I’m reliving past glories and have returned to Quake for the new free update to celebrate 30 years of the game.
Quake: Dawn of the Machine — Launch Trailer - YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/
Am enjoying it way more then I expected. It holds up so well, the maps are huge and interesting to work through. All different but with a nice new mechanic that adds freshness to the experience.
I recently started playing Cyb3rpunk 2077 (heh, the ‘3’ was a total accidental fat-finger, honest, so I’m going to leave it in), I don’t really have much idea what I’m doing yet, and the first freakin boss Royce is totally kicking my ass. He must have killed me at least 15 times.
Just sharing my pain, not asking for any advice from anybody. I’ve already resorted to watching a YT video on how to defeat him, and I’m slowly getting closer. I’m managing to do the ‘hack, distract and sneak’ to do an initial takedown, but it apparently takes two takedowns with some smart combat in-between.
I can see how this game may become my next major time sink, but it does have a bit of a learning curve.
I only every played version 1.0 of Cyberpunk, from its release. I have heard massive changes have occurred and you are getting the superior version.
Same! I keep saying that I’m gonna replay it. And I’ve kept it installed and updated despite it’s massive hard drive footprint. But every time I’m in the market to play a different game, something else presents itself.
Yeah, I heard that too. When I say the game has a bit of a learning curve, I mean in a good way. A lot of complexity built in, and I’m still learning the ropes. Sometimes I wish I could just plug a shard into my brain implant IRL 
I heard that in the current and final version, your upgrades come from the technology you can get. That may seem obvious, but that was missing for the most part in its original release.
There’s basically 4 different upgrade options -
Not including the above, there are also “skills” that you develop semi-organically from USING different types of skills, that will greatly benefit your carrying capacity, secondary stats, and grant additional perk points which will be extremely useful.
Also, you can and will find lots of shards which can increase your ranks in the skills I just mentioned, improve cyberware capacity, and even (pretty rare) give you bonus perk points.
A note to @solost - remember where I said the game gives you a TON of built in urgency? You’re dealing with it… but there isn’t an actual time limit. The heist will be work - so Pro tip - after you’re done with Ryce, but before you go to Konpeki plaza, pause and clean up some street crime and explore the one zone you can access, doing the various gigs and NCPD scanners. You can earn a good bit of exp, get some cash and upgrade your cyberware and focus your build a bit before trying to hit the big times.
I believe the final mission involves meeting someone up to discuss it. That objective has become an internet meme because most people leave it as an objective for hours. Like 30-40 hours if they want to do other stuff.
IIRC you do not even have to kill Royce: you can conclude the deal in a way that satisfies him, or you can let Militech kill him, etc. It is not always implemented perfectly, unfortunately (also, there were a few times I really wanted a third option, or a fourth, but, there are only so many things the game lets you do consistent with the plot), but, before the game came out, they did advertise that you would have a number of ways to deal with situations and that more or less holds up.
There are people will give you exactly opposite advice because they prefer finishing the prologue as quickly as possible and then turning to side quests. But personally I prefer to advance the plot as little as possible until I’ve exhausted virtually all of the side quests in the starting areas. I’m probably in the teens level-wise before I even consider advancing the plot and meeting with Royce et al. Makes for a much smoother play through IMHO. Slow and steady wins the race.
I would particularly recommend this for a first-time player. There are a lot of game mechanics to sort through and absorb and many different viable builds. But if you are just starting out and scatter-shotting skills trying to get a grip on things, the game can be pretty tough at first. Better to build up some experience, see what you find fun and start building a coherent character before shooting for the big leagues.
Yeah, I’ve been thinking I should’ve done more side quests and collected more eddies, upgrades and stuff before I tackled the ‘Pick Up’ mission. If and when I can get past Royce that’s exactly what I’ll do.
I do know there are other ways to get past Royce. Even at the stage I’m at now, when I’m crouching there’s an option that comes up saying “sneak past Royce”. But hey, the ‘S’ in ‘FPS’ stands for ‘shooter’, not ‘sneaker’, amirite? I don’t mind a stealth knockout, but ain’t no way I’m letting Royce live, even if I have to back off a couple saves to before the ‘Pick Up’ mission and do some side quests before trying it again. I hear Royce has a sweet gun I can loot off him after he’s dead.
Then we are as one @Tamerlane - that is almost exactly how I do my play throughs of Cyberpunk. And, for what it’s worth, the story urgency reflects (in the prologue) the cocky young thing the story tells you to be (see how Dex gives you a choice to respond, but all the answers still lead towards “live fast, die young”).
Later story beats also drive the urgency, and do so in effective (from a storytelling POV) way… But that’s not the best way to enjoy CP2077. My head cannon rationale for why I do take my time (spoilers, because, duh).
Most of my characters understand and acknowledge that they died already. This isn’t about resuming your life, it’s about making the most of it, the most memories, and to get the best immortality most 'runners ever manage by taking out my enemies while leaving the city unable to forget my name. Pretty much everyone holding out a chance to V don’t think it’ll work or can’t be trusted to hold up their end of the bargain.
My favorite ending is leaving Night City with the nomads and my lover (if it’s not Panam). I’ve made new family, gotten my revenge, let Johnny finish his story, and now it’s time to make the most of my time for those close to me.
Finally got past Royce last night (didn’t take me all this time since I posted that; I had taken a few days off playing video games for other priorities). I try not to watch ‘how-to’ videos too much, and figure things out for myself, but I did resort to a couple ‘how to defeat Royce’ vids, which helped.
Now, of course, I keep getting vids in my feed titled “CP2077: Why you [should / should not] [kill / save / betray] [character name]” or “CP2077: Why you absolutely [should / should not] do [thing] [before / after] [quest name]”. I’m trying to avoid even looking at these titles, since, as much as possible, I want to experience stuff for myself spoiler-free.
Now that I took out Royce, I’m now concentrating on side quests / gigs to get cash and XP, examining my inventory to try to figure out all the options for leveling up (a lot to learn!) and just practicing driving around (I’m a terrible driver, but practice makes perfect better, right?). Thanks again @Tamerlane and @ParallelLines on that advice.
I do have one question about play style in general: CP2077 has stealth mode, and a ‘kill or disable’ takedown option. Playing as a ‘street kid’, my missions / quests are kind of a strange mix of good-guy stuff and straight-up robbing and killing. My question is, does a ‘merciful’ play style affect game karma, and therefore how good or bad the ending is, or is it strictly ‘only the strongest, baddest survive?’ The ‘Metro’ series was big on getting karma points by using stealth mode and only knocking out, not killing enemies, if you could possibly avoid it, and it really changed the outcome.
Me too. Practice does make…betterish. But I will say that for me I found motorcycles an order of magnitude easier to control than cars. I eventually got fairly okay at going fast on bikes to the point that they were my preferred method of travel. Meanwhile I never got more than barely adequate at going faster on most cars (good enough to complete certain quests with a bit of luck).
I genuinely disliked the fastest sports cars which I overwhelmingly felt were twitchy as hell. Worth noting I play on a PC with mouse + keyboard and I don’t exactly have the reflexes of a teenager. Hell, I’ve never had the reflexes of a teenager even when I WAS a teenager 
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Sooooo…by and large, no. There is no karmic morality system as such for the main character. It’s all just your own role-playing. Killing Tigerclaws on sight or live and let live is all the same.
Endings overwhelmingly are dependant on quests completed and choices made. However just a tiny bit like Witcher 3, but less impactfully so, there are certain specific dialogue choices at various points in the game that will flavor endings a little bit.
Although you might get chased by the cops if they see you killing “innocent” civilians. (Monowire, I love you so much but you cause so much collateral damage…)
I was going to say similar, but with a slightly different emphasis.
Agreed, there is no karma system for choosing more or less violet options - the game mechanics do nothing about those choices.
Individual missions may have different rewards depending on the method of you completing them. For example, if when dealing with Cyberpsycho missions if you choose a non-lethal option, or at least do so frequently. Or various “no one knew you where there” stealth style missions. There’s a fairly prominent one in Phantom Liberty where the ending is quite different with non-lethal options. An aside though - if you knock someone out peacefully, but then dump them in a nearby container, that often still counts as a kill.
Last “Kinda/maybe” - any companion mission you do is likely to have higher moral consequences than the default ones. Especially if you’re targeting a companion for romance, be mindful of their wants and desires.
Otherwise, it’s 100% roleplay. I have personal rules, as I try for the “better-than-average” merciful merc. For example, killing various street gangs is a good way to make money, they’re everywhere after all. And I have no qualms killing them if they attack me first or are harassing civvies. But I don’t actively hunt them down - except for Maelstrom and Scavs - those guys get proactively killed if I’m not doing something urgent.
Similarly, but especially if I’m playing a streetkid background, I’m extra careful to avoid picking fights (will defend myself or do missions) with the Valentinos. Just seems right.
Anyway, play the way your want, with whatever preferences and headcannon works for your playthrough.
I’m on a PC too. I don’t quite get why driving in a video game has to be so much more difficult than in actual real life. I understand that working the steering on a keyboard is fundamentally different than a wheel, but the vehicle reverts to straight as soon as you stop pressing the left or right key, causing you to either over or under compensate. How about, every time you tap the ‘A’ or the ‘D’, it turns the wheel a little more and stays there? Or something. Seems like there should be some way to make the driving functionality easier, in a more realistic way.
Thanks!
Heh, been there a couple times-- once when I accidentally ran over a jaywalker (I don’t care if you’re an NPC-- watch where the hell you’re walking, dammit! Student video game driver here). The other time was when I did a non-lethal takedown of a cop on the street, just to see what the repercussions would be.
Both times the cops gave up pretty easily after a short chase. Night City cops seem to be as useless and good-for-nothing as Gotham City cops
Well…don’t deliberately test that unless you level up a LOT more. You’ll find them noticeably more irate and persistent, though still pretty dodgeable if you ever accidentally ice one of them (guilty). But if you ever decide “you’re done running from The Man!”, just be prepared. It will escalate quickly 
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So…don’t pick fights with cops in the game, in addition to IRL. Good advice, thanks!
I know they tweaked it at some point, but I’m not sure if they made the police more persistent or less persistent.