Bad Music Choices

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Am I the only one who thinks CDPR made a mistake with the music?

Why this scream-o metal and rap when the cyberpunk genre is more at home with New Wave, Synthwave, etc, more electronic (but not EDM!) styles? I mean, what were they thinkin', here?

It's like when they reboot a beloved sci-fi franchise and wildly change the tone (usually to something darker and edgier) and end up royally pissing off the fans of the original; that's what it feels like. When I want cyberpunk, I want it in the style from the 80s, not this 90s crapola.
 
Fast forward 50 years and people will still be listening to old (or today's) music. People have different tastes of music. It's not like everyone in the future like the same genre. At the end of the day, it's still as city just like one of ours now, only years ahead. We still listen to oldies... Same logic applied to Night City. Example; there are still fans of Samurai in Night City.
 
Fast forward 50 years and people will still be listening to old (or today's) music. People have different tastes of music. It's not like everyone in the future like the same genre. At the end of the day, it's still as city just like one of ours now, only years ahead. We still listen to oldies... Same logic applied to Night City. Example; there are still fans of Samurai in Night City.
You can rationalize it however you like using real world examples, but this is narrative fiction.

It'd be like having a movie in the Western genre using Viking sea chanties; it doesn't fit the genre.
 
I agree that the music was not what I was hoping for. I wanted music from power glove and perturbator and all the other synth-wave bois.
But I also get that it's a creative choice thing. Like how rocker boys are part of the lore and so is rock music, and so they wanted music that would fit the world.
 
I agree that the music was not what I was hoping for. I wanted music from power glove and perturbator and all the other synth-wave bois.
But I also get that it's a creative choice thing. Like how rocker boys are part of the lore and so is rock music, and so they wanted music that would fit the world.
The problem is that it's almost all they did. So much of the music just sounds the same.

Maybe if they'd had more variety. Choices.
In fact, that's a huge part of the problem with the game: lack of choice. When you look at the people with criticism, so much of it boils down to, "It looks like you should be able to do X, I want to do X, I can't do X. WTF???"
 
Do you mean how Samurai was represented, the radio stations or the score in general?

I think if the game was set in the 2020s like the ttrpg then a more retro style would be more appropriate, having the game set 50+ years later allows for a broader selection, though this might have more to do with what was realistically available from a licensing perspective and what is reasonable for a composer to achieve. I can justify it as the radio stations reflecting a variety of a 2077 society's tastes/

I get it though, a lot of the radio stuff doesn't scream Cyberpunk to me when I hear it, but some of it does.
 
The problem is that it's almost all they did. So much of the music just sounds the same.

Maybe if they'd had more variety. Choices.
In fact, that's a huge part of the problem with the game: lack of choice. When you look at the people with criticism, so much of it boils down to, "It looks like you should be able to do X, I want to do X, I can't do X. WTF???"
Oh boy. If we start talking about the lack of choice in this game we will be here for a long time.
I see what you're saying. They could have had more variety.
Maybe they wanted to be consistent with giving the player no control.
 
You can rationalize it however you like using real world examples, but this is narrative fiction.

It'd be like having a movie in the Western genre using Viking sea chanties; it doesn't fit the genre.
Weird enough,because the tabletop suggests you to put hard rock as a game master and wear leather jackets and sunglasses...although i doubt Pondsmith wanted to force anybody to listen a particular genre,was more suggesting that the "soundtrack" should convey a sense of rebellion.
Not really into synth,new wave myself but i found difficult to match Body Count "Cop Killer" or Exploited "Fuck the USA" with other genres(rap also of course,but i'm not that much into that genre maybe ice-t "colors" or some NWA)
 
Oh boy. If we start talking about the lack of choice in this game we will be here for a long time.
I see what you're saying. They could have had more variety.
Maybe they wanted to be consistent with giving the player no control.
I think they misjudged the audience in a lot of ways.

Like it or lump it, the cyberpunk genre has a legacy, and people will go in expecting that certain tropes will be used. And while an independent artist may have no obligation to their audience, a for-profit corporation kinda does if they care about people buying what they're selling.

I believe that by CDPR triying to "make cyberpunk their own" or whatever, they ignored that legacy and peoples' expectations to their own detriment. At least in my never-humble opinion. I think a lot of people wanted certain kinds of fan service that simply wasn't there.
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Weird enough,because the tabletop suggests you to put hard rock as a game master and wear leather jackets and sunglasses...although i doubt Pondsmith wanted to force anybody to listen a particular genre,was more suggesting that the "soundtrack" should convey a sense of rebellion.

That's another part of the problem, though... it assumes that the player will not be a Corpo, for example.
Not everybody wants to play a rebel fighting against the system.

If megacorps are part of the cyberpunk genre--and they are--some of us might want to explore that world, and it's not gonna be all graffiti and leather.

Not really into synth,new wave myself but i found difficult to match Body Count "Cop Killer" or Exploited "Fuck the USA" with other genres(rap also of course,but i'm not that much into that genre maybe ice-t "colors" or some NWA)
I'm an 80s kid. When someone says 'cyberpunk', I picture "Blade Runner" first.
And that was not a movie full of metal.
 
Does the music in the radio fit the scenery? Yes, it does. Do I like listening to Scream Rock or Rap songs when driving? Hell no. I never looked up how many in-radio songs we have in the game and I won't. I haven't listened to all the music in all the radiostations yet either. But yeah, I'm not too impressed with what I've heard so far. Some songs really hit the spot for me. They are nice to just drive and vibe. But some of them are just... how can someone listen to that and say they enjoy it?
 
I think they misjudged the audience in a lot of ways.

Like it or lump it, the cyberpunk genre has a legacy, and people will go in expecting that certain tropes will be used. And while an independent artist may have no obligation to their audience, a for-profit corporation kinda does if they care about people buying what they're selling.

I believe that by CDPR triying to "make cyberpunk their own" or whatever, they ignored that legacy and peoples' expectations to their own detriment. At least in my never-humble opinion. I think a lot of people wanted certain kinds of fan service that simply wasn't there.
True. Especially if the name of the game is just cyberpunk 2077. People will definitely go in expecting certain tropes from the genre to be there.
 
I think they misjudged the audience in a lot of ways.

Like it or lump it, the cyberpunk genre has a legacy, and people will go in expecting that certain tropes will be used. And while an independent artist may have no obligation to their audience, a for-profit corporation kinda does if they care about people buying what they're selling.

I believe that by CDPR triying to "make cyberpunk their own" or whatever, they ignored that legacy and peoples' expectations to their own detriment. At least in my never-humble opinion. I think a lot of people wanted certain kinds of fan service that simply wasn't there.
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That's another part of the problem, though... it assumes that the player will not be a Corpo, for example.
Not everybody wants to play a rebel fighting against the system.

If megacorps are part of the cyberpunk genre--and they are--some of us might want to explore that world, and it's not gonna be all graffiti and leather.


I'm an 80s kid. When someone says 'cyberpunk', I picture "Blade Runner" first.
And that was not a movie full of metal.
But you realize that cp2077 is an adaptation of cyberpunk pondsmith universe right? In general lines,you should not really expect much deviation of that universe. In cp2020/cpred there is always the possibility of a Corpo team of course,but i think 90% of supplements/adventures/core rules that i own focus in the "punk" not in the corpo side(corpo books exist,but more as know your enemy...even adventures in those supplements are AGAINST the Corp).
Also in cyberpunk genre more broadly, more often than not protagonist are misfits,outcasts and criminals.
 
But you realize that cp2077 is an adaptation of cyberpunk pondsmith universe right? In general lines,you should not really expect much deviation of that universe. In cp2020/cpred there is always the possibility of a Corpo team of course,but i think 90% of supplements/adventures/core rules that i own focus in the "punk" not in the corpo side(corpo books exist,but more as know your enemy...even adventures in those supplements are AGAINST the Corp).
Also in cyberpunk genre more broadly, more often than not protagonist are misfits,outcasts and criminals.
And yet, megacorps are usually still involved in their adventures.

Also, while the Pondsmith Cyberpunk has rarely been my focus, I do love Shadowrun, and one of my favorite novels is by Nigel Findley, called 2XS. Oddly enough, it's also about a special kind of chip--which works remarkably like a Brain Dance, actually--and one of the major characters works for Yamatetsu.

The genre is bigger than the streets, and so too should this game be.
 
And yet, megacorps are usually still involved in their adventures.

Also, while the Pondsmith Cyberpunk has rarely been my focus, I do love Shadowrun, and one of my favorite novels is by Nigel Findley, called 2XS. Oddly enough, it's also about a special kind of chip--which works remarkably like a Brain Dance, actually--and one of the major characters works for Yamatetsu.

The genre is bigger than the streets, and so too should this game be.
We are drifting off-topic,but the whole cp2077 revolves about Arasaka...and i also love "shadowrun" both tabletop and computer [...]... normally you do a run,you are not a part of the corp. The braindance (even the Relic) you can find in Neuromancer.
 
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We are drifting off-topic,but the whole cp2077 revolves about Arasaka...

Irrelevant.
You, as the player, don't get the opportunity to be a Corpo. Not really.

The game shouldn't even give you a choice at all and just make you a Streetkid from the start, since that's how the main plot is played. By giving us Lifepath choices, they're basically teasing something that never comes to fuition.

[...]
 
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Hip hop, techno and punk rock are all DIY movements in music that redefined what music could sound like. So to me they are all completely at home in cyberpunk. They were all made by people who didn't have traditional musical knowledge or ability. They were made by broke misfits. They couldn't afford a Jupiter 8 synthesizer so they used what they could get out of a thrift store and they forged their own paths.

Now they have become distinct styles that have been subsumed back into popular culture and become a type of musical convention. Its fitting to me that we return to these styles in Cyberpunk 2077's vision of a future dystopia re-imagined from the 80s where all of these musical movements were in their infancy and were transgressive, only this time there is a contemporary take on it.
 
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