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

[Arbiter]

After almost one year since the release, does everyone agree that this game will never be fixed?

 

[Gargaune]

Setting, biggest population center in Witcher 3 is Novigrad which is the size of about one night city district rest of the world map is filled with small villiages, forests and fields also there is almost no traffic on the roads npcs barely use horses. Now they decided to make a futuristic city which means there needs to be tons of traffic on the road (something they never did in Witcher games) and much more pedestrians on the streets than there ever was in Novigrad. They also decided it must release on base piss station 4 and shitbox which already had problems with running Witcher 3.

On top of which you're dealing with a far more complicated environmental architecture and all sorts of dynamic assets, like ads, building lights, aircraft and so on. Basically, a lot of processing power gets hogged by the decor demands of that "cyberpunk vision" of Night City and the last console gen chokes on it.

Overall the consensus among modders is that they've laid the groundwork for more significant overhauls coming with the next gen versions.

Which ironically means that there'll be fewer modders interested in Cyberpunk by the time CDPR's finished patching it and much of the progress being made now could break on the next patch. Worse, some of the more interesting mods might yield broken saves by the time the eventual expansion rolls around.

 

[Arbiter]

At some point CDP stopped marketing CP2077 as an RPG, referring to it as an "action adventure game" instead. This reminds me of a different RPG developer marketing their game as an "RPG for gamers who do not like RPGs". This time it did not work so well.

 

[Starwars]

Why did Cyberpunk failed so spectacularly on a technical level, given the fact it is running on a proven RED engine? Witcher 3 did not suffer from so many major glitches after the initial patches. Have all good programmers left CDPRojekt?

The setting and expectations that came with it as well. Now, I have no idea whatsoever what they promised before Cyberpunk was released, I didn't follow the hype campaign at all and did my best to avoid it, but when I went in to play it I treated it as basically Witcher 3 - Cyberpunk edition. And the game functioned for me like that (not going into shitty gameplay I mean). Running around from quest to quest, finding side content, with everything else in the world being basically window dressing. You can't really interact with it in a meaningful way.
But somewhere along the way before release, expectations for a more sandboxy experience like GTA came along. Again, quite possibly from CD Projekt RED themselves, I have no idea.

I'm playing the Witcher 3 at the moment and it still has a lot of bugs in it, still lots of polish issues (no pun intended). Many similar ones to Cyberpunk. But given Cyberpunks setting and the sort of natural inclination to create havoc in settings like that, it's just so much more noticeable. And you can't go crazy as Geralt, there is no crime system other than extremely half-baked "stealing in front of guards" thing.
I also remember being somewhat disappointed when I first played the Witcher 3 and getting to Novigrad. Because it looks so fucking amazing, but you can't really do anything. It's all running from hotspot to hotspot, quest NPC to quest NPC. Or you go to something like the Temple area of the city (forget the name of the area) which looks cool, is a major area of the city, and promising to explore but... there's nothing there. At all. Lots of NPCs (and a merchant I think), but again, it's all window dressing.

So, feels like they just didn't have the "muscle" or know-how to upgrade it all to fit into a more complex type of setting.

 

[Perkel]

Why did Cyberpunk failed so spectacularly on a technical level, given the fact it is running on a proven RED engine? Witcher 3 did not suffer from so many major glitches after the initial patches. Have all good programmers left CDPRojekt?

On PC it was absolutely fine. Problem was with consoles. Game is simply too much for them and density of assets just anihilate those HDDs. On Pc if you use HDD you also get streaming issues.

Tech wise it is easily the prettiest game around.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Why did Cyberpunk failed so spectacularly on a technical level, given the fact it is running on a proven RED engine? Witcher 3 did not suffer from so many major glitches after the initial patches. Have all good programmers left CDPRojekt?

rapid expansion meant they hired a bunch of losers who are incapable of doing their job

 

[Arbiter]

Why did Cyberpunk failed so spectacularly on a technical level, given the fact it is running on a proven RED engine? Witcher 3 did not suffer from so many major glitches after the initial patches. Have all good programmers left CDPRojekt?

On PC it was absolutely fine. Problem was with consoles. Game is simply too much for them and density of assets just anihilate those HDDs. On Pc if you use HDD you also get streaming issues.

Tech wise it is easily the prettiest game around.

I have not played the game myself, but there are lots of complaints about AI, broken scripts, non functional perks, poor balancing even on the PC. Those cannot be caused by performance problems.

 

[The_Mask]

Apparently this is going to be 50% off. Should this discount persuade me to purchase this title?

Rate below. Let me know!

 

[Butter]

Don't reward companies that release half-finished and monumentally broken products. Even buying it at a steep discount is telling them that their strategy of "release it now, finish it later" is acceptable.

 

[GloomFrost]

Yes and no. Because technically KOTOR 2, TOEE, VTMB, Arcanum, AP were released half-finished and yet they are some of the best games in the genre.

 

[Ryzer]

Apparently this is going to be 50% off. Should this discount persuade me to purchase this title?

Rate below. Let me know!

Read the review written by lukaszek .
https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=11613

 

[The_Mask]

I did read his review. I just wanted to see if the active participants in this thread think the situation has changed, and/or the discount can "sweeten the deal" in some way.

So far it seems not.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

at this point in Witcher 3's release, Hearts of Stone was already out and we're less than a month away from Blood & Wine releasing.

 

[Butter]

Yes and no. Because technically KOTOR 2, TOEE, VTMB, Arcanum, AP were released half-finished and yet they are some of the best games in the genre.

Pirating those games is OK because Activision, Atari, and Sega don't need more money.

 

[Cyberarmy]

After almost one year since the release, does everyone agree that this game will never be fixed?

This games core is rotten, so a complete "fixing" is off the table. They need to remade the game and engine maybe then.

Until then we can put this one to the shelf with Gothic 3, Temple of Elemental Evil and such. Wasted potantials, dead borns, un undeads.

 

[tritosine2k]

When I found the monowire and its mod early and blindly I thought this game would be quite something if it kept baiting you into builds. Eg. it'd make sense to use melee weapon to achieve stunlock first then you could even run away to snipe. But to my dismay not only there are no hybrid builds there's hardly anything (overpriced respec as cherry on top lol) here because:

Why did Cyberpunk failed so spectacularly on a technical level, given the fact it is running on a proven RED engine? Witcher 3 did not suffer from so many major glitches after the initial patches. Have all good programmers left CDPRojekt?

(...)

On top of which you're dealing with a far more complicated environmental architecture and all sorts of dynamic assets, like ads, building lights, aircraft and so on. Basically, a lot of processing power gets hogged by the decor demands of that "cyberpunk vision" of Night City and the last console gen chokes on it.

They tried to do realtime cgi bar none and got what was coming .

Even Musk told them the way they did outdoor is not okay rofl. And you still see their outsource guys trumpeting stuff . Same outsource guys prob. got the job because their realtime cgi background ( unity Heretic demo) left studio heads mesmerized . Pretty much deserved stuff .

 

[Kem0sabe]

When I found the monowire and its mod early and blindly I thought this game would be quite something if it kept baiting you into builds. Eg. it'd make sense to use melee weapon to achieve stunlock first then you could even run away to snipe. But to my dismay not only there are no hybrid builds there's hardly anything (overpriced respec as cherry on top lol) here because:

Why did Cyberpunk failed so spectacularly on a technical level, given the fact it is running on a proven RED engine? Witcher 3 did not suffer from so many major glitches after the initial patches. Have all good programmers left CDPRojekt?

(...)

On top of which you're dealing with a far more complicated environmental architecture and all sorts of dynamic assets, like ads, building lights, aircraft and so on. Basically, a lot of processing power gets hogged by the decor demands of that "cyberpunk vision" of Night City and the last console gen chokes on it.

They tried to do realtime cgi bar none and got what was coming .

Even Musk told them the way they did outdoor is not okay rofl. And you still see their outsource guys trumpeting stuff . Same outsource guys prob. got the job because their realtime cgi background ( unity Heretic demo) left studio heads mesmerized . Pretty much deserved stuff .

Smart sniper rifle, you dont even have to aim to get one shot - one kill.

 

[tritosine2k]

When I found the monowire and its mod early and blindly I thought this game would be quite something if it kept baiting you into builds. Eg. it'd make sense to use melee weapon to achieve stunlock first then you could even run away to snipe. But to my dismay not only there are no hybrid builds there's hardly anything (overpriced respec as cherry on top lol) here because:

Why did Cyberpunk failed so spectacularly on a technical level, given the fact it is running on a proven RED engine? Witcher 3 did not suffer from so many major glitches after the initial patches. Have all good programmers left CDPRojekt?

(...)

On top of which you're dealing with a far more complicated environmental architecture and all sorts of dynamic assets, like ads, building lights, aircraft and so on. Basically, a lot of processing power gets hogged by the decor demands of that "cyberpunk vision" of Night City and the last console gen chokes on it.

They tried to do realtime cgi bar none and got what was coming .

Even Musk told them the way they did outdoor is not okay rofl. And you still see their outsource guys trumpeting stuff . Same outsource guys prob. got the job because their realtime cgi background ( unity Heretic demo) left studio heads mesmerized . Pretty much deserved stuff .

Smart sniper rifle, you dont even have to aim to get one shot - one kill.

Yeah any single salvo of smart gun is pretty much the same if you specialize. But you can find monowire in act1 and its requirements tend to make it look a bigger thing than it actually is. Also why go all in on monowire? - hybrid stuff should be necessity from get go. Plus doubt you can even incapacitate with wire like with baton (that even works early too) . So many missed opportunities.

 

[Bliblablubb]

But you can find monowire in act1 and its requirements tend to make it look a bigger thing than it actually is. Also why go all in on monowire?

Nope. CDPR removed the free monowire and mantis blades a few patches ago. Claiming they would "bug out the level scaling of golden items" or smth. You can only get blue fists from a scanner hustle I mentioned earlier, which is pointless because you can buy them with no req for pocket change.
But the game is still eager to throw overpowered equipment in your face at every corner, it would need a massive effort even by Josh Sawyer to rebalance this game to a normal level.

It's actually fitting the the "normal" difficulty mode is labelled "easy" in the savegames. Would go higher, but I dislike everyone being just bulletsponges, because CDPR could not be arsed to code armor in. Yes, enemies do NOT have armor, just tons of hp.

 

[lukaszek]

Yes, enemies do NOT have armor, just tons of hp.

worked for bethesda

 

[Bliblablubb]

One more reason why I call CDPR the Bethesda of Yurop.

Actually one correction: not ALL enemies have no armor in CP77. The guys wearing a lab suit have.. 10 armor.

 

[Gargaune]

I just wanted to see if the active participants in this thread think the situation has changed, and/or the discount can "sweeten the deal" in some way.

The "situation" hasn't changed substantially because there isn't much to change, the game's real issues are a matter of core design, not patch fodder. There are things CDPR could improve, but the fundamentals are a foregone conclusion. Objectively, though, Cyberpunk's a reasonably average mass market popamoler - Codex standards aside, it's not a terrible game, just a terrible disappointment. There's a reason I keep calling it "CDPR's Invisible War."

Or to put it differently, consider that for some unfathomable reason, Horizon: Zero Dawn is regarded by the masses as a "good" modern, open-world Action-RPG. But having watched some of it with profound puzzlement, I genuinely think Cyberpunk 2077 is better bang for your buck and time, provided your hardware satisfies.

 

[Starwars]

Cyberpunk, like the Witcher 3, can be a great... experience. It can be nice to immerse yourself into the world, be dazzled by the visuals, sit along for the story which isn't all that great but has entertaining characters and setpieces along the way.
But as far as gameplay goes, there is just nothing there to immerse yourself in. The shooty shooty and occasional missions can be sort of fun to play but any diving into RPG systems, developing a character, chewing on some meaty gameplay... no. It's not there. In fact, a lot of the gameplay and RPG mechanics are just *extremely* shitty.

It's a popcorn game but the story, setting and all of that has a bit more substance, a bit more atmosphere, a bit more depth, than many other popcorn games.

I liked it when I played it but it's a game where you get occasionally dazzled by the pretty lights, a fun ride, make the occasional choice, rather than diving into any type of deep gameplay. It's a spectacle. The gameplay won't be fixed in any patch or anything.

 

[undecaf]

But as far as gameplay goes, there is just nothing there to immerse yourself in. The shooty shooty and occasional missions can be sort of fun to play but any diving into RPG systems, developing a character, chewing on some meaty gameplay... no. It's not there. In fact, a lot of the gameplay and RPG mechanics are just *extremely* shitty.

Yeah. The one thing that could’ve saved the game at least on some level from being a lukewarm oneoff at best, is the one thing CDPR has no interest in. Gameplay.

 

[typical user]

Why did Cyberpunk failed so spectacularly on a technical level, given the fact it is running on a proven RED engine? Witcher 3 did not suffer from so many major glitches after the initial patches. Have all good programmers left CDPRojekt?

1. Number one reason was they were upgrading their engine and at the same time making the game. One of the devs in Schreier's interview said they were literally laying down tracks for a train going in high speed few meters back. It's the same reason GTA IV and AC: Unity were such crap and why sequels using same tech with little lifting are generally good.
2. Number two, key people left after management denied them promotions and/or raises. Don't know if they have left any documentation but judging by how messed up spaghetti code CP2077 is I think they did not. So key staff resposible for Twitcher success left.
3. Number three is tied to number two. Lack of communication, documentation and version control. I remember the last delay CDPR announced was also the one the developers learned from Twitter. Yes, they weren't notified beforehand, not even from an email. They had to check social media channels targeted at their customers. This also somewhat explains the lies, the marketing didn't know what the hell developers were doing and at the same time developers didn't know what they should be doing. And management thought it is all fine.
4. Number four, from third person fantasy game about sword fighting in slavlands they have decided to do first person shooter in futuristic mega city with hacking and sneaking. It's like asking Maxis to make next FIFA or Need for Speed when all they knew was how to make household and city sims.

It all boils down to management. Seriously with how fucked up the development was it is a miracle no one flushed their entire repository on a hard drive in a toilet. But their confidential data was leaked back in February so maybe that counts? It's even more surprising head of the studio Adam Badowski remains as the leader of this circus.