I have never been interested in playing Nier, no matter how much Angelo gushes about it on Nerds Without Pants (sorry, Angelo). So I didn't particularly care when they announced a sequel except why? and Platinum Games? And since then Platinum has put out some contract work that was pretty subpar (e.g., Kora and TMNT), so how would they fare when working outside of their strictly action wheelhouse? Whatever. I have lots of other games to play.
But I read some reviews when Nier: Automata came out and dang, I am intrigued. First, you needn't have played the first game (that's a plus). Second, Platinum somehow played this game to their strengths. Seriously, it sounds like they took the core of Bayonetta's insanity and married it to a post-apocalytic action RPG. And it's getting good reviews! So while I'm still not running out to get it (seriously, there is too much good stuff coming out right now), I'm now interested in it and hope to try it out later when it drops in price. That's a big step up from my total apathy.
A toast...to the return of Platinum Games!
I have this on my rental list. Hopefully I'll get to play it soon.
I'll be curious to hear your thoughts!
Basically, the original game had a really awesome and subversive plot that was really groundbreaking at the time, but had utterly atrocious gameplay. The guy who's been making modern Dragon Quest games threatened to quit if he didn't get to work on a game with the guy who made Nier, and the guy who made Nier wanted to make a sequel to Nier, but he told Square Enix he wouldn't do it unless it had awesome gameplay this time around.
Some guys at platinum games fucking loved the original so they jumped at the chance to make this, and it pretty much became a passion project for everyone involved.
So yeah, I'm also hype as fuck for this game as someone who admired the original but didn't like it.
I'm surprised the story in the original was so praised cause the demo made it look like generic anime to me. I could have used more colour instead of a gray factory, but the gameplay was solid if not something I've played before. I did appreciate the gun and Swordplay mix and the unlimited ammo.
I was a huge Nier fanboy as well. I enjoyed everything about it from the story, to the music, to the gameplay (actually I'm a huge Yoko Taro fanboy, but I won't get into that). But even with Platinum's involvement, I'm surprised at the reviews Automata has been getting. I hear it might be ported to Xbox One in the future, so I'm waiting for that. If it doesn't happen in a year I'll pick up Automata for cheap on PS4.