Gibbs
Log Status
Played
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
2 days
Last played
August 6, 2023
First played
July 27, 2023
Platforms Played
Another super hard game to rate. I love so much about this game. It does many things even better than Automata, but is still a bit of a dated mess.
The characters to start, are phenomenal. This is one of the strongest cast of characters i’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in a while. Emil, Weiss, and particularly Kaine and Nier are all so endearing, and fit together like puzzle pieces. However the story itself doesn’t really service them? Never did I feel their bonds really tested in ways that didn’t feel artificial, and most of the story doesn’t organically relate to the characters. But when the story does go in the direction it’s clearly trying to go, it has some very strong moments.
The gameplay is pretty fun, and the combat won’t have you bored, albeit it is a little more style than substance. What isn’t fun, however is the weird running around for a lot of the game. So many goals feel completely arbitrary and improvised. The first half is just full of doing random tasks and running through the same fields, and the second half, while better, loses its appeal very quickly on replay.
Which bring me into my biggest complaint. Doing the second half of the game for Route A is fine. But making me do it again with little changes for Route B felt tedious. The changes were cool for the cutscenes, but having to run through areas, fight the same enemies, and read the same dialogue, make you just want to rush through to the exciting parts, which a game should never do. What’s far far worse, is having to do the exact same thing with basically no changes for route C/D. Having the exact same experience outside of a final boss is just egregious. I really don’t understand why they couldn’t have just put this boss at the end of route B? I would have a very hard time believing anyone enjoyed doing the same thing the third time around. Replicant also adds a really cool brand new campaign, but to access it you have to playthrough most of the first half of the game again. Ugh. I fault Automata for its repeated content too, but that game handled it much better.
But it’s hard to say this ruins the game. Without its repeated content, the game really is special. A fun and emotional story, with amazing characters, and a jaw-dropping soundtrack. If you can bear the tedium, this is a gem.
The characters to start, are phenomenal. This is one of the strongest cast of characters i’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in a while. Emil, Weiss, and particularly Kaine and Nier are all so endearing, and fit together like puzzle pieces. However the story itself doesn’t really service them? Never did I feel their bonds really tested in ways that didn’t feel artificial, and most of the story doesn’t organically relate to the characters. But when the story does go in the direction it’s clearly trying to go, it has some very strong moments.
The gameplay is pretty fun, and the combat won’t have you bored, albeit it is a little more style than substance. What isn’t fun, however is the weird running around for a lot of the game. So many goals feel completely arbitrary and improvised. The first half is just full of doing random tasks and running through the same fields, and the second half, while better, loses its appeal very quickly on replay.
Which bring me into my biggest complaint. Doing the second half of the game for Route A is fine. But making me do it again with little changes for Route B felt tedious. The changes were cool for the cutscenes, but having to run through areas, fight the same enemies, and read the same dialogue, make you just want to rush through to the exciting parts, which a game should never do. What’s far far worse, is having to do the exact same thing with basically no changes for route C/D. Having the exact same experience outside of a final boss is just egregious. I really don’t understand why they couldn’t have just put this boss at the end of route B? I would have a very hard time believing anyone enjoyed doing the same thing the third time around. Replicant also adds a really cool brand new campaign, but to access it you have to playthrough most of the first half of the game again. Ugh. I fault Automata for its repeated content too, but that game handled it much better.
But it’s hard to say this ruins the game. Without its repeated content, the game really is special. A fun and emotional story, with amazing characters, and a jaw-dropping soundtrack. If you can bear the tedium, this is a gem.