Game good 8/10.

I liked basically every aspect of Automata slightly more than the Replicant equivalent, whether characters (designs and motives), story aspects or what have you.

Again, I don't really like the idea of splitting the game into 'endings', but it's fine. As long as you know it's a thing the game does, and you SHOULD NOT stop after ending A, it's inoffensive. I just find it, dare i say, unnecessary when i feel like nothing's lost by just making the story flow normally without chopping it with endings.

I liked the vibe of this game more than Replicant, things like the world and characters are neato. The gameplay's also a step up, with customisation working well and not being that much of a chore (like with other jrpgs). Music is peak (and carries the franchise) ofc.

Unrelated rant in-coming, but I feel like I'm just missing something here with the Nier franchise. It just doesn't connect with me as much as with everyone else, and I feel like there are tons of small holes in my narrative understanding that make things feel lacking. Like, all the unanswered whats and whys of just enough small things add up for me to be left feeling like I'm missing the information to make everything click.
For example: What was A2 originally and what's her deal?
Since the commander knows humans are gone, why continue fighting? What do you gain?
What's up with Adam and Eve? Where/what did they actually come from? How?
What's with the white pristine palace places?
What's with the resistance people? Are they androids? What's their deal?
What's with the machines that don't kill? Why?

Like, all those questions may have been answered, and I'm just not paying attention, but either way I'm left feeling slightly confused about the world and all these miscellaneous things.
Maybe I'd be happier if it was longer, or didn't have so many 'endings' before ACTUALLY ending, but right now, I'm just slightly confused and therefore can't sink my teeth into the game anymore than I have to, you know?

tldr, game good, music carries ofc and the game is a step-up from Replicant in most ways. I don't really feel like I understand the game/series enough to connect with it properly though, and I still don't like the 'multi-endings' thing over your typical storytelling (though that's my preference).

Game good.

Story starts fine, but picks up by part 2 and the extra endings ties things up very nicely. I do think that ending C is kinda pointless as an extra ending after B, but it's inoffensive since it's an extra maybe 2hrs by that point lol. I also think the endings should be presented more like a new game +, but again, it's whatever.
I understand the game 'changes genre' on purpose, and it is cool and all, but I personally just don't really like that.
Themes and characters are all pretty neat, scaling from 'pretty neat' to 'pretty dang cool'.
The music carries the game for me, since most of the world and game aspects just don't really connect with me. That's not to say the world's bad, I just don't connect with it for what it's worth. I think it's bc the side quests all kinda suck lol, they're by FAR the biggest problem I have with the game.

7/10, maybe 7.5.
tl:dr, I understand the craze behind it, being a 'classic' and all, but I just don't connect with it as much as everyone else does apparently. Music bussin' tho

alright, i wanna just throw around a ton of things i have to say about this game, so here's the short review:
This is exactly what I could have hoped for in a botw sequel from the story and chars. to gameplay and themes, i love it all. Although it's better than botw as an overall 'video game package' to me (more gameplay/stuff to do, better story, better shrines, ect), i cant say i 100% prefer it over botw - maybe it's just nostalgia or im just being stubborn, whatever, both games are peak. Easy 10/10 for me.

Now, here's just a bunch of unsorted, random, 'its 12am and i wanna yell into a void about this game' kinda thoughts:

- the abilities are all better than botw's, bar botw's bombs. I think totk has abilities that all mesh together better and i find myself using ALL of them ALL of the time (unlike cryonis mainly, but also magnesis and even stasis, though not to the same extent as the prior two). I exclude bombs here not bc of the speedrun applications, but bc sometimes i just want a free explosion. I know bomb plants / time bombs do the same thing, but its just not the same spending a whole item when i once upon a time could do it for free. SUPER petty though, i know.

- yes the music is banging, but something i had pointed out - and i totally agree with - is that most of the new tracks are just botw but different. Like, all the boss themes are NUTS, but they're also just a totk version of a botw track. I just wish they did more unique stuff. But im not really complaining, ESPECIALLY when the new tracks they DID add all go CRAZY. Like, ALL the trailer music things? ALL the Ganondorf related tracks? ALL the sky stuff? BEAUTIFUL. They did NOT miss.

- SPOILERS: I wish Mineru was used a bit more to warrant being a sage, bc although it was fairly shocking (albeit kinda obvious lol) realizing she's a sage, it felt like it didn't build up enough. You gotta remember, the other sages have a whole game worth of build up essentially, but Mineru? A few memory scenes (if you actually did them before the reveal lol) and a sneaky shot during the ancestors talks/'memories'. Like, it makes sense, she fits well enough, the sage ability is INSANELY AWESOME, but i just feel like she deserved more you know? Maybe Purah throws around a few offhand lines about another possible sage or hell, get Tauro to mention it as a possibility. It just feels like it was a last minute thing to do before beating Ganondorf when it wasnt 100% needed. idk, maybe im just looking for problems.

- Speaking of Tauro, im 110hrs in and havent finished his quest, but currently, bro feels very pointless. This may change if something happens after i finish his quest, but man does he feel useless. Paya could have done everything he did for the story, but it's a non-issue. No harm in adding an interesting lookin guy i guess, plus he is memorable, so he's not entirely pointless.

- SPOILERS: the main 5 bosses plus Ganondorf/s are all better than botw's bosses EASILY. I love ALL of them, bar evil Mineru or whatever it's called (he's SUPER underwhelming, again making me upset about Mineru), and they're all really fun to fight. I'd order them from best to worst Mucktorok, Queen Gibdo, Colgera, Marbled Gohma, evil contruct thing, but tbh those are all able to be shifted around entirely. They're all also fun references to pasted games, which is neat. GANONDORF as well is chef's kiss. I LOVE all the phases and what they do narratively and gameplay-wise, I LOVE how genuinely threatening the fight can actually be if you're under-prepared, i love it ALL. I do think the final dragon fight is a bit too easy (similar to dark beast ganon), but i know its purpose is to drive the narrative and be a spectacle anyway, so i aint complaining. Overall, 10/10 bosses, one of the main standouts totk has above botw

- The depths are an AWESOME addition to the game on SO many levels. 1. they add a whole new, untapped area to explore, albeit kinda empty BUT STILL COOL. 2. it adds a challenge for players if they want good items like the shiny weapons or tons of zonite, bc the gloom enemies and darkness can be genuine concerns for quite a while. 3. it makes shrine hunting infinitely easier.
It's like Nintendo heard some people saying shrines were hard to find initially in botw bc you had to just scourer the map for shrine quests or for you're little beeper to activate. So they responded by adding a WHOLE NEW UNDERGROUND LAYER that NOT ONLY adds more map to explore, BUT ALSO adds bulbs that directly correspond to ground-level shrines. This means shrine hunting is just a matter of finding all the bulbs (which is super easy since they're bright in an otherwise pitch-black environment), and then mark and find the shrine. That's SUCH smart game design. They solved the shrine hunting problem AND added tons of new content, all with one addition.

- On the other hand, the sky islands are kinda mid-ish. idk, i found them to be way less cool then i'd hoped for. Since there's really not that many islands, and the only island thats large enough to warrant exploration is the starting place, i wasnt really interested in flying around to disconnected areas for exploration sake. Definitely underwhelming since i expected to explore them way more, but they're not completely pointless, and they serve their purpose very well with some notable islands to boot.

- SPOILERS: Very random, but I wish Yunobo either kept the evil attire, or was ACTUALLY a more evil guy. He's just so forgettable otherwise. I remember when i saw him being evil, i was so excited he was gonna be an interesting and cool looking sage. But then he reverted to being mid and even though he is technically more courageous and developed, its not enough for me to like him that much.

- SPOILERS-ish?: Speaking of gorons, i WISH the game made them an interesting race. Like, even from a basic story standpoint, the gorons are the only race out of the main 4 (from the 4 phenomenon i mean) that doesnt get a character that isnt the sage involved in the phenomenon plot. With the zora there's Sidon's fiancé, gerudo has buliara, rito has Teba, hell, even the zonia has both Mineru and Rauru AND the koroks have the deku tree and Hestu, but gorons? Just Yunobo. It makes me feel like the gorons are just a throw-in race that Nintendo doesnt really know what to do with, so they dont touch them. I felt similar in botw, but thats mainly bc Daruk didnt really have a notable enough personality when against the other 3 champions and Yunobo was just an annoying guy.

- the building and zonai constructing stuff is peak, im just too dumb to use it creatively myself lol. A VERY good addition to the game. I think Nintendo just saw the flying machines in botw and though, 'eh, we can do that'.

- i liked the menus in botw better. These ones take what i call a 'vertical approach', where menus are one page, but have vertical sub-menus and have scrolling and whatnot. But botw had a 'horizontal approach' with multiple pages and tbh, I just like that more and it feels more intuitive for me to use. Im used to totk now, but at first, i really did struggle to use even the quest menu bit effectively. Though maybe im just dumb idk

- the interior shrine design is better than botw, ESPECIALLY in blessing shrines. Exterior-wise, i like the green bit, but at the end of the day, it is just a rock with dragons in-front, so im more inclined to like botw shrines more.

SPOILERS-ish, only a little: HOLY CRAP THE SHRINE PUZZLES ARE ALL SO GOOD. Along with bosses, this is for SURE and massive step up from botw shrines. ALL the shrines here are good (ok, maybe one or two are kinda weak, but shush) and all of them offer and fun and interesting challenges that vary nicely. The ONLY shrines i got a bit sick of were the proving grounds ones that do an eventide island and make you work from nothing. They were awesome for the first 4 or 5, but by the 10th, you're just sick of being handicapped. Plus most are impossible to stealth, which i would have thought would be a key strat, but i guess im just wrong there. They're not bad though, just a bit annoying overtime.

- Compared to botw, this game feels less 'exporey'. Let me explain: in botw, when you beat the plateau, you do literally whatever the hell you wanna do. Wanna go to that mountain? You go there. Wanna see Ganon right now? You go take your 100 year old cheeks to him. Wanna go jump in Death Mountain? You do you man. All you get regarding hand-holding directions is old-mate king saying you should check out Kakariko. But that's like a vague recommendation, and i dont think ive ever actually dont that at first lol. Essentially, nothing is holding you back from just going anywhere on the map immediately post-tutorial.
But in totk, finishing the tutorial island isnt really the end of the tutorial, bc now you gotta go see Purah and get the paraglider. Then if you want to see the depths right away, you could just jump in. Or (what the game prefers you to do) you could do the Robbie quest stuff, which gives the camera, and teaches you about the depths and all that they offer, THEN you should go to the lab with Robbie and get all these Purah pad upgrades and blah blah blah.
Essentially, the game feels like it doesn't truly incentivise exploration until you finish doing all your tutorial chores and collect all your exploration equipment. In theory, this does work since all these things really are good to have immediately, but man, it just feels like im not allowed to play in the open world of my open world game you know? Compared to botw, it just doesnt have that same vibe where you've now got all the things you need to have fun, so go out and have fun.

- tbh i really dislike the main menu screen. SUPER petty ik, but on handheld this thing is simply unreadable sometimes. Like why is that logo so damn small, you got the WHOLE screen to use and you use like 5% of it??? And why is the font size 0.1? It just doesnt make sense man. Not even mentioning how boring the background video is. idec what people say, i will take the botw promo slideshow literally any day of the week, at least it shows SOMETHING about the game you're about to play, not just some ruins 10 minutes into the game.

- very random again, but why is the fast-travelling animation the same? I always thought that was a sheikah-unique animation thing, and the zonai tech would instead use a green animation or something. I know the sheikah kinda copied zonai tech, but still, surely it's not asking much to make the animation more zonai-feeling instead of sheikah-feeling. World's most nothing critique, i know.

There's probably more i wanna say, but i'll leave it at that. No im not condensing this, it's now 1:30 in the morning and i wanna sleep.

tl;dr, peak game/sequel, a few things here and there i wish were different/improved, but still 10/10. idk if I'll ever choose between botw and totk, but im ok with that reality.