Has CDPR Peaked??

[MrGuyton]

No clue if this was already brought up. If it was, sorry for the duplicate post then.

After Cyberpunk 2077 Big Update: Revamped Combat, Stats changing, New weapons including knife throws and recovery. EVEN the inclusion of Apartments/Safe Houses WITH customization.
Do You Think CDPR is still able Update the game and Include all manner of Mechanics and Features that was Promised and Mentioned but never included? Car Customization, Going into and exploring buildings and so on, etc...
Hell maybe even including stuff the community really wants for the sake of immersion? Sitting at restaurants and enjoying a meal, sitting at bars and getting shit faced the Night City way. in general, interacting with the World and it's Environment of Night City.

Personally, I didn't really believe they'd be able to do anything really. Just Update and fix the core game, Include new cloths and guns, maybe a car or two and thats it. Not till their upcoming Expansion. I mean I honestly HOPED they would but it wasn't all that high.
But after seeing this major update and all the stuff they fixed and revamped, even INCLUDING new major stuff like Apts and shit, I was pretty blown away honestly. Like I didn't think they would actually do something like this. Not cause they didn't want to but I just didn't think it was doable with the engine limitations and Last Gen Consoles issues. Less they alienate the Last Gens.
But seeing this update really not only gave me some hope that they really can Fix up this game but made me wonder if they Really can bring this game back up to the Vision they might've had? Including and Updating Features that they planned but never could do it before due to time restraints.

Do you guys think CDPR will be able to Update the game in the future from now with stuff we all hoped for and wanted?
Or Do you think CDPR has peaked and that was all they can do?

Is there anything you guys Want and Hope for CDPR to include into the game?
I mean, let your imaginations run wild but let's Try to keep it realistic lol
I don't think we'll be getting Flying Cars with Aerial Combat any time soon if at all lol BUT if that does happen at some point in the future for CP2077...then DAMN lol they seriously proved me wrong.

Here's my two pence on this as a middle aged realist who's been gaming since my mother stupidly let me near a Nintendo game and watch in the early 80s.

Imagine someone had given six year old me some pencils and said "Draw the best vehicle in the world", the outcome would be a flying tank that's capable of travelling underwater and beating Senna at Monte Carlo.

CDPR is a tiny studio by global standards, before TW3 about five people and their cat had heard of them. (That's not a dig at the community by the way it's just true) They had an astounding success with TW3 and found themselves sat on a mountain of cash and goodwill, for their investors and fans they were the goose that laid the golden egg.

As a studio CP2077 is basically their fourth game ever, ( I know Gwent but that's just a spin-off of a mechanic) the openess and engagement in the design process and the blue sky thinking during development is IMHO part of that. Their games had got progressively more complicated over time, they had always done in house engine development, and they had always built successful games.

I can well imagine that during a flip chart meeting for "the best narrative rpg game set in a futuristic dystopian city ever" the outcome was something unachievable but it will be ok, the money tree will pay for it and we can build the engine to run it. "Go tell the fans what we're working on!" there was no institutional memory of failure and no reason for any management of expectations. For TW 1,2,3 there wasn't the same global scrutiny.

To answer your question, will we see everything in CP2077, personally I really doubt it. They've had their reality check, they closed the shutters until the mob with the pitchforks went away and they seem to be working on suring up the game to save their reputation. I'm sure there will be some exciting new features for the expansion and some more tweaks to the mechanics for the patches but the monorail, lifepaths and flying cars.... Nah

To the wider question of "Have CDPR peaked" I hope not, and the signs I see look hopeful. They've taken the failure on the chin and seen to be seriously trying to improve their practices, dynamic teams, flexible working etc. They also seem to have done some cost benefit analysis on continuing with the red engine, which is a pretty major departure (and a shame) but I guess if its got too cumbersome and they can't market it then maybe UE5 is better in the long run, they can focus on the quality of the game and let someone else fret about integration of new capabilities, new technologies and memory management.

I would love them to include all the things that I hoped for in CP2077 but maybe they'll be in CP 2, or CP3? Maybe I'm wrong and they'll get gobbled up but the X-beast and become the next bullfrog... Hope not.

 

[RuiErrado]

No clue if this was already brought up. If it was, sorry for the duplicate post then.

After Cyberpunk 2077 Big Update: Revamped Combat, Stats changing, New weapons including knife throws and recovery. EVEN the inclusion of Apartments/Safe Houses WITH customization.
Do You Think CDPR is still able Update the game and Include all manner of Mechanics and Features that was Promised and Mentioned but never included? Car Customization, Going into and exploring buildings and so on, etc...
Hell maybe even including stuff the community really wants for the sake of immersion? Sitting at restaurants and enjoying a meal, sitting at bars and getting shit faced the Night City way. in general, interacting with the World and it's Environment of Night City.

Personally, I didn't really believe they'd be able to do anything really. Just Update and fix the core game, Include new cloths and guns, maybe a car or two and thats it. Not till their upcoming Expansion. I mean I honestly HOPED they would but it wasn't all that high.
But after seeing this major update and all the stuff they fixed and revamped, even INCLUDING new major stuff like Apts and shit, I was pretty blown away honestly. Like I didn't think they would actually do something like this. Not cause they didn't want to but I just didn't think it was doable with the engine limitations and Last Gen Consoles issues. Less they alienate the Last Gens.
But seeing this update really not only gave me some hope that they really can Fix up this game but made me wonder if they Really can bring this game back up to the Vision they might've had? Including and Updating Features that they planned but never could do it before due to time restraints.

Do you guys think CDPR will be able to Update the game in the future from now with stuff we all hoped for and wanted?
Or Do you think CDPR has peaked and that was all they can do?

Is there anything you guys Want and Hope for CDPR to include into the game?
I mean, let your imaginations run wild but let's Try to keep it realistic lol
I don't think we'll be getting Flying Cars with Aerial Combat any time soon if at all lol BUT if that does happen at some point in the future for CP2077...then DAMN lol they seriously proved me wrong.

You should start a poll to see what the people are thinking about it?

 

[Tvaroog]

If Cyberpunk is a "looter shooter" then Witcher is a "looter slasher". Don't hear anyone complaining about that.

 

[MrGuyton]

If Cyberpunk is a "looter shooter" then Witcher is a "looter slasher". Don't hear anyone complaining about that.

Most own world rpg/ adventure types are.... You kill things and get stuff, you kill tougher things you get better/rarer stuff.... Even rogue

 

[DjSpyder]

Most own world rpg/ adventure types are.... You kill things and get stuff, you kill tougher things you get better/rarer stuff.... Even rogue

I think the point here, is That a "looter Shooter" as a "Genre" is heavier on the loop and grind, whereas an RPG is more about story, choices, playing the role, the world etc... and the loot mechanics are in service of that.

The way I look at Looter Shooters, they are like watered down RPGs and they usually end up also falling into the "Games as a service model" it's all about "end game progression" and DLCs and hitting the next tier to move the needle to repeat the cycle of grinding. Anything to keep you in the ecosystem buying cosmetics and loot boxes and grinding towards that new "Gear level" or "Combat Rank". the loot basically replaces leveling and becomes the main focus. It's almost half game design and half business model. At least that's my take on the genre.

And I would not say CP2077 falls into that cycle.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Cyberpunk isn't a "looter shooter", but it does have a lot of "looter shooter" mechanics, was the point. The loot progression is a typical "looter shooter" one. Is the emphasis of the game on the looting? It can be, if that's what you focus on as a player, the game will perfectly lend itself to being played as one (albeit not a very competent one). And yes, The Witcher 3 (specifically) very much has a Diablo-style (or your "looter slasher") loot system as well - I personally don't like it at all. A Witcher wearing Heavy armor for the sake of having Heavy armor in your game to fulfil some loot progression quota is ridiculous, but I know others don't mind it.

Saying something has "looter shooter" mechanics isn't derogatory to the game either, as some seem to think, it's just pointing out the design approach they've taken in that aspect. You don't need to have Diablo-style loot that is designed to fulfil this gameplay loop of always looking for that next Epic to upgrade to (and it'd better have slots for gems!). The Witcher 1 didn't have this system, for example, yet it still featured loot.

As for what genre CP2077 falls into, I'd argue it's difficult to say, because Cyberpunk itself doesn't seem to know what genre it is/wants to be.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

As for what genre CP2077 falls into, I'd argue it's difficult to say, because Cyberpunk itself doesn't seem to know what genre it is/wants to be.

I agree that Cyberpunk try to mix different genres, more or less well, it's subjective and matter of taste.
But summary, Cyberpunk as a simple "shooter-looter" is not true (or maybe due to how those who classify it like that played it). Knowing that you can avoid almost all the combats (except few ones) and also ignore all the loot system. In short, looting and shooting are not mandatory

In my case, I generally keep the same weapons and the same clothes during the whole game. I'm a "loot goblin", so yeak I pickup everything, but it's only to dismantle, so avoid to buy components or make money. It's easy to completely ignore the loot system, by buying everything and indeed, let almost everything on the ground (be able to disable the icons on the HUD could help those which want to ignore the loot...). And during the quests/GIGs, I generally "try" to not fire a single bullet if it's possible. So for me and how I play, "looter-shooter" doesn't really fit, at least it's at light years from BD3 for example.

So for the first game in the serie of many games (I hope), it's pretty good.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Oh definitely - no argument there. I also chose to mostly ignore the loot progression in The Witcher 3, for instance. TW3 did make it easier, though, because it had the Witcher gear, which essentially allowed you to circumvent some of that.

But it is also similarly possible to ignore all the "immersive sim" mechanics in Cyberpunk and play it as a looter shooter exclusively, because those mechanics are also right there for you to enjoy, if that is your style. Both styles suffer, in my opinion, however, by trying to haphazardly include both of them in the same game.

A successful immersive sim generally needs to have very tightly designed encounters for it to work well. It's the difference between Far Cry 3, where I can try to sneak but honestly it's just as simple if not simpler to just shoot the damn guy, vs. Deus Ex, where it's a tactical choice rather than an "I felt like sneaking today" choice.

A successful looter shooter sucks you in with the loot, and you can't just choose to ignore it. If there's no need to get better loot, then the whole loot system itself gets undermined.

 

[MrGuyton]

I think the point here, is That a "looter Shooter" as a "Genre" is heavier on the loop and grind, whereas an RPG is more about story, choices, playing the role, the world etc... and the loot mechanics are in service of that.

No I agree and I've also never felt compelled to go out and grind in CP2077 because I'm " not ready for that dungeon yet" which some rpg games have hardwired into the progression.

As for what genre CP2077 falls into, I'd argue it's difficult to say, because Cyberpunk itself doesn't seem to know what genre it is/wants to be.

That I'm not sure I agree with, it seems to me that they hoped to make a seamless open world rpg but ended up making an open world cdpr narrative rpg game without the cutscenes.

All the "is cp2077 a sandbox/rpg/looter/sim/platformer/point and click adventure?" seems a bit confusing to me. It's none of those but it draws on all of them.

Post automatically merged: Aug 12, 2022

Oh definitely - no argument there. I also chose to mostly ignore the loot progression in The Witcher 3, for instance. TW3 did make it easier, though, because it had the Witcher gear, which essentially allowed you to circumvent some of that.

But it is also similarly possible to ignore all the "immersive sim" mechanics in Cyberpunk and play it as a looter shooter exclusively, because those mechanics are also right there for you to enjoy, if that is your style. Both styles suffer, in my opinion, however, by trying to haphazardly include both of them in the same game.

A successful immersive sim generally needs to have very tightly designed encounters for it to work well. It's the difference between Far Cry 3, where I can try to sneak but honestly it's just as simple if not simpler to just shoot the damn guy, vs. Deus Ex, where it's a tactical choice rather than an "I felt like sneaking today" choice.

A successful looter shooter sucks you in with the loot, and you can't just choose to ignore it. If there's no need to get better loot, then the whole loot system itself gets undermined.

Fully agree on the stealth mechanic, tried it at launch then worked out I could just go back and kill everything for the loot after the mission with no consequences.
Tweaks to the reputation system should be an easy fix for this.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Fully agree on the stealth mechanic, tried it at launch then worked out I could just go back and kill everything for the loot after the mission with no consequences.

Not fair play

 

[ReptilePZ]

That I'm not sure I agree with, it seems to me that they hoped to make a seamless open world rpg but ended up making an open world cdpr narrative rpg game without the cutscenes.

I don't think they even (fully) managed to do that, personally. I wouldn't have minded that. However, it's 30% narrative RPG, i.e. when you're playing the main quest and some of the more prominent side-quests, but all of the Gigs and minor side quests are missing the narrative (whereas that was still present in TW3). There's lore there, definitely, but no story to engage with. I remember playing Cyberpunk, I remember being excited to dig deep into the city and experience all the cool little encounters that will flesh out the story, like The Witcher series did. Little did I know, it was all just a bunch of Codex entries. Don't get me wrong, The Witcher 3 had this kind of filler too - lots of it (I know because I actively avoided it). But it also had bucketloads of quality, narrative-driven side content on top of that, as well as a much more involved main story. Cyberpunk, to me, felt closer in spirit to Dragon Age: Inquisition than The Witcher 3.

 

[DjSpyder]

Saying something has "looter shooter" mechanics isn't derogatory to the game either, as some seem to think, it's just pointing out the design approach they've taken in that aspect. You don't need to have Diablo-style loot that is designed to fulfil this gameplay loop of always looking for that next Epic to upgrade to (and it'd better have slots for gems!). The Witcher 1 didn't have this system, for example, yet it still featured loot.

I don't think it's derogatory, I just think there is a distinction. I've enjoyed Destiny and a few others, but I also worry about Looter shooters that are "live service" because they start to get into slightly predatory practices.

For example, I loved "The Division" and it's DLCS really expanded the game, I honestly thought the sequel was a massive improvement on something I loved, until "The Warlords Of New York" expansion. The meat of that expansion was great, but once you got to the "End" it actually started to lock story content THAT YOU PAID FOR, behind season time limits. meaning you could pay more, or you could grind forever to actually fight the new antagonist. I probably should have seen it coming with the loot boxes already there and timed events, but I never thought main story would be locked in such a way. And I personally don't like having stuff we paid for have a time limit, people have jobs and lives, gating paid content behind a time limit to exploit FOMO is just wrong to me. You brought up Diablo, I played Immortal, and thought, well its Mobile D3, not really blowing my mind but a competent enough game to hold fans over until D4. That was until the battle pass system, and the legendary gems situation and everything became so egregious I'll probably never turn that game on again. Still holding out hope for DIablo 4.

I know that the problem in both of those examples fall more into the live services business model as opposed to "Looter shooter" mechanics, but I feel as if lately those two things are becoming the same.

As for where exactly Cp2077 falls, I'd say it's an RPG that has FPS mechanics which can make it feel a little more shooter than RPG. But I don't see it as a "looter shooter" because build and play style always trump weapons you can literally play this entire game without shooting a gun after the tutorial, with the exception of scripted johnny flashbacks, the entire game can be done as a melee build or stealth with knives, or netrunner or a hybrid of those things, you can basically ignore loot if you want and make your entire progression about perks and cyberware and that to me is a clear distinction.

 

[ReptilePZ]

I don't think it's derogatory, I just think there is a distinction. I've enjoyed Destiny and a few others, but I also worry about Looter shooters that are "live service" because they start to get into slightly predatory practices.

For example, I loved "The Division" and it's DLCS really expanded the game, I honestly thought the sequel was a massive improvement on something I loved, until "The Warlords Of New York" expansion. The meat of that expansion was great, but once you got to the "End" it actually started to lock story content THAT YOU PAID FOR, behind season time limits. meaning you could pay more, or you could grind forever to actually fight the new antagonist. I probably should have seen it coming with the loot boxes already there and timed events, but I never thought main story would be locked in such a way. And I personally don't like having stuff we paid for have a time limit, people have jobs and lives, gating paid content behind a time limit to exploit FOMO is just wrong to me. You brought up Diablo, I played Immortal, and thought, well its Mobile D3, not really blowing my mind but a competent enough game to hold fans over until D4. That was until the battle pass system, and the legendary gems situation and everything became so egregious I'll probably never turn that game on again. Still holding out hope for DIablo 4.

I know that the problem in both of those examples fall more into the live services business model as opposed to "Looter shooter" mechanics, but I feel as if lately those two things are becoming the same.

I know what you mean, I don't really touch live service titles myself for that very reason. It's not my thing and I don't want to encourage it, as it's usually heavily exploited by businesses, as you mentioned.

And it's a shame, really, that often times business throw their worst monetisation tactics at "live service" type games, as the basic idea behind releasing some content, then getting feedback on it and then building on top of that feedback is a sound one - the recommended way to develop software, in fact.

I think there are some studios that do this kind of development right, though. Not necessarily in the "live service" space, but look at Larian, for example, and their success in making the most out of Kick Starter (and now Early Access) with their D:OS titles and BG3. Not only do they get to rigorously test their software and ideas on a big group of customers that's willing to play-test for them, but it's also beneficial for customers because you can see exactly what you're getting. You're better-informed and don't need to rely on the typical closed-doors previews and carefully-curated trailers and gameplay videos.

As for where exactly Cp2077 falls, I'd say it's an RPG that has FPS mechanics which can make it feel a little more shooter than RPG. But I don't see it as a "looter shooter" because build and play style always trump weapons you can literally play this entire game without shooting a gun after the tutorial, with the exception of scripted johnny flashbacks, the entire game can be done as a melee build or stealth with knives, or netrunner or a hybrid of those things, you can basically ignore loot if you want and make your entire progression about perks and cyberware and that to me is a clear distinction.

I mostly agree with what you're saying there. However, as I've already mentioned, i think some of this "freedom" in being able to ignore the entire loot system, for example, is a symptom of poor design rather than what is intended. If your loot system is so unengaging and unnecessary that people want to (and are able to) completely side-step it, then there is something wrong with that system to begin with.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

I mostly agree with what you're saying there. However, as I've already mentioned, i think some of this "freedom" in being able to ignore the entire loot system, for example, is a symptom of poor design rather than what is intended. If your loot system is so unengaging and unnecessary that people want to (and are able to) completely side-step it, then there is something wrong with that system to begin with.

It's only my opinion, but to take an example, which may not be ideal, of course, but in BD3 the loot system which is at the heart of the game I think (after "shooting on everything which move" obviously), is rather engaging for me at least (there is always a brand new good and fun weapon to find). But since it is impossible to ignore this system, all players who find it boring and "crappy" will avoid playing the game altogether.

So yeah, in Cyberpunk it's maybe not ideal nor the best, but at least, these two categories of players can possibly play as they want :
- Either as a Loot goblin and pick up everything.
- Either pick up loot here and there depending on the mood of the moment.
- Either ignore the system totally.
But I agree that creating an interesting and engaging loot system while leaving the possibility of ignoring it, seems like to be a difficult challenge. But I believe that Cyberpunk not doing too badly (but that's just my opinion indeed^^)

 

[MrGuyton]

I don't think they even (fully) managed to do that, personally. I wouldn't have minded that. However, it's 30% narrative RPG, i.e. when you're playing the main quest and some of the more prominent side-quests, but all of the Gigs and minor side quests are missing the narrative (whereas that was still present in TW3). There's lore there, definitely, but no story to engage with. I remember playing Cyberpunk, I remember being excited to dig deep into the city and experience all the cool little encounters that will flesh out the story, like The Witcher series did. Little did I know, it was all just a bunch of Codex entries. Don't get me wrong, The Witcher 3 had this kind of filler too - lots of it (I know because I actively avoided it). But it also had bucketloads of quality, narrative-driven side content on top of that, as well as a much more involved main story. Cyberpunk, to me, felt closer in spirit to Dragon Age: Inquisition than The Witcher 3.

Yeah I completely get what you're saying about less meaty content, many of the ncpd side encounters (monster nests) are oozing with under developed potential as the shards in them are full of back story and lore that supports some of the side quests and gigs, if you could save the individuals involved and further influence the main quests (which happens more in TW3) then the game would be evenmore satisfying. I know Pawel Sasko said in his stream that they intentionally truncated the main story because "most players" didn't finish TW3 but I can't help wondering whether the frustrations with engine development meant time and focus was elsewhere.

Post automatically merged: Aug 12, 2022

Not fair play

The referee didn't stop me

 

[Notserious80]

It's only my opinion, but to take an example, which may not be ideal, of course, but in BD3 the loot system which is at the heart of the game I think (after "shooting on everything which move" obviously), is rather engaging for me at least (there is always a brand new good and fun weapon to find). But since it is impossible to ignore this system, all players who find it boring and "crappy" will avoid playing the game altogether.

So yeah, in Cyberpunk it's maybe not ideal nor the best, but at least, these two categories of players can possibly play as they want :
- Either as a Loot goblin and pick up everything.
- Either pick up loot here and there depending on the mood of the moment.
- Either ignore the system totally.
But I agree that creating an interesting and engaging loot system while leaving the possibility of ignoring it, seems like to be a difficult challenge. But I believe that Cyberpunk not doing too badly (but that's just my opinion indeed^^)

Yea was thinking of Borderlands too when i hear looter shooter. One of few i like since it has such a huge range of unike effects and synergys with builds/characters. Cp2077s loot system is very boring compared too BL. Most unique weapons are static with static effects and so on,

True Cp2077 isent a pure looter shooter (loot farming is hard since most dont respawn exept for enemy gangs, theres no boss farming) but i wish they would have used more fun stuff and effects. On the other hand i guess its more ment for playing trough over and over for the story.. Or just play trough it once.

Yeah I completely get what you're saying about less meaty content, many of the ncpd side encounters (monster nests) are oozing with under developed potential as the shards in them are full of back story and lore that supports some of the side quests and gigs, if you could save the individuals involved and further influence the main quests (which happens more in TW3) then the game would be evenmore satisfying. I know Pawel Sasko said in his stream that they intentionally truncated the main story because "most players" didn't finish TW3 but I can't help wondering whether the frustrations with engine development meant time and focus was elsewhere.

Yea this is kinda true, for me the side quests in Witcher 3 felt more connected and organic in the world. Hunting monsters/diagrams/power shrines. Even if its not a part of the main story it felt more connected. Monster nests and so on are quite boring tho. Its kinda up too every person tho so i might be wrong for some people.

 

[xPR1MA]

Things are not looking good. I am confused how 8 years and $300m ends up like this. I am refering to the current state of the game not the buggy launch.

 

[MrGuyton]

Yea this is kinda true, for me the side quests in Witcher 3 felt more connected and organic in the world. Hunting monsters/diagrams/power shrines. Even if its not a part of the main story it felt more connected. Monster nests and so on are quite boring tho. Its kinda up too every person tho so i might be wrong for some people.

I only called them monster nests, because they seem to be an analogue for that to a certain degree and if it wasn't for the lore shards I wouldn't be as keen to interact with them. But if you could get there before the crime, save character x from the gang/ corpo and then see a change later that would be cool.

Spoiler

For example there is a reported crime that gives background lore to Max's whistle blower from the gig "freedom of the press" if you could save the source and Max could run his story then he wouldn't just be a zero conversation NPC that sits at Regina's place even if it was just not of follow up and a thank you conversation. Instead it's just an excuse to shoot Arasaka ninjas

 

[DjSpyder]

I only called them monster nests, because they seem to be an analogue for that to a certain degree and if it wasn't for the lore shards I wouldn't be as keen to interact with them. But if you could get there before the crime, save character x from the gang/ corpo and then see a change later that would be cool.

Yeah, I get this, the ones that really are a bit of a letdown are the side hustles and crime bosses that "re-open" an area sort of like When you could clear a monster nest or abandoned village and people would return, Except in TW3(and other game with similar mechanics) that usually meant new vendors or NPC interaction or side missions even if they were small ones. IN CP2077 it's like cool "the gangs are gone we can re-open the stores yay" and then also "you can't shop here nothing for you go away" I hope that whatever this Leaked/Rumored "World story" system is, is the fix for that issue, makes interactions within Night City just feel more meaningful or complete

Side note, A mystery I'd love to have the option to solve, or NPC I'd love to save, and I can't think of the name off the top of my head, but it's the reporter investigating the Serial killer, you can find a few of her articles and shards, and eventually her body. But as far as I know there is no resolution to it, if there is I haven't found it and won't look it up because I feel like that would ruin it. But it's those little things like there is something here and I want to see more of it, but it's just incomplete. Although if I'm being fair that does fit with the CP vibe, you're not the hero, you don't always get what you want, and somethings don't wrap up nicely and sometimes the bad guy wins... SO I guess it fits, I'd just like a little more payoff to the little scattered details .

 

[MrGuyton]

Yeah, I get this, the ones that really are a bit of a letdown are the side hustles and crime bosses that "re-open" an area sort of like When you could clear a monster nest or abandoned village and people would return, Except in TW3(and other game with similar mechanics) that usually meant new vendors or NPC interaction or side missions even if they were small ones. IN CP2077 it's like cool "the gangs are gone we can re-open the stores yay" and then also "you can't shop here nothing for you go away" I hope that whatever this Leaked/Rumored "World story" system is, is the fix for that issue, makes interactions within Night City just feel more meaningful or complete

Side note, A mystery I'd love to have the option to solve, or NPC I'd love to save, and I can't think of the name off the top of my head, but it's the reporter investigating the Serial killer, you can find a few of her articles and shards, and eventually her body. But as far as I know there is no resolution to it, if there is I haven't found it and won't look it up because I feel like that would ruin it. But it's those little things like there is something here and I want to see more of it, but it's just incomplete. Although if I'm being fair that does fit with the CP vibe, you're not the hero, you don't always get what you want, and somethings don't wrap up nicely and sometimes the bad guy wins... SO I guess it fits, I'd just like a little more payoff to the little scattered details .

You're right of course, you're never supposed to be the "chosen one" in Cyberpunk, it is supposed to be about the futile endeavours of the individual in the face of corruption, lawlessness and corporate machinations. But the little wins (like saving a neighbour) are supposed to show that individual actions can still make a difference on a small scale.
I'd hoped for more of those, and the consequences that come from upsetting the gangs or corpos involved.

Yeah I also haven't looked up the serial killer, there are so many little morsels that I wish we could chew on a bit more.

Fully agree on the cleared areas "Hey V, watch out, the Tigers were here again, looking for you"