I like the new faces, design-wise, but they really don't match their animation data all that well. The characters' faces animate way better in the original in every cutscene. I bet a lot of people will interpret the poor facial animation as a product of its time and budget, when the original was actually better. This seems to be a recurring theme with remasters.
Overall I really like this, though. Probably because most of the artistic changes seem to be a result of wanting visual consistency between this and Automata, and I love the way Automata looks, so I don't mind this, even though the change is there and I completely understand why others wouldn't like it.
I'm usually in the disappointed side whenever a remaster/remake is shown, so I'm glad to be excited for once.
Just please give me an Original OST toggle, S-E.
Completely agree. I think they are setting this game up for backlash. I get it- I played Nier when it was first released and loved it. I still have an unfair and irrational dislike of Justin McElroy because that fishing video set up so much of the baseline for Nier's discussion on release.
I can understand anyone preferring the original or Automata since they both have a lot to offer. But there is just an overwhelming vibe of "Nier was cooler when it was a cult thing, Automata took it too mainstream" that has been out there since Automata turned into a surprise hit and it can be quite obnoxious.
That's a good point, people really are overhyping how much better this game is than Automata, even at the things I do agree it did better.
It reminds me of some reactions I've seen when KH III came out from people who were disappointed with FFXV, but unfamiliar with Nomura's work, so they just believed the hate bandwagon saying that if Nomura was the director, the story would be so much better. I don't think I need to mention what they thought of the storytelling in KH III compared to their expectations.