I'm honestly quite happy for Platinum to come along and do some clean/up tweaking for all elements of Nier. I'd been recommended Nier by some friends, and my playthrough nearly (nierly) ended quite abruptly early on. I'm struggling to remember what the exact issue was, but I feel like it was something to do with Nier's run cycle - does he not have much of a walk cycle? Either way, loathed how he controlled. I thought, well, I'll just try another hour. In that hour I heard Devola/Popola/whichever singing Song of the Ancients, annnnd I decided I'd just try one more hour... to cut a long story short, it ended up being one of my favorite games of all time, with one of my top three favorite endings. I nearly didn't play it at all due to how Nier controlled, yikes.
I wish I could remember my exact complaints with controlling Nier. My PS3 disc drive is busted, or I'd boot up the game myself. I've been dying for a replay, it's been years. I don't think I minded Nier's combat that much, but I'm a hell of a lot happier with Automata, controlling 2B feels fantastic. I think Platinum have done a great thing where the combat is still accessible considering the original game's roots, but still offering some fun opportunity for depth and creativity.