Why doesn't V live in Heywood?

[brannonb]

To be clear I’m not hating on the game, I just enjoy discussing story structure as it relates to game design options. Obviously this is “street kid centric”

As a Street Kid, V starts her story in Heywood (at the El Coyote), which makes sense since it’s her home turf, where she grew up. The player is introduced to Pepe (the bartender), Kirk (the fixer), Kirk’s huge bodyguard, and then Padre (the better fixer), all of whom are people V already knows well, and who know her.

 You do a job for Kirk, meet Jackie (who is the son of Mama Welles, who owns the bar) and become friends.

Great! In a short time the game has given me a small group of useful friends/contacts, and a bar that’s going to act as my hang-out and base of operations for the first act. I care about the bar because it is owned by my friends. I feel grounded and ready to start ranging out from this point to explore the world of Heywood. Well done!

Nope. You head home to Little China and Heywood is lost to you until after The Heist. All those characters you just met are inaccessible. 

It’s an odd choice, because the El Coyote was perfectly presented to be a touchstone location for the early game, to be your “hub”, and I expected V’s apartment to be in Heywood (the area she knows best and would naturally choose to live in).



And I suppose that phase of the story (living and adventuring in Heywood) does exist, in a way, because it's what we see in the montage. But it would have been a very solid narrative design to introduce players to Night City with that setup as actual game play.

 

[larrackell]

Living in Little China lets every V start on relatively even ground. Not every V is a street kid so not every V has the same connection to Heywood (even if they did live there for a little while with Jackie). It's where every V is setting out on their own, so it gets them all closer to the same footing.

 

[brannonb]

It's where every V is setting out on their own, so it gets them all closer to the same footing.

It would have been an interesting option to place V's apartment in a different megabuilding (different neighborhood) for each background origin. They are largely the same, so the apartment could be identical.

It would have given each origin access to different side jobs and gigs in act 1, which would have made the early game experience more varied. (You'd have to design quests with this in mind from the start, of course.)

 

[larrackell]

It would have been an interesting option to place V's apartment in a different megabuilding (different neighborhood) for each background origin. They are largely the same, so the apartment could be identical.

I was considering that idea too, but where could/would Corpo and Nomad Vs be situated? In the Heywood vein, maybe Charter Hill for the Corpo since that's where they grew up. (But that presupposes Corpo V maintains connections which....they do not in the current story.) But Nomad? Maybe they could still be in Megatower H10 because they're truly new to the city.

It'd be a MASSIVELY different Act 1 for each V, which could have been an interesting way to go about things.

 

[Hrazmadul]

There are 5 Mega buildings in city center H2, H3 ... one of those could have had corpo V's flat. One of the things I liked in fx Skyrim was that you could buy houses at different places so in my different playthoughs I chose to make my home in different locations for the variety of it. Man I wish you could also do some home designing too, like choosing the flat layout or something. Could have gone hand in hand with reputation if you chose a faction you belonged to and your flat had like full maelstrom design or something.

 

[ChrissyVicious]

Each life path should have its own house

 

[zqfmgb123]

Each life path should have its own house

Yeah but that would require CDPR to give devs time to create that, but we can't miss that all important Christmas deadline can we?

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

To be clear I’m not hating on the game, I just enjoy discussing story structure as it relates to game design options. Obviously this is “street kid centric”

As a Street Kid, V starts her story in Heywood (at the El Coyote), which makes sense since it’s her home turf, where she grew up. The player is introduced to Pepe (the bartender), Kirk (the fixer), Kirk’s huge bodyguard, and then Padre (the better fixer), all of whom are people V already knows well, and who know her.

 You do a job for Kirk, meet Jackie (who is the son of Mama Welles, who owns the bar) and become friends.

Great! In a short time the game has given me a small group of useful friends/contacts, and a bar that’s going to act as my hang-out and base of operations for the first act. I care about the bar because it is owned by my friends. I feel grounded and ready to start ranging out from this point to explore the world of Heywood. Well done!

Nope. You head home to Little China and Heywood is lost to you until after The Heist. All those characters you just met are inaccessible. 

It’s an odd choice, because the El Coyote was perfectly presented to be a touchstone location for the early game, to be your “hub”, and I expected V’s apartment to be in Heywood (the area she knows best and would naturally choose to live in).



And I suppose that phase of the story (living and adventuring in Heywood) does exist, in a way, because it's what we see in the montage. But it would have been a very solid narrative design to introduce players to Night City with that setup as actual game play.

Heywood actually seems less ghetto than Watson, don't think V had that type of money yet.

Post automatically merged: Feb 14, 2021

Each life path should have its own house

in the beginning, V doesn't have the props to live wherever they want.

Post automatically merged: Feb 14, 2021

There are 5 Mega buildings in city center H2, H3 ... one of those could have had corpo V's flat. One of the things I liked in fx Skyrim was that you could buy houses at different places so in my different playthoughs I chose to make my home in different locations for the variety of it. Man I wish you could also do some home designing too, like choosing the flat layout or something. Could have gone hand in hand with reputation if you chose a faction you belonged to and your flat had like full maelstrom design or something.

Corpo apartments usually paid for by the Corp, where would fallen V get the money? Or do you mean an apartment you could buy later

 

[Hrazmadul]

Well I didnt consider these Megabuildings that fancy but I might be wrong. I merely guessed that since corpo V worked at Arasaka a building in city center would be close enough not to make the travel time to work that long. I mean the city is over nine.. no i mean about 5 kilometers that is like very far, noone can walk that far. Living close like a boss?
The megabuildings is also far off in the city center not in the fancy supermiddle. But I thought V would pay for it, I didnt think the corp payed for it. Implants is one thing since having them provides the corp for a functional worker bee. Having a flat close is just convenience for V, the corp would want V on time anyway.

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

Well I didnt consider these Megabuildings that fancy but I might be wrong. I merely guessed that since corpo V worked at Arasaka a building in city center would be close enough not to make the travel time to work that long. I mean the city is over nine.. no i mean about 5 kilometers that is like very far, noone can walk that far. Living close like a boss?
The megabuildings is also far off in the city center not in the fancy supermiddle. But I thought V would pay for it, I didnt think the corp payed for it. Implants is one thing since having them provides the corp for a functional worker bee. Having a flat close is just convenience for V, the corp would want V on time anyway.

city center would be expensive if only because its in the city area.

 

[RecceJack]

And I suppose that phase of the story (living and adventuring in Heywood) does exist, in a way, because it's what we see in the montage. But it would have been a very solid narrative design to introduce players to Night City with that setup as actual game play.

The more saves I begin, the more I want that 6 month montage to be thrown on as DLC or expansion or whatever.

From what I understand, Valerie in both the street kid & corpo path comes from Heywood. Of course however, both have been disconnected for a few years. Street kid with Atlanta & Corpo with the spec ops & CI stuff. So neither would have a home, this leads to sharing Jackie's room at Guadalupe's house. Then when she has enough eddies she moves into her apartment near Misty & Vik.. She can keep an eye on them, make sure all is well...

In the scav mission after the montage, on some of the computers, there is an email correspondence with the scavs & Vik where Vik warns them to stay away. There could be more to this involving V.

There is a whole lot they could do with that 6 months that could provide so much. I hope they do it & I hope they make it even better than the main game. Like Godfather 1 & 2, where 2 is both a prequel & a sequel.

I really liked the Life is Strange game, there's not a living creature in existence who would have ever connected me with that game. But I played it and I really liked it. When they did the prequel, I bought the deluxe when it was complete and played through it. Even though I knew the outcomes of these characters, I wanted more. When I finished and went back to the original, it felt waaaaaay more intense & emotional than before. As if the first playthrough was merely a trailer.... and then everything meant more.

I hope this same type of thing can be accomplished with Cyberpunk, I hope they want to.. Because I'm attached & connected to Valerie, Jackie, etc... Then we'd also get to live in Heywood.

 

[Miyado]

No mentioned of V's parents either. Even Jackie has parents. At least Corpo V should have parents mentioned.

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

The more saves I begin, the more I want that 6 month montage to be thrown on as DLC or expansion or whatever.

From what I understand, Valerie in both the street kid & corpo path comes from Heywood. Of course however, both have been disconnected for a few years. Street kid with Atlanta & Corpo with the spec ops & CI stuff. So neither would have a home, this leads to sharing Jackie's room at Guadalupe's house. Then when she has enough eddies she moves into her apartment near Misty & Vik.. She can keep an eye on them, make sure all is well...

In the scav mission after the montage, on some of the computers, there is an email correspondence with the scavs & Vik where Vik warns them to stay away. There could be more to this involving V.

There is a whole lot they could do with that 6 months that could provide so much. I hope they do it & I hope they make it even better than the main game. Like Godfather 1 & 2, where 2 is both a prequel & a sequel.

I really liked the Life is Strange game, there's not a living creature in existence who would have ever connected me with that game. But I played it and I really liked it. When they did the prequel, I bought the deluxe when it was complete and played through it. Even though I knew the outcomes of these characters, I wanted more. When I finished and went back to the original, it felt waaaaaay more intense & emotional than before. As if the first playthrough was merely a trailer.... and then everything meant more.

I hope this same type of thing can be accomplished with Cyberpunk, I hope they want to.. Because I'm attached & connected to Valerie, Jackie, etc... Then we'd also get to live in Heywood.

corpo v says they grew up in charter hill.

 

[wright1978]

Hadn't really thought of that before but it does seem a bizarre design decision not to have V start in Heywood. Can't even be explained by the lifepaths as would have made as much sense for ex corpo/ex nomad to stay near the only people they know.

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

Hadn't really thought of that before but it does seem a bizarre design decision not to have V start in Heywood. Can't even be explained by the lifepaths as would have made as much sense for ex corpo/ex nomad to stay near the only people they know.

Heywood, though rough is a step up from Watson where V lives. In a city like night city, the closer you are to the corporate/commercial areas, the more expensive it is.
basically V's Watson apartment probably gives more space, for less money than it costs to stay in Heywood, and its not really that far away.

if you are familiar with New York city, any apartment in Manhattan, will cost substantially more than a similar apartment in the Bronx, for example.

V starting out isn't poor, but hes not super well off either

 

[alantsuei]

My opinion is that they designed Waston first, you can tell this area is more complicated/completed than the others(streets, buildings, different layers and tiny details), that's why they starts the whole story here...(Just like White Orchard, a small town with everything...)

 

[brannonb]

Well I didnt consider these Megabuildings that fancy but I might be wrong.
The megabuildings is also far off in the city center not in the fancy supermiddle.

Somewhere I read that the upper floors of the megabuildings are actually luxury apartments. Megabuilding-09 is located in City Center and looks pretty nice to me, so my opinion is that they vary in quality by neighborhood.

There are Megabuildings all over the city (12 of them total) so you could have V live practically anywhere and not have to change her apartment interior.

 

[ElsonsoJannus]

Even if they had limited it to Watson, I think it would have been cool for V to have one of a couple random home location. All of them equivalent, but just in different locations. This would not have to be tied to a life path, just something random.

For that matter, it would be cool if V could move. It isn't like V doesn't have people lining up saying "stay with me" by the end of the game.

Of course, if you follow the Path the devs seem intent on us, the entire story takes place over a few days. A couple of weeks, tops. Hardly enough time to really care where you live. We were not meant to spend enough time in the game where the passage of time matters. We enter the story at the very end.

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

Even if they had limited it to Watson, I think it would have been cool for V to have one of a couple random home location. All of them equivalent, but just in different locations. This would not have to be tied to a life path, just something random.

For that matter, it would be cool if V could move. It isn't like V doesn't have people lining up saying "stay with me" by the end of the game.

Of course, if you follow the Path the devs seem intent on us, the entire story takes place over a few days. A couple of weeks, tops. Hardly enough time to really care where you live. We were not meant to spend enough time in the game where the passage of time matters. We enter the story at the very end.

well you can kinda move, you get a bunch of "home" locations, problem is stash doesn't work like it should.

 

[ElsonsoJannus]

well you can kinda move, you get a bunch of "home" locations, problem is stash doesn't work like it should.

I was just thinking about that while looking at the map in-game. I am not even sure why they mark these things on the map, since they really aren't "Your own personal place in Night City". They are basically just an unlocked interior. I tend to stick with the original apartment, as this is the only place with a minimal level of interactions, but any unlocked interior with no hostiles works. The El Coyote is just as much of a "personal place" as the ones marked on the map.