ok so, last thing first. I don't hate the borderlands series. I liked BL1 and BL2 - it's hard to say which better, but i am leaning on 2 - but i have always lamented the lack of skill involved. In BL both you *and* the enemy are spongy, and with all the on-shield-depletion effects, second wind, and broken builds, it's pretty darn impossible to die after midgame. The main appeal of those games is the big visual effect of tons of explosions coming out of the absurd guns you use, and the comedy aspects of the campaign. Tiny Tina is such a great character, i can't get enough of her. Claptrap, not so much.
the deus ex series is a mixed bag. DX1 is excellent, in gameplay, but also in story. But it's too old to be considered here, really. Invisible War was okaish, people hated it because it lacked the complexity of DX1 and frankly the map design is shit, but i see an ok game that runs well with decent graphics and an interesting plot, plus you can upskirt NG Resonance.
Human Revolution is garbage. Not only the boss fights, but throughout the game you're put into a pure shoot'em'up situations against mobs who are way stronger than you, who have infinite bullets while you get maybe 4 bullets back when you kill one, and take 5/6 headshots to put down. The entirety of the game is played cheesing the AI behind a corner. Peak, shoot, hide. That, and a horrible control scheme - both crouch and ADS are on toggle only ??
Mankind Divided is amazing. First, because you always have real options in how to approach a situation, thanks to some of the best map design i have ever played. The only defect is the near-omniscence of enemies who have been alerted, but the gunplay is near-realistic on both ends. Most normal mobs will go down with 1 headshot, augmented humans die in a burst, and big-ass cybertanks take a cplip or two. Weapons are accurate and having quick and precise aim really changes the gameplay.
this means that if i am 200ms faster than the enemy, i can turn around a fight.
In CP77 being 200ms faster than the enemy means nothing. Being able to aim means nothing, if your guns spread out in a comedic spray cone, and they take a dozen headshots or more to die.
Don't you think there's something wrong with game design if you can just pop out of the place you are fighting in, craft yourself 20-30 health packs, and then return to the fight??
Metro Exodus (might as well throw this one in as well) has enemies that take a beating, but balances this with the fact that your weapons are capable of dealing a considerable amount of damage with careful aim and control. The problem comes with the ridiculous weapon degradation and the fact that the game isn't above respawning a ton of mobs that give zero drops, just to ruin your guns.
Both Exodus and CP77 have the same defect though. Not related to how horrid the gameplay is, but compounding the problem: they dont let me play. When i'm crouching behind a crate to avoid mobs 1-shotting me, and waiting for them to lose the aggro so i can pop one miserable headshot before i get a overheating attack that requires yet another hypostim, I AM PLAYING. When i am waiting for a NPC to give me the same speech every mediocre action film has while riding in a car i can't get out of, i am *not* playing. If you keep me stuck in a 10-minute braindance tutorial for a mechanic i will never willingly use, you are asking for me to hate your game. Funny however how the game does no tutorial for crafting items which you NEED in order to even survive the prologue.
.. i have to go back to DXMD because of how much i loved that game. See, in mankind divided you got a gun. And if you see a mob, say, a policeman blocking you from accesing a quest, you have these options:
1. you can try to stealth your way in
2. you can explore and try to find an alternative entrance
3. you can go around talking to people and find information that allow you to progress through dialogue
4. you may have dedicated a lot of praxis to one type of breaching which fits the mission
5. you can try to find a adventure-style (i.e. place lamp on floor) solution by gathering clues
or 6... you can shoot your way through.
And what i like best about this is that the game isn't afraid to give you actual guns. Guns that can kill stuff. You CAN kill those policemen, but then you'll have the entire police force on your ass, exoskeletons, drones, cameras, turrets, and tons of policemen ready to drop you.
And the game is balanced for stealth as well, yeah you can stealth around the building, but hey, you know, if you get caught, ALL the guys you didn't kill will be looking for you.. and they hear noises, they see bodies, they notice changes in the world.
I'd also add that not only the map design is excellent, but the location of the various game items, consumables, ammo, etc throughout the game is also far superior to CP77.
TLDR: what is an exploit for every other game is standard gameplay for Cyberpunk2077
I'd say that the crafting right now isn't even worth it--but I didn't know you could craft medkits in the middle of fights? Never tried that, yes it sounds cheese, but I just didn't need it? I died a lot because either I'm stupid for not knowing that or being terrible at FPS...dunno. but anyway, you don't really need to do any of that for that for the prologue, even though yes, it does seem cheap early on.
the bullet point Deus ex stuff...that is basically every mission, and particularly the gigs, when you get further in. All of them are actually like that. Up until the Heist, and a few primary mission stories, yeah, I think they are geared more towards "Assault" ....but the stealth is actually really solid, with all of those options taht you demand. It just is. The only difference is you don't see big orange haloed "Grates" that are just conveniently there to open. You really do have to explore the terrain, especially above you, to find sashes that you might be able to remotely open, if you are teched that way, and to camber up, if you can jump in, or jump to the next building and over, and find your way in. I Promise: 90% of the actual missions/gigs in this game have exactly ALL of those demands you have your Deus Ex expeience...it just isn't boldly and inappropriately highlighted for you to see, immediately. ...and you don't have to clear out some drunken Czech pensioner's dingy apartment, in every map, just to find that highlighted crawl space...as you do all parts of DX MD, lol. (I mean, how did you not hate that, lol? jk)
BUT--yeah, a lot of the early stuff just isn't designed that way (or it was so long ago and I was so terrible that I didn't have the experience to explore those options, not that I get some of it).
the cinema stuff...yeah, game like this, you either have to deal with it or not. I'll tell you. I HATE those Xenogears games. HATE THEM. Why? because I played that first one for PS1...fight as Mechs YEAH! ...overworld FF-like map and JRPG stuff...YEAH! Nice story? YEAH! ...but then you get to the 3rd disk...and it's what, 3 straight hours of sprite people on a black screen, you're just clicking buttons to get them to....text talk? about...some story that...now that I AM NOT PLAYING A GAME...I suddenly have to click through and suddenly OH>>THE GAME IS NOT THE STORY THE DISC IS CLICK STORY NOPT GAME. Man...screw those games. screw that Idea...screw it ALL> I hate you game for turning fun into CLICK THROUGH PICTURE STORY TIME FOR @ HOURS OF MY LIFE. I stopped playing that game. I gave up. Never gave those people money ever again. I probably enver will. ...because of this uncontrolled, text trash garbage emo story that was not what i signed up for and HEY--maybe if I learned that within the first ~hour of the game? KOOL! Alas...
Anyhoo, point of that is....I know what you're saying. BUT. this doesn't cheat you. You know what's happening going in. This is a story driven, cinematic game. It took me maybe 10 hours to realize that about the Mafia game (ooo, nice open world! 50s! super chill, man, open! ... stuff...stuff...oh, there is nothing to do here? hmm...), but then you realize that the point, is you just do the missions. the script is, actually. well, actually. ...this is
good. Someone put love into this orchestration. All of this, pulling me here to there, is done
on purpose, the way it is being done. It gets into chill, and it gets very nice.
I don't know how else to explain that. You're either down with playing a game that FINALLY wants to give you a good story and pull you through for the first time in, seriously...think about it, When? never, right? you want to hate on games for turd stories and hopefully good enough gameplay. I get it..that's why I love BL1--the best one, the worst story. but that's the point, right? BL2 confused people because...crap...it actually has a story? now I'm
confused.
CP has, honestly, above average, perhaps better than you should reasonably expect, action gun/whatever RPG mechanics, for this type of FP Open world game (these don't really exist anywhere else, by the way), for what really is a brilliantly-constructed, directed, cinematic piece.
Either you subscribe to that, or don't? That's the best I can explain it.
(and yes! holy crap, why is the driving a thing in this game? it's comical how bad it is....I just can never fail to emphasize the total and enviable failure that the entirety of driving is in this game. It is just...so
unique. Again, a shame, because so much of the mood comes from the radio station tracks, and they are quite brilliant)
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