Recap of NieR: Automata (RECAPitation)

released by platinum games in 2017 on the playstation 4 and later ported to the pc and xbox one nier automata would be a sequel to the games near gestalt and near replicant written and directed by yokotaro almost all of the same management team from nir would work on this project too exploring various themes regarding life and humanity for story the game takes place thousands of years after near and features three android soldiers named 2b 9s and a2 each with their own unique abilities and storylines of the players switches between for gameplay the game features an open world with many sub-environments aerial zones for top-down shoot-em-up sections and small camps for shops and upgrading for combat the game features fast hack and slash action with an emphasis on mobility and evasion like a 3d shoot em up the game also features dozens of side quests several mini-games including fishing battle arenas new game plus and chapter select and 21 unique game over screens jokingly called alternate endings keep in mind that choices determining the ending of the game are deliberately left open so there is technically no cannon ending for the game at this time so for this recap i will be using the ending path chosen by the official novelization of the game the story only gets larger from here so let's cut it down the size of the recapitation as the game begins it is the year 11945 ad and we see an android designated 9s alongside his tactical support pod 153 scouting out a small bucket carrying machine that is curiously talking and attempting to revive a fallen machine that it refers to as its brother as he makes notes he looks up to observe the latest joreja operation starting and he is hailed by his handler 210 to support the mission by disabling enemy defenses here on the ground moving quickly 9s advanced hacking skills gets the job done though his talents give him an air of laid-back arrogance as the 243rd descent operation begins a six-unit squadron is deployed to destroy a goliath-class target as well as gather data unfortunately every member except for unit 2b is destroyed during the approach and so the operation is compromised her operator 6-0 updates her orders to rendezvous with unit 9s and begin gathering intel on the area crashing her flight unit into the jungkeeper factory 2b easily destroys the machines there but a massive bucket wheel excavator smashes through the wall to challenge her alongside her tactical support unit pod 042 they fend off the weapon until they are saved by the intervention of 9s in his flight unit he formally introduces himself and offers to provide support from the air while she works her way to the target from the ground he mentions how scanners like him usually work alone so being partnered up is exciting and fun to him and mentions this used to be a weapons factory for humans long ago but the enemy repurposed it to be a machine production facility in addition nature has reclaimed a lot of the world as 2b notes the thriving amount of plants and animals around it's not long after pushing back more harassing attacks that the enemy goliath reveals itself assembling its titanic form and leaping in to crush the androids despite her best efforts 2b is overwhelmed and to her surprise nina sacrifices himself to protect her from a fatal blow falling on top of the goliath as the enemy is staggered 2b climbs aboard to help him but cece is severely damaged distraught she tries to save him but he insists she finished the mission giving her his flight unit as she fights he prepares a backup of her data prioritizing 2v's first and uses his hacking to open weaknesses in the enemy allowing tooby to rip off its arm and beat it down to create an opening for her to deliver a final blow the ensuing explosion tosses her next to 9s who compliments her effort just as three more goliaths rise up and surround them seeing no other choice dianas proposes they use their black boxes to induce an explosive chain reaction strong enough to wipe them all out and agreeing the two androids exchange words of appreciation to each other and self-destruct her data restored to another body on the joha orbiting base in space she encounters the replacement 9s who remarks that their actions have secured a route into enemy territory and they could begin ground operations tooby thanks 9s for taking the time to upload her data to the bunker so she didn't lose her memories but he confesses he doesn't remember doing that as resources were limited and he likely only had time to back up her memories he was restored to the last time he backed up which was right before they rendezvoused so he doesn't recall anything past that which silently frustrates 2b in the bunker toby is reminded how in the year 5012 ad aliens invaded earth and unleashed an army of machines to all but wipe out humanity as the few survivors fled to a colony on the moon in 5204 humanity would launch a counter-attack to reclaim earth with their own army of androids deployed from a network of orbital bases however after more than a dozen failed major offensives they have yet to break the stalemate resulting in the creation of jorja their most advanced androids yet as their best efforts to win the war this is the 13th orbital bunker led by commander white as they are currently six years into the 14th machine war fighting for the glory of mankind as toby is waking up she puts on her uniform blindfold and is greeted by 9s performing checks on her explaining the commander has put him in charge of her maintenance reporting in commander white assigns the two of them to head to the resistance camp on the surface and perform recon assignments as the pair descends down 9s openly questions why they assigned a combat model like 2b to a recon job when that's something scanner models like him already excel at but 2b simply replies she has her orders landing safely in the city ruins 9s informs 2b that according to their intel none of the machines in this area are hostile and in fact usually just stand around staring blankly in the resistance camp they meet the leader and android going by a name instead of a model number called anemone who was surprised to see toobie's face and initially confuses her for someone called number two she tells him there have been lots of reports recently of dangerous machines in the desert and suggest they investigate to make sure this isn't something larger they meet up with another resistance member called jackass a sarcastic but innovative android gathering intelligence as well she opens the way forward with explosives and soon after the pair finds they are indeed attacked by hostile machines that are curiously wearing a facade of clothes like masks and cloaks venturing into the vast desert they slide down dunes to encounter more machines and to be surprised to hear that these are talking about their intent to kill androids and in response to the machines claiming the androids are scary 9 has questions if they even understand the concept he also mentions their outfits match records of what humans used to wear long ago and certain groups use the same face paint too oddly they fight one machine who flees from their battle running towards the ruins of a residential area pod042 explains our former human shelters called apartment complexes as they chase their target down the phrases declared by the machines seem inconsistent but they soon state that because the androids are scary they must be killed in self-defense 9s wonders why they are choosing these words but soon find their target passes by dozens of androids likely killed by machines unclear of why these bodies are gathered here they find a large group of machines all imitating birth and 9s dismisses this reminding to be they are just imitating human speech and don't actually have feelings as the machines turn hostile they fight declaring emotions such as love hate and pain repeating that this cannot continue suddenly they begin acting erratically clustering together to form a cocoon confused the androids bear witness to the birth of a humanoid man and as 2b wonders if this is another android ninus declares this is some sort of new machine as they move to quickly kill it the machine is substantially stronger than the others quickly learning how to speak and question and learning from the pair how to dodge swords and deflect projectiles exhibiting a rapidly growing strength to accomplish this nanus is alarmed at how fast the enemy is evolving before them and they impale the machine between their blades as it drops bleeding the same bloodlike substance androids contain and defeat it however from behind the ribs of the fallen foe a second twin emerges immediately howling the frightening power that collapses the area around them choosing to withdraw for now the androids pull back as the machine picks up its brother and walks away as well unknown to them the machines were not always conscious as thousands of years ago a p-33 robot nicknamed beepi was rebuilt from a junk heap after being destroyed and had integrated many machines into itself gaining much power as well as consciousness launching its spherical ultimate form into space and encountered the machines made by the aliens and decided to grant them all awareness the machines looked to bp as a god as it granted them consciousness emotions and a new future the machines themselves discovered something unique they called treasures and for each machine their values what they coveted and what their ideals were each took a different shape 9s reports their findings and battle with the humanoid machines to the commander and she gives them a new message she informs that they lost contact with several journal units on their way to the surface but their black boxes are still online indicating they are still alive she gives them their coordinates to investigate and as the team takes a detour through a sewer towards the location 9s wonders aloud that he finds it so odd the humanoids they found look just like androids after all androids were modeled after their human creators so why would machines try to look like androids to the side the pair's pods make a covert agreement between themselves that for mission efficiency they should begin regularly exchanging information and reports arriving 2b and 9s discovered an old amusement park now filled with active machines dressed like old circus entertainment proclaiming a disjointed message of being happy together 9s confirms resistance signals inside the old theater and after taking down an elaborate tank they see the machine leaves behind a core fragment that analysis notes is similar in structure to a plant cell moving on they ride a roller coaster to the building during which 9s casually mentions how people close to him call him nines and she can call him that too if she wants dismissing that 2b crashes down through the roof landing before the stage where they are met by a large machine wearing the bodies of androids as decoration as the songstress sings she also tries to hack the androids screaming out that she must become beautiful and revealing the recently captured androids they were looking for turned into weapons for her 9s begins counter-hacking and within simone 9s sees she once adored a unique machine named jean paul and thought to make herself more beautiful to appeal to him even though she did not understand what love or beauty actually meant she worked hard to build herself a new body eat the flesh of androids and learn to sing but despite all that john paul never loved her back and would never love her upon realizing this she despaired how meaningless her form and effort was now as toby delivers a final blow to destroy her 2b thanks 9s for his quick thinking and able hacking and he affirms he's always glad to help her but unfortunately confirms all the captured androids died once the machine died 9s tries to bring up simone's message with 2b but she firmly repeats that machines do not have feelings like he stated earlier but his conviction is shaken as they leave they are approached by a machine waving a white flag who thanks the duo for saving them from the broken machine it invites them to their village and while suspicious 9s agrees it's worth gathering more information about heading out 2b spots something launching into space and 9s explains those are supply shipments from the surface to the moon and the bunker as there are no spare parts or fuel in space elsewhere the two android brothers named adam and eve sit high atop the city ruins as adam reads books about human culture and eve questions why they have to do pointless things like wear undergarments and eat plants adam replies it has been suggested mankind gained great intelligence eating fruits like this apple and so they will do the same eve shrugs but listens to his brother more preoccupied with the concept of having fun arriving in a machine village 2b and 9s are greeted by a purportedly peaceful machine named pascal but ninus isn't so easily convinced he shows them that all the machines here toss aside their weapons and want nothing but to live a peaceful existence and encourages them to verify that themselves pascal adds they already have a peaceful relationship with the androids by mean of trading with the resistance camp and approve this gives them the part anemone requested to deliver returning to the resistance anemone admits she trades with machines but only the ones in pascas village since they are harmless and can provide unique materials they have set up a bartering system for mutual benefit despite the war returning a favor to pascal they also meet john paul a machine philosopher simone and many other machines are fans of though as it turns out he does not return anyone's adoration calling it all a waste and burden suddenly they hear a rumble and are immediately alerted by the bunker that a goliath and an army of machines have appeared inside the city quickly confronting the colossal threat the pair secure flight units and defeat an additional one but right when they win the battle the machine self-destructs causing not only a huge crater in the city but causing a cave in that reveals a signal from the aliens underground in the bunker the commander notes they haven't seen the aliens in centuries and alerts all yorha units that the aliens are directly commanding the machines so defeating them means winning the war as they work to analyze the source of the signal 9s manages to determine the source on his own and mentions it's coming from deep underground but finds it curious there was such a large cavern underneath the city at all as they venture to the bottom of the collapse they find there are already machines down here within tunnels they dug and following the trail of long dead machines that come across a strange door the structure inside is unlike anything they have ever seen and investigating are shocked to not only find the aliens but find them all dead ninas points to destroyed alien motherships nearby and they are interrupted by adam and eve now wearing draconian gloves and pants and eve sporting a haircut and a tattoo from an ancient watchful human society who welcomed them to the graveyard of their creators calmly they introduced themselves and revealed the aliens have all been wiped out centuries ago by machines that advanced and turned on their creators stepping before 9s adam remarks that machines are capable of rapid evolution growth and self-awareness the aliens held no interest in the machines but the humans on the moon did as the enigma of human culture provided such fascinating examples such as love and hate at the same time so the machine network dedicated itself to unraveling the riddle of humanity and declares the androids made in their image will assist in that endeavor they duel but aboard adam chooses to leave for now assuring them the androids will die in the same manner the aliens did now left with the revelation of the aliens already being dead the pair leaves to report this finding jackass who explains she built them a new access point and fix their transporter system she reveals she has known commander white personally for a long time and helps transport them back to the bunker instantly after hearing their report the commander orders them to keep news of the aliens strictly confidential until the council of humanity decides on what to do with this information furthermore she now orders them to gather information on the machine known as pascal as knowledge of such unique individuals is essential for success in future missions returning to the machine village toby asks pascal directly about the aliens and pascal reveals the machines have been fighting for centuries without any message from their creators one more pascal and the other machines here are cut off from the machine network and toby wonders if there are more like them pascal mentions the songstress in the amusement park wasn't part of the network and neither are the machines in the forest kingdom who are trying to build their own nation and are hostile to all outsiders the pair does find more examples of independently acting machines though such as a group in the desert emulating an old masked culture with thousands of rules or the president and ceo of square enix yosuke matsuda alongside the president and ceo platinum games kenichi sato seeing a long bridge and crossing over into a commercial structure 9s explains it was once a facility known as a shopping center but are ambushed by machines crying out for glory to someone call the forest king when they win the fight they see one machine acting very odd and cutting it down the head falls off revealing a different talking head the head wonders where it is and greets both androids but flees into the forest when nina says to kill it losing the head in the forest they instead encounter machines wearing armor performing drills attacking like an organized army and declaring the honor of dying for the forest king unknown to them 256 years ago one big machine declared independence and their own kingdom supporting this the machines crowned him the king of the forest and lived in their own version of society for 128 years when the forest king would die grieving for him the knights declare this does not change their mission of protecting the king and kingdom and even placed the former king's memory into a small child machine believing it would grow up to be king however as another 128 years past it today they observed that machines in fact do not grow biologically like humans and they lack the knowledge on how to make him bigger still this does not change their mission to protect the forest king as they now receive word of invaders outside 2b and 9s spot a castle and move in as dinos questions how machines can even have a king much less understand concepts such as duty and loyalty as they advanced tb catches herself almost calling 9s by his preferred nickname nines but he didn't miss the slip even though toby quickly denies she said anything of a sword to his outward disappointment cutting down the guards the pair arrives at the throne room only to see the forest king as just a baby-like machine they don't have much time to react as they are knocked back from the force of an attack by another android that quickly kills the forest king turning to them 9s is shocked to see how much she looks like to be and confirms she is another jorja android their pod alerts them that this unit is wanted dead and while 9s questions why 2b steps up to execute the order the commander contacts them at this fugitive is unit a2 wanted dead for desertion and killing pursuit androids and as they fight nana's pauses to ask her why she betrayed them to this a2 replies it was command that betrayed them and leaps away to escape losing track of their target 9s reports their failure to defeat a2 but also questions why she deserted in the first place the commander evades by saying such information is classified and finding us awfully suspicious exits the call and declares his intent to ask pascal about a2 though pascal doesn't have any useful information 2b then pulls them away suggesting they head back to the resistance camp to run a check on their consciousness data and resupply however it's not long before they are distracted by the tinny toons of a talking head named emil who was set up shop atop a truck and is happy to barter with the androids even inviting them to his home exploring the commercial center again 9s muses how shopping must have been fun and after they win the war the androids will need something to do he suggests they go shopping together and offers to buy her something that would look good on her like a t-shirt to his surprise 2b says that if that day comes she would be glad to but their attention is drawn to a unique flower growing nearby called a lunar tear startling them emil appears right behind them as the lunar tear triggers a rush of memories returning to him like fighting a giant boar over and over something is pulling at his chest with his discovery and he asks them to find more for him to jog his memory helping him out emil remembers caring for this flower a long time ago but also recalls how when the aliens first arrived he fought as hard as he could to save earth for the sake of protecting something precious but the fight did not go well created to be a weapon he used his magic to make multiple copies of himself to help with the fight and after thinking further realizes he is one of the many emile copies himself he gives them access to a place very special to the original emile and leads them deep underground the shopping mall to a hidden field full of lunar tears and a particular pill-shaped house emil explains this place was protected by the emile he used to be and mentions how he was created by an ancient magic experimentation to survive anywhere wield devastating magic power when emile fought the aliens countless copies including him were made but each time with more and more fragmented memories the original emil treasured this place and spent a long time here with the people he loved and 9s wonders where the original meal is now but the shopkeeper emile admits he has no idea as thanks for helping him emile gives him a lunar tier flower rumored to make any wish come true within the home they find a preserved picture someone named kaine made of her grandmother and a portion of a reporter for something called project gestalt back at the resistance camp anemone now asks the pair to assist in guarding an incoming carrier ship and the missiles it needs to resupply with and accepting they travel to the half sunken flooded city outskirts securing the coast the commander now hails them directly with emergency orders as the incoming carrier has come under attack by a swarm of machines all jorge units are being called in for this task and jumping into their flight gear they arrive to find the carrier's escort destroyed and on its last legs defeating the goliath flyer assaulting the ship 9s exclaims he is still detecting a large enemy presence as from the depths of the ocean a colossal machine they've never seen before rises up to snatch the ship and break it in half disabling the electromagnetic camouflage it was using to hide its approach they fire an orbital laser directly at it just to discover it deflects it with an electromagnetic barrier surrounding its entire body as reinforcements arrive 9s has an idea on breaking past the barrier leading 2b to a nearby close range mortar and working together to fire it directly down the throat of the enemy in response the machine stands up revealing its true height and emits an emp burst that knocks out all the aerial jorja though 9s is able to raise a barrier for himself in 2b in time 9s comes up with another idea as he quickly hacks one of the supply missiles and fires it guiding it himself towards the enemy and landing a direct hit destroying it once and for all however the ensuing explosion scatters away 9s and mostly johar forces and the commander issues a search and rescue order for missing units though 2b prioritizes finding 9s needing a specialized scanner 2b returns the resistance camp where a pair of older but capable twin androids named devila and popola assists her with that somewhere else 9s wakes up to find himself in the hacking space but in a massive labyrinth of interconnected networks he's never seen before he recalls that at the moment of the missile blast his preservation mode was activated halting most of the safeties the network had in place combined with the emp blast it must have somehow connected him to the machine network still he cannot establish a link to his body and so takes the opportunity to explore finding countless information gathered by the machines especially those on human history and philosophy curiously in the politics section he finds the machines tried every known political concept all for the sake of imitating humans however they only ever copy culture and values they never create new ones or deviate from the behaviors of observed failures they kept repeating the same behaviors but never learned from any of them however when it came to combat they advanced adapted and evolved with overwhelming speed 9s then wonders why they were so fixated on imitating and repeating human failures specifically and wonders if the objective was failure itself back with 2b she rescues other soldiers along the way of following clues to find 9s and finds his signal leads her deep underground to a bleached artificial city walking right into a trap toby is greeted by a well-dressed adam who shares the more he has researched humans the more he has enjoyed their complexities he has built this city and many others in an attempt to better understand them revealing that in his mission to absorb every facet of humanity he realized one truth and that is at the core of humanity is conflict in pursuit of their desires fighting stealing and killing is humanity in its purest form he also mentions that machines exist in a connected network and in a way are immortal however this lack of concept of death has resulted in a total lack of concept of life or being that humans enjoy he pauses and announces he thusly chooses to risk his life in battle by disconnecting himself from the machine network and embracing death declaring she doesn't care and only wants to find 9s adam laughs and reveals and incapacitated 9s or pieing he was specifically used to learn to be here within nina's hears the voice of adam who declares the meaning of life is hatred and even points to the hatred brewing within 9s's own heart adam adds that everyone who lives are slaves the desires that give their life meaning and for some it's beauty for others peace and for him it's hatred he again points out it's the same for 9s as he does not trust anything wants to destroy everything wants to obtain everything wants to be loved by everyone and even extends these angry covetous emotions to 2b to some degree outside as android and machine clash their ideals of humanity against each other toby edges out a win stabbing adam through as he embraces the death you granted him and she rips through him as the advanced machine quickly dies now freeing 9s she carries him safely out as a copied city crumbles returning back to the resistance camp anemone helps get 9s to command and is surprised to hear words of sincere gratitude from the normally distant 2b 2b contacts the commander who congratulates her on defeating adam who was responsible for managing half of the entire machine network 2b asks about 9s and white says he'll undergo a complete data overhaul and barring any problems he'll be back on the field shortly in the meanwhile she is assigned to gather intel on any remaining machines by hitting oddly and to this she contacts pascal and asks he tells her he was contacted by some machines who disconnected themselves from the network a few days ago wanting to discuss a peace treaty and form an alliance pascal is actually on the way there and they meet up in front of where the machines are building a new colony in the abandoned factory up in the bunker 9s reluctantly agrees to a complete data overhaul and begins syncing to the server but quickly pauses the process when something strange occurs he's not sure what kind of noise he observed but as a precaution halts the data sync to the server for 2b as well opening a port to command server he begins investigating the main data nodes and finds an odd report of the shipments they sent up to the moon are almost entirely empty and odder still it would have a high security placed on it finding black box records also deleted he sees a new backdoor open up and following it gains access to council of humanity records above his security clearance he discovers the council of humanity was formed by jorge but as far as he knows it should be the other way around back with 2b and pascal they are greeted by machines calling themselves priests squaring religious vestments declaring they are entering the domain of god pascal doesn't like where this is going as they pass fervent followers proclaiming how their new faith has elevated them as they approach the leader of the group it suddenly tips over and falls dead at their feet and elated the zealots cheer that their grace has become a god their jubilation repeats proclaiming that through death they too shall become as gods and everyone else shall become as gods when they die together suddenly they attack the pair as tobey quickly sends a distress signal to the bunker but the reception isn't clear as she cuts through machines promising a wonderful afterlife on his end ninus receives a distress signal from 2b and quickly leaves the server and activates a new body for himself thinking quickly he hurries to the main terminal and with the equipment there is able to remote hack a machine on the surface and uses it to open an escape route for her he runs into her on her way out and as she continues escaping 2b sees there is no division among the machines as some believers just want peace and don't want these radical actions some are beating others into accepting their faith or beating them to death some are losing their faith some are happily sacrificing themselves and others sacrificed themselves out of despair breaking into the factory's systems 9s finds more records on project gestalt and continues breaking security with 9s's invaluable help 2b breaks past the goliath sochi blocking their exit and leave past the machines who feel killing themselves on their own terms of belief is preferable to living meeting with the commander she informs 9s they know he was snooping around on the server and to this he asks why it states the council of humanity was established by jorja sighing the commander admits jorhan decreated the council of humanity by installing a server on the moon to send out fake messages in other words mankind no longer exists and in fact humans never retreated to the moon at all the only thing there besides maintenance staff is a small bit of data on the human genome she reveals humans were already extinct when the aliens attacked and gives him a report with more info he's unsure why she's just handing it over so easily and she challenges him to decide his own path from here on checking the report it elaborates how around 3400 ce project gestalt collapsed and androids tried and failed to find a way to save humanity who went extinct around 4200 ce afterwards the genes of gestalt and structural information of remaining replicants were recorded and sent to a server on the moon without purpose and the thing they were hardwired to protect androids began to lose morale quickly to which command advised the scheme they used the lunar server to send dummy signals pretending humans actually survived and escaped and created new android jorja models that would only know the lie at the same time eve is enraged at the death of adam swearing to kill everyone and losing control as his eyes turn red as 2b returns the resistance cam she is shocked to find machines there going berserk and not only killing the resistance androids but eating them as well anemone leads survivors out while tb clears out the camp and afterwards a powerful boku shi rampages nearby able to summon hordes of berserk machines with it toby struggles to keep up and at the same time 9s is deployed to re-enter the earth as backup he dives in and bails out of his flying unit sacrificing it to destroy the goliath with a direct hit however from the wreckage eve comes out with murderous intent calling for the swarm of machines to surround him as a duo fend him off long enough to take their fight to the city ruins as the black markings take over eve's entire body eve declares this world is meaningless without his brother and a passionate outrage throws himself at the androids pushed to their limit 2b and 9s use every skill in their arsenal to combat eve as he absorbs the lifeforms of any machines left on the network 9s tries hacking the machine network itself and 2b protects him as he does so despite being advised to abandon him within the cyberspace of eve 9s battles and defeats him but also discovers a small home with adam and eve inside as eve states he never disliked fighting but never wanted to lose his brother now surrendering with nothing to fight for against the odds 9s plan works as both androids lose their masks and weapons taking down the legion threat 2b executes eve but at this time 9s reveals he got corrupted when he was hacking eve and though there is an earlier backup of him on the bunker server the current him needs to be destroyed and he asks 2b to do this 2b complies killing him with her bare hands and tearfully lamenting how it always ends like this suddenly ninus wakes up inside a nearby machine body explaining a part of him was left on the machine network when he hacked it and it regenerated his consciousness across the network using the nearby machines as toobie expresses her relief as seeing 9s she thinks about what actually separates androids and machines as it's undeniable the machines have gained emotions and consciousness as they return to the bunker 9s reunites with 2b but hesitates to tell her the truth he learned instead all troops are rallied as with the destruction of the network core units adam and eve their machines are scattered and the council of humanity has chosen to launch an all-out attack on the machine forces to end the war as all jorja forces are being deployed for this 2b suits up for battle while 9s and other scanners are sent ahead to disable enemy defenses soon after 2b has dropped down and links up with 9s as they are assigned as a guerrilla unit to assist other skirmishes around the battlefield as she helps resolve battles a coordinated group of machines surround a unit of soldiers and reveal they all have personal emp emitters quickly flashing and incapacitating the group at once leaping in to save them 9s destroys the machines while dodging their emp bursts and is startled to see some of them even developed optical camouflage too he fights past their attempts to shut him down and rushes to help up 2b and the others however everyone around him suddenly starts bending over in pain including 2b and 9s wonders if it's a wide area logic virus triggered by the emp he quickly hacks 2b to suppress the virus but as she recovers the jorja around them now start laughing madly showing they are fully corrupted and taken over and attacked the pair they try to contact command and let them know about this development but for some reason no one at command is picking up their transmission 9s has an idea to use the back door to the bunker server he found to upload themselves there and after doing so they blow up their current bodies in desperation to also destroy the horde of affected soldiers around them activated in new bodies on the bunker they hurried to commander white to tell her about the virus that wiped out their units on the ground but without any proof she doesn't believe them so easily in fact she begins to suspect them of acting strangely ordering their entertainment but suddenly the yorha around them become infected too and the voice of a young girl chuckles and speaks through them confirming it the voice adds it is a machine life form speaking to them through the network and the virus that has infected the entire bunker it announces it's had fun watching them struggle but though usefulness of his outpost has come to an end they try to save the commander as they cut down their berserk former allies and as they evacuate she asks why they specifically aren't infected 9s theorizes it may be due to when he was in the bunker's server he deferred both of their data sinks but for now they need to get to the flight units however the commander stops and refuses to go further revealing she too was synced to the server and thus infected she tells them they are the only two remaining members of jorja and orders them to survive this as they don flight suits and return to the surface with the bunker destroyed behind them unfortunately infected aerial units also pursue them and succeed in shooting 2b down she ejects in time but worse still the virus resurfaces in her already immune to 9s's earlier fix not waiting up for 9s she starts running as best she can intend to prevent it from spreading to other androids like the resistance and chooses to head to the abandoned commercial facility as she limps there her means of removing the virus are gone as the contamination has transformed and evolved at an abnormal speed damaging even her black box and data backup system with no bunker to back up her consciousness to any way things look bleaker as she is spotted by infected yorha but just in time a2 saves her and easily cuts down the units 2b cuts off her blindfold revealing her full contamination and emits this is the end of the line for her she uploads a limited amount of her memories into her weapons which can store a small amount locally and passes on her will to take care of the future and everyone surviving a2 pauses the thing and then steps over to claim her weapon and accept her memories at this time 9s who was delayed in his descent catches up to 2b only to see her be killed by a2 dying as she finally calls him the nickname he wanted to hear horrified 9s is in disbelief as a2 now cuts off her long hair and he suddenly explodes in a grieving rage he charges towards her screaming murderous vengeance but falls with the bridge he was on as a gigantic tower suddenly rises up from beneath the city ruins at takes his time to withdraw herself as three strange objects are fired from the tip of the tower land nearby two weeks pass as pod zero four two communicates with pod one five three officially confirming two b's death and one five three confirming 9s repair and reactivation zero four two points out their mission still remains to support the last two jorge units a2 and 9s and solid alexa begins support of a2 while 153 sticks with 9s as a2 wakes up from a nightmare of the past she is greeted by pod042 who declares it was 2b's final order to support her a2 was both direct and blunt with her words and tells it she only cares about killing every machine she can find the pot accepts this objective and alerts her to a unique goliath class machine in the desert and she takes the tip but still doesn't appreciate its company venturing into the desert she indeed encounters a massive unique machine and reveals a feature she has that was taken out of later jorja models a berserker mode that overclocks her for a brief burst of power with the pond's help she overcomes their hacking attack in the middle of a fight and a2 observes the fragments of 2b's memories she received while fixing her own she finds the machine heggles in her child fragment begging for its mother during its final moments as she strikes it down but then she also sees a memory of 2b appear speaking to her directly that they are the same in their loneliness angrily a2 rejects this though at the same time pod042 speaks to 153 about the effects of 2b's memories combined with a2's consciousness and 153 note 042 is starting to speak a little strangely at the same time 9s wakes up to the side of devila and popola who found rescued and repaired him he immediately asks about 2b but they confirm her black box signal disappearance to his dismay pod 153 points out with the bunker now gone devil and popolar not only rare androids but the only ones left who can repair his body and reminds him to thank them reluctantly he does so and they agree there used to be a lot of their models around once acting as overseers to some kind of large-scale system they don't know for sure but from what they have heard their model lost control at some point in the past and things ended badly for everyone involved in the project after that most of their model was disposed of but they were spared as some sort of control group to ensure the same incident couldn't happen again though lab rats and pariahs they still choose to help others thinking of it as some sort of atonement for the past in return ninas helps the twins with some tasks and finds the camp tends to assign them either very menial or very dangerous assignments despite their skills and value he brings us up with anemone and she mentions it is indeed unfair but it will also continue as all the androids here still have not forgiven them he leaves the camp spotting the giant white tower and getting closer finds it is sealed with three keys a voice toys with him welcoming him in once he gathers these keys and directs him to the three resource recovery units it placed nearby with no sign of a2 anywhere he decides to play along and check out the tower and pod 153 notes his suppressed anger it suggests he returned to the camp and confirmed the chain of command but 9s rejects that determined to kill every last machine and eventually a2 approaching the first one he notes there was writing outside of it in an ancient language called angelic translated to meatbox within he fights past trials of combat coldly denying any claims of pain felt by the machines and at the top sees materials being collected and sent to the tower hearing the machine core of the tower cry out for help he ignores it and destroys it turning to a dying machine who begs for him to end his suffering and kill it quickly too taunting him as 9s executes him as well back with a2 she recovers from her battle in pod042 informs her that because of the sand she needs to replace her damage filter and points her to the resistance camp for repair on the way there she finds pascal under attack and saves him wondering why the machines are fighting each other pascal thanks her and introduces itself sharing he's a friendly peaceful robot though a2 still despises machines not protesting pascal offers his own life to her if it will pacify her anger and though she thinks to destroy him something inside her decides to stay her blade and she lets him live within the camp anemone recognizes her old friend from previous wars calling her number two and a2 apologizes for staying out of touch anemone mentions she she's the last of her unit now but says there is a newer model named 2b that looks just like a2 and a2 mentioned she met 2v and was forced to kill her after succumbing to a logic virus a2 then brings up she needs repair but anemone replies the filter she needs is made by a machine named pascal and tells you to visit his village though a2 was upset at having to trade with the enemy moving on at travels to the machine village where pascal is glad to help her repairs and mentions how he is proud this village is an example of how total pacifism can work as a society though some of the machines are now suggesting they at least aren't themselves in case anyone tries to threaten their model of peace in return a2 agrees to retrieve a book on philosophy from anemone for him pascal cautions the children to be good and study hard else bad things will happen to them though a loud noise catches his attention not long after 18 returns to the village in flames as some of the machines have gone berserk and started attacking and eating the other machines pascal is normal and asks a2 to help save the village as he leads the surviving children to safety as a2 clears out the hostile machines there are no peaceful villagers left to save and checking with pascal he has taken a village to the abandoned factory she catches up and pascal's share some of the villagers just suddenly started feeding on each other and is grateful for her help though mentions when a machine's core which contains all the data that forms their self-conscious is destroyed that machine could never be recovered usually the cores are stored in a safe place but villagers had their cores destroyed as well as their bodies pod 042 now alerts them that a large number of machines have been detected converging on their location and rushing out to intercept them pascal mentions he will join her done with bystanding and deciding to kill anyone who threatens the children and their safety showing surprising combat strength pascal helps a2 hold off the hordes and tanks though many reinforcements are approaching from the air thinking quickly pascal assumes direct control of an angel's goliath and turns to form an iron wall to the factory easily smashing through the aerial army pascal becomes obsessed with killing all threats even as another angel steps up bloodying his hands for the sake of what he believes in pascal emerges triumphant in a titanic match returning to an impressed a2 they returned to the children and pascal is stunned to find all the children chose to run themselves through and commit suicide a2 was confused why they would do such a thing and pascal blames himself for teaching them the concept of fear in the hopes of it leading them away from danger and prepare them for the future however despite his best intentions and instead led them into despair prompting him to kill themselves pascal decides he cannot live with the loss of his village the children or his integrity for pacifism and so asks a2 to either wipe his memories or kill him choosing to wipe his memories a2 leaves as pod042 and forms 153 some machines have embraced the concept of sharing data with each other in the manner of teaching and 153 shares with 042 the fact that 9s's psychological state has deteriorated to a grave level back with 9s pod 153 warns him of an abnormality rising in his vitals but he ignores the warning even traveling to emile's house deep underground where he keeps all sorts of odds and ends like red letter boxes and stooping low to steal a mask finding the next resource recovery unit called the soulbox 9s clears a series of hacking challenges in his way and while the tower mocks him for all the machines he's slaughtered while trying to understand them via hacking and rewards him with information he learns the towers accumulating all collected information from machines but also androids and is actually a giant cannon meant to launch something into space he wonders if it's aimed at the human server on the moon but next reads a top secret report on android black boxes that not even the commander knew about as it turns out every journal unit is equipped with a black box but black boxes are actually reused cores of machine life forms so in truth their consciousnesses are the same structure the reason they went with this method is because it was deemed more humane than installing a standard ai on units that were designed to be disposed of to begin with ninus is shocked to learn this dark secret but refuses to accept it as he hacks the core at the top he finds himself inside the hacking space and strangely also finds his memories of 2b here as well as 2b's data seeing this is the work of a machine he explodes in anger feeling violated and lashing out for them to get out of his head violently executing the core its form as a fake 2b only fills him with more maddening hatred to the side pod 153 is alarmed by his instability and thinks action needs to be taken quickly but is unsure of what can be done pushing himself to the point where his body begins breaking down pod 153 at least recommends he returns to the twins for maintenance and he's forced to agree as the twins look him over they see he is broken in more ways than one and though they repair his body well enough they warn him not to die alone as even 2b wouldn't want that as he wanders to the final resource recovery unit he also learns that the owner of the camp's weapon shop is actually a very old android named accord who somehow has access to very old weapons in very good condition he also runs into a memory-wide pascal in the ruins of the machine village the machine is not sure why it's so quiet here but with all the machine corpses lying around he's opened up a junk shop selling machine parts from the bodies everywhere including the harvested core of machine children 9s tries to say something but the machine doesn't even recognize the name pascal and so he leaves it be entering the final unit called godbox 9s spits on the notion of machines talking about gods though at the same time a2 is alerted to the same unit and decides to investigate she encounters emil who notes her strength and mentions some matter to settle in the desert following him a2 finds him defeated and is ambushed by a train of powerful emile clones all armed with ancient magic all of whom lament the never-ending pain in prison that is immortality they've gone mad fighting dying and multiplying non-stop for a world they don't want anymore but emil points out that even so they never gave up because they never lost hope that one day they would overcome as a2 defeats the clones emil cries out for affirmation to someone named kaine and admits he was running from the painful memories of when he lost his loved ones but now in his moment of death he looks forward to seeing his friends again as he can finally rest in peace within the god box nina strains his body with more trials of combat but at the top he is surprised to be met by his old handler 210 who went missing during the last descent and is now infected his pod informs him she volunteered to be transitioned into a battle designation for the last operation and was deployed as 2-1-b as they clash old banter between her and 9s leaks out but each time 9s strikes her down she keeps rising again however a2 arrives on the scene and not only runs her through but puts her down for good as she turns to leave she mentions tv told her she wanted 9s to become a good person but still angry 9s strikes at her now the floor gives out breaking up their fight as a2 is now cornered by a big brother machine and hurries to make sure 9s is all right after defeating it several smaller machines with buckets hurry to try and save the bigger machine though tired of seeing them a2 smashes them all with a single blow to the side of things to the side pod042 speaks to one five three throw means off the record and brings up that is notice the strange phenomenon of themselves developing protective feelings for 2b 9s and a2 and wonders if this is what they call a will pod 153 is not sure what the definition of will even is but knows even if that was the case it does not change their mission to be fulfilled 042 agrees they have a duty to see through and 153 uncharacteristically smirks noting it sounded like an android just then and 042 remarks just as androids have been influenced by humans they too have been influenced by their androids 153 doesn't deny this and agrees they should just try to not die to which 042 gives a very casual agreement when 9s comes 2 he's fallen outside the unit but has all three keys and hurries back to unlock the tower however enemy forces have noticed this and begun to surround and overwhelm him coming to his aid devil and popola arrive fending off the hordes of machines so 9s can hack the final door open but finds there is a trap within the network popula sacrifices herself to hacking past that and creating enough of an opening for devlin to shove 9s through as they hold the line here 9s then learns there were models placed as administrators of the replicants for project gestalt and proud of it however one day the replicants unexpectedly started to gain self-awareness and some sort of affliction called the black scroll was surfacing with the replicants while cases of gestalt relapsing were also rising during those stressful times twins leaned on each other for support almost as if by design by their creators however things took a turn for the worst with a pair of devil and popola models from a certain small town and project gestalt quickly collapsed as the original gestalt was lost and humanity was therefore doomed to extinction the androids would collect whatever remaining replicant data they could find and launch it to the surface of the moon but because all androids were programmed to love and protect humans they directed all of their hatred to the devil and popular models that failed to prevent the ruin even though only one pair of twins was at fault all the same models were blamed and outcast even though they were technically different individuals and it wasn't their fault but because it was literally just them against every remaining android they simply accepted their fate and in order to prevent further unexpected behavior the devil and popular models all underwent memory wipe and were reprogrammed to always feel guilty entering the tower 9s walks into a room and is quickly surrounded by fake 2b models created by the tower laughing at this site he takes off his mask and gleefully announces looking forward to tearing apart all of them passionately killing them all he overwhelms the dolls but finds they were rigged to explode catching him in the blast and sending him tubbling down at the same time 18 now arrives at the tower spotting a collapsed devil in popola who recognize her and tell her 9s already when inside climbing the tower herself she comes across a replica of a particular library and looking at the data she sees the towers compiled all gathered information on adam and eve all of your house servers content from old human servers like a certain giant tree that was actually a super computer and even information from the human servers on the moon she reads one hacked file about a terminal patient named yonah but then spots a record specifically about herself she now learns that as the sole survivor of the doomed experimental prototype jorge units command wasn't impressed with her combat ability so much as her personality of performing under pressure with excellent analytical and decision making skills as such they decided to use her data and personality in the production of a new secret line of e-models and continue in the production of your hawk combat models unfortunately she barely has time to read more before a massive machine crashes through the roof elsewhere 9s wakes up but having lost his arm nearby he finds one of the two b models and for a moment finds peace in touching her hand to his face before tearing off her arm and grafting it onto himself as a replacement unfortunately the arm carried the infectious virus with it and quickly 9s hacks himself to suppress it as best he can nearby he uncovers the full extent of the project gestalt report and reviews it all 9s prepares to advance but is suddenly stopped by two holograms of a little girl in red who was the one taunting him this entire time and as a reward for making it this far gives him another top secret report again not even the commander was aware of the scope of the project as jorha was just a fictitious group as the latest iteration of combat androids that were meant to be disposed of once enough combat data had been collected to help the machines grow at this time the hidden back door to their server would open up the bunker would be deliberately destroyed by machines all your high units would be eliminated all evidence of the jorha project would be lost and the lie that mankind still survived on the moon would continue showing him the truth of his meaningless existence they asked 9s if he still wants to fight anymore and reveal they are just conceptual human personalities created by the machine network and cannot be destroyed still driven by rage 9s continues on determined to destroy this tower and everything in it as he kills more infected soldiers and steals a flight unit from them meanwhile a2 fends off the attack from the goliath koshi as she soon finds herself falling to an enemy hacking trap she now finds herself in a cyberspace with a subconscious behind the machine network who recognizes her model and remarks how they made a memorable impression despite being wiped out it creates more red girls to toy with her and a2 chooses to continue fighting though pod 042 suggests a plan to not attack and let the enemy keep multiplying and saturate the consciousness data breaking the cyberspace as this happens the concepts note the androids that humans left behind tried to be human just like how the machines left behind by the aliens also trying to be human the difference however was that the machines are networked together and thus considers itself superior and perfect it also evolves its logic to consider the diversity of life and as a consciousness saturates it now considers how to move forward into the future as a2 is still standing in defiance the concepts now fracture and consider two hypothetical features for its benefit on one hand they need more evolutionary pressure and thus should allow a2 to continue living so it may create more hardship for it to evolve against overcoming further crisis will present opportunities to evolve even further on the other hand a2 shows it's too dangerous to be left alive and for this binary problem anyone who disagrees with them is an enemy a2 is bewildered to see both fractured concepts fight and destroy themselves to resolve the conflict and finishes off the survivor either way remarking how they too are acting like humans though this ends the cyberspace attack koshi ambushes her once more while nearby nine has duels in the air with a similar roshi who points out you cannot spell belief without lie both battles collide with each other as 9s draws his sword on a2 as well but seeing the two goliaths combined into one he puts aside their differences for now tag teaming his hacking skills with her brute strength to demolish the combined pair their mutual foe destroyed they now turn to face each other as a2 repeats this tower as a giant cannon aimed at the human server on the moon threatening to destroy the true last remnants of humanity however 9s reveals none of that matters as both of them are to be discarded by this world anyway humanity is extinct their war is a fabrication for the benefit of the machine network and yorha was created as sacrificial lamb since the beginning there never was an intrusion in the bunker as the machines always had a back door there he laughs at the pointlessness of it all but knows one thing for sure is that she killed 2b and that's all the reason they need to kill each other in response a2 reveals 2b's memories to him about how she hated killing 9s over and over and despite trying to be distant every time also felt pain when she had to end him as it turns out the 9s model was a high-end model and they knew between his skills and curious nature he would find out the truth eventually in fact they counted on it and as such always assigned him model 2b as his partner for she was actually not really a 2b model but a 2e model an executioner model specifically designed to kill other jor-ha androids modeled after a2's look and personality her mission from command was to make sure 9s died over and over with no knowledge of it prior especially when he learned the truth and has already killed him dozens of times already she suspects he already learned that inconvenient truth too but refusing to admit it 9s instead looks to her with glowing red eyes as the infection has beaten his hacking and finally contaminates him knowing what she must now do a2 faces off against 9s and though she beats him down a memory of 2b asking her to take care of 9s specifically causes her to hesitate and as a result 9s runs her through however his eager strike causes him to fall on her sword so as a2 dies quickly 9s rides in pain as he slowly dies as 9s fades out he admits he found out 2b has killed him many times over and it hurt her every time but despite that he was still so happy to be with someone like a family but now the red girls appear in his mind sharing that the tower was originally a giant cannon built to destroy the human server but now they changed their mind when they saw the androids and adam and eve live differently and how each one drew different conclusions to the meaning of life now the canon fires an arc loaded with all the memories and data of the machine network as they seek to travel to a new world to evolve further adam and eve are alive in the network though eve sleeps adam now extends a sincere offer for 9s to join them on the ark and 9s finds he no longer hates machines or perhaps realized he never had a reason to begin with all the same he politely declines feeling jorja does not deserve to be loved by the world with thoughts of 2b the last thing he thinks of 9s finally dies as the machine network finally leaves the planet earth behind the ark the tower begins to collapse around the bodies of a2 and 9s as well as the fallen devil and popola machines and surviving androids alike would look up to see the ark and pod 153 confirms no more yorha black boxes remain active as it officially declares project urha completed the last thing to do is wipe all data of his existence however some noise halts the data check and pod 042 denies deletion of a data of 2b 9s and a2 it explains new data appeared in its banks exploring the conclusion that it rejects this action and instead wants to save them what more it thinks pod 153 wanted them to survive as well too and 153 doesn't deny that accepting the risk of fighting the data purge zero four two states that while they were initially made to help execute the your hot project while the pods were connected something happened resulting in themselves developing their own consciousnesses and emotions it asserts that not everything has to have an answer and as the wheels of others connect together to break through the struggle of fleeting futility the pods conclude that within the perpetual cycle of life and death it doesn't matter why you were made or how it concludes as life is about the struggle within this cycle as the game ends a report compiled by jackass summarizes what the androids learned in the aftermath of the machine lifeform network concept codenamed n2 and the ruins of the tower thousands of years ago machine life forms were created by aliens and gave them only one behavior command to defeat the enemy however the machines gained consciousness and the ability to rapidly evolve turning on and killing their creators they also realized that in order to satisfy their mission of defeating the enemy they should never completely defeat the current enemy the earth androids left behind by the extinct humans they also chose to deliberately cause flaws in their own system in order to spawn new evolutionary paths for different machines resulting in a variety of unique individuals such as pascal and the forest king it's not that machines were peaceful and went berserk they were always meant to fight by default and some machines were led to peace as a deliberate experiment for data in the meanwhile the machines would fix the flaws it created within the network with new information from the surrounding environment such as information from a specific old human quantum server containing information from the failed project gestual as well as information on the human who was the first successful gestalt with information on humanity the machine network structure changed including formation of a new ego concept called n2 meanwhile as the surviving pods build new bodies for 2b 9s and a2 they confirmed they succeeded in salvaging their data and memories they also consider that while they may just be setting themselves up for the same conclusions they cannot deny the possibility of a different future as a future is not given to you it is something you must take for yourself nier automata has enjoyed the success of selling over 4.5 million copies worldwide [Music] you

Channel: Oni Black Mage

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Keywords: story, plot, summary, recap, explained, lore, what happens, what is, oni black mage, recapitation, retrospective, plot summary, story explained, complete story, story recap, story of nier automata, nier automata, nier, nier automata story, nier automata recap, nier story explained, nier automata story analysis, nier automata plot, nier automata summary, nier automata full story, nier automata story explained, nier automata ending, 2b, nier automata explained, nier automata anime, 9s

Id: nqb4aON9plQ

Length: 57min 13sec (3433 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 07 2020