Cyberpunk 2077

[Edge-]

Yeah, but you get over it in 30 seconds. Are you a dude? Ever played a female in a game? Did that take up the majority of your thoughts on the game?

In a role-playing game? Yeah, sometimes, actually. My D&D character is female so I have to keep that in mind as I roleplay her.

Now, real-life money and real lives are at stake here. Millions if not billions have been spent and I'd hate to see CDPR lose one single penny because of these ridiculous articles that just talk about their own views of the main character and not reviewing the game.

Reviewers are not a part of the marketing team for the developer. They have no responsibility to do anything more than give their honest opinion - good or bad. It doesn't matter if CDPR spend $1.2B on this game or if they spent $20K on the game.

You're giving up the game that you're simply mad at criticism directed towards the game, every game launched is a risk for the company.

You seem to be confused as to the purpose of critics and reviews. Neither exists as a marketing tool to sell more of whatever product is being sold.

[Feeline10]

Ah you're his personal interpreter. That's cute. We all know what he meant though. Also people can care about whatever they want to care about in a game. That's kind of how opinions work. Why does it bother you so much?

Uh actually, he was dead on. I never meant trans people are weirdos, you can keep trying to spin that -- but clearly anyone can see that isn't what I typed nor what I meant. Gaming reviewers who OBSESS on THIS ONE ASPECT and don't REVIEW THE GAME are weirdos. Correct.

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Oh yea god forbid your favorite corporation that you think is your best friend lose a few purchases. The horror.

You're missing the part where corporations are so afraid of 2020 kids that ANY ENTERTAINMENT medium will be forced to stay vanilla and not take chances due to being chastised and ultimately, lose out on their ROI. Imagine of CyberPunk 2077 had been made even 10 years ago how much cooler it'd be? Food for thought.

[Tech614]

Uh actually, he was dead on. I never meant trans people are weirdos, you can keep trying to spin that -- but clearly anyone can see that isn't what I typed nor what I meant. Gaming reviewers who OBSESS on THIS ONE ASPECT and don't REVIEW THE GAME are weirdos. Correct.

Of course you didn't. You just think people that want trans inclusive options are weirdos wink wink. Once again they care choose to care about whatever they want to care about in their review... that's how opinions work why does it bother you?

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You're missing the part where corporations are so afraid of 2020 kids that ANY ENTERTAINMENT medium will be forced to stay vanilla and not take chances due to being chastised and ultimately, lose out on their ROI. Imagine of CyberPunk 2077 had been made even 10 years ago how much cooler it'd be? Food for thought.

Vanilla? This game is about as vanilla as you can get, white male protag marketing, fps gameplay, GTA style trailer editing. They literally played it as vanilla and safe as can be given the setting. There is no amazing innovation happening here lmao. All hail CDPR for taking the biggest risk in gaming history with probably one of the safest releases in gaming history! You can't make this shit up.

[tikcol]

Ah you're his personal interpreter. That's cute. We all know what he meant though. Also people can care about whatever they want to care about in a game. That's kind of how opinions work. Why does it bother you so much?

Just feels like you're trying to derail the thread.

I edited my comment on how great it will be to play with balls boobs but no dick I feel like it will make my roleplaying experience much more immersive.

What about you?

[Feeline10]

In a role-playing game? Yeah, sometimes, actually. My D&D character is female so I have to keep that in mind as I roleplay her.



Reviewers are not a part of the marketing team for the developer. They have no responsibility to do anything more than give their honest opinion - good or bad. It doesn't matter if CDPR spend $1.2B on this game or if they spent $20K on the game.

You're giving up the game that you're simply mad at criticism directed towards the game, every game launched is a risk for the company.

You seem to be confused as to the purpose of critics and reviews. Neither exists as a marketing tool to sell more of whatever product is being sold.

Everything you're saying is correct. I believe the silent majority wishes it was 10-15 years ago and these types of things weren't discussed ad-nauesum by anyone who can write up a "review" on a gaming website. You're pointing out the blatantly obvious, but it saddens me to see a company work so hard only to be broken down by some Kotaku no one in 500 words or less on how she couldn't relate to the pronouns, or whatever she or he or it complained about. There was hardly anything about the game in there! LOL. It's too funny to keep discussing. The hilarity of it all.

[RobertoCarlos]

Everything you're saying is correct. I believe the silent majority wishes it was 10-15 years ago and these types of things weren't discussed ad-nauesum by anyone who can write up a "review" on a gaming website. You're pointing out the blatantly obvious, but it saddens me to see a company work so hard only to be broken down by some Kotaku no one in 500 words or less on how she couldn't relate to the pronouns, or whatever she or he or it complained about. There was hardly anything about the game in there! LOL. It's too funny to keep discussing. The hilarity of it all.

Only crazy people think they speak for the "silent majority" that's some dictatorship level shit son

[Feeline10]

Of course you didn't. You just think people that want trans inclusive options are weirdos wink wink. Once again they care choose to care about whatever they want to care about in their review... that's how opinions work why does it bother you?

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Vanilla? This game is about as vanilla as you can get, white male protag marketing, fps gameplay, GTA style trailer editing. They literally played it as vanilla and safe as can be given the setting. There is no amazing innovation happening here lmao. All hail CDPR for taking the biggest risk in gaming history with probably one of the safest releases in gaming history! You can't make this shit up.

Bingo! DING DING DING! Your thoughts have come to fruition and you've made sense!

They took no innovation. It is extremely vanilla. Think this harkens back to the woman in the sidewalk who was.. too sexualized and people cried? Think it harkens back to the ad on the sidewalk with the woman with the erection in blue selling a soft drink?

You're getting it! More and more, entertainment will be afraid to take chances and live outside the norm because of the 2020 kids. This is the only beef I have -- as seen in how much ink was gotten in the Kotaku (or Polygon.. don't remember) article!

You're putting it together now friend!

[RobertoCarlos]

Just feels like you're trying to derail the thread.

I edited my comment on how great it will be to play with balls boobs but no dick I feel like it will make my roleplaying experience much more immersive.

What about you?

You can't see them for 99% of the game so feel free to give yourself some nice round pink balls. Perhaps you'll catch them in a mirror

[tikcol]

You can't see them for 99% of the game so feel free to give yourself some nice round pink balls. Perhaps you'll catch them in a mirror

Well now that you mention it I don't see my own balls 99% of the time but just knowing they're there makes me feel good

[Edge-]

I believe the silent majority wishes

And I believe the silent majority wants people complaining about "ess jay dubs" to shut up. That's the beauty of the silent majority, they're silent. So you can argue that they're saying whatever you want them to say.

Ignoring the fact that, for better or worse, sites like Polygon and Kotaku have grown in traffic over the years which kinda makes the "SILENT MAJORITY" argument a bit more difficult.

You're pointing out the blatantly obvious, but it saddens me to see a company work so hard only to be broken down by some Kotaku no one in 500 words or less on how she couldn't relate to the pronouns

Well, it was reviewed by Riley at Kotaku and he's a dude. Also, I didn't know that Kotaku had the power to single handedly kill a game's launch? And that's a gross mischaracterization of what is a MASSIVE review that touches on all aspects of the game, speaking more to what you focused on in their review rather than the whole review itself.

There was hardly anything about the game in there!

Cyberpunk 2077, the most recent game from Witcher developer CD Projekt Red, was first announced in 2012. In the last couple years, it’s had an onslaught of hype and dripfed information, most of which I’ve ignored. The developers have promised unlimited freedom, unparalleled graphics, and cameos from celebrities like Grimes and Keanu Reeves. Much of what I’ve seen, though, has been a turnoff, a sign of a game that might be desperate to be edgy. Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed multiple times in the past year, and developers crunched to finish it despite the studio’s several promises they wouldn’t. It’s courted controversy prior to release for negative depictions of trans people, trucking in racial stereotypes, and the labor practices of its development. Its pre-release life has all been so much noise, the game’s marketing department and segments of its fanbase desperate to tell you how Good and Cool and Important it is. You’d be excused for being sick of it already, or just ready for everyone to stop talking and put it in your hands.

I haven’t fallen in love with playing Cyberpunk 2077, but I haven’t loathed it either. Some moments have been exciting or moving, while others have just felt like stuff to do. I’m middle-of-the-road on it so far—having fun in spots, left wanting the game to be more like what made The Witcher 3 great in others. The game itself wants so badly for you to think it’s cool, that it’s the cutting edge of graphics and game design, that it talks about edgy topics like body modification, corporate power, and the internet. It tries too hard, stuffing itself with a tangle of complicated roleplaying game systems; with so many cyberpunk tropes, plots, and slang; with neon and holograms and so many in-game ads, most of them for sex; with car chases and hacking and corporate espionage and double-crossing powerful people; with a world where the human body is made obsolete with money and technology, while also chewed up and spat out for the sake of capital.

But I still have a lot of game left to play. Kotaku got the game less than a week before embargo, and only on PC. (CDPR has not sent us code for the console version of the game, though we’ve been asking.) Even putting aside most of my other editorial and job duties, after 30 active hours of play and more spent in menus and glossaries, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of Cyberpunk’s massive world. The game is divided into a prologue and three acts, and I’m currently somewhere in Act II, juggling multiple main story quests and a jaw-dropping abundance of side activities, simultaneously about to meet with a street gang, plan next steps with a character bent on revenge, and do various personal quests for characters I’ve met. While at first I attempted to mainline the plot for the purposes of review, curiosity about the world and the sidequests got the better of me, as well as the necessity of veering off the main plot for the sake of gaining necessary XP to level up my character. Like The Witcher 3, it’s a game I want to play slowly, which is at odds with the nature of reviewing. As such, I’ve decided to hit on the game’s main facets here, and present my thoughts on them so far, with a full review to come later.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a futuristic, first-person open-world roleplaying game, based on a tabletop RPG that first came out in 1988. It’s about a mercenary named V who, unlike the strong personality of The Witcher’s Geralt, is more of a canvas for the player to paint. Your appearance can be customized with a range of skin colors, hairstyles, and features. Rather than picking between “male” and “female,” you choose a traditionally male or female body type and choose between two penis types or one vagina. The pronoun characters use for you is either “he” or “she” based on your voice.

V lives in the California metropolis of Night City in the year 2077, when corporations have taken over the world and everyone has filled their bodies with cybernetic implants. How V gets there is dictated by one of your background choices; my V is a nomad, a smuggler who starts the game in the outskirts called the Badlands. That background gives me specific dialogue options throughout the game, such as commenting on the clan of nomads I left behind, or getting quest information from another nomad whose clothes I recognize. Whatever background you choose, a big heist goes wrong, and V finds himself in possession of a hot piece of technology: a biochip that promises a form of immortality. This gets him involved with Johnny Silverhand, a rock star-turned-terrorist who died decades ago and wants revenge. Silverhand looks just like Keanu Reeves, who voices him, and he talks in a way I can best describe as “Keanu Reeves is voice acting.” Keanu Reeves skulking into a scene to voice act can be distracting, but he can also be interesting and charming. To deal with all this, V makes friends and enemies with various Night City street gangs and power players, working as a gun/hacker/smuggler-for-hire for anyone who’ll pay or offer information, be that gangs, individuals, or the Night City Police Department. Main missions I’ve played so far have involved glitzy hacking heists in expensive locales, kidnappings requiring lots of explosions, and looking for information in a high-end, high-tech sex club. I’ve also used a technology called a Braindance that lets me experience people’s memories in first person, then zoom around inside them with a third-person camera to focus on audio, visual, and heat clues. It’s a sometimes clunky but compelling system that you’ll understand if you saw the 1995 movie Strange Days.

It’s all just so cyberpunk, a modern game in love with decades of books, movies, and anime about the nihilistic techno-future. From the jump, everyone talks in incomprehensible slang, the kind of thing I love to let wash over me when reading a William Gibson novel, but maddening as I struggled to parse conversations or find an item with a technobabble name that gave no clue as to what it was. The dialogue can sometimes be ridiculous: I cracked up when, in all seriousness, a character told me they would send me the “detes” about an emotionally-charged situation.

I snipped out some of the parts that bother you, but here are the first 7 paragraphs without the "complaining about pronouns", while still lightly touching on some of those aspects as they're a part of the game (like body modification).

You're straight up lying.

[RobertoCarlos]

Well now that you mention it I don't see my own balls 99% of the time but just knowing they're there makes me feel good

Then maybe you need to go for a walk/run and lose the belly fat blocking your view

[Feeline10]

And I believe the silent majority wants people complaining about "ess jay dubs" to shut up. That's the beauty of the silent majority, they're silent. So you can argue that they're saying whatever you want them to say.

Ignoring the fact that, for better or worse, sites like Polygon and Kotaku have grown in traffic over the years which kinda makes the "SILENT MAJORITY" argument a bit more difficult.



Well, it was reviewed by Riley at Kotaku and he's a dude. Also, I didn't know that Kotaku had the power to single handedly kill a game's launch? And that's a gross mischaracterization of what is a MASSIVE review that touches on all aspects of the game, speaking more to what you focused on in their review rather than the whole review itself.





I snipped out some of the parts that bother you, but here are the first 7 paragraphs without the "complaining about pronouns", while still lightly touching on some of those aspects as they're a part of the game (like body modification).

You're straight up lying.

Look at the comments down below, and maybe it was from another website. All the websites have this 2020, left-wing "can I relate / is it woke enough / is it progressive enough" leaning. I'm pointing out that there used to be a time when game reviews.. reviewed the game. Calling me a liar is rather strong, by the way. Try and keep it civil, it's only a gaming forum. Don't let yourself get so worked up.

Edit: This genuinely isn't the article by the way, the one you've snipped.

[rhorle]

I snipped out some of the parts that bother you, but here are the first 7 paragraphs without the "complaining about pronouns", while still lightly touching on some of those aspects as they're a part of the game (like body modification).

You're straight up lying.

Wait you think that talks about the game? Guns? Skills? Mechanics? It is safe to classify that is hardly talking about the game because it reads like a op-ed summary of something rather then reviewing the actually game.

[Edge-]

Look at the comments down below, and maybe it was from another website.

What comments? In the article? Why should I care about the comments on a review?

All the websites have this 2020, left-wing "can I relate / is it woke enough / is it progressive enough" leaning.

First off, no they don't. Plenty of sites like One Angry Gamer or niche sites like Lewd Gamer (very NSFW) out there that appeal to folks different tastes. Kotaku, and Polygon which is more recent, have been been known to be more politically active and progressive sites. This ain't news to anyone and it ain't sudden. It

I'm pointing out that there used to be a time when game reviews.. reviewed the game.

They still do. But just like all criticism for art forms, it's evolved over time as the art form matures. Just like movie, TV, or music reviews will touch on the social aspects conveyed in the movie/show/song, game reviews now do the same.

There are still plenty of sites that focus on the old basics - graphics, gameplay, audio, performance etc. - if that's all you want. Again, nobody is forcing you to read Kotaku or Polygon.

Calling me a liar is rather strong, by the way.

You're repeatedly asserted that the Kotaku review focuses primarily on pronouns etc. and you've been aggressive and adamant about that "fact". I showed you that you're painfully wrong, and it makes me question whether you've even read the review (either one, actually) or are just parroting what you've read elsewhere.

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Wait you think that talks about the game? Guns? Skills? Mechanics? It is safe to classify that is hardly talking about the game because it reads like a op-ed summary of something rather then reviewing the actually game.

Because those are the intro paragraphs to what is easily 2-3K words worth of review. That's setting up the review, and there are thousands of words devoted to talking about combat, skills, story elements etc. later on in the review.

[DarkAmbient]

I do think the game looks good, but damn they really did go all in on the "everything is red and blue" aesthetic.

[Feeline10]

What comments? In the article? Why should I care about the comments on a review?



First off, no they don't. Plenty of sites like One Angry Gamer or niche sites like Lewd Gamer (very NSFW) out there that appeal to folks different tastes. Kotaku, and Polygon which is more recent, have been been known to be more politically active and progressive sites. This ain't news to anyone and it ain't sudden. It



They still do. But just like all criticism for art forms, it's evolved over time as the art form matures. Just like movie, TV, or music reviews will touch on the social aspects conveyed in the movie/show/song, game reviews now do the same.

There are still plenty of sites that focus on the old basics - graphics, gameplay, audio, performance etc. - if that's all you want. Again, nobody is forcing you to read Kotaku or Polygon.



You're repeatedly asserted that the Kotaku review focuses primarily on pronouns etc. and you've been aggressive and adamant about that "fact". I showed you that you're painfully wrong, and it makes me question whether you've even read the review (either one, actually) or are just parroting what you've read elsewhere.

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Because those are the intro paragraphs to what is easily 2-3K words worth of review. That's setting up the review, and there are thousands of words devoted to talking about combat, skills, story elements etc. later on in the review.

No it's just you snipped the wrong article lol. I need to find the right one. And still regardless of that, everything you snipped - that's from a 2020 game review. For real. I mean just let that sink in lol. It's all so silly.

[rhorle]

Because those are the intro paragraphs to what is easily 2-3K words worth of review. That's setting up the review, and there are thousands of words devoted to talking about combat, skills, story elements etc. later on in the review.

Yet you used that to try to claim that the person you quoted was "straight up lying". But nothing you posted goes against the part you pointed out he was lying about which was "There was hardly anything about the game in there!". It is weird how you intentionally choose to pick the parts that prove his argument rather then copy and pasting the parts that would prove he was lying, isn't it?

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I do think the game looks good, but damn they really did go all in on the "everything is red and blue" aesthetic.

Even to the point that it mimics real world therapies for seizures.

[Edge-]

No it's just you snipped the wrong article lol. I need to find the right one.

That's the Kotaku review, dude - https://kotaku.com/30-hours-with-cyb...ngs-1845824151

If you're complaining about the Polygon one, that's different. I can't keep track when you use the two interchangeably.

There is one thing Cyberpunk 2077 gets right about the genre from which it takes its name: Many of the best cyberpunk stories are heist stories. They’re stories of planning and logistics, with lots of moving pieces and key players, each one bringing their own crucial skills to the mix. The game is at its best when it leans hard into this, as it does in the opening hours, which take their time introducing a number of accomplices and have you all laying the groundwork for the big job that brings V into contact with Johnny and sets the rest of the plot in motion.

One of the great strengths of The Witcher 3 was that it really took its time with people and relationships. Similarly, Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t afraid to slow down for both plot and character development. Those tightly plotted early hours in particular, with their clandestine meetings at which characters obsess over gathering intel and acquiring all the necessary gear to accomplish an audacious crime, pull you into V’s life as a merc with her eyes on joining the exclusive ranks of Night City’s criminal elite.

A screen in Cyberpunk 2077 displaying information about an NPC
Image: CD Projekt Red via Polygon
But what about the nuts-and-bolts stuff of doing V’s work? Cyberpunk 2077’s combat is fine, but other games, particularly the two Deus Ex games of the past decade, have much more effectively delivered on the fantasy of being a cybernetically augmented individual whose abilities enable them to approach situations in a number of creative and rewarding ways. Here, sneaking your way through gang-infested warehouses or corporate lobbies, you can hack objects to distract enemies or short-circuit their optics to blind them temporarily, but these abilities feel pretty tame compared to the opportunities for zany, emergent hacking mayhem offered in games like Watch Dogs: Legion.

Guns in Cyberpunk 2077 do have a hefty, nasty brutality to them, and there’s some fleeting novelty in doing things like charging up a shot on a “power” weapon to blast an enemy through cover, but I had hoped for a more distinctive cyberpunk flavor in my Cyberpunk combat. Even the hacking minigame that you have to complete when performing certain actions is dead simple, and never did the game try to replicate the thrill of really hacking the ’net the way I’ve been dreaming of doing since I first read Neuromancer long ago. At a certain point I started finding katanas with pretty ridiculous damage output, after which my approach to combat (playing on the recommended Hard difficulty setting) often involved just rushing enemies and slashing them to bits, which provided a certain frenetic fun. The combat, while serviceable, isn’t a reason in and of itself for anyone to play this game. The reason to play is for the world and its people.

There's a big 'ol mess of purely game focused discussion from Polygon as well. The intro 1/3 is focused on trans representation, but the rest of it is focused on story and gameplay - https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2215...box-one-stadia

[Feeline10]

Yet you used that to try to claim that the person you quoted was "straight up lying". But nothing you posted goes against the part you pointed out he was lying about which was "There was hardly anything about the game in there!". It is weird how you intentionally choose to pick the parts that prove his argument rather then copy and pasting the parts that would prove he was lying, isn't it?

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Even to the point that it mimics real world therapies for seizures.

I didn't want to gang up on this person, but I mean.. yeah. He / she snipped an article and posted it.. literally proving my point. And it's not even the right article lol! It's getting funny...

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That's the Kotaku review, dude - https://kotaku.com/30-hours-with-cyb...ngs-1845824151

If you're complaining about the Polygon one, that's different. I can't keep track when you use the two interchangeably.



There's a big 'ol mess of purely game focused discussion from Polygon as well. The intro 1/3 is focused on trans representation, but the rest of it is focused on story and gameplay - https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2215...box-one-stadia

There you go, you've found the right one. It's Polygon, as I said -- most gaming sites won't stay employed without their clickbait, weird-ass 2020 headlines and such. Yeah, as you can see from the Polygon article, it's all about complaining of not relating to V, the main character, and an extremely small amount on the game itself. It's laughable at this point, friend.

Down to literally "You belong to the city" headline is nothing but weird trans discussions and offensive billboards etc. That's the BEGINNING OF THE ARTICLE HAHAHA.

[RobertoCarlos]

I didn't want to gang up on this person, but I mean.. yeah. He / she snipped an article and posted it.. literally proving my point. And it's not even the right article lol! It's getting funny...

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There you go, you've found the right one. It's Polygon, as I said -- most gaming sites won't stay employed without their clickbait, weird-ass 2020 headlines and such. Yeah, as you can see from the Polygon article, it's all about complaining of not relating to V, the main character, and an extremely small amount on the game itself. It's laughable at this point, friend.

Down to literally "You belong to the city" headline is nothing but weird trans discussions and offensive billboards etc. That's the BEGINNING OF THE ARTICLE HAHAHA.

Not relating to a character when RPG elements is all this game has going for it is fair criticism