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NieR Automata PS4 demo available now

Could someone remind me why this is exclusive? I enjoyed the original on the 360.

Well, it's a shame for people on Xbox, but did you see the sales splits for Final Fantasy XV? The fanbase for games like this is almost entirely on PlayStation really. A PC version is planned, though, and I don't believe they've entirely ruled out Xbox One, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
 

Moonlight

Banned
Is there a move list in the game? Couldn't figure out much more than the basic combat strings on my first-run, and didn't notice anything that explained how to expand past them either besides the stuff I sort of stumbled into.
 

Christhor

Member
Can you gonna elaborate on that more though.....

I already explained why it feels like a game made by a new team, which it is. All they've done is cram gimmicks that make it seem like it's the same game, except without the charm, while using that to mask the big differences in the combat that don't even try emulating the original.
 
Most everything was fantastic, but the 2D and top down sections were pretty meh to me. Much prefer the 3D space.
Hard for me to admire the excellent animations of 2B from 500 yards out.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
I already explained why it feels like a game made by a new team, which it is. All they've done is cram gimmicks that make it seem like it's the same game, except without the charm, while using that to mask the big differences in the combat that don't even try emulating the original.

Your being hyperbolic. We generally knew how things would be when the first gameplay trailer was released.
 

Pooya

Member
why would they want to emulate the original combat when they can do better?

Are we going to pretend the first game was good and played well now? lol.
 

Christhor

Member
why would they want to emulate the original combat when they can do better?

Are we going to pretend the first game was good and played well now? lol.

The first game had some decent ground work for good combat. It was just alright though, not worse or better. Would have been nice to have seen Platinum make it better and take their own spin at it, instead of scrapping it and making something completely different.
 
I already explained why it feels like a game made by a new team, which it is. All they've done is cram gimmicks that make it seem like it's the same game, except without the charm, while using that to mask the big differences in the combat that don't even try emulating the original.

Yea you haven't elaborated, just vaguely described a problem without giving an example."Cram gimmicks", what gimmicks, what are you talking about?

Is there a move list in the game? Couldn't figure out much more than the basic combat strings on my first-run, and didn't notice anything that explained how to expand past them either besides the stuff I sort of stumbled into.


- hold attacks (Holding down square/triangle after an attack)
- Launcher attack ( jump, immediate heavy )
- Down slash (jump, delayed heavy)
- dodge+ light/heavy attacks [some can only be done on the ground or in the air]
- Er pod swing ( jump, immediate fire)
- Float (hold x after jump)
- Last second dodge, then either fire/light/heavy to do a special attack, dependent on weapons equipped

The first game had some decent ground work for good combat. It was just alright though, not worse or better. Would have been nice to have seen Platinum make it better and take their own spin at it, instead of scrapping it and making something completely different.

Thats exactly what they did though?
Magic become pod abilities, book become pod gun, melee attacks are still melee attacks.
Its not a combo focused game, still focused on using special moves to control the flow of combat.
 

Zolo

Member
It certainly wasn't nowhere near as bad as some people make it out to be. it was fun.

It was pretty mediocre (decent at best). I can enjoy games pretty easily myself, but I can see why one would just scrap the action from the previous game and focus on something new.
 

DevilDog

Member
The first game had some decent ground work for good combat. It was just alright though, not worse or better. Would have been nice to have seen Platinum make it better and take their own spin at it, instead of scrapping it and making something completely different.

The original NieR is the very definition of a budget game. The bones are there and nothing is fleshed out, everything pretty much lacks depth but works.

Aka, a less than mediocre game.

It had some highs that made it win over some people's hearts.
 

Pygrus

Member
The first game had some decent ground work for good combat. It was just alright though, not worse or better. Would have been nice to have seen Platinum make it better and take their own spin at it, instead of scrapping it and making something completely different.

The only thing I want emulated from the original is the soundtrack and story. The Combat of the original was so boring.
 

Xliskin

Member
I already explained why it feels like a game made by a new team, which it is. All they've done is cram gimmicks that make it seem like it's the same game, except without the charm, while using that to mask the big differences in the combat that don't even try emulating the original.


Did you played Drakengard 3 ??
 
Went in expecting good things, getting "surprise hit" vibes from this one.

Expectations beaten; great aesthetic, great style and presentation, great combat, great animation, great music, great bosses. Loved the top down sections, loved the side scrolling sections, loved the flying sections, loved the bullet hell elements.

Just fucking brilliant.

Most of all I can't wait to hear Ian Hinck wax lyrical about this game.
 
Out of all the games I wanted to play in the next three months, Nier: A was towards the end of the list but this demo has boosted it up a fair few places.

I'd like to check... is a perfect counter performed AFTER a perfect evade? Can a perfect encounter exist without a perfect evade preceding it?
 

Christhor

Member
The original NieR is the very definition of a budget game. The bones are there and nothing is fleshed out, everything pretty much lacks depth but works.

Aka, a less than mediocre game.

It had some highs that made it win over some people's hearts.

lol, are we seriously at this point right now? Come on son, Nier was not a less than mediocre game, it's quite likely to be Taro Yoko's best game in his career. It had seven years worth of thinking time for the guy and seeing what the plot of this one is about, it seems like he's blown his load already when it comes to the actual story.
 
Feels like Platinum is back in full force and I love it. Hoping there is an auto fire chip for beating the game on normal or something. Would just make finishing harder difficulty levels more manageable.

Not digging the writing so far though, and maybe it's just bad timing having run into him the last handful of games I've played, but I'm really burnt out on generic Yuri Lowenthal voice right now. Still, the writing can't be s bad as Drakengard 3...right?


lol, are we seriously at this point right now? Come on son, Nier was not a less than mediocre game, it's quite likely to be Taro Yoko's best game in his career. It had seven years worth of thinking time for the guy and seeing what the plot of this one is about, it seems like he's blown his load already when it comes to the actual story.

I like the guy quite a bit, but let's not pretend he's released a bunch of classics. Nier is about as close to a great game as he's ever got, and this is coming from someone who genuinely likes Drakengard 1.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Really seems like some folks aren't getting their heads around the game being a RPG not a character action game. Its not trying to be Bayonetta or MGR, so expecting it to have the same focus on stylish melee as those games is just going to lead to disappointment.

Nier's defining feature is that it offers a little bit of everything, its broader approach is what differentiates it from its parent franchise Drakengard.

PS. I strongly suspect that the reason the higher difficulties don't allow lock-on is so as to allow the pod abilities (essentially Nier's magic system re-skinned) to be seriously strong when maxed out, but not an automatic "win" button.
 

DevilDog

Member
lol, are we seriously at this point right now? Come on son, Nier was not a less than mediocre game, it's quite likely to be Taro Yoko's best game in his career. It had seven years worth of thinking time for the guy and seeing what the plot of this one is about, it seems like he's blown his load already when it comes to the actual story.

I applauded some of the elements in the plot, the story, and Weiss is probably my favorite voice in all of videogaming, and his chemistry with the PC was fun.

But the game was unbearably boring and shallow almost everywhere else. I'm generous giving it the mediocre score. Sadly, the writer couldn't carry the game alone.
 

Coda

Member
The feel of the gameplay is very Metal Gear Rising: Revengence at least taking from the gameplay in the demo. I just like the fact that it's also an RPG and we all have yet to see what the game truly offers beyond the combat.
 

Adobe

Member
The soundtrack is giving me Ghost in the Shell vibes! great work.

also don't like the transparent grey boxes when in a cutscene. whats the point of that?
 
At first I wondered why they'd take away lock on on hard and above. Then, I got to these bullet hell sections. I can see why these might be way more trying without lock-on.
 

dan2026

Member
What a bizarre game. Half hack n Slash, half twin stick shooter.

Setting is weird. Blind cyborgs fighting evil AI?

Whatever, I'm in.
 

fvng

Member
The original NieR is the very definition of a budget game. The bones are there and nothing is fleshed out, everything pretty much lacks depth but works.

Aka, a less than mediocre game.

It had some highs that made it win over some people's hearts.

You are trying too hard
 
When you're fighting and Song of the Ancients comes on
200w.gif


Hold me, GAF
 
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.
 
So played the demo to completion and I'm not sure how I feel about it so far.

Coming from someone who's never properly played a Platinum game for more than 10 minutes because they feel too arcadey, this felt like something I'd prefer to their regular fair.

Few issues though. The perspective changes didn't feel good at all. Characters became a dot on the screen that I could barely follow. Combat was pretty standard hack and slash (I guess what fans of the genre would call "Character action games"), not really seeing anything that makes me go WoW though so far.

Also a few questions. Is this just an action game or is it a JRPG? The demo feels very much like a regular action game, however, I was under the impression that Nier was an RPG? I've not been following this game super close, even though I thought it looked cool. If it leans towards some heavier RPG elements with a 25 hour + play time I'll probably pick the game up. If it's just an action game with a less than 15 hour play time I'll probably have to give it a dodge since I'm pretty skint right now and the game comes out at a time period where it competes with two major RPGs that are on my buy list, so it needs to have play time value for me to be able to justify spending the money.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
The soundtrack is giving me Ghost in the Shell vibes! great work.

also don't like the transparent grey boxes when in a cutscene. whats the point of that?

Its a carry over from the original game. Pure stylistic choice

So played the demo to completion and I'm not sure how I feel about it so far.

Coming from someone who's never properly played a Platinum game for more than 10 minutes because they feel too arcadey, this felt like something I'd prefer to their regular fair.

Few issues though. The perspective changes didn't feel good at all. Characters became a dot on the screen that I could barely follow. Combat was pretty standard hack and slash (I guess what fans of the genre would call "Character action games"), not really seeing anything that makes me go WoW though so far.

Also a few questions. Is this just an action game or is it a JRPG? The demo feels very much like a regular action game, however, I was under the impression that Nier was an RPG? I've not been following this game super close, even though I thought it looked cool. If it leans towards some heavier RPG elements with a 25 hour + play time I'll probably pick the game up. If it's just an action game with a less than 15 hour play time I'll probably have to give it a dodge since I'm pretty skint right now and the game comes out at a time period where it competes with two major RPGs that are on my buy list, so it needs to have play time value for me to be able to justify spending the money.

The original nier is an action RPG. Nier Automata is an action RPG. They have claimed 25 hours.
 

Baalzebup

Member
What a bizarre game. Half hack n Slash, half twin stick shooter.

Setting is weird. Blind cyborgs fighting evil AI?

Whatever, I'm in.
They are no more blind than Raiden in MG:R has his vision limited by his "eyepatch." It is a super swanky tactical visor or something. OFC they are going for the blind warrior -look, but they can actually see just fine.

As for the game-type mix ups.. Yeah, NieR had all sorts breaks from the most conventional 3rd person hack'n slash. It would be weird if Automata didn't have similar elements to it.
 
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