Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Cyberpunk 2077 Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

typical user

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 30, 2015
Messages
957



Man, the net running bit is kinda fun sounding with it being very dangerous and whatever.
Huh, you can steal any car similar to GTA and store it in your garage.

I also noticed that you can go fairly minimal on cyberware and the only mandatory ones are the Kiroshi eye and subdermal grip.


The subdermal grip is optional. The Kiroshi eye-implants are mandatory because they justify the UI. I guess the developers wanted to have only bare bones HUD in tutorial section of the game.
 

ScrotumBroth

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 13, 2018
Messages
1,288
Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In
We are doing whatever we can right now. The game is still in development to have the best possible quality of graphics. We are working on it and we have a very experienced team. They managed to optimise The Witcher 3 for all platforms and we are bringing this experience to this project.

I.e. expect a downgrade from everything we've been shown. Raytracing probably won't even make that big of a difference.

Correct. That whole segment reads as "we will accommodate consoles as we have done before, PC can suckle our balls".

Don't believe their lies.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...w-multiplayer-next-gen-and-working-with-keanu

The big Cyberpunk 2077 interview: multiplayer, next-gen, and Keanu Reeves

With, perhaps, less competition than in previous years, Cyberpunk 2077 has once again stolen the show at E3 2019. Stamping its presence on the event with the reveal of both Keanu Reeves and a solid release date during Microsoft's Xbox press conference last weekend, CD Projekt's role-player impressed again during its second hands-off gameplay demo - even if it did feel much more like a video game and less like magic this time around.

CD Projekt Red still has some 10 months to release, but with word of its launch date comes our curiosity for what will be in the game at when it arrives. This time last year, CD Projekt Red told Eurogamer it had a multiplayer mode in R&D. What's happening with that? Has the studio got a handle on its crunch? And does a launch early next year, before the arrival of next-gen consoles for Christmas 2020, suggest ports in the future?

I sat down for an extended chat with Cyberpunk 2077's lead quest designer Paweł Sasko to discuss all the above and much more below. Oh, and if you're after even more on the game, I yesterday sat down with the artist behind the game's poster which has sparked so much attention.

What role does Keanu Reeves' Johnny Silverhand character play in the game?

Sasko: It's such an important role, he's in the game from almost the beginning to the very, very end. He's one of the core arcs of the story.

If you look at the CGI trailer - which is an actual quest in the game, though in first-person - V does a deal to get this chip and it looks a fairly simple job but there's way more layers below. It turns out there's some connection between Johnny Silverhand and this chip. Now, in Cyberpunk 2020, Johnny died. He was blasted, killed by Adam Smasher. But now he's back as this digital ghost. And I don't want to tell you more because it will spoil the story!

One of the reasons a release next April feels surprisingly soon is it rules out a simultaneous launch on next-gen consoles - will that come later?

Sasko: Right now we're focusing on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One but obviously in the future we'd probably like to have Cyberpunk 2077 on the next platforms. But that's really a matter for the future, to be honest. Right now we're focusing on these.

One of the things we learned with The Witcher 3 was, you should not delay working on the console versions, ever. So at all times we have a version running for everything. And of course, the high-end version we're showing running it is completely different to the consoles, the current-gen is starting to get old. So there's some things which won't look as crisp. But the important thing to us is it will be fluid, it will play on your machine. There are limitations for any given hardware, that's a natural thing. But we'll do everything we can to squeeze as much as we can.

Do you have next-gen developer kits squirreled away somewhere, though?

Sasko: I... can't comment on that, sorry!

CD Projekt has talked about multiplayer before. Now you have a release date set, can you confirm it will just be single-player at launch?

Sasko: Yes, 100 per cent. We're not really working on multiplayer, our sole focus is single-player. We'll do that, then we'll see. We're not saying no but we're not saying yes. If something does happen it will definitely be post-launch and that's as much as I can say right now.

From the snippets we've seen of the Night City overworld, would something GTAO-style work?

Sasko: There were some discussions in the studio but nothing we're actually working on, making it happen, testing. Possibly for the future.

Is there anything you'd avoid with multiplayer which might not feel authentic?

Sasko: For sure, I mean we're known for good stories, amazing characters, choices and consequences. So this is something for sure we'd be going with, if anything happened regarding that. We'd avoid anything that's not that. If we do it, it'll be our style.

jpg


And with that release date set, do you have a plan in place to mitigate crunch?

Sasko: The date is really adjusted to the production schedule, so when we disclosed the date, we were convinced we could do it. I think we're a bit further than some people think we are. It's still almost a year to work on it and we know how much we can do in a year when we're a pretty big team and a well-oiled machine. We're pretty comfortable we can deliver on this date and not kill ourselves.

It's a complex topic. We just love this project and we want to work on it. And if someone was to tell me to stop, or that I didn't need to do something, I'd say - I want to make this better. Am I supposed to agree to something that's worse? I won't. I fucking won't do it. I'll never do it. And the guys here? They'll say the same. We won't agree to release something that's crap. Ever.

No one's going to say it's crap. But there's a balance to that and working 100 hour weeks. 100 hour weeks are extreme. It's more about being clever and picking the right battles. There are things you can invest time in which are invisible to player, whereas there are small things you can do that are players will absolutely appreciate. [Crunch] is a huge mistake which this industry needs to better at, but it's a complex topic.

Just to make sure - you're not working 100 hour weeks?

Sasko: Now? No. Things happen in production - I've done eight games and I know from so many situations, things happen. You just have to fix it and move forward.

2077 borrows a lot from cyberpunk - does it return the favour and add some things to cyberpunk too?

Sasko: Cyberpunk almost died - you very rarely got any new books, new comic books. To be honest, since we announced Cyberpunk 2077 there's been a little more of it, you've had the new Blade Runner, Altered Carbon from Netflix. Those things show there's still interest. But it's a genre which is fairly old now, and we've tried to update it. We looked at what it was like in the '80s, then looked at how things might progress in the next 50 years and saw what came out of that. When we made the quadbike V drives, someone said 'this is how it would look if Atari made a car', and that's awesome. We want to update it for a new audience, show the beauty of cyberpunk. Cyberpunk 2020? We're releasing in 2020.

jpg

Cyberspace.

In the demo we saw various class options - do things play out differently, other characters treat you differently because of it, as well as just these unlocking extra dialogue options?

Sasko: In The Witcher 3 we put a branching storyline in an open world. With this, we put the branching storyline in an open world and added branching gameplay. So depending on the class you have, you can do different things. The character and build you have will influence the scenes. If you have an engineering background, you have certain knowledge which will be displayed in a different branch of the scene to the one you'd have normally. And that's a pretty normal thing - in basically every quest, there will be some spots where this happens, though it has to match the story. We make sure players are rewarded for their playstyle.

You mentioned you have a fluid class system - how fluid is it?

Sasko: We'll make sure, no matter the fucking weird build you have, you can always play. There's always a way to figure it out, there's always a way to finish it somehow. Of course, some branches may not be accessible but you can do it. It's a tough thing but a fun thing.

Last year I asked about visiting spaces outside the city, and at the end of this year's demo we got to see a glimpse into cyberspace. Is this what you guys were referring to?

Sasko: Cyberspace is a really dangerous place - as you saw in this year's demo, there were multiple netrunners you needed support from to get in there, you were lying in the bathtub full of ice because your body becomes a CPU and you need a lot of transferring power. So you access cyberspace in specific story moments and in some cases you can explore it.

But the game isn't only Night City. There's an area surrounding it, the Badlands. You can leave the city and explore, see what the world looks like outside the city and... it looks harsh outside the city. But you have quests there, contracts you can do, and you'll be sent there by the main story as well. And there are also a few other surprises...
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.pcgamer.com/cyberpunk-2...ains-why-using-cyberspace-requires-a-bathtub/

Cyberpunk 2077's lead quest designer explains why using cyberspace requires a bathtub
"You become a CPU that's running this whole thing through your body. You have to be cooled down because otherwise you fry."

F57CfkoTS2exBAJQpu7nHM-320-80.jpg

Several of the PC Gamer team have seen Cyberpunk 2077's new E3 demo in action now, and the consensus is mostly positive, as it starts to look like a real game we'll be playing within a year. Below, we talk through some key moments with Paweł Sasko, lead quest designer on the game at CD Projekt Red.

You should check out James' detailed recollection of the Cyberpunk 2077 E3 demo if you haven't already, as a lot of the points we discuss below relate to specific parts of the demo.

PC Gamer: Can you talk more about who Keanu Reeves plays in the story?


Paweł Sasko: Keanu Reeves in our game plays the role of Johnny Silverhand. Johnny Silverhand is the frontman of Samurai, a chrome rock band from 2020, from the original book. Now, Johnny Silverhand is a primary character in our game, and the player, V, has him on a chip in his head, as this digital ghost. And throughout the story, the whole relationship between them is developing. And the CGI we've shown on [the] Xbox conference that actually introduces you and shows—a part of the game that you'll actually be able to play—the moment how it ends up with him being in your head.

The whole relationship with Johnny Silverhand is very important for the game. It's actually one of the core arcs, and it's getting resolved fairly near the end of the game and I don't want to say too much here because it would spoil the main story. But you can develop this relationship in different ways with Johnny Silverhand, and yeah, it will give you... I don't want to spoil too much. It will impact your way of play, it will impact the quests you see, the scenes you see.

And yes, Johnny Silverhand is played by Keanu Reeves. We started working with Keanu, oh, some time ago, actually. He actually had a codename because we had to codename him otherwise it would slip out for sure and we've been working on that thing for almost a year. That was a long thing. And the fact that we managed to keep that out of the media and nobody said anything, that was an amazing moment in the show, when he walked to the stage. People were genuinely surprised.

How did the relationship come about?


He mentioned on the stage, right? He said that we approached him. So this is how it was originally. He has a history of playing very strong characters who are fighting for something. And the thing is, for Johnny Silverhand, it's very similar. That's why he fits really well. And our business part of the company started reaching out to him, to his agent, and being like, 'Hey, maybe we could start a relationship'. And it turned out that he would be interested. We showed him some things, talked to him about it a few times, and slowly started... because talks were happening through some time, to just nail down—because he's an actor of such caliber. I think that yeah, this is how it started really.

In the trailer he says it's time to burn the city down. What's his goal?


That's a super interesting question. So, the thing is that Johnny Silverhand, he has his own agenda. He use to be a fighter for freedom, but in the eyes of corporations he would be probably called a terrorist. This is the guy he is. He has a very strong vision for how the world should work, and he's like a true cyberpunk. He's the guy who goes against the system, and against the corporations, and against the city that's just an embodiment of this. He knows the city holds people in shackles—this is his way of seeing things. And suddenly he's back. He's back and he sees, 'OK, there's V. 'He's the guy, or she's the girl, that can see me, and I can influence this person.' It starts this interesting dynamic between them.

And he has his own role and that develops throughout the game. And 'there's a city to burn'—he means something very specific in that, but I don't want to talk about that because it would be an absolute spoiler.

You mention your relationship with him can change. Is that true of a lot of the characters you interact with?


I'm the lead of the quest team, right? And in the quest team we are writing scenarios for the quests, and one of the things that we're taking care of is the relationship of the characters. Now we're working with our story team and cinematic team to make sure those relationships feel real. And there's multiple characters that you can have a deeper relationship with, including being their lover. Including deepening it down to that level, and being together. We are having a variety of options for different players—if you would prefer something other than the heterosexual option that's also there. So we're making sure that the relationships are deep and real, and what's important for me is the fact that all of those characters they have there own small plotlines.

There are always quests connected to them, and so you can deepen their relationship with things that they care about—and you can tell them about this, you can help them out, warn them about different things. So very often they're like companions, they're together with you, and that impacts your relationship with them. And they will make their own decisions depending on what you have done. Thing is, they also have their own preferences. Depending on your gender or depending on the choices you have made or the guy you are, they will go with you or not. They will fall for you or not. That's the way we do it. If you are looking for the closest comparison it's The Witcher 3 and Geralt's friends. That's the way we're taking care of that. The characters are an important part of the story.

How big a part does cyberspace play? Is it a location you can explore or is it more a story thing?

So as you saw in the demo, the cyberspace is like a dark, dangerous place. You need the assistance of multiple netrunners. Those people that were there in cyberspace, they were with you. They were your cover. They were helping out, making sure that nothing is getting you. Basically the cyberspace in our game is this extremely dark, grim place from the past. It's a past that has been divided by the black wall. And you saw what happened when Alt hit the wall at the end. And so that's cyberspace in the game. And as a player you need a special support from others to help you get there. But then you can explore the way you saw. Now, on top of that, the whole cyberspace has this usable layer.

As a Netrunner, I can get into the net and access the networks of the soldiers, of the guards, of the Animals, and hack them. And use the quick hack to make the game explode, make the guy suicide, all kinds of things to mess around with the cyberware tool. So that's also a way you can access cyberspace, just in a different way. It's a more secure, safe level. And also, on top of that, you have normal internet. But the internet in Cyberpunk, it's a completely different thing. This game is based on 2020. Everything there is very retro. It's very ingrained in the '80s. So if you take the internet that existed at that time, that was mostly controlled by the army and so on, and scale that up to '77, keeping all the crazyness, basically our internet in Cyberpunk is controlled by corporations and the army. It's not that everyone can have their own blog. It's not like that. There are pages you can browse, but they're controlled by the big corporations. But that said, the network is not for normal people, and all Netrunners can access it and only the best ones can go deep into cyberspace.

Why is it you need such a big support network to access cyberspace? What's the danger?


Basically you would be fried. In 2020, your brain would be fried. This is the reason V gets into the bathtub. Because her body has to be cooled because you become sort of a CPU. You become a CPU that's running this whole thing through your body. You have to be cooled down because otherwise you fry. So this whole setup has to be there so that you can access this. But there are points in the story when you do.

Can you finish the game without killing anyone?


Yes. We have a completely nonlethal path throughout the whole game. Of course this is a dangerous, violent world, so you have to harm people sometimes. But you don't have to kill anybody. Any of the quests, street stories, open world content—you can go through the whole thing killing nobody. If you want to play like this—if you want to play for the achievement—sure thing. This is covered. This is one of the things that falls into freedom for me.

There was a story last year that mentioned you will have to kill some people. Was that changed based on feedback?


Yes. Last year you guys did these surveys for us. We looked at the feedback really thoroughly. There's a bunch of things we have improved based on that feedback. And we always look at what people say and what they think. Because when you're deep in something, you just don't see the forest for the trees. So yes, that was something we have changed. That has been in the design for quite some time, and it was in our heads as we were designing quests. Might be we have to redo a branch here and branch there. But then there was a moment where we were like, 'okay, we are committing to this. Let's make it, because we almost have it. Let's do it everywhere.' If the player wants to not kill anybody, they can do it. Some players will say 'this game is extremely violent'. But it doesn't have to be. You just can go in with nonlethal way and knock people down. You don't have to break legs, chop off heads or use the nanowire to slice people. You don't have to.

What options are there for nonlethal playthroughs?

Right now, every weapon and every cyberware has a nonlethal option. I think I can say everything. There's one thing: only weapons that are lethal by definition, so let's say you shoot someone with a bazooka in his face. You shoot his head off. That's typically lethal. So there are weapons that are so lethal that it can not go any way otherwise. But everything else actually has a nonlethal option. Pretty much every gun, pretty much every cyberware, you're able to use in a nonlethal way. You're able to knock them down, choke them, make them sleep and so on. There are ways not to kill them and spare them, like the way you could do with Sasquatch, the boss.
 

ChildInTime

Learned
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
618
So we are gonna get nuclear wastelands from Judge Dredd. Cool.

Also that thing with cyberKeanu, won't it become annoying after a while, him being present all the time? Will he be peaking over your shoulder, while you are having sex with the cyber prostitutes?
 

newtmonkey

Arcane
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
1,725
Location
Goblin Lair
Virgin Andrzej Sapkowski vs chad Mike Pondsmith

One guy hates video games and signs away his rights for a pittance, only to come crying years later with lawyers to squeeze more money
Other guy loves games from his fucking soul, has worked in gaming his whole life, and the only time you ever see him publicly say anything, he's excited that his creation is gonna be a AAA game
 

typical user

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 30, 2015
Messages
957
Virgin Andrzej Sapkowski vs chad Mike Pondsmith

One guy hates video games and signs away his rights for a pittance, only to come crying years later with lawyers to squeeze more money
Other guy loves games from his fucking soul, has worked in gaming his whole life, and the only time you ever see him publicly say anything, he's excited that his creation is gonna be a AAA game

More like one being fucking douche to the fans, insulting to his potential customers, close-minded and bitter from making scraps of books which were nigh under the radar before someone decided to make games and release them on the west.
The other meeting different companies, signing deals and being respected by every single person who bought his products and earning millions through cooperation with CD Projekt, Microsoft, selling his PnP RPGs, books and what not.
 

Zer0wing

Cipher
Joined
Mar 22, 2017
Messages
2,607
The other meeting different companies, signing deals and being respected by every single person who bought his products and earning millions through cooperation with CD Projekt, Microsoft, selling his PnP RPGs, books and what not.
Except not delivering what was promised on kickstarter. Where's my Mekton Zero?
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,205
Location
Ingrija
More like one being fucking douche to the fans, insulting to his potential customers, close-minded and bitter from making scraps of books which were nigh under the radar before someone decided to make games and release them on the west.

These are admirable qualities, though.

Entertain me, what does Keanu Reaves have to do with a video game? I can't be reading the previous 100 pages to find out. Is that a movie or...?
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,205
Location
Ingrija
Nothing. I speak only for myself but I hate it when games have real life likenesses of Hollywood actors in them. It's distracting, unnecessary, and makes the game less immersive.

This doesn't answer my question. Why is internet full of memes with Reaves related to the game? Did he work as CDPR's booth babe at E3? Was the PC modeled after John Wick or Neo? Did he pose for the cover photoshoot? I don't get it.
 
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
556
This doesn't answer my question. Why is internet full of memes with Reaves related to the game? Did he work as CDPR's booth babe at E3? Was the PC modeled after John Wick or Neo? Did he pose for the cover photoshoot? I don't get it.

He's in the game as a character.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom