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So, you could say this video has been a long time coming. Maybe even the longest time coming. A lot of people have asked when I was going to return to NieR content. My last NieR Replicant video was about a year and a bit ago, and my NieR Reincarnation video was shortly before that. Plus, this marks about the one year anniversary since I transitioned to long-form video essay content, about a year since I made the Final Fantasy XIII video, so I figured now would be a good time.
So yeah, NieR Automata is a game that’s special to a lot of people. Me included. There are probably a ton of reasons why that is. Platinum Games brought their signature gameplay to the table. Yoko Taro from Square Enix brought his signature storytelling. But a game that should have been really good, but relatively niche, ended up becoming a household name that was greater than the sum of it’s parts. How you ask? Well, just watch and find out.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Chapter Select ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00 – Intro
3:22 – History & Premise
14:53 – Gameplay
27:27 – Open World & Sidequests
33:56 – Visuals & Sound
41:03 – Unique Structure & Playthrough B
58:46 – Escaping the Niche
1:02:18 – Story Spoilers
1:11:36 – Ending E (Still Spoilers)
1:17:48 – Conclusion & The Future
#nier #nierautomata #nierautomatareview #nierautomataanalysis #nierreplicant #nierautomataanime #yokotaro
36 Comments
I tried to look up the sales numbers for Transformers Devastation (also by Platinum) and from what I could find, roughly 70k copies on all consoles more or less? For a developer like Platinum, that has to sting.
Here we go. The game trying to create empathy for robots, who can be duplicated exactly, unlike actual organic beings. The game that pretends they can't manufacture more of their machines, and yet those booths contain shells for the exact models to upload their minds to, and between (making these characters immortal). And the entire game is an endless cycle of the same stuff happening.
While the gameplay was more fun than Nier Gestalt, Nier Gestalt was still better with story and had more emotional and psychological weight to it. The entire time I played Nier Automata I was annoyed at how over dramatic their complaints were – for the very reasons I mentioned earlier. Everything that happens in the game too, is largely pointless. If the game was dealing with actual organic beings who couldn't just copy their personalities and memories to another body, there would be some actual stake (as long as it isn't some time loop that just happens on repeat).
Nier Automata is just a sequel. The prequel, Nier Gestalt, did most of the work before to set the stage. Nier Automata did rework the combat system to something more action pact visually. Nier Automata really didn't do anything I haven't seen before elsewhere.
10:42 9S and 2B have met before. Countless times. You'll find that mentioned in the game, and at the very end of one of the endings where the robots rebuild everything to "try again". The entire game is about life, death, rebirth, and a little concept called fate, or destiny.
As for "spoilers" the game has been out for ages. Anyone who wants to know about the game should just play it or find a surface level review. Retrospectives are all about spoilers.
Oh and the plot thread between this and Gestalt is weak. Very small. There's cameo's of clones and some references, but Automata could have easily been its own game without any reference to Gestalt. This is how insignificant the link is.
Bro 3 hours without saving and I ate the fuckin fish, first joke ending. Wasn't expecting a game to fulfill its threat of "this is a bad idea, don't do this." 10/10 would still recommend though
I love this game.
and I think anybody who played through it feels the same.
my opinion about Nier: Automata is:
This is not the best game ever made.
But this is the best gaming experience I ever felt.
I met a lot of people who had bad criticism for it, but non could say it wasn't a powerful experience.
You're kinda super awkward hilarious! Good review, too.
I've just finished my second playthrough. During it I accidentally overleveled (idk how). Previously, I had great memories of difficulty inside the tower (on the first playthrough, I had used ALL my healing items), but now I completed all final bosses in a quick succession, an mr.$3² died in a few hits… The entire playthrough was on Hard, about 6h of Prologue, and such a disappointing ending :c.
P.S.
Yes, I was still dying while trying to reach and reactivate Furnace fast travel point. Many, many times.
P.P.S.
I've finished the game at ~ lvl 73 and still no diamond +7 or +8 chips.
8:25 automata was a word before the devs used it >:c people can say the word either way
I HAVE BURNED NOT JUST A CELL MY ENTIRE BRAIN
I already knew I should probably replay the game and actually do the side quests but realizing I didn’t even know abt 9S having pause combos… I gotta give this a second run thru I think
Play neir replicant. It did pretty much everything automita did but 10 years sooner
This game is master peace play it cos i will again need to buy original first good old fashion hard copy.
Whit no jet sound bug hope they fixed that by now 👽👻
7:58 they DEFINITELY messed up with voice of cards considering i didn’t even know there were two sequels lmao
I didnt have the best Nier experience since I played the game on PC. And I dont need to tell you how that ended up playing like. A friend told me about the game and told me I should try it, so I find the game, get it, I have a decent PC that can run most modern/demanding games like Cyberpunk or the newer CoD games on higher settings, so I was really thinking I was about to have the time of my life since while searching for the game I heard great things and have seen a video here and there etc. The heartbreak I experienced when it ran on about 10 average FPS on low graphics was immense. Didnt help that when I downloaded FAR the game looked like a PS2 game and had no performance improvements. So sadly I couldnt experience the game myself because of the cursed PC port
NieR Automata made me feel for a game like I haven't in a long time. Every now and then a game like this comes along that just makes you feel like you're playing one of the best games ever made. Chrono Trigger/Cross, FFVI+FFT, Dragon Age 1, NieR Automata. This game was much needed to show other developers and publishers how to make good games again. You always have have something dragging newer games down, like empty open worlds, or complete tunnels that make the game play like a movie. With the aforementioned gems you just have so much replayability.
16:20 so many times I have done a combo and spent 15 min trying to figure out how i did it. So much fun, I love this game!
i mean the anime comes out next year
With the Chainsaw Man anime coming out and all the hype around it, i couldn't help but think that they are famous because and similar in many things.
One of the first scene in Chainsaw Man is the MC talking about how he'd love to touch boobs, and the action is spectacular.
And they are similar in the freedom of unapologetic content, that they gave to the creator.
So they are similar in action and seggs, and then they have some deep stuff and a few unreleased limiters
random question , what is the sound effect called for the male choir singing "aaaah" when you do the drakengard/nier reference my dudes ?
36:00 yes you are wrong to whine about sexy androids
Nier Automata is to gaming what Radiohead is to music
I was constantly 30 levels under the main quest and therefore I grew bitter and resentful about the game. 5/10, Replicant was better
Answer: It isn't.
one thing that makes automata so special is the player taking the part in it's story. there are many books or movies that pick on the topic of life itself very well, however reading a book or watching a movie usually makes you a passive receiver, it sure makes you re-think some stuff but you kinda feel emotionaly detached from it, in automata on the other hand you are not only given a chance to reassume some of your knowledge but also given a chance to directly create the doubt and questions that are so fundamental.
Bro needs a podcast
I could write a long ass comment about how the game fundamentally changed me as a person and aaaa plot aaa philosophy aaaaaaaa music and tears and fun and sad and design and voice acting and holy shit combat suit 2B my beloved but I think most of us think the same 😀 Really really lovely video!! I can feel the love you have for the game and you share it exceptionally well!
The you want to ** 2B is super interesting, with the JP version being symbols and what the translation studios were told, some great reddit threads out there 😀
the one grime I have with the game is the start of route B, it is quite a drag sadly, BUT THEN, BUT THEN AAAAAAA LOGIC VIRUS AAAAAAAA (I am so glad I'm not playing the same game 4 times amirait replicant)
Personally, the most enduring power of Nier: Automata comes not from its physical content—be it the sexy, adorable, and relatable characters and all their struggles, or the gameplay, the music, or the visuals. Instead, it was from its core message it imbibed upon us, the human player: the inconvenient truth about the meaning of life, and the deconstruction of our perception of it.
Simply put, N:A's existentialism and nihilism eloquently tore into pieces everything we held dearly and took for granted about what gives us fulfillment, enlightenment, happiness, and purpose in our own lives, and how the dread of having to continue with our existence with all those things having irreparably crumbled right before our eyes can, as the game intended, send our mental health and real life into a really dark place.
It is ultimately up to us whether we make ourselves at home in this "new normal" and find peace and growth in accepting this nihilistic reality, staying true to what we feel about it… or go back on pushing forward towards that vague hope, that empty slice of blissful ignorance, and put on a disingenuous smile.
But then, as Pod 042, in one of his few moments of self-awareness amidst the naivety of his own actions throughout Ending E:
"Perhaps we now understand that not everything has to have an answer."
To put simply, an absolute Masterpiece.
I gave up on games after mass effect 3 but completely fell in love with this game. The music is incredible and the fighting made it so entertaining
Which ost is it at 52:25
I am literally not 1 english, and how you trying to speak slowly, man
just thank you, i can understand atleast
I still visit the city ruins near the waterfall and just escape through the music
Neir Automata is for porn. How do you think the hype was born? For porn, porn, porn!
i did not like this game, yet youtube keeps showing me videos praising it
get it together youtube, I DO NOT LIKE THIS GAME
thanks
Wait you gotta play to ending E?! I only got to C back in the day and even that one hit me hard.
the best game ever created. bought it at day one and loved it ever since, my favorite game after I completed endings C-E. I started crying, everything about this game is perfect for me <3