I am looking to buy a game to play through before Persona 5 hits in NA. I'm torn between this and for Honor. Honestly any Platinum game would immediately win but the idea that this is from a long franchise which I have 0% experience with. Will the story or characters be completely inaccessible for someone jumping in now, or is it possible to run with it for the love of the game?

Thanks for any advice!

I haven't played Automata yet, but if it's anything like past Cavia games, it's likely 99% standalone, with new characters and storylines. While all of the games in the Nier/Drakengard universe have been lightly tied together, it isn't in any meaningful or important way--or hasn't been before now--and is typically only for the super fans who like to spot the connections.

It's considered to be lightly tied together with the previous games but it exists entirely within itself not requiring knowledge of the predecessors. Taro himself has said that he doesn't like making games that require prior knowledge of earlier games to understand them so I doubt you'll have much issue.

Hey, I've never touched Nier or Drakengard but I'm jumping right in, game looks fun.

Thanks for the responses, I'll be picking this up for sure!

I've played all of Nier. All 4 endings. This game doesn't seem to have much of anything to do with it except maybe being on the same planet?

@shadow: There are more direct connections than that, but those revelations are part of the fun.

There are a few characters and documents that reference the original Nier but you can fully enjoy the game without knowing anything about its predecessor. The story is 99% standalone and the few references really only give you a bit more background on the events of the first game.

I would say that in order to get the full 'emotional' impact of some of the best story moments, knowledge of the first NieR is very helpful, the Drakengard references are a little less overt and i'd say less needed as far as appreciated of the main story plot goes.

If you want to get some context i'd recommend watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ynpA5rGEo&list=PL57hJfweW_2uzJdZ0Du-1tYSUnwz4tQvE which was recommended to me by a friend before Automata released.

I've never played Drakengard or NieR but after adding all the context from watching LPs and lore breakdowns it puts NieR into my #1 game this year spot and that's from someone who has played the best part of 20 hours of Zelda at this point. Zelda writing is children in a sand pit compared to NieR Automata.