I'm worried about combat in Cyberpunk 2077, especially concerning enemy AI. In many AAA games, difficulty is often scaled by adjusting health and damage output of the enemies and player character. If cyberpunk 2077 really wants to succeed in combat & stealth approaches, great AI would give the player a more fun tactical challenge than a frustrating / boring one. Difficulty could effect enemy tactics, enemy placement, enemy types, weapon / armor types, etc. As long as the enemies are NOT bullet sponges. CD projekt red shouldn't just break boundaries in narrative design, but in RPG gameplay design as well.
What do you guys think? Anything that worries you concerning combat and enemy AI? Are there better ways in which difficulty could effect enemies?
I love a stronger tactical approach, that's why I wanna avoid a solo run in my playthrough. But, yes, please no bullet sponges. And if the bosses do incorporate that element then I think they should have some critical hit points on them, like really difficult to aim at kind of stuff or a way to utilize the environment against them.
I'm not expecting an exciting new way of combat, but I would like to simply just have FUN with a not so simple design.
I'm going to give "my two eddies "worth" on this one and this is strictly MY OPINION ( I know, Opinions are like ASSHOLES...Everyone has one and all of 'em stink...except MINE, of course...LOL!). Anyway. I agree on the "No bullet sponges" statement. I think, if you want to make a nemesis more difficult, do it realistically: make them exceptionally HARD TO GET TO. If the guy/gal is supposed to be such a badass, surely they have butt loads of minions to get through, have the best equipment to work with and, most importantly, have a strong sense of tactics and dirty tricks...not to mention friendlies willing to hide them if the heat gets too hot. I will use a real world example: Look at the hunt for Bin Laden. HOW long did it take the U.S military to find this guy? Now, if the party manages to get the drop on a major bad guy, I say, don't punish them by a 45 min. "BULLET SPONGE" death bout...especially if the character plays it smart and dispose of the enemy from a mile away with a sniper weapon or bombs the hell out of the bad guys hideout. I guess my major point is (although Cybernetics CAN swing the balances somewhat) : A well placed bullet/bomb/grenade can kill ANYONE. There aren't any superheroes, folks.
What if the game sends more and more enemies higher your difficult lvl is? Speaking of combat I think it would be quite fun if Trauma team came to help you if you died. You might see where Im going with this. Higher difficult lvl, more enemies, more you die, more traume you need to use, more money to spend etc. Just a thought.
I would like high difficulty to reduce the bullet-spongyness of V. So one (direct) hit with a shotgun means game over unless you have really good armor / armor implants. Also no quick healing. Some drugs to keep you going, but no "wait a second/press a button and your health goes from almost dead to full".
Agree on no bullet sponge for "normal" enemies. However, if they have good body armor or even dermal skin implants / armored skull replacements, some spongyness makes sense. Like the guy in the trailer: when trauma team opens up on his group, he takes a direct hit to the head, only to show there is metal beneath the skin & he is able to shrugg it off.
Or like the heavily armored operatives in the final battle of john wick 3, where his normal guns are just not enough: They get thrown down by the impact, but no penetration -> get back up and keep fighting...
Now, when you say Enemy Classes/Subclasses, are you suggesting that certain players builds won't be effective against certain enemies? Because that's not fun at all when that happens.
My faith for gamers is restored every time I read so many opinions against bullet sponges <3
Problem is they too easy to implement not to expect devs to use them as solution for everything behind the "RPGs have levels excuse".
AI scares me as well, a lot, you can even understand how idiotic enemies are in those 2 minutes of gameplay we can see in the """15 minutes DEEP DIVE demo""".
Bullet Sponges enemy are worst, for example in The Division you fire 300 bullets in enemy from LMG and he is still alive and fight like nothing happened, WTF and that game is based on reality, but when you say that is stupid, people start saying how that is good, and how reason for that is RPG, they have stats and level thats why they stay alive.
Bullet Sponges enemy are worst, for example in The Division you fire 300 bullets in enemy from LMG and he is still alive and fight like nothing happened, WTF and that game is based on reality, but when you say that is stupid, people start saying how that is good, and how reason for that is RPG, they have stats and level thats why they stay alive.
Play Counter Strike and see how you like it, you need to be very careful and camp around every corner because every bullet is so deadly etc. It can get very stressful to play shooter with "realism".
I like Division series myself. I wouldnt actualy mind if CDPR copied them. Maybe faster the speed little bit. DIvision is kinda sluggish.
The actual "tactics" shouldn't scale with difficulty, because scaling the sophistication of the behaviour of the artificial intelligence, means those playing on lower difficulties will simply have dumb AI.. and that will just lead to a shallow and underwhelming experience.
I would add more enemies, and increased re-enforcements. Hopefully there is a way to prevent enemies from calling reinforcements, by hacking their communications, or taking out the leader). I also hope re-enforcements don't magically spawn into the world, they should ideally travel from an existing location. This could be an entire topic for conversation.
I would also make the player more vulnerable. Increasing enemy health is not an option, because bullet sponges are boring as hell. Instead, I think it's better if both the player and the enemy have increased vulnerability at higher difficulties, such that the player needs to be more consistent in combat, one mistake could easily be the end. You could tilt the odds even more by giving the player less access to health regeneration, and give the enemy more. Perhaps you could target medics as a tactic?
Another idea is to decrease enemy reaction times, simply make them respond slower. There could also be much less ammunition, forcing the player to get their hands dirty with stealth tactics, espionage, and very precise aiming and conservation of ammunition. Oh, and the weapons could become more difficult to use, more recoil, lower range, breaking easily etc, this would really allow for some RPG elements to be added back in.
That's all I can think of for now. In general, I think higher difficulties should push the player to become less combative and more cerebral. I don't want to arbitrarily avoid combat if it's the most efficient path, I want to feel forced to use my wits.
Play Counter Strike and see how you like it, you need to be very careful and camp around every corner because every bullet is so deadly etc. It can get very stressful to play shooter with "realism".
I like Division series myself. I wouldnt actualy mind if CDPR copied them. Maybe faster the speed little bit. DIvision is kinda sluggish.
Yeah, CS:GO has made me think a lot about the nature of compelling first person combat. Of course, it is a multiplayer game, it would be a huge challenge to translate some of that soul into a single player experience, but it's definitely worthy inspiration for any dev regardless.
Tactics, positioning and equipment for sure. They should be more deadly in how they flank you and try to flush you out with grenades and shotgun/melee guys.
That's what I love about Mass Effect 3's Insanity difficulty, it didn't make enemies bullet sponges instead it made them extremely tactical and deadly and it was a thrill to play.
Yeah, CS:GO has made me think a lot about the nature of compelling first person combat. Of course, it is a multiplayer game, it would be a huge challenge to translate some of that soul into a single player experience, but it's definitely worthy inspiration for any dev regardless.
Call of Duty SPs especially on higher difficult lvl can give quite CS experience.
Division type of combat is actually quite new to game industry. Thats where I would draw inspiration if I was CDPR, faster speed, more sleek, more Cyberpunk styled abilities etc.
Yeah Rainbow Six Siege at least is ok, only few way you can stay alive for longer, for example shield carrying guys can stay alive longer but even they die if 2 guys start to fire in your shield.
It's true that AI has seen very little innovation in the last 20 years.. going back and playing thief 2 and system shock 2 recently, its shocking how little some things have progressed. Infact, games have gone backwards in some cases.
If you look at this, I get impression they went with "move or die" combat, you can dodge/slide, slow combat, and you need to constantly move. Walls get destryoed so you cant stay in same spot long. Also sometimes weak spots are behind the enemy, so you need to move to get them too.
My idea might actually work for this game, more enemies etc. And give player better crown control tools. If you screw up, Trauma team will help you.
