Suddenly I'm leaning forward in my chair interested in the conversations my protagonist (a better player character than any piece of shit we can create in 2077) is having for the hundredth time. I'm involved in a setting that calls to me as opposed to one that leaves me cold.
I'll venture a guess that the writing direction had suffered a setback in CP77 vs what it was in Witcher 3. In that monster hunt quest example I gave earlier, everything is featured - the quest premise is rooted in the history and ethics of the world, reflects the impact of current events on the region, and demonstrates the gray morality which is a core feature of the Witcher's "dark", "serious", "grim", "subverted, etc. take on fantasy.
In CP77 we mostly hear or read about the state of the world and of its history but it's generally not integrated with the same skill into quests. It's a bit like in the Pillars of Eternity games - you read about how things are, or characters tell you stories, instead of just acting within the world according to the circumstances and the realities. These tales you hear and read never become "in-game reality".
There are quests in CP77 that are exceptions - I keep thinking about the much cited Peralez' line - but my impression is they are lost like tears in the rain of mundane "choomba goes boom-boom" tasks.
It is possible that *I* spoiled the mood of the game for myself by playingt too much of the braindead side content, yes, that is a possibility. Yet the responsibility falls on the people who saturated the game world with braindead side content that the player goes through mechanically and that is disconnected from the surrounding world.
On a superficial level the Witcher 3 equivalent would be monsters spawning in the forests, the packs of dogs, etc. On a less superficial level - none of those random spawns had their very own icons on the map.
An icon on the map tells the player "there is something of interest here". Yet in CP77 the player keeps going to those icons and there is never anything of true interest. And so frustration sets in.
People have been comparing police subcon work icons with bandit camps and monster nests. Apart from the few "organized crime activity" icons, the majority of the instances of this activity have nothing on Witcher 3's bandit camps or monster nests, which always had some context and a reason to be where they were.
The gigs in CP77 don't have an equivalent from Witcher 3, but they are forgettable - "Hey V, I need you to..." - bang-bang-bang, or something that eventually devolves to that - "Preem work V!"
The game would have been better off and more atmospheric without half of those activities, and can still be greatly improved if their icons can be made to be hidden.
