My impressions.
I feel like I am leaving a testimony to posterity...
For the context I did two “Runs” and I'm playing with Stadia, so I don't have any performance issues.
I experienced the first one as the real discovery, personal and unspoiled choices about what might and might not happen.
So I have to say it was the purest experience.
I'll start with the things that bothered me, that will be done.
The feeling that everything was not exploited to the end, this feeling that the game had to come out at all costs in 2020 for the gesture but that it had to pay too high a price for it.
It shows in the lives of the NPCs and the city, in the aspects that you feel started but not finished and put aside.
The driving is really not that great, but I had the same feeling with GTA and in the end you have to fall back on the bike that offers a quite good experience.
Then the positioning bugs and sudden appearances, well it wasn't that horrible either, but disturbing and killing a moment, especially during scenes in the main storyline.
Some choices are too limited in some quests, frustrations when we would like to say things but can't.
But this is a video game, not a tabletop game. Freedom is not total and it must be accepted.
And it's also a sign that you get involved if you want more.
I wish you had more time and I'm not sure if the DLC will be able to fix these things.
We see it when we finish “Chapter 1” but when we end there are not really any others ...
The stupidity of the NPCs.
My first run I was in stealth / hacking and I have to say that the challenge was not the most complicated when the enemies stared at the wall for 5 minutes. Which I regret in front of Smasher, alone and in hard mode, and with little damages... It was long.
My second I was hand to hand and there it is rather that sometimes they do nothing for some or wait behind their hiding place for me to come and pick them up.
Balance on Max level and NPCs.
When we reach level 45 we feel that the challenges set up are no longer in line with our power, especially if we maximize.
So once you get to the max level, walking around NC no longer makes you want to fight crime. Except to take 2 minutes to One-shot the local criminals.
The personalization of V after the creation of the character.
How…
Ok you didn't have time ... But... Frustration.
So what matters in the game?
The message, the adventure we are taken through, the path we are taken and the emotions we are conveyed.
Now we come to what I liked.
I'm not going to start with the most important, so I'll talk about the music, the vibe and the vocals.
I really liked the soundtrack, the radios give a rhythm and there are several good atmospheres.
The music for the important moments is simply incredible, “Laguna Bay”, “Been good to know Ya” make me vibrate in these moments filled with emotional tension.
Samurai songs are also rendered very well and Refused sounds really good.
The voices are also very well found and very well played. The slightly broken voice of female V makes the emotions palpable. I have not yet tested the male version.
The NPC voices also came out well, so great work.
Now is the most important, the story.
I've heard players complain about it because the story doesn't have a happy ending ... But what CyberPunk story can have a happy ending?
And besides, thank you for that.
Yes the game takes us into a story where we are not masters of everything.
Yes, the initial situation is not a choice but a consequence of a mission that goes wrong and we can't change it.
Yes we are pushed in.
But what we do with the time we have left is up to us.
The first part, Until V wake up, is just an introduction.
Then the links, the affinities, the investments are forged.
To summarize the path of my “V”:
Corpo, I decided to make her hope for a return to favor with the Corpos, I loved Judy but I sold Johnny for salvation (which did not come of course).
In my strong interior after all the hours spent I could not do that ...
I had to make other endings... I couldn't finishing betraying them.
And where the emotion conveyed is gripping is that whatever the choice, someone must suffer.
Should I let Johnny live because I was going to die anyway? But that meant giving up on Judy…
Live but stay in Night City… Losing Judy for a last bang?
Ask the Aldecaldos for sacrifices to finally leave this city and live the little time I have left, free and with the one who had conquered my soul.
There is little media (book, film and even less games) that could have caught me in this game of emotions and personal involvement. And there I admit that these last sessions have been like mourning.
The abatement to choose, the impossibility of choosing.
Then the struggle to find how I could not lose her.
Finally, acceptance, nothing could end well.
This is what I loved about CyberPunk 2077.
Deaths, moral choices, implications, slight for some but which matter if given a little time.
Because the choice to kill someone or not, to betray them in the end, will not always matter beyond one's own conscience. It’s a bit of life too.
Like for Evelyn, if you betray her at the start, there are no consequences, but if you are a little involved, it tilts your conscience.
I liked the side quests when they plunge us into a world of survival, suffering, and human drama.
On a more down to earth spirit, I liked hacking management and my first V was hacking, so I didn't see the combat specialization overkill at that time.
For my second Run I specialized Blades and level-up before making history.
I tried all the endings but ended up leaving with Judy and the Aldecaldos, how could I give up on her when we were bonded and she was only looking to rebuild herself.
I could get a better idea of what was going on and you can believe me, the end was just as upsetting.
Judy, Johnny, Me ...
So for my part I want to thank you for this moment, this adventure, these emotions.
And like all gripping experiences I am frustrated not to have more. So I look forward to the next DLC.