The color pallet and cleanliness of the Night City in the trailer was a bit jarring at first but I forgot that the city is in Southern Cal. Not sure if a real Southern Cal city is the right image if CDPR wants to get that class conflict dystopia vibe.
Grown up a NYC kid I honestly could not tell the difference between the bad and middle class neighborhoods in LA just by looking at the streets. The are few signs of urban decay anywhere because there are no urban concrete canyons and cold harsh winters with their scars from neglect in prominent display. LA's uber rich also don't really live or usually play in "LA" to elicit the kind of resentments from day to day contacts. It's not like in NYC until recently that the most expensive properties in the world was right adjacent to the most dangerous areas. The contrast between classes is even more drastic during the bad times like in the 70s and 80s or during winter. Southern Cal does not have the Dicksonian urban contrast because the weather and that the classes aren't squeezed together. I get that CDPR is trying to get that LA/SF look because that where the source material places it (also that a flat open world space is much easier to build than a vertical one) but there is a reason that dystopian fictional megalopolises never look anything like the real spread out LA. That's why Escape from NY is a classic and Escape from LA is a joke. The weather alone also eliminates Southern Cal from worst to live cities list.
Of course if CDPR is going for more of a "sin city" vibe rather than a class segregated dystopian tinderbox then Night City in the trailer looks perfectly fine, just don't be bothered if people keep comparing it to GTA5.
Grown up a NYC kid I honestly could not tell the difference between the bad and middle class neighborhoods in LA just by looking at the streets. The are few signs of urban decay anywhere because there are no urban concrete canyons and cold harsh winters with their scars from neglect in prominent display. LA's uber rich also don't really live or usually play in "LA" to elicit the kind of resentments from day to day contacts. It's not like in NYC until recently that the most expensive properties in the world was right adjacent to the most dangerous areas. The contrast between classes is even more drastic during the bad times like in the 70s and 80s or during winter. Southern Cal does not have the Dicksonian urban contrast because the weather and that the classes aren't squeezed together. I get that CDPR is trying to get that LA/SF look because that where the source material places it (also that a flat open world space is much easier to build than a vertical one) but there is a reason that dystopian fictional megalopolises never look anything like the real spread out LA. That's why Escape from NY is a classic and Escape from LA is a joke. The weather alone also eliminates Southern Cal from worst to live cities list.
Of course if CDPR is going for more of a "sin city" vibe rather than a class segregated dystopian tinderbox then Night City in the trailer looks perfectly fine, just don't be bothered if people keep comparing it to GTA5.
