Let me tell you an interesting story. Some months after God of War (2018) was released, me and a bunch of friends decided to try it, since it was at the spotlight back then. At the same time, I found this game at a discount. I had heard good things about it, so we decided to buy both, but play GoW first. That night, I gave it a try to see how it's like.
Guess which game we played first in the end! And guess which game ended up being one of my favourite games of all time out of nowhere.
Nier Automata is not a perfect game, far from it actually. While being a huge improvement over the first Nier -mainly thanks to Platinum Games' gameplay- one could say that its graphics were still a bit outdated, its world design basic and empty, side quests had fetching with random drop rates again, repetition of some parts of the game in order to get the whole story could be tedious for some and its performance issues on launch (especially in the PC version) were not few. Thankfully, most of them have been fixed by now, thanks to updates and patches.
But, do these things really matter to me? Yes and no. One one hand, I'm all for constructive criticism. It gives genuine feedback to the developers and, in a way, helps them understand what players did or did not enjoy in a game. But on the other hand, if the issues mentioned did not ruin my personal experience at all, then I'm not going to pretend to be "objective" and try to supress my own feelings about it. And for all the issues this game had, the experience it gave me is one of a kind.
Albeit being more action than RPG, Nier Automata introduces a unique take on the action-RPG genre. Playable characters are androids and thus, build customisation is based on the memory chips you install at each of them. With that system, you can customise your characters to be more offensive, defensive, balanced etc. Combat is a fantastic hack 'n' slash action combined with 'shoot 'em up' elements, designed by action genre veterans, PlatinumGames. But, the game does not stop there. In many sections, it transforms into a bullet hell shooter, giving more variety to enemy fights.
So, is there something better than combining fun gameplay with a fascinating story and atmosphere? Nier Automata's story is one of my favourite stories in games and just like its predecessor, its presents it in a way that gives prominence to the medium. For example, you still need to replay some parts of the game, but from a different perspective. Though fetching in side quests is still present, the drop rates are far more common and the quests contain some memorable stories of NPCs, highlighting the worldbuilding. Once more, soundtrack is amazing, along with the voice actors' performances, in both English and Japanese. I will not go into story spoilers here, since I think that the story and the way it's presented, is worth experiencing in-game. The game's world might be a bit 'empty' with not that many details, but it fits so well with the rest, that it made me extremely invested in it.
What I also loved about it is that, not only it touches some philosophical themes about humanity etc, but it presents them subtly in the background as food for thought, instead of "throwing" them directly in your face. And let's not forget these many times that the game does not take itself seriously at all, cracking one joke afther another. In other words, Nier Automata may tell a wonderful story, but it is first and foremost a video game, where having fun is above everything else.
As a conclusion, I'd say that my experience with Nier Automata taught me that, a game doesn't have to be "perfect" in order to be your favourite. It just has to speak to your heart (no matter how cringey or cliche this sounds) in a way that no other does, be it due to gameplay, story or whatever.
Would definitely recommend it.
Guess which game we played first in the end! And guess which game ended up being one of my favourite games of all time out of nowhere.
Nier Automata is not a perfect game, far from it actually. While being a huge improvement over the first Nier -mainly thanks to Platinum Games' gameplay- one could say that its graphics were still a bit outdated, its world design basic and empty, side quests had fetching with random drop rates again, repetition of some parts of the game in order to get the whole story could be tedious for some and its performance issues on launch (especially in the PC version) were not few. Thankfully, most of them have been fixed by now, thanks to updates and patches.
But, do these things really matter to me? Yes and no. One one hand, I'm all for constructive criticism. It gives genuine feedback to the developers and, in a way, helps them understand what players did or did not enjoy in a game. But on the other hand, if the issues mentioned did not ruin my personal experience at all, then I'm not going to pretend to be "objective" and try to supress my own feelings about it. And for all the issues this game had, the experience it gave me is one of a kind.
Albeit being more action than RPG, Nier Automata introduces a unique take on the action-RPG genre. Playable characters are androids and thus, build customisation is based on the memory chips you install at each of them. With that system, you can customise your characters to be more offensive, defensive, balanced etc. Combat is a fantastic hack 'n' slash action combined with 'shoot 'em up' elements, designed by action genre veterans, PlatinumGames. But, the game does not stop there. In many sections, it transforms into a bullet hell shooter, giving more variety to enemy fights.
So, is there something better than combining fun gameplay with a fascinating story and atmosphere? Nier Automata's story is one of my favourite stories in games and just like its predecessor, its presents it in a way that gives prominence to the medium. For example, you still need to replay some parts of the game, but from a different perspective. Though fetching in side quests is still present, the drop rates are far more common and the quests contain some memorable stories of NPCs, highlighting the worldbuilding. Once more, soundtrack is amazing, along with the voice actors' performances, in both English and Japanese. I will not go into story spoilers here, since I think that the story and the way it's presented, is worth experiencing in-game. The game's world might be a bit 'empty' with not that many details, but it fits so well with the rest, that it made me extremely invested in it.
What I also loved about it is that, not only it touches some philosophical themes about humanity etc, but it presents them subtly in the background as food for thought, instead of "throwing" them directly in your face. And let's not forget these many times that the game does not take itself seriously at all, cracking one joke afther another. In other words, Nier Automata may tell a wonderful story, but it is first and foremost a video game, where having fun is above everything else.
As a conclusion, I'd say that my experience with Nier Automata taught me that, a game doesn't have to be "perfect" in order to be your favourite. It just has to speak to your heart (no matter how cringey or cliche this sounds) in a way that no other does, be it due to gameplay, story or whatever.
Would definitely recommend it.