Today I want to tell anybody who’s willing to listen about a life-changing event for me. It happened a few years ago, and it was simple enough if you look at it from an outside perspective. I played a new game called Nier Automata. Now I know what you’re thinking. How could a video game be life changing? Well, if you’ll hear me out I think you’ll understand. By the way, if you’re going to play Nier Automata in the future I don’t suggest reading any further as it will spoil some significant parts of the game.
The first thing you have to know about Nier Automata is that it is set on Earth far in the future when humanity has gone completely extinct. All that’s left behind are certain animals and life-like machines that we created a long time ago. Many of them look just like humans, but they are unmistakably not. Therein lies the problem, and as we later come to find out, has become the mission of these machines. They are imitating the history of humans in an attempt to better understand what we were and to reach a higher level of consciousness. To put it simply, they aren’t beings that have the same level of free will or knowledge as their creators did, but they wish to reach that understanding by imitating their behavior.
Here’s where things go terribly wrong. Throughout the journey, we see machines that are imitating kings, religious figures, and well-known philosophers. Other machines choose to find meaning in the idea of romantic love or money. All of these ideas fail, however. Empires fall, religions devolve into chaotic cult-like organizations, and no matter how hard we try, we never can find that perfect romantic partner who fills the empty parts in our heart. All of it, as grand as it seems, is utterly meaningless.
Those are the big things in life that we want most of all. We think that more money, better status, and a great love will enrich our lives and make things magically come together. We believe that our country’s ideals are worth dying for, and whatever our religion is could never be corrupted by evil men. Then we see that none of that is true as it all fails us. Our leaders aren’t always the good guys, we don’t get to have the perfect partner, and once you reach a certain level of wealth, it doesn’t make you any happier. To make matters even worse, the people we put on such a big pedestal, whether religious or political, fall the hardest and quickest. The big things in life are all unattainable lies.
Now you might be thinking by now that this is pretty dark. Well, you would be right. You see, when I first started my journey into Nier’s world I was extremely depressed. I didn’t see the purpose in anything. My work hadn’t made me famous, and I had plenty of money, but I thought I needed so much more. I hadn’t found a romantic partner who was even close to what I was looking for either. I was painfully unhappy because all the things I had been led to believe were so important had gone wrong.
This is where Nier shines the brightest. When you reach the end of the game you’re starting to feel pretty down. The main characters are all dead, you’ve learned that nothing you did meant anything, and at best, the whole cycle of useless imitation will repeat. To make matters worse, the credits present you with an Asteroids style mini game where you must shoot the names of the people who created this game as little red and purple dots are flung at you at a rapid pace. It’s too much. It feels impossible, and you die. Then you try again, and you die. The game asks if you really want to continue, and you don’t, but you’ve come this far, so you say yes. Then you die again . . . and again. Finally, a message comes up on the screen informing you that there are other players who want to help you out. They’ve gone through the same journey as you, and they’re willing to help so you can finish yours.
You accept, and that’s when the real magic begins. A bunch of ships surround you, making it impossible for you to be hit. Each time a dot nearly hits you one of their ships is destroyed, and their name briefly pops up on the screen. You don’t have any idea what that means yet, but as the last of the credits roll by you get one final message. It asks if you would like to help someone else who is having a tough time. It says that there will be a price to be paid if you do. You see, if you say yes the game will delete all of your save data. It will be as if you never played it to begin with, and all of the little side stories you didn’t do will be gone unless you start over from the beginning, something that most of us wouldn’t have the time to do in a thirty-plus-hour game. I knew in that moment that I wasn’t going to start over, but I remembered the people who had sacrificed their time just so my experience could be a little easier.
I chose to do it, and as I did, I saw the mirror it was presenting of real life. Just like the machines were looking for some grand meaning to life, and it only led to disappointment, so had I. A realization also hit me. All of the hardship that I had endured and every doubt or tear I had shed was experienced by someone else, too. We were all going through a tough journey in our real lives, and someday our metaphorical save data was going to be gone. Therefore, maybe the best thing any of us can do is make sure the people whose journey comes after us is a little easier. I know my parents and grandparents have done that for me, and should I ever be blessed to have children of my own, I hope to do the same. Regardless, maybe life is just that simple. Make the journey easier for somebody else because we’re all experiencing the same things, and why wouldn’t you help someone when you can so easily relate to their pain?
The last realization came at the end when we were given one more choice. Do we really want this to be the end of the machines’ journey? After all, the only thing they have to come back to is a world where there is no grand meaning. Hardship and death await them based on what happened in their last journey. The most logical thing is to give up and die. Then I thought about the journey they had. So many disappointments and so much pain was present throughout it. There was more than that, though. What about the first time they went to the amusement park? What about that time 2b (the name of one of the androids) said screw it all and just went fishing? What about the unspoken love between our characters that, while imperfect, certainly made the journey interesting? What about the moments where we smiled? Sure, we went through more valleys than peaks, but wasn’t it worth it to see the peak again? I made up my mind. These characters deserved to live and not because they would have a happy ending. They deserved to live because the journey was more important than how it ended.
To wrap things up simply, we all experience the same pain and disappointment of what our lives become at some point or another. We don’t have the power to give ourselves the perfect life, but we do have the power to help make other people’s lives easier. Next is the most important point. Before I played Nier Automata I was wondering why I should even be in this world. I wanted God to give me some kind of grand answer, but that isn’t what we usually get. You don’t have an all-encompassing purpose. It changes from day to day. Since then, I’ve found my purpose every day. Sometimes it’s writing a few words. At others, it’s saying a kind word to someone who needs to hear it. On most days, it’s just doing something that makes me smile. We don’t take it to heart that the little things in life really are what makes it worth living.
So what can save your life? Well, almost anything really. A good video game saved mine, and since then, I’ve had hundreds of reasons to keep going. My family is the biggest one, but there are dozens of reasons that might not seem that important to other people. I want to see how The Walking Dead ends. I can’t leave this world until then. I want to be there when the next Final Fantasy game comes out. I definitely can’t go until I see Loki Season 2. Oh, and what about The Packers or the Grizzles? I’m pretty sure college football is going to be played in a few months, too.
What makes you smile? That’s your reason to live, not some grand idea or level of recognition. I would never go as far as to say happiness comes from within because I actually believe that’s a lie, but I will say this. Your ability to find and accept joy comes from inside. Don’t ignore the good things, no matter how insignificant you might think they are, because in the end, your purpose and happiness get to come from wherever you decide for them to be.
Thanks for reading as always. I hope you find your happiness in the simplest parts of our world because I find those to be the best and most reliable sources of joy. And when you’re having a hard time, look to those who walked the path before you. They did it, so you can, too. Don’t give up, no matter how dark it is now. It would be a shame if you never reached that peak again.
Mitch
