Hey guys so now that this game has been out for months, I figured I can get plenty of good perspectives from people who have completed the game.

From what I gather, Nier/Drakengard has lore as crazy as Metal Gear or Kingdom Hearts. In those two series' cases, it helps to play the games in order and even look up stuff on the side...but with Nier, I've seen a few people say knowing certain things about the lore kinda hurts experiencing this game's story? But I also dont wanna be so completely confused about things. Does this game stand on its own so I don't really need to know things about the lore going in? I did watch Super bunnyhop's video recapping the original Nier's story but he made that before Automata came out. Now that the game has been out for a long while, I wanna know what exactly I should and shouldn't know about the story

I personally think you are fine going in without doing a big unnecessary deep dive. Just play and have fun.

Those recaps from original Nier will probably provide enough context for what few important references exist.

I recently completed Automata without having played or knowing anything about the other games, I found it to not be a really big deal. Only a few characters that are references and they do explain some back stories if you look around for the story. After I finished it I went onto the Nier wiki and read the rest of the stuff I didn't know which filled in a few small things I was missing.

It's not that big of a deal not having played the other games IMHO.

The story is pretty much standalone, but it has ties to the original Nier that enhance some of the reveals and moments. That 30 minute lore video isn't going to make the references to Nier 1 effective at all, though. As it stands the game will introduce all its themes, plot points, settings, and characters for someone who's never played a Yoko Taro game before. It's not even remotely like jumping into Metal Gear or Kingdom Hearts mid-way through the series.

As for knowledge of the first game "hurting" Automata... I'm not even sure what that would be. I'm a huge fan of both games and never felt like I wasn't getting the intended experience in Automata.

Knowing the lore of past Yoko Taro games is by no means necessary to understanding Nier Automata as it takes place thousands upon thousands of years after the last game on the timeline. However, there are specific characters, side quests, and music selections that would be a bit more meaningful if you knew about the story and characters of Nier.

A good place to go is Clemp's video analysis on the game which is much more comprehensive of a thing than Superbunnyhop's.

Yeah watch Clemps or ValkyrieAurora stuff on youtube, the SuperBunnyHop video was not really very good. Clemps is really in depth but is wacky and youtubey if that makes sense, but Valkyrie is much drier with less/shorter vids to watch.

I watched the SBH video after I finished Automata. It was enough for me. It gave me insight, especially involving certain moments and characters, but I don't think only playing Automata is the equivalent to starting the Metal Gear series halfway through. Most people I know who played Automata never played Nier or the Drakengard games, or cared to know about the lore and were fine.

This is the only Yoko Taro game I've played. There are some characters in the game that I found out deep in, were from another game but it didn't detract from the experience. It made me want to look up stuff on the side not related to this particular game. The story feels totally standalone so I say go in blind.

The problem is expectation management, don't have any or try hard to temper them. More than any other game in recent memory, ppl seem to be going into this game with weird expectations. It's a video game, you've played them, you know them. It does some things well, great even, but it has plenty of shortcomings. Most people will be able to identify all of them plain as day.

You fight a dragon,dragons are no more get transported to modern day earth Automata takes place 10,000 years after that event. you are good to go

@liquiddragon: I've heard the game has some heavy themes people are connecting with a lot so I'm looking forward to that.

Other than that, my expectations are to have fun with a good character action/RPG hybrid. I'm also looking forward to hopefully liking the characters and story I suppose...and seeing why The Game Awards gave best music to this instead of Persona 5. There better be some damn good music in this.

There's a specific plot point that you will theorize about differently if you've played the original Nier and know all the extended lore from it. That one plot point does not make or break the game whether you're a Nier fan or playing a Yoko Taro game for the first time. I'd say just play Automata and then go watch Clemps' Nier summary videos once your done if you're curious about the ties back to the original game. You get a different experience based on your knowledge going in, not a better or a worse one.

It's not just NieR having the best music of the year, but how it uses that music in the game. It's very dynamic and flows with whatever is going on, and some points some repeated game dialogue is blended into the music. There's even songs that only play during sidequests, that you might never hear.

Like, there was an interview where they discussed the scenario writing for both NieRs, and they mention that a lot of the music work is done early in development, and they would rewrite scenarios to fit the music that was produced. A lot of games have good music this year but very few of them use it like Automata does.

You can play Automata without knowing the behind the scenes stuff. That said, the lore is fascinating, at the very least from a "Oh boy, all of this crazy stuff does fit together".

I really appreciated this video, in addition to her other videos on NieR/Drakengard, which was released before NieR:Automata, and as a result contains no spoilers specific to that game:

I enjoyed it way more knowing the lore. I know the "plot twist" people like to say is hurt by knowing the lore, but I don't agree. It's something you can see a mile away regardless.

That being said, I don't think I would recommend resorting to a synopsis for lore. At least for Nier. If you're not going to play it yourself, or watch a full LP you might as well go in blind. I don't think any of the references will resonate without any attachment to the story or characters. The actual events of Nier don't matter that much.

@frostyryan: It's a decent action/RPG but if you like Platinum's brand of character action, it's criminally striped thin and the RPG elements are equality light. There is also another component of the combat in the game that's, again ok, the problem is none of them can sustain a lengthy game like NieR:A. Music wise, it's hard to see many folks coming out of the experience feeling short changed. The other stuff, YMMV but again, temper w/e you're looking forward to 'cause "connecting with heavy themes" sounds vaguely like the weird expectations I'm talking about.

@clagnaught:I've seen that video recommended more than once so I think I will watch that later!

@zeik I'm not going to play Nier but I considered watching the Best Friends playthrough...then I saw it's 33 parts. Sorry, I don't think I have time to commit to that.

I've got another question for everyone. I hear this game has a million endings...so how does that work? are all these endings worth it? Do I unlock a mega ending if I do all of them? Should I shoot for one or two endings and then drop it? enlighten me.

@frostyryan: Think of them more as chapters than endings. There are 5 main endings you play more or less sequentially. The rest are joke endings that aren't really worth seeking out, but absolutely play through ending E. You'll miss most of the story otherwise.

A-E are the main endings and complete the story. You just play them in a row, it's not hard to figure out.

F-Z are jokes. You can get these by dying in the wrong place, killing the wrong person, or running the wrong way (usually away from story missions).

@frostyryan: Others have already commented on the A through E stuff, but it's worth saying that the best way to think about it is routes, not playthroughs or endings. Yes, they are treated as "endings", but the way it is described and the general discourse around the game makes it sound like you have to replay the entire game five times in a row to get the story, and that is just not the case. The game makes it pretty clear what you have to do to see everything, so I'll just leave it at that.

Just know that you will be disappointed.

You could reasonably watch the hour and forty minute compilation of the Best Friends Play Nier (above). It won't be as coherent as watching the whole LP, but you'll get the major moments and the structure of the game.

Playing Nier Automata without playing the first Nier is like playing Metal Gear Solid without playing the first two Metal Gears. A lot of people did it. You do miss some cool callbacks, but you won't have any trouble following the story.

As far as possible negative effects of foreknowledge go, I suppose knowing story spoilers before going in has the same effect spoilers have in most stories. If that's something that bothers you, don't watch the attract mode when you start up the game.

Thank god.

Ok I get the idea now. Get all the endings and it's easy to figure out. basically don't worry about it.

I got the first ending then looked at the series lore summary videos. It became clear to me that I was missing context so I felt that I needed to know. People say you don't "need" to know what happened in the past games, but I know myself and knew that I'd enjoy the story more by doing that.

You will miss story elements that people familiar with the series will understand. How much you miss depends on how deep you dive into the lore without having played the past games.

If you are familiar with Dark Souls 1 then I feel the situation is very similar to the extra DLC Sif cutscene. Some people don't care about it. People like me feel it's 100% essential.

watch drakengard 1 ending E, that should be good