There are many moments which still stick out vividly from my original playthrough of NieR: Automata. One scene which stands out is during the prologue of 9S’ chapter. In this short five minute scene, you take control of a robot named Friedrich who futility attempts to carry a bucket of oil to save his “brother”. This moment transpires in true Nier style, where you are made to feel at least a little bit badly about the enemy NPCs you destroy en masse. Whether in a playthrough, an image or any other format – when I see this robot design, my mind is drawn to this…
… and I felt the same when loading up The Copied Factory raid for the first time in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers and the opening cutscene featured – SURPRISE! – this same robot design. My heart did twinge a little bit, before becoming enamoured with the rest of the raid which paid homage to Nier: Automata through its music, boss characters, location and overall aesthetic. This is an image I originally captured for my review of Patch 5.1, ultimately becoming the articles header image.
In Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy Tactics director Yasumi Matsuno was a guest curator for that expansion’s trilogy of Alliance Raids titled “Return to Ivalice”. In the most recent expansion, Nier and Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro will be serving as the guest curator – with The Copied Factory the first of three planned raids. Expect more from this game crossover in the coming months!
Take That (In-Game) Snap Daily Photo is an off-shoot of the upcoming Take That (In-Game) Snap article series. This looks at, celebrates and critiques how video game developers have implemented professional photography-like systems into their games. It will cover how the systems handle, just how accessible they are and, where applicable, how a modding community might be making these tools even better. With this Daily Photo spin-off series, I will be sharing individual photos from the games either covered or soon-to-be-covered in the series.
