I had no doubt this game was going to be stellar and didn't need a demo to prove it, but I was still super excited to finally get my hands on it. I ended up playing for probably over 12 hours. One playthrough on normal in English, and another playthrough on hard in English. The remaining time spent in the demo was trying to clear Very Hard, using JP voiceovers. So, a few notes.
(After some revision, I thought I should at least give my opinion on the actual game mechanics and feeling of it.)
The game feels great. The combat and movement straight up tells you itself that this is a Platinum game. Everything is responsive and stylish as hell. I've always been a sucker for perfect dodges/blocks, a Platinum staple, and this is no different. The bullet hell scenarios still add something extra to an action RPG and feel right out of the OG Nier. There were quite a bit of 2D twin stick shooter sections, more than I was expecting. I seem to recall there only being a handful of those in the OG Nier (bridge leading to the junkyard I think) I think they're neat though. A nice little shift to what would just be a get from point A to point B trek.
However, it still looks and sounds like a Nier title, which is the most important part. I dig the enemy design. I couldn't help but slow walk during many portions of the demo, just gawking at the level environments... and mostly admiring 2B's walk cycle. (how about those ladder flourishes of hers?)
The game definitely felt a little easy on normal. I'm kinda torn if I want to start the real thing on normal, just so I can have the ability to target things. Seemed a little silly that lock-on was only allowed for normal difficulty.
Hard seemed like a better challenge. Didn't notice if there were any new enemy patterns and/or more bullets in the bullet hell sections on the higher difficulties, since I only went through normal once. I want to say that I saw different attacks from the boss but I don't know. Enemies also appeared to dodge way more.
I had so much fun grinding very hard attempts. For those that didn't know, very hard difficulty is probably the same as hard, but you die in one hit... Even if that one hit is the bridge hitbox as its falling at the start of the demo. I decided to check out the JP VO option, even though I normally play games in English, no matter the quality of dub. JP seemed good and the English seemed passable. I also switched my Dash to L1 and Pod to R2, and started the grind.
I was finally able to complete a very hard attempt in 14:42, starting the boss fight around 7:30 (2 saw arms encounter). Most of my deaths consisted of bonking into a stray bullet in one of the arena sections, or being clipped cause I dashed a little too early or late. For those curious, my strat was heavy abuse of the dash into the heavy secondary for some good range damage that covered a lot of ground and constant hitstun on everyone. This move would also do tons of dmg on the boss, especially coupled with a jump cancel primary string into secondary combo finisher (think helm breaker from DMC). This method would nearly 2 cycle the first saw arm. The move reminded me a lot of roundtrip from the DMC games. Was very effective at "herding" enemies into a corner and just pelting them with bullets. My finger was practically glued to the R1 button all throughout the demo. Never not shooting. You could just run through most of the level, ignoring any and all enemies as long as it wasn't an arena section. (Of course thats not how I would play normally, this was just for the sake of trying to go fast and avoiding encounters that would 1 shot me if I made a mistake)
Got to say, the final product will be a candidate for my new speedgame of 2017, as well as my GOTY2017 and all time fav. 2B's animations and mannerisms, coupled with the amazing OST, made doing these repeated attempts an utter joy, despite dying in dumb ways overandoverandoveran-
The OG Nier is near and dear to my heart. I got all the endings and even made a garden full of Lunar Tears before setting out to the point of no return to rescue Yonah. The OST is among one of my favs in all of gaming and music in general. I probably listened to the OST on repeat half a year before I got to the actual game. So whoever said that the tracks don't have any traction with those who don't have experience with the game beforehand may've not been entirely correct. (I think the OST stands well on its own perfectly fine)
Closing thoughts... Nier Automata is literally a dream game that I never would have imagined to be a real thing ever. A Nier style game with the tightness and fluidity of a Platinum game? Nowayyy. But Square Enix proved me wrong that E3 and made me one excited gamer, (that e3 2015 was already amazing).
The Boss Trailer they released at E3 2016 is one of my favorite videogame trailers that I have to watch at least once a day. Its also special to me cause thats when fans found out Emi Evans was returning to work on Nier Automata, the original vocalist for most of OG Nier's tracks.
I don't know what else to add. Nier fans, and all gamers in general, are truly lucky to have this collaboration between two amazing studios. Suffice to say I have my Nier Automata Black Box edition on lock and saying I'm looking forward to the game would be an understatement. Sorry for being long-winded and hijacking the topic, and thanks for reading!
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