This review contains spoilers
Needs to replicate better games.
Maybe Yoko Taro's games just don't do it for me anymore, but I played Nier: Automata four years prior to this game and enjoyed it enough to 100 percent it, but this game just isn't doing anything for me. Perhaps time has made me me forget what I disliked about Automata, but I can't think of a single thing this game does better.
It's hard for me to even say the story is particularly good, and that's all the game has going for it. The writing peaks hard in the intro segment and falls off a cliff and never comes back; it makes me wish they just made the whole game around the flashback instead. The entire story solely hinges on not knowing possibly one of the most obvious twists ever (it's in the title). Usually, I'm completely oblivious to twists in games, but I was baffled by this one. It would have been better if they just kept the Gestalt title since that isn't a common sci-fi term most people know.
As for the cast, this is one of my least favorite parties in any JRPG. None of the characters resonate with me at all outside of the protagonist and Yonah, who ironically get the least character development. For the characters who do get "character development," their cutscenes consist of tearjerkers, where cruel things happen to said character, and then everyone immediately moves on. It's just tragic event after tragic event in this game, and they never let any of it develop, so it's hard for me to not just feel numb to all of it. There is next to no world-building since the only things you actually interact with in the world are some of the most uninspired side quests imaginable and tedious "puzzles," like moving containers or only being able to walk while projectiles shoot at you.
This game has an incredible amount of filler for being only around fifteen hours. I feel like I could cut out 50% of the game, and nothing about the story would change. The only way I can describe the first half of the game is as a parody of common JRPG tropes to make you think it's subversive. In reality, it's just an emulation of design elements from other, better games with zero understanding as to why these elements are used in the first place. Even after you get through all the padding in the first route, you're expected to replay the second half of the game several times, with the only tangible additions being pointless sob stories to the bosses you already fought and end up killing two minutes later anyway, so it's hard to even care. The protagonist is a moron who never stops to think about anything, so why should you? It's not like the outcome changes at all.
The gameplay, ranges from dreadful to passable. Fortunately, the combat in the remaster is a big improvement from the original, but there's nothing to it other than button-mashing since the enemies have no actual mechanics. Sadly, that's the best part of the gameplay; since outside of combat, all you do is run around empty areas and complete fetch quests, which a lot of story quests revolve around, killing the pacing of the game. There are also novel sections with no voice acting or visuals, which just felt insulting because it painfully reminds me that this "game" would be infinitely better if it were a book.
Visually, I'm quite a fan of the washed-out aesthetic. It's not quite post-apocalyptic but not entirely fantasy either and the remaster definitely livens things up a bit. The soundtrack is great, but I wish there was more variety, and the lack of any combat music outside of bosses made the uninteresting combat even more one-note.
Disjointed rambling aside, I really wish I liked this game as much as other people do, but it's hard for me to see the appeal. I can only recommend this game if you're a die-hard Nier fan or can completely forego game design for a story with zero payoff unless you replay the same game three times.
Technically, a review is in progress since I didn't fully "complete" the game, but I don't know when or if I'll even return to finish the other routes, and I doubt my feelings will change from them but maybe I'll change the score later.
Maybe Yoko Taro's games just don't do it for me anymore, but I played Nier: Automata four years prior to this game and enjoyed it enough to 100 percent it, but this game just isn't doing anything for me. Perhaps time has made me me forget what I disliked about Automata, but I can't think of a single thing this game does better.
It's hard for me to even say the story is particularly good, and that's all the game has going for it. The writing peaks hard in the intro segment and falls off a cliff and never comes back; it makes me wish they just made the whole game around the flashback instead. The entire story solely hinges on not knowing possibly one of the most obvious twists ever (it's in the title). Usually, I'm completely oblivious to twists in games, but I was baffled by this one. It would have been better if they just kept the Gestalt title since that isn't a common sci-fi term most people know.
As for the cast, this is one of my least favorite parties in any JRPG. None of the characters resonate with me at all outside of the protagonist and Yonah, who ironically get the least character development. For the characters who do get "character development," their cutscenes consist of tearjerkers, where cruel things happen to said character, and then everyone immediately moves on. It's just tragic event after tragic event in this game, and they never let any of it develop, so it's hard for me to not just feel numb to all of it. There is next to no world-building since the only things you actually interact with in the world are some of the most uninspired side quests imaginable and tedious "puzzles," like moving containers or only being able to walk while projectiles shoot at you.
This game has an incredible amount of filler for being only around fifteen hours. I feel like I could cut out 50% of the game, and nothing about the story would change. The only way I can describe the first half of the game is as a parody of common JRPG tropes to make you think it's subversive. In reality, it's just an emulation of design elements from other, better games with zero understanding as to why these elements are used in the first place. Even after you get through all the padding in the first route, you're expected to replay the second half of the game several times, with the only tangible additions being pointless sob stories to the bosses you already fought and end up killing two minutes later anyway, so it's hard to even care. The protagonist is a moron who never stops to think about anything, so why should you? It's not like the outcome changes at all.
The gameplay, ranges from dreadful to passable. Fortunately, the combat in the remaster is a big improvement from the original, but there's nothing to it other than button-mashing since the enemies have no actual mechanics. Sadly, that's the best part of the gameplay; since outside of combat, all you do is run around empty areas and complete fetch quests, which a lot of story quests revolve around, killing the pacing of the game. There are also novel sections with no voice acting or visuals, which just felt insulting because it painfully reminds me that this "game" would be infinitely better if it were a book.
Visually, I'm quite a fan of the washed-out aesthetic. It's not quite post-apocalyptic but not entirely fantasy either and the remaster definitely livens things up a bit. The soundtrack is great, but I wish there was more variety, and the lack of any combat music outside of bosses made the uninteresting combat even more one-note.
Disjointed rambling aside, I really wish I liked this game as much as other people do, but it's hard for me to see the appeal. I can only recommend this game if you're a die-hard Nier fan or can completely forego game design for a story with zero payoff unless you replay the same game three times.
Technically, a review is in progress since I didn't fully "complete" the game, but I don't know when or if I'll even return to finish the other routes, and I doubt my feelings will change from them but maybe I'll change the score later.