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

[Tyrr]

As all the endings suck, the winning move seems to never finish this game.

Spoiler

Too bad CDPR thought the same.

Yeah, unfortunately I agree with this, I'm not against bad endings but I think a worthwhile journey must happen before one, the main story of Cyberbug is just too edgy depressive all the time. I mean, when you die, it is sad because you remember the good things you experienced not because you were a miserable fuck that got even more miserable, what the fuck V would miss from Night City? That place is an unredeemable shithole accordingly with CDPR, even Game of Thrones wasnt that cynical, in the end, if their goal was to make me sad, they made a very good job at making me tired with all the edgyness. The very few characters that could make a difference like Jackie or die too fast or barely have anything to do with the main story with exception of Panam on her ending.

All the good characters , like Evelyn, Jackie or T-bug, are gone after chapter 1. Such a shame.

 

[Fedora Master]

How are Evelyn and T-Bug even characters? Jackie I agree, he's well done and fleshed out but the others are just props.

 

[DeepOcean]

How are Evelyn and T-Bug even characters? Jackie I agree, he's well done and fleshed out but the others are just props.

Yes, but they immensely benefit from being on the part of the story that is actually good. After the heist, I felt like I was Uppie Goldberg ackwardly on the side waiting while Patrick Swayze was trying to ghost fuck Demi Moore.

 

[Gargaune]

1.1 lowered the CPU, RAM, and VRAM usage of the game but whether that translates into anything meaningful depends on system, I guess. I saw no real world difference, other than some reduction in graphical stuff in distance and slightly slower times to pull in textures, but then I'm heavily GPU bound at 1440p, would think some would benefit from it. Other thing I'd say to it is I've noticed that ingame glitchiness tends to increase a lot trying to play an old save on a newer patch, if that's a consideration.

Thanks. Might be worth a shot then, hopefully that lower CPU load translates to a few degrees. Could live with losing a little distance LOD if it gives my processor some breathing room.

Well, I might as well share, first impressions aren't encouraging. Not really seeing a difference in temperatures, but I wonder if they've changed something with the post-processing since I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of jaggies and I hadn't before.

And since I'm whinging, all that raytracing and CDPR didn't give V a flashlight? JC Denton had a flashlight... He had two of 'em, one per eyeball. And you didn't even have to pay extra, that's how they rolled him off the assembly line.

 

[Tyrr]

How are Evelyn and T-Bug even characters? Jackie I agree, he's well done and fleshed out but the others are just props.

They were interesting in the sense that I was interested to see more of them.
After the heist I thought/hoped to see T-Bug again and that Evelyn played a bigger role down the line.

 

[Danikas]

Just play this as walking and photographer simulator and its very good sadly they didnt put enough effort into the actual meaty content game needed at least 1 more main questline and more side quests for major characters. Right now the game has about half of Witcher 3 content in terms of worthwhile side quests. There is Panam questline, Judy questline, River questline, Johnny questline and that's about it. Compared to what we had in Witcher 3 at launch it's a disappointment but anyway as I said its a good photographer simulator.

Spoiler

 

[Gargaune]

as I said its a good photographer simulator.

You using any shader mods there? I get the feel my night images look a wee bit washed out compared to yours, but then yours seem a little dark during the day.

Speaking of, I'm surprised CDPR didn't let us turn if off for Photomode, since you can apparently toggle it on the fly.

 

[Danikas]

You using any shader mods there? I get the feel my night images look a wee bit washed out compared to yours, but then yours seem a little dark during the day.

Nah I just lowered the default gamma settings because they were too high for me.

 

[Crispy]

Nice screenshots.

 

[Gargaune]

Nah I just lowered the default gamma settings because they were too high for me.

Oh, right. I actually took it one pip in the opposite direction since I couldn't see a damn thing in Jenkins's office at the start. Hence my groaning about flashlights.

 

[Semiurge]

How that joke went? "If he's hot, then it's called being sexy. If he's not, then it's called being creepy/sexual abuse"?

It's no joke.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

How that joke went? "If he's hot, then it's called being sexy. If he's not, then it's called being creepy/sexual abuse"?

It's no joke.

It's no joke, but it is subject to change retroactively.

 

[theLorry]

Just play this as walking and photographer simulator and its very good sadly they didnt put enough effort into the actual meaty content game needed at least 1 more main questline and more side quests for major characters. Right now the game has about half of Witcher 3 content in terms of worthwhile side quests. There is Panam questline, Judy questline, River questline, Johnny questline and that's about it. Compared to what we had in Witcher 3 at launch it's a disappointment but anyway as I said its a good photographer simulator.

Spoiler

I'll probably get the game in a couple of year's time for the visuals if nothing else. I prefer perpetual nighttime in my cyberpunk, though, so I wonder if the game would turn completely nonsensical if it was modded to never have any daylight at all. How much of the content is actually tied to specific hours of the day?

 

[Danikas]

I'll probably get the game in a couple of year's time for the visuals if nothing else. I prefer perpetual nighttime in my cyberpunk, though, so I wonder if the game would turn completely nonsensical if it was modded to never have any daylight at all. How much of the content is actually tied to specific hours of the day?

Almost nothing is tied to daytime actually many quests are set during the night and majority of the rest you can do at any time you want. The game looks the best in night-time anyway.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

See that megabuilding? You can climb it. (Maybe. Like, you know, if a mission takes you there. In a slow elevator.)

what about a really really tall ladder? I mean the game already has Kojima in it.

 

[somewhatgiggly]

Your brain is broken at that point, made clear by the frustrating, repeatedly failed testing after the Johnny-ectomy. I got the impression that anything uploaded to Mikoshi at that point would be further degraded. It's a given that you wouldn't be given the CEO level storage option, or likely anything but be forgotten after transfer.

Johnny has lost everything by the time he gets on that bus. Rogue dumps him if she even lives, he hates himself and is reminded of a sense of betrayal every time he looks in the mirror.

There are only least-bad endings. The secret/kamikaze run at least saves your friends and offers revenge on Smasher.

All they have to do is literally put a note on his file. Or a category for fast-track resurrection, with an asterisk of 'owes Arasaka 5 years or equivalent labor'.

Being subsumed into Alt or Mikoshi are equally bad.

Being absorbed into an AI is very different from being put in storage as an engram. With the latter, you have a chance of returning to the world, with the AI you cease to exist as you.

Self-sacrifice for Johnny could be seen as noble,

Or that's what the engram wanted you to think

Goro's tone is chilling at the last meeting, almost fearful in Corpo CYA mode, and has returned to the Arasaka fold, having seen what his boss was willing to do to his own Prodigal Son.

He was a little shit anyway, fuck him - and he knew his life was over one way or another. Also, he probably felt it was a noble self-sacrifice (echoing the sacrifice Johnny asks of you, in a different way) - a kind of redemption for him, having fucked up the family so much. I must admit I've only seen the Goro version once on YT, but I didn't get that impression, I felt he was just solemn and sympathetic to a friend making a difficult decision.

Returning to Earth to live out a short, brain damaged life on Arasaka's leash (and those endgame voicemails need fixing) is clearly worse, or at least less human than the final Avocado path of love and family out on the range. It's implied that hope for a 'cure' is nil in either case. Frankly, you were dead anyway. The time after getting shot was gravy.

But as an engram you have a chance of resurrection in a body as a human being again, in fact a chance of literal immortality; no chance of that on any of the other paths.

But it depends I suppose. My V felt that returning to earth as a plain human with dignity intact, and Johnny out of her head, was better than any of that cyberbollocks, even if it was short - she was heartily sick of it by the end of the game, kind of in Luddite mode. Bittersweet ending to be sure, but not the worst. In fact, I don't think you can really rank the endings, they are all fairly bittersweet - except the one where Johnny gets to ride off into the sunset having taken over your body, that's pretty cheerful. For him. The Panam ending would prob be best if you were a male V really in love with her, but my V was femme and just thought of her as a close friend.

And then of course there's the matter of not wanting to risk the lives of the friends you'd made - Panam, the Afterlife people, etc. Avoiding unnecessary death there is another good aspect of that ending.

Yea becoming an engram is a option. It's not the best option. And what do you tell everyone along the way? wait a few years - come back as a glorified security bot? Or wait decades? V will be like Johnny, almost, coming back decades later to Panam and Judy and River and the rest. If they even make it that long.

I like Afterlife, there might be a chance there, still. V is still kicking six months later, probably got some high end drugs or nanomachines to fix him up a bit out of a gig. But in the Corpo ending, V is getting fucked. He also has less of a reputation now that he would in Nomad or Afterlife, meaning he has to work for it somehow - how? Attacking Militech? And so he's in a rough position overall.

 

[gurugeorge]

Yea becoming an engram is a option. It's not the best option. And what do you tell everyone along the way? wait a few years - come back as a glorified security bot? Or wait decades? V will be like Johnny, almost, coming back decades later to Panam and Judy and River and the rest. If they even make it that long.

I like Afterlife, there might be a chance there, still. V is still kicking six months later, probably got some high end drugs or nanomachines to fix him up a bit out of a gig. But in the Corpo ending, V is getting fucked. He also has less of a reputation now that he would in Nomad or Afterlife, meaning he has to work for it somehow - how? Attacking Militech? And so he's in a rough position overall.

It seems to be a non-trivial problem to solve the uploading and re-downloading problem - with all Arasaka's resources

Spoiler

they've only done it with Saburo so far, by the end of the game, and that's probably got something to do with genetic similarity between him and his son.

Clearly V's problem (which arose from an accident) is unique and difficult, and seems to be genuinely beyond their abilities to solve with tech at the level it is at that time.

I actually doubt the validity of the idea of uploading altogether, I don't think it will ever be possible in the way people dreamed about in the "wired" 80s and 90s. But supposing it is, then it's a fairly safe bet (on the internal logic of the game) that the tech will improve to the point that all those rich people stored in Mikoshi, having bet on future immortality, and an engrammed V, will be given bodies again.

It's interesting: apparently Jeffrey Epstein was a transhumanist who hoped to be rich enough to be an early adopter of this kind of treatment when it came around. So he leapt at the chance of running a honeypot operation for Mossad

One wonders how many of the elites have the same dream nowadays.

 

[typical user]

Since we are in the land of spoilers I will avoid putting anything into spoiler tags.

It's silly accepting Relic can change DNA of V's body and make him die in 6 months because of "different" engram/soul and then saying Arasaka can't provide you a new body. If the Relic has such capabilities then shouldn't it be very easy to reverse-engineer the process and replicate it for new body and possibly allow for immortality regardless of this limitation? Why putting this problem in the story anyway?

Another thing is how you approach engrams / souls. Personally I treat Yorinobu as brainwashed with Saburo memories. One of the issues Arasaka encountered with Soulkiller 2.0 was high sucide rate. I think if true immortality would be possible instead of conditioning with the recorded memories then I think people would at some point decide to kill themselves or refuse to be reborn or soulkilled. It's a spiritual dilemna if one believes in a soul or not. It's a shame this game copies Altered Carbon but doesn't ask the questions itself nor doesn't provide different answers through ingame characters. V at one point throws out of his hat a question to Johnny asking him if he believes in god in Sinnerman quest, Silverhand brushes it off with his signature "fuck, please kill me (don't make me answer)". Also the game is afraid to say if Johnny is real or becomes real by changing V's mind or is merely a virus AI in V's implants designed to fry his brain and hijack the body with the recorded memories. Game is leaving the interpretation for the player who can treat Johnny in those two different ways. Guess it's the only true relationship since Johnny can admit that he is real/fake depending on your dialog options... But that doesn't change the endings narrative.

I chose the Arasaka ending since that is the most logical and safe bet. Your other options are to trust rogue AI which consumed Alt Cunningham and assault the place. Also it's kinda stupid Victor leaves gun besides pills and Misty doesn't react when you put it beside her but then both are bitter if you kill yourself. I think it would be better if V was left alone on his way to his apartment and have to make a choice in front of the mirror with the gun placed on a sink or something.

Also it's cliche your apartment has a view on AV pad of V's mansion from The Sun ending.

 

[DeepOcean]

Make clone of V, create V engram, place engram on clone, problem solved.

 

[lukaszek]

Make clone of V, create V engram, place engram on clone, problem solved.

make lots of invitro babies sound easier

 

[Elhoim]

I'll probably get the game in a couple of year's time for the visuals if nothing else. I prefer perpetual nighttime in my cyberpunk, though, so I wonder if the game would turn completely nonsensical if it was modded to never have any daylight at all. How much of the content is actually tied to specific hours of the day?

What's funny is that actual night time in "Night City" is very short in the game, IIRC. Kinda like starting at 9-10 PM and sunrise at 5.

 

[theLorry]

I'll probably get the game in a couple of year's time for the visuals if nothing else. I prefer perpetual nighttime in my cyberpunk, though, so I wonder if the game would turn completely nonsensical if it was modded to never have any daylight at all. How much of the content is actually tied to specific hours of the day?

Almost nothing is tied to daytime actually many quests are set during the night and majority of the rest you can do at any time you want. The game looks the best in night-time anyway.

That sounds good, since there is no question about the game looking better and more atmospheric when dark. Now someone just have to make a "night only" mod for me...

What's funny is that actual night time in "Night City" is very short in the game, IIRC. Kinda like starting at 9-10 PM and sunrise at 5.

That seems strangely short when CDPR obviously put so much effort into making the city look good at night. I remember them saying they didn't want the classic cyberpunk "cliché" look with constant rainy nights, but still. For comparison, Night City is on about the same latitude as Fresno, and there the the shortest days of the year are less than 10 hours.

 

[Semiurge]

Just play this as walking and photographer simulator and its very good sadly they didnt put enough effort into the actual meaty content game needed at least 1 more main questline and more side quests for major characters. Right now the game has about half of Witcher 3 content in terms of worthwhile side quests. There is Panam questline, Judy questline, River questline, Johnny questline and that's about it. Compared to what we had in Witcher 3 at launch it's a disappointment but anyway as I said its a good photographer simulator.

Who the fuck threw those mannequins around the place?

Seriously, everything in CP77 looks plastic and stiff despite the city supposedly being a composite of different materials. Witcher 3 looks more natural than that and it's not because of the grass, dirty roads and wooden shacks you mostly see.

 

[True Ukrainian]

I think you have your nostalgia glasses on. Cyberpunk looks far more impressive compared to Witcher 3. The urban density alone is something W3 doesn't match.

 

[tritosine2k]

I think you have your nostalgia glasses on. Cyberpunk looks far more impressive compared to Witcher 3. The urban density alone is something W3 doesn't match.

On the other hand with locked inner city there would be more varied outskirts /outdoors, hardly compensated by, locked doors, trifling gangs framedrops even on uberpc (with bad draw distance ffs).
Theres no underground commuting and that would run well on midgen console too.
Just bring back loading screens, AFAICT streaming geometry is pure hype, hot air because bad LOD implementation(s), so bet is on streaming something else.