How aesthetically representative of "NieR: Automata" is FFXIV's YoRHa content?

[Rowde]

Firstly, I'd just like to say that in my opinion everyone should play through NieR: Automata at least once if they can as its an absolute masterpiece (and not just route A). I can't recommend it enough.

But to answer your question - the Nier raids are aesthetically and visually very representitive of NieR:A as most of the music is straight from Automata, save for the boss fight remixes, as someone else already pointed out. 2B's outfit is absolutely identical and I believe every piece of gear that you get from the raids is either taken from the game itself directly or from something related to Automata that isn't the game itself (but is still official Automata material). The Pods and Stubby minions are from the game as well.

Story-wise however - not in the slightest. The raids have locations that are visually similar/the same to places from Automata but the story is not in any way related to it. I won't go into Automata's story, I'd just say go play it and find out yourself instead. It's worth it.

the important part is to remember that Yoko Taro is either a genius, a madman, or a troll and he has no problem putting critical plot details in other forms of media that a person playing just one of the games may never know about

dark apocalypse did further entwine the Drakengard and Nier universes via the Seed of Destruction which doesn't come up in Automata at all but is a big deal in Drakengard
Drakengard 3 had a character that was revealed to be an android but exactly how an android existed in Drakengard's more medieval/fantasy setting was not fully explained

so atm it could just be a side story but later it could be an essential plot point in a Drakengard 4 or an Automata 2
only Yoko Taro knows

[Flaws]

the important part is to remember that Yoko Taro is either a genius, a madman, or a troll and he has no problem putting critical plot details in other forms of media that a person playing just one of the games may never know about

dark apocalypse did further entwine the Drakengard and Nier universes via the Seed of Destruction which doesn't come up in Automata at all but is a big deal in Drakengard
Drakengard 3 had a character that was revealed to be an android but exactly how an android existed in Drakengard's more medieval/fantasy setting was not fully explained

so atm it could just be a side story but later it could be an essential plot point in a Drakengard 4 or an Automata 2
only Yoko Taro knows

That's pretty cool then. I am new to Yoko Taro's work (Automata was my first when it came out and I'm about to get into Replicant very soon) so I had no idea about the connection to Drakengard.

[Hasrat]

I recall once saying, while the raids were still current-ish, "This all probably makes a lot more sense if you're actually familiar with Nier games."

Was assured that, no, it's kinda all always intentionally confusing.

I, too, decided to try the games out some time after the raids. Sure, the visuals are nice. And the music is certainly top notch. Story kinda doesn't live up to the hype, tho, imo. But, maybe biased, might be more incredible if you didn't have your own teenage existentialism phase.

[Nestama]

Honestly, all the raid does is be the first step of confirming Red Girl's origin...

and to go "oh, that makes sense!" on why that is, you need to finish the E route in the NieR: Replicant remake.

As for how it wound up on the First, a world that I'm not entirely sure is in the same "space/universe" as the Source, is anyone's guess.

[Carin-Eri]

I haven't played NieR: Automata, but have watched a friend play parts of it whilst they streamed it. It looks amazing.

And as a sidenote, I have to confess..... the song 'Weight of the World' breaks me every time I hear it. Those lyrics... that music... FFXIV certainly has music that chokes me up (Close in the Distance for example) but 'Weight of the World' seems to know exactly how to pull the heartstrings.

I tend to think the fact that it was apparently the game's Dev team singing the chorus increases the impact too; as the comments on Youtube say, it was the developers YOLO attempt to save the studio and they decided to make the game they wanted to make, rather than the game most likely to sell.
https://youtu.be/Ag7EEGEViAw

[kaynide]

Have played Automata and discovered/played while waiting for Shadowbringers:

Visually they share many elements but the stories are basically unconnected beyond characters, similar to when Noctis rolled into Eorzea.

Story wise, your mileage will vary depending on what you like/dislike, but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend playing it completely blind/spoiler free. Wasn’t anything particularly new or groundbreaking story wise or gameplay, but it was done well enough for my enjoyment.

I wanna say a lotta people who played and enjoyed it...essentially “came for the 2booty, but found gold”

I did not play any other Nier games or Drakengard, and that really had no impact on my enjoyment..though there might have been a few references I didnt get, but again, zero impact on my enjoyment.

[GrizzlyTank]

All the music comes directly from Automata with the exception of the final bosses which are all remixes.
The aesthetic is mostly spot on but the raids do an incredibly poor job at showing what the story of NieR:Automata is actually about. Which is a good or a bad thing depending on the PoV.

Although the entire nier/drakengard plot can be simplified to "Existential threat tries to wipe out humanity". Either through the seeds we saw or a disease/virus causing red eyes.

[Saraide]

Aesthetically it has quite a bit of crossover but also leaves out many locations that you would find in nier automata. There you will find city ruins, a desert, forests and an amusement park for example. Alliance raid gameplay also doesnt really lend itself for discovering things in the world which is a big part of nier automata.

Enemies are taken directly from nier automata for the most part, tower at paradigm's breach diverges a bit from that and references nier's origins in the drakengard games.

[Raoabolic]

the important part is to remember that Yoko Taro is either a genius, a madman, or a troll and he has no problem putting critical plot details in other forms of media that a person playing just one of the games may never know about

Remember when he put a Nier:Automata ending in a japanese stage play that toured around for a bit? He is an amazing mix of all three, lmao.

[Rowde]

Remember when he put a Nier:Automata ending in a japanese stage play that toured around for a bit? He is an amazing mix of all three, lmao.

that's what i'm referring too yah
there's also a stage play that explores the red eye logic virus more and goes over what happened to A2 before Nier Automata begins

I think there are also some novels/light novels as well