| Jaicee said: I think that in some cases (like Naughty Dog's recent past) you're right about that. However, I think you'll find that it's just as often the case that when a major publisher achieves success with a particular story, they respond to that by endlessly repeating more or less the same story on the belief that, hey, this one is safe. (See Japanese RPGs broadly during the first decade of this century, for example.) We're talking about a business here, after all. You'll find that quality art more often than not comes from quarters where there's no realistic possibility of a significant return on investment (like Steam), as this results in different motivations. Or maybe I'm just too skeptical of capitalism to see all the great exceptions that are out there. Anyway, no worries on getting a little off-topic. I'm enjoying this conversation. :P NieR: Automata's length depends on how you approach it. To simply complete the basic quest takes about 10 hours, but it will take you three playthroughs as different characters (you unlock another more each of your first couple playthroughs) to actually get the crux of the story and the "true ending" of the game and each playthrough will take you about 10 hours. I highly recommend going for the "true ending", which is achieved by completing all three of the endings in the third playthrough. That will pretty much oblige you to do the majority of the side missions. In grand total, it should take you about 30 to 35 hours to finish with the "true ending", which is totally worth it for the unorthodox story and fascinating conclusion. So if you average about two hours a day on the game, you should be able to finish it with the "true ending" before Persona 5 comes out. |
I'd be down to play 100 more versions of TLOU 
In seriousness though, i guess we'll have to wait and see how it goes. Before it can be any kind of influence (either positive or negative), it needs to actually be good first. ND have earnt my confidence on that front, but a lot can go wrong when making a game.
I think there are some great exceptions, but i do agree Steam and the like are better places to look for such titles. Art often needs a degree of uncompromised honesty, and that can be difficult when your end goal is to sell as many copies as possible.
Me too! We clearly disagree on a lot of stuff (or more specifically the extent of some things), but it's nice to have a constructive conversation on the internet.
I didn't know Nier had a multi-playthrough narrative, that's pretty neet. I think the last time i played something like that was 999 in 2013 or 2014. Sounds like it's worth the time though, so i'll get that downloaded today. Thanks for the details~
