Why is The Net not really a thing?

[FLyingMonkeyPaints]

In the lore, the net / cyberspace is a visual construct overlaying the real world. So for each location or data system in the real world, there is a corresponding "place" in cyberspace, and a representation of that system as a physical place. The programs that "live" in that system also have representations and based on the program type might appear as a guard dog, a samurai warrior, a steam roller, etc. You'd have to "go there" in the net, wander through the data systems, and defeat or distract the defense programs to gain access to data.

In the game as a it is, that visual cyberspace appears just a couple of times, and it's just as a story prop. You have to do the whole ice bath thing, but in the lore that is the whole reason for the netrunner suits, to cool your body down while you're jacked in. In the game they are just fashion clothing like anything else.

Instead of the above we get a flat 2d grid of hex codes to match up, the most boring minigame ever. What about zooming through the net, battling ICE programs, and always being on the lookout for the next program that will give us a millisecond edge in these dangerous data fortresses? I want to play THAT game.

 

[Lexandro_Albion]

Because there is no internet anymore. Bartmoss destroyed it with deamons, leaving only limited local networking intact. Nighwatch made the "black wall" to keep the internet deamons cooped up inside cyberspace and not let them out in to the wider world.

 

[xlawx]

I prefer Deus Ex Hack-Mini games more, because it's a bit mine sweeper and feel intense under time pressure, invested skills feel good rewarded.
CP2077 - No skill invested and it's still way too easy.

 

[HeCatchesWaves]

I think it would be a fun addition to the content that is already there. Some of the graphics in this game are outstanding though, and I wouldn't/couldn't play a game that was fuzzy and blurry for very long.

But when those scenes came up, I was thinking it would lead to a much larger adventure, similar to the one you're describing.

 

[eradmis]

The whole point of hacking is to not trigger those defenses. Pretty sure there's an ad for cybersamurai in game, so they're actually still a thing, but how you perceive a network is determined by how deeply you're connected to it. An interview with a netrunner mentions that. Most of your interactions with networks is pinging local networks and sending in daemons to do your dirty work. Chalk up never seeing digital guard dogs to having decent ICE on your end and AI daemons doing most of the heavy lifting for you.

Also it'd be a bit unusual to have poor gangoons running around with high end corporate cyberconstructs, especially since the good ones are sapient or smarter and in no way going to work for folks like Maelstrom.

All that said, you genuinely should canonically be getting a dazzling digital display when connecting to Access Points, so the Data Breach puzzle is fundamentally a simplification of in game events like you get when shopping or eating or chippin' in.

 

[B4R0N_D3K0]

Yeah... when I was playing the mission with the Vodoo Boys... that was my experience:

Hell yeah... here we go... I can’t wait to... oh it’s over

I thought we would adventure behind the Black Wall, be hunted by crazy programs... nope... just a fcking cutscene

 

[Mobster100]

In the lore, the net / cyberspace is a visual construct overlaying the real world. So for each location or data system in the real world, there is a corresponding "place" in cyberspace, and a representation of that system as a physical place. The programs that "live" in that system also have representations and based on the program type might appear as a guard dog, a samurai warrior, a steam roller, etc. You'd have to "go there" in the net, wander through the data systems, and defeat or distract the defense programs to gain access to data.

In the game as a it is, that visual cyberspace appears just a couple of times, and it's just as a story prop. You have to do the whole ice bath thing, but in the lore that is the whole reason for the netrunner suits, to cool your body down while you're jacked in. In the game they are just fashion clothing like anything else.

Instead of the above we get a flat 2d grid of hex codes to match up, the most boring minigame ever. What about zooming through the net, battling ICE programs, and always being on the lookout for the next program that will give us a millisecond edge in these dangerous data fortresses? I want to play THAT game.

I think the hacking is ok, I thought about it as well and yes it is rather primitive. But on the other hand unless it's like a real funny thing, these minigames can often be extremely annoying and boring in the long run.

They sort of made it a decent balanced, where if you as player don't really want to spend time on it, you can just go for one of the options, which can be done fairly easy and fast, but also you don't really need a lot of upgrades to do it. However if you want the most money and components, you need to spend a bit more time and also having some extra "slots" or what they are called makes it easier. The whole time thing is just broken, because I assume most people figure out how to solve it, before clicking anything so the timer never starts before that anyway.

Also in regards to lore, Im pretty sure they changed it to work differently due to it being a game, so that it is now required for the nethacker to be somewhat close to their target or something like that to make it more risky.

But you are correct the nethacking part or "cyberweb" or what to call it, is pretty much completely missing from the game, besides some linear story bits. So they could add missions or other things to do in cyberweb, which would be cool. But to sort of quote that guy from one of the trailers: "So many options and so few things to do"

 

[William_Christop25]

Netrunning as in depth as that would almost be a whole other game in and of itself. The entire world would need to be remade in cyberspace. This would be fine for those of us who wanted that sort of thing, but it would be a waste of resources for those who didn't take the netrunner path. So as much as I would love to see it, I understand why it isn't there. It would make for a great DLC though

 

[Crusher93]

Why is The Net not really a thing?

Because writers said so to simplify the world and basically cut out the netrunner build to simple magic tricks called quickhacks. Hope it answers your question

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

Netrunning as in depth as that would almost be a whole other game in and of itself. The entire world would need to be remade in cyberspace. This would be fine for those of us who wanted that sort of thing, but it would be a waste of resources for those who didn't take the netrunner path. So as much as I would love to see it, I understand why it isn't there. It would make for a great DLC though

it would be a different game, but they probably could have done it. I think they wanted to have it fit more naturally into general combat. and be of more use for people who just dabble. They probably also wanted it to be more OP, and targeted at players who want to be magic users. Who, no offense, generally seem to be more concerned with end results, rather than mechanics

 

[Gillian_Seed]

Cut content/scaled back ambition I would guess.

But there's always The Net!

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

Cut content/scaled back ambition I would guess.

But there's always The Net!
View attachment 11151596

even in the 2018 video they had already decided the scope of netrunning. The big difference is they made it easier by not requiring you to get direct access to the network first

 

[Mikeindeepspace]

in 2022 rache bartmoss unleashed "Datakrash" destroying 78% of the net

 

[Guest 4519094]

Blame Rache indeed

 

[William_Christop25]

My experience with the Pen&Paper RPGs has always been that netrunning was problematic for gameplay. Gameflow stops for the party and centers on the actions of one player hacking the 'net. In Cyberpunk 2077 in the few instances where you have an npc netrunner involved, that person is essentially off screen doing their thing in the background. Being the elite netrunner would have the player being offsite floating in a tub of icewater having exciting adventures in cyberspace but being rather boring in meatspace. A decent game could very well be built around that. I'm not sure it would work alongside the action/adventure game we got though

 

[dokterjo]

In the lore, the net / cyberspace is a visual construct overlaying the real world. So for each location or data system in the real world, there is a corresponding "place" in cyberspace, and a representation of that system as a physical place. The programs that "live" in that system also have representations and based on the program type might appear as a guard dog, a samurai warrior, a steam roller, etc. You'd have to "go there" in the net, wander through the data systems, and defeat or distract the defense programs to gain access to data.

In the game as a it is, that visual cyberspace appears just a couple of times, and it's just as a story prop. You have to do the whole ice bath thing, but in the lore that is the whole reason for the netrunner suits, to cool your body down while you're jacked in. In the game they are just fashion clothing like anything else.

Instead of the above we get a flat 2d grid of hex codes to match up, the most boring minigame ever. What about zooming through the net, battling ICE programs, and always being on the lookout for the next program that will give us a millisecond edge in these dangerous data fortresses? I want to play THAT game.

Check out the Shadowrun Trilogy on steam. Its an isometric turnbased RPG and the hacking is visualized just like that. In fact, having played shadowrun, I too was expecting a lot more from hacking in Cyberpunk. I went full int build right out the gate. I stuck with it because I thought popping heads was OP and I was "onto something". In reality, no matter how you build you are OP.

 

[FLyingMonkeyPaints]

I think it would be a fun addition to the content that is already there. Some of the graphics in this game are outstanding though, and I wouldn't/couldn't play a game that was fuzzy and blurry for very long.

But when those scenes came up, I was thinking it would lead to a much larger adventure, similar to the one you're describing.

The cyberspace portions don't have to be fuzzy, they just chose that aesthetic for the game. It could just as easily be hyper-realistic and super sharp.

Post automatically merged: Jan 23, 2021

The whole point of hacking is to not trigger those defenses. Pretty sure there's an ad for cybersamurai in game, so they're actually still a thing, but how you perceive a network is determined by how deeply you're connected to it. An interview with a netrunner mentions that. Most of your interactions with networks is pinging local networks and sending in daemons to do your dirty work. Chalk up never seeing digital guard dogs to having decent ICE on your end and AI daemons doing most of the heavy lifting for you.

Also it'd be a bit unusual to have poor gangoons running around with high end corporate cyberconstructs, especially since the good ones are sapient or smarter and in no way going to work for folks like Maelstrom.

All that said, you genuinely should canonically be getting a dazzling digital display when connecting to Access Points, so the Data Breach puzzle is fundamentally a simplification of in game events like you get when shopping or eating or chippin' in.

I played a lot of the P&P orginal RPG in the early 90s. Yeah you send in daemons, but you have to get into the system and point them in the right direction, like a wizard casting spells. You don't get to just sit back in your wizard tower and send off an imp and never get your hands dirty. That's not much fun for a game. Just like the current netrunning isn't much fun in this game.

Post automatically merged: Jan 23, 2021

it would be a different game, but they probably could have done it. I think they wanted to have it fit more naturally into general combat. and be of more use for people who just dabble. They probably also wanted it to be more OP, and targeted at players who want to be magic users. Who, no offense, generally seem to be more concerned with end results, rather than mechanics

It definitely could be done. I just hate that everything in games these days comes down to "go here shoot that", with just a nod toward hacking that makes it just another way to deal damage. A real netrunning system could lead to all kinds of interesting ways to solve problems and/or kill enemies without firing a shot. A true alternate way to play the game.

Gamers brains have grown soft with nothing but mindless ultra-violence.

Post automatically merged: Jan 23, 2021

My experience with the Pen&Paper RPGs has always been that netrunning was problematic for gameplay. Gameflow stops for the party and centers on the actions of one player hacking the 'net. In Cyberpunk 2077 in the few instances where you have an npc netrunner involved, that person is essentially off screen doing their thing in the background. Being the elite netrunner would have the player being offsite floating in a tub of icewater having exciting adventures in cyberspace but being rather boring in meatspace. A decent game could very well be built around that. I'm not sure it would work alongside the action/adventure game we got though

That is true. But in a single player game those issue vanish since no other players are sitting around the table waiting for you to finish doing your thing.

 

[pndrad]

Because there is no internet anymore. Bartmoss destroyed it with deamons, leaving only limited local networking intact. Nighwatch made the "black wall" to keep the internet deamons cooped up inside cyberspace and not let them out in to the wider world.

There are local nets, hence the blackwall to keep everything from the old net out, or to keep the people in. So some netrunning could be done.

 

[William_Christop25]

The cyberspace portions don't have to be fuzzy, they just chose that aesthetic for the game. It could just as easily be hyper-realistic and super sharp.

Post automatically merged: Jan 23, 2021

I played a lot of the P&P orginal RPG in the early 90s. Yeah you send in daemons, but you have to get into the system and point them in the right direction, like a wizard casting spells. You don't get to just sit back in your wizard tower and send off an imp and never get your hands dirty. That's not much fun for a game. Just like the current netrunning isn't much fun in this game.

Post automatically merged: Jan 23, 2021

It definitely could be done. I just hate that everything in games these days comes down to "go here shoot that", with just a nod toward hacking that makes it just another way to deal damage. A real netrunning system could lead to all kinds of interesting ways to solve problems and/or kill enemies without firing a shot. A true alternate way to play the game.

Gamers brains have grown soft with nothing but mindless ultra-violence.

Post automatically merged: Jan 23, 2021

That is true. But in a single player game those issue vanish since no other players are sitting around the table waiting for you to finish doing your thing.

The problem in a single player game like this is if you have a significant amount of content directed exclusively at a specific class or play style, people not interested are going to feel cheated out of content. For example, to me the boxing storyline is an annoyance because I don't like focusing on melee combat. Clearing it from my journal is a chore, that I kind of cheated through on my last playthrough. I think the system we got works better with the game's various options to work through missions whereas a more netrunning specific system wouldn't mesh as well. The focus and scope of things would be significantly altered to the point of it being an almost completely different game. I would love to play that different game, but I think it does need to be a separate game...or a DLC

 

[FLyingMonkeyPaints]

The problem in a single player game like this is if you have a significant amount of content directed exclusively at a specific class or play style, people not interested are going to feel cheated out of content. For example, to me the boxing storyline is an annoyance because I don't like focusing on melee combat. Clearing it from my journal is a chore, that I kind of cheated through on my last playthrough. I think the system we got works better with the game's various options to work through missions whereas a more netrunning specific system wouldn't mesh as well. The focus and scope of things would be significantly altered to the point of it being an almost completely different game. I would love to play that different game, but I think it does need to be a separate game...or a DLC

You mean like a gunfighter?

I get your point, but everybody has to do some hacking in the game, why not make it enjoyable? I'm sure there's a middle ground somewhere better than a flat screen of hexidecimal codes.