Cyberpunk 2077

biases go both ways...so you're saying your enjoyment is not biased in any way?...
Of course I'm not. That was the point - it's merely to say that the generalization that the game "is a letdown" isn't true. Nor is any of the things regarding hype true. It's only from you position that you think that. That isn't to say there aren't others that think like you, but again my point is the generalizations aren't true.

no one is saying the game needs to be 'perfect'...that's the usual hyperbole from fanboys that don't want to admit that something they like might not be as beloved as they think...can you play and complete the game on PC?...of course you can...that's not the issue...the game has a lot of bugs, performance issues, issues with AI, ...
Show me a game of this size (which you can't really because this is basically a trend setting game) that didn't have bugs or issues with AI or issues in general at launch. I'm not saying we shouldn't hold devs accountable, but what I am saying - expecting perfection here again isn't reasonable. I have experienced bugs, some not even great bugs - I can totally admit that. But things that hamper me from enjoying the game or fully game breaking? No. Which I think is a pretty reasonable expectation.

rumors of cut content, Night City not feeling like a 'real life' world with choices/actions/consequences etc
Versus what? You've created a series of expectations about things that literally don't exist and are saying should be there rather than playing the game from the place perspective and context of what is there. That's like playing Super Mario Bros. 1 for the NES and complaining that it's not "open world". You have an expectation in your mind that there should be things in places where they obviously didn't place things and are making a leap that there should be things.

To perhaps put this in greater perspective this is true about all games of this type in general. There aren't limitless things you can do in DX:HR or DX:MD either (in terms of choice, consequence, etc). There aren't unlimited things you can do in GTA (in terms of choice, consequence, etc). Nor are there unlimited things you can do in Dishonored or Assassins Creed. Why is there an expectation that CP2077 should be a "real life" simulator with actions and consequences? Why isn't it allowed to be an open world game with a fairly linear storyline? What makes you think that was what was intended - especially considering that literally every line of dialog was scripted/recorded/crafted and then inserted? You're saying that what they created is "not what they intended to create" or it's "not what they should've created" and I disagree with both of those positions. And I would say that neither of those positions are really fair for devs regarding their games in general nor CDPR in particular.

again gamers only see things in black and white...either a game is a perfect 10 or a garbage 0...there are degrees in between and that's where CP2077 is right now in my opinion...maybe a 7.5/10...is that terrible, no...will it get better over time?...sure...but I'm judging the game on what it is today...console performance may not directly affect PC gamers but to me it does when looking at things from a macro big picture perspective
That's totally fine. I totally see all the work and effort that went into what we got that I don't think a lot of people appreciate. Game critisism is an interesting thing because of the interactivity of it, but there was a lot of work and a lot of craft that I particularly enjoy even though it seems to be overlooked by a lot of people. I'm not saying you're one of them, but what I am saying is that what we got isn't necessarily appreciated by everyone especially in terms of scale. Short of CDPR making another title, I highly doubt we'll see something at the scale of CP2077 for a long time.
 
Last edited:
Of course I'm not. That was the point - it's merely to say that the generalization that the game "is a letdown" isn't true.


Versus what? You've created a series of expectations about things that literally don't exist and are saying should be there rather than playing the game from the place perspective and context of what is there. That's like playing Super Mario Bros. 1 for the NES and complaining that it's not "open world". You have an expectation in your mind that there should be things in places where they obviously didn't place things and are making a leap that there should be things.

To perhaps put this in greater perspective this is true about all games of this type in general. There aren't limitless things you can do in DX:HR or DX:MD either (in terms of choice, consequence, etc). There aren't unlimited things you can do in GTA (in terms of choice, consequence, etc). Nor are there unlimited things you can do in Dishonored or Assassins Creed. Why is there an expectation that CP2077 should be a "real life" simulator with actions and consequences? Why isn't it allowed to be an open world game with a fairly linear storyline? What makes you think that was what was intended - especially considering that literally every line of dialog was scripted/recorded/crafted and then inserted? You're saying that what they created is "not what they intended to create" or it's "not what they should've created" and I disagree with both of those positions. And I would say that neither of those positions are really fair for devs regarding their games in general nor CDPR in particular.


That's totally fine. I totally see all the work and effort that went into what we got that I don't think a lot of people appreciate. Game critisism is an interesting thing because of the interactivity of it, but there was a lot of work and a lot of craft that I particularly enjoy even though it seems to be overlooked by a lot of people. I'm not saying you're one of them, but what I am saying is that what we got isn't necessarily appreciated by everyone especially in terms of scale. Short of CDPR making another title, I highly doubt we'll see something at the scale of CP2077 for a long time.

it's a letdown only in terms of the pre-release hype...letdown doesn't equal a bad game but when you combine it with bugs and other issues it magnifies the problems...a lot of people felt let down by the ending of Game of Thrones or the recent Star Wars movies...when something is hotly anticipated it carries with it a greater burden of success...when you look at Cyberpunk 2077 as a whole it seems like a good game but not the game many were hoping it would be

DE: Human Revolution exceeded expectations maybe because people weren't expecting it to be as good as it was...same with Doom (2016)...Mankind Divided was not as well received (I think it's an underrated game)...Mass Effect Andromeda is another example of expectations...Deus Ex Invisible War is another game I thought was very good but the general perception is that it wasn't as good as Deus Ex 1 therefore it felt like a step down...the bigger the IP or property the bigger the expectation

an example of an upcoming 2021 game that carries huge expectations- Elden Ring
 
it's a letdown only in terms of the pre-release hype...letdown doesn't equal a bad game but when you combine it with bugs and other issues it magnifies the problems...a lot of people felt let down by the ending of Game of Thrones or the recent Star Wars movies...when something is hotly anticipated it carries with it a greater burden of success...when you look at Cyberpunk 2077 as a whole it seems like a good game but not the game many were hoping it would be
Again, you were let down. Sales of this game are through the roof. Reviews on PC are generally through the roof. I would say the general population doesn't feel that way (as again referenced by the sales numbers even after considering returns). People just get more clicks by hating on things.
As for those films all of GoT was garbage (oh no, hot take!) and Star Wars hasn't been good since 1983.
DE: Human Revolution exceeded expectations maybe because people weren't expecting it to be as good as it was...same with Doom (2016)...Mankind Divided was not as well received (I think it's an underrated game)...
MD is great. Not sure who is saying it's not.

Mass Effect Andromeda is another example of expectations...
ME:A is not about expectations, ME:A is about making a game that is good versus one that isn't good. They had a terrible story. They didn't make a strong protagonist. They didn't even try to give choice. And it didn't live inside the legacy of the world built by the previous games (not even acknowledging the Reapers as a reason to leave the Milky Way as an example was colossally stupid).

Bad games are bad games. That has nothing to do with expectations. If you're creating expectations in general I would say that's the greater issue - because that colors perspective going in.
Deus Ex Invisible War is another game I thought was very good but the general perception is that it wasn't as good as Deus Ex 1 therefore it felt like a step down...the bigger the IP or property the bigger the expectation

an example of an upcoming 2021 game that carries huge expectations- Elden Ring
Again, expectations for who and about what and why? I haven't even heard of this game. And I won't bother to look it up now. Creating an expection of what the game is or will be like won't change what the game actually will be. I don't know why you would continue to do something that is clearly continuing to give you a problem - especially if you have the ability to see expectations for what they are and to avoid making those mistakes while going in. The general population doesn't analyze the self enough to know what they're doing, but if you know that's what you're doing it's better to not do that. You'll likely enjoy things more or be less biased about what you get at the very least.

It seems to me a lot of where the rubber meets the road in our discussion is the idea of "expectations". But that's creating an internal idea of what there "should" be or what "should" be coming rather than being open to actually see what you get. And that is a big problem regardless of medium. You'll have a happier life if in general you have less expectations and can wait and see for what actually comes. Less disappointments (for things that aren't reasonable anyway) and more enjoyment (out of things that are good that you weren't "expecting"). You're validating your dislike or even like of things based upon "expectations" going in and not only is that not a good way to view games or game criticism it isn't a good way generally to do life.

EDIT: This isn't meant to be a critisism of you per se. I have zero problem with your or your position on this game. Just trying to call a spade a spade.
 
Last edited:
Sales of this game are through the roof. Reviews on PC are generally through the roof. I would say the general population doesn't feel that way (as again referenced by the sales numbers even after considering returns). People just get more clicks by hating on things.
As for those films all of GoT was garbage (oh no, hot take!) and Star Wars hasn't been good since 1983.

sales are through the roof but I'm betting the majority of those sales were pre-orders...in terms of PC when you need an RTX 3080 or above to experience the game in its full RTX glory that creates another set of issues
 
Both of these are ridiculous statements.
sales are through the roof but I'm betting the majority of those sales were pre-orders...
They started at 8 and easily moved past 13 and it continue to climb. That stuff is open information.

in terms of PC when you need an RTX 3080 or above to experience the game in its full RTX glory that creates another set of issues
This is an absurd position. That's like saying you need to max out a game to enjoy it. Guess what? For the entire history of 3D gaming on PC only 1% or less have been able to max out a game at launch (but can it play Crysis?). Take away RTX and talk about any other AAA game that has launched this past year, how many of them can be maxed out at 4k 144Hz on any graphics card? Outside of Doom 2016 and Eternal there was no game with an engine optimized enough to be able to by "maxed out" at launch again by any more than 1% of gamers.

This is such a silly statement. Through each gen of DX from DX1 (which I was around for) up to 8 and 9 and now where we are with 12 there have ALWAYS been people who have had hardware feature sets and those who have not (EG: no one had hardware transformation and lighting when it first game out). And always a majority didn't get to experience any of those launch titles with "all of the eye candy" (heck, games like Q3A continued to be a bench even here on the H for I think 5 years after launch to show CPU limitations). Sighting CP2077 for RTX is as silly as sighting that same "issue" with Control or BF5. That makes zero sense and is disingenuous at best.
 
This is an absurd position. That's like saying you need to max out a game to enjoy it. Guess what? For the entire history of 3D gaming on PC only 1% or less have been able to max out a game at launch (but can it play Crysis?). Take away RTX and talk about any other AAA game that has launched this past year, how many of them can be maxed out at 4k 144Hz on any graphics card? Outside of Doom 2016 and Eternal there was no game with an engine optimized enough to be able to by "maxed out" at launch again by any more than 1% of gamers.

I'm not saying top end hardware is a bad thing...it's fine...all I said was that it creates a new set of issues when only a small amount of gamers can enjoy the game in its fully glory...CP2077 is an RTX showcase and deserves to be played with all the RT effects enabled

you can max out a lot of games at launch without the latest highest end GPU (I'm talking about 1440p and not 4K)
 
I'm not saying top end hardware is a bad thing...it's fine...all I said was that it creates a new set of issues when only a small amount of gamers can enjoy the game in its fully glory...CP2077 is an RTX showcase and deserves to be played with all the RT effects enabled
Again, what issues? If you turn down any graphical setting you're not experiencing the game "in all of it's glory" (so sighting RTX is silly. If you turn down textures, volumetric lighting, any of the improved shadow features - you're not playing the game in all of it's glory - no different than enabling or disabling RTX or playing with RTX at different levels). This is where your argument falls apart. And again all but at most 1% of people on PC are not maxing out settings ever. They're compromising somewhere - in any of those settings listed above including resolution.
you can max out a lot of games at launch without the latest highest end GPU (I'm talking about 1440p and not 4K)
Okay I brought up Control and BF5. Netiher of those could be maxed out at launch. Even with 2080Ti's at the time and definitely not at 4k or 1440p. So what AAA games can you max out at 2560x1440 144Hz at launch with most cards? Based upon more or less every review of graphics cards for lets say the past 6 months, most don't get anywhere close. It's still far less than 1% of what people own (going by Steam hardware stats).
 
Last edited:
Again, what issues? If you turn down any graphical setting you're not experiencing the game "in all of it's glory" (so sighting RTX is silly. If you turn down textures, volumetric lighting, any of the improved shadow features - you're not playing the game in all of it's glory - no different than enabling or disabling RTX or playing with RTX at different levels). This is where your argument falls apart. And again all but at most 1% of people on PC are not maxing out settings ever. They're compromising somewhere - in any of those settings listed above including resolution.

Okay I brought up Control and BF5. Netiher of those could be maxed out at launch. Even with 2080Ti's at the time and definitely not at 4k or 1440p. So what AAA games can you max out at 2560x1440 144Hz at launch with most cards? Based upon more or less every review of graphics cards for lets say the past 6 months, most don't get anywhere close. It's still far less than 1% of what people own.

144 fps is not something most people talk about in reference to 'maxing out' a game...RTX is a relatively new tech so you need DLSS...I was referring to non-RTX launch games with last gen cards like a 2070 Super and above (even a 1080 Ti)

certain games you don't need to max it out to experience it in its full glory...games like Control and Cyberpunk need to be played with RTX to get the full experience...other games like BF5 the RTX feature doesn't really add anything substantial
 
144 fps is not something most people talk about in reference to 'maxing out' a game...
Well you're here determining the criteria of what it takes to enjoy a game. So you can dictate that RTX is necessary for most people to get what they want out of a game but 144hz is not an important or relevant criteria? Can you not see how that is hypocritical? There is thread after thread about high hz gaming and being able to see more than 60fps as well as discussion about Freesync and Gsync. I would say you know little about the PC gaming community in general and the [H] in particular if you think this is a "non-issue" or that frame rate isn't something that is talked about thoroughly when referring to "maxing out" a game.
RTX is a relatively new tech so you need DLSS...I was referring to non-RTX launch games with last gen cards like a 2070 Super and above
Okay. DX:MD couldn't be maxed out at launch by most people at even 60fps at 1440p at launch. As again, people with cards above $300 are already super niche. You can examine Steam stats again to see this information. Most folks still use 1080p (although it's finally starting to tip to 2560x1440), don't have a graphics card that costed more than $300 when they bought it (it might be several years or more old), have 8GB of RAM, and likely is still on 4 CPU cores without HT (like an i5).
certain games you don't need to max it out to experience it in its full glory...games like Control and Cyberpunk need to be played with RTX to get the full experience...other games like BF5 the RTX feature doesn't really add anything substantial
And you're the one who gets to determine that? BF5 doesn't qualify because you say so?

We're in the weeds. We were talking about CP and expectations and whether or not that was even reasonable to do. And now we're in tangents about maxing out a game. Which again is based on your bias on what you feel is relevant as necessary to experience a game. And even when bringing up DX features for the past 20 years that most people didn't have at launch, for some reason RTX fits into a category of "special" and if you don't have it you lose. Forget the fact that most people couldn't play with most DX:MD features on at launch either.

Either way this has derailed this thread more than enough. I'll take whatever I say next regarding this tangent to PM (if we get back on topic, of course I'll post in the thread). Bottom line is: CP2077 is a fantastic, well received game (via every form of criticism available) - that doesn't mean that there won't be some people that won't like it (I know people that don't like medium rare fillet mignon or incredibly expensive otoro tuna) - but objectively measured by what the game is, is excellent. And as to this other side point and series of rants, can be enjoyed just fine without RTX. And poor me using a Radeon VII is enjoying the game just fine.
 
Last edited:
Well I would agree with the system requirements. I have a 2080 Ti and I could just barely get 60 fps with ray tracing.

However, it was still worth playing at (sometimes) sub-60 fps because the graphics were amazing.

I tried on my old 1060 rig and I couldn't get 60 fps at 1080p even with all settings on low. I think that was a miss.

If you remove ray tracing, the game should be able to hit 60 fps on low settings, even with a 1060.
 
The game does a good job of keeping boatloads of auto-saves, but some decisions are a LONG way back. In at least a few cases of busted quests and ending-changing decisions, the trigger can be back dozens of hours. Sometimes more.
Exactly, I must have had a good 6-8 hours in that playthrough after that conversation, there is no way I'm rewinding that far back even if I could scrounge up a save from there.
 
Yes...the only games that require RTX for the full experience are...drum roll...Control, Cyberpunk and maybe Metro Exodus
The point being? I've purchased consoles for one game. And it's not like an RTX card is only usable for games with ray tracing.
 
Having spent a lot of time in the game with RTX on and off, IMO it's certainly not a requirement to truly enjoy the game. 95% of the time there is little to no visual difference that can be seen without turning it on/off and taking 30 seconds to look around to spot the differences (or looking at two comparison screenshots side by side.) With RTX off and two settings tweaked, screen space reflections and SSAO (for little to NO visual impact) and DLSS on balanced I can run the game at 100+ fps 100% of the time.
 
IMO, the ray tracing functionality in this game trumps any others I've seen. It's a sight to behold...at first. Like with any game, the novelty wears off, though. Sometimes I have to slow down and just look around to notice all the neat effects and detail they put into graffiti, signs, and such. It's really neat and it does make me feel RTX is a big deal moving forward. As for the game, it looks absolutely fantastic in some areas, but horrible in others. Characters look wonderful in the close-up cutscenes but pretty awful just walking down the street. You have characters like Judy and Jackie that look almost photorealistic...and then you have Panam and Evelyn that look ported from Oblivion. It's like different designers made different characters. The physics feel like they were ported from the Xbox 360 era. They're just plain horrible.
 
While we're on the topic of RTX, have these screenshots ever been confirmed / debunked? Does RTX really eliminate the neon lighting like this? This is the reason why I never enabled RTX in the first place. I didn't want to ruin the neon aesthetic.

RTX on:
5cde0457-f3ca-5fef-a202-07a1e90a8e64.jpg

RTX off:
5546291d-4dfa-5029-b0a5-71bf94663084.jpg

RTX on:
3bfb403f-3afe-5161-a5e0-0f9ec42dd872.jpg

RTX off:
bea35145-eb2f-5a36-8408-d8207be3e78c.jpg
 
While we're on the topic of RTX, have these screenshots ever been confirmed / debunked? Does RTX really eliminate the neon lighting like this? This is the reason why I never enabled RTX in the first place. I didn't want to ruin the neon aesthetic.

RTX on:
View attachment 316765

RTX off:
View attachment 316766

RTX on:
View attachment 316767

RTX off:
View attachment 316768

That could be with different ray traced lighting settings. Maybe even chromatic aberration. I'm playing with RTX on (and RT lighting set to medium) and my game looks like the second shots.
 
RT looked amazing in this game for me. Played the first playthrough with ultra settings and RT, it was great (expect it was at 60 fps).

Now I am playing a second time with RT off and some tweaked settings, getting around 90 fps, so a smoother high refresh experience.

I never noticed missing light with RT, if anything it looked much better.
 
I'm late to the respec conversation but it sucks that you can't do attributes. I was planning to switch to a body/reflex build to finish the boxing quest line since I'm 20 Intelligence 20 Tech and 20 Cool with only around 8 body after hitting level 50. I tried the second fight in the quest line at 4 body and got my ass kicked. Guess I'll have to start another playthrough if I fail it again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrDoU
like this
As for the game, it looks absolutely fantastic in some areas, but horrible in others. Characters look wonderful in the close-up cutscenes but pretty awful just walking down the street. You have characters like Judy and Jackie that look almost photorealistic...and then you have Panam and Evelyn that look ported from Oblivion. It's like different designers made different characters. The physics feel like they were ported from the Xbox 360 era. They're just plain horrible.

Yeah, I'm with you. Judy looks incredible all the time because she's constantly lit by neon and other light sources.

Panam has just a handful of scenes in places like that.

Which leads me to the outright complaint of the lighting engine in this, and every game, of failing miserably to light the faces of characters in a realistic way simply because they aren't looking directly at a light source. Panam, as mentioned, looks like her face is made out of cardboard in broad daylight simply because the shadow on her face. She turns to the sun and it's like you switched from low go ultra settings.
 
I'm late to the respec conversation but it sucks that you can't do attributes. I was planning to switch to a body/reflex build to finish the boxing quest line since I'm 20 Intelligence 20 Tech and 20 Cool with only around 8 body after hitting level 50. I tried the second fight in the quest line at 4 body and got my ass kicked. Guess I'll have to start another playthrough if I fail it again.

I completed the boxing quest with a body in the single digits at level 20'ish just by using gorilla arms. You can buy them from at least one of the docs.
If you try to do it too early, you do almost no damage and the enemies will 1-shot you. Right around level 20 is where everything became suddenly winnable. They dropped from Very High to High (or even Moderate) right around that time.
I used the same strategy for everyone. Start every fight with the charge-up strong attack and then hit them with 4-5 quick shots while they're stunned. Back away and strafe left or right. They'll run at you and take a swing, but as long as you're moving horizontally, you'll usually avoid it. You might keep your guard up just in case. Charge-up swing again and repeat.
 
While we're on the topic of RTX, have these screenshots ever been confirmed / debunked? Does RTX really eliminate the neon lighting like this? This is the reason why I never enabled RTX in the first place. I didn't want to ruin the neon aesthetic.

I played 170hrs with RTX on. 30hrs without HDR, and the rest with. Imo, these shots are either switched, or the result of some botched ReShade. I did not notice anything like this, but rather was noticeably impressed by the nighttime, neon and rain. I posted some screen shots about 6 pages back if you want to search my username. Game is gorgeous with RTX & HDR; especially where shadows and reflections are concerned.
 
Yeah, something is wrong with those screenshots. I didn't see any loss of light with RT, in fact it looked much better.
 
So, I was walking around Night City last night - spun around 180 degrees and boom.... The entire dense populace just vanished! (completely empty streets, all that was missing was a tumbleweed rolling down the street)

32c6db68576a9535537cdc0ce82a3a1f.jpg
 
Yeah, that happened to me a couple times. Finished a mission and went outside to a ghost town.
 
The normal people walking around disappear for me pretty often. Usually when I walk past them and then turn around. They don't really do anything or serve much of a purpose beyond making the city feel populated, but it's a weird thing for them to straight up vanish.

Just curious - does "Small Man, Big Mouth" lead to anything important in the grand scheme of things? That's the quest where Kirk has you steal goods from a van surrounded by a bunch of high level enemies. You get it pretty early, but you probably can't complete it until you hit at least level 15-20. That quest is bugged for me and I can't complete it. I go back and try every so often and that van will never let me interact with it.
 
While we're on the topic of RTX, have these screenshots ever been confirmed / debunked? Does RTX really eliminate the neon lighting like this? This is the reason why I never enabled RTX in the first place. I didn't want to ruin the neon aesthetic.

Yes, that corridor looks essentially the same with RTX Ultra and with RTX disabled, except unlike that first RTX enabled shot the neon ime has a bright core.

Those shots also stood out to me prior to playing the game, however if you enable RTX you'll discover it's just a matter of the (strong) white light emitted from the posters on either side and how reflective the wall tiles are in that particular corridor.

So while I agree in that confined corridor the emisivity of the posters probably could have been toned down for better moodiness it's certainly not something I'd base a key visual change on like disabling RT, given the integrity of visual direction for the rest of the game's truly superb environment lighting.

Here's a comparison of that wall and how emissive the posters are on the wall opposite:

1 - RTX off.jpg 1 - RTX on.jpg

Same posters in the very next room but further from walls, showing how the visual design and mood remains the same:

2 - RTX off.jpg 2 - RTX on.jpg
 
I have to admit- the RTX shots look like they'd be amazing while moving... Hopefully the gpu drought ends before I rebuild later this year.
 
So, I was walking around Night City last night - spun around 180 degrees and boom.... The entire dense populace just vanished! (completely empty streets, all that was missing was a tumbleweed rolling down the street)
That hardly happens to me. Once I saw people talking about it I spent five minutes trying to make it happen and never could.
I do have crowd size turned down.
 
Yes, that corridor looks essentially the same with RTX Ultra and with RTX disabled, except unlike that first RTX enabled shot the neon ime has a bright core.
Thanks for running that test. I tried myself but I wasn't able to get back into Clouds.
 
I do have crowd size turned down.

So you have crowd density set to medium instead of high?

If so, I'mma turn mine down a notch and see if it goes away.... (Disappearing NPC's reallyyyyy breaks the immersion)
 
So you have crowd density set to medium instead of high?

If so, I'mma turn mine down a notch and see if it goes away.... (Disappearing NPC's reallyyyyy breaks the immersion)

Medium is as high as I would recommend anyone go.
 
I have found that the crowd has more pop in on anything lower than high. You still get pop in on high/ultra but it is much more pronounced on anything lower than high.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Q-BZ
like this
The crowds don't do anything except get in the way and make the city feel occupied. They add nothing and you can walk right through them unless you hit their center line. Turning them down might make the game more enjoyable.
 
If you are GPU bound crowds should be cranked as high as they will go. If you are CPU bound lower the crowd size. Source:

 
Anyone else have Steam "Validate" Cyberpunk every time you restart Steam? It's only there for a second or two, but that's the only game I've ever seen do that. Usually that's only when a game has an update.
 
Back
Top