Should I give the game another chance?

[Celcius]

I've had my eye on Nier Automata. I'm currently watching the anime and really enjoying it. I once tried the game and the first tutorial boss made me rage quit. Should I give the game another try (is the entire game that hard?!) or should I just continue watching the anime? I see that the game doesn't seem to go on sale that often...

[Ogami 2]

The game is not hard at all. A common complain is actually that its way too easy later since there are so many broken chip set combinations that combat and survival becomes trivial on anything below "Very Hard".

Even the tutorial start is not hard in any form, you are literally 100% invincible when using the dodge button and you have a ton of healing items on top.
Unless you are really reckless or dont use the options the game gives its very hard to die in the tutorial.

If you have problems just set the game on EASY or NORMAL for that whole section, after the tutorial the save system unlocks so you rarely will have such a long section in one go without saving for the rest of the game.
There are no difficulty related achievements so it really does not matter if you cheese the tutorial.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Why did you rage quit? There is even a easy mode in the game.

[bAllu]

you should absolutely give it another try

[Funchucks]

Originally posted by Araragi:

Even the tutorial start is not hard in any form, you are literally 100% invincible when using the dodge button and you have a ton of healing items on top.
Unless you are really reckless or dont use the options the game gives its very hard to die in the tutorial.

And what does the game tell you about the dodge button? It offhandedly tells you what button it is on the X-Box controller (in the PC version)... while you're an airplane... when you don't need to use the dodge button at all to avoid every attack... and never mentions it again... even after both the appearance and mechanics of your character dramatically change. You can easily reach the boss at the end of tutorial without dodging a single attack or even realizing that 2b can dodge when she's on foot.

And what does it tell you about the healing items? Basically nothing. You start with a pile of them already in your inventory. When you run low on health, it automatically restores it. It doesn't even seem like getting hit matters, until all of a sudden you have to replay an hour of the game that is *completely* uninteresting the second time.

The complaint that the gameplay is too easy isn't a counterargument to the frustration that would make someone ragequit after dying in the tutorial, it's essentially the same issue: gameplay that often just isn't fun, that rather than challenging you, screws or bores you.

But I've come to suspect that Automata isn't *about* moving smoothly from one quality, enjoyable gameplay experience to another, with story doled out as a reward for successfully rising to each challenge. It's about an emotional experience you can't have without enduring hardships, frustration, setbacks, and tedium along the way to fully develop it. Not just overcoming challenges, but suffering unfairness. I believe while it's not necessary for every player to experience dying in the tutorial and having to replay it to get the full experience, it's necessary for things of that character to happen to them. The game is a minefield of them, and if you somehow manage to step around every mine, you're not getting the full experience, you won't have any war stories to tell.

An illustrative example I've seen before is Sunless Sea. It's a dreary, boring game. Travel is deliberately slow, wasting of your time as minutes pass and nothing happens. Gameplay is uninteresting. Outcomes are heavily randomized and unfair. It was never really fun to play. I was immersed in its atmosphere of hopelessness. Yet I enjoyed remembering it, and went back to build more memories. I was not happy while playing it, but it makes me happier to have played it.

So anyway, if you die in the tutorial like I did you should keep playing so you can see 2b's sexy hip wiggle when she walks again.

[HummelAlt]

Originally posted by Araragi:

So anyway, if you die in the tutorial like I did you should keep playing so you can see 2b's sexy hip wiggle when she walks again.

Okay thats it, I am buying it right now.

[Prozac]

Which one to play first? Automata or Replicant?

[HummelAlt]

Originally posted by Prozac:

Which one to play first? Automata or Replicant?

Doesnt matter, same universe, different story.
I love Replicant more than anything else, so I am biased towards that.

[Konma]

Originally posted by Prozac:

Which one to play first? Automata or Replicant?

if you want to play chronologically, play replicant first

there are a lot of replicant references in automata you caneasily miss out on if you don't know, but you can still fully enjoy automata without having played replicant. both are good games, automata is definitely better though, so you can play replicant if you want the full experience and lore