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[NinjaCoachZ]

Thank you Taro, thank you Square Enix, and thank you Platinum. Gaming world would be a much darker, less diverse place if it weren't for teams like Platinum. It's great that even after all the Scalebound drama they're still kicking on their own two feet. Super excited to see where Automata's success will take everyone involved!

 

[Self_Destructive]

So Kamiya almost sunk the company with Scalebound. Hopefully he'll do better next time.

 

[Hektor]

how much did It sell exactly?

1.5 Million shipments as of may
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1382268

On steam it jumped from 360K to 500K in the meantime, assuming the console version did raise the same amount since then (25%), it would be in the ballpark of around 2 Million shipments.

 

[TrueHero]

Loved automata and would love to see another collab between yoko and platinum again, maybe a new drakengard?

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Yoko Taro is amazing. I hope whatever game he makes next, it's one he wants to do. If platinum is along for the ride then that is just a bonus.

Original Nier was so damn fantastic and unique you always knew it was something special so I was glad to see Automata make it big.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

That's precisely my concern.

RPG mechanics kill action games.

have you ever heard of souls

 

[mrmickfran]

imagine taro and platinum making a kingdom hearts spinoff together

M rated Kingdom Hearts here we come.

 

[Yearsoflurking]

Transformers is dope hush your mouth!

I actually like transformers lol.

Oh, you played it?

Wonderful 101's also easily the best game Platinum's released (I will easily put it above Bayo 2 any day of the week) aside from Nier Automata, but that's more Yoko's ideas being put into a game where he's finally paired with a developer that can do what he wanted to do. I was also initially super meh on Nier Automata until I finished all the routes, and I adored the first game. And SinCityAssassin is right, Scalebound being cancelled is the biggest blow, because they basically worked 4 years on something for a fraction of what they'd have been paid when the game was finished.

The Activision licensed games make a lot more sense when you consider they probably took those because they were relatively easy to complete and helped prop up active development on Scalebound, since reporters with sources involved in Scalebound's development state that Microsoft had halted payments and made unachievable milestones.

Do you have a source on the last sentence? The game was delayed twice fyi i assume you expected a 3rd? Both microsoft and kamiya is at blame for that project

 

[emag]

TMNT, LoK, Bayonetta 1, Vanquish, Transformers, Metal Gear Rising, etc., all multi-platform, all pretty low sales ( until PC for Bayonetta 1 and Vanquish ).

?

PC sales for Bayo 1 are under 200K (at $20) according to Steamspy. It sold over 1.3M in its first six months on consoles (at full price).

 

[Randomizer]

Imagining a Yoko Toro & Kamiya collaborative effort. High budget presentation, fantastic gameplay mechanics and a great story. It would be like Nier: Automata with 'AAA' polish and even better gameplay.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Even with a video explaining the story of Nier i could not give a shit about the original game even if its a cult classic.'

 

[wild wild rice]

Just started playing because of this topic. About how long for a playthrough?

 

[Hektor]

Just started playing because of this topic. About how long for a playthrough?

Around 25 to 40 horus to finish the entire game, depending on sidequest completion.

 

[Kiriku]

Still blown away by the success of Nier: Automata. I thought Yoko Taro would be forever stuck making games nobody but a very small hardcore following would care about, at best. I was happy with Nier: Automata even being made. Then it turned out to be an awesome game (imo), but could not in a million years have guessed those kind of sales, so happy for his success and also nice to see Platinum doing better because of it. Eagerly anticipating Yoko Taro's next, ambitious project. Hopefully with a bigger budget than ever.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Just started playing because of this topic. About how long for a playthrough?

For the main story? About 25-30 hours.

So Kamiya almost sunk the company with Scalebound. Hopefully he'll do better next time.

Platinum are a work-for-hire developer. What did you want them to do, not accept a publisher's partnership to fund and make the game? No one had any idea how Scalebound's development was going to end up and based on the nuggets we've heard it seems Microsoft apparently took a much bigger role in shaping the game and its development than most of their other games.

 

[wild wild rice]

Around 25 to 40 horus to finish the entire game, depending on sidequest completion.

Alrighty that's kinda long but I'll see how it goes thanks. Probably won't bother with side quests.

 

[Suzushiiro]

So Microsoft almost sunk the company with Scalebound. Hopefully he'll do better next time.

FTFY

Just started playing because of this topic. About how long for a playthrough?

I believe the average time to get the "true" ending is ~30 hours, though obviously that depends on how much time you spend on sidequests.

 

[prudislav]

?

PC sales for Bayo 1 are under 200K (at $20) according to Steamspy. It sold over 1.3M in its six months on consoles (at full price).

For 8 years old game? Thats pretty great

 

[Sammy Samusu]

Nier is trash and so are most of Platinum games, but always good to hear a happy story.

 

[Enjay]

Good to see Platinum Games being given another year to finally learn how to make a succesful game. 👍👍

 

[Baalzebup]

Alrighty that's kinda long but I'll see how it goes thanks. Probably won't bother with side quests.

You really should bother with the side quests if you are playing the game in the first place. Mechanically they are meh, but the worldbuilding many of them do are, IMO, pretty important part of the overall package.

 

[Majukun]

how bad is the PC version exactly?

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

have you ever heard of souls

Kind of proves his point. The Souls games are absolutely excellent - but a big part of their appeal is their cool dark fantasy aesthetic. As raw action games, they are really basic and imbalanced compared to, like, Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta.

Depends on how they're implemented. Considering the holy grail status that DMC3 and DMC4 continue to enjoy, the Style system still requires a lot of grinding in order to unlock the full potential of each of them. Even Ninja Gaiden requires a fair bit of grinding in order to upgrade the weapons, including one that is impossible to obtain otherwise.

The issue is less that you have to / can grind for certain abilities and more that games with heavier emphasis on player progression and character building end up being less balanced overall, in the sense that the challenges you face can't really be built to properly accommodate all the options given to the player. To bring up Souls again, just look at how those games completely break apart when faced with certain character builds - enemies in that game frequently can't handle projectiles, shields in certain instances, and especially co-op. The Souls games offer many different playstyles but not all of them are equally interesting - a problem which I don't think pure action games tend to have. You can see bits of this even in Platinum's games; Metal Gear Rising and especially Transformers Devastation have some real balance issues caused by their player progression systems too.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Nier is trash and so are most of Platinum games, but always good to hear a happy story.

if nier is trash then what was your thread about it

Kind of proves his point. The Souls games are absolutely excellent - but a big part of their appeal is their cool dark fantasy aesthetic. As raw action games, they are really basic and imbalanced compared to, like, Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta.

nah

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

Automata's success legitimately makes me anxious about Taro's future. Like, he's got so many eyes on him and so many expectations, but if he releases something like Drakengard that has less mainstream appeal, then he's liable to be eaten alive. He's kind of broken out of his bubble.

I mean, if this was a Yoko Taro story, some seriously depressing shit would be following all this hope and positivity.

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

FTFY

MY PERSON XD

 

[Hektor]

how bad is the PC version exactly?

Locked at 900p if you play fullscreen, stuttery cutscenes, prone to crashes (primarily on AMD)

Framerate is also awfully inconsistent, but that applies to the console version as well.

Nier is trash and so are most of Platinum games, but always good to hear a happy story.

Here's your reply.

 

[OuterLimits]

The fact that Microsoft almost killed platinum should serve as warning to any developer working with them. What an awful situation.

Do we know what happened here though? Perhaps the game wasn't coming together well, and Microsoft decided to stop throwing money at it. Why should Microsoft keep funding a project they aren't happy with?

So perhaps Platinum almost killed themselves by making a bad game?

 

[LotusHD]

Alrighty that's kinda long but I'll see how it goes thanks. Probably won't bother with side quests.

There's a list of recommended ones to consider if you're interested, just drop by the OT sometime.

Nier is trash and so are most of Platinum games, but always good to hear a happy story.

Your thread still makes me laugh everytime I'm reminded about it lol

 

[ApharmdX]

That's awesome. Nier: Automata is just a feel-good story all around. For me, it's the best and most fun game that I've played so far in 2017, and that includes Horizon, Breath of the Wild, and Persona 5 among others. The gameplay really shows that Platinum touch. Nier is the first action-RPG that I've played since Dark Souls that didn't have me longing for the From formula combat.

I hope Yoko Taro and Platinum do more work together in the future.

 

[Ridley327]

The issue is less that you have to / can grind for certain abilities and more that games with heavier emphasis on player progression and character building end up being less balanced overall, in the sense that the challenges you face can't really be built to properly accommodate all the options given to the player. To bring up Souls again, just look at how those games completely break apart when faced with certain character builds - enemies in that game frequently can't handle projectiles, shields in certain instances, and especially co-op. The Souls games offer many different playstyles but not all of them are equally interesting - a problem which I don't think pure action games tend to have. You can see bits of this even in Platinum's games; Metal Gear Rising and especially Transformers Devastation have some real balance issues caused by their player progression systems too.

Nothing is immune from balance issues, and even "purer" character-action games have their fair share of systems that can be broken (hellooooooo Flying Swallow in vanilla NG). Outside of designing them to be incredibly strict in what you're able to do, I don't think there's anything a designer can do about it in a culture that puts a premium on having multiple options for handling combat situations.

 

[Valero]

Im glad Its a success for platinum. The Only developers whose games I would buy Day 1.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

Nier is trash and so are most of Platinum games, but always good to hear a happy story.

 

[capylikesgames]

Well-deserved. Automata is my GOTY, if not of the decade. Platinum disappearing would be awful for games, and I'm glad they'll be staying around. Props to Taro as well, for helping them out.

 

[wild wild rice]

You really should bother with the side quests if you are playing the game in the first place. Mechanically they are meh, but the worldbuilding many of them do are, IMO, pretty important part of the overall package.

I'll definitely give a few a try and see how I feel about them.

 

[DxD]

Good thing too because Kamiya has been producing and approving duds and non profitable games lately for PG.
From Wonderful to Star fox...NieR is like there only successful game in a long time.

And with Scalebound being canceled, yeah, NieR was their savior this year.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

All 3 and shitty Activision games is the reason platinum is in the position they're in. Scalebound would have bombed as well. It wasn't a good game. Like any contracted game development they were paid up into that point.

Scalebound was never released so you can't say it would have been a bad game.

 

[Ridley327]

Good thing too because Kamiya has been producing and approving duds and non profitable games lately for PG.
From Wonderful to Star fox...NieR is like there only successful game in a long time.

Profitable means little to a studio that's work-for-hire. They got paid for each project, and despite the critical reception to Star Fox Zero, that game's problems are squarely on Nintendo, and Nintendo is still working with them for future projects, including whatever they've been teasing recently.

That being said, Automata doing this well is good news for anyone outside of Nintendo, since they just proved that there's a demand for them, even paired with one of gaming's most eccentric creators that had never had a hit to begin with.

 

[BRSxIgnition]

Nier is trash and so are most of Platinum games, but always good to hear a happy story.

I was saddened when I saw this reply but then I saw the username and remembered your thread - makes sense.

Spoiler

(Seriously, you exaggerated the 'issue' and misled tons of people; not cool.)

This is how you identify someone with bad taste.

 

[Eumi]

Taro continues to save videogames for everyone.

 

[Wesley-Sigma]

Nier is trash and so are most of Platinum games, but always good to hear a happy story.

This is how you identify someone with bad taste.

 

[InfiniteNine]

Why are some people in this topic acting like Kamiya is head of PG?

 

[timberger]

if nier is trash then what was your thread about it

Holy shit, lol.

That's hilariously dumb.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

There's a list of recommended ones to consider if you're interested, just drop by the OT sometime.

the problem with making a list of recommended quests is that nearly all of them would end up as recommended

Holy shit, lol.

That's hilariously dumb.

the op was hilariously banned for their behaviour in that thread too

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

FTFY

They gave him 2 delays. Not saying they didn't do anything wrong but at some point you gotta have something.

 

[LotusHD]

the problem with making a list of recommended quests is that nearly all of them would end up as recommended

There's 60 total right? I had around 1/3 of that.

 

[EdmondD]

It's me Taro! It was me all along.
Glad to hear this. Looking forward to Drakengard 4 which is what I predict they are working on.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

There's 60 total right? I had around 1/3 of that.

then you did a lot better than when i tried to make one, lol

 

[Danjin44]

Scalebound was never released so you can't say it would have been a bad game.

But there was things I personally didn't like about it, like the main character and I couldn't care for MP part.

But Im not kidding when they showed first gameplay trailer the first thing poped in my mind was "the Dragon mechanic would be perfect for Drakengard 4".

They have the engine, it would be a waste not to use it.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

So Scalebound could have killed them? Don't they have that mobile game with Matsuno and that big project with Cygames?