Fight shadow creatures and purge the land of evil to save your sister.

I honestly don't really know why, but this one isn't it for me. I played through all of Automata, got every ending, and I was really invested the whole time. I enjoyed the story, the combat got a bit stale but still worked fine throughout, and I loved all the characters.
So I find myself asking..what changed?

In this one, the story really isn't grabbing me. I find myself just wanting it to be over, ignoring all the mostly abysmal side content, and beelining through the main events in the hopes that it improves. Sadly it hasn't been anything to write home about in my time playing. A couple interesting segments, sure, but I think it's been pretty dull besides that. Based on everyone's praise, I'm sure there's some huge reveal and a lot of great writing in the latter half, but..I am just not making it there right now. I at least need a long hiatus.

I like the characters a lot, the story is fine, but the combat. Easily the worst offender for me by a longshot. It is so incredibly mind-numbing that I genuinely can't continue putting myself through it anymore. I can't really say exactly why it doesn't feel good exactly, but- it is definitely up there with some of my least favorite feeling combat. At the very least you end up getting different weapon types to shake things up on the fly, but..man, I dunno. It just ain't it. That first handful of hours was really tough to slog through, combat wise. It likely doesn't help that you re-tread and re-fight the same enemies in the same areas for the entire duration (that I've played). It's just..so dry.
I'm talkin' oyster crackers and a shot of straight cinnamon, dry.

Another side note: I'm assuming the ability comes back, but I am not very content about getting fast travel, and then immediately losing it. Especially after spending more time walking to destinations, then even being in them. On the bright side, these maps are now burned into my brain permanently. :)

I'm unfortunately just not enjoying it enough to spend more time with it. I won't say the game is bad or anything like that, but it just isn't working for me personally. Like. When I only play something simply because I feel like I have to, it's time for me to stop playing it.
Maybe I'll pick it up again one day. Who knows.

Judging by the vast amounts of praise, it seems like the game is very worth trying out, even if it isn't for me. Grab it on sale and give it a go if you'd like.

This game has so many good ideas, but they are relatively poorly executed. I suppose most of this game's flaws would be avoided by doing a remake instead of a remaster, and especially if they did it with a bigger budget. In short, it's an interesting game if you're a big fan of any other Yoko Taro game, but if you have no idea who this asshole is, just play NieR: Automata before experiencing any other game made by him. And the 20 minute long VN sessions made me hate this game a little bit.
The game is carried by the best soundtrack that i've listened in my life, and by the great and misterious story. About the combat, well, it is good, but not as good as NieR Automata combat