Let's talk about Fixers

[WolvesCreek]

I wish there was some form of "final mission" or at least like awareness when you finish EVERYTHING they have to offer. I literally just had to check my achievements to see if I'd gotten them all and it kinda felt hollow after.

 

[CS554]

Great points but the game would have to be severely redesigned to achieve that goal. I had little to no emotional connections with fixers. I didn't like them or dislike them. It was just "pure biz" and I thought that maybe, just maybe I would know them better and actually the jobs I do for them would make some impact on the world. Except for Wakako (kind of) - nothing really

I didn't went to meet every fixer. My V didn't wanted to these relationships be anything like normal because they are not. I met some, Dakota was okay, Padre told me something about the world also Wakako, values of that world.

Demonstrating V's rise as mercenary, if there would be additional content that would be perhaps some group offering a position in their crew. A temp for someone who got killed in their last job, maybe several got killed in that mission and there could be other temps too. V might take it or but if V did then V's role would be decisive if gig goes sideways or not. I don't recall everything from game plot, how Rogue would react to that for example.

I would probably make sure that not everyone survives that mission, that it would be about each ability to perform in their designed role and if V tries to save everyone then more people would die. Also, after completing that mission, make sure that fixer is either totally uninterested about losses or totally superficial if there's any condolences. These people are not our friends, we are their tools they use to get their cut from the deal.

 

[hulkman2456]

Afterlife would be great to demonstrate that but I can see several problems as well.

1. How motivate V to visit the club outside of what is required?

Claire is the way you can make V go to the Afterlife. Expand on her story prior to doing the races.

2. How players would react to feedback from other mercs whom may comment V's performance in positive or negative way, as he is competition after all?

This is a rep system. If you cross a line. The Fixer terminates their service with you. You can have addition fixers fill in for this roll. And re-adapt the old missions to the other fixers. Example: Kill 200 cops. Regina cuts ties. This makes the Cyupshychosis side stuff gone. However, add a new fixer in. This re-enables the Cyber psychosis missions. but your goal is to kill them. Get their parts and drop them off to the fixer.

3. How to avoid situation where player immersion shatters as good performance should reflect to offers to join mercenary groups and participate heist or something? things that cannot work with V's situation but many players wouldn't care about that after all

My immerison is already broken. When I'm doing fixer jobs that go against other fixers. And no one gives a crap. Use proper story planning and logic to do branching fixers. Which is what people would like to see.

 

[CS554]

...

Don't edit my posts. Fix your quotes.

 

[CyberDiligence]

The fixers would work better if we had any competition like other mercs. Then it would be a reason for V to complete those contracts exactly as advised. Right now Regina calls us begging not to kill another cyber psycho but it seems she has no one else to call even if we killed like 10 of them already.

 

[ash23neuro]

V is so well known after The Heist (which was in fact total disaster) that every fixer in NC wants him/her to work for them and has some kind of GPS transmitter that they are aware as soon as V enters their domain. I don't get it.

 

[CyberDiligence]

V is so well known after The Heist (which was in fact total disaster) that every fixer in NC wants him/her to work for them and has some kind of GPS transmitter that they are aware as soon as V enters their domain. I don't get it.

Then why Rouge is so hesitant? That doesn't make sense. It would make sense if no other fixer would actually contact us.

 

[pndrad]

They should have done Fixers totally different, instead of them calling you every time, they should have instead made V meet with them first and given him a data shard. Then once you complete all the missions on the shard V goes back to the fixer to get another. V should be able to call them to get more info on the current quests on the shard. Missions should unlock every 10 or so levels up.

Street cred I think unlocks certain missions, but it should also draw the attention of upper level Fixers. Rogue is clearly the top of the top, but the other Fixers seem like the bottom of the bottom. If I recall correctly there is an in game phone call between Rogue and Wakako, and Rogue basically says she could crush Wakako at any moment. There needs to be a middle ground between Rogue and the current Fixers.

 

[CyberDiligence]

I’m now imagining some kind of nightmare scenario where Delemain’s quests become radiant and repeatable, and you’re endlessly spammed with “Hey V, another one of my cars needs your help. I’ve marked its location on your map” no matter where you are.

Cyberpunk multiplayer anyone?

 

[BarefootWarrior]

Good post, gave me a good laugh too. My question is, why would I buy a car from a 'fixer'? Seriously, think about it. More importantly, why are the 'fixers' used car dealers to begin with?

I'm almost done with a second play through and my map is FULL of used cars...why? I really could do without this..ummm ...feature? in my case, I don't use the cars anyway, I use a bike. Yeah, I know, they sell bikes to...

 

[taiwanluthiers]

I know that this is a small issue comparing to all the problems the game is struggling with but we need to talk about Fixers.
First, the fixers call me out of nowhere while I'm stepping in into a new location (and that makes the first drive through the whole map a very unpleasant experience). They introduce themselves and specifically say "if you are looking for a job in XYZ region, call me" But it's never the case! I will never need to call them ever since they will be calling me! All the time really. Why do we even have the fixers icon on the map? Why is it needed? We already have like 500 of them (including cars to buy!!!). If I need to visit a fixer (like Regina or Dakota) since it's sometimes important for a side quest those fixer icons change into a quiet icon regardless.
Why does this game tell me that I have to CALL them to get something extra if calling them doesn't actually do anything?
Also, when I was questioning Fingers asking him "Who is your fixer" I was under the impression that you can have... one at the time? Otherwise, V asked the same question would answer ALL OF THEM. Don't get me wrong, maybe it's good for the whole open-world thing and the free roam, but as a tool to build the world and characters? Not so much.
That's a complaint. And here's a wish:
I would love all the fixers to be introduced just like Dex. A special meeting of sorts that actually gives you a sense of who this fixer is. I would love the small gigs to have consequences. If I don't follow instructions, it should have consequences - either for me and the gigs available or the fixers themselves.
PS: Please shut them up or give me an option to do so. Please. I can't stand those calls all the time. I literally had to turn off the sound while playing so annoyed at those calls. I even put my own phone on silent.

This is a semi secret feature... as in the game makes NO mention of it.

You notice all the question marks around the map, and unknown quests? By visiting the fixer and having a chat with him/her you can turn those question marks into something identifiable. Mostly gigs though.

I think there's a story reason as to why you can work for/against factions without any consequences. V is an edgerunner. That means he/she works for fixers, and does whatever the fixer tells him/her to do. Now fixers don't go around assigning jobs for his/her faction unless it's personal (some are, especially from Padre). I think the rule is, a client goes to a fixer, tells them whatever needs to be done (kill someone, steal something, protect someone, etc.) and the fixer assigns various jobs to edgerunners and takes a cut. So edgerunners do whatever fixers tells them to do and it's known that edgerunners are completely neutral in this. So if a gang has a problem with something an edgerunner does, then he can go to the client (but fixers aren't supposed to reveal who that is). As long as the edgerunner does what the fixer tells him, they can't or won't hold it against him. I guess rules of the street or whatever.

A faction system would make more sense if V is actually invested in any of them. But from what I can tell, V is just an edgerunner without any allegiance to any factions. The only time V can join a faction is to take the star ending where he joins the Aldecados.

I think the amount of spam calls you get from fixers depends on your street cred too. If it's high enough you even get one from Rogue.

 

[Rensarvik]

I will just quote what I wrote in another thread about one potential way gigs and fixers could have been implemented better:

There is no reason why mercenary gigs simply need to be in form "receive short phone call + text message to assassinate someone, rescue someone, or hack some computer". Whole thing could be made a lot more varied.

Like maybe start off by having you first meet with fixer face to face before he even starts providing you jobs, making him more of an actual character. Then you could have level of trust with fixer which raises as you complete jobs, and even more if you also complete optional objectives. As trust raises fixer starts offering more lucrative gigs. Now you can throw in some gigs with moral choices: do you really want to assassinate this clearly innocent guy or let him go and take a trust hit with the fixer?

You can vary up gigs themselves too. Instead of simple assassination, maybe have someone demand that you deliver target directly to them alive, so that they could kill them personally. This would open up possibility for interesting chats with client and target. Could even have target's buddies trying to save him midway. Or take those gigs where you steal compromising data from some computer, and add a second stage where you meet with a client, who asks you to provide them with security as they try to use that stolen data for blackmailing someone. There are lots ways mercenary gigs could be made more varied.

 

[hulkman2456]

I think there's a story reason as to why you can work for/against factions without any consequences. V is an edgerunner. That means he/she works for fixers, and does whatever the fixer tells him/her to do. Now fixers don't go around assigning jobs for his/her faction unless it's personal (some are, especially from Padre). I think the rule is, a client goes to a fixer, tells them whatever needs to be done (kill someone, steal something, protect someone, etc.) and the fixer assigns various jobs to edgerunners and takes a cut. So edgerunners do whatever fixers tells them to do and it's known that edgerunners are completely neutral in this. So if a gang has a problem with something an edgerunner does, then he can go to the client (but fixers aren't supposed to reveal who that is). As long as the edgerunner does what the fixer tells him, they can't or won't hold it against him. I guess rules of the street or whatever.

The problem is the Maelstrom don't follow this. Because there is a mission where they go after V with the fake Brain dance. So they are allowed to break this magic honor code. But no one else? Just don't buy it. I can slaughter the Animals club building. It gets shut down, and I'm totally cool to walk around. Such realism. I'm open to this type of story. But I should also have a chance of calling said fixer. And we find out they're dead and replaced by someone else. Or totally wiped.

 

[Robotic_Onion]

The problem is the Maelstrom don't follow this. Because there is a mission where they go after V with the fake Brain dance. So they are allowed to break this magic honor code. But no one else? Just don't buy it. I can slaughter the Animals club building. It gets shut down, and I'm totally cool to walk around. Such realism. I'm open to this type of story. But I should also have a chance of calling said fixer. And we find out they're dead and replaced by someone else. Or totally wiped.

If you mean quest "Sweet Dreams" Those are Scavs not Maelstrom.

 

[koalahugs]

What I don't get is the pontification at the start of phone calls.

"V,
[start with ponitification here]
[more relevant details here]
see detes attached."

Maybe pontification isn't the right word but y'all know what I mean.
I don't think Regina was like that for the cyberpsychosis stuff though...

 

[hulkman2456]

If you mean quest "Sweet Dreams" Those are Scavs not Maelstrom.

That's how great and amazing the gangs etc. where developed. I can't remember any of them.

 

[Koriath]

It would be entirely fine if the game loop was "Visit Fixer, talk to him, get mission".
Then you drive there, shoot up the place and either the gig ends with a phonecall, or you return with a request item/information.
Dex and Rogue introduction scenes are great. All fixers should have that level of detail. And if you piss them off (fail missions, other conditions) they don't give you any more jobs.

Speaking of which: why are all fixers used car salesman? Just drop a store somewhere where I can select a car, buy it, and it gets added to my Vehicle menu. It's ridiculous to have all these abandoned cars parked, waiting for you to buy them and then have the Fixers try to sell them to you.

 

[Didacgomez]

The problem is the Maelstrom don't follow this. Because there is a mission where they go after V with the fake Brain dance. So they are allowed to break this magic honor code. But no one else? Just don't buy it. I can slaughter the Animals club building. It gets shut down, and I'm totally cool to walk around. Such realism. I'm open to this type of story. But I should also have a chance of calling said fixer. And we find out they're dead and replaced by someone else. Or totally wiped.

They don't go after V,they just pick whoever falls in the trap of the fake BD...for them was just a happy coincidence that is V but they would have cut the pieces of any other that buys that BD.

 

[ntblood]

There is a mod, Immersive Roleplay Mod, that fixes some of the issues you're suggesting. It creates a faction system among other things.

Mod unavailable

This mod is not currently available

www.nexusmods.com

 

[bladdermirror]

i appreciate all the lawful good fixers. wish there were trauma team and more corpo fixers too.