Cyberpunk 2077 [split from video games]

[Ran]

13 minutes ago, Werthead said:

CP77 is returning to the PS5 store, at least.

Excellent. Once it's in a state that Sony is willing to forgive and forget the refund situation, seems like the DLC will start coming. 

[Ran]

Apparently it'll hit the store on June 21st, from recent reports. There's speculation going around that there'll be another substantial patch for PC and console around then or within a couple of weeks, based on the idea that the return to the store means that they've made adjustments for the PS5 version that they haven't yet put through to others.

[Ran]

Patch 1.23 out with more optimizations and crash fixes, plus a bunch of small tweaks. Here's the notes.

[Ran]

The production values of this video are kind of nuts. I've never heard of The Stupendium before, for some reason, but this original song about Cyberpunk 2077 is quite the run through the basics of the settings:

ETA:

Huh, led me to a bunch of others that others had made around the release. This first one is definitely an attempt to do something that Samurai would have played (the chorus doesn't quite fit, though, too Euro-metal):

And a couple of rap songs:

 

[Ran]

With the game back on the Playstation Store -- with a notice that PS4's are not really up to it, so PS4 Pro or PS5 for best experience -- CDPR says that the focus is now shifting towards game system improvements. There'll still be optimization and bug fixes and so on happening as well, of course, but we may start seeing systems people didn't care for getting improved or perhaps even overhauled.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

Just got this a couple of weeks ago--and I've got 50 hours! But I kind of started feeling a bit of the variety of things to do, so I think I'm going to wait a bit and see if they start patching in gameplay patches. I love the game, and while it's a step down from Witcher 3, I wasn't expecting otherwise as that's my favorite game.

I finished some Panam quests, and as is true for CDPR, the storytelling is quite good. I really like her character model as well as Takemura and Judy. They're great characters too.

Spoilers for Act 1: 

Spoiler

I didn't love the early characters of T-Bug, Jackie, and Dexter. I found them pretty bland, and by the time I got to the last quest of Act 1, I was grudgingly accepting they were just going to be around. Then you hit the end of Act 1, and man, that's really where it hooked me. I'm kind of bummed this game came out with so much trouble as I think that ride all the way up to being shot in the head and realizing you're going to be dead soon as Johnny Silverhand begins taking over would have really been a huge gaming moment. 

Anyway, I know the game was broken when it came out, but when I see gamers still shitting on it as "the worst fucking game ever" I get a reminder of how shitty and entitled so many 4chan/gamer bros are. Video game culture is bottom of the barrel right now.

I hope we see some big updates to the game--such as buying new houses, more cars, etc.

[Slurktan]

13 hours ago, Centrist Simon Steele said:

Spoilers for Act 1: 

  Hide contents

I'm kind of bummed this game came out with so much trouble as I think that ride all the way up to being shot in the head and realizing you're going to be dead soon as Johnny Silverhand begins taking over would have really been a huge gaming moment. 

Anyway, I know the game was broken when it came out, but when I see gamers still shitting on it as "the worst fucking game ever" I get a reminder of how shitty and entitled so many 4chan/gamer bros are. Video game culture is bottom of the barrel right now.

I hope we see some big updates to the game--such as buying new houses, more cars, etc.

People who call it that are remarkably stupid, its not the worst game ever by a long shot. It was just broken on release (not on PC) and then being incredibly mediocre from a gameplay standpoint with a good story (mostly).  The hook (your spoiler) has been used before in games and is always bad in them when they don't, you know..... actually put a time crunch on things in such a scenario. I'll try it again once the PS5 version releases just to see if they made they game play more enjoyable but I doubt it.

[Ran]

A report from Pawel Sasko's (CP2077's lead quest designer) currently on-going Twitch stream regarding some Q&A he's been doing. On  whether and CDPR are working on more patches and on DLC, TL;DR: YES.

Quote

I'm paraphrasing here, as I cannot back up the stream while it is live, but he questioned why no one was asking him if they were actually WORKING on a new patch or the DLC's, that he had expected that to be the first question anyone asked him yet no one had done so. He went on to answer his own question, stating that yes, they are working on the new patch and DLCs and he will reveal more about them as soon as he is allowed to do so. So for anyone that might have feared that CDPR had abandoned CP2077 after patch 1.23, fear not any longer. They are still hard at work, working to improve the game and bring more content.

And on why wall-running was cut:

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Mr. Sasko also revealed the thought process behind removing wall running after being asked by one of the stream viewers in chat. It came down to the art direction of the game. He explained that if you look at any game that has wall-running, the walls are flat and devoid of any decorations or variations in the wall. This in turn severely limits the artists designing the environment. So when the question came up about wall running the choices, it seems, were basically three:

• Keep the wall running but remove all the decorations and perches we find on walls like AC units, variations in the wall from anything other than a smooth flat surface, and walls that move in and out as the building goes up or along the wall.
• Keep the wall running but give it only very limited functionality by removing the wall decorations only in select areas, making it only usable in select, predetermined areas.
• Toss the feature entirely and let the artists free to design Night City how they envisioned it.

 

[Werthead]

Wall running is a very odd feature that's only ever really appeared in a few games before anyway, so it's not really missed. I do think it's more of a shame they lost the ability to take the spiderbot everywhere with you and have it do stuff, but given how OP remote hacking is anyway, I'm not sure making it even more potent via a robot intermediary is an improvement.

Mind you, it was great fun in Watch Dogs 2 to sit outside a building you had to infiltrate - or two streets over - and go through it with your drone or RC buggy (or both) and have them hack and stealth their way through the building and achieve the mission objective with you never having to come within 300 feet of the place.

[Ran]

14 hours ago, Werthead said:

Wall running is a very odd feature that's only ever really appeared in a few games before anyway, so it's not really missed. I do think it's more of a shame they lost the ability to take the spiderbot everywhere with you and have it do stuff, but given how OP remote hacking is anyway, I'm not sure making it even more potent via a robot intermediary is an improvement.

 

It actually looks Sasko was asked about ventilation shafts for the spiderbot, and ended up saying pretty much what you said, per another report on what he said in the stream:

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We didn't make many ventilation shafts specifically for the bot. Mostly it would crawl around the same spaces V was in resulting in it not feeling all too different from quick hacking at the end of the day. Hence one of the reasons why we also decided to cut the feature.

Sasko also says that management has decided to keep information on future DLC and patches very tight, not announcing anything at all ahead of time, a decision he says he doesn't agree with personally.

[Fez]

16 hours ago, Werthead said:

Wall running is a very odd feature that's only ever really appeared in a few games before anyway, so it's not really missed. I do think it's more of a shame they lost the ability to take the spiderbot everywhere with you and have it do stuff, but given how OP remote hacking is anyway, I'm not sure making it even more potent via a robot intermediary is an improvement.

Mind you, it was great fun in Watch Dogs 2 to sit outside a building you had to infiltrate - or two streets over - and go through it with your drone or RC buggy (or both) and have them hack and stealth their way through the building and achieve the mission objective with you never having to come within 300 feet of the place.

The latest 40K game had it too, and that's only an AA game. I think wall running, and mobility options in general, are only going to get more widespread in FPS games.

Unfortunately it only really works well with mouse and keyboard, and I'm a controller-only player.

[Ran]

I like wall-running and other mobility choices as options just because of the extra dimension and options they give. But it definitely puts design limitations, and you basically have to shape all designs towards it. Apex Legends ditched the wall-running that Titanfall had in part because it would compromise the design of buildings and areas in their battle royale.

And in CP2077 news, CDPR's community manager responding to a question regarding the next version of CP2077:

 

[Ran]

More datamining gives hints to the new DLC:

 

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dlc1_swp: "WP" means "weapon pack", and there's one for each type of weapon. In this case, "Smart Weapon Pack"

dlc2_jposes: we're not sure about this one

dlc3_kab01: this one will be a quest set in the Kabuki area

dlc4_quartz: this one is anyone's guess

dlc5_jackets: this will almost certainly be new jackets for V - they could be aesthetic items or actual gear

dlc6_apart: either a new apartment for V or customization options for the existing apartment

dlc7_pwp: Power Weapon Pack

dlc8_mirror: this could be the ability to completely overhaul V's in-game appearance

dlc9_arr06: a quest set in the Arroyo area

dlc10_monster: perhaps a new enemy type? Cyberpunk 2077 is fairly low on non-human or robot enemies, so this could be a new organic enemy

dlc11_jlook: we're not sure about this one

dlc12_mfinish: again, this one's a little up in the air, but a possibility could be finisher animation or moves

dlc13_twp: Thermal Weapon Pack

dlc14_arr12: the second of two Arroyo-based quests

dlc15_ngplus: looks like that Cyberpunk 2077 New Game Plus mode is finally on its way

dlc16_jpn06: a quest set in the Japantown area

dlc17_bwp: Blunt Weapon Pack

 

Beyond that, the alleged dataminer claims to have found information about the first paid expansion:

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Saint-Pirate also discovered information about the first of two major planned Cyberpunk 2077 expansions. Unlike the aforementioned quests, these won't be free; they'll be paid content and they will be significantly longer than the free offerings. The dataminer says the first expansion will expand the Pacifica area and add a brand new combat zone for players to navigate, as well as bringing in new quests to complete and locations to explore. According to the datamine, work on the first expansion is underway, and players will be able to get their hands on it in early 2022.

The first major Cyberpunk 2077 expansion will reportedly expand Pacifica and add lots of new content for V to check out.

One particular quest the datamine points to - and a quest TechRaptor was able to verify - is a Street Story revolving around Anthony Anderson, a "recidivist and doctor" located within the new Combat Zone. Anderson is the keeper of Newcomers' Haven, a refuge for new arrivals in the game's new Combat Zone. In the Street Story, Anderson is taken hostage by Scavs, and it's up to V to rescue him. The quest will take V to a warehouse complex, task players with mowing down Scavs, and bring V face-to-face with a mysterious figure called "Wagner". It looks like you'll be able to defuse a bomb, too, perhaps one that's intended to wipe out the Combat Zone. We'll have to wait for more official info on this.

 

[Werthead]

Interesting. There was a lot of speculation that the first big DLC would include a new town/base/installation in the centre-north of the map (where at the moment there's a big flat space and you get the "YOU CAN'T GO THAT WAY YET" message) and the second would take place in the spaceport (the bridge is currently closed and forces you to respawn if you try crossin git) on the Crystal Palace space station (since you see it in the trailers, with Mr. Blue Eyes hanging out up there). I wonder if this is a hint that there might be more than two DLCs, or the centre-north location will be fleshed out as part of one of the other two stories?

Pacifica is kind of underdeveloped though, and it's odd you have that huge stadium and nothing going on there, so it could be fleshed out a lot more.

[Ran]

CDPR has released the first look behind the curtain at the 1.3 patch, here. It's a rather random selection of changes, the biggest two being an improved map when driving a vehicle (zoomed out significantly so you can actually see turns coming when you decide to top out your speed in the Caliburn in the middle of Night City) and a perks reset that can be done easily and cheaply from the screen without needing a Tabula e-Rasa. The other thing they noted was simply a small scene tweak in the Clouds, for some reason.

But there'll be a livestream on the 17th which will reveal some more things they've been working on.

[Ran]

And here are the very lengthy patch notes for 1.3. Some QoL, lots and lots of bug fixes, especially for a bunch of different missions and gigs. Also the first free DLC released -- an alternate Johnny Silverhand outfit (previewed here), two new jackets, and a new car reward. Modest start to the DLC, but understandable given all the bugs they were squishing. Crafters will enjoy some of the changes.    

Oh, and the optical camouflage cyberware will now be available. People talking about doing "Ghost in the Shell" stealth runs on Reddit. Fun idea.

[Ran]

Aaaand, 1.3 is out already. 30-odd GB download. Not quite enough there for me to start my third play through, but maybe with 1.4.

[Slurktan]

22 minutes ago, Ran said:

Aaaand, 1.3 is out already. 30-odd GB download. Not quite enough there for me to start my third play through, but maybe with 1.4.

Wait adding 2 jackets and a car isn't enough to get you to play through again?  I mean, whyever not?

[Ran]

13 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

Wait adding 2 jackets and a car isn't enough to get you to play through again?  I mean, whyever not?

The many QoL fixes and mission bug tweaks, plus the optic camo opening up some fun stealth shenanigans, is actually enticing, but I do think I'd prefer to see a new mission or two added before I commit to another 100 hours of gaming.

I guess this means that when the paid expansions come out, it'll be a 4th or 5th play through.

[Werthead]

The AI fixes to major NPC behaviour in missions will cumulatively make a difference. It's a bit odd sometimes talking to someone and they start moving around randomly or not looking at you (sometimes it was clearly an artistic choice, other times I was wondering if they'd gone blind or something).

It's still quite minor though. I'm not planning a revisit until they drop the first major story DLC, which it feels like they're now moving towards.