Saito-san admitted that NieR didn’t sell very well, but the franchise has a cult following of hardcore fans and it has a lot of potential.
Combining Platinum Games and Square Enix is like having a dream team, especially adding the character design of Akihiko Yoshida.
The coherence of the world between NieR and NieR: Automata is guaranteed by the work of Taro Yoko himself. The fans of the previous NieR won’t be disappointed or feel betrayed.
The game is benefiting form the experience of PlatinumGames in action games, and from Akihiko Yoshida’s very personal art style. Saito-san feels the combination of those factors can result in a great game.
Square Enix didn’t expect such a strong positive hype about the franchise. People keep buying the original soundtrack CD for the first game, talking about the story and they really like the world.
At the beginning they wanted to name the game NieR: Androids, but there were trademark problems and “Androids” sounded too simple anyway.
The first prototype for the game was completed on July 2014.
A lot of attention was paid to the criticism received by the first game. Saito-san’s work at the producer is to assemble the best team to make the best game possible. According to him, with the team they have the game, is going to be great.
Saito-san remembers that many foreign reviews of NieR mentioned that the graphics weren’t very good, but they weren’t able to stop playing, and that’s one the game’s trademarks.
When PlatinumGames developed the prototype of NieR: Automata, it was also a test to see if Taro Yoko was compatible with Platinum, and it went very well. They also discovered that PlatinumGames has a lot of respect for the director, and there is no problem in them working together.
In order for the game to be made, Yoko-san decided to live in Osaka (he normally lives in Tokyo), where PlatinumGames is located. He’s there to guarantee that the game remains faithful to the original game. NieR: Automata is going to be very faithful to the franchise’s universe because the same person is in charge.
When Taro Yoko joined the team, he was the first one to ask himself if the game would become just an action game, but when he went to Platinum, he met Chief Planner Takahisa Taura, and he noticed that he had a lot of respect for the previous NieR. His ambition is to create a new NieR while keeping what made the first game unique.
The story about NieR: Automata being originally a mobile game is just a rumor without any solid ground. A long time ago Taro Yoko considered a NieR adaptation for PlaySytation Vita, and that might be where the rumor came from, but it had nothing to do with NieR: Automata, and the project was canceled. There’s no NieR project for mobile.
Emi Evans (that provided vocals and lyrics for the original NieR) isn’t working on the game.
Composer Keiichi Okabe and Taro Yoko didn’t expect the original soundtrack for NieR to be this popular, and they don’t even know exactly the reason why, so they can’t guarantee that they will repeat the same miracle, but Yoko-san is sure that he’ll do his best.
Saito-san mentioned that as a producer his directive was for the music to remind of the previous NieR so that the fans of the previous game could enjoy it.
In some levels there are places you won’t be able to reach with normal jumps, so you’ll have to use your gliding drone “Pod” in order to reach them.
Between combat phases there will be exploration phases, and contrary to what the trailer might make you think, there won’t be only action. On top of the action, there will be adventure, dialogue with characters, puzzle solving and story progression.
The Pod flies around you, but he won’t behave like the Grimoire Weiss. It won’t talk all the time and behave more like a car’s GPS. That said, he’s not just going to be an accessory.
You can switch between weapons very easily, and also between close combat weapons and ranged weapons. The ranged weapons are all stored inside Pod.
The gap between the dark universe and comedic elements is what makes NieR unique, and Yoko-san wants fans to feel it again in NieR: Automata. That said, he doesn’t like to do exactly the same thing twice, so that kind of unbalance is going to appear in an unexpected way.
For now the team is giving its all on NieR: Automata, so they’ll think about possible remasters of NieR after the release of the new game.
Saito-san cannot promise that the game will have a demo, because he wouldn’t want to disappoint people, but it’s something they’ll consider in their planning, so there might be one if no problem arises.
What looks like a bandage on YoRHa 2B’s eyes is actually not a bandage, but special glasses that display information for her. The glasses are part of her equipment right from the beginning of the game.
The reason why you can’t see her eyes is a very important part of the story, so Yoko-san can’t reveal it. Saito-san mentioned that it has nothing to do with Emil’s petrifying gaze from NieR.
Yoko-san mentioned that his iconic mask is four times hotter than what you’d imagine.
It was confirmed that the game is only in development on PS4.
The fact that YoRHa 2B’s weapons don’t touch her back but just float behind her has a very peculiar reason. Her swords have their own magnetic fields, and that’s important in the gameplay. They can be used as swords, but also thrown like shuriken.
