PixlBit

I think that NieR Automata is in a really tough spot at the moment.
When I went into the game, I had almost no expectations outside from the fact that it apparently played better than the original.  The game is still flawed, but I enjoyed my time with it, and I think that it is worth playing, so I gladly recommend it.  I enjoyed it, but it actually hasn't come to mind when thinking about my favorite games that I played this year.

The tough spot that it is in at the moment is that so many sites are putting it on their list of top 10 games from 2017.  This is going to set many people's expectations way too high and I am sure more people will walk away sharing Julian's sentiment of the game.  Way to ruin the game for everybody who picked it up on Black Friday everybody.

I enjoyed what I played of the demo and was impressed by the variety of gameplay, but the drab industrial background wasn't my thing. I haven't listened to the podcast yet, so I don't know if that changes later on. 

Taste is a funny thing though. Yakuza 0 is probably the most fun I've had gaming all year and I can't get back into Horizon: Zero Dawn to save my life, but I completely get why Zero Dawn is ranked so highly while Yakuza 0 doesn't get on most top 10s ... it's because gaming passed me by a whole generation ago and I have yet to admit it to myself. 

Overall the game is very drab, when they use color it still feels fairly muted.  There are even sections of the game that go black and white.

I think that the thing with Yakuza is that it is such a known quantity nowadays.  I think there has been a Yakuza game every year for a little while now.

I actually think I'd like B&W sections more. 

And yet Yakuza was never even on my radar until now. Some games just don't get AAA coverage, I guess. 

To be fair those black and white areas are some of the most interesting. The industrial setting isn't the only place at all. Carnivals, Forests, Deserts, Castles, Caves, and such all appear. 

I personally loved Horizon Zero Dawn and would put it over Zelda for my list. I think it may be my GOTY. Haven't tried a Yakuza game yet. May give Zero a chance when I see a good sale. Think the main thing I missed from this year is Persona and Resident Evil 7. I'll get both eventually. 

It definitely looks like a PS3 game from 2007. Not so much the character models (although they aren't great), but definitely in the color scheme. 

I'm surprised you're having such a hard time with combat Julian. Though to be fair I don't know how skilled you are at 3rd person action games. I had a few spots where I had to retry but nothing major. I'll say that Chip Sets make a big difference. Shockwave, Overclock, Anti-Chain Damage, Resilience, and Offensive/Deadly Heal (I used Deadly personally) were the ones i used mostly for battle. I had some quality of life ones like increase speed and auto collect items but those aren't necessary. 

I hope you finish it. The 3rd playthrough is great and the lead up to the final boss/ending was bad ass. 

I also can't believe Angelo hasn't played this. What's going on here? I would have thought he'd played it day one. 

So, I've been questioning my gaming skills as of late. I will say that Devil May Cry 3 was too tough for me, but I beat Bayonetta 1 and Metal Gear Rising with little trouble. To clarify, I had trouble on that first boss for some reason, and then the weird one hit kill thing towards the end of the B route. The rest of the game was fine. Boring, but fine. 

I got ending E, and I'm sorry, but I never found anything too interesting. I thought the game got better into route C, but the conclusion I've come to is that people love these characters. I hated every character (including the supporting characters) with a firey passion and wanted them all to die in slow, painful ways.