How NieR: Automata Tells the Ultimate Humanist Fable

I probably don't say it often enough, so I'm saying it again: Thank you to everyone who watches for all the kind words, encouragement, and debate and discussion. These videos are incredibly time-consuming to produce and it's a neverending struggle to get traction on YouTube, which can be hella discouraging, but all your feedback and kind words are so uplifting and gratifying for me. Even the smallest bit of encouragement goes a long way, so, thank you.

WHAT I PLAYED: NieR Automata WHAT I EXPECTED: EPIC JAPANESE HACK ‘N SLASH WITH ＥＸＴＲＡＴＨＩＣＣ ROBOT BOOTY WHAT I GOT: philosophy lessons, feels and all of the above.

I agree, it's hard to beat the end credits scene through a blur of tears

I started tearing up when I came back to the village after wiping pascal's memory and found him selling random robot parts..and realising they were taken from his children's corpses. Heartbreaking moment

I think the moment where I really began to emotionally pay attention is when they make you play as the machine at the beginning of the second play through. Him trying to pour oil on his “big brother” to wake him back up struck me, as the machine you play as is clumsy, slow, and weak. In fact he’s rather pathetic, and that pathos I felt toward him made me feel for the machines in a way I hadn’t before, only to have it broken by 9S who coldly brushes the event off as nonsensical. It was then that a three party event was occurring where the androids, machines and myself are all watching each other and evaluating if each other’s point of view is worth having.

Square Enix: So what’s the plan for Nier Automa.... Yoko Taro: EVERYONE FROM FROM THE FIRST NIER GAME IS DEAD.

"When you are 30, there are no original cells left in your body from when you were 10" Except for your brain cells, those have an estimated life span of 230 years. Most of your brain cells are the same brain cells you've had since birth. Brain cells are the longest living cells in the body. Thus, while your other hardware changes throughout your life, the operator is still the same operator.

It's incredible how the universe Yoko Taro created is probably one of the shittiest in all media to live in, and yet you always find a glimpse of hope that never fades and push you forward. A true hymn to humanity.

one of the hardest moments i had with automata was after the escort mission where you have to escort the machine child who ran away from their mother after a argument having to fend off bigger higher level machines that just kept coming, you have to escort the child a long distance and i had gotten them right to the end fighting through a chunk of the city just by the entrance leading up to the village, and then suddenly the machine child gets struck and explodes, and unlike every other game or anything like this, there was no mission failed, click to restart despite what my mind told me in that split second, that's it. The machine child dies.. and after you have to go tell the mother machine that her "child" didn't make it back which goes how you'd expect, i remind you i was like 5 steps away, and i cant remember about my saves but i remember i couldn't go back a save, i was so close, and im no thinker but this pretend Childs death really weighed on me for a couple days, i had to vent to my friend about it because it upset me that much which they had no clue bless them

“I read Kant, Voltaire, Pascal and other philosophical masterpieces, what did you do?” “I played Nier Automata”

I'm a completionist. And when I got to the end of the game and it asked me if I wanted to delete my save data I was surprised that I wanted to do it. Even though I still had stuff left. For a brief moment, I felt happy to be given the opportunity to sacrifice something even as silly as a save file for someone else even if it doesn't matter. As the prompts asked me to reconsider I understood what the game was leading me to do. And if I didn't delete my save file I felt that all of my time spent with the game would have been wasted. At that moment, Nier Automata transcended it's medium. It was more than a game. It forced me to make a "senseless and selfless act" as you put it. It truly changed me.

I played once and thought, “Meh, that was okay.” Then I played new game plus, and was drawn in a little more. Played three times, and cried during the credits. Thanks to all who sacrificed their time for me. I repaid the favor. Glory to Mankind.

I watched this video countless times. Thank you for this :)

"..to kill god" 》God is mankind 》Mankind is dead 》The player, representing mankind, gives up everything to give life to the androids at the end Wow

"Or perhaps he skipped right past profound and went straight to crazy instead." one of the best lines in the game.

The part about not being able to look at Simone is absolutely brilliant and I've never seen anyone mention it even almost 4 years after this came out. Also finally someone who looks a bit more into the philosopher names. Alot of youtubers tend to skim over or ignore them.

In a game where there are no humans left, the characters in Nier:Automata are more human than actual humans and that is the reason why most of us who have played this until Ending E are so emotional about it. Nier: Automata is more of an art form that is meant to be experienced and absorbed rather than it is something that you'd waste your time on while you wait for other AAA games to come out. Never have I ever played a game that brought out emotions from me. Sure, there are lots of games out there that I've played where I felt sad for a few minutes and just sat in silence as I try to process everything that has happened. However, Nier: Automata is the only game (that I know) that skipped past conventional storytelling and told you a story of what humanity is at its core. At the end of the story, the game doesn't ask you as one of the three characters you get to control to make a decision, no. The game asks you, as the player behind the screen, the one that controlled the life of the three, to make a decision. Like the three, are you willing to risk everything that you have, everything that you worked for, to possibly save somebody else? Because that's what Nier:Automata is about. It's a game about sacrifice. In my 20+ years of playing video games, I can say with absolute certainty that Nier:Automata is my favorite of all time and I don't think that will be changing any time soon. Probably not until Yoko Taro graces us with another game, that is.

About a month ago I wrote on the Nier subreddit about my disappointment in the way this game has been covered. When you started your essay with Taro's quote about the emotion evoked in the player being more important than the narrative or lore of the game, I knew I had finally found what I was looking for. This is the best video about Nier: Automata I've seen yet. And I've watched a lot of videos about Nier:Automata. Thank you for this.

I’m a year late, but honestly, I literally can’t stop myself from tearing up whenever I hear even just little parts of the OST from this game.

One of my favourite "makes you think" moments of the game was the side quest to escort and keep safe a robot parade for peace through a hostile area, just think about how many robots you had to kill at the behest of so-called pacifists just so they could spread their message to those unwilling to hear it. Pure pacifism would require it's adherents to either separate themselves from any possibility of conflict or bend the knee and accept their fate as soon as someone else tries to dominate them. Getting other people to commit violence on your behalf is merely domination of others by proxy... you are no less guilty of murder if you hire an assassin to do the deed. So pure pacifism is ultimately self destructive and regular pacifism is selfishly pushing the responsibility of violence and destruction onto others.