So, I have been thinking about the story recently, also due to several posts on here.
So I wanted to take a bit of a deeper look at the story, at the game itself and how it meshes together.
The very first thing that immediately caught me as jarring, was the 6 months montage. After the Intro, you want to explore Night City, you want to finally be let loose and be allowed to explore this game world. But instead, the game tells you, that your character did that. But it doesnt let you play it.
Instead, your character is railroaded into a mindset and into a position, you have no say over.
This then becomes extremely obvious, when you meet Dex Deshawn, who asks you if you want to become a Legend, and your only options are three flavors of yes.
This left me with a sour taste in my mouth, I wanted to say, i do not want to be a Legend, because that isnt what I wanted to play. I wanted to be just another merc in a big city. Wanted to explore that city, meet people and just be a part of this world.
I wanted to play exactly that, what was replaced with a montage.
And this is crucial for a few reasons. The main stories main theme is that of Legacy, what it means to be a Legend, and what actually matters in life. The entire story hinges on the assumption, that the player and V want to become Legends, so that Silverhand then is held in front of them as a mirror of what becomes of legends.
You visit Silverhands grave, which is just a junkyard, without any markings or memories towards Johnny.
You get to see where the lives of his friends went, those that did chose to live safe but long lives.
However, Vs story hinges on the "Heist" mission. On "Being in the Major leagues". The entire idea of Johnny in Vs head is a result of that. Of wanting to be a legend, of wanting to pull the great heist and go from poor Merc to rich legend.
But as a player, I didnt have that wish, I didnt have that goal. I was railroaded into that mission, because I wanted to explore the game world.
I could not just explore the world in act one and decide to not go for the legendary route.
There was a significant disconnect between the motives of me as a player, and of my character. And this is, why in the end, the story didnt resonate with me. I never decided to go on this journey, I was forced to, by the game. I was made to expirience a story, I had no emotional connection to. All I wanted was to be just another Merc, I wanted to explore this city and get to know the people in it.
But the game would not let me, withholding it in a way, where it shows to me, that my character did, what I wanted to play... but that I wasnt allowed to play it.
So then of course getting a sense of "The result of my actions" in a promised death of my character, it felt unearned, it felt forced onto me. I did not care for a Legacy or being a Legend. And by the end of the story, I had no emotional connection to that idea at all. So when I was told that my character would die in 6 months... It was just cynical garbage. Because I did not chose to go that route. When I interacted with Johnny, he felt foreign, childish, and unimportant. he did not feel like a mirror of my actions, and of my goals in the world.
There was no narrative arc, that I could really get invested in, because these themes did not apply to me. And therefore should not apply to my character.
And this is what I feel a lot of people struggled with in the end, and why the story is poorly recieved. This story would work in a linear story game, where you see every angle, and then come to a conclusion. But it does not work in this medium. It does not work, if the player really only wants to see the world and explore it, if the player doesnt need to be told the moral of a story, as they wouldnt have gotten into the story, if they werent forced to.
It feels like all in all, it's another case of a good story written for the wrong medium. An open world game with character creation and everything, should let you decide how you interact with it, who you want to be in this world.
It has to let you decide, if you do the heist or not, without withholding the entire game from you, if you dont.
If I play Skyrim, I dont have to kill a single Dragon, and can still sink 500+ hours into a single playthrough. Because the world and the main character do not revolve around the main story. Instead, the main story is one of many options for things to do in this world. And if you really want to, you can just go out hunting for the rest of your life in that game.
If I play New Vegas, I decide who I side with, with the game literally letting me side with every major faction.
These two are quite opposite options for how to use the open world to your advantage in the story you tell. Giving you total freedom in story and gameplay, instead of having a linear story in an open world.
So I wanted to take a bit of a deeper look at the story, at the game itself and how it meshes together.
The very first thing that immediately caught me as jarring, was the 6 months montage. After the Intro, you want to explore Night City, you want to finally be let loose and be allowed to explore this game world. But instead, the game tells you, that your character did that. But it doesnt let you play it.
Instead, your character is railroaded into a mindset and into a position, you have no say over.
This then becomes extremely obvious, when you meet Dex Deshawn, who asks you if you want to become a Legend, and your only options are three flavors of yes.
This left me with a sour taste in my mouth, I wanted to say, i do not want to be a Legend, because that isnt what I wanted to play. I wanted to be just another merc in a big city. Wanted to explore that city, meet people and just be a part of this world.
I wanted to play exactly that, what was replaced with a montage.
And this is crucial for a few reasons. The main stories main theme is that of Legacy, what it means to be a Legend, and what actually matters in life. The entire story hinges on the assumption, that the player and V want to become Legends, so that Silverhand then is held in front of them as a mirror of what becomes of legends.
You visit Silverhands grave, which is just a junkyard, without any markings or memories towards Johnny.
You get to see where the lives of his friends went, those that did chose to live safe but long lives.
However, Vs story hinges on the "Heist" mission. On "Being in the Major leagues". The entire idea of Johnny in Vs head is a result of that. Of wanting to be a legend, of wanting to pull the great heist and go from poor Merc to rich legend.
But as a player, I didnt have that wish, I didnt have that goal. I was railroaded into that mission, because I wanted to explore the game world.
I could not just explore the world in act one and decide to not go for the legendary route.
There was a significant disconnect between the motives of me as a player, and of my character. And this is, why in the end, the story didnt resonate with me. I never decided to go on this journey, I was forced to, by the game. I was made to expirience a story, I had no emotional connection to. All I wanted was to be just another Merc, I wanted to explore this city and get to know the people in it.
But the game would not let me, withholding it in a way, where it shows to me, that my character did, what I wanted to play... but that I wasnt allowed to play it.
So then of course getting a sense of "The result of my actions" in a promised death of my character, it felt unearned, it felt forced onto me. I did not care for a Legacy or being a Legend. And by the end of the story, I had no emotional connection to that idea at all. So when I was told that my character would die in 6 months... It was just cynical garbage. Because I did not chose to go that route. When I interacted with Johnny, he felt foreign, childish, and unimportant. he did not feel like a mirror of my actions, and of my goals in the world.
There was no narrative arc, that I could really get invested in, because these themes did not apply to me. And therefore should not apply to my character.
And this is what I feel a lot of people struggled with in the end, and why the story is poorly recieved. This story would work in a linear story game, where you see every angle, and then come to a conclusion. But it does not work in this medium. It does not work, if the player really only wants to see the world and explore it, if the player doesnt need to be told the moral of a story, as they wouldnt have gotten into the story, if they werent forced to.
It feels like all in all, it's another case of a good story written for the wrong medium. An open world game with character creation and everything, should let you decide how you interact with it, who you want to be in this world.
It has to let you decide, if you do the heist or not, without withholding the entire game from you, if you dont.
If I play Skyrim, I dont have to kill a single Dragon, and can still sink 500+ hours into a single playthrough. Because the world and the main character do not revolve around the main story. Instead, the main story is one of many options for things to do in this world. And if you really want to, you can just go out hunting for the rest of your life in that game.
If I play New Vegas, I decide who I side with, with the game literally letting me side with every major faction.
These two are quite opposite options for how to use the open world to your advantage in the story you tell. Giving you total freedom in story and gameplay, instead of having a linear story in an open world.