Why ‘NieR: Automata’ Isn’t That Good
This is the first part in Barry’s “Devil’s Advocate” series. If you enjoy this kind of content, please let us know on Twitter @EpilogueGames!
At first, I was really getting into NieR: Automata. My first playthrough to the ‘A’ ending was a fairly enjoyable blend of action RPG and shoot ‘em up, filled with a diverse selection of unique scenarios with enough variety in the gameplay to keep it engaging. A strong opening segment in a strange factory was followed by places such as a vast desert and an abandoned amusement park, enticing me to push onward to see what was next. On top of that, the premise of the robots gaining sentience with their little societies was very interesting, especially as Automata got closer to the end. This game has some great segments, but by the end of route A, something felt like it was missing. I knew going into it that there were multiple endings, so when the game prompted me to dive back in, I did so with gusto.
The start of route B set an odd precedent for the rest of the game. It opens not with an action sequence of some kind, but with a slow, clunky robot that is trying to revive its dead friend. Nier: Automata was trying to get me to sympathize more with the machines as opposed to the androids I’ve been playing as, but I felt that was already done with better effectiveness with Pascal’s camp and the factory revisit. What happened here was a sacrifice in gameplay in the hopes of providing a better narrative, which is something I have a hard time stomaching in games. Instead of forcing me to control this clumsy robot that trips over the smallest bump, the developers could have simply made it a cutscene. It did not help that I had to go through this multiple times because of getting an accidental alternate ending and failing the opening mission near the end, causing a lot of needless frustration.
This repetition of segments also started to expose another side to the game I hadn’t thought about much prior to route B: the lack of variety in its non-hack-and-slash gameplay. The airborne shoot ‘em up segments have only two types of enemies outside of bosses, but most of the combat is done with a single type, with only minor variations in its shot output. This started to get stale fast. What was once a nice diversion to keep the gameplay fresh was suddenly becoming a tedious chore in the way of other, more interesting things.
Once I started playing as 9S, I was introduced to an addition to the standard hack-and-slash gameplay in the form of a computer hacking minigame. It started off as a nice inclusion – I liked these types of segments in the Sly Cooper series, and it was a pleasant break from the typical combat that was getting a bit stale at this point. As the route progressed, I grew to be a bit too reliant on this newfound hacking ability, as 9S was a tad weaker on the physical side of things without a secondary weapon to draw upon. There seemed to be little downside to doing so other than time spent that could be used elsewhere, especially with a healing chip equipped that made failure a non-threat. As a result, I hacked more than I would have otherwise, revealing the lack of variety within the minigame. There are only a few variants (aside from some specific boss encounter versions), so the monotony was starting to get to me by the time I was done with route B.
When taking in route B as a whole, it seems obvious that things would get repetitive. The entire premise is playing through the same story, just as 9S instead of 2B. This simple idea does have its differences, but there doesn’t seem to be much incentive to stick around. I knew what was next in the storyline progression, so I rushed to each segment as soon as I could. Some of the bosses didn’t even have proper scaling despite my levels being higher, so I blitzed through them without breaking a sweat. For those encounters that did pose a challenge, it was a simple matter of hacking until the fight was over. Things do change a bit near the end, as 9S gets captured and has an interesting discussion with one of the antagonists. I was given a narrative breadcrumb in that humanity has long been dead, which was just enough to push me onward to see what the rest of the game had to offer beyond ending B.
Going into the final route, I had high expectations. I had heard great things about Automata’s story prior to playing, and knew that I wasn’t truly done until I obtained ending E. I was hoping for some kind of moral dilemma, perhaps along the lines of both sides of the war realizing there is no longer a reason to fight, and embracing that they have spent the rest of the game conflicted about instead. I wanted some kind of emotional payoff for the machines that were adopting human-like features. This route started strong; a YoRHa base segment revealed that the war was meant to go on despite the lack of a backing, and a virus that threatened to wipe out all androids.
Upon leaving the base and reaching the surface, however, the gameplay took a sudden turn for the worse. A huge difficulty spike was waiting for me, as now common enemies were at least 10 levels higher than me, sometimes reaching as high as 20, when all throughout routes A and B, I was on par with the opposition. The difficulty prompted me to rely heavily on hit and run tactics. This was combined with a new enemy tactic: shockwaves that disable certain vital functions, such as dodging and attacking. All of this slowed down the combat to an unbearable crawl. Immediately after that slog of a fight, 2B was separated from 9S while harboring a virus. During this segment, 2B has occasional glitches that disable all of her functions aside from a basic slow walk, which occur at the most inopportune times. I struggled to get through this section – on one attempt, a glitch occurred right as I reached a pack of enemies, making it impossible to escape. On another try, I was stuck at the bottom of a ditch with the only way out being a tall ladder that proved insurmountable. I can understand that the gameplay was designed this way to promote the narrative, but I’m of the opinion that the gameplay should not be actively harmed in the pursuit of a good story. A game can certainly have both, but NieR: Automata seems content with having one or the other.
It is at this point that the narrative takes a weird direction. A strange structure appears out of nowhere, with an unknown character making announcements through an intercom of some sort. Gameplay becomes split between 9S and A2, with 9S investigating towers to gain access to the structure, and A2 learning about the machine humanity that I’ve already known about almost the entire game. I started with 9S, as I’ve grown to be more attached to him through route B. All 9S does is locate a set of 3 towers and climb to the top of each of them. Each of these towers has no checkpoints coupled with a boss at the top, so any mistake can be costly in terms of time. One of the tower bosses even has an unpredictable move that killed me in one hit, creating a frustrating experience. On the other side of things, A2 has a lengthy boss fight and takes some time within one of the machine villages, defending it from an incoming threat. A scene here of a group of machine children taking their own lives should have had more of an emotional impact, but I felt that it had little buildup and was unearned. Overall, I felt that the A2 section was at least bearable, which isn’t saying much compared to everything else this route had to offer thus far.
The culmination of these struggles came to fruition upon entering the strange structure. There was an air of mystery as I started to climb it, as android clones attacked me at certain points trying to keep me from going further. I learned from the 9S segment earlier that this tower was designed to launch a missile at the moon, but I have no attachment to it. I already knew that humanity has been long gone so there is nothing on the moon to be destroyed, so this last-ditch effort by the machines seems pointless. Why should I feel motivated to climb this tower and stop it? While I was contemplating what the payoff for this could possibly be, I was introduced to perhaps the worst boss fight I have ever had the misfortune of fighting, and it wasn’t even due to the boss itself. It was a standard damage sponge of a fight, but my control kept switching between 9S and A2 at increasingly erratic intervals. By the end of the fight, I was spending more time getting my bearings and waiting for the switch to occur than I was actually fighting the boss. As my health refreshed on each switch, I was in virtually no danger, making it more of a chore than anything else.
What was my reward for reaching the top of the final tower? A confrontation between 9S and A2, forcing me to choose between the 2. I didn’t feel like this choice was meaningful in any way – 9S is only interested in revenge and has a virus influencing his decisions at this point, and A2 is looking to destroy the tower. But as I had already surmised that the tower was meaningless, I didn’t feel obligated to choose either of them. I went with A2 on my first playthrough as I figured 9S wasn’t acting like his normal self due to the virus. The final battle here between the two androids was standard fare for the game – not bad, but feels somewhat tame compared to everything that came before it. As the tower collapsed and the credits rolled, I was left wondering what was the point of this section. The identity of the mysterious intercom voice was never revealed, and I still had learned nothing about why it existed in the first place. I went back to see if the result was any different if I chose 9S instead, which just led to both 9S’ and A2’s deaths.
During the credits this time around, I was prompted by the pods that have been following me around the whole game to shoot down the developers’ names so they may have the freedom to make their own decisions. During these credits, an insane difficulty spike prompted the game to offer a helping hand. After defying it around a dozen times, I finally gave in, and accepted help from other players who had also finished this game. Upon completion, I was given the option of giving up my save file to help others. Of course, I refused – perhaps I have an irrational attachment to my save files, but I also felt that the game had not earned this moment. There was no indication prior to this credits sequence that the save file itself mattered, so why should I bother?
Overall, my experience with Nier: Automata was a mixture of confusion and frustration. The initial A route was fine until the rest of the game slowly spiraled down afterward, both in terms of gameplay and narrative. The climax of the story gave me more of a feeling of relief that it was finally over rather than excitement. I may have gotten more enjoyment out of the story if I took some time after completing the game to watch some lore videos, but a game shouldn’t need outside help to have a satisfactory narrative conclusion. Perhaps it was fitting that my final moments within NieR: Automata were spent fighting the developers that created this monotonous chore of an ending.
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