BY Bridger Gand
Published Dec. 15, 2020
Thanks to Reddit users: _WinnerTakesAll_ and MovieTrailerReply for their posts on Cyberpunk 2077 which can be found on reddit.com
To start this off I want to show you and excerpt from VGC. This was from an interview with a developer at CDPR on November 22,2018 with VGC:
"That’s the level that CD Projekt RED wants to go for with its next game, Cyberpunk 2077. Speaking to brokerage house Vestor DM, CD Projekt RED revealed that they are working on getting as much polish in Cyberpunk 2077 as there was for Red Dead Redemption 2. Whether or not CD Projekt RED will be able to achieve that level, given the general state of bugginess of its previous title, or whether it can achieve this without the kind of excessive crunch that Rockstar allegedly imposed on its employees remains to be seen.
“Without a doubt, quality is of paramount importance,” Kiciński says. “We strive to publish games which are as refined as Red Dead Redemption 2, and recent Rockstar releases in general. That game is excellent, by the way, we are rooting for it. Rave reviews, excellent sales. What does that teach us? Well, it teaches us that we need to publish extraordinary games, and that’s exactly what we are planning.
Well in reality anything could be further from the truth. A very well done reddit post made by the user (U/) _WinnerTakesAll_ and details all the promise that CDPR had raised everyone's hopes so high about a month before cyberpunks December 10th release. Below you can read user _WinnerTakesAll_ post as seen on Reddit and the hype portrayed by CDPR in its marketing campaign.
"CD Projekt's ($OTGLY) biggest game to date is being released on Dec 10th. This is not just any release. This is the biggest RPG game of the decade. 8-10 years in making, it is not just slightly better than other games; it redefines the category. This thing is something everyone will be playing for years to come. Think of it as someone giving you a poke 3 weeks before the original Grand Theft Auto was released. This is the first in franchise.
/r/cyberpunkgame already has half a million subs.
Huge moat: Cost of production is in 20 Million to $200 million range which puts it in the same league as Grand theft auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. GTA V has made 6 billion to date. Red Dead Redemption 2 made over $725 million in revenue in three days, and over 17 million copies shipped in total in two weeks. They have a staff of 500 working on this. It took 8-10 years to make this. No one else is gonna be able to compete for a long time.
Top dog within class: There are many different game classes. This is gonna sit at the top of RPG class with anyone thinking about RPG games buying this.
Buzz: I don't play video games but even I noticed the buzz. Any trailer, teaser, review that gets posted immediately gets several hundred views within days. r/gaming is losing its mind waiting for the release. This post got 134,000 upvotes and is the top post of the week: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/jezwed/its_been_8_years_my_friends/
89.5k votes https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/jampi9/cyberpunk_2077s_entire_script_the_game_worth_a/
30.8k votes https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/jfg296/be_ready/
Huge nerd following: Cyberpunk is a genre of fantasy that includes Blade Runner, Matrix trilogy, Terminator, Robocop, ... After dungeon and dragons and magic the gathering, cyberpunk role playing games have huge following. This is your chance to invest in nerds and fringe.
Wall Street hasn't woken up to this because the company is Polish. But recently their ADR has been trading OTC without any analyst taking notice. This is your opportunity.
Uncorrelated to the rest of the market. When everything else goes down this thing doesn't react. That's a massive advantage giving you uncorrelated gains.
The game has Drugs, Nudity/Sex, Violence, Politically incorrect concepts, shooting, dystopia, and future technology. You can even customize your penis in the game. I am not kidding. You really can customize your penis in the game.
Lots of Celebs:
Keanu Reeves - Johnny Silverhand.
Michael-Leon Wooley - Dexter "Dex" DeShawn.
Grimes - Lizzy Wizzy.
Samuel Barnett - Delamain A.I. "
Also for those unfamiliar with CD Projekt Red then the below assessment with help clarify why people seem to be so let down by this released product. The following is a u/MovieTrailerReply post about Cyberpunk 2077. Props to him:
"Some facts about this game and why it is so exciting:
The Witcher 3 was CD Projekt Red's last title and it sold impressively enough to hit 25 in best selling games of all time. This was largely due to it being masterfully crafted as an RPG, with extensive and beautiful environments and a detailed, branching story. This is also a MASSIVE growth from their last two notable titles which you can see the comparison for here
CDProjektRed also has a fantastic track record for satisfying gamer customers. DLC/Expansion content has been devoid of crazy overionization and have strong content. The company is known for going that little extra mile, like putting out free updates that playfully make fun of the player for abusing a bug, or including extra items in the physical releases of their games (Witcher 2, for instance, had an art book and some merchandise included).
Cyberpunk2077 is a game that has been in development for more than 7 years -- The first teaser was shown in 2013. Usually this can be concerning (unless its a studio known for long development cycles like Square Enix or Hideo Kojima's projects), but combined with the high level of craftsmanship of the Witcher 3 and the VERY promising gameplay dives, people's hype and expectations have only grown spectacularly."
I'm disappointed that the game and the people who gave us the early reviews were flat out lying. Those that said this was a new direction in RPG games and that it was spectacular in scope and design failed to say that they CDPR didn't succeed and would need more time to accomplish its lofty goals. Not a single pre-release review said that this game failed in any way and that its release in 2020 would be anything less than revelatory. If taken from a perspective as just a fun linear story and simple game mechanics then this is a okay game but from the bill of goods that we were told it was not delivered for the final product.
And we need to hold big name game review sites accountable too because they are just as much to blame as CDPR for not ever expressing anything but amazement at it design, scope and playability. These game sites were either purposefully misleading people for profit at worst or woefully negligent on providing a unbiased review for consumers. Whatever the reasons let's not give these corporate sharks the bonuses or even keep the jobs they have when they screw people over for profit like this. Extremely poor management tactics, unrealistic expectations for developers and propagating a unhealthy work structure for its employees are just some of the MANY reasons for wanting something to change the way business is currently being done.
I was excited and like everyone else and patiently waited. We all had hopes that this game would deliver on its open world sandbox design, one that would have you enjoy a full immersion experience and a unique, detailed storyline that is varied based on your dialog selection and your previous in game choices that would dictate your tailored ending of the game. Sadly that is not the case. Although the game is fun at times, its world is immense and colorful but it all seems very linear, without the tailored endings it promised and feels soulless in many ways. NPC's are one sentence wonders, the story seems to be too short for such a long time in development.
The inventory menu is cluttered and hard to clarify what items you want to keep, how many projectiles does the weapon fire, and if you think your going to be look cool AF running around Night City, think again. Your clothes are based on stats. You not going to equip a pair of long black leather pants with an 5 def. because they look punk as hell because instead your wearing a pink short skirt that has 21 def. So your character 99% of the time looks like a dumpster fire that was started by a hot fart.
Glitches can be patched, inventory can be modified and corrected but the main aspects of the game are going require more time, serious commitment and lots polish before it's the game it promised everyone. And if they follow the developer's at No Mans Sky then redemption is possible and CDPR can deliver the cyberpunk we all expected but that game is still at the minimum 18 months away and that is only if CDPR is committed in making the corrections and utilizes the immense revenue it has generated to give us what it had promised, even if it is a year or two in the future. I would have gladly waited longer but this game is starting to feel much like a reskinned version of games like Homefront, Brick and Rage where it has overpromised and under delivered.
At this time I do not recommend the game especially if your expecting the hype that was promised. But if you take the flaws into account then there are some fun parts of the game too where you can find some great entertainment value. Unfortunately it's just not worth the $60 price tag at this time. Only time will tell if CDPR does what Hello Games has done and continues its commitment to keeping its promises or takes the money and runs. Fingers crossed we get what paid for someday.