Topic: Nier: Automata

[Consignia]

You don't play through the game 3 times, to be fair. You finish the first scenario which is roughly 1/4 of the game. And then you play the second which follows a similar path to the first at times, but it plays completely differently. And then there's the last part which is completely new, and you get all 3 endings by defeating the last boss 3 times rather than playing the entire scenario 3 more times.

I think it is a bit unfair to characterise the game as having to play through x times to get all the endings, because it makes it feel more of a slog than it really is. It can be a slog at times, but for the most part it changes things up so frequently it keeps things moving along.

[Thursday]

I just reached a point where battles seemed to be taking ages. I was on easy, and it was manageable  because you could stock up on a fuckton of healing items, but it felt like I'd missed something. I'm sure I'd done some upgrading and stuff, maybe not as much as I should have, but even so it just seemed ridiculous for it to be designed that way. I got the E ending, but goodness me it was an absolute slog by the end.

But yeah, what consignia says is true, it really annoys me that for some reason people who had actually finished it all came out with "You have to play through the game 5 times!" and then that just get's repeated by people who don't know because that's just what they've heard.

[Sin Agog]

I've been just about keeping this game on life support by changing the lead character in Gravity Rush 2 into a 2b skin and driving a customised Niermobile in The Crew 2.  27th ending.

[sambwel]

I just reached a point where battles seemed to be taking ages. I was on easy, and it was manageable  because you could stock up on a fuckton of healing items, but it felt like I'd missed something.

If you're anything like me, you probably forgot to hack as much as possible when fighting as 9S. It's kind of designed with that in mind so some battles take much longer if you don't. If you DO do that, especially in the last possible battle to do so, you end up seeing a really cool easter egg of sorts.

[Thursday]

This would have been by the time I got to playing as A2 I think

[sambwel]

Possibly you needed to focus on offensive upgrades a bit more then, if you don't spend at least a few chips on some decent damage boosters you will probably have a shit time with later bosses yeah. And make sure you're not wasting chips on hacking upgrades when not playing as 9S which I stupidly did quite a lot haha

[Sin Agog]

If you're anything like me, you probably forgot to hack as much as possible when fighting as 9S. It's kind of designed with that in mind so some battles take much longer if you don't. If you DO do that, especially in the last possible battle to do so, you end up seeing a really cool easter egg of sorts.

Or you could be a right dunderhead like me and not realise for ages that his hacking games are like twin-stick shooters.  I was just moving without knowing I could also aim.

[Blue Jam]

Just got Game Pass for a quid (again) and started this. Died after half an hour of the prologue, arsecakes. I wish it was a little more forgiving to a n00b before they've had a chance to work out all the controls. Incredible game so far though. Skipped to the end of this thread as it feels like avoiding spoilers is the way to go.

[C_Larence]

Just got Game Pass for a quid (again) and started this. Died after half an hour of the prologue, arsecakes. I wish it was a little more forgiving to a n00b before they've had a chance to work out all the controls. Incredible game so far though. Skipped to the end of this thread as it feels like avoiding spoilers is the way to go.

Absolutely, best way to go in is blind(folded).

PSN friends, this is on sale for just under £18 on the store atm as part of the Big In Japan offers.

[Blue Jam]

It's very linear, there's a big platform/shmup element to it, there are boss fights and there's combat with swords so I should hate it but nope, it's somehow right up my street. I saw a few comparisons to MGS and so far that feels about right, similarly imaginative and Japanese.

It's still installing so I'll try and whizz through the prologue on Easy tomorrow and then have some proper fun with it.

[brat-sampson]

One of the best games of the decade, and that's if you don't even play it, you just stick the soundtrack on. And yeah, spoiler-free is best.

[Blue Jam]

I do hope the save points or whatever aren't too few and far between, this game is too intense for me to play for hours on end. The intensity is a good thing though.

[Consignia]

I think the save points are dotted around quite densely, it's just the prologue which is a long stretch without saving. There are set pieces like that throughout the game, but there also large parts where you in open areas which have ample opportunity to save. Oh yeah, you do have save manually though.

[wooders1978]

There is Nier replicant coming out soon - I can’t work out if it’s a sequel or a remaster tho

[Sin Agog]

There is Nier replicant coming out soon - I can’t work out if it’s a sequel or a remaster tho

It's a remake of the ps3 Nier, isn't it?  Looks way more involved than a remaster, and nothing is straightforward with Taro.

[Consignia]

He's described the changes to it as "toppings to the very best ramen". So who knows. I've heard rumours 2B and 9S's voice actors have been involved, but that could me anything in the context of Taro.

[Blue Jam]

Still enjoying this, but which button do you press to roundhouse 9S in his stupid emo face? I worry that if I don't do it soon he may write me a poem.

[Blue Jam]

Alright, I'm on playthrough #2 now and this is boring the arse off me, not least because 9S is a great big fucking emo drip who can get tae. Is it worth persevering with? Think I've now seen enough of this tbh.

[C_Larence]

Alright, I'm on playthrough #2 now and this is boring the arse off me, not least because 9S is a great big fucking emo drip who can get tae. Is it worth persevering with? Think I've now seen enough of this tbh.

Yes, I think so. Are you invested in the story?

[Blue Jam]

Not that arsed about the story tbh and I'm finding the combat a bit boring. What's the point of having two different melee attacks when you can do much more with the pod? Especially as I went fishing and caught a laser pod? That was pretty cool, I have to admit. You don't get that when you're fishing in RDR2.

[Sin Agog]

Keep going anyway.  This game really can be a bit of a slog, but you're in the sloggiest portion of all.  Just hack the fuck out of everyone to spruce up the combat, or avoid most of it entirely.  God, I still feel like such an idjut for not knowing it was a twin-stick shooter for so long.  I just strafed about with the left stick and wondered why I was doing so shit.  The second playthrough is way shorter than the first.

[Blue Jam]

Yes, you'll struggle with the bullet hell flying sections if you don't use your right stick to aim. Ditto when shooting robots up or down the stairs in the castle.

My particular problem was the long jump. I got quite far before I realised you can do melee attacks in mid-air to propel yourself further. D'oh.

Think I'll take a break from it and give it another go after playing something else, cheers. It can be quite an intense game and I guess I've been getting a bit fatigued from that.

[The Crumb]

Finished it properly (E), and feel like I massively missed something as the last route did nothing for me. It felt like a messy heap of melodrama and plot twists that left me feeling not much at all. After reading up, it seems like part of the problem was I had read stuff that led me to expect too much of the last route, while the more interesting stuff was actually in the details and sidequests.

[Zetetic]

I think it's alright to bump this - I've started playing this today, having decided that I'd probably never buy it for a few reasons.

I'm glad that I did - for seeing something a bit different in some ways - although I'm already wondering if I'm going to find the mechanics quickly tipping into frustrating/boring.

Anyway, I've been prompted to actually give it a go by it being on Microsoft's PC Game Pass, apparently in the form of a port that's much improved over other PC versions. Thought that might be

(It seems to be running fine for me... although toggling anti-aliasing on completely killed it and I had delete all my settings manually. Fine other than that.)

[Chedney Honks]

The actual gameplay is quite prosaic and repetitive, nothing on Bayonetta, but the thematic meta philosophy stuff is often great fun, but inevitably you will find a way to say that it's not.

[Zetetic]

I can only hope otherwise! The writing being fairly fun so far is probably 70% of what's kept me going with it.

If I've anything to criticise in that direction so far, it's that the first encounter with the machine-man is undercut a bit if you do the reasonable thing of not leaping to sink your sword into him and instead awkwardly wait around to see if you can chat to him instead. I think I can see why they don't have him or - less clearly - 9S trigger it, though.

[Zetetic]

Enjoyed that the "Please don't have a tantrum, there's more we promise." message was signed by Square Enix PR.

[Zetetic]

I do love how it feels put together efficiently - they way it feels like it's squeezing everything it can out of a really limited set of assets and chunks of gameplay. (That sort of thing usually helps me forgive and accept anything I'm beginning to take against in the writing... but nothing's provoked me yet...)

At the same time, it does make it more glaring that it doesn't really treat the player's time as valuable in the same way as, say, the environmental artists'.