Should the game have gated it's missions based on lifepath?

[Trykz]

Yeah - I spent a solid chunk of my second game trying to escape before starting the heist.

I'm quite the bitter about it.

Here's my "test adventure" where I detailed multiple stages trying to get out of Watson before ultimately giving up:

So How Are Your Playing Your 2nd Playthrough?

I m on my third character, first one was a nomad, assault type and got to level 12 and threw him away, it was a learning character. Second, was a corpo Female, Katana build, got to level 17, and took a break, because I didn't want to get to the end of the story too quick. Playing her on and...

forums.cdprojektred.com

 

[CTPhipps]

Let's say for the sake of argument they threw in more romancible options that were neutral to the life path. What about then?

I'm against gated content in general.

 

[CitizenMigraine]

I think the worst decision of all time was to make 1/4th of the game unplayable for THE WITCHER 2.

You should play King Hensalt's Camp AND Saskia's.

Why in the world would you gate your gamers from being able to enjoy your game.

Post automatically merged: Jan 3, 2021

Well there would be nothing to play outside of Watson because all the games are set post-Johnny.

I think we're advocatintg for ADDING lifepath-specific questlines for lifepath-specific flavor for replayability, not gating the main questline.

 

[CTPhipps]

I think we're advocatintg for ADDING lifepath-specific questlines for lifepath-specific flavor for replayability, not gating the main questline.

That's the thing, though. It's still content that a lot of gamers won't be able to enjoy unless they made the right choice at the beginning.

Part of what was promised, undercooked and underserved, by CDPR was that you'd be able to LEAVE your lifepath.

You could be a Street Kid who becomes a corpo or a Corpo who joins the Nomads.

You can do that...technically.

Weirdly, what I wanted to do most in this game was become Dwight from Sin City and a friend to the hookers. Sadly, there's no option for that save Judy.

 

[Icinix]

Well there would be nothing to play outside of Watson because all the games are set post-Johnny.

I know....

....but hope is all I have.

 

[Jetro30087]

I'm against gated content in general.

I figured the choice would be controversial. I'm just trying to see if there is a balance somewhere. It seems like some players tend to dislike choices that only have a superficial impact. But doing anything beyond superficial means 'making a choice' ultimately is choosing some content over another in a single playthrough, which other players don't like.

 

[Trykz]

What does open world mean in games?
In video games, an open world is a game mechanic of using a virtual world that the player can explore and approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay.

This game ain't that. And gated content would only make it worse, because your life path specific content will likely still be locked out until you can finally leave Watson. And there again, you'll have the psycho stuck in your head whether you like it or not.

Oh well. I'll wait for a mod that removes the Watson barriers. I want to play this game WITHOUT some fucking psycho nobody stuck in my head. Or at least as much of it as possible without the painfully linear main story.

 

[CTPhipps]

This game ain't that. And gated content would only make it worse, because your life path specific content will likely still be locked out until you can finally leave Watson. And there again, you'll have the psycho stuck in your head whether you like it or not.

Oh well. I'll wait for a mod that removes the Watson barriers. I want to play this game WITHOUT some fucking psycho nobody stuck in my head. Or at least as much of it as possible without the painfully linear main story.

Even if the Watson barriers were removed, the quests are all written with Johnny.

 

[Trykz]

Even if the Watson barriers were removed, the quests are all written with Johnny.

I'm aware that many side quests are. But there are tons of "location based" side quests and gigs that are not. Very few of the fixer quests include him. Same as all the ones you get from Regina inside Watson's borders.

 

[CitizenMigraine]

Well, if no gated content then I would like to see more varied mission types, organic events that lead to bigger stories, business/property investment, dynamic bounty hunts, and interactive activities throughout the city. Just more variety in general.

 

[Trykz]

Well, if no gated content then I would like to see more varied mission types, organic events that lead to bigger stories, business/property investment, dynamic bounty hunts, and interactive activities throughout the city. Just more variety in general.

I just want the freakin' game they told me I was buying. You know, the open world one? The one where "my story" doesn't take a fucking back seat to some fictitious wannabe rockstar activist who's story they decided I wanted to replace it without telling me?

Yeah. That'd be cool.

 

[CitizenMigraine]

I just want the freakin' game they told me I was buying. You know, the open world one? The one where "my story" doesn't take a fucking back seat to some fictitious wannabe rockstar activist who's story they decided I wanted to replace it without telling me?

Yeah. That'd be cool.

I feel like I'm begging and pleading for mere scraps of what I thought I was buying.

Oh and to stay on topic, I think Lifepath-specific COMPANIONS could be a thing

 

[Lexandro_Albion]

Short answer - Yes.

Long answer - Yes
It makes vastly more sense and has a much more engaging experience if you only take one path in Act2. The whole "but romance option" is irrelevant to me, as that is just side filler to the main story. I do not care who V sleeps with or sexual preference, I just want a good story that is well told.

When you play as, say a corpo and only follow Takemura's storyline it makes complete sense to me. It is akin to something like "Black Rain", ie a gaijin taking on the gangs and corrupt officials who have overseen his downfall.

Similarly Nomad and Pan-Am make perfect sense together, a wild and spirited nomad teaming up with a like minded soul.

Though I do not mind crossing paths in the story. But allowing it "free form" is a complete mistake.

By crossing life paths and NOT locking down the story for doing so, it cheapens the interactions and engagement with the story to the point where the player is "ok whatever, wheres the loot?" because they are content crunching to maximize play time and story content in a single sitting.

3 character starts and 3 life stories, should have been mutually exclusive regardless of how "short" it makes the story feel. A good short story is better than a long convoluted mish-mash of unconnected arcs.

 

[Night_City_Native]

Yes, though moreso in the beginning.

The character origin intros should have been longer and involved some quests related to that background. Let Corpo V do some Corpo stuff within Arasaka before the rug gets pulled out from under them, or Nomad V more quests related to their family. Maybe the loss of Nomad V's family should have been near the end of the Nomad intro rather than the starting point. Street Kid, more involvement with Padre and maybe an earlier meeting with Dex and T-bug.

 

[Jetro30087]

Short answer - Yes.

Long answer - Yes
It makes vastly more sense and has a much more engaging experience if you only take one path in Act2. The whole "but romance option" is irrelevant to me, as that is just side filler to the main story. I do not care who V sleeps with or sexual preference, I just want a good story that is well told.

When you play as, say a corpo and only follow Takemura's storyline it makes complete sense to me. It is akin to something like "Black Rain", ie a gaijin taking on the gangs and corrupt officials who have overseen his downfall.

Similarly Nomad and Pan-Am make perfect sense together, a wild and spirited nomad teaming up with a like minded soul.

Though I do not mind crossing paths in the story. But allowing it "free form" is a complete mistake.

By crossing life paths and NOT locking down the story for doing so, it cheapens the interactions and engagement with the story to the point where the player is "ok whatever, wheres the loot?" because they are content crunching to maximize play time and story content in a single sitting.

3 character starts and 3 life stories, should have been mutually exclusive regardless of how "short" it makes the story feel. A good short story is better than a long convoluted mish-mash of unconnected arcs.

Yeah when I look at the games narrative it seems like that was a direction that must have been considered but was phased out in favor of a more freeform style of choose from every quest. Perhaps they could have done it that way and added a fourth free-form lifepath, either by default or as a new game+.

 

[Lexandro_Albion]

Indeed. Like I said i have no issues with crossing paths, ie nomad>Takemura. But allowing Takemura, Judy, and Pan-Am all in one go all in one chapter.............that just seems like someone in the team was forced in to it.

 

[Restlessdingo32]

I figured the choice would be controversial. I'm just trying to see if there is a balance somewhere. It seems like some players tend to dislike choices that only have a superficial impact. But doing anything beyond superficial means 'making a choice' ultimately is choosing some content over another in a single playthrough, which other players don't like.

I think this is one of the core issues with this game, honestly. They preached choices and consequences and in the same stroke preached giving the player ultimate freedom. Designing the game so the player can experience everything the game has to offer no matter what. At some point you either draw a line where a player makes a certain choice in an area like character progression and they open up or lose an option. Or, you just make it flavor based and let them do everything. You can't have both.

Again though, there is a difference between preventing the player from even attempting wide swaths of content vs altering how that content plays out based on the choice they've selected. Blocking an entire quest for being a Corpo would be the former. Blocking them from getting a certain result or path through that quest for being a Corpo is the latter. And... once again, you can't do the latter if the quest itself isn't built to offer something beyond a singular result/path.

A good example of the latter would be skill/stat checks. You hit a quest to get something out of a building and have multiple ways to do it. Even so, there might be a door requiring a tech check to open. A character unable to meet this check cannot open this door. They can still participate in the quest. They just have to handle it differently.

Spoiler: Possible Spoiler

Tossing LP's into that.... My expectation was if I went Corpo it would open up, say, the option to contact Meredith Stout and get her eddie shard during the quest to get the spider bot. A Nomad or Streetkid wouldn't be able to do this part. They could still complete the quest though. It'd be even better if, say, a Streetkid could get in touch with some other contact to get a different approach to this quest.

In the game we got you can pick any LP and you'll get the same exact optional Meredith Stout portion of this quest, the same data shard and the same choices relating to that data shard. Every single other choice during this quest is made completely independent of anything character related. Yes, your LP might change a bit of the flavor along the way. Regardless, if LP's didn't exist and all of the LP oriented flavor was baked into the quest as selectable options the player would be none the wiser.

This particular quest is otherwise well designed IMO. There are numerous ways to approach it. Those paths give different results. Those results might be a bit superficial but they at least change something. I really don't understand why they would do the necessary work to add that flavor from LP selections, or the VO/writing/etc., and not leverage the LP's with those differences. Outside of making sure things don't break I'd think the VO/writing/etc. would be the... expensive part....

 

[gogdudedavid]

Of course.
Based on their promises we should have had less story and missions to balance the fact you had more replayability and deeper focus on different stories.

So naive.

 

[INulis]

I'm wondering, would the game have benefited if the current set of missions had been gated behind lifepath choices.

Yes.

Coz it makes it way more replayable. Right now its mostly linear.

 

[sommojames]

I think you have to be careful when you lock too much content out from early in game choices. CD Projekt learned that one well with The Witcher 2.

Having more dialogues and options because of those choices within the existing game is great though.

Was thinking the same thing. I prefer complete game with same flavour here and there rather than two half games.

Having said that more specific choices within the same quests would be welcomed