Cyberpunk 2077

Threadfin · 12-19-20, 10:24 AM

This was the one game of 2020 I had been looking forward to. It nearly didn't make it out in 2020, but it did. I pre-purchased the game, and playing on PC.

It's an interesting case, this game. I can look at it from the viewpoint of what I thought it would be, or what it is. And I must admit my expectations were very high, maybe unreasonably so. Cyberpunk is not the game I thought it was going to be.

I expected a revolutionary game. That the level of interactivity between systems and with the world would surpass everything that came before. That the depth of customization and characters would blow me away. But it does not. CDPR had a lot of credit in the bank for me after the phenomenal Witcher 3. I rate W3 as the best video game ever, when all aspects of game design are considered. And because of this I expected Cyberpunk to shift the paradigm beyond what W3 is. And in the end, it really does not.

But is it a good game?

I went in to Cyberpunk with high expectations, tempered by the early reports of disaster. Broken. A scam. Ripped off. Lied to. Bug ridden. Before I had a chance to fire it up, the internet was awash with tales of terror. So before I even created my V, my expectations had been lowered to a degree.

But the worst of it rarely seems to affect me, I must lead a charmed life. And so it was with Cyberpunk. I've dropped 30+ hours in to the game so far, and I like it. It's fun. I actually like the combat well enough, despite all the noise from the player base. The AI isn't cutting edge. But they use cover, dodge about, throw grenades, attempt to hack you and generally put up a good fight. It's an RPG after all and I wasn't expecting combat like the best shooters. It's good enough to keep me engaged, and that's, well, good enough.

One way I think Cyberpunk shines though is in the characters. They are very well realized. The dialog, the voice acting, the way their facial expressions convey emotion. It's all very well done and the characters are convincing in a way that most games are not.

The missions and quests are also a a big strength. Well-written, engaging and diverse. I've yet to be bored by anything I've done in game. never felt like 'oh great, another fetch quest'. But while this is a clear strength of the game, it also reveals a limitation. Cyberpunk may be open world, but it's not sandbox, at least not in the way I expected. In a sense, all you do was prepared in some way by the devs. It's not emergent in the way I hoped, it lacks the flexible design needed to truly shine as a story generator. The story in essence has already been written for you to experience. There is some latitude here, it's not on rails. But it isn't quite free-form either.

And you know what? That's OK. I tend to make it a rule to judge games by what they are, not what they aren't. And with that in mind, I think Cyberpunk is a good game.

Techincally it's been much better for me than reports would lead one to believe. I have a modest box, a home built Ryzen 2600, 1660Ti and 16 gigs O'RAM. It runs fine. There are bugs, but nothing game breaking. I've encountered none I would classify as major. But minor ones do exist, mostly graphics glitches and that sort of thing. Like a NPC pedestrian simply vanishes in front of my eyes. I have full faith that CDPR will patch these out in short order. Even a game as great as RDR 2 had issues at launch, most games do, especially ones on this sort of scale. It's been stable with zero crashes or lock ups. Performance is good, smooth at 1080p.

But consoles are another matter entirely. It's a 2020 game being run on 2013 hardware and sooner or later this was going to catch up. I feel bad for those players. But on PC it is much better, at least for me.

And the last point is that Night City is amazing. The world design is excellent. The setting and vibe are very cool. Again, it's not interactive in the way I had hoped, a lot of what you see is window dressing or like stage props. But having accepted that it isn't quite what I thought it would be, the city itself is still amazing. I've played for 30+ hours and have yet to see half of it. There's plenty to do and to soak in.

In all, I think that Cyberpunk is a good game, and I think my decision to pre-purchase was a good one. I like the game, I am having a good time with it. I can't escape that it is not the game I hoped it would be, or maybe even the game CDPR said it would be. But it's well worth my time and my experience has been trouble free, far better than you might expect from all the shouting. YMMV

les green01 · 12-19-20, 06:47 PM

glad your enjoying that what matters i did hear bad stuff about the consoles version i figure it design for like the ps5 so i didnt even mess with getting it before i spend that much money on ps5 i'll work on a gaming computer

Skybird · 12-20-20, 08:33 PM

Its currently pulled from the PS4

market. If the studio has the coins, they will spend the time to massively fix it, if not, then its dead.

Had a disappointing exprrience this year wqith Outer Worlds. Former Bethesda developers, open world, good detail open sandbox and all that. What I got was a nightmare of ultra-genderism and -feminism that especially in the german version killed it in no time for me, a plane and superliner gameplay, and a shallow world that I would not call "open world" or sandbox at all. I refunded.

So it goes. Sometimes you catch the bear and sometimes the bear catches you.

Its amazing how often I fall back to older games. Pasdt weeks, after years of absenc,e I started in Skyrim again, just busy with building mod homes and collecting companions and equipping them as best as I could. Man, it is already over ten years!

Dowly · 12-21-20, 04:05 AM

I'm around 25hrs in and quite surprisingly I am enjoying it a lot. Like Threadfin said, it has a whole plethora of issues but somehow it keeps me going back to it. Much of it must be the characters and stories; just like with their previous games it's definitely the strong point of it.

CohhCarnage (youtuber) put it best imho: It feels like six months ago someone in the company told everyone to stop working on whatever system they were working on and polish it the best they can for release.

The game is clearly unfinished with basic open world features such as a walk button (on PC) missing, or the ability to change your character's appearance at all beyong the character creation.

They've got a lot of work to do to make this the game they told us we'd be getting. Fingers crossed they'll deliver.

d@rk51d3 · 12-21-20, 06:49 AM

Is it like an updated “Deus Ex”?

Man I loved that game, but could have been just that much more.
I always wished you could oppose your brother and take an alternative path though.

Threadfin · 12-21-20, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d@rk51d3

Is it like an updated “Deus Ex”?

In a sense yes. I played Deus Ex, HR and MD, while skipping the other Deus Ex titles. There is a similar vibe here. I feel the influence of a number of games in Cyberpunk.

I think for players who like games like Deus Ex that they'll find a lot to like in Cyberpunk too. I'm 50 hours in now and have dabbled in a little of everything the game has to offer. My favorite parts are the structured missions, the set pieces. Free-roaming is fine, you can travel around and find all sorts of things to do and to see. But the story jobs are fantastic in the main, and I'm enjoying the ride.

It's true that Cyberpunk is not what was planned or even what was promised. Expectations are key here. Some will be disappointed, but I think if you can just accept the game at face value there is plenty to like. Just gotta play it on PC.

12-19-20, 10:24 AM	#1
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,076 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	Cyberpunk 2077 This was the one game of 2020 I had been looking forward to. It nearly didn't make it out in 2020, but it did. I pre-purchased the game, and playing on PC. It's an interesting case, this game. I can look at it from the viewpoint of what I thought it would be, or what it is. And I must admit my expectations were very high, maybe unreasonably so. Cyberpunk is not the game I thought it was going to be. I expected a revolutionary game. That the level of interactivity between systems and with the world would surpass everything that came before. That the depth of customization and characters would blow me away. But it does not. CDPR had a lot of credit in the bank for me after the phenomenal Witcher 3. I rate W3 as the best video game ever, when all aspects of game design are considered. And because of this I expected Cyberpunk to shift the paradigm beyond what W3 is. And in the end, it really does not. But is it a good game? I went in to Cyberpunk with high expectations, tempered by the early reports of disaster. Broken. A scam. Ripped off. Lied to. Bug ridden. Before I had a chance to fire it up, the internet was awash with tales of terror. So before I even created my V, my expectations had been lowered to a degree. But the worst of it rarely seems to affect me, I must lead a charmed life. And so it was with Cyberpunk. I've dropped 30+ hours in to the game so far, and I like it. It's fun. I actually like the combat well enough, despite all the noise from the player base. The AI isn't cutting edge. But they use cover, dodge about, throw grenades, attempt to hack you and generally put up a good fight. It's an RPG after all and I wasn't expecting combat like the best shooters. It's good enough to keep me engaged, and that's, well, good enough. One way I think Cyberpunk shines though is in the characters. They are very well realized. The dialog, the voice acting, the way their facial expressions convey emotion. It's all very well done and the characters are convincing in a way that most games are not. The missions and quests are also a a big strength. Well-written, engaging and diverse. I've yet to be bored by anything I've done in game. never felt like 'oh great, another fetch quest'. But while this is a clear strength of the game, it also reveals a limitation. Cyberpunk may be open world, but it's not sandbox, at least not in the way I expected. In a sense, all you do was prepared in some way by the devs. It's not emergent in the way I hoped, it lacks the flexible design needed to truly shine as a story generator. The story in essence has already been written for you to experience. There is some latitude here, it's not on rails. But it isn't quite free-form either. And you know what? That's OK. I tend to make it a rule to judge games by what they are, not what they aren't. And with that in mind, I think Cyberpunk is a good game. Techincally it's been much better for me than reports would lead one to believe. I have a modest box, a home built Ryzen 2600, 1660Ti and 16 gigs O'RAM. It runs fine. There are bugs, but nothing game breaking. I've encountered none I would classify as major. But minor ones do exist, mostly graphics glitches and that sort of thing. Like a NPC pedestrian simply vanishes in front of my eyes. I have full faith that CDPR will patch these out in short order. Even a game as great as RDR 2 had issues at launch, most games do, especially ones on this sort of scale. It's been stable with zero crashes or lock ups. Performance is good, smooth at 1080p. But consoles are another matter entirely. It's a 2020 game being run on 2013 hardware and sooner or later this was going to catch up. I feel bad for those players. But on PC it is much better, at least for me. And the last point is that Night City is amazing. The world design is excellent. The setting and vibe are very cool. Again, it's not interactive in the way I had hoped, a lot of what you see is window dressing or like stage props. But having accepted that it isn't quite what I thought it would be, the city itself is still amazing. I've played for 30+ hours and have yet to see half of it. There's plenty to do and to soak in. In all, I think that Cyberpunk is a good game, and I think my decision to pre-purchase was a good one. I like the game, I am having a good time with it. I can't escape that it is not the game I hoped it would be, or maybe even the game CDPR said it would be. But it's well worth my time and my experience has been trouble free, far better than you might expect from all the shouting. YMMV __________________ What? Behind the rabbit?

12-19-20, 06:47 PM	#2
les green01 Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Freeman Missouri Posts: 1,735 Downloads: 1375 Uploads: 0	glad your enjoying that what matters i did hear bad stuff about the consoles version i figure it design for like the ps5 so i didnt even mess with getting it before i spend that much money on ps5 i'll work on a gaming computer __________________ I'll tell you what bravery really is. Bravery is just determination to do a job that you know has to be done. Audie Murphy

12-20-20, 08:33 PM	#3
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,516 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Its currently pulled from the PS4 market. If the studio has the coins, they will spend the time to massively fix it, if not, then its dead. Had a disappointing exprrience this year wqith Outer Worlds. Former Bethesda developers, open world, good detail open sandbox and all that. What I got was a nightmare of ultra-genderism and -feminism that especially in the german version killed it in no time for me, a plane and superliner gameplay, and a shallow world that I would not call "open world" or sandbox at all. I refunded. So it goes. Sometimes you catch the bear and sometimes the bear catches you. Its amazing how often I fall back to older games. Pasdt weeks, after years of absenc,e I started in Skyrim again, just busy with building mod homes and collecting companions and equipping them as best as I could. Man, it is already over ten years! __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 12-21-20 at 07:04 AM.

12-21-20, 04:05 AM	#4
Dowly Lucky Jack Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Finland Posts: 25,005 Downloads: 32 Uploads: 0	I'm around 25hrs in and quite surprisingly I am enjoying it a lot. Like Threadfin said, it has a whole plethora of issues but somehow it keeps me going back to it. Much of it must be the characters and stories; just like with their previous games it's definitely the strong point of it. CohhCarnage (youtuber) put it best imho: It feels like six months ago someone in the company told everyone to stop working on whatever system they were working on and polish it the best they can for release. The game is clearly unfinished with basic open world features such as a walk button (on PC) missing, or the ability to change your character's appearance at all beyong the character creation. They've got a lot of work to do to make this the game they told us we'd be getting. Fingers crossed they'll deliver.

12-21-20, 06:49 AM	#5
d@rk51d3 Sea Lord Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Posts: 1,917 Downloads: 193 Uploads: 0	Is it like an updated “Deus Ex”? Man I loved that game, but could have been just that much more. I always wished you could oppose your brother and take an alternative path though.