Obviously you have limited experience with PnP RPGs and none with CP2020.
I say this because there are several PnP RPGs that don't use that mechanic and CP2020 most certainly does not.
I mean, most of the biggest tatbletops DO have big scaling though, and Cyberpunk totally allows you to create them. as I said before, the way armor works creates de facto bullet sponges. is the health pool huge? no, but all you're functionally doing is lowering the damage per hit. is it a truer representation than just giving someone 500 HP? yeah, but its still mechanically just allowing a character to soak up 5 times more hits than normal.
I do, and I was only referring to video game RPGs, which is what CDPR is attempting to make here. PnP RPGs and video games are entirely different mediums which require different approaches to make either of them work.
which is a good point, because I don't think its possible to fully recreate a tabletop in video game form, if for no other reason than that you're playing a prepackaged deal...with a faulty game master who can't reasonably allow the freedom a tabletop has.
That they do.
But not as extensive as many wish to believe. Torment, Baldurs Gate, DA: Origins come to mind as excellent video RPGs. Amend your statement to "video FPS games" I'll agree 100%. But the blanket statement you made is much, MUCH, to large.
I didn't play planescape but I do think just having pseudo turn based encounters in the bioware games doesn't represent a significant change from what we have today: the structure of an RPG's narrative and character progression is still very distinct from a true shooter like Metro, for instance. and I'm gonna push back on DA because while I loved the narrative, man, the gameplay was weak. the combat was totally unbalanced and there were too many encounters that were clearly designed for specific builds that were just annoying for anyone not min maxing their PC. and if we're mad about damage sponges....
were they good games? yes. but they were still significant departures from where they came from and to say they're so fundamentally different from a shooter hybrid too me just doesn't seem right.
Bulletspponges and damage/HP progressive systems are definitely an RPG thing to a certain extent, but while that works on games that are purely fantastic or play with higher levels of abstraction (like isometric games), it’s not really a good fit for a game like Cyberpunk. There the statistical abstraction of the characters ability should be dealt with means that fit with the intent of the content at hand, in a way that keeps the verisimilitude alive. And sponge mechanics and progression isn’t that.
I disagree that there's a specific answer here. for one, as I mentioned, armor is really just a way to get sponge mechanics into the game and totally makes sense in the world. progression also fully makes sense, if , you know, we're going to get the possibility of cybernetically enhancing ourselves. both very much fit into the world, and the spirit of the tabletop.
"Realistic and brutal" on the 2:20 mark.
yeah, its semantics, but "realistic and brutal" is a very distinct idea from "brutally realistic". one whos HOW realistic something is, the other shows two different ideas they want to work with in varying capacities.
this isn't a sim.
I just don't want to empty 5 clips into a bald guy's head while one shotting fully armored grunts because of some floating number on their heads that represents spongyness.
I mean, I don't see anyone arguing for that. I only see people pushing back on the idea that having bullet sinks is inherently bad for the game.
They should move on from that same representation that's been plaguing video games and should finally make enemies competent. We need actual armor for enemies.
this isn't exactly a common thing for shooters though. most shooters WONT make enemies randomly superpowered just because of your place in the game, most do use armor to show which spots are protected, and most do try to code useful AI.
I feel like a lot of complaints are from people who are a little out of touch with the shooter world to be making some of these charges.
