Nier Automata

[Raine Lockehart]

This game quickly became an emotional roller-coaster after the first playthrough.

There were plenty of moments that left an impression whether positive or negative, but I found the underlying philosophical and psychological foundation the most appealing and intriguing. It might have been because I previously studied psychology as a major that I immediately gravitated towards Nier: Automata, but it definitely did not disappoint in those aspects.

Ever since playing it, I have recommended it to everyone who was looking for a solid story-driven game, even though it might be better understood and complemented by the Drakengard series or the original Nier.

Though it might be my selfish desire to discuss these philosophy and psychology with another gamer (ー_ーゞ

So many feelings and emotions for this game even after finishing it!

Drakengard 3 is the chronologically first Drakengard storywise and the latest Drakengard titled Drakengard. That is why I mention it. Also it has the most redeeming gameplay in comparison to 1 and 2 and the main character and the story is just wy more recommendable, I'd say. Drakengard 1's gag ending is the timeline of Nier. So in direct relation to Nier of course Drakengard 1 is "kind of" relevant. Especially considering a certain sickness that sets everything in motion comes from Drakengard. Drakengard 2 is "just there". It is part of Drakengard but does not even have anything to do with Yoko-san - but that does not mean anything. I am not one of those people with abstruse claims that if director x is missing it is not canonical because my magical fan rules say that.

I have not played the previous Drakengard games and only have experience with D3.

The story, and particularly the characters, were...unique and interesting which helped to keep me playing.

Though last I remember, the gameplay was lacking, in my opinion. That might stem from my lack of experience with hack-and-slash type of games or having not played the previous ones.

Regardless, the game left a distinct impression and it helped appreciate everything else Taro has worked on.

[Sephiroth]

This game quickly became an emotional roller-coaster after the first playthrough.

There were plenty of moments that left an impression whether positive or negative, but I found the underlying philosophical and psychological foundation the most appealing and intriguing. It might have been because I previously studied psychology as a major that I immediately gravitated towards Nier: Automata, but it definitely did not disappoint in those aspects.

...

Though it might be my selfish desire to discuss these philosophy and psychology with another gamer (ー_ーゞ

That's a big problem of Nier 2 though. The game wakes up questions for people that are not really psychological and philosophical for the very reason that existentially there are already self-explanatory answers. Yes, when it comes to in-universe they can re-define whatever they want. For true things it would not work though. There is no necessity of questioning consciousness and existence. We are the consciousness. It is our instance to perceive reality. It is us. The rest, the shell, the personality, everything, is just something that "gives us shape". That is why a clone will never be us. He has his own instance to perceive reality and only a cloned body with ME projected into it, so my consciousness could be me. No second person, just a new shell. Only this way or a copy.

Do not get me wrong. I love Drakengard. Nier 1 is my number 2 favourite of all time. But there are discussions that just are not necessary because the answer flat lies there. And the moment it is spoken out these things quickly become pseudo-philosophical then. Nier 1 never took that approach of existence but the obvious stuff about existence did still help a lot to answer a few other things people talked about in Nier 1.

[Wolf Kanno]

Just Platinum this tonight with Ending E being the final trophy besides the actual Platinum trophy. Quite an interesting game which is a given from this particular studio. While the erase your data trick was more impactful in Nier, the actual challenge and fourth wall breaking involved in getting Ending E was a pretty neat concept on par with their previous efforts.

While the combat is certainly a step up from past titles, it's still not what I would call fantastic, of anything, the sheer variety with the bullet hell elements probably saves it from being a more dreary experience. Course people play Drakengard/Nier for the cast and plot, and this game is certainly worth the purchase. Some thought provoking themes, a pretty likable cast of characters, and the usual quirkiness and genre subversion the developers are known for made this pretty fun overall.

I think my two favorite joke/bad endings were the ones where you blew up the Bunker, ate a Mackeral, or when 2B ditched the mission to go fishing. Favorite Weapon Stories were for the three Beastlord weapons involving the three Royal Sisters and the ones that were callbacks to Nier and Drakengard. Great soundtrack as well. Will be interesting to see where a sequel would go from here.

[Mr. Carnelian]

This is the most frustrating game I've ever played. It was this close to being a great game, but the plotting just goes completely out of the window after a certain point. After the first "ending" - forcing you to replay the same missions again with barely any variation in order to progress the story, what fun - everything gets so incredibly bogged down in lore and backstory, not to mention becoming increasingly convoluted. I know that some people like these "one thousand and one endings and then a true ending" type games, but I just can't get behind it. More complicated does not always mean better, especially in terms of plot.

[Shauna]

If it makes you feel any better only 5 endings matter? And things get significantly shaken up after ending 2?

I didn't mind the 9S bit, myself. The game was fun enough to actually play that I didn't mind powering through what was the same game again to get it moving.

Also, I knew it was coming, and I also played the original Nier which involved much more stale gameplay with similar story pacing so I guess I just felt lucky.

Shame you're not enjoying it though!

[Fox]

God I love this game.

Glad I played it on easy though as I am bad at games and having to replay bits to get to the story payoff is frustrating as hell, that's why I didn't touch it for so long.

[Mr. Carnelian]

Shame you're not enjoying it though!

I was actually having a really bad day that day, and unfairly took it out on a video game I was finding mildly frustrating. I picked it back up again two days later, and it's actually pretty great! Honestly, I'd still cut out the whole "B" section, or find a way to rework it so that you weren't treading the same path quite so much, but overall this a great game.

[Fox]

I think the B section is kinda necessary to give 9S his context for later, but I do agree it would have been nice to make it a bit more divergent.

Although at least your side mission progress carries over!! That made the B route about a million times more palatable than it would have been otherwise.

[Aulayna]

I got this on the Steam sale over Christmas and just "plat'ed" it yesterday and got ending E.

Holy cats this game legitimately came out of nowhere and barged itself right into a very high position on my favourite games of all time.

It's been a long time since a game made me cry, stunned me, shocked me, and left me speechless (and that's even after having had parts of it spoiled by the FFXIV crossover raids). It seems even more incredible now I've read the context of the time the game was made.

[Fynn]

I also got this for Christmas! Currently on the B path and I’m surprised at how different it feels. Even though the story bears are the same so far, it’s still all fresh enough that I don’t feel like I’m replaying the same game. It’s been a pretty mesmerizing experience so far though and I can’t wait to see more!

[Aulayna]

I also got this for Christmas! Currently on the B path and I’m surprised at how different it feels. Even though the story bears are the same so far, it’s still all fresh enough that I don’t feel like I’m replaying the same game. It’s been a pretty mesmerizing experience so far though and I can’t wait to see more!

Yeah I was a bit reluctant at first to start route B as I heard it was mostly retreading route A. While that is technically true, it was definitely interesting seeing it from 9S's point of view and how the paths diverge.

I found the hacking to be rather hit and miss though. Because I'm a completionist I eventually out-leveled the content so much because of sidequests that hacking largely became irrelevant because I could just brute force stuff down - but there were some interesting moments here and there with it.

Route C tho

[Slothy]

I really need to get off my ass and get back to the damn thing. Just have so many hobbies I'm working on lately. Last time I played it I'd only just started route C. I'll likely want to restart it at this point though.

[Aulayna]

I didn't really believe it until I played it, but routes A+B really are the prologue for route C

[Shauna]

Yeah, there's a lot of game of lead up, but route C is where it all comes together.

[Fynn]

I mean, to me personally it feels more like third act rather than the main story proper. I mean, the A and B routes are obviously too long for a prologue, but I feel that B also builds thematically on A in general, making it a proper second act despite actually being more or less the same in terms of story beats.

But yeah so far route C has been amazing. I’ve read several reviews saying route C was either underwritten or “tragedy for tragedy’s sake” but tbh to me it feels like a genuinely fitting continuation of everything that’s happened before.