The Let's Play Archive

NieR: Automata

by The Dark Id

Part 136: Episode CXXXI: Overdue Books

Episode CXXXI: Overdue Books


Music: Rays of Light (Quiet)



Let’s check it out.



We’ll be getting back to the aftermath of that 2B series exploding in 9S’s face later. Fun fact: That wasn’t just a randomly chosen 2B to serve as the exploding model in the cutscene. It will spawn already downed behind 9S at some point during the fight. So the machine network actually just discretely dropped an explosives rigged 2B to be an asshole to 9S. They’re real dicks.



This final chapter will frequently be swapping between or two protagonists. Spoilers: 9S did not, in fact, get gibbed just before. The way to the Tower is clear of any machines and littered with quite a few scrapped robots. We can find the ones responsible as soon as we enter the gate.



We... went ahead and opened the Tower. 9S is... already inside.
......
I see.



Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do except continue onward to the Tower. The only androids in the region left that were qualified to make repairs to jacked androids like Devola and Popola were err... Devola and Popola. Devola has one final thing to say while A2 waits for the elevator to come down.



Did we... Did we... manage to help?
...You did.




Music: The Tower (Quiet Vocal)



Up we go to the Tower proper. If you’ll look to the top right there, there’s actually a save point in the first area here. If reloaded, it’ll spawn us back at the beginning of events here. This is the final save point in the game and we’re already locked into the endgame because this elevator doesn’t go back down. Much like the original NieR’s endgame, you’d best set aside a solid hour because there’s no stops between here and the ending credits.



It is worth noting that the game actually does start doling out checkpoints for the final dungeon we can continue from if A2 or 9S dies at any point. They’re usually pretty generous. So that’s nice.



Hypothesis: The corpse is likely a result of YoRHa unit 9S’s advance through the area.
...Let’s go.



Yep, nothing but the corpses of everyone 9S killed to greet us in this first area. So we can just run straight back to the room where 9S officially cracked.



Unknown. Proposal: Gather additional data.
Someday I need to teach you how to be helpful.



All the 2B corpses have been cleared out and all that remains of the battle is a caved in pit where 9S got blown up. So yes... 9S managed to fall down another hole. It just keeps happening!





The gate beyond the 2B battle room is unlocked and A2 continues onward to another empty, very pretty walkway. Still no enemies to be found here. Nor will there be any for this segment of the game.



A closed door is found at the end of the path. Nothing is stopping A2 from barging right in, so...




Old Music: Song of the Ancients - Popola (Instrumental)







Oh shit!

If you didn’t take the hint and educate yourself on the original NieR, like a stupid idiot, then you’d miss that this place was a very important location. This was Popola’s Library, the central fixture of Nier’s hometown where he received all his quest directions and the battle site for the climax of the first half of the game. This is a 1:1 reconstruction of it... just with all the color removed, of course.



Hypothesis: It is a representation of a library.
What’s that?
A library is a data-storage facility constructed by past human civilizations.
Hmm.



One of the books on the Library’s ground floor is suspiciously glowing. May as well investigate. Despite this being a very important location, I don’t think Papa Nier ever read a single book in here. He wasn’t exactly the reading type of guy... Unless that book happened to know blood magic and could murder Shades. He did fight a book in here once. Come to think of it, that dickish book sounded a lot like you Pod...



Help me out, Pod.
Affirmative. Hacking-interface access rights granted to YoRHa unit A2.
Peachy.







A2 can now hack books. Don’t ask me how that works. Just go with it. A2 isn’t the brightest android.





For this first hack, we need to take a roundabout route along the perimeter of the hacking space to the core due to invulnerable white block barring any direct routes. Easy enough even for A2 to figure out. As soon as we complete the hack, we receive an Intel file.





Great, they can probably cough out another Adam or Eve if they wanted. A lot of these records are stuff the machines would already have on file or stuff that was probably hacked from the Bunker infiltration. Kind of odd they’d have records on plants and animals too. But nothing the machines do has any meaning, right?



That’s it for downstairs. So let’s head to the upper floor, where two more glowing books await to be hacked. We’ll get to those in a little bit.



But first, there are two doors on the upper part of the Library. This door on the right of the staircase should lead to...



...Popola’s office. The machines really went all out copying this room. Not that there is anything to do in it. That treasure chest just contains a Small Recovery, if you’re wondering. Welp. That’s neat either way.



Heading back out, there’s another door on the opposite side of the staircase. Back in the original NieR, this room was a weird shrine that slowly filled up with statues of the bosses Papa Nier and friends slayed during the course of the game. This time around...


(Click for larger shot.)

It’s a trophy room for all the important machines and bosses in NieR: Automata. Starting at the top left and moving left to right we’ve got:
I have no idea about the significance of some of them being silver. It’s not some sort of hidden PlatinumGames ranking system. They’re always the same colors. Silver ones being not directly killed by the player doesn’t work since we definitely destroyed that carrier and So-Shi. Dunno! It’s a nice callback though.





Let’s get back on task. There’s two books to be hacked on either side of the room. The order doesn’t matter. Reading is its own reward.





For this hack we need to destroy all four of those suspiciously isolated boxes over in the corners of hacking space before the core’s shield is deactivated. Once that’s sorted, we get...



I guess the machines have info on the human genome now. Do with that what you want. Humans were huge dipshits.



The machines hacked that deep into the system, huh?



One more hack left on the opposite side of the room. Let’s see what we’ve got.





This time there are four suspiciously taller blocks out among the field of black cubes. We need to shatter all four to get that core down again. This results in the unlocking of...



The entire dooming of the human race can traced back to one little girl getting an incurable unspecified anime ailment. Well that and a rhythm battle between a dragon and a sociopath vs a 50 story tall salt mannequin.



Damn it, this is useless. There’s too many of them.



If we return to the ground floor of the Library, a new book has begun glowing near the entrance. I suppose that’s worth investigating.



Say! That’s talking about A2. That’s probably a book worth flipping through.



Music: ENDS



......
<gasp> This data...

So A2 is about to get interrupted and not explain what she read in about .05 seconds from now. A file silently gets added to our Intel menu from this cutscene. It’s really easy to miss reading since we’re immediately going to be onto something else in a moment. So let’s stop and take a look here.



Huh... So the Executioner series of YoRHa androids were also derived from A2’s combat data during the Pearl Harbor Descent. That’s an odd factoid to pull out after 99% of YoRHa is already dead. Alright, then. Make of that what you will. Now resuming the cutscene...







Did someone order a new spider-bot named after a Chinese philosopher?



Tune in next time as we completely ignore that and go see what happened to 9S after he fell down the twelfth pit in his adventure as NieR: Automata’s endgame continues.






Video: Episode 131 Highlight Reel (You should probably watch this.)





Devola and Popola Concept Art – Ehh. I like their final outfits better than any of these.