Saw a question on what open world game is the most repetitive. AC and hogwarts are popular answers, and some think ghost of Tsushima and horizon are too. But no one mentions cyberpunk. In fact, people find it not repetitive. What makes it formula successful?
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Okay
It’s a looter shooter and doesn’t have farcry style outposts.
Dynamic combat?
Varied missions with an equally varied amount of ways to complete them?
No stupid miscellaneous “collectible” quests?
A living, almost organic world that actually feels like you are just a part of it, rather than it existing solely for you?
Tone and setting?
Take your pick. There’s plenty I think.
Quality of side quest writing, how you traverse the world, and how interesting the world looks are the thing that make an open world game not repetitive to me.
Open world activities are quickly resolved, fun, and there is stuff for your backpack.
You also get out what you put in. A police scanner activity can just be killing dudes for stuff (fun), or it can also be really cool flavor text for other scanner missions, sidequests, or the world in general (fun and interesting). Either way it doesn’t bog things down and it’s something you can do in a couple of minutes no matter how much you care about the game and be rewarded.
What do you do after you beat the story? Is there any replayability to it post story?
Mods 😁
This is the only game I have ever replayed. It just doesn’t feel like a grind.
Besides good writing and multiple choices, most dialogues being skippable is the main reason why I can play this game 8 times without getting bored. Because I can just skip any repetitive content I want. The combat isn’t repetitive because I can play a different build each playthrough. The only thing that feels repetitive is Johnny’s sex scene with Alt, why the hell is that not skippable?
Honestly I think it can be pretty repetitive at times with how the vanilla game only allows you to respec once. A mod that allows me to respec stats whenever I want lets me breathe new life into the gameplay loop if I get bored by swapping from swords and knives to swords and tech.
It kind of is repetitive though, but the answer is the missions take place in the world and theres no reused space. The gigs for example are designed to be repetitive. It just doesnt feel that was because of great level design. No two locations are exactly the same.
It’s fucking awesome. Best game since the Mass Effect trilogy ended and on my Mt Rushmore of best games of all time.
Aside from diff lifepaths and builds, I’d say photomode. With or without mods, its great as each corner of NC is worth taking photos from.
Side quests are just as unique as main quests.
There are repetitive moments
Brain dances, some of the 1st act, walking segments and the phantom liberty intro, 10/10 intro but just not for replays. A few things that I’m glad mods can help make a breeze. Besides that most scenes are pretty skippable when you’re not in the mood and just wanna get to the action
The scope and beauty of the world certainly help with longevity! Not to mention how points of interest are close together, and easily accessible.
Cyberpunk is repetitive. The sheer number of gigs that are mostly just reused repeatedly. Mind numbingly terrible
The formula itself is not what made it successful. It IS repetitive. Half of the game is made up of gigs that are all cookie cutter quests.
The reason the game doesn’t *feel* that way is because 1. You don’t have to do gigs almost at all and 2. Because the main story and bigger side quests along with the characters are very well written and in depth.
Though I suspect the main reason for its success, is the genre/theme of the game. Not a ton of real RPGs that are also open world loot shooters with top tier writing. Also very few dystopian settings that aren’t post apocalyptic.
Ya it’s pretty insane the replays I’ve done . Ive played it at least 8 times and nearly do everything on the playthroughs. Even done the same specs multiple times. Game never gets old to me.
Are open world games generally repetitive? Compared to which other genre? I haven’t played assassins creed or hogwarts but I play plenty of others that I don’t find repetitive. I think cyberpunk is in a category of games where you appreciate the environment and the storytelling whether it be through the lore of the universe or cut scenes and dialogue. I need to be able to get immersed in an open world game to stick with it. I need to care about my character progression and want to know how the story ends. If it just seems like some cookie cutter story I’m going to forget, I’ll probably set it down
Edit: competitive to repetitive*
I think that it’s the combat and excellent writing. It just keeps you entertained!
It kind of is imo. But if i had to search for an answer to your question it would be liberty of approach and the writing of the story, characters and lore.
You are rarely punished for acting how you want to act and there is often consequences based on how you handled things which is satisfying and encourages multiple playthroughs.
And secondly, every little side quest or even just some goons that you need to gun down just to loot a prosthetic have lore behind them.
You are not just killing random nameless npc’s (technically you are) but you’ll find a note naming the npc’s you just beaten, however you see fit, giving a reason to why they were standing there and guarding this loot.
CD projekt are the best at this kind of storytelling imo. On top of having amazing writing and characters with incredible facial animations and voice acting.
The immersion itself really always brings me back, I haven’t gotten nearly as immersed in any other game in years.
The game is repetitive but it’s not the type like Suicide squad where you have a small choice of activities to do.
Every mission feels and can be completed differently. Combat is varied depending on your favored playstyle. Huge complex areas to explore that make it feel like a real city not just a rendered map.
It kinda is reppetive and exploration is almost non existent but the writing and quest design make up for it.
Because there’s literally no repetitive quests. It takes a lot of time, but after you’ve done every side gigs and side missions Night city becomes pretty empty. Same with Skyrim.
It kinda is though, just that combat can be very dynamic