Nier: Automata first launched greater than 5 years in the past, and as of October 2022, it has lastly made the soar to Nintendo Change. To mark the event, GameSpot had the prospect to ask key members of the event team–writer-director Yoko Taro, producer Yosuke Saito, and composer Keiiche Okabe–about Nier: Automata’s creation and the lasting impression the sport has had.
I’ve made no secret that I’m an infinite Nier: Automata fan, and it continues to carry a particular place in my coronary heart as not simply my favourite online game of all time, but additionally the sport that the majority justifies its existence as a sport slightly than another type of media. The interactivity and sudden style shifts in Nier: Automata (and its predecessor) are its defining attribute. I’m unsure what it signifies that I’ve additionally learn the novelization and am eagerly anticipating the anime adaptation, however you’ll be able to chalk it as much as a largely wholesome obsession.
Under, you’ll discover the complete Q&A session I had with Taro, Saito, and Okabe. Their responses had been translated by a Sq. Enix consultant from Japanese to English.
Nier: Automata is out there on PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Change. A retooled and remastered model of its predecessor, Nier Replicant, was launched for PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2021.
Yoko Taro
GameSpot: One factor I’ve seen some folks say after enjoying Nier: Automata is that they felt “depressed.” Nevertheless, I felt the exact opposite, and really wrote a chunk on how its optimism can really feel like overcoming despair regardless of feeling hopeless. Was this intentional? Your work, particularly with character arcs, is usually very darkish and macabre, however hardly ever for no purpose.
Even now, sometimes, I nonetheless obtain DMs alongside the traces of “my despair was cured,” however this was not intentional in any respect. “Then, why do I obtain such DMs?” I questioned, and I believe that’s as a result of NieR is a sport very like a mirror that displays the participant.
Nier doesn’t depict “justice as supposed by the creator,” however as a substitute is structured in order that it poses the query to the participant. Mild and darkish, life and death–these dualities could have served as a catalyst to push the boundaries of freedom of thought.
I attempted my greatest to include intelligent-sounding phrases right here. Do you suppose I succeeded in presenting myself as a wise creator?
Do you know from the start that you just wished this to be a Nier sport? It capabilities largely as a standalone sport, regardless of happening after the unique Nier and sharing just a few characters.
The video games that I create are usually an extension of the real-life world. So, from that perspective, it’s solely pure that the historical past could also be shared.
On the similar time, I do have to make it in order that gamers who begin on later installments, that haven’t performed the earlier titles, can nonetheless perceive the story. This doesn’t essentially imply including a quick synopsis of the earlier title at the start, however as a substitute results in designing one thing that might extra naturally let the participant expertise a totally completely different story.
Yosuke Saito
The unique Nier wasn’t precisely a best-seller. Regardless of this, years after the sport was launched, Sq. Enix greenlit a giant sequel. What was that dialog like? Was the corporate on board from the start?
I threatened to go away the corporate if I couldn’t develop Nier: Automata and pushed by way of inside approvals that approach, actually. They thought it will solely promote 300,000 items globally…
PlatinumGames performed a giant position in making Automata a hit. How necessary is that partnership, and the way huge a job does fashionable, weighty fight play within the sequence going ahead?
I wished to seek out the very best builders to create an action-RPG, and so I went to hunt PlatinumGames’ assist. Amongst them, Takahisa Taura’s staff was distinctive, and so I do consider our partnership with them is sort of necessary for the way forward for our sequence.
Keiiche Okabe
There’s a sure high quality to your work that makes it immediately recognizable. I noticed I used to be listening to your work straight away once I first noticed the Voice of Playing cards trailer, as an illustration. What do you suppose is your most “signature” factor? The background vocals?
Maybe vocal songs could also be recognizable because the vocalists I like and select have their very own defining traits.
The melody, chord development, the way in which sounds within the backing tracks are layered, and so forth., could not essentially stand out individually, however I believe the way in which these refined traits are layered or mixed makes them recognizable to listeners
What was the method like for creating the “Finish of Yorha” model of Weight of the World? Was this a collaborative resolution with Yoko Taro to incorporate the roaring group of voices as you progress additional into the credit?
Basically talking, Yoko Taro’s requests are on the forefront, and with that in place, I really feel it’s my position to form the picture of the particular sounds that go in, making options like “how about taking it on this path?”
The merchandise mentioned right here had been independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot could get a share of the income for those who purchase something featured on our web site.