What defines an RPG?
Story
Character customization
Open world
Choosing your path
Variety of combat styles
Cyberpunk got all of those
I see a lot people asking themselves what RPG is? Well, i think it's role-playing game. This requires roles to be played, you choose a role and you roleplay it simply so character creation and paths also the amount of variety in how you build your character using skills and perks pretty much is the most important, also choices in the game and different endings that match the role you play. Cyberpunk got all of this. Witcher 3 didn't really since you were playing a pre made character that was quite defined in his way of being.
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You meet several people who you can either kill or not.
RPGs don't exist. No supposed RPG meets the requirements of a true RPG, hence no RPGs exist. Even in a tabletop RPG you cannot spontaneously decide to become a florist and have a smooth continuation of meaningful content. And as such, RPGs don't exist.
To me it's an FPS with action adventure character progress elements. I would disagree it's an RPG by definition - but I didn't care in any way as I just wanted to play an open-world cyberpunk game. For the latter, it delivered.
How does that differs from Skyrim? It's actually more then skyrim since if you choose different "path" in skyrim you will just get an extra skill.
How does Skyrim or fallout have more combat variation?
Let's be honest and analize it:
Skyrim:
One handed
Two handed
Bow
Fire magic
Healing magic
Ice magic
Long time i played so i probably forgot something.
Cyberpunk:
Swords
Fists
Mantis blades
Nanowire
Pistols
Shotguns
Automatic weapon
Sniper
Hacking
Breaching
Sneaking and grabbing from behind
Well, Skyrim might not be an RPG after all? At least if you compare how much variety you have with Cyberpunk!
Personally, more of an on-the-rails shooter. Everyone is playing essentially the same V - we aren't all creating unique Vs who react differently or are treated differently (changing your appearance doesn't change Vs personality). I'd say this is an FPS with roleplaying game elements added on.
Isn't an on the rails shooter essentially cod, there is no open world in on the rails shooters... Why just add a bad definition of what a FPS game like this is? You've likely never played ANYTHING like cyberpunk
Missed "interaction with world", which Skyrim has and CP falls short on. For me, this is what makes the RPG feel like you are doing more than the action adventure missions that the devs expect you to complete. Being able to go everywhere in an open world is rather pointless when, once you get there, all you can do is stare at it.
Since I mentioned it, "open world" is true, but this is basically within the bounds of the action adventure narrative from the developers. Too many times, once you are done with a quest, you cannot return. The place is a "set" that is only used for the quest. Doors no longer work where one would expect that they should still work. Places that are not used as set pieces are, too frequently, just back drops. Doors are unopenable. Containers cannot be interacted with. People have nothing interesting to say.
CP2077 is an RPG game, and I have no doubt of that, but it isn't an RPG game that encourages the player to stick around. There are action-adventure reasons to stick around, but not really RPG reasons.
Edit: If they have decided to recast the game as "action adventure story" rather than "action adventure RPG", they were correct in that decision.
Missed "interaction with world", which Skyrim has and CP falls short on. For me, this is what makes the RPG feel like you are doing more than the action adventure missions that the devs expect you to complete. Being able to go everywhere in an open world is rather pointless when, once you get there, all you can do is stare at it.
Since I mentioned it, "open world" is true, but this is basically within the bounds of the action adventure narrative from the developers. Too many times, once you are done with a quest, you cannot return. The place is a "set" that is only used for the quest. Doors no longer work where one would expect that they should still work. Places that are not used as set pieces are, too frequently, just back drops. Doors are unopenable. Containers cannot be interacted with. People have nothing interesting to say.
CP2077 is an RPG game, and I have no doubt of that, but it isn't an RPG game that encourages the player to stick around. There are action-adventure reasons to stick around, but not really RPG reasons.
Edit: If they have decided to recast the game as "action adventure story" rather than "action adventure RPG", they were correct in that decision.
this game has more stuff than Skyrim, and the vast majority of places you go to, you can return to. Also, an RPG in a city, would have a lot of closed doors.
Skyrim also had nothing to do after completing the map
Missed "interaction with world", which Skyrim has and CP falls short on. For me, this is what makes the RPG feel like you are doing more than the action adventure missions that the devs expect you to complete. Being able to go everywhere in an open world is rather pointless when, once you get there, all you can do is stare at it.
Sorry, but no. There are dozens of far more complex RPGs than Skyrim or Cyberpunk that are not defined by level of interactivity with the world. What you're describing is Bethesda's style of OW RPG, which Cyberpunk is clearly not. It's not focused on exploration and intercepting random NPC to interrogate them about their jobs and families, but on story, characters, dialogues and quests.
Funny, but there's no sentence that can describe Skyrim better than this one. You can even go a step further and extend it to every sentient being in the game.
Since we're arguing semantics and definitions, Soulsbourne games aren't jRPG's - they're western RPG's (which happen to be made in Japan). A church doesn't have to be built in Germany to be called a gothic cathedral.
As for people comparing this game to Skyrim:
In Skyrim you can join various guilds, take part in either side of a civil war, and alter your character by becoming a werewolf or vampire. You have various crafting skills armor/weapons and potions. You can customize your gear using enchantments.
Cyberpunk doesn't hold a candle to Skyrim in the RPG department, and no, cyberpunk isn't an RPG. It just has some RPG elements.
In Skyrim you can join various guilds, take part in either side of a civil war, and alter your character by becoming a werewolf or vampire. You have various crafting skills armor/weapons and potions. You can customize your gear using enchantments.
I'm pretty sure you can't join factions in games like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights or KotOR. You can in Planescape Torment, but it's pretty inconsequential.
You can customize your gear in Cyberpunk, too.
this game has more stuff than Skyrim, and the vast majority of places you go to, you can return to. Also, an RPG in a city, would have a lot of closed doors.
Skyrim also had nothing to do after completing the map
"Closed doors"... we can conveniently open every door that we need to open to compete the main developer-preferred path through the game. The majority of other doors are either not something that we can interact with, or use "magic locks" that we cannot open. If the bad guys would update their locks to the more common "magic lock", they wouldn't have mercs breaking in all the time.
In Skyrim you can join various guilds, take part in either side of a civil war, and alter your character by becoming a werewolf or vampire. You have various crafting skills armor/weapons and potions. You can customize your gear using enchantments.
Cyberpunk doesn't hold a candle to Skyrim in the RPG department, and no, cyberpunk isn't an RPG. It just has some RPG elements.
I'm pretty sure you can't join factions in games like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights or KotOR. You can in Planescape Torment, but it's pretty inconsequential.
You can customize your gear in Cyberpunk, too.
There's a lot of things go into RPG's. Some games do more of one than the others. cRPG"s (ie: Baldur's Gate) have a lot of character and party customization in the form of classes and companions.
The heart of Cyberpunk 2077 is a looter shooter in a very visually and aesthetically pleasing city. It adds elements from RPG's, but that's just the icing on top of a very underbaked cake.
Honestly, Skyrim isn't exactly a stellar example of an RPG (it's very streamlined compared to say Morrowind), but the point is even Skyrim (another game about a fixed character - the Dragonborn) really showcases the differences between itself and Cyberpunk 2077 in that regard.
"Closed doors"... we can conveniently open every door that we need to open to compete the main developer-preferred path through the game. The majority of other doors are either not something that we can interact with, or use "magic locks" that we cannot open. If the bad guys would update their locks to the more common "magic lock", they wouldn't have mercs breaking in all the time.
Skyrim is a spread out area set in a time with few locks. Night city is a big city. Walk around a city and see how much you can open. I guarantee you Night city has Waaaaay more open doors than Skyrim. An actual unrealistic amount of openable doors. And yeah, developers close doors to guide players away from non existent content. But you are implying its better to have a smaller less realistic city, with less room for growth, just so players don't feel annoyed there's doors they can't open. I mean they could have made night city with the same amount of doors as skyrim, and cut the city to 1/3? the size and had them all open, but thats not really a better experience imo.
There's a lot of things go into RPG's. Some games do more of one than the others. cRPG"s (ie: Baldur's Gate) have a lot of character and party customization in the form of classes and companions.
The heart of Cyberpunk 2077 is a looter shooter in a very visually and aesthetically pleasing city. It adds elements from RPG's, but that's just the icing on top of a very underbaked cake.
Honestly, Skyrim isn't exactly a stellar example of an RPG (it's very streamlined compared to say Morrowind), but the point is even Skyrim (another game about a fixed character - the Dragonborn) really showcases the differences between itself and Cyberpunk 2077 in that regard.
what makes something an rpg in your view? to be honest party customization really isn't an rpg feature, thats more of a game mechanic. Nothing about rpg mandates a party. This game has as much, if nit more build customization than most rpgs. It just doesn't make everything into a separate class with specific rules.
I don't see the "looter" part in Cyberpunk after a certain point - collecting all loot becomes increasingly unnecessary as your character becomes more leveled up (so you don't find better equipment every 2 minutes, like you did at the start) and more specialized in specific categories (so you don't need melee weapons as someone specialized in handguns) . It's not a "shooter" either if you decide to play as a hacker or katana wielder.
It's a story-driven action RPG in Ubisoft-style open world. Same as TW3. Unlike TW3, which tried to imitate gameplay of Dark Souls, Cyberpunk tries to do that with Deus Ex.
At no point it attempts to provide Skyrim experience.
