Nier's director Yoko Taro has appeared on toco toco tv to talk about the series, and he revealed that the series was all about creating something new and interesting.
"People who play my games, I believe that many of them are a bit odd," he said (via VG247). "Those people tend to look outside major ways of playing or entertainment [...] My lifestyle is rather 'special'. I do not like to travel, nor to work out, I don't get any pleasure from it. Instead I would rather stay in my room in the dark and play or think. Personally, I find it more meaningful."
He also says that creating Nier was motivated by AAA titles and trying to be different from the trend they set. "Looking at AAA titles, of course I find them beautiful and interesting, but after 20 minutes of gameplay, I wonder whether it is going to be the same for the following 20 hours. I am a bit tired of this," he explained. "If possible, I would like to make games that are unexpected, games that keep changing form. This is the mindset I had when I created the first Nier game, and it is present in Nier: Automata as well."
Do you think Nier: Automata successfully distinguishes itself from other AAA titles?