Support NeoGAF

[Christhor]

Akihiko Yoshida saved Platinum then. If it wasn't Platinum that sold Nier Automata then it definitely wasn't Yoko Taro. It was 2B's design.

 

[GinoFelino]

Akihiko Yoshida saved Platinum then. If it wasn't Platinum that sold Nier Automata then it definitely wasn't Yoko Taro. It was 2B's design.

Whatever works for you

 

[That Dude John]

Akihiko Yoshida saved Platinum then. If it wasn't Platinum that sold Nier Automata then it definitely wasn't Yoko Taro. It was 2B's design.

All praise the mighty thigh?

 

[BadWolf]

Akihiko Yoshida saved Platinum then. If it wasn't Platinum that sold Nier Automata then it definitely wasn't Yoko Taro. It was 2B's design.

Right, all the great reviews and strong word of mouth was because of 2B's design.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Akihiko Yoshida saved Platinum then. If it wasn't Platinum that sold Nier Automata then it definitely wasn't Yoko Taro. It was 2B's design.

Which was approved by Taro that probably caught the eye of Platinum which resulted in them working together.

 

[Lord of Ostia]

Akihiko Yoshida saved Platinum then. If it wasn't Platinum that sold Nier Automata then it definitely wasn't Yoko Taro. It was 2B's design.

Do you just hate Yoko Taro or something? Seems bizarre to not give him some credit for the game's success, considering he was the writer and director of the project.

 

[boredandlazy]

Automata succeeded because it was developed by platinum, not because of the name Nier. No one cared about this franchise before platinum stepped in.
They basically saved themselves

I would have bought it regardless of Platinum's involvement.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Both games were cancelled due to project mismanagement which is my point(cost)

Mismanagement by the publisher, rather than the developer, which is the case people were making for Scalebound as well.

Silent Hills was cancelled due to the deteriorating relationship between Kojima and Konami (possibly due to mismanagement of MGSV) but not due to mismanagement of Silent Hills.

The mismanagement of Fortress by Square Enix is widely publicized and includes Square Enix telling Grin to fax them game code in order to kill off the project intentionally. (Originial interview in Swedish is here.)

As the relationship deteriorated, the Anderssons say Square Enix sent them a strange demand: Fax us the game's code, including the project's music files. "It is as silly as it sounds," Bo Andersson said (Google translation.) "It is an impossible requirement, you can not send ASCII or binary codes on the fax. It is backward. Really retarded. It was almost a criminal activity."

(unfortunate language there from Bo Andersson)

Feeling like they'd been set up to fail, GRIN sent Square Enix an image taken from Final Fantasy XII saying it was a production shot from "Fortress." The Anderssons say Square Enix replied "It does not look like Final Fantasy."

"Then we realized that whatever we do ... they have decided," Bo Andersson said. (Google translation).

 

[Mr. Nice_Guy]

High praise indeed! And totally deserved; Taro has always had the potential but never the staff to help support his visions with competent gameplay. Happy to hear all these things I love have come out all the better for getting together.

 

[Christhor]

Right, all the great reviews and strong word of mouth was because of 2B's design.

You don't get strong word of mouth without already having people play your game. If Platinum doesn't think that their audience is big enough to make a game popular, then there definitely weren't enough Nier fans to do that either. Nier Automata started getting noticed because of the character designs and because of the butt controversies. It's similar to how Bayonetta is one of the only other hugely commercially successful games Platinum's made.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

You don't get strong word of mouth without already having people play your game. If Platinum doesn't think that their audience is big enough to make a game popular, then there definitely weren't enough Nier fans to do that either. Nier Automata started getting noticed because of the character designs and because of the butt controversies. It's similar to how Bayonetta is one of the only other hugely commercially successful games Platinum's made.

you don't think the great reviews (90+ on metacritic during the launch period) had anything to do with the game's succes

Do you just hate Yoko Taro or something? Seems bizarre to not give him some credit for the game's success, considering he was the writer and director of the project.

doubt it considering his avatar is from the first game

 

[Christhor]

you don't think the great reviews (90+ on metacritic during the launch period) had anything to do with the game's succes

Considering the only field Nier Automata is a big improvement over Nier is in gameplay, I consider the higher reviews thanks to Platinum.

 

[LotusHD]

Whatever works for you

This. It's been said time and time again that there was a bunch of factors that went into Automata's unexpected success sales-wise, but sure, it was literally all 2B.

Considering the only field Nier Automata is a big improvement over Nier is in gameplay, I consider the higher reviews thanks to Platinum.

I mean, it also probably helped that this time around, people were a bit more familiar on the whole "multiple playthroughs" aspect of his games.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Considering the only field Nier Automata is a big improvement over Nier is in gameplay, I consider the higher reviews thanks to Platinum.

reviews extensively praised the story and writing tho

game reviews in general are just so much better now than they were back in 2010

 

[MiguelMexMIstery]

love yoko taro

this gif makes me want to buy the game lol

 

[Squishy3]

i just did an extensive search and found nothing of that sort so it seems you recall incorrectly

sneak fuck did break the story that it was likely cancelled though, so maybe that's what you're thinking of

Jason posted the story that it was cancelled, which then lead to Microsoft officially announcing it (after "stealthily" scrubbing mentions of Scalebound on their sites/etc.) and reports from other people coming with news from sources that unattainable milestones were set and that payment had stopped coming from Microsoft after the cancellation story broke.

Just some screenshots since it seems Bolton's tweets about it have been deleted. (Former CNET writer)

Michael's response for the second image is still available.

 

[Christhor]

reviews extensively praised the story and writing tho

game reviews in general are just so much better now than they were back in 2010

Yes I agree with you, it definitely seems like reviews had a bias against Japanese style games back then and that Nier definitely deserved much higher reviews than it got, but I can only look at what happened in the real world. In which case I think that the gameplay was what made the reviews, even if they also enjoyed the story and writing.

 

[LotusHD]

This is the real reason it did so well!

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

This is the real reason it did so well!

b a s e d PR team

 

[jonjonaug]

This is the real reason it did so well!

The number of reviewers who only played through Nier or Drakengard 3 to ending A basically made this a necessity.

 

[cLOUDo]

So nier 3
Or nier automata 2?

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Considering the only field Nier Automata is a big improvement over Nier is in gameplay, I consider the higher reviews thanks to Platinum.

So the game director isn't involved in actual game design?

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Jason posted the story that it was cancelled, which then lead to Microsoft officially announcing it (after "stealthily" scrubbing mentions of Scalebound on their sites/etc.) and reports from other people coming with news from sources that unattainable milestones were set and that payment had stopped coming from Microsoft after the cancellation story broke.

Just some screenshots since it seems Bolton's tweets about it have been deleted. (Former CNET writer)

Michael's response for the second image is still available.

well, that's interesting

wish someone would write something about what they heard

This is the real reason it did so well!

i like how it's signed with the pr team

implies that taro didn't want to put it in there, but that the pr team forced him

pr team was totally right, lol

So the game director isn't involved in actual game design?

seriously

platinum and yoko taro talked at length in interviews about how taro forced the team to incorporate shmup elements, and even play shmups as inspiration, lol

 

[James Scott]

Really wish they handled the second playthrough better since it locks you out of the actual ending if you don't play it but the second playthrough is rather boring since it's basically the same game but it was very wise to include that message.
Likely hurt all of Taro's other games quite a bit

 

[Squishy3]

well, that's interesting

wish someone would write something about what they heard

Eh, it'll probably be awhile before we hear about whatever happened with Scalebound, but what happened with Phantom Dust got pretty well-documented. (Was posted on the last page but might as well post it again) Microsoft kept making unreasonable demands of the dev team and not allocating them any more budget, plus ridiculous things like announcing it at E3 with a trailer nobody at the studio worked on. Increasing scope of game and not increasing budget seems like a common trend.

https://kotaku.com/how-a-small-game-studio-almost-made-it-big-1696997142

 

[truestatic]

Beat yesterday.

Saved me too. Great fucking game. Thanks Yoko Taro and Platinum, I hope you team up again cuz I need more of this shit.

 

[Christhor]

This is the real reason it did so well!

I could see this being the case, but it's impossible to prove.

So the game director isn't involved in actual game design?

You mean the game director who kept talking about how nice it was to have Platinum around, so he could spend his time drinking while leaving everything to Taura?

Really wish they handled the second playthrough better since it locks you out of the actual ending if you don't play it but the second playthrough is rather boring since it's basically the same game but it was very wise to include that message.
Likely hurt all of Taro's other games quite a bit

They actually add to the experience in the Drakengard games, since it changes the scenario completely. It's really cool how they do the branches in Drakengard.

 

[LotusHD]

You mean the game director who kept talking about how nice it was to have Platinum around, so he could spend his time drinking while leaving everything to Taura?

Are we really gonna act like Taro never just says shit just to say it lol

Also this... https://youtu.be/L3wScHE28K8?t=10m5s

 

[massoluk]

Confused why people bringing up W101.
I'm under the impression that's they get paid properly for that. Financially, Scalebound cancellation seems more likely to kill any good sized developer just because of how it screwed resource management.

 

[KaoteK]

I hope to see more collaborations from them.
Nier is the most memorable game I've played in a long time. I liked it so much I played through all five main endings twice, and I rarely replay anything these days.

 

[Black_Red]

The number of reviewers who only played through Nier or Drakengard 3 to ending A basically made this a necessity.

A lot of people knew the first nier had more endings, but beating the game with that boring gameplay again wasnt worth it.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Two of my favorite directors, this is truly heartwarming to read; especially because Kamiya isn't the most diplomatic of people so when he heaps praise you know he means it.

 

[Franziska]

Well deserved to both of them. Nier Automata was an amazing experience.

I'd've bought anything by Platinum, but Yoko Taro really pushed the game beyond what I've come to expect from them.

 

[Weltall Zero]

You mean the game director who kept talking about how nice it was to have Platinum around, so he could spend his time drinking while leaving everything to Taura?

Wasn't that the exact same documentary / interview where everyone in the team complained right afterwards that he had to micromanage absolutely everything, with him on the background saying "not true! not true!"? I don't think you're supposed to take his statement that he was hands off at face value. Actually a good rule of thumb is "don't take anything Yoko Taro says at face value, especially if he's being humble".

(also remember this is Japan, saying "it was all him, I didn't do that much" is basically assumed).

 

[Pachael]

It's a good condunrum when praise, money and word of mouth is positive and all anyone is arguing about is who deserves more praise. Congrats to Nier:A which has overperformed far beyond initial expectations.

 

[Clear]

Yosuke Saito is the real unsung here imho.

He's the guy inside SE who made this collaboration happen, and as a result all concerned have benefited greatly.

Love Yoko-san, and Kamiya has impressed me hugely with his candidness and humility in a situation that must have been personally very difficult.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Yosuke Saito is the real unsung here imho.

He's the guy inside SE who made this collaboration happen, and as a result all concerned have benefited greatly.

Love Yoko-san, and Kamiya has impressed me hugely with his candidness and humility in a situation that must have been personally very difficult.

i'd say everyone involved in that game is a hero

except for the person that designed the heritage of the past quest

that person can fuck off lol

 

[LotusHD]

It's a good condunrum when praise, money and word of mouth is positive and all anyone is arguing about is who deserves more praise. Congrats to Nier:A which has overperformed far beyond initial expectations.

Lmao true

 

[KTallguy]

The game is really good, praise for both is well deserved.

 

[killatopak]

i'd say everyone involved in that game is a hero

except for the person that designed the heritage of the past quest

that person can fuck off lol

lol. I spent a good amount of time on that quest just thinking 'why'.

 

[The Giant]

I presume Platinum will just work with Nintendo and SE for the next few years.

 

[Traxtech]

Incredible game, I hope everyone gets to experience it

 

[DataBased]

I'm super happy for them to be able to bounce back so strongly after scalebound. Nier is great and I'm glad that it brought them success.

 

[Professor Beef]

Hope they can move to make better games next

fucking thank you

This is the real reason it did so well!

i actually turned the game off after i got back to the title screen

 

[watershed]

I hope Platinum finds some consistency. They're capable of great games.

 

[Danjin44]

i actually turned the game off after i got back to the title screen

okay? why?

 

[LotusHD]

okay? why?

He didn't like it.

 

[BRSxIgnition]

Hope they can move to make better games next

fucking thank you

i actually turned the game off after i got back to the title screen

There's no accounting for taste...

 

[Soul of the Beast]

The game is incredible, took me a while to get into it but once it clicked It's fucking amazing.

It's like watching an anime for the first time, you went from ''what is this cringe shit? ( ′_ゝ`)'' to ''I have never been this engrossed in my entire life ლ(ﾟдﾟ&#4314''

 

[mace999]

Game of the generation for me with Bloodborne, you really have to play all 5 major endings though to get the whole experience ......