Concerning the complaints about Braindance

[kissybyc3]

After viewing several game journalists who posted their impressions, their shared complaint about the braindance feature does stand out.

For some examples, see 16:00 in SkillUp's impression:

Or 9:00 in TheNeonArcade's overview:

In addition, the twitch chat reaction during the braindance part of the Night City Wire wasn't enthusiastic either.

It seems the complaints focus on: 1. The braindance detective mode is too slow and dragged-on; 2. The tutorial is not clear enough; 3. There's way too much stuff to keep track of, like three tracks (audio, video, heat); and 4. There isn't a clear logic behind what to scan, and why scanning object A leads to conclusion B.

I'm sure the devs are aware of these complaints, but I want to open up this thread to let other users chime in on how they view braindance, especially its detective mode, and how they think it can be improved, if needed. I also want to ask the devs what their vision is for braindance as a detective feature, and what they think should do to address the complaints.

 

[AsadaShino0821]

Very good setting, I like it very much.

BRAIND ANCE there are many types, this is just one of them

 

[metalmaniac21]

Braindance will be that one filter akin to 'Souls games' difficulty. Devs nailed the BD, p. close to PnP.

 

[Keive]

I'm not really excited about it but it doesn't bother me. I haven't played much games with any feature like this so it's newer to me, but like I said, eh meh. Though I felt more "meh" for the example given, I think after seeing other scenarios it be really neat.

 

[fridgeband]

I somewhat agree with neonarcade, I feel that the braindance that was shown was very very boring. It's one of the very very few things, maybe even the only thing I saw that I didn't like. I liked the technical aspects of how they explain how the technology works from Judy explaining it to V, and I like the story aspect of what happened to that NPC, but the actual gameplay within the braindance felt extremely boring and I am scared out of my mind that it will be a common thing I am forced to experience. I know that it's only ONE kind of braindance, and I am very excited to experience the other kinds of braindance, like the more exciting kinds. I don't like how it's all blurry and pixelated and corrupted looking, because I don't need any help understanding that it's a VR recording of real time events. I also feel like that crime solving aspect of the braindance we saw has already been done in a handful of games before. I can't remember which, but I know that look and feel of that "move a camera around and highlight objects to find clues" type of gameplay and It's so (insert "many years") ago, and I'm very much past it and don't crave it anymore. It was a gimmick back then, and now it's overdone, so I hope the part that we saw is really one of the few parts that "crime solving floaty camera braindance" will be in the game, and I hope all the other braindances are much more cool and fun and active immersive experiences. How about a braindance shooting range so that all your gun training can be 100% free with no ammo waste or gun rental fees? How about braindance fighting training so you can train without risk of injury? Maybe using braindance as a portable device that allows you to hack into networks by diving into them as a cyberghost and fighting the antivirus software like in code lyoco? Just my opinion.

 

[Sardukhar]

I like it. I think it's a neat implementation of the braindance idea. It also lets you live other non-V lives. Kind of Night City Vignettes.

 

[Keive]

I somewhat agree with neonarcade, I feel that the braindance that was shown was very very boring. It's one of the very very few things, maybe even the only thing I saw that I didn't like. I liked the technical aspects of how they explain how the technology works from Judy explaining it to V, and I like the story aspect of what happened to that NPC, but the actual gameplay within the braindance felt extremely boring and I am scared out of my mind that it will be a common thing I am forced to experience. I know that it's only ONE kind of braindance, and I am very excited to experience the other kinds of braindance, like the more exciting kinds. I don't like how it's all blurry and pixelated and corrupted looking, because I don't need any help understanding that it's a VR recording of real time events. I also feel like that crime solving aspect of the braindance we saw has already been done in a handful of games before. I can't remember which, but I know that look and feel of that "move a camera around and highlight objects to find clues" type of gameplay and It's so (insert "many years") ago, and I'm very much past it and don't crave it anymore. It was a gimmick back then, and now it's overdone, so I hope the part that we saw is really one of the few parts that "crime solving floaty camera braindance" will be in the game, and I hope all the other braindances are much more cool and fun and active immersive experiences. How about a braindance shooting range so that all your gun training can be 100% free with no ammo waste or gun rental fees? How about braindance fighting training so you can train without risk of injury? Maybe using braindance as a portable device that allows you to hack into networks by diving into them as a cyberghost and fighting the antivirus software like in code lyoco? Just my opinion.

It is cool to see someone who knows Code Lyoko. Always thought the towers, that they had the pink haired girl go into, was cool.

 

[Swedrami]

2 minutes into the Brain Dance gameplay demonstration/tutorial I knew there would be whining and complaining, predominantly from - pardon the generalization - non-European media/reviewers/audiences. Of course.
"Too long", "too slow", and "boring AF", "this sucks", "Judy's hella fine tho, should've shown her going down on V instead of boring us to death with this lame ass detective shit", etc.

If even the so-called professional media cannot muster up the patience for sitting through a mere 7 minutes of slow-paced gameplay demonstration anymore... [Picard Facepalm GIF]

 

[HellKnightX88]

I think for presentation purposes it would've been better with a dev walking us through it rather than just using the in-game tutorial.

But that's my one complaint about it, I liked the investigation feature in Arkham Knight and the memory editing in Remember Me (my favorite part about that game actually) so this looked very interesting to me. Trying to decipher what happened in these situations and scanning things for clues is a nice change of pace from the rest of the game IMO.

 

[KeldornOfLatria]

It's a really cool feature and I understand they don't want to blow some braindance-highlights out for a presentation.
Some people complained before Night City Wire that trailers show too much action, not enough slow-paced gameplay.
Then they show something slow-paced and the other people cry for more shotguns or whatever.

Just breathe and think it through how cool it is for roleplaying: You can now kill plot-critical NPCs, because you can use braindance to get their info anyway. Maybe even more info, which you wouldn't get otherwise.
And there are really cool storytelling possibilities.

That "kinda boring" reaction to braindance is like saying: Oh God, there's reading in the game. Reading is boring! – No. it's not. It comes down to what you choose to read.

 

[Rawls]

Not everything has to be fast paced. Anybody whose ever actually been in an investigation will tell you it's not a speedy process. I like the way they're doing it. It reminds me a lot of Remember Me, which had a lot of other faults, but the memory sequences were really cool.

 

[Swedrami]

Listening and conforming to "complaints" from people demonstrating this often severe lack of patience is what gets reasonably complex gameplay systems and mechanics dumbed down or "streamlined" for the worst.

Here's hoping CDPR will not be swayed. Also in regards to the hex code-based hacking we got a short glimpse of last year.

 

[AsadaShino0821]

It's a really cool feature and I understand they don't want to blow some braindance-highlights out for a presentation.
Some people complained before Night City Wire that trailers show too much action, not enough slow-paced gameplay.
Then they show something slow-paced and the other people cry for more shotguns or whatever.

Just breathe and think it through how cool it is for roleplaying: You can now kill plot-critical NPCs, because you can use braindance to get their info anyway. Maybe even more info, which you wouldn't get otherwise.
And there are really cool storytelling possibilities.

That "kinda boring" reaction to braindance is like saying: Oh God, there's reading in the game. Reading is boring! – No. it's not. It comes down to what you choose to read.

Just like POE2 (A lot of text, people don’t like it~~~)，But this is a very good game

 

[BilalHuseyn]

May I ask, what game is POE 2?

 

[AsadaShino0821]

May I ask, what game is POE 2?

Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire

 

[Suhiira]

I chalk up most of the complaints about braindance to people that think every aspect of a game has to be non-stop action.

Apparently braindance is (primarily) detective work, slow, methodical, painstaking ... just like real life detective work.

 

[Krugaming]

Honestly I agree with the complaints about the braindance feature, but I wouldn’t knock any points off the game for it. It’s a awesome feature for some I’m sure, it just isn’t for me.

 

[Bloodartist]

It seems the complaints focus on: 1. The braindance detective mode is too slow and dragged-on; 2. The tutorial is not clear enough; 3. There's way too much stuff to keep track of, like three tracks (audio, video, heat); and 4. There isn't a clear logic behind what to scan, and why scanning object A leads to conclusion B.

1. The game prolly NEEDS something to slow down the pace, which is why I think braindance is pretty good inclusion. Its not going to offer anything groundbreaking (as others have said, detective modes have been done before) but it is good that its there.

2. Shrug. I would know more if I tried the thing myself.

3. Its your opinion. I can count to three myself.

4. The whole point of detective work is to come up with something out of practically nothing. You dont know what clue you find until you find it. Otherwise the whole detective work process would be irrelevant.

Overall this feels like complaining for the purpose of complaining. I for one don't need nor want the game to hold my hand when I am playing. I dont need yellow exclamation marks over NPC heads that say "go here, talk to this guy". I have a brain. I like it when a game stimulates it.

 

[BluPixel]

I was disappointed it didn't have more to it than detective work when I watched Night City wire but I like the overall concept. It was a welcoming break from the fighting and destruction in a game lile Arkham Knight. Plus, braindance since to be more complex than Batman's detective vision with the addition of multiple layers of audio, thermal energy etc... , so the detective feeling will be even stronger, I like that.

I suspect it will be an important tool to solve some quests for those who plan to do a no kill, diplomatic playthrough.

 

[Witchercyberpunk]

It's a really cool idea. I would think that making a few tweaks would definitely help. Improving the tutorial would really help. Or they could if they wanted, give the player the option to decrease it's difficulty, so you can simply focus on the story aspect of the brain dance.