**TLDR: In universe gun lore is almost never actually represented in-game
Also not an AI post. I just write like that. Bullet points are for easy reading.
In the Cyberpunk world, not all guns are born equal. Some are top-shelf products manufactured and quality-assured by a team of corporate engineers, constructed with resilient and light next-gen polymers and featuring fail-proof electronics and mechanisms. Others are piece-of-shit hunks of cheap plastic that can maybe spit 5 bullets before the mechanism fails and you resort to throwing it at your opponent. When it comes to guns, quality matters.
Well, just not in actual gameplay.
You can be using a surprising variety of guns comfortably, grow to love them, then click open the database to find that they’re actually miserable pieces of crap in-universe. For example the DB-4 Igla shotgun is apparently a low-caliber, low-performing, low-quality peashooter that is decades out of date, and in the words of the game ‘produces more noise than damage’. A fact that I only discovered after clearing out like 4 locations with my trusty secret-piece-of-shit. Apparently the DB-2 Testera is the next-gen upgrade to this gun, but it doesn't actually fire better or have better stats.
Other examples:
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The Nokota Sidewinder is noted to barely be a smartgun – as in its smart capabilities are miles behind actual quality smartguns like Arasaka or Kang Tao ones. But gameplay-wise you don't see it. It's literally just as smart as the top-shelf ones.
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The Metel is an India-produced weapon that is considered absolute junk, and used only by slum thugs. But Hansen uses one, and it might as well be the Malorian 3516 in his hands.
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Several guns like the Guillotine (literally sold at vending machines as a condom-weapon), DS-1 Pulsar (renowned for its low, low quality and chaotic design) and DA8 Umbra ('empty a few clips, then toss it into the sewer') not only function well in gameplay, but also has xMOD2 and iconic variants.
Speaking of iconics, because the game is pumped full of high-performing iconics, some of which are iconic variants of piece-of-shit huns that regularly outperform (on paper) higher quality generic ones, that makes lore quality even less relevant – your modified-by-god iconic Guillotine will shoot and handle better than a state-of-the-art, professionally designed Masamune. Now maybe a well-tuned, custom modified Honda Civic really can outperform a BMW, at the end of the day a Porsche is still a Porsche, and there's still a celling to what tuning can do.
(2) In-universe, certain guns are very expensive state-of-the-art products, and the average Joe will be lucky to ever even touch it, let alone use it. But in gameplay, the average street thug will be sporting gear like the Dian, Shingen, or even Nekomata (described in-universe as ‘dizzyingly expensive’). One wonders why they don’t even just sell the gun or strip it for parts if they want a payday.
(3) Flavour text says that certain guns are favoured by certain militant groups, or are standard-issue for corporate armies or the NCPD. Sometimes this holds true – everyone in Konpeki Plaza dropped presumably standard-issue Arasaka firearms (though no idea why they’re all using last gen surplus like the Nowaki and Shigure.). But Militech personnel doesn’t actually use or drop Militech firearms, nor are NCPD people seen often using the guns that they’re said to favour in-universe.
Making in-universe quality irons actually quality can do a lot for immersion. You start with a simple Lexington, and by the end of the game you have your hands on an expensive, state-of-the-art Masamune or Achilles, and it feels about like graduating to driving a Ferrari from your howsoever-iconic Volkswagen Golf. It also highlights socioeconomic differences, as not only are the poor oppressed, downtrodden and using faulty implants scrounged from back-alley ripperdocs, but they don’t even have a decent gun to shoot themselves in the head with. While the tier system is smooth for gameplay and allows you to use the guns you personally like, some kind of actual representation of the gun quality in-universe would’ve been nice.
9 Comments
Edited and reposted. Last one got flagged as AI because I made a mistake copying and pasting from my clipboard.
God, 5 years back this wouldn’t be a thing. AI will be the fucking death of us all.
Umbra sounds like shaking the cutlery drawer and makes me laugh with how cheap and nasty it sounds. Really captures that “I assembled this from broken parts and junk I found in the gutter” feeling you should get from crafting a tier 1 weapon
Explains why everyone fuckin has one when I go looting
Yes, and? If you wanna see why they did it look at weapon variety or lackthereof in fallout games. Fallout 4 on launch had around 40 weapons which is comparable to cyberpunks 38 or starfield which also has around that number last i checked. So why was fallout 4 lambasted for its low weapon variety while cyberpunk and starfield got praised for their weapons? Because fallout 4 level brackets its guns. There may be three assault rifles but you will only ever use one. There is no reason to use a pipe rifle once you get a combat rifle which becomes useless once you get an assault rifle. The 40 weapons you start is actually more like 10 at any one point which is fine for an FPS but not for an RPG.
I dont agree that any amount of “immersion” is worth cutting down on weapon variety to that extent. Am i supposed to use the umbra till level 10, copperhead till 20, nowikai till 30, ajax till 40 and masamune till 50? And then i switch to the barghast one till 60 because its just better? I thought people dont like numbers get bigger vertical progression. As it stands every gun is viable for something. Some are just objectively easier to use than others (compare recoil on the umbra and copperhead to the sidewinder which has none and a masamune which is very controllable) but thanks to different weapon technologies, animations, firing style and feel all are always viable.
Still basic signs of AI generated slop.
Especially considering the fact that almost every paragraph in the original text started with a description or summary of what to expect in it.
No it’s just edited and slightly rewritten.
Bro literally CTRL-V the entire AI text twice in the previous post.
The funny thing to me about a lot of the guns is that the lore makes no sense.
The DR-5 Nova for example is described as being prone to failure(revolvers don’t really jam), has high recoil(the design of the barrel is meant to avoid recoil), and that it’s made for concealed carry despite it being larger than a IRL desert eagle.
wait WTF i already read this entire post, i even commented on it
[YEAH I DID, THIS IS JUST A REUPLOAD TO REMOVE SOME AI SLOP THEY LEFT IN](https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/1k17180/theres_gun_lore_and_then_theres_gun_reality/)
Jesus fuck, what a load of absolutely pointless thoughts.
With all the headaches developing a game like this brings, with all the shit that could have been done, and all the missed opportunities, THIS is the type of thing that matters to you and you would have liked to see?
What a minor and extremely nitpicky thing to care about.
good post and the AI disclaimer made me chuckle