Confusing exposition at the beginning of the game (Minor spoilers)

[lukeman3000]

I've played about 3.5 hours so far; just enough to get my feet wet. I chose the nomad path, met Jackie, helped him smuggle some cargo, and then...

Suddenly we're best friends and I'm watching a montage of Jackie and V getting into various hijinks together, only to find myself immediately thrust back into gameplay with little-to-no explanation of what's occurred in the unknown amount of time that's passed since?

You literally watch this montage and then as soon as it ends you're doing a mission with Jackie in Night City, except now I'm taking orders from someone named "T-Bug" (???) and I guess I'm part of Jackie's clan or something like that? Furthermore, I have no idea what the fuck this mission is that we're going on or why we're doing it. I also am left wondering what transpired since I helped Jackie smuggle that Iguana. It feels like there simply wasn't content to fill that gap so the assumption is that the player will fill in the gap with their own imagination by watching the montage and just accepting that all of these things have happened.

It just feels so forced and unnatural. It felt weird as soon as my character started to get so incredibly chummy with Jackie at the end of the smuggling mission after first meeting him. I was like hold on, why the fuck am I getting so friendly with this stranger that I just met? I understand that V is his own character but that interaction just felt really forced to me. In addition to the weird montage and immediately being placed into a situation with virtually no explanation of how much time has passed or what transpired.

Did anyone else feel similarly about the first part of the game? I can only hope that this was a liberty taken by the writers to get us into the "meat" of the game and that it's not indicative of what I should expect from the rest of the game. I don't know, the beginning of the game just left me scratching my head and feeling like I had missed something.

 

[MM0Junkie]

yea, I felt that too, all of a sudden we're besties...huh? other than the Corpo start which has Jackie call you, which implies there's history, it felt forced.

edit: I get why they railroad ppl into these situations for continuity's sake, but it's rather unsubtle, that said, it's not as bad as I've seen in other games, it broke immersion but not the story, so I let it slide.

 

[lukeman3000]

yea, I felt that too, all of a sudden we're besties...huh? other than the Corpo start which has Jackie call you, which implies there's history, it felt forced.

Glad I wasn't the only one lol. I hope that this early-game exposition is something they can and will improve upon over the coming months. It's lower-priority than everything else, but it feels like the game starts off on incredibly weak footing.

 

[gregski]

Thread moved.

 

[GreenishWombat]

I've played about 3.5 hours so far; just enough to get my feet wet. I chose the nomad path, met Jackie, helped him smuggle some cargo, and then...

Suddenly we're best friends and I'm watching a montage of Jackie and V getting into various hijinks together, only to find myself immediately thrust back into gameplay with little-to-no explanation of what's occurred in the unknown amount of time that's passed since?

You literally watch this montage and then as soon as it ends you're doing a mission with Jackie in Night City, except now I'm taking orders from someone named "T-Bug" (???) and I guess I'm part of Jackie's clan or something like that? Furthermore, I have no idea what the fuck this mission is that we're going on or why we're doing it. I also am left wondering what transpired since I helped Jackie smuggle that Iguana. It feels like there simply wasn't content to fill that gap so the assumption is that the player will fill in the gap with their own imagination by watching the montage and just accepting that all of these things have happened.

It just feels so forced and unnatural. It felt weird as soon as my character started to get so incredibly chummy with Jackie at the end of the smuggling mission after first meeting him. I was like hold on, why the fuck am I getting so friendly with this stranger that I just met? I understand that V is his own character but that interaction just felt really forced to me. In addition to the weird montage and immediately being placed into a situation with virtually no explanation of how much time has passed or what transpired.

Did anyone else feel similarly about the first part of the game? I can only hope that this was a liberty taken by the writers to get us into the "meat" of the game and that it's not indicative of what I should expect from the rest of the game. I don't know, the beginning of the game just left me scratching my head and feeling like I had missed something.

100% yes I absolutely hated this. To start with I was already disappointed with the lifepath intro to start with which felt ended before anything really got a chance to begin (I went corpo can't speak to the other two) but then just the awkward montage that felt as if the writer just wrote "and then some stuff happened" before flinging us into the next part of the story with no set up or context to make me care or tie it together. Honestly one of the weakest starts to a game I've ever played.

 

[lukeman3000]

100% yes I absolutely hated this. To start with I was already disappointed with the lifepath intro to start with which felt ended before anything really got a chance to begin (I went corpo can't speak to the other two) but then just the awkward montage that felt as if the writer just wrote "and then some stuff happened" before flinging us into the next part of the story with no set up or context to make me care or tie it together. Honestly one of the weakest starts to a game I've ever played.

"and then some stuff happened"

Yep, that sums it up quite nicely. Really, really poor exposition imo. I guess they didn't have the time or resources to flesh out the separate intros better but what's the point if you're going to do it like this? In my opinion they should've just had one intro and focused on making it much higher quality and simply allow you to choose your background (such that it can still affect dialogue choices and etc for the rest of the game).

If I was writing for the game I probably would've started the character out in prison and escaping would be your first task. When you're out your in night city free to roam about or start the story missions as you see fit.

 

[RAR656]

I missed the montage completely as I went into menu settings to turn of captioning just as it started, next thing I know its 6 months (weeks) later. So......what happened?

 

[MM0Junkie]

I missed the montage completely as I went into menu settings to turn of captioning just as it started, next thing I know its 6 months (weeks) later. So......what happened?

you basically party hard, do some gigs, have a few fist fights, all with some kick arse music playing in the background, I tried to find the video on YT for you, but I failed

 

[Varaczek]

I absolutely agree. They should have made a game, where at the beginning V is born, and then the player meticulously leads him/her/them through life, making every single decision. Who ever heard about a concept, where the main character already has a life at a start of a game? Outrageous.

/s

 

[RAR656]

you basically party hard, do some gigs, have a few fist fights, all with some kick arse music playing in the background, I tried to find the video on YT for you, but I failed

Thanks, I'll guess I will see it next time I start again

 

[lukeman3000]

I absolutely agree. They should have made a game, where at the beginning V is born, and then the player meticulously leads him/her/them through life, making every single decision. Who ever heard about a concept, where the main character already has a life at a start of a game? Outrageous.

/s

This isn't an argument against my criticism because I wasn't suggesting anything quite so ludicrous. I would say you know that, but honestly I'm not so sure. Nice strawman, though.

 

[CyberTonyTV]

I've played about 3.5 hours so far; just enough to get my feet wet. I chose the nomad path, met Jackie, helped him smuggle some cargo, and then...

Suddenly we're best friends and I'm watching a montage of Jackie and V getting into various hijinks together, only to find myself immediately thrust back into gameplay with little-to-no explanation of what's occurred in the unknown amount of time that's passed since?

You literally watch this montage and then as soon as it ends you're doing a mission with Jackie in Night City, except now I'm taking orders from someone named "T-Bug" (???) and I guess I'm part of Jackie's clan or something like that? Furthermore, I have no idea what the fuck this mission is that we're going on or why we're doing it. I also am left wondering what transpired since I helped Jackie smuggle that Iguana. It feels like there simply wasn't content to fill that gap so the assumption is that the player will fill in the gap with their own imagination by watching the montage and just accepting that all of these things have happened.

It just feels so forced and unnatural. It felt weird as soon as my character started to get so incredibly chummy with Jackie at the end of the smuggling mission after first meeting him. I was like hold on, why the fuck am I getting so friendly with this stranger that I just met? I understand that V is his own character but that interaction just felt really forced to me. In addition to the weird montage and immediately being placed into a situation with virtually no explanation of how much time has passed or what transpired.

Did anyone else feel similarly about the first part of the game? I can only hope that this was a liberty taken by the writers to get us into the "meat" of the game and that it's not indicative of what I should expect from the rest of the game. I don't know, the beginning of the game just left me scratching my head and feeling like I had missed something.

I agree, by the way 6 months passed during that montage, as soon as you spawn in your car with Jackie you can read '6 months later' on the left of the screen!

Post automatically merged: Dec 11, 2020

I missed the montage completely as I went into menu settings to turn of captioning just as it started, next thing I know its 6 months (weeks) later. So......what happened?

In the meantime you've both become mercenaries, working for fixers around Night City, that's all I can say.

 

[Rawls]

I've played about 3.5 hours so far; just enough to get my feet wet. I chose the nomad path, met Jackie, helped him smuggle some cargo, and then...

I kinda felt it actually. It told you what you needed to know about Vs first few months in Night City and about her relationship with Jack Attack.

 

[lukeman3000]

I kinda felt it actually. It told you what you needed to know about Vs first few months in Night City and about her relationship with Jack Attack.

To me it felt like like the exposition was incredibly rushed, like I was cheated out of part of the story. Maybe the same thing could've been done but perhaps with more of a cutscene (with dialogue and such) instead of a music video?

 

[linegenrou]

I felt that. The introduction felt really weird. I think it would've been better for the narrative if V got close to Jackie in a situation where they were forced to grow closer/rely on each other/connect, maybe during a mission they had to do together or something. I'm not talking about 20 hours of mission, it could've been short and impactful.
But he just pointed a gun at me, police caught us, beat us up and now we're besties and then we had timeskip which I guess made us grow even closer. It was way too fast and shallow, and like you said, it was forced.

 

[Rawls]

To me it felt like like the exposition was incredibly rushed, like I was cheated out of part of the story. Maybe the same thing could've been done but perhaps with more of a cutscene (with dialogue and such) instead of a music video?

That's totally fair.

 

[MM0Junkie]

I felt that. The introduction felt really weird. I think it would've been better for the narrative if V got close to Jackie in a situation where they were forced to grow closer/rely on each other/connect, maybe during a mission they had to do together or something. I'm not talking about 20 hours of mission, it could've been short and impactful.
But he just pointed a gun at me, police caught us, beat us up and now we're besties and then we had timeskip which I guess made us grow even closer. It was way too fast and shallow, and like you said, it was forced.

yea, I was thinking about this earlier, in reality what would have happened is this, V woulda knocked 7 shades of doodoo outta Jackie for a) messing up my gig and b) getting me arrested and beaten....but they're besties? that is weird, The corpo start is the only one that makes any sense imho

 

[Apollo65]

I actually quiet enjoyed the montage. It gives you all the info and a nice background in a few scenes. You and Jackie become friends. You move in to his place above his mom's house. You start doin jobs. You get your ass kicked. You REALLY start doing jobs. You build up success and street cred and contacts. You move in to your own place. 6 months later your are established and known and kicking ass.

 

[Elle-Iza]

Although I would have preferred to have played my previous story myself (the assignments, celebrating and living together with Jackie, getting to know the people he introduces me to, etc.), I think the video sequence is a successful representation of the events, and I like it. You get a lot of information from the context, and not everything has to be explained and chewed up to the last detail for an RPG.

 

[lukeman3000]

I actually quiet enjoyed the montage. It gives you all the info and a nice background in a few scenes. You and Jackie become friends. You move in to his place above his mom's house. You start doin jobs. You get your ass kicked. You REALLY start doing jobs. You build up success and street cred and contacts. You move in to your own place. 6 months later your are established and known and kicking ass.

Maybe I'm just a little slow on the uptake or had a couple beers before I started playing, but I didn't get quite that level of clarity from the montage that we watched. I think that I just felt blitzkrieg'd by the rapid-fire pace of the montage video which started playing right as I was trying to figure out how and why V suddenly seemed to trust Jackie so implicitly. I was really confused by what happened at the end of the nomad mission between Jackie and V and then this montage video starts playing. Part of my brain is like "wait a second, there's no way they should be best buds after just that" and I think that part was not really allowing me to process everything that the montage was trying to tell me.

To me it just doesn't reflect a real-life interaction in any way, shape, or form - especially one amongst two hardened criminals (or whatever Jackie and V are). It's like, here are these two street thugs who have never met before and a job they did just went FUBAR, and suddenly they're high-fiving and dancing together? It just doesn't make sense to me.