Hey folks! I haven't jumped on Nier: Automata yet, but want to play it. The Steam sale is going on now, but I wonder what the current state of the PC version is? I know it was rough at launch. Does anyone know if it's improved, or what the current state is?

I also have a PS4 (regular, non-Pro), so I could go that option if it's better. My PC is more than solid enough (GTX 1070, other parts are good too), I just don't know what the state of that version is! Thanks in advance!

As far as I know you'll still want to use FAR to address the cutscene stuttering, true fullscreen resolution issue and reduce the GI samples to also fix the open world stuttering. Once you've done that everything should be peachy.

I finished game on pc with xbox one controller, if you go 1080p fullscreen for some reason it gets really blurry. I had to set it to windowed 1080p then used the 'borderless window' program to make it essentially fullscreen while still looking great. You can buy borderless windowed on steam but i just used the free version. Other than that I could play 8-10 hour sessions of that game no probs on my 1070 system.

Thanks for the feedback! It sounds like if I follow your suggestions the PC may be worth it, even with PS4 being an option?

I played 8 hours of it (I really need to finish that game), and the biggest issue is the cutscenes, which have those weird borders and it runs at a lower FPS. It sounds like that mod improved the overall game quite a bit, but I personally haven't really put it through its paces.

It is not perfect, but I don't think it is a bad port.

Man I didn't know about all these issues...Think I might pass on this for now and wait for it to get to $30 and below. That's a bummer :(

@majormitch: Yea the PS4 versions (both pro and baseline) have issues with frametiming and framerate causing stutter and slowdown. The one thing the PS4 version doesn't have is the cutscene stutter, however the PC version has much better resolution and AA capability where as the PS4 Pro is locked to 1920x1080 with 2x MSAA and the baseline PS4 at 1600x900 with no AA.

So your best bet is going to be the PC version, even without FAR, (but definitely get FAR.)

@ivdamke: Thanks for clarifying the differences!

It depends on how anal you are about how a game runs. I'm 40 hours in, haven't installed any fixes, and just maxed everything out. There is a slight stutter at the start of some cut scenes or if you're blowing up a lot of things at once, but it's pretty easily ignorable and the game runs fine 99% of the time.

Definitely not big enough issues to not get the PC version if you want to play the game as it still looks and runs better than the PS4 version.

The game tends to get blurrier the more you play it, mostly due to the tears in your eyes.

@rinnowaru: Wait what? how could a 970 preform that badly? On what processor?

I am working on my second play through, still hoping they patch the game at some point. That said, FAR works perfectly and there is no reason to not use it.

@xanadu: The game pushes something like 64 Global Illumination samples with no apparent visual difference beyond 18 or something. On a 970 once you use FAR and reduce it down to a lower number it runs 60 at all times.

Platinum just hasn't ever been that great at the tech end of things.

@xanadu: A 970 can run it at 60 at 1080p.

@xanadu said:

I saw some explanation that the biggest issue is how it handles anti-aliasing. There are several different ways to do anti-aliasing (SSAA, MSAA, FXAA, etc). Usually when you turn on AA in a game, it defaults to whichever one of those is the fastest method (and then often gives you the option to dial it up to a slower, better looking method). What I've read is that Nier defaults to the best looking (but slowest) method of AA.

So instead of the AA options being on a scale from none->low->medium->high->higher->highest, the AA options are none->higher->highest. In other words, turning off AA altogether makes the game run MUCH more smoothly than having it active on it's "lowest" setting.

I could be completely wrong about all that though.

I'm running a Xeon 1230v2, 6gb GTX 1060, 16gb of 1666 RAM and an SSD. I didn't use any fixes at all and the game worked just fine for me 1080p, 60Hz, full screen except for the occasional cutscene stutter that didn't really bother me at all. I thought the game looked gorgeous if a bit sparse, but that's par for the course for Yoko Taro. I spent 60 hours with it. Definitely my GOTY even if I manage to get around to any other 2017 games in 2017.

The FAR mod is phenominal and allowed me to play through the game free of issues, it's pretty much a necessity, that being said if the mod doesn't work for you it's a pretty miserable experience, so make sure to try it as soon as you buy so that you can apply for a refund if you can't get it working.

@cikame: That's so far from the truth unless maybe you have an old video card? Maybe it doesn't play nice with AMD cards? I have a 970 and had every setting as high as it would go and was at 60 fps 99% of the time. The cutscenes are capped at 30 and usually stutter very briefly at the the start, but it's nowhere near a miserable experience, and far superior to most console releases.

I honestly didn't know this port was a problem until I saw this thread.

I had some issues with crashing and game going white screen and not being able to see anything. Hopefully FAR will fix some of my issues.