GRcade

Saint of Killers wrote:Thank you for writing that, Jiggles.

jiggles wrote:Wrapped up endings C, D and E yesterday. I haven't played a Yoko Taro game before, so I imagine I could only pick up on the surface detail, but man.

I'd say that one of my biggest fears in life is ending up with dementia. I've had to deal with a lot of stress and overload in the past decade that has taken a noticeable toll on my ability to remember things. I forget names and faces in a way that I never did before, some of my extended family (cousins, aunts, uncles) are just gone at this point. Worse still is that I notice it happening, which has made me consider if not knowing I used to remember things better would be sweet release. If I ended up with severe dementia, would not being able to recognise the people I love be blissful ignorance of the problem, or would it be a fate worse than death? It's a situation I hate to think about.

I haven't read any spoiler-filled assessments of the game's themes yet, so I might be off-base, but NieR: Automata, to me, is a game about this question. It's a game about memory, and specifically, its degradation and loss. From the very opening, it's clear that 2B and 9S place the utmost value in their memories. Their bodies are disposable, and it's the memories that define them. The A ending highlights this further by having 9S transfer his memories to the machine network and become one of them. He's still 9S, but he's no longer a 9S. But this also means that the loss of memories is the loss of the person.

The Wandering Couple sidequest ends with a dark revelation. In a pseudo-suicide pact, they agree to both be wiped clean to forget all their hardships and live in ignorance, but trusting to fate that they will again fall in love and be together. The husband goes first, but the wife refrains, revealing they'd been through this many times before, and that she always clears his memories while retaining her own, because he's easier to manage when he can't remember the bad times.

In the C playthrough, Pascal sees his village destroyed and all the children kill themselves. He asks you to either make him forget or kill him, to rid him of the heartache. While on the surface this seemed like a simple request to make the pain stop, the deeper question is really "is it better to lose all your memories than it is to die?". For me, this was a rough choice. Yes, Pascal is better off without the trauma, but is he better off without his good memories? Is he still even Pascal after that? I don't know, but I wiped him because I selfishly didn't have the heart to let him go. Later, I found him stood among the corpses of his dead friends, blissfully unaware, and selling off the children's cores for a quick buck. He was happy, but he couldn't remember anyone he cared for. I was crushed.

When the endings rolled around, it hammered home the futility of YoRHa's existence. Reliving the same things over and over while getting your memories erased at the end each time. Everything ultimately being meaningless, and that final gut-punch comes where I find myself asking "what is the point in life if you can't remember it?"

And then the game turns into an arcade shooter. A distraction. A toy that explodes with sound and light to entertain. Forget that existential question, here's a game to play to make you have fun. That's why you're here, right? That's what you've been doing these past 30 hours? Look at all these encouraging messages! You can do it! You're enjoying yourself now. Isn't that all that matters?

I deleted my save.

Rubix wrote:Anyone got the soundtrack to share

I think this deserves it's own thread.

Kyle McCarley (voice actor of 9s) recently read the japanese NieR Automata Concert Stage Play together with Kira Buckland (voice actress of 2B), his wife Katelyn Gault (as A2) and his roommates Laura Stahl (as Pod 153) and James Anthony (as Pod 042 and Zinnia).

I think the performance of them were incredible. Not Spoilers:

They cried.

You can learn more about the stage play here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nier/comments/6729ys/spoilers_new_2b9s_information_from_nier_concert/?st=j3ol0qh2&sh=ce21aa40

It offered new pieces of informations about the characters, after ending E for example. It's totally worth it.

With Q&A and other stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF0y083mMHA&t

Just the play, 5 Acts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ08khNM1Fg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGLYoP4xF0Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl6zyhfm7dk&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2WfrAE-iRQ&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVr_bZpj4JY

Kyle McCarley also streamed the game, together with Kira Buckland or other voice actors from the game like Ray Chase (Eve or Noctis in FF XV) or Erica Lindbeck (Anemone or Celica in Fire Emblem Echoes: SoV)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw2b_oWSH_aOHlKeKbtf-tiND9wbK6r-T

It's so nice to see their passion for the game. Kira Buckland even cosplays 2B regularly - like in this reading.

KjGarly wrote:So how far till you reach some android smut?

Floex wrote:Started this last night, really liking what I'm playing so far.

One question, which difficulty do people recommend? Just finished the desert area and it was pretty easy on normal. Just wondering if I should bump it up or does the game ramp in the hard stakes?

Floex wrote:Started this last night, really liking what I'm playing so far.

One question, which difficulty do people recommend? Just finished the desert area and it was pretty easy on normal. Just wondering if I should bump it up or does the game ramp in the hard stakes?

twitter.com/NieRGame/status/904735813585342464

Relive the Music of "NieR: Automata" with New Album
"Glory to Mankind" features orchestral pop arrangements of 13 game favorites.
Kara Dennison
September 03, 2017 3:50pm BST (one day ago)



NieR: Glory to Mankind
by ROZEN + REVEN

http://music.rozen.audio/album/nier-glory-to-mankind <-- purchasable here

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2 ... -new-album

Tafdolphin wrote:The moment to moment gameplay is not this game's strength. Leave it on normal.

smurphy wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:The moment to moment gameplay is not this game's strength. Leave it on normal.

What do you mean by this? I thought the demo was decent, and am looking forward to getting the main game where it presumably ramps up the challenge and becomes more interesting.

Tafdolphin wrote:

smurphy wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:The moment to moment gameplay is not this game's strength. Leave it on normal.

What do you mean by this? I thought the demo was decent, and am looking forward to getting the main game where it presumably ramps up the challenge and becomes more interesting.

The fighting is fun, but over the course of 35 hours it never really changes. If you've played the demo, you've experienced the majority of what the moment to moment game feels like. It's a classic because of its atmosphere and plotting, not it's fighting