A story analysis and examination of Nier Automata, a game that is a masterpiece when it comes to storytelling, themes, and gameplay.
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https://www.youtube.com/@YourFavoriteSon1
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:54 Prologue
4:00 History Lesson
8:57 The Machines
24:09 Adam & Eve
30:20 Route A
47:44 Route B
1:00:10 Route C/D
1:22:45 True Ending
1:28:01 Outro
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Music Courtesy of Nier Replicant/Automata OST’s
0;00 Automata – Significance
4;00 Automata – City Ruins
9;00 Replicant – The City of Commerce
24;22 Replicant – The Incomplete Stone
30;33 Replicant – Hills of Radiant Wind
47;57 Replicant – Song of the Ancients
1;00;19 Replicant – The Incomplete Stone
1;22;57 Automata – The Weight of the World
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Hope You Enjoyed!
#gingy #nierautomata #story
46 Comments
another little detail is that 2B's appearance is based of A2
I finished up a second playthrough in preparation for the upcoming orchestra concerts and happened to see this video just days before completion. Great recap and analysis. I committed to wiping my save data this time, as I didn't have the heart to do so last time. My message was similar to yours: "This world is rife with hardship. And yet, the whole world is rooting for you." Such a touching game with one of the most beautiful endings. Thank you for this video.
fav game. Definitely the game I've thought about the most; the story is a masterclass on what humanity even is.
Thank you for this beautiful video
Well done, Sir! 😊
You have to delve into rhe drakengard story. Drakengard 1 is my second favorite narrative in the series
Im actually flabbergasted that you managed to obfuscate the story without lying until you said "all of them are on the moon".
The "white chlorination sickness ended and humanity moved on" was so slick I slid off my seat
So fun fact about the credits, it most certainly isn’t imposible, I know because I did not have internet when I beat the game and because of that I had to solo that shit not know there was an easier way. I didn’t now until I replayed the game last year. I just assumed Yoko Taro was being a bastard again. It took me a while but I love me some bullet hell so I enjoyed the challenge.
Once again, you have absolutely blown me away with this story analysis. You have a serious talent for this and i absolutely love your content keep up the amazing work
Imagine sacrificing your save file only for gingy to come along and destroy it along with 50 other saves because he cant dodge red balls properly. XD
Another interesting insight is how the game rejects philosophers. All throughout the game you fight against philosophers like engels, simone, grun etc and you kill them which is symbolic of you literally rejecting their beliefs and ideals and instead the game is telling players to choose their own ideals and forge their own path, not have your life be dictated by others.
After some twenty five years, this game finally took the #1 spot from metal gear solid as my favorite video game ever.
In one of the Terry Pratchett books (The Fifth Elephant) there is a scene towards the end where commander Vimes talks to the king of the dwarves. It's about a dwarven relic that has been forged and the king explain that the relic has to be replaced every few hundred years either way and he explains it by talking about his family heirloom axe: Of course sometimes the handle gets changed, embellishments are added or the blade gets switched out, but that doesn't change its status of being a family heirloom. The story of the android replacing most of his body reminded me of that.
No game has ever made me proud to delete my data until Nier:Automata
So fun fact, there is also a raid series in Final Fantasy XIV that is a Nier crossover and at the risk at muddy-ing the waters even further where timelines are concerned, is confirmed by yoko taro to be canon to the Nier universe as well
Problem with NA is that it is anxiety inducing…
1:26:35
… I don't actually remember what message I sent
… and I can't look it up
… because my game data was deleted
Fantastic.
Emil sounds like an annoying little baby
On your channel you have never just started an analysis with a games sequel and completely ignore its first game I really wanna know why you chose to do so in this case. We're you just unaware that replicant is a remake of nier 2010 or do you only care for automata due to its overwhelming popularity
A truly amazing retrospective worthy of a truly amazing game.
Automata is a true masterpiece of gaming.
Great recap, Thanks for telling.
Nier automata video essays are always good!
it is sad TO ME that such a well thought out and deep story is linked by a type of gameplay that does not interest me in the least. That's the only reason I've never played this game.
Yess
Great video, but I have one caveat – Automata is an actual word, it is the plural of Automaton. The dictionary definition of Automaton is: "a moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being" – so we can be fairly certain this use case is intentional. I bring this up because Automaton, and by association its plural – Automata, have known pronunciations.
au·tom·a·ton and au·tom·a·tah
not Auto-ma-ta
It's kinda grating how many times it's said in the video. If it was an intentional troll – then A+ it worked. If not intentional, kinda not great for the longevity of the video… yeah, seems like a lot of work to fix, but technically you ARE pronouncing it wrong.
Kinda a petty pet peeve to have… but so many people struggle with the title of this game since it came out, and… like… the word is in the dictionary… the phonetics are right there too.
It's even got plenty of youtube vids out there if you look it up – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQcdsZwMJ8E
Plus you made a 1.5 hour youtube video about the game and didn't point out the meaning of the title? It's kind of important to the story to understand what an Automaton is, and why the plural is in the title… the game is all about various Automata… 2B is an automaton… the machines are automata… this is a word that means A LOT in the context of the game.
Babby's first philosophy
4:00
Hmm does that mean the very first people to reach the true ending could only sacrifice their saves and not see the actual ending? After all, there were no extra ships to help them. Or did I misunderstand something about that segment?
I guess i am the dumbass who finished route C without even knowing that potions existed. That would’ve made the game a lot easier.
nier automatas story is something that can only be masterfully told by a video game. and by that i mean without the cinematic elements that triple A stories use thats akin to watching movies like the last of us games or the modern god of war(love those titles too). niers storytelling hits so damn hard cuz you are constantly being put in the characters shoes, playing them and seeing their development, no matter how emotionally painful it gets, as opposed to playing the usual story game where you just watch the main narrative unfold by itself.
automata is the best written video game i know
what i wonder is…. if humanity wasn't amost wiped by the great plague…. would the alien invasion actually have had been successful considering we'd have our population and most likely woulda fought back easier
Great video.. just one thind rubbed me in the wrong way.. saying that A and B are "endings" is not true.. because the game continue with C -> D/E.
Also.. i disagree with the saying that Route B is "90%"… yes.. narrative is the same. you are doing and participating mostly of the same events. But beyond the parts were you have to go from place Z to X you are doing the content with a different POI..and half are even in different places (example, first mission you are in a complete different place from 2b). The fight with the goliath, you are in a different place, when you are kidnapped as 9s. you are in a different place.
Mommy iana?
This was the most bizarre game I've ever played. I totally didn't got why it is so much praised. I played for 25 hours wanting to quit multiple times, but said to myself every time "this is game is supposed to be a masterpiece, it should get great soon!" It didn't….
PLEASE DO A VIDEO ON DESTINY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
Look, I love you kids even if you’re 11 in your parents’ basement. But it’s hard not to lose all credibility when you explain existentialism and then pronounce “Sartre” like you’ve never been to a pretentious dinner party in your life.
its the best game of the last 10 year. great story, and vibe, best design, and soundtrack… im glad i bought and played with.
Nier automata is one of the best games square have released in recent years, and they didn't want to make it and had little input into it because of it.
I had to stop watching because the dubs are just, so awful.
That being said i have to campaign for the original language for most media. subs are good enough to translate when i can feel the emotion in the VAs words.
2b is voiced by mikasa from AOT.
9S gets special voiceovers via the voice changer.
if you didn't turn the voiceovers to the Japanese version there is just SO MUCH you missed out on.
The prologue of this game basically tells the story, how 2bs target was really 9S all along and how in the end 9s shows 2b what love is, the true meaning of the story, and then they blow themselves up via black box
Imagine if your loved one died and came back a person who didnt remember you?
This really helped me empathize with how coldly 2b acts during act A
theres this really cool dialogue moment as you approach the city in the flight crafts, 9S mentions how weird it is for 2b to be going on a mission normally meant for scanner types like himself. its these smol details that just really made this game for me. because when you find out shes an E model, you finally understand how hard it is for her to open up to people and care and thats why the operator treats 2b so differently from 9s.
When i found out that jean paul was the catalyst that prompted that beautiful oprah singer robot to chase beauty. ah, that is storytelling, the attention to detail is actually heads and shoulders above the competition.
They also understand proper fanservice, i know this might be a swept under the rug mention but i'm a man of culture and i appreciate when it's tastefully done.
I was dating a girl who was also playing Automata as I got to Ending E. I wish I could remember what my message was, but I gave up my save file so I could help her win the fight. We ended up breaking up, but we remain friends to this day. I dont know if she ever cleared the game or even saw my message, but I like to think she did on some level.
So happy people are still talking about this masterpiece, which just goes on to show how timeless it is and will be, even in the far future. I truly haven’t stopped thinking about this game’s story and gameplay every since I finished most endings🫶🏻 Live, Laugh, NieR
Nier Automata gives you Depression , but cures you on the 2nd Playthrough
Is it a masterpiece? I disagree… It's good, but too much of a mish mash of under developed idea and kinda pretentious with said idea.
Secondly, it has too much story element that has to be explored OUTSIDE of the game to get the full story, in which I really don't like from any media.
AUDIBLY YELLED OUT “FUCK YES” IN PUBLIC AFTER I SAW THIS SHOW UP IN MY FEED