this is the stupidest shit, like a parody of itself lmao.

the writing is surprisingly really fucking good despite the game looking like sin incarnate, and the music just seems like if you put random effects and mp3s on your computer into audacity haphazardly (kino).

philip walk cycle is the dumbest thing i have ever seen

this game is deadass just ass lmao but theres something about playing what feels like someones first writing attempt that made me enjoy through it. biggest strength is without a doubt the art despite that, but the gameplay is evaporated water tier.

the writing is full of wasted motion and the script just constantly drags its feet in some kind of way, like having characters speak when they don't need to, filling constant textboxes with ellipses or just having some awkwardly worded stuff.

the actual content isnt substantial at all until about halfway through it too, which while i still think has all of the line level flaws, plays to its strengths much better.

samekichi and wadanohara carry this shit SO hard, theres a couple of funny moments involving the other chars here and there, but theyre the only ones i really cared about by the end.

the optimal revision would honestly just be having the whole game be focused entirely on them interacting throughout the circumstances, rather than him kinda just popping up to say the exact same thing over and over again.

has SOUL tho, i wanna see this writer do something else with more experience.

this shit is brutal, i dont think ive ever played an rpg that cares as little about me having a good time as this. you get punished for existing, and is the definition of unfair but holy shit it works so fucking well.

i had a certain expectation going into this that itd be somewhat predictable but fun, and by the end i was shocked at how much it just genuinely punches you in the face with what it goes into, especially the ending

the ost is definitely my fav part of this, its a similar appeal to drakengard 1 in that it SOUNDS like it was made in fl studio (it actually is in this case too) and extremely obviously does not give a fuck about any proper arrangements.

my previous version of this review could be summed up as "definitely the best nmh, especially with the gameplay being up to actual modern gaming standards, but i wish it had more of a tsa influence and more ktp."

after letting it sit, i have an entirely different opinion lol. this is essentially as pretentious as nmh2 tried to be but actually sticks the landing for me.

it's not immediately obvious but the whole themes contributing to the lack of explanation, important things being skimmed over and an over the topness that is too much even for this series improves so much more when i realize that it's an incredibly obtuse follow up to everything tsa sets up.

the alien plot is still genuinely good, but the additional subtext coming from suda's jadedness about substanceless over the top action games and how he's accidentally been given that reputation bleeds into it so well.

tsa had a lot about how shitty suda's experiences from the games industry are, but nmh3 is very much about how he feels about his accidental target audience sees him and his games.

free this man, let him make his adv games pls

kino (also the ost is fucking god tier)

i feel like this has everything i want in a ktp game, probably because this was meant to be another entry in that series with how many ties it has to the other games. takes everything 2 failed to do and more while doing it in the most self indulgent way that suda could have possibly done it and made money off of it.

if nmh3 has the same energy, tonal range and heart this game has and improves the gameplay more than 2 did, could be looking at a perfect game.

the actual gameplay is legit just ass tho not a fsr situation, but everything else makes up for it

nmh1 can feel like ktp lite at times but it still has a ton of its own identity and cool way of doing things, nmh2 is a suda game without a drop of actual substance both in writing and in gameplay.

anything writing wise this attempted to do fell flat by either being extremely unfunny wink at the camera or a really half baked attempt on continuing the themes of morality suda in general has.

gameplay wise its definitely better than 1, but even that lacks the SOUL of the little details and actual ideas suda had for 1.

ass

replayed this for what could very well possibly be less than 5 hours of truly new content, still worth it.

spare the ost, which I hope eventually gets added/modded in, this is pretty much the game i already thought was perfect with every little irk grinded out. i always thought i'd prefer brother nier, and i definitely do after seeing his version, dad nier is still good and valid but brother nier just hits too different with all the minor differences piling up.

the gameplay being better makes the twists hit a bit harder too, the amateurish sword animations do so as well.

ray chase convinces me even more that he's my favorite voice actor with his performances in the later half, and pretty much all the returning voice actors do much better somehow from an already god tier performance.

ending d and now e are extremely peak endings, gonna be very hard for yoko taro to top or equal this game for me but i hope he does with the new shit coming up

this is definitely a worthy sequel, follows up a ton of things presented in og and its really fucking cool to essentially be playing as the antagonists of the original.

automata has always had a reputation for being fake deep and pretentious, but it was literally always self aware about what it was doing, never took itself too seriously and does a ton with the ideas its bringing up.

the things original to the game, are VERY good but ultimately don't reach the same level of quality consistently. thats a very high bar, but still.

the main cast can feel too centric on 9S for me, or rather he's the most standout one. 2b's character feels very reliant on his to the point where she doesnt have something of her own and a2 doesn't have enough there to make her finale hit properly.

9S though, is fucking amazing and turned out exactly like i wanted him too. by far the highest and most consistent emotional peaks are with him.

the gameplay by drakenier standards is fucking godlike, compared to drakengard 3 this does so much with its gameplay to convey its plot and themes. definitely not the best combat, but it was a very satisfying vehicle to explore the world and all the extremely well defined details with.

music is kinda good, kinda disappointing in some place, way better than drak 3's ost at least.

better than drak 3/10

anything with playing this game is ass. braindead easy,
consistently slow and not satisfying enough to justify it. even moving around in this game can feel like a pain in the ass. a game that id much rather had watched someone else play instead of played myself.

although, it looks fucking amazing even now to me with a ton of amazingly directed areas and painting-like prerendered backgrounds.

story and characters are good, but some characters amount to very little or do literally nothing at all. the script and pacing isnt the best either. cloud and aerith are very strong ff characters in general though.

a lot of things about this could be changed, remake honestly probably much better.

has some of the very best stuff in the series, but overall comes out as the least good entry so far with drakenier

zero and the intoners are amazing spare five, the accord/old world stuff is really fucking cool to think about and mikhail/micheal is one of the best characters in the series.

yet the pacing thats worse than dod1 and poor character dialogue between disciples (shitpost tier stuff, but dod1 shitposted this kind of stuff way better) bring it way down.

not even mentioning the gameplay and music, which is extremely unambitious and doesn't live up to the pure energy and insanity that drak 1 had despite that game being in the stone age compared to this one technically.

the only time i feel like it lives up the past entry is when its imitating it during that moment (although i think it's a way better take on the idea, fucking evil)

pretty disappointing going from 0 to this, it starts off extremely fast, exciting and since i started from 0, following up on the stuff i wanted to see more of the most.

then around the middle it crumbles, the plot shows its age with very inconsequential feeling arcs and an overall lack of focus that lasts until the end. the nishiki, haruka/yumi stuff is great but i really can't say i care much about everything else thats going on. i'm not sure how possible it'd be to rework the scenario more since i havent played the future games, but surely this is not the limit of what could have been done.

gameplay shows its age too, everything here is very fucking tedious. fighting is far from satisfying, and everything you have to do feels like a 3 step process extended to a 10 step one.

the good stuff is strong enough that shines through all the disappointment, and im still very excited to see what the rest of the series has.

this should have leaned way more into being a 0 sequel rather than a 1 remake since 1 sounds like shit and is the root of everything wrong with this.