Cyberpunk 2077 - Phantom Liberty

[Metroid66]

Got the option to upgrade but opted to continue and play offline. I always do that, but not for any reason other than not wanting to wait.

[Nag]

There's actually two separate updates so I wonder if it's people doing one and booting up the game rather than waiting for the second that's causing problems??

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah, I heard that could be a cause for the icon issue on xbox

 

The specific issue I had with my cyberware downgrading, my theory is that it's a fuckup you'd only have if you were in the middle of a playthrough when doing the update. Maybe a new game started on 2.01 would be fine. Anyway I found out how to downgrade to 2.0 and spent ages downloading 100s of gigs over and over. Got it working eventually

 

Phantom Liberty is excellent so far btw. The things I was saying about the lack of reactivity in the main game, I've had NPCs make multiple references and have distinct attitudes in direction of my character cause of a thing I did in the main game

 

(Cyberpunk and Phantom Liberty early spoilers)

Spoiler

The voodoo boys in Dogtown did not like it when I told them I was the one who got Bridgitte killed, and I got to rub it in their faces and murder the lot of them lol

 

I wonder if Placidde will show up. I hated that dude but didn't fully kill him on the way out

 

Random screenshot, will put others in screenie thread

 

[mmmark]

I haven’t seen anyone anywhere mention that the phantom liberty plot is exactly the same as Escape from New York. 

[Metroid66]

Is that not a bit of a spoiler.

[one-armed dwarf]

Wouldn't sleep on the jump off vehicle move, especially with certain vehicles and while mopping up NCPD waypoints

 

 

and even car chases

 

 

Less sure about the one where you do handbrake turns to do bullet time from inside the vehicle. Drive by seems a bit weak, but you can do sick Akira slides with it

 

I'm a little unsure on mantis blades. You can see here how much faster katana is, and mantis blades don't get speed upgrades. On the other hand they have a huge distance closing move that katanas also have but are much worse at. Mobility over speed and damage is a hard ask though given that moving fast is still pretty easy with charge jump and air dash.

[mmmark]

On 06/10/2023 at 14:40, Metroid66 said:

Is that not a bit of a spoiler.

No it’s the description of the dlc used in all stores. 

[Metroid66]

Then i don't understand your original post.

[one-armed dwarf]

I've hit a 'big' moment in the DLC, kind of where a lot of big consequences occur. Shouldn't need to say more than that, but this really is an exceptional slice of DLC. The way it kind of effortlessly slots onto the end of the pacifica branch and develops the overall plot with its own self-contained plot, the way it heightens the stakes of the main scenario even while introducing tons of new actors into the mix. Getting to meet fixers face to face and having them take a bit more part in the story. The little cameos characters from earlier side gigs make, some of them with optional dialogues that you can only get if you completed their quests. It's like a mini Mass Effect 2

 

It doesn't save Cyberpunk from its design problems, the weird narrative structure made of all these spaghettis strands of sub plots which proceed independently and kinda get mushed together into a fucked up ludonarrative pasta mash at the end. But having such strong story content near the endgame of 2077 does a lot to lift the plot out of its lategame nosedive into something really fucking compelling and makes it much easier to forgive the shit bits. And if you didn't have a problem with any of that? Then you've just got a really nice cherry on the sundae cause Phantom Liberty is just more Cyberpunk but way better. Still not quite 'RPG' for me as such, I really wish there were more NPCs to talk to and side activities, and that certain skill checks where not literally put right beside each other. Makes rationalising a way through a gig very linear, even when it pretends not to be. But even though it's still Cyberpunk, it's absolutely the story-driven AAA campaign of the year for me, way above stuff like FFXVI or God of War last year. Just way into this kind of thing and totally invested in every dialogue decision, large and small. Again, this should be the industry standard for cinematic AAA story telling in FPS like the way TLOU is for 3PS. 

 

It's probably unfortunate that it really requires the context of the base game Cyberpunk story and all the Johnny Silverhand stuff to really hit home though. Not something you can just jump into and have it have the same effect. It feels more like a 'lost chapter' of the original Cyberpunk, can't have one without the other now.

[one-armed dwarf]

Goddamn, that's my GOTY. Don't care that it's DLC, it counts

 

I think there are actually quite a few ending permutations, but I have to let that myself marinate in that one for a bit. Fucking hell

[Metroid66]

In my new (corpo) playthru I'm about level 44 (mainly via sideys and gigs) and have settled to stealth ninja mode, snaking deadly quiet thru levels if possible, but then whipping out my pointy end if challenged. It works for me. Actually it works rather too well. I put the difficulty up to hard, but it's still very much a hack and slash, easy win in most cases. Even the cyberpsychos fell pretty easily when going at them with the stealth ninja combo.

 

It's still great fun tho, but I've decided it's time to take on the DLC. I've replayed enough of the base game for this story tangent to make sense so I'm off into the world of phantom liberty.

 

[Metroid66]

70 odd hours into this and I'm going hard on the DLC after finishing most of the character based side quests and most of the base game gigs. 

 

One thing I've noticed is that the new gigs in the DLC are far more interesting and involved than the base ones, sometimes involving detective work, multiple locations and conclusion options. They feel a lot more like proper side quests than just the usual easy EXP gathering workouts. Hope that's a sign of things to come in any sequels they might have lined up.

 

The DLC itself is a mighty effort, and I'm close to calling this complete version the greatest Rpg I've played. It has it all for me, acting, dialogue, characters, story, believable game world and lore, and the stealth ninja route I've taken is so up my street it's almost made to measure. Love it.

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah, they designed a lot of it in a much more cleverly interleaved way, with many more steps as you say. It makes it much more immersive when it feels like the fixer giving you quests is doing so in reaction to events in the game world. Their outcomes are also a bit more varied and have little extra details and callbacks contained within

 

Those are the things which felt missing to me in the base game, and the way it all comes together is just a very strong argument for these kinds of expansion releases cause its all so very focused on what its doing

[Metroid66]

So I wrapped up the DLC (although Reed is still getting in touch about my little relic problem, but I'm putting that off while I finish the game).

 

I thought it was a very strong piece of content, although I started to have concerns that the game was asking me for things I didn't feel I was ready to give - like deeper emotional connection with these new characters than I had actually developed for them. It all seemed to happen very quickly. And then there's the problem of indulging in the excellent new side content, which can make the central experience seem a bit fragmented. 

 

I don't know. It's a bit of a petty complaint. But at the back of my mind I always had a feeling I was being asked to care about some some very shady operatives. And in the central rescue operation I questioned why I was being asked to get involved, and why I should care.

 

It could just be the way I decided to play it - a whole new run at the game, treating the DLC as just some new missions amongst the general mayhem of night city. I think next time I'll just play the DLC without side content distractions. I think, looking back at my experience, it would benefit from that.

 

it's different in the base game. All the characters are so well drawn and you're given loads of time to get to know and care about them. 

 

But, like I said, a lot of this could be down to the way I decided to play it. 

 

Still bloody great, mind, especially if you go down a certain route and find yourself in a certain 

Spoiler

fucking horrifying predicament.

 

 

[one-armed dwarf]

In terms of pacing, I get what you mean. It's a tight packaging of plot events that take a few shortcuts to get where they need to go

 

That said, I think your first instinct to weave the side gigs within the main quest is actually the intended way through, and is the way the whole game in general is structured. As an example, if you meet NPCs in Dog Town and activate their quests later on in Night City, they will recognise you from earlier. They take account of whether you meet them in NC or Dogtown first. Which is a small but cool detail in my view which increases immersion. You can activate it early on or later on and it will still integrate into the overall story structure. They expect you to dip in and out of Night City and Dogtown as you go through the game, I think

 

I think we made very similar choices, except

 

Spoiler

I euthanised So-Mi at the end, and the fallout with Reed was heartbreaking even though I remain convinced that I made the right decision there

 

I just found it all a very immersive story and the reactions and consequences arising from my decisions felt very impactful and perfectly personalised to the way I played my V

 

Spoiler

one being that I don't even get to see the new ending that Phantom Liberty adds to the main quest, cause Reed says 'over my dead body' to the prospect of us ever working together again. Which only impressed me more, the way it is all constructed and how it reflects the themes of its setting. The ending itself sounds very interesting, I won't spoil it for you as you're probably going to activate it on your playthrough I imagine

 

Alan Wake just managed to top this for me but PL definitely redeems Cyberpunk overall for me, even if it remains a hugely flawed game

[Metroid66]

Sampled 3 of the impressive number of endings in this before putting it to bed at about 85 hours. Reckon the new stuff pushes it to the pinnacle of western Rpgs in terms of sheer quality and content. It's up their with the Fallouts and Elder scrolls for me, and at least as impressive as their own Magnum Opus, Witcher 3.

 

You'll find it in my own '25 favourite games in a grid....' post. And I don't think it'll be leaving it's spot any time soon. For me it's just a big buzz to be in that world. Everything works as I want it to, and the options are endless. I moaned a bit about the lack of difficulty when going with katana, but I've since realised that even this could be a part of the game's general option offerings. Want an easy run? Sword up. Want more balanced action and fireworks? It's bullets and bombs for you. Want strategy, stealth and easy death? Netrun.

 

It also sets the standard for acting and believable scripted interactions. I never once felt a character was acting out of place, and the amount of different personalities competently portrayed is mightily impressive. 

 

Definitely one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences out there, and I've left myself the most intriguing ending option for my next (street kid) playthru. 

 

Can't wait😊

[Nag]

Couple of questions in regards the expansion... should I finish the game then start it? And if not are you locked in to the expansions map/area or can you flit about and do base game missions alongside dlc ones?

[one-armed dwarf]

You should do it whenever you want. I would say that doing it after beating the game will make it feel narratively weird though, it's supposed to slot into the overall story. It's more like an extended director's cut of Cyberpunk with changed story elements. It's not really a post-game thing. There's only one mission that 'locks you in', the first one. Then you can leave.

 

The expansion is designed on purpose so that you take breaks from it to do the main story and base Night City stuff, characters will go off doing their own thing for a bit and phone you up. I'd probably try to activate it as soon as the game unlocks it and then do what you want

[Nag]

Nice... thanks.👍

[Nag]

So I've put a lot of hours in to this over the last week or so (it's pretty much all I've played)... its fair to say it's clicked big time with me, took a while but it got there in the end.

 

It has it's problems, the driving sucks ass even after almost 50 hours... it's funny that the only car that feels remotely decent to drive is probably the oldest one in it - Johnny's 911, I kind've hated the shooting at the beginning - I've been concentrating on power assault rifles and as soon as I'd pull the trigger the crosshair would literally fly of somewhere else... luckily perks and better weapons have mitigated that to an extent and I still feel the map is way too busy... to the extent of being off-putting. But even given those moans there's something about this game that's dug it's claws in and just won't let go.

 

No idea how much more time I'll be spending with it... I know I'm at the last mission of the base game but I've barely dented Phantom Liberty. What I do know is I'll be save scumming the shit out of the end game as there's no way I have time to try for the eight or so endings on new runs.

 

I'm glad I gave this a second crack of the whip... and I'm glad I binned it off while it was a complete train wreck.