Part 9: Episode VIII: The Last of Bots

Episode VIII: The Last of Bots


New Music: Crumbling Lies



If all they want is intel, we Scanner models are built for that kind of thing.
Orders are orders.
All right, all right.



Time for another shooter segment. The last one for quite some time. 9S is joining us for this fire mission. Unlike the previous YoRHa squadron of redshirts, 9S will actually pull his weight in battle. Generally, his AI will fire if 2B is doing so and he will try to move a bit away from 2B’s position so as to hit other enemies and not just double fire on 2B’s targets.

6O establishes contact.



I’ll put up instructions for you.

2B and 9S fly below the cloud line to...



Hm? Ruined city stage, huh? Nice. Shoot’em up classic area board. 2B’s flight unit now has access to a missile barrage as its stand-in for a Pod Program.





Missile Barrage, well... it does about exactly what you’d expect from the super shot in a shooter segment. It shoots a ton of missiles in the area in front of 2B (and in a spiral in all directs when in all-range mode.) Much like Pod Programs, it’s on a cool down timer (flat 12 seconds between charges.) No particular reason to conserve it if there’s mess of targets to go all Macross on in front of her.





After taking on a not particularly remarkable assortment of enemies, as a final challenge were tasked with taking on TWO of the big jerk carriers. This was my first actual death, not counting blowing up the Bunker like an idiot. This was almost entirely because I hadn’t realized they took away all the healing items because err... well they got vaporized with 2B’s old body.





My death mostly was a result of one of the two carriers doing the spiral of orbs while the other one closed the distance and did the laser spiral and those two going at the same time from opposite directions? Kinda problematic when you’ve got like 15 minutes of this game’s shooter mechanics experience at that point.

Regardless, 2B and 9S manage to take out the carriers with little problem and 6O chimes in again soon afterwards.



I’ve set a landing point for your flight units. You’ll be touching down quite a ways from the Resistance camp, unfortunately. Sorry for the trouble, but we can’t risk the enemy discovering their position.
Understood.
Good luck down there!







Alright, everyone out. No more fun with mechs. We’re lucky we even got permission to set foot in another one after 2B and friends trashed six units on that last mission. Though thinking about it now... I guess Pod 042 just peaced out back to space with 9S’s unit, huh? It’s nice he didn’t want to interfere with the drama at the end of the prologue mission and all. But, kind of a dick move. 2B probably could have climbed back in, we could have duct-taped 9S to the roof and made a tactical retreat...





Given that the flight units just fly back to space on their own, it’s not like 2B had to pilot the thing. What the hell, Pod? I thought we were friends. I knew something was screwy when Albert Wesker is voicing you.





Our first order of business is probably to get a lay of the land here. We haven’t done a tremendous amount of platforming yet. 2B will automatically vault up any platforms she edges near while jumping around. So that’s nice. 9S’s AI tends to perhaps have some difficulties with that which are resolved by him just warping into existence behind 2B when the camera isn’t facing him (and sometimes even then.)

But enough about that, welcome...


New Music: Rays of Light (Quiet)







The City Ruins, the hub area of NieR: Automata. The original Nier was more of a post-post-apocalyptic setting. The world as we know it had long ended and a big reset button had been pressed on civilization. But despite that, new civilizations had risen up in the ruins of the world, with scraps of the old world being novelties whose purpose was long lost or dangerous ruins full of weird shit that everyone kept their distance from if they were smart. Plus magic and shadow monsters had permeated throughout the land. It was a neat setting that worked with the limitations of its budget, even if mechanically it was rather rough.

NieR: Automata is just plain post-apocalyptic setting of the society collapsed and nature reclaimed the land variety, despite the endless war backdrop. It’s honestly one of the big things I think the first game did better. I mean, this game has some pretty locales and some cool stuff later on. But the bulk of it is like this and frankly... we’ve all seen post-apocalyptic human ruins before. Pretty sure I shot a bunch of mushroom zombies and hobos as an angry murder dad a few blocks from here not too long back.



Proposal: Proceed to target location.



There’s a big red X on your map at all times leading you to the proper location. If you get lost, just look there and follow it! Don’t be a Justin McElroy.



Despite 6O’s claim that the resistance camp is pretty far away from where we touched down, it is actually like... two city blocks away. If you know where you’re going it’s maybe a 40 second dash. But besides our destination, you may notice a bunch of tinier red blips on the map. Just keep those in mind for now.





Straight over thaddaway is the Resistance camp. Our first order of business should probably be finding a way off this derelict building’s rooftop.



There’s a few ways to get down from here. For instance, a nearby office building had part of its façade collapse onto its neighboring little brother, forming a convenient bridge within.





We could take this downstairs. The stairwell is remarkably intact for 10000 year old ruins. Japan’s construction codes back in the day were no joke.



There’s also an open elevator shaft with a ladder worthy of Snake Eater drifting in that leads all the way from this building’s (currently blocked) roof down to ground level. But you know what...? That’s a real dull way to get off a roof...



So fuck it! Let’s just jump off the top, much to 9S’s startled protest. Pod 042 isn’t just there for infinite ammo suppressing fire and digital laser blasts. 2B can also grab onto her Pod’s arm and use it to slow her descent off huge drops. What a helpful lad. You’d never even dream of Grimoire Weiss letting Papa Nier grab hold of one of his pages to drift down from anywhere, now would you?



On a note of jumping off buildings, 2B can also just drop like a rock off of here and be mostly fine. There’s even a freefalling animation when she hits terminal velocity and has officially gone “fuck it!” and she’ll land with a knee-breaking super hero pose. There is fall damage in NieR: Automata. This drop takes about a fifth of 2B’s health. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to die from fall damage. Even jumping from the highest point in the game will just take 2B to 1 HP. I’m sure Hard might outright kill you because it’s an unfun slog in every other regard, why stop?



Anyway, welcome to the Hyrule Field equivalent of Nier: Automata. We’ll be getting VERY well acquainted with this area. All roads either dead end past the City Ruins or eventually loop back around here. This region might get increasingly hostile as the game progresses. But for now it’s quite serene. In fact...



According to our intel, none of the machines in this area are hostile. We’ve been seeing more and more enemies like this lately. They just stand there and stare into space. It’s pretty weird.

Yep. Not unlike the Northern Plains in the very early parts of the original NieR and its Shades, the machine lifeforms in the City Ruins are just chilling out enjoying a nice day in the sun. They’re not shut-in nerds like those dork androids in their Bunker.



That’s not to say they’ll remain non-combative if 2B decides to be a jerk. Indeed, all nearby machines will aggro if 2B takes out her aggression on some poor little dude just minding his own business. But hey, at least we’re not a dumb angry dad murdering children’s souls this time around. There’s no somewhat alarming used coloring book or old toy vendor trash drops from the machine lifeforms.



Continuing onward, there is a pa—wait... Hold up. We’ve got a new enemy. It’s not like any machine lifeform I’ve ever seen... Wait. It’s not a machine at all. Is that a...? Yeah... Yeah it is...





MOOSE! There is some wildlife to NieR: Automata. Well, not really... there’s just the majestic tyranny of the moose. Something had to take over the ecological niche the sheep left after they went extinct. If you’re wondering, yes. We can eventually ride a moose and it owns. Your follow-up question to moose riding is no. We cannot drift a moose. That would be utterly ridiculous.

Boars are also back and they’re still the Drift King, baby!





The plural of moose is still just moose. Also, it's best not to mess with a moose. They are by far one of the most dangerous enemies in the game and if provoked, can destroy 2B far easier than a sentient oil rig could. We’ll be back to tame these mighty, nigh unstoppable steeds another time. We’ve got work to do!





Past the wrecked overpass and down a back alley, just in front of a couple buildings with clearly shoddier building upkeep than the ones earlier, we come upon...





A lovely little clearing with a gentle stream having reclaimed the abandoned field. This is the Resistance camp’s little corner of the world. We’ll be passing through this field roughly 800 times. So take in the sights.





The Resistance camp’s entrance is denoted by the most half-assed barrier and a few ratty tarps tossed over them. Machine lifeforms cannot walk up steep hills. Everyone knows that. No need for anything more to guard the entrance to the camp. Speaking of which...


New Music: Peaceful Sleep







Welcome to the Resistance Camp, what will be our actual base of operations for the duration of NieR: Automata. Gonna be honest... bit of a step down from Papa Nier and Yonah’s village.



We should probably go talk to their leader first thing.





That’s some pretty solid advice from 9S. We can attempt to chat up the Resistance members loitering about. But most of them wonder who the hell we are, why are we dressed like such assholes and that we should probably talk to Anemone, the camp leader.



I’m going to hazard a guess she’s the one with the big red arrow over her head. I like to think she sees 2B just glaring at assorted soldiers and just rolls her eyes and toggles the red arrow on to get 2B’s attention. I’d definitely passive-aggressively do that to clueless dipshits if everyone had AR vision.



Number Two...
Hmm? You know about 2B?
Um... Yes, well, the Bunker told me to expect you. My name is Anemone. I’m the leader of the android Resistance that controls most of this territory. You must be the new scouts we heard about. Well, I’m sure my people will have plenty of information for you. Please, feel free to ask them anything you like.

Right then. Mission accomplished. Contact established with the Resistance. Tune in next time when we get acquainted with the Resistance, go over the finer points of some gameplay mechanics, get a NieR: Automata version of that side quest flowchart and maybe even start checking out some Weapon Histories. Should be fun!






Video: Episode 8 Highlight Reel





City Ruins Concept Art – The moose’s domain.