I played 6 hours when the game was released on Dec 9, 2020 and then immediately shelved it due to bugs/glitches/etc. I play on PC, so I didn't encounter nearly as many problems as console players (I am glad I didn't decide to buy one for my PS4 haha), but it was enough to stop. The main problem I have is with the way the company handled this entire project, something I will explain further. I think that the guys who run CDPR have screwed us over as players, and I can only imagine Johnny Silverhand pointing at us all and laughing while making some sarcastic point about how we were duped into buying a product that itself has a lot to say about the role of corpos in exploiting people.
I started playing this game again about a month ago and I have to say that I am much more impressed with it, at least the story and side-quests in general. I think that the story and even many of the side-quests are on par with many other great games (best of Red Dead Redemption, Assassin's Creed, Horizon Zero Dawn, etc.). The main story is very well told and I felt emotionally connected to the main protagonist as well as the other characters he encounters. The one problem I do have is that the death clock doesn't seem to run out as I have been playing many side missions without feeling any need to deal with the "relic" that should be killing V (it seems more like a hangover, with temporary loss of consciousness, stamina, and what looks like a virtual migraine). One solution might have been to simply force players to deal with the relic before being able to do anything else in the game, a restriction the developers probably wanted to avoid to allow players to make more choices as to how they want to play... In spite of this, I thought the story made sense overall. Side-quests often have their own contained story arcs that are just as interesting as the main story and I got to know several characters in depth. The world of Cyberpunk does feel dystopian, one where corporations essentially control everything and everyone. But the relationships you form with the characters make up for it and it really doesn't feel all that depressing.
Edit: I finally decided to finish the story after reaching level 43 or so and I have to say that it was fairly underwhelming. The boss fight against Adam Smasher took maybe a minute, he went down faster than any boss I have ever played against in any video game (probably all those attribute/perk points I invested in making myself almost invincible haha)... I guess I shouldn't have bothered playing all those side quests before moving on to the final mission. The ending itself was also somewhat anticlimactic, I may have ended up choosing the most disappointing resolution to the whole thing, with the character making the best choices of the two crappy ones presented just to end up right where he started, which is dying. It is nice that the player can choose how the game ends, so I will try another ending to see if something more interesting happens....
The main issue I have has to do with CD Projekt Red. I enjoy playing this game, but I won't spend anymore money on it (unlike Assassin's Creed Valhalla, a game that satisfied me enough that I was more than happy to spend an additional $200+ on cosmetics, expansions, and so on). I am a science fiction fan and I was fairly excited to know that CDPR was working on this game, because I played Witcher 3 and assumed that this game would meet, if not exceed, the quality of that title. I know that many people have pointed out that Witcher 1 and even 2 were also really buggy/glitchy/etc (which is probably why I didn't play either of those, can't remember now). But this doesn't mean that it is our responsibility, as players, to come up with excuses for this studio. We are not the ones who make these games, we are the ones who use our hard-earned money to purchase what we think will be a quality product. In effect, we vote with our wallets. This game was supposedly in development since 2012, even tho we now know that they most likely didn't start making any real progress on it till maybe about a year ago. Everything I read about it before its release suggested that it would be on par with many other great titles like Red Dead Redemption 2. Everything I read about it on websites like GameSpot had headlines like this:
"Night City is massive--full of stories, content and places to visit, but due to the sheer scale and complexity of it all, we need more time to finish playtesting, fixing, and polishing," the company said. "We want Cyberpunk 2077 to be our crowning achievement for this generation and postponing launch will give us the precious months we need to make the game perfect."
Kicinski clarified during the Q&A that some parts of Cyberpunk 2077 were on schedule while others were not. He added that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the game, only that the studio needs more time for polishing and other efforts related to the size and complexity of the project."
I am not sure how much we can blame sites like GameSpot for their failure as journalists to figure out what was happening, since I don't really think of anyone working at GameSpot as a journalist. But it all points to how far the managers at CDPR were willing to go to screw us over and lie to us. Celebrities like Keanu Reeves, Grimes and ASAP Rocky were also excited about it. Eight million people pre-ordered copies and many limited editions to the point that they were all sold out (I actually remember trying to get the limited set with the figurines and all that). When the game finally came out, it was completely unplayable on consoles especially due to really obvious technical problems. I am not gonna bother listing all the technical issues that the game had at release and continues to have nine months later, but here is a video just in case someone miraculously avoided these: glitches for your enjoyment. It turns out that things were far from perfect inside CDPR. On Glassdoor past employees posted plenty of comments about the chaos and toxicity inside the company. It turns out that upper management made unrealistic demands and either ignored or chose to gloss over the obvious fact that the game was not ready for release. “The owners treat the company as a machine to earn money, and do not see employees as people but more like data in the table,” in the words of a former employee (not me, I don't have anything to do with game-making, just playing ). And that's the point, while we vote with our money, they want our money, which is why they mislead us all. I can't imagine buying another title from this company, because as the proverb goes, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
PS I got a message saying that a moderator edited this post because it was "disrespectful." I need to know what CDPR considers respectful behavior, so please elaborate if you do it again.
I started playing this game again about a month ago and I have to say that I am much more impressed with it, at least the story and side-quests in general. I think that the story and even many of the side-quests are on par with many other great games (best of Red Dead Redemption, Assassin's Creed, Horizon Zero Dawn, etc.). The main story is very well told and I felt emotionally connected to the main protagonist as well as the other characters he encounters. The one problem I do have is that the death clock doesn't seem to run out as I have been playing many side missions without feeling any need to deal with the "relic" that should be killing V (it seems more like a hangover, with temporary loss of consciousness, stamina, and what looks like a virtual migraine). One solution might have been to simply force players to deal with the relic before being able to do anything else in the game, a restriction the developers probably wanted to avoid to allow players to make more choices as to how they want to play... In spite of this, I thought the story made sense overall. Side-quests often have their own contained story arcs that are just as interesting as the main story and I got to know several characters in depth. The world of Cyberpunk does feel dystopian, one where corporations essentially control everything and everyone. But the relationships you form with the characters make up for it and it really doesn't feel all that depressing.
Edit: I finally decided to finish the story after reaching level 43 or so and I have to say that it was fairly underwhelming. The boss fight against Adam Smasher took maybe a minute, he went down faster than any boss I have ever played against in any video game (probably all those attribute/perk points I invested in making myself almost invincible haha)... I guess I shouldn't have bothered playing all those side quests before moving on to the final mission. The ending itself was also somewhat anticlimactic, I may have ended up choosing the most disappointing resolution to the whole thing, with the character making the best choices of the two crappy ones presented just to end up right where he started, which is dying. It is nice that the player can choose how the game ends, so I will try another ending to see if something more interesting happens....
The main issue I have has to do with CD Projekt Red. I enjoy playing this game, but I won't spend anymore money on it (unlike Assassin's Creed Valhalla, a game that satisfied me enough that I was more than happy to spend an additional $200+ on cosmetics, expansions, and so on). I am a science fiction fan and I was fairly excited to know that CDPR was working on this game, because I played Witcher 3 and assumed that this game would meet, if not exceed, the quality of that title. I know that many people have pointed out that Witcher 1 and even 2 were also really buggy/glitchy/etc (which is probably why I didn't play either of those, can't remember now). But this doesn't mean that it is our responsibility, as players, to come up with excuses for this studio. We are not the ones who make these games, we are the ones who use our hard-earned money to purchase what we think will be a quality product. In effect, we vote with our wallets. This game was supposedly in development since 2012, even tho we now know that they most likely didn't start making any real progress on it till maybe about a year ago. Everything I read about it before its release suggested that it would be on par with many other great titles like Red Dead Redemption 2. Everything I read about it on websites like GameSpot had headlines like this:
Cyberpunk 2077 Crosses Another Milestone, "Looking Better And Better"
The Witcher And Cyberpunk 2077 Dev Is Now Europe's Second-Largest Video Game Company
Cyberpunk 2077 - Dave Klein's Most Anticipated Game Of 2020
And then something like this:Cyberpunk 2077 Has Been Delayed, But The Devs Will Still Have To Crunch
delayed but no problems, in fact it supposedly just confirmed how great the game will be: "CDPR also confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 has been playable from start to finish for months, but "there's still work to done," which is why the company's board of directors unanimously voted for the delay."Night City is massive--full of stories, content and places to visit, but due to the sheer scale and complexity of it all, we need more time to finish playtesting, fixing, and polishing," the company said. "We want Cyberpunk 2077 to be our crowning achievement for this generation and postponing launch will give us the precious months we need to make the game perfect."
Kicinski clarified during the Q&A that some parts of Cyberpunk 2077 were on schedule while others were not. He added that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the game, only that the studio needs more time for polishing and other efforts related to the size and complexity of the project."
I am not sure how much we can blame sites like GameSpot for their failure as journalists to figure out what was happening, since I don't really think of anyone working at GameSpot as a journalist. But it all points to how far the managers at CDPR were willing to go to screw us over and lie to us. Celebrities like Keanu Reeves, Grimes and ASAP Rocky were also excited about it. Eight million people pre-ordered copies and many limited editions to the point that they were all sold out (I actually remember trying to get the limited set with the figurines and all that). When the game finally came out, it was completely unplayable on consoles especially due to really obvious technical problems. I am not gonna bother listing all the technical issues that the game had at release and continues to have nine months later, but here is a video just in case someone miraculously avoided these: glitches for your enjoyment. It turns out that things were far from perfect inside CDPR. On Glassdoor past employees posted plenty of comments about the chaos and toxicity inside the company. It turns out that upper management made unrealistic demands and either ignored or chose to gloss over the obvious fact that the game was not ready for release. “The owners treat the company as a machine to earn money, and do not see employees as people but more like data in the table,” in the words of a former employee (not me, I don't have anything to do with game-making, just playing ). And that's the point, while we vote with our money, they want our money, which is why they mislead us all. I can't imagine buying another title from this company, because as the proverb goes, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
PS I got a message saying that a moderator edited this post because it was "disrespectful." I need to know what CDPR considers respectful behavior, so please elaborate if you do it again.
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