I expected more table top key mechanics, especially empathy but they said it won't be implemented.
I was expecting to play all the life paths on different difficulty starting with Street Kid (Normal). But it became pointless after 50h so I didn't finish the game. I expected it to be an RPG in the spirit of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines - a game that was also buggy at launch but was brilliant at its core.
So, what did I expect but didn't get?
-More Content
With each of the gangs for starters. Especially Voodoo Boys, who had a great entry and disappeared from the world soon after. Also I have to say I fking loved how intimidating Maelstrom was done (Flathead quest). I just wanted a hell of a lot more of that.
The game just felt far too short, and I was doing gigs (which were fun for a while) for far too long just to prolong what I realized was a short main questline.
Hacking to be more than just tech "spellcasting"
The 2018 demo showed an amazing animation and feature done when you hack in to an opponent you took down. There was an entire map of the area, NPC locations, implied possibility to zoom in everywhere and explore, learn about the layout... why the hell was this taken out?
-More options in gameplay
For example, taking out wall running. What is the reason here? The game gets far too easy eventually anyway and there's ways to get overpowered in every perk tree. If that's the case anyway, then let me be OP in every cool way there is.
Why not wall run?
Why not be able to break glass normally and enter?
Why not be able to tear down a wall with Gorilla Hands? (Or at least lower strength req for regular doors...)
Why not give me the ability to cut down a wire fence with some tool or Mantis Blades and enter that way?
Why narrow down these possibilities? There is no need to control and take into account every way the players might pass an objective... just to control the game's challenge I assume.
Or at least if you do it then do it well.
So, since the game is easy anyway, then give these cool options that, although they don't feel life-changing, they give so much more freedom to the creativity of the players to decide for themselves how to go about the game.
-More danger from the city
This is tied in to how easy the game is. Imo, if you pick Very Hard, the game should Never. Be. Easy.
Not Cyberpunk.
Danger is such an important element of the atmosphere. The moment I start feeling like I can take down a whole squad of even Cops or Maelstrom gangoons easily, the game is done.
I had to RP the danger into the game to save it. It worked fine for my experience, but there should really be a difficulty option there to avoid pushing people into resorting to that.
And I didn't even min/max! Far from it. Purposefully picked looks over stats, picked stats to RP a realistic human being instead of getting crazy stats, and still...
-Did I say... more content?
-More Content
With each of the gangs for starters. Especially Voodoo Boys, who had a great entry and disappeared from the world soon after. Also I have to say I fking loved how intimidating Maelstrom was done (Flathead quest). I just wanted a hell of a lot more of that.
The game just felt far too short, and I was doing gigs (which were fun for a while) for far too long just to prolong what I realized was a short main questline.
Hacking to be more than just tech "spellcasting"
The 2018 demo showed an amazing animation and feature done when you hack in to an opponent you took down. There was an entire map of the area, NPC locations, implied possibility to zoom in everywhere and explore, learn about the layout... why the hell was this taken out?
-More options in gameplay
For example, taking out wall running. What is the reason here? The game gets far too easy eventually anyway and there's ways to get overpowered in every perk tree. If that's the case anyway, then let me be OP in every cool way there is.
Why not wall run?
Why not be able to break glass normally and enter?
Why not be able to tear down a wall with Gorilla Hands? (Or at least lower strength req for regular doors...)
Why not give me the ability to cut down a wire fence with some tool or Mantis Blades and enter that way?
Why narrow down these possibilities? There is no need to control and take into account every way the players might pass an objective... just to control the game's challenge I assume.
Or at least if you do it then do it well.
So, since the game is easy anyway, then give these cool options that, although they don't feel life-changing, they give so much more freedom to the creativity of the players to decide for themselves how to go about the game.
-More danger from the city
This is tied in to how easy the game is. Imo, if you pick Very Hard, the game should Never. Be. Easy.
Not Cyberpunk.
Danger is such an important element of the atmosphere. The moment I start feeling like I can take down a whole squad of even Cops or Maelstrom gangoons easily, the game is done.
I had to RP the danger into the game to save it. It worked fine for my experience, but there should really be a difficulty option there to avoid pushing people into resorting to that.
And I didn't even min/max! Far from it. Purposefully picked looks over stats, picked stats to RP a realistic human being instead of getting crazy stats, and still...
-Did I say... more content?
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My expectation was mostly just a game that was going to be massively replayable, since they marketed so heavily that your choices affect the gameplay. I figured the life paths would give my V different stats or skills to make the game feel a little different rather than just a handful of dialogue options that are a sentence or two long. Since a lot of the quests either don't have a set ending (obligatory reference to the "I like frustrating players/ambiguous endings" tweet) or all end the same no matter what you do, choices felt sort of shallow and it didn't feel worth it to play again just for two or three different lines when I'm nailing a guy to a cross. The alternative is that you just cut the quest short and don't get the content, rather than it branching into something different, which just makes for a shorter playthrough, not really different. You don't get locked out of romances when you participate in one, so in one playthrough you can get 2/4 romances and have access to every ending no matter your choices/life path/love interest, since it conveniently resets you back to the point of no return.
I just really don't feel motivated to go back and do it all again the way I have with other RPGs. The endings play a part in it, but that's just one piece of the puzzle. I made a new character planning on just stopping before the end, but I didn't get more than an hour or two in before it felt pointless. Maybe someone else can word it better, but Night City just feels dead. It's an okay game, I just expected better.
I just really don't feel motivated to go back and do it all again the way I have with other RPGs. The endings play a part in it, but that's just one piece of the puzzle. I made a new character planning on just stopping before the end, but I didn't get more than an hour or two in before it felt pointless. Maybe someone else can word it better, but Night City just feels dead. It's an okay game, I just expected better.
I only expected a story, with branching paths, centered around a mercenary making their way in Night City. That's it. The baseline selling point. They couldn't even give me that. I can only imagine how frustrated people who bought into the hype and promises are.
I wasn't even thinking about common complaints like the train system, second life activities, or ditched mechanics. Just the bare minimum as I'm a sucker for the genre's themes and aesthetics, so I figured I would easily be pleased. Holy shit.
I wasn't even thinking about common complaints like the train system, second life activities, or ditched mechanics. Just the bare minimum as I'm a sucker for the genre's themes and aesthetics, so I figured I would easily be pleased. Holy shit.
"WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM CYBERPUNK 2077 AND YOU DIDN'T GET?"
1) Having seen demos showcasing it, fully expected an NPC partner alongside V throughout the entire game.
2) Also expected to always have choices to avoid characters like Jackie getting killed.
3) Expected a lot more animations like picking up weapons, ammo, items, eating, drinking, animations during conversations, idle random animations...nothing.
4) Expected a bus as one of your drivable vehicles... nada.
5) Expected New game+ after you completed the game with all your belongings of the previous game.
6) Expected a flying drivable vehicle like an AV, helicopter or ultralight plane, after completing the game.
7) Expected to decorate your home with all kinds of furniture and active furniture.
8) Expected to be able to buy an expensive apartment at the top floor of your megatower.
Guess I'll have to be patient.
1) Having seen demos showcasing it, fully expected an NPC partner alongside V throughout the entire game.
2) Also expected to always have choices to avoid characters like Jackie getting killed.
3) Expected a lot more animations like picking up weapons, ammo, items, eating, drinking, animations during conversations, idle random animations...nothing.
4) Expected a bus as one of your drivable vehicles... nada.
5) Expected New game+ after you completed the game with all your belongings of the previous game.
6) Expected a flying drivable vehicle like an AV, helicopter or ultralight plane, after completing the game.
7) Expected to decorate your home with all kinds of furniture and active furniture.
8) Expected to be able to buy an expensive apartment at the top floor of your megatower.
Guess I'll have to be patient.
If I were to go into detail about my opinions of this game I could go on for hours, perhaps even days, so I'll limit myself.
I expected a well developed, thoughtful, themed rpg/shooter.
It largely lived up to my first impressions, the intro mission being among the most polished in the game. The story quest is quite good too. The environmental art is amazing, I don't think you'll encounter anyone who thinks otherwise.
Most of those first impressions hold up as long as you stick to the core story and treat it as 95% conversational RPG with an inventory system and hacking mini-game.
Where it fails is everywhere else. Every single thing about the game other than the art is terrible. The driving is bad, cars are lackluster, UI is barely passable and frequently useless or simply doesn't do its job, characters are dull, AI is ... not by any stretch of even the most generous terms 'intelligent'. Even just walking is bad; I expected that the PC should be able to walk without feeling like the character has slinkies for legs, wobbling & skating around. At least moving into a run or turning isn't a weird space-walk-like lunging process like it is in some other games.
Game balance is _shockingly_ bad. The gear/upgrade/crafting system would make an amateur blush. It fails utterly to instill or support an aesthetic other than 'absolute clown' and constantly wrecks any sense of immersion.
In the best gear I can get at the moment for example, at level 40 my character is wearing a pristine white tuxedo vest with pearly blue bow tie, a flickering screen over his eye, some kind of Mexican inspired bandanna that's half black, half crazy mix of reds and yellows, a knee length black plastic jacket, worn yellow raver pants and grimy old boots that look like they were fished out of a river.
There's no path in gameplay to progress gear or ... I'm going to cut myself off here. It's bad. Really, really bad. I never imagined that a game with this kind of pedigree behind it could be so jaw-droppingly incompetent, even just on one front let-alone almost every aspect of the game.
At an absolute minimum, an absolute - pressing a button to perform an action (like opening the characters inventory or map) should reliably perform that function. CDPR can't even accomplish that.
I want to like this game, but every time I start it up and play for more than a few minutes I have to stop and wonder at the art. I'll just cut myself off there, nobody's interested in pages of criticisms.
It looks nice. In terms of actual immersion and function though, games like Shadowrun Returns blow it out of the water.
I never in my wildest dreams imagined that a game like this would offer such extraordinary incompetence.
I expected a well developed, thoughtful, themed rpg/shooter.
It largely lived up to my first impressions, the intro mission being among the most polished in the game. The story quest is quite good too. The environmental art is amazing, I don't think you'll encounter anyone who thinks otherwise.
Most of those first impressions hold up as long as you stick to the core story and treat it as 95% conversational RPG with an inventory system and hacking mini-game.
Where it fails is everywhere else. Every single thing about the game other than the art is terrible. The driving is bad, cars are lackluster, UI is barely passable and frequently useless or simply doesn't do its job, characters are dull, AI is ... not by any stretch of even the most generous terms 'intelligent'. Even just walking is bad; I expected that the PC should be able to walk without feeling like the character has slinkies for legs, wobbling & skating around. At least moving into a run or turning isn't a weird space-walk-like lunging process like it is in some other games.
Game balance is _shockingly_ bad. The gear/upgrade/crafting system would make an amateur blush. It fails utterly to instill or support an aesthetic other than 'absolute clown' and constantly wrecks any sense of immersion.
In the best gear I can get at the moment for example, at level 40 my character is wearing a pristine white tuxedo vest with pearly blue bow tie, a flickering screen over his eye, some kind of Mexican inspired bandanna that's half black, half crazy mix of reds and yellows, a knee length black plastic jacket, worn yellow raver pants and grimy old boots that look like they were fished out of a river.
There's no path in gameplay to progress gear or ... I'm going to cut myself off here. It's bad. Really, really bad. I never imagined that a game with this kind of pedigree behind it could be so jaw-droppingly incompetent, even just on one front let-alone almost every aspect of the game.
At an absolute minimum, an absolute - pressing a button to perform an action (like opening the characters inventory or map) should reliably perform that function. CDPR can't even accomplish that.
I want to like this game, but every time I start it up and play for more than a few minutes I have to stop and wonder at the art. I'll just cut myself off there, nobody's interested in pages of criticisms.
It looks nice. In terms of actual immersion and function though, games like Shadowrun Returns blow it out of the water.
I never in my wildest dreams imagined that a game like this would offer such extraordinary incompetence.
- I did expect more RPG feeling and interactions.
- More buildings to enter and different shops for different items to buy.
- See NPC's that actually is doing something in the game.
- More interactions with main characters like Judy, Panam, River and so on.
I can make the list long but...
Something that really annoys me is that some big locations is totally empty until it is a quest there????
Like it is now so is everything plain dead after each mission, just take Judy for an example, she just stands there at here window with the same dialog topics?
This game could have been a great FPS / RPG game, now it's just a good FPS / Action game.
- More buildings to enter and different shops for different items to buy.
- See NPC's that actually is doing something in the game.
- More interactions with main characters like Judy, Panam, River and so on.
I can make the list long but...
Something that really annoys me is that some big locations is totally empty until it is a quest there????
Like it is now so is everything plain dead after each mission, just take Judy for an example, she just stands there at here window with the same dialog topics?
This game could have been a great FPS / RPG game, now it's just a good FPS / Action game.
I should respond in my own thread, so here it is.
I wasn't hyped for the game really. I followed the news realizing that this is an impossible promise anyway. I brought it simply because there was nothing to play and even if everybody talked about bugs and technical problems, the story was praised. I'm used to early access so I was like how bad can it be?
I expected to be a badass netrunner, somebody who will be able to sit in netrunner chair, and hacking would mean surfing through the Blackwell and beyond. The game wasn't even acknowledging my net running skills constantly giving me a gun to use.
I was very excited about the Voodooboys and I expected them to be very important to the story
I expected Jonny SIlverhand to be an advanced cameo at best and a mini-quest at worst. I did not want or expect the whole game about him. I ended up hating his guts and skipping through every scene with him. Sorry., I don't enjoy dudes affected by the midlife crisis and philosophizing about things they cannot change compelling.
I expected impactful and lasting relationships (not necessarily intimate ones) with other NPCs that will be around us through the whole story like Yennefer, Lambert or Triss appeared by Geralt's side. And that my choices would impact their lives and decisions in a memorable way.
I expected dialogue choices that would matter and the dialogues in general not to be based on the word FUCK with at least a minimum sense of humor. When I saw ONE dialogue option on my screen to click (instead of choosing anything ) I literally couldn't believe it. I thought we passed this "click here to progress the story" phase in video games like 20 years ago.
I expected V to be an interesting character with motivations, goals, and story that I would care about.
I expected empathy and cyber psychosis to have an impact on the main character and everybody around them. I was excited about the possibility of the choices V would have to make getting another piece of chrome. I wanted my choices not to be good or bad, black or white but gray, dark, and hard to make.
I expected something that would not copy all the ideas from the cyberpunk genre but play with them to create something new or at least refreshing.
I expected a story that I would remember.
I expected a game not polished, not perfect, not with amazing mechanics, physics, and the biggest world. I couldn't care less. Night City, even if mindblowing could've been 4 times smaller. Police, NPCs, everything that people complain about - I'd wave off if the story isself had any substance and meaning.
I expected a game that would matter only in one aspect - the story and its characters.
I got none of those things.
But hey, maybe the next patch would fix the collision on the cars! And the police might react faster!
I wasn't hyped for the game really. I followed the news realizing that this is an impossible promise anyway. I brought it simply because there was nothing to play and even if everybody talked about bugs and technical problems, the story was praised. I'm used to early access so I was like how bad can it be?
I expected to be a badass netrunner, somebody who will be able to sit in netrunner chair, and hacking would mean surfing through the Blackwell and beyond. The game wasn't even acknowledging my net running skills constantly giving me a gun to use.
I was very excited about the Voodooboys and I expected them to be very important to the story
I expected Jonny SIlverhand to be an advanced cameo at best and a mini-quest at worst. I did not want or expect the whole game about him. I ended up hating his guts and skipping through every scene with him. Sorry., I don't enjoy dudes affected by the midlife crisis and philosophizing about things they cannot change compelling.
I expected impactful and lasting relationships (not necessarily intimate ones) with other NPCs that will be around us through the whole story like Yennefer, Lambert or Triss appeared by Geralt's side. And that my choices would impact their lives and decisions in a memorable way.
I expected dialogue choices that would matter and the dialogues in general not to be based on the word FUCK with at least a minimum sense of humor. When I saw ONE dialogue option on my screen to click (instead of choosing anything ) I literally couldn't believe it. I thought we passed this "click here to progress the story" phase in video games like 20 years ago.
I expected V to be an interesting character with motivations, goals, and story that I would care about.
I expected empathy and cyber psychosis to have an impact on the main character and everybody around them. I was excited about the possibility of the choices V would have to make getting another piece of chrome. I wanted my choices not to be good or bad, black or white but gray, dark, and hard to make.
I expected something that would not copy all the ideas from the cyberpunk genre but play with them to create something new or at least refreshing.
I expected a story that I would remember.
I expected a game not polished, not perfect, not with amazing mechanics, physics, and the biggest world. I couldn't care less. Night City, even if mindblowing could've been 4 times smaller. Police, NPCs, everything that people complain about - I'd wave off if the story isself had any substance and meaning.
I expected a game that would matter only in one aspect - the story and its characters.
I got none of those things.
But hey, maybe the next patch would fix the collision on the cars! And the police might react faster!
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An engaging story line with multiple outcomes, depending on our choices. Long term consequences of the things we decide. Interesting villains. Instead I got a one way ticket on a railcar bound towards V's death.
Also, an interactive city, with actual cop, pedestrian and car AI. Interactive shops with previews of the clothes we buy, a posh car store and multiple safe houses. And not this mess - GTA 4, a game from 2008 that ran on a PS3 with 256MB Ram, beats CP in open world AI and activities.
Also, an interactive city, with actual cop, pedestrian and car AI. Interactive shops with previews of the clothes we buy, a posh car store and multiple safe houses. And not this mess - GTA 4, a game from 2008 that ran on a PS3 with 256MB Ram, beats CP in open world AI and activities.
Characters from teaser trailer
Flying cars
Gloomy cyberpunk city (some parts are very good)
Wallrunning
More and better sidequests
Better combat
Better animations
Racional, realistic police
Trauma team participaton/interaction
Max Tac characters
Cyberpsicosis
Factions fighting
Choices making a diffetence
Flying cars
Gloomy cyberpunk city (some parts are very good)
Wallrunning
More and better sidequests
Better combat
Better animations
Racional, realistic police
Trauma team participaton/interaction
Max Tac characters
Cyberpsicosis
Factions fighting
Choices making a diffetence
I cant really add much more than what others have said, most of which I agree with. However one thing I will add is; I expected the game to match up with all the PR, trailers, teasers, interviews and the Night City Wire material.
It's almost as if the PR team were pushing a game that they believe existed, but the game that game out just didn't line up with their marketing.
It's almost as if the PR team were pushing a game that they believe existed, but the game that game out just didn't line up with their marketing.
Oh where to start.... *phew* my list of missing features is wayyy to long.
But the short version is this one:
GTA San Andreas level of gameplay/interaction with Night Citys open world
yes with third person animations for shopping, customisation, upgradeding cyberware.
Minigames, strip clubs, clubs, bars, one night stands, basically a nightlife to spend my eddies.
combined with
Witcher 3 level of storytelling, gamedrive, consequences of your decisions even the small ones.
Nice open world to explore and see as well as find stuff in it.
Red Baron level of consequences.
Yet here we are....
CP77 absolutely NAILS Night City in showcasing the setting/looks of that metropolis.
Cyberpunk 2077 barely manages to scratch the storytelling point and anything else on
EVERY VERSION my dear leaders of CD Projekt Red is a clusterfuck of missing / cut content.
The looks are there, but the depth/interaction absolutely bad, specially with that UI and when
you play on KB/M
If CDPR would ve managed to give us THIS combination, they would ve crushed any other
game similar to it... but as i said... here we are on the "corpo path" for CDPR
But the short version is this one:
GTA San Andreas level of gameplay/interaction with Night Citys open world
yes with third person animations for shopping, customisation, upgradeding cyberware.
Minigames, strip clubs, clubs, bars, one night stands, basically a nightlife to spend my eddies.
combined with
Witcher 3 level of storytelling, gamedrive, consequences of your decisions even the small ones.
Nice open world to explore and see as well as find stuff in it.
Red Baron level of consequences.
Yet here we are....
CP77 absolutely NAILS Night City in showcasing the setting/looks of that metropolis.
Cyberpunk 2077 barely manages to scratch the storytelling point and anything else on
EVERY VERSION my dear leaders of CD Projekt Red is a clusterfuck of missing / cut content.
The looks are there, but the depth/interaction absolutely bad, specially with that UI and when
you play on KB/M
If CDPR would ve managed to give us THIS combination, they would ve crushed any other
game similar to it... but as i said... here we are on the "corpo path" for CDPR
Because some expectations were about the story specifically and that was my initial question.
Edgier open world Deus Ex. But the actual way you resolve problems is way more limited than even the last Deus Ex.