Now, this is posted just as a counterpoint
Now, I admit this isn't going to appeal to everyone (or most anyone who posted ITT it looks like) but go back to your Character Sheets for a moment. Whats your role? Are you the Family-loving (and generally traveling with them) Nomad? what about the Rocker with the small army of roadies, makeup artists, sound check guys, groupies, and other hangers on? Maybe your just a small time Fixer, but one day you want to start your own Corp. And what about the Corp itself? That's a role, if I remember right.
Not everyone is alone. They might be isolated, abandoned, or forgotten by the thousands, but not EVERYONE is alone.
Cyberpunk is about fighting with a system that couldn't care less about you, because you can NEVER make a difference to the way it works. In that dark future, no one person can make a difference. So, doesn't that mean that trying to change anything would take more then one person?
Now, I know, not many people want to change the world, but trying to change the place they have in it does seem to be a common theme.
And I say all this because I wonder if we can actually make a Corp in game, and how such a thing would work...
Would we have to go find npc's and recruit them to our cause, gaining a shop and free healing area like in the suikoden games? Or would it be mission related, where each member (or department head or something) would have there own mission chains. Player affected mission chains, with multiple outcomes, each one enabling and disabling other missions. Would it just be a series of minigames that cause you to gain money after time passes (like owning a shop in fable, only without the price adjusting) or would it have some kind of stock price, which your actions would alter as CEO (both as directly related actions and from getting spotted doing 'bad' actions like killing)
All of this would depend on having other NPC's to interact with as "Companions," but they wouldn't have to come with the player. But what if you wanted them to? Could they have uses if they came with, such as opening locks or setting bombs, just distracting the cops maybe? Would they have uses to alter the battlefield (per say) as opposed to (or along with) just raining bullets at something?
If they are not nessary to the story development, NPC's with good AI are not a bad idea.
Even if they have good AI, NPC's don't always add to the story.
Depending on the Role of the player, NPC's could make or break quite a few situations.
Media's are not as good as Solo's in a firefight. What happens when a Media finds itself backed into a corner?
Also, what about Netrunners? (WAIT, whats that go to do with this?) What about the programs they use when there jacked in? Would some of the programs they use count? Or, while they're in, who protects the body?
We don't want to be forced to recruit NPC's.
But we also want to have a different game experience with the different roles.
To insure that the roles don't become the same, then the option to recruit would be there for the non-combative roles.
You can't deny it.. And i just know CDPR can do better.. (If only they comment on this and give us a confirmation)
