NieR

[BulletMagnet]

Worldwide demo ahoy.

[Sumez]

Not sure if I even want to spoil any part of this experience with a demo :O

But I probably can't contain myself.

[evil_ash_xero]

I am totally psyched for the demo. This is my most anticipated game for at least the next couple of years.
This is supposed to get Pro support. I wonder what it might be, other than the 4K stuff?
Maybe better textures, or just a more stable framerate?

I don't really get "spoiled" much.
Except for that time I was on GameFaqs a few days before the release of MGSV, and some asshole blurted out the twist.

[evil_ash_xero]

The demo is up on the JP store. It has English options.

[iconoclast]

Played through the demo a couple of times, it's good, but maybe a little spoilery. The combat is obviously better than Nier's, but it's still pretty simple. Each weapon has a small moveset with basic attack strings, the dodge and counter are extremely forgiving, and the enemies clearly telegraph their attacks. It works well and feels good, though. The production values are also much better than I expected. It seems like Square either put a lot of money into this, or they used their resources very wisely, since it looks, runs, and sounds great. Maybe Persona 5 will have some competition for GOTY? (Or RPG of the year, at least)

[Sumez]

Man... Don't like the "spoilery" part.
Maybe I'm better off playing it in Japanese?

[iconoclast]

Won't make a difference, it's just the last couple of cutscenes that seem to show some important events. It's probably misleading on purpose tho.

[Durandal]

Spoiler

looking great

[AxelMill]

Man... Don't like the "spoilery" part.
Maybe I'm better off playing it in Japanese?

Having played Nier, and having found out about its opening before I started it, I'm kinda scared now.
For those who don't know, the first game's intro, which plays whenever you turn the game on, shows every single boss (including the last one) in the game, as well as many deaths and major events. Some people may argue that it's so fast-paced that you don't even understand most of the stuff, but still, it's there.

[Sumez]

True. It was brief enough that it didn't feel like a spoiler, but yeah, it's the kind of game where any setpiece inherently has some sort of spoiler quality.

[gbaplayer]

Spoiler

looking great

Will this be in the actual game as well? I´m pretty sure western versions will be censored...

[Sumez]

This is unlike me to say... but I honestly hope so.

[gbaplayer]

Good to be censored or good to be left like it is?

[AxelMill]

The very first shot of the main character we got, back in 2015, was of her groin, albeit obscured: we shouldn't be surprised.

True. It was brief enough that it didn't feel like a spoiler, but yeah, it's the kind of game where any setpiece inherently has some sort of spoiler quality.

And this game is made by Platinum, so even stupid sh*t shouldn't be spoiled, like the beginning of R-02 in Rising or the entire first stage in Bayo 2.
So, iconoclast, can we just skip every cutscene or are there "gameplay" spoilers, too? Like, I don't know, a dead body lying around or "stupid sh*t"?

[Sumez]

Good to be censored or good to be left like it is?

I wouldn't mind them censoring it completely. I mean, I don't want the game itself to be censored. The first game had Laura Bailey's obsessive swearing wich was lovely, but having the main character's crotch show up occasionally as a bad excuse for fanservice is pretty cringeworthy. Supposedly the game was even gonna have the skirt deteriorate as you took damage, but fortunately that's not in the demo.

[AxelMill]

I ended up played it without skipping any cutscenes. I'm confused. Very confused.
Anyway, I think it's just the beginning of the game, so you people can play it however you want.

Shooting with your pod is excessively fast, making the enemies' bullet patterns trivial at best. Also, aiming the Pod's special attack is unnecessarily finicky: let go of the right stick when you shoot, and it'll aim wherever it wants, do so much as touch it, and it'll miss the target.
Counterattacking after having dodged is really dangerous, despite it being a "reward", especially against the demo's mid-bosses.
You can barely tell you got hit, and that's mostly because items are used automatically. "That's the dumbest thing ever!", I said. Surprise, you can turn that off by unequipping that particular chip, deep within the pause menu.
Hard is excessively hard. They kill you (or rather, force you to waste an item) in one or two hit. "That's totally fine", you say. Well, if you do die, you have to start aaaaall over again.
Everything is all brown. Even the PS4's led is brown. Your enemies are small sphere-headed robot, slightly bigger sphere-headed robot and flying sphere-headed robot. And they're all brown, of course. I hope that's not the case with the full game.

Even though I found some stuff to be annoying, I enjoyed my time with it.

EDIT: I re-added the stuff I removed because otherwise no one would understand who iconoclast was talking to.

[iconoclast]

The demo area is brown because it's an abandoned factory, it's not supposed to be colorful. Nier's aesthetic was pretty much entirely dull and drab (which was fitting, it's not a negative), so I wouldn't be surprised if Automata is similar. There are some screenshots and videos of city areas with overgrowth and stuff tho.

You can play through the entire demo just doing the square counterattack. It's completely invincible and launches every nearby, and they can all be killed with one air combo. If anything, I wish enemies had more health, especially the basic zako who die in like two hits.

The pod's special attack also aims at the center of the screen. In the overhead sections, you can hold the button down and aim it with the right stick. I didn't have a problem with it.

[AxelMill]

Basically 90% of my complaints are a thing because I suck at this game, haha.
Though, sending you back to the title screen if you die is still bulls*it. Especially on Extreme. Like, how am I supposed to practice that?

Spoiler

well, i am writing this on the shmup forum

You can play through the entire demo just doing the square counterattack. It's completely invincible and launches every nearby, and they can all be killed with one air combo. If anything, I wish enemies had more health, especially the basic zako who die in like two hits.

...And that's not fun at all. But if you try to do otherwise, even the zako might destroy you. Happened a lot, actually.
Anyway, I was talking about the saws. You can't counterattack, otherwise they'll hit you immediately. They did that to me, at least, so I had to mash R2 until they stopped.

[Sumez]

I'm surprised no one pointed out the demo's boss, which was a bit of a letdown. Basically it's your standard scripted set of events where you just need predetermined things to happen before you can damage him, there's no actual gameplay to it.

While those kind of fights CAN be fun and add some dynamic to a game, I really hope the full game only utilizes it very lightly! I think there's a good chance this area will come around early in the full game and have similar tutorial properties.


I enjoyed the demo otherwise. Characters sort of lack that aura of mystery about them that defines all of the original NieR, but I guess I gotta trust in Taro Yoko on this one.
Level design was decent, I liked the little secrets you can find, and the relatively fluent switching of perspective that also worked as a nice callback to the original game. Hopefully it will continue to work in original and surprising ways throughout the game this time around as well.

[iconoclast]

There's a quick save option on the map screen in the pause menu. It doesn't work in the demo but maybe that's how Very Hard is intended to be played. I'd even prefer Platinum's usual checkpoint after every battle over that, but oh well. Predetermined save points are always best.

I thought the boss was typical Platinum. Nothing special, but cool and fun enough to fight. You can attack him the entire time tho with the gun and charge shot, then do a full combo after dodging one of the melee attacks. In the final part, you can just keep mashing triangle and shooting (this one's a little dull gameplay wise but at least it looks cool).

[Sumez]

Yeah you can attack him all the time, but it does little damage, and doesn't really matter. The story needs to happen and then you fiinally get to attack him with his own arm which kills him in like 4 hits.
The original Nier had some really fun and creative boss fights. Never super difficult, but definitely involving. I hope the rest of the game tries harder to follow up on those designs.

I'm hoping quick save isn't what it seems to be. That would be dumb.

[evil_ash_xero]

Seems just like a a tutorial boss. I guess they didn't want it to be too taxing.

I wish the part where you're in rail shooter mode lasted longer.

[Necronopticous]

My wife & I played through the demo a couple of times last night. I think this game could go either way, and I think it's going to depend a lot on how good the RPG system is. The movement/action feels okay, but it's definitely not good enough to carry the game. We were both kind of bored of fighting the enemies by the end of the demo, and it isn't particularly long. The level design showcased here was extremely dull, and the bit of character interaction that we got was kind of embarrassing. I'm still cautiously optimistic about the game, but the demo didn't do a whole lot for me one way or the other. I want it to be good!

[evil_ash_xero]

My wife & I played through the demo a couple of times last night. I think this game could go either way, and I think it's going to depend a lot on how good the RPG system is. The movement/action feels okay, but it's definitely not good enough to carry the game. We were both kind of bored of fighting the enemies by the end of the demo, and it isn't particularly long. The level design showcased here was extremely dull, and the bit of character interaction that we got was kind of embarrassing. I'm still cautiously optimistic about the game, but the demo didn't do a whole lot for me one way or the other. I want it to be good!

Stop being a hater, dude. Let love in your heart!

[BulletMagnet]

Only semi-related, but thought some of you might appreciate Yoko Taro's take on Atlus's upcoming fantasy project.

[iconoclast]

Only semi-related, but thought some of you might appreciate Yoko Taro's take on Atlus's upcoming fantasy project.

Perfect.

Well, I'm sure they'd be able to make Nier 3, 4, 5, 6, and the reboot by the time the new Atlus RPG comes out, if Persona 5 is any indication, so they've got some time to build their brand.

[evil_ash_xero]

Very amusing.

Off topic, but man, I cannot get into Atlus' RPGs. CONSTANT talking. Am I the only one who has a problem with this?
I even tried one of their games for the DS (I think it was Devil Summoner, or something like that), and I swear, I spent way more time reading than playing.

I don't mind a lot of talk, as long as there is a decent gap of gameplay in between. However, with the few Atlus titles I have played, I haven't gotten this.

[Udderdude]

I'm excited for Nier Automata. I don't know how long it's going to stay PS4 exclusive, but I know I can do better than the 900p it's going to run on the PS4 ..

[evil_ash_xero]

I'm excited for Nier Automata. I don't know how long it's going to stay PS4 exclusive, but I know I can do better than the 900p it's going to run on the PS4 ..

It runs at 1080 on Pro.
But it's on PC too.

[Immryr]

i've been playing nier recently, i'm about 12 hours in and just need one more piece of the big key thing. so far everything about the game is very mediocre, other than the music. the much lauded story is meh so far, although i've heard it gets a lot better toward the end, the writing is.....bad, the characters are fairly standard archetypes, the combat is bland, there is a weapon upgrade system but so far i haven't found the need to use it as grinding for the materials doesn't seem worth it, all of the quests you get given are pointless and often grindy fetch quests. the bosses have been decent and i like idea of the mix of sword swinging and dodging the big balls everything shoots at you - kind of like a 3d Ys.

the part where kaine gets an axe handle through her chest and the camera zooms in on her butthole was good.