4 ms·

I thought the Cyberpunk story was pretty good, but the game mechanics pushed you toward the next quest in the main storyline all the time. This resulted in me

I thought the Cyberpunk story was pretty good, but the game mechanics pushed you toward the next quest in the main storyline all the time. This resulted in me burning through the main story quickly, then being presented with "touching" messages from all the characters during the credits. Except I barely knew who any of these characters were, since I'd hardly done any of the side missions where you get to know them. So yeah, pretty great story scripting, voice acting, and character animation, but it was heavily undercut by some core mechanics in my opinion.

tekla 4y ago
The game warns you before the final quest though no?
- snozolli 4y ago
  It just says something like "you can't go back after this point", not "this is the final mission and the end of the game". Maybe that's got an obvious meaning to a more seasoned gamer. Not that it matters, since I could just load the save game just prior and do the side missions, but it still kind of ruined the impact of the end of the game. Keep in mind that the main story isn't all that long, so from my perspective the game was just getting going.
- stubish 4y ago
  This sort of pacing is one of the problems with many open world games. The narrative pushes you towards saving the world and the final epic battle, while filling the world with tasks and sub plots that are trivial and non-urgent. And then the general will wait under heavy enemy fire for years as her troops are massacred and city after city burned while the character back tracks to kill rats and plow fields as part of their romantic interest's subplot. But if the narrative provides a lull in the action, you can encourage players to pursue subplots and even make that easier and more in character than to pursue the main plot. And you would have less of a problem dealing with under leveled characters who have rushed through the game in keeping with the main narrative, and over leveled characters who have dawdled through countless sub quests and DLCs oblivious to the urgency you were trying to convey in the story.
SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
Yeah, it's honestly an amazing ride assuming you ignore the main conceit that you're facing a ticking clock. If you take your time and experience all those side stories then you can feel an emotional connection, but if you listen to the plot the game REALLY wants you to rush through. You miss out on a ton of great characters and moments that way.
- jandrese 4y ago
  Mass Effect 3 had this same problem. The game starts off with the apocalypse beginning and there are constant reminders during the game how millions are being killed every day, but also loads you up with time consuming sidequests. Subverted in the end by killing off everybody no matter how well you play.
  - sebazzz 4y ago
    In the case of Mass Effect 3 you also remember from Mass Effect 2 how you got punished with dead crew members if you continued with side missions after they got abducted.
csomar 4y ago
I did the the first time I played and then I realized the mistake. If you pick the highest difficulty in the game, you won't be able to rush through the main storyline because your character is under-powered. You'd then need to play the side mission in order to accumulate gears and cybernetic stuff. That makes the game even more interesting. Try it again with the hardest mode.
hirundo 4y ago
> but the game mechanics pushed you toward the next quest in the main storyline all the time I didn't feel this pressure, which resulted in the opposite problem. I played all of the side missions before anything else where they were available. By the time I finished those and got back to the mainline, I was all powerful and the story was an unchallenging walkthrough.

tekla 4y ago

The game warns you before the final quest though no?

snozolli 4y ago
It just says something like "you can't go back after this point", not "this is the final mission and the end of the game". Maybe that's got an obvious meaning to a more seasoned gamer. Not that it matters, since I could just load the save game just prior and do the side missions, but it still kind of ruined the impact of the end of the game. Keep in mind that the main story isn't all that long, so from my perspective the game was just getting going.
stubish 4y ago
This sort of pacing is one of the problems with many open world games. The narrative pushes you towards saving the world and the final epic battle, while filling the world with tasks and sub plots that are trivial and non-urgent. And then the general will wait under heavy enemy fire for years as her troops are massacred and city after city burned while the character back tracks to kill rats and plow fields as part of their romantic interest's subplot. But if the narrative provides a lull in the action, you can encourage players to pursue subplots and even make that easier and more in character than to pursue the main plot. And you would have less of a problem dealing with under leveled characters who have rushed through the game in keeping with the main narrative, and over leveled characters who have dawdled through countless sub quests and DLCs oblivious to the urgency you were trying to convey in the story.

SketchySeaBeast 4y ago

Yeah, it's honestly an amazing ride assuming you ignore the main conceit that you're facing a ticking clock. If you take your time and experience all those side stories then you can feel an emotional connection, but if you listen to the plot the game REALLY wants you to rush through. You miss out on a ton of great characters and moments that way.

jandrese 4y ago
Mass Effect 3 had this same problem. The game starts off with the apocalypse beginning and there are constant reminders during the game how millions are being killed every day, but also loads you up with time consuming sidequests. Subverted in the end by killing off everybody no matter how well you play.
- sebazzz 4y ago
  In the case of Mass Effect 3 you also remember from Mass Effect 2 how you got punished with dead crew members if you continued with side missions after they got abducted.

csomar 4y ago

I did the the first time I played and then I realized the mistake. If you pick the highest difficulty in the game, you won't be able to rush through the main storyline because your character is under-powered. You'd then need to play the side mission in order to accumulate gears and cybernetic stuff. That makes the game even more interesting. Try it again with the hardest mode.

hirundo 4y ago

> but the game mechanics pushed you toward the next quest in the main storyline all the time I didn't feel this pressure, which resulted in the opposite problem. I played all of the side missions before anything else where they were available. By the time I finished those and got back to the mainline, I was all powerful and the story was an unchallenging walkthrough.