I do think they may have been able to better write/predict a few thoughts the player might have, and give them a better one liner to express the player's opinion. V could make a comment to Jackie that he doesn't trust any of them, andV will do the heist but be ready for it to go south. They also could add slightly more complexity to major story/charachter beats decision trees. Where if you say like option 3, you have 3 options that elaborate on that. There is some dialogue like that, but its mostly just one teir of response.
^ This is the crux of every complaint that goes, "This or that game doesn't offer enough choice." ^ Right here. ^ This.
To those who want to argue that video games should offer more than they do:
When you play a roleplaying session with a live DM, the scripted plot, dialogue, etc. will be created to
flavor the experience. It is not
the experience. It's there to color and texture the world a little bit.
The gameplay experience will then be 100% up to the players and the DM to
improvise as the game progresses. Players can say
anything they want. They can
do anything they want. The DM can create
any scenario imaginable as a response. They can have all sorts of crazy stuff happening they never planned for, and they can just wing it. This is why live, tabletop roleplaying is still so popular. It's not an experience you can have any other way.
When you create a computer roleplaying game...there is no dialogue aside from the pre-generated script. Period. It does not exist. Unless it is scripted, written, voice-acted, motion-captured, etc.,
it will not be in the game. Laws of physics and reality. Something that is not created cannot simply exist. Thus, there is no "flavor text" if the CRPG is going to be
narratively driven. It will go only according to the script -- or there cannot be a script.
The way a game would avoid this necessity for linear restriction is
to not offer a narrative arc. No beginning, middle, or end -- just a bunch of activities and some lore sprinkled around so players can imagine their motivations are whatever they want them to be. No, no one has ever played a game that offered completely open-ended narrative that also provided rich, engaging dialogue. What they've played are either:
a.) a story with a pretty linear narrative they
subjectively preferred...
or
b.) a game that offered a lot more branches, but I guarantee you that they didn't include CDPR's level of writing polish with fully acted and motion-captured scenes. They're likely to be based on written text and minimalistic graphics, freeing up the game for a higher quantity of branching content.
If anyone think it's possible to do something like "b.)" while also paying actors, recording studios, and motion capture studios (or buying, maintaing, and staffing all of their own venues and equipment), then I challenge them to give it a try and let us know how it goes.
There are two options for now with CRPGs. On one end of the rope, we have a totally linear story with masterfully crafted acting and visual execution. On the other extreme we have completely text-based games with minimalistic or no graphcis/audio allowing it to branch in hundreds of different directions. Pretty much everything is going to land somewhere in the middle. Someday, it more will probably be possible on the cinematic end. But for now, CP2077 is offering about as much choice as is possible while still offering really open-ended gameplay
and a completely cinematic execution. It's just that many people liked TW3's or Mass Effect's story better.