I cant believe CDPR had the fuckin gall, the huevos, to start this DLC with a pretty sick boss fight and then didnt maintain that momentum with way more.
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Ive been trying to iron out my thoughts quite a bit about how I feel about this DLC, as I think it helps highlight my issue with the base game through comparison and contrast.
- First off, it must be said that, purely in terms of being a DLC, this is pretty good. My star rating reflects this (which I think is important as I dont know how a DLC could ever compare to a full game if I were to judge them along the same criteria). Theres a fair amount to do, theres a fair amount of quality, and it directly extends the production value of the base game - which is rare for DLC in my experience.
- Most prominently disappointing to me, personally, is that this is also Just More Cyberpunk, warts and all. Side Gigs still represent more than half the content in the game, Side Quests are still very often just "Walk Into This Room, Have A Short Conversation, Quest Complete". Dialogue choices are still wildly socially awkward, where an overwhelming amount of the time I dont actually know how to express (ie, role-play) the response I want to have in a given situation.
- But closely related to the previous point, some of these things are improvements: the Side Gigs are all much more relevant (sometimes literally, sometimes thematically). Dogtown being a single district where most of the content takes place means you have the opportunity to grow much more familiar with the space. The "radiant events", while junk content, are at least very lucrative to do and give the game a more definite source of progression for basically however long you want to play the game.
- The story, of course, is probably the most commendable. I think the theme (spy intrigue) is a better basis for character interactions, the more concise pacing makes it impact a lil better, and of course I think the stakes for the narrative are alot more compelling. Im usually very willing to engage with a story in good faith, and there were moments where I was bought in and pulsing with the vibe of the narrative segments.
- However, its a huge missed opportunity that they put in one singular traditional boss in the game, so early on, and wasnt gonna follow that up. Im not kidding, I would have much rather they just didnt put the Ch&m&r& in the game, or put them closer to the end, instead of setting a very unhelpful precedence. Huge L here (Im learning there was maybe one more in an ending path I didnt take, but Im unsure the extent of that and I would still feel like there should be more than 2. Forgive my slight inaccuracy here).
- Likewise, the story continues to be terrified of consequences. It will make you feel like there will be consequences, like "We need to sneak through this section, we're screwed if you fuck this up" and then you fuck it up and the game goes "Well, whats done is done, lets keep going" and "conveniently" things will play out in such a way where your fuck up doesnt set you back at all. Sometimes this gave me "Role-Playing Dissociation" where I kind of just.... lost control of my character motivations and kind of ruined the stakes of the narrative for that segment. Just kind of fumbled through events in a sort of out-of-body kind of way. The game shouldnt let me do that, I think its incredibly disharmonizing, it should make me fail. There should be ramifications.
- The DLC probably had no hope of solving this, and I dont know how much I can levy this against it, but I think part of why the DLC feels so much better than the base game, is because its much less of an Open World. Even the ways in which Phantom Liberty are less fun or less good, are the ways in which its trying to maintain its Open World obligations. Part of me feels like Cyberpunk, The Open World game and Cyberpunk, The Cinematic Experience are completely and wholly partitioned experiences that you swap between, and each of these things are Kinda Good on their own but are Kinda Bad when shoved together. Phantom Liberty being smaller means Less Open World and More Cinematic Experience, and the few tweaks that make the side content more cohesive to the main content are probably the 2 things that are making people respond way more to Phantom Liberty in general - but this feels like an accident. I dont know if CDPR have achieved this effect on purpose and will be able to capture or iterate on it for whatever new Cyberpunk thing happens in the future.
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idk. Cyberpunk is fun. For whatever reason CDPR keeps making crazy movement systems for this game and that appeals to me specifically. Its a good romp, and this is certainly Better Cyberpunk. But man are there just.... bad bones in this game I think. Some fundamentally backwards.... thrust. Or something. Hard to describe. Worth playing as much as any Bethesda title tho, for what thats worth.
v
v
v
v
v
Ive been trying to iron out my thoughts quite a bit about how I feel about this DLC, as I think it helps highlight my issue with the base game through comparison and contrast.
- First off, it must be said that, purely in terms of being a DLC, this is pretty good. My star rating reflects this (which I think is important as I dont know how a DLC could ever compare to a full game if I were to judge them along the same criteria). Theres a fair amount to do, theres a fair amount of quality, and it directly extends the production value of the base game - which is rare for DLC in my experience.
- Most prominently disappointing to me, personally, is that this is also Just More Cyberpunk, warts and all. Side Gigs still represent more than half the content in the game, Side Quests are still very often just "Walk Into This Room, Have A Short Conversation, Quest Complete". Dialogue choices are still wildly socially awkward, where an overwhelming amount of the time I dont actually know how to express (ie, role-play) the response I want to have in a given situation.
- But closely related to the previous point, some of these things are improvements: the Side Gigs are all much more relevant (sometimes literally, sometimes thematically). Dogtown being a single district where most of the content takes place means you have the opportunity to grow much more familiar with the space. The "radiant events", while junk content, are at least very lucrative to do and give the game a more definite source of progression for basically however long you want to play the game.
- The story, of course, is probably the most commendable. I think the theme (spy intrigue) is a better basis for character interactions, the more concise pacing makes it impact a lil better, and of course I think the stakes for the narrative are alot more compelling. Im usually very willing to engage with a story in good faith, and there were moments where I was bought in and pulsing with the vibe of the narrative segments.
- However, its a huge missed opportunity that they put in one singular traditional boss in the game, so early on, and wasnt gonna follow that up. Im not kidding, I would have much rather they just didnt put the Ch&m&r& in the game, or put them closer to the end, instead of setting a very unhelpful precedence. Huge L here (Im learning there was maybe one more in an ending path I didnt take, but Im unsure the extent of that and I would still feel like there should be more than 2. Forgive my slight inaccuracy here).
- Likewise, the story continues to be terrified of consequences. It will make you feel like there will be consequences, like "We need to sneak through this section, we're screwed if you fuck this up" and then you fuck it up and the game goes "Well, whats done is done, lets keep going" and "conveniently" things will play out in such a way where your fuck up doesnt set you back at all. Sometimes this gave me "Role-Playing Dissociation" where I kind of just.... lost control of my character motivations and kind of ruined the stakes of the narrative for that segment. Just kind of fumbled through events in a sort of out-of-body kind of way. The game shouldnt let me do that, I think its incredibly disharmonizing, it should make me fail. There should be ramifications.
- The DLC probably had no hope of solving this, and I dont know how much I can levy this against it, but I think part of why the DLC feels so much better than the base game, is because its much less of an Open World. Even the ways in which Phantom Liberty are less fun or less good, are the ways in which its trying to maintain its Open World obligations. Part of me feels like Cyberpunk, The Open World game and Cyberpunk, The Cinematic Experience are completely and wholly partitioned experiences that you swap between, and each of these things are Kinda Good on their own but are Kinda Bad when shoved together. Phantom Liberty being smaller means Less Open World and More Cinematic Experience, and the few tweaks that make the side content more cohesive to the main content are probably the 2 things that are making people respond way more to Phantom Liberty in general - but this feels like an accident. I dont know if CDPR have achieved this effect on purpose and will be able to capture or iterate on it for whatever new Cyberpunk thing happens in the future.
.
idk. Cyberpunk is fun. For whatever reason CDPR keeps making crazy movement systems for this game and that appeals to me specifically. Its a good romp, and this is certainly Better Cyberpunk. But man are there just.... bad bones in this game I think. Some fundamentally backwards.... thrust. Or something. Hard to describe. Worth playing as much as any Bethesda title tho, for what thats worth.