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NieR Automata PS4 demo available now

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CliffyB's Cock Holster

Lots of good stuff in the stream, even if you don't understand a word of Japanese.

Shows a few things I missed in the demo (2nd shortcut, hidden chest), plus quite a lot of system stuff in the city; quests, abilities, countering and "bullet" time effects.

Also, SE really seem to be pushing this game pretty hard in Japan. Tons of merch on top of the cross-over stuff. I really want that Emil pillow lol!
 
Lots of good stuff in the stream, even if you don't understand a word of Japanese.

Shows a few things I missed in the demo (2nd shortcut, hidden chest), plus quite a lot of system stuff in the city; quests, abilities, countering and "bullet" time effects.

Also, SE really seem to be pushing this game pretty hard in Japan. Tons of merch on top of the cross-over stuff. I really want that Emil pillow lol!

I was disappointed in myself when I played the demo in a linear way and didn't find any shortcuts. Glad they're pushing Nier automata and it has a decent chance, really depends on whether the audience there gets invested by the marketing. Emil pillows for everyone.
 

Pejo

Member
Beat the demo yesterday afternoon. Feels really great to play, exactly what I'd expect from Platinum. I seemed to rely too much on the pod gun though.

One thing I definitely didn't like was the location of lock on and dash. Were the controls customizable? I didn't really look, but I'm betting there's at least a few configs you can switch between.

I can tell already I'm going to love this game.
 

Jiraiza

Member
Beat the demo yesterday afternoon. Feels really great to play, exactly what I'd expect from Platinum. I seemed to rely too much on the pod gun though.

One thing I definitely didn't like was the location of lock on and dash. Were the controls customizable? I didn't really look, but I'm betting there's at least a few configs you can switch between.

I can tell already I'm going to love this game.

Yep, you can customize every single button.
 

Pejo

Member
Yep, you can customize every single button.

Excellent, hello Circle Dash and R1 lock on. By the way, do you know if you can switch lock on to hold/press? I prefer hold when I have to do lots of fast target switching so I can just release to unlock.
 

Jiraiza

Member
Excellent, hello Circle Dash and R1 lock on. By the way, do you know if you can switch lock on to hold/press? I prefer hold when I have to do lots of fast target switching so I can just release to unlock.

No idea about the lock-on since I don't use it and play on Hard. I heard you can toggle between hold and press, though.
 
Excellent, hello Circle Dash and R1 lock on. By the way, do you know if you can switch lock on to hold/press? I prefer hold when I have to do lots of fast target switching so I can just release to unlock.

As far as I recall right now, you can. There seems to be an option for just about everything actually.
 

Gold_Loot

Member
Though I would share a picture my daughter just did. Enjoy

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∀ Narayan;227266128 said:
It is a good track. Some nice elements of "Shadowlord's Castle (Memory)" and "Dispossession" from Nier 1's soundtrack are featured in this.

I'm really hoping we get some calmer tracks as good as "Temple of Drifting Sands" in Automata.

I just hope the music is layered the same way it was in the first game, so someone can do this again.
 

JoeFu

Banned
I didn't like the demo that much. The combat seems pretty poor compared to other platinum stuff. It looked cool, but it seemed pointless to do anything when an evade followed up by normal light attack combo killed most things quick enough. Played through on normal then on hard. Guess this isn't for me haha. Never played nier and was only interested in this because platinum.
 

Cloukyo

Banned
I didn't like the demo that much. The combat seems pretty poor compared to other platinum stuff. It looked cool, but it seemed pointless to do anything when an evade followed up by normal light attack combo killed most things quick enough. Played through on normal then on hard. Guess this isn't for me haha. Never played nier and was only interested in this because platinum.

I think you can sit safely assuming that the whole game won't have enemies that can easily die in a few hits after an evade...

If you're going to complain about that then you might as well complain about the MGR demo, almost every enemy could be chopped up with a zandatsu without a need to stun or parry them.

I think the main point on the demo was "look our game has responsible controls now!" for mainstream audiences.

Rather than "Look at how complex and combo heavy Nier is now!" for platinum fans.

We can wait for the full game to see all the skills and abilities that can be unlocked for that.
 

JoeFu

Banned
I think you can sit safely assuming that the whole game won't have enemies that can easily die in a few hits after an evade...

If you're going to complain about that then you might as well complain about the MGR demo, almost every enemy could be chopped up with a zandatsu without a need to stun or parry them.

I think the main point on the demo was "look our game has responsible controls now!" for mainstream audiences.

Rather than "Look at how complex and combo heavy Nier is now!" for platinum fans.

We can wait for the full game to see all the skills and abilities that can be unlocked for that.

I guess. I was more comparing this to the w101 demo which I felt was a better demo overall. Made me more interested than what I got with this. Again, this game doesn't mean much to me as someone who didn't play the first game. I understand the appeal though! Just saying this probably isn't for me.
 

sensui-tomo

Member
so if anyone here can help a person out, what are the supplementary materials i should read in case i want to know more of the series's lore, I found Shi ni Itaru Aka (the drakengard 1.03 or whatever its called thing) I know theres a dk3 manga , then yoko taro has another manga which may have something to do with YoRHA or something? and i already know that google doc for that big info dump (would be a final fantasy ultimania book if its anything to compare to)
 
so if anyone here can help a person out, what are the supplementary materials i should read in case i want to know more of the series's lore, I found Shi ni Itaru Aka (the drakengard 1.03 or whatever its called thing) I know theres a dk3 manga , then yoko taro has another manga which may have something to do with YoRHA or something? and i already know that google doc for that big info dump (would be a final fantasy ultimania book if its anything to compare to)

By Google doc I take you mean Grimoir Nier.
There's also the D3 novellas and a DramaCD for Nier.

The YoRHA thing was a play IIRC. The manga Yoko Taro wrote wasn't related to Drakengard, but I'm not sure.
 

Cloukyo

Banned
I guess. I was more comparing this to the w101 demo which I felt was a better demo overall. Made me more interested than what I got with this. Again, this game doesn't mean much to me as someone who didn't play the first game. I understand the appeal though! Just saying this probably isn't for me.

Hm... while I agree that the w101 is awesome. If anything I'd say the w101 demo was terrible for most people because it was TOO complicated. People needed fan-made youtube guides to understand how to play the demo, and most people couldn't be bothered.

w101 might even be one of the reasons why this demo was more basic. If you release a demo that requires late-game platinum level skill, majority of people won't be able to gather how to play it well and hence will be put off. It's a shame, because I honestly think the demo for w101 harmed the game.

Better to keep it simple and show how responsive the controls are right? I'd say this is probably one of the most responsive plat games so far.
 
I just hope the music is layered the same way it was in the first game, so someone can do this again.

I have no doubt that Keiichi Okabe will utilize the same composing methods for Automata as he did in Nier 1. The general combat BGM in the demo, with its alternation of vocals, definitely suggests some layering is going on.
 

Hektor

Member
so if anyone here can help a person out, what are the supplementary materials i should read in case i want to know more of the series's lore, I found Shi ni Itaru Aka (the drakengard 1.03 or whatever its called thing) I know theres a dk3 manga , then yoko taro has another manga which may have something to do with YoRHA or something? and i already know that google doc for that big info dump (would be a final fantasy ultimania book if its anything to compare to)

There's the Grimoire Nier (Which you have as google doc)

The Drakengard 3 Story Side Novel (No translation as of now)

The Drakengard Novellas, most of which are found here: http://drakengard.wikia.com/wiki/Novellas

The Nier Drama CD (no official english version, but you can read a summary here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YLw2-OT7ios3ik5CdRN34dJCL5XviWSyQMnzFTiI_BU/edit)

The YoRHa Stage play (again no official english version, but a summary exists here http://nier2.com/yorha-stage-play/)

And there are 2 (or 3) Manga series (All of which you can read over at Nier2.com):
Shi Ni Itaru Aka
Utahime Five

And maybe Kimi Shi ni Tamau Koto Nakare - This doesn't have anything to do at all with the Drakengrd/Nier universe as of now, but considering how everything else Yoko Taro has done so far is connected, it might actually be, who knows

There are also three tiny, shitty Nier Digital Comics, but those aren't canon.
 

sensui-tomo

Member
And maybe Kimi Shi ni Tamau Koto Nakare - This doesn't have anything to do at all with the Drakengrd/Nier universe as of now, but considering how everything else Yoko Taro has done so far is connected, it might actually be, who knows
yup this was the odd thing i wasnt sure may have something to do with nier/automata. But thanks for the other info, going to give the stuff a good read since i enjoyed the lore of the world(not the gameplay of drakengard though)
 
How they managed to make a camera worse than MGR: R's is beyond me. That boss fight was especially frustrating at times like when both arms were sweeping the area.
 
I can't get over how good this demo was. So meaty too! I thought for sure it would end before the boss fight. Can't believe they straight up let us play an entire level.

This jumped into my Top 5 most anticipated games of 2017.
 

X-Factor

Member
I liked the demo enough that I pre-ordered the digital version to get the
NieR PS4 theme:

Video of the theme. Nothing that special but it has its own music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C8c9EGPkSg

I think they only give you the theme right away if you live in Canada or the United States because the North American PSN stores, you cannot cancel pre-orders.

I traded in some of my old model PS4 controllers for PSN cards at EB.
I am considering getting the Black Box Edition from the SE store but import fees and shipping costs are ridiculous to Canada and apparently that is the only place that is selling it.

:|
 

JayEH

Junior Member
I liked the demo enough that I pre-ordered the digital version to get the
NieR PS4 theme:

Video of the theme. Nothing that special but it has its own music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C8c9EGPkSg

I think they only give you the theme right away if you live in Canada or the United States because the North American PSN stores, you cannot cancel pre-orders.

I traded in some of my old model PS4 controllers for PSN cards at EB.
I am considering getting the Black Box Edition from the SE store but import fees and shipping costs are ridiculous to Canada and apparently that is the only place that is selling it.

:|

that sounds real nice
 

GeeTeeCee

Member
Is the lack of a ranking system after each battle a demo-only thing? It's nice to have a Platinum game that doesn't remind me I'm shit every five minutes because I had the nerve to not finish a fight in one perfect, unbroken combo.
 
Is the lack of a ranking system after each battle a demo-only thing? It's nice to have a Platinum game that doesn't remind me I'm shit every five minutes because I had the nerve to not finish a fight in one perfect, unbroken combo.

This is an action RPG, not an action game, so I wouldn't really expect any sort of ranking system to be in this.
 

remz

Member
Tbh I'm kind of bummed there's no after fight grade.

But if the choice is between no grade and a useless grade like ffxv I'm fine with none
 

Markoman

Member
I've played through this demo about 10 times already.

Me too, I'm blown away and I was quite sceptical after my first play-through.
You can also customize the camera to your liking which I haven't seen in a game before.
On one run I chose a camera that zooms in on the action when you're close to an enemy - for that cinematic feel, lol. Looks great.

Edit: with the full version, I'm going to leave lock-on unassigned, instead I'm going to use L3 +R3 to switch pods.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Is the lack of a ranking system after each battle a demo-only thing? It's nice to have a Platinum game that doesn't remind me I'm shit every five minutes because I had the nerve to not finish a fight in one perfect, unbroken combo.

Action RPG. Nier didn't have a ranking system to begin with, so you dont have to expect it.

Its not about being flashy
 

Crayon

Member
I changed my mind and played the demo.

Smashing. Everything I hoped for. This remains my most anticipated game.
 

Gold_Loot

Member
and how old is your daughter?? that she can create this stuff...very good
Thank you. She's been drawing since she was 4 . She's 17 now. She loves anime and animation in general. She goes nuts with the Overwatch art...

Funny thing. She didn't even know Nier is a sequel, or B2's name. She just said "I drew a pic of that cool looking Nier girl."
 

Crayon

Member
Goddam this game is so fuckin hype. I can't stop playing this demo. This demo is better than most games. This demo will make you a sexual tyrannosaurus.
 

LotusHD

Banned
Thank you. She's been drawing since she was 4 . She's 17 now. She loves anime and animation in general. She goes nuts with the Overwatch art...

Funny thing. She didn't even know Nier is a sequel, or B2's name. She just said "I drew a pic of that cool looking Nier girl."

She planning on buying the game, or playing it with you? (Assuming you're getting it too)
 

Gold_Loot

Member
She planning on buying the game, or playing it with you? (Assuming you're getting it too)
Oh, dad's definitely getting it. She'll likely just watch as she does most of her gaming on PC. Not really a great PC, but it runs CSgo and Overwatch so she's happy :)
 

majik13

Member
That's funny I was also thinking it sounded a lot like GitS.

Its totally GitS inspired. Immediately thought of it.

Anyways, dug the demo. Can tell the combat will be pretty deep. Not sure how I fell about all the 2d style gameplay sections yet. Its def cool and fun in 2d, but the transitions between them take me out of the game currently.
 
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