Cyberpunk 2077 Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Whipped Cream]

This is all based on rumors and hearsay, but apparently development of Cyberpunk 2077 went something like this:

After the commercial success of The Witcher 2 CDPR became very ambitious and wanted to become a big boy studio that could work on two AAA games simultaneously, so they established two large development teams, one working on The Witcher 3 and one working on Cyberpunk 2077. The majority of the experienced longtime employees who had worked on The Witcher 1 and 2 were assigned to the former team, while the latter team mostly consisted of new hires. Cyberpunk 2077 was originally meant to be a fairly faithful adaption of the tabletop, but there were a lot of internal disagreements regarding the direction of the game. Midway through the development of The Witcher 3 it became clear that given how gigantic the game was they had severely underestimated how enormous the workload on the game would be, so the Cyberpunk 2077 team was cannibalised and many of the most talented members from that team were moved onto The Witcher 3 and priority shifted away from "two AAA games at once" to "The Witcher 3 is the priority".

When development of the Blood and Wine expansion for The Witcher 3 ended in mid-2016 most of the members of The Witcher 3 team were moved onto Cyberpunk 2077. At this point it was clear to people that development of Cyberpunk 2077 was a bit of a clusterfuck. The game was too ambitious for its own good (Star Citizen style) and for a long time had been worked on mainly by CDPR's B team (while the A team worked on The Witcher 3). So they scrapped most of the work that had been done up to that point and de facto rebooted the development of the game and basically went "well, The Witcher 3 was a big success, so lets make it more like a The Witcher 3-style cinematic action RPG". Thus they ditched classes, ditched most of the skills, ditched flying cars, ditched switching between first and third person perspective and went with a set voiced protagonist (V). However the decision to ditch third person cutscenes as well appears to have happened more recently (since there were third person cutscenes in the 2018 demo).

 

[Danikas]

since there were third person cutscenes in the 2018 demo).

There was minute and a half of 3rd person cutscenes in that 48 minute demo, rest of it was first person.

 

[Terenty]

This is all based on rumors and hearsay, but apparently development of Cyberpunk 2077 went something like this:

After the commercial success of The Witcher 2 CDPR became very ambitious and wanted to become a big boy studio that could work on two AAA games simultaneously, so they established two large development teams, one working on The Witcher 3 and one working on Cyberpunk 2077. The majority of the experienced longtime employees who had worked on The Witcher 1 and 2 were assigned to the former team, while the latter team mostly consisted of new hires. Cyberpunk 2077 was originally meant to be a fairly faithful adaption of the tabletop, but there were a lot of internal disagreements regarding the direction of the game. Midway through the development of The Witcher 3 it became clear that given how gigantic the game was they had severely underestimated how enormous the workload on the game would be, so the Cyberpunk 2077 team was cannibalised and many of the most talented members from that team were moved onto The Witcher 3 and priority shifted away from "two AAA games at once" to "The Witcher 3 is the priority".

When development of the Blood and Wine expansion for The Witcher 3 ended in mid-2016 most of the members of The Witcher 3 team were moved onto Cyberpunk 2077. At this point it was clear to people that development of Cyberpunk 2077 was a bit of a clusterfuck. The game was too ambitious for its own good (Star Citizen style) and for a long time had been worked on mainly by CDPR's B team (while the A team worked on The Witcher 3). So they scrapped most of the work that had been done up to that point and de facto rebooted the development of the game and basically went "well, The Witcher 3 was a big success, so lets make it more like a The Witcher 3-style cinematic action RPG". Thus they ditched classes, ditched most of the skills, ditched flying cars, ditched switching between first and third person perspective and went with a set voiced protagonist (V). However the decision to ditch third person cutscenes as well appears to have happened more recently (since there were third person cutscenes in the 2018 demo).

This is the most likely scenario yeah

 

[Whipped Cream]

There was minute and a half of 3rd person cutscenes in that 48 minute demo, rest of it was first person.

Yes. Again, this is all speculation and based on no proof at all, but I suspect that what happened is that there were relatively few third person cutscenes in the game and they were having problems with the facial animations of the player character in those and they basically went "well, we only have a few of them in the game anyway, so screw it, lets just remove all of them".

Of course, its possible that the decision to have no third person cutscenes was made before the 2018 demo was released, but then why on earth would they show them in the demo at all? Showing something in a gameplay demo that you know is not going to be in the actual game is called lying. Of course, game companies do that all the time, but still, thats the kind of thing that is going to bite you in the ass later.

 

[Naraya]

I have to admit that currently I'm more interested what The Witcher 4 will be like (come on, we all know they won't kill this goose).

 

[Drakron]

Reminder:
https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/media/...es-long-term-partnership-with-digital-scapes/

 

[MasPingon]

There was minute and a half of 3rd person cutscenes in that 48 minute demo, rest of it was first person.

Yes. Again, this is all speculation and based on no proof at all, but I suspect that what happened is that there were relatively few third person cutscenes in the game and they were having problems with the facial animations of the player character in those and they basically went "well, we only have a few of them in the game anyway, so screw it, lets just remove all of them".

Of course, its possible that the decision to have no third person cutscenes was made before the 2018 demo was released, but then why on earth would they show them in the demo at all? Showing something in a gameplay demo that you know is not going to be in the actual game is called lying. Of course, game companies do that all the time, but still, thats the kind of thing that is going to bite you in the ass later.

Watching the trailers I got a feeling someting is off with character faces and facial animation. It looks worse then in The Witcher 3, wonder why - is it technical issue or the scope of the game.

 

[S.torch]

Of course, its possible that the decision to have no third person cutscenes was made before the 2018 demo was released, but then why on earth would they show them in the demo at all? Showing something in a gameplay demo that you know is not going to be in the actual game is called lying. Of course, game companies do that all the time, but still, thats the kind of thing that is going to bite you in the ass later.

They put a giant disclaimer in the beginning of the gameplay saying that the gameplay show was subject to change.
And aside from that, they said that you're still able to see your character in cut-scenes. So they didn't remove everything.

 

[Gerrard]

The most hilarious thing is that the faces look worse than in Anthem.

 

[Danikas]

The most hilarious thing is that the faces look worse than in Anthem.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

The most hilarious thing is that the faces look worse than in Anthem.

They all look like dykes or they look like they would like to speak to the manager

 

[Danikas]

The most hilarious thing is that the faces look worse than in Anthem.

They all look like dykes or they look like they would like to speak to the manager

Welcome to Anthem.

 

[Grotesque]

This is all based on rumors and hearsay, but apparently development of Cyberpunk 2077 went something like this:

After the commercial success of The Witcher 2 CDPR became very ambitious and wanted to become a big boy studio that could work on two AAA games simultaneously, so they established two large development teams, one working on The Witcher 3 and one working on Cyberpunk 2077. The majority of the experienced longtime employees who had worked on The Witcher 1 and 2 were assigned to the former team, while the latter team mostly consisted of new hires. Cyberpunk 2077 was originally meant to be a fairly faithful adaption of the tabletop, but there were a lot of internal disagreements regarding the direction of the game. Midway through the development of The Witcher 3 it became clear that given how gigantic the game was they had severely underestimated how enormous the workload on the game would be, so the Cyberpunk 2077 team was cannibalised and many of the most talented members from that team were moved onto The Witcher 3 and priority shifted away from "two AAA games at once" to "The Witcher 3 is the priority".

When development of the Blood and Wine expansion for The Witcher 3 ended in mid-2016 most of the members of The Witcher 3 team were moved onto Cyberpunk 2077. At this point it was clear to people that development of Cyberpunk 2077 was a bit of a clusterfuck. The game was too ambitious for its own good (Star Citizen style) and for a long time had been worked on mainly by CDPR's B team (while the A team worked on The Witcher 3). So they scrapped most of the work that had been done up to that point and de facto rebooted the development of the game and basically went "well, The Witcher 3 was a big success, so lets make it more like a The Witcher 3-style cinematic action RPG". Thus they ditched classes, ditched most of the skills, ditched flying cars, ditched switching between first and third person perspective and went with a set voiced protagonist (V). However the decision to ditch third person cutscenes as well appears to have happened more recently (since there were third person cutscenes in the 2018 demo).

Also early on they discovered that the Witcher 3 engine is totally unsuited for a Cyberpunk game because it did not handle well verticality and upright level building.
A new engine was developed.

ditched flying cars

Because Mike Pondsmith told the that they don't know what they are getting into if they want it to do it right (him having a background in flying simulators)
But seeing how arcadey the driving seems to be, I guess fidelity is not a priority.

 

[jf8350143]

since there were third person cutscenes in the 2018 demo).

There was minute and a half of 3rd person cutscenes in that 48 minute demo, rest of it was first person.

They always said the game play will be completely first person, but you will "have plenty of chances to see your character, like in a cut scene".

Now unless you stand in front of a mirror or check your inventory every 5 minutes, you won't see your character ever.

I don't really bother with them cutting shit out, what irritate me is that they are pretending it to be a vision to make the game better instead of saying they don't have the time and resources.

 

[AbstractKazzy]

Last year I said I was hopeful for the game and didn't get all the complaints. Now I just want to say sorry and that the more I see of this game the more I hate it.

 

[Prime Junta]

I wont be surprised too. They've been cutting shit like its a butchers shop on sunday.

Not likely. Style has been so central to their marketing. They’ll be cutting gameplay systems and content instead.

 

[Doktor Best]

I thought codex edgelords always complained that Witcher 3 had so many cutscenes in which you lost control over your character? Shouldnt they be happy now?

 

[Grotesque]

Shouldnt they be happy now?

O course because they always wanted to lose control in first person.

 

[jf8350143]

I thought codex edgelords always complained that Witcher 3 had so many cutscenes in which you lost control over your character? Shouldnt they be happy now?

They didn't cut the number of cut scenes, they just make all of them in first person, which is worse comparing to a mix of first person and third person.

 

[Curratum]

Assuming they manage to do what they promised, cutscenes (or at the very least many interactions) are supposed to be a lot more fluid and embedded in the experience, often leaving you in control of your character. In KCD or Witcher, when the camera pulls to a static angle, you know you're not locked in a different "mode" of the game, having everything in constant FPP should definitely help with immersion and continuity of experience, given that they manage to implement it well enough.

 

[Paul_cz]

To set the record on whether the game was ever going to be anything more than an action RPG, there is this post from Perkel:

I stand by what I wrote. Cyberpunk was never going to be isometric/top down. CDP are simply not interested in that for their AAA tentpoles and never have been.

 

[Prime Junta]

I stand by what I wrote. Cyberpunk was never going to be isometric/top down. CDP are simply not interested in that for their AAA tentpoles and never have been.

Anyone who imagined even for a moment that it would have been iso/top-down needs to put down the crack pipe stat. How could CDPR possibly even had succeeded at making something like that even had they been nutso enough to attempt it? They've never done anything isometric, that's just not their thing, and making your first attempt an AAA costing tens of millions would have been beyond insanity.

Nah it was always going to be Witcher in a city with cyberware and guns. They did promise a player-built character with more robust RPG mechanics on top of that. From what we've seen it's already obvious that they will clear that minimal bar; whether it'll be at all true to the CP2077 PnP RPG Pondsmith has been working on is a different matter.

PnP mechanics translate poorly to an aRPG. So the best case is that we'll get an aRPG that plays well and gets some flavour of its mechanics from whatever PnP game Pondsmith has imagined up. Various worse cases are that it tries to copy the PnP mechanics too faithfully and consequently ends up janky and unenjoyable to play, or it discards them altogether and isn't a RPG at all, or that it fails at both being an action game and a RPG.

I haven't seen anything yet that has made me completely lose hope in this, and I have seen some things that make me cautiously optimistic. I know I'm gonna rage at the bullet-sponge enemies because they're retarded, but I've long since lost hope that any AAA game will ditch that trope. On the other hand it looks like we will get genuine build diversity with enough complexity that you can do some cool stuff with that, a genuine variety of gameplay styles and quest resolutions to support them, and typically CDPR style C&C. I'm also digging the atmosphere. That's already head and shoulders above any AAA game I've played in recent years (although TBF I haven't played all that many).

 

[ScrotumBroth]

Guys, you're all just ignorant, this game will be a hoot!

Remember when they let go 95% of Witcher 1 team? And then repeated the process for the next two games?

They're starting from scratch yet again, only now they have 3 studios full of temps. Think logically, 2077 will be 3x better.

Just think about it, eh?

 

[AwesomeButton]

To set the record on whether the game was ever going to be anything more than an action RPG, there is this post from Perkel:

I stand by what I wrote. Cyberpunk was never going to be isometric/top down. CDP are simply not interested in that for their AAA tentpoles and never have been.

As others have said, after Witcher 3's success and all the expectations it set, it would have been impossible to make Cyberpunk a proper RPG. I just wanted to see where the myths were coming from, that's why I looked in the old thread.

 

[AwesomeButton]

They've never done anything isometric, that's just not their thing, and making your first attempt an AAA costing tens of millions would have been beyond insanity.

You don't count Witcher 3 as their first AAA? Why not?