CD Projekt's Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.0 + Phantom Liberty Expansion Thread

[typical user]

That's why they protect the ninjas evacuating from the car.

I thought there was a mail saying there were just hired help. But I might remember it wrong.

The cyberpsycho also fits well since they are chromed too and one was sent to attack mayor

I haven't done all the sidegigs, nor finished the cyberpsycho quest, so maybe it get explained. But, I remember the Maelstrom ritual,

Spoiler

where they cyberpsycho was a result of a womyn diving in too deep into the blackwall, trying to communicate with Lilith. So maybe, MAYBE, the whole cyberpsychosis thing is actually the result of AIs taking over, either gone wrong.. or just angry AIs. We'll never know. Sad.

If the AI is so powerful why they target Peralez instead of Blackwall?

No you misunderstand: they are AIs from BEYOND the blackwall invading visiting our {{{{safe spez}}}}. They target Perelez to get de facto control of Night Shitty.

Spoiler

Delamain also is one of those, but he got hacked by some guys from yurop to make him docile. Until you fix it.
Remember what the Netwatch guy and Maman Bitch said: the blackwall is just a broken window with a garbage bag over it, AIs taking over is unavoidable, so they try to make a deal with the devil.

I didn't see any emails implying anyone is hired help. Except for the PR campaign manager Lea who was fired once Jeff started to ask why is she still around when she died or something. Also why go with all the hoops to extract those guys working at the Antenna? You would also expect AI wouldn't be as sloppy as to provide different roses on a picture or forget they implanted some fake memories. That gal from Maelstrom could be thinking she reached rogue AIs but it could as well be a virus from *them*. Also I don't think she is related in any way. Just the fact that some people go crazy for no reason since they have huge amount of mods in their brains making them easy targets for hostile takeover. Some psychos are unrelated like the veteran in destroyed apartment stealing pills who suffers from war in South America. But Lizzy Wizzy could be part of the same scheme as Peralez. She is also acting weird and only Mike Pondsmith knows how much chrome she has in her body.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Many missions in this game make you wonder if it is supposed to be an unsolved mystery or they simply ran out of time to continue it. Like the Lizzy Wizzy mission. I thought there would be a follow up? No? Oooookay then.

But, a lot of things actually make more sense if you play the game a second time, with more meta knowledge. Like Garry the prophet. All his ramblings about vampires, werewolves, techno-necromancers, strange eyes, Lilith etc make a lot of sense. In a way. But by the time you could connect the dots, you are 80 hours further and don't remember shit. Sad.

So.. that is basically what gives this game replayability? Seeing Panam and Mitch arguing in the Afterlife, witnessing Mr Blueeyes observing V and Perelez...

Welp, something to look for when you replay the finished game in a year I guess.

There's a lot of details that you appreciate in a second playthrough, the most obvious and popular one is Judy being in the bar next to Evelyn when you meet her for the first time. There's also some missions that offer C&C, the maelstrom one is probably the most complex one in the entire game (No wonder why it was used to advertise the game in the 2018 gameplay). Unfortunately, this bits of changes and possibilities are hidden between a lot of static content. For the most part and for what I experienced, there's no much reasons to replay the game with a new character leaving aside enjoying the story again.

 

[Haplo]

Many missions in this game make you wonder if it is supposed to be an unsolved mystery or they simply ran out of time to continue it. Like the Lizzy Wizzy mission. I thought there would be a follow up? No? Oooookay then.

But, a lot of things actually make more sense if you play the game a second time, with more meta knowledge. Like Garry the prophet. All his ramblings about vampires, werewolves, techno-necromancers, strange eyes, Lilith etc make a lot of sense. In a way. But by the time you could connect the dots, you are 80 hours further and don't remember shit. Sad.

So.. that is basically what gives this game replayability? Seeing Panam and Mitch arguing in the Afterlife, witnessing Mr Blueeyes observing V and Perelez...

Welp, something to look for when you replay the finished game in a year I guess.

There's a lot of details that you appreciate in a second playthrough, the most obvious and popular one is Judy being in the bar next to Evelyn when you meet her for the first time. There's also some missions that offer C&C, the maelstrom one is probably the most complex one in the entire game (No wonder why it was used to advertise the game in the 2018 gameplay). Unfortunately, this bits of changes and possibilities are hidden between a lot of static content. For the most part and for what I experienced, there's no much reasons to replay the game with a new character leaving aside enjoying the story again.

Well, for me one incentive to play it again COULD be a mod that removes item level scaling and sets enemy difficulty basing on type, equipment (combat bots way more dangerous then most humanoid enemies for example, cyber-enhanced enemies stronger then mooks) and maybe somewhat affiliation (Militech guys more adept then common gangsters) rather then area. That'd be a big improvement.

 

[Zer0wing]

Many missions in this game make you wonder if it is supposed to be an unsolved mystery or they simply ran out of time to continue it. Like the Lizzy Wizzy mission. I thought there would be a follow up? No? Oooookay then.

But, a lot of things actually make more sense if you play the game a second time, with more meta knowledge. Like Garry the prophet. All his ramblings about vampires, werewolves, techno-necromancers, strange eyes, Lilith etc make a lot of sense. In a way. But by the time you could connect the dots, you are 80 hours further and don't remember shit. Sad.

So.. that is basically what gives this game replayability? Seeing Panam and Mitch arguing in the Afterlife, witnessing Mr Blueeyes observing V and Perelez...

Welp, something to look for when you replay the finished game in a year I guess.

There's a lot of details that you appreciate in a second playthrough, the most obvious and popular one is Judy being in the bar next to Evelyn when you meet her for the first time. There's also some missions that offer C&C, the maelstrom one is probably the most complex one in the entire game (No wonder why it was used to advertise the game in the 2018 gameplay). Unfortunately, this bits of changes and possibilities are hidden between a lot of static content. For the most part and for what I experienced, there's no much reasons to replay the game with a new character leaving aside enjoying the story again.

Well, for me one incentive to play it again COULD be a mod that removes item level scaling and sets enemy difficulty basing on type, equipment (combat bots way more dangerous then most humanoid enemies for example, cyber-enhanced enemies stronger then mooks) and maybe somewhat affiliation (Militech guys more adept then common gangsters) rather then area. That'd be a big improvement.

You missed the one tiny detail - cut arond 99% of the stats from regular clothes, modification slots for armor improvement is already enough. And having actual armor on top of that, too. Also, weapons should be much deadlier on unarmed or wearing unmodded clothing non-chromed regular enemies. Second will be replacing Damage Resistance to Damage Threshold+some minor DR on top of that to ease on the balance while still being much closer to tabletop game ruleset.

Ya'know, I'm shocked to see that Fallout 4 is a lot more sophisticated in armor department than this supposed official continuation of mighty CP2020 with such emphasis on deadly combat.

 

[AwesomeButton]

A: you are a monster hunter so pest control makes sense for you to do, B: It is stabilished on the fiction that monsters are real danger when you get far from the cities so an empty woodland wouldnt make sense, C: Different monsters have different behavior what slightly changes the fight from each monster nest

A: You are a dying merc that used to do shit for money, you are not a cop or a vigilante, you are not better than the choobas you gonna boom-boom, why blow them up? Because the NCPD pays a mediocre sum of money for you to exterminate whole gangs?

B: You are dying, you shouldnt be wasting time with that nonsense even as side content

Yeah, I've mentioned all of those things, some of them quite a while ago. The weirdness of how good and nice everyone is and how V is somehow the local hero helping the police who thank him was one of the first things that struck me as odd.

Reaching for the trope of the dying protagonist who "races against time" is so cheap in how it relieves the writer of the need to craft a real motivation for the protagonist doing the things he does - to save your life is the ultimate justification for every act the protagonist carries out, whether it's noble, evil, greedy or stupid. This trope also backs the writer into a corner because it either has to conclude the story with the character dying or if the hero saves his life, the writer has just postponed the moment where he has to present this character's motivation to live the life he lives and do the things he does. In CP77 it's so shallow - the first 6 hours V is in this life "to make a name for himself" whatever that means, and the rest of the game he is "racing against time to save his life".

But CDPR misses an important prerequisite for such a trope to work, and perhaps this was the place of the "6-month montage". For the news "you're dying, V" to shock the player, the player has to first develop a connection with that character which is in no way the case by that time. That's why Red Dead 2 serves you the bad news when you are about half way through the game and have had ample chance to grow fond of Arthur. But "half way through RDR2" is far longer time for the player-game protagonist relationship to stew than Cyberpunk's first 6 hours. The 6 month motage either represents a big cut of main story, or we're seeing a major oversight on the narrative team's side.

Edit: come to think of it, when as a writer you aren't allowed to constantly tell the history of your protagonist, as his current predicaments are unfolding, because someone decided that "You is V", "V is you" but "Thou shalt have 3 backgrounds" or whatever, what else are you left with, except reaching for b-movie tropes? If we would be learning V's backstory as the game was progressing and this would explain why he ended up in the mercenary business - what happened to his family, who were his friends, how did his young years pass - then maybe the player would have cared more, and maybe there would be a better motivation provided for V than "I wanna get rich and famous".

 

[Haplo]

Many missions in this game make you wonder if it is supposed to be an unsolved mystery or they simply ran out of time to continue it. Like the Lizzy Wizzy mission. I thought there would be a follow up? No? Oooookay then.

But, a lot of things actually make more sense if you play the game a second time, with more meta knowledge. Like Garry the prophet. All his ramblings about vampires, werewolves, techno-necromancers, strange eyes, Lilith etc make a lot of sense. In a way. But by the time you could connect the dots, you are 80 hours further and don't remember shit. Sad.

So.. that is basically what gives this game replayability? Seeing Panam and Mitch arguing in the Afterlife, witnessing Mr Blueeyes observing V and Perelez...

Welp, something to look for when you replay the finished game in a year I guess.

There's a lot of details that you appreciate in a second playthrough, the most obvious and popular one is Judy being in the bar next to Evelyn when you meet her for the first time. There's also some missions that offer C&C, the maelstrom one is probably the most complex one in the entire game (No wonder why it was used to advertise the game in the 2018 gameplay). Unfortunately, this bits of changes and possibilities are hidden between a lot of static content. For the most part and for what I experienced, there's no much reasons to replay the game with a new character leaving aside enjoying the story again.

Well, for me one incentive to play it again COULD be a mod that removes item level scaling and sets enemy difficulty basing on type, equipment (combat bots way more dangerous then most humanoid enemies for example, cyber-enhanced enemies stronger then mooks) and maybe somewhat affiliation (Militech guys more adept then common gangsters) rather then area. That'd be a big improvement.

You missed the one tiny detail - cut arond 99% of the stats from regular clothes, modification slots for armor improvement is already enough. And having actual armor on top of that, too. Also, weapons should be much deadlier on unarmed or wearing unmodded clothing non-chromed regular enemies. Second will be replacing Damage Resistance to Damage Threshold+some minor DR on top of that to ease on the balance while still being much closer to tabletop game ruleset.

Ya'know, I'm shocked to see that Fallout 4 is a lot more sophisticated in armor department than this supposed official continuation of mighty CP2020 with such emphasis on deadly combat.

Yeah, armor system should be revamped too. Mostly by removing scaling as well (so a bulletproof vest should naturally have a way higher Armor rating then a t-shirt).
Change No 1, easiest to implement, would be to remove the ability to stack multiple mods of same type in a piece of clothing (4 x Armadillo!). Changing how clothing/armor DR/DT works is also desirable, of course.

 

[DeepOcean]

Edit: come to think of it, when as a writer you aren't allowed to constantly tell the history of your protagonist, as his current predicaments are unfolding, because someone decided that "You is V", "V is you" but "Thou shalt have 3 backgrounds" or whatever, what else are you left with, except reaching for b-movie tropes? If we would be learning V's backstory as the game was progressing and this would explain why he ended up in the mercenary business - what happened to his family, who were his friends, how did his young years pass - then maybe the player would have cared more, and maybe there would be a better motivation provided for V than "I wanna get rich and famous".

They backed themselves into a corner because of marketing, they made a big deal of the different backgrounds, if they were making the backgrounds so shallow and short, then the right call was to invest it all on street kid as it is the only background that truly makes sense even based on the way V talks and behaves with you already knowing Jackie and you doing alot of shit with him before Silverhand even showing up.

 

[Bliblablubb]

There's also some missions that offer C&C, the maelstrom one is probably the most complex one in the entire game

That mission is such a textbook Bethesda press demo showoff to con journalists into thinking there would be a lot of C&C in this game.

Especially the Nomad choices make no sense, since they should be available to everyone, yet feel hamfisted in to show "meaningful lifepaths choices".
Only if you are Nomad you can talk to Jackie about the bike. And get a tech check to advise him to pimp it. Why Nomad AND the tech check? I guess it was tech check for everyone and they just fucked the script up.
Meredith goes on and on and on and on about the mole, but ONLY if you are a Nomad, who has asked her if she has a job in convoy escort, can TELL her who the mole is afterwards. Everyone can read the mails, but only Nomads can remember names I guess.

Similarly only the Corpo knows about the virus on the cred chip, yet everyone can try to hack the cred chip. With no skillcheck of course. Sure, why not.

Royce/Dumdum or Brick getting a cameo later is... not really meaningful.

I am not shitting on the game, I appreciate WHAT they did, but by hyping that mission back and forth is part of the unmatchable expectations they created. Epecially since most of the missions are linear compared to this.

 

[Zer0wing]

That mission is such a textbook Bethesda press demo showoff to con journalists into thinking there would be a lot of C&C in this game.

Fallout 3 actually had more C&C and reactivity than presumable next-gen RPG with biggest budget to date. Ha!

 

[Bliblablubb]

Some psychos are unrelated like the veteran in destroyed apartment stealing pills who suffers from war in South America.

Actually a major part of the Cyberpsycho quest is that most of them are in fact not real Cyberpsychos. Just PTS, snapping, drug abuse, etc.
As I said, I haven't finished that quest, so maybe the reveal is that there is no real Cyberpychosis. Probably better not to get my hopes up tho.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

This trope also backs the writer into a corner because it either has to conclude the story with the character dying or if the hero saves his life, the writer has just postponed the moment where he has to present this character's motivation to live the life he lives and do the things he does. In CP77 it's so shallow - the first 6 hours V is in this life "to make a name for himself" whatever that means, and the rest of the game he is "racing against time to save his life".

Spoiler

 

[AwesomeButton]

Edit: come to think of it, when as a writer you aren't allowed to constantly tell the history of your protagonist, as his current predicaments are unfolding, because someone decided that "You is V", "V is you" but "Thou shalt have 3 backgrounds" or whatever, what else are you left with, except reaching for b-movie tropes? If we would be learning V's backstory as the game was progressing and this would explain why he ended up in the mercenary business - what happened to his family, who were his friends, how did his young years pass - then maybe the player would have cared more, and maybe there would be a better motivation provided for V than "I wanna get rich and famous".

They backed themselves into a corner because of marketing, they made a big deal of the different backgrounds, if they were making the backgrounds so shallow and short, then the right call was to invest it all on street kid as it is the only background that truly makes sense even based on the way V talks and behaves with you already knowing Jackie and you doing alot of shit with him before Silverhand even showing up.

The whole story of development which we'll probably never hear in its entirety seems to be a story of solving the puzzle "What can we cut from the original vision without formally breaking any promises", with the caveat that they conceded having to roll back some of the promises.

The only way to do justice to these "backgrounds" in a game wih CP77's production values (shards text can't save you here) was to develop three different protagonists and then develop all the reactivity to make their different reactions to the plot plausible to the audience.

Like having Witcher 3 with three possible witchers each with their own character and moral compass. I guess CDPR realized this somewhere along the way, and the only option they had left was to cut the backgrounds content, parrot the pitch that "the player is V" and hope that not many people would notice the inconsistency. Of course few people can describe it, but most do feel it.

The other game we all think of that did backgrounds was DA:O and unsurprisingly it was a much more directed experience than the open world. "Open World and narrative driven" is already a pipe dream, but when you add "playable character origins and reactivity to those origins" it gets insane :D

 

[moon knight]

There's also some missions that offer C&C, the maelstrom one is probably the most complex one in the entire game

That mission is such a textbook Bethesda press demo showoff to con journalists into thinking there would be a lot of C&C in this game.

Especially the Nomad choices make no sense, since they should be available to everyone, yet feel hamfisted in to show "meaningful lifepaths choices".
Only if you are Nomad you can talk to Jackie about the bike. And get a tech check to advise him to pimp it. Why Nomad AND the tech check? I guess it was tech check for everyone and they just fucked the script up.
Meredith goes on and on and on and on about the mole, but ONLY if you are a Nomad, who has asked her if she has a job in convoy escort, can TELL her who the mole is afterwards. Everyone can read the mails, but only Nomads can remember names I guess.

Similarly only the Corpo knows about the virus on the cred chip, yet everyone can try to hack the cred chip. With no skillcheck of course. Sure, why not.

Royce/Dumdum or Brick getting a cameo later is... not really meaningful.

I am not shitting on the game, I appreciate WHAT they did, but by hyping that mission back and forth is part of the unmatchable expectations they created. Epecially since most of the missions are linear compared to this.

I think Lifepaths were tied to classes. Corpo - Netrunner, Street Kid - Solo, Nomad - Techie

 

[Perkel]

I think Lifepaths were tied to classes. Corpo - Netrunner, Street Kid - Solo, Nomad - Techie

That doesn't really make sense. Corpo was manager in spy ops she wasn't netrunner. Solo is outright heavy assault type like Jackie. I think people just look at lifepaths and assume how those people exist and what they are about. So Nomad is supposed to be techie etc.

But that is not true. Johny for example is Nomad first he was Solo and then he became rockerboy, Santiago also a nomad became Solo.

 

[Bliblablubb]

I am careful about blaming CDPR from "having cut" many things from the game. Like the vocal entitled minority who believe they got robbed of hours long prologues for every lifepath.

I do not think they "cut" that much unfinished content from the game, it was rather a problem of marketing promising investors/journalists a new cure for cancer every day, they designers could simply not fulfill. So instead they quickly cobbled together something for the next press event, then went back to the real problems and never touched it again. So nobody can say "you liiiiiied!" Like the char gen. With many dicks for womyn so the press would talk about how progressiv the game is. Except they are really just cosmetics in the char gen. Or any looks being able to be altered later.
Almost as if the game was never meant to have a customizable player char....

Of course, there are also rather simple things left unfinished. Like V's other appartment. It's used in an ending, it has an elevator with a lobby and a clerk, just the outside doors are locked.
Easy for the next DLC. The bad kind tho, since it does not add new things, it just unlocks existing things, that were just being withheld from you.

 

[DeepOcean]

They should open a fishing company then, CDPR management are really good on the business of fishing journalists and youtube tards than they are on the making game business.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I am careful about blaming CDPR from "having cut" many things from the game. Like the vocal entitled minority who believe they got robbed of hours long prologues for every lifepath.

I do not think they "cut" that much unfinished content from the game, it was rather a problem of marketing promising investors/journalists a new cure for cancer every day, they designers could simply not fulfill. So instead they quickly cobbled together something for the next press event, then went back to the real problems and never touched it again. So nobody can say "you liiiiiied!" Like the char gen. With many dicks for womyn so the press would talk about how progressiv the game is. Except they are really just cosmetics in the char gen. Or any looks being able to be altered later.
Almost as if the game was never meant to have a customizable player char....

Of course, there are also rather simple things left unfinished. Like V's other appartment. It's used in an ending, it has an elevator with a lobby and a clerk, just the outside doors are locked.
Easy for the next DLC. The bad kind tho, since it does not add new things, it just unlocks existing things, that were just being withheld from you.

Depends on what classifies as "cut". I'd wager the life paths were rethought before production started. Maybe "cut" is more appropriate for something like the fixers? With what we ended up with in terms of backgrounds, it's right to question why were they done at all, except as a means to avoid anger at a major promise undelivered.

Are backgrounds in the final game a delivered promise?

Could someone check and remind us if the PR pitch was about "life paths" or "backgrounds"?

 

[moon knight]

Corpo was manager in spy ops she wasn't netrunner

Netrunner as "high intelligence, high cool, medium tech" character.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I haven't played a corpo but can anyone relay how did CDPR justify the fact that this corpo once he lost his job (I guess at Arasaka) got next to no reactivity with Arasaka people in the main quest.

 

[DeepOcean]

"I swear I'm a virgin as I promised, sure, I did a surgery to reconstruct my hymen but I never lied to you,well, technically, I just omited some facts like my affair with Tyrone." Said every bsing company ever.

 

[Bliblablubb]

Nomad - Techie

If only there WAS a real techie. Where my mines, my turrets, my drones at? "Uhhh, here gain immunity to your own grenades for.. reasons instead. Also crafting, yes, because crafting is was makes a techie. It just works!"
Extra dmg for tech weapons is... not needed. Because superior soviet science provides you with the техтроника Burya. Ever wondered why it does so much dmg and always has wallhack when aiming? It's almost like that gun's charge mechanic was buggy and it was always at max charge! Oh... right...

If only they had the same bug in the Monowire. Nope, there it is the other way around. Charge calculation will always return 0, and "yuge dmg" multiplied with zero equals zero after all.
"Have fun dealing only the puny extra dmg provided by the slotted mod player. Love, CDPR."


Maybe that blocked 6th stat will be for pet/controlers . In a much later DLC hopefully, because we all know how awsome NPC pathing works right now. Seriously Jackie stop photobombing in front of my gun.

 

[Bliblablubb]

I haven't played a corpo but can anyone relay how did CDPR justify the fact that this corpo once he lost his job (I guess at Arasaka) got next to no reactivity with Arasaka people in the main quest.

You can just walk into the Arasaka park claiming to work for Abanathy! Okay, my Nomad could do that too, because the game bugged out (SURPRISE!), but hey, it's the thought that counts amirite?

 

[Turjan]

Nomad - Techie

Extra dmg for tech weapons is... not needed. Because superior soviet science provides you with the техтроника Burya. Ever wondered why it does so much dmg and always has wallhack when aiming? It's almost like that gun's charge mechanic was buggy and it was always at max charge! Oh... right...

The Nekomata has the same bug. Before I invested a perk point into wall penetration, this tech sniper rifle always penetrated walls, and that without any trembling effect. Actually buying any points here made the gun much worse than before. During the end game, I pretty much only "sniped" with the assault rifle.

 

[Bliblablubb]

Before I invested a perk point into wall penetration

Wat. There is a perk required for wall penetration?
My tech guns always penetrate when charged. Yeah baby.The anti-materiel rifle does that as well.
Lizzy is hillariously OP and carried my low rez ass a looooooong time. After that it was a two-shot Burya with some 700 dmg per shot. Totally balanced weapons.

That tremble effect is also... I don't get the mechanic behind it. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's gone after switching weapons. It's not related to cover, body, crouching or tech. It's just... random. And especially in the case of the Negromata makes the gun useless when it shakes.

Probably a bug. Most likely a bug. Yeah, definitly a bug.

 

[Turjan]

Royce/Dumdum or Brick getting a cameo later is... not really meaningful.

What kind of "meaningful" do you expect? The mission with Nancy plays out differently, depending on who the boss is at the Totentanz later. Brick is the only option where you can walk in and out without being hassled in any way whatsoever.

Many missions in this game make you wonder if it is supposed to be an unsolved mystery or they simply ran out of time to continue it. Like the Lizzy Wizzy mission. I thought there would be a follow up? No? Oooookay then.

She sends you messages three times in different intervals after you had met her for the second time. Each of the messages gets more and more bizarre. Maybe, you only really know what this means if you try out both answers you can give her after the first reconnaissance mission.