NieR: Automata | Community Playthrough 2019! |

[Obsidian Fire]

Part 5!

Spoiler

- Do you prefer 9S or Pascal as a companion?

9S... He has a nice pod which helps me do damage! Okay... so he also makes some pretty insightful comments and is funny even if he doesn't mean to be.

- What's been your favourite discovery while exploring the world?

Realizing that after I spent that crazy amount of money (180,000g)on the Half-Wit Inventor quest, that it added a huge structure to the city that can be seen from nearly everywhere!

- Update! What weapons are you using and how much have you leveled them?

Type-40 Lance Lvl. 3 and Fang of the Twins Lvl. 3. The Type-40 Lance has a nice stun prolong effect on it and the Fang of the Twins gives free critical hits. They also are on the higher end of the power scale...

 

[Obsidian Fire]

I wish the game would have given an indicator that most of the side quests all auto-fail after the big boss fight in the Flooded City. Oh well... there's always the next route!

Part 6!

Spoiler

- What burning questions do you still have after the ending?

Are the humans still alive on the moon?
A2 says Command betrayed the Androids. Why?
How did the Machines go from looking (and operating) like... machines... to looking and (trying to?) acting like people?

- Favourite part?

Finding out the 2B's reaction to the Robot Village was less "they are machines so they have to die" and more "why aren't they interested in killing androids". 2B gets a lot of subtle character revelations throughout the game that reveal she actually does care about people, her job/role just means it isn't something she gets to indulge in all that much. The way she says "it always ends like this" to 9S's personality probably getting reset at the end makes me think she's probably seen a lot of relationships she did care about get reset and by now knows not to get attached to people if she can help it.

Another hilarious part was finding out that one of the DLC involved the Android Resistance members starting a fighting coliseum in the Flooded City behind Command's back and that winning the first set of those fights rewards you with personalization items like hair dye. There certainly seems to be an official military vs guerilla mindset split with the Androids and I wonder if that will go anywhere.

- Did you dress 2B up in any funky accessories?

I have the Game of the YoRHa edition. So 2B had purple hair in the end and her pod spent the entire game looking like Grimore Wiess aka crazy floating book that shoots lasers.

I think part of what makes Neir: Automata work so well is that it manages to avoid a lot major pitfalls robot-centric narratives often fall into. Ironically by not having humanity around at all to contrast the Androids and Machines too. Both the Androids and Machines act like humans in different ways (and probably got that way through different means) but there's no actual humans around for them to be compared to or to say what the robots feel or act on is fake or programed. Which lets the narrative focus on other things then everyone angsting over if they have emotions or not.

Watching this in the middle of my Route A play-though was rather interesting.

 

[Celes777]

Watching closely for people's reaction after they find out more

 

[Joe]

Apologies for the delay, I'm more or less playing through this as we go so I can block out chapters. I've been busy lately and also playing Fire Emblem Three Houses when are we doing that community playthrough? .__.

Part 3 - B: maybe if I keep [Β]elievinG



We pick up again after our encounter with A2 and our adventure in the Forest Kingdom. This chapter sees us retreading familiar ground as well as seeing things from a brand new perspective. Some answers, some questions. Some credits.

End of Part 3-B is during the end credit scene.

PRO TIP:

Spoiler

I'm running out of pro tips, help.

Questions!
- How do you feel about the machines after getting names and more background via 9S?
- Which area has the best music?
- Does anybody still believe in the sanctity of endgame credits?

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Part 1 - B!

Spoiler

- 2B or not 2B. That is the question.

Hacking is an interesting mechanic to replace Heavy Attacks with. I definetly have to pick pods and programs better with 9S since those are an invaluable source of AoE damage that 9S just doesn't have. All that said, hacking is a nice mechanic that isn't super annoying to get used to either. Having weapons with good Light Attacks makes 9S alot easier as does having Showckwave Chips which gives his meele attacks more range.

I do wonder how (or even if) 9S is getting all that extra data/backstory on the machines. Or if that is something only the player really gets to see. I do like the hacking mechanic used to gate archive data in hackable chests that tie in to the previous Neir games and reveal data from that time period. One of the things this game does a fantastic job of is controlling what world-building data the player has access to and when.

I also got my first "Alt" ending at the start of this playthrough where I was too curious for my own good and got Ending G beofore ever leaving to take out the base's defenses.

 

[Clement Rage]

Spoiler: Part IX

- How do you feel about the machines after getting names and more background via 9S?

The sea monster was my favourite last time around and that's still true. I think I'll look up the unfamiliar names, see what they're about.

- Which area has the best music?

Pascal's Village. I swear one of the action themes has '9S' and '2B' in the lyrics, though.

- Does anybody still believe in the sanctity of endgame credits?

That was a nice victory lap. Even the Commander just says 'GO SEE 9S IN HIS ROOM, $%£$%£!' So of course it won't last.

Humiliating Death Count: Uh, 9ish? Died once to giant worm out of carelessness, then a few times in the final phase of the boss, lost count.

Eve is disappointingly easy to hack.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Part 2 - B!

AKA a ton of sidquests...

Spoiler

- Have you explored much of the forest? Found any secrets?

Yep. I did all those quests involving animals so I can now ride them whenever I want! And someone has been stashing quite a few weapons in the forest and it's the only way to get to the quest that unlocks the shop that can fuse +6 and higher chips.

This isn't a forest secret, but I found Ending K. Note to self: never believe what Jackass tells you...

- What do you think of 9S's expositionary data on some encounters and areas?

I feel like 9S has had a lot more opportunity to see machines become more self-aware then 2B has, but he's the one sticking to the "they are only machines" more then she is. It's an interesting clash between him wanting 2B to be more relaxed around him (less robotic) while almost having more doubt about if the machines are really operating on their own power then 2B does.

One of the most "urk" moments of exposition I've had from him is in the Data Analysis Freak quest where he wonders what the purpose of the Factory originally was and his pod tells him it was where the humans created weapons that looked like they did, but that there is also no visual data on what those weapons looked like. 9S guesses that the weapons would have looked like the flight units... but for you the player, it's like... what is the only human looking faction in this game... who were made by humans originally to boot?

- How are you at hacking?

Pretty good. One of the quests has a super hard hack to do and that one took me a while to do. I'm currently in the middle of "collecting" different machines I've taken control of for some of the DLC tournaments.

I am also now the proud owner of a Lvl. 4 Type - 40 Spear... And it has a lighting effect on it!

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Woop! Caught up!

Part 3 - B!

Spoiler

- How do you feel about the machines after getting names and more background via 9S?

Some of them become more sympathetic. Some of them scarier to be honest. I can see why when the Omega raid came out in FFXIV, people said it was reminiscent of Neir: Automana... specifically Adam and Eve. 9S especially gets a lot of character development himself.

- Which area has the best music?

Ooof... That's a hard one. I have to say... the sound design of this game is really, really top notch. It's hard to find minimalist music done well and nearly all of it is. Which means when the music does want to get more intense you really notice it. Some of my favorite's have been the city ruins with vocals, the castle, the end-game factory are and a certain place filled with a certain flower.

- Does anybody still believe in the sanctity of endgame credits?

Given that I have gotten the G and K endings already (and by accident) definetly not me. How may more "fake" endings are there I wonder...

Ending Plot Reactions

Spoiler

Ah... so humanity is extinct after all... and what's this Project Gestalt I keep finding archives of? It seems it was something the remaining humans were trying to do to sop humanity from becoming extinct but it didn't really work? And from the looks of it had side effects that the people running the project found inconvenient.

The Commander is the most interesting character going forwards in my mind. On the one hand, she does come clean to 9S about what the state of humanity really is. On the other hand... I did that side-quest with the Model E android. Someone is having androids assassinate other androids they don't agree with. That said... leaving a bunch of arguably sentient with nothing to do but angst over humanity dying sounds like a bad idea too. It'll be interesting to see what she does and why she does it.

And who are these new characters showing up in the last few cutscenes? That... doesn't look good...

I've got a crazy number of Lvl. 4 weapons now. If only I was playing a character that had more then just light attacks so I could use a lot of them...

Resources I've found useful
YoRHa Manual: Weapon/Pod Skill Locations and Sidequest Help - Spoiler-free guide to where to get all the weapons/pods. Also has walkthroughs for all the quests needed to get them.
Optimal Chip Combinations - How to get the different chip effects to max cap with the fewest number of storage used. Also has a drop table of what machines drop what chips.
Chip Fusing Chart & Guide - What's Worth Keeping - Goes into the mechanics of chip fusing and what values at what ranks give diamonds. And what chips you can sell because you can never use them to get diamonds.

 

[Kuja9001]

Also following for reactions.

 

[Joe]

Next part is going up tomorrow by the way people! Sorry it's been a bit delayed. I spent a handful of hours playing through on my playthrough to make chapters, only to die and lose all my progress. So

PRO-TIP: From this point on definitely start making manual saves if you haven't already

 

[Celes777]

There is an interesting sidequest at Pascal's village. It is called

Spoiler

"the wandering couple". About a couple that fled from the resistance camp

Seems tedious to begin with but turns out to be very interesting if you complete it. It will take some GIL though.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

That one has some interesting implications. It's also very worth doing since it's the only way to get one of the Pod programs and a very useful one at that!

I will say though, by the time I was oh... 3/4 through Route A I never had any money problems. I make a habit of selling all the chips that aren't used for fusing and that essentially bankrolls the rest of the play through. Crafting mats for weapons are a lot harder to come by...

 

[Celes777]

You are right. Some of the chips sell for a ton of money. Even the ones that cost a lot of space!

Too bad we can't buy the rare crafting materials too. Had to farm them ;_;. The materials used to level the pod programs are the hardest to find! I never upgraded my pod enough

 

[Obsidian Fire]

To make matters even harder... one of the Pod Upgrade Materials can only be gotten through certain quests...

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Not to nag, but is the next part of this going up soon?

'Cause I'm on the verge of playing onwards and starting Route C...

 

[Tetsujin]

(...)starting Route C...

 

[Joe]

I can probably throw up the next part this weekend. I've been on holiday/vacation this week so not been able to play more. Sorry for the delay folks!

 

[Joe]

And we're back! I had holiday last week and I was also set back by my own playthrough and week-long house guests. I'll try to keep us regular though til we finish. Good to see everyone sticking around!

Part 1 - C: GoodbyE



Same deal as the last time we did this, we're gonna be continuing our previous save after the last end credit scenes. Though in this C route, you're sure to find things different for sure! I'll try to be extra careful with spoilers here so go forth!

End of Part 1-C is when you have the menu option to 'Support' one of two characters.

PRO TIP:

Spoiler

Save your damn game. As someone who got burned, do it. The old method of dying and going back to your body may not be available at the beginning of this route. It will just force you to load your last manual save. You don't wanna be stung and start the route fresh!

Questions!
- Are you still here?
- Are you still hungry for answers?
- Are you ready to kick robot ass?

 

[Celes777]

When I played route C really messed me up : (((((

 

[ForceStealer]

I wanted that combat gear all the time

 

[rimavelle]

Welcome at the part in the game where you start to contemplate life and your existence.

 

[CrashOuch]

Omg you guys are making me so excited to see this!

 

[Kuja9001]

Now! the REAL story begins. Bump the difficulty up to hard to actually make things feel even more real.

 

[Clement Rage]

Probably best to play before reading, wouldn't want to colour anyone's opinions.

Spoiler: part 3B/X

If this seems quick, it's because I played ahead as far as the Bunker.

I like 2B's new gear, didn't realise androids could change clothes.

Found a new favourite joke going into the forest as 9S. 'You wandered off. All Yorha units died. Except the selfish ones. They were fine.' I actually was looking for a small machine to hack the big machine, not ignoring my job. Next time, I made sure to hack all the machines, not abandoning my duty to flit off to 2B. But I couldn't find my body when I was done, so I went off to meet her as random robot 345. Through the awesome power of cutscenes, I transformed into 9S again.

Why do we have Yorha Combat Units again? The hackers are so much more effective. Didn't succeed in saving any Yorha units, which annoyed me, There seems to be a noticeable difficulty spike here (although that may just be my normal incompetence.) Died a lot.

Then the virus hit.

I really disliked the leads here. 9S hacks 2B (and only 2B) free of the virus, and then they self destruct, slaughtering all their crewmates. 9S hacked Adam and Eve, you can't tell me he could do nothing for everyone else (it's possible he's the source of the infection in the first place, but still).

Then it happens again in the bunker. Sigh.

Died a few more times as slowly deteriorating 2B trying to find the right route to the shopping mall, without jumping.

- Are you still here?

*checks*
Theoretically Yes.

- Are you still hungry for answers?

Sort of. Less so than before. I was kind of suspecting the Commander to turn on us, but perhaps not.

Current theory: When the machines were severed from the network, they became self aware and thus more dangerous. 9S infected everyone by exposing himself to the machine core.

- Are you ready to kick robot ass?

I suppose, but what for? Everyone I was fighting for is dead, might as well just go to the forest and fish.

This sounds bad, but it's me, not the game. The number one way to make me lose interest in a story is to kill everyone but the leads for no good reason. And this game keeps doing it over and over again.

Humiliating Death Count: Uh...27 ish? About nineteen against the first ground forces, two in the Bunker, and the six or eight as deteriorating 2B. Should have been a great sequence, but I was too focused on the rest of Yorha to care much.

This is a really well designed game, we've just run smack into my number one pet hate over and over.

 

[rimavelle]

@Clement Rage

Spoiler: About 9S

I played some time ago, but wasn't 9S able to save 2B from the virus because she didn't "update" from the Bunker? Or something like that, that the rest of Yorha was connected with the Bunker and so you coudn't really save them anymore.