[ Poll ] [Some story/gigs spoilers] Level design and replayability

[maniak6767]

I've played Bloodlines a lot even recently (again). Game is far from perfect, but done many things very well: worlbuilding, rpg system was copied almost straight from pnp and it works, dialoges are very good, character are interestig,replayability is high (but game is pretty short), atmosphere is very good. Story is mixed bag, because it not same quality through whole game. Gameplay on other hand is pretty awful, but still fun, cuz every clan playes a little bit different.
That being said, it's not open world, game is extremly linear, some missions can give you a more options but most of them not really. In game is only really one complex mission, where you can do missions many ways (with different results showing even 2-3 hours later - first one with astrolite). You can't skip bosses like in Cyberpunk for example. There's a lot of fighting in this game, and like I said gameplay is not strong part of it.
I can see that defy creators of Cyberpunk took notes from VTMB doing some aspects of game like: worldbuilding, atmosphere, dialogues (and how they affect game), but that's it.
You can say that quest with Maelstorm chick possesed by "Lilith" is nod to VTMB, and how new VTMB game would look done by CDPR, because this event is one of most atmospheric in whole game.

 

[CS554]

Yes and Yes.

And that's something I really appreciate. I'm not that sure I know what roleplaying means to different people and haven't thought about it in general regardless of product. That said, being able to not complete something but simply walk out and not being forced to return to that later is really big deal in CP 2077 for me. I noticed this in my first playthrough in Violence after I got a call from Lizzy and there she was then in body in her motel room. So my V listened to her for a while and then just left, not wanting to get involved and that turned out to be perfectly valid way to finish that.

For my experience, V is just one mercenary in the city after all and that there weren't anything more to that job, it made sense in context of that world and contributed to my suspension of disbelief about city and that. For replayability, went and solved it differently on two other playthroughs.

I can appreciate that V can deal with Sinnerman by three ways. Go with it, kill the entire freakshow or not doing that at all. During my latest playthrough I completed all but "Frolics of Council Woman Cole" because my V had very little to gain for doing that and for all Night City people, nothing wrong in someone spending time in activity that actually makes sense, so my V didn't wanted to get involved with that.

I think it's great design as there are different motivations. Some aim for completion because of achievements, some like me just gets sucked in and there's interconnecting content about Joanna Koch for example between NCPD scanner missions and GIGs. Then if I get back to game, I don't see myself doing complete runs anymore, but that's valid way to play the game too.