i keep seeing frustration that the puppet’s bunker raid doesn’t have a lot of story from a nier automata standpoint

you can’t have nier without drakengard, and the bigger set pieces are pulling from drakengard lore

this? this is a fucking flower. there aren’t yorha ships like this in the main game, so this is something that’s evolved since the end of nier automata

why is a flower important? because the last time we saw a flower with song powers, it looked more like this

the puppet’s bunker starts you off in a drakengard final boss fight, complete with bullshit rhythm rings

this is probably the mechanic they were talking about when yoko taro suggested players who get hit by this should instantly die

that’s how those fights work. you miss a ring and it’s essentially game over. drakengard final endings are hell.

Also worth noting, since the designation between white YoRHa and black YoRHa units was something highlighted in the buildup to the raid, the og queen beast spits out black and white rhythm rings

we started out fighting the black units (9S) and now we’re fighting the white ones

the special site also makes note of the colors each unit is wearing, so that’s probably going to come up again

is that specifically tied to the queen beast/the watchers? inevitably yes, we just don’t know how much

I really need to revisit the end of Automata, but it was pretty explicitly implied that the power of the Watchers was part of the machine network

That’s their symbol on Eve’s chest

Long story short (for those less versed in Drakenier lore), there are multiple apocalypses associated with the Watchers or caused by them. It’s why the original NieR is even a thing.

And now it’s hanging out on the First, affecting it in ways we have yet to determine

The raid itself does call back to Automata and specifically the creation of Adam + Eve with the Compound fight. This is the first time we’ve seen androids form up a birthing mechanism to create a new being, but the machines did it first.

i don’t have a good shot of the compound

More importantly though the Compound is a Seed of Resurrection/Destruction. The hex code above the boss title for the Compound is “longing”

Seeds of Resurrection are said to "open the path to a new and unknown humanity” - but humanity in the case of NierA are androids/machines

What are they longing for? We don’t know yet, but using the flower/Seeds of Resurrection is BAD NEWS

The flower is the source of the Watchers’ power, and here’s an example of something that happened when this power was misused

yeah that thing has been living rent free in my brain since i saw it, why do you ask?

After players put the smackdown on the Compound in orb form, it reassembles itself to better protect itself. A 2P-shaped boss makes sense, though literally no one expected one to come in this form

I need to go and reassess some of the other fights to see if I missed any more references, but if Copied Factory set the stage for the “Nier” side of the raids, the Puppet’s Bunker is laying the groundwork for the Dark Apocalypse side of it

Also worth noting: as the power of the Watchers starts ramping up, it causes people affected by it to start losing their minds. Talking nonsense, or stuttering speech out of nowhere is pretty common, especially in the endgame phases of Drakengard 3