Nier: Automata Discussion Thread

RX-782 said:
How short is this game? I pre ordered it and stuff but haven't had the time to sit down and play it.

I'm hoping this game keeps me busy for a while, was pretty disappointed how short ffxv and re7 were story-wise.

MrAwesome2017 said:

Is removing the OS Chip one of the endings? I was kinda curious and what happened next was funny lol.

Narmy said:
It's ending T. Only A-E are actual endings, the rest are just silly ways of getting a game over.

Narmy said:

It's ending T. Only A-E are actual endings, the rest are just silly ways of getting a game over.

Elegade said:
Anyone been able to beat the prologue on the hardest difficulty yet? Shit, I thought Dark Souls or Bloodborne was hard, but Nier is a whole different beast of difficulty. Not only do you want to give up cause there is no checkpoints in the prologue, but anything can kill you in one hit. I've tried about 7 times and I keep dying from the dual chainsaw things.

Extect said:

I figure you've past it by now, but I reccomend doing the intro on normal and then switching afterwords when there's save points

Ezekiel said:
I find it weird how outraged people still are about Denuvo. Here is a picture of the Steam boards for Nier Automata.

They talk about the Denuvo servers being shut down as if the same thing can't happen to Steam and as if the PlayStation 4's will last forever. Most people throw their consoles away when they die, so replacement parts probably won't be cheap. If it's the motherboard, you can forget it and just buy another of the consoles that are no longer in production and increasingly rare. DRM sucks, yes, but unless you only play GOG games, you probably deal with it on a regular basis. As a PC gamer, I just accept the sad truth that games have become services. I've never had a problem with Denuvo.

PeenusWeenusCaim said:
To those who plan on pirating the game. Don't do it.

There's a scene in the game that makes an absolutely clever use of the network feature. And the way it works is downright emotional.

Ending E spoilers

Narmy said:

PeenusWeenusCaim said:
Okay, finished all the sidequests.

10/10 for me. Especially for the writing.

Character of the game goes to Emil because he suffered the most. Seeing him in Nier and then in a "sort-of" state while learning his backstory and how he survived the events between Nier and Automata is soul-crushingly depressing.

Best side-quest:

SpamuraiSensei said:


How much screen time does Emil have? Which Nier 1 ending does Automata follow?

SH4kun said:
Picking it up once CPY cracks it.

Maybe will try the first game beforehand since I saw it in a bargain bit, but I already know about the Shingeki no Kyojin twist with the shades, so who knows if it will be as enjoyable.

Extect said:


I don't understand why people pirate games... like seriously support the industry a bit...

Saccaed said:
gameinformer's review was okay if very clear. going to buy cheap in a year

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/nier_automata/b/playstation4/archive/2017/03/06/nier-automata-game-informer-review.aspx

Extect said:


I don't understand why people pirate games... like seriously support the industry a bit...

PeenusWeenusCaim said:
Not really. He's calling an intended design choice such as multiple playthroughs an "issue". Which is dumb because that's not a flaw at all.

Repeating a scene but playing it through a different perspective is a tried and true literary device and works especially well for this kind of narrative. The different playstyle for 9S also ensures that there's no repetition on the combat aspect either.

PeenusWeenusCaim said:
Not really. He's calling an intended design choice such as multiple playthroughs an "issue". Which is dumb because that's not a flaw at all.

Repeating a scene but playing it through a different perspective is a tried and true literary device and works especially well for this kind of narrative. The different playstyle for 9S also ensures that there's no repetition on the combat aspect either.

Saccaed said:


Ugh ofc he knows it's intended and he's talking about how meaningful progression is not how much breadth the combat has, he clearly knows what he's talking about.:/

SH4kun said:
It is as long as they have not enough resources to make the new playthrough a fresh experience. One of the reasons Odin Sphere (the original, I didn't buy the remake) sucked so hard (aside from the combat being bland and the food system feeling like a grindy waste of my time) was the huge repetition of stages and bosses for each of the 5 different protagonist, to the point where when I finally beat Gwyndolin and Cornelius stories I was like "nah, fuck that" when I saw most of the repeating stages I had to do and I dropped it faster than lightning. That game was the definition of quantity over quality.

So yes, it's a flaw. How big it can be depends on the player.

AholePony said:
I wasn't expecting the first boss to fire a million orbs at me and I died. Now I have to start from the beginning. This game is rude :(

Saccaed said:
The reviewer guy is not generalizing, you just don't know what he is talking about

PeenusWeenusCaim said:
Just let it go friend. You can't prevent poorfaggotry.

Instead, give them pity for not being able to experience a great moment in video games since the network feature is disabled for them.

PeenusWeenusCaim said:
Prove it.

Oh wait, you can't because you haven't played the game lmao

You don’t acquire many additional techniques that open up new angles in battle, and the differences in your heroes’ abilities (like hacking foes instead of attacking them) doesn’t add meaningful variety. As a result, your tactics at the beginning and end of the game are largely the same. You get new weapons with varying attack speeds and combo patterns, but they don’t feel different enough to justify your ability to switch between two weapon sets – especially when comparing weapons that have been upgraded (which requires some component farming) versus those that haven’t. The different visual effects are cool, but I rarely had a practical reason to stray from the weapon set I had invested in most heavily.

......
Under the hood, the main source of growth comes from equipping plug-in chips that provide a wide range of bonuses, from increased melee attacks to health regeneration. Capacity for these is limited, so the strategy comes from maximizing benefit and minimizing cost through a clever fusion system. For instance, combining two chips that give you a four-percent boost to weapon attacks is more cost-effective than equipping them individually, freeing up space for additional improvements. I like this in concept, but most plug-ins only provide percentage-based boosts to stats and abilities, so they don’t do much to diversify your arsenal.

Nier: Automata also has problems with repetition, an issue that plagued its predecessor. The story is stretched over three campaigns that send you back to the same areas, and even the exact same story moments and encounters. How and why this happens is one of Nier: Automata’s surprises, so I won’t ruin it, but don’t be fooled when the credits roll. While this unfolding narrative and its hidden endings is an interesting experiment, it spreads the world too thin and doesn’t add enough new information when you revisit familiar situations. By the time I reached the true ending after nearly 40 hours (and most of the side quests), I felt like I only saw about 25 hours worth of game cut up and reconstituted in various ways.

Saccaed said:




I don't know man think I'll listen to the guy who knows something about design making points about repetition and mechanical loss of meaning.
He's not saying it's a bad game so you don't actually need to white knight stuff alright?

PeenusWeenusCaim said:
Except I'm fine with the score. I can see the game's flaws and why certain people might not like the game as a whole. I only disagree with the "repetition" critique because that's, again, an intended design choice, not a failed implementation. The repetition aspect of the game isn't even that long.

"Mechanical loss of meaning".
Don't make up words and phrases to look smart. You'll only look dumber in the process. Though it seems that process has already happened since you take game journos seriously without any hint of irony.

Saccaed said:


I don't take "journo" seriously but this guy uses proper terminology and talks about pretty basic stuff you don't have a grasp on so eh:/

PeenusWeenusCaim said:
"Proper terminology". Like what?

And if anything, your use of "mechanical loss of meaning" shows you have no clue on what "proper terminology" means at all


Stop being stupid.

Saccaed said:


Nope I'm pretty sure the game has a progression mechanic since he talks about it:/
Are you butthurt enough yet

PeenusWeenusCaim said:

"I'm replaying a game sequence! There's a difference in narrative and gameplay, but the stage and enemy design are the same, this is awful!". This is intended. The entire point. Changing the level and enemy design when replaying a sequence would not make sense, and would contradict all the events going on in the first playthrough. Instead of being stupid, and criticizing the entire technique itself, it's better to criticize the implementation of the technique. Does the change in perspective really feel like a change in perspective? Is the gameplay different? Do we learn anything from the story that we otherwise wouldn't have known from the other character's perspective? If you can answer the three questions with a "yes" then it's a successful implementation. If not, then it's a failed implementation. And from what I've played in Nier Automata, the change in perspective really does feel like a change in perspective.

Just because you had a bad experience with one game that implements the changing perspective technique, does not mean the entire technique and its every use is a flaw. And even then, that "bad experience" is up for debate.

Saccaed said:
it's proper terminology for pretty basic concepts
I quoted the repetition stuff too:/

Saccaed said:


this whole thing on the other hand doesn't mean anything, the guy wasn't generalizing and likely has nothing against the bits of dynamic storytelling in videogames, he just says what the game builds up to feels too thin, there's your subject

Saccaed said:
I'm going to do stuff now;l

PeenusWeenusCaim said:
That was directed at Sh4kun, not reviewer-chanGood

Extect said:


I don't understand why people pirate games... like seriously support the industry a bit...

OppaiSugoi said:


Alot of people (me included) are expected to pirate the game once the CPY repack is released because of the protest of the Denuvo DRM. Tales of Berseria got Denuvo DRM yet CPY repack released a few days after initial release.

@SH4kun

OppaiSugoi said:


Alot of people (me included) are expected to pirate the game once the CPY repack is released because of the protest of the Denuvo DRM. Tales of Berseria got Denuvo DRM yet CPY repack released a few days after initial release.

@SH4kun