The reason why the cyberpunk story I felt was not fun.

[bcraig6010]

Of course, it's much better to play gwent, hunt monsters and buy new swords as you ignore the search for your daughter who's on the run from the group of interdimensional genocidal elves. There's no urgency here or anything...

No - there isn't. If you played the game the Emperor send one person after some intelligence agents. Yen - she could be in danger. It isn't will be dead in 2-3 weeks. Also - if you going after something that teleports its best if you do information gathering and not blindly rush all over. You can get some important info in Inns.

Because they hold back the uber big threat until much much later.

 

[Guest 3847602]

Yen - she could be in danger.

She could be in danger? Could be?! It's the Wild Hunt. Geralt knows who they are. He knows that they're after Ciri. There's no "could".

Also - if you going after something that teleports its best if you do information gathering and not blindly rush all over. You can get some important info in Inns.

Guess who can also teleport: Wild Hunt.
Main quest always directs you toward the next clue. No clue points you toward the notice board where you can pick up sidequests. There nothing to be gained by playing Gwent or becoming the fistfight champion or by winning horse races or by doing witcher contracts or by clearing monster nests. Nothing what-so-ever. None of this is in any way connected to your search for Ciri.

Because they hold back the uber big threat until much much later.

Uber big threat is introduced the moment Emperor says that Wild Hunt is pursuing Ciri and Yennefer confirmed it 3 minutes later. This happens right after you finish the prologue in White Orchard.
There's no "big threat that is revealed much later", just like there was no "big threat that is revealed much later" in ME1. Both reveals come very early in the story.

 

[End-of-Eternity]

She could be in danger? Could be?! It's the Wild Hunt. Geralt knows who they are. He knows that they're after Ciri. There's no "could".

If I remember correctlly Geralt does not know where Wild Hunt or Ciri is, so any journey could be wild goose chase without proper information.

Main quest always directs you toward the next clue. No clue points you toward the notice board where you can pick up sidequests. There nothing to be gained by playing Gwent or becoming the fistfight champion or by winning horse races or by doing witcher contracts or by clearing monster nests. Nothing what-so-ever. None of this is in any way connected to your search for Ciri.

Thats just it, in Witcher and Mass Effect you don't know where your target is, you're just following clues, so in my opinion doing sidequest does not break immersion as badly as knowing that you're going to die soon. Sure if it was that you know that death is near and want to go out with a bang it would make sense (I think game tries to do that in some ways), but sidequest are not about that, they are more like quests to build your reputation, reputation you already should have because you got heist quest from Dex because you are well known.

Then again I am certain that story never will be more coherent in those parts and those parts will remain unchanged, CDPR and most players are happy with it, unfortunately I am not. Hopefully DLC will have Dragon Age (or was it Mass Effect or both...?) type option to choose main game events that impact DLC narrative because, even though I liked main story and some side stories, I don't want replay this game through again or maybe DLC will be complete new story that only has same location with main game.

 

[Guest 3847602]

If I remember correctlly Geralt does not know where Wild Hunt or Ciri is, so any journey could be wild goose chase without proper information.

Yeah, that's why it takes 15-20 hours of gameplay to find her. Her location is unknown until the curse from Uma is lifted, but you always have the next clue to pursue.

Thats just it, in Witcher and Mass Effect you don't know where your target is, you're just following clues, so in my opinion doing sidequest does not break immersion as badly as knowing that you're going to die soon.

I mean sure, it's your opinion, but for Geralt I know, failing to find Ciri before the Wild Hunt does is worse than death.

Hopefully DLC will have Dragon Age (or was it Mass Effect or both...?) type option to choose main game events that impact DLC narrative because, even though I liked main story and some side stories, I don't want replay this game through again or maybe DLC will be complete new story that only has same location with main game.

They could probably do the same thing as they did with TW3 expansion and let you start them from the main menu. No need to include some decision-editing system.

 

[MartineDee]

I want to reiterate on the topic my previous reply is here.
See, I just saw video title where player did the don't fear the reaper ending all with the malorian arms gun from Johnny. I was like whut?

I suppose, folks who are not happy to assume Johnny's identity (not unlike myself) will either find their place in the game or they might feel the gap. Sorry about the gap. My point is that if this game was meant for you, you'll feel your V, and you will build your identity.

You don't need much. Just something to be happy with in the game.

I like Overture. My V is an overture woman. We wouldn't have it any other way. We walk in like we own the place and we shoot em all up. We're dicky and don't move out of the way before a tyrant. Sometimes we pay the price, but we're closing up with a positive balance. My V ever-seeks adventure, and is harassing gangs on the streets in spare time. Especially the gang called the police

Are we in deep shit? Why bring in allies, didn't you just pull them out of their own shit. Let them savor it. Clean up your own mess. Own it.

All my values. The game allows its story to become my story, with Johnny as a passenger who's stuck with me. My character, ex corpo, mourns Jackie essentially forever, and is happy to have put his name on top of the Afterlife menu. If I had the chance to shoot Hanako in the face, she'd probably have question why. One name. Jacke Welles. Where is his body? Essentially allow her to trade his body for me aiming lower to the heart and her proper burial. No body anymore? Too bad.

She's still having the question but why? Because it makes me feel better. And I am pretty sure she'll get resurrected if I don't shoot her in the face, so I will be waiting for that should she happen to have Jackie's body.

 

[medion_no]

Technically you are Johnny too at the same time according to the Arasaka relic technician. You are being overwritten with his personality. Conversations with him in your brain is how it interprets the situation... Just sayin.
The only thing that changes with the pills is which one is the dominant personality. I think this is very important to understand the history of the game. Basically like the Venom from the comics it's Eddie Brock and the symbiote at the same time: -"We are Venom!".
And if you shoot with Johnny's gun you reload it just like him or you end up with cigarettes in your hand even if you don't smoke. My V is a girl and the detail is much more evident.

 

[MartineDee]

Not ta say dat yeh don't have a point. Yeh do. And gotcha.

It is the player holding the mouse, and steering dialogues, though. The player has a contribution to the game story. To me, that is enough to assert myself and consider it my game. This doesn't work for some others.

 

[Cali66]

Because the game revolves around Silverhand instead of V

 

[Mobster100]

The story was pretty good. But no fun.

Problem is during gameplay I felt like I wasn't protagonist.

I've played The Witcher over and over again.
Because Geralt was me. And I continued to play Mass Effect. Shepard was me.
But I wasn't Johnny...

The cp story is not for V. It's for Johnny.
The main quest felt like it was all for Johnny.

story was so much fun before Johnny showed up.
It would have been more interesting if you let me play as Johnny instead of the supporting character V.

Playing a supporting role is not very fun.

Ps. sorry for my english

Had it kind of the same way, I did feel like I played as V. But you are correct the story is about Silverhand, nothing in the game really concern V except you being stuck with Silverhand, but since you fairly early on figures out what is going to happen to you no matter what, you basically become a vessel for Silverhand.

Also as V you have no connection to the bad guys, meaning no reason at all for going after Arasaka, Smasher or anything. Even though Jackie were killed and that would have been a reason, the setup is simply not there. You and Jackie "attacked" them and they defended themselves, so you are in the wrong.

The guy that gives you the quest and screw you over, is also out of the story fairly quick, so basically there is nothing explaining why V ought to do any of what you are doing.

So on that part I agree that the main story is very weak and pointless from the perspective of the player as V, and even to the point of Silverhand as well as he is basically just a terrorist that want revenge on behalf of someone that doesn't even care. So its a fairly strange and weak story overall. But if you look past this and "force" yourself to not pay to much attention to it and just focus on the side missions then its ok.

 

[lyin321]

Had it kind of the same way, I did feel like I played as V. But you are correct the story is about Silverhand, nothing in the game really concern V except you being stuck with Silverhand, but since you fairly early on figures out what is going to happen to you no matter what, you basically become a vessel for Silverhand.

Also as V you have no connection to the bad guys, meaning no reason at all for going after Arasaka, Smasher or anything. Even though Jackie were killed and that would have been a reason, the setup is simply not there. You and Jackie "attacked" them and they defended themselves, so you are in the wrong.

The guy that gives you the quest and screw you over, is also out of the story fairly quick, so basically there is nothing explaining why V ought to do any of what you are doing.

...why should V have a connection with the bad guys? And you have a reason to attack Smasher IF you want one. Otherwise, he is just an obstacle for our hero to overcome and I don't see the problem with that.
So a game where a mercenary (not this one, although it can be I suppose) is hired to do something, is not really about them, but about their employer?

 

[LeKill3rFou]

The only thing that changes with the pills is which one is the dominant personality. I think this is very important to understand the history of the game. Basically like the Venom from the comics it's Eddie Brock and the symbiote at the same time: -"We are Venom!".

Personally I would make an "obvious" parallel with Fight Club (V/Johnny - Narrator/Tyler Durden). In the narrator point of view, Tyler is a different person with which he can talk, "interact" and "see" each other. But "in reality" (and for all other poeple), he's not. Both are the same dude

 

[medion_no]

Personally I would make an "obvious" parallel with Fight Club (V/Johnny - Narrator/Tyler Durden). In the narrator point of view, Tyler is a different person with which he can talk, "interact" and "see" each other. But "in reality" (and for all other poeple), he's not. Both are the same dude

Yeah, Tyler Durden is a great example there.

 

[Mobster100]

...why should V have a connection with the bad guys? And you have a reason to attack Smasher IF you want one. Otherwise, he is just an obstacle for our hero to overcome and I don't see the problem with that.
So a game where a mercenary (not this one, although it can be I suppose) is hired to do something, is not really about them, but about their employer?

The reason there should be a connection is because it makes for a better story and more believable protagonist that one can relate to. Lets imagine that V and Jackie were hanging out at a bar together and suddenly Arasaka soldiers and Smasher shows up, because they have to do some mission there and they are being real bastards, during that Jackie is executed by Smasher, because he means nothing to him or whatever. V only makes it by pure luck... or whatever.

Now you have a reason or motivation for why V is angry at Arasaka and Smasher. You as a player can understand why V is upset as they wronged you and murdered your friend for no reason. At this point you could throw all of the Silverhand in as well, it wouldn't change that V still have a good reason for why he/she want revenge and is not written out of the story.

But as I said, as the story is now, V and Jackie are the ones that are being bastards against Arasaka and kills a lot of innocent people, regardless of what is going on internally with them. Smasher is just some famous bodyguard and is not even the one that kills Jackie.

The only motivation or connection that could potentially be there in this setup, is that Arasaka tries to blame V and Jackie for something that they didn't do, meaning killing the father, but that is not used as a driving force in the game, its not about clearing your name or Arasaka hunting you down or anything, because as V you are going to die anyway so it doesn't matter.

Dexter which could also be a motivation for V, is also taken out of the game almost instantly and forgotten, so he is not relevant either.

So what you are left with is just some random person running around doing random missions for no reason, helping a terrorist stuck in their head, which also doesn't have a good reason/motivation for what he is doing, but that is sort of what you are left with. So adding it all together, the story is just not very good, because it doesn't manage to give you a reason to feel sympathy or why you as a player should really care about what is going on, because the connection between V and the bad guys doesn't exist.

The main plot in my opinion, might as well have been a random mission. Where you get a mission goal, do it and then forget about it and move on to the next one.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

So what you are left with is just some random person running around doing random missions for no reason, helping a terrorist stuck in their head, which also doesn't have a good reason/motivation for what he is doing, but that is sort of what you are left with.

Hmm... Johnny know why he's doing what he doing (if I understand). He simply hate corpos and Arasaka above all.
At the start, to quote him : "To fight the fucking forces of entropy". Then because Arasaka killed the only person he ever cared about, Alt. Then Arasaka again, because he stay in Mikoshi 50 years.

And for Smasher, he's like all the other Boss (Oda, Sasquatch) in the game, just an obstacle between you and your objective. You must fight him, but you can spare him, if you want (if you think he don't deserve to die).

So in short, as V said to Johnny : we have two goal. V want to survive (nothing more) and Johnny want to destroy Arasaka (a win-win). Both can be achieved in the same path.

 

[Mobster100]

Hmm... Johnny know why he's doing what he doing (if I understand). He simply hate corpos and Arasaka above all.
At the start, to quote him : "To fight the fucking forces of entropy". Then because Arasaka killed the only person he ever cared about, Alt. Then Arasaka again, because he stay in Mikoshi 50 years.

And for Smasher, he's like all the other Boss (Oda, Sasquatch) in the game, just an obstacle between you and your objective. You must fight him, but you can spare him, if you want (if you think he don't deserve to die).

So in short, as V said to Johnny : we have two goal. V want to survive (nothing more) and Johnny want to destroy Arasaka (a win-win). Both can be achieved in the same path.

Yes, but don't think that solves the issues. Because Johnny say that he does it, so Rogue can get revenge on something that Adam Smasher did. But Rogue tells you that she doesn't care about Adam Smasher and that it has nothing to do with him.

That Johnny have been held in "prison" for 50 years, only seems fair after killing so many people, he might be upset about it, but nothing that would make you feel sympathy for him, he is a terrorist in that regard and even if he doesn't like Arasaka and the corporations, doesn't justify blowing them up and killing 100 or 1000s of innocents depending on how many live in that tower.

In regard to V, you are told fairly early that you can't survive it. So the mission of even trying seems pointless from that point on, which lead you to either help a terrorist hurt even more people or not. Nothing that really makes for an appealing story in my opinion.

And sure you could spare Smasher, but in my opinion he is so little in the game and you know so little about him, that you are not motivated to side with him and he just turns into this "ghost" of a bad guy, which basically have no personality for which you could create a conflict and make the player care. Besides that, you have killed 1000s of random people throughout the game, so why sparing/killing Smasher should be a huge issue doesn't really make sense.

At least in my play through, I never considered Smasher a threat of any kind and honestly I didn't care about him at all throughout the game. It was only when I reach the end and he was there, I thought.. "Fine, lets kill him then.." there were no build up to me being excited about meeting or even fight him. He was just another NPC that had to be killed. Maybe others felt it differently, but for me I didn't care as he had played such a small role in my 170 or so hour playthrough.

 

[lyin321]

you are told fairly early that you can't survive it.

I don't think that is true. Been a few months since I played CP77, but doesn't Viktor himself tells you that what you are dealing with is something new and he is not 100% about it (and how deadly it is). But even if Viktor told you 'nope you are going to die kid. It's impossible to stop the process' the whole journey is V trying to find people that may know better than Viktor.

 

[BabaBooey88]

I don't think that is true. Been a few months since I played CP77, but doesn't Viktor himself tells you that what you are dealing with is something new and he is not 100% about it (and how deadly it is). But even if Viktor told you 'nope you are going to die kid. It's impossible to stop the process' the whole journey is V trying to find people that may know better than Viktor.

It's precisely true. He tells V that they've got a few weeks tops... so you go out collecting cars and running errands.

 

[lyin321]

It's precisely true. He tells V that they've got a few weeks tops... so you go out collecting cars and running errands.

The cars are different matter. One I agree with and think the main quest doesn't do a good job with ('fitting' into the open world). But he was talking about the MQ and my point was - I don't see the problem with V wanting to find a more knowledgeable source about the chip.

 

[BabaBooey88]

The cars are different matter. One I agree with and think the main quest doesn't do a good job with ('fitting' into the open world). But he was talking about the MQ and my point was - I don't see the problem with V wanting to find a more knowledgeable source about the chip.

Ahh, gotcha. That makes sense.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

In regard to V, you are told fairly early that you can't survive it. So the mission of even trying seems pointless from that point on, which lead you to either help a terrorist hurt even more people or not. Nothing that really makes for an appealing story in my opinion.

Viktor say that V will die if V does nothing (few week tops). He can't help V because it's way above its knowledge or skills (nothing more). But like Misty, he said to V that he/she have to search a way to save his/her life. As long as there is life, there is hope.
Viktor about Johnny/Relic (dialogue during the first visite after the Heist) :
V : "What I have to do if Johnny want to flatline me ?"
Viktor : "What...?! Anyway, we're not going to wait for him to take your body, find a way to get rid of the chip and quickly !"

So in short, Viktor doesn't have any solution, but also hope that V can find a way to find one (and he really push V in this way).

And sure you could spare Smasher, but in my opinion he is so little in the game and you know so little about him, that you are not motivated to side with him and he just turns into this "ghost" of a bad guy, which basically have no personality for which you could create a conflict and make the player care. Besides that, you have killed 1000s of random people throughout the game, so why sparing/killing Smasher should be a huge issue doesn't really make sense.

At least in my play through, I never considered Smasher a threat of any kind and honestly I didn't care about him at all throughout the game. It was only when I reach the end and he was there, I thought.. "Fine, lets kill him then.." there were no build up to me being excited about meeting or even fight him. He was just another NPC that had to be killed. Maybe others felt it differently, but for me I didn't care as he had played such a small role in my 170 or so hour playthrough.

Smasher is Johnny "enemy", not V's one. You could say to Johnny that you won't kill him (or promise him to kill Smasher, whatever it happen). As V whish
Like I said, it's just an obstacle to reach your goal (exactly like Oda, Sasquatch,...)

But Rogue and Johnny think in the same way : "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs".
So the employees in the Arasaka tower (no one "live" in the tower) are Arasaka guys and don't deserve any pity (in their mind). So maybe V could think differently and choose the "bullet in the head" ending to avoid any innocents to die...