This review contains spoilers
Perhaps the most divided I've ever felt about a game. Yoko Taro and his team undoubtedly made something admirable. Rave reviews, video essays, and countless pieces of fanart show the community's endless appreciation for this title, but something about it never clicked with me, and I've started to realize what.
Really, I should get the easy things out of the way. I love the visual design, music and voice acting, quite unsurprisingly. For what it's worth, combat's very fun, if basic, and the chip system adds enough spice to keep it interesting. You can also feel immense care in lots of the sidequests, though I wish they applied a fraction of it to the map design. Overall, I've felt several ways about this game, but many aspects have always been good to me.
Ultimately, what didn't click for me, at least not like I wanted it to, was the story. Really, the thing that gets the most acclaim from fans and critics just didn't mesh with me. Everyone's constant praise made me think I just didn't understand it, and would rather see robots fight each other than the profound work laid out before me. Recently, I begun to question that. Engaging in a series of game-related discussions helped me realize what about Nier: Automata didn't work for me.
Automata is, at its core, a JRPG. Duh, I know, but specific things about JRPG stories appeal to me personally. I look for interesting, likeable characters with good arcs. Not only that, a lot of my favorites inspire hope through said characters working together to overcome unfortunate circumstances. Great examples of this include Dragon Quest, the Persona series, and more recently Yakuza: Like a Dragon, but one instance always comes to mind for me.
There's a scene in Xenosaga 3 which I won't spoil, but those who have played the game will probably recall when a certain character gets his time to shine. He's not the strongest or coolest character in the game, but he still deeply cares about those around him, and his care manifests into one of the most uplifting scenes I've ever witnessed in a video game. It makes me cry every time seeing someone so insignificant make a real difference through words alone.
Scenes like this don't exist in Nier: Automata, at least not for the characters. Perhaps that's the point, and my failure to notice is an indicator of my intense media illiteracy. Let me counter by saying the game has a very similar message to games like Xenosaga 3. Automata ends on a somewhat happy note to contrast the suffering seen throughout the rest of the game, all thanks to the efforts of a group of people. Yoko Taro clearly intended to tell a hopeful story, and while I applaud his unorthodox approach, I can't help but disagree with it all the same.
Characters in Nier: Automata don't really develop. Rather, they do, but said development is almost never positive, and when it is, the character in question either regresses into nihilism or dies. Obviously, 9S is an excellent example of the former, and 2B the latter. "So what?", you may say. So, Nier: Automata tells a story about the hope present within a bleak world, but doesn't actually show it within the narrative. Can't say it's all that uplifting for me, someone who has experienced immense existential dread and fear for the future, to see people just give in, only to be saved by the post-credits sequence of all things.
Of course, this isn't to diss Ending E, as it is a wonderful scene that could only be done in a videogame, but rather to offer my perspective as to why certain tropes exist and work. Don't take this as a diss of Nier: Automata, either, as I really enjoy its style, gameplay, and at times its story and characters. Even the worst 10/10 game I've ever played is still a 10/10.
Really, I should get the easy things out of the way. I love the visual design, music and voice acting, quite unsurprisingly. For what it's worth, combat's very fun, if basic, and the chip system adds enough spice to keep it interesting. You can also feel immense care in lots of the sidequests, though I wish they applied a fraction of it to the map design. Overall, I've felt several ways about this game, but many aspects have always been good to me.
Ultimately, what didn't click for me, at least not like I wanted it to, was the story. Really, the thing that gets the most acclaim from fans and critics just didn't mesh with me. Everyone's constant praise made me think I just didn't understand it, and would rather see robots fight each other than the profound work laid out before me. Recently, I begun to question that. Engaging in a series of game-related discussions helped me realize what about Nier: Automata didn't work for me.
Automata is, at its core, a JRPG. Duh, I know, but specific things about JRPG stories appeal to me personally. I look for interesting, likeable characters with good arcs. Not only that, a lot of my favorites inspire hope through said characters working together to overcome unfortunate circumstances. Great examples of this include Dragon Quest, the Persona series, and more recently Yakuza: Like a Dragon, but one instance always comes to mind for me.
There's a scene in Xenosaga 3 which I won't spoil, but those who have played the game will probably recall when a certain character gets his time to shine. He's not the strongest or coolest character in the game, but he still deeply cares about those around him, and his care manifests into one of the most uplifting scenes I've ever witnessed in a video game. It makes me cry every time seeing someone so insignificant make a real difference through words alone.
Scenes like this don't exist in Nier: Automata, at least not for the characters. Perhaps that's the point, and my failure to notice is an indicator of my intense media illiteracy. Let me counter by saying the game has a very similar message to games like Xenosaga 3. Automata ends on a somewhat happy note to contrast the suffering seen throughout the rest of the game, all thanks to the efforts of a group of people. Yoko Taro clearly intended to tell a hopeful story, and while I applaud his unorthodox approach, I can't help but disagree with it all the same.
Characters in Nier: Automata don't really develop. Rather, they do, but said development is almost never positive, and when it is, the character in question either regresses into nihilism or dies. Obviously, 9S is an excellent example of the former, and 2B the latter. "So what?", you may say. So, Nier: Automata tells a story about the hope present within a bleak world, but doesn't actually show it within the narrative. Can't say it's all that uplifting for me, someone who has experienced immense existential dread and fear for the future, to see people just give in, only to be saved by the post-credits sequence of all things.
Of course, this isn't to diss Ending E, as it is a wonderful scene that could only be done in a videogame, but rather to offer my perspective as to why certain tropes exist and work. Don't take this as a diss of Nier: Automata, either, as I really enjoy its style, gameplay, and at times its story and characters. Even the worst 10/10 game I've ever played is still a 10/10.