RPG Mechanics: Skill Progression and Roles

[Snowflakez]

The reporting and misrepresentation of this game has so far has been utterly and ridiculously poor. I saw a while back on Facebook someone clsim, as the article headline, that there would be no multiplayer, however the article they were quoting didn't say anything of the sort. Not to mention all these "lore" videos that are put out by people who know absolutely nothing about the source material.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. A lot of these outlets are just the ones that pick up a story 2 months after it breaks, and it's all clickbait. They don't know anything about the games, or probably anything about video games period.

It is frustrating, though, yes. You'll notice it's always the same outlets. Game Debate, Comicbook.com, the Christian Post. Also, they use SEO clickbait strategies to make their crappy "CYBERPUNK 2077 RELEASE DATE, INFORMATION, PRICING" articles when only 1/3 -- if that -- of that information even exists.

But I digress.

It would be cool if the player - with the right communication skills - could, sort of, "prank call" two street gangs against each other. Either just for fun to watch things escalate, or to create a diversion during which to try and do his dirty deeds what ever they may be.

A kind of a "create a random encounter" situation that, if the attempt was successful, might lead to all kinds of emergent mayhem on the spot.

This is a fun idea, and very much in line with your desire for reactivity.

 

[walkingdarkly]

This is a fun idea, and very much in line with your desire for reactivity.

I had a similar idea back around 2013 in an ancient thread about stuff like that. What I wanted was to be able to rile up a booster gang and get them rampaging in the combat zone past a police precinct, who reacts to the riot by trying to stop it and possibly at some point has to bring MAX-TAC to help quest the rampaging boosters. That was parred with wanting no immortal NPCs and even having possible love interests vulnerable. And from an idea on not massacring hobos, there should be some "static" important NPCs that would react to certain actions you take like with the boosters. Like you kill a couple hobos for whatever reason and all of a sudden the fixer is either shooting you on sight or ignoring you cause one of those hobos was a war buddy of his. Which makes me laugh because I can only see 2077 as a better GTA than GTA except there would be a severe lack of crime committing.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. A lot of these outlets are just the ones that pick up a story 2 months after it breaks, and it's all clickbait.

That also tends to be most gaming news sites from my experience, except a few indie sites and maybe IGN. I personally prefer NicheGamer, OneAngryGamer and the /v/ board on 4Chan (pure unfiltered garbage but I learn stuff)

 

[Snowflakez]

I had a similar idea back around 2013 in an ancient thread about stuff like that. What I wanted was to be able to rile up a booster gang and get them rampaging in the combat zone past a police precinct, who reacts to the riot by trying to stop it and possibly at some point has to bring MAX-TAC to help quest the rampaging boosters. That was parred with wanting no immortal NPCs and even having possible love interests vulnerable. And from an idea on not massacring hobos, there should be some "static" important NPCs that would react to certain actions you take like with the boosters. Like you kill a couple hobos for whatever reason and all of a sudden the fixer is either shooting you on sight or ignoring you cause one of those hobos was a war buddy of his. Which makes me laugh because I can only see 2077 as a better GTA than GTA except there would be a severe lack of crime committing.



That also tends to be most gaming news sites from my experience, except a few indie sites and maybe IGN. I personally prefer NicheGamer, OneAngryGamer and the /v/ board on 4Chan (pure unfiltered garbage but I learn stuff)

OAG and NicheGamer are both excellent, you have good taste. I also like PCGamesN, but that's more for PC gaming stuff, so if you're more of a console player it might not be your cup of tea.

Your idea is pretty sweet, too. I just generally like the concept of decisions having weight, for better or worse. Murder sprees should not be easy, or at least they shouldn't be feasible. In GTA you can hide around a corner for a few minutes to lose a 5 star rating... In 2077, I'd hope for a LOT more problems to follow you.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

In GTA you can hide around a corner for a few minutes to lose a 5 star rating...

It kind of fits with that games agenda, but it'd be a horrible idea with this one... just like the one where death just respawns you at a hospital for a fee (a fee that means nothing at all, no less).

 

[Suhiira]

It kind of fits with that games agenda, but it'd be a horrible idea with this one... just like the one where death just respawns you at a hospital for a fee (a fee that means nothing at all, no less).

If you have a paid up Trauma Team account I can see a "death" respawn at a hospital. But don't expect just to pay a minor fee and run out the door to rejoin the action, you're gonna be recovering for a while.

 

[Snowflakez]

If you have a paid up Trauma Team account I can see a "death" respawn at a hospital. But don't expect just to pay a minor fee and run out the door to rejoin the action, you're gonna be recovering for a while.

I wonder how CDPR would handle the passage of time in such a case. I like the idea of death being more punishing, in that some stuff (not everything, obviously) carries on without you.

Look at Kingdom Come: Deliverance. If you screw around and a mission is pressing, it will carry on without you. If you're told to follow someone and you run off, they go on without you and you can either catch up later or ignore the quest.

If you get traumatically injured during a mission in 2077 because you wanted to go 1v20 Rambo style, maybe that mission advances to the next stage without you, and there's some consequence for it. Maybe a companion of yours gets captured and you have to rescue them in a certain amount of time, or maybe someone swipes your vehicle while you're recovering.

That's what I would love to see from RPGs in the future. KCD, for all of its faults, handled that so well and proved that it can be done in a "modern" RPG, despite what everyone says.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

If you have a paid up Trauma Team account I can see a "death" respawn at a hospital. But don't expect just to pay a minor fee and run out the door to rejoin the action, you're gonna be recovering for a while.

Yes, basically, but that should only be at a chance based on
1. Yes, if you'd paid your due,
2. If the trauma team is there in time to save you,
3. If you are not wounded beyond saving in the first place.

And even so, money should be an issue in the game. To be picked up by TT is a privilege, not a right. I can't see there being universal healthcare in Cyberpunk, no matter how wealthy the nation is.

I don't remember exactly how it worked in the PnP, but what I would do is, I'd implement the player to have an ability to buy not-cheap insurances for a chance (and that's the key word, it's never certain, but paying more might increase those chances) to be helped at for a certain number of times. Otherwise your on your own. I'd also add that that chance would make the PC chipped to be monitored, which might come not so handy if you are not in favor of the law (e.g. even if there are no eye wittnesses, you might be connected to the crime you just committed). So that there'd be a cost and a benefit to the mechanic.

 

[Suhiira]

Trauma Team is basically VERY VERY expensive health insurance in PnP.

$500 per month for the "guarantee" they'll show up, and charge you $100 per minute and recover you. Then you get to make a stabilization roll at +3 to survive the trip to the hospital. Once there you get to shell out $2,500+ for medical care.

By-the-way, the average income for an averagely skilled runner with full-time employment is around $1,500-2,000 per month.

 

[Snowflakez]

Trauma Team is basically VERY VERY expensive health insurance in PnP.

$500 per month for the "guarantee" they'll show up, and charge you $100 per minute and recover you. Then you get to make a stabilization roll at +3 to survive the trip to the hospital. Once there you get to shell out $2,500+ for medical care.

By-the-way, the average income for an averagely skilled runner with full-time employment is around $1,500-2,000 per month.

That's not as bad as I thought it'd be, but yeah, ouch.

I really do hope struggling for money is a thing in 2077. If a player wants, say, a vehicle, it'd be nice for it to be a longer-term goal that requires a lot of skill and effort. Especially if its an aerodyne.

I doubt 2077 will put players in the red if a TT picks them up, but I'm expecting a hefty fee of some sort. Probably a percentage of their money, as was the case in GTA V (I think?). Probably have a lower minimum, though.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

$500 per month for the "guarantee" they'll show up, and charge you $100 per minute and recover you. Then you get to make a stabilization roll at +3 to survive the trip to the hospital. Once there you get to shell out $2,500+ for medical care.

>dark cyberpunk future
>still more cheap than United States health programs

 

[Nexus-77]

If it makes you feel any better, the "unnamed source" never said it was a FPS, they only said the game will have first person perspective. The FPS label is from the journalist who originally reported it.

Not sure if it makes me feel better.
(...)
Hmm.. maybe..
Anyway, I think CP will be a unique game. Or, being more dramatic, it will be a unique 'experience'. Doesn't matter if FPS or not. And it will certainly have a lot of action.

But thank you for the info.

 

[wisdom000]

Which makes me laugh because I can only see 2077 as a better GTA than GTA except there would be a severe lack of crime committing.

Why would there be a lack of crimes committing? Depending on the character, you might actually commit more crimes, and more heinous activity than any GTA character.

 

[Snowflakez]

Why would there be a lack of crimes committing? Depending on the character, you might actually commit more crimes, and more heinous activity than any GTA character.

I think the point he was making was that its far easier to commit crimes in GTA, with far fewer consequences. You can mow down 80 pedestrians and get away scot-free, with no lasting (or, in some cases, immediate) consequences.

If you do that in 2077, you are probably going to ruffle a few feathers and make some enemies you don't want to be making. If CDPR is trying to emulate 2020 in any way, they will hopefully give meaningful consequences to your decisions, positive or negative.

 

[walkingdarkly]

Why would there be a lack of crimes committing?

MAX-TAC

 

[walkingdarkly]

I think the point he was making was that its far easier to commit crimes in GTA, with far fewer consequences. You can mow down 80 pedestrians and get away scot-free, with no lasting (or, in some cases, immediate) consequences.

If you do that in 2077, you are probably going to ruffle a few feathers and make some enemies you don't want to be making. If CDPR is trying to emulate 2020 in any way, they will hopefully give meaningful consequences to your decisions, positive or negative.

No and Yes, I still play GTA Online regularly and mowing down 80 peds tends to get to many cops on me and unless I'm in a super car I get smashed pretty hard.

And Yes, I've always been about consequences for your actions, one of my oldest comments was that killing some bums might piss off the Fixer you're working with.
Or that one guy you just offed cause you were feeling janky was actually an undercover cop about to make a major bust on a big wig someone and now it's all up in flames. Random stuff like that...that's really not possible in games today.

 

[Snowflakez]

No and Yes, I still play GTA Online regularly and mowing down 80 peds tends to get to many cops on me and unless I'm in a super car I get smashed pretty hard.

And Yes, I've always been about consequences for your actions, one of my oldest comments was that killing some bums might piss off the Fixer you're working with.
Or that one guy you just offed cause you were feeling janky was actually an undercover cop about to make a major bust on a big wig someone and now it's all up in flames. Random stuff like that...that's really not possible in games today.

Ah, I can't speak to Online, I only ever played singleplayer. I'll take your word for it, I know the police in general were quite aggressive. But you get my point. Chaos is the name of the game in GTA V, the trademark rampages are part of the experience. In 2077, that shouldn't be easy, or perhaps even possible in some cases.

Yeah, we may disagree about some stuff, but you won't get any argument from me about more consequences. I liked your ideas.

 

[Rawls]

MAX-TAC

Yeah. I hope that shooting sprees are ruthlessly punished in the game. Kinda like the level 20 Chort that was summoned in the TW3 prologue area if you tried to use the killing cows exploit. Want to go off the deep end and indiscriminately kill? Okay ... but your not going to like the results.

This would never happen in a game ... but I always thought while playing Skyrim that it would be cool if going to prison literally locked you out of that play-through's save file for 24 hours. Make going to prison actually suck for the player more than having to look at a loading screen for an extra 30 seconds.

Either that or create a prison level where it's possible to escape ... but each time you do it becomes harder and harder to find a way out the next time.

 

[BaalNergal]

Yeah. I hope that shooting sprees are ruthlessly punished in the game. Kinda like the level 20 Chort that was summoned in the TW3 prologue area if you tried to use the killing cows exploit. Want to go off the deep end and indiscriminately kill? Okay ... but your not going to like the results.

This would never happen in a game ... but I always thought while playing Skyrim that it would be cool if going to prison literally locked you out of that play-through's save file for 24 hours. Make going to prison actually suck for the player more than having to look at a loading screen for an extra 30 seconds.

Either that or create a prison level where it's possible to escape ... but each time you do it becomes harder and harder to find a way out the next time.

Or after a certain number of escapes, they start using magical imprisonment. Like putting you in a cage sitting on a cloud if you escape 100 times. Sure, getting out of that prison would be easy, but it's a long way down...

 

[wisdom000]

As someone who has played and run Cyberpunk 2020 for nearly three decades, for most characters, cops are not a deterrent to committing crime, they are a reason to be smart about those crimes.

Hell some roles almost require the character to be a criminal, Fixers and netrunnersin particular, and the majotity of Solos. Nomads tend to exist outside the law when not in the city, and waffle back and forth on the legal line inside the city.

 

[Gwydden]

Now that news may be approaching at last, my biggest hope for this game is that it fulfills the promise Bloodlines chickened out on and lets you play someone who is not primarily a combatant. I can be a badass in pretty much every game, but I struggle to think of any who let you suck under fire and make do otherwise.