Nier: Automata

"The medium is the message" - Marshall McLuhan. Note: spoilers for the game!

Nier: Automata has been sitting in my backlog for a long time. I picked it up a few years ago during a 50% off sale, hearing it was very good but never finding the right time to start it. Like most narrative heavy video games, I prefer to go in blind, so I didn't know anything about it apart from what the characters looked like.

As I had recently started streaming, I thought this would be a fun journey to go on, and have some companions experience it with me in chat

I haven't played a proper, good RPG in a long time, so from the opening scene, I could already tell this was going to be an experience with a video game that I had been yearning for. From the grand scale, the music, the characters, the environment, the gameplay, every aspect of the world was intriguing and kept me wanting more.

What I loved

Every now and then, a game will come along that so perfectly utilises its medium to tell a story in a specific way, and I love it every time (Undertale is the other game that comes to mind).

The way that Nier: Automata takes aspects of RPGs which are usually a given (deaths, new games), and gives each of them purpose is very cool and such a perfect use of the format itself. It made me conscious of the choices I made, and felt like I had agency over the characters and story, only to take it away in the tragedy that is the relationship between 2B and 9S.

The characters themselves are so well designed. I like that they're just out there in combat in these beautiful outfits. There is a reason why despite knowing very little else about the game, I wasn't able to escape the 2B cosplayers in the following year the game came out. Iconic, slay, etc. Each felt distinct, making the different playthroughs feel unique, I only wish I could have spent more time as A2...

Visually, I loved exploring the world, seeing the different environments. Personally I thought the aesthetics and art direction was so perfect in this game. If I chance upon the artbook, I will be kissing my money goodbye. I wished there was more time at the Amusement Park because it was cute and the most fun environment.

The soundtrack, VO, sfx, also extremely well done. Usually I can be a bit skeptical of an English dub, but I do believe this is one of the better ones, and deserves all the awards. The soundtrack, I don't need to speak more on. It speaks for itself.

I was so invested in hoping for a happy ending for 9S and 2B. Just as desperate as 9S was, to look for a way to bring 2B back so that they could just run off and go live a normal life, maybe have a picnic and go shopping together, no longer fight in a pointless war. That's what the delusional part of my brain likes to think happens after ending E.

What I didn't love

Nier:Automata does so many things so well, that I didn't really care that the actual combat of the game was quite repetitive. Which it is, but I knew going into the game that the story was the part that I would care about the most. At the very least, it is satisfying as a hack and slash, and the weapons look good. I personally didn't mind it, but I can imagine those in it for the combat may not have enjoyed the repetition.

What eventually did wear me down was travelling place to place for quests. The fast travel points were often very far from the quest locations, it did become a bit of a slog trying to do the side quests. I wish they had motorbikes or a mega fast pod upgrade I could use. When youtube tutorials have to double the speed of their footage because traversal takes so long, I do think those travel points could have been better located.

My personal game of the year 2017

I know 2017 was eight years ago now but I can't believe it wasn't nominated. Award shows are meaningless and stupid unless the thing that I want is nominated and wins...

I hope I can find more games that make me feel things like this game did.