Romances: Disparity in quality and quantity

[koalahugs]

It wouldn't surprise me if the original plan was to do something more with the romances in the 2nd expansion, ala Blood and Wine, but since that's been scuttled, hopefully we get something from Orion.

When Miles Tost tweeted the following, at first glance, it almost gave me the impression that whatever the 2nd expansion was going to be, it could be in Orion instead:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1577318148956618753

Might not be, obviously, but at the very least they've probably discussed and thought about it. Presumably they're still in the brainstormy stage though, so it's anybody's guess what direction it'll take.

Orion could end up being what the 2nd expansion would've been but bigger. Or maybe Orion will be its own story but will "absorb" whatever was planned for that 2nd expansion somehow. Or maybe neither and they just move on completely. I have hope it's one of the first two options though...

 

[LadyMiseryAli]

It wouldn't surprise me if the original plan was to do something more with the romances in the 2nd expansion, ala Blood and Wine, but since that's been scuttled, hopefully we get something from Orion.

When Miles Tost tweeted the following, at first glance, it almost gave me the impression that whatever the 2nd expansion was going to be, it could be in Orion instead:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1577318148956618753

Might not be, obviously, but at the very least they've probably discussed and thought about it. Presumably they're still in the brainstormy stage though, so it's anybody's guess what direction it'll take.

Orion could end up being what the 2nd expansion would've been but bigger. Or maybe Orion will be its own story but will "absorb" whatever was planned for that 2nd expansion somehow. Or maybe neither and they just move on completely. I have hope it's one of the first two options though...

If it's basically V picking up where the endings left off, depending on the ending, I would be so fucking happy. This year has sucked majorly. I need good news on something I enjoy....like for serious. All I want is for V to get what they earned, which is a right to live. Do I want it to be easy? Hell no! Nothing in Night City is ever easy. It also doesn't come without a price attached, but they deserve a cure and to be able to grow old with their lover, whomever that may be.

 

[Yllana_Ardais]

I don't care about any sequel. If it's ever going to happen it will be years away. They can keep their empty marketing talk. Either we'll get an update to the romance options with the expansions or with another patch but I sure as hell won't put my hopes into a nebulous sequel. Also, there are enought great action games and RPGs out this year that we don't really need to settle for some mediocre handouts they deign to toss at us.

 

[Guest 4412420]

I hear you on this. Maybe we'll be surprised with the next big patch.

I hate to be a downer, but CDPR has a track record of repeatedly dropping the ball on romances. It started with The Witcher 2 and it just kept going. They made some good and meaningful improvements to Triss's romance in TW3 which gave me a glimmer of hope they'll do the same with Cyberpunk, but by the looks of it straight men are the only demographic they're willing to listen to.

As for Orion, I doubt it'll have anything to do with V. if Phantom Liberty is as massive as some articles make it out to be, it'll probably and hopefully deliver an ending where V has a real shot at survival and end their story there.

 

[Guest 4412420]

2.0 patch has dropped and now we can see for certain that CDPR didn't do anything of substance to improve upon Kerry's and River's romances and make them feel more organic. I stopped having hope after 1.5 patch, but still, I would have loved nothing more than to have my doubts be proven wrong. But they weren't. Sucks to be right.

Underdeveloped romances aren't the end of the world, but it's starting to feel that straight men are the only demographic CDPR are willing to go an extra mile for. I now expect the same favoritism and romance content imbalance problems to continue in TW4 and Cyberpunk's sequel. I'm sorry for being harsh, but that's how I feel.

Edit: I saw that they changed River's family photo and added an option to talk about Kerry with Johnny, and these are very nice and better than nothing, but they don't fix the issues we discussed many times before in this very thread.

 

[LadyMiseryAli]

2.0 patch has dropped and now we can see for certain that CDPR didn't do anything of substance to improve upon Kerry's and River's romances and make them feel more organic. I stopped having hope after 1.5 patch, but still, I would have loved nothing more than to have my doubts be proven wrong. But they weren't. Sucks to be right.

Underdeveloped romances aren't the end of the world, but it's starting to feel that straight men are the only demographic CDPR are willing to go an extra mile for. I now expect the same favoritism and romance content imbalance problems to continue in TW4 and Cyberpunk's sequel. I'm sorry for being harsh, but that's how I feel.

Edit: I saw that they changed River's family photo and added an option to talk about Kerry with Johnny, and these are very nice and better than nothing, but they don't fix the issues we discussed many times before in this very thread.

I hear you on that. I think though, that there might be some little extra things in Phantom Liberty for the romances if you lock them in before you dive in, or at least that's what I've heard. We shall see. But it would have been nice to have had something with the patch. They could have had ALL the romance options send a nude instead of just Panam....We still have the romance enhanced mods. Deceptious is updating them.

 

[ShinAkira00]

2.0 patch has dropped and now we can see for certain that CDPR didn't do anything of substance to improve upon Kerry's and River's romances and make them feel more organic. I stopped having hope after 1.5 patch, but still, I would have loved nothing more than to have my doubts be proven wrong. But they weren't. Sucks to be right.

Underdeveloped romances aren't the end of the world, but it's starting to feel that straight men are the only demographic CDPR are willing to go an extra mile for. I now expect the same favoritism and romance content imbalance problems to continue in TW4 and Cyberpunk's sequel. I'm sorry for being harsh, but that's how I feel.

Edit: I saw that they changed River's family photo and added an option to talk about Kerry with Johnny, and these are very nice and better than nothing, but they don't fix the issues we discussed many times before in this very thread.

why would they spend resources and the limited time they have on romances? This isn't a dating sim.
As for "going the extra mile for a certain demographic", yes that's what every business does. They look at who their potential customers are, what the demand is and they provide a product around that. What you are asking is for the devs to put resources into these options that the majority of their gamers will not care about. That is just not feasible in any sense.

This is right up there with the ppl who complained about not enough prostitutes or not being able to hook up with Judy. Some folks are a bit too hyper focused on sex and frankly it's weird. I've played through the game 3 times and I only engaged in any romantic option once. It adds absolutely nothing to the story. It's fluff, would it be nice to have ABSOLUTELY yes but is it necessary....No. I'd much prefer and am glad they chose to focus resources on actual game mechanics and improving that experience.

 

[LadyMiseryAli]

why would they spend resources and the limited time they have on romances? This isn't a dating sim.
As for "going the extra mile for a certain demographic", yes that's what every business does. They look at who their potential customers are, what the demand is and they provide a product around that. What you are asking is for the devs to put resources into these options that the majority of their gamers will not care about. That is just not feasible in any sense.

This is right up there with the ppl who complained about not enough prostitutes or not being able to hook up with Judy. Some folks are a bit too hyper focused on sex and frankly it's weird. I've played through the game 3 times and I only engaged in any romantic option once. It adds absolutely nothing to the story. It's fluff, would it be nice to have ABSOLUTELY yes but is it necessary....No. I'd much prefer and am glad they chose to focus resources on actual game mechanics and improving that experience.

Wanting more from the romances DOES NOT mean we want a dating sim. Why do y'all ALWAYS default to that ASSumption? What we wanted was EQUALITY! The male options were given little to no buildup and barely anything else afterward. You could hug Panam at the Nomad camp and she sends a spicy photo. It took a modder to give those of us who romanced Kerry and River the ability to hug/kiss them. There was a 'kiss' option for Kerry that was cut from the game. It was already made. They could have put it back in.

We're not asking much here. Yes, romances are optional in-game. HOWEVER, either do it equally or don't bother doing it at all. I highly doubt it would have taken resources away from the rest of the game to make the romances equal.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

I've played through the game 3 times and I only engaged in any romantic option once.

Quite funny... I could say the same with the police system
"why would they spend resources and the limited time they have on police system? it's not a GTA-like game"

Because during all of my playthroughs (a lot), I was involved with NCPD only once for the sake of trying it and never again, not interested...
A waste of resources and time in my opinion... But hey, some like it and find it fun.

So I'm sure, you see where it go^^

You're not interested in romances, you tested once, you're not interested, it seem to be a waste.
A waste of ressources and time in your opinion... But hey, some like it and find it fun.

 

[Guest 4412420]

why would they spend resources and the limited time they have on romances? This isn't a dating sim.

Ah, yes. This classic line. If CDPR didn't find romances worth the resources they wouldn't have included them in the first place, yet they did. In fact every major RPG they had ever developed includes romances. At this point romantic subplots are more or less a part of CRPGs. It's not something only Bioware does anymore. It's valid to criticize romances and CDPR's shortcomings in regards to it as it is with any other aspect of the game.

As for "going the extra mile for a certain demographic", yes that's what every business does. They look at who their potential customers are, what the demand is and they provide a product around that. What you are asking is for the devs to put resources into these options that the majority of their gamers will not care about. That is just not feasible in any sense.

Yet they made romances for a wider range of demographics in order to gain a larger audience but dropped the ball big time on options that were meant to appeal to those very same demographics they tried to attract. Other companies somehow manage to do better despite having pretty much the same demographics playing their games. CDPR needs to do better too.

 

[CTPhipps]

It seems unlikely V will be the protagonist in Project: Orion even though I'd prefer if they were.

 

[Feline_Witcher_]

Honestly they should make all romance options playersexual ala BG3 next game. It might not solve the disparity in quality and quantity problem but at least there would be more variety in options. I prefer player freedom over realism in a custom character RPG. It wouldn't even be out of place given the setting.