Cyberpunk 2077 Grieving Thread

Imagine your existence being dictated by a game.

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Then man, you probably didn't want to play a cyberpunk game. The game has a fair amount of areas where I think they missed the mark when it comes to cyberpunk ideas, but its theme of "acting like a hero who thinks he can change the world gets you fucked over" is done pretty well and pretty endemic to the genre. You can't save everyone, all you can save is yourself and your own soul.


Yes, that's a shard, which are written in-universe.
Who are the official elected gatekeepers of the Cyberpunk genre tho? Matrix is listed on Wikipedia as a Cyberpunk movie and very much has a heroic badass ending. If I don't like it, does that make "not a true Cyberpunker" and thus render my opinion invalid? Maybe so among a certain subculture of fans who have a very specific idea of what they consider "true Cyberpunk". Far as I'm concerned, I see a kind of atmosphere and style that could be called Cyberpunk-y and I don't see why it couldn't have a great ending. Maybe I'm being ignorant here, idk. Maybe it being based on that tabletop game (did I say that right?) gives another aspect to this that I'm missing, in that it's not just a Cyberpunk genre game but a game based on an established game with established rules. Anyway, I think it's lame. Maybe that makes me a cancerous normie trying to dilute the genre, lol, it is what it is.
 
Is this supposed to be in game propaganda? Because I'm pretty sure in the Cyberpunk lore that the USSR is a police state dystopia controlled in secret by a oil company
yes it is. it makes sense in context. you find that note or whatever in the apartment of the cyber-scavenger ruskies that kidnapped the girl from the first gameplay trailer.
 
Who are the official elected gatekeepers of the Cyberpunk genre tho? Matrix is listed on Wikipedia as a Cyberpunk movie and very much has a heroic badass ending. If I don't like it, does that make "not a true Cyberpunker" and thus render my opinion invalid? Maybe so among a certain subculture of fans who have a very specific idea of what they consider "true Cyberpunk". Far as I'm concerned, I see a kind of atmosphere and style that could be called Cyberpunk-y and I don't see why it couldn't have a great ending. Maybe I'm being ignorant here, idk. Maybe it being based on that tabletop game (did I say that right?) gives another aspect to this that I'm missing, in that it's not just a Cyberpunk genre game but a game based on an established game with established rules. Anyway, I think it's lame. Maybe that makes me a cancerous normie trying to dilute the genre, lol, it is what it is.
I'm not saying you're wrong for disliking the theme they went with, I'm just saying the game developers aren't wrong either and they aren't trying to subvert expectations or whatever. It's a common theme in a ton of cyberpunk stories.
 
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Get in a boss fight with a cyberpsycho. Get locked in scan mode and can't get out when trying to quickhack.

There is so much inventory management. Half of the items I pick up have a level requirement much higher than my actual level, but will be completely useless by the time I actually reach that level.

Constantly becoming over-encumbered. Can't help myself. Pick up everything shiny like a goddamn magpie. Constantly staring at an inventory screen, figuring out which weapons have the lowest DPS and will get broken down for parts. They are worthless even as vendor trash, selling only for a pittance apiece.

Play for a few hours, my footstep sounds mysteriously disappear.

My framerate starts shitting itself in some of the more populous areas of the city.

Look in the task manager. Realize that it's only running on a single card and there's no multi-GPU support at all.

Why, bros?
 
Loved the Japanese receptionists in the gold masks.

Kinda reminded me of "Mr. Roboto" rock opera costumes.

And the world is a lot bigger than it might seem at first. Getting in a running rooftop gunfight was fun. So was seeing some "organized crime" and just hucking a grenade and collecting the bounty.

Gotta say, though, seems like Cyberpunk would have bigger titties.
 
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Are there any direct hints that the CP2077 world is headed for disaster in any way beyond culture?

I know that the land has desertified somewhat, but things still seem to have settled in a new stasis post-Coporate War (even in the end radio snippets poke fun at that beyond
Arasaka,
nothing really seems to have changed, and even they aren't in a bad position.

I sort of liked that precipice-skimming element of cyberpunk settings, and even Mirror's Edge Catalyst had snippets about impending water shortages, etc.
 
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Who are the official elected gatekeepers of the Cyberpunk genre tho? Matrix is listed on Wikipedia as a Cyberpunk movie and very much has a heroic badass ending. If I don't like it, does that make "not a true Cyberpunker" and thus render my opinion invalid? Maybe so among a certain subculture of fans who have a very specific idea of what they consider "true Cyberpunk". Far as I'm concerned, I see a kind of atmosphere and style that could be called Cyberpunk-y and I don't see why it couldn't have a great ending. Maybe I'm being ignorant here, idk. Maybe it being based on that tabletop game (did I say that right?) gives another aspect to this that I'm missing, in that it's not just a Cyberpunk genre game but a game based on an established game with established rules. Anyway, I think it's lame. Maybe that makes me a cancerous normie trying to dilute the genre, lol, it is what it is.

In my opinion you are quite correct here. Cyberpunk as a fictional genre at least didn't start with the idea that "you can only save your own soul." Quite contrary, in the works of William Gibson, who more or less invented this whole thing with the Neuromancer, the protagonists are anti-heroes, and it's true that their motivations are initially selfish. However, during the course of the story these people end up in situations where they could back down, take their money and let someone else save the world, but either because of some little humanity still left in their souls or simply because of general principles choose to push onwards, against odds that are markedly against them.

Likewise, in the classic works Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams and When Gravity Fails by George Allec Effinger the protagonists are similarly anti-heroes like in Gibsons novels, people who aren't out to save the day, nor even themselves, but who ultimately rise up to heroism because no-one else will or can.

So, in essence I would say that at least when defining Cyberpunk as a literary genre, it's erroneous to say that it would be about "saving yourself and letting the world burn", as that is essentially not what the protagonists are doing. Instead, it could be said that what really defines this genre is that the heroes-to-be are essentially just as flawed, and in some cases just as malevolent as the forces they oppose; that the world and humanity in itself is corrupt, that it's a world where there literally is no black nor white, only patches of grey.
 
Are there any direct hints that the CP2077 world is headed for disaster in any way beyond culture?

I know that the land has desertified somewhat, but things still seem to have settled in a new stasis post-Coporate War (even in the end radio snippets poke fun at that beyond
Arasaka,
nothing really seems to have changed, and even they aren't in a bad position.

I sort of liked that precipice-skimming element of cyberpunk settings, and even Mirror's Edge Catalyst had snippets about impending water shortages, etc.
There's a news story about flooding in the Netherlands, and it's causing a bunch of refugees to flee to Scandanavia. You know this is a fictional world because Sweden is deliberately sinking the boats. The fluff about animals being extinct in Night City and how shitty the tap water is shows how fucked up the world is too.

So, in essence I would say that at least when defining Cyberpunk as a literary genre, it's erroneous to say that it would be about "saving yourself and letting the world burn", as that is essentially not what the protagonists are doing. Instead, it could be said that what really defines this genre is that the heroes-to-be are essentially just as flawed, and in some cases just as malevolent as the forces they oppose; that the world and humanity in itself is corrupt, that it's a world where there literally is no black nor white, only patches of grey.
That's pretty much what happens in the game. Johnny Silverhand, or at least the version in your mind, is just as bad as Arasaka and is trying to draw you into his dumb scheme to get revenge on them. The ending where you walk away isn't so much about being selfish and letting the world burn as it is about realizing both the corps and Johnny are fucking awful and playing into their schemes is a bad idea.
 
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