Like most of you I have played and finished RDR2 and although it's an amazing game it has some narrative issues that plague most open world games and I would like to address them here. ***This thread will not contain any major spoilers but the mildest of spoilers ahead.***
My biggest issue with the game has to be the disparity between what is going on in the main plot line and which sidemissions are available to you. For instance during the game you are being hunted by the law they know where your camp is, but there is also a new sidemission to go fishing. Now if you are like me and you roleplay all your games, you really need to get the hell out of there and you don't have time to go fishing. Several of these incidents were present during the game and it just didn't feel well planned out. What would have been more sensible is after you finished of a big bank robbery you had to retreat to the countryside and lay low. This would have been a great opportunity to have a sidemission where you go fishing. Now I assume CP77 will have heists like takedown a data server, steal info a la Neuromancer or just rob money and then retreat to the outskirts and lay low. It would be a good idea to have sidemissions that don't go against the main plot line, like go to the city and meet x and do y its like no u should lay low in the outskirts people are looking for u.
Missing out on sidequests. Yes you can miss out on sidequests that actually have a bearing on the main storyline but you wouldn't know that cause the game doesn't tell you, until its too late. and that sidemission is gone forever. Very frustrating as some sidequests are very important to the main story line but the game doesn't tell you which.
Game length. This had to be the longest Rockstar game ever. took me about 50hours easy to complete the game and i didn't even do half of the sidemissions. This is the first case where the game being too long actually hurt it. By the end of it I wanted to throw up I was so fed up with where the story went I won't spoil it but there are things that happen that could have easily been part of the sidemissions cause they have no bearing on the main story line but they part of the main story and u can't procede unless u finish them.
My advice for CP2077 is keep the story focused. Be sensible with the timing of sidemissions. And don't be too long. 25-30 hours is fine for the main quest and some sidemissions. Let the player know if a sidemission is going to be eliminated if you don't do it immediately. Also separate the sidemissions that are important and essential to the storyline versus the ones that are not that important or at all. Few tips-
My biggest issue with the game has to be the disparity between what is going on in the main plot line and which sidemissions are available to you. For instance during the game you are being hunted by the law they know where your camp is, but there is also a new sidemission to go fishing. Now if you are like me and you roleplay all your games, you really need to get the hell out of there and you don't have time to go fishing. Several of these incidents were present during the game and it just didn't feel well planned out. What would have been more sensible is after you finished of a big bank robbery you had to retreat to the countryside and lay low. This would have been a great opportunity to have a sidemission where you go fishing. Now I assume CP77 will have heists like takedown a data server, steal info a la Neuromancer or just rob money and then retreat to the outskirts and lay low. It would be a good idea to have sidemissions that don't go against the main plot line, like go to the city and meet x and do y its like no u should lay low in the outskirts people are looking for u.
Missing out on sidequests. Yes you can miss out on sidequests that actually have a bearing on the main storyline but you wouldn't know that cause the game doesn't tell you, until its too late. and that sidemission is gone forever. Very frustrating as some sidequests are very important to the main story line but the game doesn't tell you which.
Game length. This had to be the longest Rockstar game ever. took me about 50hours easy to complete the game and i didn't even do half of the sidemissions. This is the first case where the game being too long actually hurt it. By the end of it I wanted to throw up I was so fed up with where the story went I won't spoil it but there are things that happen that could have easily been part of the sidemissions cause they have no bearing on the main story line but they part of the main story and u can't procede unless u finish them.
My advice for CP2077 is keep the story focused. Be sensible with the timing of sidemissions. And don't be too long. 25-30 hours is fine for the main quest and some sidemissions. Let the player know if a sidemission is going to be eliminated if you don't do it immediately. Also separate the sidemissions that are important and essential to the storyline versus the ones that are not that important or at all. Few tips-