Tag Archives: Taro Yoko

Features, MoeGamer Awards 2017

The MoeGamer Awards: Best Integration of Mechanics with Thematic Elements

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The MoeGamer Awards are a series of made-up prizes that give me an excuse to celebrate games, concepts and communities I’ve particularly appreciated over the course of 2017. Find out more and suggest some categoriesΒ here!

Today’s suggestion comes to us from “riobravo79”, who doesn’t appear to have a website or Twitter or anything — not that I could find, anyway — but left a comment on the initial awards post. Thanks; hope you see this!

Balancing narrative themes and mechanical interest is always a concern for those making a game with any more complexity than a “walking simulator”, visual novel or similarly story-centric experience. And it’s with this in mind that one of the most common terms bandied about by people who like to pretend they know what they’re talking about is “ludonarrative dissonance”, intended to describe the disconnect between the narrative themes of the story and what you actually spend your time doing in the game.

Some games handle this better than others. Some games don’t evenΒ attempt to handle it, combining abstract mechanics with a more realistic narrative. But some games do aΒ wonderfulΒ job with fusing their narrative and thematic elements with how the game as a whole works.

And the winner is…

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Cover Games, Nier Automata

Nier Automata: A Game Better With β€” And Because Of β€” Its Narrative

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This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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Writing for The Atlantic, academic and media commentator Ian Bogost put forth the rather bold claim that “video games are better without stories” and asked “film, television and literature all tell them better, so why are games still obsessed with narrative?”

This is an interesting question to ponder in light of any discussion of video games, but it’s a particularly pertinent discussion to have when we’re considering something as ambitious and audacious as Nier: Automata — a game which not only tells a compelling story, it tells it in an incredibly fascinating way.

Bogost’s article meanders around the point somewhat, but ultimately seems to come to the conclusion that purely environmental storytelling — be it through the use of audiologs, a la BioShock, or less explicitly through the environment itself, as in “walking simulators” such as Gone Home — is not a particularly effective approach to presenting an interactive narrative, though it can provide an interesting playground for a player to explore.

And he’s not really wrong in this regard… apart from the fact that it’s only in relatively rare cases that a game exclusively relies on this approach.

Continue reading Nier Automata: A Game Better With β€” And Because Of β€” Its Narrative →

Cover Games, Nier Automata

Nier Automata: Narrative, Themes and Characterisation

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This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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Nier creator Taro Yoko is particularly fascinated with death: not only the concept itself, but also how different people respond to it.

Yoko’s interest in the subject, as we’ve previously discussed, stems from a traumatic experience in his youth when he witnessed the accidental, easily avoidable death of a friend and discovered, to his surprise, that there was something oddly humorous in the moment as well as it being horrifying. Someone’s existence had come to a premature end, yes, but there was something fundamentally ridiculous about how it had happened; how sudden it was; and how everyone was powerless in the moment to prevent it from happening.

The inherent ridiculousness of death — particularly accidental death — is something that gamers have been familiar with for many years. And so what better medium through which to explore the concept itself — and what better characters to do so with than those that can’t die through conventional means?

Continue reading Nier Automata: Narrative, Themes and Characterisation →

Cover Games, Nier Automata

Nier Automata: Creating a Game That is “Unexpected”, That “Keeps Changing Form”

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This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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Nier creator Taro Yoko has some strong opinions about how to keep games interesting.

Last time, we heard how he felt that modern triple-A games were often fun for the first twenty minutes, but that he frequently became concerned these initially impressive titles would become tiresome after twenty or more hours. It was this mindset that caused him to design the originalΒ NierΒ with so many unusual features to it, and many of these — and more — have carried across toΒ Nier: Automata.

Today, then, we’ll take a look atΒ Nier: Automata’sΒ mechanical aspects — and how Yoko’s collaboration with Platinum Games has helped him to realise his vision better than ever before.

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Cover Games, Nier Automata

Nier Automata: Introduction and History

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This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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Nier: Automata is a fascinating game in its own right, but it becomes even more of an interesting story when you take it in context of everything that led to its creation.

In order to understandΒ Nier: AutomataΒ and its predecessors, it is particularly important to understand creator Taro Yoko, one of the most distinctive “auteurs” in all of video game making — albeit one who, until the release ofΒ Automata, had largely flown under the radar in stark contrast to his contemporaries such as Hideo Kojima.

Yoko is a creator who, it’s fair to say, has consistently pushed back against the boundaries of what is “accepted practice” in video game development — both in terms of subject matter and mechanical considerations. And the results of his resistance to conventions and norms are some of the most distinctive and interesting — albeit sometimes flawed — creations in all of gaming.

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From the Archives, Swords and Zippers

From the Archives: Birds Suddenly Appear Every Time You Are Nier

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Nier is possibly one of Square Enix’s most misunderstood games.

Released to a rather lukewarm critical response back in 2010, this Cavia-developed PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 action RPG, directed by Taro Yoko, is actually a fascinating game that is well worth your time and attention β€” so long as you have a bit of patience to deal with its idiosyncrasies.

This article was originally published on Games Are Evil in 2012 as part of the site’s regular Swords and Zippers column on JRPGs. It has been republished here due to Games Are Evil no longer existing in its original form.

Continue reading From the Archives: Birds Suddenly Appear Every Time You Are Nier →

GameCast

The MoeGamer GameCast: Episode 6 – ZAWAZAWAZAWA

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In this episode of the GameCast, we talk about the prevalence of “auteurs” in Japanese game development, NepNep in VR and one of the bleakest anime series I’ve ever seen.

Music, as ever, is the work of MusMus, and the awesome retro font is by Style64. Other music in this episode remains the copyright of its respective owners — thoughΒ KaijiΒ fans may be interested to know that the complete soundtrack is available via archive.org: CD1 and CD2.

Screenshot 2017-03-12 19.47.55.png

If you’re having trouble running the browser version, take a look at the TyranoBuilder FAQ, which explains how to run browser games locally β€” though be aware there can be some security risks involved, so only follow its recommendations when you want to run a browser-based episode of the GameCast.

Download for WindowsΒ (113MB)
Download for MacΒ (117MB)
Download for BrowserΒ (86MB)

As I’ve said previously, if/when I have a bit more money floating around, I’ll sort out some proper hosting for browser versions so you don’t have to go through this process. If you’d like to help out with that β€” or if you just want to show your support for what I’m doing on the site in general β€” please consider making a pledge to my Patreon.

If you’re new to the GameCast, start from the beginningΒ to find out more about the characters and what this is all about!