Jury_Rigg
1 review liked by Jury_Rigg
If you've taken a cursory glance at my reviews, you'll see that I made a thousand or so word review of Nier Gestalt, one of my favorite games of all time. The dark setting, bewitching music, interesting characters, and versatile gameplay have stuck with me since I got the game around Thanksgiving of 2019.
However, I never planned on liking the original Nier. I only got it because I heard that it had some continuity with Automata. As such, I'd pick it up and beat it before playing and loving Automata. Side note, I mostly loved Automata before I played it for its soundtrack (the reasons why this is important will be made clear in a second).
Imagine my confusion in February 2020 when I buy the game and it absolutely fails to enrapture me in the same way its prequel did. I don't write reviews for games I don't beat, but don't see myself beating this game until the game is actually taking place (in a few millennia mind you). I've given it many chances, but I don't think I can bring myself to beat this game that's beloved by so many.
With the story, I won't be super critical. This is a game acclaimed for its story, so it must be important. Given I haven't experienced it all, maybe it gets really good. I wouldn't know. However, the game must push all the good story beats to the back, because very little happened in the 10 hours I played. 10 hours of an Action RPG is usually quite a bit of the runtime, and I know that the Drakenier franchise has its whole multiple ending facet, so this game may be much longer than an normal 20-ish hour ARPG, but still, nothing interesting happened in the 10 hours I played. There were no good hooks. It was very, "Go here. Kill machine. Go there. Kill machine." Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Again, maybe it takes forever to pick up, but it took too long for me because there was nothing to intrigue me.
The gameplay isn't all too good. Ground combat feels floaty, most likely to facilitate aerial combos. However said combos are very limited and not worth losing any weight behind attacks or tight movement controls. The lack of tight movement controls is made even worse when projectiles are being spewed in bullet-hell patterns. The top down schmup sections are good, but their control setup was not made for the twinstick sections, which see your right hand crowding the right side of your controller in a very uncomfortable manner meanwhile the camera angles disorient the player. I will say that I love the enemy design and how machines' eyes light up before they attack, but that logic goes out the window for bosses or any enemies with ranged attacks. Sacrificing telegraphing apparently is the only way to make tougher encounters. Overall, the gameplay's messy, with gems of design hidden deep in the sediment of low mediocrity.
The game looks nice. I will say that. It's not breathtaking, but the environments look good, 2B's butt is so detailed that it has become a meme, the UI is really slick, and the talented designs of Akihiko Yoshida really shine.
My biggest gripe with this game is the music. I have a chronic need to hum, whistle, or listen to music at any given time of day. That is to say that music is very important to me. I got into the Nier series based on its music alone. However, Automata's soundtrack in hindsight isn't all too good for one reason: remixes. I love Nier Gestalt's soundtrack to bits, so I'm very biased, but almost every track is a certified banger. The standout bangers of this game that are pushed in marketing are mostly recycled. A Beautiful Song and Bipolar Nightmare are sometimes pushed, but the main trifecta that was used in marketing was Grandma - Destruction, Emil - Despair, and Song of the Ancients - Atonement. Two of these tracks are really good (SotA-A is just a worse SotA-Fate if you ask me), don't get me wrong, but it's sad that the keynote songs are remixes as compared to something original.
Automata has some good original songs, like A Beautiful Song, Voice of No Return, and City Ruins, but the game's strongest original tracks are nowhere near as strong as Nier's strongest tracks. Alien Manifestation, for example, is a good track, but nowhere near as good as Snow in Summer for getting you into the mood and atmosphere of the game.
I will probably rewrite this at some point. It's 2:10 AM as I write this and I'm spitballing hard, so I apologize if this is hard to read. However, my judgment still stands that Nier: Automata was heavily disappointing to me on so many facets. I know I'm in a laughably small minority with not liking this game. Few are the number of games that I cannot bring myself to beat. Sadly, Automata must join that list.
4/10 - A game with subpar gameplay, a story that failed to get me interested, and a much weaker soundtrack than its predecessor that fails to have completely original flagship tracks. There's definitely a bid at making a quality game here, especially with the visual presentation, but it doesn't subtract from my immense disappointment at this game.
However, I never planned on liking the original Nier. I only got it because I heard that it had some continuity with Automata. As such, I'd pick it up and beat it before playing and loving Automata. Side note, I mostly loved Automata before I played it for its soundtrack (the reasons why this is important will be made clear in a second).
Imagine my confusion in February 2020 when I buy the game and it absolutely fails to enrapture me in the same way its prequel did. I don't write reviews for games I don't beat, but don't see myself beating this game until the game is actually taking place (in a few millennia mind you). I've given it many chances, but I don't think I can bring myself to beat this game that's beloved by so many.
With the story, I won't be super critical. This is a game acclaimed for its story, so it must be important. Given I haven't experienced it all, maybe it gets really good. I wouldn't know. However, the game must push all the good story beats to the back, because very little happened in the 10 hours I played. 10 hours of an Action RPG is usually quite a bit of the runtime, and I know that the Drakenier franchise has its whole multiple ending facet, so this game may be much longer than an normal 20-ish hour ARPG, but still, nothing interesting happened in the 10 hours I played. There were no good hooks. It was very, "Go here. Kill machine. Go there. Kill machine." Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Again, maybe it takes forever to pick up, but it took too long for me because there was nothing to intrigue me.
The gameplay isn't all too good. Ground combat feels floaty, most likely to facilitate aerial combos. However said combos are very limited and not worth losing any weight behind attacks or tight movement controls. The lack of tight movement controls is made even worse when projectiles are being spewed in bullet-hell patterns. The top down schmup sections are good, but their control setup was not made for the twinstick sections, which see your right hand crowding the right side of your controller in a very uncomfortable manner meanwhile the camera angles disorient the player. I will say that I love the enemy design and how machines' eyes light up before they attack, but that logic goes out the window for bosses or any enemies with ranged attacks. Sacrificing telegraphing apparently is the only way to make tougher encounters. Overall, the gameplay's messy, with gems of design hidden deep in the sediment of low mediocrity.
The game looks nice. I will say that. It's not breathtaking, but the environments look good, 2B's butt is so detailed that it has become a meme, the UI is really slick, and the talented designs of Akihiko Yoshida really shine.
My biggest gripe with this game is the music. I have a chronic need to hum, whistle, or listen to music at any given time of day. That is to say that music is very important to me. I got into the Nier series based on its music alone. However, Automata's soundtrack in hindsight isn't all too good for one reason: remixes. I love Nier Gestalt's soundtrack to bits, so I'm very biased, but almost every track is a certified banger. The standout bangers of this game that are pushed in marketing are mostly recycled. A Beautiful Song and Bipolar Nightmare are sometimes pushed, but the main trifecta that was used in marketing was Grandma - Destruction, Emil - Despair, and Song of the Ancients - Atonement. Two of these tracks are really good (SotA-A is just a worse SotA-Fate if you ask me), don't get me wrong, but it's sad that the keynote songs are remixes as compared to something original.
Automata has some good original songs, like A Beautiful Song, Voice of No Return, and City Ruins, but the game's strongest original tracks are nowhere near as strong as Nier's strongest tracks. Alien Manifestation, for example, is a good track, but nowhere near as good as Snow in Summer for getting you into the mood and atmosphere of the game.
I will probably rewrite this at some point. It's 2:10 AM as I write this and I'm spitballing hard, so I apologize if this is hard to read. However, my judgment still stands that Nier: Automata was heavily disappointing to me on so many facets. I know I'm in a laughably small minority with not liking this game. Few are the number of games that I cannot bring myself to beat. Sadly, Automata must join that list.
4/10 - A game with subpar gameplay, a story that failed to get me interested, and a much weaker soundtrack than its predecessor that fails to have completely original flagship tracks. There's definitely a bid at making a quality game here, especially with the visual presentation, but it doesn't subtract from my immense disappointment at this game.