Hm....if you put too much cyber in, yeah, you should be screwed every time, every single time.
Whereas if you put too much cyber in, yeah, you should be screwed every time, every single time.
Well, it's not an optimal game mechanic, no. I think we discussed Red Vision and everyone a target, the more you kill, the more powerful you become until CSWAT gets you. If you stop moving or killing, you drill into your own limbs or shoot yourself or something sudden and horrible.
Agreed. I really hope that CDPR isn't afraid of letting people fail in the game and giving players hard time. As you said - it should be a REAL threat, not like "oh well, in the worst case I'll go on a killing spree, C-SWAT comes and then I wake up in a hospital with less money". That's for example the way I was feeling in GTA when going wild and blasting people around.
Maybe cyberpsychosis could get us when we least expect it, somewhere deep in the story, and make us do terrible things, like killing our loved ones for example.
Well, how about if you go cyberpsycho, the game doesn't tell you. At all. In fact, your game splits off from the main one and goes along the Cyberpsycho Plot Path, until you are caught and cured or, more likely, killed.
And while you are in the grip of cyberpsychosis, you can and will do all sorts of horrible things for what seem like perfectly good reasons. Only, it being psychosis, a distinct break from reality, you are seeing the wrong things and your actions only vaguely resemble your real actions. Until your inevitable end arrives and suddenly, briefly, you can see reality again.
You get images of what was really happening - setting fire to your building, cutting your flesh with glass and steel, strangling your loved ones - this whole time while you thought you were chasing bad guys or saving maidens or whatever.
Only at that point does the game let you know you have,in fact, been insane for the last ten hours of gameplay.
Imagine if you came out of the Braindance a Psycho? You'd never be sure what was and what wasn't real? And not in the "it's a dream" sense, but in the seriously-in-the-grip-of-a-psychotic-break sense.
"Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"
So, SPOILER ALERT - you know how in Witcher 2, they split the plot into two paths at a certain point, right?
Well, how about if you go cyberpsycho, the game doesn't tell you. At all. In fact, your game splits off from the main one and goes along the Cyberpsycho Plot Path, until you are caught and cured or, more likely, killed.
And while you are in the grip of cyberpsychosis, you can and will do all sorts of horrible things for what seem like perfectly good reasons. Only, it being psychosis, a distinct break from reality, you are seeing the wrong things and your actions only vaguely resemble your real actions. Until your inevitable end arrives and suddenly, briefly, you can see reality again.
You get images of what was really happening - setting fire to your building, cutting your flesh with glass and steel, strangling your loved ones - this whole time while you thought you were chasing bad guys or saving maidens or whatever.
Only at that point does the game let you know you have,in fact, been insane for the last ten hours of gameplay.
Imagine if you came out of the Braindance a Psycho? You'd never be sure what was and what wasn't real? And not in the "it's a dream" sense, but in the seriously-in-the-grip-of-a-psychotic-break sense.
"Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"
These are some great ideas. I agree that we shouldn't be told (or shown by a "cyberpsychosis meter") that we crossed the thin, red line and turned psycho. It just happens at one point - if we cross the line, of course - and then after some time we "wake up" and start getting flashbacks...
And those flashbacks could be so powerful, as you said, watching all the terrible things you've done. Remember the "personal responsibility" theme from the CP2077 trailer song? It would totally make sense.
And another important thing that Whipblade mentioned - make it so it is impossible to go back to an old save. Make us suffer, make us regret and blame ourselves. Make us think next time we see a shiny cyberarm with arm-blades.
I like your idea Sard but I also know I would be chucking my computer out the window if I just found out that the last 10 or even 1 hour that I had played was just a big "ha ha screw you you just lost". Unless the game is recoverable from that point, which I do not advocate.
I think that cyberpsycho should be game over. Because of that there do need to be signs that it is setting in but nothing so obvious as screen distortion or loss of character control. Somehow, and I am not sure just how, cyberpsychosis needs to be insidious and addictive but not a path of no return. Unless of course you reach the end of the path.
Also, my head is now HUGE. HuUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE.
But the trick isn't to frustrate you as a player, it's to make you connect with your choices. You got the cyber and you kept getting the cyber and you had the warning from the med-tech about the growing increase in the cases of Hauer's Identity Disassociation Syndrome, (or whatever they call cyberpsychosis in medschool by 2077) and now you're paying for those choices.
Ten hours might be a bit much. Two or four would perhaps be more reasonable. NOT as a punishment, but as a part of your gameplay experience, much as either of the alternate paths in Witcher 2 were.
Well-written, you would,as a player, be moved and humbled, as opposed to frustrated.
Agreed. I can totally see something like this happening as part of CDPR's choice & consequences system. They made a bold move with branching paths of TW2 (like, really) so it would fit their style. Maybe not 10 hours as you said, but more to 1-2 - it's still a lot and still would make you think hard about re-loading the latest save.
If you survive the whole thing, get rid of the augments or whatever, it could be interesting to see how you face the repercussions of the therapy for the rest of the game. To see the player's journey from no-augments to uber-rigged killing machine, turning psycho and then having his "superpowers" ripped out from him could be an interesting theme.
I quite like your approach. Not bad.We-ell, Prod, there has to be an element of failure in tragedy.
But the trick isn't to frustrate you as a player, it's to make you connect with your choices. You got the cyber and you kept getting the cyber and you had the warning from the med-tech about the growing increase in the cases of Hauer's Identity Disassociation Syndrome, (or whatever they call cyberpsychosis in medschool by 2077) and now you're paying for those choices.
Ten hours might be a bit much. Two or four would perhaps be more reasonable. NOT as a punishment, but as a part of your gameplay experience, much as either of the alternate paths in Witcher 2 were.
Well-written, you would,as a player, be moved and humbled, as opposed to frustrated.
You could either reload before you had that cyberleg installed, OR you could play on, ( if you survived). Up to you. Perhaps they jack what's left of your cortex into the 'dance and you are offered the choice of Heavy Metal Therapy or a quiet burial.
Also, my head is now HUGE. HuUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE.