How monstrous are we talking? If we're talking rape/torture, I would assume (and, personally, hope) not. But murdering people who may not deserve it because they piss you off? Possibly.
It's always an interesting question why murder is acceptable, but abuse isn't.
Agreed. But that's just how our world is, for some reason. I get squeamish when thinking about, say, child abuse, but mowing down pedestrians in GTA doesn't bother me (of course, I wouldn't do either of these things in real life).
I too hope we have the ability to harm randoms on the street. In the Witcher 3 you were unable to do this and I think in Cyberpunk you should have the option to at least go on a shooting spree if you feel like it.
Based on their mention of V being "their own person" I highly doubt it, as it would mess with the narrative, etc... I also doubt it based on their recent mentions of "offense".
Yeah, well, the pedestrians aren't kids. They're just brainless bots.
And even so, even if the game allowed (and reacted to) the player committing questionable acts, I doubt he'd be able to cut up a child out of a whim.
V already is a monster. Anyone going to NC has to be a monster, or get killed immediately.
I wonder if you can be a monster in a physical sense, like replacing all your human parts and getting cyberpsychosis
That quite primal human instinct. Murder is associated with defeating a foe in combat. It's a feat of strenght and cunning. (It isn't of course, but it's the imprint on social perception after some 50k years of evolution of society) Abuse, on the other hand was always seen as cowardice. Even in the name of the law, the person responsible for torture and such stuff was regarded as worse, feared and loathed at the same time. That's why we praise sodiers who fell on the battlefield, killing enemies and punish those who abuse civilians or even enemy combatants. It's some kind of psychopatic conscience.
Sure, torture. Becoming a slaver. Killing children. You name it.
I hope your actions alter perception from various characters, but I'm really hoping for something more nuanced than honorable vs vile, more like if you normally shoot first or go for overkill maybe people see you as being excessively violent, for some people that tendency towards violence may earn you respect, but from others scorn. I wouldn't expect this system to be all encompassing, but maybe have a handful of traits that are tracked so you could have someone who refuses to kill but has no qualms about stealing someone blind, another who's only morality is the contract, to violate a condition of the job is an abhorrent sin, but wouldn't think twice about plugging an unarmed child if that's what they were hired to do, and all of these people would be regarded differently by NPC's because of their own thoughts on the respective traits/mores.
There is that, but also... One of the biggest things humans have used their imagination for throughout history, is how to make other people suffer, whether they are adversaries or rejects or what ever. And it echoes today still. We don't have coliseums anymore where tigers maul the gladiators, but violence and suffering interests people still, sometimes to unhealthy lengths but nonetheless. People tend to prefer story settings that are dark and where people are miserable and get hurt (physically and/or mentally); people tend to relate better to the bad guys in stories, how evil and cruel and insidious they are - rather than to the altruism of the hero. I.e. every Bond film is defined by how "good" their villain is.
Perhaps that is so that there'd be a point of reference so we could actually feel "good" when there's reason to, that joy doesn't come for granted. I dunno, I'm not a psychologist, but there is a logic to be found there.
In Fallout 1 you could become a slaver and it earned you a status, that complicated some things later. In Fallout 2 you were able to earn money by participating in porn. I'm really curious how depraved or even deranged you can be in this game, if you can. Killing someone on whim isn't anything special. But having a choice between talking someone down, buy him or torture him is more interesting.
If you had what it took, you could act there. If you didn't, you could only do a fluffer job (and have a really bad taste in your mouth afterwards).
And if you didn't have a "Jimmy Hat" in your inventory, you could even get an STD.
Then I disagree. There are some things that, if present in the game, would make it Adult Only, thus SIGNIFICANTLY limiting CDPR's audience.
Would it though when the majority of sales are digital with the only deterrent being an "are you over 18" screen?