What an awesome experience this has been. This game is in a league of it's own, with no single other title even coming close to bringing this sort of experience, and I know the next title in the series will be even better. Finishing this one up in preparation for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Can't wait!
The story felt rushed and hacked together. The montage should have been gameplay, because as it was delivered, I couldn't be bothered to care about Jackie dying. They tell us V knew him, without letting us get to know him, and then expect us to care. Seems like the montage was originally meant to be gameplay, but they wanted to rush what should have been in Act 3 (meeting Johnny for the first time) to the very beginning of the game. CDPR couldn't have Keanu relegated to the very end of the game, like the Silverhand character should have been, now, could they? They only had to gut the entire story to do it. What I think they were going to do (and should have) before Adam Badowski had them completely rewrite the entire plot to put Keanu into the beginning of the game was: Act 1: V living their Lifepath, you know, making the lifepaths actually worth something, instead of just a token marketing buzzword with little to no actual in-game substance, and taking time to get to know and care about the characters. Real character development. Make me care. Show, don't tell. Act 2: V leaving their lifepath, meeting Jackie, doing missions together and getting to know him (the montage being played instead of watched). Show, don't tell. Get most of the side missions, and the bulk of your typical world building and exploring out of the way here. The end of Act 2 should have been the heist, Jackie's fate, the whole ordeal with Dexter, etc. Act 3: V meeting Johnny, Takamura bringing V to the ripper, etc. and THEN, and ONLY THEN, should we have been rushed into trying to save ourselves. Could have had the entire game to build up the various characters, and V as a person, before breaking it all down. Let us experience the good times, instead of just showing them to us in a worthless 10 second montage. Then the entire third act could have been this frenetic race against time, with actual stakes, instead of this broken mess of a plot that makes absolutely no sense.
