Convince me to replay Nier: Automata

JohnnyDelRay

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Hey gang. So I've just finished my 1st playthrough of Nier: Automata, and I'm gonna do an Ezekiel here, where I complain about a game that I've given a chance, and look to the community to seek the good points and see whether it's worth giving another shot.

For all of you who've played and finished, (and enjoyed) have undoubtedly played it at least twice more, so I've heard is the minimum. But I didn't really feel this game.

{{{SPOILERS ABOUND}}}

Let me start with what I liked:
-most amazing setting, character design and setpieces I've seen in a game in perhaps a very long time.
-interesting mood and themes.
-absolutely engaging music that melds nicely with environment. First time I've really noticed how nuanced music can be in a game in response to what's going on. Reminds me a lot of Ghost in the Shell, maybe similar artists/composers, haven't really checked.

Now, what I didn't like:
-combat, although controls are extremely responsive, seems jumbled and tedious. I don't mind the bullet hell stuff, and I don't mind the fighting stuff, but trying to focus on both at the same time, while managing the camera just wasn't all that fun for me. And are you supposed to develop both ranged and melee? There are parts where you can only use one. Much bullet-spongy, drawn out fights. Lock-on is a ***** to use, I think I'm doing it wrong but it keeps jumping around.
-What is up with 2B? Is she just a ***** through the whole game so that she can let it all out and cry at the end? You hardly learn anything about her or relate to her coz she's cold and doesn't say shit. Is this expanded upon in further playthroughs?
-I'm as averse to handholding as the next guy, but there are SO many mechanics that I learned about by accident (like gliding with your pod), and makes me wonder what else I'm missing. I like discovering, but I don't like missing useful shit.
-Navigation is a pain in the ass, so many times I fast travel or spend ages dashing through tunnels only to get farther away from my objective.
-Many high lvl enemies planted in random places IN THE MIDDLE of lower class enemies locations (not like Souls games, where it's obvious where you shouldn't go due to being severely out-leveled), not clear what you're supposed to do there, but leave for subsequent playthroughs. Or destroy enemies, just to have them respawn endlessly.
-Fairly bland enemies, overly simple to the point of being boring. Brown, round, steampunky robots. Plus super edgy final boss (my brotherrrrrr!)

OK, thanks for making it this far if you did.
TL;DR: I kinda like this game, but it also annoys me like hell. I've played through once, is it really worth playing through again? I don't mind spoilers too much in this game, but use your discretion to sell me a 2nd playthrough.

P.S: I'm in a different timezone to most of you, so sorry if I don't reply quick, but I will read any and all replies for sure.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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I don't think I can, because the game spends the first 9 hours apparently trolling you with a boring playthrough. They even know the first scenario is boring as fuck, because the game asks you to please keep playing once the credits role, which wouldn't have been necessary if the game up to that point was in any way fun or interesting.

And from what I heard the following scenario is gameplay wise even worse than the first one.

The game is boring and empty with monotonous, limp combat and dull enemy designs. But I guess that's just shows how genius the game actually is, or something.
 

meiam

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Dec 9, 2010
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There's a simple solution, just watch a let's play that cut out the boring combat.

I played trough nier (the original) and if I could just go back in time I'd tell myself to just watch someone play it, the gameplay was boring but every non interactive part was good. Everything I've seen about automata tell me the same, so I'll probably just watch it at some point.
 

Phoenixmgs_v1legacy

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I haven't played Automata but it wasn't worth playing the 1st Nier 3 times or whatever it was to see everything and that game had better characters. I played the demo for Automata and the gameplay was better but I didn't care about those characters at all. The gameplay was too simplistic and I could tell it would overstay its welcome after about 8-12 hours.

RPGs nowadays have so much busywork that most of them aren't even worth playing honestly. It's sad when you can actually get more out of a game by just watching a playthrough than playing the damn game, plus that time commitment is then far less. I feel the 1st Nier definitely qualified for that. Even Witcher 3 qualified for that IMO as I didn't enjoy the gameplay at all. If you find playing the game fun, keep playing. But if you aren't actually enjoying the gameplay and just wanna see how everything plays out, watch a Nier Automata "movie" on Youtube.
 

Casual Shinji

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Phoenixmgs said:
RPGs nowadays have so much busywork that most of them aren't even worth playing honestly. It's sad when you can actually get more out of a game by just watching a playthrough than playing the damn game, plus that time commitment is then far less. I feel the 1st Nier definitely qualified for that. Even Witcher 3 qualified for that IMO as I didn't enjoy the gameplay at all. If you find playing the game fun, keep playing. But if you aren't actually enjoying the gameplay and just wanna see how everything plays out, watch a Nier Automata "movie" on Youtube.
I wouldn't qualify Automata as an RPG. Horizon:ZD is more of an RPG and I'd be harded pressed to even qualify that as one.

And there's a difference between finding what a game has to offer boring, and a game being boring on purpose as some sort of artistic expression, which is seemingly what Automata is going for, at least within its first 9 hours.
 

Sniper Team 4

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JohnnyDelRay said:
{{{SPOILERS ABOUND}}}

Let me start with what I liked:
-most amazing setting, character design and setpieces I've seen in a game in perhaps a very long time.
-interesting mood and themes.
-absolutely engaging music that melds nicely with environment. First time I've really noticed how nuanced music can be in a game in response to what's going on. Reminds me a lot of Ghost in the Shell, maybe similar artists/composers, haven't really checked.

Now, what I didn't like:
-combat, although controls are extremely responsive, seems jumbled and tedious. I don't mind the bullet hell stuff, and I don't mind the fighting stuff, but trying to focus on both at the same time, while managing the camera just wasn't all that fun for me. And are you supposed to develop both ranged and melee? There are parts where you can only use one. Much bullet-spongy, drawn out fights. Lock-on is a ***** to use, I think I'm doing it wrong but it keeps jumping around.
-What is up with 2B? Is she just a ***** through the whole game so that she can let it all out and cry at the end? You hardly learn anything about her or relate to her coz she's cold and doesn't say shit. Is this expanded upon in further playthroughs?
-I'm as averse to handholding as the next guy, but there are SO many mechanics that I learned about by accident (like gliding with your pod), and makes me wonder what else I'm missing. I like discovering, but I don't like missing useful shit.
-Navigation is a pain in the ass, so many times I fast travel or spend ages dashing through tunnels only to get farther away from my objective.
-Many high lvl enemies planted in random places IN THE MIDDLE of lower class enemies locations (not like Souls games, where it's obvious where you shouldn't go due to being severely out-leveled), not clear what you're supposed to do there, but leave for subsequent playthroughs. Or destroy enemies, just to have them respawn endlessly.
-Fairly bland enemies, overly simple to the point of being boring. Brown, round, steampunky robots. Plus super edgy final boss (my brotherrrrrr!)

OK, thanks for making it this far if you did.
TL;DR: I kinda like this game, but it also annoys me like hell. I've played through once, is it really worth playing through again? I don't mind spoilers too much in this game, but use your discretion to sell me a 2nd playthrough.

P.S: I'm in a different timezone to most of you, so sorry if I don't reply quick, but I will read any and all replies for sure.
I shall attempt to address your points as best I can:

1) I never really had much of a problem with combat. I found it fast enough that I could dodge out of the way of most attacks easily, thus making me feel pretty awesome, especially when you get in the counter attack. In fact, the only time I had any trouble in combat was at the very end, where you start losing all your abilities in that final fight. Might I suggest trying combat without locking on to enemies? I think I did that in a few places, and I constantly had my finger on the trigger for my pod, just letting it whittle things down while I attacked. Honestly, I fear I won't be much help on this point, because I was so engrossed in the story that the gameplay kind of faded from my mind.

2) 2B's story stays kind of hidden until you get into the second run, and it REALLY takes off in the third one. Yes, she's cold and kind of a ***** at first, but you will find out why if you keep going.
However, you are missing one important point as to why she is so beloved. Girl is hot. As such, she's already got tons of fans, and for a lot of people, just watching her run around in that dress, flipping around with those legs, was enough to keep them going. She does have character to her, but for the first run, it's pretty much hidden. I think this might be done so you, as the player, can form your own opinion about what she's doing, while 9S is constantly telling you his.

3) Yeah...yeah. I hear you on this one. There's a spot in the flooded city that has a chest on it. Didn't get it on my first run, so I thought I'd get it on my second. Nope. Finally fed up, I looked up how to get it. Guess what? Not only can you glide with your pod, but it can also FLING YOU! Nowhere is this mentioned in the game (as far as I know), but it's the only way to reach that chest. I think the gliding is at least mentioned, or maybe I found it by mistake by holding the jump button a bit too long. I can't remember.

4) Navigation isn't so much a pain as it's not direct. Most times it tells you where to go, and a straight line is enough. But there are a few parts where the straight line isn't going to work. This is the game's way of telling you to go explore I think, and it's kind of hit and miss. There were a few times where I did have to look up where this new path was that the game wanted me to take, but once you finish your first run, you should have the map down and you won't have to worry anymore.

5) I think--think--you've run into Gold Enemies. If that is the case, then they are not meant for 2B. You are meant to face them on your next run, when you play as 9S. He has a skill that makes short work of them. Don't worry, this drove me nuts too and I had to look it up because I was steamrolling everyone else.

6) Can't really help you there I'm afraid. The enemies are pretty yawn. Reading their info adds a little spice, but in terms of appearance, you've seen probably about 75% of the enemy types after the first run. What makes them interesting is what they're doing, and their personalities. There's more going on with the robots, as I'm sure you noticed when you got to the cult at the end of 2B's story.


Bottom line: I personally think it is worth it to keep going. 9S' story adds some new levels to what you've already seen--although not too much, as it's the same just told from his point of view--but the third run? The final run? THAT is where things pick up. It is like season 2 of an anime, is the only way to describe it. The first two runs where season one, and the third run is the start of a new season. And it's brutal. This third run is where the game pulls out all the stops in terms of story and characters. Truthfully, I wish there was a way you could skip 9S and just jump into the third run, but to do that would also kind of spoil the final run, so...
Anyway, I would say you should keep going. Just keep in mind that 9S' turn, while it is different, is still the same story, just from his view. Think of it as vegetables before that sweet delicious dessert.
And one more thing! If you do keep going, pick whichever weapon you want 2B to use BEFORE you start as 9S, because she's stuck with them for the entire time, and that kind of bugged me.
 

Phoenixmgs_v1legacy

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Casual Shinji said:
I wouldn't qualify Automata as an RPG. Horizon:ZD is more of an RPG and I'd be harded pressed to even qualify that as one.

And there's a difference between finding what a game has to offer boring, and a game being boring on purpose as some sort of artistic expression, which is seemingly what Automata is going for, at least within its first 9 hours.
The term RPG really means nothing anymore, I don't even consider Witcher 3 to be an RPG, I just use the term that people most commonly refer to such games as. I wanna play Nioh but I fear it has too much busywork getting new weapons and such, upgrading this and that, leveling stats, I hear you have to grind to get levels, and such stuff. I just wanna play the game and not deal with loots and constantly replacing my stuff with slightly better stuff. Horizon kept all that shit to the minimum pretty much.

I haven't played Automata and I wouldn't put it pass that director for doing some dumbass shit, I fully "experienced" the first Nier and that was more than enough; it was really nothing more than a decent anime plot with a couple good characters. Super Bunnyhop's "What you missed from Nier [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8xx4sT6rEI]" is pretty spot-on.
 

Phoenixmgs_v1legacy

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Ezekiel said:
Nier: Automata's quests aren't busywork. Well, searching for buried treasure in the desert is, but most of the quests are worthwhile. They have stories to tell (with humor and unique characters) that contribute to the world. But who am I kidding? You never budge on anything. Well, once in a blue moon, you stop responding, but you don't concede.
Huh? I said I didn't enjoy the gameplay much (Platinum-lite basically) so playing through good or bad quests is still not much fun. Even with Witcher 3's side quests being good, actually PLAYING them wasn't fun because the gameplay wasn't fun, I could've watched a playthrough and been more entertained while taking less of my time. I know from the 1st Nier that there will be a decent amount of replaying sections I already played.
 

JohnnyDelRay

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gigastar said:
JohnnyDelRay said:
Did you get ending C, D or E? Those are the real end of the games story.
Ezekiel said:
By one playthrough, do you mean you've seen one ending? That's not a playthrough. I wish people would stop saying that. It's like getting to the end of the Virtuous Mission in MGS3 and saying you've beaten the game, when there's still the much longer Operation Snake Eater. You ain't seen nothing yet.
I'm not sure what I got in that case...I just got the ending where
I kill the guy out for vengeance for his brother with a broken sword thru the back of the head. Then I mercy strangle the life out of 9S, which sends all the robot heads back into life through some data transmission, and 9S reverts to a backup where he "Lucy's" himself into the mainframe to exist forever.
I'm only calling it a playthrough because that's what Squeenix calls it after the credits roll. So I'm assuming it is one, and now I have to do it all over again with 9S. It is confusing, I've never seen a game try this before and I wonder if they pulled it off well enough to warrant a "full" actual playthrough. Due to the number of endings, how many times do you have to play it to consider a playthrough? Most say 3 at the very least.

Oh and it wasn't a joke 'alternate' ending either, because I didn't die in that fight, one of my friends said that's what happens apparently?
 

JohnnyDelRay

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Sniper Team 4 said:
snip


Bottom line: I personally think it is worth it to keep going. 9S' story adds some new levels to what you've already seen--although not too much, as it's the same just told from his point of view--but the third run? The final run? THAT is where things pick up. It is like season 2 of an anime, is the only way to describe it. The first two runs where season one, and the third run is the start of a new season. And it's brutal. This third run is where the game pulls out all the stops in terms of story and characters. Truthfully, I wish there was a way you could skip 9S and just jump into the third run, but to do that would also kind of spoil the final run, so...
Anyway, I would say you should keep going. Just keep in mind that 9S' turn, while it is different, is still the same story, just from his view. Think of it as vegetables before that sweet delicious dessert.
And one more thing! If you do keep going, pick whichever weapon you want 2B to use BEFORE you start as 9S, because she's stuck with them for the entire time, and that kind of bugged me.
Hey, thanks for taking the time to address all the negatives! Long story short, this might've convinced me to start my next playthrough soon, maybe by this weekend. At the very least, I'll see if I can blast through 9S 'campaign' without too much grinding. I think I made the game a bit monotonous for myself by grinding the shit out of it, would I be able to just play straight through it? Or do enemies scale and will take hours to bring down?

Just a quick reply on your enlightening points:
1) I will try playing without fingering the lock-on and see what happens. Sometimes I zone out and try to play it more like Bayonetta/DmC games and just melee and counter everything, and I realize I could be doing lots more damage with the pod and I get into the finger gymnastics again.

2) Yeah, I figured the love affair {with 2B} was due to her design. And she is awesomely modelled/animated. But I just wonder if there's more to it rather than "androids shouldn't show emotion". I guess the 3rd playthrough will tell.

3) Nothing to do about this {lack of tutorials} other than maybe research some youtube videos, although I don't like resorting to that on initial playthroughs.

4) {tedious nav} I guess I do know where most things are by now, but the first time through boy was it a pain. Especially without the shortcuts opened up, and fast travel being activated.

5) {gold enemies?} Yes I've heard 9S hacks the enemies. I don't mind that at all, I just wished they weren't plonked right in your path. The infinite respawn is really annoying too, they should denote that this is a farming area and not a clear out all enemies to reveal something area.

6) {repetitive enemy design} The bosses are cool at least. But yeah, bashing around the same old robots gets boring quick. I'm at lvl 34, and hoping I didn't overgrind this. I guess it's more into the various weapons and attacks that keeps things somewhat interesting.
 

ChupathingyX

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Casual Shinji said:
and a game being boring on purpose as some sort of artistic expression, which is seemingly what Automata is going for, at least within its first 9 hours.
Who ever claimed Automata was purposely trying to be boring?
 

kenu12345

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It's a game that you own thus there is no sunk cost since you already the game. Worse that comes is you wasted some time. Probability is more that you would find something to like than something that would make is horrible to play. This is all coming from someone who hasnt played this game fully yet. I literally just bought it today.
 
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I had an absolute blast with N:A, so my natural inclination is to say that you should keep going. But if its really not your thing, then you should stop and play something you enjoy more.

-combat, although controls are extremely responsive, seems jumbled and tedious. I don't mind the bullet hell stuff, and I don't mind the fighting stuff, but trying to focus on both at the same time, while managing the camera just wasn't all that fun for me. And are you supposed to develop both ranged and melee? There are parts where you can only use one. Much bullet-spongy, drawn out fights. Lock-on is a ***** to use, I think I'm doing it wrong but it keeps jumping around.
I tended to stick towards melee combat over ranged when I could. There's a plugin that you can equip called shockwave, which adds a short-ranged wave attack with every swing of your weapon. I found that was the easiest way to take care of the flying enemies. Other than that, there are two pods that you can find in the game world with different methods of attacking (Homing missiles and a lightning bolt). As for upgrading, by the time I hit the last ending I think I had two pods at level 3 and one at level 2, so I barely got any upgrades for them at all, but most of my melee weapons were at level 4.

-What is up with 2B? Is she just a ***** through the whole game so that she can let it all out and cry at the end? You hardly learn anything about her or relate to her coz she's cold and doesn't say shit. Is this expanded upon in further playthroughs?
I'm not 100% sure that its addressed in the game itself very well. I think its referenced in the weapon story of one of 2B's starting weapons and they make tangential references in the later play throughs. If you're really interested, though, let me know and I'll send you a PM about it. It is horribly spoiler-y though and touches on some of the late game reveals, so I'd advise against it if you're going to see it through to the end.
-I'm as averse to handholding as the next guy, but there are SO many mechanics that I learned about by accident (like gliding with your pod), and makes me wonder what else I'm missing. I like discovering, but I don't like missing useful shit.
Not going to lie, that bugged me a lot too. Particularly when they don't tell you about some of your mobility options which would've been great to know early on.
-Navigation is a pain in the ass, so many times I fast travel or spend ages dashing through tunnels only to get farther away from my objective.
Agreed. The map on the main menu is next to useless. There are a number of times I got lost, when my destination was the flooded city or the underground cave area in the middle of the map.
-Many high lvl enemies planted in random places IN THE MIDDLE of lower class enemies locations (not like Souls games, where it's obvious where you shouldn't go due to being severely out-leveled), not clear what you're supposed to do there, but leave for subsequent playthroughs. Or destroy enemies, just to have them respawn endlessly.
The only real issues I had with over leveled enemies were the golden ones, which were part of a side story and the parade sidequest, which was straight bull****. I never managed to beat it. ._.
-Fairly bland enemies, overly simple to the point of being boring. Brown, round, steampunky robots. Plus super edgy final boss (my brotherrrrrr!)
I think that's kind of the point. They're very simple designs, meant to be quickly and easily manufactured so they can crank them out by the thousands in very little time. I think the intent is to show the difference in methodology between the machine lifeforms and the androids. The androids have different models for just about every task you can think of, but becaus of that, they are limited in numbers. Whereas the machines have very few variations (big, small, flying), but make up for that by having thousands of them.
 

JohnnyDelRay

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Thank you for the insight! The more I've been researching this, the more it seems like quite a bit of actual content I'm missing out on. I admit I am rather curious about the story, because the initial playthrough seems a bit thin on the lore. What I'm more worried about is whether it's going to be actual fun to play. To discuss in your points as below-
The Eupho Guy said:
I had an absolute blast with N:A, so my natural inclination is to say that you should keep going. But if its really not your thing, then you should stop and play something you enjoy more.

I tended to stick towards melee combat over ranged when I could. There's a plugin that you can equip called shockwave, which adds a short-ranged wave attack with every swing of your weapon. I found that was the easiest way to take care of the flying enemies. Other than that, there are two pods that you can find in the game world with different methods of attacking (Homing missiles and a lightning bolt). As for upgrading, by the time I hit the last ending I think I had two pods at level 3 and one at level 2, so I barely got any upgrades for them at all, but most of my melee weapons were at level 4.
Yes, I abused the hell out of shockwave. I put a few points into ranged but it didn't seem to do much at all. Shockwave turned out to be a savior in many places, like the big spherical boss who electrocutes the water around it. But I haven't managed to upgrade my pod even once yet. Maybe the lightning will provide something more useful, where I can focus more on the camera, timing attacks and not getting hit.
I'm not 100% sure that its addressed in the game itself very well. I think its referenced in the weapon story of one of 2B's starting weapons and they make tangential references in the later play throughs. If you're really interested, though, let me know and I'll send you a PM about it. It is horribly spoiler-y though and touches on some of the late game reveals, so I'd advise against it if you're going to see it through to the end.
I'll have a look at the Virtuous back stories next time I log in. I am interested now, that it seems much is to be revealed. So I'd rather not spoil it just yet.
The only real issues I had with over leveled enemies were the golden ones, which were part of a side story and the parade sidequest, which was straight bull****. I never managed to beat it. ._.
Yeah I dunno about this. I just hope it's not a very very specific approach (only one character, on a certain playthrough, with certain this and that) otherwise I might just leave it. If I'm curious enough by that point I'll consider consulting a guide.
I think that's kind of the point. They're very simple designs, meant to be quickly and easily manufactured so they can crank them out by the thousands in very little time. I think the intent is to show the difference in methodology between the machine lifeforms and the androids. The androids have different models for just about every task you can think of, but becaus of that, they are limited in numbers. Whereas the machines have very few variations (big, small, flying), but make up for that by having thousands of them.
That's an interesting way to look at it. Maybe some insight I'm missing since just brushing the surface thus far. But I can see that being a theme indeed. But doesn't explain much about Adam and Eve (yet), or tell you much about the aliens other than they are a rather industrious race bent on conquest. And that the robots taking on emotions and human quantities could just be a strange glitch in programming. But we'll see I guess.
In conclusion, from most of the feedback I guess it's worth a shot. And like kenu12345 said, there's not much to lose since I bought the game already. But if 9S gameplay turns out to be too much of a grind, I'll move on and play something that I enjoy more, rather than have to motivate myself to pick up the controller.