I recently finished first playthrough of the NieR: Automata game. It was recommended to me in some YouTube video I don’t really remember (probably this one), it said I will really appreciate the game and its story. And that I definitely have to replay it again after I finish it once.
Note: OK, this is not a review, but only my random flow of thoughts on the game.
So here I am, 14 hours of dad life in, on the brink of replaying, and really unsure if I enjoyed the first ride. By 14 dad life hours I mean it took me almost 5 weeks of on and off playing just this game.
To articulate my feeling, I tried to open Metacritic curious if I find some same feelers. Among numerous “ten-out-of-tens” I did find few.
A good game, but VERY overrated. While polished and enjoyable, has many flaws. Huge lack of enemy variety, too few bosses, combat is clean but gets repetitive, the story is predictable if you are not under 14yo, and I couldn’t care for any of the main characters. …
What speaks to me is the “14yo” part and the carelessness for the main character. I have a feeling that this game is not really for me but for a younger audience. I can see where the story is heading, yet the game tries to conceal it and prolong it by catch quests. The main protagonists, I see why everybody likes them (cough cough their body), but they really behaves like kids running around with katanas, panting all the time and overacting to everything.
I see where NieR: Automata has value, I really enjoyed some places and some aspects of the game, and it really is not a bad game. In one of the reviews I saw one sentence that resonates with me the most.
…It (the NieR: Automata) is too Japanese style for me.
Sure, I know few people who would love it, maybe even I would love it when younger. But for dad (with rather conservative wife :)) …
The story can be maybe made up for with the replays, but what really irritated me is how is the story told sometimes. By monologues of the boss during heat of the battle. I was fighting both for life of 2B and to catch some context.
Alas, do not raise your pitchfork, I will replay it and finish the other main endings of the game. Maybe it will reveal its true potential, and I will join the lovers. For today tho, I stand disappointed.
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