Yes I agree, those side quests deserve to be in the main story line.
But you can choose to do them or not. To let the player the choice or not ? Thorny subject
But I find that in general in Cyberpunk, side quests and exploration really reward the "curious" players. And not only with loots, but a lot of "pieces" of stories, world background, characters stories... For me, it's really cool
Well, you can miss a lot of things if you "rush" the main story, but it's still a choice. It sounds tough, but if you rush the game, it's your choice/fault
I agree, somewhat I think
The problem that you currently run into is that without the side quests the main story is really short. In a way it feels like somewhat of a Fallout 3/4 setup to how you'd approach the quest structure, the main story in those games is also relatively short but the side content is most rewarding (remember Ant Agonizer vs. The Mechnist quest in FO3 )
but in Cyberpunk the story feels to carry much more weight and emphasis to not abort it to go on a wild quest-chase.
Which in turn makes me feel like more content could have been added into the main quest as a "must do these" type of thing.
I would've liked it if you had mre main story elements where you again had to co-operate with your Panams, Judies, Roques, and maybe even other parties. I can even see a reason to drag Meredith (or the other dude) in it becasue you need some very important that only a corpo like Militech could have access to (or enable you to acquire). You did them a favor with the Pickup so, could be an interesting way back into that side of the city. Maybe even allow a corpo to do some real damage with her former corpo affiliations and skill.
Alternatively a Nomad could make a call on her nomad friend (an additional time) to acquire something, in spite of Militech or a streetkid gets some unique chances to persuade a local gang to take up arms in turn for a big cut.
My point being, there's things that we could do to further set apart the lifepaths we have and make our time last longer in the game in general.
They openly said it was a deliberate choice well before the game was released, based on the data they had for how many people simply never finished W3's story. I happen to agree with it because I think the Witcher 3 felt at times very padded and the plot became incoherent (not because I wasn't paying attention: it simply didn't make sense).
But the way they did it in Cyberpunk -- by parcelling key parts of the main story into optional side quests so that what was left felt like almost nothing -- looks to have been a mistake.
They openly said it was a deliberate choice well before the game was released, based on the data they had for how many people simply never finished W3's story. I happen to agree with it because I think the Witcher 3 felt at times very padded and the plot became incoherent (not because I wasn't paying attention: it simply didn't make sense).
But the way they did it in Cyberpunk -- by parcelling key parts of the main story into optional side quests so that what was left felt like almost nothing -- looks to have been a mistake.
If they can made the main story compelling enough with great adventures along the way, they could have easily made Cyberpunk's story longer and it would not feel like a drout at all. Night City, the world All the lore there's sooo many components that can make for fantastic added story and I would still not have the idea that it became a shore or anything.
They openly said it was a deliberate choice well before the game was released, based on the data they had for how many people simply never finished W3's story. I happen to agree with it because I think the Witcher 3 felt at times very padded and the plot became incoherent (not because I wasn't paying attention: it simply didn't make sense).
But the way they did it in Cyberpunk -- by parcelling key parts of the main story into optional side quests so that what was left felt like almost nothing -- looks to have been a mistake.
1. It makes for a shorter game for those who just went at the main quest. 10 hours on average, apparently, if you set the diff to medium or less. That's not a lot of game for money these days.
2. It takes away a lot of the endings available and gives players the impression there are few, or one. There are, iirc, 7, but you need side content to get them as options. Number of ending possibilities is some kind of RPG metric now.
3. It makes the world seem less reactive to player choice. Not only because of the above lack of ending choices, but also because a player aiming at the main story misses quite a lot of the reactive content such as the afore-mentioned Rogue story section. Also reactive quests like Panam and Judy. Whoops.
4. A big main quest, even if most players never finish it, makes the world seem...bigger. Just because there is so much still to do in the story. Big story feels like big world. You don't have to finish the main quest in order to get many hours of satisfaction from the game. Skyrim is a good example of this. So is Witcher 3.
I think Witcher 3 needed some trimming for sure, but mostly in the tedious fight-the-Wild Hunt bits, not in terms of story content.
1. It makes for a shorter game for those who just went at the main quest. 10 hours on average, apparently, if you set the diff to medium or less. That's not a lot of game for money these days.
2. It takes away a lot of the endings available and gives players the impression there are few, or one. There are, iirc, 7, but you need side content to get them as options. Number of ending possibilities is some kind of RPG metric now.
3. It makes the world seem less reactive to player choice. Not only because of the above lack of ending choices, but also because a player aiming at the main story misses quite a lot of the reactive content such as the afore-mentioned Rogue story section. Also reactive quests like Panam and Judy. Whoops.
4. A big main quest, even if most players never finish it, makes the world seem...bigger. Just because there is so much still to do in the story. Big story feels like big world. You don't have to finish the main quest in order to get many hours of satisfaction from the game. Skyrim is a good example of this. So is Witcher 3.
I think Witcher 3 needed some trimming for sure, but mostly in the tedious fight-the-Wild Hunt bits, not in terms of story content.
I would like to added another point.
No Endgame content. Maybe you guys know of Xenoblade Chronicles? You can easily spend around 50 to just complete the main story (fairly fast), this is because chapters in the main story depend on some prerequisites such as having explored certain territories and so on. But after the completion of the main story you can (if you'd want) spend easily another 100 hours to grind your ass of a do the endgame content, which in Xenoblade means in many cases beat the snot out or wickely powerful enemies.
Cyberpunk could have allowed some endgame content also to make those that completed the main story quickly not get a teleport back in time effectively saying them: you're done son.
They openly said it was a deliberate choice well before the game was released, based on the data they had for how many people simply never finished W3's story. I happen to agree with it because I think the Witcher 3 felt at times very padded and the plot became incoherent (not because I wasn't paying attention: it simply didn't make sense).
But the way they did it in Cyberpunk -- by parcelling key parts of the main story into optional side quests so that what was left felt like almost nothing -- looks to have been a mistake.
Strangely or not, I never found the main story of TW3 "too" long. I just watched my last save and am at around 150hrs (with DLCs), which is roughly my longest playthrough on Cyberpunk.
Well that is certainly explained by my way of playing, I do everything that is secondary before the main quest (generally, I continue the main quest when there is nothing left to do).
It's the fault of those who haven't finished TW3 if we have such a short main story on CP...
I'm joking obviously
And ok, it's been over a year since I played TW3, but I don't remember "nonsense" as you say. Everything went pretty well and without problem, I didn't find anything "weird" anyway
Cyberpunk could have allowed some endgame content also to make those that completed the main story quickly not get a teleport back in time effectively saying them: you're done son.
Strangely or not, I never found the main story of TW3 "too" long. I just watched my last save and am at around 150hrs (with DLCs), which is roughly my longest playthrough on Cyberpunk.
Well that is certainly explained by my way of playing, I do everything that is secondary before the main quest (generally, I continue the main quest when there is nothing left to do).
It's the fault of those who haven't finished TW3 if we have such a short main story on CP...
I'm joking obviously
And ok, it's been over a year since I played TW3, but I don't remember "nonsense" as you say. Everything went pretty well and without problem, I didn't find anything "weird" anyway
Honestly it would have been worse not to do that and for it to be the final end (credits > back to menu). It's not the best, but it could be worst
So W3 I'll always be in the minority on this but there are whole segments that I felt made the game worse. I would have cut the Bloody Baron entirely -- just as well I wasn't in charge I know some people cite this as one of the best bits!!! -- I felt it was dour, grim and for players like me who were really NOT liking the vibe of the game's opening, it prolonged the player's time in the monochromatic, fairly unlikable society that precedes arriving in Novigrad. I actually gave up on the game twice because I found the opening so dreary and unengaging, only coming back the third time because a game that well regarded couldn't possibly not get better.
The sections switching to Ciri that seemed not to have any real narrative purpose just made me sigh. The peculiar introduction of the white frost from almost nowhere made no sense (to be fair, I'm not sure the nature of the Wild Hunt is properly established, either, or at least is not established with enough clarity as early as it needs to be to propel the plot, and hence the threat facing Geralt et al always feels very vague). And every major mission in the main story felt just that little bit overextended to my tastes, not helped at all by the overuse of caves as an environment when every cave looked exactly the same.
The end result was that it just seemed to go on and on, the conclusion never clearly in sight. I was jumping through hoops more because the journal told me to than because they felt like natural beats of the story. When it got to the tower at the end my first thought was "you must be joking, we're adding even MORE plot now?"
In some ways, the base game felt like three entirely different plots had been stacked on top of each other and didn't quite fit. I felt both Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine had much clearer, better elaborated narratives than the actual base game, and better thought out mechanics for progressing through them.
So I'm one of probably a minority who thinks the story in Cyberpunk is both more interesting and better structured than W3's base game. PROVIDED THAT all the relevant side quests are included.
(That's not to say I didn't ENJOY W3, but I did find the arrangement of the main story, erm, "esoteric". It was fun to play but I can't honestly say that by the end I actually cared about the outcome as a story experience, nor did I fully understand what was going on.)
So W3 I'll always be in the minority on this but there are whole segments that I felt made the game worse. I would have cut the Bloody Baron entirely -- just as well I wasn't in charge I know some people cite this as one of the best bits!!! -- I felt it was dour, grim and for players like me who were really NOT liking the vibe of the game's opening, it prolonged the player's time in the monochromatic, fairly unlikable society that precedes arriving in Novigrad. I actually gave up on the game twice because I found the opening so dreary and unengaging, only coming back the third time because a game that well regarded couldn't possibly not get better.
The sections switching to Ciri that seemed not to have any real narrative purpose just made me sigh. The peculiar introduction of the white frost from almost nowhere made no sense. And every major mission in the main story felt just that little bit overextended to my tastes, not helped at all by the overuse of caves as an environment when every cave looked exactly the same.
The end result was that it just seemed to go on and on, the conclusion never clearly in sight. When it got to the tower at the end my first thought was "you must be joking, we're adding even MORE plot now?"
We stay a little too long in the dismal and inhospitable swamp part. But for me, it's a the world where Geralt is... With the war, the monsters and the bad guys, it couldn't be a paradise. But indeed, if CDPR had been asked for my opinion, I would have said without hesitation... I want to play in Beauclair all the time.
For the Bloody Baron's part, it's not my favorite (and by far), but it's in the mood, it's gloomy, it's sad, it's dirty...
For Ciri, yes I totally agree. I just rush those parts as fast as I can. Maybe they are their just for play as Ciri, nothing more and nothing too interesting (for me)
And nope, your are not alone (there is me at least), I really prefer Cyberpunk story than TW3 story (but it's really matter of tastes). That's why I say "I prefer" and not "it's better". If I had to keep only one of the two, it would be Cyberpunk without any hesitation
Now i think about TW3, the peralez/Mr Blue Eyes quest line remember me Gaunter O'Dimm in TW3 (before DLC). After the first meet, I told myself that there will be something afterwards (quests or whatever) and no, nothing... it's for that, I have a good feeling for futur related content.
This is my personal opinion long after the release of Cyberpunk and at present.
In December I bought the Steam version of which I asked for a refund after less than two hours due to technical problems of the title and therefore I could not play it, I promised myself to buy it back later and in fact last week I bought the GOG version and with the current patches I must say that it is improved in many things even if there is still a lot of work to be done by the developers, I am sure they will be fixed, I prefer to trust them.
As for the story it was what I expected and how it should be and in fact every main character like Judy, Panam and many others tell their past, each told in a different way, with their way of doing and their very different character to made sure that I became attached to them in a V shape (mine was a female character) and even Silverand who was initially unbearable, a thorn in my side that I had to take off at all costs but, over time I began to understand and adore him, (he even gave me his Porche, so yes, he loved me ) above all discovering his past and what he did not show to everyone, what he really was, perhaps few players have realized it, it takes a moment of sensitivity in these things, without limiting itself to the gameplay, it would be too little.
This is a small part of the aspects that led me to have to save at all costs V, I was really bad, I'm not ashamed to say it but during the final stages I also shed a few tears when she was sick and her end was nearing , I avoided helping Hanako, I did not trust and I had no guarantees of surviving, on the contrary Silverand had always been honest with me from the beginning, I still remember when he gave me the medals of those who saved his life during the war and told me that he would save mine when the time came and so it was, he was sincere and I felt it.
I will not play the other endings, too sad, V must live and Johnny would always have a way to enter another body, we cannot know what awaits us in the future with the dlc and expansions, but I believe that something can change for the better, it must change in better.
When Johnny was gone forever, I felt a huge sense of loneliness, a part of me didn't want to go away like that, I even felt guilty and I wish there was a solution for him too, I miss that cute asshole sitting beside me in my car or when he enjoyed making fun of me.
This story / game has given me and awakened too many sensations, things that we still feel in everyday life.
And then with Johnny we have a pending regulation for all the mess that forced me to do with Rogue making me drunk to death, I want him to come back in the flesh and bones so I can choke him with my hands
It would be nice for Johnny to return, to gather all our strength and destroy the Arasaka forever or to make sure that what happened in the past does not happen again, hoping that Hanako understands and does not make the mistakes of her father, but I also understand that mega corporations are the fulcrum of cyberpunk society and that is what characterizes this dystopia, so I doubt that this can change, but nothing would prevent us from razing some mega corporations to the ground and trying to bring back some life, we could also play on the fact that they could clone their bodies via their DNA and bring back their constructs, there would be many options that could be implemented in the expansions.
As for the technical side of the game I have never had any crashes, but I must say that on the performance side there is still a lot to improve, I played it in 1080p with ultra settings to keep 60 fps, despite my pc is able to maintain 4K ultra on many today's and heavy titles, it would be necessary to correct the behavior of non-player characters, and of the cars that circulate in the city, their behavior, for example as you have all seen, if you stop with the car in the middle of the road, the other cars stop behind you instead of going around and continuing.
There are traffic lights, make sure that the cars respect the colors, green can be continued, with the red stop, just like in reality, is it possible to do so?
Try to improve these behavioral routines, take an example from GTA5, I had seen some comparison videos and you can do better, I'm sure.
For the rest, you are already aware of all the other problems mentioned by other users, but I have faith in you and as far as my opinion is concerned, this title really deserves a lot and it is right that it becomes what it should be.
I did not appreciate many past behaviors by the leaders of CDPR, but, in part, I can understand the rush to release the game in a still incomplete state, due to the haste perhaps of the investors and the fanbase that is never satisfied with regards to release times, as if they have nothing else to do in their lives.
Take your time and take this title to the stars, as far as I'm concerned I love it.
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I wish there was more interaction after establishing a relationship, for example they could come with us on missions and talk on the way, creating more dialogue is nice when Judy chats with me on the phone while I'm out and about, I wish we could too when we want to hear them, go to Afterlife together in the evening drink together, get drunk, dance, have fun and.......
I very much enjoyed your game Cyberpunk 2077, but the overwhelming criticisms it received, are indeed sentiments that I share, now that I've had the luxury of playing game that already have many of the features Cyberpunk promised to deliver, but wasn't able to "pull-off" for whatever reason (and no, you don't have to chase GTA, there are much better solutions out there).
So, let me get-to-the-point, now that the pleasantries are outta the way. There a rumors floating around that CDPR is hiring staff, for very specific "world building" strats, talents & fundamental ideas. Not sure how much weight there is to any of these rumor but... if by some happenstance it's true, it'll be important to have the Creative Director be in a certain headspace, so that the quality is already there from the beginning, allowing the creators to simply create.
What's the point of all-of-this?? Well, I just-so-happen, again, to have already played a very specific game that features much of the content that was either promised, or cut from Cyberpunk 2077 & I strongly suggest that the creative director play this certain game themselves (and also have the staff participate)... matter-of-fact, all you'd really need-to-do is copy-paste most of these ideas, put a CDPR spin on it & no-one would be the wiser.
Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed the game for what it was, but it could certainly be "more", it could easily live up to the hype, without many of the grandiose, outlandish suggestions I'm sure y'all get bombarded with on a daily basis (no, there shouldn't be any wall-climbing, the current parkour system is fine as-is). If you gais really wanna fix your game, just send me a PM/ DM & I'll happily provide you with everything you'll need to get started. It's easy, everyone will be on the same page & there'll be no "mystery" to what you all should be doing. It's up to y'all though. I get how odd this is, for some guy posting in the forums, claiming to have the solution to a big problem but... doesn't matter either way to me, I beat the game already.
Depending on how this plays out, I can look forward to doing another run... or just enjoying the game for what it was and uninstalling; makes no difference to me... just wanna be clear that I'm only as invested as y'all are; I'm not a super-fan or anything, like The Madqueen, who's passion for the lore sold me the game in-the-first-place. Welp, that's it... the only reason I made this account. This could be my last message, or my first of many; I'll give this post a week.
So I've been going around the city for hours and gone away for multiple days and I come back to meet my friends Victor And Misty... and they talk to me like I just met them 10 seconds ago.
There's no greetings, no dialogue to ask "hey long time no see, how you holding up." etc, like we initially get from visiting Victor the first time.
I know it's just a game and all but it wouldn't hurt to have some extra conversation to be added.
Also for a friend it's rather strange these people don't even appear on map at all. Unless there's a quest directly linked to them, these people don't show up at all, even though they clearly exist.
I really do hope these people get added more interaction in the future, as some have suggested taking them out for dates and just hanging out, talking how they've felt since... the heist incident... and so on.
I still remain very hopeful CDPR can turn this game into a great experience with tweaks and additions but I've begun to more understand the criticism some people had with this game. The world is definitely more detailed, but it just feels dry when it comes to experiencing it.
When you look at game like GTA, you can't even access your own house to talk with your family members, without it being a part of the main quest... and it's all hand crafted dialogue from start to finish. But at least it feels like you've been given mission to do something, you're communicated very well why you need to do things. In Cyberpunk you're given more freedom to visit these people... and yet there's no interaction with them to excuse this freedom.
In Cyberpunk it currently feels the world is very-very detailed, there's so much polish every street corner, but the quests themselves and character interactions definitely need more work.
If the shards were voice acted well, and more work was put in internet, arcades and character interaction, quests were somewhat limited so that you don't just get a call and enter into a building to slaughter all people and grab an item or rescue person, that there was bigger story behind them.
At least the map UI should receive severe rework about how things are shown and how quests are given. I mean I just see all quests available even without receiving a call about it. Then I go into local area and quest giver who I cannot refuse call tells me I need to knock out Cyberpsycho.
I already told in other posts that this type of random quests where you knock out disturbance works well in fantasy game like Witcher, but isn't well suited for this style of GTA looter shooter where even with all the gang detail there just isn't enough character and uniqueness in encounters. There's hardly any change when it comes fighting Maelstrom or 6th Street, other than their looks.
So characters and world details is supreme, the technical detail of this game is stunning, but it just lacks in the gameplay experience.
When designing these encounters with player with NPC like Misty, you have to ask "how is this going to be experienced after 4 hours later? Is it going to be satisfactory?" and when you fight a random encounter you have to ask "How is this different than the one just 300 meters from the north?".
One way to make at least these small gigs seem more important is to add into the quest details. You have to explain who is the target, where you estimate the target to be. Even the voice narration of these side quests would go long way. I think it clearly shows in the main missions how for example taking down the AV you got all these details added about flight paths and the map, how before the heist mission you get these well crafted animations about Royce and the flathead model. In these side missions it just feels like unimpactful... well partially because it is. But you don't get a lot of personal briefing and you rarely get to even see satisfied customer who's behind the gig. It's just the nature of how these were handed is just so distanced from personal connections you established in Witcher.
I really do hope the game is going to show great improvement in coming 6 months to a year or two. it's definitely nice experience to those who mainly seek to play the main campaign (although I'd argue some main story quests like Voodoo boys are little too linear at times) and you've been given enough random encounters to make those people who only going to spend 5-10 hours to play side gigs.
But for a long extended game session and coming back to this game after first completion, it starts to show up cracks there and there.
And I'm not here to claim GTA 5 is greatest game ever. It lacks in many aspects Cyberpunk is doing well. But gameplay wise it's clear the GTA 5 way it was designed was focused more on the gamers experience than the street art and just cramming every corner with stuff to fight.
I can only hope and dream these coming DLC's and updates are going to introduce mechanics that at least some level excuse these current design decisions. Gang reputation especially is one way to do it. But other way is just better communication about these gigs, and what is shown in map, and how characters interact, and how the world interacts. Police and AI aren't really the games biggest weakness. I mean Police definitely should be on the cars and AI should be better.
The game just needed more time to truly finish and I'm quite hopeful and optimistic the game can turn around for the better in a coming years with all the content coming up.
CDPR definitely is still quite new company with only one largely recognized title behind them, and there was a lot of unreasonable expectations, but I hope CDPR can learn from what this game did fail.
I don't think the news silence or promoting games really was a problem at all, like people saying all throughout the internet, it's just the game itself needed more time and should have put more focus on different areas at least initially. Cutting out the street details and moving more into supporting the character interactions for example.
If you look at Witcher 3 for example, you got a ton of face to face conversations in the long windy main game, and when you get assigned quest by NPC it feels personal and interesting. The Witcher sense feels better implemented than the BD experience where you have to go sit in chair and have this windy explanation about how to use these different methods, that especially 2nd playthrough you just wish you could skip.
Knowing what Witcher 3 was able to accomplish, I have no doubt this game can an likely will be amazing, when it's truly ready. There's a ton of greatness in this game when it comes to loading assets and cars and elevators work, how you're able to structure the city. Even some conversations in main quest are really interesting. Johnny as a character is... well outside of the weird shift from start being annoying brick to wants you dead to suddenly being okay with your body, outside of that, he's a well drafted sidekick... but once again you can never talk to him outside of these special scenarios.
I 100% agree with Pawel Sasko when he said in Cyberpunk Stream the game was extremely ambitious and that it indeed shows. But a lot less ambitious projects have succeeded on what they set up to do. Yacht Club Games has 17 employees and they did Shovel Knight and all of it's DLC contents. It shows that you don't need much people to make excellent game, and the decisions that you make in very early planning phase are a key factor on how the game will shape out much later. There was a TON of detail made into the world, all the different styles of music, street arts, character looks, but it just feels like the gameplay (outside of shooting and hacking) was left in very early conceptual phase.
The boxing fights need more added flavor, there's not much difference when it comes to fighting with blunt weapons vs knives or katanas or blade arms. No situation where these hidden weapons become useful gameplay wise. Even with heist you can always grab weapon from first guard. There's only one quest line of driving races and some of the branching paths that was earlier promised only really became real in the early phase of main story.
The reason why game "flopped" was not lack of talent. CDPR had a lot of great artists, animation designers, people who crafted this asset loading system and the ones responsible for some of the more interesting side quests like the monk etc. It all just got buried by the initial early release along with the lack of focus on what makes games entertaining.
And like I earlier said, I have hope the company can really make this a No Man's Sky comeback story. They definitely have a talent for making great stories and interesting character interactions. And nobody probably knew how much effort would a game like this take to create with all of the ambition put into it.
So TLDR: Game needs a lot of work and more focus from the leadership on the key areas, not only technical but also gameplay wise. There's definitely a chance for great future of this franchise and worst thing they could do is abandon it.
I'd say the game is pretty close to 8 as it currently stands, and if you only want to focus on main story and just have a quick glance about the content, it seems very impressive. Adding a little more focus on characters and gameplay would definitely boost it to 9 and with multiplayer addition it definitely has chance to be one of the greatest games of all time.
I can denied all the problems, but overall, I'm considering myself very lucky. CPDR aimed right for me.
- I like gunfights.
- I like vehicles.
- I like open worlds (there I'm lucky, Night City is so gorgeous).
- I like looting (even if there are too many, even if it's a nightmare to manage the inventory).
- I like first person view (for the moment, I haven't really found better elsewhere).
- I like SF (obviously mostly Cyberpunk).
- I like stories with under "philosophical" reflection, without providing a real answer (like : do you have a soul ? If so, what happens when you "die" and are copied to an engram ? is the engram still "you" or not ?).
- I like ambiguous characters (there aren't really any real "bad guys"... All of them have their dark side. And honestly, if I take Judy as an example, I would remember this character all my life... the only way I would ever forget her would be because of alzheimer's).
In short, yes Cyberpunk could be better in different ways, but damn, that's exactly the type of game I want to see and play... I'm the perfect customer for this kind of game
If what I heard and read is true, this game's concept shifted at one point (Keanu Reeves coming on board) from a more "open world - super immersive - do what you want - cyberpunk life simmulator" game to a more or less linear adventure / rpg game, strongly focused on a certain story. What we got is a really great, emotionally engaging tale set in a beautiful cyberpunk setting, with some side plots attached. Was it a bad idea? Not at all, but it apparently came at the cost of stripping the setting (Night City and surroundings) and gameplay of all this true "open world" vibe (maybe these weren't included in the development process per se, but might have been true as a starting concept). As a result, Night City plays a role of a wonderful background to V's story, but that's just it - a background. We can drive or walk its streets, look at architecture and other stuff, some people and cars go left and right, here and there a gang occupies an alley... and that's the end of it.
Actually CP2077 is very similar to Witcher 3: the same missions structure, where some of them intertwine with the main plot, some contracts (like monster hunts in W3) and the filler content in form of these blue icons on the map (similar to bandit hideouts in W3). You also don't get much "life" in between the settlements in Witcher 3, but there we have some vast open spaces of wilderness, so it's understandable that you don't trip over an event every 50 steps. Unfortunately the same idea doesn't apply that much anymore to a sprawling and dense futuristic city of Cyberpunk 2020 / 2077 universe, which should be steeming with life: car chases, accidents, corpo battles, gang wars, cybepsychoes running in the streets, maxtac interventions, illegal car races, shady business meetings + bying some appartments, changing your haircut, facial surgery, street cred based on your outfit, people running into you with some quests or pulling you into some events, and all this sweet stuff. Some of these things we actually encounter, but mostly in the form of very static group scenes waiting infinitely for V to come there + a lot of data shards (as the source of some urban stories), which are honestly a very lame approach to build tales within this city (at first reading those was even pleasent and sometimes interesting, but after a time it became a chore).
Maybe in the early stages of development this game was supposed to be something like this, a very "open world" game with multiple activities and events + a couple of separate and detailed lifepaths with their own stories. Would it be great? Probably yes, but think of the time required to build such an enormous game - 25 years, like it was mentioned in the new Starfield trailer? CDPR were in such a hurry that they couldn't even "iron out" the game they decided to go with, a title much smaller in scope. There are still heaps of bugs to get rid of and some underdeveloped mechanics to fix.
I seriously doubt if they are going to add any significant "life" content to the setting in any future updates. Probably some story DLCs and technical improvements.
But hey, would love to be wrong.
Oh, and for the record: overall I really like the game.
If what I heard and read is true, this game's concept shifted at one point (Keanu Reeves coming on board) from a more "open world - super immersive - do what you want - cyberpunk life simmulator" game to a more or less linear adventure / rpg game, strongly focused on a certain story.
Nope, it's just a stupid reddit theory that, like countless others, have never been backed up by the single shred of evidence. Keanu Reeves was asked and paid to play the role in this game, he didn't demand anything or force anyone to change their plans. All he did was ask for the writers to give him more lines, because he really liked the character he was playing. The fact that Cyberpunk's story will be about "the relic" and "key to immortality" was known ever since the first wave of news came from CDPR (together with V being the protagonist, 1st person perspective, etc...).
While the trailers may have been misleading, actual developers were completely open in the interviews about the story being primary focus, instead of life simulation and emergent gameplay.
Here's the interview from 2018: https://www.vgr.com/cyberpunk-2077-goof-wont-be-gta/
I didn't say that mr Reeves forced anyone to do anything
How it really was, don't know, wasn't there. That's why I'm reffering to things others said. Rumours? Most probably.
Still, the city does feel lacking some "life", at least for me. It reminds me a bit of Mafia games (minus some obvious differences), where the setting was mostly just the background for the story.
I didn't say that mr Reeves forced anyone to do anything
How it really was, don't know, wasn't there. That's why I'm reffering to things others said. Rumours? Most probably.
Still, the city does feel lacking some "life", at least for me. It reminds me a bit of Mafia games (minus some obvious differences), where the setting was mostly just the background for the story.
