Well, if Witcher 1-3, Fallout 3 & 4 and Mass Effect games are RPGs then what makes this game not one?

But this isn't like those games, this plays like GTA.. drive around, get jobs, shoot people, take objective.. that kind of gameplay isn't in any of those games you mentioned.

Do you think GTA is an RPG?

Sounds like the usual RPG trope for me...

Walk around, get a job, kill a mob, take the objective. Sounds like a fetchquest before 1990.

And very similar to Vampire Bloodlines, except the driving (no cars).
One of the best RPGs ever made and not that far away from CP.

Or any other RPG with active aim control and modern ranged weapons...


But maybe you want to define what would be RPGlike for you first...

Yup, I ask myself the same. Where the fuck is all the RPG element? They literally use only a few things of the book(the new one and the old one).

https://imgur.com/a/wQyLsmF

Mass Effect 2 and 3 are defintiely less of an RPG than ME1 (definitely ME3) but at least your choices there have much bigger impact (especially if you're into the theory that Red ending is the true one since it shows Shepard waking up under rubble, hinting that the whole ending sequence was an attempt at mindfuck by the Reapers).

Witcher 1-3 are I think generally called RPGs because of deep character progression and various choices you can make (again, with more impact than CP2077 but I think less than ME trilogy). Also, format.
Personally, I no longer think of those games as "true RPGs" similar to games like Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment or Neverwinter Nights (I mean, those aren't REAL RPGs either, but at least NWN had a strong Multiplayer client that allowed for an authentic, tabletop RPG experience).


Cyberpunk 2077 lacks in many areas - choices you make don't impact that much besides the messages you get during final credit roll, has basically two basic endings (it's Johnny or V, with V ending up in pretty much the same situation in almost all endings). You can't really build for non-combat, except for crafting (which again, only inlfuences combat by proxy). Those "you can finish the game without killing anyone" boasts? Well, put a non-lethal mod on your gun and you still are going to do the exact same thing - shoot enemies. Only this time, other characters will note how you didn't kill your enemies (unless of course t he game bugs out and claim you killed everyone anyway).
Deus Ex HR truly allowed you non-lethal playthrough (maybe except one encounter, can't really remember). Not only will Jensen comment on it himself in his epilogue, but even DLC's boss will say how that speaks volumes about Adam's skills, that he took down so many men without killing any of them. Also, there were actually conversation boss encounters and augments that aided in those (all augments in CP2077 are strictly for combat, except carry capacity and jump augments).

Cyberpunk 2077 is just a linear story (though rather good) with plenty of distractions along the way. It's not even a sandbox since there isn't much to do besides repetetive gigs and shooting people for NCPD. It's all about shooting (or hitting) stuff, mostly various criminals.
Sure, there is some world-building put into this game, but you can't do much with it.

Must be that navel gazing time of the year again when everyone has a half-baked idea of what defines an RPG based mostly on their favorite type of RPG - and there are many, many types.

In this game I can assault with guns, wade in with katanas. sneak and quickhack every bad guy in a 3 story building to death without them ever even seeing me or be a generalist and do some of all that. I can use a cyberdeck that enhances my quickhacks or one that doesn't affect quickhacks at all but instead enhances my melee or gun play. And those are all my choices that I can emphasize with the RPG mechanics of the stats and perk system, A system that let's you chose the correct perks for a build that turns the puny quickhack Contagion into a poison powerhouse that will outright kill 7 or 8 bad guys who never even saw you.

I can chose which missions to do in which order and let Takamura, Judy and others just hang in there while I help Panam or vice versa. I can unlock the hidden ending by meeting the conditions that unlock it. I can nail someone to a cross or go scuba diving with a friend. I can go to a couple of funerals or none at all.

Walks and talks like an RPG to me. Specifically a single player RPG not to be confused with a JRPG or MMORPG, or co-op RPG, or cRPG or ARPG or table top RPG.

Of course I can also whine incessantly in forums about how I can't do in this game that favorite thing of mine I could do in game Y and that makes it not an RPG.

Oh goodness me! Is it that time of year again?!

I have no idea. Long time ago I tried one of GTAs b/c everyone was buzzing about it and I could not get through the game b/c I did not feel it my game so I abandoned it and never looked back at the franchise. So if you are going to say "GTA this and GTA that" it has no meaning to me, b/c I have almost no knowledge about it.

However let's talk about the games I mentioned. Also since you completely omitted any notion of the CP main story we are going to omit main story of the other games I mentioned. Also let's not talk about the DLCs since CP has none yet and saying something like "well in W3 there is a whole not related quest line in Toussaint is unfair since it is a huge DLC":
Witcher series: take a contract from the notice board, talk to somebody, might need to use Witcher Vision for some investigation, slay the monster (even worse with Witcher 1 where you needed to collect so many fangs, heads, brains)
Mass Effect: you get some message, fly into the star system, land on the planet, enter the one of the 2 or 3 copy-pasted hideouts and deal with the enemies (most time shoot them), loot the locker.
Mass Effect 2 - 3: talk to somebody, land somewhere, shoot everyone, use interrupt or red/blue line to get somebody's loyalty.
MEA: let's not talk about this one.
Fallout 3: this one had really fun and interesting sidequests, however it had dumb quests like "collect so many nuka cola quantum bottles"
Fallout 4: this one is the worst since I do not remember almost anything outside of the main story (which was "Meh..." at best) and "so and so is attacking a settlement" (which was a chore), finished that game once and would like to pretend it never existed.

However if you would look at the main story then F3, F4, ME, ME2, ME3 are pretty linear.
F3 & F4 are very linear, many times worse then CP2077.
ME: the only choice that mattered within the game (not franchise, since there is only one CP for now) is are you going to take onboard Wrex and Garrus or not. If not you would not take them then you cannot deploy with them. Also you can kill Wrex on Virmire and the only difference is going to be is that you cannot deploy him further. IMHO way worse than in CP since you can choose your destiny here.
ME2: the only choices that you make within the game are the choices related to the loyalty, when you are going to land on the trapped ripper and whether you are going to retaliate immediately or complete all unfinished business. You have similar thing happening in CP: for different end result you need to win few people and Johnny. What CP does even better is that you have 4 different final missions instead of only one.
ME3: stupid "traffic light" resolution plagiarized from the original Deus Ex, except to get really "good" ending you had not only to make right choices on primary missions but also grind multiplayer (which was pretty fun at the time though however b/c I tried quite a few builds and promoted my characters so much there is no way for me to get a "bad" ending which sucks). Before a "Director's Cut" DLC was a total trainwreck and a big FY to everyone who cared about the story in the game.
Witcher: err... 2 choices? Small difference between choosing Flaming Rose vs Squirrels vs no one and who do you romance Shani or Triss. Don't really remember anything else.
Witcher 2: this one has the most impact out of all games: what path are you going to choose in the end of the Act 1 would create a completely different game for you. However beyond that choice you are on the rails from start to finish.
Witcher 3: most of the game is on the rails. You've got to choose few things here and there to affect the epilogue you are going to get (Was it about 15 minutes of the play time? However it is quite emotional, when I've got my ending I thought I've go the worst, up until I bought the sword that had 0 damage and 0 weight).

With all this said I personally would say that the game as a standalone game without DLCs are on the same level as each of other mentioned games with the exception that it has a lot of "activities" that are not important except if you want to oneshot any enemy you are going to see on the final mission.

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It's true that the abilities almost exclusively revolve around combat. I miss skills like persuasion, knowledge (science, biotech, history, factions), beauty & charisma, intimidation.

Of course 'role playing' should involve skills that influence story elements and not just different ways to fire a gun. I want to be able to read biotech articles if my knowledge of that subject is sufficient, maybe understanding more about the chip than other players. Another player might be able to persuade the boss fight into giving up, might romance a secret character or craft a second chip which duplicates the first one.

I wouldn't call them 'liars' though. Similar to mass effect or Witcher, it's more of an adventure or 'light' RPG. Making deeper skills which actually influence the story involves a lot of additional work and might result in people complaining that they can't get "their" preferred ending because they didn't create the fitting character.

On the other hand you are right that this is what makes playing different roles actually exciting - that you get different options throughout the game which are more than just the solution to a combat situation.

// As as much character customization as Skyrim... as much impact too.. on rails start to finish except the endings conclude with how much prep/side work you do... 6-7 ways I've found to end the game. each start gives you custom and fantastic responses throughout the entire game. "TO THIS!" as an example :)

Ive made a 100% melee player. 100% pacifist, 100% netrunner and a gunsmith for fun and even did a few combos to see how they play all around level 30 using mem hacks and infinite points creating different plays for my core character build guides.

There is about 20 decent combinations you can pick for min/max runs or a healthy number of straight combo core +1 skill tree users... hell you can even craft everything and never buy a thing that is some RP goodness!

This game has so much choice its insane. And i RP hunger and thirst and sleeping myself... because in a roleplaying game YOU ROLE PLAY! if you need the game to hold your hand and force you to roleplay go get a survival game and quit complaining about this one ;-)

Seriously, you can roleplay like crazy in this, its your choice to play it like an FPS OP, no one is forcing you but yourself //

MOOOOOOOOOONEY

This isn't GTA. The only thing in common is you can steal cars. This is way more of an RPG. There is plenty that makes it one. Choices, customization, different abilities different endgame outcomes etc.

the first thing i did was kill a gang member and take his bike to the edge of town.

being an open world role playing, i thought this should be easy.

except you cant.

you have to play the story out a bit in order to 'wait out' the city lockdown...

if you have to play the story at all, its not open.

upon loading into fallout 3. one could immediately leave megaton and explore.

no story whatsoever. just walk and wander and clear the map, if you are so inclined....

if your choices and actions have no consequence, its not an rpg.

its a 4K interactive movie simulator.

go here. click here. watch cut scenes.

you play the story the way they want, or else.

week three waiting for my refund.

They lied because they got greedy and high off their own success. They thought they were untouchable and that they could do whatever they wanted. They were wrong. They got caught in spectacular fashion and their game is utter garbage and nothing like what was promised.

Now they are talking about focusing on gamers again and making things right, but this game is over and done. It can't be fixed without another couple of years which they are not going to invest and a complete overhaul of the story in order to make it a real rpg . Their focus now is releasing the already planned free stuff to try and appear like they are doing something and then the pay stuff to finish ripping off people.