Part 42: Episode XLI: The Merchant

Episode XLI: The Merchant



Welcome to Chapter 7 of NieR: Automata. Our time with the Forest Kingdom is through as far as plot relevant material goes for the foreseeable future. Other than A2 being weird and learning more about her, we don’t really have much on our plate as far as objectives go. So we’re heading back to the Resistance Camp to resupply. As soon as we do, multiple conversations trigger in a row.


Music: Peaceful Sleep (Vocal)



Huh?
It’s not recommended to interface with machines without consulting Command.
Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.
Though I suppose such intense curiosity can be admirable... In its own way.
Heh.
......
Thanks, 2B.
Still, machines are the enemy. Don’t forget it.

2B’s communicator rings.



This is 2B. Nothing to report.
Listen, 2B. I was looking at images of flowers today and—
Flowers?
Yeah. There wasn’t much left in the Bunker’s records, but I found one called a lunar tear. I bet you’d look really nice if you put one of those in your hair, 2B. It’d suit your stylish looks!
Don’t need it.
Aw, don’t be a stick in the mud. What kind of girl doesn’t want to look good sometimes? I’ll let you know if I find anything else cute, okay?
I don’t need to hear about—
Operator 6O out! *disconnects*
......



We received a couple emails while 6O was gushing about pretty flowers. Hopefully our entire inbox isn’t full of cute flower uploads. 2B doesn’t have a time for the repeat of when 6O found out about kittens and up uploaded 19 gigs of footage across 127 emails into 2B’s inbox.



By reading this email, we may have just initiated a very important sidequest. We’ll attend to that momentarily. Let’s finish reading our mail.



What did you think I was joking about 6O and other androids clogging up YoRHa’s servers with cute dog pictures and J-Pop? It’s a serious problem with the IT staff on the Bunker. There’s only so much server capacity in space.

Anyway, as soon as we log off...



Understood.
I didn’t say anything yet.
The conversation between Operator 6O and unit 2B has been analyzed. Hypothesis: Unit 2B wishes to send Operator 6O a gift from the surface so that she might be able to experience it in some fashion.
...That’s right.
Proposal: The gift should be a photograph of a rare flower.
You think?
Analysis of historical data indicates that human females enjoyed viewing the reproductive organs of flowering plants. If unit 2B can procure appropriate image data, it could be uploaded to the Bunker. Proposal: Unit 2B should obtain an image of the plant known as the “desert rose.”
All right.



And that begins a short but cute sidequest where we go find a flower to photograph in order to make 6O happy. We’ll get to that next time we swing by the Desert Zone. For now, let’s do what we initially came here to do and check in with Anemone.



Our android forces currently have a carrier deployed in the Pacific Ocean. It should be back here to resupply before too long. The Resistance is assisting with the mission... So I’d like to ask you to run a little guard duty.
Seriously?
Dead serious. There’s a stockpile of missiles down at the shoreline that needs to be loaded on the carrier. And with all the machine activity lately, we need to stay on our toes. Of course, if you’re already working on something for YoRHa, I don’t mind if that takes priority. Anyway, thanks in advance.



Personally, I feel as though they could have been a touch more blunt with this line. What Anemone is actually referring to is “if you want to do sidequests, now is the time to do it!” Initiating the Anemone’s request starts a long series of events that results in the failure of most outstanding sidequests and our railroading towards the first ending of the game.



That means it’s time for another sidequest block as there is literally no other time to do so. It’s kind of a short ass window they crammed most of the sidequests during the first run of the game into... Heck, Anemone herself has a sidequest as soon as we’re done talking to her.



Indeed, there’s a ton of sidequests out there now and a whole new (very tiny) region to explore that is accessible from the City Ruins crater. We’ll check that out another time. For now... there’s a weird new blip on the map that isn’t an Access Point, sidequest marker or main quest target. You see it there? Over near the entrance to the Desert region...? The white one. Let’s zoom in and take a closer look.



...

......

..........

We should probably go investigate that marker.


Music: Rays of Light (Quiet)



It’s a short jog from the Resistance Camp to where this “Emil’s Item Shop” marker is. On the way, we can drop in on Engels to advance his quest now that we’re done with the Forest Kingdom investigation. Let’s see how that crippled old machine is doing...



How are you?
I am, as one says, “trucking along.”
Does one actually say that?
I have been reading through humanity’s records to keep myself occupied. This has led me to a question.
Shoot.
What is “night”?
Night?



The sun never leaves the sky anymore, but apparently, it used to descend below the horizon for hours at a time. When that happened, it was like looking out of one of the Bunker’s windows.



I would... like to see... stars sometime...
......
I am tired. I must rest.

And that’s it for Engels. Still no night on this side of NieR’s version of Earth. I suppose the moon must be stuck on the other side of the tidally locked planet since we never see that either despite the humans living there. So it at least must still be around. Probably... Anyway, let’s move onward down the street.





Dinosaur-shaped machines that Father Servo mentioned will randomly spawn down this street. These are technically called the “Reverse-Joint Goliaths”. Honestly, they’re nothing special. They don’t even look much like a dinosaur! Reverse-Joint Goliaths come armed with dual-cannons and can hop large distances in an attempt to squish nearby androids. They also have the same laser cannon as the gunner version of Medium-Bipeds. Only it fires two of ‘em in opposite directions so they can slowly sweep an entire area with the laser beam attacks.





I only mention this machine as it rarely spawns in the game outside here and a few other areas. Also, we might need to clear out the area for what is coming...



As we approach the corner of the City Ruins leading into the desert, an incredibly jaunty tune begins drifting in over what sounds like a moving PA system in the distance.


New Music: Shop Theme (Vocal) (Stop what you’re doing and listen to this.)





Pod that’s a real dick move. But... he’s not wrong. Emil is driving that truck and he’s far too into happily singing his shop theme to notice he’s got some customers. Before 2B has a chance to attempt to flag the top boy down, 9S takes matters into his own hands...



That’s a real dick move, 9S. I cannot believe you just killed Emil in a terrible car wreck like that. Incredibly irresponsible. Your end of month performance review is gonna be dire...



Unfortunately, before we can speak with Emil we need to deal with all the pesky nearby machine lifeforms trying to intrude. Wait your turn, jerks...



My stuff's so cheeeeeeap! That you will not believe how much you can save! So swing on byyyyyyyyy and then purchase things 'til you're broke!
Priiiiices so loooooooow that you need a great sword to slaaaaash them more! Anyyyyyyy loweeeerrrr would be illeeeeeegal reeeeeaally!
Everyday's a saaaaaaaale! Every sale's a wiiiiiiiin! Buy stuff now or kick yourself laaaaater! Everydaaaaaaaaay's a sale! Every sale's a wiiiiiiin! I won't even charge you a markup! Everyday's a saaaaaaaaaaaale! Every sale's a wiiiiiiiiin! Better buy nooooow or you'll cry all niiiiiiight. Everyday's a saaaaaaale! Every sale's a wiiiiiiiiiin!
Every day is GRRRRRREAT WHEN YOU'RE MEEEEEEEEEEE!



Hey! I remember you from the other day! Sorry I got startled and ran away. ...Er, or rolled away, I guess. Anyway, my name’s Emil, and this is my shop. Wanna buy something? I’ve got the best prices anywhere!



Emil is indeed a merchant this time around. That’s his primary function in the game. The top boy does have a couple of sidequests associated with him we’ll get to another day. But most of our interactions with Emil will be his item shop which will now randomly spawn throughout the City Ruins area. Emil’s Shop is probably one of the more frustrating design decisions in the game. Primarily because its inventory is randomized between 4-5 different stocks that are all also based on the random area Emil begins cruising around the City Ruins when entering the area.



For instance here we got Emil’s plug-in chip inventory. This is by far the most worthless of all his stock. These may all seem like pretty decent chips, especially considering we’ve only gotten a single +3 version of anything. The problem with these chips is they all take the maximum amount of chip slots making them incredibly inefficient. As you can see above, 21 chip slots for 10% boost to melee? Not great! We’re going to pass today, Emil. Sorry.



...What was that? You want to know where I live?
I didn’t ask that.
Well, I live deep, deep underground. Picture something deep, then go DEEPER! Feel free to visit me anytime you want!





Talking to Emil again shuffled his inventory. Technically, this first meeting is a scripted event. He always spawns here first. Now he’s moved onto his role of being a traveling merchant in the city. He will always be blasting his jaunty tune (of which he has like four variations of including one where he’s just happily humming along and one where he seems to have forgotten the words and just wings it.)



This stock is a bunch of materials we could use for early upgrades. Heck if I remember exactly what we need. But we’ll just get at least ten of everything. We might regret it if we don’t. Late game Emil’s random inventories include a couple of unique weapons and a bunch of extremely rare high end weapon upgrade material. Emil is the single biggest money sink in the game. That Half-Wit Professor machine is a drop in the bucket compared to the millions we’ll be burning on the top boy Emil.



This subtitle is wrong. He actually declares “Thanks, friendo!” I hope everyone’s day has been improved now that we’re friends with Emil. We’ll let him get back to cruising around town singing and doing sick jumps off of broken overpasses. Tune in next time as we begin the long sidequest grind as NieR: Automata continues.






Video: Episode 41 Highlight Reel





Emil Official Art – Everything’s for saaaaaaaale! Every sale’s a wiiiiiiiiiiin!