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CDPR: Rectifying Cyberpunk 2077's Disastrous Launch Was CD Projekt Red's Biggest Achievement

Draugoth

Gold Member
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In a new interview with DualShockers, Cyberpunk 2077's lead quest designer, and now associate director for its upcoming sequel, said he believes that the game's redemption arc makes Cyberpunk 2077 CD Projekt Red's biggest achievement.

"I would say it was definitely the hardest-earned achievement we have," Sasko said. "Me personally, I am a Cyberpunk person. I enjoy the IP a bit more than The Witcher, even though I love both of them. But I think from my personal perspective, I do feel it’s a bigger achievement. Also just because of how incredibly difficult it was."

Sasko would go on to note that if Cyberpunk 2077 was how it is now at launch, he could "maybe feel like The Witcher was a bigger achievement." But, due to the uphill battle that it took to rectify the game's issues, "it does feel like a bigger achievement."

Source
 

Saber

Gold Member
It's no easy task to turn around this bad start and win back the trust of their customers. I would say theres indeed some kinda of praise for them to not use the abandon the ship mode and stick with fixing all the wrongs and improving the game(or be like a joke of Skyrim and say all the crap is a feature). Although, it should be noted that the game shouldn't be released at that state in the first place.
 

Flabagast

Member
10/10 Masterpiece in its current form, one of the most impressive games of the last decade, and with no competition regarding the intensity of first person immersion.

Although of course they should not have released it in its initial state
 

Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
Yeah they fixed Witcher 3 as well. Please don't forget this when/if they start being shady about showing off their next game.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
I mean good on them for not giving up.

But it's still not even close to the game they marketed. I don't think they have earned any right for self fellatio and gratification. The tone should still be mostly apologetic
Yeah, they promised a great RPG with a lot of interactivity. We got a great action adventure game with the city largely devoid of any sort of that interactivity.

They did fix up the game a lot and released good modding tools though.

Edit: It also sucks that they basically scrapped their now fixed engine and middleware tools to go for Unreal. I can’t help but think we could have seen Cyberpunk sequel 3-4 years after the expansion if they have done that. Now we are looking at 2030 or later most likely.
 
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Mr Hyde

Member
Didn't buy in to Cyberpunk at launch so dodged a bullet there. Bought the complete package on PS5 so good on CDPR for fixing the game and repairing their reputation and trust to customers. However, despite how much goodwill they have earned back, I won't be buying their next game day 1. A colossal fuck up like this is unprecedented and I just can't trust CDPR when they knowingly released a game in that state. I bet when push comes to shove and they miss the release date of their next game due to whatever reason, they can do it again and just say "We're sorry. We'll fix it with future updates."
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
I mean good on them for not giving up.

But it's still not even close to the game they marketed. I don't think they have earned any right for self fellatio and gratification. The tone should still be mostly apologetic

This.

The fact that it took this long supports they lied for years about how bad the games issues was in the first place.

Their attitude during this time is even worse, to then have the nerve to charge for that expansion shows just how low this publisher is and I don't think anyone should be trying to pretend this is some gold standard or a normal thing. Truly being sorry would be having all the DLC for this game being completely free.

Fun fact, they started on the DLC in 2019....let that sink in folks. While they KNEW the game had issues, their focus was on trying to charge you yet again, despite not even completing the base game.

So, maybe we need to give that title to No Man Sky. Free DLC, continued to add more and more to the game well beyond its original concept.

Yeah, they promised a great RPG with a lot of interactivity. We got a great action adventure game with the city largely devoid of any sort of that interactivity.

^ This.

They spent years struggling to even meet the fucking bare minimum of what we consider a normal open world game.

I'd rather their sequel be a smaller city, with actual real interactive elements to build a real RPG. Their focus should be on this vs excuses, yellow apology screens and this weird bait and switch shit. So, if they can pull this off with a sequel, even I would buy it, but right now....its a deep wait and see as this fucking team couldn't even pull off the game they marketed even with more years post launch to do so....

So nothing to do with hardware, nothing to do with time (cause this fucking team had from 2011 to 2024 to do this mind you)

It just sounds like a greed thing.

The publisher simply doesn't want to actually properly fund and support the team with the size actually needed to create such a game. As to why they are struggling figuring out how to get bad guys to drive cars, a simple fucking PS1 programing thing mind you is what they struggled with... So if they don't have a team that can do such things, it may not matter what we wish its sequel is, so long as they have a publisher looking to cut every corner feasible
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
Lesson learned I hope.
The fact that they are already talking about its sequel is worrisome.

They charged for that DLC, didn't care they released some GaaS early Access thing and didn't really get punished much for it.

Its scary cause nothing would stop them from just doing this again as they sold the DLC, didn't care the game released bare bones and want to get rewarded for it all over again. So....sadly, CDPR may not care and just do this again as it was financially beneficial to them more then it was hurtful. So I hope the sequel is everything we all want day 1 with limited issues, but with a team like this rewarded for early access, they have no reason to even aim for a finished game.

They learned they can just lie, finish it later, yellow screen excuse and the charge you for the other half of the game later.

Why would they stop if it worked?

So maybe their lesson was trying to succeed doing this and they wish to repeat this again or something.
 

pasterpl

Member
Is it fully fixed yet? I bought it day one (actually pre-ordered on both Xbox and steam) but haven’t played apart for 5 minutes at launch On Xbox.
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
3 years on and some of you are still salty even though they poured huge amount of money into fixing and expanding the game?

let it go GIF

I mean, thats the thing....3 years on, people have the right to question why it took them this long to correct a game they already paid for 3 years ago.

Its even more sus they charged money for some DLC they started working on in 2019, as if at the time they had nothing better to do (you know, like fixing their base game)

And the whole "poured huge amount of money" is our money sir, they just took people's money to continue development, to continue an early access, to continue a GaaS and I want to make clear, I have nothing against Early Access or GaaS or anything like that, but let the customer know you are using their money to continue development on a unfinished game.

So they deserve all the hate they get regarding this whole thing.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Meh. I tried playing it on and off for 3 years through all the patches and revisions and the core design, storytelling and combat is still the same. Just mediocre euro jank at best wrapped in arguably the best looking city ever put in a video game.

I dislike the first person storytelling, annoying characters especially Keanu and Jackie, and some of the most boring story missions I’ve had the misfortune to play. Maybe if they had made the game third person with actual cutscenes and some decent mission design, i would give it some credit.
 

Robbit_80

Member
I really fancy playing this now and hopefully it gets a PS5pro update with some extra bells and whistles and I'll play it later this year 😎
 

Fess

Member
They should just start adopting early access model from now on.
Yeah I have no issue with this. Seeing No Rest for the Wicked grow and improve now in a more honest way is great. No Man’s Sky, Starfield, Cyberpunk should’ve all been early access tbh.
That said, I still enjoyed Cyberpunk enough at launch, on PC, to have it as my GOTY. And I’ve since played it enough to have it on my top 10 most played games on Steam. It has been an awesome journey. Personally I think there are still things that could be improved but I respect them to want to move on to other games now.
 

Dirk Benedict

Gold Member
untitled-design-2.jpg


In a new interview with DualShockers, Cyberpunk 2077's lead quest designer, and now associate director for its upcoming sequel, said he believes that the game's redemption arc makes Cyberpunk 2077 CD Projekt Red's biggest achievement.



Sasko would go on to note that if Cyberpunk 2077 was how it is now at launch, he could "maybe feel like The Witcher was a bigger achievement." But, due to the uphill battle that it took to rectify the game's issues, "it does feel like a bigger achievement."

Source
I would firmly state that should not be their biggest achievement. It could be looked upon as a positive but then, they stated it IS their biggest Achievement, so now.. there will be Stigma. They could have simply stated that CP2077 was their biggest achievement and left it as that.
 

RickSanchez

Member
The game is even better with mods. Highly recommended for anyone with a capable PC. There are some fantastic mods like modded vehicles, better driving, many different difficulty overhauls, modded weapons, auto-drive, HUD improvements, clothing, bodies, cyberware extensions, better draw distance, etc

I have a 150+ mod setup permanently installed on my PC
 
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wizaga

Neo Member
Although it doesn't even compare to how amazing the witcher 3 was, i am still happy they turned the situation around and made a crappy game a good one in the end
 

Mobilemofo

Member
I do regret buying it. Even now, after all the work, I do think it is quite mid. I bought the tinned physical edition too. 😅 Only time I've ever bought shit through hype. Lesson learnt.
 

RPS37

Member
I’m finally getting into after pre ordering the one x limited edition bundle and not touching the game for years.
game is tits now.
playing on series x.
 

salva

Member
I’m finally getting into after pre ordering the one x limited edition bundle and not touching the game for years.
game is tits now.
playing on series x.
Same here! I only just finished the base game main quest last night and loved it so much I bought Phantom Liberty.
I absolutely hated this at launch and probably on the record multiple times here saying how lukewarm it was.
Can't wait to get stuck into Phantom Liberty and Dogtown, but first I have so many side quests and things to explore in Night City.
 

Gonzito

Gold Member
I don't understand why people think Cyberpunk 2077 is now great and a masterpiece. I have put many hours into the game with the expansion and it's still a buggy mess. Cars disappearing in front of you, or not moving at all when the traffic lights are green. Most npcs in the open world dont have coherent behavior and in general there are plenty of bugs. It's a game where your immersion is constantly breaking due to bugs and inconsistency. It's a good looking game and the story is interesting but the gameplay itself is extremely generic and nothing stands out. For me its a cheap Deus Ex wannabe

The narrative that the game is now good its just bizarre
 
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Perhaps they “rectified” the launch fir themselves and a lot if other people, but the launch was so bad that I decided not to play the game until I can get the complete edition for less then $20.

The game is better now, but for a lot of people, the damage to their reputation will take a lot longer to fix.
 

SHA

Member
I tried to play it several times but it didn't hook me really. I'm gonna give it another chance.
I could be wrong but Wrpgs doesn't fit in modern or futuristic timeline, jrpgs though are just fine with that but not wrpgs.
 
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kyussman

Member
They hid the last gen versions because they were broken......but released them anyway because they needed to get their money back......disgusting.Gamers are like women in abusive relationships,they just keep coming back for more,lol.
 
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