Play this before Automata?

[Frate]

I haven´t played Nier Automata yet but I know that the original Replicant game is a prequel to Automata, would it make more sense to play this first, before I touch Automata? I am not in a hurry, so I would be fine with waiting for the release of this game.

[Thaumcaster]

I suppose if you could wait, do that. I haven't played them in order myself, but I hear that Automata is a lot better with knowledge from the first game

[derek_tah]

Yes I would agree. I don’t want to spoil anything but knowledge of the first game helps.

[Kaldaien]

Originally posted by Thaumcaster:

I suppose if you could wait, do that. I haven't played them in order myself, but I hear that Automata is a lot better with knowledge from the first game

It's not. The only thing I remember from Automata is wishing it were more like the original game. I might have enjoyed Automata more if I had never played the first.

[Medusahead]

If you want to get into the story casually then start with this game because Automata will spoil parts of the story in Replicant.

If you want to really get into the Nier story play Drakengard 1 first. It's a hellish clunky nightmare to play but fulfilling once you unlock all of the endings. A lot of concepts from Drakengard cross over into Nier and Nier Automata, some are very subtle but have a big impact on the plot.

If you want to get into the series now without Automata then it's good time to get Drakengard out the way until Replicant releases.

[Frate]

Originally posted by Medusahead:

If you want to get into the story casually then start with this game because Automata will spoil parts of the story in Replicant.

If you want to really get into the Nier story play Drakengard 1 first. It's a hellish clunky nightmare to play but fulfilling once you unlock all of the endings. A lot of concepts from Drakengard cross over into Nier and Nier Automata, some are very subtle but have a big impact on the plot.

If you want to get into the series now without Automata then it's good time to get Drakengard out the way until Replicant releases.

I googled it, sounds really interesting but even if I wanted to, none of the 3 Drakengard games got a PC-port and I don´t own any consoles. According to google the Nier series is a Spinoff of Drakengard, based on a side-ending of Drakengard 3. On top of that I will be busy with the Yakuza remaster ports anyway for the next weeks, but thank you for telling me that Drakengard exists.

[derek_tah]

Originally posted by Frate:

Originally posted by Medusahead:

If you want to get into the story casually then start with this game because Automata will spoil parts of the story in Replicant.

If you want to really get into the Nier story play Drakengard 1 first. It's a hellish clunky nightmare to play but fulfilling once you unlock all of the endings. A lot of concepts from Drakengard cross over into Nier and Nier Automata, some are very subtle but have a big impact on the plot.

If you want to get into the series now without Automata then it's good time to get Drakengard out the way until Replicant releases.

I googled it, sounds really interesting but even if I wanted to, none of the 3 Drakengard games got a PC-port and I don´t own any consoles. According to google the Nier series is a Spinoff of Drakengard, based on a side-ending of Drakengard 3. On top of that I will be busy with the Yakuza remaster ports anyway for the next weeks, but thank you for telling me that Drakengard exists.

I wouldn’t even suggest playing Drakengard (it’s a slog to go through) just watch the final mission on YouTube before starting Nier. At first you will be “why did he suggest I watch that” then stuff gets revealed and you will understand.

[Medusahead]

Originally posted by derek_tah:

Originally posted by Frate:

I googled it, sounds really interesting but even if I wanted to, none of the 3 Drakengard games got a PC-port and I don´t own any consoles. According to google the Nier series is a Spinoff of Drakengard, based on a side-ending of Drakengard 3. On top of that I will be busy with the Yakuza remaster ports anyway for the next weeks, but thank you for telling me that Drakengard exists.

I wouldn’t even suggest playing Drakengard (it’s a slog to go through) just watch the final mission on YouTube before starting Nier. At first you will be “why did he suggest I watch that” then stuff gets revealed and you will understand.

You can't just watch the ending of Drakengard on youtube since you won't have a clue what's going on, you need to actually play the full game to get the story. It isn't just the ending that crosses over.

Originally posted by Frate:

Originally posted by Medusahead:

If you want to get into the story casually then start with this game because Automata will spoil parts of the story in Replicant.

If you want to really get into the Nier story play Drakengard 1 first. It's a hellish clunky nightmare to play but fulfilling once you unlock all of the endings. A lot of concepts from Drakengard cross over into Nier and Nier Automata, some are very subtle but have a big impact on the plot.

If you want to get into the series now without Automata then it's good time to get Drakengard out the way until Replicant releases.

I googled it, sounds really interesting but even if I wanted to, none of the 3 Drakengard games got a PC-port and I don´t own any consoles. According to google the Nier series is a Spinoff of Drakengard, based on a side-ending of Drakengard 3. On top of that I will be busy with the Yakuza remaster ports anyway for the next weeks, but thank you for telling me that Drakengard exists.

If you ever want to play it then it is available on PC, it's how I got into the Drakengard series. Someone made a patch to add the original Japanese voices to the game. If you ever get into this series then it's worth looking into.

[McREEEEEE]

It's happens before Automata chronologically so why not?

Though being a prequel it will spoils a lot of mystery in Automata. Automata was written under the assumption that you have little to no knowledge about Replicant

[RAWRmonger]

I 100%ed Automata, couldn't resist spoiling some of this, and I'm still eager to play it.

IDK, but if this game is like Automata, then devil is in the small details anyway (conversations, sidequests, documents).

[derek_tah]

Originally posted by McREEEEEE:

It's happens before Automata chronologically so why not?

Though being a prequel it will spoils a lot of mystery in Automata. Automata was written under the assumption that you have little to no knowledge about Replicant

There is quite a few allusions made to the older game that will be missed.

[El_Verdugo]

Originally posted by Medusahead:

If you want to get into the story casually then start with this game because Automata will spoil parts of the story in Replicant.

If you want to really get into the Nier story play Drakengard 1 first. It's a hellish clunky nightmare to play but fulfilling once you unlock all of the endings. A lot of concepts from Drakengard cross over into Nier and Nier Automata, some are very subtle but have a big impact on the plot.

If you want to get into the series now without Automata then it's good time to get Drakengard out the way until Replicant releases.

shouldnt the ope actually drakengard games first?? since from drakengard 3 it became nier

[Redblaze27]

This is a more complicated answer than people are writing-off:

This is a Yoko Taro game, from the company that brought you Final Fantasy VII Remake.

We dont know 100% for certain if this will be what it looks like, or be some degree of a facade for new story.

[LP]

Im gonna make it short for you. If you want to play N:A and can't wait for another 2 months for Nier Replicant to release then go ahead and play N:A because you can play it without the knowledge of the first Nier game. If you want the best experience: Then trust me play this game first before jumping into N:A because in N:A you can find a quite a lot of in-game documents about the first Nier game and some side quests are related to the events in the first game and without playing it you will be confuse

[Lucifronz]

Originally posted by JazeT:

Im gonna make it short for you. If you want to play N:A and can't wait for another 2 months for Nier Replicant to release then go ahead and play N:A because you can play it without the knowledge of the first Nier game. If you want the best experience: Then trust me play this game first before jumping into N:A because in N:A you can find a quite a lot of in-game documents about the first Nier game and some side quests are related to the events in the first game and without playing it you will be confuse

The world makes more sense with context from Nier, but the main story is mostly unaffected by it. That's how I'd describe it. Replicant will help flesh out the world and explain some things, but I think people can put things together well enough on their own to pass it up.

It'd be better to play Replicant first, but it's really not that big of a deal. Automata's good enough on its own.

[vkus-o4ka]

Well, I watched some lore videos when I've learned that Automata is a fifth game in the universe, and since it's the only one that has a PC port, I never had a though to actually get my hands on the previous (or am I supposed to - what, buy 2 outdated consoles for those particular 3-4 games?) Then I've managed to emulate the 1st Drakengard, and despite its gameplay (too much a thing of its time, tbh) it was still worth to be played through. Sadly, my PC is a garbage, so no Drakengard 3 for me. Yet, I hope...
As about Nier - its lore turned to be so surreal and grotesque, I almost didn't understand a thing, so easily have forgotten it X) Obviously, the game you should meet closely to understand.