Cyberpunk: The Big Ol' Money Grab...uh...Phantom Liberty

[Silver Sorrow]

Here's the downside to Cyberpunk: it's a fundamentally depressing story. Even if you win, you're doomed. (Granted, there's a glimmer of hope in the Nomad ending, but...enh.) I suppose, then, the idea is that it's the journey that's important, not the destination.

Anyway.

Crafting is a little strange; I'm still not sure how it works exactly -- I'm tired and dumb -- but upgrading seems straightforward enough. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't possible to upgrade Ping from tier one, when I saw someone mention that the Ping you get for free and the regular Ping aren't handled the same way and you need to buy a new one? Doesn't seem all that fun.

And all the ripperdocs have the same inventory (or so I've been led to believe), so what's the point of visiting anyone other than Vik? Maybe it's the other stuff they're selling. That ha to be it. I'll check that out later. And I haven't tried out other netrunners to see if their inventories differ, but I guess I'll have to.

Kind of annoying: I'm at level 15 (I think) right now and my build sucks. I don't really see any truly interesting perks to invest in, either.

In other news...

Silly me, I went through the trouble of killing enough malcontents to afford a rusty Galena, but I didn't realize that I'd been given a free car for some reason. And it's a nice car. A reward, or some such? I'll have to look into it further, but it was kind of surprising.

Also, the arm cyberware -- mantis blades and such -- are a bit different. Take a look at this example:

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Four types of each: plain, electrical, poison, thermal. I don't know if the higher tiers will allow other things to be added, but...I'll see.

Right. Lunchtime.

[Doc_Brown]

Here's the downside to Cyberpunk: it's a fundamentally depressing story.

I have a somewhat similar relationship with Fallout 3, actually.  The driving plot, at least at the start, is to find your father.  But literally the first mission after you rescue him he's killed.  Makes it feel almost pointless.  I've taken to playing up until you rescue him, then abandoning the main quest to just go off and explore the wasteland.

I suppose, then, the idea is that it's the journey that's important, not the destination.

Worse than that, it doesn't even feel like it's your story--it's Johnny's.  How can you enjoy the journey when that agency is taken from you?

[Silver Sorrow]

Oh, yeah: Fallout 3's a heapin' helpin' of good vibes, all right. If you put off the MQ as long as possible, it's like dear old dad gets to live longer. "Sorry it took so long to find you, dad...I didn't want you to die."

And then there's Fallout 4, which is a pocketful of rainbows too...of course, Fallout was never about good feelings, I guess. Still, at least give us some reason not to just sit down and eat a pipe pistol, huh? Sure, things didn't turn out all that happy, but there's still a Commonwealth, right? Come on, smile! Don't all those raggedy bottom-feeders scratching out a meager existence in an irradiated hellscape give you hope? I mean, sure, if you aren't actually a synth you could very well end up a ghoul, but try to focus on the positive: there are still settlements out there that need our help. That should be all the motivation you need to keep going!

Blech.

Compounding the frustration of merely being Johnny's vehicle is that he's probably the most unreliable narrator this side of a trickster god. Even ghost-in-the-machine Alt says as much at one point. So who knows if he's just manipulating you with either outright lies or what he perceives as the truth? Or maybe you're just a battery for an AI overlord. Nothing is what it seems! Or it could be! It could be exactly as it seems! But it probably isn't! Maybe! Maybe not!

This is probably straying from the point completely (as usual), but I wonder if someone ever tried to do a simple, classic tale in this day and age. It might go something like this:

This is a story about a boy and his dog. Only...the dog is an alien AI construct devised to keep an eye on the boy, who is actually just an ancient brain forever doomed to floating in a jar in an alien lab, dreaming that it's a ten year old kid with a normal life. Yes, the aliens won the war and we're just squishy playthings for them. Keep that in mind as together the "boy" and his "dog" roam the rolling hills of an ideal landscape, savoring the moments of a perfect childhood. Forever. At least, until they start adding in "variables"...

Did you know that Tums now comes in different flavors? My favorite is the coconut-pineapple. Like I've mentioned before, it's kind of like a pina colada, but you have to provide your own rum.

[Silver Sorrow]

Without babbling too much, pre-2.0 was a lot more fun. And by that, I mean it was easier to create a comfortable build. I have 15 points in Intelligence at the moment, but I can't seem to get a better cyberdeck to show up at a ripperdoc. I suspect it may be--

-- Hang on, did a bit of research --

It's tied to level now. It's not a matter of inventory but of level. I'm only level 18, so I gotta grind a couple more levels before "blue" tier cyberware shows up, from what I gather.

It's at times like this that I'd rather just go catch up on my reading.

[Starfox]

The driving plot, at least at the start, is to find your father.  But literally the first mission after you rescue him he's killed.

Not really that different from Fallout 4 either. You go on a journey to find your son and discover after jumping through many hoops that he's a grumpy old man that for some reason the game wants you to kill because joining him is supposedly "evil".

But Bethesda games were never really about the main story which sucks in most cases but about exploring the world. I must admit at least that, they've always been good at creating worlds you want to explore.

Without babbling too much, pre-2.0 was a lot more fun.

Which is why I'm still on pre 2.0 (that's the fantastic advantage of GOG compared to Steam, you can decide to not update your game and to stick with an old version that for some reason you like better). And I plan to stay there until I have to move, which will eventually come someday.

And I'm already not a big fan of all the patches that were issued before 2.0. Too many gameplay changes randomly thrown in, too many things that they obviously should have thought through before release but because they were too hasty didn't have time to consider and so decided to adjust later. Sorry but the gameplay aspect of a game should be completely sealed before you release the game. Unless you're doing an heavily MP game like Dark Souls where gameplay changes after the release abound because some hardcore fans prefer "this" rather than "that".

As it is Cyberpunk had all the update features of a MP game while MP is still out there.

My favorite class, netrunner, has been so nerfed through the patches that it's not even fun to play anymore. I don't even want to consider what they did to it in 2.0.

Obviously they wanted to favor the BANG-BANG "hit hard with your fists" approach so the finesse of a pure netrunner build like it was until patch 1.3 was too much.

That being said, if patch 2.0 was actually the initial release of Cyberpunk instead of being the nth iteration, I'm sure most people would be OK with it because they wouldn't have experienced what was before. Also the media would possibly not have gone directly to "that game is buggy crap". Moral of the story... that game needed nearly three more years of development cycle. It didn't get them because CDP was unable to resist the pressure from the investors.

[Silver Sorrow]

Which is why I'm still on pre 2.0

That reminds me...I needed to turn off automatic updates. Every time they patch it, they break a bunch of mods.

Anyway, I prefer pre-2.0, really. At least...if they could've kept the fun stuff instead of changing everything, that would've been nice. Although I do like being able to remotely blow up other cars, I'm still not convinced that makes it worthwhile. On the plus side, I don't have to go through Breach Protocol all the time.

Right now I'm messing around with the whole katana thing, which is okay so far.

Side Note: got into a melee fight with an Animal. She brought the wrong guns (muscular arms metaphor) to a sword fight. And she still held her own for a while because, hey, there's nothing that blocks slashes from a wicked-sharp blade like one's bare forearms.

Ridiculous.

So anyway, there are so many changes that the whole skill system really doesn't resemble anything of the pre-2.0 era. I think (that is, I'm not entirely sure) they restored the hack-'em-through-the-walls aspect of Legendary Ping, but you have to be maxed out in the Netrunner skill (60) to make that happen. But that's easy to achieve if you just install the Simple XP Multiplier, crank the values to 10, and play, play, play.

[Silver Sorrow]

Just remembered that I had a couple of amendments to an earlier post. Never let anyone tell you that you're totally gone at 49. Mostly, yeah, but...

Anyway.

Yes, leveling up to 20 opened up the blue-tier stuff in Vik's inventory. Also, when I had upgraded my optics and cyberdeck, upon exiting his "shop" menu, the screen went to black and I "woke up" in the surgery chair. Nice touch. That was promised as a feature, so hooray for at least one promise kept.

I should point out that not all the rippers' inventories are identical. At least, that's what someone insisted. Dunno, they look pretty much the same to me.

Also: You can upgrade lesser crafting components into a higher tier, and so on up the chain. Yippee.

Also also: things like "engineering" and "athletics" have been absorbed into overarching...whatevers. I don't recall the term for them right now, and I have no motivation whatsoever to try, so there it is. Oh, wait...SKILLS. They're Skills. Netrunning, Headhunting, Engineering, Solo...that sort of thing. A reflection of how you're playing the game. You play a certain way, you'll level up those skills. I know: mind-boggling, right?

Anyway, performing actions such as forcing open a door increases your Solo stat. Just like real life! If anything, everything seems a bit tidier now.

One thing I'm not sure I like is that dumping a body in a container is considered lethal? Strange to take someone down quietly and bloodlessly, only to send 'em merrily off to hell by stickin' 'em in a closet. So I just snap necks now. I have my fun.

but I didn't realize that I'd been given a free car for some reason. And it's a nice car. A reward, or some such? I'll have to look into it further, but it was kind of surprising.

It was a reward for pre-purchasing Phantom Liberty. I'd forgotten that CDPR rewards for such things.

And another thing: the level cap has been raised from 50 to 60. So you won't be able to max out all of your abilities, but that's what certain mods and/or the console is for.

And now for screenshots. Bask in the glory. Bask, I said.

This is CDPR's largesse in action:

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Look at that: a whole FOUR SECONDS of -30% visibility to enemies! We are not worthy!

Jesus Christ.

Next...I ran into an old friend.

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Ah...Michiko. Been a long time. Still as acrobatic as ever, I see...

And finally, here's the cut POV orgy scene from The Philadephia Experiment. (If you've seen it, you know.)

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It's a nightmare, but hey...hellooooooo ladies, regardless!

Not That This Has Anything To Do With Anything:

I remember...yes, I can remember stuff from time to time...after the new apartments had been introduced (v1.5?). I bought the Glen apartment (still my favorite of the bunch) and after my grand tour of the place, I walked outside to commit acts of random unkindness. On the sidewalk outside was a chica in a bikini with a cigar, just dancing away.

"You're living your best life, aren't you?" I asked in wonder.