I finished Phantom Liberty and have thoughts
I remembered that thread asking about the update to Cyberpunk 2077, and figured after finishing the expansion I'd offer what I've got. I played the game once on release prior to playing now.
The tl;dr - its a hell of a lot better, can totally recommend it, expansion was cool and fun
The long:
First, regarding the update. It's excellent. The game does feel significantly better to play, because a whole lot less is bugging the hell out. You do occasionally come across some silliness, like four of the same car all at an intersection, or the same child populating a cafeteria. But these moments are far, far less frequent, I think I can count on one hand after 50 hours, the number of times stuff like that happened.
Wanted system is functional now. It just works the way you'd expect, and it is pretty easy to escape. More lawless parts of town are appropriately easier to get away with shit in. Driving feels better but still feels weird to me, like everything is slippery/wheels never have good traction.
The skills/perks/inventory stuff is a thousand times better. It has a few weird things here and there but is easier to follow and use. It's nice not having to really mess around with clothes and just look however I want. Combat is a lot more fun now that stuff behaves appropriately. That's really the theme of it, they did fix what needed fixing, and what we're left with much more closely aligns with folks' original expectations.
Quests wrap up and sometimes into one another in ways which are genuinely very impressive, and I encountered all of one that had an issue with it. I pretty much constantly went from quest to quest and found there was enough variety that I didn't really care about wandering much. I still did, and that is all much improved too. Npcs behave a lot better and look nicer, and jobs consistently finish up the way they're supposed to.
I specialized in blades, pistols, and shotguns, and played on Normal, mostly on my steam deck. I mostly raised Reflexes, Technical Ability, and Cool. I got to turn into a Dragonball ninja assassin, occasionally dualing Japanese cyborg women with katanas in the street. I'd get into shit because melee is genuinely pretty fun to mess with.
The visuals are awesome even on the handheld, the preset for the deck is higher than I expected. Performance was consistently good, on the deck as well as my PC. PC can go maximum and is using a 144hz display, it looks really really good with everything pushed.
The expansion:
It fits squarely within the best of what the game offers. The storyline is complex and goes into the rest of the world in an impressive way, it's like it's always been there. The characters are exceptionally well done, as is the voice acting. The whole thing felt like a great season of a good show, it kinda proceeds like that too.
Dogtown is a really cool area. The detail is wild and sense of place really some of the strongest in the game. I felt uneasy at night in the rain, that's always cool for a game to evoke. It feels both like it's own independent spot and like a part of the city, they really nailed it with how it looks and what's available there.
Conclusion:
The complete package I'd say is totally worth it. Compared to release it is a completely different game. Feels like a much more realized vision, that consistently hits some pretty high notes. Panam is still the coolest, but Songbird was a really well done character too. With the game not being a flaming wreck, it's way easier to get into the storytelling, and it is pretty great for this medium. Especially those major characters, they're interestingly complicated and don't always behave how you'd expect. The overall experience is kinda like being a protagonist in a tv show, quests have their own arcs and climaxes and characters appear distinctly changed by the events as they unfold. That was always there, but now I'm comfortable saying you'll actually have that experience playing it.
I 99% agree with your write-up, except for the driving bit. I somehow love it, and I'm always trying to pull off the Akira motorcycle slide whenever I'm stopping for a quest.
In any case, the game finally works well enough to let the storytelling shine, and I'm glad it got fixed & I can enjoy it. The characters are all very interesting, and I especially like the dynamic between V and Johnny. They have some pretty nice moments together. It's very cool to walk around the city and trigger some random conversations or quests with Johnny, based on what amounts to environmental storytelling - seeing some places he used to know, some street musicians, etc.
The storytelling overall feels very organic, and now there's actual gameplay to support it. I did get hit by a bug though: because of choosing a dialogue option when talking to Johnny, the visual glitch effect that usually comes on after these conversations persisted; I think I played for 10h before I realized that it is indeed a bug, and not part of the gameplay.
Consistency really was the biggest issue. Even at release, the good within I felt was really good but I just couldn't feel sure someone would actually experience it. I also ended up putting up with a lot - infinite, silent phone calls from delamain, cars disappearing on the road, cops spawning in the air around a skyscraper.
Really funny sometimes but it meant I wouldn't tell anyone to play it. I'm glad to see I don't need to feel that way anymore, it's always nice when folks actually do fix stuff up a bit.
Thanks for the review! Made me want to check it out.
I'm mostly through a 100% run and while I almost completely agree with you, I still have 2 big issues with the overall package. But just keep in mind that this is from the perspective of someone who's digging into every aspect of the game. It's definitely worth it just to go through the main story/DLC and run around for a bit.
My main gripe is with the open world, to the point that I feel that the game would be improved if it was dramatically scaled back. Like any game, the bulk of the quality and effort is in the main story or prominent side quests. Best levels, characters, encounters and performances.
When you start moving to the fixer gigs and collectables, things get a bit more Unisoft but all depth is lost when you're just exploring. Now I know the priority is on the things most players will experience, but when I consider some of my favorite open worlds: Zelda, GTA/RDR, Elden Ring and New Vagas/Skyrim; there's always somthing on the map or horizon that will prompt me to explore and discover new things. And it's often without a initial map marker.
Walking around Night City only really highlights how shallow the illusion is with every shuttered store, looping NPC animation and very odd city planning. It's only feasible to explore via GPS because most of the interesting locations or landmarks are locked out for missions.
My second big issue is with the economy and soft progression. I don't really mind that the world levels up with street cred, keeps fights interesting and forces you to use more toys I'm more sour on the loot.
There's 2 loot types, unique iconic weapons that are tied to story/quests and need to be upgraded and the trash loot that only serves to be scrapped for cash or upgrade materials. The problem is that tier 1 gear doesn'tfeel significantly different from tier 5, it's just bigger numbers to compensate for higher levels. The same applies to the nades, most cybernetics, quick hacks and even the healing items.
This also makes most vendors pointless, especially if you're doing even a little side content where you just find upgrades immediately when you need it.
I also have some gripes with some of the social RPG systems and interactions. While I like V, it feels like they were written in a way that takes a a lot of agency away from the player and I hate how few dynamic choices there are in dialog. But I'm choking this complaint down to playing this right after BG3. Yes, every game would be vastly improved by a hot brobarian and rolling a d20 at every opportunity but it's unreasonable to expect it.
The game is an exelent package, but the amazing setting and story seems held back by the scope, scale and limitations of development. The DLC is a good example of that. A great set of missions and experiences all mainly set a dense space that's a fraction of the full map.
Overall: Great game. I've got a few issues with its design. Excited to see what they do with the sequel. Highly recommend you watch the anime before playing because that really got me in the right head space.
I appreciate your perspective. It's very, very rare I ever try to go for 100% in a game, and can say for sure 2077 didn't evoke that urge in me (AC VI was the last game to do that). Interesting to see what stands out for someone who did do it.
One thing that has surprised me is that Phantom Liberty is an expansion and not just a DLC. I think there’s more than the usual 3 hours of content max that I see most DLC packages go for.
I also feel like there’s more vertical level design for Dogtown. Base game maybe I jump a fence here and there, Dogtown I’m always climbing and air dashing across gaps.