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    NieR:Automata

    Game » consists of 13 releases. Released Feb 23, 2017

    NieR: Automata is an action role-playing game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows and Xbox One.

    Got a few questions about the plot, spoiler warning for for _everything_

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    Redhotchilimist

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    I beat Nier's E ending yesterday. One of the twists in the plot that actually got me(Council of humanity wasn't exactly hard to guess) was that of 2B's true nature as 2E, an executioner who's duty was to kill 9S whenever he learned the truth about Yorha. But one of the reason that twist got me was that I don't understand how it adds up, because it is not reflected in the game itself. I don't think it was a twist that's pulled out of their ass, exactly. The way 2B acts to try and distance herself from 9S makes a lot more sense in that context. 2B also kills 9S twice in the game: Once when he is corrupted by hacking Eve, and once when they use their black boxes to destroy the Engels units at the end of the demo. 2B is distressed both times, and just lies on top of him and cries for a whopping half minute when she strangles him, yelling something to the effect of "it always ends like this".

    However, when 9S learns the truth about Yorha in the game, none of this matters. The Yorha commander straight up tells him about it afterwards, and gives him additional files on it, despite being the one who assigned 2B her role. 2B is either not told about it, is told to ignore her regular orders offscreen, or decides to ignore her orders without any comment.

    So what's up with that? It means that a lot of aspects of 2B's backstory, while hinted at, is basically only informed and doesn't actually matter in the plot proper. Is there a reason that the Yorha commander has changed her mind?

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    clagnaught

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    By that point, 9S is already aware of the larger picture. At this stage, 9S will inevitably uncover more of the truth about the true nature of Yorha, and 2B will have to kill him. This will happen over and over and over again. Maybe this is like the twentieth time she saw 9S learn the truth and she just thought, "Whatever." Maybe it's because she knows 2B will have to kill him again before long. Maybe she just wants to fully explain the rational behind Yorha and why they are fighting even though the humans are long dead.

    Whatever the reason behind the Commander's actions, I don't think this negates anything about the true nature of 2B/2E. She is devastated about killing 9S and is a lot more emotional during these scenes. Think about the opening. We barely know these characters, yet 2B tries to save 9S and they have their moment when they touch their black boxes. The game opens with their deaths and immediately continues with yet another mission, that leads to 2B killing 9S again. In hindsight, I think it's pretty clear 2B has at least some knowledge of her true purpose.

    Another thing that I think about with regards to the 2B/2E thing is how there are those side quests about killing Yorha members who are deserters. If I remember correctly, the executioner part is primarily or only talked about with 9S, but I think it is interesting how 2B receives a couple of side quests that basically involve handling troublesome Yorha units.

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    rubberluffy

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    The Commander figures 2B will take care of it so it doesn't matter if 9S knows. But as shown in ending B, 9S keeps the knowledge to himself instead of telling 2B and triggering her into killing him. And then the start of C happens and shit just goes out of control and 2B dies.

    Some of this is also expanded on in the extra out-of-game content (as is usual for Taro games). In the Memory Cage side story, which I believe takes place before the game, 2B and 9S are tasked with investigating some ruins, but 2B is doing this as a disguise to kill 9S. But 9S is suspicious of her, and plans to lay a counter-trap and kill 2B first, but he ultimately fails.

    The skits from the concert also feature a few times 2B has killed 9S.

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    poobumbutt

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    #4  Edited By poobumbutt

    I assume that knowing you're fighting for absolutely nothing other than the very distant chance humanity's race can be revived for as long as the Commander did weighs on you. That's why she "let" 9S discover what he did and even elaborated on it. Well, that AND because she knew 2B would kill him anyway.

    The reason she didn't inform 2B of 9S' discovery is because she didn't think she needed to. 9S' dialogue at the very beginning of Route C is something like "Before I could tell 2B about all this insane stuff, we were sent on 'the mission'". He was planning on telling her, because he has discovered this before, told 2B, been killed by her and memory wiped multiple times. The 9S model (or its core code), as A2 eludes to in endings C/D is too high end, they can't afford to scrap it. So they assign an E unit to eliminate/memory wipe him every time this knowledge becomes evident.

    Anyway, point is: things were going according to plan. The Commander didn't need to tell 2B about this because experience has shown he would run to her with the info, not knowing she's been aware for a LONG time. That's why she felt it was okay to elucidate the details for him (maybe she's even done it before). She likely just felt sorry for him, if anything. However, I imagine she couldn't bring herself to tell 9S about the truth of 2B because she knew it would devastate him. As shitty as it is, she had to accept that this was 2B and 9S' "fate".

    ...At least, that's how things looked, but then an occurrence that the Commander didn't even seem to know about happened at the worst possible time: the Red Eye, possibly-caused-by-the-Watchers virus insertion happened AFTER 9S learned all of this, but BEFORE he could work up the courage to tell 2B and have her programming take over and reset him. The resulting events left him with just enough information to be driven insane, as you see in the game.

    However, the part where you say it seems like 2B's backstory is all just "information" and doesn't actually have much to do with the plot might make sense. There are tragic little details like 9S saying his friends call him "Nines" despite being an admitted loner on missions, implying that it was likely 2B who called him that, much more commonly than the actual game, in past "lives" 9S half-remembers. But other than that, I suppose this revelation is much more character-based than plot-based. I actually really like that. Yoko Taro has said before that his writing style is to have believable, likeable characters "suffer as much as possible" in his games. I had been waiting for a big knife-twist like this one since ending B and I'm glad it wasn't absent. Maybe a smarter man than me can tell you the deeper plot significance than what I have here. Hope I helped!

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    rubberluffy

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    Replaying the game with the 2B/E knowledge actually shines a big light on pretty much everything 2B does throughout. She doesn't question the kill order on YoRHa Betrayers while 9S does, she shows jealousy during Amnesia that at first seems out of character but isn't. She's also very quiet during the Amnesia revelations of the android being a Type-E. There's a couple of very fatalistic lines from her throughout, about death and sin. The English version of Weight Of The World is clearly from 2B's point of view, as well; "Tell me God are you punishing me, is this the price I'm paying for my past mistakes?"

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