Cyberpunk 2077 - Phantom Liberty

[bellow]

5 hours ago, one-armed dwarf said:

now that you bring it up bellow because you played the whole game, can I ask what you thought of the 'immersive-sim/rpg' aspects in this game

 

I loved this game. But, cards on table, I go out of my way for games like this. Big, sprawling western RPGs are my thing, and I find that I just allow myself to be immersed even when things, technically, get a bit rough, even Bethesda rough.

 

But here I had no complaints. I played it after the next gen update and thought it was one of the best RPGs I'd ever played, placing it above Witcher 3 in one of my later posts. 

 

I took a stealth approach in the main, putting some points into shotguns and automatic weapons for when things went pear shaped. I also remember playing the last third of the game with a silent 'smart' sniper rifle which (like a lot of the smart weapons in this game) was a death dealing joy.

 

The game did so much right for me. I never felt overpowered, so the gameplay was just right, and the game offered those evolving stories in the side quests that reminded me of Fallout 3. I didn't even mind Keanu Reeves turning up to put his oar in now and then. 

 

So, yeah, I loved it, found it fully immersive and loved building my character with all the mods and weapons options.

 

Looking forward to doing it all again with the corpo lifepath next year (or 2024, depending on whether Bethesda and Obsidian can get their finger out.

[DisturbedSwan]

18 hours ago, one-armed dwarf said:

Cybermods are the equivalent of augments in Deus ex

 

edit to be clear the answer is yes

 

Cheers, I got confused and thought they were PC mods for a hot second there lol.

[one-armed dwarf]

Went back and finally beat this. I had to start a new save cause I was completely lost as to what was going on in the story, on my initial corpo playthrough I got to the very beginning of Panam's arc and did the stuff with the voodoo boys, so I was in that home stretch. Started again as a Nomad this time.

 

This time I had a better experience for the most part. Went with a body/cool build (last time was int/tech), with a few points in intelligence tho that largely went unused later on when I swapped the cyberdeck out for a 'berserk' implant, which is just a temporary buff that makes you stronger. I think the run and shotgun/gorilla hands approach is a lot more fun than hacking from far away, which became one-note very fast on my first 'playthrough'. So I kinda wish I went that way first, rather than go in for the hacking/crafting (omg the crafting sucks so much)

 

There's moments of brilliance in it, the way the storylines intersect and the first person delivery of it all is best in class, the best since Half Life 2 imo. The character writing is always good, and Keannu is a lot of fun and he really goes for it. It wasn't a throwaway gig for him, even if he's clearly not totally up to the standard of the rest of the cast. The braindances and their cyber-noirish stylings are one of my favourite things in it. The main story missions are ace, and so are the side-plots with other plot relevant characters. The side gigs, some are good, some not so good. Some stuff is a bit cookie cutter but that's ok.

 

But when I got through the (really cool) ending and it threw me back into Night City, all those feelings of being underwhelmed with the city came flooding back. The issue is not a lot of the systems and mechanics feel all that integrated with each other. The sense of consequence to your decisions, in terms of RPG stat management, cyberware and plot decisions, it's not really that strong. The interactivity of the city itself feels weak, with unreactive AI and the city itself mostly a backdrop to finding new missions. It feels like a series of excellent vignettes kind of bolted together

 

The thing is, once I did figure out the shotgun build I managed to find ways to make it fun*. You can sort of shimmy around enemies with a kind of witch time thing as well, and get the springy legs to really take over the battlefield. It's much better than hacking, imo. The story is great, the characters are great, the introduction of Johnny's character and his theme is a certified banger. There's lots of characters here which if we had a topic on 'coolest characters in a RPG' in the hot topic thread I'd be nominating Rogue, cause she's the best. But it all just still feels a bit surface level. It invites you in all the time to partake in its RPG systems that promise dizzying depth and deep interactivity, but I was always searching for something which isn't there. At least, that was my experience in both of these playthroughs. And after playing the incredible Prey recently I have to being it up

 

So not a lot changed. I was really hoping to do a turn around on it based on the way people have talked about the changes they made, but they are more like micro-improvements tbh. Still appreciated, I really like being able to buy an apartment. I also didn't feel anywhere near as skint all the time, so the progression is much more smooth and enjoyable since launch, where you were a cyberpauper. But it doesn't change a whole lot. Still worth the playthrough if you've not bothered up to this point. Those initial hours in Night City are really impressive, when you haven't seen through it yet. I'm looking forward to the idris elba dlc, whenever it comes out

 

(All IMO of course).

 

*shotgun and springy legs feels ace

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[one-armed dwarf]

 

 

Cyberpunk has multiple endings depending on certain choices, so wonder if this DLC (which takes place before the end) includes new ones.

[Metroid66]

I've purchased the DLC and reloaded the game. I'm over 3 days into Starfield, with the main (fetch) quest put to bed, and a couple of factions under my belt. So it's time for a break. 

 

So I've been planning a corpo playthru for a while but all this new buzz around version 2 (can someone  explain why people have to say 2 point 0) and the DLC has my head spinning. I'm thinking about going blades and throwing knives, and I wouldn't mind ending up like that bullet time ninja in the video @one-armed dwarf posted. Of course I'll be dressed in a suit, because I'll be a corpo. Poor bastards will probably think I'm reaching for my cyber modded filofax just before their heads come off.

[one-armed dwarf]

I wish the life paths mattered more, they add very little and feel missing in the first act which has weird pacing.

 

I'm doing street kid on 2.0 and it and nomad feel like more fitting onramps to night city but could have benefited a lot more from a faction focused approach, as a kind of tutorial maybe. I think nomad is the only path that had something of a mission attached to it, the other two mostly being NPC interactions

 

It also changes your relationship to Jackie i suppose but im not sure the story reacts to it much

[Metroid66]

I know what you mean. I played the nomad path on my first playthru and it sort of felt like a smooth transition into my preliminary movements in night city. The corpo, on the other hand, is basically one cutscene - you've fucked up, clear out your desk and welcome to your life of shady death dealing.

 

I was actually a bit shocked by the abruptness of it. 

 

Having said that, if you like deep RPGs, feck me if this doesn't leave Starfield in the dust. Talk about endless possibilities.......lve only got one rank point up to now but my corpo stealth ninja bladesmith is already feeling comfortable under my fingers. 

 

It's good to be back in the cyber saddle.

[Metroid66]

Because I've played this to conclusion before I've been avoiding the main quest and just messing around in night city doing side quests and gigs and building my knife throwing katana wielding ninja character. I've also been just taking it all in, the wonder of the world they've built here and the creativity of the systems within it (what legend came up brain dances, for instance).

 

I love these 'pressure off' second playthus. You've beaten the game so now you can just relax and truly appreciate it.

 

One thing I did notice almost straight away is that the game is bizarrely easy if you go with blades. I've put it up to hard, which is something I just never do, but it feels far more balanced now, and there's even a chance dying if you're a bit too gung ho. I might live to regret that choice - but then you can adjust difficulty on the fly here.

[one-armed dwarf]

One thing I notice with blades is every time I go for a power attack while jumping, my game crashes to desktop

 

Cyberpunk... never changes 

 

edit I'll share 2.0 impressions. I think the skill progression is a lot better, I actually look forward to unlocking new perks and thinking about what synergies they have with the new and improved cyberware system. Also the police have actually caused me trouble, and I have to keep a minds eye open to the way to lose them in the city

 

Other than that though? It's kind of the same game, you can't change that about Cyberpunk. It's just a decent bit more streamlined and you feel like you are unlocking shit now. Which wasn't the case before, it was just a very bare-bones loot em up imo, I still stand by the view that the 1.63 update didn't fix this at all and if an update can be 'overrated' then that certainly was. But 2.0 sort of does fix things up, to an extent that they can be fixed at least. This is probably as good as this game gets now

[Metroid66]

21 hours ago, one-armed dwarf said:

bare-bones loot em up imo

 

Is that really your opinion of this game? Not that I'm really sure what a loot em up is, but it certainly sounds like faint praise.

 

I'm walking/driving around this game world with my mouth open in awe most of the time, trying to work out how they've put together a game with this amount of creative flair, with hard hitting combat, more than competent stealth and performances far above and beyond what we normally get in gaming. 

 

Blimey, it's even got bullet time, and the ability to behead a fool while on a motorcycle. What more do u need.

[one-armed dwarf]

I had all that when I originally played the game, it's the most visually impressive open world game ever made. But imo, it lacks a real sense of interactivity, even now, which makes the game and Night City feel like a paper tiger. There's towns in Morrowind which feel more lived in than Night City

 

The combat is good I will grant, but it doesn't have a lot of activities outside of combat, and I think the level of expression in how you navigate a problem in the game gives a sense of false depth. Dialogue options don't have much impact, and multiple ways through levels are shallow. The game does not have new surprises when I replay it, which isn't something I can say for other games of this type

 

But the game is still overall better, I don't think it's bad, but the amount of gestures it makes towards Deus Ex while at the same time feeling like a (very shiny) paddling pool next to it is why I find Cyberpunk the way I find it

 

But yes, best in class cinematic presentation. It really shows up Starfield in that department, and most games in this category since Half Life 2. It would be the new standard for first person storytelling but for the fact I believe a lot of people bought Cyberpunk but barely played it, and don't actually have a good idea of the things it does beyond just being a buggy meme game

 

(I didnt want to rant on again about why I find the game disappointing but I was asked. Again, the combat and skill trees are improved quite a bit. That's the main takeaway from 2.0, the RPG bits are stronger even if the other issues remain)

[Metroid66]

42 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

The combat is good I will grant, but it doesn't have a lot of activities outside of combat,

 

Doesn't it have mostly the same activities outside of combat that any RPG has, mainly talking to the cast of characters, building your own character, finding lore and side quests via those little cyber note pads and, perhaps a nod to GTA, the ability to cause chaos then try to escape the consequences. 

 

Plus there's one activity outside of combat that most RPGs don't even try to have - the ability not to use combat at all. My first playthru was basically a stealthathon. And pretty entertaining it was too.

[one-armed dwarf]

I mean, Starfield just came out and that has tons of tertiary stuff in it. Not always super well implemented, but there's a lot. Witcher 3 had Gwent, FFVIII has Triple Triad. FFX has Blitzball. In The Elder Scrolls you can be an alchemist and craft your own spells, or a blacksmith. You can build outposts, and so on. 

 

Cyberpunk just has murder as its main verb. It's quite good at murder, but there's not a lot else to it. Even the stealth option generally is another expression of killing stuff, or knocking them out

 

The thing Cyberpunk is excellent at is authored content, and powerful combat options to progress through its cinematic sequences. But in terms of player-driven stuff, that's where it feels weak to me and why its RPG-ness isn't great IMO

 

edit I never fully answered the original question, by 'loot em up' I mean like Borderlands or Far Cry. Looter shooter

[Metroid66]

As an experience I'd (personally) put cyberpunk above the games you mention, but then I'm not one for indulging in those side activities anyway. 

 

I also think you're being a tad unfair in you're judgement of what should be included in the first iteration of a wholly original IP. Having said that there are boxing, car racing and shooting side quests.

[spatular]

Went back to this to play the dlc, had a bad start with it because i was unlucky right at the start kicking off a big fight thats not supposed to happen which also sort of bugged out the person your supposed to talk to, and all the new stuff and my bad memory makes going back to games difficult, and after that ive probably had more bugs than i did first time round too which is probably unusual. Still enjoyed the dlc though, some parts were really good, and theres been some definite improvements to the game since release, the shooting with a pad is miles better now with the auto aim, seems like some good improvements to stealth too, although i wasnt trying super hard to be stealthy in the dlc. Theres more upgrades that would help with stealth stuff anyway. I still have problems with dlc in general like i probably didnt care about the characters and stuff as much as i would have if id just played the rest of it.

[Metroid66]

11 hours ago, spatular said:

Theres more upgrades that would help with stealth stuff anyway

 

I could do with a bit of camo. My M.O is stealth and Katana (when I mess up). But I'm not too handy at the stealth part and 75 percent of the time things degenerate into a blade flashing bloodbath. Not that that isn't the best part of the game, but I keep getting told off by my fixers, especially Regina, who likes to keep things quiet (when it suits her, bloody hypocrite).

 

How long did you get out of the DLC by the way?

[spatular]

1 hour ago, Metroid66 said:

 

How long did you get out of the DLC by the way?

about 25 to 30 hours i think so far, still playing it doing some more of the new stuff.

 

yeah im also not great at stealth and end up shooting everyone. One of the problems with stealth is the lack of stuff/xp compared to shooting everyone and picking up all their stuff.

 

think i was rushing through the dlc a bit, last night did a side mission thing taking my time and being more stealthy (although a few people still got shot) and it was really good fun.

 

think one of the dlc perks really helps with stealth (people lose track of you when you use camo) but what perk is doing what is a bit confusing when you pick 30 new ones in one go. Still not tried jumping out of a car in a cool way.

[one-armed dwarf]

Maybe this'll help @Metroid66 if he hasn't turned his xbox on yet today, but the latest patch for PC has completely fucked my game up. My gold tier mantis blades got downgraded to green and they also can't be upgraded. Icons disappearing, lots of weird nonsense, 2.01 is a broken patch (lots of other people reporting the same)

 

So maybe keep the xbox offline for a while until a new hotfix comes out. I tried to fix my game but it's turbofucked now, just as well that I fully specced into cyberware last night and grabbed the edgerunners perk, the build isn't viable until they fix these.

 

Back to my Deus Ex playthrough, get my cyberpunk fix there instead lol

[Nag]

I've downloaded almost 50gb for this game today... looks like that's gonna be a waste of time.

 

Luckily I'm not planning on starting the game for a while so hopefully they'll fix it (if it is broken) before then.

[spatular]

Hmm, maybe i wont play it tonight, thanks for the heads up!