NieR: Automata
Reddit take
AI summary of the Reddit excerpts below — not a quote
NieR: Automata is a polarizing action RPG frequently celebrated for its philosophical depth, emotional storytelling, and exceptional soundtrack, while being criticized for repetitive gameplay and a tedious structure. While many consider it a masterpiece for its unconventional narrative and genre-shifting mechanics, others find the drab world design and the requirement to replay content for the full story to be significant hurdles.
Pros
- Deeply impactful story and philosophical themes regarding sentience and humanity.
- Widely acclaimed 'ethereal' and 'flawless' soundtrack.
- Creative genre-blending, including transitions between 3rd-person action, top-down bullet hell, and twin-stick shooter hacking.
- Memorable and unconventional endings, including unique meta-narrative elements.
Cons
- Core combat can feel simplistic, repetitive, or 'button-mashy' with poor enemy variety.
- Tedious early-game experience due to the lack of fast travel and repetitive fetch-style side quests.
- Drab and empty world design that some find unengaging.
- Technical performance issues and inconsistent pacing.
Caveats
- The full story requires playing through multiple 'routes'; Route B specifically requires replaying a large portion of Route A's content from a different perspective.
- Fast travel is unavailable for approximately the first 60% of the initial routes.
- The game's 'larger than life' reputation leads to mixed reactions, with some users finding the actual experience underwhelming compared to the hype.
Best for
- Players who prioritize narrative, atmosphere, and music over complex combat mechanics.
- Fans of unconventional storytelling and meta-narrative elements.
Avoid if
- You have a low tolerance for replaying content to see new story beats.
- You prefer high-variety action games with complex, deep combat systems.
- You dislike 'tedious' side quests and significant backtracking.
This summary uses balanced time weighting with about a 122-month half-life. Evidence is drawn from a consistent pool of discussions in r/patientgamers with a median comment age of approximately 398 days.
Sentiment
22 positive (50%) · 13 mixed (30%) · 9 negative (20%)
Trust + time weighted score: +28% · raw score 30%
What redditors said (10 of 44)
The themes are interesting and well executed, but I was also waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time because of its larger than life reputation. ... Gameplay was also pretty middling, and I found the tutorials and tips annoying.
VNs like Raging Loop and Higurashi are good for this. And Nier Automata.
My big issue with the game is that the core gameplay is so simplistic and repetitive. I expected so much more from platinum, being a big fan. Between the simplistic gameplay and the drab world design I put the game down after trying two times to get into it.
If we're going to judge it as an action game then the enemy variety is absolutely atrocious. Tens of hours of long game fighting the same like 10 enemies that require nothing more than button mashing and occasionally dodging an attack.
I’m finally playing Nier: Automata and seeing a lot of inspiration for certain story beats and overall vibe, though enjoying my time with Nier more despite it being an earlier game.
The music of NieR: Automata is ethereal. Sometimes I take a moment to look at the details of the fictional world of the game I am playing. In this game, I have also occasionally slowed down to listen to its fantastic soundtrack.
I've played a couple different games that feature android protagonists, and most like Nier Automata and the aforementioned Lies of P just treat the characters as superpowered humans, fighting with incredible strength and speed but in a way not too fundamentally dissimilar from a regular person.
The presentation (particularly the music) is pretty cool, but the story overall has a real vibe of "deep if you've never read a book." Add that to gameplay that would never have been praised/stood up on its own
Personally I enjoy the gameplay. The opening sequence where you switch from a shoot em up to a hack and slash to a cinematic boss fight is crazy. The game does re-use assets but IMO it remixes its elements and remains fresh.
Parent context: I'm fairly sure the "philosophical masterpiece" stuff comes from relatively young people - in that often reading about this game feels like the people who consider it life changing have little exposition to philosophy in general, haven't read that much etc. Reply: I’d contend that the philosophy is maybe deeper than you give credit for. To take a couple of questions it poses: at what point does an “object” become worthy of moral consideration? Are humans monstrous for treating animals the way we do? Does humanity have an inherent value that will endure the death of humanity?
Compare
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