You know, I can't help but note that many of the problems people are having with this game (the bugs, lack of interactivity with the world, downgraded visuals compared to the trailer, the weapon level system, a lack of lifestyle choices, limited main story divergence sans the ending) were all present in The Witcher 3. Heck, even the complaint people have of Johnny Silverhand taking story focus away from the main protagonist remind me of Ciri doing the same thing to Geralt.
Yet TW3 is acclaimed as one of the greatest games of its decade, if not the greatest (I highly object to that opinion, but that's just me). So why is that game so praised while Cyberpunk 2077 has been lambasted?
This is wrong in so many ways.
Firstly, I never, even upon release, encountered anything other than some UI bugs in Witcher 3. Nothing that rendered me out of the world or unplayable. My lowest recorded time going without a bug or glitch that wasn't UI related was five and a half minutes in Cyberpunk 2077. And bugs that took me out of the story? Too many to count.
Secondly, you interact with the world way more in Witcher 3. You directly talk to peasants, take up their problems and see the results from them. Peasants also have AI and day and night cycles. You also had to look for and hunt down things. There was forensic monster hunting. Nothing like this is present in Cyberpunk 2077.
Thirdly, sure, there were downgrades but Cyberpunk's 2077 trailers were filled with complete lies and fabrications. Its gameplay slice was
entirely faked. It is disingenuous to even think to compare the two. Also, every single game ever shown at E3 is downgraded. It doesn't make it right, but pointing out The Witcher did it is nothing special.
Fourth, the weapon level system was silly, but there was a wide variety of weapons and the runes had impact on the visual style of the weapon. Crafting unique weapons were quests in upon themselves. You had to go to different places, do different things, hunt unique monsters. In Cyberpunk 2077, all you do is either buy a blueprint or find an iconic weapon/item off a dead mook and you have it. The mods are not cosmetic and are only generic stat improvements which you can make godly.
Fifth, limited main story divergence wasn't a problem as the goal of 'The Witcher 3' was ALWAYS to find Ciri. And by the by, you can tackle the three main areas in any order you wanted after the prologue. You could go right to Skellige if you wanted. There were no obligations, rush or order you could do things. And after you find Ciri, if you felt rushed, things slowed down a LOT. There was no pressure to finish the main story, like there was in Cyberpunk 2077. In Cyberpunk 2077, you're generally railroaded onto the main story. There's no real variance in how you do things except 'wait a few days' which makes you do other things. You have very little independence in how you conquer the main story in Cyberpunk. In Witcher, you could travel all around if you wanted.
Sixth, lack of lifestyle choices? You're a wandering monster hunter! You're a vagabond by nature. No shit you're not going to have lifestyle choices. It doesn't make sense to have any. You do have the Witcher's base of operations, but going back there is treated as special because you're positioned as being always on the road, never settling down. Which makes you some sort of weirdo since medieval peasants never wandered far from their villages. In Cyberpunk 2077, you're some sort of criminal mercenary and for the entire game you never move and live in a complete shithole. You're a modern character which means you move around a lot. Yet you can't buy other apartments or even buy trinkets for your own. There's nothing really to spend your money on besides cars (lol driving), guns (why would you ever except for blueprints), cyberware (only thing you can't make) and hacks (you need the basic ones to upgrade from perks).
The story? Oh boy. It is 100% Geralt's story. Forget this, Ciri and Geralt are father and daughter. Their relationship is close and well established. Ciri is never superseded for Geralt. Geralt's influence has a direct way in Ciri's development. You're her father, and in a lot of situations (most situations) she completely defers to your parental authority. Its clear she loves and respects you. Contrast this with Johnny. A guy whose been fucking dead for 50 years, who you never known, who constantly gives you shit and is taking you over and the whole plot revolves not around what you want, but trying to deal with this super ultra famous guy and the remnants of his life. He doesn't take you over on a fucking whim. There's no story reason why a selfish asshole like Johnny just doesn't take over your body and fight you for control. He just decides not to. He's the arbiter of your fate and you're just along for the ride. While in Witcher 3, you control that ride. Whether Ciri lives or dies, her future, her current relationships. You have a direct, nay, an authoritorial role. And that is Geralt's purpose. He's not trying to get rich. He's not getting railroaded by some stranger. He's a father looking for and raising his daughter. Then he retires to France and fucks his waifu in a mansion. That is Geralt's story. If you don't like that, that's one thing. The Witcher 3 is not non-linear in terms of complete freedom. You're given a task and complete freedom by which to do that task, what sides to choose, how to raise Ciri, how you portray yourself to the world, things like that. All of these things have impact. My Geralt will be different from yours and the story outcomes of even the little quests will be different.
None of these things have impact in Cyberpunk. All Cyberpunk playthroughs will be functionally identical except if you chose Judy or Panam, a 20 minute intro and some dialogue choices. That's about it. The only variation in quests is either not doing them or the very few you can fail. My V is basically the same as every V in this thread. You don't even have the freedom to be an asshole to Johnny if you want the 'best' ending. In every single respect, Cyberpunk 2077 is a complete backwards leap from what 'The Witcher 3' was. The Witcher 3 is more varied, more non-linear and more interactive than Cyberpunk.
Cyberpunk 2077 also promised itself to be a free-form, non-linear, open-world RPG, ala Skyrim with GTA. Instead its a railroaded FPS with extremely light RPG elements ala Borderlands. The Wticher 3 was always posited as a story-book type setting. While Cyberpunk promised everything you mentioned and more. And showed them off in fabricated trailers. And while the Witcher 3 did downgrade, a downgrade is not fabrication.
