Cyberpunk 2077

The biggest example of the source material changes I can think of is that in the RPG, the Voodoo Boys are a bunch of white nihilists who decide to adopt voodoo aesthetic to freak people out. In the game (and subsequently the Red version of the RPG) it got retconned to actual Haitians practicing Voodoo. Neither are particularly PC, but the latter is very Predator 2 in how not great it’s handled. There’s various other changes to things like Johnny Silverhand and various other gangs that don’t really align well to the RPG, but the Voodoo gang is the more egregious example.

It’s not exactly a huge complaint though. The RPG was kind of niche even for TTRPG nerds, so it’s not like a sanctified canon has been violated or anything. Just somewhat of a let down to me personally.

Played the trial for a couple of hours last night. It was a weird experience as I had this mixture of high expectations (CD Projekt Red game, all the hype and praise for the graphics and city design) and low ones too (the state of it upon release, the disappointment from the community, etc). Finding it really hard to form an opinion after such a short time. It does seem like my kind of game, for sure. And I didn't see any bugs yet. The graphics do look lovely, but I drove on a highway and was literally the only car for miles around... hmmm... I think the free trial has done enough to convince me to finally buy it, but it's gonna have to wait until after Elden Ring and HFW.

Just a quick follow up on what I said here, this didn't work in the end as the 1.5 patch has reset all skills on the bloody PS4 version too 🙄. A total nightmare for trying to remember all the points you'd placed for an established character.

Playing on the X, new patch, just my experience right off the bat was with a cyberpyscho chap, did the old run right at me thing, then I ran way until he stopped. Then I stood a comically short distance away while he kind of seethed impotently, then I just whittled him down, stepped out of range, repeat. This sort of thing happened again, with more mobs, in the next mission I picked up as well. Maybe I was just unlucky, was only 90 mins of play time.

The 360 era thing, it's just at that time I was aware they were pretty simple AI systems in games, that you could exploit or break to your advantage, I would of hoped in the 15 or so years since there were more complex systems to be had, but Cyberpunk just feels very basic again, going backwards even, Where it's now an achievement that the AI doesn't drop grenades at it's own feet and die?

It shows how far expectations have fallen when people are genuinely trumpeting about being able to order a 'jackie welles' from the bar now. Forget complex life paths, forget braindances and all the other stuff from the opening 2 or 3 missions that suggest features that are inexplicably never seen again in the entire game. You can now buy an in-game item that gets mentioned in a throwaway line of dialogue. 18 month redemption arc complete.

Played a bit last night. I still like it a lot. Maybe my expectations were lower than some but I've never had any huge complaints. It still has a very memorable cast of characters.

Diving does feel a bit better. It's still no Forza or anything of course,but it was definitely an improvement. Noticed the traffic does react differently too, more fleeing. Whilst it's still not as good as GTA for driving carnage, it was closer to that.

My pc manages to run with every setting maxed out at a very solid 60fps so it's even nice to look at and play

So after the first Braindance they are not really a thing? That's a shame, but I'm not sure if I was overly fond of it anyway.

Did a couple of early missions mainly involving meeting people in cars and clubs but I still love just walking about the city at night. It's superb.

@wuntyate BDs definitely felt like part of a grander idea that got massively scaled back so that they could actually release the thing. There are a few more in the game, with one of the side quests being especially good.

Buu - the PC version won't have changed drastically visually. It was nice at launch for me (3080 with DLSS and RT), but not amazing as you say. By all means check it out, but it'll probably look the same.

I don’t know how people can say this isn’t a good looking game. Granted I mainly play at night (in game), when it looks absolutely stunning, but it feels like how I imagine the cities are in early Gibson books.

I was entirely gripped from the very beginning, which is a fairly rare thing for me.

Streetkid. I went with my heart. I couldn't see myself as Corpo and Scavenger wasn't very appealing either.

I didn't spend a super long time designing my (female - I always play a lady when given the choice because it allows me to divorce myself from decisions that might feel like I wouldn't personally make!) V, just started with the face it gave me and adjusted the hair a bit.

You know what, I've been enjoying it. It definitely looks a damn sight better than before. Shooting is still not great though, but overall I'm definitely up for some proper DLC.

Yeah the shooting is horrific. I keep flicking back to performance mode to see if it's any better but it's just as bad.

I'm another that was never really wowed by the visuals. Started on PS5 with PS4 version then got a 3080 equipped PC and was able to run 1440p60 with RT at Ultra. Really wasn't the jump I expected. At night, in the rain, it looks impressive but for the other 80% of time it's merely good.

Side note, but perhaps related. I'm really not a fan of any 'camera' effects in first-person games when the whole point of this perspective is immersion by viewing the world through your character's eyes. Eyes don't have lens flare, chromatic aberration. film grain and bokeh, so I immediately turn them all off.

The architecture and art design are fantastic at times, but the actual presentation really wasn't the leap forward I had been expecting from the pre-release hype. A lot of the lighting and textures are unremarkable. I found RDR2, Demon's Souls, Miles Morales and Metro Exodus RT much more technically impressive.

I tried the ray tracing option on Xbox for about 30 seconds last night, it turned the game into a slide show. Perhaps a reboot is in order.