Those sorts of bugs really torque me, too. They seem to be the type that result from inadequate or rushed testing, rather than overly complex systems that need to be debugged or whatever. It’s like one team was working on one thing, and another on the other thing, and they threw them together in a build and called it a day.
Another irritation: the game keeps switching the active tracked quest on me.
mutait
5082
Well, I’m bailing on my Corpo run right ahead of the big finale. I made the mistake of over-leveling my character and gear via side and police missions, and I’m now realizing the remaining main story stuff isn’t going to be any fun now that V is an unstoppable headshot death goddess. I may give it another go down the road, probably with a different build and approach. I do remember there was a brief sweet spot, a little after the prologue, where the level of challenge felt just right. I’m going to try next time to stay there longer, even if I have to do it in a “house rules” way (i.e. no insane “Handgun” builds).
Also, to be honest, I’ve been struggling to stay interested – and even to follow, at times – the main story. One of the reasons why it’s easy for me to stop here and not answer the main plot’s “big questions” is how unengaging and abstract those questions feel relative to so many of the little subplots and incidentals I’ve encountered. There are individual bits of writing and characterization throughout the side missions and world that feel so much richer and more memorable than the main story – a main story that feels like this whole separate deal with separate stakes that don’t have anything to do with who V is or what she’s experienced. I guess that’s how open world games usually work, a bunch of little MacGuffins to give the player reasons to interact with the world and one big MacGuffin to shove them through to the end – but I feel here, even more than usual, how unsatisfying all that feels when it’s all laid bare.
Well, the endgame stuff isn’t really gated by your combat skills, except maybe one encounter. Mostly it’s dialogue choices and a lot of crap.
I watched this video over the weekend. Interesting that the game definitely looks better in SDR than HDR on PS5.
Also, I found it pretty hilarious that he has two of the same Sony TVs for comparisons, and two PS5s so that he can view things side by side to compare.
rei
5085
The Dark Future only has gonk and choom for slang?
jsnell
5086
There’s a bunch more, it’s just not useful in as many contexts as gonk and choom which are universal. A few that come to mind.
- “Zero” for kill (to be used in the kind of register that “waste” would be used today)
- “Input” / “output” for a female/male sexual partner.
- “Joytoy” for prostitute
138
5087
Wait, someone called me ‘Input’ and I didn’t know what it meant. Now I’m pissed.
In the many year run-up to 2077, much of the internet spoke in hushed reverent tones about the world Pondsmith lovingly crafted all those decades ago. After hearing gonk, choomba, input/output, joytoy, etc. I was left…a little disillusioned.
As the guy with access to the new (2019) sourcebook, let me post a selection of some of the lingo:
Beaverville: A safe suburban neighborhood primar-
-ily inhabited by mid-level Corporate executives and
their families.
CHOOH2: Pronounced “Choo-Two”. Streetslang for
alcohol, as used in vehicle power plants. The vast
majority of vehicles in the Time of the Red are fueled
by an advanced form of alcohol with a higher
burning temperature than normal methanol.
Chromer: A 21st-century heavy metal rock fan. See
also Chromatic Rock.
'Dorphs: Streetslang for synthetic endorphins, a
designer drug that increases healing powers, limits
fatigue, and produces a “rush” like a second wind.
Exotic: A human biosculpted with non-human elements; fur, long ears, fangs, etc.
Slammit On: To get violent; to attack someone
without reason.
Stuffit: To have sex. Also, to forget about
something.
120 hours later, this was the best RPG experience I have had since Vampire TM: Bloodlines. It’s been 10+ years since I was that immersed in a storyline and a virtual setting. The characters, the city – Damn, that was incredible.
I’m going to put this away for a long time, now. I’ll have another go when they’re several DLC into its lifecycle. For others, I highly advise not to rush the ending. Do every quest involving Judy, Panam and Johnny. They’re great in themselves, and they open up many possibilities for later.
(For the record, I’m playing on a good PC, and the scattered issues I had were easily tolerable considering the quality of the storyline)
That can’t be right. You’re supposed to dislike the game.
Bateau
5092
I also like ‘delta’ for GTFO.
schurem
5093
Im with the sneetch on this. Its preem.
jsnell
5094
For a moment, I was very confused about why I couldn’t remember “sneetch” being used in the game.
I don’t think this is better than Witcher 3 but I share many of the same sentiments. It’s not a popular take on QT3 though, but to be fair there are plenty of monocle-wearers here, and some of the comments especially those relating to bugs are fair.
107.9 hours so far, tying up the loose ends before trying some new endings with my corpo character. Yes, the game is, IMO, a mess. If I was reviewing this, I’d pan the hell out of much of it, and excoriate thee developers for any number of rushed implementations, half-baked systems, inconsistencies, missed opportunities, awkwardly cut content, and of course the legions of bugs, ranging from the hilarious to the horrible.
But daaaaayum, it’s compelling. On my current character I went full-on hacking, and it’s a freakin’ hoot. I also went secondarily into tech, and while I know crafting is pretty meh at best, being able to craft all of those weapons for which you find recipes at legendary level–and to craft legendary versions of iconics–is huge. Even with zero to very few points anywhere near Body Reflexes, a Headsman blast to the head or a prototype Shingen burst does wonders against the few who survive the onslaught of quickhacks. The drawback of course is you can’t use a lot of implants that require relatively high Body or Reflex scores, but them’s the breaks.
I do have to say though that for a game that seemed to promise all sorts of a “adult” content, this one whiffs badly in that department. You get a lot of juvenile T&A cheesecake, a lot of dick jokes, and tons of sex toys scattered about. Oh, and that god-awful food commercial with the guy shouting something like “OrrrrrrrrGIASTIC!” or whatever. Blech. And the sex scenes, the unskippable and profoundly awkward sex scenes? They aren’t even nude, mostly, and they are so un-erotic it’s like an ad for monasticism.
A lot of people criticise just about every sex scene in games but I thought the ones in Cyberpunk weren’t that bad.
Which would be the best sex scene in a videogame then? I feel a lot of criticism is really just uncomfortable people trying to sound cool.
None of them? It’s not a good medium for that sort of scene? To me, you have two real options: subtlety, and implied events, or full-on VR sex sim. Anything in between is pretty much going to be hilariously bad, or fall into the uncanny valley. And yes, they do make me uncomfortable, because they are not erotic in any way, not meaningful in any way story-wise, and simply not very good. What makes me uncomfortable is the clear gap between what the game is promising and what it is delivering, which simply makes thee sophomoric attempt at depicting passion that much more out of place.
And yes, as these things go, this game does some of the better ones in the biz. I’d agree with that. But a better form of horseshit is still, well, horseshit.
I think it’s can be a question of whether a gamer even wants to see sex in video games, which is a fair position either way.
That said I’m not too critical of sex in video games, and I’m not particularly fond of the term “sophomoric” because that’s how sex can be even when you’re older. I’m sure we are not experiencing mature old-people romantic sex all the time!
The criticism that the sex scenes are unskippable - that is one I can get behind. It should always be optional.
