Cyberpunk 2077
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:45 am
So, I caved in; I was honestly thinking of not buying it because it would force me to update to Win10, but after I found out that CDPR actually FORCED Microsoft to provide them with a special version of DX12 that was backwards compatible with Win7, I decided I'd give the game a go.
I got the GOG version out of respect for CDPR, and with the exception of a couple driver crashes (mostly caused by the fact my specs aren't the finest), I can say the game runs real well for me; solid 60 FPS on most places, only with small dips when driving at high speed on heavily metropolitan areas, where it drops down to 52-55 FPS. I also haven't seen any of the "t-posing" or clipping NPCs so much people seems to point out. So, either all the mewling complainers are playing on rigs even worse than mine, or they made the stupid mistake of playing it (although CDPR is also at fault here for releasing it) on any late gen consoles.
Gameplay-wise, ho boy! Gun Combat is great; every gun has its own situation and use, and it's just a matter of finding what you like (in my case, Power Revolver with Silencer and Scope for stealthy headshots, Smart Shotgun for crowd open combat, and Tech Precision Rifle High-Difficulty Foes/Bosses) and upgrading every time you find better/rarer versions of your favorite weapons. However, if you'd rather do melee, that's a perfectly viable alternative too; melee combat (hand-to-hand, swords/blunts or Mantis Blades) is EXTREMELY LAYERED to the point you can move fast enough and hit hard enough to take out a group of foes before they even realize why their shoulders are now missing a head. Still, you can even choose to avoid Gun or Blade combat entirely, and use Hacking, which is basically the Magic equivalent in this game; hacking is very quick and intuitive, and can be used in many clever or unusual ways, such as making your foes unable to see you, unable to move, unable to attack, or just outright kill them by frying their brains remotely through security camera, or even make them go insane and kill each other. Heck, you can freaking FULL STEALTH & NO KILLS thru lots of quests, just by distracting your foes so they get out of the way. It's all really freaking fun!!
Now, the story I can say without a doubt, is this game's strongest point; every character (even minor ones) are written in a very in-depth, and the way they interact with each others, with the world, and with the events that unravel around them is very human, and makes them feel like real, three-dimensional people, rather than "Quest Giver NPC #2156.3-A", and this applies not only to their own quests, but to all things surrounding them; even the minor quests that you do in the overworld often carry a lore of their own and a persistence in the world. You never know when something you did before will happen to be useful in a conversation or quest point. For instance, there was this quest rather early on, which was to kill a certain crime boss who owned a brothel. It seemed meaningless at first, until at some point further in the main questline, I had to threaten ANOTHER crime boss to get some info out of him, and all of a sudden, I see a dialogue option where you basically tell him "You don't wanna end up like the other guy, do you?" and he caves in. That other mission wasn't even part of this questline, and yet it mattered because both guys had been of some importance, and one didn't want to end up like the other! I was totally impressed. Also, Attribute Point are REALLY, REALLY well-blended into the available dialogue choices, as it is whichever of the 3 possible origins you pick up (I picked Streetkid) for you protag. As a whole, it really feels like an holistic and organic world; the kind that would just keep going along if the protagonist vanished from it, and again, that makes it feel very real.
Now, it ain't all 100% perfect; I DO have my nitpicks on it. First amongst them is how weak is the level of customization we have for our character's stuff; sure, we can choose breasts size and dick size, and we can play as a girl with a dick if we want to, but that's neither important, not for me. What I mean is the fact you can't, say, choose the color of your car, or the skin of your gun. Which is weird, as you find lots of guns with outrageous skins, and you see many cars with different paintjobs; it feels like something that may have been planned, but not implemented due to rushed deadlines. Also, for all the pomp and ceremony that was given for your character's customization, the options given are... startlingly limited. Heck, Fallout 4 had a far better one, and that game was meh on all else. Plus, since clothing serves as armor, for a good half of the game, you'll be stuck with some crazy mish mash of attires, like a hobo who went dumpster diving. You may think it doesn't matter as we spent 85% of the game on 1st person, but feels a bit at odds with the whole "ROLE" part of Role Playing Game. But again, I am sure it's just a matter of time before CDPR releases a modder's tool, and the modding community jumps on this like a swarm of locusts.
As a whole, it's a very solid game, with fun gameplay, and enjoyable story that'd strongly recommend to anyone whose PC can handle it.
I got the GOG version out of respect for CDPR, and with the exception of a couple driver crashes (mostly caused by the fact my specs aren't the finest), I can say the game runs real well for me; solid 60 FPS on most places, only with small dips when driving at high speed on heavily metropolitan areas, where it drops down to 52-55 FPS. I also haven't seen any of the "t-posing" or clipping NPCs so much people seems to point out. So, either all the mewling complainers are playing on rigs even worse than mine, or they made the stupid mistake of playing it (although CDPR is also at fault here for releasing it) on any late gen consoles.
Gameplay-wise, ho boy! Gun Combat is great; every gun has its own situation and use, and it's just a matter of finding what you like (in my case, Power Revolver with Silencer and Scope for stealthy headshots, Smart Shotgun for crowd open combat, and Tech Precision Rifle High-Difficulty Foes/Bosses) and upgrading every time you find better/rarer versions of your favorite weapons. However, if you'd rather do melee, that's a perfectly viable alternative too; melee combat (hand-to-hand, swords/blunts or Mantis Blades) is EXTREMELY LAYERED to the point you can move fast enough and hit hard enough to take out a group of foes before they even realize why their shoulders are now missing a head. Still, you can even choose to avoid Gun or Blade combat entirely, and use Hacking, which is basically the Magic equivalent in this game; hacking is very quick and intuitive, and can be used in many clever or unusual ways, such as making your foes unable to see you, unable to move, unable to attack, or just outright kill them by frying their brains remotely through security camera, or even make them go insane and kill each other. Heck, you can freaking FULL STEALTH & NO KILLS thru lots of quests, just by distracting your foes so they get out of the way. It's all really freaking fun!!
Now, the story I can say without a doubt, is this game's strongest point; every character (even minor ones) are written in a very in-depth, and the way they interact with each others, with the world, and with the events that unravel around them is very human, and makes them feel like real, three-dimensional people, rather than "Quest Giver NPC #2156.3-A", and this applies not only to their own quests, but to all things surrounding them; even the minor quests that you do in the overworld often carry a lore of their own and a persistence in the world. You never know when something you did before will happen to be useful in a conversation or quest point. For instance, there was this quest rather early on, which was to kill a certain crime boss who owned a brothel. It seemed meaningless at first, until at some point further in the main questline, I had to threaten ANOTHER crime boss to get some info out of him, and all of a sudden, I see a dialogue option where you basically tell him "You don't wanna end up like the other guy, do you?" and he caves in. That other mission wasn't even part of this questline, and yet it mattered because both guys had been of some importance, and one didn't want to end up like the other! I was totally impressed. Also, Attribute Point are REALLY, REALLY well-blended into the available dialogue choices, as it is whichever of the 3 possible origins you pick up (I picked Streetkid) for you protag. As a whole, it really feels like an holistic and organic world; the kind that would just keep going along if the protagonist vanished from it, and again, that makes it feel very real.
Now, it ain't all 100% perfect; I DO have my nitpicks on it. First amongst them is how weak is the level of customization we have for our character's stuff; sure, we can choose breasts size and dick size, and we can play as a girl with a dick if we want to, but that's neither important, not for me. What I mean is the fact you can't, say, choose the color of your car, or the skin of your gun. Which is weird, as you find lots of guns with outrageous skins, and you see many cars with different paintjobs; it feels like something that may have been planned, but not implemented due to rushed deadlines. Also, for all the pomp and ceremony that was given for your character's customization, the options given are... startlingly limited. Heck, Fallout 4 had a far better one, and that game was meh on all else. Plus, since clothing serves as armor, for a good half of the game, you'll be stuck with some crazy mish mash of attires, like a hobo who went dumpster diving. You may think it doesn't matter as we spent 85% of the game on 1st person, but feels a bit at odds with the whole "ROLE" part of Role Playing Game. But again, I am sure it's just a matter of time before CDPR releases a modder's tool, and the modding community jumps on this like a swarm of locusts.
As a whole, it's a very solid game, with fun gameplay, and enjoyable story that'd strongly recommend to anyone whose PC can handle it.
