Game:

Nier: Automata (2017)

Duration: 37:05

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1

Well, this is it. My entire NieR Automata journey had led up to this singular moment. Who would've thought that, from the very beginning, this is how things would turn out?

SO MUCH happened in this one episode - more than any other I've put together. That final sequence with 9S and A2 ascending the Tower and fighting Ko-Shi and Ro-Shi while switching back and forth was THE coolest and most intense moment in this entire game.

It was executed so perfectly. The machines were making their final stand, operating off of what little memory was left after the network was completely eradicated, and we have A2 and 9S fighting them while ascending to the very top of the Tower at the same time while the music continues to crescendo all toward the moment when A2 and 9S finally meet at the top.

Despite it being heavily action-oriented, the machines' dialogue coupled with the music, the situation, and the anticipation of where it was all leading to... it made it really emotional at the same time.

And there was... a lot to take in this episode. We learned the true nature of Project YoRHa, and that the attack on the Bunker back at the start of Route C was all planned as part of it from the very beginning, and has probably happened many times already. None of the YoRHa androids - not even the Commander - had any value to the ones who are in charge of the whole thing. I still don't even know... It could be the machines. I don't want to believe that, but it does make a lot of sense...

And it also makes the whole thing that much more f***ed up.

This war was meaningless. Everything that's happened has been meaningless. The entire existence of every YoRHa member has been utterly meaningless.

There have been many hints and clues throughout the game, but only now does it truly show its hand, that the entire message of this game... has been about the meaningless of existence, and how we deal with it. Hell, this was pretty much what JEAN-PAUL was going on about during his side quest. I noticed it with Emil's story too.

9S especially. Throughout the course of the game, 9S had his meaning and purpose gradually stripped away, until he too came to this painful realization.

Even A2. She lost everything, though she's had time to deal with things over the years and cool down.

The machines as well. They behave like children because of that one picturebook segment (that I might not have shown). It showed a single machine, saying "I killed my mother. I killed my father.' And in his hand, he coldly gripped... Both the joy of growing up. And the agony of being alone."

It was talking about how the machines killed the aliens, and were then left all alone with no one to govern or direct them. They were lost, so they took to studying humanity and trying to imitate them in order to give them some sort of guidance for living. That's why they were so hell-bent on imitating humans, and seemed to wander with no direction until they birthed Adam and Eve to lead and manage them (because it "Could not continue").

But in the end, every machine (and even every android) always held on to one thing in particular, or (as the one picturebook mentioned) one "treasure" that they cherished above all others. Machines and androids were all programmed to have a primary objective, so even without one, their general programming still caused them to cling to one thing - one thing to give their life purpose and meaning, and we've constantly witnessed them having that one thing taken away, and revealing how meaningless their existence is.

And Eve flat out told us the game's message way back in Route A...

But 9S... He valued a lot of things at first, and they were all stripped away. And this whole time... We find out that the reason 2B was always with him, was because it was her JOB to keep killing him, over and over. It's why she was emotional over him being hurt in the very beginning, because SHE already knew him very well. It's why she tightened her grip in anger when she found out he'd lost his memories fro that mission, again. It's why she broke down so hard at the end of Route A and B when she had to kill him, saying "It always... ends like this."

It's so sad, because she truly did love him, and her job to kill him just tore her apart. And 9S, though he had latent feelings of anger because he knew she was doing it... he still loved her too. They were victims of cruel circumstances tearing them apart, all until the scheduled sabotage that was meant to wipe them out permanently, for the next generation to come in.

I feel for 9S. He's such a well-written character with his gradual transformation into the cynical hate-filled nihilist that he is now, but who knows how much he was already like that... deep down. Adam seemed to sense something back in Route B. It's still tragic.

And now here A2 and 9S stand, poised to kill one another, and I'm given the choice of who it's gonna be.

But neither deserve to die, even if they have nothing to live for...

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