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[Son Of Sparda]

I was talking about this in another thread and just realized how impressive that really is.

When Nier Automata was announced back in E3 2015, the game was simply a concept. They even announced it with concept arts. It didn't even have a real name and was just called a Nier Project. They basically announced that SE and PG are working on a new Yoko Taro project and that was it.

Now we are less than 2 years later, and not only the game is out, but it's arguably a masterpiece. Story, gameplay, the world, everything (with the exception of performance which can have its hiccups) is pretty top-notch. I don't think there are that many games that can say they've achieved the same level of quality as Nier in the same amount of development time (and with the same budget) as this game.

I just thought in this time and day age that almost every big game needs 3-4 years of active development to reach an acceptable level of quality (and quantity), these guys should get more recognition for what they've manged to achieve with Nier Automata.

EDIT: I'm not saying that the game is a marvel on every level or flawless or anything like that. It's just that Neir Automata is much much more than the sum of its parts and the complete experience as a whole is really impressive for a game that had limited amount of development time and budget. I think PG and Yoko Taro deserve to get more recognition for that, even if the game had its fair share of problems, which it totally did.

EDIT 2: Apparently the game's actual development was closer to 2 or 2 and a half years. I think that's still quite impressive, but yeah, sorry for the incorrect title.

 

[The_White_Rose]

Could have used more time in the oven. It's a little under baked in places. I can't even play it on my PC due to frequent crashes.

 

[King_Moc]

I don't think the world itself is a masterpiece at all, that's probably where they saved most of the time. The production values there reminded me of an EDF game at times. It was also very small and reused locations repeatedly.

 

[DemWalls]

Well, Platinum is known for being very efficient, if I'm not mistaken. Wasn't Rising developed in a year or so?

 

[Antiwhippy]

Honestly as much as i love the game the production isn't anything to write home about. They're just very good at limited resources and went in with a clarity of vision.

 

[Risk Breaker]

Yeah, it is quite impressive. I kept thinking that (game flow spoilers)

Spoiler

endings A and B were pretty much it, lol

because I doubted they would've had enough time to make anything else.

 

[Son Of Sparda]

I don't think the world itself is a masterpiece at all, that's probably where they saved most of the time. The production values there reminded me of an EDF game at times. It was also very small and reused locations repeatedly.

I don't think any single part of the game on its own is a masterpiece (maybe music), but I meant that the game as a whole could be argued to be a masterpiece and I don't think that's really an exaggeration.

Nier is a game that is much much more than the sum of its parts. And even with its flaws, I think the fact they managed to make such an amazing game with the time and budget constraints that they had, is very impressive.

 

[Dremorak]

Just because they only showed concept art doesnt mean thats all they had. They definitely wouldnt be just starting and showing everything they had.

 

[BumRush]

I enjoyed it (a lot) but definitely think it was very rough around the edges at times. I had frequent crashes, was physically stuck and had to load saves, etc. Also, it's not really easy on the eyes at all, in my opinion.

With that said, it did a tremendous amount with the small time and funds it was given but I hesitate to say it was a polished experience.

 

[pelican]

One of the best games I have played in recent times. Finished it last night with all endings. Really liked the 'true' ending.

 

[True Fire]

This is why I don't think a NieR remake is a pipe dream. It could be announced this E3 and released late next year.

 

[Ferr986]

Afaik development started in 2014.
Even that pic says its in development.

Also, already in 2014 Taro was hinting on working on a new game

Showing only concept arts in announcement is nothing new, same as having no name (Project Dark or Project Beast from From Software comes to mind).

 

[Majmun]

My GOTY so far.

They did a great job.

 

[Qurupeke]

I'd take this over a huge world and a ton of things to do. Games like Zelda (or even FF XV) are great, of course, but not every game with the label "Open world" need to be huge and epic. Automata's charm is on its story, its characters and its combat, which I thought it was really polished thanks to Platinum. The open world felt more like an added bonus to the package. It's obvious that they saved a lot of money and time with this decision, but judging by its critical and commercial success, I'm sure it worked out for them.

Also, on the PS4 version at least, I didn't notice a problem once. I suppose the PC version is a different case though.

 

[Fat4all]

its such a fucking great standout title

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

Platinum is the best i've seen at making the most of a modest budget. They dont obsess over world size, graphics, or multiplayer and their games are better for it. They did the same thing with Rising, built that game in two years.

 

[MetalliCabombination]

The game isn't exactly an achievement from a technical standpoint

 

[Renekton]

What engine did they use?

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

IMO it has really great storytelling and a very strong art style, but yeah, I do personally feel areas of design are lacking. Sidequests are often quite basic and uninteresting to engage in outside of the narrative nuggets and contextualization they (sometimes) provide. The open world feels more inhibitive and seems to only have its scale out of sort of a half-baked pursuit of bigger ideas that didn't come to fruition. Combat offers a decent variety of techniques without ever really creating encounters that capitalize on that wide variety in any substantial manner -- kind of a wide, shallow ocean feel.

It's far better to engage with than the original Nier, and perhaps any other Yoko Taro game. And I mean that with all due respect to Taro -- I love his narrative style and I love his actual ambitions. Platinum managed to make those ambitions feel closer to fully realized, and it certainly has a good amount of genuinely fun moments from a gameplay perspective, but I still think he deserves more chances with more and more budget and time to get closer and closer to his visions.

Absolutely worth experiencing for the story, still, but that's still kind of the same exact tone of advocacy Yoko Taro has had for years now. Being more approachable has undoubtedly expanded his audience, but I think he still deserves bigger and bigger shots -- and increased audience growth with it. Not saying just handing him the keys to the kingdom will automatically result in that, but the gameplay design aspect of Automata still falls well short of perfection, IMO, and I look forward to the possibility of that realm of Yoko Taro productions improving in the future.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

What engine did they use?

Platinums own in house engine.

 

[m4st4]

What engine did they use?

Unreal 4 me thinks.

Edit: Didn't know it was in-house engine, hm. Makes sense (hickups and all).

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

That's incredibly impressive! One of the best games of the year, which considering the titles released so far, is seriously impressive.

I hope more publishers that a follow Square-Enix's lend and give talented independent developers the chance to create passion projects on a similar timeframe/budget.

 

[Auto_aim1]

I would gladly take that level of visual fidelity if the dev time is under 2 years. They made a damn good game. Afaik UC2 was under 2 years as well.

 

[Son Of Sparda]

Afaik development started in 2014.
Even that pic says its in development.

Also, already in 2014 Taro was hinting on working on a new game

Showing only concept arts in announcement is nothing new, same as having no name (Project Dark or Project Beast from From Software comes to mind).

Oh, okay then 2.5 years. I think it's still very impressive.

Spoiler

Thank you for that correction btw. I wish I could've change the title to be more accurate.

 

[Ferr986]

Oh, okay then 2.5 years. I think it's still very impressive.

Spoiler

Thank you for that correction btw. I wish I could've change the title to be more accurate.

Platinum is very efficient yeah. Already showed it with MGR.

 

[Kanann]

Sound like roughly school project that got A out of no where.


Keep that mojo until Granblue, Platinum!

 

[Son Of Sparda]

Platinum is very efficient yeah. Already showed it with MGR.

Absolutely. Though, as good as that game was, I personally think their work on Nier is more impressive because of how everything else besides the combat is (imo) on a higher level of quality than they were in MGR.

Which is actually understandable, cause they are getting better and better at making the most out of what they have.

 

[Martylepiaf]

As much as I love it I'm not impressed, it didn't feel like it needed a lot of dev time like some games released this year.

 

[m4st4]

Nier: Automata, to me, is like Bayonetta going semi-open world. I love-love-love the game world so much and the gameplay is quite addictive. Not to mention how story operates on levels I've only seen in a small set of games throughout this (or even last generation).

 

[Despera]

Honestly as much as i love the game the production isn't anything to write home about. They're just very good at limited resources and went in with a clarity of vision.

Which is reason enough to commend them on their production method. They're very efficient, focused and know what aspects of their games deserve utmost attention.

 

[Awful Falafel]

Platinum in general have a quick turnaround on their games and often their gambles on what corners to cut and what to polish pay off. I was more satisfied with MGR's dev time to polish ratio but I give them some slack on Automata because of open world complications.

That said this texture still triggers me and I really wish there'd be an HD texture pack by now.

 

[matrix-cat]

I think Revengeance was like 18 months from picking it up from KojiPro to release, and I'd hate to think how tight the timeframes and budgets were for their Activision licensed games. I'd never call them the most technically polished developer, but for delivering great, fun games on time and presumably on budget they're pretty damn good.

A few years ago they were just the character action studio, but they've kept branching out with each new game. You can see them almost practicing their open-world RPG techniques with stuff like the more open levels and character customisation of Transformers Devastation, for example. Nier Automata is miles bigger than anything they've done so far, and from what I've played so far it seems like they've nailed it.

 

[dark10x]

Having just finished an episode on Metal Gear Solid 2, I'm reminded that KCET finished that game in less than two years. They went from a completed design doc in January 1999 to finished game in September 2001. Different generation, of course, but Automata feels very "PS2" in a lot of ways to me (and I don't mean that in a negative way - just that its very focused).

 

[Risk Breaker]

In this thread, people confuse texture resolution and graphical features with game quality and polish.

Not to mention the game seems to have a pretty nifty GI solution (if you turn on the pod lights in a dark place, the area not directly illuminated by it will also get brighter).

 

[Brutuspedia]

Great combat system but with really poor level and enemy design, not surprise it took that time at all.

 

[Steveo]

You can honestly tell it only took two years. Reused assets all over the place, lots of revisiting areas, world isn't very big, only a handful of enemies throughout, visually a very lackluster game.

 

[MetalliCabombination]

In this thread, people confuse texture resolution and graphical features with game quality and polish.

Not to mention the game seems to have a pretty nifty GI solution (if you turn on the pod lights in a dark place, the area not directly illuminated by it will also get brighter).

I wouldnt call the game highly polished in any respect outside of the artistic ones. It stutters, has streaming issues, terrible image aa on base ps4, it even had a ton of bugs when it released, which was actually couple weeks before the west.
Id know because i bought the asian version
And yes graphical effects and texture resolution are equated to polish and quality. Whats wrong in that?
Not a single person in this thread is calling the game bad.but its hardy the shining beacon of a polished quality product.
And im not even getting into the fact that they basically slapped the same moveset on the 3 characters of the game, wgich wouldn't be so bad but not even one has the move variety of a dante or a bayonetta,they even severely cut down on set pieces and location variety compared to the rest of their games

 

[Jawmuncher]

Much like MGR, for better or worse it shows.

 

[Shahed]

I love Nier Automata. Probably my favourite game this generation, beating the likes of Zelea, Bloodborne and Witcher. But it definitely shows it's 2 year Dev time. Quite a few things felt undercooked or low budget, the actual world and areas to be exact. There was a lot of back and forth and they could have used more production values on some of the scenes that were told through just dialogue, and a lot of the geomatry or textures were very flat and low quality. Still an amazing game though

 

[Antiwhippy]

But yeah, while I thin kthe production isn't amazing it's an example direction being pretty focused in what it wants to depict.

I wonder if that's due to taro's backwards writing style.

 

[Holundrian]

Seems impressive especially given other devs fumble around for almost a decade/reiterate ideas for that long and then still only manage to release a mess of a narrative.
Nier:A is coherent start to finish.

 

[DrunkShogun]

Was a game that had a clear focus on what they wanted to excel in and what they were willing to compromise. They could have added more content or expanded some characters involvement in the story but the game delivers nonetheless for me.
Here's to another Yoko taro game within a few years time.

 

[Golnei]

But yeah, while I thin kthe production isn't amazing it's an example direction being pretty focused in what it wants to depict.

I wonder if that's due to taro's backwards writing style.

That's mostly what I found impressive about it as well - the production values can be downright awful at times, and the cut corners are painfully apparent. But its development was clearly very focused, with everything coming together to successfully deliver a well-paced narrative, with very little of its meagre budget or restrictive development cycle going to waste.

 

[Risk Breaker]

I wouldnt call the game highly polished in any respect outside of the artistic ones. It stutters, has streaming issues, terrible image aa on base ps4, it even had a ton of bugs when it released, which was actually couple weeks before the west.
Id know because i bought the asian version
And yes graphical effects and texture resolution are equated to polish and quality. Whats wrong in that?
Not a single person in this thread is calling the game bad.but its hardy the shining beacon of a polished quality product.
And im not even getting into the fact that they basically slapped the same moveset on the 3 characters of the game, wgich wouldn't be so bad but not even one has the move variety of a dante or a bayonetta,they even severely cut down on set pieces and location variety compared to the rest of their games

For the amount of content it has and how open that content is, considering the team, budget and time what they achieved is impressive. I played at EU launch and have had only one noticeable bug, because I had the best timing to do a certain thing during a boss fight. And no, graphical effects and texture resolution don't equate to polish. When you are on a budget and time constraint you set the bar somewhere. They might equate to graphical quality (although higher resolution wouldn't really change much in this case), but not the quality of the game in itself.

Compared to the first Nier there is a lot more to explore and discover imo. And it absolutely demolishes something like ME:Andromeda.

 

[Antiwhippy]

That's mostly what I found impressive about it as well - the production values can be downright awful at times, and the cut corners are painfully apparent. But its development was clearly very focused, with everything coming together to successfully deliver a well-paced narrative, with very little of its meagre budget or restrictive development cycle going to waste.

Drakengard 3 could have been the same way, but too bad some hills are too tall to climb.

If only it had enough time to include the sisters stories not as dlc but as part of the game and not have the framerate go to like single frames.

 

[Grief.exe]

That means the sequel turn around time is only one year

 

[Salvadora]

Isn't 2-3 years a pretty standard development cycle?

 

[Ahasverus]

Eh, Nier had the same dev time that The Witcher 3 and the production values difference is abysmal. Platinum really should step their tech game up.

 

[Moaradin]

Eh, Nier had the same dev time that The Witcher 3 and the production values difference is abysmal. Platinum really should step their tech game up.

Not sure if serious? Not even remotely comparable in budget.

 

[Renekton]

Eh, Nier had the same dev time that The Witcher 3 and the production values difference is abysmal. Platinum really should step their tech game up.

Witcher 3 had two years dev time?