NieR: Automata Part #51 - Episode L: Grün

Part 51: Episode L: Grün

Episode L: Grün

Welp. This is happening now... This is an event that is transpiring in front of us. This mechanical doom-fish is named Grün named after Karl Theodor Ferdinand Grün a 19th century German journalist and radical socialist political activist. A lot of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s early philosophy was influenced by dunking on this guy, who was a college schoolmate of theirs and ran in the same circles on the opposite end of ideas. This dude was also exiled to Belgium for being kind of a dick with his politics. Twice! Imagine getting told to fuck off to Belgium multiple times...

It’s freakin’ HUGE...

Yep... That is a machine of an advanced size... All we can do for the moment is take out some more Flyer units while Grün performs a laser lights show in the background. After a bit of farting around in the face of the titanic doom fish...

We’ve got to find another way to damage it.

6O contacts 2B...

But the enemy’s electromagnetic camouflage is making it impossible to aim. We need you to find the emitter and take it out!

Oh, is that all?

I know, I know! But it’s the only way!

New Music: Grün

Pod 042 has it right. We need to go destroy this giant robot’s cannon sticking out of the back of its head. Sure... Not the strangest thing we’ve done in this series, honestly... Get back to me when there’s giant cyclops beasts with workman repair scaffolding for headgear.

To arrive at the back portion EMP generator, we of course need to deal with another swarm of Flyer machines along the way. Grün opts to occasionally fire a rocket volley in our general direction. But mostly it’s just doing its own thing and ignoring our androids for now. Eventually, Pod 042 chimes in with some info...

Go ahead.

The only known record of this machine lifeform is a lone sighting 320 years ago. Upon reaching land, the unit unleashed a devastating electromagnetic wave attack. All Resistance fighters in the vicinity were annihilated.

So basically, if this thing reaches land, we’re screwed.

Affirmative.

Pod 042 doesn’t mince words. Anyway, we need to trash this colossal machine before it reaches the shore. Along the way to the tail end of the beast, we trash a massive amount of Flyer machines. Given the level scaling of all enemies to around our current rank, this sequence is a near guaranteed couple of Level Ups just from the sheer wave of destruction we do progressing.

Eventually we do reach the weird the EMP generator. Who is ready for another mid-boss?

The EMP Generator goes full side-scrolling shmup boss for its encounter. Of course it is host to a variety of energy orb volleys. That is just a given in the NieR boss scene.

On top of that it has a rotating series of four outer orbs which fire laser blasts in 2B’s general direction. That’s about all there is to the EMP Generator’s move list.

Our initial goal is to take out all four outer orbs as they rotate within our range at the bottom and top of the mid-boss. It’s actually possible to hit the orbs with the Missile Pod C while they’ve rotated out of range. But it’s a less than effective means of dealing damage. The thing isn’t going anywhere.

Once all four outer orbs surrounding the giant central orb are destroyed, the middle part of the EMP generator becomes vulnerable to attack. At this point it flips out shooting energy orbs all willy-nilly to deter 2B’s assault but it does little good. Also “orb” is starting to stop sounding like a real word...

As soon as the EMP Generator on Grün’s backside is destroyed, Operator 6O chimes in again...

Preparing for satellite laser strike!

Music: ENDS

So did you know that YoRHa has orbital cannons in play? It’s true. We only see one ever used in this very scene...

...It is less than effective. I feel like Orbital Cannons may be the least successful form of weaponry in sci-fi fiction. Don’t get me wrong... They’re rad as all get out. But hell if they ever fully complete their objective. Just think about it for a moment. Think of a story beat out of the protagonists' hands where an orbital cannon worked and solved all problems. No, this is not an invitation to actually come up with like the two instances going against this thesis. What is wrong with you. I can see you now going "ACTUALLY..." Ponder your life decisions and mend your ways...

Heh. Having trouble over there?

...Are you YoRHa?

I’m the commanding officer, 4B. Don’t worry—we’ll take it from here.

A YoRHa squadron swoops in with an assist. By the way, we briefly met 4B before. She ate it immediately during the prologue mission to the Abandoned Factory Zone. If you ever wondered why 2B didn’t seem to give a shit about any of them dying, that’s because everyone (but the deserter 11B of course) just got restored to back-up units upon death. Good to see 4B is doing alright after that mission.

Music: Grün

I have an idea. You and I should meet up at the spot I just marked.

Alright, fine. 9S you seem to be the ideas guy. 2B is just here for smashing machines and is open to alternate suggests on accomplishing the goal of smashing machines.

The two androids zoom off towards the shore...

All the EMP shielding in the world won’t help against close-range mortar fire.

Got it.

Alright. Well, if long-range firing solutions are out of the question...

...Let’s put something a bit more up close and personal into action.

Right. So Grün just so happens to be straight in the crosshairs of this huge rail cannon. We should probably shoot that thing in the face, right? That seems like a sound course of action.

Unfortunately, Grün just kinda no-sells that railgun to the noggin. Hmph... Maybe there’s a better way to go about this...?

2B! Let’s try for a more “direct” approach!

Direct...? Oh, right!

That’s right! Lay down some fire in its stupid mouth!

Of course the giant enemy boss’s week point is in its mouth. Obviously! Everyone knows that. That’s just Giant Dude Enemy Tactics 101.

Music: ENDS

And as we all know from our studies of enemy boss encounter design, it obviously needs to be hit in the mouth three times for this method of attack to be effective. That’s just basic science at work.

Thus 2B and 9S actually successfully completed a mission objective with minimal casualties in the interval between assignment and completion. We’re only counting this mission having begun with Grün’s appearance, of course. Who could have known it would break the carrier in half with its jaws initially? That was clearly out of our hands.

Welp. Scratch that. It seems Grün is still active...

Also, as it turns out Grün is less of a Giant Doom Fish Machine and more of straight up just a goddamn robot kaiju... This escalated quickly...

Before any of the YoRHa squadron in the area can react to the fact the enemy is 50-Story Doom Bot, Grün opts to release that aforementioned EMP wave it unleashed the last time it was around a few centuries ago...

As a result, every single YoRHa flight unit in 4B’s squadron immediately drops like a rock out of the sky. Welp... In retrospect, Pod 042 probably should have informed all of them it could do that... Oh well. Hindsight and all that...

As it turns out, 9S is equipped with a handy anti-EMP bubble shield. This is actually a Pod Program 2B herself can pick-up. No idea if it’s effective against Cutscene EMP Attacks as shown here. But I do appreciate it’s an in-world thing it’s possible to get and not something 9S pulled out of his ass.

And so the two androids bail on this bogus scene.

The trouble is that Grün did NOT appreciate being shot in the mouth with that rail cannon three times. Maybe twice it would overlook. But three times is just a huge dick move on YoRHa’s part here.

2B and 9S just manage to make it to their Flight Units as the platform is destroyed. However, they’re immediately flung by the explosion and seem destined to meet their EMP struck comrades at the bottom of the sea...