even though I've heard they're not strongly connected
They are all connected, most of the time the direct connection is only tangible through a lot of references and lore will only make sense having played all the previous games. Automata is the 4th in the series after all.
Like, The Queen Beast is the final boss of the original Drakengard, whose passage to the "real world" is what caused White Chlorination Syndrome which is what caused the Gestalt Project (the entire backstory of Neir Gestalt/Replicant) and then that Project and the events of that game is what leads to humanity being in the state it is by the time of Automata and the creation of the androids.
And that's just the most basic checkpoint version, there are dozens of lines traveling through the games. Though I'm well out of date to properly go into them myself.
People downplay the connections because the original games are either tedious to play (Drakengard), actually awful to play because of hardware issues (Drakengard 3) or lack the coomer or Platinum combat aspects (Neir) that attract people. But its a big connected universe as any really and I'd recommend playing all of them.
Playing being important, not Let's Plays because the tedium of Drakengard 1 is part of the experience and the music/story/combat is actively working to drive you mad. Its probably the closest to "art" I think a game ever has reached because it uses every piece against you. I truly hope we one day get the full uncensored Japanese one released.
I did enjoy reading TheDarkId's LPs of the series on the LP Archive. If you can't get the full experience yourself, it made for good secondhand madness.
Shame he went full SJW like most of Something Awful....
Everybody refers to that one, so I assume it most be good in its own way, but nothing compares to playing it yourself. Just listen to this for a minute to get a taste of the soundtrack, and that's Chapter 1 music. It makes you uneasy after a while.
And that's before you get to the casual genocide, incest, cannibalism, pedophilia, child murder, necrophilia, the cannibalistic pedophilic necrophile character herself. It just bombards your senses to hear this, to play through some levels murdering giant babies trying to eat you, then play a rhythm game to throw a giant woman through space time into Tokyo so that Japanese Fighter Jets can shoot you down.
I'm more partial to the Queen Beast song myself because it encapsulates the entire game, where it starts a little fucked then slowly becomes more unnerving as it progresses until its closer to a cacophony by the end.
Or maybe I still have attachment PTSD from weeks spent trying to perfect that rhythm to beat that bitch. I didn't even try with Drakengard 3's final boss out of traumatic memory from it.
They are all connected, most of the time the direct connection is only tangible through a lot of references and lore will only make sense having played all the previous games. Automata is the 4th in the series after all.
Like, The Queen Beast is the final boss of the original Drakengard, whose passage to the "real world" is what caused White Chlorination Syndrome which is what caused the Gestalt Project (the entire backstory of Neir Gestalt/Replicant) and then that Project and the events of that game is what leads to humanity being in the state it is by the time of Automata and the creation of the androids.
And that's just the most basic checkpoint version, there are dozens of lines traveling through the games. Though I'm well out of date to properly go into them myself.
People downplay the connections because the original games are either tedious to play (Drakengard), actually awful to play because of hardware issues (Drakengard 3) or lack the coomer or Platinum combat aspects (Neir) that attract people. But its a big connected universe as any really and I'd recommend playing all of them.
Playing being important, not Let's Plays because the tedium of Drakengard 1 is part of the experience and the music/story/combat is actively working to drive you mad. Its probably the closest to "art" I think a game ever has reached because it uses every piece against you. I truly hope we one day get the full uncensored Japanese one released.
I did enjoy reading TheDarkId's LPs of the series on the LP Archive. If you can't get the full experience yourself, it made for good secondhand madness.
Shame he went full SJW like most of Something Awful....
Everybody refers to that one, so I assume it most be good in its own way, but nothing compares to playing it yourself. Just listen to this for a minute to get a taste of the soundtrack, and that's Chapter 1 music. It makes you uneasy after a while.
And that's before you get to the casual genocide, incest, cannibalism, pedophilia, child murder, necrophilia, the cannibalistic pedophilic necrophile character herself. It just bombards your senses to hear this, to play through some levels murdering giant babies trying to eat you, then play a rhythm game to throw a giant woman through space time into Tokyo so that Japanese Fighter Jets can shoot you down.
You don't have to sell me on Drakengard's soundtrack. Where else are you going to get a song that perfectly encapsulates the sound of reality itself breaking down due to the end of the world?
I'm more partial to the Queen Beast song myself because it encapsulates the entire game, where it starts a little fucked then slowly becomes more unnerving as it progresses until its closer to a cacophony by the end.
Or maybe I still have attachment PTSD from weeks spent trying to perfect that rhythm to beat that bitch. I didn't even try with Drakengard 3's final boss out of traumatic memory from it.