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Some unexpected leftist commentary from Nier: Automata
(hexbear.net)
Not my screenshot btw but I hunted it down after playing through this part. I've been playing it for a bit now (I'm on path C) and it's still not 100% obvious to me that it's an explicitly pro-leftist, though there are some hints. For example, there are also 2 robots named Marx and Engels, where Marx dies early and you talk to Engels as a side quest. I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on this game if you've played it before.
the last time I posted on this site saying nier automata is complete dogshit that substitutes
philosopher names for actual philosophy some nerd posted a ten paragraph screed about how I hate art & how wrong I am, so I'm going to go ahead and again say that it is complete dogshit
just to have some skin in the game some "actually philosophical" games I've enjoyed & connected with include SOMA, The Talos Principle, SIGNALIS, Disco Elysium, and Prey.
Nier: Automata is one of my favorite games of all times, combining interesting themes with a fairly unique storytelling method that honestly blew me away. The multi path storytelling method is super cool and not many games have done it well. Plus the gameplay is fantastic fun and the world is beautiful for what it is.
Also The Talos Principle, while I love it, is definitely baby's first deep game. Why yes let's just read journal entries that mostly include quotes and passages from philosophers! So deep wow. I find it honestly hilarious that you think it is somehow more genuinely deep that Nier. Maybe it's more accessibly deep since it just reads you book passages.
I love that the way Yoko Taro writes makes for a much more repayable game without ever needing to address the gameplay itself, of course the fun combat carry most of the game but the way the story is writing give me that want to play the game again to see in a different perspective even with A/B routes been mostly the same content.
The philosophical excerpts definitely helped with the vibe of the game but I would not say they were the core of its philosophical content. Some of the dialogues with Milton were fun, although they mostly amount to personality tests. I mainly connected with the idea of embodying an evolved consciousness formed after strange eons by accident in a dead world, in some tenuous sense a continuation of the last of humanity. The Alexandra Drennan character emotionally resonated as she struggled to finish the simulation with her coworkers progressively succumbing to the virus. Overall I think the game developed a very strong setting of marginal existence in a world of existential horror. This was punctuated by islands of respite with the peaceful messenger worlds, where you feel like you can suspend knowledge of existence and rest for a moment.
The gameplay was the weakest part and was a one-note spectacle slasher.
The world looks like complete shit with a grey haze covering everything and monotonous desert/city/forest biomes. PS3 game in the PS4 era.
I'm sure we didn't play the same game. You just be thinking of the original Nier
Nah I've never played the original. The one I played had the space androids in year 12000 battling the earth robots in an endless cycle.
Broke: Liking Nier Automata because it tries to be brainy
Woke: Liking Nier Automata because you're a Platinum Games Character Action Goblin
Bespoke: Liking Nier Automata because Yoko Toro is weird and worth keeping an eye on even if most of his stuff is kinda bad
I just realized this is my opinion on Hideo Kojima as well.
Regardless what you think of Kojima or Yoko Taro at very least their games are kinda different and somewhat unique from most mainstream games.