What is the main point of the metro system?

[bioject]

The main point is to create a more immersive experience. For example some players may want to avoid fast travel entirely in order to make the game more immersive. Having a metro system makes the world even more real and being able to interact with NPC's is even more awesome. I think after the next big update 2.1, I will replay the entire game since so much has already been changed.

 

[Audi82]

WHAT IS THE MAIN POINT OF THE METRO SYSTEM?​

immersion and realism in the game world, and I would really like this to be further expanded (possibility to sit on benches around the map, interactions in night clubs with the possibility of drinking/eating etc)

 

[Aveneo]

What's the point of the metro system?

You do realize that CDPR went to great lengths to make Night City as immersive as possible right? Heck, we also had several instances where an NPC would be driving us around while we were just a passenger. The ride with Dexter DeShawn, Delamain, Panam, Claire, etc. etc.

Immersion is one of the biggest things that I look for in a game. I want to FEEL like I am part of that gameworld; not just have it as a generic afterthought while I go get some ammo and forget about it. That's also why I dislike a game like Starfield so much because everything there feels like an afterthought and New Atlantis just feels dead.

Heck, I also own quite a lot of physical Cyberpunk 2077 items (statues, figurines, books, guides, etc) and one guide in particular had a very cool cover that showed V sitting in a metro cart (see image below). The metro also featured heavily in the Edgerunners anime. Ever since the game launched I was very disappointed when I found out that the functional Metro system had been cut and that clicking on the transparent entry merely opened your fast-travel map.

As such I am incredibly happy that we can now choose to actually use the metro system and be treated to a scenic route across Night City. I also tend to use fast travel very rarely and prefer to just drive there in one of my cars or bikes. Maybe I'm in the minority here but I just don't like all that instant teleporting.

Apologies if this 'offends' anyone but I really believe that a lot of gamers nowadays have become very lazy, impatient, and don't want to think anymore. Back in "The Elder Scrolls Morrowind" you didn't have this instant go-anywhere fast travel. It existed but you still had to plan your route as you had boats, Silt Striders, and teleportation services at the Mages Guilds (as well as a Mark and Recall spell allowing you to anchor yourself to a specific point). However, those would send you to predefined spots after which you still had to reach your final destination on foot. I still remember fondly poring over my paper map and noting down which Silt Strider to take, then walk a ways to a specific port where I could get the right boat which took me to the general area where I wanted to go explore a cave for a quest and then afterwards I could use my Recall spell to get back to the mages guild in Vivec which offered other teleportation services to get me back to Balmora where I could hand in the quest. That was very immersive and made me use my brain. You could also just pick a direction and go explore. Not everything was attached to a quest and the gameworld was littered with tons of cool valuable items (like pieces of Daedric armor, or powerful magic items that you could only find through randomly exploring). It's also why I loved finding Skippy randomly in Night City or seeing a trail of blood on the ground and actually be able to trace it back to its origin where I found something interesting. Or the biggest surprise being when I found that black 'Batman' supercar while exploring a tunnel (shame CDPR didn't weaponize it in 2.0). I want to be rewarded for actually going out to explore; not just hopping from marker to marker by looking at the map and seeing everything already labelled. It just weakens the exploration part imo and instead just caters to the instant gratification crowd.

Nowadays it's just click and you're there. Everyone's a winner. It's like people are in such a rush nowadays that they can't even sit down to enjoy things anymore. Everything has to be instant gratification. So you have to ask yourself, what's the point of living if you can't even spare the time to enjoy life? Now maybe it's a generational thing or that the world nowadays just wants everything faster faster faster. I mean, I'm 48 and just want to enjoy live; be it real life or videogames (although real life is kinda crap these days). So maybe society nowadays is just rushing everybody along so that people are no longer living but simply existing to rush from one place to the next without being allowed the time to actually enjoy life?

Also, this addition of the Metro rides is an option. CDPR hasn't taken away the fast-travel. Some people may just want to run everywhere at full speed and start blasting while others just want to enjoy the journey. I'm someone who prefers the journey and as such am extremely happy that CDPR actually gave us a working metro system. The rest of you can still use it as a fast-travel point and keep racing full-speed.

Now sure, some people had made mods with working metro carts but for some reason I could never make any of those mods work for me. I tried everything but even something as simple as a texture change just didn't work. So I am fully at the mercy of whatever CDPR themselves puts in their game. So yeah, I'm a bit saddened by the fact that I couldn't get my "Really Want To Stay At Your House" enhanced romance mods for Panam and Judy or that I wasn't able to get Street Vendors that actually sold stuff etc. I'm just a sucker for more immersion wherever I can find it.

So I am very thankful that CDPR did this. The only thing that's a bit of a shame is that we still have to interact with the metro entry apparently. I really wanted to step through that holographic display and stand on the departure platform. So it's a bit of a shame that CDPR didn't move the interact screen a bit further in at the sliding doors where the metro arrives. That would have been even better for me.

But hey, maybe I'm spoiled because I also love playing that Star Citizen alpha where they also have actual physicalized metro systems (various different designs) that actually have you waiting for their arrival and then take you on a trip in realtime. I just like cities where the transportation systems behave as actual transportation systems.

So yeah, I commend CDPR for reaching back to a time when videogames were actually immersive and didn't cater to some instant gratification crowd that wants to click a button and jump straight into action. I play these games for the journey; not the destination.

Again, no offense intended and this isn't meant to insult anyone or anything. This is just my opinion and it's not aimed at anyone in particular.

Here's the image by the way:

edit: fixed some spelling

 

[radosuaf_]

I very rarely use fast travel. While I like the game story, it's the setting that is just amazing and breathtaking at times. The sheer amount of work put into creating Night City, the way it looks and feels are just amazing. Driving the car yourself does not let you watch the city in its whole glory, so I never skipped any moment when I was being driven in the game. Now you'll be able to enjoy the views at any time.

 

[player1fanatic]

I do not understand the usability of the metro system.

If I want to skip fast travel for immersion, then I also want to immerse somewhere and you it to get from point A to point B. To use it for practicality, not as a tourist drive.

After I find the nearest metro station, I have no idea, based on where I want to go, on which line to enter, and on which stop to exit.

The player map only shows metro stops, but no actual metro lines or directions and during the metro drive, you only get a hint of which is the next stop. No sense of directions, or showing the next 5-6 stops to get a general idea of where the metro line is going.

This makes it difficult to use the metro for any kind of planned voyage. And this is much less immersive than any real metro, for which you have so many tools from phone apps to signs to make you not feel lost and in control of where are you going.

 

[michalf001]

I share similar thoughts. While I generally have a very positive view of patch 2.1 (despite the bugs), the metro system left me disappointed, and judging by the comments, I'm not the only one who feels this way. I had high hopes that we would be able to at least walk around stations and in the carts, maybe have some interactions - it would be something entirely new. The metro had huge potential, but it was reduced to a slower version of fast travel. It's fun for one, maybe two rides, and that's it. It's a pity, but perhaps I set my expectations too high for Cyberpunk from the beginning. Nevertheless, the game is really great, one of the best in history imo, and the 2.1 update is very good.


@Aveneo
Firstly, I don't understand why you apologize for your opinion? That's strange. Secondly, comparing a game to real life is absolutely off the mark.
As for the metro system, unfortunately, it doesn't bring anything, unlike patch 2.1, which I consider(despite the bugs) very good.
Just because something was in another game in the past doesn't mean we should be amazed by everything new games bring.
Currently, for me, the metro is something like a slower fast travel. I had much higher expectations, but maybe that's just my problem.
It's a shame that we can't move freely in the metro cars and on the stations and maybe be engaged in some interactions.

 

[Kaby740]

I just wish it wasn’t treated like a cut scene. The immersion is almost non-existent with how it’s currently set up, i.e. can’t walk on platform, can’t physical board the train, can’t freely move/look around train car, and there aren’t any additional camera options while riding. The black loading screen when boarding is such a buzzkill.

At the very least, I hope they eventually add a third-person style camera option outside the train car similar to when driving a car.

Post automatically merged: Dec 5, 2023

To answer your question though, I think its ultimate purpose was to better experience the scenery and verticality of Night City. It was going to be our only method to regularly do so.

 

[MartineDee]

Here is a look back.

This is how rail exploration looked like for me in the beginning of 2021, almost three years ago. No mods, this was all vanilla gameplay.

I've seen it all. Jumping over invisible barriers, avoiding metro vehicles, and even riding on them to get over the parts of the rail where walking over was not possible. I've spent literal days of gameplay to make sure I've walked or was ridden over every part of it.

 

[Porkymate]

I do like the implementation of the metro system, but it would have been infinitely better without the loading screens for going on and off - that, and watching people get on/off in realtime as well.

Would be cool to actually wait for it to arrive too.

 

[Jones2046]

I can understand why CDPR introduced the Metro System like what we are having. The hardware limitation is probably one of the main reasons why we have this metro system. It has been 3 years since the launch, I don't think CDPR still has enough manpower to create something like a Train Simulator.

Some people complain that the metro system is not good because players can't move around the car of the metro, but it is actually realistic, No one would keep moving around the car/metro and changing seats in the metro in real life. Let alone traveling by metro is extremely boring in real life too. Just google what it looks like in the metro system during peak hours in Tokyo if you don't understand.

 

[player1fanatic]

My main issue is that is just unwieldy to use as an actual system of transportation.

If you find one metro station. it is not clear on which line to get if you want to go to some specific place. When inside the metro itself, you are only aware of the name of the next station. There is no easy way to even find that station on the your map, or the whole path of the metro line you are it.

It all feels like a "blind" tourist ride, instead of a system that can player realistically use for transport, even for roleplaying.

 

[BabaBooey88]

My main issue is that is just unwieldy to use as an actual system of transportation.

If you find one metro station. it is not clear on which line to get if you want to go to some specific place. When inside the metro itself, you are only aware of the name of the next station. There is no easy way to even find that station on the your map, or the whole path of the metro line you are it.

It all feels like a "blind" tourist ride, instead of a system that can player realistically use for transport, even for roleplaying.

To be fair; before boarding a mini map specifically for the metro pops up that shows you what lines are available, where they go, along with a motion indicator displaying the direction. It would be much better if you could pull up that map while riding the metro though.

It would also be better if you didn't have to exit the station entirely every time you want/need to change the line

It would also also be better if weren't rushed and complimented with it's own share of bugs, low detail NPCs, low detail AVs flying close by, building pop-in, etc..

Is what it is.

All that said; I like it. After sleeping on Del's quest for the past 3 years due to how much it annoyed me in my day 1 playthrough (yeah, it was f*cking awful) the metro perfectly complimented getting that one started.

 

[player1fanatic]

To be fair; before boarding a mini map specifically for the metro pops up that shows you what lines are available, where they go, along with a motion indicator displaying the direction. It would be much better if you could pull up that map while riding the metro though.

Yes, if it was also available in the metro itself it would be much better.
Even better... why it was not added as part of the player's main map? That's the place you put checkpoints where to go. Referencing two maps just makes this a hassle.

If devs truly want to get this fixed, they need to check some real world mobile apps that handle public transportation. Even something like Google map is a good example (for cities where it supports fetching public traffic info).

 

[akaddk]

I honestly thought it was meant to as a means of torturing the player by exposing them to the cruelty of public transport systems.

 

[Phil5000]

I don't like to use fast travel, it doesn't make any sense. But I'm happy to use it if there's some in game mechanism so it makes sense. Like the carriage system in Skyrim. So now we have that in CP. I think its great.

 

[Netrunner2go]

I don't like to use fast travel, it doesn't make any sense. But I'm happy to use it if there's some in game mechanism so it makes sense. Like the carriage system in Skyrim. So now we have that in CP. I think its great.

Probably i would like it a bit more if the different lines and station are more/better visualized ingame rather than guessing which station brings me to the point I want to travel : /

 

[BigWezz69]

Basically it was cut content that was added back in. Or at best, content that was't finished before launch.

Seeing how the launched ended up, it took them a while to get around to addig in minor content.

 

[Netrunner2go]

Basically it was cut content that was added back in. Or at best, content that was't finished before launch.

Seeing how the launched ended up, it took them a while to add in minor content.

Im just curious why the stations themselves seem to be fully designed and functional with, elevators, npcs and even loot but aren’t accessible… they still feel like leftovers/cutcontent

 

[BigWezz69]

Im just curious why the stations themselves seem to be fully designed and functional with, elevators, npcs and even loot but aren’t accessible… they still feel like leftovers/cutcontent

It's just another symptom of a poorly managed and rushed development cycle.

 

[boristhedork]

immersion