I hope this doesn't make them think they can do this again though. This should make them realise they should've always gave the Devs more time to cook or been more realistic with scope from the get go
I got this game finally last year, after waiting for the bugfixes, and have been playing since then. I've got over 170 hours now, did all the sidemissions and now finishing Phantom Liberty, and loved every minute of it. This was my first dive into the cyberpunk-genre and it is impressive, especially the dystopian future that also seeps through in modern times.
The way Cyberpunk 2077 tells its story and does world building is beautiful. The immense city with twirling roads, mountains of trash and dysfunctional society is really immersive. I understand that it is not possible to give every citizen a full back story with limited resources but the amount of detail and love that they were still able to put in is commendable. Even after all this time spent in the gameworld it still manages to surprise me with random encounters while exploring.
I'm glad I waited for the bugfixes and had only a few crashes and minor glitchy physics. I hope they learn that delivering a good product is more important then deadlines, since players like me will wait anyway.
Fun fact: in no other open-world-game I got run-over by cars as much as in this game. Hmm I wonder, maybe all cars evolved from Tesla's in this universe? (j/k)
Man I've got really conflicted feelings about this game. I do think it's great, and will probably be picking up Phantom Liberty next sale, but I never know whether to appreciate the devs for sticking with it and making sure their work lived up to expectations, or to be frustrated that I basically had to wait a year for a full product after buying for $80 CAD on day one (my own mistake, I foolishly thought CD Project was immune to such blunders). I guess it's a bit of both. I do really appreciate all the hard work, I just wish that wasn't on top of a bunch of frustration and disappointment.
I bought this game day 1, put about 20 hours in and set it down.
Picked it up again three months ago and have not set it back down. Best game I have ever played. I’m a sucker for lore and mission content and this game just does not fail to deliver.
I know it had a rough launch and I don’t want that to be acceptable, but god damn this game is just so good. Like, so fucking good. Despite the launch I have to give it to them, they fixed it and it is just endlessly amazing
I think when they fixed all the obvious jank, went all in on the world building and strong storytelling, and timed it with the incredibly excellent Cyberpunk Edge runners series... Everything turned around.
The game is still pretty crappy as a open-world, loot still feels halfbaked and honestly combat is so dumb that I have to gimp myself and refuse to pick certain skills just to have some challenge.
But I ignore it because when the story pulls you in, you're hooked!
I played it a couple of years ago, before a lot of the patches, and still thought it was one of the better games I have never finished.
spoiler
There is this quest line where a character is abducted, raped, tortured and kills herself after you rescue her. Afterwards, the main character and another are on a balcony and smoke, still processing the horrors they've witnessed. I had been off the smokes for a few months at that point, but still needed to go outside and do the same.
I uninstalled shortly after. Not out of disgust, I actually appreciated the game making me feel something, but it just felt right to stop at that point.
Legitimately one of my favorite games. Incredible story, characters, and side quests. It's also the only time I've actually felt like I was in a city when playing a game, they absolutely nail the environment and setting. It feels like a true city, not a video game city.
Second run female V. Discovered the game this year because I play it on Mac (using Whisky) and it wasn’t possible before.
I am not a gamer (as you can tell by my computer’s brand) as I really struggle to find games I want to invest time into. I’m too old to enjoy the thrill of dying 20 times in a row to kill a boss (been a WoW hard player for a few years, but mostly for the lore when it was still great) so I play easy mode and enjoy each and every bit of dialogue I can.
This game is one of the best Sci-Fi movie I’ve seen in years. Sometimes it makes me feel like I’m in 1982’s Blade Runner, waiting for Rutger Hauer to make an appearance. I already met Daryl Hannah and Sean Young (or very resembling characters at least).
Anyway, I don’t care much that the launch was terrible. I’m just glad the game exists.
PS: As a Metalhead myself, the only things I dislike about the game is Johnny’s band stuff. The game’s music is absolute dope though.
Reading this thread makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills. This game was mediocre as fuck. The open world was practically empty. There were like five characters with anything but a superficial motivation. Combat is point and click nothingness, there is no strategy whatsoever and the AI is practically nonexistent. Constant bugs and graphical issues. The big fixes only fixes the very last thing.
Man, I'm glad that people are enjoying the game as much as they say they are but I tried my first play through earlier this year and it was terrible. I saw almost no difference in the amount/type of glitches between what I experienced back in January and what I saw online when the game first released a few years ago.
I'm ~3/4s through my second playthrough and appreciating it more and more. Haven't picked up the expansion yet either.
I found it hits much harder with a female character. The Johnny Silverhand situation especially felt much more... metaphorically resonant? And Jackie feels more rogue-with-a-heart-of-gold when his best buddy is a woman.
Quickhacks are OP but felt correctly haxx0r, mantis blades are super fun. I enjoyed the combat well enough. Cars are meh, but it's cyberpunk so if you're not riding a futuristic bike ala Akira you're doing it wrong. And wiping out on a bike is great.
The characterisation and world building are what really shine. I was reluctant to play the corpo background but it really makes the story sing.
spoiler
The first time you're in a car with Judy she has a prominent tattoo that says "underwater where thoughts can breathe". Then next mission or a while later her apartment has jellyfish looking paint splotches and an aquarium. It's expanded on more explicitly later, but I really enjoy the way they pull together their characters.
The scene with Takemura on the roof talking about Bakeneko is another moment that I enjoyed first playthrough and came to really appreciate a lot the second time. His food snobbery becomes quite endearing after he accidentally texts you his attempts to search for restaurants.
I actually liked the game more at launch. I had 4 noticeable bugs the entire run; 1 was merely graphical (Tom's Diner t-posing background npc), 1 prevented a side quest from being completed (door that was supposed to open never opened), and 2 were kick ass exploits (the bullet time+slide+jump speed exploit and the infinite painting exploit).
It's just... Not as fun without that slide speed glitch... :(