NieR: Automata - Become as Gods Edition - Guide and Walkthrough - Xbox One - By PuppyLand (2024)

Introduction

Hello and welcome to the NieR: Automata FAQ/walkthrough. Before doing anything with the game, please read the introduction to this guide -- it won't take long, and it might just make your experience with the game that much better (there are no spoilers, don't worry). If you can't spare five minutes to read about how this guide is structured, there is a TL;DR recap down below near the end of this introduction section.

NieR: Automata is a very interesting game, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about the walkthroughs you can make for it. See, the game is designed in such a way that using a classic, full walkthrough would, in my opinion, undoubtedly detract from the quality of your adventure. The thing is, the game explains your story objectives very clearly, and features an in-game map that clearly shows where you need to go. The game also automatically points out subquests locations and points of interest on the map, so you don't need a guide for those either. Moreover, the location of treasure chests can be displayed on the in-game map by purchasing a certain item available starting from the second playthrough. Furthermore, almost all of the game's content is accessible freely once you properly complete the game (this requires three playthroughs; more info on this later), meaning that you can easily do almost everything on your own, even if 100% completion is your goal. To top it all, the game difficulty settings can be adjusted at any time, and even on Normal you won't have problems defeating the challenges on your way.

I must also point out that this game is renowned for its story and atmosphere. On the other hand, I personally found the gameplay side of things interesting, but not particularly remarkable: the progression is relatively linear at its core, and most of the optional things are embellished fetch quests/matters of killing a target. Therefore, I strongly, STRONGLY suggest that you don't potentially ruin your experience with this game by being concerned about things like "should I buy this, or should I upgrade that?", or "is it worth doing this quest now, or should I wait until later?", or any other "distraction" from the main story along the lines of "is there any other quest I can do now?". This doesn't mean you should ignore these things; just that, if I were you, I wouldn't try a quest twice if I see that the target enemy is level 50 and the natural progression of the game up until that point put you at level 30: there's time to do it all after enjoying the story.

Lastly, a couple more things I'd like to point out. One is that a lot of gameplay information you will find online is riddled with more or less concealed spoilers; this is a big problem, but also one reason why I made this guide. I think every player should have a reliable and safe source of information, without taking risks of story spoilers (for example, do NOT google "when does fast travel become available?", because a major spoiler will probably accompany the answers you'll find). The other aspect to consider is that the gameplay is moderately complex at first glance, and the many features of the battle system can easily be misunderstood or completely ignored; other features (such as the Chips system) may simply feel too overwhelming, and this is the other main reason why I made this guide: to explain how things work. Therefore, despite the previous premises, I'd say there is enough material for a walkthrough after all.

What to expect from this walkthrough

So, what DO I suggest, for all the players that want to experience this game in the best possible way? Given that "to each their own", I think that most people will benefit from reading about spoiler-free gameplay information (from the basics to more advanced aspects), or at least have a collection of information readily available in one place. That's what the "Gameplay Information" section of this guide are for; that's what you should be consulting even early in the game, to clarify aspects of the gameplay that you didn't understand, or simply learn new tricks that will make things easier for yourself. You obviously won't have to read and understand it all right away, but check the index and see which information seems useful to you, and learn it all bit by bit as you practice your knowledge in the game.

You don't need to worry about story spoilers when reading the Gameplay section of the walkthrough, since there won't be any open reference to the plot. Any necessary plot information will be put under the spoiler tag (it will appear like this text), and kept to a vague minimum.

I have also split the Gameplay Information section in two parts: one is the "important" bits, the other is the "general" (less important) aspects of the gameplay. Do yourself a favor, and read the Important Gameplay Information section at least: it contains essential advice that will save you time and frustation.

As far as the main story goes, I can only think of a couple of instances when someone might be stuck, thanks to the pretty clear map instructions displayed in-game. Aside from that, boss fights do not require preparations/strategies (you can easily figure it out by yourself, and that's gonna be part of the fun); dungeons are not maze-like; there are no situations where you are put into a difficult spot and may think "oh, if only someone had warned me of this danger beforehand". I cannot emphasize this enough: you can't end up in a situation where a walkthrough would be considered "necessary", and there are hardly any cases where a walkthrough would even be "useful". After all, do you really need to read "follow the marker on your map" after every new event in the game? No. Would you even want to read such unnecessary and repetitive instructions? My guess is that you would ditch the walkthrough entirely if it were made that way, and that's all it had to offer.

That's why I've tried my best to simplify and minimize the story walkthrough section(s), providing some maps and images that will assist you in treasure-hunting (for those of you that don't want to wait until the second playthrough to get the in-game item that adds treasures to your in-game map), which is realistically the only thing you may want a story walkthrough for. There are also very few areas where there are forks (different paths you can take); in these cases it's nice to know where to detour to get additional content, and where to continue with the story. Ideally, you should be able to only use the maps/pictures in the walkthrough to find the location of items, referring to the text only when necessary; hopefully this will minimize the time you have to get distracted from playing the game to check the guide.

Moreover, I have made two separate "walkthroughs" for the game:

• One is the "summarized" version of it, and contains maps of the areas that will assist you in finding treasures, along with pictures and basic description of the harder ones to find. Important treasures will be highlighted in bolded text. In the summaries you will also find information about quests (and occasionally side events) available and important quests (those that give good rewards), and my personal opinion on whether or not you should bother with them at that particular time. Moreover, if a particularly useful item is available from shops/particularly important preparations might be good for an upcoming section of the game, said information will also be provided. Lastly, if "choices" are presented to you during the story, their consequences will be mentioned
• The other is the "extended" version of it, in the more classic go here-do that style. This one can be useful in case you get stuck at some point, and the summaries don't seem to be enough for you. Moreover, this version will feature strategies for bosses/quests assuming you are playing on Very Hard, in what I call "power-play" gameplay. In other words, I'll let you know how you can set up your equipment and fight enemies in ways that you will easily be able to complete the entire game, from start to end (on a brand new playthrough starting at level one), on Very Hard difficulty. It's best used if you want to be really efficient (like beating minibosses that are 30 levels above you, or simply minimizing the walking around and backtracking needed for quests), but I would recommend it mostly if you are replaying the game from the beginning and would like to try it on Very Hard (it's really fun, and not as hard as you may think. Not if you follow my advice, anyway)
• In both cases, the walkthroughs will be spoiler-free (if a spoiler must be revealed, it will be put under the spoiler tag)

I think that this should cover the needs and desires of most players.

Recap

So this is what you should do:

• Regardless of your walkthrough-needs, make sure to read the Important Gameplay Information section
• If this is your first time with the game, use only the Walkthrough - Summarized version if you trust me when I say that this game is best experienced all on your own (with just a little guidance on my part, just so you don't miss anything relatively important and then need to backtrack later)
• If you need to for extra clarifications, or if this is your second playthrough/want to play on Very Hard difficulty, use the Walkthrough - Extended version

Other stuff

In addition to these sections, there will also be some general sections about Chips, Weapons, Pods, Materials, and other less important ones. You will probably find the Chips section, and in particular the explanation of the Chips system, useful. The other sections are mostly a reference/series of lists of things, but the juicier aspects of each of those sections will be included in the General Gameplay Information too.

Lastly, some sections of this walkthrough are still a work-in-progress. In particular, future updates (coming soon, I promise) will include more specific info on the DLC and (possibly) Unit Data. That being said, the "walkthrough" sections are already done to full completion, so aside from Fishing this guide will be able to satisfy your every need as it is (and, again, I promise those sections will be completed as soon as possible).

Important Gameplay Information

When I say "important", I mean it. I'll keep it as brief and to the point as possible. Read this entire section even before you launch the game for the first time: it will be worth it.

The spoilerous trailer/opening

Every game has a Title Screen menu (you know, where you choose New Game, Continue, etc.). Many games, if you don't press any button in this menu for a few seconds, will launch a series of random gameplay clips to tease you about the game. A lot of players like these opening cinematics, but you probably want to avoid watching it in this game, because it contains HEAVY spoilers from the story.

Now, if you have already watched it you shouldn't worry too much either, since there is a good chance that you either didn't understand what was going on, or you misinterpreted the scenes. Still, since there is a remote chance that you might actually get what's going on in those scenes, to be safe I would absolutely avoid watching those clips, and if the opening starts playing then simply press any button on your controller to put an end to it.

Starting with the right foot

The first Chapter of the game is a rather long (even about one hour if you take your time) sequence of fights that feature no checkpoints and no save points. Since on Hard you will die in one (or two at the most) hits, and on Very Hard you will die in one hit, I strongly recommend that you play the first part of the game on Normal difficulty, even if you intend to play the rest of the game on Hard/Very Hard for an extra challenge: unless it's not your first playthrough, it would be a shame to start off with the frustration of having to replay the whole first Chapter of the game just because of some cheap-shot by the several bosses at the end of Chapter 01.

Missables

One of the most popular pre-start questions for many gamers is: what are the missable things in this game? Here's a list, in order of importance:

• Ending Y (we'll talk a bit about Endings in another sub-section of this section). I can't give you too specific details about how to not-miss it, but it's the only missable Ending, since it's tied to a quest. The quest's name, unfortunately, is also somewhat "spoilerous". Good news is, it's the quest for the hardest secret boss in the game (he's at level 99), so by the time this Ending becomes available (and missable) you will probably already know enough about the game to read details about Ending Y without risking any significant spoiler anymore.

  If you want to know the name of this quest in advance anyway, here it is in this spoiler: "Emil's Determination".

• Pod upgrades can be "missable" if you sell OR miss certain items that are available only in limited quantities. In particular, the Powerup Part S is available in limited quantities. Do not, EVER, sell these items. Furthermore, one of the Powerup Part S is found as a "missable" loot from a mini-boss (a Golden Robot) part of an optional event. While very unlikely, it's possible that you may forget to pick up the loot from this mini-boss (it's a 100% guaranteed drop), i.e. you may leave it on the ground where it will then disappear for good once you leave the area.

  There is just three copies of Powerup Part S; you need one to upgrade each of your three Pods, so there are exactly enough, but not a single one in excess, to get all the upgrades.

  On a side note, it is actually potentially possible to farm Powerup Part S by exploiting a sub-events after the third playthrough. I won't go into too many details here, since it's not necessary to do so; just know that the sub-event is the Golden Robots event, and if you DON'T finish the events consecutively then it'll be possible to obtain multiple Powerup Part S by re-doing the Golden Robot event (in particular, the part that takes place in the City Ruins) without completing the event. The thing is, you can "reset" the event progression, but only if you haven't finished it yet. Once you complete the three parts of this Golden Robots event, this farming process will no longer be available since the event will be gone for good. Still, this can be a life-saver if you accidentally sold one or two of the other Powerup Part S, or if you forgot to pick up the loot from the mini-boss the first time you defeated him, but haven't completed the sub event yet.

  For more information on this (farming of Powerup Part S), please refer to the side events section.

  
  
• Four key items are missable, because they only appear during a quest. Quests can't be replayed once they are completed (that's the general rule anyway; there are exceptions, but this isn't one of them), and the items disappear once the quest is completed. These four items are not important at all; in fact, they have no purpose whatsoever except for collectionism and perfectionism purposes ("I want the whole item list" thing). The quest takes place in the Forest Kingdom, and it's called "Animal Care". The quest basically asks you to find one key item (Medical Book) in a certain area, but there are four more you can collect while this quest is going. They are all found in the same area, and they are: Cosmetics; Toothbrush; Writing Implement; Dietary Goods.
  

There are no other missable "things" in the game, and that includes all sort of Items, Quests, and Intel.

Please note that while certain things might become "temporarily missable" (for example, certain quests can be failed at first, and certain Endings might be missed at first), after your third playthrough you'll be able to re-access these missed/failed things freely. I've done my research on this subject, so trust me when I say that there aren't other missable things, aside from the aforementioned ones.

Additional note: some people have reported that one Unit Data (an enemy), namely the one called "Monster Type", appears only during a quest later in the game. This is not true.

Permanently Variable Entries

I'll just leave it as a note "just in case": some "log" entries are different (and some, permanently so) depending on the choices you make in certain situations. I haven't investigated this topic too much, but the only cases that I am aware of are during the quests "11B's Memento" and "Data on the Old World".

What do I mean by "log entries" though? Nothing special: it's either quests descriptions (there is a Quest log), or Unit Data (NPCs descriptions; there is a log of them in your Intel menu), that will have slightly different descriptions depending on the answer you give at one point or another. These things change absolutely nothing from a practical point of view, but they are simply a testament, a record of the choice you made. There aren't "right" or "wrong" choices to make, really, and as I said I think that the only case where the log is permanently marked (so you can't change and have the other log-description) is during the quests 11B's Memento and Data on the Old World.

In those two quests, at the end, you are given a choice. Either way it actually turns out to be a "win" decision (the NPCs will react positively even though the choices should cause two completely different reactions). However, as I said, in the Quest log you can either have "I made decision A", or "I made decision B". If for whatever crazy reason you care about having "I made decision A/B" in your Quest log, well, ...you've been "warned" I guess?

Rare Materials

Not as bad as Missable items, but almost equally as frustrating, there are some really rare items in this game. All of them have one thing in common: they are used to upgrade Pods.

You can find more information on how to get any given Material from the Materials section of this walkthrough, but for now just take-home this message: do not, EVER, sell these Materials, since they cannot be purchased, and they are somewhat (relatively or remarkably) rare to find. Therefore, while not missable, selling them by accident/for extra cash will make you have to farm and grind for these Materials later on, and this could cause you hours and hours of frustration.

Never-sell-these-Materials list:

• Simple Gadget
• Elaborate Gadget (one is needed for a quest; feel free to give it for the quest). This is the worst of the bunch (the rarest among the non-missable ones)
• Powerup Part M
• (Don't forget about Powerup Part S -- this is a missable one, we mentioned it in the previous section)

Not quite as rare as the previous three (in fact, these next four are pretty common), but I'd also hold on to the following ones, since they can't be bought in shops:

• Mushroom
• Eagle Eggs
• Giant Egg
• Pure Water

Remapping the control scheme

To each their own preferences, but the default control scheme is not ideal in my opinion. Keep in mind that you can't use Lock-On on difficulties above Normal, and even on Normal you probably won't use it 99% of the time. In my opinion, you should remap the following commands (to remap controls, go to the Settings in-game):

• Set the "Fire" button (the one you use to fire projectiles) to L2. This is much better than R1, since you can easily keep firing with L2 while spamming dodges with R2, whereas firing with R1 while dodging with R2 can be less comfortable
• Set the "Toggle Light" button, which is also the Taunt button (Taunt = turn the light on and off repeatedly while pointing it at the enemy) to R1. Having to press L3 to Taunt is inefficient and awkward; tapping R1, on the other hand, should allow you to constantly Taunt even in the middle of movements (with LS), attacks (with Square/Triangle), projectiles Fire (L2), and the dodge button (R2) is right next to you if you need it
• Set the "Self-Destruct" button to L3 instead of L3+R3. While you won't use self-destruction much (at all, really), in your third playthrough there will be a new move (I won't mention it to avoid spoilers; just trust me, there is one) which is very useful and shares the same button as Self-Destruct. Pressing L3 alone is much easier than having to press L3 and R3 both (keep in mind that you need to actually hold down the button for two seconds, not just touch-and-go)
• Set the "Shortcuts" button to D-Pad_Down, and viceversa move the "Use Item" button (which is D-Pad_Down by default) to Select. "Shortcuts" is everything that "Use items" is, but better (it pauses the game and lets you access the whole item list), so it shouldn't be on an awkward button (Select)
• You can forget about the Lock-On button, honestly. If you must have something for it (it can be useful during the hacking minigames), then map it to L3+R3

I'm well aware that the more casual players may find Lock-On useful, especially at first or against flying enemies, but trust me, you'll forget about it as the time goes on.

"Melee" and "Projectile" Orbs

From the very beginning of the game you will have to deal with enemies' projectile attacks. There are various ranged attacks that enemies can use, but the ones that are used the most, by far, are the "Orbs" attacks.

There are two types of orbs: the light-colored ones (more frequent), and the dark-colored ones (less frequent). I just want to point out, in case you don't notice on your own, that your own projectiles will destroy the light-colored ones, but they won't do a thing to the dark-colored ones. These dark-colored ones are not invulnerable, however: your melee attacks can destroy them, and your melee attacks can also destroy the light-colored ones. So melee attacks can destroy both; projectiles of your own can only destroy the light-colored ones.

Backtracking efficiency

The game has a lot of walking around, especially for quests-related purposes. If you are not careful, you're gonna spend a lot of time walking back and forth from place to place. A couple of tips for you:

• At one point in the game you will unlock a fast-travel feature that lets you teleport between Access Points (they are the save points of this game). Ideally, unless a Quest is really urgent or mandatory, wait until you have this feature before starting to do optional Quests in the game
• In the Walkthrough (Summarized and Extended both) I've tried my best to optimize your quest-efficiency, i.e. if multiple quests require you to go to a certain place I'll tell you to start them both and get both items (if it's a fetch-type quest) in one trip

The truth about multiple playthroughs, and how Endings really work

If you ever read about the game's Endings, you will learn that there are 26 Endings in this game. "OMG TWENTY SIX WTF HOW WILL I COPE" -- stop right there: there is really just one Ending, and the "26" thing is a bit of over-selling the true story. This is how things really work (no spoilers, don't worry):

• The "first playthrough" gives you Ending A; the "second playthrough" gives you Ending B; the "third playthrough" gives you Ending C, D, and E
• The rest of the Endings are "joke Endings" that trigger if you mess up in certain ways at certain points in the story. For example, Ending W is if you die during the prologue (the first mission of the game)
• It doesn't really make much sense from a continuity point of view to call them "Endings", but the Endings A and B are really just "ending of the first half of the game". The game then continues its story in the third playthrough, and THEN you get to what any normal game would call the one and only Ending (the mix of C,D, and E)

All of this is just to say: don't be discouraged if you come to know about all of these Endings, because it's NOT one of those games when the story branches and one choice will lead to one Ending while another choice leads to another Ending: the game simply gives one "Ending" after the other until you reach the actual real Ending (Ending E), while the rest of them are just "joke Endings" for making bad decisions in certain circ*mstances.

New Game+ / Chapter Select

The game doesn't actually have a New Game+ option although, for reasons that you will understand in due time, I myself will be referring to our "second playthrough" (which should actually be called Route B, and not "second playthrough" either) as "New Game+" (NG+). The closest thing to an actual "New Game+" is the "Chapter Select" feature, unlocked after the "third playthrough" (Route C).

When proceeding from Route A to Route B and then Route C (first -> second -> third playthrough, so to speak) you will conserve everything that you had before. This includes Cleared Quests (which won't be repeatable, except for three story-related mandatory ones), collected chests and Scanner Treasures (which won't respawn, except for the ones in Abandoned Factory's original area for some reason; some other chests are randomly bugged too), as well as your level, money, Chips, Items, Weapons/Pods and their upgrades, and so on.

The Chips paranoia

After playing for an hour or so, you will learn about the existence of "Chips", which are basically things you equip on your characters. There is a lot (like, a lot a lot) to be said in regards to Chips, but I just want you to get one important message for now: do not get paranoid about Chips farming. I, like many (probably most) players, ended up wasting so much time reading about Chips and how they worked when I first started messing around with them in the game.

I will elaborate a bit more on this topic, but if you are in a hurry the bottom line is this: farming Chips requires hours of your time, and the benefit of farming them instead of purchasing them consists in being able to equip more Chips that will just "spill over". Imagine it like this: you have the strongest enemy with 1,000 HP; with purchased Chips you deal 600 points of damage per shot; with farmed Chips (after hours of farming) you will deal 650 points of damage per shot. Result: enemies will die just as fast, but you have just wasted 10-20 hours farming for no practical reason.

So, what's the problem here? Online you will find a lot of information in regards to farming Chips, and more importantly (and "dangerously") a lot of information about "how to get Diamond Chips" (Diamond Chips = better versions of regular Chips). This is where most players fall victim of their own curiosity, and where the "paranoia" begins: you will start trying to figure how to farm Diamond Chips as early as possible, which will lead you to a long chain of information that will loop back and tell you to wait until the end of the game before farming Chips, because that's when it's easier to do so.

Want to know the truth? There is an easy source of extremely overpowered Chips in the game, and it becomes available just about when bosses and quests become a bit harder. Details about this will be provided in the General Gameplay Information sections, but to keep it short, let's just say that when the time comes you'll be able to purchase the best Chips in the game (you know, those that let you kill bosses 30 levels above your in a minute or two; on Very Hard difficulty, that is) for a relatively small amount of money, and the process will take maybe 15-20 minutes worst case scenario.

While it's true that these purchased Chips are not "Diamond Chips", the part of the story that most guides about getting Diamond Chips don't tell you is that even if you had Diamond Chips, the diminishing returns are extremely strong for them. In other words, it takes 15-20 minutes to buy game-breaking Chips, but it will take another dozen hours of farming (plus all the time spent reading about optimization, and all the "mental effort" of sorting through all the Chips you possess to figure which ones you keep and which ones you discard) to get Diamond Chips that will do absolutely nothing practical for you. Just think about this: if you can one-shot a boss with purchased Chips, do you really want to spend hours farming Diamond Chips to...one-shot the same boss, just with even more over-kill?

In conclusion, Diamond Chips farming should be relegated to the end of the game, and only for people that want it for perfectionism purposes. You can annihilate the strongest enemies in this game with purchased Chips. Do not get the "Chip paranoia". Do not spend hours for things you won't even be able to use. The game does not have anything that can remotely resemble a need for Diamond Chips. For more information, refer to the Chips section of the walkthrough.

Level-ups paranoia?

Less likely to happen early on, but later you may start wondering "where can I find a good farming location so I can level up a bit?". You do not, ever, need to level up on purpose in this game. The adventure will naturally make you kill enough enemies in the mandatory story dungeons so that you will be at a high enough level to face the bosses. If you do optional content (quests) too, then you will actually end up overleveled.

By the time you finish your third playthrough and most optional content you will be at a high enough level (50+) that you can THEN start to be concerned on "how do I get to level 99 fast?". At that point, feel free to check the "farming" section of this walkthrough.

Know the strongest moves

Somewhat related to the Chips topic, just a few words about what's worth investigating, and what's not. In this game there are at least three extremely powerful moves that you must be aware of, and they are Taunts, Critical Hits, and Counter. More generically speaking:

• Dodge-spam. The game allows you to dodge-spam almost without punishment. Dodge-spamming basically means that when you see an incoming attack you can continuously tap the dodge button to avoid the attack (or series of attacks). Dodging gives you invincibility frames, and since it has a low frame delay, this pretty much means that if you are in the middle of enemies attacking you, tapping the dodge button over and over again will keep you safe
• Taunts. Most people don't even know that there is a Taunt button. Taunting is done by repeatedly pressing the "lights on/off" button (which is another one most people don't know about), and has the effect of increasing the damage dealt and received. More info about Taunts can be found in the General Gameplay Information section. Know that around midway through your first playthrough you will be able to have Taunt Up +8 Chips, which will quintuply (= multiply by FIVE) the damage you deal (and receive). This alone can break the game, but even more so if combined with...
• ...Critical hits. Again, some more info on this topic can be found in the General Gameplay Information section, but to keep it short let's just say that a Critical Hit in this game deals about 5x the regular damage (which stacks with Taunts and other effects, and it stacks by multiplication. In other words, a Critical hit with Taunt Up +8 will deal 25x base damage), and there are Chips that can increase your Critical Hit rate to 30%. No, not "by" 30%: to 30%, as in "every third hit will be critical, on average". Now, don't quote me on the exact probability, but that's about the expectation
• Tied to the "Critical" thing I just said, the best weapons in the game are probably the ones with the Critical + ability. One, namely the "Ancient Overlord", is available for sale at the first weapon shop in the game, so if you want something extremely powerful (it also has some other benefits, discussed in the Weapons section a bit more in detail), that's the choice you should make
• Other stackable damage multipliers include Melee/Ranged Attack Up items (they are available for sale, and they are very cheap: use them against bosses to double your damage)
• Counter is an ability that can be used to block & damage back an enemy, but unlike Taunt (which can work, albeit much less effectively, even without a Taunt Up chip equipped) you must have a Counter chip equipped to actually use it. Counter is very easy most of the time, and on Very Hard difficulty it gets ridiculously powerful. Once again, more info on this move can be found in the General Gameplay Information section, but just know that this move exists, and boy is it game-breaking

Save Files Deletion

It's really early to mention this if you haven't even started the game yet, but if you played the original Nier you may have heard, or just wonder, about this game deleting your saves after you finish all your playthroughs.

While yes, the game CAN delete your saves after completing it and getting Ending E, the game openly and repeatedly (obnoxiously so) asks you if you really, seriously, actually, truly, [...] want to delete your save files. There is no way you can misunderstand when this will happen, once you get to Ending E, and as I just implied it will be a choice that you can more easily decline than accept. Therefore don't worry about some panic-plan about backing up your save data: this game won't play tricks on you, and you will be asked specific and repeated confirmations regarding your intentions to lose your save files.

"Why would I even say yes?" -- you'll find out in due time. But in case you are wondering, you are not missing out on anything by keeping your save files.

Note for the PC Version gamers

Chances are that within 5 minutes of launching the game you'll already be on the Steam forums looking for answers as to why full-screen resolution doesn't work. You'll find all the answers you need in the Steam forums for the game, but as of the time of writing this (August 2017), the developers still haven't issued an official patch to address these issues.

I'm no tech expert, but I can assure you that the FAR (Fix [Nier] Automata Resolution) program is both legal and effective. You'll find links and explanations to it in the Steam forums; I just want to point out that it's safe to use, I used it myself, and didn't have any of the many issues others have reported (I did have a decent hardware to run the game on too though).

General Gameplay Information

Lots of things we need to talk about here. I'll start with more generic tips, and then go into some more details about certain aspects of the gameplay.

Please do not consider this section of the walkthrough as the "bunch of useless generic info that any idiot would figure on his own": the info in this section ranges from "useful tip" to "in-depth explanation of important game mechanics", and it's separated from the "Important Gameplay Information" only because I wanted to get the even more important things in a separate section.

Basic Gameplay Moves

"Basic" so to speak, since a lot of these things aren't obvious at all.

Pausing/Skipping cutscenes

Not the most hardcore topic, but I always wonder "can I pause the game during cutscenes, or is this one of those games where pressing Start will skip it?". The answer is: yes, you can pause during cutscenes (use the Start button).

To actually skip cutscenes, as you will notice by the prompt in the bottom-right corner of the screen (if you touch any button during a cutscene), you need to hold the Circle button down for a few seconds. This will be useful if you decide to replay the game.

Skipping text faster

Not useful during your first playthrough, but on subsequent runs you may want to know that you can skip the text in non-dubbed conversations much faster if you tap X and Circle instead of just X or Circle.

Unfortunately there are no ways to skip text in dubbed conversations, unless it's a cutscene that you can skip altogether.

Saving the Game, Access Points, Save Slots

How to save the game will be explained to you when you will first have a chance to do so. There are things called "Access Points", which are basically "save points".

Access Points, as you will soon find out, also have a "radius" within which you can save. In other words, you don't need to be right next to it and examine it to save the game, but you can actually bring up your main menu (Start) and use a "Quick Save" from there.

Here is already something that may confuse you: why is it a "Quick Save" ? In many games, "quick save" is a secondary form of saving, but in this game it's actually the regular way of saving. It's differentiated from regular "Save" ("slow save"?), which some people don't even know is possible, because Quick Save automatically overwrites your current save slot instead of asking you on which slot you want to save the game every time.

Speaking of which, how do you change save slot, if for instance you want to make a backup save before some big important decision (not that there are any :p) ? That's where "slow save" comes into play: when you are within the range of effect of an Access Point, press Start, then go to System, and there you will find the Save option (as well as other options). By using the Save option instead of Quick Save you'll be able to choose on which of the three slots (yes, that's all they give you) you want to save the game.

While we're talking about Access Points, in-game you will also soon figure that they can be used to "unlock map information". I was confused by this feature at first, since it didn't seem to uncover anything at all. I then realized what this feature really does: it "clears up" the 3D map (the one you see in the pause menu), and reveals the 3D structure of its buildings and layout (before "unlocking the map information", it will all look like a dark mess where you can't really figure anything out).

Map-Rotation Lock

Somewhere in your game Settings (System > Settings > Game) there is an option called Mini-map Rotation. By default it's set to ON, but I really think you should switch it OFF. What this option does is this: when it's ON, your minimap (you'll get your minimap shortly after starting in the first dungeon, early in the game) will continuously rotate as you move the camera around. I don't know why would anyone want this confusing feature activated (by default, no less), but regardless, I think it's a good idea to keep the minimap in its fixed location for two reasons: first, because you won't get lost as easily if every reference point stays where it is; second, because it makes following indications in a walkthrough easier :p (if I say north and your map rotates that's a problem; if the map doesn't rotate, then my north is your north, as it is everyone else's).

3D Map - Use of 3D

While we're talking about maps, a random but possibly useful tip is that you can use the rotation of your pause-menu map (which is a "3D map", since you can rotate it along three axis) to figure if a point of interest is above or below your position, or the position of any other reference point. This may sound confusing, but imagine that you have a quest mark on your map: if you use the "aerial view" of this 3D map (as you will do most of the time), then you won't be able to tell if this quest mark is pointing to something on a rooftop or something actually underground.

However, you can rotate the 3D map instead of using the "aerial view", and use its 3D structure to figure if the point of interest is above or below other reference points in the area. While not exactly the most used feature, it is a possibility that may help you locate your target more easily in certain circ*mstances.

On another note, you can access the 3D map if you press Start and then use RS, without having to select the "Map Mode" option first. This is useful, since it saves you the bother of having to select Map Mode manually every time you want to check the 3D map.

Zoom-Out the Camera

The default zoom of the camera is good as it is for most of the game. Just so you know it though, in some situations (really just in DLC fights, as far as I'm concerned) it can be useful to zoom-out the camera for a better view of enemies and their incoming attacks. Keep this option in mind, if you ever need more visibility.

Locked Content

There are four reasons why you may not be able to access certain "content" in the game, and you'll come across locked chests/doors from as early as your very first dungeon. Let's check out the various possible causes:

• Locked chests/locked doors: if you see a big lock with chains around a chest/door, that's what I call a "hack chest" or "hack door". They look like the picture below, and if you approach them the interaction button (Circle) will be crossed-off. Attempting to open these chests/doors will result in a message saying something about being unable to open them. These chests and doors can be opened via "hacking", which is a minigame-feature of some sort that will become available only after you start the second playthrough. Do not google more information about hacking, or you will risk story spoilers

• Some doors (elevators, mostly) will have a red light like the hack-door of the picture above, but no lock or chains to be seen. These are simply passages that are unavailable at the time where you find them, but will automatically be unlocked/made available later in the story
• Some of those doors mentioned in the previous point can be unlocked by operating nearby control panels or by using the elevator from another floor. The control panels will be found right next to these elevators in those cases (they look like a control panel with a big blue light), so you can't really miss them
• One important special case (or rather, a few cases) is for locked doors with an apologetic machine in front of them. You'll find them in various locations, and they look like the picture below. These are the entrance point for the DLC challenges. I don't think I need to specify this, but you can't access them if you don't have the DLC

Walking, Jogging, Running, Fast-Running

There are four possible speeds at which you can move: walking (gently tilt LS), jogging (use LS like you would in any game), running (do a dodge/dash with R2, then use LS to run), and fast-running (after a few seconds of running, if you haven't interrupted your run you will automatically start running a little bit faster).

Since fast-running exists, you may want to refrain from the dash-spam way of moving around. By that I mean that a lot of players tend to use multiple consecutive dashes (or even jumps sometimes) because they think it makes them get around faster. I have actually run a test on this one, and going from Northwest to Southwest in City Ruins took me exactly the same time with fast-running as it did via dodge-spamming (and the first part of fast-running was actually just regular running, until my character picked up speed). This was without any Chip modifier for either of the two methods.

Speaking of which, there are Chips to increase your running speed (Moving Speed Up) and dodge distance (Evade Range Up), but their overall impact on the time spent going around is negligible, so I wouldn't recommend bothering with them at all. Same can be said for the item Speed Salve, which also increases moving speed by a little bit, but not much (you may not even be able to tell the difference).

Now I'm not gonna argue that if you use a stopwatch you may find differences between the two ways of moving around (although if you did, from what I've tested it seems that fast-running is actually slightly better), but the bottom line is that they are very similar indeed, and therefore you shouldn't bother with the ADHD-style of dodge-spamming, because it doesn't get you around town any faster than just regular (fast-)running.

Riding Animals

If you approach an animal (there are two types: Boars and Deer), the Circle button will prompt up on the screen and you'll be able to ride them. While riding, you can press and hold the dodge button (R2) to sprint. Doing so will also make you "ram" / charge enemies on the way, although if you take damage while riding you may be thrown off the animal's back and end the riding sequence (so you may want to avoid enemies altogether).

At first, the item Animal Bait will be required to ride animals. If you use an Animal Bait, you will simply put this item on the ground, and it will bait animals so you can approach them and then ride them. If you don't use Animal Bait, animals will either run away from you, or actually charge you and hit you.

You can purchase a key item (for sale in many item shops), the Sachet, which prevents animals from running away from you.

After a quest (Animal Care, available in Forest Kingdom) you will receive the Quality Sachet key item, which allows you to ride animals without having to use Animal Bait.

After another quest (Half-wit Inventor, available in an early location; it requires at least a 35,000 G investment though, and it doesn't have good rewards, so it's a good idea to do it after the third playthrough) you will receive the Choice Sachet key item, which will make animals actually approach you (unless they have their behavior set on run-away, in which case you just can't ride them at all), and even spawn them in fixed locations (near Access Points and outside safe areas) where they will just wait for you to ride them. Convenient, but it will probably come a bit too late to be useful (plus you'll be using fast-travel most of the time anyway). Also, in case you are "worried" about the "make animals approach you" effect of the Choice Sachet, don't be: it's not like they will start chasing after you screaming "PLEASE RIDE ME!" as they surround you and get in your way. It just means that they will not run away from you as much, rather than actively approach you.

Riding animals is an even faster way of moving around, if you need to cover long distances (for example if you need to backtrack for quest-related purposes), when compared to regular fast-running. I personally didn't bother with riding animals at all in this game, but I have tried it and I can confirm that it's the fastest means of travelling, except of course fast-traveling between Access Points (which is unlocked only after a while into the story). For what it's worth, my test suggests that compared to fast-running on foot, riding on a boar/deer's back will take you about 2/3 of the time. Sadly, early on (when you would really want to ride animals to save time), this is probably going to be offset by the time spent in the menu to use Animal Bait and then the waiting time before animals actually approach the bait and become ride-able.

Climbing up ladders faster

On the topic of saving time while moving around, know that if you hold the R2 button while climbing up a ladder you will "jump-up" to climb it faster.

To go down a ladder more quickly, hold down the Circle button and slide down with LS.

Collection Points and Collection Bodies

There are three main types of items to pick up: chests (small, large, and their hack-locked variations), "Collection Points", and "Collection Bodies". I'll post a picture of them below.

Collection Points look like "things emitting a yellow aura" on the ground. As you approach them, the Circle button will prompt and you'll be able to pick up the item. There are a few things I'd like to point out about them:

• Collection Points spawn locations are somewhat random. In reality, they all spawn in fixed spots, but sometimes they spawn, other times they don't spawn. This is random, but doesn't really matter
• The actual content of Collection Points is, for the most part, random. It's true that some Collection Points have fixed types of treasures (for example certain Collection Points always contain money, while others never do), but these are not worth investigating (we are talking very little money)
• If you are looking for a specific item from the Collection Points of an area, there isn't anything you can do to increase your chances of getting that particular item. In other words, the Collection Points of a certain area (let's say the Abandoned Factory) can all be, with different probabilities, Copper Ore, Crystal, Natural Rubber, [...]. There isn't a Collection Point where you have higher chances of getting Natural Rubber rather than a Copper Ore. It's random
• Some quest-related Collection Points are fixed, but the rest, once again, are RANDOM
• Another minor (but important) exception are the Collection Points that can contain rare Materials. In particular, those containing Simple/Elaborate/Complex Gadgets are very limited and specific ones, which is why farming these rare Materials is always recommended in certain locations/from specific Collection Points (I'll mention them in the Materials section of the walkthrough), and not just "anywhere in the area". Even in their case though, whether you get the "Gadget" or another common item instead is completely random
• The large majority of Collection Points in the game is not worth bothering with, really. The thing is, except for the items collected in the Forest Kingdom and Flooded City, every Collection Point before that will contain items that, while potentially useful to upgrade Weapons/Pods, can be purchased later in the game. Therefore, unless you have very specific needs, you shouldn't go around farming Collection Points, because it'll be much easier to obtain their treasures from shops later on. Again, Forest Kingdom and Flooded City are the only exceptions, since they have items you can't find in shops
• All Collection Points, except the unique (quest-related) ones, can be respawned by fast-travelling, leaving the area on foot and then coming back, or even simply save-reloading

Enemy Drops look exactly like Collection Points (just saying). The exception to this is if an enemy drops a Chip instead of an item; dropped Chips look very similar to Collection Points, but, well, they look like they have a Chip in them.

Lastly, there are "Collection Bodies" you can pick up. They basically look like "raw" android bodies, laying on the ground (dead), and if you examine them you will receive a Chip selected from a pool of various possibilities (Chips level 0, 1, or 2). They are not a good source of Chips to be honest. They do respawn though.

It's worth pointing out (it may cause some confusion) that these "Collection Bodies" are NOT the same as the bodies you can find if you have the Network Connection activated (see corresponding section for more info).

In the picture below, from left to right, you can see a Collection Point, a Chip drop pick-up, and a Collection Body.

Airborne Moves (Pod Throw, Gliding, Long Jumps, Launch-attacks)

I'm sure you'll figure that this game has double-jumping pretty early in your experience. Likewise, you'll probably figure that you can do an aerial dash/dodge after jumping. So far, nothing that should surprise you. There are some things that you may not notice right off the bat though:

• There is a hidden move which I call the "Pod Throw". Its input is this: while in the air, press the Fire button and the Jump button at the same time (by default this would be X+R1; if you remapped the controls like I suggested, then it would be X+L2). This will make you grab the Pod, and use it to "launch" yourself at the enemy. This move can actually be used to damage enemies, if you get thrown into one, but its more useful application is when you want to do a long jump (we'll see about it in a moment)
• Gliding is another very useful feature that some people don't even know exists. After you are airborne for whatever reason (after a jump, or maybe after you drop off the edge of a cliff/off a rooftop), if you press and hold the jump button (X) you will grab the Pod, and use it to gently glide to the ground. This slowed-down descent will prevent any fall damage, and it can also be useful to make long jumps in many circ*mstances
• By "long jump" we mean a jump that allows you to cover a horizontal distance greater than what a regular jump would allow on its own. There are several ways to prolong your time in the air, and therefore cover more distance, but the simplest and most efficient one is a series of these inputs: double jump (XX); aerial dash (R2); Pod-Throw (X+R1/X+L2); light attack combo with a Small Sword type (Square, Square, Square, ...); glide if further distance is required (hold X). This will allow you to reach some treasures that are otherwise out of regular jump distance
• A "launch attack" is not a Pod Throw. By "launch attack" I mean a uppercut-slash attack against an enemy where you start from the ground, and then launch the enemy up in the air (if the enemy can be launched in the air; some can't). This is a very useful move that most people don't know about. One way that you can do this, and you probably know about this, is by performing a dodge-counter (do a "perfect" dodge, then counter with your own attack right after) with a Small Sword weapon type, since they have a launch attack as dodge-counter animation.

  The part that you probably don't know is that if you perform a jump and then immediately follow it with a heavy attack (so the input is: X > Triangle), you will also launch the enemy up in the air, and this works with any weapon, not just Small Swords (the animation will be a bit different between weapon types, but the effect will be the same). This is extremely useful against airborne enemies, since even without Lock-On you'll be able to get to them (a launch attack auto-aims, within certain limits) very easily

Fall Damage/Environmental Hazards

If you are wondering what happens if you fall off a high building without gliding, or what happens if you fall off the edge of the map entirely, yes, you will take fall damage. In particular, fall damage will increase the higher the fall distance/height is.

In case you fall off the edge of the map (which can happen very early on, if you jump off the path in the very first dungeon), you will take some damage but also respawn nearby -- courtesy of your Pod.

In some areas, very very rarely, there can be flames on the ground. Stepping on said flames will cause some damage. On Very Hard, flames will insta-kill you.

Another notable case is in the underground area of the Abandoned Factory (you'll visit this area later in the story), where some smashing-machines will insta-kill you if you happen to be smashed underneath them (it's one of the two guaranteed death moves in the game; the other is a move from a secret boss).

Pod-Petting

Arguably the most important feature in the game, you can pet your Pod by touching the touch-pad on your PS4 controller. On PC, this is done by flicking the mouse left and right repeatedly.

On an even more trivial note, if you pet the Pod while it's Firing its projectiles (while holding R1 (or L2 if you remapped it)), you will pet its "back" instead of its "front".

Self-Destruct?

Shortly after playing the prologue, the game will force you to go to your settings for some reason. Among the forced settings there will be one entry called "Self-Destruct", which is a command done by pressing L3+R3 together. In the "Important Gameplay Information" I advised to re-map this button to L3, by the way; you should definitely do so for the future command "Berserker Mode" which will replace Self-Destruct in certain circ*mstances during your third playthrough (we'll talk about it in a moment).

Anyway, if you are wondering how Self-Destruct works, you simply have to hold down the button(s) associated to it for a couple of seconds, and then you will "explode". Self-destructing does NOT cause insta-death for you. Instead, it will deal fixed damage* to nearby enemies (it ignores defense) equal to your current HP, take you to 1 HP left, and it will also put you in "critical mode" for a few seconds. While in "critical mode" you won't be able to move properly, or attack (or really do almost anything at all aside from a sluggish walk. You can heal though). After a few seconds, you will recover normal functionality.

You can use Self-Destruct as many times as you want (not while in "critical mode" though), but the truth is that this is just a gimmick option for the most part. The fact that it ignores defense and deals fixed damage may seem like a good advantage because it allows you to pierce through enemies' defenses even if you are at a strong disadvantage, level-wise. Unfortunately there are far better options (namely Counter, which we'll also discuss in more details later), and therefore Self-Destruct is really never worth it.

*Self-Destruct, unlike Counter, is actually still subject to level-gap damage-scaling. In other words, even though it should deal fixed damage to enemies, it actually does 0 damage if the level difference between you and the enemy is too great. Just for the record, Counter always deals fixed damage regardless of level gaps.

On a less important note, using Self-Destruct also causes 2B's clothes to "explode", revealing the undergarments. Oh no! And just to end this topic, there is a key item "costume", the Dress Module, which will make sure that your clothes stay on despite the explotion. The Dress Module is purchased from one of the later shops in the game (Chapter 07+; minor side-NPC spoiler: Emil's Shop).