Bloodborne, NieR : Automata or Chrono Trigger? Help me decide which game to play!

I basically can't decide which one of those three games to play first :

As a huge fan of the Dark Souls series, I've finished the Ringed City DLC recently and with that probably the last content for Dark Souls, I of course want to play something similar. I'm kind of late for Bloodborne, which was released 2 years ago, but I want to give it a try anyway.

Then we have NieR : Automata. I heard great things about the game, especially about the story and gameplay. I'm really interested in the bullet hell like fights, seems like something new and fun. The art style and world design seems awesome, but is the world maybe a bit empty?

Well, then there's is Chrono Trigger. As you might have figured, I love JRPG/RPGs and I really love the old ones. I'm ashamed that I've never played Chrono Trigger, so I want to catch up on it. It's one of those games I feel like you have to play at least once. I'd buy the DS-Version, many people said it was the best one.

In the end I will play every game of these anyway, but I thought it might help me to decide which one I will play first, since it would be a waste to play those three games at the same time.

Thanks! :)

Chrono Trigger. It's not getting any younger. And it's still awesome.

Bloodborne and Nier: Automata both make me itch because I love Souls games, but I'm not buying a PS4 for just one game, and the PC version of Nier: Automata hasn't been released in Southeast Asia yet.

Chrono Trigger is only about 25 hours long, which is still quite an undertaking but it sounds rather slim for the genre. It's definitely not "slim", though - they just cut out a lot of the bullshit parts of JRPG's (grinding, random encounters) and left all the awesome in the game. It definitely gets my vote.

However, there's still a bit of a "zeitgeist" going on for Nier Automata so if you want to be part of that, then maybe get that game and then play Chrono Trigger?

Chrono Trigger.

If you just got off of Dark Souls 3 I might suggest taking a short break instead of going straight into Bloodborne and risk the chance of burnout. Maybe it's different for you, but I sometimes need a bit of a palette cleanser between two games that are very similar. Even for as much as I love Bloodborne and its weird flavor of Souls, it's still absolutely "one of those games." As for the other two, I could flip a coin between Nier and Chrono Trigger, honestly. I think Nier Automata has the potential to be a game people still talk about years from now, but on the other hand Chrono Trigger is already a game that people talk about years after its release for good reason. So... in other words, they're all good games and you should play all of them eventually.

Nier: Automata. Right Now! :D

That's a daaaamn fine list you got there. I love all three of those games. I would personally prod you to play all of them if you can manage, but in a list of priorities.... NieR is the most current and relevant one if you care to discuss what you played with people, but it's also waiting in some kind of dlc content that I think might not be story related, but it's content nonetheless. While Bloodborne and Chrono Trigger are complete and great packages that you can go through in one go. Since you've played other Souls games, I assume a Bloodborne run won't be on the long end, so I'd guesstimate 30-40h maybe. NieR is in a similar timeframe if you go for the full story with Endings A-C/D (Which you absolutely should), 30-60 depending on sidequest OCD. Chrono Trigger should be the shortest one clocking in under 30h.

If you still have itchy fingers and want to go for the biggest challenge, you should play Bloodborne, helps to at least be semi in the souls mindset after 3 even though BB plays fairly differently. Chrono Trigger would be the most relaxing thing to play and NieR is somewhere inbetween.

Tips for NieR: The overworld map is a bit empty, and a lot of the sidequests are fetchy or tedious. But they are also 100% optional. Try and seek out the ones that add a little bit of flavor to the game with NPCs you like, but it's not a big deal if you skip most of them. I ended up doing them all, and some I quite enjoyed because of the quirky side characters and just odd things they talked about, but it's definitely just extra flavor and not neccessary to get the main plot. Also uhm, go in with an open mind I guess. There are almost definitely a fair bit of things to bounce off of if you can't just roll with the punches a bit.

@dartzwth: Bloodborne is a ton of fun and you'll arguably be playing the "best" version of the game at this point after they patched what they could to make it load faster and run better. Also the GOTY edition is cheap and you can head straight to the DLC area after your first playthrough.

Nier is a game all about story. The gameplay is honestly incidental to your enjoyment of that "experience" as a whole. That's not to say it's bad gameplay, but despite the Platinum involvement and flashy looks it's not an especially deep combat system and the game itself is not very challenging either. I would also say the bullet hell parts weren't as creative as in the original Nier which relied a lot more on perspective changes since it was a bit of a clunker to play. That said Automata is an incredibly unique game, just know that you're going in there for story and atmosphere first, gameplay second.

Chrono Trigger I dunno. If you wanna experience the classic then by all means. Still a well put together game but titles today are so unique that I don't know if you'll get the same impact as you would have 20 years ago. Of course I always lean heavily away from old games and plenty of people will say it's just as amazing today as ever so it depends on what side of the fence you fall.

Thats a tough one, since I find all of those games amazing in their one way. I would probably say Chrono Trigger since I think thats a game that any fan of jrpgs should play.

Chrono Trigger for sure.

Playing nier first make sure sense just because it's the hot new thing. Might as well experience it while people are still talking about it.

Nier or Bloodborne, Chrono Trigger is a kiddie game, vastly inferior to these masterpieces in every aspect.

Chrono Trigger (the DS version is bloody fantastic), Bloodborne (a lot of people think its better than Dark Souls and me, a Dark Souls nerd, almost agrees) and then Nier: AM. Chrono Trigger is so good it got better as time went by, a timeless game so to speak.

Nier is a very lengthy game, about as large as both CT and Bloodborne so expect 60 hours if you want to dive deep into it. In other terms, Nier: Automata is about as long as The Witcher 3 but way more tedious (as others already stated similarly), though the story alone makes it quite worthwhile though. Its also a Platinum game, so just for the action alone the game is ok.