If you manage to put a bullet into Kei Arasaka, there should ABSOLUTELY be repercussions. At the very least, Arasaka should hostile you on sight, and possibly be camped out at all of your known safehouses.
If you can manage that at level 1 you are a GOD among men. hahahaha, no definitely should be able to do that by at least level 15 with all the right implants and xp in the right skills.
the fatal flaw to this logic is... its a game, not real life, the hero should always be better than the opposition or on her way to being so... if i wanted reality id go scuff some gangbangers shoes till im riddled with holes...
Be that as it may: if you *were* ZOMG ubar-powerful, and could smite NPCs with impunity, at will, without consequence, what would be left?
If you could shotgun-mouthwash every key NPC in the game at your initial meetings, before receiving jobs or missions, what would keep you interested and playing?
Good thing that in Cyberpunk there are no "heros" just a buncha joe-shmoes that wound up having a common goal or just some guy....Unless your name is Johny "silverhand", Rogue, Santiago, Blackhand or Edger.
Also, in the world of Cyberpunk..there's always someone better, always....and they usually work for either Militech or Arasaka.
Also, it's cool to rile up the boosters....nah really...get em going...just rioting on down that street making NCPD have to come out to calm em down, then some jacked-up, laced-up metal head jumps out alongside this nasty thing called a Punknaught and the fun begins. Cause ya see, gangs are just gangs in Night City, they to have their own connections.
Also you're right this is a game not real life, the problem is that this game is following a game that is known for being rather hardcore and raw.
*thinks about his own post abit....* Getting boosters to riot through downtown right into NCPD...that would be all kinds of fun to try and pull off!
I'm not sure. Minor and side quest givers, ok. But major players in the story line? That would stop the narrative dead in its tracks. This is one of those Bethesda style open-world conventions I don't think CDPR should adopt wholesale.
...Personally, I'm against the convention of "bulletproof" NPCs. I don't know if there's a way to write the storyline in such a way that it could continue, if you unwittingly (or callously) wipe one of the key NPCs. If it stops the storyline dead in its tracks, I'd see that as a reasonable consequence. If the storyline and gameplay has *brought* you to a specific NPC, it's pretty safe to assume that you probably shouldn't liquify them on the spot, "just because."
^^ This seems like an acceptable compromise. Though, I'd be curious to see how a player would receive Jobs / Missions, if you keep snuffing the people that are supposed to be handing 'em out. It's not like there's a "dragon" or a "pack of orcs" on the outskirts of town, waiting to get mowed down, so the village can then shower you with riches and maidens.
If there's a "Main Quest" line running in the game, and I hope there is, then there has to be an alternative way of proceeding if you kill off a key NPC for that main quest. If it's too difficult for the writers to cover every possibility, then include some game mechanic, like a complicated/expensive way of accessing dead guys' memories.
I'm pretty sure that a big majority of players wouldn't call it "Choice and Consequences" if they hit a brick wall on the main quest because of something like that. They'd call it a bug.
I'm pretty sure that a big majority of players wouldn't call it "Choice and Consequences" if they hit a brick wall on the main quest because of something like that. They'd call it a bug.
The thing I'm having trouble wrapping my head around is the idea that you should be able to kill ANY NPC in the game, with zero consequences to the storyline. Other people have talked about immersion breakers; it would break immersion for me, if I could just waltz through the Arasaka tower, hose down every NPC in the boardroom on down, and be able to go about my merry way, with nary a consequence.
Oh, true. There should be horrible consequences, including your own inevitable death. Like, the ONLY way to do it is to exploit save/laod mechanics, otherwise itshould be death.
Again, I'd like to see no story-necessary NPCs. None. Zero. Any roll can roll to someone else if it's plot necessary, or each of, say, ten primary NPCs should have an alternate plot if they get cacked.
And your fatal logic flaw is, that you assume, that Cyberpunk is about "good clean Hollywood action fun" where the hero takes on the bad guys, saves humanity and gets the girl in the end. That's not what Cyberpunk is about. Cyberpunk is about choices and consequences. If you look at the example quests in th corps books, you will see that it deals with the possibiliy, that players decide to kill npcs who are essential for the narrative.
Oh, and the notion that the hero should be better than his opposition is a quite unhealthy one in Cyberpunk. Every now and then there are players who think they are entitled to 80+ points for their char creation. I haven't met a single GM who could resist screwing a player over for maxing out his char. Furthermore, the rulebook explicitly states, that Cyberpunk is not about good clean fun. If you try to go out and mess with some random gangbangers in Cyberpunk, there is a good chance that you'll end up riddled with bullet holes.
Let me quote the rulebook
I say if you wantonly kill off NPC's, especially mission critical ones, you should either a.) Have the mission become unavailable or be able to perform the mission, but be missing crucial information that can help complete it.