There are many systems controlling the open world that I would love to see completely replaced with more complex and robust systems seen in other games with a similar playstyle however realistically I don't see that happening. With the exception of police, I think the choices are grounded mostly in performance reasons rather than time constraints. However some of these systems are incredibly simple, and could be expanded on to greatly improve the open world experience and I shall go over some of the things I can think of now
Traffic AI
I can understand why they went with the fake driving system that they have in the game, it allows a ridiculous number of vehicles on the road with very little performance hit (non graphical), but the system that takes over for dynamic control of the vehicles is absolutely atrocious and desperately needs significant work.
As far as the fake driving aspect is concerned I am actually surprised on how convincing this can be. In some of the missions where the paths used have been highly polished its hard to tell its not a physically simulated ride.
However the streets of Night City don't have nearly the level of polish to the path's to keep up the illusion. Some areas (like the one right outside your megabuilding) have cars going through solid objects which obviously need fixing, but there are many areas where the path has the vehicle slightly in or above the road, or create unrealistic looking turning arcs. I am sure this will get improved over time as they continue to polish the game.
This fake system is also missing a function to figure out how to clear a road block, by determining which cars to move and in what order to move them so that the block clears. I see road blocks all the time where if car A would just drive off path a tiny bit and move forward the rest of the block could move on.
The system overall is let down by the driving AI that takes over in dynamic scenarios more than anything. The one that drives your vehicle to you or controls cop cars. It is really bad and looks very unrealistic (especially steering input). The fake driving system needs to be able to drop a car to this AI so that it can drive around an obstruction, pass another vehicle or turn around. And obviously if police chases ever want to be a thing, it needs to be able to drive fast through traffic. (However personally I think an AV would be the better way to go for Police reaction to the player)
NPC AI
Ive detailed some 'quick' fixes to the NPC ai in another post but to summarize here the main issue with the NPCs is that they can't react contextually to what's happening. People who cower down never end up running off or they just keep walking around like nothing is happening. No one ever fights back and there are no 'mercs' walking around to add emergent gun fights and challenge when the player does crime. NPC's are not aware of gun battles or danger zones that have dynamically been created. Just because no one is shooting doesn't mean its safe to go there. I don't think the world should empty out like it does in GTA when gunfights break out but the NPC's should be aware of places that are potentially dangerous
Simply having a random chance for some NPC's to switch to the games combat ai would improve the immersion, but if they worked more on the 'search and destroy' mechanism and added a way for NPC's to path over longer distances the amount of emergent gameplay would skyrocket. It would also allow police to be spawned in much further away and approach the player in a more realistic and immersive way.
Combat AI
A straight up gunfight between two dug in positions for the most part works well in the game, but when you try and do something else, or the AI tries to do something else (hacking / melee) the system just is not robust enough. The group of enemies you face don't seem to have any form of teamwork. When a netrunner is in play, they rarely hang back, their buddies don't cover them or push when the runner successfully hacks you. The gunners in the group don't suppress the player so their melee guy can get close without being shot. Things like that. Teamwork is sorely missing and desperately needs adding into the games AI
Then there is the hacking issue. The player can use hacking for hours on a group of enemies without them ever figuring out what is going on. They never shoot out cameras, they never disconnect from the network or turn off devices that malfunction. A Netrunner in the group doesn't undo what the player is doing and they need to be able to re-enable and use cameras to find and mark the player for their teammates.
They desperately need to know how to handle hacking.
I only use cameras to scout an area, mark targets, distract with devices or switch turrets to friendly mode. I don't hack the enemy through the camera because its OP and a guaranteed win if your patient
Traffic AI
I can understand why they went with the fake driving system that they have in the game, it allows a ridiculous number of vehicles on the road with very little performance hit (non graphical), but the system that takes over for dynamic control of the vehicles is absolutely atrocious and desperately needs significant work.
As far as the fake driving aspect is concerned I am actually surprised on how convincing this can be. In some of the missions where the paths used have been highly polished its hard to tell its not a physically simulated ride.
However the streets of Night City don't have nearly the level of polish to the path's to keep up the illusion. Some areas (like the one right outside your megabuilding) have cars going through solid objects which obviously need fixing, but there are many areas where the path has the vehicle slightly in or above the road, or create unrealistic looking turning arcs. I am sure this will get improved over time as they continue to polish the game.
This fake system is also missing a function to figure out how to clear a road block, by determining which cars to move and in what order to move them so that the block clears. I see road blocks all the time where if car A would just drive off path a tiny bit and move forward the rest of the block could move on.
The system overall is let down by the driving AI that takes over in dynamic scenarios more than anything. The one that drives your vehicle to you or controls cop cars. It is really bad and looks very unrealistic (especially steering input). The fake driving system needs to be able to drop a car to this AI so that it can drive around an obstruction, pass another vehicle or turn around. And obviously if police chases ever want to be a thing, it needs to be able to drive fast through traffic. (However personally I think an AV would be the better way to go for Police reaction to the player)
NPC AI
Ive detailed some 'quick' fixes to the NPC ai in another post but to summarize here the main issue with the NPCs is that they can't react contextually to what's happening. People who cower down never end up running off or they just keep walking around like nothing is happening. No one ever fights back and there are no 'mercs' walking around to add emergent gun fights and challenge when the player does crime. NPC's are not aware of gun battles or danger zones that have dynamically been created. Just because no one is shooting doesn't mean its safe to go there. I don't think the world should empty out like it does in GTA when gunfights break out but the NPC's should be aware of places that are potentially dangerous
Simply having a random chance for some NPC's to switch to the games combat ai would improve the immersion, but if they worked more on the 'search and destroy' mechanism and added a way for NPC's to path over longer distances the amount of emergent gameplay would skyrocket. It would also allow police to be spawned in much further away and approach the player in a more realistic and immersive way.
Combat AI
A straight up gunfight between two dug in positions for the most part works well in the game, but when you try and do something else, or the AI tries to do something else (hacking / melee) the system just is not robust enough. The group of enemies you face don't seem to have any form of teamwork. When a netrunner is in play, they rarely hang back, their buddies don't cover them or push when the runner successfully hacks you. The gunners in the group don't suppress the player so their melee guy can get close without being shot. Things like that. Teamwork is sorely missing and desperately needs adding into the games AI
Then there is the hacking issue. The player can use hacking for hours on a group of enemies without them ever figuring out what is going on. They never shoot out cameras, they never disconnect from the network or turn off devices that malfunction. A Netrunner in the group doesn't undo what the player is doing and they need to be able to re-enable and use cameras to find and mark the player for their teammates.
They desperately need to know how to handle hacking.
I only use cameras to scout an area, mark targets, distract with devices or switch turrets to friendly mode. I don't hack the enemy through the camera because its OP and a guaranteed win if your patient
