Should certain Roles be eliminated?
I really cannot feasibly see any way a video game, regardless of which takes precedence, the world, or the story, can possibly feature all 9 roles as playable choices, and still end up with a single compelling story line that is long enough to satisfy either the Open World fans, or the Narrative driven fans.
The problem is simply this... even in the tabletop rpg, there are some roles that simply require a massive amount of work to bring in to a group for a campaign of any length.
In the interests of keeping things diverse, and covering as many careers as possible, they created Roles. But just like in real life, some of these roles are not compatible for long term play except under pretty specific circumstance.
In the Tabletop game, some of the standard roles can fit into just about any scenario.
Solo's obviously, because at their heart, they are just guys who can fight pretty well. Fixers can fit almost anywhere, everyone knows a guy who just has a knack for getting you something hard to find. Netrunners, who doesn't want a hacker on their team, no matter what the game is about. Techies... everyone needs to know a guy who can fix things. Medtech... because every group needs someone to patch up the wounds and boo-boos. And nomads tend to fit into almost any game by their very nature as drifters.
But Cops... Cops require the character to be employed. And them being a cop needs to be a major focus on the campaign. It's hard to drop a cop, for instance, into a game about organized crime, or an assassin team.... because the cop is expected to follow the law. Sure he can be a corrupt cop, or an undercover cop trying to bring down the group. But even if he is corrupt, he can't be hanging out with a bunch of thugs all the time, he has duties, responsibilities, and who he is seen with matters. If he is undercover, then he really isn't a cop for the purposes of the game, he is whatever role he is supposed to be pretending to be. By their nature for a long term campaign to work with cops as player characters, the game kinda has to revolve around that to a significant degree.
Medias fall into the same problem as cops, in that they work really well with the other roles, if the media is the focus of the game, but not really at all when they aren't. Criminals aren't going to want to be reported on because they are criminals... kinda obvious. But Cops aren't really going to want to be reported on either, because it hampers their ability to do their job.
Corps tend to fall into this category as well. If they are the one providing employment to the rest of whatever team they have, they work really well. But a Solo of his own volition isn't going to take a suit into the field with him, and really unless he is suicidal the corp shouldn't want to go in the first place. He hires people like the solo or the techie or whatever to these things so he doesn't have to.
Rockers. Why would a solo and Drug Dealer bring along a musician to a job? I mean the best he can do is provide a distraction by signing autographs or getting some people to "riot" for him... But if he just has a small band without label backing, how many people is he really going to be able to get to do that kind of thing... and how often. I listen to a lot of music,been to a lot of shows, but I have never been to a local bands show where the guys on stage could convince me to tie my own shoes, much less raise up in a mob and go rampaging down the street. And when they do gain the skill and influence to do such a thing, they are too big to just be doing their own thing. They will be on tour, promoting albums, and far removed from the worries of the streets.... not to mention they will now be held liable for incitement if they try anything like that. So again, for Rockers to work in your campaign, unless it is just a single adventure type thing, the story has to revolve around them pretty significantly.
In a video game the problems with roles get much much worse. Exponentially expounded if the character is limited to one Role.
Video games typically tell a story, from the singular view point of the player. Whether the story is a giant GTA or Fallout like world, or a more story driven narrative like Witcher or Deus Ex:HR. In a video game like this, combat is assumed to be a large part of the game. Even in most tabletops, it's assumed Combat will be part of the game... of course tabletop games can be played without combat entirely, but that is something that everyone involved has to be on the same page with, or the rules have to make explicit.
Combat can be left out entirely in video games as well, but I don't believe anyone here is under the illusion that Combat isn't going to be a major part of Cyberpunk 2077. Even if they would rather play a character that avoids it all costs.
Now here's the thing. Your Role is supposed to be your characters prime focus... what you do... your career as it were. A solo class in a video game is par for the course in these types of games. It is also assumed that Netrunners will be a major part of the game. Solo and Netrunner being represented by the main character are safe bets... no more needs to be said about them.
But like I said above... Cop only believably works under a pretty limited set of circumstances as detailed above. However all of these situations require being a police officer to be a major focus... that means reporting in, active police duties, superior officers checking up on you, making arrests,etc... That is a significant amount of extra game resources that would have to be dedicated to just one role, for it to be properly represented. Even in a single player game, it's asking a lot, and will certainly be drawing resources away from other areas of the game that would perhaps be better spent.
So maybe Cop has to go. (alternative idea at the end of post)
Corps and Medias have the same problems. These are full time jobs, that require a certain amount of narrative dedicated to them for the roles to be believable to the player. Eating up as many resources as the cop. Corps and Medias also are not expected to be active participants in combat... in fact participating in combat goes against the ethos of the Role. They are there to either document or avoid combat, but not join it.
They may have to be axed as well. Or possibly they could be Secondary Roles.
Fixers, Techs and Medtechs... depending on the game, focusing on their roles would not the resources taken up by the corporates, cops, and medias in terms of their employment, but worse, would take up far more resources by requiring the game to have mechanics and a mission plot line catered specifically to them. In the case of a fixer it would require an economy system, both buying and selling, as well as mechanic for meeting and maintaining contacts. With a techie it would require a system for maintenance, as mission narrative devoted to them repairing or building things. For medtechs, it requires a pretty detailed first aid and surgery mechanic, and definitely would require a mission narrative focused on them.
Again, they may have to be axed, or at best be treated as secondary Roles.
Nomads.... it pains me deeply to say this... but on the chance that there are not drivable vehicles in the game, or if there are no wasteland type areas outside the city, then the only thing nomads have going is their Tribe, which would require the ability to call in backup.... again, eating up resources. Nomads are my absolute favorite class, not least of which because they represent freedom in a world of oppression. But
They may have to go as well...or be made into a secondary class.
Which brings us to Rocker. This would be by far the most difficult class to bring into a game. It would require a detailed mechanic complete with concerts and band practices... Which would also mean it would require songs be written to be played by the character and his band. It would require a storyline not only dealing with the musical exploits of the character, but also of promoting themselves as musicians. As with the other Roles that should be dropped or made secondary, but more more so, there is no way to implement a rocker boy as the main protagonist into the same story missions a Solo main protagonist would undertake without becoming unbelievably trite and silly. It would only be extremely disappointing for both classes, or become a cartoon parody of them.
So Rockerboy should really just be dropped altogether. It doesn't even make sense as a secondary class.
Really, this leaves Solo and Netrunner as the only viable playable classes... with one challenging the fights head on, the other acting through remotes and via subterfuge and electronic combat, which could be handled the same as the solors combat, only in a wireframe world against computer representations of Black Ice and what not.
Allowing for secondary roles as listed above, would allow the game to sample the flavors of their roles, without devoting ridiculous amounts of resources to them.
The game could however go one more direction, even with the limited resources. Have two story paths... one for Cop, representing the law abiding path, and another for Solo, representing the criminal path. Of course cops could choose to act in a corrupt manner, and solo's could choose to be benevolent... And netrunners could either become secondary classes as well, or be neutral in their Plot Path.
But there you go. I know the post was ridiculously long. I know people aren't going to like... but if you don't like it, please, don't just crap on the ideas, suggest your own way of handling them, and think about the game more than just in terms of what you want from it.
I really cannot feasibly see any way a video game, regardless of which takes precedence, the world, or the story, can possibly feature all 9 roles as playable choices, and still end up with a single compelling story line that is long enough to satisfy either the Open World fans, or the Narrative driven fans.
The problem is simply this... even in the tabletop rpg, there are some roles that simply require a massive amount of work to bring in to a group for a campaign of any length.
In the interests of keeping things diverse, and covering as many careers as possible, they created Roles. But just like in real life, some of these roles are not compatible for long term play except under pretty specific circumstance.
In the Tabletop game, some of the standard roles can fit into just about any scenario.
Solo's obviously, because at their heart, they are just guys who can fight pretty well. Fixers can fit almost anywhere, everyone knows a guy who just has a knack for getting you something hard to find. Netrunners, who doesn't want a hacker on their team, no matter what the game is about. Techies... everyone needs to know a guy who can fix things. Medtech... because every group needs someone to patch up the wounds and boo-boos. And nomads tend to fit into almost any game by their very nature as drifters.
But Cops... Cops require the character to be employed. And them being a cop needs to be a major focus on the campaign. It's hard to drop a cop, for instance, into a game about organized crime, or an assassin team.... because the cop is expected to follow the law. Sure he can be a corrupt cop, or an undercover cop trying to bring down the group. But even if he is corrupt, he can't be hanging out with a bunch of thugs all the time, he has duties, responsibilities, and who he is seen with matters. If he is undercover, then he really isn't a cop for the purposes of the game, he is whatever role he is supposed to be pretending to be. By their nature for a long term campaign to work with cops as player characters, the game kinda has to revolve around that to a significant degree.
Medias fall into the same problem as cops, in that they work really well with the other roles, if the media is the focus of the game, but not really at all when they aren't. Criminals aren't going to want to be reported on because they are criminals... kinda obvious. But Cops aren't really going to want to be reported on either, because it hampers their ability to do their job.
Corps tend to fall into this category as well. If they are the one providing employment to the rest of whatever team they have, they work really well. But a Solo of his own volition isn't going to take a suit into the field with him, and really unless he is suicidal the corp shouldn't want to go in the first place. He hires people like the solo or the techie or whatever to these things so he doesn't have to.
Rockers. Why would a solo and Drug Dealer bring along a musician to a job? I mean the best he can do is provide a distraction by signing autographs or getting some people to "riot" for him... But if he just has a small band without label backing, how many people is he really going to be able to get to do that kind of thing... and how often. I listen to a lot of music,been to a lot of shows, but I have never been to a local bands show where the guys on stage could convince me to tie my own shoes, much less raise up in a mob and go rampaging down the street. And when they do gain the skill and influence to do such a thing, they are too big to just be doing their own thing. They will be on tour, promoting albums, and far removed from the worries of the streets.... not to mention they will now be held liable for incitement if they try anything like that. So again, for Rockers to work in your campaign, unless it is just a single adventure type thing, the story has to revolve around them pretty significantly.
In a video game the problems with roles get much much worse. Exponentially expounded if the character is limited to one Role.
Video games typically tell a story, from the singular view point of the player. Whether the story is a giant GTA or Fallout like world, or a more story driven narrative like Witcher or Deus Ex:HR. In a video game like this, combat is assumed to be a large part of the game. Even in most tabletops, it's assumed Combat will be part of the game... of course tabletop games can be played without combat entirely, but that is something that everyone involved has to be on the same page with, or the rules have to make explicit.
Combat can be left out entirely in video games as well, but I don't believe anyone here is under the illusion that Combat isn't going to be a major part of Cyberpunk 2077. Even if they would rather play a character that avoids it all costs.
Now here's the thing. Your Role is supposed to be your characters prime focus... what you do... your career as it were. A solo class in a video game is par for the course in these types of games. It is also assumed that Netrunners will be a major part of the game. Solo and Netrunner being represented by the main character are safe bets... no more needs to be said about them.
But like I said above... Cop only believably works under a pretty limited set of circumstances as detailed above. However all of these situations require being a police officer to be a major focus... that means reporting in, active police duties, superior officers checking up on you, making arrests,etc... That is a significant amount of extra game resources that would have to be dedicated to just one role, for it to be properly represented. Even in a single player game, it's asking a lot, and will certainly be drawing resources away from other areas of the game that would perhaps be better spent.
So maybe Cop has to go. (alternative idea at the end of post)
Corps and Medias have the same problems. These are full time jobs, that require a certain amount of narrative dedicated to them for the roles to be believable to the player. Eating up as many resources as the cop. Corps and Medias also are not expected to be active participants in combat... in fact participating in combat goes against the ethos of the Role. They are there to either document or avoid combat, but not join it.
They may have to be axed as well. Or possibly they could be Secondary Roles.
Fixers, Techs and Medtechs... depending on the game, focusing on their roles would not the resources taken up by the corporates, cops, and medias in terms of their employment, but worse, would take up far more resources by requiring the game to have mechanics and a mission plot line catered specifically to them. In the case of a fixer it would require an economy system, both buying and selling, as well as mechanic for meeting and maintaining contacts. With a techie it would require a system for maintenance, as mission narrative devoted to them repairing or building things. For medtechs, it requires a pretty detailed first aid and surgery mechanic, and definitely would require a mission narrative focused on them.
Again, they may have to be axed, or at best be treated as secondary Roles.
Nomads.... it pains me deeply to say this... but on the chance that there are not drivable vehicles in the game, or if there are no wasteland type areas outside the city, then the only thing nomads have going is their Tribe, which would require the ability to call in backup.... again, eating up resources. Nomads are my absolute favorite class, not least of which because they represent freedom in a world of oppression. But
They may have to go as well...or be made into a secondary class.
Which brings us to Rocker. This would be by far the most difficult class to bring into a game. It would require a detailed mechanic complete with concerts and band practices... Which would also mean it would require songs be written to be played by the character and his band. It would require a storyline not only dealing with the musical exploits of the character, but also of promoting themselves as musicians. As with the other Roles that should be dropped or made secondary, but more more so, there is no way to implement a rocker boy as the main protagonist into the same story missions a Solo main protagonist would undertake without becoming unbelievably trite and silly. It would only be extremely disappointing for both classes, or become a cartoon parody of them.
So Rockerboy should really just be dropped altogether. It doesn't even make sense as a secondary class.
Really, this leaves Solo and Netrunner as the only viable playable classes... with one challenging the fights head on, the other acting through remotes and via subterfuge and electronic combat, which could be handled the same as the solors combat, only in a wireframe world against computer representations of Black Ice and what not.
Allowing for secondary roles as listed above, would allow the game to sample the flavors of their roles, without devoting ridiculous amounts of resources to them.
The game could however go one more direction, even with the limited resources. Have two story paths... one for Cop, representing the law abiding path, and another for Solo, representing the criminal path. Of course cops could choose to act in a corrupt manner, and solo's could choose to be benevolent... And netrunners could either become secondary classes as well, or be neutral in their Plot Path.
But there you go. I know the post was ridiculously long. I know people aren't going to like... but if you don't like it, please, don't just crap on the ideas, suggest your own way of handling them, and think about the game more than just in terms of what you want from it.