This game is built on a very strong foundation, but due to the rushed release we're all aware that some parts of the overall construction are very shaky. I can sort of almost understand investor pressure and the need to release something early. It's too bad they couldn't take the paid beta route that many devs use to keep the lights on while they finish a game, but it is what it is. Regardless, they released the game and we bought it. I really hope that CDPR understands that how they handle the next year of Cyberpunk will determine folks' likelihood to leap into Witcher 4 and any other future projekts. It's important that they justify our investment in what is essentially a beta release over that time or I will have a hard time blindly trusting that Witcher 4 will be as good as I hope and I doubt if I'm alone in that after this release and the overall product.
However, if they faithfully continue creating the game as envisioned before all these cuts, Cyberpunk could be a triumph that lives longer than GTAV. This business of ironing out bugs and moving on to DLC isn't going to cut it unless that "DLC" is really just patches inserting cut material and smoothing the edges. While the foundation is pretty solid, there's a lot of work to do to make this the game it could be, and I really hope that CDPR wants to make that game as much as we want to play it. Here's what I think we need to get there.
First priority: QoL and fundamental issues that need fixed
-Fix police and crowd AI. Driving adjustments or ghost pedestrians may well be needed here to balance.
-Mini map zoom based on driving speed.
-Map changes: unique markers for side quest types(cars, psychos, etc) similar to sabotage missions. Colors would be nice, as would persistent custom markers with a 4checkable "HUD visible" box.
-Barbers, tattoo shops, plastic surgeons.
-Street level events. I know you planned them, please put them in. We need a more living world. Races with our significant other?
-"Craft Multiple"
-"Favorites" for cars.
Stretch Goals for content updates:
-"Healing V" prologue quest with an open-ended, more open chapter allowing more emersion in Night City, a chance to shape our own NC. Faction rep, strategic locations being battled over periodically by gangs, corps, nomad tribes, etc. The game can't end when we finally gain the agency to live the life our V chooses rather than the one dictated to them by the Relic. If the only motivation we're allowed to have is to be a legend let us do something with it when we become one, or at least concoct our recipe. Tie the street level events to the influence of the various factions. Let V choose something to fight for, be it the destruction of all corps or gangs, the elevation of one corp or gang, Aldecaldo supremacy around NC, the sanity and effectiveness of Jefferson Peralez, or alternately controlling him... give us something to do with our new status as living legend. I made all these contacts with fixers and movers and shakers in NC, let me do something cool with them.
-Extend romances past the consummation in some form. I'm not asking for a dating sim, but you got us invested in these characters. There's so much time between the "start" of most of the romances and the end of the game that they feel unfinished. Please give us some missions in theme with the characters(getting a new piece of communication equipment for the Aldecaldos with Panam, fixing things at Clouds for Judy and getting her ready to take it over, etc.) Also, take a look at Kerry and River. I'm not going to suggest you redo anything else in the game, but the relationship V has with those characters is lame. River feels like an up-jumped NPC and Kerry shows up so late that you couldn't get invested even if he weren't a self-absorbed, smarmy weirdo. Other characters give the protagonist meaning, please keep them around once we've finished their quest lines.
-Houses to pick from and not just one at each price level, give us some cool options. I bet if you open the tools up you could get the modding community to make as many houses, lofts, yachts, and trailers as you need to w/e parameters. Garages?
-Decorations in our pads. Stuff we purchase and things we liberate from unique locations would be cool, as would memorable quest items as trophies. Let us throw parties in our houses to improve relations with a faction, or Red Wedding them. Again, I don't want the Sims, but I'd like to be able to commemorate Silverhand's death or the day Judy and I went scuba diving.
-Car and gun customization; paint job, armor panels, tires, rims, suspension, engine... let us go crazy here.
-Rigging? Why are there no drones for V? I can steal a car with a drone tucked into the back but I can't figure out how to use it with a 20 INT and 18 ENG? We all know that Grenade tree was supposed to be Rigging and something went wrong and y'all gave up. Do eet.
This list doesn't approach the limit of what could be done here; trams and more open buildings, parts of the city, other cities... the sky is the limit. I guess the main theme of what I would like to see added to the game is the idea that it's alive, the city is alive. That the choices my V makes really do affect it and the characters in their orbit, and enable them create a life where more than one person(ok, two b/c of Saul) is willing to throw down if V's life is on the line. Let's be clear, I like this game a lot. However, I've played all the starts and all the ends, there's no reason for me to come back to it and that's sad. Further there's currently no reason for me to believe the DLC will be completed with any more pride than the core game, so spending money on them seems unlikely at this point. I really hope that CDPR will deliver on this thing that could be so good... because so few things are.
Thank you for reading my text wall.
Edit: Argh, I just noticed this isn't in "Suggestions". If a mod could move it I'd be ever so grateful.
However, if they faithfully continue creating the game as envisioned before all these cuts, Cyberpunk could be a triumph that lives longer than GTAV. This business of ironing out bugs and moving on to DLC isn't going to cut it unless that "DLC" is really just patches inserting cut material and smoothing the edges. While the foundation is pretty solid, there's a lot of work to do to make this the game it could be, and I really hope that CDPR wants to make that game as much as we want to play it. Here's what I think we need to get there.
First priority: QoL and fundamental issues that need fixed
-Fix police and crowd AI. Driving adjustments or ghost pedestrians may well be needed here to balance.
-Mini map zoom based on driving speed.
-Map changes: unique markers for side quest types(cars, psychos, etc) similar to sabotage missions. Colors would be nice, as would persistent custom markers with a 4checkable "HUD visible" box.
-Barbers, tattoo shops, plastic surgeons.
-Street level events. I know you planned them, please put them in. We need a more living world. Races with our significant other?
-"Craft Multiple"
-"Favorites" for cars.
Stretch Goals for content updates:
-"Healing V" prologue quest with an open-ended, more open chapter allowing more emersion in Night City, a chance to shape our own NC. Faction rep, strategic locations being battled over periodically by gangs, corps, nomad tribes, etc. The game can't end when we finally gain the agency to live the life our V chooses rather than the one dictated to them by the Relic. If the only motivation we're allowed to have is to be a legend let us do something with it when we become one, or at least concoct our recipe. Tie the street level events to the influence of the various factions. Let V choose something to fight for, be it the destruction of all corps or gangs, the elevation of one corp or gang, Aldecaldo supremacy around NC, the sanity and effectiveness of Jefferson Peralez, or alternately controlling him... give us something to do with our new status as living legend. I made all these contacts with fixers and movers and shakers in NC, let me do something cool with them.
-Extend romances past the consummation in some form. I'm not asking for a dating sim, but you got us invested in these characters. There's so much time between the "start" of most of the romances and the end of the game that they feel unfinished. Please give us some missions in theme with the characters(getting a new piece of communication equipment for the Aldecaldos with Panam, fixing things at Clouds for Judy and getting her ready to take it over, etc.) Also, take a look at Kerry and River. I'm not going to suggest you redo anything else in the game, but the relationship V has with those characters is lame. River feels like an up-jumped NPC and Kerry shows up so late that you couldn't get invested even if he weren't a self-absorbed, smarmy weirdo. Other characters give the protagonist meaning, please keep them around once we've finished their quest lines.
-Houses to pick from and not just one at each price level, give us some cool options. I bet if you open the tools up you could get the modding community to make as many houses, lofts, yachts, and trailers as you need to w/e parameters. Garages?
-Decorations in our pads. Stuff we purchase and things we liberate from unique locations would be cool, as would memorable quest items as trophies. Let us throw parties in our houses to improve relations with a faction, or Red Wedding them. Again, I don't want the Sims, but I'd like to be able to commemorate Silverhand's death or the day Judy and I went scuba diving.
-Car and gun customization; paint job, armor panels, tires, rims, suspension, engine... let us go crazy here.
-Rigging? Why are there no drones for V? I can steal a car with a drone tucked into the back but I can't figure out how to use it with a 20 INT and 18 ENG? We all know that Grenade tree was supposed to be Rigging and something went wrong and y'all gave up. Do eet.
This list doesn't approach the limit of what could be done here; trams and more open buildings, parts of the city, other cities... the sky is the limit. I guess the main theme of what I would like to see added to the game is the idea that it's alive, the city is alive. That the choices my V makes really do affect it and the characters in their orbit, and enable them create a life where more than one person(ok, two b/c of Saul) is willing to throw down if V's life is on the line. Let's be clear, I like this game a lot. However, I've played all the starts and all the ends, there's no reason for me to come back to it and that's sad. Further there's currently no reason for me to believe the DLC will be completed with any more pride than the core game, so spending money on them seems unlikely at this point. I really hope that CDPR will deliver on this thing that could be so good... because so few things are.
Thank you for reading my text wall.
Edit: Argh, I just noticed this isn't in "Suggestions". If a mod could move it I'd be ever so grateful.
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