Part 37: Episode XXXVI: Top Boy

Episode XXXVI: Top Boy



OK. We’re done with the Amusement Park for now. We’ve got one more sidequest to check out before we realign course back to the main plot of The Forest Kingdom.


Music: Rays of Light (Quiet)



Today’s excursion takes us to the northeaster edge of the City Ruins, just before Jackass’s camp. For this one, we need to have 2B perform some parkour along the rooftops.





If we approach the designated building from the south, we come upon a rooftop that is just filled to the brim with stacked rusty shipping crates forming a tiny fort. There’s nothing to be done here just yet and it has nothing to do with our quest. Just remember it’s up here for later.



2B needs to make it to the adjacent rooftop to the north. That is kind of a stretch of space even with 2B’s double-jump and air dash. However, 2B has a few (as far as I know completely undocumented) methods of aerial tech we can employ to make the gap.



For instance, by tapping Pod fire (i.e. gatling gun/missile) and jump at the same time, 2B will grab hold of the Pod and rocket forward for an additional airdash. This also technically counts as an attack since 2B will dropkick an enemy that connects with it. This can be chained with airdash and double jump to gain far further ground than normal.


New Music: Birth of a Wish (It’s just Birth of a Wish without the This Cannot Continue chorus.)



As soon as we finally make it over (I definitely didn’t beef the jump once or twice) we are immediately thrown into battle against a new, highly aggressive enemy as an impassable barrier appears around the rooftop.



Well, by aggressive new enemy I mean a Level 20 Stubby with a white paint job and wearing a headband. Got to admit... this music and fanfare seems like a bit much...



Stubby please, 2B just handled a zombot apocalypse down in an old Umbrella Inc. sponsored basement. What are you even playing at here?



Once we defeat the white clad machine lifeform, it topples over but fails to explode. Indeed, it immediately pops back up with a Quest marker and a willingness to chat. Fine. What’s your deal? Why are you cosplaying as Ryu from Street Fighter? How did Adam sign over the rights to his boss battle theme. Jackass probably just pirated that shit. But it feels like a machine ought to be under stricter DRM...



I am the warrior monk Father Servo, and I seek the enlightened path through perfection in battle!
Father... Servo?
But alas, there is only so much Father Servo is capable of on his own. Perhaps you would be so good as to aid a fellow on his spiritual journey?
Uh... I’m not sure we should be helping a machine with combat training...
Oh ho ho! Fear of the unknown clouds your mind, young one.
What’s in it for us?
Father Servo shall impart upon you all of his secret battle arts.
I dunno, 2B. This seems pretty suspicious. What do you think?
<Help Father Servo train.>
The heavens smile upon Father Servo this day! Now then, let us start with a light round of sparring.



Thus begins the Robo Dojo questline. Round 2! Heaven or Hell?! Let’s Rock!



...Or not. Father Servo hasn’t suddenly gone Stubby Kaioken x6 and gotten massively swole since our fight two minutes ago. It’s still just a Level 20 Stubby with a silly paint job.



K.O!



I don’t think this guy’s quite as tough as he lets on. Well, it was a nice workout at least.

Father Servo leaps back to his feet.


Music: Rays of Light (Medium)



Now then! As payment for this lesson, you must bring Father Servo a warped wire.
Whaaa? Listen, you didn’t say anything about bri—
We sparred, yes? You learned many things, yes? Then surely an emolument is to be expected!
This guy is shameless!
You should be able to retrieve a warped wire from the dinosaur-like machines roaming nearby. Bring it here before our next bout, if you would be so kind.
Have you brought the required item?

Going and fighting robo-dinosaurs sounds interesting and all. But we’ve got a lot of ground to cover already and 2B already has a pocket full of a half-dozen warped wires. You know. For a rainy day. So let’s just fork that over as payment for our critical sparring match and...



Father Servo will accept your challenge whenever you feel ready.
...For a fee, of course.
Of course.





And that concludes our training session with Father Servo. This is a first of a multi-stage questline. Not to spoil too much, but Father Servo may be a bit beefier next time we see him. But that’ll have to wait for another day. We’ve got a busy schedule and Father Servo needs time to prepare for the next match.



Instead, let’s head towards that shopping complex and get back on track with the mainline que—

6O phones up 2B as soon as we approach the region near the bridge...



I read you, Operator. Go ahead.
It looks like the transporter we installed in the city ruins has gone offline. Our surface activity is going to be severely limited until we get it fixed. Can you head over there and get it working again when you have a sec?
Will do.
Thanks, 2B! Sending the details now. <disconnects>
Report: Mail notification received from access point.



Another minor sidequest has fallen into our lap. The universe really doesn’t seem to want 2B to continue with her mission. Let’s go ahead and sort this out before we continue.



Recommend repairing transporter as quickly as possible.
Understood.





Simple enough task. We just need to hit up the City Center Access Point a couple blocks south from here and sort out whatever hoodlum machine lifeforms are causing a ruckus raging at fake bags of Doritos again.



Unlike the previous similar mission in the sinkhole to the Alien Mothership, this go around there’s no ambush by enhanced versions of machines. It’s just a couple axe-wielding medium bipeds farting around while some low level Stubbies bang on the machine.



Hypothesis: Transporter malfunction is due to enemy jamming signals.

Let’s go ahead and nip this uppity machine uprising in the bud. Wouldn’t want access to the central part of the city cut off. God forbid you’d have to use the transporter a block away by the factory or like a quarter mile over at the Resistance Camp.



Let’s check this thing out.



I don’t see any damage.

Hmph... Yeah... Quick Save. Transport. Inbox. All checks out. This is a functional Access Point alright. Looks like we’re good.



<activates comms> This is YoRHa unit 2B. Connect me to Bunker Operator 6O.



The transporter was being jammed by machine lifeforms. It should be working now.
Look green on my end, 2B. Nice work! I’ll let Command know right away. I’ll also be sending over a little reward for all of your hard work.
Roger.
You know, 2B? I’m a little jealous. Don’t get me wrong—I know all this fighting isn’t easy for you. But you get to see all of these new and amazing things out there... It just... it might be nice to visit the surface sometime, you know? That’s all.
I see.
......
Er, right. Apologies for the unnecessary chatter. Anyway, Operator 6O out!





We’re just about done here. All that’s left is accessing our email one more time and downloading a file attachment with a couple of health potions, some gadgets, 3000 smackers and a bit of EXP. They really upped the attachment file size limit in the future, huh?



And thus concludes that minor sidequest. Alright. Nothing is stopping us from finally getting to the next plot beat. No more sidequests for a while!



Back to the mission at hand, we need to advance past the pylon tower in the northeastern part of the City Ruins and explore the mall across the chasm. Simple enough.



What?
When do you think you’ll be willing to call me “Nines”?
9S works just fine.
Well, yeah, but...



Man, give it up with forcing the nickname, 9S. 2B could be on her deathbed and still be hesitant to use that dorky shit. Now get a move on 9Tails, before they try to stick us with another sidequest busy work.





Quite a way down across that chasm. Cannot say this is the best location for a shopping mall I’ve ever seen. Nor the worst really. At least this is city adjacent. Go to middle America and the crumbling skeletons of derelict malls can be found in what can only be described as “the middle of nowhere”. It’s a wonder they’ve fallen on hard times. Millennials’ unwavering genocide of ‘80s consumer good institutions is a real bloodbath.



Anyway, about this shopping center... We’re able to waltz right in. Not a machine lifeform or errant pile of rubble forming an invisible wall in sight.



The records say it was once a facility known as a “shopping center.”





It sure is awfully pretty. Unfortunately, there isn’t much going on in the shopping center. There’s just a handful of chests hidden in corners of the main mall area with unremarkable loot.



To the center north of the mall, there’s a mall stairway leading up to yet another locked elevator. We’ll be getting back to this sometime down road. We’ll just remember it’s here for now. This isn’t our destination. Instead, we want to hit up the northwestern corner of the mall, where we find...



Maybe there’s some kind of mechanism we could engage?

C’mon guys. You’re regularly slicing metal robots in half with swords. You cannot take a shopping mall shutter? You don’t even try... Sheesh.



More meaningless conjecture.
Ha ha! You’re so serious, 2B. You know that?
Alert: Multiple machine lifeforms detected above our position.



...You know, I hadn’t considered the fact a “Forest Kingdom” would have a “Forest King”. In retrospect... this is gonna get weird, isn’t it?


New Music: Birth of a Wish (No Vocals)



All hail the Forest King!
Who the heck is the Forest King?
You’re getting distracted.
Well, what do you expect? I’m a Scanner. Combat was never meant to be my forte.
All hail the Forest King!





The Forest King’s minions are nothing to write home about. It’s more of the Axeboys we just fought when freeing that Access Point from the tyranny of irritated Stubbies. There’s only four of ‘em that are a threat. The fifth one though...



He’s just running away.



Hey dickweed! You put your flashlight eyes on the green tone and start talking. Maybe then 2B and 9S will chill out. Until then, you’re still considered hostile and are getting your ass kicked! No escape!

Music: ENDS





Actually, it just kind of fizzles out and crumples to the floor...



...Though its head does roll off. They... usually don’t do that. At least I’ve never seen one get straight decapitated. Otherwise, 2B would definitely have learned to punt machines’ heads clean off by now. Ergh.



Wait... why did it suddenly stop rolling? Gravity doesn’t work like that. This physics engine is a mes—



!!!



*gasp*



Um, what’s that?



*enters battle stance* This thing’s weird, 2B. Let’s kill it.
Wait, what? No! Hold on!
*enters fighting stance* Good idea.
Noooooooooo! *rolls off at incredibly high speed*



......
Okay, what WAS that?

If you never played the first NieR (or read my LP of it) that was Emil, a character from the original game. Also the mask Yoko Taro wears in interviews. It would take far too long to explain what Emil’s deal is or why he’s just a head. Well... I guess I could try. Hmm...



Emil was once an anime boy with Medusa eyes (and wore a blindfold to avoid that) who lived in a monotone filtered Resident Evil mansion. Like literally, it was just the Spencer Mansion from Resident Evil 1 with a grey filter because magic. He was a very nice young boy who was also technically an original human (with a bunch of magic infusion bio-modification.) Eventually, Emil learned there was an Umbrella Laboratory underneath his mansion and asked Papa Nier to go check that out. There, he found his sister who was a giant 30 foot tall Evangelion reference skeleton monster bioweapon. It might have eaten Emil. Then Papa Nier fought and defeated it. Emil survived, but was transformed into an eternally grinning orb head skeleton boy wizard. But he was still a very nice boy and key ally. Who was incredibly powerful now and had essentially a magic tactical nuke spell.

During the endgame of Nier, an android got VERY upset that the party killed her sister in battle and tried to blow up everyone with a magic attack (androids had straight magic back then.) In order to save his friends, Emil employed his magic nuke to self-destruct and destroy the android before it killed everyone. He presumably died there. It was very upsetting. Except in the Ending B route post-credits, we find it only destroyed his skeleton body. His head was fine, being effectively invincible, and he was just launched a few hundred miles like Heihachi Mishima getting blown up in the intro of Tekken 5. That's the last we ever saw of Emil.

Why was he encased in a machine lifeform? Well, Emil might have been through some real shit in the last few millennia. We'll learn about that later on. It definitely won't be a huge bummer...



Anyway, spooking Emil inadvertently caused him to smash through the locked gate from earlier, giving us access to the forest beyond. I suppose that works out.









Tune in next time when we explore the Forest Zone and investigate the mysterious Forest Kingdom and their enigmatic king. And also encounter some of my favorite dorky machine lifeform cosplay character designs. Next time as NieR: Automata’s main plot comes back into play.






Video: Episode 36 Highlight Reel (You should at least watch the last couple of minutes for the Top Boy.)





Shopping Complex Concept Art – Strangely, I don’t think we ever fight a Goliath Biped in the mall. Or really much of anything ever. That might have been one of the only fights in the entire game to take place there.