(CR) NieR: Automata Ver1.1a

[Wandering Soul]

That was pretty faithful, right down to the music and small details. I'm also happy to see them adapting the alternate endings.

[GDB]

Really enjoyed this. Have been meaning to play the game but just haven't gotten around to it despite owning it on both PS4 and Switch now. Lack of time is a bitch, but 30 minutes a week can work until I get more time.

[shmaster]

Nothing to say, as I am not interested in the show itself. Continue to wait for Yokotaro to bomb us with whatever insanity he has this time.

[Mad Pierrot]

Natsuki Hanae is stealing this show. I expect him to take of his blindfold and reveal himself as Vanitas.

[Huh...?]

YouTube

https://youtu.be/epejtpuMQpc

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Cloudedmind]

Nope, not me having a PTSD moment watching that aerial fight scene and remembering how crap I was at it in game. lol

[Dextro]

I actually picked the game back up over the weekend to compare it myself and they did do a stellar job at it. Absolutely nailed it.

I do have to admit that me saying it felt "rushed" was a poor choice of adjective. Fast would be more like it. And, after playing the opening hours of the game, I think I can pinpoint why I felt that: it's the missing gameplay. The anime did a stellar job at showing all the set pieces but, in between 2B and 9S meeting and the big goliath fight, there are a lot of small moments while you traverse that area that weren't really replaced by much in the adaptation. That makes it a bit hard to follow where the characters are through a short bit in the middle of the episode. It's nothing major or even particularly bad, but it explains why I personally felt it moving fast. It wasn't particularly so, but I do think they could have done with an extra scene or two of just 2B running through the place to better connect both moments.

Mind, that's a very minor nitpick. Overall, outstanding work on the first episode.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Dextro

I actually picked the game back up over the weekend to compare it myself and they did do a stellar job at it. Absolutely nailed it.

I do have to admit that me saying it felt "rushed" was a poor choice of adjective. Fast would be more like it. And, after playing the opening hours of the game, I think I can pinpoint why I felt that: it's the missing gameplay. The anime did a stellar job at showing all the set pieces but, in between 2B and 9S meeting and the big goliath fight, there are a lot of small moments while you traverse that area that weren't really replaced by much in the adaptation. That makes it a bit hard to follow where the characters are through a short bit in the middle of the episode. It's nothing major or even particularly bad, but it explains why I personally felt it moving fast. It wasn't particularly so, but I do think they could have done with an extra scene or two of just 2B running through the place to better connect both moments.

Mind, that's a very minor nitpick. Overall, outstanding work on the first episode.

Yes, the anime does feel a bit like a speedrun of the opening of the game. It's understandable why that is. I did feel at least for me that the loss of dialogue that happens during the game play, especially from 9S, that eventually endears 2B to him does kind of emotionally blunt their "death" scene and eventual reuniting scene compared to the game.
I still thought the episode was good though.

[Dj0rel]

I actually tried playing the game a while ago but my poor ancient graphic card couldn't handle it. I guess I'll get to watch the anime adapration before I find a graphic card worth upgrading to.

[Klashikari]

I will sound like the party pooper but I wasn't completely sold by the first episode. It is ironically because it is so faitthful (minus some brutal cuts and I do believe knowing the game plot actually made few transitions less jarring to me) that made me appreciate that first episode a bit less than it would have been otherwise.

Sure, they didn't opt for any deviation in term of plot or characterization which is great, especially when it comes to video game adaptations. But on the flipside, it felt way too "safe" in regard of the screenplay and stuff they could have done (I'd have loved a semi prequel sequence with the bunker crew preparing the assault for instance). While I could appreciate faithful details like certain motions for 2B and 9S, I do believe they didn't completely make use of the anime format in term of presentation, although they made proper changes such as the hacking scene or 2B looking for 9S at the end of the episode. Note that I don't want major changes whatsoever as certain scenes such as 2B crashing her flight unit into the usine while Pod doing the damage report are pretty much a staple, but I do believe replicating the some scenes with different camera work and so on would been much better for the anime to stand out compared to being a replica of the game.

In term of visuals and production, while I understand it would be virtually impossible to have hand drawn cuts for anything related to machines, the texture used for the CGI stand way too much with the characters and the background. Also some 2D cuts were kind of jerky as if a lot of inbetween were skipped (quite noticeable when 2B was slashing through the first scrubs before the miniboss). But overall, they managed to keep the general flair of the game. Of course, I have absolutely no complaints when it comes to Ishikawa and Hanae performance, nor how they used Okabe's scores.

In the end, it was still decent in my books, and it is much better than what it could have been considering how most video games adaptations are generally less than a shallow representation of its source material. But I really can't bring myself to really have enjoyed the 1st episode.

[Liddo-kun]

episode 1:

not bad. The animation feels smooth, and the action entertaining to watch.

I'm curious on the kind of androids. Also curious on the multiple endings they're mentioned.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Liddo-kun

Also curious on the multiple endings they're mentioned.

Game had 26 or so endings. I doubt we'll get even half of those shown/talked about, since my understanding is the story veers REALLY far off on some of them compared to the A route.

[Mad Pierrot]

Originally Posted by GDB

Game had 26 or so endings. I doubt we'll get even half of those shown/talked about, since my understanding is the story veers REALLY far off on some of them compared to the A route.

Most of the endings are just jokes shown in letter (if you ignore bosses for example, the game ends) so they are basically showing all the gags at the end like BLACK BOX. The only different path this story has is when you can choose between two characters resulting in two different endings.

[MeoTwister5]

For all we know despite only being supervisory in role, Yoko Taro might have made a new original ending just for the anime. I wouldn't put it past him.

[Mad Pierrot]

I never thought about it in the game, but the anime's opening gives 2B and 9S's relationship a romantic tone even if it also looks tragic

[SeijiSensei]

I don't think they are depicted as a romantic couple in the game. That scene where 2B caresses 9S's face seems anime-original to me.

[stray]

I wasn't sure what to expect after the first episode but episode 2 is really, really promising.

[shmaster]

De... Deserving of Life!?!? Who would have thought we got Deserving of Life for ep.2

Oh wait, Little Flower!?
So they use the style of Deserving of Life to tell the aftermath of Little Flower!?

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by GDB

Game had 26 or so endings. I doubt we'll get even half of those shown/talked about, since my understanding is the story veers REALLY far off on some of them compared to the A route.

The majority of those are joke or bad endings for going away from the where the story wants you to go or failing important story events prematurely.
To give you an example of one of the joke endings, if you die in the factory prologue that's covered in the first episode, the game gives you an ending off of that saying the machine lifeforms won and the credits roll.
That's not to say they're meaningless, because some of them are definitely entertaining


If you ignore those then there's only 5 main endings, which were more or less from one singular storyline. For example, B is the same ending as A, just from a different character's perspective with more context.
Endings C, D, and E exist because the Ending A/B are not actually endings and the story continues beyond that.
They may be called "endings" but they're not necessarily branching routes or anything like that.

[Kanon]

Klashikari should be happy with this episode. It was almost entirely content that wasn't in the game.

Rather interesting that they're revealing the machines are gaining self-awareness this soon. It didn't happen until much, much later in the game. And with Lily staring daggers at 2B, they might reveal something else a lot sooner too.

The boot up sequence revealed the date to be 11000 something. That means Androids and Machines have been fighting for more than 5000 years.

It was nice to see the city ruins animated. Beautifully, at that. And the music... the only other game series that comes close on that point is Silent Hill. The OSTs for Nier and Silent Hill are really on another level.

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

If you ignore those then there's only 5 main endings, which were more or less from one singular storyline. For example, B is the same ending as A, just from a different character's perspective with more context.
Endings C, D, and E exist because the Ending A/B are not actually endings and the story continues beyond that.
They may be called "endings" but they're not necessarily branching routes or anything like that.

To add to that, C and D's ending are fundamentally incompatible, so they'll have to choose one or the other. It doesn't actually matter which though, since E is the true ending. Although I wouldn't be surprised if we get a new ending, like what happened with Nier Replicant's remakester.