Now that people actually have their hands on the game, I'm glancing over some harsh criticism. Makes me feel better about waiting on this because it sounds like it needs an enhanced edition or CDPR reflected on what TW3 did poorly, paused and said, "Nah, we're mostly good with what we've got".
-Myriad of technical problems (buggy, poorly optimized) everyone is familiar with by now. Though some have had virtually no technical issues.
-RPG elements are shallow. Perks are all bland, customization is minimal, cyberware is uncreative compared to Deus Ex, lifepath only opens up the occasional exclusive dialogue option, V has hardly any variety in dialogue options. A lot more linear than you might believe.
-Overwhelmed with lootershooter mechanics that encourage you to churn through gear every 15 minutes for minor incremental stat gains and crafting is extraordinarily rote (holy shit they didn't learn from TW3 at all).
-Controls are poor. Needs many QoL additions.
-World is essentially populated by mannequins. NPCs on the streets have the bare minimum reaction to your actions, or none at all when stealing right in front of them. Police chases are short-lived. One player hacked open a door that two NPCs were complaining about being locked, and they continued to argue as if nothing changed.
Maybe I'll play it just for the story in a few months, because the game sounds rough. I'm more disappointed by the claims it did nothing to improve as an RPG compared to TW3, because this was a fresh start for CDPR that offered a great opportunity to build something deeper, down to giving you a blank slate. Feels like my worst fears the game would juggle a lot of elements selected from what's popular, but poorly execute most of them, was realized. Then again some of you are playing it, so are the criticisms fair enough?