Cyberpunk 2077 - Mike Pondsmith Interview
 

@R.Talsorian Games At PAX West Mike Pondsmith chatted to Eurogamers Johnny Chiodini about Cyberpunk as a genre and as a game.

More information.

I have to admit I'm much more interested in the finer points of the actual game than the setting. Personally, after having read up on the setting in the source material, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of depth or subtlety in it.

Certainly not enough for what seems like hundreds of interviews or panels recycling the same answers over and over again.

Nothing really new, but Mike is always great to listen to. Somehow ends up looking cool and a total nerd at the same time.
And Cyberpunk is such an interesting setting: from Climate change, Capitalism, refugees, new religions, AI, man vs technology, isolation, dystopia, individualism,etc, etc…practically ( one of the) richest settings when it comes to storytelling, more important than ever, and all wrapped up in very appealing, recognizable style&ambiance.
Only negative is how it typically permeates with oppressive and heavy tone throughout: why 2020's emphasis on style, attitude and personal stories really well complements it, giving it far more vibrancy and sort of restrained optimism. Plus it's filled with it's own additions like crazy gangs ( like the Brainiacs) and charismatic individuals, and with incredible detail ( when it comes to worldbuilding…almost to the point of absurdity).
CDPR has every opportunity here to go further than anything we've seen in the (sub)genre.

Also some info from Edge coverage:

https://i.lensdump.com/i/AinC2Z.jpg (Ugly as hell, I'll admit)

While plenty of other games have explored the sci-fi subgenre, none have yet managed to do it to this level of sophistication. What we've seen of Cyberpunk 2077 so far suggests a sandbox city that easily outstrips the detail and quality of GTA V; not only that, but a city in which a truly next- generation mission system ensures you feel less like a fetch-quest reticule travelling from point A to point B and more like you're really making your way in Night City as a cyberpunk for hire.

the studio refuses to use procedural elements in any of Cyberpunk 2077’s environment or quests. This time it’s not just talk – everything really is hand-crafted.

“So Pacifica, it’s this super-dangerous territory where you’ve got people who are basically gangsters, and the Psychogangs rule this district. So violence is more predominant there. But you’ve also got these superrich districts like Heybrook, and we vary animations in a way that are connected to the districts.”

Any stories, characters or themes that aren’t explored in depth in the main story are taken to be fully fleshed out in sidequests

“We want to make sure that all of them are up to the standards of the main quest – that there’s nothing that feels like filler, just something to do while waiting for the next quest, or to get more money to buy the next thing. We don’t really like to do that. We want to make sure that every quest feels like a complete story in and of itself.”

' V pulls out a katana – which vibrates uproariously as it deflects enemy bullets – then slides along the floor on his knees like a six year old at a wedding to lop off a Maelstrom goon’s legs, our fingers tingle in response. '

Your chosen backstory unlocks specific sidequests from the off, while accumulated attribute points and biostats allow for a fluid class system

There’s more choice to what we’ve just seen than is usually available in videogame quests: for instance, you could take DeShawn’s money and run at the very beginning, eschewing his mission but having to deal with the consequences later. You could make off with Stout’s eddies, too, although we presume you’d have to get the virus on the chip scrubbed off somewhere. “We don’t artificially limit ourselves,” Mills says. “Our philosophy for quest design is, ‘If the player can logically do it, then they can’. And if they can’t, then we have to come up with a damn good reason why.”

"Right now our environment artists are populating a level with the assets, and they are not afraid of testing out new things. This is exactly what we need to stay open to, because personally I believe that The Witcher turned out that good – and why Cyberpunk will turn out really good – because we are not afraid of change.”

Cyberpunk 2077’s quests have been designed to be kicked off at almost any point; you’ll be able to go to places and find items in Night City that are part of quests and pick up the trail of what’s going on here in a logical manner, without having to trigger the whole event sequence from a predetermined starting point.

Cyberpunk 2020’s ‘cyberpsychosis’ mechanic, in which players who overly augment themselves with cyberware start to see a negative effect on their mental health, will form part of the game – though CD Projekt won’t go into details. As a quest designer, the Faustian bargain behind transhumanism is fascinating to Patrick Mills. “All the travails of the flesh fade away, and you become a perfect machine of chrome. But you had to buy those body parts from someone, and now you’re in debt to them; if you need parts, you’ve got to go to their store. You have this very utopian idea of being liberated by technology. And it’s like, not so fast – you haven’t solved the problems. The problems are still there, and technology actually makes them worse. ‘High tech, low life’ is one of Mike’s mottos.

Agreed but we'll see as I still read posts and articles about how Witcher III was not GOTY. They usually criticize the various glitches, and combat mechanics.

I just pity them and think their loss. As I replayed the game five times already.

I think that's an issue with very small, the same ( and a bit angry) minority, who feel they need to be louder than everyone else…something I've noticed on several sites I visit.
Going by user score on MC and Steam it's ( one of ) the highest rated games of all time. In any case this looks to be pretty big, radical change, so Witcher comparisons seem more an issue on a "personal" level.

The problem with The Witcher 3 is that everything about the gameplay is terrible.

The writing and technical elements range from decent to great, but I don't play RPGs to watch cutscenes and admire pretty graphics like most shallow gamers nowadays.

That's fine, there are plenty of people who disagree with you. ( I personally love it and I've been playing fighting/hack'n'slash games much more than rpgs) And relax, take a pill or something, it's a video game, it can't hurt you.
Like I said, they are very different from one another, no need to get triggered. :cool:

I am relaxed. Did my language imply otherwise?

Also interesting comment from one of quest designers:

"Cyberpunk 2077’s quests have been designed to be kicked off at almost any point; you’ll be able to go to places and find items in Night City that are part of quests and pick up the trail of what’s going on here in a logical manner, without having to trigger the whole event sequence from a predetermined starting point. “There’s no invisible wall that says, ‘You can’t go here,’” Mills says. “We don’t like to do, ‘This door is locked… until you need to use this door.’ It does mean that our quests can become incredibly complex. One of the things that we have at CD Projekt that is different from a lot of other studios, and I can’t speak for all of them, is that we have a dedicated quest team that is responsible for just that – just the logic of the quests, building the quests and making sure that everything is coordinated.” This commitment to the coherence of the world, and your place in it as V, is paramount to making Night City feel like a real place where you can take any opportunity you can imagine."

Not so sure about this. They said there will be no level scaling, but this kind of design in open world/sandbox? Seems almost impossible to balance gameplay otherwise without it.
I'd personally like to see more a linear world progression, district by district, sort of similar to how Satellite Reign handled it.

Yes, everything about TW3's gameplay is terrible. :rolleyes:

It's amazing that a game could be so popular on pretty graphics alone.

I guess they will have to use other tools to steer you away from high level content. Obvious hints followed by an untimely death, probably? Some hard to kill gatekeepers here and there?

(But honestly, I expect that some areas _will_ only be available after sufficient progress in the story. They'll just hide it better than that infamous quest-locked door.)

And good cutscenes ;)

Seriously though, the gameplay is horrendous. It's popular because it's a glorified cutscene simulator, which mainstream gamers love.

You just love to have edgy opinions don't ya.;)

Facts seem to disagree with you again.

From a Witcher fanboy.:p
http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/…gotyimage1.jpg

How would you know what mainstream gamers love? Do you speak for all mainstream gamers?

We get that you make those kinds of statements for attention, but it really only makes you look silly.

What's silly is your defensive fanboyish attitude.

The reason I know mainstream gamers love it is because they give games like Metal Gear Solid 4 and The Witcher III overwhelmingly positive reviews. At least in MGS4's defense though, the combat and RPG elements aren't total garbage.

Hm, interesting point.

Are you willing to make some educated guess on when, if ever, you will actually play the game?

It doesn't take a fanboy to point out someone making foolish statements.

In reality, you have no idea why anyone likes a particular game unless you know them personally.

I've already played it and both expansions.

The main quest feels like you're running from cutscene to cutscene with some sequences of crappy combat inbetween. Most of the actual gameplay are side missions and exploration, which both follow very boring and repetitive structures.

Now in fairness I did enjoy the game overall, and I even thought BaW was a minor step in the right direction gameplaywise, but if I had to describe The Witcher 3 in one sentence: A terrible game, a decent movie, built with great technology.

See it's fine to hate something that everyone likes Silver Coin.=)

The problem is, even if you hate it, you have to acknowledge it's excellence.

The Witcher 3 is an excellent open-world action-rpg. It excels in all the right areas for RPG games: good story, immersive world, interesting characters, and character building.

Also I recommend you at least play the games you criticize. As it's very apparent you just like to rant, and make outlandish statements. It's hard to take you seriously sometimes.

PS: I tried to be serious with out joking or adding sarcasm this time.:)

I acknowledge its excellence in certain areas

- Graphics
- Voiceacting
- Music
- Worldbuilding
- Most of the writing

I acknowledge its horribleness in other areas

- Combat
- Progression
- Exploration
- Looting
- Controls
- Interactivity
- Plot
- ect.

As I said, I played it with both expansions. The gameplay elements were painfully bad.

Ignore this toddler idiot. It's a running gag at this point for it to sidetrack everything with infantile rants, here and in other threads. Poor thing is simply starving for attention. ( least with Darth you get to hear some pseudo philosophical/psychological essays and Chien's acrobatics are always amusing ;) )

Think I've figured out how lifepaths work, for the most part, from this and other interviews.

Childhood hero ( Saburo, Johnny, Blackhand): more defining when it comes to personality, player ideals.

Key life event ( Death of Sibling, Ran away from home, First big kill): More for Dialogue with npcs, sometimes to solve quests

Why Night City? ( Unfinished business, Ex lover, Something to prove)…Opens up additional sidequests.

This is the third CDPR thread that you've engaged me in only to later throw a hissy fit and say I'm not worth engaging. Make up your mind, lol.

For the record, saying that TW3 has clunky combat and shallow RPG mechanics is not me being edgy. Even many fans of the game have admitted it since day one.

Relax, did you read the name of the thread? Cyberpunk 2077- it has little to do with Witcher except for the company that made it ( and is based on drastically different design goals and origins). It's ok to criticize something if you try to act more like an adult and go about it more constructively.

I'll put you simply on ignore from now, you're simply not worth conversing with. :)

To be clear, you were discussing The Witcher 3 first. I only wanted to add my input to the discussion, which you responded poorly to by accusing me of being triggered.

Fifth time is the charm. Maybe this time you will actually mean it.

Not bad I always liked creating a backstory, and Cyberpunk 2077 accommodates your picks. It's also a chance to role-play different origins to see how it affects the world.

Sounds the same as Dragon Age Origins minus the elves and dwarfs of course.

Sometime you post stuff and I think what the hell is he talking about?, this is not one of those times.

I think the shortcomings you listed are spot on, but I wouldn’t say they were terrible. I would say they ranged from average to below average though.

Having said that though I think CDPR is addressing those areas and improving them in 2077. I think it’s shaping up to be a better game than the Witcher 3 which was pretty good despite its flaws.

No. TW3 has grown popular thanks to its lack of gameplay.

Gamers look for gameplay but all players are not gamers.

TW3 is an attitude product that satisfies players looking for a feeling of empowerment.
Gameplay is a demanding thing and could thwart the enjoyment.

The last thing that players looking to dominate, to crush, to make their own rules desire is something that could hinder their self perception.

A gameplay that could send a sense of powerlessness because it issues demands on players does not work in the direction of giving that feeling of power they look for.
It must be smooth, it must flow it must be accessible so that players can live the dream. Another type of gameplay would kick them out of the dream.

Fair enough. I think you're underselling it a bit, I would say also world, ambiance, sidequests, cinematic storytelling ( Yes, some of us love well done cutscenes :P), characters and dialogue along with best side activity, to be it's high points as well. Combat, exploration, progression and loot were enjoyable, but definitely not on the same level. I think some are a little bit too hyperbolic with criticism there, but that's a discussion for somewhere else. With rpgs in general, I haven't play any t that do all aspects in high quality, few is enough to make it a great game in my book. :)

There's a whole range of possible characteristics between excellent and horrible. Some problems appear if you only get to pick between those two…

With the exception of loot, I didn't have an issue with any of those aspects. Combat could have been better, especially in regards to needing more tactics, but I wouldn't call it bad.

I find it interesting that anyone would try to claim the plot was bad, but when you're really grasping… :)

Thank you Witcher!

But your daughter is in another castle!

Combat? ROTFL
If you wanted a combat simulator, TW3 was never trying to be that. Besides where are criticisms there is no tetris puzzle in TW3 and Candy Crush is horrible in it?

For combat heavy game I suggest buying some crap on consoles. Order 1886 would be perfect.

“ fair enough” but I totally disagree and believe you’re being hyperbolic, awesome.:lol: the internet is alive and well.

We’ll never agree on this, dark souls or devil my cry, but you’re still alright in my book bobo.:)

I’ve had several back and forths about the Witcher 3 already and have depleted my stamina bar so I can’t continue. I’ll just agree to disagree and retire my Witcher 3 discussing.

I’ll just reiterate that I’m looking forward to playing 2077 and fully expect CDPR to improve on thier previous efforts. However good or bad people believe they were.

There's definitely some hyperbole here, but it's not coming from Bobo this time.

Not that he doesn't get hyperbolic sometimes, but he's actually been pretty level by his standards. :)

There is a card game in it.

Supposedly, the hero is a master swordsman, living off killing things. Combat implementation is not neglectable, except for agenda driven people.

Eh? Thought it was pretty obvious I wasn't really talking about you.

Why, t-thank you! :)