Part 67: Episode LXV: Brother

Episode LXV: Brother


New Music: Significance v2



We have completed NieR: Automata. Well... its first ending route at least. I’ve use the term “route” for a bit now while we’ve approached Ending A. That isn’t an entirely accurate term. NieR: Automata does things a bit differently than previous Drakenier games. It’s not like Drakengard 1 and 3 where the storyline splits off in weird directions at certain parts of the narrative. And it’s DEFINITELY not like Drakengard 2 where you just replay the entire fucking game at a higher difficulty just to get a different five minute conclusion. There’s 12 hours of my life I’ll never get back... It is not entirely like the original NieR, where we replay the game from a certain point with new plot elements bolted on, either.



Well, OK... maybe it’s a bit like that last one. Initially. Even if the format and execution is rather different. We’re going to be loading up our clear game data. We’ve still got a ways to go to fill up that entire alphabet of endings, don’t we? Anyway, from here we can start a new game and see what Route B has to offer...



Obviously it doesn’t translate well to a screenshot, but it’s worth noting that the initial load screen gets slightly distorted, like the network connection isn’t doing quite as hot, from here on out. I’m sure that’s fine.



Bro... ther...



*shakes dead machine* Brother... Brother...



*continues shaking machine* Brother... Brother...



Brother... Please start moving... Brother...





So meet our new protagonist for Route B: This delightful little Stubby boy. It seems we’re back in the Abandoned Factory. It’s quite a mess here with all the destroyed machines littering the area. But perhaps among this wreckage we can find the key in our quest to restore the Stubby’s big brother to life.



Being a wee tot machine lifeform, our only means of locomotion are slowly teetering along with our wind-up toy feet or taking a cue from Stubbies we’ve fought in the past and bunny hopping our way about the area. The latter proves to be much quicker.



Around the corner from where we begin, Stubby finds an old pipe gushing crude oil into a grating. At least... I hope it is oil. Regardless, the little guy decides that’s the key to restoring his brother. We just need something to carry it with now. I don’t think the Stubby cupping his hands is gonna work too well.





As luck would have it, there’s a conveniently placed pile of old buckets in the nearby corner. And here I was all ready to go full adventure game in having to find a piece of sheet metal which we would need to bend into shape using an old tire hubcap. Then we’d have to combine the hubcap with some wax we collected from another container that was guarded by a machine that only allowed other machines with the proper mustache to access. So we’d have to go get some cat hair and... Bah! Never mind. Let’s just take this bucket and go...



Alright. We’re good to go. Now it’s just a matter of walking this bucket of oil back to our brother. The key phrase being “walking” here. Attempting to bunny hop will immediately spill the contents of the bucket all over the place. So that’s not going to work. Also...



Nnnhh... Brother...



We’ve got to watch our step here. Our stubby little legs can’t make it over pipes without tripping and face-planting is counter-productive to our transportation of this bucket of oil. Luckily, that oil pipe doesn’t seem to be running dry anytime soon.







We’ll just take it slow and steady this time and Brother will be fixed up in no time. Our quest is nearly at its end!



Brother... Brother...





Now c’mon, 9S. Machines can absolutely be brothers. I just don’t think all that oil is going to fix that dead machine anytime soon. RIP Brother Machine.



9S’s nerd calculations on his Minority Report ass display is interrupted by a distant rumbling from the sky.







It’s all happening again... Welcome back to the Prologue of NieR: Automata. Up in those distance skies, an android is about to get blown to bits because some human overseer was a dipshit that decided to start the game on Hard difficulty.



So perhaps we were jumping the gun with declaring that Stubby the new protagonist of the game. That’s not the case at all. It’s actually 9S. Route B is replaying the game thus far from 9S’s perspective. Which leads to significant differences... at the beginning and end of the game. There are new scenes added throughout the rest of the game but... I’m gonna be heavily abridging most of the main plot missions we’ve already seen.

But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a radio communication from 9S’s Operator -- 21O. 21O had like one line in the entirety of Route A. We’ll be hearing a lot more from her this go around since she takes 6O’s place for all equivalent conversations.



9S here. Go ahead.
The YoRHa troops have commenced their descent. Disable the enemy base’s defense systems immediately.
Roger that!



9S’s Flight Unit is parked down below. We could rush down there and commence the mission getting things ready for 2B to begin her scenario. But... ehh...



I’m not really feeling another shmup section just yet. That Grün fight kinda burnt me out on that whole gameplay type. Let’s go find some machines to test out 9S’s abilities first.



9S comes partnered with his own Pod, Pod 153. It has a pleasant lady voice. It also doesn’t seem to be thrilled with 9S ditching his responsibilities. Chill out, Pod. We’ll just be a min—









9S! You’ve created a Time Paradox! You can’t go changing the future like that! You have to understand the future!






Video: Route B Opening (You should watch this.)





9S Render – What if 2B was the Tails this entire time and we didn’t know it...?