[ENG] NieR:Automata™ and The Tale of Tragedy
(Minor spoilers ahead, any bigger will be marked!)
I have beaten NieR:Automata™ somewhere around 5 weeks ago, but... I still can't answer the question... Did I beat the game? Or did the game beat me...?
Small Tangent - I have heard a lot of opinions that NieR:Automata™ was (and still is) a terrible PC port. Well, it's true that for good experience you need a mod called FAR (Fix Automata Resolution [Don't get it wrong, though name suggests it's only for resolution, it offers a lot of graphic and performance tweaks]). I was able to play it on my old, worn out PC with Intel Core i3-3240, GeForce GT640 and 6GB of RAM. I had framerate issues from time to time, occasionally dropping below 15 during the most chaotic scenes. This game is one of the better looking games on lowest possible settings I have ever seen. People crying about NieR:Automata™ being a terrible PS4 port, probably haven't seen or played original port of Dark Souls. Or maybe I was lucky that in my almost 40 hours of gameplay it only crashed once, and it was after whopping 20 hours on the counter. Having that out of the way, let's continue...
(Let's make one thing clear. Do not. DO NOT DROP THE GAME AFTER THE FIRST PLAYTHROUGH. Don't ask why or what happens. Just don't do it, continue the game after first playthrough. Trust me.)
In NieR:Automata™ we take control of YoRHa's 2B, 9S and A2 androids. The action takes place in a far future, where earth has been turned into dystopia driven and ruled by machines. Remnants of humanity escaped to the Moon, where they manufacture new androids and encourage them to keep fighting. YoRHa androids are being sent down to the surface of the Earth to fight back machines and reclaim the planet back for the humanity.
Sounds... Pretty generic and simple right? Well... Indeed, it sounds pretty generic and simple, but the very first monologue spoken by 2B before the game even starts, proves everyone totally wrong - "Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle... and wonder if we'll ever get the chance to kill him." - after this, the game begins with a prologue.
I want to give a word to character design. 2B, 9S, A2 and many more. Almost all of them are designed in a certain way. Like, 2B and A2 look a bit like typical anime girls with big swords slashing down machines. This design in my opinion has a certain, really clever function - it makes the player connect with the characters much faster and easier. I think Yoko Taro wanted to achieve this effect due to the whole nature of the game (Keep calm, no big spoilers here yet, that will be later). Even the 'bad' characters aren't your typical bad guys who just do bad stuff because it's fun (Yeah... like suggesting anything in this game is typical). Game is very philosophical, thus some characters are named after famous philosophers like Pascal (named after Blaise Pascal) or Kierkegaard (named after Søren Kierkegaard)
Music in NieR:Automata™ (BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE - DO NOT, I REPEAT - DO NOT LISTEN TO ANY OF THE SONGS I GIVE BELOW. DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE 200% CERTAIN YOU WON'T PLAY IT. It'll break your surprise and immersion quite a lot if you will recognize these songs, trust me. I learned it the hard way with one particular song)... Oh my sweet universe, it's a cherry on top of this beautiful game. Tracks feel like they are seamlessly integrated into environment, they can change on a quick succession whenever you enter a fight or enter a new location (OST from Amusement Park is simply awesome). There always right tracks to hit you right in the feelings and/or immerse you whenever you complete a quest or discover a new location. But two songs for me stand out - "Vague Hope (Cold Rain)" and "Weight of the World" (Though Weight of the World Medley is my fav, I truly recommend listening to that version after finishing the game). They are probably one of the strongest and most emotional tracks available in the game, they give that peaceful, yet deeply melancholic feelings.
Now let's drop to the gameplay and what NieR:Automata™ is about (With as few spoilers as possible, and keeping those spoilers really minimal and vague). Pure gameplay resembles nicely made hack'n'slash formula inspired by Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, there few types of weapons - Small and Big Swords; Spears; Fist Weapons - and you can combine them in any way you like, you can have spear on your light attack and fist on your heavy; small sword on your light and big on heavy; fist on light and big sword on heavy; two big swords - there are many combinations to fit into your playstyle. Next to weapons (literally next to, floating above characters constantly) are Pods which serve as a ranged weapon in the game, but can be customized with their special ability - it can fire Laser, Slow Time, Protect You with Melee/Ranged Shield and much more.
NieR:Automata™ made one, pretty brave decision (which works perfectly as a story/gameplay part) - there are no autosaves. You have to save manually whenever you are close to an available and active Access Point. Which means that if your game decides to crash after 5 hours and you didn't save... Well, tough luck - your precious 5 hours just went to waste.
Boss designs - each boss is a challenge to some extent and you have to find it's weak spot/breather between it's attacks to unleash your fury - ruthlessness can work if you have very particular set of chips installed (Chips are small buffs you can activate and deactivate at any time in character menu). But hot damn if some of them aren't pure masterpieces from design/story standpoint.
Despite the game being hack'n'slash with anime girls [and boys, let's don't forget about our 9S here!] it tackles topics of philosophy, religion, existentialism very deeply and very seriously. The meaning of friendship, meaning of love, sense of life and logic of humans. Can a machine truly understand what is religion? What is the point of all this? Are machines... emotional? - These, and really many many questions will pass by in your head during this convoluted adventure.
Be careful though, as the game doesn't kindly inform you about 'Point of No Return' (e.g Point after which you are pretty much forced to play the story as the side quests and activities are locked out). But don't worry about it, if you listen to my advice to not stop after the first playthrough, you'll be fine!
Game has 26 endings, don't get scared though. They are listed from A to Z, from which only A-E are canonical, F-Z are for doing certain things, sometimes dumb, sometimes funny, sometimes cruel - but none of them really break your gameplay, after one of F-Z endings you can almost instantly get back to normal gameplay
[HEAVY SPOILER ZONE - SKIP TO THE END IF YOU DON'T WANT ANYTHING ABOUT THE GAME, STORY, CHARACTERS AND ENDINGS SPOILED!!!]
(No photos included to avoid visual spoilers)
As I said before, Yoko Taro has created characters like this to make us feel connected to them easily... So we can slaughter them with our own hands later on. All of them - 2B, 9S, A2, Pascal, Devola, Popola - will die. In all of these cases because of your actions. Game forces you to take difficult choices about characters you feel deeply emotional and connected to.
During first playthrough, you play as 2B and achieve Ending A - flowers for m[A]chines. During second one, you play the same storyline as in first but through the eyes of 9S - during this playthrough you learn very painful secrets - for example that there are no humans. All transmissions were pre-recorded, but humans are long gone. Thus, androids were lied to as Command wanted them to have a reason to fight for. We achieve Ending B here - or not to [B]e. Third playthrough is very different from the previous ones, as we take control of both 9S and A2 here and we witness 9S's slow descent into madness... This is one of the most tragic characters I have seen for a long time in a video game. There are two final choices - who do you control during final fight? A2 or 9S? Both options lead to respectively Ending C - meaningless [C]ode and Ending D - chil[D]hood's end. After which there is one final choice. If you reply 'Yes' to both Pod requests, you get a mini-game which leads you to...
Ending E - The [E]nd of YoRHa - We play a mini-game in which we literally destroy all credits, when creators are shooting at us. Completing this mini-game alone is really hard, almost impossible on first try. After each death, we can see more and more messages from players around the globe encouraging us to go on, that we can do it. After certain death count, we get help from other players that surround our ship and are ready to sacrifice themselves so we can see the ending... During the whole part, there is 'Weight of the World' playing in the background, but... When players join to help us, chorus joins to the song. It's hard to play with tears in your eyes, and if every canon ending before made you cry, Ending E finishes the job by probably the strongest punch right in the feelings. After final cut-scene we have another choice. We can help another player who struggles to reach the ending. What is the cost? We have to sacrifice all our saves. We won't help the player right now, but our avatar will come to save the lost soul sometime in the future (We also can leave the message for others to keep going). And then it hits you, the realization... People willingly sacrificed their saves so they could join your struggle and help you get through, and you can now join this group... It was the moment that finally broke me, the tears were flowing down for a long time afterwards.
Ending E is one of the most beautiful endings in video game history, it should be remembered and for everyone who played - it will be remembered. For tests, I played Weight of the World Medley, 3 weeks after completing the game and... Nothing changed, hearing the choir instantly brings the tears to my eyes.
In the end... It weren't androids nor sentient machines that learned what it truly means to be human - it were the Pods, who were never designed for it in the first place...
I mentioned Vague Hope (Cold Rain) before, and... I just want to drop some quotes from 9S during which Vague Hope (CR) plays in the background...
"I really messed up 2B""Please! 2B! I want you to... do this... for me."
“We...we’re sold...iers... We take pride in... our service...”
And finally... 9S' monologue during Ending D...
"It seemed I no longer had a reason to hate machines.
Maybe I never had a reason in the first place.
What have I been fighting for?
Who have I been living for?
I don’t know anymore."
NieR:Automata™ shows us the tale of tragedy; tragedy between characters and their relations, mental tragedy of 9S, tragedy of humanity... We believe that we fight for non-existent humanity, that we have a reason to continue this senseless war, even after realizing that machines are sentient, that machines can show emotions and affection. That not every single machine is programmed mindless killer. NieR:Automata™ is probably one of the most beautiful games ever created. I bet that many people bought this game expecting cool hack'n'slash, and they received deep existential crisis, emotional massacre and philosophical questions.
Glory to Mankind!
[END OF SPOILERS! LET'S HEAD TO SUMMARY!]
NieR:Automata™ is a beautiful game, about androids and machines, about philosophy and religion, about existentialism and tragedy. Many people probably bought the game expecting another Bayonetta-like fast-paced hack'n'slash, but what they received... What they received probably changed or will change their view on games as a medium and will plant the philosophical and existential questions in your head. It's a game, after which I literally looked in the mirror and asked myself "Is there anything that truly makes me different from a robot?" because after NieR:Automata™, I didn't really know. I still don't to be honest. It's a game with beautifully written characters and satisfying combat model. The cherry on this masterpiece of a game is music.
I truly recommend for everyone, even for people who do not play games that much, to give NieR:Automata™ a chance.
And considering that NieR series will be 10 years old soon, there is a possibility that Square Enix is preparing new game in NieR universe or remaster/remake of old NieR from 2010 for everyone to experience. Anyway,
Best of luck in your journey(s) across Earth that has been abandoned by humans long ago and nature started to take back it's rightful place.
Glory to Mankind!
"A future is not given to you, it is something you must take for yourself..."
Kind Regards,
Wing.
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