Sadly Lifepath's still have not been improved

[Swarth161]

i created a topic ages ago where i said this about each lifepath possibly having a small but unique passive or start with slightly different attributes, it seemed to be a pretty popular post

would you prefer each lifepath just being different story wise? i am thinking if each lifepath had a small passive such as nomad getting 10% more chance at higher level loot(just an example) or each lifepath has different stats but very small differences(like nomad would have 1 extra point in technical ability and 1 extra point in body but maybe 1 less point in cool or something) just something small so they feel different

but even if they didnt fix those things its sad that each lifepath still feels pretty much the same, there are different dialog choices here and there and each lifepath has a unqiue mission but i was hoping there was going to be a bit more added so they feel different, still having a lot of fun as i did on the games release i was just hoping in the time they have had to improve the game lifepath's would have been improved a bit so they feel more unique and different from each other

 

[enrique_alo]

I don't think they will change/improve lifepaths at all. Also don't expect they will do any significant changes in main game after nex-gen update.

It's 14 months since release date and now (I hope so) they are working on expansion(s) for CP2077. Remember that Witcher 3 one year after release date already got 2 big expansions - with Cyberpunk we do not even any info about them.

 

[Guest 3847602]

Lifepaths are backstories or origin stories, nothing more. That's their purpose in Cyberpunk pnp game - to give your character a background, personal history, so you wouldn't have to play as a total blank-slate.
The only way I can see them improved is to give us more lifepath-exclusive sidequests, but that's highly unlikely to happen at this stage. They shouldn't guide us toward a specific build or playstyle.

 

[enrique_alo]

I completely agree with you but as I said - i do not believe devs will do ANYTHING about it.

 

[Jeronimo_Collares]

...its the Tyrel Corporation - they give to us a 'past'... to we be a slave (from Blade Runner Movie).

 

[FiberPunk]

I think that's a non-starter in this game, the way it is is too integrated into the whole thing. Maybe we can see something like that in CP2078 or whatever they call it.

You could even have that kind of thing as a paid expansion to the current game. Greatly expand the lifepaths with specific quests, greater divergence of story between lifepaths, and add in a bunch of immersion in the city like gang/police/corporate faction standing with quests for each and real repercussions for siding with one over the others, increase NPC AI, add immersion to vendors, etc.

Call something like that "Living Night City" and make it really awesome, and I'd pay the original cost of the game for it.

 

[lelxrv]

Unless expansions give us some "life-path exclusive" stories, or more life-path defined consequences, it's not gonna happen. Because you will have to remake many quests.

So either expansions, or leave it for the sequel.

 

[Jeronimo_Collares]

Looks like the game have a 'limite' of the size and mechanics - limitation in old consoles. CDPR need work with this.

 

[Scope_King117]

LIfe paths affect dialogue and the opening part of the game. I personally like the way it is. You can't expect a completely different game based on life paths. also changing attributes would lock players out of certain builds based on their roleplaying preference so that wouldn't work for everyone but i seen some mods on the nexus to expand on life path changes if your on pc.

 

[strangerr3]

Lifepaths are done and working so I`m glad that they focused their goals on improving Night City. Intro for this game is short, but its polished definitely more than other things.

 

[BJgobbleDix]

Lifepaths were disappointing in this game. I was hoping Lifepaths would create "stereotypes" where different types of NPCs would react to you based on your chosen lifepath. A lot of the best RPGs develop around this concept quite well.

This would include a Faction and Reputation system where you wouldnt be absolutely stuck with say corpo and eventually could come into good graces with Street people depending on what you say and your actions. Having a Faction and Reputation system greatly opens up the "RPG" elements of the game. Could it effect the main narrative outcome? Yes all 3 should lead to potential different endings.

The current lifepath system feels like a gimmick to make it "seem" like an RPG but in reality, feels more like a linear shooter in the narrative department--granted we do have choices throughout but those choices are not impacted by our chosen stereotype. It only sets up the intro and then everything comes back to the middle. You get some unique dialogues but in the end, it all became the same. No dynamics to it sadly.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

This would include a Faction and Reputation system where you wouldnt be absolutely stuck with say corpo and eventually could come into good graces with Street people depending on what you say and your actions. Having a Faction and Reputation system greatly opens up the "RPG" elements of the game. Could it effect the main narrative outcome? Yes all 3 should lead to potential different endings.

I wonder how "people" would know if V was a corpo, nomad or street kid (or V have to say : Hi, my name is V, I'm Nomad !).
The same with gangs... For example, I think that Meredith or Royce really don't care about V's past (it won't change anything for them).
So lifepath is V's past, Vis currently a Night City merc and the past is obviously... the past

 

[Swarth161]

thank you for all the replies i understand how its not likely to be improved and i think i miscommunicated my attribute idea, each lifepath get pretty much 3 different free attributes just in different places so it wouldnt limit builds it would just give you 3 ish free attributes, that said end game it would really change nothing but it would just feel different early on

i dont expect an entirely new game i was just hoping for more dialog choices and different reactions depending on your lifepath but its not the end of the world just would have been nice to have a few more differences i am still enjoying it a lot

 

[Restlessdingo32]

The trouble I have with the passive bonus concept is small, percentile bonuses don't tend to be important. It's the entire reason small, percentile bonuses don't tend to be desired for progression improvements, whether it be character or gear related. The numbers may go up but the impacts often do not in any measurable way. Not until many of those bonuses begin to add up and/or play into each other.

The other angle is combat AI, if we can call it this (we shouldn't since it's not technically AI, nor has it ever been), remains an unsolved problem. That is, once mechanics are understood and patterns are recognized the player is going to run circles around video game combat. The end result is the gameplay naturally gravitates toward spreadsheet combat. Toss some timing and movement considerations into the mix. With variance to the quality of the implementation, depending on the game and development studio in question.

Unfortunately, this game (frankly, most of them) put a lot of chips into the passive improvement basket. The point being the game already has these minor incremental, plus or minus improvements in spades. It does not need more of them.

A better fit in a story focused game is to incorporate backstory elements into the story, dialogue and quest content. Find a way to make the selection impactful to those areas. In a way where the player feels as if the choice means something. The game already does this to some degree. It even has specific situations where individual LP's open doors unavailable to the others. It just so happens they're incredibly rare.

The second consideration is the way LPs are incorporated into and carry throughout the game. It's less about changing outcomes and more about subtly shifting nuance to craft the illusion it matters. It's the player responsibility to get mileage from this. The game isn't doing it for them. The game deliberately goes out of it's way to remove all restrictions, make everything as freeform as possible and ask the player to interpret. Whether this is good or bad, or fits all circumstances, is a matter of opinion.

If CDPR does decide to improve LP's this is where my personal preference would be. Provide more attachments to the story, dialogue and quest content in a way where the LP choice can drive or influence it in meaningful directions. My V is a Corpo so they gain some edge, advantage or a slightly different pathway here or there. Meanwhile, Nomad V gets such an opportunity elsewhere. Those type of opportunities evenly distributed throughout the game for the LP's.

I am sure some would be opposed to that because apparently any type of restriction is deemed as unaccaptable. As if restrictions imposed by character proficiency or backstory elements is a foreign concept to RPG's. This is not to say they are wrong for this line of thought. Again, this is one of those subjective areas.

 

[Swarth161]

The trouble I have with the passive bonus concept is small, percentile bonuses don't tend to be important. It's the entire reason small, percentile bonuses don't tend to be desired for progression improvements, whether it be character or gear related. The numbers may go up but the impacts often do not in any measurable way. Not until many of those bonuses begin to add up and/or play into each other.

The other angle is combat AI, if we can call it this (we shouldn't since it's not technically AI, nor has it ever been), remains an unsolved problem. That is, once mechanics are understood and patterns are recognized the player is going to run circles around video game combat. The end result is the gameplay naturally gravitates toward spreadsheet combat. Toss some timing and movement considerations into the mix. With variance to the quality of the implementation, depending on the game and development studio in question.

Unfortunately, this game (frankly, most of them) put a lot of chips into the passive improvement basket. The point being the game already has these minor incremental, plus or minus improvements in spades. It does not need more of them.

A better fit in a story focused game is to incorporate backstory elements into the story, dialogue and quest content. Find a way to make the selection impactful to those areas. In a way where the player feels as if the choice means something. The game already does this to some degree. It even has specific situations where individual LP's open doors unavailable to the others. It just so happens they're incredibly rare.

The second consideration is the way LPs are incorporated into and carry throughout the game. It's less about changing outcomes and more about subtly shifting nuance to craft the illusion it matters. It's the player responsibility to get mileage from this. The game isn't doing it for them. The game deliberately goes out of it's way to remove all restrictions, make everything as freeform as possible and ask the player to interpret. Whether this is good or bad, or fits all circumstances, is a matter of opinion.

If CDPR does decide to improve LP's this is where my personal preference would be. Provide more attachments to the story, dialogue and quest content in a way where the LP choice can drive or influence it in meaningful directions. My V is a Corpo so they gain some edge, advantage or a slightly different pathway here or there. Meanwhile, Nomad V gets such an opportunity elsewhere. Those type of opportunities evenly distributed throughout the game for the LP's.

I am sure some would be opposed to that because apparently any type of restriction is deemed as unaccaptable. As if restrictions imposed by character proficiency or backstory elements is a foreign concept to RPG's. This is not to say they are wrong for this line of thought. Again, this is one of those subjective areas.

honestly i would be happy just for more unique dialog options, while i actually like nomad the most because it just feels right the corpo has some very good unique dialog imo, just makes everything feel more unique

 

[Georgie-Best]

honestly i would be happy just for more unique dialog options, while i actually like nomad the most because it just feels right the corpo has some very good unique dialog imo, just makes everything feel more unique

I wish there were more life choice specific dialogue options that actually gave you an additional option to resolve a conversation/situation. Almost every option is a blue dialogue option which just gives an extra bit of side dialogue.

 

[Jeronimo_Collares]

Like all mechanics, I think this will be possible in the future, perhaps with the addition of an expansion. I don't know how this would work on older consoles - limited by hardware, but it is possible.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Like all mechanics, I think this will be possible in the future, perhaps with the addition of an expansion. I don't know how this would work on older consoles - limited by hardware, but it is possible.

For any "story" content, I don't think (I'm not an expert) that the hardware can be a problem

 

[Jeronimo_Collares]

For any "story" content, I don't think (I'm not an expert) that the hardware can be a problem

If the story involves changes to game mechanics, such as adding content (more clothes, more dialogue, more dialogue sounds, more animations, certain settings and the hierarchy of that, etc). This is where the challenge - the biggest one - of CDPR today is, how to adapt the ideas (and they, CD, have many) to the 'real life of consoles and PCs'. On PCs it's easier, they have more resources, but the problem comes up exactly on older consoles with hardware limits.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

If the story involves changes to game mechanics, such as adding content (more clothes, more dialogue, more dialogue sounds, more animations, certain settings and the hierarchy of that, etc). This is where the challenge - the biggest one - of CDPR today is, how to adapt the ideas (and they, CD, have many) to the 'real life of consoles and PCs'. On PCs it's easier, they have more resources, but the problem comes up exactly on older consoles with hardware limits.

For new "features" as AI improvement in 1.5 that older consoles can't handle, for sure. But for expansions (story), CDPR have no choice. They announced that they will be available on all platforms. So it's possible that some features won't be available on older consoles, but the main part (the story) will be available for everyone
And I don't think that adding few dialogue lines (or even a quest line) here and there would be a problem on "old gen" hardwares.