Nier (And Why You Should Play It)

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Actually, they did a great job of utilizing the assets that they had to make the production values look stellar. I find that instead of trying to make a huge game, being able to cleverly reuse content in unique and varying ways can really benefit a game regardless of how much money it has to throw around. It gives you a sense of familiarity with its world while constantly challenging your expectations of what you will do with it.

Oh yeah, they did a great job with it. The original game accomplishes something similar as well.

Having read up a bit on Yoko Taro, he does seem to be a very interesting character in his own right. Obviously, I can clearly see his commentary on prejudices and subjugation of roles in this game with all of the stuff involving YorHa (which I only just found out is basically a reference to a real Japanese band), but beyond that there is a clear criticism of the gaming industry at large within his entire body of work, both in terms of featuring tons of senseless violence and in terms of a general lack of experimentation, hence all of the varying gameplay styles in this game being mish-mashed together.

YoRHa is actually a creation of Yoko Taro's - the idol group was created by him to make songs for Drakengard 3 and also to put on a stage play that is actually an interquel between Nier 1 and Automata. ...Yeah.

Yoko is an interesting dude, and the deeper into his body of work you dig, the more his utter genius/borderline insanity are revealed. Though he is the closest thing to an auteur I can think of the industry, he's still very humble to the point of almost self-flagellation, always making sure his team gets the credit they deserve. I hope he continues making video games for years to come.

In many ways I can agree and empathize with many of his sentiments, while in other regards I feel that he may go a bit too far in his distaste for certain gaming trends that, while tropes in and of themselves, are not inherently bad when done the right way.

Part of me has really been suspecting lately, though, that the game not being properly balanced for the harder difficulty settings may in fact have been intentional as well. It's hard to tell with Yoko Taro, but especially with this game since its a collaboration with Platinum, and clearly they were setting out to craft a legitimately great game, and these guys have tons of experience with balance. Yet I've heard tons of complaints about how frustrating the harder difficulties are, even to veteran Platinum fans who could Pure Platinum Bayonetta in their sleep. If that was a mandate on Yoko Taro's part in regard to him interpreting harder difficulty modes as some vehicle for an elitist mentality, I'd highly have to disagree with that sentiment. Then again, it could just be that the game had a release date to meet and Platinum didn't get to completely finish fine-tuning it to the level that they ususaly Polish their other big games. Like I said, it's hard to tell what's intentional and what's an oversight with Yoko Taro at the helm.

It's important to note that only Drakengard 1 is really a criticism of video game violence and intentionally un-fun. Drakengard 3, while still retaining some elements of the original game's satire, is more a criticism of modern anime-leaning kusoge, lazy anniversary games, and sexist JRPG tropes. Its bad gameplay is a product of the shoestring budget and Access Games' inexperience with the engine & genre rather than intention, while the Nier games are supposed to be fun action RPGs with narratives that subvert people's preconceived notions of storytelling cliches, particularly in video games.

I would guess that, in Automata, Very Hard mode is intentionally bullshit while Hard is just poorly balanced.

Just barging in to say I got Neir Automata for my birthday last week, and I can't wait to play it. After I get done with Yakuza 0 of course. Is it me or this year REALLY knocking video games out of the park already?

And even more is still coming! Prey next month, Sonic Mania and Tekken 7 in the summer, Spider-Man when the movie comes out (probably), Yakuza Kiwami in August, Mario Odyssey at the end of the year, and tons of super cool indies in between like the long-awaited Iconoclasts & the ridiculously impressive Source mod, G String.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Just barging in to say I got Neir Automata for my birthday last week, and I can't wait to play it. After I get done with Yakuza 0 of course. Is it me or this year REALLY knocking video games out of the park already?

And even more is still coming! Prey next month, Sonic Mania and Tekken 7 in the summer, Spider-Man when the movie comes out (probably), Yakuza Kiwami in August, Mario Odyssey at the end of the year, and tons of super cool indies in between like the long-awaited Iconoclasts & the ridiculously impressive Source mod, G String.

This is without what is being announced at E3, mind.

I played a bit of the first Styx stealth game, and man is it tough. The sequel polished everything better, but for a middle market title it holds up pretty well. Really think this series has potential for the future.

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I played a bit of the first Styx stealth game, and man is it tough. The sequel polished everything better, but for a middle market title it holds up pretty well. Really think this series has potential for the future.

Oh, Styx! I haven't played a lot of it but I really like it. Very overlooked title, one of the best modern stealth games with a great main character and universe. I need to get around to finishing it and also pick up the sequel sometime.

[Peanutbutter]

Just barging in to say I got Neir Automata for my birthday last week, and I can't wait to play it. After I get done with Yakuza 0 of course. Is it me or this year REALLY knocking video games out of the park already?

And even more is still coming! Prey next month, Sonic Mania and Tekken 7 in the summer, Spider-Man when the movie comes out (probably), Yakuza Kiwami in August, Mario Odyssey at the end of the year, and tons of super cool indies in between like the long-awaited Iconoclasts & the ridiculously impressive Source mod, G String.

This is without what is being announced at E3, mind.

I played a bit of the first Styx stealth game, and man is it tough. The sequel polished everything better, but for a middle market title it holds up pretty well. Really think this series has potential for the future.

That's right, E3 is coming soon. And over the last couple years they've done a good job making it feel like a special event again. I hope there's another big surprise that gets massive cheers, the FF 7 Remake announcement puts crowds at WrestleMania to shame!

[Dr. Insomniac]

Here's a 3-hour playthrough of Nier Automata from RedLetterMedia.

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Huh, I didn't know they played games.

The first (only?) Nier Automata DLC will be releasing at the beginning of May; it adds three different combat arenas to the game with a few new pieces of story and special unlockables like costumes based on characters from the original Nier. It also adds a new superboss, which must be seen to be believed... https://twitter.com/MikeMcWhertor/status/853988090301513728

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm almost done with 2B's campaign mode. You know, not including the side missions/optional sections, the main story mode isn't quite as long as I expected, even for just the first of three parts of the full story.

I don't mean that as a criticism by any means, though. I actually quite like this game's pacing. It can be played through quickly like a traditional action game if you want, but there's plenty to indulge in and discover should you decide to explore the world around you. The game lets you work out for yourself how quickly or slowly you want to progress, and as someone who hardly has time for long games as it is, I find that really refreshing. I will still tackle as many side missions as I can in my next playthrough, especially since 9S's hacking ability will let me access previously closed off chests and doors, but it's nice to know that Im not being forced to go through tons of filler and padding to artificially extend the length of the game.

In fact, for as much as I love it, one of my main criticisms of Nioh is that even excluding the side missions, it can go on a bit too long for its own good. To be clear, I'm personally fine with it because I'm the type of player who loves to experiment with all of the different possibilities available from weapons/combat, items, and various other aspects of the game, so I'm constantly changing my play style up and learning new things. However, if you are the type of player to find one or two things that work for you and stick to those throughout the entire game, then Nioh could easily become monotonous for you. Even I was admittedly starting to have my interest wane just a bit towards the middle, but I'm glad that I stuck with it because Team Ninja clearly saved their best stuff for the second half of the game, and it immediately brought back my full attention and hasn't let up since then, even after completing the main story.

That said, my point being that Nier: Automata was never even in danger of having that problem at all.

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Yeah, the original Nier isn't particularly long either. I think these games have great pacing - the creators tell the story they want to tell and make the gameplay sequences they want to make, and they don't try to pad it out with meaningless filler. If you want more, there's always the side quests, some of which have surprisingly interesting writing and/or objectives. Frankly, if all JRPGs were like this, I think I'd enjoy the genre a lot more.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Honestly, this is the main thing that kept me from getting into most of the genre, outside of the occasional title like Chrono Trigger, which I initially only checked out because of Toriyama's involvement with it, but stayed for when I found the story to be surprisingly charming and engaging and the gameplay to be straightforward and not too padded out (well, until the last quarter of the game, but it had a good run up to that point).

This has always been the main barrier for me being able to get into any Final Fantasy game, as well. I'm sure that is enjoy them a lot more if they were about 30 hours shorter.

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Grinding and padding kills a lot of the genre for me. You know, in Nier Automata, you need to be Level 99 to fight the superbosses, but there's a hidden enemy you can easily farm to reach it in 30 minutes or less. Why don't other games have something like that!?

I'm not an advocate for taking content out of games, but any title that's longer than 30 hours better be damn good and have a reason to be stretched out that long. My attention span generally starts to wane around then, and the moment you ask me to randomly fight enemies for a couple hours once I've reached that point, I'm out.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

That's why a finely tuned action game like Ninja Gaiden Black or Devil May Cry 3 are far more up my alley than any game with several times the length. The quality that's there puts to shame the entirety of most RPGs for me with how much more replayable the overall game is.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Just beat 2B's campaign. I just wanted to say that the second fight with that giant spherical machine (I'm not exactly sure what it's called) where it can create an electric force field around itself and also cause electricity to surge through the water is pretty poorly designed. I'm already not a fan of fights that throw waves of enemies at you while still expecting you to take out the boss (and the boss gets a full heal mid-way through the fight, at that), but combine that with wonky hit detection, and it can be really frustrating. I can totally see why people have said that this boss fight is an absolute nightmare on Very Hard difficulty where everything one-hit kills you regardless of how high your level is.

Putting that gripe aside, I did enjoy 2B's campaign on the whole. It took me a while to play this game for what it is rather than as a typical Platinum game (which are typically more technical in nature). This is clearly more of a Yoko Taro game at its core, which I'm fine with once accepting it for what it is. I played through the first mission again as 9S and I do like how, as I expected, the game lets you play his unique segments during the parts where he wasn't with 2B, which completely re-contextualizes not only those parts of the game, but also the portions in which they exchange dialogue together, now that you're viewing everything from 9S's point of view. Gameplay-wise his character is less interesting being only limited to one weapon at a time and having the other replaced by his hacking ability, but story-wise his campaign already feels a lot more fleshed out.

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Volt-proof Salves make that fight not so bad, but it isn't a particularly well-designed boss, I agree. Almost certainly the game's weakest.

I think the hacking mini-game is really enjoyable but it does start to get tiresome after a while. That said, the last three hacks in the game are goddamn amazing. Also, the fact that they made chiptune versions of nearly every song in the entire game is absolutely insane. Oh, and did you know, if you sneak up behind an enemy and hack it without being detected, you can take control of it or turn it into a temporary party member? It's so cool!

9S' campaign starts out superbly and gets very interesting near the end, but unfortunately the middle part of it can drag a bit since it's mostly just the same as 2B's but with worse combat. The third campaign makes everything worth it, but be warned, that's when the Nier 1 spoilers really start to kick in. If you want the best experiences for both games, I might suggest doing an intermission with the original game before finishing Automata (if you can find an affordable copy, of course). It's not required or anything, but some parts of the sequel's story may not make much sense to you and it does ruin certain surprises from the first one.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm aware of the Volt-proof Salves, but I didn't realize that I would really need them and didn't stock up on them before that boss fight, and since I generally have a bad habit of ignoring most pick-ups (I did the same thing with Nioh, only ever picking up rare items which are thankfully color-coded), I only had about 3 by the time that I got to that boss fight, and used them all up pretty quickly. Now that I know that it's coming again, though, I made sure to go ahead and buy a bunch of them as 9S so that I can have a hefty supply for that battle.

Anyways, I just beat the Mad Songstress again, though this time it was an incredibly sloppy fight on my part because I tried to beat her by hacking in order to change things up from the last time, and I utterly suck at the hacking mini-game when it comes to bosses or tougher enemies. I hacked her once in that mandatory segment that happens in the middle of the fight, and then hacker her once more after that, being the only successful attempt I had out of like, thirty plus tries. My AI partner as 2B actually ended up killing her before I could even finish the fight with another successful hack. That's how terrible I am at those mini-games, outside of the simple ones for hacking normal enemies or opening locked chests. I had to use hacking to defeat those gold-plated robots as well, since normal attacks barely scratched them, and it took me so many tries and a bunch of healing items before I finally killed them, though I did get a Power Part S which I can use to upgrade one of my pod programs.

Speaking of upgrades, is there is a good way to farm for rare materials needed for certain weapon or pod upgrades? It's always certain materials like pure water or Pyrite that I'm running short on, and I have no idea which enemies in which areas are most likely to drop those items.

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In general, I wouldn't worry about farming to upgrade your Pods. I wasn't able to upgrade any of mine until near the end of the final campaign and I got through the game just fine. I forget where you find Pyrite, I think it's just a normal pickup, but you get Pure Water near the Flooded City (where you fight the kaiju boss). As for picking up items, it can definitely be a pain, but I'm an obsessive collector so I always go out of my way to grab every single little thing in any game, no matter how unimportant it may be. There's an auto-pickup chip you can buy to make it easy. I think Devola or Popola sells it, though I could be wrong. As for upgrading weapons, you'll only need to worry about that if you want to unlock the superboss, which I really recommend not doing until you've beaten the original Nier, as it connects directly to the first game and won't be particularly worthwhile if you haven't played it.

The harder hacking mini-games are definitely quite challenging. I got good at them before too long but I was really struggling at first. This game has made me way more confident about trying out stuff like Touhou. Also, if you see someone selling Audio/Video Cures (or something like that), definitely buy some. They'll come in handy at the beginning of playthrough 3.