Choice to be augment free?

[ahmad98]

Choice to be augment free?

I was just wondering if characters should have a choice to be purists and have absolutely no augmentation. i believe it would be great and i might play a second play through that is completely augment free, but would the game allow it or would there be a point in time or since the beginning be forced to have augments?

 

[braindancer12]

i would prefer it, if the game gives you the choice to augment or not.

there should be more ways to get powerfull than only augmentic, like drugs or steroids

 

[goopit]

It should make the game difficult and next to impossible if ever

 

[Chewin3]

There being other ways to evolve your skills would certainly be a recommendable aspect. And choosing to not augment yourself should also offer a certain level of challenge, considering your opponents may have augments themselves in certain areas. Everything from combat to social skills.

 

[voitan]

Exoskeletons, power armor, and vehicles kind of make up for the lack of augments.

Still, that guy twitching out on some reflex boosting cyberwear is going to do things a person without, won't.

 

[StunDamage]

It should allow it and reflect your choice of not augmenting in adequate ways. First, the gameplay. Of couse it will be harder without augmentations. This is not even a balance issue, modifications really do give advantage, be it in combat or in the social structure. This is what makes them so attractive in this world and the game must make ressisting them hard. But if you succeed, there should be some sort of reward, not obvious of course. The amount of augmentations (or their absence) should open and close some of the story paths (by the way, I absolutely expect a branching story like in Witcher 2) and ultimately lead to diifferent endings, both from a social and personal standpoint.

 

[d1am0ndback]

It should be in the game, but I wouldn't call it purist in the least bit of sense.

It would make dying in Night City a lot easier.

 

[kilravok]

The option needs to be there, it is a matter of choice and personal preference...and it makes really for a damn hard re-play. (do not play on ironman difficulty).
Not sure if it should have a special reward for it, just achieving the impossible and beating the game without chrome in the body would be a huge reward, but a different ending would be nice. And yes, there is a lot that can level the field a bit that is not implanted, flack vests, exoskeleton, drugs, visors,...
But I would like the hud system to be still hardcore, that you need eye implants with the right options to see a mini map and stuff, smartgun for targeting cross and target ID, biomonitor for health bar...and of course non-implant versions should be there for visors and shades...just not as flexible and powerful...

 

[Sardukhar]

Of course the choice needs to be there - if self-mutilation in pursuit of greatness isn't a choice, then it loses so much of it's self-destructive fascination.

 

[ChaosWolf1982]

Between this thread and that other "pacifist" one, now I'm picturing what "ultimate hard mode" challenge would be - no-augment no-kill run.

 

[Sardukhar]

Nonsense. Hard mode is PnP - one life, no reload. Have fun with that!

If you want to do it unaugmented and without killing anyone, sounds more like "I enjoy restarting" mode. Or, perhaps, "this game is too easy" mode. Pbbl.

 

[videopete]

You can do it in the pnp game too, battle gloves, linear frames, goggles with all the options. Hell if they borrow some stuff from cybergeneration they could include trodes. But the thing to remember is this when using trodes and going net running your slow but immuune to ICE that attacks the meat.

 

[gregski]

I thin OP raised an important question. One that can be nicely written into the story. Maybe there could be an NPC that refuses to augment himself and a quest or a part of narrative could evolve around him as a mean of showing the dilemma people could be facing. Should I stay augment free and "natural" and enjoy my humanity in its full form, but lose in many areas of competing with the augmented ones? Or should I go cyber and risk losing myself in the process?

 

[LexiiO]

Did any body think about the opposite? What if you really overaugment your character - like seriously - what would happen then? In that case the game should punish you in some way. Since one of the games big story elements seems to be the overuse of augmentations and people twitching out because of it, that should be what happens to your char as well. Im not saying that there needs to be some sort of "augment-o-meter" showing you how much percent of your body is real and how much not at all times. But augments - be it some sort of old rubbish found in the gutter or some new model from the body clinic - should have some sort of condition number slowly decreasing with its repeated use. Just like the state meter for weapons and armors in dark souls. Just that in Cyberpunk, when the number decreases too much, it still works (or not at all) but not the way you want it to, thus making it completely useless in combat. And about going slowly insane from to many augments: Maybe there could be some sort of extra items (Like Dark Souls' Rings) that enable you to wear more implants without losing your wits. Maybe some small neural device that just helps your body bear them.

The games overall promise should be: You can use super cool implants - but choose wisely because to much of it will drive you insane and you better want to have some help with you then!

Everything else would end in some sort of Uberwarrior slicing and dicing through Night City.

Thats just an idea.

 

[p45k]

^^
would be damn difficult hahaha. "no alcohol or drugs" allowed in this mode either as they would numb the senses and allow for briefly enhanced strength in an alleyway fight with thugs

 

[ChaosWolf1982]

The games overall promise should be: You can use super cool implants - but choose wisely because to much of it will drive you insane and you better want to have some help with you then!

Everything else would end in some sort of Uberwarrior slicing and dicing through Night City.

Thats just an idea.

That's called "cyberpsychosis", and we've already got a thread about that.
http://www.cyberpunk.net/forum/en/threads/185-Cyberpsychosis-and-you-how-should-it-be-implemented

 

[Cyber_Death]

Maybe there should be benefits & repercussions surrounding augmentation:

-If the player chooses to augment their character:
Benefits- More abilities at your authority & unique powers.
Repercussion- A maxed out "sanity meter" (a meter that keeps player's augments in check) from many upgrades leads to insanity & confusion.

-If the player chooses not to augment their character:
Benefits- Player doesn't have to be concern about their "sanity meter", special dialogue from NPC(s) acknowledging you're not augmented, maybe an achievement.
Repercussion- Enemy encounters are more difficult.

If the game allows the option for no augments, then it should be more challenging & yet more rewarding.

 

[Sardukhar]

Augment-free is a whole movement in 2020, actually. Both on a political and personal level.

There is even a, well, I guess they are a gang called the "Inquisitors" who roam around in hoods and carrying a diverse weapons assortment designed to mess up Borg. Their self-appointed mandate is to cull the "non-human" from society. Every time they go too far and outcry rises to put an end to them, some Cyberpsycho goes on a spree and makes their point.

So, yeah, the determinedly unaugmented are very much a voice in 2020. If for no other reason than a cyberarm costs 3000 eb. Hand not included.

The issue is whether you can perform to the same level of skill without cyber. In 2020, the answer is almost always, "no". That's why cyber - non-necessary prosthetic augmentation - came to be so popular. It works.

And then came marketing and fashion.

 

[solidillusion]

The player should have control over the characters speech 100%

 

[ChaosWolf1982]

The player should have control over the characters speech 100%

I think you're in the wrong thread.