There was never a time when this game wasn't talked about. Like, it's been almost 3 years since its launch, and the infamous preorder cautionary tale has tried to earn its reprieve by doing updates, quality of life changes, bug fixes, and well, just anything to earn their respect back.
CD Projekt Red makes ambitious games, and they've been doing that since the first Witcher game. They became a game changer in both strong narratives, and well realized open world settings. They pushed the standards, and soiled on it in December, 10, 2020. A buggy, somewhat unplayable
mess with all sorts of flaws in both mechanics and RPG.
And here we are, took a company nearly 3 years to get an expansion pack released. And a full rehaul of the mechanics and RPG system itself. Enough to bring people back, glorifying the game once more. And in all honesty, they actually earned all the appraisals this time. Going to point out why.
If there's one big criticism that really nail the hammer regarding its faulty game mechanics, it's the whole RPG progression around it. I had to really strive harder to hit each of the 5 attributes at level 10-15, before unlocking skills with an annoying perk progression that required tedious level of playing to receive its small bonus and extra perk points. I stopped playing after 40hrs+ in.
I only bought 2-3 cars max, purchased and upgraded few tier 3 cyberwares, and was still limited in quick hacking abilities. Each mission gave very little to reward me in both experience and credits. So many cool concepts that couldn't incentivize me to explore and try different things out.
Not anymore. 2.0 changes can visibly be seen with the revamp of both character attributes, skills systems, and cyberware. The max level cap has been pushed to 60 instead of 50, armor is no longer dependent on what clothes I wear, rather now from the implants installed from the ripper doc, and the perk system is rebuilt entirely to create different playstyles and add many more benefits.
I mean, massively changed. In fact, after starting the game new from 2.0, it reset all the perk points, so now I get to fix the build I wanted. Not only that, but I got a one time attributes reset option, so I can spend it focusing on Netrunner and AR gunner build. No attributes based lockout either.
Hell, they added the one thing that wasn't there, and that was driveby shooting. Now I can shoot from the car, and with the right skills, even hack them. Other things like auto-aiming even unlocks, this one I didn't understand how it got there till I saw the new cyberware I've put in.
There are cars that even has turrets on them, finally they went all in. So all that being said, how is it possible to get easy to the good stuff? They also fixed the gig economy as well. No, I wasn't earning regular money, I was earning doubloons. More attributes and perks to spend as well. Either the game got easier to play or rewards were buffed. FYI, my difficulty is set to 'Hard'.
All this, because the gigs now offers more rewards. There's a reason why I chose to be good at guns, and Netrunning, the latter helps to earn more cash. There are interesting ways as a Netrunner to earn cash on the side while breach hacking. As also guns sell for more or give extra parts to craft.
The game's A.I. was updated before 2.0, and police had drones chasing me instead of teleporting out of the blue. Quality of life changes were present, like sensible pedestrian, traffic drivers reacting differently, and police officers had complex responses derived from GTA's system. The final update makes the PoPo crazier, and at full wanted level, MaxTac drops down from helicopters (finally).
Just to see for it myself, a bit of demonstration taken place by blocking traffic and shooting up the place. Result was more reactionary and chaotic of course, and then some of the civilians started shooting at me as well. I do have some qualms around driver A.I.s because they don't react well to a speeding car. They're a nuisance when in large traffic.
As for enemies, had a couple of encounters with few using Sandevistan, they were a force to reckon with. Only safe way to engage was either from distance, using quickhacks to stun them, grenades, or run, dodge, shotgunning them. I was also geting hacked more often.
Their aggression is more spiced up here. Don't get me started on the guys decked out with cyberware even. If I flank them, they react to it pretty quick. This way, combat scenarios became unhinged, and unbalanced. Which is the way it should be. Game bugs have been taken care of way back. This list of patch notes should tell a story better.
After all this information, it should be a sure bet that 2.0 is the Cyberpunk experience we should have gotten at release date. It's more seamless to get into the action, the RPG system redesign incentivizes better ways to play, and larger reward pools. Plus, more hazardous situations to have fun in. It's a lot less empty city than the last game. Sadly not the case for last-gen players.
Now that I got all the excitement out and about regarding the base game, time to talk about the expansion. Dogtown, and the story that comes from it. How do I put this, if you're looking to end a game in a cooler way, this story won't do. But it's an interesting junction to explore on. I'll also state for the record that the writing team pulled all their ace cards on this one.
There's more comedic chops here, especially even from the likes of Johnny Silverhand. Goes mimicking Looney Tunes, while still being sharp as a tick and sardonic about all the happenings in Dogtown, and the NUSA presence in there. But it also hits hard with how bleak the world actually is.
The biggest main attraction is Idris Elba, he has done the game a great service by doing well by his character. He's an FIA agent, stuck in Night City, trying to do right by his president but is somehow also a chest piece caught in a game of deception. It's familiar theme, but deeply seeded, and cruder than what was seen in the base game, and has a lot also to do with Dogtown.
Dogtown is every comprising best and worst parts of Night City, it's like fructose syrup, except people are trying to sell it. They all know it's bad, but they're kind of forced into it. I use that analogy because they have a gang running this place under martial law while being supplied by Militech.
I did gigs like helping two cops escape from their drug boss on the side, because they caught a guy stealing his drugs, but instead of apprehending the stuff first, that guy swallowed the whole bag, and died as a result. Obviously, these two are goofballs but what really caught me off was that trying to get them out by handling the gang members led me to a shittier outcome. Least the guys got out.
Can't say the same for next one, where I helped an ex-animal gang member fight for his independence to box in non-fixed fights. His boss came up with a deal, but I rejected, and had them taken care of. Was a bad choice, because before we could meet later, he got done in an alleyway.
I don't even want to go about rescuing a doctor who takes parts from dead gangmembers for his patients. I got the moral outcome out of it, but still wasn't satisfied with the choice as the patients will get no donor. But hey, on the bright side, there's good gameplay content to distract me from that.
The 6th attributes gets unlocked and has some really sick new skills to use, but I need to find Militech boxes for points to enable them. A fixer has me a gig where I steal cars, and give boatloads of rewards, including discount vouchers for cars. There are airdrops for heavy loot to find including shards, and they can only be traced by the smoke in the sky.
There are plenty of contents to find, but for the most part, I think Phantom Liberty is essentially a quality upgrade rather than adding a bigger chunk to the main thing. Even if the main story won't be my thing, there's plenty to do here that will be.
Just a few things I want to mention before I surmise this. Perk progressions offer a lot of bonuses actually. Stuff like better weapons handling, more headshot damage and stamina, increased RAM, plus I like that this UI looks better than the last one, it sort of grew on me.
And there's not just perk shards, there's shards for extra attribute points, increase in carrying capacity, and capacity for cyberware. I can't also install as many cyberware as I want, because like Edgerunner said, I'll cyberpsycho. Hence, limitations exists, but still more room to put stuff in me. With unlocked skills, I can even go further. Nice balance between restrictions and flexibility.
New apartments, new dialogues, cutscenes, and texts to send. There's even a mini-game now, Edgerunner easter eggs. All of this for free from the 2.0 update. I wish this was the game we got in release, and I would have been happier to wait longer for it.
I forgot to bring this up earlier. Phantom Liberty does have a different ending for the game, though, to put it one way, it's really depressing. Complete opposite of the ride or die schtick I was used to the whole time. Then again, the main story has encounters like a giant robot fight to save the president while she hurls insults at it.
If you wanted the real Edgerunner experience, pushed to insane limits, the expansion offers plenty of those in spades as well as the side stuff. The sad parts are also part of the package. Man, I missed Skippy so much. I really jumped when he told me to. Good to be back. Rather this than Starfield ATM.
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