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

[Hellraiser]

people listen to the ingame radio?

You can always go back to giving Todd a blowjob in the Starfield thread.

cyberpunk radio music is shit at best and aggravating at worst

Jazz radio is objectively good, as it is almost fully licensed classics from the 60s and 70s (with a bunch by Miles Davis and one of John Coltrane's even).

The rest really depends on taste, although they certainly aren't the pinnacles of their respective genres and some tracks are objectively meh. Although honestly even Rockstar didn't have that good track selections after San Andreas, the (((labels))) probably smelled blood and it's likely that nowadays it is a lot more difficult/expensive to pull of a licensed selection the caliber of what Vice City or SA had. Not to mention Rockstar having it a bit easier due to going for historical periods.

 

[moon knight]

Shitfield

Cyberpunk

YOUR CHOICE BOYZ

Shartfield:

Cyberpunk:

 

[Mortmal]

Shitfield

Cyberpunk

YOUR CHOICE BOYZ

Shartfield:

Cyberpunk:

Next time someone says eurojank again, i'll just link this now.

 

[Zeriel]

people listen to the ingame radio?

You can always go back to giving Todd a blowjob in the Starfield thread.

cyberpunk radio music is shit at best and aggravating at worst

Jazz radio is objectively good, as it is almost fully licensed classics from the 60s and 70s (with a bunch by Miles Davis and one of John Coltrane's even).

The rest really depends on taste, although they certainly aren't the pinnacles of their respective genres and some tracks are objectively meh.

It's absurd that in the era of synthwave renaissance they had so little actual ambient synthwave or just straight up synthwave stations. I get maybe they wanted to do their own thing, but the fact they had the legendary Powerglove of Blood Dragon fame make a track for them and then not use it shows the absolute dumpster-diving quality of their decisionmaking.

 

[Hellraiser]

What's baffling to me is that in the era of synthwave renaissance they had so little actual ambient synthwave or just straight up synthwave stations. I get maybe they wanted to do their own thing, but the fact they had the legendary Powerglove of Blood Dragon fame make a track for them and then not use it shows the absolute dumpster-diving quality of their decisionmaking.

I think the main music guy from CDP wasn't a fan, there was one video with him about the soundtrack shortly before the game dropped where he said, while discussing the stylistic choices they were going for with the original soundtrack he was making, that "synthwave is not cyberpunk". Also FFS these people put that horrible Archive song in the original CGI trailer a billion years ago when they announced it.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

But... it feels too clean sometimes?

The industrial outskirts and failed suburbs feel like a real fucking dump. Same for Pacifica or Jig Jig. I'd say they got the dirty look just right without veering into complete neglect that some people seem to expect from anything cyberpunk.

Night City's full of cyberpunk, but very light on the noir.

That's CP2022 though. It's very much Gibson's Bridge trilogy - gritty, dirty urban wasteland/jungle, without the noir elements people often associate with cyberpunk because they saw Blade Runner.

This one I'm not on, I felt Silverhand worked well from the start.

I'd agree he's a fine character, but his presence completely fucks the game in so many ways, it's kind hard for me to enjoy his presence on the screen.

 

[Vic]

The industrial outskirts and failed suburbs feel like a real fucking dump. Same for Pacifica or Jig Jig. I'd say they got the dirty look just right without veering into complete neglect that some people seem to expect from anything cyberpunk.

the issue is Night City doesn't feel dystopian at all. It's really not cyberpunk, or at least a failed interpretation of it

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

You'll have to provide an example of what you consider a model cyberpunk setting, cos NC feels plenty dystopian to me.

 

[solemgar]

What's baffling to me is that in the era of synthwave renaissance they had so little actual ambient synthwave or just straight up synthwave stations. I get maybe they wanted to do their own thing, but the fact they had the legendary Powerglove of Blood Dragon fame make a track for them and then not use it shows the absolute dumpster-diving quality of their decisionmaking.

I think the main music guy from CDP wasn't a fan, there was one video with him about the soundtrack shortly before the game dropped where he said, while discussing the stylistic choices they were going for with the original soundtrack he was making, that "synthwave is not cyberpunk". Also FFS these people put that horrible Archive song in the original CGI trailer a billion years ago when they announced it.

Agreed that not including synthwave is a big fail.

 

[AwesomeButton]

In contrast to my previously statement, I'd say that cyberware capacity isn't actually too stingy, but I still think slots should be more gated based on attributes. I think that in general unless you're specifically aiming to get cybered to the gills, the capacity is intended to make it more that you pick a few worthwhile pieces.

Modders will fine tune the balancing

 

[Parsimonious cook]

So, how is the DLC? Is it any gud?

 

[Perkel]

Rolled new char again this time body+reflex and again the same thing. Mostly threading water with skills. Don't use malee hammers ? well that is 1/3 of tree gone. CDPR managed somehow to make worse gameplay.

So, how is the DLC? Is it any gud?

Even more on rails, even less rpg, worse skill tree and cyberware.
Basically a moviegame.

At least this is what i get from initial hours of expansion and new 2.0 patch.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

There are levels of dystopian, Night City fits "all these technological marvels only brought more human misery" more than "this is literally hell and being transported to a post-apocalyptic setting would be an improvement"

 

[Wasteland]

You'll have to provide an example of what you consider a model cyberpunk setting, cos NC feels plenty dystopian to me.

I think you could make a dramatic difference in the feel of the place with relatively minor adjustments--make the nights twice as long, for example, add some sort of heavy pollution effect in the sky to make the days look less idyllic (or just make the days overcast).

Part of the problem is the glossiness of the presentation, IMO; the game is trying so hard to be beautiful that it's hard for a viewer to absorb it pessimistically. You need purposeful art direction to convey an oppressive or forbidding or distressing feeling; you can't just count on the fact that your cheerfully lit pixel slum--which the player has no need to visit for half the game--has super-high-detail trash piles.

 

[Perkel]

There are levels of dystopian, Night City fits "all these technological marvels only brought more human misery" more than "this is literally hell and being transported to a post-apocalyptic setting would be an improvement"

If anything i actually love their take on cyberpunk. Unlike bladerunner etc. it shows that humanity under boot of corporations still have human spirit in them and fight against their life in one way or another. And it is the main theme of game as well reprented in Johny and V.

That being said for Cyberpunk 2088 i would love to see Tokyo. Judging by how it is described in C77 it could give megacity from BLAME! run for the money on how vile it is.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I think you could make a dramatic difference in the feel of the place with relatively minor adjustments--make the nights twice as long, for example

There is a mod for just that

 

[gurugeorge]

You'll have to provide an example of what you consider a model cyberpunk setting, cos NC feels plenty dystopian to me.

I think you could make a dramatic difference in the feel of the place with relatively minor adjustments--make the nights twice as long, for example, add some sort of heavy pollution effect in the sky to make the days look less idyllic (or just make the days overcast).

Part of the problem is the glossiness of the presentation, IMO; the game is trying so hard to be beautiful that it's hard for a viewer to absorb it pessimistically. You need purposeful art direction to convey an oppressive or forbidding or distressing feeling; you can't just count on the fact that your cheerfully lit pixel slum--which the player has no need to visit for half the game--has super-high-detail trash piles.

You can adjust that with weather mods. All the dystopian weathers are in the game as well as the more sunny ones, but they switch about and you may often miss the ones you prefer, but there are several mods that change the weathers more slowly, or more logically, or stick to one predominantly. However, having said that, I'm not sure if those sorts of things are updated for 2.0 yet.

Personally I find the dusty look and faded pastels of the game in the sunshine pretty pessimistic in and of themselves, and quite suitable for a post-war cyberpunk California in the daytime - so long as I get the rainy neon-lit nights as well, I'm good.

 

[Hellraiser]

You'll have to provide an example of what you consider a model cyberpunk setting, cos NC feels plenty dystopian to me.

Certainly californian palm trees and sunshine don't help, blame that on cybernegro prime Pondsmith and globalwarmthinkery (maybe). He could have put Night City in Washington state rather than on the (central?) Californian coastline. At least make it rain or be foggy 90% of the time as people already mentioned.

If we're talking about dystopia in cyberpunk works I prefer visions closer to the dangerous crime-infested urban environment aesthetic things like Robocop or Death Wish had, which themselves were extrapolations of urban crime problems of the time in NYC and the like (part of the "punk" part, but also the bleak NO FUTURE part based on extrapolating then contemporary negative trends*). But you can't make a whole city look like Pacifica and still have corpos making large office skyscrapers and placing headquarters despite the commute to the office being a slalom between piles of human feces, trash and tents of the homeless. Deus Ex had it easy by showing just parts of the cities and always at night, although hong kong was noticably "cleaner" than the rest due to lack of the iconic barrel-fire hobos.

*most of which still apply, shit is just shinier and pollution is mostly outsourced to the third world.

So, how is the DLC? Is it any gud?

So far more of the same if you ask me, and the DLC main quest commits the same sins the base game main quest has (too cinematic, but at least no brain dance sequences so far). Dogtown feels rather small as an area. I'm not too far into the main quest though (I think), mostly did sidejobs. Car jacking procedural jobs are a decent addition if you enjoy the driving and need a reason to do it (especially the timed variant), shame they're not in the base game. Just like for whatever reason they couldn't be arsed to put repeatable races into the game, wasted opportunity.

 

[Vic]

You'll have to provide an example of what you consider a model cyberpunk setting, cos NC feels plenty dystopian to me.

there are parts of the city which are run down, at the same time there are women everywhere in expensive tech taking selfies and what not. Delamain (?) is a privately owned limousine business, which means that enough people are paying for limousines? They have different premium plans even. Also it means that private, smaller companies are thriving. The guy with the malfunctioning Mr. Stud implant seems to have enough cash to worry about his dick size. etc. etc. etc.

Night City is really just a metropolis with cyberpunk tropes stuffed into it and exaggerated to the extreme for the wow factor, hence my complaint about the oversexualization. There is no feeling of moral degradation, Jackie is talking about god and honor etc.

 

[gurugeorge]

Goddammit, playing this AGAIN lol. For all its faults, you really can't beat this game for fully-realized ultra-bleak cyberpunk dystopian atmosphere, there's nothing that compares.

I'm also constantly amazed that I can play this tolerably well on an ancient i3 6100 cpu @ 3.70Ghz with a GTX970, 16G Ram @ 1080p on High. Looks and plays okay (around 40fps ish) so long as I stick to netrunning/sniper hijinks and don't try to do too much twitchy-shootery stuff.

Mind you, I haven't gotten the DLC yet, that happy time might end if it's got much higher requirements.

 

[Vic]

For all its faults, you really can't beat this game for fully-realized ultra-bleak cyberpunk dystopian atmosphere, there's nothing that compares.

aight imma head out

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

Part of the problem is the glossiness of the presentation

But the gloss is part of Pondsmith's work. All style, no substance world driven by corporate mandated consumption, where the punk thing to do is try and retain a shred of identity beyond what the brand of shoes you wear or the synthetic taste of your morning soda allows you to have.

I think this vision of cyberpunk is darker and sadder than any perpetually rainy night from Blade Runner could ever be, because it intentionally misrepresents itself in an insidious fashion. It's a toxic waste barrel painted in Skittles™ rainbows.

 

[gurugeorge]

For all its faults, you really can't beat this game for fully-realized ultra-bleak cyberpunk dystopian atmosphere, there's nothing that compares.

aight imma head out

Eh, I get your points, but I think the hi-tech/low-life paradigm is served well enough by the art design and general design. Not all cyberpunk scenarios have been the same in s-f. Neuromancer for example had the juxtaposition of rich and poor you're criticizing, the presence of small startups and small corps scrabbling a living, etc., etc. Also, the existence of groups that try to preserve their identity as their own way of standing up against The Man is part of the whole thing too. To me, the game conveys a sense of hopelessness and dread very well.

BladeRunner isn't the be-all-and-end-all of cyberpunk. Heck, it's not even cyberpunk - in a sense it has other fish to fry. The only aspect of it that's really cyberpunk is the mysterious jumble of cultures on the neon-lit streets.

Apart from the more obscure literary influences that went into cyberpunk, the fons et origo of the cyberpunk vibe is basically Judge Dredd from the British comic 2000AD in the late 70s. Mega City One is the prototype of it all really, even the vibe of BladeRunner. And the game knows that.

 

[solemgar]

For all its faults, you really can't beat this game for fully-realized ultra-bleak cyberpunk dystopian atmosphere, there's nothing that compares.

aight imma head out

+1

 

[lukaszek]

after 2.0 dropped i scratched that itch and dont even feel like obtaining dlc. Especially since no one seem to be thrilled