Required, no, but sometimes if you screw up, you screw up by attracting the cops (for example, in missions where you’re supposed to steal something).
In Cyberpunk, the solution to becoming wanted by mistake is to reload, because there’s no meaningful interaction there. In a game like RDR2 or TES series, you CAN reload, or you can fight your way out of town or simply run away. You’ll escape the immediate danger but (depending how high your bounty got) may be unwelcome in that part of the world now, until you can spend some resources to deal with the problem.
I get that Cyberpunk isn’t GTA, but it IS a game where you may very well be playing as a criminal. The fact that its crime system is (or was on release) a step back from TES IV: Oblivion is kinda sad.
To be fair, I did a lot of “screw around and cause general mayhem for fun” in Watch Dogs 2. A guy mouths off to me, so I hack his account to put out an APB on him as a terrorist and watch the show from a distance. Or cause a car to suddenly crash into other cars. Or sic the cops on a criminal stronghold and wait until the fight was over to walk in and loot in peace.
In GTA: San Andreas, there were times I’d sit on a hill and snipe at cars; take out their tires first then shoot their gas tanks. I made my own challenge to see how large a pile of burnt wrecks I could make.
Cyberpunk wasn’t a game where I wanted to do that. That game made me feel like I had a purpose and I was always trying to go toward it. Like @Miller I liked to role play through my actions. I never felt the urge to just cause chaos for no reason. Maybe the story was more compelling than those other games which just felt looser and more easygoing. I’m not sure.
I’m a compulsive stealth player in general. Most missions, I save scum if I get spotted by the enemies, so it doesn’t usually devolve to the point where cops are showing up.
Back in 2016/2017, I spent a lot of time in Mafia III, walking into random shops to see if the owner would say something racist, then beating the crap out of them if they did.
The Elder Scrolls series, mostly. RDR2 as well, though I realize that with its focus on crime it is going to be closer to GTA than to Cyberpunk. Again, I’m not expecting RDR2 law enforcement mechanics, but at least a step past Skyrim would be nice.
You are right that when playing Witcher 3 (an open world RPG that I DID put many hours into) I pretty much never had law problems, but that has to do with the sort of game that Witcher 3 is. I followed the main storyline closely in Witcher 3, and played one playthrough, in a very completionist way, because Witcher 3 is a game about Geralt and his adventure.
In the TES series I generally have a ton of playthroughs (each of which only gets a tiny fraction of The Witcher’s playtime, of course) where I try different things. Rushing the Mage Guild plot with a spellcasting only character. Doing the main plot and honorable sidequests with a paladin type character. Thief or assassin playthroughs.
I guess I expected Cyberpunk (with the cardboard cutout yet highly customizable character) to be more like TES than like Witcher (where I was highly invested in both Geralt, his journey, his relationships with Ciri, Yennifer, Dandelion…). I wasn’t nearly as invested in the story of Keanu Reeves and wanted to do more messing around than I was really able to.
I might need to give the game another shot, though. While the main characters didn’t capture my interest last time I played, a lot of the futuristic concepts and philosophical questions raised by them DID seem very interesting (including the concept raised by the main plot and the outcome faced by V and Keanu, which I just started learning about when I abandoned the game previously).
IIRC part of the problem was a couple of bugs that messed up some plot lines and caused events to occur in the wrong order, or right after each other when that should not have been the case, etc, which took me out of the setting. I didn’t have many of the major glitches or performance issues, but I did have a few quest bug out, which took me out of the story.
Maybe it IS time to give the game another shot! I shall report back.
Criminal or not, you are supposed to be (at least an upcoming) legend. So, while you would obviously not bat an eye at scragging an entire Militech squad (or, you know, nuking the downtown area) if it furthered your schemes, or someone paid you to do it, or in the name of justice or whatever if that is how you are playing your character, shooting random cops on the street like a run-of-the-mill cyberpsycho just seems like it would be a waste of your time and you would not even bother.
Were the currently relevant database entries always presented to you when you open the J journal menu? I don’t think I saw the database at all last time around, it’s great for immersion
Still playing, a few quests at a time, and playing other games (Oxygen Not Included) in between. I also have a better idea of who my V is this time - he’s a good guy, who wants to help people, but he has no patience for people who truly hurts others; and as his powers and abilities grow, he is willing to use that power. Sorta like a more modern Harry Dresden, maybe.
I played V in a way that he was very loyal to everyone he cared about and anyone else was fair game. He was ruthless and cold, unless someone genuinely needed his help, then he’d have a soft spot for them.
He was extremely good at murdering people though. Usually before they even knew he was there.
I tried to play V as a terrified victim, desperately trying to stave off rapidly approaching death and ignoring the hallucinations that accompanied it….
I disliked Cyberpunk 2077 when I played it on release. No significant technical issues for me, oddly. I did finish it, though - it had flashes of really good writing here and there, though not consistently. Judy’s storyline for example was very well acted and quite well told. The main plotline and its gameplay I found pretty bad, though:
Jackie’s death (actually all of the first act) was completely railroaded, despite us being totally stealthy and V regularly healing himself from far worse wounds than Jackie got
Railroading in general - I originally wanted to play a stealthy melee-focused character, and the first side mission I took forced me into a long-range gun battle with opponents who were scripted to see me immediately. Playing non-lethal was also not an option (I don’t care that certain bullet types are described as “non-lethal”, nobody’s taking headshots with a shotgun and waking up later). Sometimes I was forced into stealthy plays, other times (Panam…) forced into unbalanced gunfights.
Sure, let’s let this sketchy voodoo dude jack right into my brain, what could possibly go wrong?
Johnny, apart from being utterly insufferable, is also an idiot. Sure, let’s storm Arasaka headquarters and attempt to destroy their data centre exactly like you’ve done twice before, failing and leaving your friends and the world far worse off each time - third time’s the charm, right?
Between this and Red Dead Redemption 2 which I played just afterwards (well, probably less than halfway, when I realised I was enjoying the hunting more than dealing with any NPCs), I needed a break from villain protagonists. I picked up Railroad Empire on a whim and after this it was so nice to be doing something wholesome instead.
I don’t think I can bear another playthrough until there’s a mod that disables Johnny or at least insta-skips all his dialogue, but I haven’t been following news regarding updates and nothing jumped out on a quick search - are there any announced plans of making the game better content-wise? E.g. a story expansion, quest overhauls, free-roaming through non-storyline quests, maybe a DLC playing as a different character?
Thanks! That surprises me a bit, there’s a map and mechanics suitable for more expansions or retreads with new characters (sort of like they did with Witcher 3’s “Heart of Stone”, mostly on Witcher 3’s original map). Maybe they figure there’s been too much bad press for 2077 to recover. Assuming Cyberpunk 2/2078 uses the same engine (and Witcher 4 perhaps using the Witcher 3’s next-gen overhaul engine) maybe the investment → potential return evaluation is expected to be better for full sequels rather than expansions.
They just laid off some staff and end-of-lifed their Gwent game, so it’s understandable they’d want to move on from CP2077.
It’s unfortunate that CDPR had to spend all this post-development time fixing the base game when they could’ve been adding to it, but at least they did it even after paying out refunds and a settlement.
It would be nice if these companies would take their time and release finished projects. I guess post-launch support is still a distant second when the other options are either predatory monetization while the game still has a userbase, or outright abandonment.
I don’t think I knew they had an in-house engine, or I did and then I forgot. Hopefully the switch will give their teams breathing room to really deliver on the sequel.
And I say that having quite enjoyed Cyberpunk. I’ve been plinking at a replay for a couple months and I still think it’s a very solid game. Looking at my Steam stats, I’ve gotten more value out of it (at a dollars:minutes ratio) than any other AAA game in my library.
