NieR: Automata Review

3/27/2017

Player(s): 1
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PC (via Steam)

Let me get some very important information about NieR: Automata out of the way: it is a “kind of sequel” to one of the endings of Nier, which itself was a spinoff of Drakenguard 3. There is a good chance you’ve never heard of the original Nier before buzz about Automata starting picking up. You do not have to have played either game before playing Automata. There’ll be references and cameos you might miss, but the good news is Automata is pretty self contained story-wise, so going in blind won’t hurt too bad. Which is important, because you should play Automata. Not because there’s cutie robot waifus (although, yes, there are, and they are indeed cuties), but because it’s a chance to play a game that changes both gameplay and expected story elements so frequently that experiencing it for yourself might make you change your outlook on all sorts of things. And because if it sells enough maybe Square Enix will re-release Nier on Steam or something. But mostly because it’s a very unique and challenging experience that’s deeply rewarding and hiding a lot behind the “2B is a cutie” facade.

Like many of the games I review, Automata requires a lot from a player willing to actually play it, and it is not without its technical problems. Texture popping is frequent, the “open world” landscape is disappointingly empty at times, load times feel like forever, many of the side quests aren’t particularly interesting, frame rate drops are constant, the standards controls are kind of miserable, at times it feels rushed and unpolished, I could go on. But it is worth getting past these issues to actually play the game. Thankfully the frame rate drops never stutter to the point of unplayability, you eventually get used to the controls, and well, meh visuals are more than made up for by the game with story, gameplay, and heart.

Speaking of gameplay, you may be led to believe this is a Bayonetta-style Platinum Games Hack-n-Slash, and you’d be partially right at best. The game switches styles, constantly. And boy do I hope you’re good at shooters. Not like, 3rd or 1st person shooters. No, I’m talking top or side scrolling bullet hells and twin stick arcade shumps. Because you’ll be doing that, a lot. A lot a lot. Upside, you can dodge, which makes it a bit easier to deal with. There’s also the side scrolling beat ‘em up hack and slashing, rendering your 3d attack strategies onto a 2d plane. Personally I found these areas to be quite a bit easier, but YMMV. You have access to a Pod for most of the game, which has its own attacks (usually a main firing, such as Gatling Gun or missile burst, and a specialized attack with a cooldown), and either fires at whatever enemy you’ve locked onto or wherever the camera’s pointed. The map is “open world” but feels rather confined, especially as you look through it from the ingame menu. There is no auto save, but plentiful save points with startlingly good range of use abound. Fast traveling isn’t really a thing for a few hours, but then it’s only between save points (still useful), otherwise you’re huffing it on foot or trying to ride animals around.

Beyond that, there is a lot of really cool play systems in the game. There’s all sorts of weapons to collect, each upgradable, and have their own stories as well (highly recommend if you’re into lore and flavor text). There fishing, because what game shouldn’t offer fishing in this day and age? There’s lot of side quests, but they aren’t the most interesting or unique things in the world (you play one open world game with side quests, you’ve just about played every type of side quest) outside of some of them offering good background story. There’s a very fun customization feature called “plug in chips”.

Since you’re playing a bunch of androids, it makes sense in a way to have essentially hard drive space you’d load offense and defense options on, and that’s where plug in chips come in. Each chip beyond your base OS chips (which are also removable, but be cautious of that) can power you up, such as extra weapon damage or defense, health regen, auto healing item usage, and so on. They all take up storage space, so it’s best to try to optimize regularly in the event you get a better chip that takes up less space. I highly recommend maxing out available chip space early game, since it is so very useful as you gain and fuse better chips. Nothing quite like being OP AF early in 2B’s route and having that carry on through the rest of the game.

And in true “every game is now Dark Souls-esque” fashion, there’s a penalty for dying: losing your body and subsequently your plug in chips (which makes sense, because they talk about transplanting their memories into new bodies regularly, which, for the android forces of YoRHa, probably happens a lot). Your options are to either pick your body back up and recover your chips, reload a save, or lose them forever. Along with that is a littering of android bodies across the map, whom you can pray for (giving the person who died an ingame boost if they happen to still be playing), and then you can either retrieve it for some money and temporary stat boosts, or repair it to have an extra body fight with you for a bit. Probably one of the better implementations of such a system in a game, with a reasoning that makes sense story wise.

The bulk of the game is split between 3 main routes. The first route is played as 2B, the cutie robot waifu everyone bought the game for initially, and is honestly the least exciting of the routes. She plays well, having access to 2 weapons at a time, allowing for pretty rad combos. The second route is played as 9S, 2B’s battle subordinate. His storyline follows the same as the previous route, but playing through this gives you the added bonus of seeing what was going on in his mind, as well as extra story bits expanding on the machines you’re ordered to fight. Instead of a heavy attack, he can hack into enemy machines, giving you a short arcade shooter minigame, complete with chiptune remixes of the soundtrack. It is very worth getting good at hacking, since most non-bosses only take one or two successful hacks to be defeated, and other enemies can’t hurt you while you hack. The third route takes place immediately after where routes one and two end story wise, and is a mix between 2B, 9S, and A2, another android you come across in the first two routes. This, arguably, is where the story gets to be the best, and I urge you to stick through all 3 routes to see the whole story through. Automata has made it pretty easy for you, allowing you to save at the end of each route, and having that save immediately load up the start of the next route. And better yet, all sorts of good things carry over, like items, weapons, plug in chips, completed quests, etc. Once all 3 routes are beaten for the first time, it also gives you access to a chapter select, making going back to complete side quests in certain chapters or getting certain endings much, much easier to do.

Endings? Yes. There’s 26 of them to be exact. Granted, only endings A-E are of any consequence to the game. The rest are short, silly little things such as the one where you “deserted” YoRHa by leaving a battle, removing your OS chip, and so on. Endings A and B are by beating 2B and 9S’s routes, C and D gathered from a decision for the final battle in route 3, and E… E is where things get interesting, in terms of seeing it.

The Discount Sephiroth Twins are here to warn you about spoilers

SPOILER ALERT. DO NOT SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU.

Ending E requires you to have gotten endings C and D from the third route, which requires doing the final battle twice (thankfully, because of the whole chapter select that opens up, you can jump right back to the battle after the credits). As the credits roll, a option turns the credit scroll into a most miserable bullet hell. It becomes nearly impossible to defeat, but every time you die, words of encouragement are displayed on the screen from others who have presumably beat the game. After so many deaths (because you will die, a lot. The last third of the section is nearly impossible to beat alone), a help offer will appear. Taking it brings other ships to your aid, who constantly switch out, so you’re never alone, and can actually stand a chance of finishing the bullet hell. After seeing ending E, you have an option to also offer words of encouragement to players having a hard time beating this section. However, to do so you must offer up ALL of your save files to do it. Yes. All of them. The realization that those words of encouragement and the helpful ships through the last section were made possible because other players willingly gave up save files brought tears to my eyes. Thank you all, you da real MVPs.

SPOILERS OVER

A pretty cool visual and audio glitch system screws up your display as your android self gets messed up

NieR: Automata might become one of the most important games of this generation. Given that Drakenguard wasn’t ever huge in the US, and Nier is rather unbeknownst, Automata being a relative big hit is a boon for Yoko Taro’s crazed brand of storytelling and game making. Its reception bodes well for big games willing to eschew “big budget, big name” norms usually only broken by indie games. Automata’s story ultimately treks into philosophical issues reserved for art house sci-fi films, and might best them at it. It’s gameplay is a chaotic blend of genres that meshes in a way other games that attempt to do so wish they could do half as well. Sure, it’s very out there. Sure, it’s got an anime cast of characters. Sure, it might be a pain to play. But I promise you, it’ll be the most unique game you’ve played in a long time if you get through it. It is one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in a long time, that challenged me in ways that didn’t feel cheap. It forces you to change your expectations about the story, the gameplay, the motivations of various characters, and more, constantly. It is, without a doubt, not a game for everyone. But I want everyone to play it so bad. Because I think it will become part of the gaming canon and spoken about years from now the way we talk about Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid, the first Halo, Ocarina of Time, and so on. And you want to be in the know on that.