Copied Factory

[Erakir]

I've heard that the meat of the story is going to be baked into the second and third installments, but I agree it doesn't give us much to go on starting out.

Never played Nier, have read a bit - enough to get some of the basics and know part of 9S's schmeal throughout Automata - there's not a lot to grasp on unless you're invested in the series already. I appreciate having a quest afterward to go through and look around, as realistically how many groups will actually stop and look at the details of the environment? Still, feel like there could be more of a buildup.

Aesthetically, I vastly prefer Lighthouse and Orbonne, but that doesn't mean I dislike this setting at all - just preferred Ivalice's. The lack of voice acting hurts this raid, particularly with how the pods talk in Nier, all the machine-like tone or feel to it, just lost. The last boss would also greatly benefit from voices back and forth between 2P and 9S, not just on screen text. I feel that would have added a *lot.*

Mechanically it's sound. I enjoyed the first and second bosses the most mechanically. Mr. Biggum highlights a trend Square is slowly moving more towards (also briefly seen in E4S) of paying attention to actual boss animations rather than markers and effects. This is also seen in the second boss ala constantly watching your backside. Aaaand without some of the tells being obvious-obvious to react to, it means going in blind you'll have "gotcha" moments. Despite 'gotcha', I like it, but we are limited by our camera a fair amount - particularly for things that are happening a fair bit above us.

I feel like the last fight is actually the weakest in terms of mechanics. We've seen everything there, and it's not even mildly masked as anything different. I feel like it's all about the spectacle though, and the music alone makes it great for me. However, as wonderful as that music is, doesn't feel like it belongs there yet. The raid doesn't build itself up enough to have such a powerful culmination. That's final-final-boss kinda music, and the connection may be there if you know Nier and ending E, but otherwise it's just a really great song for a boss fight that you have *absolutely* no connection to yet. Compare it to SB's main theme coming in during the Shinryu fight that's had buildup for an entire MSQ.

All in all, it earns a pass from me. Not my favorite, but I certainly enjoyed it and will continue to do so. Story is not as gripping as it could be for non-Nier players, got a few neat mechanics and presentation of them. Trash fight has enough dodging going on that it doesn't feel as much like "group up and holy everything." Presentation of the last two bosses is pretty great, Weight of the World Prelude is phenomenal.