Cyberpunk's Bugs Never Mattered: A POINTLESS, Unpatchable Plot. 

Cry about it.

Play better games Evi

Bo Hoo

what lies? what facts should he stick to? i would love to see your argument against his.

I also thought the lies were pretty egregious such as: Jackie's death was extremely predictable and didn't matter, your character feels like he has no real impact on the story, your choice in life path has literally no impact on the story, E3 spoiled the unavoidable plot twist that you have literally no power over, they give no real explanation about why Arasaka would download Jonny Silverhand onto a floppy disk when he's the one guy who has a deadly vendetta for the company even though that's a pretty major plot point, and that the game doesn't give us a real reason to hate Arasaka other than "business bad". Oh wait, that's all true.

They should have honestly done something more like how David Bowie was used in Omikron. Like he's there for a song here and there as a treat to the player but also he's end game stuff. You don't know what's going on with Bowie or how he ties in at all until the very end. But like you said they just wanted to cash in on the celebrity and have him take as much screen time as possible in order to bait everyone.

I just realised why the intro is the best part and fleshed out of the story. Because it's the part where V is a character instead of a vehicle for Silverhand, and feels like it was made before the massive retcon. The chip, or perhaps even the whole heist might've been something else. Also why it felt like you skipped hours of content within the intro montage. And the part about Silverhand is good for lore, but doesn't justify digging him out from his grave and putting it in V's head.

It did get altered. It's a fact at this point. Silverhand was basically just a reference up until 2018.

@@user-nt5pl3zn4u I just saw the old character creation preview. And my god, it is really shows the retcon. Silverhand was only one of 3 figures that was supposed to be your idol, other 2 being Morgan Blackhand and Saburo Arasaka himself.

@@traiforse5777 Know what the kicker is ? In the 40 minute gameplay preview shown back in 2018, while V is in her apartment, the radio clearly says that Silverhand died 1 year prior to the events of the game. He wasn't taken by Arasaka nor was he turned into some cyber ghost. He died of old age.

Yeah I can see that being the case. They may have elaborated on that in dialogue but god mother fuckin damn am I going to sit through all of it. Thanks for keeping it civil.

@@ManleyReviews No problem sir, always available to share opinions and ideals. I don’t even know if a bunch of patches and future DLC could save this game? Perhaps, if it’s substantial content that is returned to the game… What was once cut out just to speed up the release.

I don’t think he actually saved her. She broke out on her own, Johnny actually killed her or killed her body.

@@odst123451 Johnny killed her body by accident without realizing the situation, yes. Back in 2013… But if you remember, she told Johnny that she was safe and could not be harmed, but she was still withheld under Arasaka’s system. Johnny freed her when he took the bomb to the tower in 2023, for he disrupted the entire servers’ mainframe with that explosion. Releasing/ freeing her was Johnny’s true motive besides all of the other bullshit that he preached. Alt even asked him not to come for her, for too many lives would’ve been lost for nothing in her eyes.

@@MetallicaKing48 Okay, It’s hard to separate the 2020 and 2077 story.

Huh?! First 8hrs are ok. But you don't investigate politician being brain washed. Nor how a man decides to atone by performing a crucifixion. In the main story. Lots of complaints miss the mark. Ngl Jackie was great and having some more time with him would have made a story better and longer.

But it doesn't take into account how awful these 8 hours actually are gameplay wise. Everything is just a drawn-out, boring mess on rails without any exciting game mechanics or freedoms. And even story-wise you don't connect to anyhing because the game doesn't let YOU develop your character and relations to other characters.

First 30 mins you mean

First 8 hours?

Damn you just made me realize I feel the same way

that is the point though, you are a person in a world that moves on without you, you arent some groundbreaking godlike protagonist. you will be forgotten and nothing you do matters, is the point of the game. it makes perfect sense, I dont get how everyone here is so lost

@@bredwright wow its almost like thats the whole point of the game, you're just a person, who will die and be forgotten

Considering that CDPR advertised that Cyberpunk was going to have a story where our actions and choices would affect the story/matter and that their would be non linear quest design, having a main story where what we do is pointless and V is just forgotten makes no sense. Seems more like CDPR scrapped whatever story they had planned to make a new one where Sliverhands is heavily involved when Keanu joined the game.

@@unknownlogicman9399 this is pretty funny to me. Before the revamped update, the story was "boring, repetitive, and *every action does not matter to the ending*". The bugs, the quality of releasing, and the high expectations tanked the game down to oblivion. But then, a while after the update, an anime based on the game released quite later, Edgerunners, not only is positively reviewed, but also saved the game's legacy as a whole. And the story is about David Martinez, a character that existed in the game itself, hailed as "legend" in the world of Cyberpunk, but throughout the story, David reached to the rank and later on died saving the people he loved while struggling to find a reason to live, as if nothing he does even matters. Legends dies at some point anyway. So, we reach to one conclusion: Cyberpunk the game is about the cycle of life, we live to the heights, pursuing all means of goals, even if we're slowly killing ourself, and ended up being nothing but remembered with your name on a drink. Even V is overpowered at some sort, being able to beat Adam Smasher so damn easy, and that's it. Living like hell yet longing for the wishes people left you behind, and anything, we still die after all. Well then. Is this a case of "How Cyberpunk ruined storywriting" or "Cyberpunk's brilliant writing"?

It wasn't gameplay. Just a reminder that this was found out a month later.

And the point is that it was a huge mistake that they did it because it ruined what could have potentially been an engaging and interesting plot line that could have entirely changed the tide of opinion on a game that ended up sucking.

That was also the time when CDPR started virtue signalling about a certain L group and hire diversity hires. So yeah, within that year, something changed...

at gameplay reveal they talked about option to grab corpo guard's gun the option doesn't exist in the game

So basically they took what you theorize as the original story concept and turned that into Edgerunners after a couple tweaks? 🤔

B I N G O dude.

Yeah I was kinda hoping for some Blade Runner moments but once I saw it was all people with colorful costumes and action sequences I immediately stopped caring and never bought it. Seemed to me that it was just another GTA clone after that.

Yeah. I was expecting more of "making it big" in the context of V in their own lifepath and possibly experiencing Night City through their journeys, or experiencing the same story from different perspective, not necessarily just the Merc life. I'm quite convinced they had it all ready as a concept, but after making a deal with Keanu, they scraped it all and made sure to narrow every choices so Silverhand can get into your head, and the whole Black Mirror plot can happen. In the current game ending, they literally gave us "You have cancer." and our choices are basically: 1. Kill yourself 2. How will you spend last 6 months (Like a generic cancer movie plot) 3. Donate your body to Silverhand

Just play the Deus Ex series, especially the original and Human Revolution. They really fit that bill.

@@MikoyanGurevichMiG21 Only the first one really scratches the itch, and the nameless mod. Human revolution was pretty blah as soon as you got past the first section.

exactly how can i get better rewards for doing side quests quietly but cant even keep Jackie alive if i go through the effort of going through the entire tower not getting detected once shit game design thats how

Honestly! I enjoyed the game myself but that doesn't mean the main story was good, the side stories felt better tied together tbh.

I could name like 5 RPGs that are considered all time greats where the side quests carry the game, but cyberpunk doesn't get the same treatment

slight nitpick but the ending where you Side with Arasaka practically turns the world into cruelty squad where death is no longer a thing. and people (and by people i mean the extremely rich) can now live forever

Wait, how do the endings have little impact on the world. Literally nothing had had more impact on the world than V. You can essentially destroy Arasaka which is the biggest and most powerful corporation in cyberpunk. You can also side with it and guarantee that it will remain the biggest baddest Corp under the same man for basically forever. And this does not even include the phantom liberty dlc.

Whenever I have the urge to say something along the lines of “Hey things really pick up after the Konpeki heist” or whatever else I immediately have to remind myself that the intro section alongside the broader first act is a whopping 6-8 hours. I feel like One Piece fans recommending their friends just tough it out until the Arlong Park arc, which amounts of a grand total of 31-45 episodes. I’m never going to advise anyone to waste potentially hours and hours of their time on the off chance that after hours and hours of boring and passive feeling content consumption a story will finally resonate with them.

that's what we do here haha.

Shame he wasn't paying attention to the "awful other 3/4ths" of the game. I'm all for shitting on a game for what's wrong with games, but I've actually played it. He started the other routes that lead to the better endings before ditching them and rightfully getting a shit ending, and then complained about the obvious result of siding with Arasaka against all advisement being a shit ending.

@@KiraSlith had a feeling that's all he did.

@@ManleyReviews best channel hands down !

@@KiraSlith I watched literally every ending of the game on YT and it doesn’t make up for the 40 hours leading up to them

Focusing on the glitches is giving this game a pass it doesn't deserve. But even focusing on the plot doesn't address the issue that the gameplay feels like a mediocre GTA knockoff from the PS3 era.

is that a perfect circle zelda pfp?

the real punk choice is to not give CORPO scum AAA games your hard earned money, and stop believing in these brown nosing review companies

@@JackPorter It's entirely hyppocritical to make a story focused on anti-corporation and force-feed it to you, considering this game might as well be the biggest corporate slop from CDPR with the heavy crunches and low quality control. Meanwhile, GTA 5 knew what it was making, and ended up being more fun.

@@traiforse5777 Here's to hoping GTA 6 doesn't end up like Cyberpunk 2077.

The writing is atrocious. The character motivations we're written by a 3rd grader.

@@ManleyReviews not to mention that half of the story is missing, the story missions were about 15 hours long, thats the lengh of just 1 Witcher 3 dlc, compared to Witchers 3 50hrs of story in the base game, thats without side quests. CDPR claimed that the story was only slightly shorter than witcher 3. You go from the prologue and get teleported to late mid game, the whole first half of the game is missing and gets relegated to a 6 months montage. Edit : just noticed that you cover that in the video, but thats one of the game gripes, they clearly cut the story and gave us a far shoter one than they originally intented but they ran out of time.

@@ManleyReviews You missed the part where many of the story points and lore are not from CDPR but from MIke Pondsmith the creator of the Tabletop that the game is based off of, he made Johnny a Rocker/terrorist and he named his tabletop Cyberpunk 2020 and created the worlds story/characters ect which is why CDPR named a cyberpunk themed game Cyberpunk 2077, its supposed to be a sequel to the story mike pondsmith created for his 2020 table top.

@@ManleyReviews you just didnt understood the story at all

can you give me examples of bad writing ?

Agreed but what he was saying and what most of us know is there is only bits and pieces of good stuff in this game not enough to patch it all together to even make a used cyberpunk jacket ! Lol

He also suggests WE the player have no reason to go after Arasaka though, which is just a flat out lie. Story wise, they built the tech that's eating our brain alive, in Cyberpunk (as in the universe not the style, the -verse actually came first, I'm not sure why he couldn't figure that one out) Alphatech (it's a newspeak term from the tabletop for technology in development) is so complex and new that unless you built it or knows someone who helped build it (or have an AI from behind the wall, which all seem to be basically magic-tier infinitely smart super-beings), you have no way of understanding, repairing, or in this case removing it if it's doing something. Which the narrative explains why you can't just ask for help nicely (and 1 of the endings, apparently the only one he bothered getting before posting this cringetastic review, even shows why you shouldn't bother working with Arasaka anyway), and leaving it alone means a very unique kind of death. Narratively, you see Arasaka execute an entire space council for being inconvenient during the Corpo intro (which he mentions and just casually blows off), and otherwise Arasaka is regularly said and occasionally shown to be doing some nightmarish things. Kidnapping people off the streets to use as test subjects, violently executing anyone who gets in their way (which we see multiple instances of in various states of progress), murdering people in the streets for being in the wrong place at the wrong time (you do get to see a victim of this in one of the NCPD side missions). They have their own street gang as a holdover from a previous conflict from one of the tabletop games, who still regularly mugs people and runs a protection racket while exclusively using Arasaka manufactured weapons. They're openly Japanese imperialists keeping stolen land on American soil, something we begrudge China for doing to India IRL. Their leadership is also all by the real definitions of the terms, racist xenophobes with a bad case of nepotism. Oh, and their not-actually-dead head is a body jacker who steals his own son's body in one of the endings. Not all of these are reasons the story itself entirely agrees with, but they're all the reason I need to hate them personally.

Beat it only 2 x's?...go for more crappy endings man. Totaly worth it lol

same

@@KiraSlith we the player don’t give a shit about a busted SD card in our head how am I supposed to care about that plot point when it doesn’t even impact the gameplay. It’s like “oh nooooo wait who cares can I have a better antagonist yet I just want to check out the word and treat it like futuristic skyrim”

Imma keep it 300. That sounds so much better. Like being a pennyless bum, living in mama wells backroom. Actually meeting Vik and Bug for the first time and growing the relationships with them. Getting involved as you go from basically an unknown to growing and becoming well enough that it makes sense that new. More wealthy fixers seek you out. (As opposed to, "ah, I see you've driven into my section of the city. Allow me to introduce myself, because our criminal organisations are all about inclusiveness and geotracking.) Like shit. Could have made the backstories much more important to the story.

I don't think this is entirely accurate. Look at the success of Cyberpunk. After most of the bugs have been patched, almost everyone is like "weLL I haD a BLasT". Truth is, people just want graphics in their game and perhaps one-two tear-shedding sidequests. Nobody really cares about the story and the reality is that even after this very botched release, with most quality features missing, Cyberpunk still is one of the top-selling titles on Steam. Even if they completely botched the story, as per their margins, the audience is very satisfied.

@@alex1stamford779 "Nobody really cares about the story" Eeh, sure. Because it's not like nearly all the most beloved games of all time are story-heavy or anything. "Even if they completely botched the story, as per their margins, the audience is very satisfied." Would that be why the game is desperately 50% off on sale multiple times every year?

I guess that technically doesn't conflict with pondsmith saying that Johnny was always going to be on the chip, but he himself has said they didn't really change the main story much, if at all.

Finally someone who gets the point of cyber punk lore.

I really liked that there was no hope personally!

yup, you hit the nail on the head. somehow the actual youtuber didnt. shame :/

@@Error-000 i get that cyberpunk is about a dystopian future no one can change anymore, but the game sure makes you struggle to try to change it and even shows that it can actually be done, in the judgment ending (Panam) Arasaka is seriously hit after the heist, there's no way to confirm how much it was because of you and Alt or Yorinobu working from the inside to also take it down but Arasaka is in pretty bad shape anyway. V has 6 months to live after the ending, Alt's reason being that the body is just too damaged and Hellman's reason being that your psyche can only be transferred to a close relative, one contradicting each other since Alt can place V back into the original body even if it was pretty much already converted to fit Johnny's psyche and Johnny was transferred to V's body and can live pretty well if you choose to leave him there. So yeah, you shouldn't be able to change the world but after the game gave me so many reasons why I actually could, I don't like that it takes it back last second just to make the ending depressing, and Edgerunners has the same issue.

@@flatline-timerI really like your positivity!

most of the promised stuff are added or will be added with patches

@@kinga.t.242 so its perfectly fine to sell a broken pile of shit at full price? stop dick riding

@@DAVFEARON I never ever said that I'm just saying the that the game is great now

The anime isnt even good

@@czarnakoza9697holy shit someone that can freely think

I can't even be bothered to finish the game. I got to the point of no return expecting to at least play the rest of the game without interruptions or stupid cutscenes, but V just had another seizure as soon as I met the Japanese woman. After that I was done. Game doesn't want me to interact with the world. But when I do its shitty fetch missions, I get interrupted with seizures and cutscenes that I don't care about.

@@Tommybotham this might make me look bad but I didn’t finish it either lmao got to like the last mission and just didn’t give af enough just RU-vidd the endings on 2x speed and was like “yup they did basically what I thought was going to happen”

I played it in a food poisoning induced stupor, the food poisoning was more fun than the game so I only made it about 20 hours in before I had enough.

You described every game i ever play lol. Skyrim, 1 and done. Fallout 3,NV,4 1 and done. Witcher 1 2 3 ... one and done. Mass Effect 1 2 3 one and done (actually no i played mass effect 2 a second time through just to see if i could get everyone killed accept Morinth in the final mission. spoiler alert, YOU CAN! and then she kills you LMAO) hmm oh Zelda games? 1 and done. every Souls/bloodborne/knockoff ... one and done. OH GTA 3? VC? SA? 4? 5? ONE AND DONE! Of all the greatest games of all time ive played 95% of them only one time through. and enjoy that time. and have no desire to go play it again. Same thing with movies. i only watch movies once. Mostly because i have good memory maybe? Just starting to think about a game or a movie and i can basically replay the whole thing in my mind again, so i dont need to watch it again, so i dont. That doesnt make any of them bad. Its a very normal way to consume entertainment. Cyberpunk was good. i loved it.

@@uncletrashero Yeah see I'm not like that. Most of those games you've mentioned that I myself have also played I've done a multitude of playthroughs of because I wanted to enjoy a similar experience to what I experienced the first time playing it once more. And when it came to the more RPG-esque games you mentioned, I played them again because I wanted to try out different builds. That said, with the few great games I have done a single playthrough of, I still definitely looked back fondly on my experience of it, the clearest example of this being RDR2. I thought it was a great game (for the most part), but I tried playing it once again and it just didn't do much for me. I think a lot of it had to do with just how incredibly long it was. That said, I still definitely thought the game had a great story with great characters and fun gameplay and absolutely incredible dedication to realism and detail. When it comes to Cyberpunk though, my reluctance to do another playthrough was due entirely to me just feeling quite underwhelmed by the experience the more I continued to reflect on it. I did enjoy the experience for the most part when I played it the first time, but I think in retrospect a lot of that was just due to me hyping myself up for the game. The more I thought about the game though the more the glaring issues in it became increasingly more apparent and the more I in turn began to dislike it. And this was my own personal take on it, not biased by the views of others. Anyways, if you liked/loved Cyberpunk, then more power to you. I on the other hand feel basically the same way as Manley Reviews does about it though. Maybe not quite as harshly as he does, but pretty damn close. The story really really doesn't hold up well to closer scrutiny IMO.

Thanks so much.

Agreed. I bought it around 2 months ago. Very disappointing, plus the graphics are still not optimised well at all. Not even when I checked around 2-4 weeks ago.

@@ManleyReviews the unfinished pacifica really grinds my gears

Agreed!

Ngl the characters creation is kinda shit- or maybe I just got spoiled by elden ring

@@TheBloodGamePL both

@@ryszakowy fact- I don't care for dick editor option if the whole fame has like 8 hairstyles and preset faces- not to mention tattoo sucks

Thats bc its much more immersive in FPS

to make an rpg that ends with main character's death is one thing and relic being responsible is not a bad choice but cyberpunk is not an rpg it's an action looter shooter with everengineered mechanics you as a player, as V the legend of night city who gets to meet all other legends... have no influence ofer anything

That’s what I got out of it as well. It’d be nice if they at least fleshed out Jackie’s role in the story more and add more meat to the story line the game would’ve a bit better. Obviously, glitches, bugs and all aside.

Yeah BIG CORPO like araska who want to make the elite inmortal is not the problem here looool

James, I like your analysis of the story. Myself, I struggled finding an understanding of the story until I read some random comment on Reddit which set off a lightbulb for me. The way I like to view it now is that V arrives in Night City with no friends and over the course of the game he makes a network of friends, and the final mission is all about that friend network: do I risk my friends’ lives by asking for their help, or do I go it alone? And, during the end credits we get video voicemails from people we met throughout the game and find out how our decisions impacted them. At the beginning V is a lot like Johnny, a selfish prick… but in the end, like Johnny, V grows to care about others. After I saw the game in that light, I saw that story idea in every corner and shadow of Night City… Honestly, Cyberpunk is the first game where I actually listened to every line of dialog without fast forwarding. And, by the end, I cared about the characters. No game has made me do that before, and I’ve been playing games since the early 80s.

Your entire journey is driven by the fact that you are dying, I think it's safe to say that the main plot of the game is about survival and not about a battle between you and corporations (namely, Arasaka).. which is what this video so disappointingly missed..

That's a Shit "RPG" Story Hook. The very fact you referred to V as a Him rather then them shows that There Will only Ever Be one V CDPR's V, We were Given V and But not Given the Choice of what kind of V. And Not Just The Sex Of V But Idea of Them As Well, Who are they, what do they want and more importantly why? These are core to a R P G and are not negotiable or at least to this extent. All of this reminds me of Fallout4's Sole Survivor. And Bouncing Baby Boy 74 year old with cancer crap.

lmao thanks man spent like a week on that shit just editing it.

Even the random quests you get by just going around is more fun than the main story. On my second playthrough I found mysel doing all possible side quests before the next main story mission and man, I was kinda bummed out when I was done with side quests

@@balintgyuri6555 that is standard procedure for me with every rpg, i do all the side quests first and only then the main ones.

They should've just went "Bethesda" route and made the main "plot" rudimental and largely irrelevant, so the game could focus on the side content instead

the best line in the whole video haha.

@@ManleyReviews _"you're just asking.........[long pause].........to die"_ is second best

They killed him

@@alfieshepherd6522 He stole from them.

@@TechnoMinarchist that dosent justify it

@@kinga.t.242 Maybe not but in this world that’s a known risk for committing a crime, Jackie wouldn’t immediately decide to kill them all just because they turned on him.

You mean V siding with the corp that makes the lives of his friends and family into walking future collateral damages, living in constant fear of drawing their ire by towing the line of legality just to make a living while Arasaka bleeds them to fund their war with Militech? Yeah, no reason to hate them at all

No thank you for taking the plunge and watching it! It's encouraging to hear that this came across exactly as you described it. I too, have seen a ton of eloquent longer format video essays but they always bore my squirrel sized attention span. Thanks for sticking around, and we're just getting started on this channel.

@KulturKritiK like me and the audience.

Exactly. This guy get's it.

so true. Just play as a street kid because CRAP WE DIDN"T HAVE TIME TO MAKE ANYTHING ELSE

Street kid is an archetype in the tabletop rpg. It’s got bigger connotations than the literal words. It’s an iconic background when making characters for the ttrpg. There’s a lot more nuance and reverence to the canon that wouldn’t be readily apparent if you aren’t familiar and think of “cyberpunk” as a more loose dystopian concept rather than the literal setting the game is based in.

@@ryandugan9176 I get what you're saying, but it I don't think you understand what the dude is saying. tldr: It doesn't matter what lifepath you choose at the beginning of the game, the game as a whole seems like it's shoehorning you down the Streetkid path.

@@TornaitSuperBird exactly what I was saying, thanks! If you play as corpo suddenly all your contacts are gone or treating you like you're dead. Nomad suddenly has connections in the city and knows a lot about how things work in just 6 months? Wth? And all 3 paths end up with same car and apartment even though corpo grew up in charter hill and street kid grew up in heywood?

I take a lot of enjoyment in doing the production. That’s the main reason

​@@ManleyReviewsbut does that mean that you're implying that you do all the editing or something? If so....just, holy shit dude... It's GOOD.

​@@ManleyReviewsnice

yeah and it's such a shame that that alone managed to basically con everyone into thinking it's a good video

Dat edge doh

its because "cyberpsychosis is a curable disease" was a last minute decision by cd projekt red. In the original tabletop game, Cyberpsychosis was meant to keep players from installing too many cybernetics, unfortunately the plot reason for this is "disabled people cease to be human"

All cyberpsychosis plots are wrong too. In nearly each of them, "psycho" is not even psycho, just screwed by someone and doing revenge.

@@Ultrasemen That's... exactly the freaking point? Cyberpsychosis is made up to cover for systematic failures - Vet with PTSD, Militech agent put on performance drugs by the corp, etc.

​@@selina7318 right, but in most cases there were no issues, it was mostly stuff like revenge or even self defence. Like an auto shop owner in Glen who had corpos try to take away his business with fake debt or something like that. In original lore, cyberpsychosis in much more interesting - it's the reaction to the fact how imperfect normal humans are. For example, you install implant that boosts your reaction, now everyone is annoyingly slow. With every implant, you lose a bit of your "humanity".

​@@Ultrasemen that part is intentional

@The Summer Company That is what happens. It's said in the game that you're slowly becoming more like Johnny. You as V don't hate Arasaka because Arasaka isn't the antagonist, but because of Johnny you might to start to hate them. At the end of the day it's the players choice on what to do, but they give a good reason as to why V would go against Arasaka.

@@chainsaw8507 I never really got the impression that I was becoming more like Johnny. In fact, other than the cut scenes where Johnny takes over, it never feels like Johnny is integral to my interactions with other characters and other than some sideline commentary which I can choose to ignore or go against. The game can't just say that I'm becoming more like Johnny. It has to actually show that and it doesn't. It's the old saying of "show don't tell," that applies to any good story.

@@darkmojojojo The game does show it. Johnny talking to you is just a visual representation of his thoughts fighting yours. It's your choice to embrace those thoughts or not, but him talking to you is the games way of showing you the effect he has.

@@chainsaw8507 No, that's Johnny's engram talking because he's literally inside your head. It's no different than someone outside of your own head influencing your actions. If there was something that happened where V said or did something that only Johnny would have done and then another character commented on it and V realized that was out of character of them, that would be showing. That doesn't happen. V is always in control other than the few times they let Johnny take the wheel on purpose.

@@darkmojojojo Nah, it actually is that. They literally say in game that Johnny talking to you is just how V's brain is interpreting it. Having someone talk to you at all times when making choices will and effect on anyone's judgment. The reason V doesn't do anything out of character is because you decide what V does. You decide what's out of character for your V.

I'm sure the writers aren't literally rеtаrded and the story made sense as plotted. It's just told extremely poorly. Players with knowledge of the lore thoroughly analyzing every line could understand what the story was *trying* to convey, but it's kind of still the game's fault to fail to convey it to the audience.

Lmao that’s i mean… not wrong I guess haha thanks for watching and lmao at ur name

Hilarious 😆

because its so stupid he didnt even understood the story of the game he thinks that its about v getting revenge on arasaka when its never like that

@@kinga.t.242 well if it was like that then it would actually have a better story

@@ghastlyghandi4301 no it wont the story in CP is easily one of the best stories iv seen in any game i ever played the guy who made the video misinderstood the whole story and the point of it

@@kinga.t.242 ah, well you must have incredibly low standards then (that or you haven’t played a lot of video games).

@@ghastlyghandi4301 i played more than 500 video games and even more name a story driven game and i probably played it if i really have low standards can you give examples why the story is bad

Honestly I didn’t even notice. You just get used it at this point in the game lmao

i love all of his other videos but hes complaining about lore even tho this isn't the first installment in this series. He should have checked out the table top version or read about the lore before complaining about it.

@@bandbm5599 The game should be judged by what is contained in the game. The game messed that up. Though having played both the ttrpgs he is missing a lot

@@chocolatebutter192 yea I agree, he acknowledged the ttrpgs and didn't even bother to at least read a bit about it then blamed it on the game which is a sequel

@@chocolatebutter192 but another thing he didn't even have the story right tho, it's almost like he didn't even understand the lore and I don't think he played any of the side quests. He didn't even have the antagonist right.

Look that’s great, but the game needs to do enough to paint the broad strokes for the people engaging with it well enough You can’t just say “oh this info all exists in an entirely different medium so if anyone hasn’t gone out of there way to find those details OUTSIDE of this piece of media that’s THEIR fault” You can’t just hand wave a story for not explaining basic elements of their world or characters to the audience because that information exists somewhere else

So true.

That's what the game does now? Feels like a lot of the criticisms towards 2077 are either nitpicky or boil down to "the game didn't let me do what I want my way so it's bad."

i believe it was to be one large tale that got split up as a street kid V meets jackie and then becomes a corpo dog in corpo prologue V get's kicked out and runs from the city to join nomads after that bakkers sell out to corpos and V comes back to night city in one last smuggling job meeting jackie after a long time all of those things were to be a part of something greater that line from teaser? "we have a city to burn"? never happens game promised was something completely else from what we got

No man, I disagree. This made-up version of what could've been was literally the production studio's job. The fact that it was so bad that a normal gamer like you or me could literally type a better idea into the RU-vid comment section means the developer's multimillion project gets zero benefit of the doubt that they could've made something good out of this project. Clearly anyone with a head on their shoulders would've gone with something closer to what you've described. And this company had $ MILLIONS to get some basic stuff correct. For whatever reason it was, it's clear this game was NEVER going to be good in these developers' hands. Don't do their job for them, they were paid more than enough to create trash.

@@timstalam But you know that your version isn't better? For example guy above is dreaming about making three games and releasing it as one, or making again mistake that was chapter two of witcher 2, but on much bigger scale. "Normal gamers" rarely have any good idea for games as you can easily see checking typical mods and their mistakes.

​@@_r4x4bootlicker be like oh no daddy corpo can't make bad stories normal ppl can't make good stories cause me love corpocock

Thank you! Could say the same for your channel as well. Good luck out there man.

Hey if you dig it, more power to ya.

I just started playing and found my way to this video because after finishing stealing the chip I found myself bored with the game. The main story doesn’t give me time to breathe. There are a bunch of cool side quests I’ve been given but I can’t find the time to do it because the main quest keeps pushing me forward. I mean I don’t have to go straight through but that would kind of break immersion since everything the main characters give me seems urgent. And back to the point I’ve never getting to breathe. There’s no chance to explore night city or be a cyberpunk. I’m not even sure if the city is supposed to be explored.

I actually think Cyberpunk had a good foundation. I personally think Night City is a masterpiece. The introduction is also pretty good up until the montage. But at one point the marketing people thought they need to include Keanu Reeves, and as a result, the whole story got scrapped from a certain point on. If the Keanu Reeves marketing stunt didn't happen, and the game had more time (talking an additional year or two) I think it could have become a master piece. But now we are stuck with broken promises and wasted potential.

Haha I think that’s a bit extreme, given it would cost them sales either way. But hey that does sound cyberpunky

That meme's been done to death already.

100%. I wouldn't be surprised.

Nah Nicholas you the samurai. Growth would be tight! thanks for sticking around dudeski.

well said.

I think it is because the game STARTED as a Cyberpunk game as close as possible to the tabletop as they could... And then they got overvalued in the market and turned the title into a clusterfuck.

I honestly liked the montage, it gave us a good impression on v and Jackie’s friendship

the montage feels like it was just put together at the last minute because all those scenes feel liek they should be a playable part to actually start liking jackie

⁠​⁠@@poppag8281but it would have given you an even better impression of their friendship if you had been able to actually play it would it not?

LMAO HAHAHA The doug score would have been perfect.

Cyper PISS baby 🤠

I have no clue what's going on here but I love it.

Before we start the video, be sure to check out *CAAAAAARS AND BIDS*

@@user-mx1fq6qm6i !Haha glad you got the reference

You said it man. Granted I understand some of the explanations are for player exposition but I fully agreed just show the player what’s happening without using plot harming exposition lol. I agree with the rest of the points as well. Just seems like loose writing. Thanks for the giant comment

@@ManleyReviews Thanks for taking the time to read it, and thanks for making this video. It was awesome 👍.

ofc broski

3) Jackie's body took way too much internal damage and was pretty much haemoragging, Delamain himself states that the damage he took is too severe the only reason V even survived getting shot was because the nanites in the chip began to heal their brain as stated by Viktor in the very next scene. 4) The chip outside of the body is only sustainable at colder temperatures, it's also not like V actually inserts the chip into their body, they insert it in their external chipslot, which is probably thermo regulated and considering it is EXTERNAL, meaning it is protected from the body's extreme internal heat, thus it allows the chip to function normally. To be honest, this is a pretty small nitpick. 5) First off, based off of what Alt and Hellman tell us with regards to the chip, the chip by virtue of its design was meant to be inserted in a human body. Alt tells V in the end that the relic (aka the biochip) has heavily reconfigured their DNA to match Johnny's construct. Hellman tells us that the Relic's efficiency and functionality is heavily dependent on genetic compatibility, with V being the extreme outlier. All of this clearly tells us that the chip was meant to be inserted in a human body. Also being in a synthetic or robotic body would mean being deprived of basic human intimacy and pleasures, such as tasting, smelling, touching etc. It also brings in the possibility of Cyberpsychosis (a condition that is caused by excessive cybernetic implants where victims due to their bodily changes under go severe mental turmoil as they lose grip of their humanity, there is much much more to Cyberpsychosis and a variety of different causes but that's the original ttrpg explanation for it) 5) That's literally the point though, the game at multiple points asks the players to define what makes a person a person. Sure in an absolute physiological sense, V technically isn't dying but in a figurative sense they absolutely are. This is much more existentially terrifying and interesting then V just dying from cyber aids. The only reason V is still dying after Johnny is separated from our neural network is because like I mentioned before, the chip heavily reconfigured the body's DNA and hence the body sees V's construct as an intruder, pretty much meaning V's own immune system is what might end up killing them. 6) Takemura had suspicions of Yorinobu but kept them aside and still believed that you were responsible for Saburo's death. It's only after Yorinobu sends those Arasaka assassins after us that Takemura manages to put 2 and 2 together. 7) T-Bug disables the camera's in the penthouse by hacking into the subnet, that's how V and Jackie were even able to break into his penthouse without getting caught in the first place. My bigger question is why Konpeki Plaza security weren't alerted to this clear act of a breach. There's a plausible theory on the internet that Yorinobu was the one who set up the heist in secret so he could frame both of you for Saburo's death, it would explain how V and Jackie were even able to get as far as they even did in the heist, especially considering the fact that Konpeki Plaza is literally Arasaka property. Hanako was raised to never oppose her family and maintain stability, she was angered because of the fact that Yorinobu killed Saburo but didn't want to oppose him because he is still family, it is a pretty weird explanation tbh but it is in line with her character. Takemura doesn't go along with Yori's charade I don't get where you are getting this from, Takemura was suspicious of Yori and its only up until Yori sends those Arasaka assassins after him that his suspicions are confirmed. 9) Arasaka has lost track of V because of the fact that their Kiroshi optics were hooked up with an anti surveillance system that allows them to be a blur in scanners and cameras. It's also worth mentioning that they are implementing random encounters of Arasaka going after you, albeit in a very rough shape. 10) Alt's motivations and goals are very unclear and vague (maybe they are saving it for the expansions or for the sequel), it is shown that she can escape the Blackwall at any moment she pleases (as shown in the Voodoo Boys quest) but chooses not to, why? Idk but this isnt really much of a plothole as it doesn't have much bearing over the actual plot imo.

@@cynicalmemester1694 10) Because Blackwall isn't just a prison, it's also a shelter. Netwatch created Balckwall to separate AIs form safe part of net. Alt can escape Blackwall, but doing it would alarm Netwatch and they would try to do anything to neutralise thread of rouge AI breaching Blackwall, so Alt not overusing her freedom makes her safe and hidden from Netwatch interest.

Spot on

I still can't get over the fact they made it seem like you create an own character before launch but V is such a prewritten character, you have 0 influence on his behavior. This killed it for me. I mean you create his appearance, you choose his background and he has this simple name "V". There was every right to assume you play your OWN character but that is just completely not the case at all.

@@Grapefruit5000 it's a modern day fallout 4

The biggest flaw with cyberpunk, it’s stripped down massively

Truffle Shuffle?

I hate how many insane fanboys this game has. It was okay to play for the first time but people calling this a masterpiece that they cant stop playing makes me start to hate this game.

Ikr

Yeah... Just like this masterpiece that was... Or... Hmmmm... Nevermind. Modders making masterpiece is something extremely rare.

Wow I really appreciate that!! You're with the JM of the beef boys right? sewper cool.

@@ManleyReviews I am James Miller adjacent, this is true

OOOhhhh I remember you from internet historian you were in one of the incognitos right? I swear I've seen your name floating about

@@ManleyReviews Yeah mate that's me! I'm in the latest one, he hopped on a Cyberpunk vid of mine too (it isn't as good as yours, don't watch it)

I've actually watched it before funny enough! I think I actually took inspiration from your thumbnail as well when I was shopping around for thumbs. don't downplay it bro your contents great!

Fr? Thanks for noticing man.

I 100% agree with everything you said. there were parts that were cool, but man. .. yeah.

Also better gameplay and a great DLC

It's damn funny since one of CDPR devs said that world is so rich and full of details that you won't need more content inside cities especially enterable buildings ""you will never be in situation like you are like i need to get in there, because city is so big, it's overwhelmingly huge"" yeah huge full of nothing and invisible walls, 98% buildings can't be entered, you can't go to brothel or random apartments or skyscrapers (just Arasaka for missions)

@@Dregomz02 yeah, exactly pretty early I started only using the Map markers to get to the mission and the fast travel, cause there was nothing to see on the way.

yeah few weeks is vague enough to last for whole game but the game is lacking

I'm shocked others didn't do it as well.

no the game who did this video is the one that didnt played it he didnt even understood the point of the story

If you had to go out your way to find this video, then that says alot. Most love the game, the vocal minority, like this guy, hate it.

@@Hydra_X9K_Music Yep, the masses are always correct. Keep your head down and keep chewing that grass little sheep. Who tf do you think consumes this shit?

@@KlassCancun Ah, there it is. The classic, "Your opinion doesn't match mine. Therefore, you're a sheep" comment. But hey, thanks for the salt. My steak needed some.

Thank you! Hella appreciate it

he didnt understood the whole plot i think he didnt played the side missions at all

@@kinga.t.242 facts

Go look at CyberStuffXR, JDTechGear, or Hello Future Me’s videos on Cyberpunk, way more accurate and in-depth with the narrative breakdowns, pointing out both strengths and weaknesses readily

Hey Aldo thanks for checking it out. Funny thing is, I had a feeling you were going to bring up these exact points in a rebuttal, all of which I actually agree with. I did some digging on the original lore of the game, reading summaries and backstories of the primary characters, and took a look at some of the original literature. MOST plot point grievances are solved with digging in the lore, but as a generic video game consumer I just can't be bothered to really do the game's homework for me in that sense. I didn't analyze each line of dialogue as I found myself getting glossy eyed on most of the interactions halfway through the game. This may make the vid feel a little "strawman-y." That's more for entertainment purposes. Funny enough I was the same way with darksouls. I didn't really care about the lore in the game until after the fact when I could watch and hear it presented to me in a more cinematic and intriguing way. But while I was playing I couldn't really be bothered much with the world building, which, combined with the fact that game is so lassie faire with it's story, perfectly suited me in not forcing it down my throat. Cyber punk feels like it wants to drown you in story (rightfully so) but also oddly enough doesn't give you enough of it. The side content was the coolest part, and I actually recorded 10 minutes of me talking about it, but on second thoughts, it just never felt fleshed out enough. It seemed like the side content just wasn't taken nearly to the extreme I was hoping it would, as I wanted to treat cp like skyrim where I just forgot about the plot. I know they went pretty literal from the manuals and literature. I just don't like the aesthetic of the literature and plot lmao. In a perfect world I would have loved to see CDPR just take the genre and do something original with it instead of try to stay lock-step with the original material, which just feels flat compared to their previous works.

@@ManleyReviews I'm hoping that future DLC can rectify some of the story missteps but it almost seems like the game CDPR released is meant to be an introduction to a platform, similar to GTA or Red Dead. It could very well be that they mean to flesh out the world and introduce new characters to it over time, probably on multiplayer. I suppose we'll have to see, though. From what I can tell the development of the game was fairly chaotic, especially with Keanu deciding to have a bigger part in the story. We'll see how they move forward, I guess.

@@TranslucentMeaning I'm hoping so as well, although I think a game this ambitious needs GTA5 money and time to perfect otherwise it falls flat. Given their dev history with this game, I think it would need years to make this game really start tapping into it's settings potential. Almost every turn in the game I kept fighting off thoughts of "oh this could have been so much cooler if they had several extra years and less time pressure." Would have loved to do things like actually physically explore the net as a net runner, meet other engrams, or possible switch out SD cards and people like in a Majora's Mask way etc. So many routes that could have been taken imo. I hope the DLC gives some cool AF side story content that hooks me, but I'm not holding my breath.

@@ManleyReviews if you were really a "generic video game consumer" that "couldn't be bothered to do the homework" then all these plot points you are saying ruined the game for you wouldn't actually matter. "Generic video game consumers" play for the gameplay itself not every minor detail that makes up the entire story, which you seem to be primarily focused on.

@@ManleyReviews Let me start by saying that I love the quality of your video. I agree with Translucent Meaning, in that this first game seems to be a platform introduction. However, I guess I'm one of the 'few' who actually enjoyed the plot. Partly because I grew up playing the TTRPG games, but also because I've participated in developing software, writing fiction, and grew up watching these genres come to life. One thing I think a lot of people miss about where the genre of cyberpunk differs from dystopian science fiction is that they are character driven stories revolving around the individual and the setting. There are rarely any 'large scale' world saving themes in cyberpunk as opposed to traditional dystopian science fiction. The Matrix isn't really cyberpunk. Its a dystopian science fiction story that 'looks' cyberpunkish. An 'evil' corporation would never survive and would be subjective. Johnny Silverhand perception that Arasaka is 'evil' is his own opinion. In the context of the plot, the chip was 'experimental' and isn't supposed to even exist because Arasaka is trying to keep the fact that they have the Soul-killer software quiet. Going after V would be an admission that something valuable was taken and in the scope of a real cyberpunk setting, V is beneath their attention in the beginning and Yorinobu wouldn't want it known that something was stolen from him. Arasaka is based on traditional Japanese corporations with influence from the zaibatsu style of of integrated business conglomerates. Look at all the industries that the biggest Japanese companies have their fingers into in today's markets. Mitsubushi does cars, electronics, appliances. That's why Arasaka doesn't have any defined industry because it deals in all of them. From a storytelling aspect, gamers I think are a little too reliant on the game providing you with reliable narration, and in the general since a lot of the 3rd person narration you get in the game is reliable, but V and Johnny Silverhand are unreliable narrators. They never see the whole picture, know everything with truthful clarity. Their perceptions are biased and colored by their limited knowledge and experiences. When writing fiction or plotting for other media you have to make a decision on which type of narrator you are going to use. A more personal but unreliable narrator will build sympathy and rapport faster than a 3rd person reliable narrator. And because this is a story of V and how he deals with his traumas the unreliable narrator is the better choice, but it also means that what you learn and are told through his lens is going to be biased and unreliable. By default any narration or information that comes from a character is classified as unreliable by default. But against, while I disagree with a lot of what you talk about, I greatly appreciate the time, effort, and quality of your video. Have a great day.

Wish we could have played as him instead.

@@ManleyReviews Coincidentally the game would have had to have taken place in about 2049- which is the same year the new blade runner takes place. V was born the same year as Bladerunner 2049. Which is the same year I believe Johnny died. To be clear though, as far as lore goes Johnny DID die that night. Or was presumed dead, his body was never recovered after the attack on Arasaka tower. The entire 'engram' and slotting his personality is a creation of CDPR. The official timeline stopped at 2070 with the destruction of Sacramento. All lore after that point in the game is entirely CDPR though I believe Pondsmith worked pretty closely creating the lore. The lack of depth is a real issue, the entire Pacifica region of the map is very unfinished. The gangs needed more character, the ability to friend OR foe. Maelstrom, The Animals, Tyger Claws, etc- they're not good OR bad in the blurry CP universe. Other important elements are only brushed on in the game, like how most of the street gangs are funded by corporations to handle the dirty work- Arasaka funds the Tiger Claws for example. That fuzzy line between Corporation, government, and street gang being impossible to actually find.

@@ManleyReviews I'm old school nerd, I played the tabletop game because I wasn't poor enough to play D&D and I wasn't rich enough to play 40K. So I am part of the SMALL demographic that bought cyberpunk for a different reason than most people- and we were disappointed too... in our own way.

if you have to look up cyberpunk lore just to understand plot points in the game then the story of the game is shit