River Ward Feedback (Spoilers)

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This! I hate it too. I mean in general I like the idea that during the dialogue your are not heavily scripted with cutscene where you a totally locked from everything except for picking the answers, I like these immersive dialogues Cyberpunk provides, but hell yes, they could do something with decent ending of conversation. In most cases V looks like schizophrenic when acting like this, just turning away from the person he's chatting with
Agreeeee. All the romances pretty much drop dead until the endings. It's even more sad if you do their quests early on.

Players are clamoring for more and through all the criticisms, I hope the devs know it really is a HUGE compliment to their writing.

As if River didn't already get the least attention, he is completely broken after the last quest. He instantly hangs up if you try to call him. You get a couple of texts from him but after about a week in-game time, V's outgoing texts suddenly delete themselves and then he responds like he was ignored the whole time - "Hm, I guess you are busy".

:giveup:
 
What really worries me about the reception to River as a romanceable character is that it would be easy for the developers to point at him and say "look, we tried making a heterosexual male love interest, but he was the least popular, so we'll stick to giving the most attention to female love interests like Panam and Judy in the future," when the fact is that we'll never know how he might have been received if he were involved in the main plot, given at least five quests, and had an option for an optimistic/happy ending.

Imagine if Panam was only given the amount of attention that River was, or if Judy could only be found after the main quest and you had to let Johnny use your body to try to sleep with more than one man in order to meet her, like Kerry. I'm pretty sure that the fan reaction to Panam and Judy would be very different.
 
I expected more missions after River confronted his NCPD partner about Rhyne's death but all I got was a lousy psychofarmer mission and a weird dinner.

Great. River could have been a major character (he reminds me of Serpico), instead he was rushed like the rest of the storyline.
 
What really worries me about the reception to River as a romanceable character is that it would be easy for the developers to point at him and say "look, we tried making a heterosexual male love interest, but he was the least popular, so we'll stick to giving the most attention to female love interests like Panam and Judy in the future," when the fact is that we'll never know how he might have been received if he were involved in the main plot, given at least five quests, and had an option for an optimistic/happy ending.

Imagine if Panam was only given the amount of attention that River was, or if Judy could only be found after the main quest and you had to let Johnny use your body to try to sleep with more than one man in order to meet her, like Kerry. I'm pretty sure that the fan reaction to Panam and Judy would be very different.
I definitely share that worry. The priority was pretty clear during development and at this point, their plate seems so full with other and much louder feedback that this may repeat in future content.

If Panam cut ties with V in the Nomad ending (maybe out of guilt for contributing to so many deaths?) and male players were left spooning Mitch on top of the basilisk, the reaction to the Nomad ending would have been something else lol.
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I expected more missions after River confronted his NCPD partner about Rhyne's death but all I got was a lousy psychofarmer mission and a weird dinner.

Great. River could have been a major character (he reminds me of Serpico), instead he was rushed like the rest of the storyline.
River is on the list of NPCs that flash glowing blue eyes with no apparent explanation. I saw it and thought it was going somewhere back into the Peralez arc, but it didn't.

The fact that River is the only 1 of the 4 romance options that can DIE doesn't bode well for any major involvement in DLC main story.
 
It is more or less the same for all 4 romances on the game. You do a few quests for this character, and that is all, he/she disappears after.
I don't think it's nowhere near the same. Yes, they all drop off the radar after the sex scene because that's always the last quests you do with them, but Judy and Panam are part of the main quests. You get to interact with them throughout the game in an organic way. You get to know them and develop somewhat of a friendship with them before you even do their personal quests, which is why their romances are a lot better and feel more natural.

River comes up way later in the game (in a questline that can be entirely missed), has 2 quests related to his thing and then the "sex quest" that comes out of nowhere because you never flirt with him on the first 2 quests. That's pretty pathetic and almost an insult to those who wanted a straight romance for their female V. Especially when compared to Panam and Judy that are in 10 quests in total (main quests, side and personal quests). Panam is even part of one of the endings. Even poor Kerry who is also neglected has 7 quests to his name. River has 3. Three!

If CDPR doesn't add AT LEAST one more mission with River before his romance quest, I will never forgive them for this... :rolleyes:

Rant over, sorry.

Edit: Just noticed there's a big thread on romances disparity on the front page, haha. Still, gonna leave this comment on this one, since it's River specific.
 
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I can confirm this to be the same case with Judy, like you there was nothing more important to me than her, going tru her story and quests and intimate romantic moments. But the relationship ends at the start and after the intimacy, while I can talk to her there is nothing more but the ending to look forward to. The lack of affection you can give to your loved partner is depressing. In case of Judy she makes a sweet gesture and allows you to have full access to her apartment but it basically doesn't do anything but let you stash things.
The one character you got so emotionally invested in has no bearing on the rest of you journey or decision making, and they are likely your most important thing in Night City. They can be such a strong narrative device for your time in the city but they are left unexplored and never fully integrated. I've written before what I felt could give us more time and life for them.

I mean, yes, Judy's romance culminates at the sex scene and ends just like River's, but I don't think it's accurate to compare them. Judy and Panam are both ingrained in the main plot starting either act 1 (Judy) or start of act 2 (Panam). They have a well paced presence throughout the whole story where they're interacting with V and building a rapport with him/her before the romance end. And I dunno about Judy but Panam has lots of flirtatious build up. They can both have a well-established friendship with V throughout most of the game before the romance. River and Kerry have none of this build up and much less content in general. Hell, Claire, Misty and Vik all have more of a connection with V than River or Kerry do. Kerry is so late in the game and has such a lack of build up with V (not Johnny) that it even feels completely pointless for him to be there at all, whereas Judy and Panam feel like an integral part of V's social life whether you romance them or not.
 
Hello,

I fully agree with you. I loved playing River's storyline but it was so short :(. I really felt connected to him and the way he talks I just sympathize with him. I know it's fictional but still it does something to me. I really wish they added some stories with him and especially more interactions. He just sits on the bench and after a few sentences it's done and you can't call him even. I miss him so much I kept another save with the quest of following the river.. Please CDPR, give us some more love!
 
After waiting for update 1.5, I really hoped that they would fix the problems related to the River. Since he is one of my favorite characters in the game and when I saw his name in the updates, I immediately downloaded the game again.
River really deserves a new breath. Pleased with new messages, but that's all in fact. Maybe someone found another update with him?
Unfortunately, the behavior in the sister's house has not changed. He is still sitting on the steps, and the bug with the phone has taken on a new look - River is simply silent in response to questions. After that, the replica can't be used again, it disappears from the selection, leaving only one - gangs of the city. His whole family, if you come to visit them, looks like a bug (a sister who sits on the street all day, children who stand on the bed at night). The behavior is not spelled out at all, they do not look alive. It's a pity that a rather interesting character disappears due to lack of improvements. Even Panam and Judy look much better and longer. And when compared with Kerry, then he is inferior to him. I would like to ask cdprojektred why do you dislike River so much? I really hope you take the time to fix this. It will be a pleasure to see new quests with him and learn more about his life, personal experience, work experience in the NCPD. It would be great to dive into it. Maybe read the new email on his laptop and invite him and other into V's apartments. Cause now it looks so lonely!
 
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