I don't mind Zombies and cults as part of Cyber-Psycosis. After all, something drives the psychos to go on mad killing sprees.
But religeon in general is something I personally don't mess with. I don't mess with other peoples money or religeon. I didn't used to mess with their women either, but that principal didn't last all that long...
But religeon in general is something I personally don't mess with. I don't mess with other peoples money or religeon. I didn't used to mess with their women either, but that principal didn't last all that long...
No zombies.... no..... fuck that.... nada.... so goddamn sick of zombies I could puke.... nothing supernatural, nothing superhuman, nothing extraterrestrial.... at all....
I meant it 'purely' as an hallucinatory experience for those suffering from cyber-pyscosis. No actual supernatural elements, only the subconcious altering the perception of the poor SOB who is about the invur the wrath of C-SWAT...
yeah we dont need supernatural things....because we have CYPERPUNK!
Even as a hallucinatory experience I would rather it not be there... I would prefer the hallucinations more to take the form of warped features (elongated mouths and eyes, crazy long arms, as if you are looking at people through a fish-eye lens), crazy color filters, tunnel vision, light trails, auditory weirdness, etc....
I say this because if you put in monster or zombie graphics, people will clamber for cheat codes that turn everyone into zombies, or zombie DLC... and quite frankly, I am just sick to death of that... I was really looking forward to an epic story expansion DLC for RDR.... and what I got was more zombie shit. Even sleeping dogs had to do something like that...
It's just so fucking boring, and so done to death...
In my hallucinations, i rather see moving shadows rather than warped figures.. (Like people are walking too fast and you are having hard time to pay attention.) It could be nice..
Religions and such can be in the game but certainly don't need to be in the foreground. Corporations are the new form of mass control, governments and religions are crumbling away. But these institutions will be still trying to assert their dominance in the world of 2077.
I remember in a certain room in the Ton Hotel from Deus Ex 1 was an OD'd couple with canisters of zyme strewn about, and a newspaper advertising a certain church which would save your soul onto a hard drive for the coming apocalypse. It was a small detail in that level but It added much more depth to those corpses. Also, who can forget The Epsilon Program from GTA?
In the world of Cyberpunk, it's difficult for an average joe to find meaningful purpose when most are shackled to a crummy desk job by the corporations. Some may be compelled turn to cults and religion. SOME. But us cyberpunks will be too caught up in the thrill of the edge to worry too much about that. Right?
I remember in a certain room in the Ton Hotel from Deus Ex 1 was an OD'd couple with canisters of zyme strewn about, and a newspaper advertising a certain church which would save your soul onto a hard drive for the coming apocalypse. It was a small detail in that level but It added much more depth to those corpses. Also, who can forget The Epsilon Program from GTA?
In the world of Cyberpunk, it's difficult for an average joe to find meaningful purpose when most are shackled to a crummy desk job by the corporations. Some may be compelled turn to cults and religion. SOME. But us cyberpunks will be too caught up in the thrill of the edge to worry too much about that. Right?
That's creepy. I watched Fear and Loathing last night...
While I do enjoy the current zombie craze (that seems to have lasted 5+ years!), I freely admit that this round of zombies in pop-culture has been... er... done to death.
(I really *wasn't* intending that pun. Just the first turn-of-phrase that came to mind.)
Those cults do exist in the CP2020 universe. They are called booster gangs and they are the last people you want to run into, ever. But they aren't organized along any religious ideals or incorporated with each other in any way.
Or perhaps you meant a religious group that seeks to attain apotheosis through human augmentation. They could have bingo and bake sales to raise money to donate cyberware to the less fortunate. I have always wondered how that bum in the alley got his cyberoptics, well MY cyberoptics now.
I'll preface this with saying that I am not a religious person. But all of the ideas I have read in these posts so far have assumed that any religious organization in this setting will be antagonistic to the player or that the player will be antagonistic to said organization.
Is there no room for a benevolent religious organization? Granted in the media today we tend to only hear the loudest, most belligerent jerks on the religious issues. But that is not the whole story. There are many people that want and try to help other people. Many of these people are motivated by or act on religious principles. An organization that tries to help the downtrodden and destitute might be necessary to the survival of a place like Night City. The corporations could get good publicity by donating to them or could fear their potential for influence among the punks. Edge runners might sympathize or feel that they are a waste of time, that will be your choice.
Have the religious organization but by no means paint them monochromatic. Just as there are no truly "good" or "evil" religions today, why should the future change that? It is your character, your beliefs, and your choice.
Is there no room for a benevolent religious organization? Granted in the media today we tend to only hear the loudest, most belligerent jerks on the religious issues. But that is not the whole story. There are many people that want and try to help other people. Many of these people are motivated by or act on religious principles. An organization that tries to help the downtrodden and destitute might be necessary to the survival of a place like Night City. The corporations could get good publicity by donating to them or could fear their potential for influence among the punks. Edge runners might sympathize or feel that they are a waste of time, that will be your choice.
Have the religious organization but by no means paint them monochromatic. Just as there are no truly "good" or "evil" religions today, why should the future change that? It is your character, your beliefs, and your choice.
In my experience...Individuals or small groups motivated by religion can be benevolent. Large Organizations motivated by religion however are almost universally malevolent.. When something organizes, particularly something that holds personal influence over its members, and divides itself along a line of belief, that gives the organization power and wealth, both of which corrupt. Even if that corruption is no more melevalent than greed or power, it's still a malevolence, and any good works they might do, even if those good works were the reason the organization was formed, ultimately are tainted by that malevolence.
So having a priest, nun, rabbi, imam, monk, or even a small church or congregation or whatever as a benevolent character in the game could be very awesome, if done right. However Having a large religious organization acting as a wholly benevolent entity would be wildly unrealistic, and completely at adds with the Cyberpunk Genre, specifically in relation to the source material, where there simply are no large scale benevolent groups, and outside their family, friends, and perhaps small community, the people are very much on their own. In fact, the larger , more organized, more wealthy/influential/powerful the group, the more corrupt and oppressive its going to be. This is not only the nature of the Cyberpunk World, but also the nature of the real one as well.
...Interesting.
As I've understood it, the "cyber" in Cyberpunk literature seemed to largely be elective surgery, rather than medical prosthesis. People got new and shiny cyberarms and interesting upgrade options because it was the cool thing to do, or because it aided their chosen profession, rather than it being something they *needed* to replace a missing limb / organ.
The idea of an organization doing charity by giving out cyberware / the ability to get cyberware strikes me as the equivalent of an organization going down to Skid Row, and handing out iPods and Cartier watches. I mean, it's a nice gesture at all, but is it what all those unfortunate schmucks really *need*?
This I agree with, though it is perhaps a bit on the cynical side. I guess I wasn't too clear in saying that any organization that truly tried to help the downtrodden would have to be a small one in the CP2077 world. If they got too large they would become a threat to corporate influence or more likely be subverted by corporate interests. But even within a subverted corporate religion there may be street level outposts that still believe that they are doing good or at least still trying to keep the faith. They may know what has happened at the top or they may not. They might just think that trying to change from the inside will draw too much attention and have satisfied themselves with doing what they can where they can and keeping their heads down.
I will most likely not play as a baby face but give people the option and resources to do so if they choose.
I have seen that attitude expressed before and I have never understood it. Sure somethings are voluntary, nueral processors, and bio monitors, but I have never agreed with the idea that limbs, organs, and other cybernetic prosthetics were elective. I mean it takes a special kind of nutter to say, "You know , my hand works fine and all, but I think I will get my arm lopped off so I can get a metal and plastic one, just to I can get an MP3 players installed in it... and maybe a small microwave for making popcorn...."
This is way if you are getting a cyberlimb or organ to replace one that's lost or been damaged, it costs less humanity in my game, wheres if you just decide to have your leg bits sawed off so you can get a cyber limb glommed on, you lose much more humanity... because obviously there is something wrong with your headspace...
Now this is not to say the system isn't abused... Broken arm.... damn might as well not wait 2 months before I can use it again, better just go ahead with the latest mitsubishi model.
Heart murmer, now I have to be careful.... fuck that, gimme a gibson sport heart doc...
Floaties in my eye, I hate that shit, I want a cyberoptic with times square and wireless cable access so I can watch my soaps on my eyeball.
Consumerism helps us justify it to ourselves... just like we now throw a kid on speed if he acts out in class out of boredom because he is obviously hyperactive.
Well, one of the oft-recurring themes is capitalism running rampant, innit?
If people are voluntarily lopping off meatware, just so they can get that shiny new cyber, I'd say that the marketing and advertising is working, neh?
I mean, it's basically like wearing your Mercedes or Bugatti symbol on you, 24/7, for all the disgusting plebians to see.
And, when one has their head THAT far up their own arse, I'd say that qualifies as that "special kind of nutter." They're the Paris Hitons / Kim Kardashians / insert-celebrity-trainwreck-here of the day, and the people that try to emulate them.
(Again, this is speaking of people that see cyber-as-fashion, versus the "working man's" cyber, like the Solo who gets all 'borged out, to get those dangerous and high-paying gigs.)
Hey, because people fall for it doesn't mean they aren't fucked in the head...
I mean we have people permanently disfiguring themselves to put giant holes in their ears, having their face covered in piercings, having every inch of their body covered in tattoos... and while these people aren't necessarily nut bags, they are a little fucked in the head... it takes being a little fucked in the head to purposefully set yourself apart that far, no matter how you do it.
Hell a few years ago there was the "grill fad" where people would willingly spend money to by solid metal dentures of gold or platinum fake teeth encrusted with diamonds or whatever....... I mean that trend has to be the dumbest, most hideous trend I have seen modern adults ascribing to, but they did, with gusto...
So the marketing works on people, but the people it works on are kinda fucked in the head to begin with...
