RPGs are my favorite genre so I was incredibly excited for cyberpunk, I am fine with compromising systems like gunplay and driving to have a better rpg experence, I was told the game would be an rpg but ended up with a game like borderlands with a completely railroaded storyline with 1 choice (that im about 90% doesnt even matter after about 10 minutes anyways) that you can make in the first 10 hours!
And then the most maddening part of another "faux choice" we are given is this point of the story. Without spoilers, you run into an issue and there is 2 people who can help you, you can inquire about both but so far ive only been given the option to look for one of them.
When youre 10 hours in and fallout 4 is looking like the better rpg they messed up bad. Its basically just the division... bugs and all
This game can be fun, but that doesn't mean it's good. It's currently very broken, and it's not going to be fixed any time soon.
The Good
- When the textures work properly, the world can look beautiful.
- Certain side missions are enjoyable and contain a decent story.
- A few characters (e.g. Panam and Jackie) are likeable.
- Sometimes just driving around the city on a bike is fun.
- There are some good weapons that have a feel to them.
The Bad
- The bugs are awful. Sometimes a glitch prevents a mission from being completed. Textures can be extremely slow to load and look low res for several seconds (I'm on Ultra settings).
- Police spawn out of nowhere, spawn in walls, and instant kill you half the time. If you run away into a store with a low number of stars, they completely forget about you.
- The main story is too short. I'm at the point of no return, and it feels like I've done 8-10 missions.
- The main story missions are pretty poor. Half of them were full of boring dialogue, the main characters could have been better (I hate Goro Takemura), there's almost no choice at all (e.g. two options that result in the same outcome), and they felt very scripted.
- The story side missions are better than the main story.
- The NPCs are pathetic. They have repetitive, stupid dialogue and respond bizarrely.
- Melee combat is messy. I like the samurai swords, but the melee when you have a gun out deals no damage.
- Enemies can be complete bullet sponges and take several headshots, especially at the start of the game.
- There are lots of cars, but almost all of them have no handling. You also can't see through the windscreen in most of them. Bikes are better, but there are still only a few that handle well.
- The minimap is too zoomed in/small, meaning you miss turns.
- There are too many phone calls.
- There's too much loot. If you actually loot anything, your inventory is full in no time.
- V sleeps incorrectly.
Currently a 5/10 game, but it has potential to be 7/10.
Playing with a 2070S, Ryzen 7 1800x on SSD, looks terribly blurry on 1080p, AntiAliasing messes up everything. Been trying to balance the game but nothing seems to significantly change anything in the graphic options, only things that do make a bit of change are nVidia's control panel sharpness options.
Bugs all over the place...but this is not even the main reason for my disappointment. Nothing feels special about the game, I cannot relate even with my own V as Lifepath sistem was a huge lie and basically all it does is setting the first 30 mins of the game and then nothing. I have 3 penis size options but absolutely nothing on Vs personality. The city seems just a colorful lifeless simulation with braindead npcs. I should have not preorder this but I trusted CDPR. I have asked for a refund and started to wait for The Witcher 4 now...
I went into this game without any expectations whatsoever. Didn't follow development or the marketing at all.
...But I am still disappointed :(
+ The looks & sound-design!
Heck, Night-City is designed beautifuly! It looks really great and sounds beliveable. The music-choice is awesome too!
+ Photomode
And honestly, those are the only real positive points I have.
- The city is empty.
The NPC are souless.
I get that not every NPC can be unique or special, but the AI is weird and some of the one liners (like "f#ck off" from street vendors) are quite immersion breaking imo. There are no downtime activities, like gambling or BD usage. You can't even buy anything from most vendors and even if you can, most of them sell the same stuff.
Most doors are locked and while I understand that it's not possible to make every building accessible, it's just....not enough. And except for some gangs fighting with police, I haven't encountered anything else so far, which would make me go "this feels like a real city!".
- The Story is (so far) all over the place
Obiviously that differs from person to person.
I just didn't like how we basically get thrown into this world, without any build up. V apparently knows people, but I can't connect to them in the slightest. There are people constantly calling me, which is not only annoying, but they sometimes overlap with other characters already talking to me.
- No customization
This one just makes me sad. After the character creator, you're basically stuck with the V you have. Apart from the clothing of course, which if you go for high amour, makes you look very funny.
- Can't remap some keys.
Like the F-Key for interaction. I personally prefer it to be E. Not really a huge thing, but still.
Let's wait and see what will get fixed and/or added.
I'm just gonna let it sit my library for some time.
I won't get into the technical aspects of the game. I'm being 100% honest here: I'm playing on a gaming laptop, Asus Rogue, and I have had literally zero bugs. Haven't encountered a single one. So, having said that:
- As an heterosexual woman playing this game, it is CLEAR that this game was meant to be played as a male character. Not only is the female version of V very masculinized in terms of the way she talks and the lines she delivers, how she expresses herself, and even seats. But what about the romance options?! What on earth!? Ok, Judy is great and all, but if you're not lesbian or bi, then you're left with that random River character that I haven't even encountered yet. He's not even a main from what I've read. What about Takemura!? I instantly fell in love with him! And Viktor?! Why not add Takemura as a love interest for female players? In terms of RP and story richness, I believe a well developed relationship between a female V and him would be the absolute bomb. And I'm not the only one. I am begging you to change this in a possible patch, because for me, a good romance plot enhances enormously the gaming experience. We all remember fondly the quests with Yen and Triss.
- This game was sold to us as an RPG, and it is not an RPG. It is an action/adventure first person shooter. And I have first person games, they make me dizzy and I feel 0 immersion, but gave this a go because of my absolute love for the Witcher saga and my blind trust in CD Projekt. Always using Gog to support them. But I feel, and I say this with sadness, that we were lied about Cyberpunk. Dialogues? They have absolute zero consequence! Equipment? Totally random, mostly useless! The city? Very big and graphically impressive, but soulless and empty, all NPCs feel cold and you can't interact with them. Friends? You count them with the fingers of your hand. Meaningful side quests? Brainless, cold mercenary gigs of go-kill-collect.
