NieR: Automata Demo Discussion

[Xel]

Played it for 2 hours and I'm digging it. Could be the next big hack 'n' slash action game.

[Lowlliet]

It's absolutely awesome! Finally after a long time another hack'n'slash. Already completed it on Very Hard and can't wait for the release!

Looking forward to doing those "No Damage" trophies again just like in MGR and other games from Platinum!

Edited December 22, 2016 by Lowlliet

[danistheguy]

Looks sick! Can't wait to try it later. Finally an action game that isn't top down or a House Marque knockoff or retro-art-styled. Not that some of those aren't great, I'm just ready for a legit, balls to the wall, graphically awesome, 3D action game.

[skateak]

Is it on the US store?

[danistheguy]

1 minute ago, skateak said:

Is it on the US store?

Not yet, I don't think. Neither is GR2, whose demo is also out today.

[xZoneHunter]

I'm not a huge fan of the side scrolling segments, however it does offer some interesting gameplay mechanics you don't see often in a hack 'n slash game. The top down view segments were pretty fun. I just hope the game isn't overly filled with these segments.

 

The boss battle was really epic. Looking forward to playing the full game.

[Undead Wolf]

Oooh, I didn't know the demo was already out. I'm downloading it now. Can't wait to try it out! 

[Auto-Tomato]

Ambivalence here.   Loved that they kept the genre changing aspects which worked seamlessly, combat feels great, the upgrade paths and weapons etc.. all looked good, however, a minor gripe might be a little more breakables or interaction with the environment...it's very minor, and easily could simply be the area the demo used, although I did like a few of the shortcuts I discovered, and from what I've seen of game footage so far it's hardly a problem, just notable.

 

Where I did have a problem was the boss fight, aside the fact at the very beginning of the fight, with only the arms, several times I completely lost track of where I was given the camera was full of giant mining wheels.   I did enjoy the fight, boss was cool, but so much of the fight was taken out of my hands.   Dodging the arms then going back in for a few hits was fine but most of the time I felt like I was just standing there long-ranging it with the Pod.   I didn't get to break the arm off, it was fun to use it though, then I don't even get a killing blow...a little too much cut scene/NPC control in the fight.

 

Been looking forward to this for a long time, loved Nier, best game of last gen for me, but just that boss gripe that worries me, honestly felt as if I did very little in that fight other than dodge and hold in the R1 button...that's when I was allowed to participate!  Still, everything else felt great so here's hoping.  

[Lilseb93]

This game does look awesome. I never played the first one, but from what I've read you don't have to in order to understand the story. 

[Theladozz]

Just finished this and it was pretty much what I expected it to be, nothing more nothing less. The melee combat was slick but I hate how the gun takes no resource so ou might aswell just tape down the R1 button cause theer is no reason not to always hold it. Im guessing that robot thing will be like grimoire weiss was in the first game except less funny.

Really hoping they won't go overboard with the side scrolling and top-down pov, those sucked in NieR and kinda suck here too though the controls are much better. I had no idea what the fook was going on during the bossfight but it was epic regardless, I just think they could've done away with the red spheres that everyone is shooting, I mean cmon they are exactly the same as in the first game. Couldn't really care less about 9S cause obviously the demo didn't have time to make me, but I still liked how the demo ended and I'm sure this will be a super fun game. The ost will be great for sure and I love the costumes and general art style the cahracters have.

 

I dno whether this will be an RPG or just straight up hack and slash, but I do hope they can make a story as impactful as nier's cause thats what made that game memorable. This one might be successful on gameplay alone and piggybacking on the hype but that'd be pretty dissappointing tbh. Loooking forward to the full game!

[Happy]

I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. The controls are really meaty for lack of a better term.

One thing that did annoy me was that there was no reason not to hold R1 for the entirety of the demo. There's nothing inherently wrong with having an unlimited ammo weapon like this in bullet hell-ish games, but they also bound the dodge button to R2, which feels extremely akward to use while still holding R1. Hopefully there'll be alternate control schemes to alleviate that issue in the full game. (Maybe those were already in the demo and i'd simply missed them, didn't play through it more than twice)

[Valyrious]

It feels great, it looks awesome, but... I'm really not a fan of the controls.

[Undead Wolf]

Okay, I just finished the demo and I loved it! I have total faith that this will be a return to form for Platinum Games after all of the mediocre games they have been pumping out recently.

 

The combat felt so damn good. The attacks felt like they had some real power behind them. Like some people have already mentioned, it found it a little odd that you could fire the gun constantly with no penalty. I think some kind of cool down system would work here. Nothing too limiting, but I do think there should be something in place to stop players spamming it all time. I saw that the very hard difficulty meant you were killed in one hit. I really hope there's a trophy for completing the whole game in that difficulty. It sounds like a fun challenge!

 

I'm a big fan of the character designs, especially for the protagonist of course.  I wasn't as thrilled about the English dub. I saw there was a language option in the menu, although I couldn't change it when I was in-game. I assume this means I can swap to the Japanese voices. I'll probably be doing that. The lip synching felt a little off and what's with the incredibly slow text speed? Hopefully, some of these things will be corrected in the full release.

 

So yeah, this is definitely a game I'm super excited for. This demo only reaffirmed that. In terms of Action RPGs from Square, I'm a lot more interested in this one than I was with FFXV.

[EternalChaos72]

Played the demo from start to finish! Day one purchase nuff said. It's from Platinum Games after all.  

[beatn_u_silly]

The demo was really enjoyable. This just reassures me this is a day one buy.

[Nihiris-]

Demo was awesome, I'm in Day 1.

[Nano1124]

Just want to say that if you haven't played the original Nier, please do so. It's a great game. 

 

Haven't played the demo yet but based on impressions it looks like it's going to be a damn fine game.

[Stardroid]

The combat was nice, but I am sceptical about the dialogue. It felt cheesy as hell.

[FluffyAssassin64]

Yeah, I played it this afternoon and to be honest I was disappointed.

 

I've heard incredible things about the original Nier (still mean to play it!), but nothing in this demo really stood out to me. The combat was satisfying enough, but nothing special by any means. I'm not a massive fan of the cheesy dialogue in these kinds of games, and I honestly couldn't have cared less about the characters. I did like how they changed up the perspective for something different, but the world traversal felt restrictive rather than explorative. 

 

The boss fight - especially that last part - was pretty awesome though, I'll give it that. All in all? A wait and see for me. 

[TooruPT]

Loved it. Platinum-level action but still keeping that Nier/yokotako feel to it. Went from my most antecipated game of 2017 from most antecipated, well, from the entire gen. Looks great, sounds good, runs smoothly even on my PS4 Noob. March can't come one moment too soon.

 

I haven't tried Very Hard mode but killing you in one hit sounds like a platinum trophy gatekeeper if they end up adding a very hard clear trophy. Which I'm sure they will.

 

Also nice to see they kept those short stories associated to the weapons like in Drakengard 3. Nothing special really but I thought it was a nice touch, made it amusing to upgrade even the weapons I never used.

[Auto-Tomato]

It's possible the R1 Pod spam will even itself out, have balance within the game, we already saw armoured enemies which made the Pod damage minimal, and bosses won't take great damage from it either.  The special was good, standard was useful for the bullet-hell orbs and really I switched it up (melee/Pod) quite nicely while playing.  I do agree the R1 shoot, R2 dodge felt a little awkward at times though.  The dialogue was ok, but it's out of context really, Nier had many exchanges that plucked from the game would be cheesy, yet it was, for me, one of the best stories and set of characters I became attached to in a game...ever!

 

The camera control lost it a few times, during the boss and once between a transition from 2d-3d planes, but it was forgiveable to a degree all thing considered.   I know a few have said they don't like the genre/perspective switch-ups, but that's part of what made Nier great imo, and yes, I sincerely do hope we get another text adventure too!

 

As I said, my only real gripe with the demo was the interruptions and loss of control in the boss fight, as cool as the fight was, I wanted to target and break the arm off, I wanted to make that killing blow...   Hopefully other bosses will allow more freedom of action.

[The Arizona Ranger]

I have played the demo twice so far, and I am having a blast with it. The combat is fast-paced, fluid, and fantastic when you pull off a series of various attacks (light/heavy) along with dodging attacks at the last-second. 2B wields her two swords well and moves around smoothly as she dodges incoming orbs and moves in to land a flurry of attacks on the attacking robots. Using the Pod unit to help damage robots along with shooting down those red orbs some of them send towards you is helpful when the going gets tough, and the battles with the series of giant saws along with the final boss battle made for some intense combat as the demo wound down.

 

I am so glad that I caved in my resolve to wait until the game launched in March and ended up downloading this awesome demo. It was fun kicking some serious butt with 2B and her two different swords in battle against the regular enemies along with the mini-bosses and the final boss for the end of the demo. Outside of a few minor things that annoyed me (the forced camera perspective changes while exploring the facility ruins was the worst offender), the demo was great and looked sharp in action.

 

Below are various screenshots that I took during my 1st play-through of the demo:

 

Edited December 25, 2016 by MossyOakRcn42

[Chirithy84]

Also played the Demo yesterday and think this will be a first day purchase game, cause even the demo was awesome!

I like it at all and can't wait for the relase!

[AlphaExGAT]

I might have put 10 hours or more into this demo by now so yeah, that pretty much tells you how I feel about it.lol

Edited December 25, 2016 by The-Sigma-Alpha

[FinalMiracle13]

It's Platinum Games so eh, hopefully it'll be something that suits my taste. Unfortunately they decided to name a hack and slash with Nier, now I am forced to play it.