First of all, this isn't like any of my usual posts here. I once decided that there should only be Chinese posts in here, so that my language capacity does not deteorate into... crap, as if it wasn't at the first place. But seeing how I treat blogs more towards as a personal diary, albeit it being public, but seriously who cares about this place other than myself occasionally checking on my stupidity.
Second of all, I'm kinda disappointed that I didn't jot down my impressions on games when I first played them. Yeah memorable games stick to my heart, but it's the tiny details that I wanted to remember and I couldn't. A long list of games with things that I like and didn't like, including Red Dead Redemption 2, Nier Automata, The Witcher 3 and maybe even 2, list goes on...
So, maybe in a few years and Google still haven't close down Blogger completely, and I managed to reread this, then I'll remember the first 15 hours of Cyberpunk 2077 impression.
INTRO
Cyberpunk 2077, according to CD Projeckt Red, has been in development for 8 years. Throughout 2018-2020, there are rumours, confirmation, then delays for 3 times and it's finally released on 10th December 2020. Pre-orders reached 8 million, already funding the development cost according to the company. History were made for being the best selling single player game until today, most concurrent players on launch day etc. With all eyes looking at this game, it's almost inevitable that at least some people were disappointed and call it "overhyped". Hey, at least no one force you into this hype train, you bought the game and helped in making history by pre-ordering. Comparing it to the previous gem, my favourite game of all time, The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt, Cyberpunk 2077 is the next step, the ambitious game that should inherit the success and evolves through it.
IMMERSIVENESS
To start the first impression, Cyberpunk 2077 is definitely an incomplete game. Although it's in development for 8 years, it should have stay in development for another 1 or 2 years. On launched, day 1 patch is already released. However, the game is bug beyond fixable that soon. During development, it was also mentioned that third person view is removed, that the game will solely focus on first person view. This might ease the development, to not needed for catering different perspective on each scenes. It's also crucial to showcase the immersion of the game, an actual first person view role playing game. Creates a character, decide yourself whether you want a vagina on a masculine body, there's no limit, be whatever you want in the game. This became a double edged sword. People are so focus into the game through first person view, you will notice every single details that is off, be it unnatural movements of NPCs or just straight up buggy cases, materials floating mid air, unsync lip movements and sounds.
Maybe we could ignored all the bugs, and judge the game based on other perspectives. However I look at it, the game feels like a GTA wannabe but just could not hit the final nail. The AI movements are not natural, full of videos demonstrating that online. Reusing art assets everywhere are usually fine, but to reuse them in every corner of Night City, seems to be a little less caring on the fine details. Not to mention the first place you wanted to explore, the main character V's room, is full of junks that are similar everywhere, and not much of them is interactable other than TV or radio or a couch you can sit on. Don't even mention the weird mirror that you can stare, scowl, smile at for some reason. The hawker food stalls under V's apartment gave me hope. For a minute I saw shadows of Hong Kong crowded and tiny apartments, the liveliness. Then it's really disappointing that you can't buy all the foods there. Every boss of the stall can be interact with, but their responds are likely "Huh?", "What?"
Night City looks gorgeous from afar. Chinatown, where we start at really gives a vibe of futuristic Hong Kong. Japantown is a poor name, but do consists of skyscrapers and also short double storey buildings, pretty cool. Jig-jig street in the area looks like Japan's red light district. These are art style and design that I really appreciate. I have yet to explore more places in detail, but a quick look at Downtown, Westbrook, they look awesome with their respective themes but with futuristic sense.
NARRATIVE
Less than 15 hours of gameplay, I couldn't judge the game story that quick. It could go even better from here or worse, only one way to find out. The overall impression currently is excellent. It took what was really good in Witcher, the quest design and further developed from there. Starting with Street Kid, Nomad or Corpo influences your story. Consequences of actions from quests. The hard to forget characters, poor Jackie.
That reminds me of how I judge trailers. Trailers are meant to tease, to make viewers ask questions and to buy the product to find out the answers. Trailers are a good way to sell movies, TV shows, live events and games. 2018 Cyberpunk trailer is good, not much was shown, only a brief explanation on how Night City looks like and the theme of the game, cyber and punk if it's not obvious. Then there is the Keanu Reeves 2019 trailer, which I'm sceptical at first, because I felt like it is a spoiler right from the start. But at that time I thought, since you are showing it in a trailer, maybe this part isn't important, there are much deeper plots from this. Well I was wrong later on, Jackie did died just like how he dies at the start of the trailer. Dex Deshawn wanna kill V just like how he kills him in the end of the trailer, although we don't know the real motive unless you play the game but does it really matter? Keanu being in the game, could have been a top news that will be talked in the industry for months if he is not revealed in the trailer. But this I can forgive, since marketing requires publicity, a sacrifice of famous actor reveals is necessary. Well in short, 2019 Cyberpunk trailer is shit.
VERDICT
It's really unfair to give a final judgement by just 15 hours, so I will either edit or make a new post after completion of the game. So far, the game still felt great. It is ambitious, maybe a little too much. Given time, this could have been a mark in history for another best game of the year. But for the quality we have right now, it's not in the list.
Cyberpunk 2077 is similar to Night City, fancy on the outside but hollow on the inside. From afar, everything seems good and all. From within, there is too much details that could have been done better. Is this due to lack of time and sacrificing everything other than main game flow? Only the company knows. CD Projekt Red is on the news for employees crunching as long as a year, that should always be reminded in the industry that crunch is not acceptable, not even a week so a year is disastrous. Yet even all the hardwork, the game is still missing a soul, how disappointed the employees will be.
Things That I Don't Want to Mention Much
- Poor optimization. CPU crank to 100% and GPU only runs 5%. Rub my eyes to check if I'm hallucinating on this one.
- Difficulty mid ground. Maybe it's just me, but there is no middle point for the second hardest and second easiest difficulty. 4 difficulties selection? Come on maybe there's a fifth in the middle.
- RPG shooting game. I know it's hard, but the game is low on creativity too. Chips installed on character that lacks modification (try looking at Nier Automata maybe?). Critical hit, poison and bleeding effects on gun shooting bullets? Ok...... Weird but I guess ok......
- Great audio. Digging it.
