This is probably why CP lack good storytelling. This also says that CDPR lack good storytelling if they don’t have a good novel to backup their game.
I will admit that some of the side quest for CP were more meaningful than the main story.
See? that s what people seem to dismiss... CP2077 is completelly based on CP2020 a tabletop RPG that came out in the 90´s, with as much as 30 years of lore by now... it s damn hard to weave that into one IP that will make sense story-wise and NOT feel constructed, with the majority of players probably not even knowing (or ignoring the fact), or haven t even heard of CP2020...
The emotional build-up of CP2077 is fan-fucking-tastic... as well as the voice acting by the cast members... once you read a little into the Who is Who and what is what of the CP2020 lore, even more so...
It s a great story that (fortunately/unfortunately, you decide) has to be railroaded in some way, to maintain a constant emotional involvement... i didn t want GTA: Night City or "L.A. Simulator: 2077" and thankfully i didn t get one...
There s a lot of world-building and additional lore (even such that drives the plot forward, or at least supplements it) in the side quests and sometimes even the gigs and jobs...
Unfortunatelly there was this internal strugle at CDPR, with the experienced devs of TW3 fame, having a very clear picture of how they could have make this game and the story work, but the new corpo guy had other plans, so they clashed and most of the good peeps left... that s what killed the game...