Nier: Automata’s Developers Talk Game’s True Meaning, Forcing Square Enix To Let Them Make It

Nier: Automata first launched greater than 5 years in the past, and as of October 2022, it has lastly made the soar to Nintendo Switch. To mark the event, GameSpot had the possibility 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 almost all justifies its existence as a recreation 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 may chalk it as much as a largely wholesome obsession.

Below, you’ll discover the total Q&A session I had with Taro, Saito, and Okabe. Their responses had been translated by a Square Enix consultant from Japanese to English.

Nier: Automata is out there on PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. 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 individuals say after taking part in Nier: Automata is that they felt “depressed.” However, I felt the exact opposite, and really wrote a bit on how its optimism can really feel like overcoming melancholy regardless of feeling hopeless. Was this intentional? Your work, particularly with character arcs, is commonly very darkish and macabre, however not often for no motive.

Even now, every so often, I nonetheless obtain DMs alongside the strains of “my depression was cured,” however this was not intentional in any respect. “Then, why do I receive such DMs?” I questioned, and I feel that’s as a result of NieR is a recreation very similar to a mirror that displays the participant.

Nier doesn’t depict “justice as intended by the creator,” however as a substitute is structured in order that it poses the query to the participant. Light 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?

Did from the start that you simply needed this to be a Nier recreation? It capabilities largely as a standalone recreation, regardless of going down after the unique Nier and sharing a number of 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.

At the identical time, I do must 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 short synopsis of the earlier title in the beginning, however as a substitute results in designing one thing that will extra naturally let the participant expertise a totally totally different story.

Yosuke Saito

The authentic Nier wasn’t precisely a best-seller. Despite this, years after the sport was launched, Square Enix greenlit an enormous 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 might solely promote 300,000 models globally…

PlatinumGames performed an enormous position in making Automata a hit. How vital is that partnership, and the way huge a task does trendy, weighty fight play within the collection going ahead?

I needed to search out the very best builders to create an action-RPG, and so I went to hunt PlatinumGames’ assist. Among them, Takahisa Taura’s crew was distinctive, and so I do imagine our partnership with them is kind of vital for the way forward for our collection.

Keiiche Okabe

There is a sure high quality to your work that makes it immediately recognizable. I noticed I used to be listening to your work instantly after I first noticed the Voice of Cards trailer, for example. What do you suppose is your most “signature” factor? The background vocals?

Perhaps 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 many others., could not essentially stand out individually, however I feel the way in which these refined traits are layered or mixed makes them recognizable to listeners

What was the method like for creating the “End of Yorha” model of Weight of the World? Was this a collaborative determination with Yoko Taro to incorporate the roaring group of voices as you progress additional into the credit?

Fundamentally 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 precise sounds that go in, making options like “how about taking it in this direction?”