#Nier automata 2b kaine android#

The original game’s character development is handled with such love and care, and each emotional beat is a perfect punch in the gut, but in Automata it’s a lot of retread ground and a lot less satisfying when it comes to personal development. Kainé will protect Yonah in his stead and whilst Nier succeeds in saving his daughter, for a while at least, he fails at being there for her when all’s said and done. Even this is a far cry from Nier wanting to save his daughter and ultimately giving up his life to save hers, knowing that she’ll die from the Black Scrawl eventually anyway, just so that she can live a little longer. 2B’s character suffers from a lack of development and is generally blasé to expressions of emotion.ĢB doesn’t change all that much throughout the game, especially when compared to 9S who has an existential breakdown. It’s a much more hopeful game, but it attempts to hit many of the same emotional beats that NieR did without the same level of impact. You, as I did, will come to care for 2B, 9S, A2 and the supporting cast, especially Pascal, to some extent, but overall, I never felt as if the stakes were real, as if they were quite as believable as NieR’s cast and their personal plights. Losing your memory may be just as worse as death, but it’s not something that Automata explores deeply. The androids may not always be successful in doing this, and if so they lose their memories, but from the get-go there’s less tension knowing that no human life will suffer, and that there is a way out – humankind was wiped out entirely by the Black Scrawl, after all, and was not afforded this opportunity.

#Nier automata 2b kaine android#

You’re shown that once an android is staring down death, they can preserve their personalities and be transferred to another body.

NieR: Automata’s main issue in failing to grip me in the same way as its predecessor was is in its protagonists being androids – not so much that they’re not human, but that any real threat is removed very early on. NieR: Automata released to rave scores and has sold over 2.5 million copies – a significant success – but I found it to be an underwhelming experience that forgot what made NieR so beloved. NieR released at a time where Japanese games were even more niche than they are now, but since then players have become accustomed to playing more Japanese games in their gaming diet, and they’re bigger now than they ever were. NieR: Automata may be great, but it’s living in the original game’s shadow despite what sales and scores may suggest, and rarely will someone bother, or be easily able, to re-visit NieR. It’s one of my all time favorite games, but it never needed a sequel. The game is depressing, but it’s so poignant and heartfelt that it’s difficult to pull yourself away from it. There may be several endings, but they range from really bad, to really really bad, and there’s no hope. Nier, Kainé, Emil, Yonah, Grimoire Weiss – they’re destined to be unable to save the world and cure the deadly Black Scrawl, and so humankind is on its last legs. You lose everything, and this is made clear in Automata. The ending to NieR is one of my favorites. Beware! Heavy spoilers lie ahead, person who may not have played one of 2018’s hit games, or the original gem.