I really have to say, as the years have gone on, I look forward to "Game of the Year" less and less.

@theoriginalatlas: I know that you're trying to be as respectful as possible but you're basically saying "If you can't handle the internet, don't use it!" which you might understand isn't the very best approach to the whole thing.

Its way better to wait it out on a few hours after a podcast is released to wait for the very best person ever to show up. You know the type, it's of course the one duder who listened to the whole thing to posts the timestamps. So when theres such a timpstamp list, just click on the specific timestamp thats after the discussion of Nier and BOOM, it is done. Happyness for everyone without doing any dumb compromise like "look away from it!" or "don't use it!". There always is a good in-between solution towards such simple problems.

At any case, never ever tell people to just quit something, rather wait for a proper alternative. And with Podcasts and especially in the case of the Bombcasts, there always has been somebody super helpful in that.

I've heard it said a few times now that the combat in Nier is bad. Speaking as somebody who actively dislikes the combat in most character action games (ex. DMC and Bayonetta). I LOVE the combat in Nier. I played on normal and feel that the game had a good difficulty curve. I nearly died in the first fight with Engel's arm, but by the time I reached "Become as Gods", I felt like a badass. The only fight I failed on multiple times and didn't really enjoy was the giant flying sandworm in route C. Outside of set piece dungeons and boss battles, fighting was rarely mandatory, and never felt like a slog to me. Unless I was fighting something that severely out-leveled me or I had misconfigured my chipset, the enemies never felt like damage sponges, which I really appreciate. This disconnect reminds me of a time when I had roommates who were really good at rockband and guitar hero. They were 5-starring the likes of Jordan and Through the Fire and Flames on Expert, and meanwhile, I was playing most songs on hard, and sometimes dipping my toe into expert. And I was totally fine with that. I remember the first time I played Bulletproof By LaRoux on drums, on hard. I don't even particularly like the song, but in that exact configuration, that song was a perfect fit for my skill level at the time, and it was glorious. Then I showed it to my roommate, and he 5-starred a sight-read, and thought it was unremarkable :P.

Of the games I expect to be brought up at this discussion, I have played Zelda, Mario, PUBG, and Nier. Nier is an easy Number 1 on that list for me. I think the thing that cemented it for me was Pascal's fate (I took secret option 3 and it broke my heart).

Said it before and I will say it again. I believe this game is just above some peoples heads.

Well, I know for my own part I feel ambivalent about this game. But something tells me that even though I probably won't grasp this game, it could, and this has happened various times in my life over various 'things', it could get up and slap me across my face. As much as I am rooted in my perspective and experience, new perspectives and experiences are just that more valued when it all clicks. And this isn't anime little girl with big boobs, the curvy well built blindfolded for some reason protagonist seems quite mature....

So Winter Sale!

P.S. No real horse in the race for GOTY.

This is exactly the kind of attitude that made me create this thread, this insulting insinuation that there is something so wonderful at work that only the most elite of consumers can digest it properly. The themes of Nier are not inaccessible.

Just want to stir the shit some more in this thread and say that after playing Drakengard 3 the past few days, that I think it's a better game than Nier: Automata.

Flame away, but that's just how I feel.

Poor Lady Two...

@gtb08: don't worry about it people are weird . I agree with everything you said . Also wanted to post it somewhere on giantbomb , but knew it was gonna turn out like this forum . Not looking forward to Alex forcing nier in the top five

To quote Pod 153: This comment is pretty much a constant stream of embarrassment.

To quote John McEnroe, You cannot be a serious. I'm hoping you're doing the Rick & Morty 'very high IQ' copypasta thing.

Said it before and I will say it again: the pompous attitudes of a small segment of fans around this game and others do little to ingratiate them or the work of art they have pledged their love to toward anyone outside of that minuscule circle, leaving them in a cycle of pseudo-intellectual auto-fellatio that will leave them forever unsatisfied with basic human discussions and their own lives at large.

Come on dude. We get it. NieR is not difficult to grasp. Quit your trolling and try to add something to the discussion. At the very least say why you disagree instead of launching baseless attacks on people's intelligence.

Topics like this are my favorite part of GB GOTY. Nice job guys.

and in that moment, Albert Einstein rose from his grave and gave you a thumbs up

@rich666: Oh no now I hate Nier.

You

fiend.

It's not that the game is above some people's heads, it's just that some people aren't going to "get it" because of their own life experiences. Someone with a cushy job, nice family, who is happy with their lot in life might not be able to understand the game's experiments with depression, suicidal ideation, the idea of being left behind by the world or not understanding your place in it, but also someone who understands and has felt those feelings might not like NieR because it brings out those negative feelings. I for one felt emotionally connected to the ideas and thoughts put forth in the game as they've mirrored my experiences in life but through a more fantastical grandiose setting. I even made a thread on here and on other forums about how the game deals with suicide differently than other games.

But at the end of it, it's an amazing game and anyone who says differently is just wrong and stupid and should be reported to the FBI.

You felt the need to post this because you didn't like it as much as you perceive everyone else did and felt like an outsider.

I don't like Star Wars.

Apparently Gamespot is doing a GOTY top 10 count down starting today and they've declared NieR: Automata number 10.

I just finished route C tonight, I gotta say I'm similarly disappointed by the game.

I mean the main philosophic points are what? War is bad? Life is a struggle? This is pretty shallow stuff. I could see some people thinking it's brilliant because it's the first exposure to metaphor they actually cared about or paid attention to, but as ruminations on human existence go, I was pretty nonplussed. I was more interested in the surface level narrative, but it's quite nonsensical and full of holes, like many JRPG plots. I think the game would have been much better had it been truly standalone and not reliant on the Drakengard/Nier lore, none of which I knew going in, and none of which is explained in game.

However it did to one thing for me: I fancied myself a fan of character action games, and playing Nier made me realize that I largely play those games for the spectacle and not the gameplay. Devoid of impressive graphics, or particularly over-the-top fight sequences, there's not really much there for me.