NieR: Automata Review Thread

Honestly, I put the most faith in the following - in order of importance:
  • Easy Allies
  • Opencritic & Metacritic
  • Everyone Else
Assuming the reviews hit tomorrow, my final estimate for Meta/Opencritic is 85-95.

It will get dinged points for bullet hell sections, graphics, and performance issues, but will be praised for its music, combat, and story.
 
It will be a 90+ experince in our hearts regardless of gaming critics. We'll see how many of them actually finished ending C.

Been talking to my fellow critics, and some marks will be higher than what people are expecting here
 
BRSxIgnition said:
Honestly, I put the most faith in the following - in order of importance:
  • Easy Allies
  • Opencritic & Metacritic
  • Everyone Else
Assuming the reviews hit tomorrow, my final estimate for Meta/Opencritic is 85-95.

It will get dinged points for bullet hell sections, graphics, and performance issues, but will be praised for its music, combat, and story.
Click to expand...

I agree with you that Easy Allies will give it a fair shot, considering Ben's fandom for Nier, but I find it amusing that you list two review aggregate sites as something you put more faith in than the reviewers they aggregate. I get it, as it will even out the detractors from the 10/10s to give a good balance, but it's just funny to me because Opencritic and Metacritic are basically everyone else.

BTW, thanks for making this thread and the OT, they're both quite well done! Funny how the other review thread kind of cut you off early, but I guess the OP of that one was fine with you taking over as you originally planned. It's nice that that worked out like that.

Edit:

Squire said:
Bayo 2 is one of the greatest action games ever made by most accounts. You're setting the bar really high there.
Click to expand...

Perhaps they are, but hopefully the great (but maybe not Bayo 2 great) action and much better story than any other Platinum game will make up for any budget or small performance issues. I know you want this to do well with general critics despite remaining skeptical and I get it, but we must keep hope!
 
Squire said:
Bayo 2 is one of the greatest action games ever made by most accounts. You're setting the bar really high there.
Click to expand...

I dunno but Bayonetta 1 was still better than Bayonetta 2 IMO. Maybe it's because Bayo 1 was fresh and the stages were great. Bayo 2 was fine but I didn't like the stages as much, they felt like boss trials.
 
batrush said:
torn between this or horizon..
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Be like me, get this, Zelda BOTW (Wii U since Switch games are excluded) and Horizon from Target using their Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal running right now. Though I suppose if you didn't get a Wii U/got Zelda on Switch already/don't want Zelda than this might not work for you. Still, if you can wait a bit past the release day for Target's free shipping, then you should consider getting both for $120 and returning the extra game to get them to effectively get each for $40. Gaming time is a precious resource too of course, I know that far too well, since I won't be able to play any of these until sometime around the 25th...

Edit:

Inuhanyou and Zolo have the right idea as well. If in doubt, help those in need. Nier needs more success than the already successful big budget Sony exclusive.
 
BRSxIgnition said:
Honestly, I put the most faith in the following - in order of importance:
  • Easy Allies
  • Opencritic & Metacritic
  • Everyone Else
Assuming the reviews hit tomorrow, my final estimate for Meta/Opencritic is 85-95.

It will get dinged points for bullet hell sections, graphics, and performance issues, but will be praised for its music, combat, and story.
Click to expand...
I guarantee you the open world will also get a ton of criticism for being dull, empty (yes, I know this was partially intentional--still doesn't excuse it), and visually bland. Traversal is also annoying until you unlock fast travel midway through the game. I'd say Automata has probably the worst open world I have played so far this gen (maybe along with The Division). I'm interested to see if critics agree.
 
KO Traveling Hobo said:
Taro has always been critically panned, and Automata has already outsold all of his other games.
Click to expand...

Its hard to blame Yoko for being partnered up with teams that aren't really that skilled; I mean its not like all Cavia and Access' other games are technical masterworks!

I always found it somewhat ironic that Deadly Premonition, which is far more of a technical and graphical shit-show than Nier got somewhat of a pass for its "sins" and was the press' chosen "cult classic" of 2010.

Talk about missing the forest for the trees... yeesh.
 
Guru-Guru said:
I guarantee you the open world will also get a ton of criticism for being dull, empty (yes, I know this was partially intentional--still doesn't excuse it), and visually bland. Traversal is also annoying until you unlock fast travel midway through the game. I'd say Automata has probably the worst open world I have played so far this gen (maybe along with The Division). I'm interested to see if critics agree.
Click to expand...

I agree those will be the main sticking points as well.

Clear said:
Its hard to blame Yoko for being partnered up with teams that aren't really that skilled; I mean its not like all Cavia and Access' other games are technical masterworks!

I always found it somewhat ironic that Deadly Premonition, which is far more of a technical and graphical shit-show than Nier got somewhat of a pass for its "sins" and was the press' chosen "cult classic" of 2010.

Talk about missing the forest for the trees... yeesh.
Click to expand...

Deadly premonition scored just as badly as nier did.
 
I came out of the demo thinking it would be an 89 MC game. After playing the full game through 2-and-half endings, I came more impressed with the story than I expected, but lowered the overall score expectation to 85 or so.

Not because it didn't live up to my expectations, but it's definitely a game made on a budget, and not all of its game design elements are as polished as it could be. By choosing to have so many things in it ( bullet hell, open-world, traversal-component, platinum combat, etc), there are parts of the game that feels less up-to-par with other parts of the game.

Like I said, the (lack of) money shows at times.

But at the end of the day, it's still a Yoko Taro game at its core.

I came in expecting Platinum to elevate Yoko Taro's storytelling and design sensibilities to a broader audience...

But really it's a Yoko Taro game that elevates the execution of Platinum's current ability to make an action-RPG.

BRSxIgnition said:
It will get dinged points for bullet hell sections, graphics, and performance issues, but will be praised for its music, combat, and story.
Click to expand...

I expect it'll also get dinged for its open-world design. There's no Ubisoft 'thousand dots on a map' in NieR, but it's also not a hub/world design that's really praise-worthy. There's too much invisible walls and while it's there, insufficient components of platforming/level design to make it a traversal paradise.
 
Clear said:
Its hard to blame Yoko for being partnered up with teams that aren't really that skilled; I mean its not like all Cavia and Access' other games are technical masterworks!

I always found it somewhat ironic that Deadly Premonition, which is far more of a technical and graphical shit-show than Nier got somewhat of a pass for its "sins" and was the press' chosen "cult classic" of 2010.

Talk about missing the forest for the trees... yeesh.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean that as a criticism of Taro or his games. I loved every aspect of Nier, including the subquests, and I enjoyed D3 for what it was.

And as JayEH said, DP got snubbed too.
 
mollipen said:
:(
Click to expand...

Everyone's gotta start somewhere. :)

I mean, in general, I will start by effectively ignoring any review that has the following:

- "only did Ending A/B/etc"
- "Story sucks without giving reason why the narrative didn't connect with reviewer."
- "Didn't write (even a little bit) about the little touches of how the narrative work in tandem with the game design, like the recording sequence, etc"

:p
 
Glad this is doing well. Looking forward to picking it up; I feel like I haven't dented Zelda in 3 days of playing so it might not be on launch though.
 
Valkyri von Thanatos said:
I agree with you that Easy Allies will give it a fair shot, considering Ben's fandom for Nier, but I find it amusing that you list two review aggregate sites as something you put more faith in than the reviewers they aggregate. I get it, as it will even out the detractors from the 10/10s to give a good balance, but it's just funny to me because Opencritic and Metacritic are basically everyone else.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I should clarify and say that I mean "Everyone Else" as any other singular reviewer/publication. I trust a full aggregate more than most any other publication, but less than Easy Allies.

Valkyri von Thanatos said:
BTW, thanks for making this thread and the OT, they're both quite well done! Funny how the other review thread kind of cut you off early, but I guess the OP of that one was fine with you taking over as you originally planned. It's nice that that worked out like that.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much - I don't blame them for posting it early, I was getting close to throwing it up too.

Guru-Guru said:
I guarantee you the open world will also get a ton of criticism for being dull, empty (yes, I know this was partially intentional--still doesn't excuse it), and visually bland.
Click to expand...

I'd lump that in with "graphics" - but I can agree for the most part. Areas that stand out do a great job at doing so, but areas that don't... well, certainly don't.

Guru-Guru said:
Traversal is also annoying until you unlock fast travel midway through the game. I'd say Automata has probably the worst open world I have played so far this gen (maybe along with The Division). I'm interested to see if critics agree.
Click to expand...

I'd say "Worst" is pushing it quite a bit, but I'll admit it's not the best, then again it's not really aiming to be.

Nightengale said:
I expect it'll also get dinged for its open-world design. There's no Ubisoft 'thousand dots on a map' in NieR, but it's also not a hub/world design that's really praise-worthy. There's too much invisible walls and while it's there, insufficient components of platforming/level design to make it a traversal paradise.
Click to expand...

The only invisible walls I came to were in the Desert Zone, and even then they're handled better than in Legend of Zelda BotW. (A Sandstorm forms and you can't progress, rather than a simple banner image saying "You can't go any further" popping up.)

mollipen said:
:(
Click to expand...

No offense to anyone intented, I just really love the folks @ Easy Allies and think they have some of the most fair reviews in the business, especially for Japanese games.

If there's any other reviewers people recommend wholeheartedly, I'd be glad to give them a fair shake.

Nightengale said:
Everyone's gotta start somewhere. :)

I mean, in general, I will start by effectively ignoring any review that has the following:

- "only did Ending A/B/etc"
- "Story sucks without giving reason why the narrative didn't connect with reviewer."
- "Didn't write (even a little bit) about the little touches of how the narrative work in tandem with the game design, like the recording sequence, etc"

:p
Click to expand...

Agreed on all points, but HOLY CRAP HOW COULD I FORGET
THE RECORDING SEQUENCE
.

I sat there with my jaw agape for a solid few minutes when it happened, thinking.. "
Is... is that me? Did they really? Oh wow that's cool.
"
 
Clear said:
I always found it somewhat ironic that Deadly Premonition, which is far more of a technical and graphical shit-show than Nier got somewhat of a pass for its "sins" and was the press' chosen "cult classic" of 2010.
Click to expand...

This is why I think Automata will do well. Nier didn't have cult classic status when it was critically panned--at the time it was just a bad game. But Automata has been appointed a "cult classic" since the day it was announced, and it's how reviewers will mark it.

Automata is also 100% playable, fun, and coherent throughout. Some fans may feel like Yoko didn't take enough risks, but I think he did a really good job of making his personal brand mainstream for the first time.
 
BRSxIgnition said:
The only invisible walls I came to were in the Desert Zone, and even then they're handled better than in Legend of Zelda BotW. (A Sandstorm forms and you can't progress, rather than a simple banner image saying "You can't go any further" popping up.)
Click to expand...

I'm talking the City Ruins where there are a lot of small corridors or places you thought you can enter, but turns out you can't, really.

It's small details, but I would say it's still not a great "open-world" experience.

The scale of the world is too small to create a sense of exploration & wonder, small details make the world feel more constrained than it looks, and the parts of the map that allows you to do platforming and city ruins traversal isn't as rewarding or deep as say... Gravity Rush 2.

The best way I would describe it is well... that open world game design of Automata is the one part of the game where I don't see any of the components being more than a 7/10, be it in layout design, scale design, graphics, traversal element, etc. Decent, but nothing great individually or as a whole.

BotW is poorer in invisible walls, but from the sound of it, 90% of its open-world game design components are 10/10 caliber executions.
 
Clear said:
Its hard to blame Yoko for being partnered up with teams that aren't really that skilled; I mean its not like all Cavia and Access' other games are technical masterworks!

I always found it somewhat ironic that Deadly Premonition, which is far more of a technical and graphical shit-show than Nier got somewhat of a pass for its "sins" and was the press' chosen "cult classic" of 2010.

Talk about missing the forest for the trees... yeesh.
Click to expand...

I dunno if Deadly Premonition was that much of an anointed cult classic, considering it has basically the same Metacritic average as Nier.

But it's pretty obvious why, say, Giant Bomb chose it for an Endurance Run instead of Nier. Deadly Premonition is very in-your-face about its weirdness. Like, in the very first cutscene, Francis York Morgan is talking on the phone while driving (and using his computer, and smoking a cigarette) with someone about how Tom and Jerry are a sadomasochistic couple, and when he gets disconnected he has a chat with his imaginary friend. Whether or not it's good, you know immediately that it's going to be weird.

In Nier, you can't really be sure it's not another trite melodramatic JRPG until you've invested a lot of time into the game. By that point, a lot of people will already have made up their mind about it.
 
Nightengale said:
Everyone's gotta start somewhere. :)

I mean, in general, I will start by effectively ignoring any review that has the following:

- "only did Ending A/B/etc"
- "Story sucks without giving reason why the narrative didn't connect with reviewer."
- "Didn't write (even a little bit) about the little touches of how the narrative work in tandem with the game design, like the recording sequence, etc"

:p
Click to expand...

I hate reviews like that also, like their reviews are half-assed and it's like they barely played the game. I really hate reviews that:

- Only play 5-10 hours (or effectively, 20%) of the game and give its complete judgement.
- Base the overall game on pedigree and history (like the developer, the past entries, the development time).
- Complaining if the game is 2hard4them.
- Scores that don't match the review (i.e. the game is really great, flaws and all = 6/10)
 
LotusHD said:
I've heard it may be 9am. Guess we'll see...

---

http://geekculture.co/geek-review-nier-automata/ 9.5/10

At this point, I think it's safe to say that at the very least, the non-mainstream review outlets are loving this game.
Click to expand...

Despite these sites surely getting their copies from Japan and thus already likely to be fans of Yoko Taro and therefore more likely to give the game a good score, this really does bode well for a mid to high 80s metascore. I can't imagine everyone loving this game (except IGN Japan, except even they liked it well enough) without it being a damn fine game in its own right. Can't wait. (Well, I can, but I don't want to.)
 
BRSxIgnition said:
Very few open world games have traversal systems that good, so I wasn't expecting anything NieR that in Automata.
Click to expand...

Most open-world games have zero or close-to-zero traversal component in how their game world are designed, so I don't even factor in that part in its game design.

But the fact is Nier has small sprinklings of that, with parts of City Ruin laid out in a way to stimulate your skills of jumping and running around city blocks, and there are platforms that require max-level mastery of traversal skills.

It's one part of the game where I go "ahhh if only Automata has one more year in the oven this part of the game could've been soooo goood!"

Instead it's a cute and interesting element, but not really deep or fleshed out as well as it could've been.
 
LotusHD said:
http://geekculture.co/geek-review-nier-automata/ 9.5/10

At this point, I think it's safe to say that at the very least, the non-mainstream review outlets are loving this game.
Click to expand...

Importers are loving it! And this guy spent about 30+ hours in the game.

Gameplay 9
Story 10
Presentation 10
Value 9

Total: 9.5/10

Summary
If action RPGs with esoteric stories are up your alley, you owe it to yourself to experience NieR Automata. Stat.
Click to expand...
 
Dio said:
That's a little harsh. Is it because of the performance issues? Personally, D3 would be up there in my favorites list if it ran at 60fps and had slightly greater enemy variety.
Click to expand...

It isn't the performance issues, because I don't have a problem with those unless it gets to the Rambo game's levels of bullshittery.
My problem is that it's just an absolute shitfest to play through. Nowhere in the game did I feel that the game had great writing, just a weird feeling of disjointed storytelling with fourth wall breaking and the momentary super anime moments.

I also don't remember any songs (aside from the final boss's song) so it loses that too.
 
BRSxIgnition said:
No offense to anyone intented, I just really love the folks @ Easy Allies and think they have some of the most fair reviews in the business, especially for Japanese games.

If there's any other reviewers people recommend wholeheartedly, I'd be glad to give them a fair shake.
Click to expand...

...I've been covering & reviewing Japanese games for over 20 years, and even before that through the fanzine I started in junior high, I was on one of the most popular (and hardcore) podcasts about Japanese gaming, and I've been directly sourced as helping the popularity of some Japanese games / franchises when they came to the US through my coverage. I've also worked hard to review as many Japanese games as I can at my current outlet, when without my pushing they wouldn't have touched at least half of the stuff.

And that's just me. There are others of us out there. :(
 
Still perplexed why those 6 or so reviews came out so early; that's like almost a week before the embargo is even lifted. And it certainly doesn't help that they are all relatively less known publications, giving unexpectedly high scores at the same time. What's going on here...
 
Ninferno said:
Still perplexed why those 6 or so reviews came out so early; that's like almost a week before the embargo is even lifted. And it certainly doesn't help that they are all relatively less known publications, giving unexpectedly high scores at the same time. What's going on here...
Click to expand...
The game has been out in asia for over a week now with english subtitles. They wouldn't be under embargo because they just bought the game.
 
Ninferno said:
Still perplexed why those 6 or so reviews came out so early; that's like almost a week before the embargo is even lifted. And it certainly doesn't help that they are all relatively less known publications, giving unexpectedly high scores at the same time. What's going on here...
Click to expand...
Its the import version. You know the game that is already a great critical and commercial succcess. How suspicious!
 
Ninferno said:
Still perplexed why those 6 or so reviews came out so early; that's like almost a week before the embargo is even lifted. And it certainly doesn't help that they are all relatively less known publications, giving unexpectedly high scores at the same time. What's going on here...
Click to expand...

The game released in Japan/Asia 2 weeks ago with English voice and subs, and these 6 reviewers bought that version to review the game.

Edit: Too many lurking ninja androids.
 
e: damn you all.

Ninferno said:
Still perplexed why those 6 or so reviews came out so early; that's like almost a week before the embargo is even lifted. And it certainly doesn't help that they are all relatively less known publications, giving unexpectedly high scores at the same time. What's going on here...
Click to expand...
The english version of the game was out already on the JP and HK PSN stores. So lots of us (those reviewers included) were playing it that way.

Easy access + not caring so much about embargo because you don't have much to lose anyway == early reviews
 
Elfforkusu said:
e: damn you all.


The english version of the game was out already on the JP and HK PSN stores. So lots of us (those reviewers included) were playing it that way.

Easy access + not caring so much about embargo because you don't have much to lose anyway == early reviews
Click to expand...

There is no embargo if you're not playing an early review copy.
 
Ninferno said:
Still perplexed why those 6 or so reviews came out so early; that's like almost a week before the embargo is even lifted. And it certainly doesn't help that they are all relatively less known publications, giving unexpectedly high scores at the same time. What's going on here...
Click to expand...

What do you think is going on here? o_o
 
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