When comparing SMITE vs NieR: Automata, the Slant community recommends NieR: Automata for most people. In the question“What are the best games on PS4 with a female protagonist?” NieR: Automata is ranked 2nd while SMITE is ranked 32nd. The most important reason people chose NieR: Automata is:
The combat in NieR: Automata is fantastic. It has a hack-and-slash feel to it, with an emphasis on agility and showy acrobatics. With the fluid and responsive controls, you can switch seamlessly from using swift attacks with your weapon to devastatingly strong attacks as you combo them together. You also use customizable ranged missile attacks from your personal robot pod, such as powerful laser beams or a giant hammer attack. It can be difficult to win battles sometimes, especially on the harder gameplay settings, but it's worthwhile to keep at it and watch yourself progress and improve.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Characters are derived from mythological gods
Instead of imaginary champions and heroes, Smite derives its characters from ancient mythological gods from around the world. The roster currently consists of 92 gods from the Norse, Hindu, Greek, Roman, Mayan, Egyptian, Chinese, Celtic, and Japanese mythologies.
Pro 6 great game modes and a rotating match of the day
Smite has 6 game modes and all of them are extremely popular:
- Arena. A 5v5 death match, no lanes or objectives. Arena is best for people who prefer intense combat over strategy. Good for impatient but independent players.
- Joust. A 3v3 mode, with a single lane and monsters camps on one side, and an objective lair on the other side. Surprisingly focused on teamwork, despite small teams. Everyone has a role to fill, and learning how to adjust your play for your two teammates is half the battle.
- Conquest. The typical 5v5 mode, three lanes, jungle, towers, objectives. Conquest is the standard MOBA game mode, requiring lots of communication.
- Siege. A 4v4 objective push map slightly similar to Joust, but instead of small skirmishes it has massive battles. Two lanes definitely add chaos to the mix.
- Assault. A 5v5 ARAM (All Random All Mid) mode where everyone gets a random hero and has to fight on a single lane. You'll often get unevenly balanced teams but nobody ever gets upset because of the sheer fun of the game mode.
- Clash. A 5v5 mix between Conquest and Arena modes.
Additionally, there's the Match of the Day (MOTD) feature. It takes a random game mode each day and gives it a twist. This includes having no ability cooldowns, not being allowed to use basic attacks, being able to character swap and more, which can sometimes be a lot more fun than the regular game modes.
Pro Account progression doesn't affect in game power
Pro Fun and fast-paced, third-person MOBA action
Pro 3rd person view is a unique twist on the genre
The 3rd person view used in SMITE is a big change from the top down views normally used in a MOBA. The game also utilizes analog controls, unlike the traditional point-to-move system of traditional top down MOBAs. This creates a large blind spot behind the users character and also makes sneaking behind someone for stealth attacks a viable option.
Pro Hi-Rez approaches the SMITE community for feedbacks, brilliant ideas and mechanics they could use in the game
The company behind SMITE, Hi-Rez studios, actually listens to community feedback and looks for potential ideas and mechanics provided by the community. For example, the Odyssey ultimate reward in 2014, was nominated by players. The SPL Ticket Announcer Packs rewards were also picked by the community. And some in-game skins are actually created by players. The Harajuku Neith skin, The Ba5s Drop Janus skin, the Opera Bacchus skin, were all conceptualized by Smite players. And the most recent one, the Demon Bull King mechanic, which disables the towers and phoenixes in Joust to prevent camping, and the addition of the Japanese Pantheon to the game, were taken from community feedback as well.
Pro Titans bring a twist to the standard MOBA formula
Unlike the immobile and passive bases of other MOBAs such as DOTA 2 and League of Legends, SMITE features mobile structures called Titans, which defend themselves and their teammates.
Pro Features three ranked modes
Smite features 3 ranked modes, mainly the 1v1, the newly added 3v3, both of which utilizes the new Joust map. And the 5v5, on the Conquest map. All of which features experienced players and intense matches to satiate your search for glory and honor in the league of Smite.
Pro Updates often
Smite receives new characters, maps, and balance patches quite often. So you can expect a steady stream of content to keep the gameplay fresh.
Pro Great community events in the form of Odyssey event and Smite World Championship
Every year, SMITE releases an Odyssey event months before the Smite World Championship. Over the course of several weeks, cosmetic items are released every week until the start of the SWC. These cosmetic items will be available for purchase some time after the SWC and will be branded as "Exclusive Skins" after the event. Every purchase in the Odyssey contributes to the SWC Prize Pool. Players can obtain limited edition items when they purchase a certain amount of items. For example, the Archon Thanatos, and Ragnarok Force X Thor can be obtained by the player when they have purchased all the Odyssey Items. Additionally, every item purchase will grant an Odyssey Chest roll that can be claimed in the rewards center. This chest can contain god skins, ward skins, and voice packs . There is also a slim chance that the chest will grant exclusive in-game items.
Pro You can use the VGS for efficient communication
SMITE uses the Voice Guide System (VGS), which is the most efficient way to communicate in a competitive game to date, providing keyboard shortcuts for preset voice commands.
For example, pressing the keys V>F>1 would send out a message saying "Enemy missing left", which means an enemy has disappeared from the left lane. While pressing V>B>F would send "Enemies at the Fire Giant'" or in simpler terms, the enemies are trying to take the objective. These simple shortcuts are very convenient, allowing you to quickly exchange information with your teammates without losing focus on the game.
Pro Beginner friendly
You get five free gods of every role at the start to help you learn the role you want. You can learn the game basics and mechanics in the Practice mode and the Jungle Practice map where all gods are available for you to try and experiment with. The community is also friendly to new players. You won't have a hard time adjusting to SMITE's mechanics and gameplay.
Pro Provides a lot of incentives to play the game often
You have the daily quests which rewards you favor and gems (in-game currency). So you don't have to worry logging in daily, like its previous predecessor, the daily log-in reward.
There are gem events, which is a limited period of time in which players can get gems (valued in game currency). There's a First Win of the Day reward (FWOTD). Rewards every time you win a match, insane sale discounts. Also, Hi-Rez employees sometimes give away in-game freebies in their Twitter account.
Pro The least toxic community for a MOBA
The community of Smite is the nicest in the MOBA genre and has many members who are ready to provide help and coaching to new and less experienced players.
Pro Fast-paced, action-packed combat
The combat in NieR: Automata is fantastic. It has a hack-and-slash feel to it, with an emphasis on agility and showy acrobatics. With the fluid and responsive controls, you can switch seamlessly from using swift attacks with your weapon to devastatingly strong attacks as you combo them together. You also use customizable ranged missile attacks from your personal robot pod, such as powerful laser beams or a giant hammer attack. It can be difficult to win battles sometimes, especially on the harder gameplay settings, but it's worthwhile to keep at it and watch yourself progress and improve.
Pro Unique storytelling with a real emotional impact
NieR: Automata's outlook on storytelling is incredibly special. To get the full experience, you have to run multiple playthroughs of the game, each of which offers a new experience and perspective. Your world view of the story events and characters expands drastically as you complete each playthrough, playing on your expectations to help you develop a deeper emotional bond with the protagonists and become invested in their plight.
Things take a real turn on your third playthrough, putting you on an emotional roller coaster all the way to the true ending. The plot twists and knocks on the fourth wall elevate the story to a truly unique place. Getting all the way to the very end can be a religious experience from how much heart and meaning you discover in the symbolism.
Pro It's got a hauntingly beautiful environment
NieR: Automata is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape after Earth has been overrun by hostile machines, and the artists really nailed what that would feel like. Abandoned and overgrown cities litter the landscape along with old refineries, graveyards, and eerie forests. When you add the beautiful soundtrack to the experience, it fills you with a bittersweet mix of loneliness and hope.
Pro An incredible amount of content
Outside of the main story, there's plenty of optional content to dive into. The side quests are the best way to get to know the characters and lore of the world, with some of them giving clever and subtle foreshadowing of the game's most critical events. There are also weapons to collect and upgrade, each of which offer nice little tidbits of lore after you get them to max level. And after reaching a certain point in the story, you get access to Chapter Select that lets you go back and replay whatever you want. You can easily spend 60+ hours exploring the world and still have much more to do.
Pro Varied genre-spanning gameplay elements
NieR: Automata has different types of gameplay to keep things interesting. From the very start, you're on an on-rails bullet hell section, and then you switch over to the more traditional action RPG style of fast-paced combat. Things change up again not long after with some side-scrolling platforming from a 2D view. Later on in the story, there's a hacking mini-game where you navigate a tiny ship through a short puzzle, with the music changing to a charming retro sound to fit the theme and mood. This is a game that doesn't stay boxed in a single genre.
Pro Gorgeous, ethereal soundtrack with amazing vocals
NieR: Automata's music is out of this world. It's so stunning and elegant in a way that nothing else can really live up to. The soundtrack manages to emotionalize the game through music, from the action-packed tracks with hard-hitting wind instruments and percussion, to the softer, somber songs that encapsulate the hauntingly beautiful environments and story moments you encounter. Vocals in the lore's indescribable language makes the music even more memorable, adding to the ethereal quality of the sound. This soundtrack is definitely one that you can go back to again and again without getting sick of it.
Cons
Con Third person camera limits your view of the battlefield
Your camera is locked behind your character, so you won't have an overhead view or be able to view the entire battlefield like in most MOBAs. This makes communication much more important since you can only react to what happens in your line of sight. Without proper communication you won't be able to set up regular plays you could do in most MOBAs.
Con Excessive snowballing on certain characters
If not countered or shut down early, some characters can become extremely strong, making a comeback for the other team virtually impossible. This is especially annoying for new players since they'll have to learn it the hard way.
Con Community is toxic
Try playing ranked and at least 1 person will throw the game on purpose, sit in base, or feed on purpose. The games community is honestly horrible. I have played more games where a person purposely throws lately than games that don't.
Con Server issues
Con Limited open world
Even though NieR: Automata is technically an open world game, it doesn't always feel like it. It's more that there's a big open space in the center of the ruined city you explore, with branches that lead off to vastly different environments, like a desert, a village, and a few other places. These locations aren't that spacious, either, and it's a bit of a stretch to even imagine all of these places being so close together in the first place. It's not too much of an issue as long as you find the story and combat engaging enough.
Con Second playthrough can get repetitive
Once you get to Route B, your second playthrough, you may find that too much is the same. There are some big differences, such as the new way you get to see things play out, but a lot of it rehashes Route A, your first playthrough. There's a ton of hacking you have to do as well, which gets pretty boring after repeating it over and over again. But if you stick with it, Route C and onward are absolutely worth the time spent getting to that point.
Con Some boring fetch quests
The pacing gets messed up when you're forced to run certain fetch quests near the start of the game. This is somewhat forgivable after the fun and action-packed introductory level, but the quests themselves are still a drag to play through. Some of the side quests can also boil down to the same thing. Even though these quests give a lot of useful information about the world, they're not all that fulfilling, and you may dread having to repeat them when playing through the game again.
Con Buggy on PC
Some players complain about the game crashing, freezing, their save files mysteriously disappearing, and more. As of June 2018, over a year after the game's initial release, there is still no patch to fix these problems. Not everyone on PC will have these bugs, but it's still quite prevalent. If you continually run into issues, your best bet is to find a mod or play the console versions instead of waiting on an official patch that may never happen.