NieR: Automata (2017)

I tried liking this game but I really coudn't in the end. The gameplay is addictive and it has somewhat of an interesting story, but I hated everything else.

The map and quest system are a mess. Traveling around is tedious and repetitive... you either have to use the same paths over and over or use a slow teleport system all the time. This seriously hindered my interest in the siquests because of how much it took me to go from point A to B always. I ended up not doing most of them.

The fact you have to play the game multiple times felt unnnecessary. The game could've been easily made to played once swaping between characters. I hated playing as 9S. Worst character I've ever seen. It's also super confusing to play as multiple characters while sharing the same exp, weapons, itens and quests... why do that?

I also gotta add that I hate this japanese/anime style of characters where everyone looks and acts like an emo 16yo. I cringed so hard when I saw the villians Adam and Eve beeing portrait as 2 ripped shirtless 16yo boys with anime hair.

In the end, I felt like this game could've been great (for me) with a few tweaks here and there. I think I'll stay away from anime and open world games for a while.

The game is full of subtle jabs at video game tropes and rehashes and the story is interesting in that I may have skipped sections without even knowing it.

The NewGame+ as 9S started out interesting as well but got tedious after only a couple of hours. I ended up giving up about a quarter of the way through his playback and haven’t come back since.

Which is a shame because there’s a ton of overlapping content in there that rewards interested players, but the combat lost its shine after the first play through and the terrible PC optimization holds this title back from greatness.

PC Notes: 4k@60Hz using a 3090

I really loved this game. You play an android either 2B, 9S or A2 throughout different sections of the story. Your task given you by your superiors is to destroy the machines that have taken over the earth and driven the humans to the moon. Thats the basic premise.

Theres a great sense of atmosphere the whole time you are playing. From the environment, player character/npc and enemy design to all of the music that is beautiful yet sad. The story emotionally got to me as well, making me fall in love with the 3 main characters. Theres lots of twists that I think were pulled off well, with many mindblowing moments. The side quests are also well done with all of them having really deep payoff moments. The combat is really fluid really reminding me of Kingdom Hearts' style. One thing that I can't deny made me angry about it was the hacking minigame. I was fine with them at first especially when they related to story elements but during one section of ascending a tower you have to repeatedly play them as they get more difficult. I hated that section soo much. It made me soo frustrated. Also the graphics weren't the greatest, they weren't bad necessarily they just didn't seem next gen to me ,but that's a welcome trade for me for everything else the game gives.The environments are cool to explore to see what's next if a little bit washed out sometimes, but that might be intentional adding to the sense of loneliness and isolation. The music really surprised me throughout with beautiful vocal parts. Theres also a great dreamlike quality that kept making me coming back. The questions this game asks are really interesting as well, things like why am I here? What's my purpose? And what really matters?

Cons: -The hacking mechanic frustrated me to no end -Not the best graphics

Pros: -Fun and fluid combat -Great deep thinking side quests -Diverse environments -Beautiful reflective music -Character arcs that really pay off -Awesome story that asks the big questions

Overall, I loved this game. Its not without its flaws and probably not for everyone but it was soo worth it for me. This was exactly the type of game I wanted when I first sat down to play, even though I didn't know it at the time. 😜

Automata is flawed. It's highly melodramatic, with a plot whose details frequently edge towards being nonsensical and contradictory. In addition, the game suffers a lot from repeated assets/content, and has some absurdly frustrating combat encounters (i.e. boss battles) and side quests packed within it.

It manages to overcome this, however.

The game has a vision and a message, and it manages to perfectly execute it though some of the most emotionally compelling storytelling I've ever seen in a game. It's highest highs place it astronomically above the places most games spend their whole time grasping for, and it manages to be a hell of a lot of fun for most of it's time. If you can accept the flaws, then you should play this game through all of it's routes. The experience is unmatched in anything else I've played, and the pleasure and emotional trauma gained from this is something that will stick with me for a long time to come.

Just now getting around to this. I felt obligated to play my Switch because it's a fancy new toy, and one that I adore and want more from (probably going to get Blaster Master because it doesn't feel right being done with my new system so soon), and then I started playing Andromeda because it is new and my older brother wanted me to play it.

But I'm a huge Nier fan. I think the first was a legit 10/10, underrated classic, even if the graphics weren't fantastic and the battle system was rather normal for the genre (a point that I am okay with, because I also love the simplicity of games like Dynasty Warriors sometimes). The music was some of the most astounding in all of gaming and it hooked me from the start with its story. It also revealed itself as pretty original when it really started to blend genres.

So now I have put a few hours into Automata and I love it. I think the plot at the beginning of the first was stronger, but there's a bit of a trade-off in the sense that Platinum wasted no time in bringing the genre mixing to the forefront. Had I not played the first Nier I would be completely astounded by this, but even now I still love the shit out of it. I just hope they haven't blown their load.

They've improved the combat, mixing the Platinum Games formula in there to just make everything bigger and more dynamic, while maintaining the spirit of the original. Even though PG is hit-and-miss lately, mostly because I think they stretch themselves thin with the pile of games they're developing, I figured they would get this right. I hope the story stacks up as it goes on, because while it didn't start off as strong, there's still some intrigue here.

The other thing is that I'm glad that the same composer returned. I've only heard a few songs so far, but it's shaping up like it's just as good as the first. My favourite so far is the City of Ruin theme because it's quaint, minimalist and relatively quiet but then this beautiful guitar eventually creeps in and makes it even better. Honestly, it makes walking around more of a treat than it should be.

Anyway, those are my initial impressions.