NieR Automata: When the Credit Scene is the Best Part of the Game
You are alone. but… the whole world is rooting for you
Warning: This article contains NieR: Automata spoiler.
Placed in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has been wiped from the earth and machine life-form created by alien dominating the world. This game let us play as an android (human-like cyborg) that existed solely to fight machine and make earth a safe place for human to live.
The androids believe that human seek refuge to the moon and created their organization, YoRHa to fight for humankind. Even their motto is “Glory to Mankind”. Little did they know, human is already extinct and even YoRHa was created after the extinction of human. So they actually fight for nothing.
NieR itself heavily-based on philosophy, especially existentialism and it ended with breaking the sisyphean cycle. Ok, in this article, I would focus on the experience of fighting the last boss of NieR, “Market Division”. Yes, it is one of the last boss. So on the true ending of NieR, the player will try to break the sisyphean cycle by breaking the 4th wall, player will fight the god of the game the people who created NieR: Automata (the developer and the staff).
The final boss fight is not action-packed, it just a retro plane game, you avoid enemies’ bullet while trying to hit enemies. But the enemies are not other plane, they are just bunch of department and staff names. However it is almost impossible to defeat the last boss alone. So they designed the game for player to failed again and again. However, this is the most epic part of the game.
At my first failure, I saw a blank screen and a dialogue box that asked whether I want to try again or not.
Then, at the second failure, I saw a message.
“I did my best. One thing is certain: I’m rooting for you.”
I was confused, I thought to myself ‘is that message supposed to be there?’ at that moment, the dialogue box in the game asked me “DO YOU ACCEPT DEFEAT?” Yes with capital letter. I felt like the game provoking me and look down on me.
At my 3rd attempt more message appears encouraging me to keep trying again and again, at this moment I assume that those messages are from players that went through this part of the game. They know that I am alone, trying to pass this bullet hell, and even there was a thought to give up within me. But, other players’ message keep appearing to push me forward.
“There’s no trick to this, even so, you’ve got us with you”
“I saw this through to the end. In any case, show me what you’ve got”
“I’ve walked the same path as you, so you should do your best too”
Those messages are from players all around the world. Kept me from giving up. Eventually, after failed for so many times, there are players who offer help. I got a help offer from AutumnFall. I accepted his offer then suddenly, the background song that only have 1 singer is accompanied by many backsinger. Furthermore, there are many players that within my side, helping me to clear the stage. From trying to do almost the impossible by myself, now I am accompanied by the soul (save data) of other players that want to help me see the true ending, by killing the god of the game. Everytime I got hit by the bullet, there is a notification showed whose save data was lost by getting hit. Even now, I still remember few username that helped me through that stage. AutumnFall, qiqi, DIY, etc. Kudos to those guys who deleted their save data to help others.
Those players deleted their save data, 30 hours of their hard-work to help other people. At that time, I shed some tears, I do not know that this pew-pew mini-game could be very emotional. Even so, players are still arguing about this delete save data to help other players system, some people regretted, some felt liberated from the game, and there are people who focused on the message of this system (Gallagher, 2018). For me myself, I felt liberated, proud, and hopeful that my save data can help others and make their day. After finishing the stage, I left a message for other people to encourage them to not give up in this boss.
“You are alone. But… the whole world is rooting for you”
NieR: Automata is a beautiful game. From the lore, story, and gameplay, the developer makes it worth to be called as a AAA game, even if it is not categorized as AAA. Well, those are the good thing about NieR, the best thing about NieR is, it changed the way save data works. As a gamer, I always think that save data is only to load my game to the last moment I saved it. However, NieR makes save data feel more meaningful. Save data is the proof of our hard-work that can help others who struggling to break the sisyphean cycle.
In the end, NieR: Automata teaches us that even in the face of despair, in the isolation of a solo battle, there is a community, a global network of players, rooting for each other’s success. Even some sacrifice themselves to help others. It demonstrates that games can touch us in ways we never anticipated, leaving us with indelible memories and a profound sense of shared humanity.
Reference
Gallagher, R. (2018). Memory and Meaning in Analogue: A Hate Story and Nier: Automata. In Abstract Proceedings of the 2018 DiGRA International Conference.
