In the Keanu-Punk thread, I pointed to what I considered the chief weakness of the game from a story perspective--that I as the player could not identify with V. As I mentioned in the other thread, I have over 100 hours of play in the game with different builds and backgrounds and in all of them I felt NO connection with V. My character might as well just been like the avatar you generate for a "Call of Duty" or "Battlefront" looter-shooter. No feeling...no emotion for the character. This is what most needs to be corrected from a story perspective. So...how to do this?
1. Expand upon and deepen the background stories. This will give me a feeling for my V. Introduce characters from the background that I'll see in later parts of the game. Allow me to make choices for good or ill that might come back to haunt/reward me later. Expand on my friendship with Misty, Jackie, Pepe during the six months prior to the main story commencing. DLC material here although some of it can be brought in via free updates. I realize I am asking a lot, but I think it's necessary.
2. Flesh out and introduce romance/friend NPCs. Of the current romantic relationships, the one with Panam is probably the best developed and most satisfactory. The one with Judy is a distant second. I can't speak for Kerry, but the one with River most definitely needs more fleshing out. Make Meredith a full romance rather than a fling--she could figure in a corporate arc where the two of you help each other up the corporate ladder, leading to ultimate confrontations within Militech and then an ultimate showdown between Militech and Arasaka. Just one possiblility with the character. Another is that she's fired and you take on the role of guiding her through a beginning solo career in Night City with the two of you becoming a mercenary team. All sorts of possibilities here. Probably a major DLC, although again, some of the material could be brought in through free update patches.
3. Other fixes to make Night City come alive and provide a means for the player to identify with V--in short, to make V your V. Factions such as gangs, corps, and the NCPD; relationships with the various fixers; and an ultimate endgame: The story resolution. Do you find a solution to your ticking time bomb or do you go out with a whimper--or a bang? If you do find a solution, do you then go corporate and rise in the corporate hierarchy? Do you become a living legend as a solo? Do you chuck it all and go nomad?
CDPR has the potential for a major franchise here or it could take Door Number Two: It could just decide to fix the gameplay and bugs and keep the game a simple looter shooter. It's already made the company a tidy sum and will make more money in the coming months, but will, I think have a short shelf life as, in a year or so, I think it will be yesterday's news if CDPR goes that route once the next new bright shiny looter-shooter comes along.
We'll see...