What are your biggest non-gameplay criticisms towards NieR Automata? (2024)

This, love the game otherwise but 9S sucks.

filtered coomer hom*os.
9S is not only the true MC, but also WAY MORE FUN to play as.

Hacking and hijacking bots > generic hack & slash.

The point of the game is "War is bad"
Yoko Taro hates war and killing of any kind

>The point of the game is "War is bad"
While not exactly "wrong", your take is extremely shallow and naive.

The machines and androids are mimicking humans, adopting human habits and cultures.
The point of the game is that WE are idiotic bots, living by obsolete memes that have potentially long lost their meaning, all while being unable to break our own cycle of death and suffering by escaping OUR programming.

Pseudo-intellectuals hate the story because it references philosophy liberally and they love to think they're smarter than everyone else. That's literally it. See:

overall bad writing. the philosophy is really shallow if you read any of those philosophers. representation of religion is stupid. the japanese cliche of being hopeless and then I'LL SCREAM A LOT AAAAAAHHHH I HATE EVERYTHING is juvenile af. the OST is probably the best I've ever heard, it's amazing

>The whole point of the game went over your head
I didn't say anything about the point of the game. I don't know why are you explaining this, but I disagree with the idea that the philosophers aren't important, everyone is searching for meaning which is a common subject for the many existentialists mentioned (I don't like existentialism very much). so again, simone is the perfect example, she thinks she'll be happy with sartre. I totally agreee with you when you say that they're mimicking humanity, that's what she's doing. but guess what, I was expecting the game to go BEYOND this, that's why it's shallow for me. It's been a while but the ending scene after route E with the flying robots finding their bodies, I remember a little about it, they talk about finding your own meaning, right? well, once again, the existentialists already talked about this. I wanted the game to go beyond this, not for it to end when it would start to be interesting

It was the usual trope of cyclical history.
The humans choose to copy god which led to their destruction.
The androids who were created as tools slowly started to copy humans which increasingly led to their suffering.
By the end the pods created by androids had started to mimic the androids as well.

>Androids are fundamentally unlike humans.
I think it's the opposite, they're exactly like humans.

>The game is really good about stressing that the next race to inherit the earth needs to leave humanity behind and develop on their own.
I feel like the point was more that it is inevitable they will become like humans and repeat their same mistakes.
They made tons of rules to prevent them from acting like humans from the start but ultimately none of them could prevent it because even the most devout and loyal androids and machines were susceptible to it. Their sentience will always eventually lead to them experiencing love, greed, fear, anger, sadness, betrayal, war, etc.

I think story-wise it's wasted potential: the game. Routes A and B are more or less fine, but I wished it focused on more stuff than just "do machines think or just imitate". It felt to me like there was this, a whole lot of filler and nothing else.
Routes C and D are absolutely horrid. A2's non-story is such bad payoff, you'd think based on A/B that there's some mystery there, but there's literally nothing more but "I'm an older discarded model, I want to kill some robots". The biggest sin is how all of C/D is this one huge buildup to ascending the mysterious tower. The thingies 9S visits, the Nier/DG references, the holographic red dress girls that are basically discount Manah, the twins telling you "sh*t's important, no time to explain".
Then you reach N2 and it's just a dollar store Shodan with worst 2000s cliches of "muh evolution" imaginable. And the 9S versus A2 showdown which I don't give a sh*t about because there's nothing at stake, I sided with 9S only out of empathy for him being mindfricked. And finally the big ending that was drummed up as this huge mystery you should look forward to and which had forshadowing and lore references out the ass is just machines fricking off in a spaceship, somehow, for some reason. It's pathetic.

The point of the game is "War is bad"
Yoko Taro hates war and killing of any kind

Literally all other complains in this thread have to do with the gameplay even if they try to construct it as something else.

The whole point of the game went over your head.
Humans = God
Androids were made in God's image.
Androids are fundamentally unlike humans.
Machines are also fundamentally unlike humans.
Both are trying to mimic humanity, fight a worthless war and busy themselves from developing any culture based on their own unique traits. They don't pursue their own happiness or interests, and machines in particular treat Philosophy like Programming (the philosophers and their names themselves aren't important, you do not need to understand anything about them.)

The game is really good about stressing that the next race to inherit the earth needs to leave humanity behind and develop on their own.
I think blasting off into space, separating themselves entirely from the earth was a metaphor for that.

>most of 9S and 2B's relationship is outside of the game
They have 3 times more "relationships" within the game than Nier had with Kaine.

Nier Replicant didn't make romance the focus between them. Automata does, the attachment between them is supposed to be a focus, but it's barely touched on.

Do you mind clarifying a little? I'd like to know specifically what you mean by this. I'm religious so I'm especially interested in any criticisms on how it portrays it.

I had two issues.
The pre-renders cutscenes not showing your character wearing costumes, and ending E.
The costume thing wasn't too big of a deal but ending E just straight pissed me off because despite the fact Taro claims to want to try something new every game he keep pulling this bullsh*t where he rips the gameplay rug out from under you at the very last few minutes of the game and forces you to do some janky assed mini-game to unlock the final ending. It was fine the first time he did it in Drakenguard but the little fricker does it EVERY single game. I'm just here like "my man, i played your game for 30+ hours and loved it, can i please see ending E" and Taro is crouched in the corner wearing his stupid Emil mask going "you rike game? you must pray burret-hell sequence to see final ending".

I thought the final bit where you had to wipe your save file, while impactful, felt a little tacked on. It's cool to know that I'll forever be a part of the game's history, but other than tying into one of 2B's lines at the very beginning, the whole sequence doesn't hold much weight in my opinion. Especially when the game seems to have 18 different messages and the one about empathy and perspectives could've been expanded upon more.

>Also it ending the way it did means there is really no way they can do a sequel
The first game ending similarly and Automata itself is a sequel. It doesn't need the same characters, it can expand on a similar line of thought in the same universe.

>"kek robots got feelings amirite? :^)" memes
god I hate this sh*t. It's not even the tip of an iceberg or a lead in to the plot, it's just a fact of the setting.

overall bad writing. the philosophy is really shallow if you read any of those philosophers. representation of religion is stupid. the japanese cliche of being hopeless and then I'LL SCREAM A LOT AAAAAAHHHH I HATE EVERYTHING is juvenile af. the OST is probably the best I've ever heard, it's amazing

I guess it depends on how seriously the player takes it. Kind of similar to Kingdom Hearts where if you're going into it not even trying to take the story seriously you get a different impression.