[Introduction]
Since the interpretation of "Dark", I haven't written such a large and complex text. I thought about it for a long time, even longer than about the above-mentioned series. "Dark" did have a few unsuccessful elements, but as a whole it is much more coherent and it was easier for me to do research and then confront my conclusions with the opinions of friends who know better about psychology and technology. The new CDPR game is more extensive, and this is a different medium, giving incomparably more possibilities of action than interpretation when it comes to the analysis of the series (in the case of breaking the series or the game into prime factors). So I had to compare my experiences with trusted friends who have good taste and know games (greetings to Dorota, Wojtek, Krystian and Karol), talk to them, recall their first conclusions, do research on the web, compare CP 2077 with others games - not only new, but also old (because in one case CP is worse than 1 part of GTA - a game that was ridiculed for its simplicity on the day of its premiere, not only in terms of visuals). It took me a long time and I wrote down the conclusions in my head long before I played myself. When I started the game, I wrote down my notes in various places - on the phone, when they were short passwords, on an e-mail when I had to write down a bit longer to be able to understand what I meant then and on a piece of paper, when I had no access to my computer, and suddenly I had an epiphany. Right now, I'm before playthrough 2 (all side quests and contracts have been completed, except for the main quests), and by the time I finish writing this review, I'll be in my third try, squeezing as much out of this game as I can. Well, I can finally put them together and share my impressions of the game with you. Immediately I also say that my opinion may change over time. Ok, in every case it is like that, no matter what or who we are talking about, but this case is special - as one of my blog followers, Sylwia, more or less said - "Cyberpunk is a game that gives me a lot of fun and I love it at the same time. hate". Or another sentence that I remember from the review of "StarCraft" written on the day of release - "It's a very good game, and could have been a lot better if Blizzard sat on it even longer". I can say the same about CP2077, but in a different context, because Blizzard did not have such ambitions (or at least he did not talk about them aloud), so they gave us less reason to criticize. But I can see even more empty space that can be filled, mistakes that can be corrected, things that can be added. I generally like this game, but less than "Witcher 3" - incl. because that game better masked elements that it did not handle so well.
I started my adventure with a female V with a predefined model (the one that CDPRed boasts in promotional material), but I made too many mistakes and gained far fewer experience points than I could. That's why I decided to make myself a new character, this time it wasn't Punk, but Korp - a black femboy hacker with big genitals. I grind and farm everything I can, like while psychopathically playing "World of WarCraft" or when I was 100% cleaning "Witcher 3" (yes, all of Skelige too!). I convert everything into components and when I run out of them, I visit nearby stores, improve all equipment, roam around town and destroy criminals (except for those groups that do nothing wrong but can be attacked) as I ride my bike through the Night City, I'm not letting go of any protocol situation. I often spend more time on this than smashing gangsters on a task, and my better half in a female-specific way, sighs as an adult child plays with a digital toy (but it's her fault, she doesn't understand how important grind is!).
[Plot]
In the game, we play the role of V - a young mercenary or a young mercenary, who decided to build his legend in one of the most important cities in the world. Our goal is simple - together with our companion, Jack Wells, we must earn a good reputation. During one of the orders, something went wrong, Jackie died, and we gained a new personality - Johnny Silverhand. In short, he is a typical bad boy who displays more or less the characteristics of a dark triad - he is uncompromising, selfish, sarcastic, narcissistic, and often treats people in an objective way. He is not a total asshole, during the story he will show himself from the better side, and even change (more or less, depending on the relationship we create with him and what our experiences will be), but at the beginning we will not feel it. From then on, V not only has to build his reputation, but also survive, because the Engram with Silverhand's personality overwrites his soul, which means he takes control of the body. There are 3 starting points in the game - Nomad, Punk and Corp. They are not very different from each other. Sure, there are some differences in the dialogue, some less important events will play out differently, but in general it doesn't make a big difference to the overall dialogue. Likewise, most decisions are less important for the plot than in the case of "The Witcher" (it seems to me after 2 passes of the game, maybe I'm wrong), or at least I felt noticeably less often that the decision on X changes the situation in the case of Y. so that there would be no understatement - in both cases, the elections in less important matters did not have much impact on the final. However, in Sapkowski's world, I felt that I had a greater influence on the universe, even if they were just threads about ordinary people. I just saw the results of my decisions more often - I met an NPC friend, something happened to the village I saved, etc. This is not a significant advantage or disadvantage for me, because both games ineptly imitate real life - W3 copes better with it, because it is quasi-medieval and it is easier in this world to hide engine limitations, when most people are ordinary villagers, and in the case of important NPCs, we can more easily believe that these characters "live" in the game world - they have less to do, they do not have the ability to communicate, move, etc. But about gameplay on another occasion.
How do I rate the plot, side plots, characters (both 1 and 2 planes)? Let me start by saying that it is difficult to avoid comparisons with the previous game of this studio. It is true that the action of these titles takes place in completely different universes, but they are quite similar to each other. The mechanics are more or less similar (CP offers more of them, of course, due to the fact that it is a younger title), side quests also, not to mention the atmosphere, choices (which, like in the book "Witcher" or the anime "Hunter x Hunter", sometimes are a choice between the big evil and the lesser evil), relations between characters. In my opinion, W3 is better than CP2077 both in terms of the main plot and side quests (I'm only talking about the plot, characters etc. - I will compare the gameplay in another paragraph). It's not a big difference, compared to the "Bleach" script to "Naruto" (or any other title, as long as 1 is average and 2 is between good and very good), but noticeable in my opinion. Here, however, the opinions of Internet users and players are divided, so it seems to me that this is a purely subjective matter - you will like what you like more. Both titles have their strong and weaker elements - threads or their fragments that we will remember for a long time or we will want to forget about them. Characters we like or not. Moments that will make a big impression on us, surprise us with creativity, imagination, how they are presented ... and so on.
In my opinion, "The Witcher" has more advantages and this is not due to the fact that I really like Sapkowski's books. Before I got to know the books, I bought the game and asked my friends to explain themes or references to the original - best regards to Michał, Karol and more. Before reading them, I had completed the game at least 1 time. The books probably made me feel like that, because I'm simply in love with how CDPR transferred the world from a book to the language of the game, but for the purposes of this review, I'm trying to suppress positive emotions. In the case of CP, I was only involved in Silverhand's plot (although it also had its inferior elements that bored me, but much less than the fragments in which we steered Ciri), that bartender who thought he was a cuckold, Panam and her family, a few other characters and their quests were ok too, Jacky's family after his death, orders that changed us once and for all, sometimes the main plot made a huge impression on me (especially the first meeting with Alt or my second finale, when we attacked Arasaka with the Nomads, in both In some cases, I was under a HUGE impression, a bit stronger than in scenes that are equally important for "The Witcher" ... I don't think any game so far evoked such a feeling in me, I felt like after the "Perfect Blue" screening. My girlfriend as a total rookie in games, also she reacted enthusiastically, but weaker than I did.) ... Maybe there were some isolated cases and some cases of cyberpsychosis that were eventually brought down to a normal fight ki with mini-bosses, but I have listed everything roughly. As for W3, I was very impressed with the story of Leto (I still haven't played in W2), the Blood Baron, the Swamp Witch, that tree that they enchanted a certain entity, Emhyr, murdered prostitutes, Triss Merigold and refugees, Kaer Morhen thread , two goodbyes to Ciri at the end ... I could mention a few more, but I haven't played for a long time and have already forgotten a lot of elements, maybe I'll come back to this issue, as we will get a big update to the PS5 version at the end of this year.
While revising the text, I remembered two threads that I had devoted far too little attention to. so I wrote 2 extra paragraphs after I finished writing the paper. It's about the death of our hero and getting to know our "alter-ego" after the action in Arasaka Tower. It is not as atmospheric as all the stages of the game, the action of which takes place inside the network, but it is one of the better parts that makes a strong impression on me every time. The creators directed and edited it very well, I felt real terror and desperation, not only because of V's health, but also because of the whole context of this situation. It is also not without significance, as it is shown - a great horror film, a complete lack of control and the need to surrender to whatever fate will bring us. "A moment ago" Dexter was a big smart who thought that he was in control of the situation, and now he stands and trembles with fear for his life. Takamura, in turn, saw another red flag, which forced him to change his decision on V. And this unfortunate finale straight from the episode of "Black Mirror" or the movie "Upgrade" (I heartily recommend! strongly thought-provoking) when we learn that our brain died because of Dex, and the chip that saved our lives gradually consumes our soul and destroys our ego ... for temporary fainting, that would be very strong ...
The second scene that made the biggest impression on me is the first ending. As I mentioned, I chose to work with the corporation partly out of naivety and partly out of curiosity - to be honest, I seriously trusted Saburo's daughter. Since I was a child, I was a person with a rich imagination who likes to sink into my thoughts and one of the worst visions was a stay in a psychiatric hospital. If I think well, then I watched a movie devoted to this subject and it struck me that they treat these people terribly. The first ending was like a return to that nightmare, only in a much more intense form. In my review of "Batman" on PS3, I praised Scarecrow a lot and his first appearance - me and a few of my friends thought (even though we played independently, they on the day of release, I a few years after) that we broke the console or ran into some kind of bug. It turned out that the creators in this clever way transferred the effect of drugs, or gases, into the language of the game. Even though it was past midnight and I turned on the game for "a few minutes", I was so delighted that I went to bed about 2 hours later. It turned out much stronger in this game! I do not remember if I have ever reacted similarly ... Indeed, the second ending made a greater impression on me, but this is due to the overall picture, i.e. greater intensity of several emotions, not only frustration. If I had only to consider my anger, working with a corporation pissed me off more. Or I'll explain it another way - it's like comparing two anime or series. The former has more advantages and reasons for which I can praise them, the latter has fewer, but two of them stand out more. The feeling of immersion was so powerful it felt like I was in her shoes! I was as frustrated as my V - I was irritated by her helplessness, the need to submit to the organization and follow their idiotic orders as if we were 100% healthy and we would go to a visit to a very overzealous doctor who wants to prove himself and does not want to let us out, and we cannot reason with him by force of argument. When Arasaka had mercifully let us out, I felt like a wreck of a man who has a cereal for a child instead of a brain and has 2 options - to get drunk with alcohol to death or shoot himself in the head. Hats off, I was more sad than Geralt's suicide in the worst ending to "The Witcher", and that rarely happens to me.
In general, the CP is unfortunately underdeveloped in probably every aspect. Starting from the beginning, the creators want to build a relationship with our companion, with whom we will say goodbye relatively quickly. If it hadn't been for the conversation with his girlfriend on the roof, I would have forgotten about him, and I was a bit ashamed of it ... For some time, because after 2.3 days, I had already passed. Such a relationship as with a friend from primary school, who for several years has gone a completely different path from ours (or has not developed at all) and today we have nothing to talk about with him, and at the same time we do not want to hurt him. CDPR probably understood too late that they had not thought about this thread, and the work on the game was too advanced to cancel it or expand it (which could be associated with further changes, and thus a later premiere) of its role. There is so much talk about the fact that V dies, but aside from the occasional fainting and fainting, we practically do not feel it. Aside from the third act of the story, where we can really feel that our protagonist or protagonist is falling apart. There are more collapses, they are felt more, you can feel that we will die soon. The development of some skills was limited to the same hacking, the use of an excessive amount of slot machines, of which there are so many, just because they had to somehow clog the game world. Side characters do not say much, their models are often repeated, once with a girl we counted 5 of the same NPCs, as we walked a few minutes on the street. Communicating with other characters is fun, but I got the feeling that there was a lot, much more that could be done about it. Far too little was done for what they could do. An example of "Pokemon", I don't remember which generation anymore, but we could also talk to other characters there and we didn't really go too far from it. Of course, both games are separated by a gargantuan gap on each field, the relations between the heroes are incomparably shallower, and the creators of CP2077 had a much more difficult task, but also had more tools and a wider range of possibilities. Thus, they could have created a better illusion of the living world, at least in terms of the relationship between the characters, which are less significant to us after the contract than before. I could mention a few more things, but that's probably enough. Overall, the story is very good, I had a lot of fun during the 1st and 2nd games, but unlike W3, I wasn't that impressed so often, but as it happened, I think it was stronger. Just as I wrote in the introduction, if CDPRed wanted to, it could do it better or much better (depending on what we're talking about), and it's only very good. Fortunately, the relationship with Johnny makes up for it.
[Characters and relations with them]
Speaking of him, it's a good opportunity to write about the heroes of this world. It's worth starting here with the best CP hero and the best relationship ... ever? Well, at least in my case, because I am not able to remember that I would ever come across such a good relationship in games. It just so happened that I had a conversation with my girlfriend recently about influencing each other in a relationship - that is, a woman changes a man a little and a man changes a woman. It's about working out compromises together, setting some internal rules and tame your bad qualities (or at least limiting them) - something like a business relationship, but in a deeper and more intimate way. A relationship between people, to a certain extent, is also a business relationship on which both parties gain something and can build according to the 2 + 2 = 5 rule, as my friend Karol likes to say sometimes. Already during the first game, I felt that the above words fit their relationship very much, but I fully understood it only on the second. As my friend Krystian said, the relationship between these two is very honest, natural and lively, keeps a high level from the beginning when Johnny is pissed off by the lack of cigarettes and drugs, until the very end when they have to make very difficult decisions for themselves. Like two friends who sometimes snarl at each other like two wolves, they get pissed off about unimportant matters, they do not speak to each other for a while, but it does not last too long, because they are stuck with each other for various reasons.
Thanks to us, Johnny stops being an asshole and understands that sometimes you have to stick nonconformity up your ass and accept objective reality, no matter how much we don't like it - both in the case of things that we are not able to change because they overwhelm us. case of interpersonal relationships. During one of the conversations between V and Silverhand, Asia said - "Well, shit came from the fact that you fought while you're dead, and the corporation is still standing and doesn't care about your fate." For some, it may be a bit of a crude thinking, but I fully agree with him - if it cannot be changed, then you have to adapt, otherwise we harm ourselves. V, in turn, took fate into his own hands, ceased to be a polite and passive boy who accepts everything he gets from fate, instead of fighting for his own. This lesson is also important - today has enormous opportunities, but people are lazy and too often put up with what they have. Not to mention the fact that by not making decisions, they are actually delaying the risk - it will come sooner or later, and the more we delay it, the harder it will hit us. This can be applied to every important aspect of life. All in all, I had a lot of fun watching the honest relationship between these two. As if I were watching two real people of flesh and blood, who sometimes say something too much or unnecessarily turn up the already heated atmosphere, but at the same time are ready to help themselves at any time, or to say very honestly and bluntly that our idea is stupid and his implementation will end badly. Or, as Panam said, "The relationship between these people is that they will hit you very hard on the head at first, and then they will hug you so tightly that they will break all your bones."
Speaking of Panama, apart from Johnny, this is my favorite character. Like Keanu Reeves, she is a well-designed and realized heroine. The fact is, they are not particularly original, because there are quite a lot of Chad and women who are "for dancing and for the rosary" in pop culture and related fields, but I'll be honest - I don't remember when I saw such well-written characters in the game, which I will remember in a few years. Oh w8 ... Lambert, Geralt, Eskel, Vessemir, Emhyr, Yennefer, Philippa, Dijkstra, Letho, Zoltan, Bloody Baron, Tamara ... I'll be honest, in my opinion CP2077 does not have such good characters in his repertoire apart from two, which I have specified. Ok, maybe this is because in "The Witcher" we had a closer contact with them, they accompanied us more often in quests, but I try to ignore it when comparing. As I said, I got to know these heroes through the game, not the books, so I don't have as strong a bond with them as many Poles do. Even if I omitted a few characters from CP by an oversight, I will not change my opinion - the previous title, CDPRed, wins in both quantity and quality. In fact, in the case of "The Witcher" it was enough not to screw it up (because what, but in terms of the creation and presentation of characters, Sapkowski is good, and maybe even very good), although "Cyberpunk 2077" is also based on someone else's work and this is "Cyberpunk 2020" by Mike Pondsmith. Perhaps there are not many characters there and the game designers have had more work to come up with new ones than with "The Witcher", but on the other hand they already have some experience + correspondingly large resources. They also had more possibilities - it is true that Sapkowski created such a large universe that you can squeeze everything there, like into "WarCraft", but this genre probably gives them even more. I say "I guess" because I'm not a big fan of this genre and I only know it from 2.3 books, a few anime, a few games + movies and the accounts of people from my family who introduced me to this world. If only because it is the future and people have much greater opportunities and access to knowledge. Coming back to Panama, because I devoted a little too little space to it, it reminds me a bit of Shani from "The Witcher". Karol, during one of the talks about W3, said something like this - "She is a normal and life girl who you always want to come back to". I think of Panama in a similar way from our first meeting to the final, apart from the fact that, unlike her, she is a nervous and screaming girl. A simple girl to talk to about anything and do a lot of things. He doesn't sit around and complain, instead he prefers to devote time to his hobby, which is closer to male than female interests. If we add extraordinary beauty to it, then ... do we have the best Waifu for nerds? Well, or at least one of the best. There is also the River that I remembered about after writing this segment of the text. Hmm ... I will say yes, its thread was not bad, but I cannot rate it above +7/10 - standard, good school work, but without outstanding inventiveness. The stage of his nephew's accident was a little more interesting, but not so much that it would give rise to a better opinion about him. Romance with him was ok, additional quest too (if we play a man and we can't romance), but no revelation.
Don't get me wrong, the game I am discussing is not weak in this regard, but I was not impressed either. I will say right away that I am limited to Fixers, because I do not have much to say about the rest of the character (what can I say about Alt, Saul, Misty or Viktor?). We didn't have a lot of interactions, so it's hard for me to say anything about them, but then again, I can't criticize any of them either. Or at least I don't know why - neither of them disappointed me. As for the Fixers, I liked them, they fit this world, but their history, orders, contribution to our adventure were a bit of a disappointment for me. I was expecting something better after so many years of waiting. I know it was difficult to develop them in the form that CDPRed took (in the sense of talking heads that call us sometimes), but you could develop their characters, give some more personal quests where they could showcase their character. It seems to me that it could be done without too much interference in the source code - after all, what would happen if you expand a few orders a bit or at least do what many students do in schools - enrich your text with a few clever sentences, develop character characteristics etc.? Ok, that would be a forceful solution, kind of like painting grass with green paint, but I think it would have been better. And certainly the characters would be less random - because while I remember quite well Padre, Regina, Rogue, Dakota or Dexter, the rest are a bunch of random people for me, like most opponents from "Dragon Ball" aka. characters extracted from RPG Maker based on free assets. They do not have to be very extensive, as Marvel showed, you can easily make a short scene that we will remember for years + will outline a character or strongly emphasize a character trait. For example, Regina could have a close bond with one of the victims of cyber psychosis, and her search would be a bit more extensive - would it be difficult to sacrifice one Random and make him an old colleague? Or save her brother, friend, colleague (yes, there was one similar plot, but it could have been done much better). Padre fared a bit better (because he stands out with something, apart from the pirate armband), but he could also be further developed, not only in religious texts and his approach to achieving goals - he is probably least bothered by the fact that we make unnecessary trouble during tasks ( by the way, was it just pissing me off this inconsistency for a badly done job? Dex had very good lyrics, great voice and great introduction. Generally, I like such a design of a huge Mokebe with chains ... Unfortunately, we say goodbye to him very quickly. Rogue had a very nice start, her date with Johnny was ok too, but apart from that and a few flashback scenes, I don't remember having anything interesting with her. V and the others talked so much about Wakako; her cunning, guarding her interests, tough character, and ultimately she is an ordinary, nice lady who showed her character only when the script required it. And in fact, with this statement, I can sum up most of the characters in this game - I didn't feel they were "living" characters living their lives when we left them (as in "Witcher 3" or HxH or OP, if we're talking about anime). I saw them as NPCs who politely line up, waiting for their moment to show the character outline, and then, once they have done their job, they are more or less to me what phone booths in GTA1 do - a little chatter and a task.
[Contracts]
Unfortunately, I did not manage to achieve my goal - I wanted to focus 100% on the main thread during the second playthrough in order to reliably evaluate it. I devoted my free time to something else, and when I was playing, the desire to grind prevailed over my resolve. I wanted to do this because over the years I had seen a lot of discussions regarding the side quests as well as the main plot of "Witcher 3". People debated whether the main plot was bad or good, what its pacing looks like, whether the script was well written, etc. The same goes for additional tasks - are they schematic, have the creators fully used their potential, etc. As for the overall rating of this main assignment, it represented the level of a good show - it's not "Generally good, but it's a typical 7/10, which you will soon forget", just something a little better. After "The Witcher" I had higher expectations - his script was more intriguing to me and had more threads that I wanted to know. Sure, it had boring stages or stages that were underdeveloped (or could have been better portrayed), and there were also elements that were simply bad (storyline from Wild Hunt, but that's only in the finals, because they were great at building the mood in the first half of the game), but looking from the perspective of the whole, I am not able to put the plot of CP2077 higher than the search for Ciri.
When it comes to the main plot and the universe itself, on the one hand I am delighted with these two aspects, but on the other hand I think that more could be done. For example, they could have been inspired more by "Ghost in the Shell" or by classic literature of this genre. Due to the fact that I do not know the genre, I cannot correctly formulate my expectations, but I can say that I was missing something. Speaking of GitS, the parade scene from the 2nd movie was incomparably better, and so was the fight with the victim of cyber psychosis (a reference to the iconic fight with GitS 1, which at the time of the premiere ripped the ass in half), which here was reduced to kicking some ass a random policewoman. I have already written about the fact that I miss strong scenes with characters (something like the plot in Kaer Morhen, Triss Merigold, Emperor Emhyr, Zoltan Chivay, Dijkstra and his coup d'état). Yes, we have Johhny, a very nice thread with Nomads, Alt and Black Wall + a few others, but apart from the 1st and 3rd thread (the one with the Nomads is only equal to them during some stages, IMO), the previous CDPRed game is noticeably better in my opinion . I feel more connected with The Witchers and other heroes of that universe, the world of The Witcher is more "full" and diverse for me (and I rarely use FastTravel, so I could compare the two worlds). There is also something else, but I am not able to put it logically in my head and I do not know what to call it correctly. It is true that I prefer psychological and social elements that Sapkowski smuggled into his world, but the same (only usually worse) we have in CP2077 + I prefer cyberpunk and the future over fantasy, or such quasi-medieval climates.
As I said, there are two exceptions - Alt and Silverhand. Beginning with his better half, every conversation scene with her, the first walk through Blackwall, every time I went online was a wonderful experience. I don't know if I appreciate it more than the best threads from the 3rd game about Geralt, but it is definitely one of the best. Even my girlfriend, who is not interested in this subject, and thus - completely does not understand my admiration for the creation of the network in "Tron" or "Cyberpunk 2077", was very impressed when we crossed the barrier, talked to Alt, and at the end we got a bittersweet ending. Like me, she watched the entire screen of the TV, eyes wide to catch every detail, I even noticed the moment when she opened her mouth with delight. It felt like the first screening, when I consciously watched "Ghost in the Shell" from 1995. I emphasize the word "consciously" - I had seen this movie twice before, but I was too stupid and my perspective was too narrow to understand it. I am referring specifically to the moment when the Puppet Master articulated his demands and explained who he was. I sensed a similar aura on the part of Alt, which can also be called the "God of the web" - power, authority, and the characteristic of such beings, zero empathy (relatively, presenting dry information). As for Johnny I have nothing to add, beautiful relationship - I laughed a lot, sometimes pissed off, sometimes commented on his reactions or behavior, but when I got to the second ending, I was sad for 2 days. Especially since I doubted Silverhand and finally ruined our relationship by calling him the son of a bitch who plotted Alt. As for the Nomads - as I said, I only liked excerpts. It wasn't a bad thread, but it wasn't good enough to be great for me. He had his moments, e.g. emotional reminiscences of the fallen, great elements in which our bonds strengthened (conversation before the attack on Arasaka Tower, fragments of the fight when we lost more family members, a common campfire in the second half of the game, Saul's arguments with Panama and a few others ), but apart from them, it was not particularly special. It's like watching a series on the verge between good and very good.
As for the side quests, let me say briefly - they did not bother me. I love grind and repeating the same steps is okay for me as long as I like the game. The problem only arises when I catch myself reaching 100% and just waste my time if I have better things to do that I can listen to videos on on YT as well. For now, however, this does not apply to CP2077. Is it a defect? Let me put it this way - we rarely get "100% meat" and we are doomed to clogs and fillers when consuming food or pop culture works. If meat and vegetables make up about 70% of the meal / content (and it is good), then I cannot consider it a disadvantage, or at least not a big one, unless some thread makes me feel sorry for 70% of the content. I don't know what the proportions look like here, because I didn't count, but it seems to me that the vast majority of side quests are just such stuffers. Is it bad? Looking objectively - yes, this is indisputably a flaw. Subjectively - you may like it and it does not mean that you are in a bad taste (as long as we do not overly defend it and pretend that the ugly duck is a beautiful swan), because as I wrote in the text on evaluation, we can like everything. If I didn't like CP2077 I would consider it a disadvantage, however I like it so I don't see any criticisms that would really bother me. Apart from the fact that they could be expanded, and the creators could work on them longer. For pity, I omit the fact that the creators could easily add, let's say every 2-3 months, add some tasks, even if these were only to artificially develop the game. Soon it will be 2 years from the game's premiere, and I do not remember that the developers added any new tasks (apart from the latest patch, where they announced DLC). For comparison, "AC: Valhalla" from what I know from my friend Desther, every now and then has new content of this type, so if you want, you can. This sadness grows even more when I think about what could be improved in this game (e.g. when remembering more titles in this genre or reading "Altered Carbon", when you are already reading this text, I'm halfway through) ...
[Gameplay]
I will break this part down into several stages to make it as legible as possible. I'll start with the cars. Some are quite fun to drive, but most are hard to drive and time-consuming to learn. And it has nothing to do with the fact that different car models drive differently (due to some nuances, different manufacturers, parts etc. - info for those who don't drive a car), as I originally thought. Besides, I am a hopeless case when it comes to arcade games and I always have a hard time playing such games or going through the stages of it (and there are 2.3 quests where we drive a car and have to make it). However, I turned on the new "Gran Turismo", where after 2 routes I was driving quite well - still far from a good virtual driver, but at least I can drive there relatively easily. In CP2077, however, it needs to be practiced just like shooting, before we can move them reasonably well. It didn't take me long, but it is a drawback of the game, as is the poor controls in the case of "Gothic 1" for example. Only motorbike driving is relatively simple and painless. To wrap up the topic of cars, the damage system is fucking awful. Even in GTA 1 (a game from 1997 and already then considered a trash can) it was probably slightly better. And even if I am wrong, the CDPRed product has not strayed too far from it, just as man is in some respects no different from his ancestor who discovered fire tens of thousands of years ago. Cars can take a lot of injuries, they have to be badly damaged to show clear symptoms of damage. I don't know much about games from this point of view, but I don't need to be an expert on this subject to see that we've gone much further. I would be able to justify it if CP2077 stood out in other respects and it would have to be sacrificed for simplifications in other cases. However, this is not the case, the game stands out in this respect only in terms of plot and characters (and partially), which has not much to do with gameplay. I haven't fought much in hand-to-hand or melee combat, so I don't know how it is. Boxing is maybe slightly better than in "Witcher 3".
As I said, shooting is not much better. It is true that as the character develops, we will hit the head more often, etc. but the beginning was tragic each time. Mainly because even after I learned to shoot, it was still difficult for me without strong weapons and, above all, hp and strong armor, which allowed me to survive longer during the shooting. For comparison, I played very well in "Borderlands" and "Doom 4". This is far from the fluency of the mouse and keyboard, but once I get into the game and get my fingers used to it, it is quite easy to play regardless of the level (unless it is difficult). On the other hand, if you break through this layer of hopelessness, then it only gets easier ... As long as you do not want to relive the adventure, then the "nightmare" returns. And most of all it's nice - I have a lot of fun with dismembering opponents with shotguns or headshots with a sniper rifle or a pistol. Developing and modifying weapons is pretty standard - it could have been done better, but also much worse, so I'm not complaining here. If they have no experience, I prefer to get something already known than the broken game mechanics. Speaking of development, I like the hero development tree. I don't know if any skills are important or not, I never analyze it until I play online. I take or develop the skills that are useful to me for the game or for faster grind, and only change them when I feel like my character has really fainted. Therefore, I say right away, do not expect from me a reliable opinion on this matter. I like it, I like an extensive skill system that gives a lot of possibilities. Talents are not unique, but I don't mind. Nevertheless, I agree with the critics that also in this matter something more could be done than CDPRed did, so another disadvantage.
For the sake of equalization, I will tell you about the great advantage of this game. Braindance is not a mechanic that I can treat as a "game-changer" (i.e. a feature that is so unique that it will be of great importance to the game and the entire gaming - see "Doom", "Quake 1", DN3D "Half Life 1" and "Half Life 2"), I also cannot consider it a great advantage of the game, because in my opinion we deal with it too rarely. If it had been more frequent, maybe I would have had a different opinion. However, I can say that this is an important advantage that, in my opinion, is worth taking into account when assessing. I hope that with the DLC or a possible continuation, the creators will develop this idea. I like the fact that we can penetrate into someone else's memories, and thus view what the ears, eyes or body of the person whose memory is being browsed through. I don't remember seeing anything like that in another game (as opposed to, for example, the detective mode, which, as far as I remember, the creators of the game about Geralt stole from the Batman trilogy from Rocksteady). At first I thought it would be too hard to grasp, but fortunately it was only a semblance, because it can be learned relatively quickly - as in the case of Protocol Violation. Explaining Braindance from the perspective of the game characters is even better. If we have such opportunities today in 2022, what will happen in 55 years? Since many people are already overloaded with stimuli (which is why it is worth doing a dopamine detox from time to time), we have a lot of pleasures that our grandparents' generation did not dream of (because our parents, at least some, still embrace today's world), what will it be later? The more that the perspective of the next decade looks really interesting, if we only have enough money to be able to test it all personally. Feeling a character's emotions in a given activity may be one of the paths we take in the development of the entertainment industry. A similar vision was presented by the author of the books "Altered Carbon" (recently I reviewed his adaptation, which I HIGHLY recommend), even explaining this phenomenon, that is explaining what drives people who want to watch it, is similar to the one from the game.
Well, let's not be that I praise too much, then... The police work tragically and from what I've heard from people who know game-dev, it's impossible to fix it. Once, as a young teenager, I read an article in a computer magazine that some things or bugs couldn't be fixed if the game had gone too far. In such situations, you have to start work anew (because it is not always possible to get some mechanics out of the game without affecting the rest of the code - it seems to me that this is the norm rather than the exception), and I do not need to explain what it means for such large projects that have consumed a lot of resources. Apparently it was even worse before the patches, which is hard for me to imagine. The police can still suddenly appear, as if Goku transferred them from the police station to the street using Instant Transmission. You can shoot them, kill a few policemen, and then we will run our motorbike towards the setting sun ... Oh no, this is not the game ... him and we don't even need upgraded legs for that) and the police won't be chasing us. Well, one day I drank a lot of alcohol and walked around "Night City" for jokes, then I stole a police car, killing 2-3 squads of policemen and crashed all over the city ... No consequences in this regard. Fuck, GTA 1 has handled it better xD. At least there, we had to take the trouble to get to the place where we change the color of the car + have enough money for this, and here we do not even need this. Because of this, I cannot take them seriously, I can only laugh at them.
As for the rest of the stuff, exploration is standard. The only problem I have is a lot of redundant items to collect, probably more than in the case of the Witcher 3 expansion. If it wasn't for the talent for automatic disassembly, I would be complaining, and so we have a disadvantage that does not bother me. The disadvantage that bothers me is the sex scenes. And it's not that I like watching such scenes, because the fact that they exist is not a disadvantage or an advantage for me. Unless it is an important element of the gameplay or is simply badly implemented and CP failed on the latter point. The sex scenes in "The Witcher 3" were pretty, full of eroticism, hot feeling or other emotions. We may not have seen the female crotch, but you just need to turn on the PH and we have them to choose from to suit your color. Here they are poorly assembled, have no atmosphere, not to mention emotions. Probably only two scenes could match the sexual games of the game with Geralt, the rest of them did not even stand by. Coming back to the items for a moment, at first I found it difficult to distinguish between items that could be collected and items that could not be moved. However, I don't know if I can write it down as a disadvantage as I have had this feeling in almost every game and it seems to be a matter of eye habituation. I mention this because several people have mentioned it as a disadvantage on the internet. It is different in the case of shootings between the police and gangsters, of which there are more when we go to Act 3 (at the beginning there were also, but from what I noticed along with a few other Internet users, there were noticeably fewer of them). Nice thing, but imo added by force to breathe more life into this world - because you can't clog the whole game with these food or drink machines. I would have forgotten, I also saw arcade slot machines - only one, maybe two games are displayed on their screens. I didn't literally check every one of them, because I don't waste time, but I looked through enough to see that it was also a copy-paste space clog. I also have a problem with the reputation system which is as simple as it was in the game 15 years ago. Or otherwise, maybe it couldn't be done otherwise (it was limited by the game engine or it took too long to tinker with it, with little chance of success), relatively too late they realized that it did not work as planned and they had to simplify it. I also accept the thought that no other game has done him well in such a large and complex game (as Krystian rightly noticed when I discussed the game with him, assuming the role of a critic. Krystian, unlike me, knows about games and in several aspects. defended CP against my unfair criticism), which I am able to accept and understand. If not, then it's a bit weak - there are so many different gangs in the city fighting for spheres of influence that it's kind of ridiculous that we only have one reputation rating and not a few of them as in GTA 2 (if I'm wrong I'm sorry - this appeared in some part of the 2D graphics, before the GTA era in 3D).
[Music and graphics]
Let's move on to the things I have no major complaints about. Ba! There was only one thing that pissed me off, which is basically not bad music but a bug. In fact, not only me, because Internet users also noticed it on their consoles or PC - at some point we hear one song practically all the time. The song Streetfighters is about 3 minutes long, and due to some mistake, it loops and we hear it all the time. A new save doesn't help, a change of place in Night City doesn't help. It would have been a lifetime if the song wasn't as depressing as the Ghost Town theme from "Pokemon" on Game Boy. This bug made me so much fun to play that I had to turn my voice off as soon as I was driving around the map and gaining experience. When Aśki was not with me, I turned on films on YT, and when she did, she complained about a worse mood, which was also infecting me. That aside, the music in the game is really great! 10/10 I will not give it, because I expected something better, but I have absolutely no objections to the soundtrack and the songs that we will hear on the radio. Well, maybe apart from the fact that I ran out of songs from the Synthwave genre that would fit perfectly with CP2077, but that's a small, subjective remark. Instead, we have great electronic music, metal songs that let me relieve my nerves from work while visiting Night City, good beats to remember (but IMO weaker than OST from "Witcher 3"). I didn't listen to rap because it's not my genre. Thanks to them, it was pleasant to shoot, the level of healthy aggression was at a high level, it was possible to relieve stress, it was just great to drive around the city. On the other hand, the song Blackwall aka. The Alt Cunningham Theme is so epic that even before meeting Alt, it felt like my favorite anime moments and beyond. Ba! I felt a kind of respect mixed with humility before talking to her. I felt that what I was about to see would be HUGE and I wasn't really wrong - I felt it with every cell of my body. Once upon a time during a DBZ re-watch, I was delighted with the scene where we heard the song Battle Point Unlimited for the first time and I can compare them to each other. Both were well directed, the music was perfectly suited to the atmosphere, this particular moment and the emotions we felt as viewers or characters on the TV screen. In the case of DBZ, it was the "big balls moment" when the tyrant returned, who would have turned our heroes into a pile of rubbish, but was stopped by Trunks, who turned him into a kebab himself. In the case of CP, we saw the Goddess of the Internet, who is perhaps the most powerful being we have seen in this world (except maybe Arasaki's former boss - he may surpass her thanks to his resources and intellect). All in all, it's hard for me to imagine a better soundtrack for this type of game. It is a bit worse with the sounds of characters, which are too often repetitive. Even I (and as you know, I like to use foul language) felt a little disgusted and irritated when I heard for the 2137 time "let's fuck her !!!" or other words of the type when I pounced on too strong opponents and had to jump like a monkey in the combat area, eliminating opponents one by one, loading myself up with a Medkit just like George Floyd with fentanyl. And lest it were, the profanity itself does not bother me, because it is difficult for me to imagine a more sophisticated vocabulary during a battle, but they could add more lines of dialogue.
As for the linguistic version, this paragraph will be extremely short. I didn't play the original version for too long, because I didn't like Silverhand's voice and the NPC's (purely subjective impressions, I have no objections to them). As for the Polish version, CDPRed did a great job again! I still prefer voice actors from the game on the basis of Sapkowski's work, but in this case I am not able to clearly indicate which one I think is better. Most of the actors and actresses rose to the occasion. I say most because some voice actors haven't made an effort, or so I think. Again I will refer to Regina or Wakako which had a lot of potential, and in the end I didn't feel that they were important Night City characters, just some hurdles like V at the beginning of the game. There aren't too many of these characters, and I don't have much objection to them, just for some of them I felt that they didn't make an effort or were not suited to the role. Like for example Padre, but to be honest, it's not really about worse performance. I like Vessemir's voice, but I just don't like this Fixer. Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that after the death of the old Witcher, his voice stuck in my head forever. However, these are units that, in my opinion, do not matter much in relation to what has been achieved. V's voice, regardless of gender, is really good (especially female, awww!). Dexter, Panam, Takemura, Hanako Arasaka, her father Saburo are just amazing! I liked them for their voice from the very first scene and it didn't change until the very end. In fact, in some moments my feeling towards them became even warmer - these are the moments when they could show their character and give vent to their emotions.
I have already written about Dexter, his intonation, wise slogans as if he were a coach ... wonderful! And also about Panama, she has given us the most opportunity to listen to pure, unfettered emotions. Hanako is such a stereotypical girl from a strongly patriarchal Japanese society mixed with a cunning bitch - when she has no father, she acts like a calculating and ruthless lady who plays her game and does not care about the commoners, like V. When she appears alongside Saburo , it turns into a polite and humble little daughter who is at the beck and call of her toxic father. Saburo made a huge impression on me when I heard him after getting along with the corporation (my first ending), I felt like I was hearing a typical anime grandpa (like Yamamoto from Bleach or Muten Roshi from DB), but at the peak of my power. His voice was a perfect display of strength. But that's nothing against the fucking work of art that is Johnny "Michał Żebrowski" Silverhand. It was a complete surprise for me. I have heard before that his performance is one of the highlights, but I didn't expect him to be that good! I know that opinions in this case are divided and Keanu's version differs from Michael's interpretation. The Polish Silverhand is more swashbuckling and better suited to the creation of a nonconformist Rockman (by vocabulary, voice timbre which is more suited to the throat "tired" with alcohol and drugs). I have laughed many times at his jokes or malicious or vulgar comments towards corporations, people's stupidity and our wrong decisions. It was similar in the case of more serious matters, when vulgarly but truly, he commented on the state of society or the problems of our world. Most of them were not very innovative and I have heard such comments many times before, but this is not the fault of the creators. The problem has been known for several decades and a lot of wise people have commented on it, and people like me, for example, keep repeating it. Hope to hear it more often in these kinds of games because it fits perfectly with them!
Treat the paragraph on visual aspects with a lot of caution. I never knew it, and since I hardly ever play games when they launch (except in my childhood and early teens + current situation with PS5), my ignorance is even more apparent. Night City and its surroundings and people look very nice. Well, people a bit less, but I think they also perform well compared to the competition. Or otherwise - as long as these important characters, which have a unique appearance and we see them more than once, have been refined and I have no major complaints (especially in the case of Panama, although I expected something more from these delights about her firm ass - it is nice, but does not take off his shoes from the impression), so much ordinary townspeople ... They look rather ok? As for the city, its architecture made a great impression on me. You can see that a lot of attention has been paid to it and unlike the rest of the game, this aspect has been polished. I rarely use Fast Travel, for the reasons I described earlier, I prefer to move with a vehicle or on my own legs, so I was able to explore them well. The views are not as impressive as in "Ghost of Tsushima" (or at least there aren't that many of them), but this is probably partly due to the fact that the "dead" city, built of reinforced concrete, metal and overloaded with electronics, makes less impression than nature. A couple of times I stopped on the roof of a tall building and watched Night City from above or traveled out of town to several points from which I could observe the panorama of the city. Personally, I prefer city views in the newest movie "City Hunter", but it's purely subjective. If you like GitS, "Psycho-Pass", "Altered Carbon", both parts of "Blade Runner" then you will feel right at home. The work of CDPR takes full advantage of them, and at the same time adds something from itself. As I said, I am not a fanatic of this genre, but it so happened in my life that I have had contact with him since I was a child thanks to my father, his brother, and my friends (Wojtek, Krystian) and colleagues did not let me forget about him. I also have a very good memory, so I can tell without any problems what they borrowed from other works (by copying to their product or getting inspired by making it into their own needs). The only caveat I have is that the city seems a bit small to the world from W3, but maybe that will change when they release a DLC that will expand it. I have no opinion about the models of weapons, elements of the environment and items to pick up, because I do not know anything about it anymore.
[Summary]
As I wrote in the introduction, I have spent a lot of time on this review, both on research, rethinking my allegations, and writing. I wanted the text to be as reliable as possible and to use as many notes as possible (because, unfortunately, you cannot always say about everything - after all, it must be pleasant to read and have some structure). As with the "Dark" analysis, I partially bent the rule I just wrote about. In both cases, I could afford it - these two titles are so complex and ambitious that it is difficult to include all observations in one text or recording on YT and you have to make some compromises. Certainly, I have omitted some aspects, or I have devoted too little space to those I mentioned - this is normal for reviews of smaller titles, let alone the larger ones. While the creators of "Dark" somehow managed to make a meaningful, consistent work (although they also did not avoid some mistakes), in which they included everything they wanted after starting work on this project, CDPRed fell victim to its own exorbitant ambitions. Of course, I don't compare the two media, it would be terrible stupidity on my part, it was just about this one aspect. A few months after the premiere, we found out that there was a terrible mess in the studio and our developers worked in a chaotic way, despite the fact that world standards are completely different (these are not my words, but people who know programming and game development - I verified it with my friend, who knows the topic from both the player's and the programmer's side). I am not surprised, this approach is unfortunately still too common among Poles (although maybe I am wrong and there are fewer and fewer such cases). Generally, by this way of creating the game, they deprived themselves of the possibility of fixing at least some bugs. I remember with Karol, Michał and Krystian wondering a year before the premiere, if they made the same mistakes as with "Witcher 3". Then I referred to a recording that I heard from Boris (a colleague of Rock Alone, who, unlike him, knows about games and has a reliable approach to work), when about 10-14 months before the premiere, he repeated the words he heard from the developers "Cyberpunk 2077 "-" Game won't run properly. While it works somehow on PC, new Xbox and PS5, it doesn't want to work properly on PS4 and the same old hardware as hell. "Well, he was right, and fortunately I trusted him and I took a distance from the game ...
Despite these bugs, flaws and all the criticism from me, I really like this game! It is very immersive, perhaps even more than "The Witcher". Probably this is due to the fact that we created "our" character, and did not control Geralt, and despite all the limitations, we had a bit more influence on the creation of our protagonist. Nevertheless, I write it down as an advantage. Just as "The Witcher" is a better title for me in terms of story, characters and atmosphere, CP is a more immersive title for me. I don't think I will remember this title as well as the previous CDPR project, but I certainly cannot agree with the opponents of this game (as well as with its supporters, as I hear that "I had no mistake and had a lot of fun, what did you fuck guy "- you have to be quite ignorant to negate the mistakes that most players have). It is a good product (after many corrections), which has been spoiled by underdevelopment, too much chaos and excess of ambition. If CD Project Red lowered the hype a bit, pumped it endlessly, chattered loudly, "You say the previous game was great? Fuck, wait for the new one, just get you off the board!" be an outstanding game. And this is only good ... After many corrections. Well, not to end in a sad way, at least we saw how many reviewers are selling pigs that rated CP2077 on the day of the premiere at 10/10. Every reviewer who did this already has a red card with me. Bribes with bribes, but have a little dignity, scammers. Because of you, people lost some money and were disappointed. In my opinion, the game deserves a price of PLN 100-150 (if version 1.5 was available immediately in the store), although I think that I am too optimistic and PLN 100 is the maximum possible amount that you can pay for this underdeveloped product. For me, CP2077 deserved +7/10.