullets after having all your abilities disabled?
I said in the shmups thread that Automata is the closest spiritual successor to Ikaruga and everyone thought I was crazy. Hell, I think it might be the closest thing to Radiant Silvergun at the same time (
everyone dies, the main characters die, the main characters are reborn into a new world
SpikedGunner
Member
I think it was an article from Kotaku that I read last week that mentioned that the message at ending A makes it seem that the rest of the endings are optional, but the problem is that makes people think it's not worth going through the game again, when it should have been worded to tell viewers that the whole rest of the game continues onward from that point and people will get the complete story if they continue.
Route B is worth it for the new point of view and Route C completes the story (along with their endings).
It would be really interesting to hear about the development process that resulted in that odd "Message from the Square Enix PR Department." In a game where all technical aspects of video gaming are artfully incorporated into the story (menu adjustments as part of 2B's routine maintenance, save points as uploading records, etc.), it's an utterly bizarre and clumsy interjection that surely can't have been planned by Yoko himself. Did he intend to give no hint at all as to what would happen next, but Square nixed what would have been a very bad idea? Or did the reverse happen, and a more obvious "to be continued" message get cut in favor of the bumbling PR note?
I always read it as a bit of self-deprecation referencing how the multiple ending setup is now well-associated with his work (and the issues it's caused people in the past); that also serves its purpose as an actual notifier of the rest of the game for people who aren't aware.
Huh, Trophy store? Never heard of it.
After unlocking the three major endings, you can boy leftover trophies from the Strange Resistance Woman in the Camp. A new option will be available to make this possible.
Hmm... Nope, never heard of it. But if I did hear about it, I'd probably keep it on the hush hush.
InfiniteNine
Rolling Girl
It's in there just a bit hidden they're required weapons for a ending.
SpikedGunner
Member
Actually I've been meaning to ask since I've Platinumed the game...
is the DLC worth the purchase? aside from the costumes what else does it include?
Remembrance
Member
One of them is in
an area that turns pitch-black later in the game, across a series of erratically timed crushers surrounded by endlessly respawning enemies, then back across a series of jumps over the tops of those crushers while enemies continue to spawn endlessly, and then, at the end, in a room that gets pumped full of kamikaze explosion enemies.
You could go there earlier under easier circumstances, but then you don't get to open a locked chest that's in the same room.
I think Yoko Taro was trying to tell us something about FFXV through this experience, but I think it went over my head.
Three arenas with a bunch of unique challenges, a new boss and
a very short, new story segment
Theres a bit more to it than just challenge rooms, but it's overall a bit overpriced nonetheless.
Cup Noodles with the perfect mix of meat, egg and shrimp, delivering the ultimate flavor experience! You can't surpass perfection! Cup Noodles?
What else is there?
a short story segment of ~30 minutes length about a character from spinoff material . It requires you do to all the arenas first to unlock it tho.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
He's in charge of the new shokugeki no soma game.