Demo already up on JP PSN (almost done downloading as I type this), will be available elsewhere during the next 15 hours, but I couldn't wait.

The first NieR is one of my all-time favorite games, I'm excited to see how a Platinum fueled sequel goes!

I had a blast with it! I played on hard and it's nice to have enemies that actually evade for a change.

For the demo I went for the normal difficulty which was maybe a bit too easy since I didnt die once and used only about 6 small health potions and 1 average one. Though considering that the demo has no save option and the demo starts from beginning if you die I think for me the choiche to play this game on normal was a good decision.

The combat felt excellent and the story actually felt interesting. Also the way that the game combines platformy elements with shooting elements felt really interesting. Weapon switching also feels like there are a lot of options to switch out to different weapons wich are more suitable for certain enemy types.

I loved the original nier and I hope that this game will be more successful saleswise. At least the demo convinced me that I will probably like the game.

what time does this release in the US?

Demo's out for the NA.

I enjoyed it but I could do without the weird transparent borders, I vaguely recall the original Nier doing something similar and it bothered me there too.

I'd be okay with this being another Platinum action game with a Nier theme but I really hope the game still has all the light RPG stuff the original had with lots of different characters and a hub area.

Also it's very obvious that this is the MGR team, down to the animations, floating talking head screens and the boss fights. I suppose it makes sense what with all the robots.

I'm downloading it right now. I can't wait to play it.

I played through the demo twice, and I suggest everyone start on Normal if you just wanna get through and get a feel for the game first (you get booted to the title screen when you die), but then move over to Hard. This is clearly how the game was meant to be played. The boss has a much more varied moveset, and you lose the ability to lock on, which the original Nier didn't have either. This also frees up your L2 button for use with weapon switching.

Not sure what you're talking about, but all HUD elements can be individually toggled under Pod Chips (along with the annoying auto-heal).

Oh my goodness, this game! What an absolute joy to play. What stands out to me most of all is just how damn smooth the movement is. Weaving in and out through enemy bullets, attacking, and then swooping back out with the dodge feels so seamless. I also thought it was really slick how the camera would pull back during some segments and turn the game almost into a dual-stick shooter type of thing. I went through a couple times on Hard difficulty and loved every second of it. Very Hard sounds insane though, I'm looking forward to watching some YouTube runs of that.

Man. I was already pretty interested in this game on Platinum's pedigree alone, but now I'm 100% sold.

whee sounds like i'll be garbage at this game too.

argh argh I don't have a console to play this I need to play the sequel to the best game ever madeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

@axersia: I suppose I should have said semi-transparent, but yeah at the begining and end of each cutscene they fade in and out and they can be quite distracting, but if I can turn it off it's not really an issue.

It's weird that the higher difficulties disable lock on as i'm quite used to these kinds of action games giving you a different set of moves based on whether or not you're locked on but maybe it doesnt matter.

Anyway i'll be going through it again at some point on hard, I did like what I played i'm just prone to nitpicking.

Didn't expect this game to be so much like Furi(from what i've seen of that game) a lot of different shooter/bullet hell mechanics mixed with melee combat, even a bit of shadow complex combat in there.

Is this an rpg game too? Or just an action game?

I know it's on me and my personal tastes, but I don't think this will be for me. Not a huge fan of the weird perspective switching or focus on bullet hell-esque mechanics. Is that a Nier thing? It's got a twist on the usual Platinum style of combat that may just take some getting used to, but I found myself fighting with it more often than not. Feels like they really want you to use your flying bullet buddy a lot to the point where I found myself just using that as my primary method attack in most situations and it was really throwing me off.

Seems like people really like it though, so I'm willing to accept this one's just not for me. Hard to tell just from the demo, though so we'll see. I have high hopes for whatever insane story they got cooked up for it.

@mindbullet: I was off put by the shooting at first too, until it became more a twin stick shooter. Melee seems just to be there to knock the armor off some enemies so you can shoot. Would be better with some power ups/different gun types though.

@animasta: This is coming to pc.

Anyone else feel that Normal is too easy and Hard is too hard?

On Hard every enemy takes so much of your health away each hit and on normal you barely take damage at all.

I also feel the need to say...I need this game to be weird. I need it to be dark. I need what Drakengard and Nier were. I will love it as a good action rpg, but I so hope it has more than just that.

Well, I'm sold on the combat, but since this is a linear combat heavy demo it didn't sell me on the NieR-ness of it, but I have no doubts that I'll get that in the full game.

In my mind all the little robots you kill in the demo are probably the equivalent of their children. They attack by swinging their arms like you sometimes see kids do, they're small and clumsy, and they die real quick.

The first NieR had a lot of genre-bending. It was a Zelda-ish action game with a hub, but it had a Resident Evil survival horror mansion, an isometric Diablo-style lab you explored, top down dual joystick shooting, a text adventure segment, bullet hell attacks from enemies and bosses.

You leveled up and did sidequests and the sidequests involved shit like growing flowers, delivering mail, killing monsters, fighting a huge boar (which you can ride afterwards), collecting weapons, finding a lost dog.

The first game also has one of the greatest soundtracks of all time.

I can only imagine what they have in mind to top that boss fight at the end...

Like...so damn good. SO DAMN GOOD.

Xenoblade (the first, not X) and NieR are the top for me. No other game will match them.

That's what I'd heard too but no listing on Steam as of the moment. Trying not to worry...

I love Nier. I don't need a demo to convince me to play this I'm already sold

@nnickers: It was stated on a lot of sites and at first a possible same day release was teased, but atleast one article corrects themselves saying square is setting release on the pc for 2017 but not necessarily the same day after having spoken to a square rep.

I really hope they do a quick look for this game when it comes out. I have a feeling they might not since nobody on the team really likes Japanese games.

I liked the movement and combat a lot, which is a nice thing to be able to say about a Taro Yoko game. Hopefully it has all of the many great qualities that his other games have as well.

I never played the game, but I listened to the soundtrack one time. It didn't do much for me. Seemed like something mostly younger anime fans would be into.

Love how it plays, not crazy about the enemy designs. Still gonna get it though.

Yo this game looks like it's gonna be dope. Does anyone know if the demo is an actual mission from the game, or a little story disconnected from the game proper?

Why wouldn't they do a Quicklook? They did one for the first game.

Thanks for creating this thread! I didn't play the original but after playing the Automota demo I am super hyped for it's release in March. Question... How similar is the original (mechanically/aesthetically) and does it hold up?

Well I guess I'm excited for this game now. Seeming like Platinum were the perfect choice for this game, especially based on how nuts that boss fight is. Also, it's super weird to play one of Yoko Taro's games and have it not run like dirt.

Lol, what does that even mean?

@invo1221: Based off just the demo, they're pretty aesthetically similar. A lot of browns and greys, some dull greens. I'm kinda hoping, with the sequel, they saturate the series a bit. But, in some ways, that doesn't feel very "Nier". The music in the original is a good deal more bombastic/in-your-face (although, it's kind of hard to compare Nier: Automata's scorefrom just the demo; tracks were definitely evocative here, but blending more into the background than in the original). The original also flirted with a ton of different (game) genres, just like the demo hints at, with the focus being third person hack and slash and bullet hell.

However, the demo feels way better than the original Nier. I love that game, but its gameplay definitely isn't for everyone. Whereas the demo felt like a fully-featured Platinum game, the original feels more akin to something like a Platinum prototype. But design/ability wise, the core is pretty similar. Both share a penchant for awesome boss fights, it seems.

If you are interested in checking out the original, just know that it's an original, but bumpy ride. There are aspects to that game that are truly outstanding, but you have to deal with some fairly rough pacing to appreciate those aspects. I'd ultimately say that you'd want to play Nier for the story/experience; if you're going to it for absorbing gameplay, I don't think you're going to be completely happy with the game.

P.S.: If you ever get stuck fishing, just look up where to go online (you'll know).

I initially thought it had a few rough edges in the controls, I also wasn't too crash hot on sprint and dodge being the same button. Then I was pleasantly surprised to see this is a console game that lets you custom bind each individual button. I set Shoot to L2, Switch weapon to L1 and Pod Program to R1 I then realised I was being dumb and automatically thought that sprint/dodge required you to hold the button but it's actually a toggle which works totally fine. Once I worked those things out it became a real joy to play, the one thing that remained a negative for me was the boss was kind of shit, far more spectacle than an actual fun challenging boss. The game also begs for Hard difficulty on first play through, on normal the enemies are basically punching bags that pose no threat whatsoever.

Some concern for the full game based on minor things in the demo is I hope that the weird little shortcuts you could open during the level don't indicate a potential egregious reuse of levels forcing you to revisit old areas to grind materials. I will be bummed out if this game doesn't have a good swath of varying locales that manage to withstand the duration of the game without repetition.

Hopes up, Nier and Nioh looking to be top notch melee stab n slash games for next year both with drastically different approaches.

@ivdamke: Historically, both Yoko Taro games and Platinum games (aside from Ps biggest titles) have had very limited amount of area, making for either short games or reusing the same assets constantly. And with the precedent of Nier and the Junk Heap.... I think we both might have to set expectiation somewhat low on that front.

Still I'm pretty damn excited for this game. Probably not even going to play the demo, I'll just get it on release anyways. HAVE TO KNOW!

It means it didnt have enough sick guitar riffs, dah.

But seriously listening to the soundtrack of something without the context of what the music is ment to be complementing maybe isnt the best way to experience it.

There are a lot of game soundtracks that I would have hated if I didnt hear it first in the game, and whenever I listen to it im reminded of said game(s) and I enjoy it a lot more.

Yeah, it would be nice if they told you about sprinting but being able to remap the controls is really useful. I set shooting to R2 and dodging to L2 it fells much better. (also L3 for some pod program action)

As much as I enjoyed the original Nier there were quite a lot of tedious quests. But at least this game plays well enough so that doing various fetch quests could still be fun.

I don't agree. I know Silent Hill 2's and several of Vangelis and Ennio Morricone's soundtracks are quite good, even though I've never played the game (Well, I played it for about an hour.) or watched all those movies. A good original soundtrack should be able to stand on its own.

Did anyone else notice that the music during the first boss battle (at the very beginning) was a remix of Devola and Popola's song from Nier? I thought that was a pretty nice touch.

@invo1221: I actually played NieR for the first time recently after being interested by the cult following; I like looking into the games people consider gems and underrated. I never felt so compelled to write a review about a game as I did with NieR. Here's my review link, below.

http://www.giantbomb.com/nier/3030-26596/user-reviews/2200-29469/

Yep that's sure a platinum ass platinum game; of course being a platinum game it'll be like 10 hours long and Nier was approximately 700 billion hours long and boring almost the whole way; does 10 hours of good gameplay appeal to that audience?

First game has a soundtrack made to appeal to young anime fans? Certainly what the fuck DOES that mean? I guess young anime fans these days are into moody and dramatic pieces with classical undertones as well as heavy industrial pieces all with a lot of faux language singing? If you don't like it you don't like it, but even if that label were apt it's a stupid label; and it also doesn't fit here.

There is an undeniable something to the 700 hours of tedium Nier and its side quests provided. But I could just play Nier if I wanted Nier. If they can deliver on the unique brand of storytelling and character writing that this developer (Taro Yoko and the other Cavia alums, not Platinum) have become known for, then I will be happy with a 10-20 hour experience.

I don't remember Nier being all that long, actually. Even aiming to see all the different endings I doubt I clocked in at over 40 hours. And I grinded quite a bit.

While I agree that Nier had long stretches of some mundane travel and boring quest design, I wouldn't say it was a flat line graph of "boring" with a sudden spike into the interesting category near the end. The boss fights were all a treat and some of the levels were pretty fun as well.

I'm not sure if Nier Automata needs 12 different endings to be a "true" Nier sequel, or a good game for that matter, but then again who knows what fans really want? I want the same fun shifting camera boss fights with a good variety of DmC and Ikaruga mixed in, which it seems to have going for it, as well as an interesting story. If the gameplay is super satisfying and the level design consistently good, then 10-15 hours is fine with me. Then again like I mentioned before, who knows what fans want? Timers, escort missions and rigid save systems are things that in this day and age are universally regarded as "bad game design" and yet thats exactly what fans miss in the new Dead Rising so go figure.

There's no way removing the OS Chip won't be part of at least one ending.

For reference, play the demo, go into the Menu and find where your chips are equipped and remove the OS Chip.

Also the devs already said the game is 25+ hours long.

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!

@esrever: Now to do very hard while unarmed/without shooting unless necessary