Part 21: Episode XX: White Flag

Episode XX: White Flag



Oh, you mean the hacking? No worries. Us scanners are pretty good at that kind of thing. I’ve got your back anytime.



Okie dokie. That’s one less batshit crazy machine monstrosity out of the picture. A job well done. I mean... I don’t think we’re recovering any of those androids we were sent out to locate. But... technically we were only tasked with locating and reporting on the status of MIA androids. Not actually... recovering them.



I think they were only being kept alive by that enemy.
...Oh.



Well, shucks. At the very least, I doubt any of them would particularly be well off after being flayed alive, crucified on rusted steel pylons and bombarded with hacking opera music for god knows how long. It’s probably a mercy they all died with Simone’s destruction.

Anyway, Simone was nice enough to unlock the front door upon her destruction. So let’s make our way out of the castle. We’re just about done with the Amusement Park zone.



So. um...
What is it?
That machine had some pretty weird things to say, huh? It’s almost like it had actual emotion—
The machines don’t have feelings. You said that yourself.
Yeah, I...I guess.



Emotions are prohibited. Especially when displayed by a crazy ass machine overflowing with emotions random responses and erratic behavior. Anyway, we find ourselves in the main foyer of the Amusement Park Castle. Other than a few bits of less than noteworthy loot, there’s little left to be done in here. Behind the stairs is a corridor with a currently inaccessible elevator. We’ll just keep in mind that’s there for the moment.


Music: Amusement Park (Medium)



It’s nice to be back outdoors. I cannot imagine the musk present in a 10,000 year old amusement park attraction. That mess usually smells like urine and human despair in the best of times. We’re currently without an objective once again. So let’s make the best of it...





Time to fish! There’s a teeny bit of the bridge’s supports that have collapsed allowing access to the water below. Or at least the murky dark texture claiming to be water. Let’s cast a couple in before moving on, shall we?



I didn’t have a whole lot of luck fishing here. My RNG values are in the dumpster ever since the Iron Pipe incident... But there are a couple new catches. I am eventually going to 100% the fish. If just for that sweet, sweet fishing lore. And general hatred of my own free time.



The Koi Carp doesn’t give a fuck about your machine lifeform oil spills or android corpses floating down the river. It does what it goddamn pleases. Deal with it.



Why would you program a machine fish with the capacity to get bored?! WHY WOULD YOU PROGRAM A MACHINE FISH WITH THE CAPACITY TO GET BORED?!



Oh, goddammit! Can’t an android fish in peace without some uppity machine lifeform rolling in and wanting to fire orbs or express bizarre human copying behaviors? I hope you’re ready for a halberd...axe...sharp thingie to the chrome dome, ya scr—



Huh?
You defeated broken machine. You saved us.
This thing is awfully verbose for a machine.



There are several points in the game where we are given the option of advancing the plot or... just kind of not. It’s not a ‘but thou must!’ sort of situation. But... there isn’t anything else of note to do at the moment other than some sidequests clear across the game world. So there’s very little reason to reject this offer. Look at this dude. He’s got friendly green eyes and a cute little white surrender flag. Let’s see what’s up.



Still, we should at least head over there and gather data, right?
This way!



Our new objective is to follow this dude back to his... village? Wait, did I hear that right? They’ve got a village? Yeah... ok. Why not?


Music: Amusement Park (Quiet)







A new path, opposite the back alley roundabout way we took to the rollercoaster earlier, has opened. There’s not much going on back here. Just a bit a loot and a decaying android corpse sprawled in the corner. It’s probably fine. We’ll just remember that’s there for later. We might need to come back and investigate it for a sidequest.







The friendly machine lifeform leads us up to the rooftops of the Amusement Park and out around back to a series of rope bridges leading away from the park and into a nearby forest.



Hey guy, could you slow down? It’s not exactly a fair race if you’ve got a hover platform for legs. Though, 2B opts to stop her pursuit mid-way through the forest as something catches her eye...

Music: ENDS



Oh, right. You wouldn’t have seen that before. They’re sending supplies up from Earth to the moon and the Bunker. There are no spare parts or fuel in space, after all.
Huh.



Well, I suppose that makes sense. Kind of weird to think the androids have an intact space rocket program we never see. Sadly, Android NASA is not a factor in this game’s narrative.



They originally came here from outer space, right?
Well, there are a few theories about that... But no one knows for sure. Hard to tell what an alien is thinking, you know?



I wonder what kind of aliens they are... Insectoids? Sexy blue ladies? Mars People? Predators? Cyborgs? Weird forehead humans? They’ve definitely got a fondness for orbs, whatever they are...



In any case, following this path to its end brings us to our destination and the end of Chapter 4.









Tune in next time when we mingle with a society of friendly communist machines in their Ewok tree village as NieR: Automata continues to roll with the punches.






Video: Episode 20 Highlight Reel





Amusement Park Concept Art – Seems like they got the visual style of this area down pat pretty early.






**** UNIT DATA *****


Music: Birth of a Wish (This Cannot Continue)



That update was a wee bit fleeting. But frankly that chapter ends at a weird spot. What was I going to have that nice flag boy show up and go to the machine lifeform Ewok village the same update as the bombastic crazy opera robot fight? That wouldn’t work at all! So to supplement its short length, let’s take a look at Unit Data.



Unit Data is added to our Intel files every time we trash a machine lifeform (or in the future complete sidequests involving ‘em.) Unit Data is divided into a load of categories depending on the region and type of unit involved. We’ve only hit 13% of the total machines as of this update. EVERY SINGLE variation of a machine in the game counts towards our total. If there’s a machine that spilled some red paint on ‘em, that’d count as a separate entry. This might be tied to the most tedious sidequest in the game which involves filling up 95% of Unit Data. It sucks!

Anyway, let’s start with...

Standard Machines



The default trash can boys. They come in three fun varieties so far!



Punch boy no accessories.



Orb lad head shot city sniper!



Impenetrable defense!



Nobody knows what the deal is with these multi-tier boys. They march ever northward towards the end of the world.



As we’ve seen. They come in a variety of sizes. Moderately tall lads.



And far too big boys. We can’t even see you there you silly goose. You’re being foolish! What happens if you tip over?! Disaster!





Small-bipeds are honestly kind of uncommon at this point. The game prefers masses of Stubby machines or small squads of Medium guys. What a boring dude! Come back when you’ve got clown makeup or a neat hat.



Probably the second most common type of machine lifeform we’ve encountered. We’ve only seen two varieties of ‘em so far...



Powerful Punchman.



Cowardly Dark Souls Player.





If you hadn’t noticed earlier, the Goliath Biped actually has several machine lifeform heads all over its body. It’s really a mess of machines working together, with the one on top being the leader of this machine lifeform Megazord. If you look carefully, you can see one pulled the short straw and is operating the Goliath configuration’s dick.



As you can see, there’s unfortunate machines stuck in the Goliath’s arm and another one having fun setting off the jetpack on its behind. He’s having a good time at least. Before the androids cause him to violently explode.





Shooter segments’ top units. I think these might be the most destroyed machine lifeform overall due to the sheer number of ‘em eating it whenever flight units are involved.





Turns out the Medium Flyer is just a tricked out standard edition with a bunch of junk bolted onto it. Its effectiveness has been limited. But by god, they’re trying.

Desert Machines



You think the desert guys have a latent hatred of wolves? Do they even know what wolves are? I think Papa Nier and friends drove wolves to extinction... Among other things...





That cannot be comfortable having a buzzsaw attached to your waste and spinning directly in front of your head non-stop. Then again, I wasn’t born with a saw affixed to my hip and churning at all times. So maybe you’d get used to it.



The standard version of the Desert Stubby has fun animations.





Look at this doofus trying to be cool with his cape and 80G sword he got off MachinEbay.





You think the machine lifeforms try doing cool moves and poses for each other in their downtime?







The wood grain finish and custom paint job seems like a good idea at first. But then oops! Turns out sand weathers it down to a chipped up mess within a couple months and the paint is already fading the first week and dang it!





I dunno, having a cape and a hovercraft seems like it could be a bad scene. Just throwing that out there...

Amusement Park Machines



Please don’t try murdering the parading nice robots. They will not take your bullshit, androids.





Note, the only way to unlock most of these entries is to go murder the shit out of them like a jerk. Someday... Not today.

Special Unit Machines





Marx was, in fact, just a repurposed bucket excavator with a murderous machine AI with a lust for android blood shoved into it. Sadly, the game does not do that very often. No Killdozer appearances will be happening.





I bet the aliens considered revamping Engel’s design to engineer out the whole “bursting into flames while attacking” bit and another alien slapped the first one upside the head and went “No that shit is rad! Keep it in!”





Aww yeah. Dickless Sephiroth flaunting his Ken Doll physique.





Oh by the way, that second naked dude that crawled out of Adam wasn’t just a resurrected clone like Zero did in Drakengard 3. That was a second dude, Eve. He’s got a sad flat white butt. Clearly the lesser brother here.





Huh. Simone was a cannibal, eh? That’s uhh... Wait, machine lifeforms eat? But how does that...? Wait...



Oh, right! That makes more sense! Welp, that’s everyone for now! I’ll probably start compiling all the new robot lads we encounter at the ends of chapters from here on out, now that we’ve got a decent stock rolling in.