Category Archives: NieR:Automata

Speculation: The Signs are in the Eye

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Sometime after SQEX posted the first of five blog posts sharing more information on the NieR:Automata Black Box Edition, Yoko Taro posted something interesting on Twitter regarding the emblem printed on the front of the box.

“Our PR rep really fussed over the NieR limited edition box. Actually, the designer has a hidden design somewhere in the emblem printed here, and that, we’ll discuss some other time……” ーYoko Taro

 

So, that got me thinking some more and imagining what could be “hidden” in this design. When I first saw the emblem or glyph, I thought it resembled an eye that possibly has a tear streaming down from it. I also thought it resembled a lot like a blooming flower, reminiscent of the Flower entity from DOD3, and we all know that damn thing could still be lurking out there somewhere, clinging onto dear life.

Another thing I wondered about was whether or not this particular design was borrowed from or maybe merged some of the glyphs from the previous games. So for that purpose, let’s take another look at the main glyphs.

glyphs

Here, we can see that Zero’s glyph was clearly made in retrospect to resemble Caim’s own: a blossoming flower with Caim’s dragon-esque glyph emerging from within. As for the other Utautai glyphs from DOD3, they all have a uniform circular structor to the design with varying aspects setting them apart from each other. The one the intrigues me the most in relation to the new NieR:Automata glyph is One’s. It shares almost the same, exact spikes as Nowe’s glyph with a total of 6 protruding “wing” spikes (Nowe’s seems to have an additional 3 on the “tail”).

dod3-glyph

I also thought that, overall, the emblem resembled the flower “dash” that was used in the DOD3 logo, as seen above. If you rotate the image 90 degrees to the right and imagine an eye sprouting from the center of the flower, I think that depicts the basics of the design.

dod3-glyph-flower

This particular head-on look of an eye reminded me of the graphics from DOD3 that represented each Utautai:

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Stepping a little further from the graphical design, there are 5 prongs at the top of the “eye” to create apparent eye lashes. The number 5… there were 5 additional Utautai born from the flower due to Zero’s offensive action.

Oh, and the YoRHa Bunker also displays a nice emblem, too:

bunker-glyph

This glyph also shares the same five prongs that appear in the “eye” glyph above, but this one has three swords, standing tall and straight. I don’t have anything much to say on this yet, but… the number three brings to mind the original 3 YoRHa from the beginning days of the YoRHa endeavor in connection with MONACA and DearStage. It was these three vocalists that sang the boss battle themes on the DOD3 soundtrack. You can find more information on this here.

So what do you think? Could this be a clue that actively connects both game series? We know they exist in the same world at different points in the overall timeline, but… could they be more entangled than that? More related in each other’s future–and past–than we were initially lead to believe?

Or is it all yet more smoke and mirrors…?

The Black Box Edition: The Outer Box

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This is my translation the October 21 blog update on the official NieR:Automata site.
The photos and original content is from there.

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Good evening, everyone. I’m the PR Director for NieR:Automata. We wanted to show you more about the NieR:Automata Black Box Edition, so we’ll be bringing you more detailed information in five separate parts.

Even though we’re still taking orders, it is a limited release, so if you feel like it’s something that you MUST HAVE, please try to get your orders in as soon as possible!

So, to kick this post off, here’s a little comment from the producer, Saito Yosuke:

Thanks to everyone, we’ve received a huuuuuuuuuuuge number of pre-orders! That being said, we’re still taking orders!! There will come a time when we need to close pre-orders, so please use this chance to make your order now! You won’t regret it!

ー Saito Yosuke, NieR:Automata Producer

 

I’m the PR director, working under Director Yoko and Producer Saito to push forward the overall design, so here’s one of the things that, like Saito mentioned earlier, you will not regret: The Outer Box.

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Just as the name suggests, it’s a jet black box with nice silk prints of the emblem and title—it really radiates a sense of quality. Just taking a look at the outside of the box, it’s difficult to imagine what could possibly be inside, right……?

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Close up, you can actually see the thickness of the print.

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The same black paper was used for the inside of the box. If we had used black ink on white paper, the text would bleed through, so…

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We set the box in the staff cafeteria, and boy, does it seem like an ominous object……

So, anyway, that’s our introduction of the outer box. Next up we’ll show you more of the figure! Stay tuned!

The original Japanese article was written by NieR:Automata PR Director No1.
prm01

NieR:Automata – 1st Live Boradcast

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Thanks to a little heads-up by reddit user Anacra, it appears as though Square Enix is planning on continuing with their tradition of live broadcasts to show more of the game. The first broadcast will be on Wednesday, October 26 from 8:00-9:15PM.

＊ Please note that this is Japan time, so you’ll have to calculate for other time zones.  

nier-automata-1st-live-boradcast

Planned appearances by:

  • Producer: Saito Yosuke
  • Director: Yoko Taro
  • Game Designer: Taura Takahisa

yoshi-emil-fix

It will be interesting how Yoko Taro makes his appearance for this broadcast since his Emil mask may still be out of commission. We know that yoshi has been fixing it and it might be ready by then, but… what if it’s not!? xD

Not much is known about this event at the time except that some new information will be released!

This broadcast may also have something to do with Pairs Games Week, which starts the very next day. There has been no news whether or not there will be any presentation at PGW on NieR:Automata this year, however.

You can view the broadcast on YouTube, which is shown below, or also at NicoNico Douga.

The Recording Booth: 2B

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This is my translation of the October 17 blog update on the official NieR:Automata site.
The majority of the photos and original content is from there. I have made some additions as well.

Once again I bring to you another report on the voice recording sessions for NieR:Automata. Hello, I’m the producer, Saito Yosuke.

Next we’d like to take a little peek into the recording studio to see Ishikawa Yui, who plays 2B, the heroine and main character in NieR:Automata. This is a slightly different recording studio than what we previously showed in the post with Hanae Natsuki (9S), but it’s still part of the main studio.

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First of all, Ishikawa hardly had time to catch her breath once she reached the office when director Yoko Taro approached her for a brief meeting. What the heck is he doing in this photo? Maybe he’s covering his eyes like 2B because they’re talking about some secret!? …hmm, that can’t be it.

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…is that A2 at the bottom of the script?

So, anyway, they finished their meeting. Ishikawa had already read through the script before coming into the office and could quickly go into recording! She’s got a ton of lines to record, so that really helped us out.

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As you can see in the photo above, there’s a small screen in the recording booth she can use to give the proper timing to her lines. There’s a lot of action scenes that make it difficult to get the timing right, but Ishikawa is such a pro, she was able to get through it all at warp speed. Oh, you can sort of see 2B’s face there, too…

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Here she was beginning to read a rather intense scene. I can’t believe that 2B gets %&*#!&… Aaaaaaaaaahhh… You really get the sense that the doors into the “World of Yoko Taro” have been opened wide. But don’t let that fool you—we’re going to have a happy ending! Honestly, there’s nothing to worry about!

Well, that’s all for the recordings today (it actually took a long time).

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In this last photo, you can see Ishikawa Yui signing a bunch of the scripts. We asked all the cast members to do this so at some point we can offer them as presents to our fans!

Thanks so much for reading!

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Is 2B…smiling…or…?

2B and A2 on the front cover of the scripts.

2B and A2 on the front cover of the scripts.

The original Japanese article was written by NieR:Automata producer Saito Yosuke.
saito-yosuke

Emil’s Well on the Mend!

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Thanks to yoshi-san’s hard work, Emil is well on the mend! You can still see where the poor mask broke and split apart… but I have all confidence that he will be right as rain!

yoshi-emil-fix