I feel like I'm playing this game wrong

[Kompenschnitzel]

I don't know how plug-in chips work

I don't see the point/know how to upgrade pods

Enemies overlevel me by like 15 levels, and I get oneshotted if I time a dodge wrong

I don't know where to find weapons so I've been using Beastmaster/nippon steel

I'm like level 10 and Adam and Eve curbstomp me

I don't know if there's a faster method of traveling, or if there's some kind of fast travel so I have to run on foot verywhere when I have to backtrack

[Grad]

This website will help you considerably in understanding how the different systems work. The people in the Resistance Camp can give you the tl;dr of it too.

http://nierautomata.wiki.fextralife.com/Plug-in+Chips

[Saphirro]

small red dots on the map are side quests do them. I didnt upgrade pods for whole game. I upgraded weapon to lvl 3 just at the end for Route B. You can teleport via those vending machines once you reach certain point of game.
For chips? nothing special. Deadly heal, offense heal, and that periodic heal is good for sustain also hp is good. Weapon dmg, movement speed are good too. otherwise its just optional. I didnt upgrade my chips till route B then i upgraded at the end of route B and i stayed at lvl 3-4 chips till end of the game.

[SONIC]

i played on Hard and whole game i dont care about lvl pod, weapon or chips. Has 1-2 lvl chips after 68 hours. All what you need its evade and support items (def/atk boost). Thats all

[Takfloyd]

We can't all be geniuses I suppose.

[Peshmerga]

Keep doing main story quests till you unlock fast travel. If you have trouble dodging, you can turn on Easy mode, then install the Auto-Evade chip.

[lamuaha]

Nope your doing it right, that's how you train your skill and become good at game. Keep up your playstyle man, you don't have to change.

[DirtyBoots/3Strikes]

Originally posted by lamuaha:

Nope your doing it right, that's how you train your skill and become good at game. Keep up your playstyle man, you don't have to change.

Especially since NieR:A seems pretty open-ended on how to approach gameplay, from what I've seen.

Want to just slash and bash machines by button-mashing senselessly? Ok, no shame there. Want to stick to just shooting with the occasional laser? Up to you. Want to show off some skillz and use DMC-style combos and juggles? Yeah, possible. Overlevel and just spam certain Pod skills all day? Heh, again, no shame there. Slowly walk around town using 2B without her skirt? *ahem* Have fun. :D

This is all based on the 3rd person and side-scrolling prespective of the game, though.

[Your Neighbour]

Just scroll and smash E if you get hurt, and get those auto heal chips, if you ever run into ♥♥♥♥ just kite like no end and you will heal up.

I have three sets - A for general travel, has health regen, melee and taunt etc and extra HP
B for 70% extra ranged damage with taunt, you don't even need to upgrade pod and you will feel the difference
C is for boss fights, has 30% increase melee, taunt, counter, lifesteal and extra dodge/regen.

Oh and if you really want to make it easy, get taunt chips and activate it by blinking the pod torch at enemies (works on boss too) and they will receive extra damage when you just pod them to death, that's why in the challenge videos they will say "No pods" because even level 1 pod will beat the living ♥♥♥♥ out of most bosses.

It's good if they outlevel you, more fun that way, I enjoy fighting higher level enemies.

Get more chip upgrade slots, I was kinda disappointed at how easy Adam and Eve was on hard. On very hard it's more challenging since it's indeed one shot.