Part 32: Episode XXXI: Family Matters

Episode XXXI: Family Matters



Alright, 9S. What do you say we ditch these Resistance clowns and their really low resolution texture box and go see who’s up with Pascal and his machines for a while. Those guys seemed alright.


Music: Rays of Light (Quiet)





We could teleport straight into the Machine Village. But I dunno. I feel like two heavily armed androids stepping out of a random vending machine might be slightly startling to a bunch of machines. Also, as we approach the village an odd scene plays out...



*angrily hopping away* No! Get away from me, dummy!



......
What was all that about?
No idea.



OK... Err... Mother Machine, is it? Wait... do you have a lipstick mouth and eyebrows painted on...? And is that tattered cloth supposed to be... an apron? Err. Okay... I see the Quest marker above your head. I’ll indulge your... whatever this is...



Oh, this is so embarrassing! But if you must know, I was arguing with my child.
You don’t say.
That boy just refuses to listen to me, and now he’s gone and run off to who knows where! This is terribly forward of me, but would you mind finding him and bringing him home? I’d go myself, but I’d never survive out there on my own.
We’ll see what we can do.
Heh. Look at you, you big softie.
Please bring my child home. Please!



Fine... FINE! We’ll do one more sidequest and sort out this Family Squabble.



Checking out the map, it seems the machine child managed to hop his way all the way to the City Ruins central area. Indeed, he’s right next to the building we fought the second group of classified intel chip carrying machines in the previous sidequest. Small world. Literally. Let’s start heading in that direction.



It’s surprising to see them form familial units like that. I wonder if they’ll let us examine their brain circuits if we bring the kid home.
Your scientific curiosity is getting out of hand, 9S.
Joking! I’m joking! ...Mostly.



9S, we just finished a mission which involved some guy messing with another robot’s brains to Frankenstein ‘em into a weird fake sibling and it creeped out everyone involved. Also they all died. So maybe cool it with suggestions of brain circuitry screwin’ about. Lest 2B rip her OS Chip out of her head again...

Anyway, as we approach the suggested mission area, we hear...



Careful, 2B. I’m picking up hostiles.


Music: Rays of Light (Vocal)



That doesn’t sound great. Androids to the rescue! Or making everything worse! It’s been kind of a toss-up so far! This dude seems like he’s in a pickle.





A single Small Biped is attempting to beat up on the robot child. Hey, dickweed! This sector is androids bullying machines. There ain’t no machine on machine hate crimes permitted. You know the rules! Now pay the murder price.



Alright. Problem solved. Now let’s see about... this ADORABLE little dude. Aww. He’s got overalls and a happy smile painted on. What’s the score, little guy?



Nnngh... *sniff*
We should leave before more enemies arrive.
No! I’m not going back! I’m NEVER going back!
Come on, kid. Don’t be unreasonable. Any ideas, 2B? I’ve never dealt with a snot-nosed machine before.
You got me.



I’m on it!



So this quest is a bit different from a few we’ve encountered or I’ve mentioned. This one is best off taken as early as possible. The enemies in NieR: Automata increase in strength with story progression, with a light bit of residual level scaling to the player in spots. Right now most of the City Ruin’s machine lifeforms are within Level 10-20, which is safely within our current range. So that’s fine. These first ones here are fixed Level 8-10 boys since they’re specifically spawned for the initial part of this quest. Not a problem.



My little brother broke a plate once and she blamed ME for it! My big brother punched me, but somehow it was MY fault! It’s not fair! I hate my mommy! I HATE her!



But to the issue with enemy levels, you might have noticed there was a health bar over the Child Machine’s head. That ain’t just for show. This is an escort mission. And all machines in the area will prioritize being a dick to the Child Machine. Seems normal machines and Pascal’s folks have beef.



The Child Machine is fixed at Level 10 permanently. He’s got a ton of HP, despite the lower level, but you can see where issues might arise if there’s a 10+ level gap of machines attacking.



It’s also worth mentioning, there is VERY MUCH friendly fire possible on our escort subject. Which is another issue of doing this quest later in the game with a beefier 2B. We have got to be mindful with how we deal with bullying machines. ESPECIALLY, in regards to Pod Programs. I might have seen someone stream this and try a charged Mirage right next to the Child Machine. That boy is now FUCKING DEAD!

And yes, you can fail this quest. The Child Machine blows the fuck up. 9S basically goes “Oh GEEZ. Aww FRICK! Aww HECK!” and then you’ve got to go back to the Machine Mother and inform her that her son is now scrap metal. And she just starts sobbing. The end. You gigantic incompetent piece of shit.

It is possible to retry the quest... in another playthrough, much later. Or you can just reload now and try to avoid gaining the Child Killer perk for the remainder of time.



Are you finished?
......
Your mother is worried about you. She sent us here to find you. So quit with the whining and let us take you home already.
...’Kay. *sniff*



So as I mentioned, this is an escort mission. And Stubby machines aren’t the swiftest of boys on the block, even at full speed hopping. And we do need to go all the way back to where this quest began over on the shortcut to Pascal’s village.



Hey, mister? Was Mommy really worried about me?
She sure was. So let’s go home and have you apologize, all right?
......





Once we get to the end of the next street over, the Child Machine is ambushed by bullying Buzzsaw and Gunner Stubbies. Here on out the enemies are whatever average story gate level the game is currently at (read: Level 15+) Everyone will target the Child Machine over 2B or 9S, so it’s important to take out all the close by machines before finishing off the further stragglers.



You may notice I’ve mentioned some active quests but haven’t initiated them yet, even if that seems like it would save time in the long run. Yeah, maybe that is the case. But that can also lead to huge conflicts that will royally screw up the flow of other quests. For instance, if we’d initiated the second part of the quest to repair Engels then started Family Squabble... whoops! There’s a Goliath Biped hanging out in the field near the tower now! Good luck getting our Stubby boy past that intact!

There’s also a quest over by the Amusement Park entrance that spawns a bunch of Level 35-50 machines by the underpass leading back towards the Resistance Camp. One of them gets interested in seeing what the ruckus is over here and... well, you can see the issue.





That aside, we do have a horde of flying gunner machines wanting to headshot our poorly little buddy. 2B and 9S gotta be dumping non-stop to deal with these jerks efficiently. Although, now’s a good time to be mindful of the auto lock-on. It absolutely will lock onto the Child Machine at close ranges occasionally and Pod 042 is designed only to murder machines. Ain’t no recognized IFF coming out of no machine, cute overalls paint job or not.





The biggest challenge of this escort mission is this duo guarding the shortcut back to the Machine Village. Two Medium Bipeds, one a sword wielding guy. The other is an advanced gunner. The sword machine isn’t too much of a threat since it’ll get easily distracted by 9S or 2B attacking it. The gunner though...



...Yeah. That guy can be a real problem. As in, if he can get a good bead on ‘em, he can send that child to The Shadow Realm in short order. Thankfully, gunners are NOT the most accurate of machines and the Stubbies have small hitboxes.



Regardless, it’s best to sort out those idiots in short order. C’mon, you guys are adult machines. What are you doing trying to beat up a Stubby? That’s just crass behavior. You got what you deserve.





As soon as we finish up with the last two machines, we just need to follow Child Machine to the edge of the forest where his mother is waiting for him.



Thank you so much for bringing him home.
......
Selfish child! How dare you make me worry like that!
Um, hey... no need to get all angry about this.


New Music: Treasured Times



M-Mommy? Mommy, no! Don’t cry!
Do you have any idea how worried I was?
I’m sorry, Mommy! Please don’t cry!
*sniff* I’m sorry too, my darling. I shouldn’t have said that.
*sniff* Oh, Mommy...
Go on, honey. Get yourself home. I have to thank these nice people for helping you.





Later, little guy.



I never imagined how hard it would be to disconnect from the network. We’re constantly misunderstanding each other. Still, on those rare occasions where we connect, it makes me so very happy.
I can see that.
Thank you again for bringing him home. This isn’t much, but I’d very much like you to have it.



A Deadly Heal +3 is a pretty nice chip, considering we’ve only encountered the base level. Also, that’s a nice chunk of G for our troubles.





True. But it also seems kind of fun.



And that concludes the Family Squabble quest. Well, that was sweet. I think we could use something nice after the last handful of quests being... well, you saw them. I can't believe we just prevented child murder in a Yoko Taro game. Maybe this is gonna be a big paradigm shift in his attitude towards children killing...



Tune in next time when we finally make it back to Pascal’s Machine Village and maybe meet some of the other goofball machines hanging out in their weird Ewok tree village.






Video: Episode 31 Highlight Reel





Machine Hand Concept Art – We learned machines can fist pump. But can they fist bump?