Dear CD Projekt red,
Why is it that this game is both awesome and dissapointing at the same time. I have already clocked 70 hours into the game. My first impressions ( on PC) were awesome. It just looked so damn good. The moment you run out of the megabuilding and enter watson. Just wow...
In the first few hours everything seemed fine. Some visual bugs, but nothing I couldn't live with. But after some time I did notice to start things that just weren't there... You look at all these food stands with just no interaction. And when there is finally a place where you can buy food or drinks it is just like a ordinary witcher 3 vendor with nothing more then a new shell wrapped around it.
And then you start to notice that this game would be really vertical and realize there are almost no buildings you can enter. Slowly the game starts to feel more and more then a beautifully rendered city simulator with absotely nothing to interact with. Personally Pacifica felt real short. There is literally nothing to do except for one or 2 sidejobs and some police calls. We were told that Pacifica would be a dangerous place. But I just walk around in it like having a stroll and nothing really happens on the street. At least no more then for example in Watson.
After a while the combat starts to show cracks and soon you realize it is just so badly implemented.
I guess the stories that were posted on reddit by (ex) Employees were right. This game could have been a masterpiece but got ruined by managers pushing employees around and let them work until they are exhausted. Fuck the bugs, they deserve a well deserved break.
Here is a message to the Managers / Investors responsible for this fiasco.
Shame on you. The point ofCP2077 was to create a great and awesome game. The idea was awesome and it is so close to have become the best game of the coming decade. The possibilities were nearly endless and if you are worried about generating revenue, that is something you should worry after. It would have been a win / win for both parties. It was the dumb est mistake to make. Now CDprojekt got devalued by 1 billion dollars in revenue. What a waste and a shame.
What should have been done in september through november is to show why cyberpunk was not ready to launch. Show us that there were a billion bugs in the game, that on current gen consoles the game was just not performing and say the game would be delayed for at least another 1 to 2 years. People would have understood it.
But it is not the end for cyberpunk. The city with all it's detail is there. The next job is for CDprojekt red is to fill the city up and fulfill the game as it was invisioned.
Here is what I like to see for the future of CP2077:
- Phase one, fix the bugs / optimize for last gen consoles as much as possible and get the game in a playable state for those consoles.
Phase two, Get the features in there so many people are searching for. We players want to live in that city, buy appartments, use transportation. be confronted by unexpected things. Make the city feel like a real city where you can do stuff you would do. Eat, drink sleepas a requirement, pay for rent, buy or rent appartments, furnish appartments.
Phase 3: Keep developing new content (story, missions, gigs, relationships) for the city and sell them as large content packs, (paid DLC) I really dont mind paying double or triple for a game if it had all these interactions in it. I have been waiting for a game like this. The hard part (creating this marvelous and fantastically designed city) is over.
Other things I would really love:
- Make the badlands much, much bigger. The badlands make me feel like I am still in the city and feels very limited. It should also be much easier to create compared to the architectural challenges of the city. Just remember, there is no rush, I am more then happy to wait another 5 years.
- Make the transportation functional. It is such a shame the Ncart got scrapped for whatever reason that might be. All the infrastructure is there, all the design is also in there.
- AI development. Try to find a way to implement AI with self learning algrothims to create a believable city. To program pedestrians manually is crazy, but maybe there is a way for AI to train people in the Night City to be more believable. Of course, the usual suspects, combat AI, police AI traffic AI also need to be adressed.
- A mature experience. It felt a bit short from what I have noticed in a city that revolves around corruption, sex and drugs.
Of course, there are a lot of other suggestions out there that I would love see and other people would love to see, but these
- Character development. Even though, it is solid, I think some awkard decisions have been made. Also, maybe the level system has become redundant in 2020. Level systems feel static, and maybe it is time for something more experimental. A way that skills will grudally drop off aswell if they are not used, or if you get injured. I would have loved a system where medicare would pick your half dead corpse off the floor and patch you up for a price. If you run out of money and flatline and die it should initate a permadeath which forces you to make a completely new game. This way a job requires a lot more careful planning to prevent the player from dying. I will be honest about this, it would be nearly impossible to implement seeing the current gamestate and decisions that have been made. But I guess this is what I was craving for.
I hope CDprojekt hopefully does something with this feedback and I hope you guys get on the right track soon.
Kind Regards,
I'm Scaryspikes. I love games and creating content for them. Having a blast with CP2077. Feel free to check out the channel and browse around, I have a number of games covered, and plan to make several guides for CP2077. Cheers 