April 13, 2017

The Greatest Hits! Oh, and NieR: Automata.

So there’s a comic of NieR: Automata floating around online, which has 2B and 9S having a hypothetical meeting with Lightning and Hope from Final Fantasy 13.  While the two older ladies stay on the sidelines and alternate between stoicism and confusion, the younger boys have something else in mind.  Namely, they wish each other good luck -- for reasons that aren’t immediately obvious to the heroines, but blatantly so for the comic readers.

It’s not that far of a reach to draw parallels between the two.  Superficially -- at least based on the opening hours of NieR -- 9S is more than willing to shadow “onee-san” 2B because he’s got feelings for her.  It’s not so overstated with Hope and Lightning, but I’m sure the hints of romance (however unlikely) are there.  Of course, the key difference is that one of those games is pretty sick, and the other one just makes me sick.  It goes without saying, but NieR: Automata is better than Final Fantasy…even though I’ve only put a few hours into it, and would’ve played more if my body hadn’t nearly given out from an earnest desire for sleep.

So, like…is there any chance that I can become a robot?  Imagine how much work I’d be able to get done.



Having only just recently finished Tales of Berseria -- a game which you should absolutely play, unless you’re a big dumb idiot head -- I’m way behind on this insanely-packed release schedule.  77 hours in that game meant 77 hours taken away from Breath of the Wild, Persona 5, and of course NieR (which I’m now going to call Nier because I’ll be damned if I’m adding that extra capitalized R in every instance).  So I’m late to the show, and I’m only going to get even later.  Setting aside the fact that my soul is screaming at me to play more Persona 5, I’ve got a brother who’s long since gotten in deep with the Phantom Thieves…which means that for the time being, my gaming time is more than a little constricted. 

That’s kind of a problem when you’re running a blog that’s 75% built on gaming.  Granted I have backup plans and ways to play games without a readily-available PS4 -- there’s a miniseries I need to start rolling out soon -- but yeah.  If you want in-depth thoughts from me on the latest and greatest games of 2017, you’re out of luck.  Right now, Nier is one of those casualties.  It’s unfortunate, but oh well.  It’d be a bigger issue if I was actually popular, but since I’m not, I can squeak by.


So before I say anything else about Nier -- because I can -- I’ll go ahead and do a little housekeeping.  One of the tabs on this blog is the “Greatest Hits!!” as you might have noticed.  And if you’ve been clicking around on it for long, you might have noticed that I haven’t updated it in ages.  That’s kind of a problem, and it’s one I intend to fix.  The impetus for that is tied into the yellow text at the top of the page, i.e. the one that directs you/traffic to new or high-priority stuff.  It’s been JoJo­-bound since…I don’t know, December, but I finished that miniseries a while ago.  I need to replace it, and based on the files I’ve been working on?  It’s gonna be RWBY.

So that means I need to find a safe place to keep/link to those JoJo posts.  And there’s no better repository than that Greatest Hits tab; after all, the RWBY stuff is going to go there too -- eventually, at least.  So I have all the more reason to start sifting through past posts and organizing that tab more effectively.  I’m pretty sure I’ve got some noteworthy stuff in there since I made that tab, both in terms of miniseries installments and one-offs.  The jury’s out on which of those posts people would actually consider my best work, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I might as well grease the wheels by tossing stuff in there.  So look forward to that, maybe.


In any case, Nier.  I’ve been dodging any and all information about the game for months, for fear of spoilers (and I have a lax attitude towards spoilers unless it’s something absolutely crucial to me).  So even though I had high hopes from reviews and the pedigree of mastermind Yoko Taro (well, relatively speaking), I actually didn’t know that much about the game besides 1) robots, 2) Platinum Games, 3) great music, and 4) 2B’s ass.  The number of unknown qualities and factors was -- and still is -- staggering.

So having put a scant few hours into the game, I know that I’m already eager to learn more.  Why?  Because the very first bit of gameplay you get is an Ikaruga-style shmup.  Then you go through the prologue, AKA the demo from a few months back -- i.e. the very same sequence that had you hack and rip off a giant construction robot’s saw-arm and beat him to death with it.  Then you see 2B and 9S self-destruct, only to cut to them seemingly A-OK in their home…AKA a fully-functional space station with all of the colors washed out.  Then you find out the central premise of the story, i.e. 3000 years from now, Earth is invaded by aliens and infested with killer robots, so it’s up to 2B and the other YoRHa androids to clean up.  Then you go down to the nigh-vacated Earth to help resistance members -- but before you get there, you can get beaten within an inch of your robo-life by a wild moose.

This game is weird.  Though I guess that was a given.


It’s weird, but it’s the good kind of weird -- the sort that makes you want to press on to figure out more, and see how weird things can get, and…well, just figure out just what the hell is going on.  I mean yeah, the premise has been laid out, but I’d just like to know why the androids are a bunch of young men and women instead of hulking mechs lined from head to toe in ordnance weapons.  I get the feeling there’s a reason, and a good one.  Presumably, it’s not just because Yoko Taro and crew wanted as many panty shots as possible on their leading lady.

I could say more on Nier, and I probably will at some point.  But if I’m going to do it, then I want to spend more time with the game.  When will that happen?  I don’t know.  Soon, hopefully.  Until then?  Sate yourself with some of my other posts.  You literally have hundreds to choose from, and there’s more to come -- especially if you’re interested in seeing me take on RWBY.


So I guess that’ll do it for now.  Till next time, then, take care.

For the glory of mankind...or whatever.

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