Okay this is really two different games, isn't it?

[GreiBush]

it still doesn't make sense that I would spend 90% of the two weeks i have left to live building up a "street cred" and buying golden hotpants.

LMFAO. Well, in my playthrough, he hasn't found out about that yet, so he's fighting people and doing gigs for money, a lot of which he uses to buy gear for harder gigs, eventually to work up to the gigs which could get him the solution he needs. I think it's really at the end of the game that he finds out he has so little time left.

 

[Bearded Geek]

LMFAO. Well, in my playthrough, he hasn't found out about that yet, so he's fighting people and doing gigs for money, a lot of which he uses to buy gear for harder gigs, eventually to work up to the gigs which could get him the solution he needs. I think it's really at the end of the game that he finds out he has so little time left.

It's actually the other way around, Vic tells you you have a "couple of weeks" left when he first looks at you, so that's all you know thru Act 2. It's not until the actual ending you manage to extend your life to "about 6 months" (according to whatsherface, the AI).

But again tho, even internally the writing doesn't add up, as I said Judy texted me (we're committed to a long time relationship) and says in one of the texts "Thanks for being there for me the last few months" (paraphrasing) which indicates that even in Act 2, when Vic says "about two weeks" the rest of the game... doesn't agree. A Few Months is at least three months, as I see it after all.

 

[zzzfrofzzz]

About act 1 and act 2 .
i've seen many review complaining for the introduction is quite too long .
In my opinion , CDPR was right to setup intro , act 1 and act 2 that's way .

1) Act 1 , its a like long tutorial and an advertasing of your path life with a strong twist plot .
to be honest , on your first playthroug , when the Logo Cyberpunk spawn at end act 1 , its WTF xD . its a strong message after average 1h/2h , telling "wake up player , its just the begining of a long journey in cybepounk 2077

2) Act 2 , a filer for the story , may be not . this at this stage both your path life and choice you pick with some encounters ( npc , side character , main character ) will set the "ending" roots of the game . the other points , act 2 unlock more knowledge of cyberpunk lore

to be honest CDPR following on how they tell the story by those Act like as some famous C-rpg ( Divinity Original 2 for example ).

keep in my mind this a story driven game focus , not a sandbox open world . all side quest , activity 're set on the purpose the player follow the story . player need to keep in track

the most important thing , this game is all about details and hidden triggers , there's more on what we can see at first sigh on act 2 .

 

[rafaelnoskill]

And no, it still doesn't make sense that I would spend 90% of the two weeks i have left to live building up a "street cred" and buying golden hotpants.

"Still want to be the best. Never gave up on that. Just want someone to know i was there. That i mattered" direct quotes from V in the quest Automatic love. V does work for money and gear to survive, but also to leave something behind. Another point is that merc work was all V has known for the last half a year, and for a person who's staring down death doing something familiar, what they're good at can be a form of escapism or coping.

 

[Bearded Geek]

"Still want to be the best. Never gave up on that. Just want someone to know i was there. That i mattered" direct quotes from V in the quest Automatic love. V does work for money and gear to survive, but also to leave something behind. Another point is that merc work was all V has known for the last half a year, and for a person who's staring down death doing something familiar, what they're good at can be a form of escapism or coping.

Yeah, still not buying it.

 

[andrewdilley]

It's actually the other way around, Vic tells you you have a "couple of weeks" left

"A few weeks, tops"

 

[bauerkn]

Seriously, the more I play of Act 2, the more it is clear that literally everything in Act 2 except the main story missions (and associated sidequests) are filler leftover from when the game had a different focus.

You are simultaneously playing the old idea, that V was rising thru the ranks of mercenaries in NC with Street Cred (an irrelevant stat in the story), weapon upgrades and whatnot, and the new tragic "pretends to be deep and important" story side by side and they have nothing to do with each other.

V has no reason whatsoever to do any jobs, gigs or NCPD missions after Act 1, yet the game is locking you out of 90% of the map in Act 1 for "tutorial reasons".
In fact, they should have scrapped the open world completely and made a short, focused game with the new story. Or kept the old story.

As it is now I am doing what literally all other players are doing: Pretending the main story doesn't exist and playing this other game, "GTA V in NC" I think it's called.

When I played the first time, I was rushing through the main story because I was afraid that V would actually die at some point. All the game does, is give you options to chose from. If you want actual roleplay, play the role, but don't blame the game. There is something in it for many people as it is now, which is kinda amazing

 

[Neriyavanli]

I feel like Act 2 is very much V having to coming to terms with Jackie's death, them dying and coming back to life with a f**king rockboy in their head and the real possibility they have a few weeks left to live. Like imagine that happening to you I would somewhat be in a state of disbelief and acting like this sh*t can't be real and it is only after calling Jackie and continuously getting his voicemail and talking to it until in act 3 where his phone is disconnected where it's like Jackie is gone forever and it is easy for V to deny there is a rockboy in their head and they are dying for most gigs and side quests until Johnny pops up or someone brings up that V dying and even then you can tell Johnny to f**k off or ignore him and when it comes to npc bring up V death and rebirth and them dying a different kinda death V can straight up be like nah change subject I don't wanna talk about it or they could talk about it and express how afraid they are to face it. It is easier to deny you are going through what you're going through and so much harder to face it and like most things it really isn't until act 3 where it is like yeah all this b.s and dilly dally you doing is going to get you killed, Accept that you are dying, make amends and fight for your life or just die your choice

 

[Bearded Geek]

I feel like Act 2 is very much V having to coming to terms with Jackie's death, them dying and coming back to life with a f**king rockboy in their head and the real possibility they have a few weeks left to live. Like imagine that happening to you I would somewhat be in a state of disbelief and acting like this sh*t can't be real and it is only after calling Jackie and continuously getting his voicemail and talking to it until in act 3 where his phone is disconnected where it's like Jackie is gone forever and it is easy for V to deny there is a rockboy in their head and they are dying for most gigs and side quests until Johnny pops up or someone brings up that V dying and even then you can tell Johnny to f**k off or ignore him and when it comes to npc bring up V death and rebirth and them dying a different kinda death V can straight up be like nah change subject I don't wanna talk about it or they could talk about it and express how afraid they are to face it. It is easier to deny you are going through what you're going through and so much harder to face it and like most things it really isn't until act 3 where it is like yeah all this b.s and dilly dally you doing is going to get you killed, Accept that you are dying, make amends and fight for your life or just die your choice

And none of that really jams with "Hey, here are 10 different fixers who gives you 2 years worth of side quests to do for no reason".

 

[LeKill3rFou]

And none of that really jams with "Hey, here are 10 different fixers who gives you 2 years worth of side quests to do for no reason".

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised
For example :
Saying that it make no sense to do all the GIGs/NCPD Scanner Hustles on the map, but doing them all anyway, because they're here...
Make no sense ? don't do them or just few.
Or saying that it make no sense to have few weeks to live, but skiping time like crazy to just buy items at shop.
Make no sense ? Never skip time.

Like if I say, randomly generated quests in Fallout 4 are uninteresting, boring, useless and dumb, but I'll do them anyway...
There are TP points all over the map, but I never used them since release... It's not because they're on the map that you "must" use them.

You want role-play V ?
Don't skip time, go to your rendez-vous at the right time (doing side content while waiting)... You will see, you will go through the main quests quite smoothly with quite a few breaks to doing other things if needed.

 

[Bearded Geek]

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised
For example :
Saying that it make no sense to do all the GIGs/NCPD Scanner Hustles on the map, but doing them all anyway, because they're here...
Make no sense ? don't do them or just few.
Or saying that it make no sense to have few weeks to live, but skiping time like crazy to just buy items at shop.
Make no sense ? Never skip time.

Like if I say, randomly generated quests in Fallout 4 are uninteresting, boring, useless and dumb, but I'll do them anyway...
There are TP points all over the map, but I never used them since release... It's not because they're on the map that you "must" use them.

You want role-play V ?
Don't skip time, go to your rendez-vous at the right time (doing side content while waiting)... You will see, you will go through the main quests quite smoothly with quite a few breaks to doing other things if needed.

Oh my problem isn't with that part, it's with the first part. You know that. My problem is not with the 1000 side jobs and upgrades and everything, it's with the fake time limit. It's the Side Jobs that are GOOD, not the story. Kinda like Skyrim, come to think of it.

 

[MartineDee]

The street cred is just there, no matter if V cares or not.
I like that it helps get great gear. Perhaps more, I'd expect that gang rot begins to move out of the way when a high-street-cred V shows up. And V could still perfectly not care about all of it.

My V has discovered that she can ravage NC as long as she wants, preferably forever. For a while, her dream was to climb on the Arena by stacking up cars. Checked. Then she wanted to drive Cali at speeds of 1000+. Checked. Then she wanted to fly in Cali. Checked. Then she wanted to walk on the Crystal Palace.

Checked!

Since then, she has learned how to fly and no-clip herself. I mean, why would she ever want this to end? Thanks a lot for no timed death, CDPR!

There is one last thing she wants -- Jackie's remains. OK, maybe also to hunt down Hanako. Moar! Own the whole world in this stuck state? Yeah. Maybe just get soul-injected into a bionic body like Adam Smasher's, and live forever, sowing terror. Yeah. Getting there. Let me think about the rest...

zzzzzzz

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Oh my problem isn't with that part, it's with the first part. You know that. My problem is not with the 1000 side jobs and upgrades and everything, it's with the fake time limit. It's the Side Jobs that are GOOD, not the story. Kinda like Skyrim, come to think of it.

Let's do a quick calculation if I may
- A full "day" in the game (day+night) equal about 3-4 hours IRL of playing (let's take 3 hours)
- You have few weeks tops to live, so let's take 3 weeks (which is "low" when you say "few", if you ask me).
> 3 weeks = 21 days = 63 hours IRL of playing before V dies.

As far as I know, in 63 hours of playing, you have (largely) the time to complete the entire main questline, most of side quests and also enough time beside to complete a bunch of "useless" content.

So again, if you skip time like crazy, complete everything for the sake of completing everything, you don't "role-play" V. You intentionally choose to ignore the urgency (suspension of disbelief) like I do and like I do in most of game (Currently, I do the same in The Witcher 3... My buddies wait me since a long while in Kaer Morhen^^).
Ok, you don't like the main story, that's fine... but nothing to do with the urgency. You can't blame "the story/game" for something that you intentionally choose to do/ignore

(About skyrim... I don't have a great opinion about the story. It's just an excuse to play the game... Not interesting and not entertaining. Totally in Bethesda way^^)

It's a game and like the majority of games, time limit is fake... If you want to, Alduin will never destroy the world, Reapers will never destroy the galaxy, Arthur Morgan will never dies until you decide to move forward in the questline... and so on. The are few games in which time limit is real, and in my opinion, it's more stressful than fun (like in KCD^^)

 

[MartineDee]

That having been said (my comment), I get what the OP is saying.

If CDPR promised not to throw urgency at the player, they failed.
I could have used the "okay, at the square one ... now what do I do" moment in CP2077. I'd probably go sell ice cream for some time, till some robbery starts and gives me a reason to start a crusade against all crime in the city. Nah, jk. I don't need such a petty excuse. I am just like that. I've ever been a pita for all gangs, including corpos and the police. That's my calling. And, in all honesty, it probably would last less than a day till the robbery happened. Now, imagine what an Adam Smasher-comparable cyborg could do against crime in NC? Ah! ROBOCOP! Hahaha....

Maybe I am the minority that doesn't need to be pushed to explore and figure out their own adventure. I can't explain why so many games find it necessary to push the player like that.

Thankfully, CP2077 doesn't penalize if the player ignores that urgency.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Maybe I am the minority that doesn't need to be pushed to explore and figure out their own adventure. I can't explain why so many games find it necessary to push the player like that.

I guess, it's a "trick" as old as humans write stories and obviously, as old as video games exist, to keep some sort of "pressure" to push players/readers to move forward

Thankfully, CP2077 doesn't penalize if the player ignores that urgency.

Luckily. If it was the case, it would be a shame (and annoying for me)

 

[Restlessdingo32]

I guess, it's a "trick" as old as humans write stories and obviously, as old as video games exist, to keep some sort of "pressure" to push players/readers to move forward

Here's the thing though.... You can provide a very well crafted story, even one with urgency, pair it with open world and avoid the urgency vs explore the world conflict. At the very least greatly minimize it. The reality is games often fail to do so because it's not deemed important. It's much easier to tell the player to suspend their disbelief. Some players will do so willingly. Others are much less receptive to the approach.

 

[Bearded Geek]

Here's the thing though.... You can provide a very well crafted story, even one with urgency, pair it with open world and avoid the urgency vs explore the world conflict. At the very least greatly minimize it. The reality is games often fail to do so because it's not deemed important. It's much easier to tell the player to suspend their disbelief. Some players will do so willingly. Others are much less receptive to the approach.

Especially since CDPR really tried to fix this particular "trick" in the Witcher 3

 

[strangerr3]

I dont really get why they didnt stretch some main story points allowing player to more naturally switch to open world gigs with tricks like "Come back to Rogue with 50k instead of 15k to get info on Hellman". That would force player to go there and make some money for a reason.

Why Mr. Hands gives us info about Voodoo boys without any interest? We should buy in his trust by doing some gigs for him before.

In a city full of capitalism, seems like too much can be done without working on earning right connections or money.

I guess they didnt want to alienate people who are only focused on rushing main story quests. So they wanted to please two groups (open world fans and main story speedplay) unfortunately leaving hardcore fans who want to squeeze maximum out of a game in a worst position.

 

[andrewdilley]

That having been said (my comment), I get what the OP is saying.

Same here. I *finally* figured out a way to pace a play-through which felt like it worked with the main story but was also true to my particular V's quirks (inquisitive/nosey, likes shopping, bit of an ego-problem). But CDPR doesn't help by throwing urgent demands at V which really feel like they need to be dealt with At one point it seems like Judy, Panam, Goro and River all want a piece of me and I don't want to let any of them down...

 

[Neriyavanli]

And none of that really jams with "Hey, here are 10 different fixers who gives you 2 years worth of side quests to do for no reason".

But does it not tho? None of the fixer know V is dying cause again V doesn't make it known which goes hand in hand with V being in a denial state after Act 1 and trying to ignore cause (going off of main story in Act 2) V is afraid of the possibility of dying again and in disbelief that they took lead to the head died and came back thanks to the relic that now has a rockboy in their head that is slowly eating away at their psyche. Even if you don't wanna call it a denial state it still makes sense in context with the story V is afraid and is coming to terms with things on top of trying to find a way to live which means they are going to need fixers who are going to be able to help them get what they need for the fight ahead (street credit which helps you unlock better equipment, weapon, mods and cyberware).

Also it isn't 10 fixers it 6 (not counting rogue or Mr. Hand since they only give you 1 gig) with Regina giving you the most gigs (23) which can all be done before Act 2 starts so it's not really 2 years worth of gigs plus gigs for the most part are simple get in get out missions not long/short drawn out story beats so it really wouldn't take V a year or two to do them