I kept my save file because I'm a filthy ingrate. I also lingered on that decision for a moment, but only while I searched online to see if I would maybe get a trophy for doing it. I wouldn't do something like that without getting anything in return, after all. Once I saw that you don't really get anything for it, I decided to keep my file. To those save files that helped me through the last quarter of that shooting sequence, I'm truly thankful. I wish I could live up to their example, but I wanted to 100% the game eventually and didn't want to start from scratch.

I deleted it. Felt like a pretty significant loss since I had been trying to do all the sidequests and collecting any weapons I came across as well as upgrading them as much as I could, but at the same time it felt like something I kind of had to do to really get the whole experience. It sure made me feel bad for the hits I took on the last run when I had help, but also made me all the more appreciative of that help.

I kept it because it wasn't backed up, and I still had stuff to do. That secret end-game boss is probably the most emotional the game has made me, so now I'm glad I made people delete their data without contributing anything myself

I deleted it. No regrets. I do want to 100% the game though so I started a new save in my post no-save world.

In the end I liked making the choice because it feels like a more significant choice than almost any other game will have you make, even though I know all it's really doing is adding my name and message to some database somewhere.

I didn't delete my save and I felt like shit about it. It made me think about whether or not I'm actually a good person, or if I'd be willing to sacrifice in real life to help others. I came to the conclusion that I would, but only if there weren't any trophies involved.

I did not delete my save because I wanted to get more endings on it and then delete it when I was done but now I haven't gone back to the game and I'm terrible.

I gave my save/life for the cause! Hope I helped someone defeat the true bullet hell monster.

Just finished the game. I chose to delete my save. Part of me wanted to finish upgrading weapons and do the Emil fights, but I knew I never would. That save would do nothing but sit on my hard drive forever, or until I deleted it for space anyway. Now, maybe it can help someone. Sure, the one doesn't make a difference, but it's the sentiment that counts. To me, deleting your save feels like it's part of the point of the game.

I will do it once I'm finished with all there is to do in the game. For me that's the secret boss; and finishing the last, few side quests. I only got 6 I ain't done, so I might as well. I've almost got all weapons upgraded to level 4 as well. Actually just need some more money, so if I can bring myself to sell the children's core you receive from Pascal in the village after erasing his memories, I can obtain that. Or heck; I'll just finish those side-quests and hopefully get the last 46 k I require.

So I managed to completely keep myself free from spoilers going into this and when it posed the question I was tempted to look up on the internet if the game would ACTUALLY delete the save. I still had a lot I wanted to do in the game but I still chose to say Yes to help somebody else, the experience of watching all that hard work disappear in front of my eyes in exchange for helping someone else felt sad, beautiful and really tied together all the game's themes into something that affected me personally. Definitely one of the most memorable moments in a game I've ever had!

Said yes to have mine deleted, I think I used 5 or so people but really hope thats a new trend for credits scenes going forward. What a special game on so many levels.

I deleted my save because I played through the Japanese version and with that Japanese account, so I knew I was going to replay it once I got the black box version. I was so happy about that decision, though. I don't know if I would have just deleted the save on principle and started over if I was trying to do everything in one go. I might have because can use any excuse to keep going back to the world of NieR.

Deleted my save. I have no interest in 100% completion, and it felt like the right move.

I kept mine, went and got all the weapons upgraded, fought the superboss (and cried), had 83% quests done, bought a few trophies I wasn't gonna grind for, then I went back and did E again and deleted it.

I'm so close to 100%ing the rest of the game so I couldnt bring myself to do it. But I really did want to, the checkpoint at the Square Enix logo is the beginning of SOME FUCKED UP BULLET HELL. I really feel like I should have paid it forward to help some other poor soul get through that shit. Oh well.

Just saw the ending for the first time. I would have never thought that a bullet hell sequence where you fight the fucking end credits would wind up being one of the most emotional moments I've ever seen in a video game. Fun fact, the chorus at the end was apparently the development team of the game.

Was it not just a medley of all three versions of that song?

@efesell: It is, but an additional chorus kicks in the moment you choose to accept help.

Totally deleted it even though, like many here, I was going for that 100% completion. Don't regret my decision one bit.

I know I'm just echoing stuff people have said already, but boy am I glad I managed to fling my headphones off before the infamous section of the Bombcast from two weeks ago. I could hardly believe my ears when I went back and listened to what Peter thought was okay to spoil. Even if it was "just the mechanics", I feel like it still undermines the moment if you know what's coming. This moment, that I think is beautiful, clever, and one of my all-time favorites in all of video games.

I thought this video from Writing on Games explains why it's so great really well. The whole video is worth watching.

"... As things get too difficult, you recruit the help of real players in order to finish the remaining credits off. Once this is done, the sacrifice these players made to help you is revealed, and you are asked to give up your save data like they did.

You're told that through making this sacrifice, of throwing away your version of 2B and 9S in an endless cycle of 2Bs and 9Ss, you may be helping someone you don't like, who doesn't appreciate it. The pod really wants you to be sure that the sacrifice you're making is entirely of your own volition, because there's no reward from it other than the knowledge that you, an insignificant speck on this planet, have helped another insignificant speck on this planet escape the cycle of conflict. The game wants you to sacrifice any markers of your experience, to show that you have truly learned from it; from your responsibility in this scenario. It's extremely powerful, for what amounts to deleting some data.

What I'm talking about isn't just speculation either - Yoko Taro is fully aware that he's creating stories about humanity at large, rather than trite plots about "humanistic machines". He sees life in the cycles represented in Automata, finding them within the violence humans perpetuate against each other, to what he sees as the game of game development. Ultimately Yoko Taro wants to tell stories about life. Complete stories; viscera, mundanity and all. And so, he draws attention to this cycle through the notion of "completing" a game, in order to force the player to look inwards. The drawn-out process of the game going through all the menus and wiping your progress is far from rubbing salt in the wound; it's celebratory.

You chose it; you've broken the cycle that Yoko Taro forced you to examine. The game has taught you something in a way other media cannot. The idea of viewer culpability is something of an abstract concept in film and books. In games, however, it's mechanical; you're concretely complicit in what occurs. It's just that few games utilize this interactivity and the way it implies responsibility to such fascinating, eye-opening extents as NieR: Automata does."

At this point I guess we can only hope that this made Jeff, Brad, Jason, and those who listened to the spoilers wanna check it out more... I'm really happy that at least the East is still "untainted", and that Alex is spreading the good word. I'd love to hear some in-depth discussion on the game from the crew, in the form of a spoilercast, or at the very least during the GOTY talks.

What a phenomenal game. There's still much I want to see, and so I'll definitely go back one day once I've first gone back and played through the original NieR. I'm proud to say I'm now a Yoko Taro believer, and I wish I'd learned of his work sooner.

I just finished the E ending, after getting A-D + some randoms, first try I made to Business Division VI (best name in business) and gave up after 3 deaths. Did some research and backed my files to USB. After that I went after the final credits again and this time made it through. The deletion scene felt super fun and cruel. One of the best gaming experiences in a long time, the whole game not only the deletion (for me personally). I'm not going to platinum this game, but at least I need to kill Emil, because he has the same name as me!!! Technically mine is spelled with two E's ( Eemil), but with a name as rare as mine I have to do this. :D

You should be able to figure out how good of a person you are and a game shouldn't be the measure that you use.

If you are unsure if you would sacrifice to help others in real life and you are judging yourself based on the decision you made while playing a video game, odds are you've already answered that question.

@retrometal: While I wasn't really being serious I don't see why a game can't potentially make me think and reflect on myself in these ways.

Well I didn't delete it the first time because I wanted to do the side stuff. But after getting platinum (I only bought a couple of the grindy trophies, though I ended up doing them anyways cause I wanted to fight Emil) I went through the end again and deleted it. I didn't back it up, because when I play the game again I'm going to just start a new file anyways.

I thought that this was a really cool moment and I'll admit I got a little teary eyed seeing other people's messages as I died over and over to Business Division and Square Enix.

Now I gotta go back and play Nier, because I only got to the first ending of that game and, judging from Automata, I probably missed a ton of stuff. I also don't remember much about it.

Yeah i'm the same way, I almost deleted it because I already had the Platinum (did about 70% weapons and quests) but then I figured there must be some cool stuff i'm missing.

I will delete it after I fight the secret bosses but that could be awhile. I'd also like to get back to the first game although that might be quite hard after Automata.

@boozak: The second playthrough(every subsequent playthrough on the same save file is only the second half of the game) does a -lot- to change your viewpoint with added scenes and dialogue.

@kerse: It wouldn't have been easy to get into even before Automata, and I have a special place in my heart for both of these games. Goodluck, it might really be worth it or you might give up a few hours in, either way you should try.

@vortextk: Yeah I remember it being pretty frustrating, but I must have liked the story enough to push through to the first ending. I didn't know about the multiple endings at the time though.

I did delete it, and I thought it was one of the most affecting moments I've ever had in a game. I cannot stop thinking about it.

I didn't delete it, and I feel pretty guilty about it now. At the time I assumed a couple of things: 1) I can just go back and do it later, and 2) the data of the people that helped me wasn't actually being permanently deleted when I took a hit. I went through three or four helpers in that last section, and I'm sure others did too, so even if 100% of people deleted their saves, the amount of helpers would degrade pretty quickly and be zero most of the time... right? So I figured deleting your save was just putting it into a reusable pool and doing it later was no big deal. I'd be curious to hear if anyone else thought this too, or if anyone knows the actual mechanics of it.

That having been said, I really think this was a beautiful way to end the game and I absolutely plan on sacrificing my data once I'm done with the other content. I know this diminishes the choice and is maybe an overly technical way of looking at what's really more of a poetic statement, and I kind of regret it. Like DinosaurCanada, it made me think a lot about how I value myself and others, and I'm still processing it. But for now, I may as well explore the rest of this devastating masterpiece before I send off my data.

@garnavis: I'd also definitely like to learn how the technical side of this ending works, I'm sure that'd be pretty interesting.

Ended up getting the platinum the other day and then deleting it. I feel slightly more at ease? I don't know. At least its done and I don't have to feel bad about it anymore.

I'm already excited about playing it again down the road.

I also deleted after going back and finishing up what I wanted to. This was before the DLC, so probably eventually I will play through again to check that out. I will likely end up playing the original Nier before that though (now I have a working PS3...)

Tried a bunch (like, for hours) to finish it solo but I just couldn't manage (I did get to the second checkpoint *once*).

I thought this ending was weirdly beautiful (probably a big part of that is that the game had held my brain hostage for a couple of solid days). And absolutely concur that this was a horrible thing for Peter Brown to spoil---dismissing it as just "a mechanic" is missing a lot of the point---so it sucks that some people heard that before playing the game themselves.

I ended up really cold on Automata (which was disappointing since I enjoyed Nier 1), but the E ending was really cool. It felt like a cool evolution of stuff they had done in previous games unlike the rest of Automata which felt like a worse rehash of stuff they did previously. Getting powered up after being repeatedly crushed for a while was also a surprisingly effective power fantasy and allowed me to leave the game on a high note which was nice.

I just went through this now. I've got maybe three weapons left to get to max level. Like hell I'm deleting my save. I only lost one save in bullet hell anyway. (Yay previous obsession with the genre!) I tried really freaking hard to do without the assist, but I'm pretty sure it's impossible. At least insanely hard. Freaking business team vi. If the fire rate were unlocked, it might be more manageable. The auto-fire isn't fast enough to destroy the incoming destroyable bullets and hit the target. It doesn't help my fingers were cramping up since the credits are so bloody long. So, now I've got endings A, B, C, D, E, K, T and U. What an insane game.

Honestly, I don't entirely get the ending, more specifically the choice in the end. The final sequence where you fight the credits breaks the fourth wall, so it was hard for me not think that the choice I was presented with was nothing more than illusory.

"Are you sure you want to delete your data, even if the person who you help might be someone you don't like?" - What a game.

I had a dream to collect everything and get the secret ending, but the game's third act put me through so much emotional trauma that I just dropped that to see it to its end. At the end of the day, I had no regrets giving a hand to people to see the least-fucked-up ending. (It's still pretty fucked though)

I'm so bummed out that I didn't get ending E. I'm really happy with the ending I got (ending C), It felt hopeful, but I just got done looking through all the endings on youtube and I feel like while a good ending, I'm also missing something from the total experience. But regardless, this is far and away the best thing I've played this year (haven't played Zelda yet), and maybe in the past few years as well. Some of the best writing and presentation I've seen. The android twin's story destroyed me.

Now I'm gonna listen to the Waypoint podcast on the game and other stuff I can find.

You get ending E after doing C and D, just use chapter select to go back to the final fight and choose the other character.

I did the selfish E first and went back to do the right thing but pod 042 didn't ask me the questions that time. Seems like you only get one chance or else it's a bug.

I finally got to E today. I deleted my save with no backup. At that point, I primarily wanted to see the ending, so I wasn't planning on continue my save after that. However, with how it was presented and realizing the true nature of the credits sequence (how it was supposed to be that difficult, how you shouldn't give up, etc.), it just felt appropriate to delete everything for the betterment of mankind....Or, uh, in this case making it easier for others to see the final ending for themselves.

I'll be honest I don't even remember being given the option to delete my save. I was already super burnt-out on the bullet hell segment and probably was Xing through too quickly and just skipped over it somehow.

I never got the option. Tried shooting the credits like 3 times, and then said yes to "do you give up?" I would have said yes, but mostly because I was happy for it to be over.

edit: *would have said yes to deleting

I deleted my save, such a cool way to end a game. I wasn't planning on playing it anymore anyway, and it was awesome to see all my stuff get deleted.

I didn't delete it, why should I give up all that work so someone can get a shitty 2 minute cut scene they could just watch on YouTube?? It's so silly

I just gave up my save last night.

Ending E was probably the most affecting gaming experience I've had this year. When my Pod asked me if I wanted to make the sacrifice even knowing that the beneficiary might be someone I don't like, that part fucked me up real good.

Just beat it. I haven't needed a moment to collect my emotions after a game since The Last of Us.

What a profoundly silly and devastating game. Jeeze.

I deleted my save. Good luck, fellow travelers.

Both NieRs walk a very good line between being incredibly serious examinations of themes, while also being full of weird goofy funny shit. Romeos And Juliets is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a game.

Who would have thought a credits sequence would make me cry! I just had to pay it forward when the game asked me.

By the time I got to that point I was so sick of the game I was happy to have it all deleted. It felt much more worthwhile to delete my data to save Kaine in the previous game.

I made a beeline to finish the game's story at roughly 2:00 in the morning and I had no intention of deleting my save. I was able to make it up to the first Square Enix credit, but I refused to ask for help since I was unaware of how that mechanic worked in terms of save deletion, and, well, it was 2:00 in the morning when I should have been asleep at 12:00. I tried it again about an hour and a half ago at the time I'm posting this. It was smooth sailing up to that Square Enix credit and I was able to formulate a some sort of strategy to try to get through it alone, but I kept taking too many hits. So I pretty much admitted that the people who said that they finished it alone are full of shit and asked for help. And after noticing that it got even tougher after that stage, I sent out a message about getting finger cramps from liking A2, and chose to not be a jerk and delete my save. Chances are pretty high that I'll play the game again and to a proper cleanup of all the weapons and quests I missed since some of them were pretty decent, and spending 40 hours on one save is kinda nothing since I'll often replay a game from scratch if I really like it.

If you don't help, then you're a monster.