Hello,
Back in the day I gave you my opinion on Thronebreaker and here is my feedback for Cyberpunk 2077. I hope this is the right spot, if not please move this post. I will use the spoiler tag as I will write about the whole game.
SPOILER
Some details on my playthrough:
I finished the game in 65 hours on hard difficulty and completed all main and all side quests that I found. I finished one ending and read about the others. I started completing the NCPD missions but did not finish all of them. I also did not buy most of the vehicles. I had 50 street cred and a level of ~46 (not sure anymore).
I chose the Corpo lifepath and basically build a rifle/hacker glass cannon. Initially I started a Handgun built but midway I reskilled into rifles. I focused on Reflexes – Assault and Intelligence – Quickhack and Breach. I also put a few points into Cool - Stealth and Technical Ability.
Ok let’s start with the Story:
I really enjoyed the main story of V and Johnny. It was a nice cyberpunk story that fit into the world. I liked seeing how the two main characters interacted and developed during the playthrough. It was also nice that Johnny made appearances during the side quests. It was a good choice to not only limit him to the main quest. I also enjoyed the potential love interest side quest lines – even though I would have hoped that the cyberpunk theme would be a bit more prominent. All four stories would have worked more or less similarly in e.g. a GTA 5 world, but I have to admit that diving with Judy through her hometown was a great magic moment. The rest of the side missions gave me mixed feelings. There were a lot of standard missions, especially from the fixers. Extract this person, kill that person, upload virus, download data etc. There were sometimes some nice easter eggs but otherwise just standard open world missions. Some side missions started really great but either ended abruptly or did not live up to their full potential (Jefferson Peralez, Lizzy Wizzy, River’s serial killer). On the other side there were some missions (Delamain, Drink Shooting with the 6th street, Johnny’s night at the afterlife and later his date with Rogue, Brendan, Cyberpsychos) that I thoroughly enjoyed but I think CD Project showed in the past that they can do better than that. I was also missing decisions during missions or rather the consequences of decisions. It felt like as long as I don’t quit the mission mid-way it would always succeed in the best way. The NCPD missions were really just uninspired. I think the only use for those missions was to farm and occasionally get a skill shard or special weapon. That was also the reason why I did not finish most of them.
Then I have to write a bit about the beginning and the endings. I think that the lifepaths do not add much to the game – at least in the way that they are currently designed. I expected a nice introduction into the character’s world, similarly to the origins in Dragon Age: Origins. But what I got was a 5-minute prologue before the prologue that I wouldn’t even call a mission. Nothing that was introduced there added anything to the main game (at least I haven’t noticed it). There was only 1 small mission in the main game related to my Corpo lifepath. I would wish that you add a bit more story to the lifepaths introductions and add maybe a couple missions for each path during the main game.
Regarding the endings, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. The options for the last mission felt underwhelming. V spent days in Night City to make contacts and befriend people and then I could only choose between Hanaka, the Nomads, Rogue or nobody. I expected something a bit more like the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2 or the Kaer Morhen defense in Witcher 3, where the investments that I made and characters that I met during the game would support me at the end. In my playthrough I went with Rogue and I attacked one of the most powerful companies in the world with one militech bomber, 2 companions and one AI. Even without additionally support because of the cut off communication I expected to be destroyed easily. I haven’t played the nomad ending but how should a group of people that had problems with a single Kong-Tao transport then suddenly be able to storm the whole Arasaka base (even with the basilisk)? The Hanaka ending works for plausibility and as a sell-out ending. I also want to add that I have no problem with V dying, this is cyberpunk after all, and the “good” guys rarely survive. It could be a bit more dramatic and less sad but that is just my taste. While the personal messages of different characters were nice during the credits it would also be nice to see what changed in the city because of V. (Similar to e.g. Dragon Age Origins or Mass Effect 3)
World building:
Not much to say here. The world looks stunning (even without ray tracing) and the city looks what a real cyberpunk city could look like. I only have some small things to criticize here. It would be nice if the TV and the advertisements on the street would play more different spots. I felt like I heard and saw the same messages over and over. It would also be really nice to add some news about mission events like power outage after the EMP, serial killer caught etc. on TV. If the world itself would react to some events that would be even greater (but hard to manage obviously). In my playthrough I killed all of the Voodoo Boys in their headquarter and it would be cool to see the Animals taking over or similar. A lot of people I know have criticized the “empty” open world and wanted more activities like e.g. GTA 5 but I definitely didn’t miss this as I never did anything like that in other games and played only for the story. Finally, some of the voices of the random NPC characters seemed not to fit to the character model and the reactions of the NPC characters were sometimes weird. This broke the immersion a bit but was not too serious.
Gameplay:
This one will again be a bit longer. There are multiple problems with the gameplay. First of all, the balancing. As I already said I switched mid-way from pistols to rifles because it felt like that rifles were more effective than pistols even though I already put some perks into pistols. This could obviously be incorrect, but I definitely know that melee weapons are currently overpowered compared to the rest. Additionally, I have to add that by the mid/endgame your character is overpowered and even the biggest cyberzombies are no challenge anymore. Some balance patches are needed here to make the game more fun.
Since I am already writing about the skills, I have to admit that while the perks increase the effectiveness of the skills they do not change anything of the play style. (At least for assault, handguns, quick hack, breach and stealth) You do the same thing from the beginning until the end of the game. The only changes are different weapons, hacks and different cyberware. I would like to have more variety for the perks to support more creative gameplay and it would also be great to add some more variety to the weapons. At least add some more unique iconic weapons and/or mods that have special features (like skippy).
I think I don’t need to say much about clothing. The way it is currently designed crafting makes no sense because of the costs of upgrading and because new drops are nearly always better. Please find a way to make upgrading cheaper or to transform the visual of the collected gear. My V was dressed like a combination of hipster and punk most of the time.
I also don’t think I have to say much about the boxing fights. As I had very low hp it was really painful to win these with the bad controls and enemies that can punch you even though you are clearly not in range. Please fix that.
When it comes to the vehicles of Cyberpunk I would advice you to take inspiration from GTA 5. The cars there are better to control and have some nice features like auto align with the street or that the mini map changes with the speed. I think future cars should be even easier to control with all the new technologies.
Finally, I want to end this part with a bit positive note. The basic gameplay features like gunplay, hacking, sneaking, movement etc all work and feel good. Now you just need to get more creative.
Rest: Some other stuff I noticed.
The AI needs improvement. I did not really notice it often because I either used stealth or was too overpowered, but I wouldn’t call it intelligent.
The UI of the menus could be improved. They feel slow and some features are not consistent. (Pressing M opens the map, pressing M again does not close it)
I haven’t seen many bugs. My game crashed only once and other than a few flying cigarettes, some items in the ground or some random weather changes it worked well.
As game that advertises with nudity, I saw surprisingly many women that wore a bra during sex.
So, let me sum it all up: You built a great world with a great main story, some good side quests and a well working but only basic gameplay. It feels a bit like a typical open world game with a good story. But I believe that you have higher aspirations. Currently I see no reason to replay it. You should use the time now to fix the bugs, improve the gameplay and then add more creativity to the game.
so long
EDIT: Dang I forgot one thing that I always find annoying and I still don't get why nearly every game developer does the same thing. Why introduce a danger to the main character that should be solved immediately but then encourage the player to explore the open world. This is the same in Baldur's Gate 3 currently. Please find a better way in the future. In the Witcher 3 you at least had to find Ciri first, so exploration fit into the narrative.
Back in the day I gave you my opinion on Thronebreaker and here is my feedback for Cyberpunk 2077. I hope this is the right spot, if not please move this post. I will use the spoiler tag as I will write about the whole game.
SPOILER
Some details on my playthrough:
I finished the game in 65 hours on hard difficulty and completed all main and all side quests that I found. I finished one ending and read about the others. I started completing the NCPD missions but did not finish all of them. I also did not buy most of the vehicles. I had 50 street cred and a level of ~46 (not sure anymore).
I chose the Corpo lifepath and basically build a rifle/hacker glass cannon. Initially I started a Handgun built but midway I reskilled into rifles. I focused on Reflexes – Assault and Intelligence – Quickhack and Breach. I also put a few points into Cool - Stealth and Technical Ability.
Ok let’s start with the Story:
I really enjoyed the main story of V and Johnny. It was a nice cyberpunk story that fit into the world. I liked seeing how the two main characters interacted and developed during the playthrough. It was also nice that Johnny made appearances during the side quests. It was a good choice to not only limit him to the main quest. I also enjoyed the potential love interest side quest lines – even though I would have hoped that the cyberpunk theme would be a bit more prominent. All four stories would have worked more or less similarly in e.g. a GTA 5 world, but I have to admit that diving with Judy through her hometown was a great magic moment. The rest of the side missions gave me mixed feelings. There were a lot of standard missions, especially from the fixers. Extract this person, kill that person, upload virus, download data etc. There were sometimes some nice easter eggs but otherwise just standard open world missions. Some side missions started really great but either ended abruptly or did not live up to their full potential (Jefferson Peralez, Lizzy Wizzy, River’s serial killer). On the other side there were some missions (Delamain, Drink Shooting with the 6th street, Johnny’s night at the afterlife and later his date with Rogue, Brendan, Cyberpsychos) that I thoroughly enjoyed but I think CD Project showed in the past that they can do better than that. I was also missing decisions during missions or rather the consequences of decisions. It felt like as long as I don’t quit the mission mid-way it would always succeed in the best way. The NCPD missions were really just uninspired. I think the only use for those missions was to farm and occasionally get a skill shard or special weapon. That was also the reason why I did not finish most of them.
Then I have to write a bit about the beginning and the endings. I think that the lifepaths do not add much to the game – at least in the way that they are currently designed. I expected a nice introduction into the character’s world, similarly to the origins in Dragon Age: Origins. But what I got was a 5-minute prologue before the prologue that I wouldn’t even call a mission. Nothing that was introduced there added anything to the main game (at least I haven’t noticed it). There was only 1 small mission in the main game related to my Corpo lifepath. I would wish that you add a bit more story to the lifepaths introductions and add maybe a couple missions for each path during the main game.
Regarding the endings, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. The options for the last mission felt underwhelming. V spent days in Night City to make contacts and befriend people and then I could only choose between Hanaka, the Nomads, Rogue or nobody. I expected something a bit more like the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2 or the Kaer Morhen defense in Witcher 3, where the investments that I made and characters that I met during the game would support me at the end. In my playthrough I went with Rogue and I attacked one of the most powerful companies in the world with one militech bomber, 2 companions and one AI. Even without additionally support because of the cut off communication I expected to be destroyed easily. I haven’t played the nomad ending but how should a group of people that had problems with a single Kong-Tao transport then suddenly be able to storm the whole Arasaka base (even with the basilisk)? The Hanaka ending works for plausibility and as a sell-out ending. I also want to add that I have no problem with V dying, this is cyberpunk after all, and the “good” guys rarely survive. It could be a bit more dramatic and less sad but that is just my taste. While the personal messages of different characters were nice during the credits it would also be nice to see what changed in the city because of V. (Similar to e.g. Dragon Age Origins or Mass Effect 3)
World building:
Not much to say here. The world looks stunning (even without ray tracing) and the city looks what a real cyberpunk city could look like. I only have some small things to criticize here. It would be nice if the TV and the advertisements on the street would play more different spots. I felt like I heard and saw the same messages over and over. It would also be really nice to add some news about mission events like power outage after the EMP, serial killer caught etc. on TV. If the world itself would react to some events that would be even greater (but hard to manage obviously). In my playthrough I killed all of the Voodoo Boys in their headquarter and it would be cool to see the Animals taking over or similar. A lot of people I know have criticized the “empty” open world and wanted more activities like e.g. GTA 5 but I definitely didn’t miss this as I never did anything like that in other games and played only for the story. Finally, some of the voices of the random NPC characters seemed not to fit to the character model and the reactions of the NPC characters were sometimes weird. This broke the immersion a bit but was not too serious.
Gameplay:
This one will again be a bit longer. There are multiple problems with the gameplay. First of all, the balancing. As I already said I switched mid-way from pistols to rifles because it felt like that rifles were more effective than pistols even though I already put some perks into pistols. This could obviously be incorrect, but I definitely know that melee weapons are currently overpowered compared to the rest. Additionally, I have to add that by the mid/endgame your character is overpowered and even the biggest cyberzombies are no challenge anymore. Some balance patches are needed here to make the game more fun.
Since I am already writing about the skills, I have to admit that while the perks increase the effectiveness of the skills they do not change anything of the play style. (At least for assault, handguns, quick hack, breach and stealth) You do the same thing from the beginning until the end of the game. The only changes are different weapons, hacks and different cyberware. I would like to have more variety for the perks to support more creative gameplay and it would also be great to add some more variety to the weapons. At least add some more unique iconic weapons and/or mods that have special features (like skippy).
I think I don’t need to say much about clothing. The way it is currently designed crafting makes no sense because of the costs of upgrading and because new drops are nearly always better. Please find a way to make upgrading cheaper or to transform the visual of the collected gear. My V was dressed like a combination of hipster and punk most of the time.
I also don’t think I have to say much about the boxing fights. As I had very low hp it was really painful to win these with the bad controls and enemies that can punch you even though you are clearly not in range. Please fix that.
When it comes to the vehicles of Cyberpunk I would advice you to take inspiration from GTA 5. The cars there are better to control and have some nice features like auto align with the street or that the mini map changes with the speed. I think future cars should be even easier to control with all the new technologies.
Finally, I want to end this part with a bit positive note. The basic gameplay features like gunplay, hacking, sneaking, movement etc all work and feel good. Now you just need to get more creative.
Rest: Some other stuff I noticed.
The AI needs improvement. I did not really notice it often because I either used stealth or was too overpowered, but I wouldn’t call it intelligent.
The UI of the menus could be improved. They feel slow and some features are not consistent. (Pressing M opens the map, pressing M again does not close it)
I haven’t seen many bugs. My game crashed only once and other than a few flying cigarettes, some items in the ground or some random weather changes it worked well.
As game that advertises with nudity, I saw surprisingly many women that wore a bra during sex.
So, let me sum it all up: You built a great world with a great main story, some good side quests and a well working but only basic gameplay. It feels a bit like a typical open world game with a good story. But I believe that you have higher aspirations. Currently I see no reason to replay it. You should use the time now to fix the bugs, improve the gameplay and then add more creativity to the game.
so long
EDIT: Dang I forgot one thing that I always find annoying and I still don't get why nearly every game developer does the same thing. Why introduce a danger to the main character that should be solved immediately but then encourage the player to explore the open world. This is the same in Baldur's Gate 3 currently. Please find a better way in the future. In the Witcher 3 you at least had to find Ciri first, so exploration fit into the narrative.
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