The dialogues in this game just feel so real and immersive, it’s like so perfectly integrated with the rest of the game
In other RPGs it always feels like there is this wall between gameplay and dialogues, everytime you enter a conversation the camera cuts, the game takes control away from you, zoom on the NPC’s face, both your character and the NPC are fixed in place and can’t move, the animations are usually not really that impressive where even an NPC giving you an item can feel clunky and weird, sometimes you don’t even see the item just an animation of the npc reaching his hand forward and a cut to your character putting something in his backpocket
But in cyberpunk the dialogues feel so fluid and we’ll integrated with the rest of the game, you don’t even need to click on anything to start a dialogue it just happens as you get close to someone like https://youtu.be/RDfh3EjzCG0QHCh7h7QvNc9i2OB?t=1m54s sometimes you don’t even notice you’ve entered a dialogue because they happen in such a natural way like it would in real life, there isnt any camera cuts whatsoever when you enter or leave a dialogue, you never lose control of your character and can still move around while talking if you’re standing, the NPCs aren’t fixed in place and they can move around, interact with objects and other character around them, sometimes another npc even enters the conversation in the middle of it like when Royce rushes at you to point his gun in your face, and man the animations are so good and realistic in a way I’ve never seen before in an RPG, it just feels so real and immersive this kind of dialogue https://youtu.be/ftE-TTIE1nc-xsOyqnJyd7XEEzZ?t=1h15m40s the way the characters move, their body language, even the little details like how Jackie keeps shaking his leg during a scene because he’s nervous, it’s just amazing
All of this makes the dialogues feel so connected with the rest of the game and everything so immersive, it makes every quest and activity flow so well together like they’re all part of the same giant mission, because you barely see any camera cuts and never lose control of your character. I feel like the dialogues in this game are the perfect mix of cutscenes and RPG dialogues but without any of the disadvantages, it has the presentation of a cutscene but unlike in a cutscene which is always the exact same in cyberpunk you keep control of your character and have an impact on what happens, and you have all the dialogues choices of RPGs conversations but without any of this clunky and rigid look where the animations often repeat over and over, where it feels like the world around you stops everytime you’re in a dialogue
After playing this game it just feels so outdated and weird to go back to the usual RPG dialogues where the game zooms on the npc face, where both characters are stuck in the same place and can’t even move around like this https://youtu.be/DQJPDW6domk-sTrAuO7jo8tm32W?t=2h42m40s
Like many other things in this game, the way they’ve approached the dialogues in this game is something that I never ever see mentioned, and yet it makes the overall experience feel so real and immersive, it makes the characters feel much more alive and like real people, even their animations and body language changes based on the character’s personnalities https://youtu.be/NJa2YBxqu5gkyv306gNl-UDmV_T?t=16m54s all of this combines to make such an immersive experience and yet it’s something I never see mentioned by anyone, I feel like there is so many aspects about this game that are just amazing, had so much work putted into them, and that yet I never see mentioned and are underated as hell
13 Comments
Well said. Personally I love the way you can just walk away from dialogue. Really makes it feel like I have freedom within the game and I don’t have to entertain anything I find boring.
this is why cutscenes are a bad idea and the people asking for them are just wrong and have poor taste on top of that.
Agreed, really realistic and natural
Yes it was a stark contrast with Starfield that I finished before starting Cyberpunk. CDPR did an amazing job and you articulated it better than I could. They really set the bar with this game in a few ways.
And all of this was present at release
One thing I like it that you can choose some dialogue choices while someone is speaking and when you interrupt them there’s no pause in the dialogue. Even in simple replies you don’t have that pause like you would in a game like Mass Effect when selecting dialogues.
its why i feel like the real time “cutscenes” are so innovative. They really immerse you in the world, its one of the major reasons im against a third person perspective in a sequel. Can you imagine >!Jackie dying!<, or >!songbird begging for death!< in a third person perspective? it wouldnt hit nearly as hard. As much as i love the witcher, you always feel like you’re playing Geralt, wheras in 2077 you feel like you ARE V, and can roleplay them however you like.
People 100% sleep on just how innovative 2077 is, mostly because of the shitty launch im assuming. Its especially impressive because it was CDPR’s “first” in may ways, and they built the game in 4 years. First FPS, first foray into the genre of cyberpunk, first time making entirely original characters, first time creating a gigantic city, first time implementing a traffic system and pedestrians etc etc. All while also innovating as far as tech and design decisions.
Quite frankly i find it a miracle the game turned out as amazing as it did, even with the shitty launch.
Bro play Baldurs Gate 3. It ruins dialogue in all other games, 2077 is mediocre as hell in comparison. Even Mass Effect feels cheap after BG3 lol
Could point about retaining player control during dialogue though, it is very fun
Baldur gate 3
Seamlessness. That’s the biggest selling point of Cyberpunk along with art style. The way they have incorporated seamlessness in anything and everything is mind boggling. Which is why I love this game..
CP77 is great but go play Disco Elysium. Writing takes a whole other meaning in that game.
You sound like you’ve played Starfield just before Cyberpunk 2077 (a game that is 3 years older).
Here is one more detail. NPC starts talking to you, but you move away, so they stop, they say something like “we’ll continue later”. You come back in range and you continue the conversation.
I played this game last month without watching enough trailers so it was to my surprise it was first person. It was the first kind of open world rpg game that I played in this format and after it took some getting used to I LOVED IT. I agree with you I feel it’s hard to compare this to other RPGs now that I’m used to this level of immersion and control. CDPR really knocked it out of the park by choosing first person with immersive cutscenes rather than staged cutscenes.