LogFAQs > #895670050

13. 9S (Nier Automata)

https://www.thebitbag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/%C2%A9Square-Enix-Platinum-Games-Nier-Automata-Glory-To-Mankind-119450310-Trailer-9S.png

"Isn't that HILARIOUS? Doesn't it make you LAUGH?"

I'll try to be a little vague here because Nier Automata is fairly new, but once again, spoilers are inevitable.

I had no idea I was going to like 9S as much as I did when starting Nier Automata. 2B was the poster girl, the one in all the advertisements, the one striking a heroic pose on the box art. 9S looked like her dopey sidekick. While 2B was designed to look a strong combination of attractive and cool, 9S was...not. If looking like a very young teenager wasn't bad enough, he's wearing shorts. No one can make shorts work.

9S proceeds to subvert your expectations about half an hour after he's introduced; hacking the Engels to allow you to fight it, sacrificing his flight unit to save 2B, continuing to hack Engels even while half-dead, and then sacrificing himself by uploading 2B's data to the bunker first before they blow up. Quite an entrance for a dude wearing shorts (okay, I'll stop).

Throughout the rest of the game, 9S shows himself to be competent, resourceful, and intelligent. He's also the more emotionally aware of the duo - 2B's insistence on following the "emotions are prohibited" rule comes across as bizarre considering no other androids bother, and 9S' attempts to get her to open up offer some nice development for the both of them. At the end of Route A, 9S is a likable guy, although not one with much depth to him.

Route B is where his character truly starts getting interesting. Playing from 9S' perspective offers a different look at both 9S himself and the world as a whole. You see his mixed feelings on the machines, his dark repressed emotions he may have for 2B, and his misgivings on YorHA as a whole. The route ends with 9S discovering some pretty awful secrets and it already starts to take a toll on him.

Then Route C happens. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that 9S has the greatest mental and emotional collapse I've ever seen in a video game character. When it comes to character development in game heroes, most of it is positive. Even if they regress at times, they'll inevitably bounce back. At worst they slowly become an antihero or a villain, but even then they never become an emotional wreck. 9S falls off a cliff both literally and figuratively and he never comes back from it. Rage, denial, and grief all mix together in an explosion of emotion that's paralyzing to watch. You find out more secrets about the truth of the world, the machines, YorHA, and his relationship with 2B, and each one both makes 9S a much more complex and interesting character while also tearing his heart to pieces. This is all sold by his voice actor Kyle McCarley, who may have put out the actual best VA performance I've ever seen in Route C 9S.

Some characters have journeys. Some have ordeals. 9S has a slide. He just keeps going down and down, and it's incredibly engrossing to watch. Some of his lines are still stuck in my head. I think it'll be a while before a game character can make me summon the degree of emotions that 9S was able to make me do.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.