I completed this game in the Switch collection and
the in-game clock says that it took me 1h51m, however since I played using checkpoints built in the collection, this is not real time, I would guess it took me like 10 hours, and that is because this is one of the hardest games I've ever played, I don't even remember Megaman X being this hard, and I can't comprehend how people finished Zero 1 back in the gameboy advance days without checkpoints, the life system is unforgiving and makes you completely learn the game, and when you do that you can see is far deeper than it seems.

I must add that I finished this without almost no Cyber-elf , I did use two heals in the last boss, but I avoided farming since it can take hours upon hours, I don’t recommend farming in this game.

I'm eager to start with Megaman Zero 2, but maybe in a few days, this is the type of game that invites me to master it and learn combos and stuff, but still, it is pretty hard.

On one hand you got one of the few games where the story actually matters and intrigues me, with good combat, interesting aesthetics, very funny and smart references to other videogames, clever and original moments and tremendously beautiful music. On the other hand, you get inmature gaming design by Yoko Taro and his team, by forcing the player to repeat half of the game more than once to see all of the endings, I got no problem with the second time because you actually get a different perspective in the story, the problem is when NOTHING changes the third time around, if I'm being honest, I speed ran it skipping almost all cut scenes to avoid spoiling the initial good impression of the story.
Also, I find Replicant to have the same problem I had with Automata, almost at the end of the first route I felt I was tremendously over powered, which makes the route B a lot faster but still I would've appreciated higher skill ceiling.

And also ending E is pure fan service but I appreciate it, I love Kainé.

At the end of the day I have a special place for both NieR Replicant and Automata, and I'm glad I was able to play through them. I'm curious about what's the next big project from Yoko Taro.

Videogames shouldn't feel like a chore, and after 35 hours, this game started to feel like one, maybe I will go back to finish it, but at the start of the sixth chapter I decided to stop.

I have lots of respect for the Ys series, I like how it has managed to keep it refreshing with each iteration, but I think I'm better with Ys Origin style than 8s

Pretty good game, nice exploration, combat sometimes can feel like a button smasher, and the story is anime, plain and simple. So little to no reason for me to push through it, if I did it may affect the good image I have of the game, it's just not for me.