Yuzucchi
1 review liked by Yuzucchi
NieR: Automata
2017
NieR: Automata is a magnificent game and one of the best stories I've experienced period.
Automata builds upon Taro's unique and wild ideas in Replicant and puts a new and interesting spin on them while expanding them tenfold, creating a considerably more complex tapestry of rich themes covering a lot of grand and ambitious ground that sticks the landing in a hard way, creating a deeply meditative story that balloons in complexity upon thinking about even one aspect of it, like this game is extremely interpretable in a meaningful way where all the interpretations add in an interesting way to both the overall story and the characters.
The sidequests are definitely a significant part of this, they flesh out the world and characters more little by little, facing you with some very interesting scenarios and questions about our nature and how we exist in the world, and as a result probably end up being the best set of sidequests I've experience in a game by far.
Of course, my intense praise of the themes and sidequests wouldn't hit as hard as they do if the game didn't handle its big payoff of the central theme and characters as magnificently as they do. I definitely admit that my favourite parts of the game, the characters of 2B and 9S, can appear to be a slowburn, but if you notice how the themes and ideas play into their characters, you'll find that they're really rewarding and for me very emotionally investing, and combined with how good their character conclusions end up being, it made for some of my favourite characters ever. And also, Ending E is probably one of the best thematic payoffs for any game in general.
The presentation of the game is also incredible, a big step up even from the remake of Replicant with beautiful locations and environments that just add to the feeling of existing in the very well fleshed out world in a big way. And like, the music is obviously fantastic, but you didn't need me to tell you that.
Gameplay wise, it definitely started out quite fun to me but overall I'd say the hack and slash combat got fairly old by the end. The exception to this I'd say is that some bosses particularly in route A are really good, they're just really memorable encounters that are fun to fight. However, on the hacking minigames side... I actually really enjoy it for whatever reason. I just love the hacking what can I say.
So yeah, overall I'd say NieR: Automata is a fantastic story, especially for those who enjoy stories which are very thematically cohesive and rich.
Automata builds upon Taro's unique and wild ideas in Replicant and puts a new and interesting spin on them while expanding them tenfold, creating a considerably more complex tapestry of rich themes covering a lot of grand and ambitious ground that sticks the landing in a hard way, creating a deeply meditative story that balloons in complexity upon thinking about even one aspect of it, like this game is extremely interpretable in a meaningful way where all the interpretations add in an interesting way to both the overall story and the characters.
The sidequests are definitely a significant part of this, they flesh out the world and characters more little by little, facing you with some very interesting scenarios and questions about our nature and how we exist in the world, and as a result probably end up being the best set of sidequests I've experience in a game by far.
Of course, my intense praise of the themes and sidequests wouldn't hit as hard as they do if the game didn't handle its big payoff of the central theme and characters as magnificently as they do. I definitely admit that my favourite parts of the game, the characters of 2B and 9S, can appear to be a slowburn, but if you notice how the themes and ideas play into their characters, you'll find that they're really rewarding and for me very emotionally investing, and combined with how good their character conclusions end up being, it made for some of my favourite characters ever. And also, Ending E is probably one of the best thematic payoffs for any game in general.
The presentation of the game is also incredible, a big step up even from the remake of Replicant with beautiful locations and environments that just add to the feeling of existing in the very well fleshed out world in a big way. And like, the music is obviously fantastic, but you didn't need me to tell you that.
Gameplay wise, it definitely started out quite fun to me but overall I'd say the hack and slash combat got fairly old by the end. The exception to this I'd say is that some bosses particularly in route A are really good, they're just really memorable encounters that are fun to fight. However, on the hacking minigames side... I actually really enjoy it for whatever reason. I just love the hacking what can I say.
So yeah, overall I'd say NieR: Automata is a fantastic story, especially for those who enjoy stories which are very thematically cohesive and rich.