What should i know before playing?

[Introvirted]

I've never played a nier game, but i know quite a few exist. Do i need to know anything about it or Drakengard before playing?

[TheSeek]

All the games in this series are made so you don't need to know anything about any of the previous games to play them.

Although there is an overarching narrative, it's there in a more in a "causes and consequences" fashion rather than the games being direct sequels, and each individual main story in each individual game can be fully(to a certain extent) followed and understoon on its own.

So you don't strictly need to know or play anything before playing Automata.

But if you do want to know and play everything, catch all connections, references, and avoid any type of spoiler for other games, then you have 2 choices;
1) only play Nier games(although connected, the relation between Drakengard and Nier is less relevant), in which case play Nier Replicant 1.22 first, then Automata
2) play all the games, in which case the best order is release order: Drakengard 1, Nier Replicant 1.22, Drakengard 3, Nier Automata.

There is also Nier Reincarnation, which should be played after Automata and it has A TON of call backs and direct connections to A TON of stuff from all games, but...it WAS a mobile gacha game which can't be played anymore as it reached End of Service, so you'd need to watch a full playthrough of it on youtube, but again, having references and connections to all games, it's best experienced if you have played all the games first.

To sum it up:
Do you NEED to know or play any of the other games before playing Automata? no.
Do you WANT to know at least everything about Nier and catch all the connections and call backs to it that are in Automata, and also avoid any spoilers for previous games?
Play Nier Replicant 1.22, then Automata.
Do you WANT to know everything? Then play Drakengard 1, Nier Replicant 1.22, Drakengard 3, Nier Automata, in that order, and then watch a full playthrough og Nier Reincarnation on youtube.

[d3adf1sh]

don't start the game in hard mode. you won't be able to beat the tutorial which is ~30 min long and you can't save till after the tutorial. and if you fail the tutorial you have to start from the beginning.

if you are a reasonably good gamer and can follow instructions you should be able to do it on normal. when you get to the giant boss don't forget to use the lock on button which will help you hit him easier, i think it's left trigger but i can't remember, it's been a while since i've played it.

oh and don't worry about it if you do have to do it on easy as you can change the difficulty whenever you want during the game. but normal is the recommended difficulty by the creator and most people that have played it.

[Exarch_Alpha]

I never used lock on and the Pod is better used with mouse/Kb. Even in hard it´s the best combo.

Controller of course is an option but IMO it has its weaknesses.