The NieR:Automata Special Talk Live at Loft/Plus One in Shinjuku was held on Monday, February 13th from 7:00-9:30pm; doors opened at 6:00pm.
Although tickets were quickly sold out through the e+ ticket service, I prayed to a couple Dragon Gods and maybe a few Watchers to help me get a ticket to go… and they even helped me to get an extra one for a friend. Thank you, Gods of 2017!! <3
I worked until 4pm that day but it took me over an hour to get to the venue. I met with my friend and we went directly to the place at about 5:30pm, 30 minutes before they would start letting people in. Once in the seating area, you could choose to sit wherever you wanted… So, since my ticket was #13, I was able to get a pretty decent seat, front & center! <3
Now, just to let people know, I can’t really divulge what was discussed at this event since we were sworn to secrecy, but there really wasn’t much of anything new. The majority of the talk dealt with behind-the-scenes stories on the development.
＊ Now that the game has been out for almost a week, it may be okay to talk a little bit more about this event. Plus, the PlayStation.Blog has updated a review and nice video that summarizes the events of the night.
There were all kinds of awesome NieR things decorated all over the place. There were at least four NieR:Automata posters on the far wall, and each round little table (one table for roughly 4 people) was decorated with a nice round NieR:Automata placemat. Each place setting also came with a drink coaster with the YoRHa emblem printed on it.
Also, each table came with a post-it notepad for people to ask questions to the development team. I couldn’t help but write a rather spoiler-heavy question that I knew they couldn’t discuss…but had to ask any way (something regarding a certain character from the YoRHa stage play <– *beware of potential spoilers!!*).
In retrospect, I probably should have asked something more fun…but… I couldn’t help myself. Alas, they didn’t choose my question, but one of the other girls at my table had her question answered! Great job! I don’t remember what it was, though… :/
At some point, they showed a new video for Europe to promote the Day One release that comes with a black shirt and white Emil face. In the video, Yoko rolls around on the ground with the T-shirt and says a lot of expletives in English. lol It’s quite amusing!
If you remember this photo that Saito-san posted during their tour in London…
…this photo was probably taken after multiple takes for the video. xD
Taura played a little bit more of never-before-seen gameplay that apparently takes place sometime during the middle of the first playthrough. When a boss appeared, he seemed to be doing well for a while… until he utterly died. He was so shocked that he spilled his drink all over the place. The staff had just gotten him that drink, too… xD Afterward, he was a bit flustered, his face turned red. Very cute. haha
The vocalist Akita Hiromu from amazarashi, who collaborated with Yoko Taro on the new theme song “Inochi ni Fusawashii / Deserving of Life”, was also at the event. After screening the music video, there was some extra time, so they asked of Akita-san would come on stage and talk for a little while. He said that they didn’t originally plan to destroy all of the dolls in the video but… it was Akita’s idea to do it, so… 😛
About halfway through the event, they guys mentioned something about the Square Enix Cafe and how they will have NieR dishes available from Feb 20-Mar 17 and how they have one dessert that’s topped with what looks like the bullets in NieR.
This is actually strawberry jelly… but fans have always asked for them to make an ikura donburi (samon roe rice bowl)… and that’s what they did!! I probably should have taken a photo of it before I ate… but it was a TON of ikura on top of rice, served in a nice NieR:Automata bowl with Emil on the inside. They wrapped the bowls in plastic before adding the food so that the bowls would stay relatively clean to take home. When we were all finished, they said that everyone had a bag and a box to put the bowls in under each of our chairs. I don’t think anyone really noticed that there was anything under there…!
At the end of the event, several of the press guys for the PlayStation Blog and Famitsu (maybe others!) took a commemorative photo of all of us with Yoko Taro, Saito Yosuke, Taura Takahisa and the Gravity Daze guys. Maybe these photos will be released sometime around when they plan to show bits of the event for the next live broadcast…?? We also took a photo flipping off the camera in honor of Yoko’s vulgar video… It was amazing. lol
We were also able to take a couple pictures of them, too…!! I took a ton of photos, but I don’t know if it’s right for me to post them here or not yet. I’ll keep them for a while and see if anyone else who when to the event starts posting stuff. Otherwise, it they may have to remain private.
Tickets to this event were only 2,000 Yen, and yet we received an ikura-don in the NieR:Automata Emil bowl plus nomihodai (bottomless free drinks). A lot of money was put into this event and us fans were almost entirely on the receiving end. Tickets easily could have been 5x as expensive or more to make a profit, but… I really felt like this was their way to give back a little to their fans. I really doubt they have much in the budget to do anything too elaborate, which is probably why this was such an exclusive event, but… I can’t help but feel extremely humbled that they would even do anything like this for us. I am entirely filled with gratitude and thoroughly enjoy showing my support for these people and their work!
On the way out of the event, we could personally say hello to Saito-san, Yoko-san, and Taura-san. I entirely can’t remember what I mumbled to Yoko, but I do remember shaking his hand pretty hard. ^^;;
Thank you so much for an amazing night! <3
▲ This is the 6th re-write of the presentation script. Just about every presentation like this has a written script, but whether those involved actually stay on script or deviate a little from it is anybody’s guess (photo by Saito Yosuke).
▲ Yoko Taro signing his name on the postcards given to those present at the event (photo by Saito Yosuke).
▲ Shot of the Emil donburi bowl (photo by Taura Takahisa).
▲ The photo on the right is a custom-made hat that one of the girls at the VERY FRONT of the seating area was wearing–I’m pretty sure I saw her in line at the NieR Music Concert & Talk Live last April. The second photo is the sign that all of the speaking presenters had to denote topics that are absolutely secret!! (photos by Kitao Yasuhiro).
▲ Here’s a shot of a bunch of the postcards that Yoko Taro, Taura Takahisa, and Saito Yosuke all signed. It looks like Taura even alternated his message. On the left he wrote “Thanks for today!” and on the write he wrote “Please look forward to NieR:Automata!” (photo by Yoko Taro).