Martintox Presents: Disorder Reviews
Rating System
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NIER: AUTOMATA
Rating System
I have a new album and a new Disorder Reviews blog.
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NIER: AUTOMATA
Developer: Platinum Games
Publisher: Square Enix
Director: Yoko Taro
Producer: Eijiro Nishimura, Yosuke Saito
Release Date: 23 February, 2017
Systems: PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One
Composer: Keiichi Okabe, Keigo Hoashi
Genre: Action-adventure with RPG elements
After spending some time as a designer for games such as Time Crisis II (1998), Yoko Taro joined Cavia and directed Drakengard (2003) and its spin-off Nier (2010), both of which have established his unique use of the video game format as an extension of narrative. He is believed to be afflicted with the "Miyazaki curse" (named after Hidetaka Miyazaki), as he has an uncanny tendency to make excellent first installments, but awful sequels.
The review contains spoilers.
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It's taken me quite some time to come around to Nier: Automata. When it comes to breakthrough games like this, it's always hard to discuss them from the perspective of a prior fan, because if you have something profoundly negative to say, it's easy to interpret that as indignation for "selling out" or making an unforgivable change to the formula, if it's not outright jealousy that other people now have an accessibly entry into "my dear niche artist"'s works. In truth, I don't really mind, all those newcomers are going to watch an LP of Drakengard instead of playing it themselves, so I'm still part of the Yoko Taro intelligentsia. In any case, I feel it's especially worth bearing in mind the critical acclaim and the sales so ludicrous that Nier: Automata has singlehandedly catapulted the director from a niche idol into an industry sensation. PlatinumGames outright credit its success for keeping them afloat; when you consider the Nier-themed dungeon in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers and the appearance of 2B in Soul Calibur VI, it's also clear they have been willing to ride this success all around town. The thing is that I wouldn't consider the game much of a sell-out move. Automata is as much a Taro game as Drakengard 2; there are plenty of nuances, but the core principle is the same. What made this particular iteration such a smash (beyond 2B's heaping assets)? I thought it was something surface-level such as the combat, but as it turns out, Automata has succeeded in exploiting the video game format to such a meta level that it took multiple years after its release for the director to bring its themes into full blossom.
First and foremost, we need to establish the premise: in the distant future after Nier's events, humanity has left the Earth following the invasion of "machine lifeforms", which operate as parts of a singular hivemind. In their stead, an android force under the name of YoRHa combats the machine menace. Through the game, the player has the opportunity to control three different YoRHa androids: combat model 2B, reconnaissance model 9S, and later on, the rogue attack android A2. However, things are not what they seem, and the situation unravels as these three characters discover the underlying truth. This is ultimately the central appeal of a Yoko Taro game: he plays with video game conventions to enhance his storytelling and convey his themes. Drakengard, for instance, allows you to kill an incredible amount of enemies as a standard hack-and-slash/air combat hybrid would, but uses this endless slaughter to drive home the main protagonist's use of violence as a cathartic release for pent-up emotional baggage. It has five endings, and each subsequent one requires you to kill even more people; accordingly, each is darker and more pessimistic than the last. To complete Nier: Automata in full, you actually need to do three playthroughs using the same save file, the idea being that each iteration peels back a layer of the world. When playing this game for the first time, I actually felt less and less compelled to finish it, but I now believe that I have profoundly underestimated Yoko Taro's genius. In truth, as the facade of the premise comes undone, so does the quality of the experience in turn.
As an innocuous example, let's take the gameplay. As an action-adventure, most of what you do is explore and battle enemies. This being a PlatinumGames title, there is plenty of freedom of horizontal and vertical movement, and many sections of the game require you to engage in some platforming as a result. Combat phases also solicit this freedom of movement, as there are enemies that take advantage of the vertical space. Your combat arsenal varies slightly depending on the player character: should you be using 2B or A2, you can equip two weapons, allowing you to chain combos with each of them in turn. Although 9S can only equip one at a time, he is also able to hack enemies to incapacitate them or deal massive damage -- this generally consists of a mini-shoot 'em up segment where you must eliminate a target in a short amount of time. Regardless of who you play, you also have a Pod, which you can equip with a variety of ranged weapons. Finally, you can use chips, which boost stats or give certain abilities; what's interesting is that the mechanic is also an extension of your character, as you can intentionally remove elements of the HUD to give yourself more space (you can also remove the life support chip and die). The result is an enticing experience that gives the player the opportunity to use this arsenal to its fullest through a multitude of varied, fast-paced battles... for the first playthrough.
The more I played, the more it came to light how shallow this aspect of the game was. Say what you will about the simplistic gameplay of Drakengard, where all you have is a handful of attack types and a magic ability; for what little combat mechanics it has, you are going to need every single one of them. In Nier: Automata, it became clear that it made little difference whether I used long swords, short swords, daggers, hammers, or spears. Yes, they offer different combo opportunities, but it's also extremely easy to find a dominant strategy for almost every encounter in the game (for me, it was using the spear's heavy air attack, which deals good damage and knocks down enemies). Once that happened, the only thing I did was switch between the Machine Gun Pod and the Homing Missile Pod from time to time, and once the luster of the flashy animations wore off, battles became a complete and utter chore. The customizability of chips does little to salvage the core experience. It's fortunate that you play 9S for much of the game, because his hacking ability will provide even the slightest stimulus once the excitement of combat turns into rigor mortis.
[cut-off due to the 10000 character limit]
