Safehouses - yes or no? - or how to make them work?

[ekocrunippogem]

Safehouses - yes or no? - or how to make them work?

I'm a little torn on this one...the idea of having a safehouse, or multiple safehouses/properties to acquire. On one hand, I definitely don't want some Sims safehouse where you buy furniture/interior decorate. I'm not sure having a great selection of safehouses would be a great idea either, at least in terms of having varying qualities..because the goal of the game obviously will not be to make it big, like in a GTA game or something.

So, how could they make it work within the atmosphere of the game?

I think it could work, if it worked something like this. No safehouse is luxurious - (maybe just have one safehouse, period), and they are in close proximity to the outside environment. In other words, you could be next to a club and can hear the club music at certain times, or street traffic, and see the weather against your window, and actually look out the window and see stuff happening on the street....a place that at least you don't feel isolated/really safe in.

What would be the purpose? Maybe a storage space (hidden to emphasize the 'unsafe' feeling) for a few relevant game items. Maybe a place for downtime in the game where you can do something like change the music and read up on the backstory. Very low-key, low-tech though, as if your true identity needs to be hidden.

Part of me thinks it's a bad idea though and would take you out of the grittiness of the game no matter how seamlessly you tried to implement it.

Thoughts?

 

[username_3641051]

Safehouses, yes. Decorating? Pfft. Any true runner needs only a desk, a rig, and an overhead lamp. Well, maybe not the lamp. Oh and a fridge to keep leftovers in, along with beer.

Seriously though, safehouses would be a great place to have underground docs come meet you to patch you up, or where you customize your character. I like your idea of having various bits of info to read too. Sending mail, making calls, whatever.

I liked the way they handled that in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. I'm sure CDPR can come up with cool things to do there. But yeah, I don't think it'll feel "real" if you don't have a place to sleep and do some work.

 

[Sardukhar]

Allow me to paraphrase from memory the corebook on the subject:

"If they get some money, mug 'em. If they cache their weapons, steal 'em. If they cry about it, send 'em back to the land of green hills and happy elves. This is Cyberpunk."

That bit of machismo stated, a safehouse is a great idea. I love it, as a GM. Especially when 2/3 of the way through the game, you rob them in their safe house. And then do it again at every place they stop until they give up and just assume the world is out to get them. Because it is.

 

[ChaosWolf1982]

Safehouses, yes. Decorating? Pfft. Any true runner needs only a desk, a rig, and an overhead lamp. Well, maybe not the lamp. Oh and a fridge to keep leftovers in, along with beer.

Seriously though, safehouses would be a great place to have underground docs come meet you to patch you up, or where you customize your character. I like your idea of having various bits of info to read too. Sending mail, making calls, whatever.

I liked the way they handled that in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. I'm sure CDPR can come up with cool things to do there. But yeah, I don't think it'll feel "real" if you don't have a place to sleep and do some work.

Took the words right outta my mouth.

 

[Aditya]

that will depend on how the game works, how big the game is, where player will spawn with a new load and stuff. But I would like to see them.

 

[ekocrunippogem]

To go along with the low-tech concept...maybe in this world there are certain documents and books you can collect, historical ones, on paper...and your safehouse could be a place you could store them (again in a secret hidey hole) as you attempt to put together the pieces of Dark City - the history, the corporations, the secrets. Maybe this is stuff that has been banned/taken away from public eyes in some way and may be tracked if discovered electronically..hence the reason for the info being on paper. I think it would be a cool contrast to the high-tech world around you.

That's kind of how I'd like to see the safehouse presented...a place for you to mostly investigate stuff you've found and spend some downtime exploring information available. Mass Effect has an awesome codex that lets you read about everything you discover..this setting would allow for something a little more personal though and bring you that much more into the world.

 

[braindancer12]

I want to be able to safe the game wherever i am. I hate it to start the whole mission from the star beacause i died.

But a safe house like GTA where you can also put on new clothes would be nice. An apartment which you can buy with your money.

 

[nukeheal]

I want to be able to safe the game wherever i am. I hate it to start the whole mission from the star beacause i died.

But a safe house like GTA where you can also put on new clothes would be nice. An apartment which you can buy with your money.

Well yes, what ever clothing or body armors you bought could be changed and previewed in your safe house or even perhaps Police station if you play as a Cop.

 

[Edo34]

Yes,by all means but it needs to be a place that I actually want to come back to and not some hole where I just switch my gear and such.This means it needs a serious amount of customization which will allow everyone to personalize that place the way they like.

 

[Sirnaq]

Good idea, sh as a place where you can heal and repair you hardware, place where you can start hacking etc.

 

[blarty]

I do kind of get the idea of customisation however, I think you shouldn't be able to have every safe house like that.
You may have to get some form of rep or become friends with people running other safe houses so you might get the chance to rent a bunk, etc. then that safe house gets raided and they start by blaming you and your team (if you have one)

Alsoo as stated about hoarding stuff, you're just making yourself a bigger target for street thieves and organised crime in general, and the more money you have in the banks the more likely you are to have unscrupulous corps fraudulently taking it bit by bit

 

[videopete]

I want to be able to safe the game wherever i am. I hate it to start the whole mission from the star beacause i died.

But a safe house like GTA where you can also put on new clothes would be nice. An apartment which you can buy with your money.

Wow you just killed the concept of buzz right there. Wow forget coffee, or a cold shower that sobered me right up. Seriously best times ive had in any game when I feel in danger,
I like the idea of decorating my safe house, esspecially the defenses to keep out the nosers, so what are safe houses for, storing kit, and healing, waiting out the heat. When the only place you can safely change your load out is in a safe house and not loose a thing your carrying it changes the way you play, suddenly you have to think of keeping that minnami 10 that you got all those sweet mods on or that new Arasuka gun you only seen in the latest zine.

 

[blarty]

The thing is, decorating it is fine, but that would be way down my list after installing security cameras, laser trip wires, anti intrusion systems and a possible panic room with an escape route and secure locker room with armour and weapons..... Oh and a beer fridge

 

[wisdom000]

Hell yes I want safe houses, I want several of them, at least one for each distinctly different area of the city... I want them to reflect my characters success.

I want a shitty dive in the zone, II want a coffin room in the moderate zone, want a cheap apartment in the city, I want an old warehouse or shack outside the city all nomad style, I want a fricking penthouse suite in the corp zone....

I want places to store my vehicles, my clothes, and my gear...

I want to be able to modify, even slightly, so they feel like mine...

 

[gregski]

Sims:2077

I guess in an open-world game a "safehouse" is needed as a place for saving/resuming game, changing clothes and gear etc...and only that.

Making it possible to put geranium in my windows would be a waste of resources. I'd rather have an already defined apartment and one quest or character more than being able to go on some kind of IKEA-frenzy.

 

[videopete]

Hell yes I want safe houses, I want several of them, at least one for each distinctly different area of the city... I want them to reflect my characters success.

I want a shitty dive in the zone, II want a coffin room in the moderate zone, want a cheap apartment in the city, I want an old warehouse or shack outside the city all nomad style, I want a fricking penthouse suite in the corp zone....

I want places to store my vehicles, my clothes, and my gear...

I want to be able to modify, even slightly, so they feel like mine...

Believe it or not the best safe house was in the Combat Zone, its where you could stash the military hardware with out too much issue, the boosters left it alone, cause well they remember what happened over the snickers. Or my personal favorite the Boostergang wwas a part of the security, grease some palms, hook up the projector and grab a couple of cases of suds for the super bowl.

 

[chromie92]

I wouldn't mind only small number amount of safehouses that are very detailed and useful. Fallout New Vegas's dlc Old World Blues had The Sink which was awesome and had practical uses. I'd want something like that but make it a real goal and have upgrades that would fit our playstyle.

 

[username_3642482]

I think safehouses would be a great addition, owning a piece of the world where your character can prepare him/herself for what ever's next makes the world feel more believable and open to you, the player.

 

[braindancer12]

Hell yes I want safe houses, I want several of them, at least one for each distinctly different area of the city... I want them to reflect my characters success.

I want a shitty dive in the zone, II want a coffin room in the moderate zone, want a cheap apartment in the city, I want an old warehouse or shack outside the city all nomad style, I want a fricking penthouse suite in the corp zone....

I want places to store my vehicles, my clothes, and my gear...

I want to be able to modify, even slightly, so they feel like mine...

Yes you are right! I think totally the same. And if there are cars or bikes i want a car park too

 

[netweaver]

Ya know, having a safehouse, allowing customization, and then having a somewhat subtle security option somewhere on the list of items that you can add would be nice.

Lemme paint ya a picture here.
You got a rundown apartment near the docks. It's low-key, in a neighborhood where the average people don't ask questions, nor look further than themselves. One of those places where people go to get lost.
Out of paranoia, the apartment doesn't look at the street, but at some inner courtyard between several buildings around it, where the actual entrance to the building is. You fixed up the door, ensured you have at least two ways out should the place get compromised, fixed stuff inside so you could live and work.

Some character you were working with to would offhandedly mention that safehouses aren't exactly 100% secure. Once, maybe twice. You'd get all the warning signs you need right from the start, but not glaringly obvious. Not in your face.
Maybe a bit into the story you break into the building across the street for something, and come across an empty apartment with a camera, showing someone is scoping your safehouse. Maybe there's just a little bit more graffiti on the walls nearby, which while you can't really tell, serves as a mark for your place to get hit. Maybe someone just follows you back from one of the runs outside, and figures out where you live.

And then one day, just because you weren't careful enough, it all comes crashing down.

Perhaps you're returning from a gig went bad, parts of you newly fixed up by the shady doc you probably had to pay for a lot more than it should have cost. You're haggard, barely walking, and with maybe half a clip in your gun when you arrive home. And there's a good dozen people waiting there, armed to the tooth.
Or maybe you enter the safehouse unopposed, only to find a polite man in a smart suit sitting in your chair and drinking something far too expensive for your budget. And there's a large caliber gun sitting on the table next to him.

It's always the small things that make the world. Night City isn't a safe, cozy place. You shouldn't be threatened by death at every step, but at the same time, the threat should always be there, subtle, barely visible if you're not paying attention, but definitely there.