This game is the reason why a guy [the legendary u/-YoRHa2B-] started working on dxvk, to make this game compatible on linux after it released. Valve hired him and made Proton out of it. The result is the Steam Deck, this remains one of the best games for the SD.
This game hurt me. In the best way possible.
Easy recommend. Only wish the game made it clear that
Meta spoiler
the real game is after the first ending; continue your save file after it.
The spoiler tag doesnt work on jerboa btw just sayinh
Those tags don’t work on Wefwef either ☹️
Really good game! I actually run on Reddit two subs for the series (r/drakengard and r/okbuddyyorha) so it’s really neat to see this recommendation here and it’s pretty solid.
I would say though that this game is a standalone sequel to NieR Replicant (also amazing), and while you can play either in any order, I think the experience is better if played after Replicant. That said, both run pretty well on the Deck and both go on sale often!
Shameless plug, if you like the series, we also have an instance for the series at lemm.ee/c/nier. Anyways
Thank you! :)
I guess I’ll be the token naysayer and say that this game was pretty disappointing. The combat is… fine. Nothing special. The story is also unexceptional. There is a twist that flirts with greatness, but they pretty much just throw it away in favor of something more generic. And, without spoiling: there is an infamous long section that is extremely repetitive, and the payoff is not at all worth it. Most people disagree with me on that, so your mileage may vary. People also like to talk about how philosophical the game is, but aside from certain characters being named after famous philosophers, there’s not really much to grapple with. The flirty plot twist I mentioned could have been leveraged for some great introspection, but… just isn’t.
All that being said, the game is still fine, just unremarkable. Honestly, if the primary protagonist wasn’t a babe in a cute dress, I don’t think anybody would have given N:A a second glance.
Did you play past ending A?
I get where you’re coming from, but I think it tried some really interesting stuff. The way it mixed genres, seamlessly transitioning from hack and slash to bullet hell during different scenes for one thing.
Other things that come to mind:
-The soundtrack with it’s strange, ancient sounding vocals
-Just generally how odd and mysterious everything is - it felt like it tried something different during a time when a lot of games were becoming quite samey.
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Making the player question their choices on subsequent playthroughs. How ‘meta’ it was (obviously I have to mention the credits)
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The way the story doesn’t pull its punches. And the general nihilism of everything - the machine children dying comes to mind, and the two girls programmed to feel endless guilt
The whole package just stuck in my mind more so than any other game of that time.
Game runs great on deck, if you don’t mind capping fps at 30, it’ll easily run at close to 10w while looking great.
I played this for a few hours a couple of years back as I had heard so many rave reviews about it.
I got to the first boss I but it didn’t really click with me, did I not give it enough of a chance or something? Does gameplay/story improve as it goes on?
It unfortunately takes a long while to pick up. When it picks up, it really goes all in though, there’s a reason it and the first game in the series (NieR Replicant) are praised as some of the best stories in video games ever made.
It just… really takes its time. I would say Replicant gets into the meat of everything sooner while Automata is a slow burn until it’s time for the game to twist everything on its head. Completely fair if you don’t like that kind of thing, but there is good reason for the praise.
Edit: Was using Memmy for this and it duplicate my comment twice, sorry!
Gameplay is boring but upskirt shots are great.
Bonk
I remember having a blast with this one until I break-up with my GF and just slumped into a period of depression. Might pick it up again now (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝)
Look into the future with the fediverse :)
