Yoko Taro is a truly shining example of how to make a good game. He is best known for his unique twist of game design by incorporating unconventional design choices and stories into his games. With NieR:Automata being the latest game in the Nier series, this serves as the testament of his true potential. This game is without a doubt one of the best action/story based games I have ever played to date. Words cannot describe all of the emotions I felt while playing this emotional rollercoaster and many others can agree that this is one of the best games that has ever come out to date. From wandering city ruins to fighting giant sentient robots, NieR:Automata is a strange and confusing, but very interesting and has so much depth in it from a writing, gameplay, and soundtrack perspective.
I would say this game is a hack ‘n slash type of game, but it mixes all sorts of elements from many types of games. It has RPG elements both RPG and JRPG, Bullet Hell elements (look it up if you don’t know what that is), Hack ‘N Slash, and even Text Adventure. Platinum Games has always made great games consistently and this game is no exception to that. This game will keep you constantly on your toes with many challenges even at the start of the game. Of course, it’s no Dark Souls, but the challenge should more than suffice for your needs. The game very cleverly walks you through pretty much everything you need to know at the start of the game and yes, I really do mean everything. The game looks visually stunning. It is clearly one of the best looking games of 2017 if I do say so myself. You play as three separate characters each with their own playstyles. A combat android named YoRHa No. 2, or 2B for short, her budding companion YoRHa No. 9 Type S or 9S, and a fugitive android named YoRHa Type A No. 2, or A2. 2B and A2 are both combat type characters, but both have their own differences to make them both unique to each other. 9S is the least combat-focused of the 3, focusing on his hacking abilities. The combat in this game is very fluid, which is expected of Platinum Games since these types of games are pretty much what they’re known for and like I said, you have to play it for yourself to get a full grasp on the gameplay because it’s constantly changing.
For this game’s story, it can either end very quickly, or go on for a long time depending on your choices and yes, this game has MANY different endings you will run into throughout the game. Some by complete accident and others if you play the game as if it was “intended” to be played. For example, after you get on the ship after beating the giant robot at the start and saving 9S, you can get a “joke” ending by self destructing on the ship, which ends the game, but you can pretty much just restart the game from where you left off, but it is one of the endings you got in your playthrough at that point. It’s mainly just played for laughs. I use the term “intended” very loosely because this game is definitely not one where you can just play it once and be satisfied. This is one of those games that requires multiple playthroughs and each time you will become more and more engrossed as you play this game. I’m taking so much time to get into this story because it’s as crazy as it sounds. You start inside what looks to be a fighter jet, but futuristic. The game takes place in the very far, far distant future where aliens invaded Earth and combat androids were made to protect Earth and save mankind. Most of the humans on Earth are on the moon and want to go back home to Earth, but the game is much more than that the deeper you get into it. The game introduces you to the “Bullet Hell” aspect that you will see often or not while playing the game, sometimes even having the top-down perspective most of these types of games have. I should also mention the camera angles are constantly changing from either 2D gameplay, 3D, and even top-down perspective gameplay which is akin to games at that time like Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto 2, etc. After getting through that part, you are introduced to the main character for Branch A, 2B. You are also shown how the combat is and it’s very much like Platinum. Games like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Bayonetta, and many other Platinum games are like this too, and even the Devil May Cry series has this type of fluid combat too. You have basic light and heavy attacks, and your Pod has many skills that can be upgraded throughout the game. Its most basic ability is to shoot at things, which is basically what you should be doing whenever you fight enemies. If you play on Easy, you have a mechanic you can enable where it does the shooting for you and even dodging. You can turn it on and off at any time if you please. The game has many combos you can do and learn throughout the game as well, which is integral to games of this style. There are also many weapons you can find and buy throughout the game and they’re all unique to each other. What I love about this is that it gives SO much variety to it and I absolutely love it. The music is some of the best I have ever heard. The composer, Keiichi Okabe deserves praise for everything he did involving this game’s soundtrack. Emi Evans and Marina Kawano did their vocals so well and it makes the soundtrack that much better. At times, it feels haunting to hear them singing, but other times, it’s just so beautiful. The voice acting is top notch too. I truly felt the emotions they put in the voice acting and Kira Buckland is an amazing voice actor for 2B.
This game really delivers in every aspect and it’s not hard to see why so many people love it. It has so much going for it and it shines so bright in so many places. I really don’t see anything bad to say about it. This game is truly one of the best games I have ever played. The voice acting has so much passion put into it and the story(s), while very weird, is still one of the best I have ever seen. The music is fantastic and the combat, I can’t say enough about how Platinum excels in this aspect. The game combines so many aspects of other genres and they excel in it so well. For these things, I will have to give this game a 10/10.
Final Score: 10/10
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Next game review
Hey guys, Edgy Gamer Dude here and I've got an update of what game I'll be reviewing next. The next game I'll be reviewing is NieR:Automata! Expect that sometime in the next couple of weeks ahead as I have time to play the full game in its entirety. Since I started this blog, it awoke something in me and now I want to review more games to recommend to people. Whether these reviews get read by one person or thousands, I don't care. I'm simply doing this for myself since I love video games. That's all I have to say for now and expect my next review sometime mid February.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
The Outer Worlds: Filling The Void Bethesda Left Behind
After the smash hit Fallout: New Vegas was in my opinion, many Fallout fans like myself wondered if Bethesda could ever live up to Obsidian's reputation. After Fallout 4's many flaws, like taking away many features the previous games had, many fans including myself were weary of the direction Bethesda would take the series in the future. When Fallout 76 had come around, the fanbase knew that Fallout had become a shell of its former glory. While New Vegas was unfinished in many aspects, the game is still revered as Obsidian's magnum opus. And with Obsidian's newest game, "The Outer Worlds" taking inspiration from Fallout, it's a treat to see what Obsidian could do with years of development as opposed to the 18 months they had working on Fallout: New Vegas.
Going into this game, you are greeted with the option to choose your perks right off the bat and you can create your own character. I do like the freedom you have when creating your character and you can even add stuff like facial hair to female characters which really spices things up and reminds me of games like Saint's Row and upcoming title, Cyberpunk 2077 where you can mix and match with the character creation, which I feel more games should really do for a more tailored experience towards the player. The perks system doesn't feel as daunting as the Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester in New Vegas did and from what I've done with it so far, it does what it's supposed to. It lets you be pretty much whatever you want in Halcyon and you aren't confined to one specific role. While having a set character isn't specifically bad in any way, it really limits as to what you can do as your character. Games like Skyrim pit you as the chosen, or as they call it: "Dragonborn". You are forced into this role as Dragonborn and you have to get over it. In The Outer Worlds, you can be whoever you want. You have so much freedom to roleplay as whoever you want, and you can even have flaws with your characters too, like taking stagger damage when you fall from larger heights. This is how roleplaying should be in my opinion. I don't want to be this god of gods that can destroy anything in my path. I just want to be myself, and this game delivers on that really well.
After creating your character, you are greeted to Phineas Welles, a terrorist wanted across Halcyon and also looks a lot like Rick Sanchez?, which is the part of Space that the game takes place in. You have been in hibernation for a long time and you've just awakened. You are then sent on Terra-2 to find a man named Alex Hawthorne and his ship, but he is inadvertently killed upon landing. This is basically the game’s way of introducing you to the main core aspects about the game. You are introduced to the game’s version of what seems to be VATS called Time Dilation. It’s basically Fallout 4’s version of VATS, but it’s nerfed in a way. You cannot target body parts like the head, arms, torso, etc. It’s all in real time while slowing down time. You are then introduced to the dialogue system, which is much better than Fallout 4’s dialogue wheel which gave very vague options. After conversing with some NPCs and killing some marauders, we reach our ship, The Unreliable, which is in need of a power regulator. You are introduced to your first town, Edgewater, which is a corporate-run town that is more of a factory than a town. Meeting Reed Tobson, you are told to convince the Deserters, a faction that basically left Edgewater to either come back, or cut off their power supply. You are then greeted your first companion, Parvati, who is my favorite companion of the 6 you encounter. When you go to the Deserters’ hideout, you meet Adelaide McDevitt, who gives you the option to cut off Edgewater’s power supply for THEIR power regulator, which will put everyone else out of work there. When I first came to this quest, my first thought was to side with the Deserters because screw the corporations, but after talking to the residents of Edgewater and getting their opinions on the town, pretty much all of them came to the conclusion that they love the town. Sure there’s the corporate side of the town that plagues it, but it ultimately is their home to them. I then talked to the Deserters and when they gave their reasons, they showed their disdain for Tobson. Adelaide especially held a grudge against Tobson for the death of her son. When I went to make my decision, my companion Parvati had piped in and told me she would prefer if I sided with Edgewater, saying that I would be putting multiple people out of work and they’d lose their stability, even though yes, it’s very rudimentary. She also brought up Adelaide McDevitt’s place in this and how this is just a personal vendetta to get back at them for her son dying. And so you have to decide; are you a corporate shill, orare you willing to do what it takes to help the common man? That’s what I love about Obsidian’s storytelling. There’s multiple layers to every choice that you may want to make, which leads to a moral conundrum that you have to decide for yourself. The choices seem black and white at first, but once you delve deeper into your options, you face a mental battle that you have to decide for yourself what your outcome will be and that shines really, REALLY well in this game. Games like Fallout 3 had it to where you could blow up Megaton, which is obviously bad, or don’t blow up Megaton, which is obviously good, very black and white situations there where as in this game, there is no right or wrong. It is up to you to decide the outcome for situations like these. I spent almost 30 minutes thinking about what I wanted to do and I ultimately decided to side with the Deserters because while it may be doom and gloom for Edgewater for now, I felt that in the long run, this will ultimately be a good choice for the city and some good will arise from this now troubled conflict, finding a life of freedom from the corporate structures of this town. After I went back to the town, seeing the citizens wondering what’s going on, I went to talk to Reed Tobson and seeing how understandably mad and heartbroken he was, I genuinely felt for him and Parvati when she made her case. He first came off as a corporate shill and on some level he still is, but he genuinely cared about Edgewater’s wellbeing and wanted the town to thrive. He came off as a villain-type character at first, but after siding with the Deserters, he showed this side that we never saw at first, and that makes him feel much more human than a generic villain. It’s such an amazing aspect that this game delivers on very well.
A cool aspect that this game also has is that you can travel to multiple planets. It’s not this sandbox-type game like Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim, etc., but it’s basically multiple worlds into one and each planet you go to feels unique in and of itself. You have one place that’s not really a planet, but a huge ship that’s basically a town inside the ship. You also have planets with its own type of fauna and monsters, and the different worlds are visually lush and detailed, but they aren’t the best graphically. The graphics aren’t on par with titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, but I’m fine with that. You’ve also got the combat which plays like Fallout 3, New Vegas, and 4 with the shooting and stuff like that. It even has a shrink ray. How creative can you get with that? It’s a first person RPG at its core with shooter elements rather than a shooter with RPG mechanics.
All in all, the game seems worth the money and I’m really enjoying it. I really hope Bethesda returns to form with Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI and I know they can. It feels like Obsidian’s filled a void that Bethesda seemingly left behind with their single-player titles and if Obsidian can do this amazing with this game, I can only imagine what they can do with a game like The Outer Worlds 2 or a title like that in the future. I love the Fallout-esque style this game goes for and they really nailed it out of the park with this game. I highly recommend this game to RPG fans and especially Fallout fans.
Final Score: 10/10
Going into this game, you are greeted with the option to choose your perks right off the bat and you can create your own character. I do like the freedom you have when creating your character and you can even add stuff like facial hair to female characters which really spices things up and reminds me of games like Saint's Row and upcoming title, Cyberpunk 2077 where you can mix and match with the character creation, which I feel more games should really do for a more tailored experience towards the player. The perks system doesn't feel as daunting as the Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester in New Vegas did and from what I've done with it so far, it does what it's supposed to. It lets you be pretty much whatever you want in Halcyon and you aren't confined to one specific role. While having a set character isn't specifically bad in any way, it really limits as to what you can do as your character. Games like Skyrim pit you as the chosen, or as they call it: "Dragonborn". You are forced into this role as Dragonborn and you have to get over it. In The Outer Worlds, you can be whoever you want. You have so much freedom to roleplay as whoever you want, and you can even have flaws with your characters too, like taking stagger damage when you fall from larger heights. This is how roleplaying should be in my opinion. I don't want to be this god of gods that can destroy anything in my path. I just want to be myself, and this game delivers on that really well.
After creating your character, you are greeted to Phineas Welles, a terrorist wanted across Halcyon and also looks a lot like Rick Sanchez?, which is the part of Space that the game takes place in. You have been in hibernation for a long time and you've just awakened. You are then sent on Terra-2 to find a man named Alex Hawthorne and his ship, but he is inadvertently killed upon landing. This is basically the game’s way of introducing you to the main core aspects about the game. You are introduced to the game’s version of what seems to be VATS called Time Dilation. It’s basically Fallout 4’s version of VATS, but it’s nerfed in a way. You cannot target body parts like the head, arms, torso, etc. It’s all in real time while slowing down time. You are then introduced to the dialogue system, which is much better than Fallout 4’s dialogue wheel which gave very vague options. After conversing with some NPCs and killing some marauders, we reach our ship, The Unreliable, which is in need of a power regulator. You are introduced to your first town, Edgewater, which is a corporate-run town that is more of a factory than a town. Meeting Reed Tobson, you are told to convince the Deserters, a faction that basically left Edgewater to either come back, or cut off their power supply. You are then greeted your first companion, Parvati, who is my favorite companion of the 6 you encounter. When you go to the Deserters’ hideout, you meet Adelaide McDevitt, who gives you the option to cut off Edgewater’s power supply for THEIR power regulator, which will put everyone else out of work there. When I first came to this quest, my first thought was to side with the Deserters because screw the corporations, but after talking to the residents of Edgewater and getting their opinions on the town, pretty much all of them came to the conclusion that they love the town. Sure there’s the corporate side of the town that plagues it, but it ultimately is their home to them. I then talked to the Deserters and when they gave their reasons, they showed their disdain for Tobson. Adelaide especially held a grudge against Tobson for the death of her son. When I went to make my decision, my companion Parvati had piped in and told me she would prefer if I sided with Edgewater, saying that I would be putting multiple people out of work and they’d lose their stability, even though yes, it’s very rudimentary. She also brought up Adelaide McDevitt’s place in this and how this is just a personal vendetta to get back at them for her son dying. And so you have to decide; are you a corporate shill, orare you willing to do what it takes to help the common man? That’s what I love about Obsidian’s storytelling. There’s multiple layers to every choice that you may want to make, which leads to a moral conundrum that you have to decide for yourself. The choices seem black and white at first, but once you delve deeper into your options, you face a mental battle that you have to decide for yourself what your outcome will be and that shines really, REALLY well in this game. Games like Fallout 3 had it to where you could blow up Megaton, which is obviously bad, or don’t blow up Megaton, which is obviously good, very black and white situations there where as in this game, there is no right or wrong. It is up to you to decide the outcome for situations like these. I spent almost 30 minutes thinking about what I wanted to do and I ultimately decided to side with the Deserters because while it may be doom and gloom for Edgewater for now, I felt that in the long run, this will ultimately be a good choice for the city and some good will arise from this now troubled conflict, finding a life of freedom from the corporate structures of this town. After I went back to the town, seeing the citizens wondering what’s going on, I went to talk to Reed Tobson and seeing how understandably mad and heartbroken he was, I genuinely felt for him and Parvati when she made her case. He first came off as a corporate shill and on some level he still is, but he genuinely cared about Edgewater’s wellbeing and wanted the town to thrive. He came off as a villain-type character at first, but after siding with the Deserters, he showed this side that we never saw at first, and that makes him feel much more human than a generic villain. It’s such an amazing aspect that this game delivers on very well.
A cool aspect that this game also has is that you can travel to multiple planets. It’s not this sandbox-type game like Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim, etc., but it’s basically multiple worlds into one and each planet you go to feels unique in and of itself. You have one place that’s not really a planet, but a huge ship that’s basically a town inside the ship. You also have planets with its own type of fauna and monsters, and the different worlds are visually lush and detailed, but they aren’t the best graphically. The graphics aren’t on par with titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, but I’m fine with that. You’ve also got the combat which plays like Fallout 3, New Vegas, and 4 with the shooting and stuff like that. It even has a shrink ray. How creative can you get with that? It’s a first person RPG at its core with shooter elements rather than a shooter with RPG mechanics.
All in all, the game seems worth the money and I’m really enjoying it. I really hope Bethesda returns to form with Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI and I know they can. It feels like Obsidian’s filled a void that Bethesda seemingly left behind with their single-player titles and if Obsidian can do this amazing with this game, I can only imagine what they can do with a game like The Outer Worlds 2 or a title like that in the future. I love the Fallout-esque style this game goes for and they really nailed it out of the park with this game. I highly recommend this game to RPG fans and especially Fallout fans.
Final Score: 10/10
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