Nier: Automata

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Nier: Automata (Japanese: ニーア オートマタ Hepburn: Nīa Ōtomata?, stylized as NieR:Automata) is an open-world action role-playing video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows. The game released worldwide in 2017: it released in Japan in February, and in North America and Europe the following month. Nier: Automata is a sequel to the 2010 video game Nier, a spin-off of the Drakengard series. Set in the midst of a proxy war between machines created by otherworldly invaders and the remnants of humanity, the story follows the battles of a combat android, her companion, and a fugitive prototype. Gameplay combines role-playing elements with action-based combat and mixed genre gameplay similar to that of Nier.

Production began in 2014, with series creator Yoko Taro, producer Yosuke Saito, and composers Keiichi Okabe and Keigo Hoashi returning to their respective roles. Regular Square Enix artist Akihiko Yoshida designed the main characters. The story was based around themes similar to Yoko's earlier works, such as people's impulse to kill, while also incorporating issues such as confronting of prejudice and escaping difficult situations. The goal was to make a Nier game true to the spirit of the original, while simultaneously crafting better gameplay combat. As a project entirely new to the developers, the staff at PlatinumGames faced multiple challenges when developing its gameplay and open world environment.

Upon release, Nier: Automata was given highly positive reviews, with critics praising the game's narrative, characterization, music design, combat system and usage of different gameplay genres. Criticism was leveled at the game's technical problems.

Gameplay

Nier: Automata is an open-world action role-playing game set on a post-apocalyptic Earth thousands of years after the events of the original Nier.[1] The player takes the role of combat androids from the YoRHa units across an open world environment. In addition to standard navigation on foot, using a special item can summon a wild animal the player character can ride, and in some scenarios a flying mech is available for fighting enemies.[2][3] As with the previous game, during navigation in some environments, the camera shifts from its standard third-person view to an overhead or side-scrolling perspective.[4] Some areas also include platforming puzzles requiring the character to navigate via jumping between platforms or over obstacles. The player can complete side quests for non-playable characters found in hub locations, where the player can also purchase items and consumables which recover health.[3]

Combat is action-based, with the player characters fighting enemies in real-time in a variety of in-game environments. During battle, the character can use light attacks—which are fast but weak—and heavy attacks—slow and more powerful. During combat, the player character can evade enemy attacks, and if a button press is timed right that character can gain temporary invulnerability and launch a counterattack which deals heavy damage. The character is also assisted by their Pod, a flying robot assistant which launches ranged attacks which can be customized, varying from simple gunfire to a heavy-hitting hammer attack. Characters can access four different weapon types in battle: short swords, long swords, bracers, and spears. When attacking, the character can alternate between both weapon types and attacks to create combination attacks. Attacks with different weapon types can also be charged up and launched for higher damage.[2][4] Weapon Stories, a recurring element in both Nier and the Drakengard series, where weapons found around the world have stories attached to them, are also planned.[5]

As the player characters progress, they gain experience levels, increasing their health, defense, and attack power.[2] Character customization is handled through Chips, items installed into the player characters that adjust some of their attributes; these chips can do thing such as alter the HUD to show enemy health and damage and grant status buffs to the player characters. The number of Chips that can be installed at any one time are limited by how many slots a character has. Chips can either be purchased at shops or picked up from defeated enemies.[3][6] If the player character dies, they respawn at their previous save point. The player character can then find their original body and either retrieve items and experience left with it to gain a bonus, or attempt to repair it. If successful, the body is resurrected as a temporary ally, but if unsuccessful, it becomes an enemy the player can defeat for an extra bonus.[2]

Synopsis

Setting and characters

Nier: Automata shares the post-apocalyptic setting of the original Nier, taking place after the game's fourth ending.[1] While carrying over the Drakengard series' tradition of a dark atmosphere and branching storylines, no direct narrative connection is shared between Nier: Automata and the rest of the series.[7][1][8] Set an unknown time after the events of Nier, the story revolves around a war between the remnants of humanity and the machine army of invaders from another world. The initial invasion forced humanity to flee to the Moon.[9][10] Humanity eventually sends down combat androids dubbed "YoRHa" to fight the invaders in a proxy war. While denied emotions and lacking true names, they have particular attitudes that distinguish them from their fellows.[9][10][11] The YoRHa are commanded from the Bunker, a reconnaissance base in orbit above Earth, and establish a self-sufficient Resistance on Earth to drive back the Machines.[12]

The main protagonist is YoRHa No. 2 Model B, or "2B" for short, a female-model YoRHa android whose main traits are being calm and composed.[9][10][11] She is accompanied by "9S" (YoRHa No. 9 Model S), a reconnaissance android who displays more emotion than other YoRHa units; and observed by "A2" (YoRHa Model A No. 2), an obsolete prototype android of 2B's line with a taciturn personality who often chooses to act alone.[11] Other characters include the Commander, an android in command of the Bunker; Adam and Eve, twin brothers whose motives are unknown; Pascal, a machine who dislikes conflict and wishes for peace; Devola and Popola, androids who aid the Resistance and descended from similar beings that went berserk during the events of Nier; the various Operator androids who act as overseers for the YoRHa; Anemone, a resistance leader who helps the YoRHa; the Pods that accompany YoRHa units and act as combat support and communicators with the Bunker; and original Nier protagonist Emil, who has lost his memories in the intervening years.[5][6] Other characters from both Nier and Drakengard 3 are mentioned.[12]

Plot

Nier: Automata opens with 2B and 9S opening the way for a future incursion into machine territory, working to clear out machine threats for the local Resistance. With help from Anemone and later Pascal, 2B and 9S defeat multiple machine threats. During their missions, they witness the birth of and later fight Adam and Eve, physical manifestations of the machine network who reveal that their creators were destroyed centuries ago. 2B and 9S also encounter A2, who is on the run from YoRHa. It is revealed that the machines are beginning to feel emotions and gather in groups, and some like Pascal's group have grown tired of fighting. 9S is eventually captured by Adam, who is killed by 2B. Deprived of his brother, Eve goes mad with grief and drives the machines under his command into a frenzy. 2B and 9S kill Eve, but 9S is infected with the machine's logic virus, forcing 2B to kill him. Despite his body dying, 9S's personality is saved in the local machine network, allowing his transfer into a new body. The second playthrough follows the opening narrative from the perspective of 9S, offering new insight into the machines and Adam and Eve. 9S also learns that humanity has been extinct since the events of Nier aside from a server on the moon holding humanity's DNA and history. YoRHa and its mission were created to keep the androids from losing morale. He also encounters a glitch when performing a standard server sync, and halts the procedure for both himself and 2B.

The apparent deaths of Adam and Eve throws the machine network into chaos, prompting YoRHa to launch a full-scale invasion. 2B and 9S form part of the vanguard, but a logic virus attack turns every YoRHa unit aside from 2B and 9S hostile. The two retreat to the Bunker, which is subsequently overrun—the "glitch" 9S encountered was in fact a hole opening in YoRHa's virus defenses, leaving the entire squadron vulnerable. Infected herself, the Commander orders 2B and 9S to the surface then self-destructs the Bunker. 2B and 9S are forced to separate on the descent when attacked by rogue YoRHa, and 2B ends up infected with a logic virus. Saved from rogue YoRHa by A2, 2B uploads her memories into her sword and tasks A2 with completing her mission. 9S sees A2 kill 2B, and ignorant of their interaction swears revenge against A2. Alongside this, a structure called the Tower created by the machines rises above the land. The story then divides between A2 and 9S, with their respective Pods 042 and 153 interacting with each other.

A2 continues 2B's missions against the machines. During her story, Pascal's village is attacked when machines begin going berserk, and when A2 and Pascal fight off a machine attack the "children" of his village commit suicide in fear of being killed. A2 has the option of either wiping Pascal's memory or killing him at his request. Meanwhile 9S investigates the Tower and its purpose: he learns that androids and machines are constructed from the same materials, and the Tower is preparing to launch something he assumes is a missile directed at the server on the moon. During his quest, 9S is tormented by the loss of YoRHa and 2B, and becomes emotionally and mentally unstable. 9S eventually gains access to the Tower with help from Devola and Popola, who sacrifice themselves to fend off the attacking machines—they are revealed to be the last surviving versions of the android type that triggered the end of humanity, thus suffering persecution by other androids and programmed to feel perpetual guilt and atone for their actions. A2 follows 9S inside, where the machines' controlling artificial intelligence confronts them both—A2's backstory as the survivor of a precursor unit to the YoRHa that was designed to be destroyed is revealed, and 9S learns that the logic virus attack on YoRHa was part of the plan to perpetuate the ruse of humanity's survival and trap both machines and androids in a repeating cycle of war.

When they meet at the top of the Tower, A2 reveals the truth about 2B; her real designation was "2E", a YoRHa unit designed to repeatedly kill 9S whenever he discovered the truth about humanity and YoRHa—2B suffered greatly from her role, and wanted to help 9S through A2. 9S, by now driven insane and infected with the logic virus, challenges A2 to a fight. The player then selects which character to control. In the third ending, should the player choose A2, 9S is defeated and A2 first cures him of the logic virus, then sacrifices herself to destroy the Tower while Pod 042 takes 9S to safety. In the fourth ending, should the player pick 9S, the two kill each other, and in his final moments the machine artificial intelligence tells him that the Tower has changed its function due to the machines' evolution and is instead firing an ark containing the essence of machine kind—including the still-living Adam and Eve—to find a new world. During the credits, Pods 042 and 153 speak to the player upon finding that the data for 2B, 9S and A2 are still intact. If the player agrees to save the data, this triggers the fifth ending: Pods 042 and 153 reconstitute the androids' memories and experiences and reconstruct their bodies—despite the possibility that the three would simply repeat everything, the Pods hold faith that they will forge a new future.

Development

After the release of Nier, both director Yoko Taro and Square Enix producer Yosuke Saito wanted to create a sequel. When Saito spoke to assistant producer Yuki Yokoyama, Yokoyama was unwilling due to the original game's low sales.[13] After the positive fan reception of the original Nier, however, both Square Enix and the lead staff who worked on the original game were willing to continue the Nier IP, but also wanted to create a better, more action-oriented gameplay experience. As a result, they contacted PlatinumGames, which had developed a reputation for high-quality action games such as Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.[7][14] The collaboration was agreed upon on two conditions: that Yoko become director, and that he be present to help with production. The latter condition necessitated a move by Yoko from Tokyo to Osaka where PlatinumGames was located.[13] Although Taro was initially uneasy about the collaboration, the staff at PlatinumGames had been wanting to work on a Nier game since its release, and their enthusiasm and wish to remain faithful to the original assuaged his doubts.[8] Designer Takahisa Taura also wished to create a sequel to Nier prior to Square Enix approaching the company.[15] The original plan was to make the game for mobile platforms or PlayStation Vita—Yoko claims that they intended for it to be similar to farming simulator Farmville—but it was soon decided to develop the game for PlayStation 4 instead.[1][16] The game was co-produced by Saito and Eijiro Nishimura.[17]

Production for the game began in 2014, including six months of pre-production. It included many of the staff from the original Nier.[1][14][18] During production, the team took both fan and critic feedback on Nier and their later opinions on the game into account. The points they felt needed addressing ranged from character designs to gameplay to graphics. While improving on these points, they also carried over aspects that were well-received, such as the complexity of story and the game's music.[19] The majority of development was handled by PlatinumGames at their offices in Osaka and Tokyo, while outside staff such as Yoko were also brought in.[15] As Nier: Automata was a role-playing action game as opposed to Taura's previous pure action games, the development presented new challenges for him.[8][15] While Taura handled the action combat system, designer Isao Negishi created the RPG elements.[20] According to Negishi and programmer Ryo Onishi, a major difficulty was creating a title faithful to Nier, which required a shift away from the style of their earlier titles.[20] While designing the game's RPG elements, the staff at PlatinumGames was at least partially inspired by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in the design of their sidequests, which they felt they would never be able to match.[16]

For the combat system, the team took the systems used in Nier and infused elements from other titles by PlatinumGames. Taura's main concept was that the combat system improve on the original and weave into the story.[8][15] An additional consideration was the inclusion of mechanics that would allow both casual and hardcore action gamers to enjoy playing.[21] It was also the studio's first attempt at an open world game: while their previous titles had used a story-driven linear structure, Nier: Automata boasted large environments linked by seamless transitions. A particular element noted by Negishi was the lower concentration of enemies in the world compared to that usually found in their other titles, as the open nature of the game required this. This was part of their efforts to fulfill Yoko's creative vision: by including less enemies, the team gave players the opportunity to "enjoy the still beauty of the game's desolate world". Required inclusions were the shooting elements, compared by staff to bullet hell titles, and combat which switched between top and side camera views.[20][21]

Scenario and art design

Yoko was the primary writer of the game's scenario.[19] Two subwriters were Haha Kikuchi, who worked on the scenarios of Nier and Drakengard 3,[17][22] and Yoshiho Akabane of external company Highestar.[17] The team defined the game's central theme as "agaku", a Japanese word meaning to struggle out of a bad situation.[23] Another theme Saito pointed out was "love", which he stated was unusual given that all the central cast were robots, which were not normally associated with emotions. According to Saito, a lot of time and effort went into creating the story and character interactions so they would match up to the original Nier.[24] When creating the story, Yoko was hesitant about adding Devola and Popola to the story due to their integral role in the original game, but eventually decided to feature them.[25] According to Yoko, while the scenario of Nier was "wet" in its emotional content, for Nier: Automata he aimed for a "dry" narrative concerning the world's inherent unfairness and the prejudices the characters are forced to confront.[26] A recurring element from Yoko's earlier work was his examination of why people kill, and the impact of killing on others—this stems from his observation of people coming to enjoy killing enemies encountered in games, which suggested to him that something was wrong or missing inside them.[27]

As with the original Nier, multiple endings were created, but the conditions for reaching them were not as stringent as the first game.[24] Yoko's desire for the game's conclusion was to make it "happy", which prompted skepticism from other staff members when reviewing his story.[7] The happy ending from Yoko's perspective was the fifth and final ending. According to Yoko, the fifth ending did not come to him for some time as he was focusing on other aspects of the story. He felt that the characters he was developing were naturally leading him towards that ending rather than him designing it for them. The final ending featured a shooting sequence where the player literally fought their way through the closing credits; this was symbolic of the player and characters breaking out of a known system to find the hope of a new future. Yoko said this was representative of the story's focus on the future and systematic elements. The team also included the option for players to delete their save data, a mechanic used in the original Nier. This feature, which allowed players to send messages of encouragement to other players around the world, was implemented midway through development.[28]

Using feedback about the original characters, Akihiko Yoshida was brought on as main character designer. While the team thought he would refuse due to his busy schedule, Yoshida was willing to join the project as a number of staff members at his company CyDesignation were fans of Nier. Yoshida joined a little later than usual in the process, so Taro gave him a general guideline of sleek designs with black as the dominant color.[7][1] As opposed to the original Nier, which was released in two versions with a different version of the main protagonist for western tastes, the team decided to have the game feature the same protagonist in all versions, focusing on creating a high-quality Japanese role-playing game rather than making adjustments for its western release.[8][19] This wish for a uniform international appearance was another reason why the team brought in Yoshida.[20] The Commander, Adam, and Eve were designed by Yuya Nagai.[29] Square Enix artist Toshiyuki Itahana handled the redesigns for Devola and Popola.[30] The enemy concept art was handled by Hisayoshi Kijima, while environmental artwork was done by Kazuma Koda, Yasuyuki Kaji, and Shohei Kameoka: environmental design was a collaborative effort with Yoko, and the team strove to make the environments appear like places players would visit in the real world. One of the challenges faced when creating the character models was making them seem alive despite their mechanical nature.[21][31]

Audio

Composer Keiichi Okabe, who worked on both Nier and Drakengard 3, returned as composer with his studio band Monaca, creating the music alongside fellow member Keigo Hoashi.[19][32] Additional composers were Kuniyuki Takahashi and Shotaro Seo, newcomers to Monaca.[33] The score for Nier: Automata was influenced by classical music, while recalling elements used for Nier such as the overall sense of melancholy. A change from the previous score was a shift to portraying a more mechanical and brutal theme and environment than Nier, which had focused on grasslands and villages. Another factor was the open world environment: rather than a single looping track, Okabe created multiple hard and soft tracks that transitioned into each other depending on situation and environment. Balancing of the music was carried out using Pro Tools.[32] Another prominent return was Emi Evans, who provided vocals for the first game's soundtrack. Additional male vocals were provided by Shotaro Seo.[32][34] In addition, a theme song was created for the game, with versions sung by both Evans and new singer J'Nique Nicole. Nicole and Nami Nakagawa joined with Evans to form a three-part chorus for some of the musical work, including a boss theme featured in the game.[32] Several songs from the Nier soundtrack were arranged for Nier: Automata.[35]

The general sound design was handled by Masato Shindo, who was faced with a challenge new to the PlatinumGames staff: in their previous projects sound echoes had been handled by individual settings created by the team, but that would not work properly in an open world setting due to its scale. Instead, Shindo designed a realistic soundscape using a system to manage echoes in real time, determining how much reverberation to generate based on current surroundings.[31] Sound implementation was handled by Masami Ueda, and it was a greater amount of work than he had experienced on any previous project. One of the factors that helped with the smooth implementation was Ueda's previous encounters and good working relationship with Okabe.[21]

A concert in Tokyo, called "Nier Music Concert & Talk Live", was held at the Ex Theater Roppongi on April 16, 2016, with performances of various musical pieces from Nier and Nier: Automata.[36] An official soundtrack album was released on March 28, 2017.[33] An additional sixteen-track album subtitled Hacking Tracks, containing musical variations for hacking segments, was bundled with first-print copies of the soundtrack.[37]

Release

In January 2014, after the release of Drakengard 3, Yoko expressed an interest in making a second spin-off from the Drakengard series, but did not specify whether it would be related to Nier.[38] Taro later confirmed in December of that year that he was working on a new game, but did not reveal any more details.[39] Nier: Automata was first announced at Square Enix's press conference at the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo under the provisional title Nier New Project.[14] Its official title was kept secret at the time as it would have spoiled aspects of the game's plot.[7] At the time it was announced, the game was apparently 10% complete.[5] Its official title, along with a gameplay trailer and prospective year of release, were revealed at the 2015 Paris Games Week trade show.[9] Initially planned for release in November 2016, Square Enix delayed release as there were concerns about its commercial performance against other prominent titles: it was decided that a Q4 or Q1 release would give Nier: Automata more of a chance for commercial success. The delay gave the developers additional time to improve the quality and gameplay balance.[40]

The game released in Japan on February 23, 2017.[41] A limited Black Box Collector's Edition was created, featuring the game, a figurine of 2B, a special release of the Nier: Automata live concert, an artbook, a download code for a special item, and a special prequel novella.[42] The novella, which retells the events of Nier from the perspectives of characters Devola and Popola, was written by Jun Eishima, a regular collaborator for supplementary material related to the Drakengard series, in collaboration with Taro.[43] In the West, the PS4 version released in North America on March 7, and in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand on March 10.[44][45] In addition to the standard version, there was a Day One edition which featured reversible cover art featuring artwork by Yoshida, and a version of the Black Box Collector's Edition featuring the Day One edition with added accessory content, the 2B figurine, an artbook, and a 13-track soundtrack including tracks from both Nier and the earlier Drakengard games.[46]

The game was announced for a digital release on Microsoft Windows platforms through Steam.[47] A concern for both Square Enix and PlatinumGames with the PC version was potential piracy, which was expected to delay its release. When handling this problem, the teams considered using Denuvo digital rights management.[48] The PC version was released on March 17, 2017.[49] In November 2016, Saito stated that an Xbox One version was up for consideration, and announced that the game would support the enhanced PlayStation 4 Pro model.[50] Saito later confirmed that an Xbox One version would not be developed due to low sales of the console in Japan, in addition to focusing on a single console so as not to compromise the game's quality.[51]

Reception

Nier: Automata received generally favorable reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic, with an average score of 88 out of 100 for the PS4 version[52] and 82 for the PC.[53] Famitsu gave the game extensive praise, with multiple reviewers noting the story's melancholy tone. It praised the environments as "desolate but beautiful", and gave general praise to the audio and gameplay, in particular the dodge mechanic and pod functions. One reviewer felt that the customization functions were "cumbersome", while another noted overly long load times.[56]

Sales

The game sold 198,542 copies during the first week after its release in Japan, topping the charts and significantly exceeding the sales of the original Nier game in 2010.[64][65]