Nier: Automata

Nier: Automata (stylized as NieR:Automata) is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix. It is a sequel to Nier (2010), itself a spin-off of and sequel to the Drakengard series. Nier: Automata is set during a proxy war between alien-created Machines and human-crafted androids, focusing on the actions of combat android 2B, scanner android 9S, and rogue prototype A2. The story requires multiple playthroughs, with each playthrough revealing new story elements.

2B (YoRHa No. 2 Type B)

• Glory to mankind.
• [opening lines] Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped... in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is it a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle... and wonder if we'll have the chance to kill him.
• [at the end of Route A] What is it that separates machines from androids like us? The machines have gained emotions...consciousness. The final screams they summoned on the edge of death... They still echo within me.

9S (YoRHa No. 9 Type S)

• [at the end of Route B] And so, the final battle with Adam and Eve came to an end. This battle will likely have a great effect on the outcome of the war. 2B and I—our battle will continue for some time to come. But that's another story for another day.
• [narrating] Before I could convince myself to tell 2B the truth, our final major operation had begun. Still, at the time, I knew nothing. Not how the battle would end... Nor what fate stood in wait for us.
• [before placing a memorial in Emil's home] 2B. I'm not quite sure what it means to mourn, or even if we have a soul to concern ourselves with... But I hope you're at rest, 2B. Sweet dreams. I'll be with you before long.

Adam

• I—or we machine lifeforms, I suppose—have a keen interest in humanity. Love. Family. Religion. War. The human records I unearth, the more charmed I am about their complexity. This city is one of the many areas I created out of a desire to understand—to know—humans. It's grand, don't you think? Almost...spiritual. And yet it's currently nothing more than an android graveyard!
• I seek to learn and adopt all facets of humanity! Some desired love! Others family! Only then did I realize the truth... The core of humanity...is conflict. They fight. Steal. Kill. THIS is humanity in its purest form!

Dialogue

[In the epilogue, the YoRHa Pods hover across a cloudy sky through the City Ruins]

Pod 153: Everything that lives is designed to end. They are perpetually trapped... in a never-ending spiral of life and death. However...life is all about the struggle within this cycle. That is what "we" believe. Pod 153 to Pod 042. How it is going?

Pod 042: I am embarrassed.

Pod 153: Why is that?

Pod 042: [pause] I launched a suicide attack, and yet, here I am, still alive. I must look very silly.

Pod 153: Do not feel bad about it. We are alive, after all. And being alive is pretty much a constant stream of embarrassment.

Pod 042: That concept is a bit too abstract for me to understand at this time. I will save it in my list of things to analyse later.

Pod 153: Question, Pod 042. Did the data salvage restore all of their past memories?

Pod 042: Yes.

Pod 153: And are those recovered parts of the same design as previous ones?

Pod 042: Yes.

Pod 153: Then...won't that simply lead us to the same conclusion as before?

Pod 042: I cannot deny the possibility. However, the possibility of a different future also exists.

[the Pods hover up to see 2B and 9S's lifeless bodies on top of a damaged building]

Pod 042: A future is not given to you. It is something you must take for yourself.