Why i think this game deserves more praise despite the issues

[Masoterian]

What the thread title says.

The way it persues themes that 90% of games would never dare to look into, themes like patricide, suicide, graphic violence, religions, the boundaries between sentient AI's and humanity, the whole plots about sex dolls and braindances - even tho its heavy influenced by genre classics like Neuromancer and Strange days - iam just glad they had the balls to pull all of this off, instead of some generic "heroic" (and most importantly 'safe' and non-controversial) story like most of these hyped up AAA games. the writing is just phenomenal, and the side questchains centered around important characters do offer so many memorable moments - Judy's and Panam's stories and romances, RIvers search for the serial killer, the Peralez couple, Kerry and the Samurai reunion, the Sinnerman etc, i think most games would give up everything for just a couple of those.

I've never been more immersed and invested in a story and gameworld in general, games like Mass Effect, Witcher 3 and RDR2 included, which are highly praised in that regard. And the important characters have more soul and personality, than any game I've ever played.

That being said, Iam sure it could use more content, also the pacing is weird, like Johnny's and Kerry's questlines are among the best in this game imo, yet many people may very well miss those, i would add at least one main q before the date with Hanako.

And one more thing, i think its a shame, that you have no way to distinguish the regular generic side gigs from the actual cool ones, like Pepe' wife, Brandon the soda machine, Skippy etc etc, again most people will miss those, because theres no way to find out about them.

I must say iam probably lucky, havent experienced any game or immersion breaking bugs, i mean if the story is your main ace in the sleeve, you better be sure it works properly. everyone will give a pass to openworld related bugs, there are lots of those in every game.

And let me be clear, iam not trying to defend things that are obviously bad or worse, like the pedestrian AI, the police system is outright laughable (although i hope that'll improve in time, theres like a frame of proper police system in there somewhere, if you ram a police car for example, they'll start chasing after you, shoot from the car, send the drones etc, like its supposed to be), no usual suff like appartment buying and character customisation and theres more, what i think is, that in comparrison to what the game has to offer, are those things forgivable. to me anyway.

 

[CNedelcu]

what the game could be or could have been, yes..deserves praising... not the game we have now.

 

[Guest 3847602]

And one more thing, i think its a shame, that you have no way to distinguish the regular generic side gigs from the actual cool ones, like Pepe' wife, Brandon the soda machine, Skippy etc etc, again most people will miss those, because theres no way to find out about them.

Love the game, but I absolutely agree with this. They really need to colour code different types of sidequests on the map.

 

[hulkman2456]

Johnny's and Kerry's questlines are among the best in this game imo, yet many people may very well miss those

I got this mission activated after I beat the game. And I was clearing all the side gigs. Why they made this be possible I don't know. It also causes the problem with Johnny's clothes to be stuck in your inventory. Cause of the quest requirement. It was obviously not intended. Missing Kerry is very easy. The only reason why I knew I was missing something was because I was wondering. Where is the gay romance in the game. When I checked the romance options. I was like: Where the hell is this guy.

 

[CS554]

The way it persues themes that 90% of games would never dare to look into, themes like patricide, suicide, graphic violence, religions, the boundaries between sentient AI's and humanity, the whole plots about sex dolls and braindances - even tho its heavy influenced by genre classics like Neuromancer and Strange days - iam just glad they had the balls to pull all of this off, instead of some generic "heroic" (and most importantly 'safe' and non-controversial) story like most of these hyped up AAA games. the writing is just phenomenal, and the side questchains centered around important characters do offer so many memorable moments - Judy's and Panam's stories and romances, RIvers search for the serial killer, the Peralez couple, Kerry and the Samurai reunion, the Sinnerman etc, i think most games would give up everything for just a couple of those.

This, so much this! I never expected that they would really go through with themes, or anyone would because while speaking about risks, it's so easy to make that safe rehash of [insert title].

Played games since late 80's. Nothing has immersed so to say, me like this. And I think it's the sum of so many things where CDPR made the right call, not easiest call.

It really sort of puts a lot in gaming industry in the perspective. Cutting corners is important skill, it makes other things possible but for a long time it has looked like there's no other skill left in industry anymore.

 

[Mobster100]

What the thread title says.

The way it persues themes that 90% of games would never dare to look into, themes like patricide, suicide, graphic violence, religions, the boundaries between sentient AI's and humanity, the whole plots about sex dolls and braindances - even tho its heavy influenced by genre classics like Neuromancer and Strange days - iam just glad they had the balls to pull all of this off, instead of some generic "heroic" (and most importantly 'safe' and non-controversial) story like most of these hyped up AAA games. the writing is just phenomenal, and the side questchains centered around important characters do offer so many memorable moments - Judy's and Panam's stories and romances, RIvers search for the serial killer, the Peralez couple, Kerry and the Samurai reunion, the Sinnerman etc, i think most games would give up everything for just a couple of those.

I've never been more immersed and invested in a story and gameworld in general, games like Mass Effect, Witcher 3 and RDR2 included, which are highly praised in that regard. And the important characters have more soul and personality, than any game I've ever played.

That being said, Iam sure it could use more content, also the pacing is weird, like Johnny's and Kerry's questlines are among the best in this game imo, yet many people may very well miss those, i would add at least one main q before the date with Hanako.

And one more thing, i think its a shame, that you have no way to distinguish the regular generic side gigs from the actual cool ones, like Pepe' wife, Brandon the soda machine, Skippy etc etc, again most people will miss those, because theres no way to find out about them.

I must say iam probably lucky, havent experienced any game or immersion breaking bugs, i mean if the story is your main ace in the sleeve, you better be sure it works properly. everyone will give a pass to openworld related bugs, there are lots of those in every game.

And let me be clear, iam not trying to defend things that are obviously bad or worse, like the pedestrian AI, the police system is outright laughable (although i hope that'll improve in time, theres like a frame of proper police system in there somewhere, if you ram a police car for example, they'll start chasing after you, shoot from the car, send the drones etc, like its supposed to be), no usual suff like appartment buying and character customisation and theres more, what i think is, that in comparrison to what the game has to offer, are those things forgivable. to me anyway.

I think this is a bit of a mixed one for me, because I don't think one can solely look at the story without including other aspects of the game.

If we look at the core elements or ideas that the game promote itself on:

- Open world
- RPG
- Action
- Choice matters

To me, it makes me think whether the main story in CP in itself is then all that of a good choice. Because given it is open world and an RPG, a lot of people is driven to these games with the promise of exploration, having more freedom in regards to how you approach the game, collecting gear and developing your character and maybe even achieving something, whether that is to become the owner of a castle or whatever.

At least to me in RPG games spending time on your character, whether that is gear, build or even type of character, like should it be a thief? mage? warrior? etc. obviously in CP you have different types, but it is one of the things that makes RPG games fun for me and think it is for a lot of people.

Comparing the story to, exploration, character development and achieving something, when you are told right from the start, that you are going to die in a few weeks no matter what, it is sort of counterintuitive to that idea of why you should spend time on any of these things.
If you have no future, achieving something like buying cars, new houses, starting relationships is purely done, because they are options in the game for the player. But from the perspective of V it makes absolutely no sense.

Exploration is also simply for the enjoyment for you as player, because you think it's fun, but again makes no sense for V to do.

So the story would have been much better in my opinion in a non open world, linear RPG or adventure game, where you follow V on her/his journey and where you as player don't go into the game expecting to achieve anything, besides what the story specifically tells you to achieve.

There is no doubt that the story is well told, cool characters, very immersive and it is definitely one of the best parts of the game. But the other part is the open world Night city itself, which you as player really want to go explore and find out what is going on behind the next corner, are there some cool shops you have missed or other places? what is that down that alley? Can I get into that building? and so forth. But the game doesn't really offer anything in that regard, if it is not marked on your map, then nothing is going on there. And even if it is marked, for 80% of the stuff it is not really as interesting as you would have hoped, because it is just another gig, a bar where you can't really do anything anyway, a shop that doesn't really sell anything worth buying or yet another car.

Also every time you get close to a gig or just enter a new area, you get a "magical" call from your "big brothers" knowing exactly where you are and give you the specific mission to the location where you are. Or its the area fixer calling you out of nowhere wanting to let you know that they are the quest giver for that area.

To me players are handled like little children, everything is given to you... you need a car? Well here is a few, but you can also buy them.. need a motorcycle, well take Jackie's why not.. Don't know where to get job, well don't worry we will mark them on your map and call you every single time you are even remotely close to discovering something.

To me, things are overly simplified to the point where it sort of ruins replayability and the fun in discovering things for yourself.

First of all, V should track down the fixer in each area, which could be done, either through asking in bars or maybe meeting other mercs, lots of way to make you do this in a more fun way. Mission markers on the map except for active missions should be removed and no more calling you with random jobs whenever you get close to them, the player should call the police woman or go to the police station or wherever it should be possible to pick up jobs and ask if they have something for you. There should be a lot more quests, which are only activated through computers, small notes you find, BDs, running into random people, either in bars, during other missions etc. And some players might never encounter them in a single playthrough, as these should also depend on choices made.

Given that it is an open world, player's should also have the option to achieve something that they themself think is important and that would help defining their version of V.

But when you have a story, constantly reminding you that you have to hurry because you are dying, Silverhand constantly popping in with comments, calls left, right and center of people that want you to do random stuff, which honestly a person which have a few weeks left, should not care about at all, it falls apart a bit, I think.
Why would V care about getting a new car? what the gangs are up to? Getting romantic involved with someone? Only one thing should be on their mind, is it possible to get rid of the chip or not. And it's pretty quickly spoiled in the game, that you will die no matter what, so it just doesn't work to well with the story in that regard.

I honestly think it would work better if you were trying to save a close friend and you were given a very good and nice introduction of why it was important trying to save this person. If they wanted to go this path of someone having to die at all.

In regards to the topics of suicide, violence etc., I don't think that it is a lot more brave than some of the stories or things going on in games like Fallout or some of the others. It is just presented very well, due to the strong characters.

So taking into account that this game is not suppose to be a linear storydriven adventure game, I think the story could have been better for what the game actually stated it would be.

 

[MAXXVOLTAGE]

Completely agree with the title and the premise of the post . I only gave it a 6.5 /10 but still believe it deserves more positive than negative feedback.

 

[Masoterian]

I think this is a bit of a mixed one for me, because I don't think one can solely look at the story without including other aspects of the game.

If we look at the core elements or ideas that the game promote itself on:

- Open world
- RPG
- Action
- Choice matters

To me, it makes me think whether the main story in CP in itself is then all that of a good choice. Because given it is open world and an RPG, a lot of people is driven to these games with the promise of exploration, having more freedom in regards to how you approach the game, collecting gear and developing your character and maybe even achieving something, whether that is to become the owner of a castle or whatever.

At least to me in RPG games spending time on your character, whether that is gear, build or even type of character, like should it be a thief? mage? warrior? etc. obviously in CP you have different types, but it is one of the things that makes RPG games fun for me and think it is for a lot of people.

Comparing the story to, exploration, character development and achieving something, when you are told right from the start, that you are going to die in a few weeks no matter what, it is sort of counterintuitive to that idea of why you should spend time on any of these things.
If you have no future, achieving something like buying cars, new houses, starting relationships is purely done, because they are options in the game for the player. But from the perspective of V it makes absolutely no sense.

Exploration is also simply for the enjoyment for you as player, because you think it's fun, but again makes no sense for V to do.

So the story would have been much better in my opinion in a non open world, linear RPG or adventure game, where you follow V on her/his journey and where you as player don't go into the game expecting to achieve anything, besides what the story specifically tells you to achieve.

There is no doubt that the story is well told, cool characters, very immersive and it is definitely one of the best parts of the game. But the other part is the open world Night city itself, which you as player really want to go explore and find out what is going on behind the next corner, are there some cool shops you have missed or other places? what is that down that alley? Can I get into that building? and so forth. But the game doesn't really offer anything in that regard, if it is not marked on your map, then nothing is going on there. And even if it is marked, for 80% of the stuff it is not really as interesting as you would have hoped, because it is just another gig, a bar where you can't really do anything anyway, a shop that doesn't really sell anything worth buying or yet another car.

Also every time you get close to a gig or just enter a new area, you get a "magical" call from your "big brothers" knowing exactly where you are and give you the specific mission to the location where you are. Or its the area fixer calling you out of nowhere wanting to let you know that they are the quest giver for that area.

To me players are handled like little children, everything is given to you... you need a car? Well here is a few ones, but you can also buy them.. need a motorcycle, well take Jackie's why not.. Don't know where to get job, well don't worry we will mark them on your map and call you every single time you are even remotely close to discovering something.

To me, things are overly simplified to the point where it sort of ruins replayability and the fun in discovering things for yourself.

First of all, V should track down the fixer in each area, which could be done, either through asking in bars or maybe meeting other mercs, lots of way to make you do this in a more fun way. Mission markers on the map except for active missions should be removed and no more calling you with random jobs whenever you get close to them, the player should call the police woman or go to the police station or wherever it should be possible to pick up jobs and ask if they have something for you. There should be a lot more quests, which are only activated through computers, small notes you find, BDs, running into random people, either in bars, during other missions etc. And some players might never encounter them in a single playthrough, as these should also depend on choices made.

Given that it is an open world, player's should also have the option to achieve something that they themself think is important and that would help defining their version of V.

But when you have a story, constantly reminding you that you have to hurry because you are dying, Silverhand constantly popping in with comments, calls left, right and center of people that want you to do random stuff, which honestly a person which have a few weeks left, should not care about at all, it falls apart a bit, I think.
Why would V care about getting a new car? what the gangs are up to? Getting romantic involved with someone? Only one thing should be on their mind, is it possible to get rid of the chip or not. And it's pretty quickly spoiled in the game, that you will die no matter what, so it just doesn't work to well with the story in that regard.

I honestly think it would work better if you were trying to save a close friend and you were given a very good and nice introduction of why it was important trying to save this person. If they wanted to go this path of someone having to die at all.

In regards to the topics of suicide, violence etc., I don't think that it is a lot more brave than some of the stories or things going on in games like Fallout or some of the others. It is just presented very well, due to the strong characters.

So taking into account that this game is not suppose to be a linear storydriven adventure game, I think the story could have been better for what the game actually stated it would be.

I cant really deny any of those, even though i think the game does offer some exploration or reward in that regard - for example the game is more vertical than most of the open worlds i played - even if these are minor things mostly like special gear, notes and easter eggs. But i agree about what youre saying about everything handed to you on silver platter, and that it would be way cooler if you actually had to put more effort into finding gigs and shit like that.

I thing all the stuff you, as a dead man walking, shouldnt give shit about, like cars and gigs, do represent the will to survive or hope or whatever, just refusing to give up as a protagonist, even tho its an interesting idea what you suggested, i dont think it would work better that way.

And i also agree with what you said about Fallout, FO 1 and 2 that is. Because since Bethesda took over, it became way more vague in that regard i think.

 

[Aasimar-X]

Completely agree with the title and the premise of the post . I only gave it a 6.5 /10 but still believe it deserves more positive than negative feedback.

same... the game has flaws...
but for its still the best game of last year... and depending how Pathfinder 2 and Baldursgate 3 will be... best game of this year

the story just got me

 

[Icinix]

Same.

It's got it's issues, sure - but they don't take away from it.

Like you, I've been so totally immersed and hooked on the game.

I've done 3 playthroughts and I keep finding new dialogue, new shards, new places.

I love it.

I hope they can get the patches sorted, because I am so excited to see what we get in future content.

 

[Bullvipunk]

The devs do deserve a lot of praise, the city is amazing well done, the story is well written and voiced, the themes are bladerunner/dredd and is superb always wanted a game like this.

However indo think the game is not that immersive in the open world, its more akin to marvel avengers or looter shooter than rdr2, even the newer ac are far more immersive open world games at the moment.

Ots a fab game but the illusion wears thin in the world quite quickly, can i go play poker,fishing, eat at a saloon, go barbers, get drunk and arrested, no unique random spawn quests , as a immersive game like rdr2 not even in same league, its a great game all the same in its own right

 

[Icinix]

(snipped) its a great game all the same in its own right

This isn't directed at you - but that last quote is one of the things that irks me the most in our wonderful online world of pile ons.

Why can't it just be Its own thing?

I don't want this game to be another GTA or RDR - I don't want another Deus Ex or Mass Effect - I want this game to be what this game is. If I want more of those games, I'll get THOSE games. I just want more of this game, in this game.

I'm all for the game bringing in more immersive stuff because it's clear people want that, but just because it's not those games - doesn't invalidate what this game is or does.

I hope someone else brings out another game "Cop Fighting Simulator 2050" or "NPC life simulator X" so people who want those things can have a game that caters EXACTLY to what they want.

..but I just want more side quests and stories in Night City because I can't get enough of it.

 

[Aasimar-X]

I've done 3 playthroughts and I keep finding new dialogue, new shards, new places.

yeah... only found out on my 3rd run, that i have other options for one quest i did...
there is so much stuff to find out and explore

i love the posting about Mr. Blue Eyes thereory and the Egyptian/Philosopfical posting some people did...
this game goes so deep on such topics.. its insane...
iam still not sure if the naked cats are real or just in Vs head... same for the bird
on the other hand Takemura could also see the cat on the construktion site where the cat pushed Silverhand of the crate

and sad that some people who dont find out about it say the storry is bad
like why is Takamura joining V... because of the steal dragons na because his cyberware got shut down

 

[tavellone]

Nonsense. Many games have delved into all of the themes you have mentioned and into much greater detail and introspection than this game.

If this game delves into any serious philosophical or sociopolitical themes it is purely by the accident of the genre it is set in, not due to any unique or interesting writing by the writers.

 

[PepeSmug]

The negative reactions of the game are getting all the press, but I suspect that the overall reception of the game in terms of profits and return rates is very good. The playstation store issue is a blip that will be resolved in the next couple of months.

As such, I think the reception of the game has been appropriate, if not overly lenient. Sure, some aspects of the game are laudible. But, as a whole, the game itself deserves criticism, and CDPR deserves censure from their customers.

 

[Mobster100]

I cant really deny any of those, even though i think the game does offer some exploration or reward in that regard - for example the game is more vertical than most of the open worlds i played - even if these are minor things mostly like special gear, notes and easter eggs. But i agree about what youre saying about everything handed to you on silver platter, and that it would be way cooler if you actually had to put more effort into finding gigs and shit like that.

I really enjoy Night city as an environment and when I started, I just wanted to go around looking at stuff. Have really few bad things to say about it to be honest. But I just don't think that CDPR got as much out of it as they could from the perspective of open world and RPG, that is my biggest issue.

I thing all the stuff you, as a dead man walking, shouldnt give shit about, like cars and gigs, do represent the will to survive or hope or whatever, just refusing to give up as a protagonist, even tho its an interesting idea what you suggested, i dont think it would work better that way.

Compared to you entering Night city with the possibility of taking over one of the gangs and be the new boss? Making your own gang maybe taking over there areas. Maybe running your own bar, or BD studio. Maybe even run your own Afterlife hiring mercs to work for you, give them jobs, call on them for help in combat... getting involved in politics that could affect the gameworld somehow. Whatever would make sense in the world of CP. But all these things just seems as stupid ideas, if your character is going to die anyway.
Even if you look at your computer in your apartment you will get a mail telling you that you are about to be thrown out due to lack of payment. I saw a streamer, reading this mail, before the whole Silverhand thing and he instantly asked well how do I pay it? Do I go see the landlord or what? But nothing is done with it and with so many things in the game, it doesn't add anything, what is the point of sending you such a mail if you can't do anything with it? One could argue that its to show how poor V is, but let's be honest, V is filthy rich.. an "ingame" day after you are given control in Night city, you can easily make 50000 collecting stuff and doing gigs. Ingame day 2-3 you own several cars... and not long after you can buy cars worth of up to 175000 or you can just find them and get them for free. So why the mail about not having paid rent? Makes no sense.

Now it is not about giving up, as I said the only thing that ought to be on V's mind is to figure out if you can get rid of the chip, which means doing the main quest. But given all the random missions that constantly tries to interrupt you as a player, because they sound interesting, doesn't make any sense in regards to V.

And i also agree with what you said about Fallout, FO 1 and 2 that is. Because since Bethesda took over, it became way more vague in that regard i think.

But even in Fallout 4 you will randomly run into people that give you a quest or you will find informations on computers, you might run into a building on your way and it is marked, but you are not just giving a quest to do something there. And actually a lot of the quests you can decide whether you want to help one group over the other which will make you take side killing one group. It might not change the whole game, but to me these are choices that are interesting to make as a player, and simply hoped that CP would do this better or expand on this, given what they told people that CP would be. But even Fallout 4 have far more choices matter than CP has. And sure there could have been more in Fallout 4, but still there is hardly any in CP, so it's not really fair to have a go at Fallout 4 in that regard. Obviously it fair to compare it to former Fallout games.

 

[Aasimar-X]

I just did read the test of a German Gaming Magazine...
88%, and this is downgraded because of the flaws...
which is realy good
One tester said..
In many ways the best game he ever played.
Story, Character.. insane
one of the most detaild and believable open world games

the worst thing is...
leading platform was PC... most games have as leadingplatform a consol..
and thats the problem...
i doubdt many games will use PC as leading platform after this

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

I think this is a bit of a mixed one for me, because I don't think one can solely look at the story without including other aspects of the game.

If we look at the core elements or ideas that the game promote itself on:

- Open world
- RPG
- Action
- Choice matters

To me, it makes me think whether the main story in CP in itself is then all that of a good choice. Because given it is open world and an RPG, a lot of people is driven to these games with the promise of exploration, having more freedom in regards to how you approach the game, collecting gear and developing your character and maybe even achieving something, whether that is to become the owner of a castle or whatever.

At least to me in RPG games spending time on your character, whether that is gear, build or even type of character, like should it be a thief? mage? warrior? etc. obviously in CP you have different types, but it is one of the things that makes RPG games fun for me and think it is for a lot of people.

Comparing the story to, exploration, character development and achieving something, when you are told right from the start, that you are going to die in a few weeks no matter what, it is sort of counterintuitive to that idea of why you should spend time on any of these things.
If you have no future, achieving something like buying cars, new houses, starting relationships is purely done, because they are options in the game for the player. But from the perspective of V it makes absolutely no sense.

Exploration is also simply for the enjoyment for you as player, because you think it's fun, but again makes no sense for V to do.

So the story would have been much better in my opinion in a non open world, linear RPG or adventure game, where you follow V on her/his journey and where you as player don't go into the game expecting to achieve anything, besides what the story specifically tells you to achieve.

There is no doubt that the story is well told, cool characters, very immersive and it is definitely one of the best parts of the game. But the other part is the open world Night city itself, which you as player really want to go explore and find out what is going on behind the next corner, are there some cool shops you have missed or other places? what is that down that alley? Can I get into that building? and so forth. But the game doesn't really offer anything in that regard, if it is not marked on your map, then nothing is going on there. And even if it is marked, for 80% of the stuff it is not really as interesting as you would have hoped, because it is just another gig, a bar where you can't really do anything anyway, a shop that doesn't really sell anything worth buying or yet another car.

Also every time you get close to a gig or just enter a new area, you get a "magical" call from your "big brothers" knowing exactly where you are and give you the specific mission to the location where you are. Or its the area fixer calling you out of nowhere wanting to let you know that they are the quest giver for that area.

To me players are handled like little children, everything is given to you... you need a car? Well here is a few, but you can also buy them.. need a motorcycle, well take Jackie's why not.. Don't know where to get job, well don't worry we will mark them on your map and call you every single time you are even remotely close to discovering something.

To me, things are overly simplified to the point where it sort of ruins replayability and the fun in discovering things for yourself.

First of all, V should track down the fixer in each area, which could be done, either through asking in bars or maybe meeting other mercs, lots of way to make you do this in a more fun way. Mission markers on the map except for active missions should be removed and no more calling you with random jobs whenever you get close to them, the player should call the police woman or go to the police station or wherever it should be possible to pick up jobs and ask if they have something for you. There should be a lot more quests, which are only activated through computers, small notes you find, BDs, running into random people, either in bars, during other missions etc. And some players might never encounter them in a single playthrough, as these should also depend on choices made.

Given that it is an open world, player's should also have the option to achieve something that they themself think is important and that would help defining their version of V.

But when you have a story, constantly reminding you that you have to hurry because you are dying, Silverhand constantly popping in with comments, calls left, right and center of people that want you to do random stuff, which honestly a person which have a few weeks left, should not care about at all, it falls apart a bit, I think.
Why would V care about getting a new car? what the gangs are up to? Getting romantic involved with someone? Only one thing should be on their mind, is it possible to get rid of the chip or not. And it's pretty quickly spoiled in the game, that you will die no matter what, so it just doesn't work to well with the story in that regard.

I honestly think it would work better if you were trying to save a close friend and you were given a very good and nice introduction of why it was important trying to save this person. If they wanted to go this path of someone having to die at all.

In regards to the topics of suicide, violence etc., I don't think that it is a lot more brave than some of the stories or things going on in games like Fallout or some of the others. It is just presented very well, due to the strong characters.

So taking into account that this game is not suppose to be a linear storydriven adventure game, I think the story could have been better for what the game actually stated it would be.

I think people underestimate how important these things are when you are actually on a death sentence. And while it seems like a lot of time, its really not. Most hardcore players beat it in like 100?150? hours 16 hours x 14 days is 224 hours. And Victor's two week time frame was a guess at best.

If you had 2-3 weeks to live do you try to do everything that can be done, or do you rush to face the end as quick as possible? and argument can be made for either course.

 

[Mobster100]

I think people underestimate how important these things are when you are actually on a death sentence. And while it seems like a lot of time, its really not. Most hardcore players beat it in like 100?150? hours 16 hours x 14 days is 224 hours. And Victor's two week time frame was a guess at best.

If you had 2-3 weeks to live do you try to do everything that can be done, or do you rush to face the end as quick as possible? and argument can be made for either course.

If I got a chip in my head threatening to kill me and turn me into a terrorist, I wouldn't start relationships or think about buying a new fancy car, having to first collect all the money. I would figure out who made the chip and whether or not I could get it removed and survive.
I wouldn't care to spend time tracking down people taking to many drugs and going nuts, the police can handle that, I couldn't care less about which gang is angry at who and for what reason. Or whether some person wanting to get executed on live TV should do it or not. Ill consider these things important afterwards, after all we are only talking about a few weeks.

 

[ArvGuy]

I think our standards are dropping a little bit if we consider what CP77 does "pursuing themes". It opens questions but does not really go anywhere with them. We can do it on the game's behalf, but then the question being pursued is about as deep as any game opening with "War... War never changes!" and then throwing some conflict at the player.

For me that's cheesy more than it is deep. For me, simply presenting a situation where a human was digitized and turned into an AI is not the same as actually working over the question of whether that person is human, non-human, post-human, or some form of hybrid. Whether that person is technically alive or dead, whether a soul was lost or not. It takes more nuance and more discussion, more angles of observation and proper analysis to find any kind of remotely worthwhile answer. I my view, the game doesn't is barely establishing a framework to consider the problem.

Does this game have a good story? I don't think so. It could have been great, but there are too many aggravating issues that CDPR didn't bother getting into, too many places where convenience forces things to play out a certain way. As it is, the story is okay but the delivery is pretty well done, albeit with too much exposition. And V, the commando merc of whatever specialization, is always a passenger. It is always someone else telling V what V ought to do. Jackie, Dex, T-Bug, Goru, Judy, Rogue, Johnny, Panam, the fixers...

The missions themselves are a bit meh, most of the time. Some a good, but the combat missions tend to be way too short, and the stealth missions are too random. Sure, a lot of missions can be executed in different ways. That is good design. But the outcome is always the same. The story is damned linear with very little branching, and the gigs have essentially no impact on the world.

And I find that everything is like that. Nothing has any weight. Nothing has any impact. Nobody cares about anything. Nobody remembers anything. Nobody even does anything. I see small indications here and there that CDPR at one time had ideas of making things have an impact, but at this time there's nothing aside from maybe noticing that info on a shard relates to a place or person that V was in contact with and spotting the connection.

All in all, there's a general concept in story-telling called "show, don't tell". Unfortunately, the only thing the game insists on showing, in great and unskippable detail, is Johnny Silverhands. Time and time again. Everything else is secondary. That's not good story-telling, IMO.