The Last of the Original Video Gamers

{working doc open on Google Drive, copying here sometime

will need to reformat}

2025.12.08 My new computer needs testing, and from what I can tell this is the highest demanding game I have. It seems to pass the internal benchmark just fine.

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I was just going to start a brief test play, but I'm fairly certain I am just playing this now all the way through. I have the hardware, this is very high on my list, so why wait.

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I don't feel any connection to the game yet, several hours in. It is very much on rails, similar to how GTA V starts out. Maybe it will get more open world later. I have avoided reading about this game as much as possible for years, so I really don't know.

The self-aware self-parodying culture is a little hard to get into. GTA culture is not that easy to get into either because it's so exaggerated, but most of its conceits are at least grounded. This cyberpunk retro future is a little harder to get into, but I am trying. I was very much into Neuromancer, Max Headroom, Bladerunner, etc. so I should be loving this, at least for the nostalgia, but the writing is giving me some pause that this game even understands the source material. I know it can be done; Deus Ex did it early and well.

After the first mission, the ride through Night City is a nice introduction. At least it's a nice intro to the city within the story. I feel a little robbed by the time skip where V settles into a new life in the city, but I guess it's better than just hearing about it. I think of the intro in GTA 4, where Nico starting a new life is woven into the story (and tutorial). I think I would have preferred that.

Why are there trash can fires in my apartment building?

An NPC just stepped through a wall, earlier someone clipped their arm through another arm. Sad. I thought this game had all the bugs worked out over the years.

I didn't connect to a CDPR account when I started - do I need that?

I am in my apartment for the first time - not quite the first impression like when it happens in Deus Ex 3. Good time to adjourn.

2025.12.10

The UI and the physics are taking some getting used to, and keeping me from getting into the game. It will probably just take some more time.

Was using wired headphone, tried BT headset - very choppy, even after disconnecting phone.

Exit, headphone, restart. Seems OK.

Later. The UI feels clunky and cluttered. I'm never quite sure how long to hold down a key to get a result. Waiting to get used to it.

Taking the time to read any in game text I can find. So far, not very compelling.

I like that I can use my screenshots as wall art, it actually makes some sense.

I have a bunch of weapons already in my armory. Makes sense, but it would have been cooler to start with nothing and build up.

On the computer, several cars for sale, but I have almost no money. That at least makes sense (but I already have a car, and it seems adequate).

I don't like how phone calls are auto answered. Let me choose.

Did I check the graphics after doing the in game test?

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Settings, Graphics, Quick Preset = Ray Tracing: Ultra, which seems to be 9/10. Scrolling down, most everything is maxed out. I'll just leave it alone for now, until I get used to what I'm already seeing.

Walking down the stairs, level by level, I really like how crowded it is. More realistic than the often empty feeling GTA 5. I keep comparing everything to GTA, but that's my last frame of reference for any kind of modern open world game.

At the gun shop it says i can pick up my .45, but i don't see it, and i can't afford anything but a cheap scope.

Oh it costs $0, I can just have it. It's an Iconic Weapon.

There's ammo lying around, I can just take it? Seems so. Odd, especially with all these people around.

Looking at inventory and perks, i like how attribute points each affect dialogue differently. Skill trees are huge, how long is this game?

Reading the journal is confusing - who is speaking to us? Sometimes it seems like Jackie, but usually it's some nameless narrator, and not even the same one. Is V (me) talking to himself?

The starting mission of V point of view is hard to place, but it may be V himself, but it also seems to be someone at a higher level, more aware of the overall story arc. It's jarring, and more confusing than no story at all.

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There's an overview looking screen, seems I'm at 1%.

There's a trove to read in the Database. Something to read about everything, but in the same wise cracking overly aware style.

So far, it's just one cyberpunk cliche after another, but this is different: cyberspace itself has become limited by something a runner did.

Too much to absorb at once, back to the game, but I need to come back here often.

In a bag next to some people is more money than I have in total. I can just take it? Yes, no one reacts. Even decades older games than this would have you get in trouble for that, but nothing happens here. Makes no sense. I understand rewarding exploration, but this diminishes the world and the game.

Quick save and load works now.

This is interesting, I backtrack and now there's a crime scene. Touching the police 'tape' makes the cops act like I attacked (reload). Crude; they are marked as talkable to, but I can't talk to even the closest one.

An ad for a matsuri, I look forward to it.

It's rare to see anyone without at least one cyber limb or other visible implant. At least the kids don't have any.

Just like that, I'm outside.

Every NPC seems unique, haven't seen a repeat yet.

I like how the car comes to us.

This city reminds me of something... Transmetropolitan. The more I think about it, this world seems closest to that one, especially with the in your face attitude.

It's hard to stay on mission when I'm free to walk the city. There's a random firefight in the streets. It seems to be taking the cops forever to put down their targets. I stick around hoping to catch some free loot, and no bullets. It takes a while, but eventually the criminals drop and the cops just walk away. I pick up a strange assortment of what must be minor loot. All the long guns are broken and just break down into parts. Good enough for me right now.

All the 'dead' bodies are twitching like they are just wounded.

You can pet a cat.

I don't mind the little pop ups describing things in the world, but they are crudely inserted in the middle of someone talking. It's very immersion breaking.

I've got points to spend. I'm going plain vanilla for this first run, so I'm thinking more fighter than hacker. Maybe a stealthy sniper.

Long set up for the sim stim event. I missed a bit of dialogue. Do I want to go back that far?

Can't save or load, have to finish the whole set piece of scanning the recording for clues. It takes a while.

Back to 7h 22m, an auto save, this is good. OK, there wasn't much more than I expected. Back to 8h 5m.

That was the most interesting thing in the game so far, doing forensic analysis of brain recordings. But this heist seems way too advanced for the stakes involved. Maybe it is supposed to seem so, to indicate what a desperate ploy this is on everyone's part.

More choices, it keeps getting more interesting. Does the game support all the branching story lines this implies? There could be a lot of replayability here.

I'm starting to sense the depths this game may have; hoping to not be disappointed.

2025.12.12

Back to Lizzie's Bar.

I kind of get what we're doing - stealing some high tech from a high value target, but what are my options? The world is still somewhat confusing, so I'm not sure who I even want to do side quests for. Do I want to contact the miltech agent, and why? Am I still working on behalf of my fixer, or is this my own side hustle? I already turned down betraying my fixer to work just for the braindance escort.

I'm trying to figure out what role I want to play, and it seems to be a straightforward merc, kind of lawful, at least in the criminal world. I think I'm trying to play a generic main character, and maybe on another playthrough I can specialize.

I wish I could replay why the Miltech agent even showed up on my radar; the context might help me figure out what to do.

I try it out, I can reload, but I don't know what to make of it. Is working with Miltech of any use? I think I'll just skip the miltech story entirely, report to Jackie first, see what happens. Feels more right than jumping in with yet another unknown.

I like how the streets are not as easy as GTA. There you could rob most any car easily, here it's more difficult. And you can't screw around in traffic as much, because everyone is armed.

A Cyberpunk 2020 Rulebook - that's kind of too meta, isn't it?

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Starting to loot all kinds of stuff now. My backpack feels infinite. It looks like I can only actually equip a short, long, and melee weapon, which is a nice change of pace compared to hammerspace.

Turning off cameras and blowing things up is kind of fun - maybe I want to go netrunner more than fighter? assuming i need to pick a focus anyway, but the size of all the skill trees makes me thing i'll need a focus.

There's a lot of random text lying around, seemingly excerpts from books. Feels very Deus Ex.

This game has some dark corners. It would be nice to have a flashlight instead of 20 broken guns in my backpack.

How rude - you go through a door and locks behind you, forcing you into being trapped in a new area with enemies.

After mission, a strange area that looks like it's about to be a boss fight. Is it time for Jackie's sudden but inevitable betrayal? I poke around, go see Jackie, no, nothing happens here. Disturbing.

After I get in my car I'm attacked. I wonder if it's random, and reload. No, it seems destined to happen on the way out of here.

2025.12.13

At first I thought this mission was way too big for V and company, and surely something would go wrong. But now, it's even higher stakes - they are witnesses to history. Actually, it kind of makes sense; there is precedent in the literature. William Gibson stories often featured low end criminals who got swept up into great events, sometimes getting lost in the process, somethings coming out ahead. Fair game.

Sneaking is very generous in this game. You can get spotted for a second or two, take cover, and it's ok. You can take down an enemy within feet of another one, and then take them down too. Stealth seems overpowered in this game.

Using non-lethal vs lethal doesn't seem to make much difference. Non lethal fits my current roleplay as someone who is live and let live, only using lethal force when necessary. The game doesn't seem to recognize this. Even worse, enemy loot seems to get ruined either way. I know they don't want you accumulating tons of enemy equipment, but it's not realistic. At least you get some token salvage as loot, which is occasionally whole. It's still better than older games just let you see perfectly good weapons and armor lying there, that you can't interact with at all.

Reading the Journal text, some of it seems very much from the point of view of Jackie. But a lot of it isn't. So many entries here, I should read more.

Not sure how to spend my character points. I see there is a reset button, but it only works once. But it seems I can add and remove perks with no penalty.

About an hour later... that was quite some set piece. Finally I know the story of Johnny Silverhand. For a while this game was somewhat of a movie. Now that I'm back in control, it's time to save, and call it a day.

2025.12.28 Everything up til now feels like an intro. Now the real game begins. Next year.

2026.01.05 It's next year.

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Start with a shower - V is just going to stand there, hands against the wall like a meat popsicle? The shower animation in GTA 5 was better.

At least the news has updated.

Watching TV, trying to get back into this world. One of the talking heads has no voice, though his mouth is moving, and there are still background sounds.

How are you supposed to say goodbye to people. There seems no obvious way; I just back away from them.

Quick searches seems to affirm this. It feels wrong. Even conversation-on-rails games like Mass Effect let you at least end the conversation, and often multiple ways.

THis game can be crude. Much like you can't end conversation nicely, you can't just stop running and resume walking. You have to just stop moving entirely. It's similarly jarring, and there's no reason for it.

Just reacquainting with this world takes hours. I get a dozen quests and there's no obvious way forward, so I'll just poke around. I do what I think this V would do, and revisit people he knows: Misty and Viktor. I familiarize myself with the Journal.

When to start Phantom Liberty? Journal says not now, so when? A very quick check online says something about Act 3, so Ill leave it alone for awhile.

Walking around there's a random encounter I can join, a gang shaking down merchants. Not too hard, had to do some reloads. I thought it was over, getting into a car seems to continue it; didn't know my car was about to blow up. Looking at their loot, they have a note that indicates they know me and want me dead. Who are these guys? Is this encounter done yet?

I take one of their motorbikes. Kind of fun. Something very Akira about this. Yes, you can do a wheelie.

Go meet Takemura again - I didn't do any of my homework at all since we last met at diner.

2026.01.14 played some more last night, trying to do simple things to get back into the game.

Just going to get my car becomes a whole new quest. I like Delamain, and helping him get his strays home.

It is a pain in the butt to try to do this without a car. There is literally a quest to kill time while waiting for my car to be fixed, so this seems intentional. I want to explore car theft, but it's hard to find unattended cars, and I don't want a running street battle that cops could get swept up into.

Running around on foot is a good way to learn the city.

I like how I can't go hardly a block without wandering into some random street event, that I can get involved in, or not. Feels more realistic.

What's not realistic are all the active crime scenes in broad daylight, including bodies on the ground and even a burning car. Meanwhile there's a cop on the next block, and diagonally across, and they don't seem to notice.

Random encounters don't seem too difficult, and I'm accumulating stuff and money. Still not sure what to get, but until I do, might as well have money.

I like the mini tutorial of picking up a Smart Weapon, and it tells you what you need to have to use it. Still not sure if I go Smart or Power weapons.

I'm not sure if this random encounter is done. The combat is over, but no message, just some money and xp, which could have just been from the fight. Well, at least I have more loot. And they have a car I can take to the next AI limo.

So much for clearing up my cluttered quest list; with every new neighborhood i go in a get at least one call from a new contact, and they always want something.

I appreciate the differences in limo wrangling encounters, but the Portal one is really uncalled for. There was a minor Matrix reference in a commercial, and it was tolerable, but having a limo be the AI in Portal is just too damned far. This game is already borderline over the top ridiculous. I'll get over it, but I won't forget it.

I get a cop car, and even though there is a cycle lights key, it doesn't seem to do anything to the overhead lights. Another sad comparison with GTA V, but it might just be this car is pretty banged up now.

Is there a look back key? Middle mouse in a car, on foot that's grenade!

The cultural references are getting worse. Now it's Clarice and silence of the flamingos. At least Portal made some sense. I am getting a nice tour of this city, at least, and occasional loot from street fights I can intervene in. The neighborhood near the dam feels like San Andreas; there's even a curious cul de sac.

Delemain mission done - that felt like a great early story quest. Got some good payment and xp, and a good intro to the area. I was kind of hoping my car would be ready now, though, tired of stealing cars.

OK, after some driving, it pops up; car ready.

Time to move on to a story element I should have done much sooner - Jackie's funeral. Reading the Journal, I thought the spicy commentary was from Jackie, but maybe Johnny makes more sense. In any case, it doesn't always work; the writing is all over the place.

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I'm enjoying my simple playthrough as a fighter, but I'm already looking forward to playing through as a netrunner.

Very annoying, I leave Jackie's place, Misty starts up some dialogue, while Goro calls and also starts a conversation - without my even picking up the phone. There's nothing in this story about him being able to override my communication. This is wrong. Reload, try again. Yep, same. Broken.

Play with gamma. 2.0 is too much, try 1.2 for now. Jarring go back to 1.0

Fast travel is too easy. Must resist temptation and learn how to get around.

Good to get back to apartment, and offload stuff into stash. Also, I can put off having to sell stuff to relieve encumbrance. Nice that drugs, mods, and junk don't take up any weight - might as well just keep them on person.

Looks like I can rent other apartments.

When you take a shower you cough blood.

What happens if i sleep? I like the sleep clock, but it seems to just advance time. No more visits from Johnny.

I should start spending some of these Attribute Points, and picking something of a path.

I like pistols, and want to get a sniper rifle, so I should put points in Cool. This also fits stealth, so it rounds out a package I've already been progressing on. This also fits with Skills progressions, as I seem to be doing a lot of pistol and takedowns. Need to do more sniping, throwables, and attack while undetected.

I think I'm already on my way to being a stealthy sniper, which is something I gravitate to in any game that will let me.

So, no more of the following for this V: assault rifles (that's Shinobi), shotguns or machine guns (that's Solo), tech weapons (Engineer), smart weapons (Netrunner). Staying with the Headhunter path, I need to focus on pistols, revolvers, sniper, and throwables.

There's no mention of Power weapons; maybe that's for everyone.

2026.01.18

I have a Tech Precision Rifle, but I haven't seen a sniper rifle yet. Focusing on hand guns. Time to increase Cool.

I do not yet understand throwables - is that knives and grenades? Are knives consumable? Where is that tracked? How to reload?

Hitting J for Journal gets me to most info, but where is the Skill tree? Oh yeah, click on attributes to see that skill tree. A direct key might be redundant.

Increase Cool to 9, Put 2 Perk Points in Focus. Let's see what that does for pistols.

I should also try and find an interesting revolver.

Finish shooting comp. See that there's a sniper rifle for sale, $12k. I could afford it, but I'm going to test out my pistol upgrades first.

Sometimes you hit F to open a door, sometimes you have to line up a little floating finger with the door panel in game. The UI in this game is a mess.

I go to collect the free reward from Wakako at Cassius' shop. Is it just that Tyger Claw tattoo? There are so many upgrades, it's hard to determine what to get.

Legs, Lynx Paws, quieter movement, fits my stealth build, get that.

Buying that wasn't free - so it must be the tattoo. The tattoo allows Smart weapons, which I don't want.

Operating system, I'd like to try out the time slowing Dynalar Sandevistan, but I don't want to give up my cyberdeck. I know that's not my focus, but it is handy just being able to scan the area. I'll save scum and try it real quick.

I don't much like it, but for my character cyberware makes more sense than a cyberdeck, so I'll just get it.

Face, Kiroshi Sentry Optics Tier 2.

Skeleton, Bionic Joints, Tier 2+.

Hands - I'll get the Tyger tattoo just to end the quest and switch back to Ballistic Coprocessor.

At least it's only $700 to switch back.

Nervous system, Visual Cortex Support.

Circulatory, Blood Pump.

Let's see if I can make use of this stuff before I buy anything more.

I'm glad I waited on the sniper rifle. I find one in the next random encounter.

I can still scan, I just can't do any cyber stuff. I'm ok with that, for now.

I didn't add enough Perk points to Focus, doing that now.

Nice, you can refund perks at no cost.

I wander into some area that's quiet, and seems like part of some job I haven't unlocked yet. I think I'll just rewind and leave it alone; don't want to break some future quest. Seems to be some kind of illicit braindance recording studio.

I go back to see Barry - I guess I said the wrong thing; there's a bloody mess on the door.

Or did I not come back quickly enough? Time doesn't seem to pass. Quest givers tell me to hurry up and meet them somewhere, but as far as I can tell they just wait there forever.

2026.01.20 This game has countless controls and variables - but I have yet to see a calendar. Yes, there's a clock, but it seems like it will always be 2077. This gives me even more reason to goof off on side quests instead of the main story.

2026.01.22 I wander into some set piece, one gang fighting another. It goes on and on, no one dying. I notice some health bars slowly going down. Look away to take notes and everyone is gone. Only a few bits of cheap loot remain.

Walk away and come back - now they're back? And not hostile to each other? With their hands behind their backs.

I work on a cyberpsycho mission. How am I supposed to take someone alive while they are shooting at me? Is there a gas grenade or stun gun? I fight the target; she's writhing on the ground, presumably from the cyberpsychosis, but is she still alive? I've been in lots of fights in this game where you supposedly take out an opponent with lethal force, only to find them on the ground, moving around in pain, as if they are merely temporarily incapacitated. Is this a bug, or is this part of the game? You could argue with all the enhancements, people are much harder to kill now, but it seems to happen way too often.

This might be the same kind of sloppiness how you can't end a conversation; you can only back away.

Finish mission, check in, it seems I didn't kill her. But there is no in game indication as to how or why. Just feels like poor writing. They didn't have a game mechanic to make it work, so they just hand waved that it happened somehow.

Speaking of cyberpsychosis, I'm glad to see in game some people in this story are pushing back against the cyber fetish. So many NPCs of all kinds (even the homeless) are walking around with a cybernetic arm or leg - why would so many people go along with this? It seems more like a bad prediction from the 80s than any kind of realistic science fiction. I know there's supposed to be a retro cyberpunk feel to this world, but it often just comes off as dated. And not like Fallout, which proves an alternate history can be made to mostly work.

How much does difficulty and loot scale with my level? In what ratio should I grind up and then do the story, or the other way around? Let's check in on at least old story elements, like the people who set up the job that got Jackie killed and my brain chip installed. Back to Lizzie's Bar to see Judy. It seems like V would want to get to this sooner than later.

Dollhouse is an interesting idea, but I can't remember how far back in cyberpunk lore it originates. House of Blue Lights, at least. Maybe I'll look it up later.

Evelyn seems like a wild goose chase, but the story with Johnny advances a bit, setting up an interesting new conflict with a powerful AI, and engram storage.

Then Delemain calls.

More than enough for one night.

2026.01.23 Sometimes I question if I should have started my new computer with this game. It's good, but it hasn't quite caught fire and stayed lit for long, as I wander away for days at a time. But this is the benchmark game right now (even at 5 years old); so it had to be done.

Thinking about Johnny's story, and the AI that put him in his engram library - that all happened 50 years ago. The world has changed so little since then? Johnny's world doesn't seem that different than this one. At least Johnny's arm looks a bit retro.

Off to the ripper doc to followup on Evelyn.

It's raining. Can't remember that happening before.

I read every bit of text I come across. Just learned that Arasaka released autonomous replicating mines into the sea, which have made sea travel almost impossible. Similar to how cyberspace is now unusable in some way, except locally. Is all this stuff in the source material, which I think is a TTRPG from a decade or three ago?

So much for talking to Judy on phone, she's at Fingers before I am.

Study braindance, go to studio.

2026.01.25 Yep, its in the second line of the wiki page, video game is based on the Cyberpunk table top game. Started 1988 (as the whole cyberpunk novelty was wearing off); based on a bunch of existing media, including the book Hardwired, which was inspired by the book Damnation Alley. Not familiar; added to reading list.

The fourth version of the table top Cyberpunk game, called Cyberpunk Red, is set in 2045 and is a prequel to the video game Cyberpunk 2077.

There is more media that continues on (including an anime) in this universe, but I'm not going to even look at that until I finish this game.

NIght City is based on Morro Bay, a real life small city on the California Coast - which also appears as Paleto Bay in GTA 5.

The Cyberpunk world supposedly diverges from ours in the 80s? I guess a century is long enough for Morro Bay to become Night City, but it feels like a stretch. A lot of the city feels like a real city, constantly being painted over older small cities, but I don't have much experience with this. And maybe later in the game I will find some remnants of the old city.

Enough lore for now, back to the game; time to sneak into some abandoned power station.

Find a copy of the book (though you can only read the summary) "75 Years of Cyberware". Slowly this universe is being filled in. I guess I don't really need to try to read more about it, outside of it. It's interesting to see what the game eventually tells me. I have yet to read the database, which probably has all the answers, but I've been avoiding it unless it shows up in the current to do list. If my character grew up in this world, he should know all this, so it is OK if I decide to learn some more.

Now I'm babysitting an NPC, Judy. Good, I don't have to worry about her health bar (doesn't seem to have one).

This area is thick and fast with worldbuilding text. Feels very introductory, like I was meant to come here as early as possible in the story.

Evelyn rescued.

In the journal, under job Don't Lose Your Mind, "you're short on friends (present imaginary company excluded)". Best evidence yet that the journal is written from the perspective of Johnny. Still doesn't explain who was writing journal text before we met Johnny.

2026.01.28 Do what now? Pursue the Voodoo Boys connection, to find out who hired Evelyn, or meet with Takemura, to try and contact Ms. Arasaka? There's also Afterlife, to try and find Hellman, who has something to do with the brain chip. Delamain needs help again, there's something to do with car racing, more boxing, and the tarot and cyberpsycho collectibles. Nice that I can choose, but the lack of timer diminishes immersion.

It never seemed to rain; now it's raining all the time.

Find an assault in progress. Fun to stealth around the edges and take down who I can. Drop a body behind a cargo dumpster (non lethal, of course), and it disappears! Important safety tip: loot bodies before carting away. Interesting that the option of putting them in a dumpster suddenly makes it a lethal event.

Filling up with loot, need sell all this junk I don't use (lots of heavy stuff like assault rifles and SMGs). Is there arbitrage in this game - are there better or worse places to sell things? It seems not; everything you find already has a price on it.I head for the nearest drop point, but I can't go a block in this city without some kind of encounter. Oh well, more loot, more xp, more practice fighting.

I walk into some gang fights, wait for it it end. Sometimes I can just walk amongst them and loot, other times they get aggro.

Trying to take out cyberpsycho Ellis Carter, keep dying.

Go to ripperdoc, max out whatever i can, getting more armor.

Still doesn't seem like enough. With some luck I can almost make it, but not quite. Not used to fighting a fast melee unit who can tank faster than I can dish out.

2026.01.29 I back away from Ellis, shot him up a bit, closed in to finish with club (unfortunately police joined in), but he died. I thought this Kanabo club was non lethal. Looking closer, there are two check boxes for "Makes the weapon non-lethal". Is this always active, or do I have to do something during my last attacks?

Reading... it should have worked, I think my mistake was checking the body before calling Regina?

I can't believe i have to do this again.

OK, this tracks. Get him down to 1% and just step away, he just falls down. Mission accomplished.

Time to go for a walk. Pass by a very reflective window, I can see cars and pedestrians going by, matching exactly - but I have no reflection. Disappointing. Clearly my graphics can handle it so why did they do this?

I've been using the Kongou pistol ever since I took it during the botched heist. Feels right, storywise, but now I'm trying to get into weapon modding. Can I use a silencer to shoot cameras without alerting nearby enemies? Seems not. Reading a bit, seems like knife might help enemies go back to patrol sooner. Most recommendations involve lots of bonuses to stealth skills and equipment I don't have yet.

Try throwing my knife - how does it teleport back to me? It's a strange way to deal with knife recovery. Would having knife 'ammo' be so much worse?

Sometimes piles of debris just pop up like someone kicked them.

Glad for all these Drop Points; I can quickly unload junk loot. Doesn't make much sense in story, but convenient. Makes about as much sense as most weapons enemies drop are instantly broken and worth little.

2026.01.30 Sticking with Power weapons. I take the monk rescue job, calls for non lethal. I find a Pax mod (non lethal) in a store and add it to my Lexington X-MOD2 Power Pistol. It's sluggish, but seems to work. Not very stealthy, but effective for now. I hope I don't regret this later. A quick lookup indicates frustration at being unable to remove mods, and something about Pax being hard to find; there have been many updates to this game that have changed things. But I feel this is what my V would do right now.

After all that, I get the 'you shouldn't have killed them' conversation. So what was the point of this mod. Rewind, try harder to do takedowns. Easy.

Why is there a scripted event outside just as I finish this mini quest - a road race? Actually, they're playing chicken; one of the cars goes in the water. I swim down to the car, read a note, get some loot. Back on the dock, all the spectators were already fleeing when I jumped in. Their vehicles are still there. And a bug - a cheering fan on the sidewalk. When I look away and back it's gone.

Bunch of military guys down the street guarding some entrance; first time I've seen a mech. Arasaka van. Further down the street, another of the same group. And some cops checking some waste. I'd rather be somewhere else.

Oh, no wonder. I'm in Arasaka Waterfront.

Another reflection. I see my bike, but not me on it.

Let's go see new best friend Delemain. Its dark in here, do I have a flashlight? Look it up... no, but even more surprising there are no optics choices, no night vision. Seems like a huge oversight (but probably omission, like the reflections).

Working through warehouse. I hate jumping puzzles. I pushed the car but my jump isn't working. Oh, there's a hatch under my feet. I guess I need to put 3 points into Body or 4 into Tech. I'm going Tech, seems like a better match, and maybe I can use the extra cyber stuff.

Let's liberate the baby Delamains. I now have 2 Delamains in my vehicle list:

Delamain Cab (purple)

Delamain No.21 (blue)

what's the diff?

I look in the trunk, there's my stash.

A quiz from Delamain. Some other time.

2026.01.31 I tried both paths with the Delemain job. Interesting how Johnny has a strong moral stance on not killing all the new AIs. I was thinking of going that way, but I was curious what the other path (merge AIs - again, a good sign this is the bad path) looked like, and it didn't feel right. This is my only first playthrough, and I'm trying to do it as honestly as possible, and not try to game the game so much, so I need to stop doing things like this. To be fair though, V was confused as to what to do, but he doesn't get to find out what the other road would have been, and at this point neither do I.

I conclude from this that the game is trying to tell me to align more with Johnny.

Looking back at old screenshots, When I chose "V's Lifepath" under Nomad it says "Honesty, integrity, and a love of freedom" - this is a part of where I got the notion of how to play this playthrough. I'm already thinking of what my Corpo Netrunner playthrough is going to be like. Maybe won't be that different, game feels fairly on rails so far.

Screenshots are being a problem. Not sure if its mostly a Windows 11 problem. Print screen used to work and created a png in \Pictures\Screenshots\. Not any more.

Win + PrtScr will make a PNG in \Pictures\Screenshots\, and the clipboard.

2026.02.03 Answer Delamain's questions, see where it goes. Nowhere (seemingly).

After a cyberpsycho mission, walking in the rain, when very suddenly becomes a bright sunny day. Lot of people still have their umbrellas out.

Wandering, found the Arasaka tower memorial site. Feels very 911. Where's Johnny? You'd think he'd show up here at least as a silent ghost, even if no comment. I hear the announcer say the death count as 12k. Maybe he feels bad about. Has he matured since he was chipped? Was he awake the past 50 years? If not, it must feel like just last week for him.

Even my motorcycle has access to the stash. Trunk of car stash was immersion breaking enough. Even GTA is not this silly.

2026.02.04 Continuing to gather tarot graffiti sightings, using the bike. Nice way to sightsee the city.

Come across some weird building surrounded with mines and dead bodies. Disarming mines is fun and easy, and increases Engineering. Good skill, better armor and cyberware.

Jane and Billy. Not clear - was he rescuing her or was he her kidnapper?

2026.02.05 I'm playing on the 5070ti machine while taking notes on an old laptop. The game screen is OLED, and for best results I should have the lighting dim, but the laptop screen is bright. There is no obvious night mode for Docs or Chrome, and I don't want to install an extension, so let's try making at least this document night mode. It won't show up in the blog that way but it does while taking notes.

Black background, green text, what's the most VT100 font... trying Consolas.

Continuing tarot cards. Oh, so that's where Afterlife is. I need to stop in here soon. But I want to see how far this tarot thing goes, and i'm enjoying the sightseeing.

The Kusunagi bike I took is still here. I wonder how long it will persist.

I stop by Misty's since I'm near, I see the grayed out text of previous conversations and try it anyway - there are new conversation threads! Something to keep an eye out for.

I test out some cyberware upgrades, but don't save. Might as well finish tarot first, so if I need to restore I don't have to go back too far.

At first I thought I was misremembering, but now I can see some street fights can repeat. This is the second cops vs gang encounter that has repeated. I'll stick around, see what I can get. The gang isn't alerted by my presence, but the cops are.

No loot, no chance at XP. I don't want to antagonize gangs for no reason; don't know if they can all turn against me.

Oil fields. Next tarot is 3.4k away. This would be so much faster with tourist kiosk fast walk, but i want to see the city.

Are the tarot opening up one at a time, now that I've done most of them? I wonder if I'll be able to finish or some are story locked.

A police encounter of Arasaka assassins, how bad could this be... Wow. I'm going to need upgrades. A lot of upgrades.

After that last save scum, now my bike disappears. Fitting.

I have all but 6, and a I get quest notification to see Misty. Hmm, 4 of these say Phantom Liberty at the bottom. There don't seem to be any more markers on the map.

Back to Misty. Nice foreshadowing, which I may understand in time. My reward is some item that doesn't seem to even show up in my inventory, and that's it. I'm not disappointed. I feel nothing.

What's next? Collect cyberpsychos, or back to the story?

Listening to Gary the prophet, about the patriarch not being dead - that actually makes a lot of sense. I'm implanted with an old chip and an old engram that seems to work just fine. Saburo must have the latest and greatest, he's probably well backed up. And maybe already in a new body?

Gary's not wrong; Saburo may well be a techno lich.

Walking along, it's that fight between the Tyger Claws and NCPD again. This fight takes a ridiculous amount of time. They are standing there hosing each other down with continuous automatic fire for a minutes. and tossing grenades. Finally a cop goes down, and soon the claws win. Last time all 4 claws lived, this time only 2.

Very little loot. Not very worth waiting for.

I do a save and reload to test grenades - so they work like your health item, they recharge? I guess that's one way to handle inventory. Must remember to use grenades more.

Maelstrom fighting cops. Gang wins. I don't mind taking these guys out. Working on Headhunter skill.

2026.02.06 I've been avoiding the story for too long. My roleplay is V was avoiding his fate in frivolous matters, but the reality is I was just trying to get into this world, and maybe learn the game mechanics. I think I need the story to bring me in.

To the Afterlife. I like how it's kind of semi hidden, like it's the town Thieves Guild. Claire has one of the few conversations where you can say thanks, like you're concluding, but it doesn't end - you still have to just back away, like any other conversation.

Even though Claire has messaged me for racing, in person there's nothing about it.

This UI can be confounding. I crack a shard, and it's lost in my large library of notes. They could at least mark it unread.

At least the notes are LIFO, that helps a lot. Oh, and there's a category called Cyberpsycho. That's a little too specific, considering most categories are generic.

Zaria Hughes. Holy shit, I can barely scratch this one. I don't feel bad getting advice on this one... seems to be a bit of skill issue, but also having the right counters. As a stealth sniper I'm poorly equipped for this, so I'll try some of the cheese and spam techniques suggested.

Keeping the freezer between me and her is the most progress I've made yet. A few tries. Used EMP grenades and fire katana. Glad the fire didn't kill her, took her alive.

Most of the cyberpsycho events are fairly routine, and often sad, but this the first one that was really disturbing.

The next one too. Something about the Maelstrom gang and going cyberpsycho just seems to go together.

BTW, how do people with cybernetic faces eat? Do they have a port somewhere?

2026.02.09 There's a speedwalk kiosk right outside my apartment. Feeling lazy.

in game 2:22PM... it is now 2:23PM. Really? To go halfway across the map. Time doesn't seem to matter in this game.

Rhino wasn't as tough as some other fighters. I wonder what's upstairs; they keep going hostile. I take em out (non lethal); nothing much, but the XP is always welcome.

I may be invisible in reflections, but running around I see my reflection.

2026.02.12

Not fond of car racing (least favorite part of GTA), but let's work on clearing up the to-do list.

I show up at the car in the warehouse, Johnny standing by it. Locked, walk around - it already has access to my stash. OK, so this car will be mine at some point.

Key just sitting in a box nearby.

So I just own this car now? I can drive off with it?

Yes, nothing seems to happen. After driving some distance away, Johnny says where you going, but nothing happens. The quest description said something about entering street races - no sign of this.

I go do some more cyberpsychos, and other random street encounters.

2026.02.13

I've been thinking about difficulty level more as the game seems to get easier (at normal). Doing some non spoiler reading, and it seems I should be playing on hard or very hard. But some say that the game gets easier as you go along anyway, even at hard difficulty. There might not be much point in switching.

I'm not doing a lot of fine tuning all the time to maintain an edge, nor am I postponing any fights, like I might do on more difficult games. I'm sitting on over a dozen points attribute and perks all the time. I don't pay much attention to the level of weapons I use. I feel like I'm playing with a much lower level character and still doing OK.

In this way I feel like I'm slightly handicapping myself to make it a little more challenging, while knowing that if I get stuck I can always start spending reserved points and upgrading hardware.

If and when I play again, I will do so at a harder difficulty, and maybe I will have to pay far more attention to my stats.

This reminds me of New Vegas runs, where I just wanted to get the story first time around, but every play afterwards was about how much harder can I make the game and still survive.

Not there yet with Cyberpunk 2077.

Learning more about status effects; I know sleep gives you an XP boost for an hour. There's also effects for showering and coffee. I was thinking of just staying in my starter apartment, but the coffee machine is only in the Corpo Plaza or Glen apartments.

Despite the rent collection notice in your email, and 'rent' to unlock apartments, it seems there is no rent in this game.

The fight with Diego Ramirez was odd - he only took damage some of the time. Different weapons and grenades in different ways only worked some of the time, no pattern. He glitched out and got stuck in the air, so I could slowly wear him down to 1%, then take the last shot which incapacitates.

This is the second time in recent memory where an NPC is just lying on some invisible plane several feet above the ground.

A bunch of scavs raided a seaside bar? Free XP for me.

Scavs fighting Animals? Free loot, at least. If they ever stop fighting. These set pieces seem to take forever. I sneak around the perimeter, taking down who i can. At least I can get some XP, especially Headhunter boosting XP.

Non lethal takedowns seem to yield more unbroken loot, maybe.

This is how I should handle every fight I come across from now on.

More weird glitches. Objects spinning around on the ground, forever. NPC corpses stretching into weird shapes. Seems to be getting worse.

Accumulating money, nothing to buy. Might as well get the coffee machine, via the Glen apartment.

I find a vest that supposedly gives +15 armor. Checking armor before and after says no. Might as well go back to just wearing whatever I've found that looks best.

Why don't I have a phone? Why do I have to go back to my apartment to use my computer. I start searching about this, but it gets into spoiler territory a bit, so I'll just let it go for now. Have to go home to sleep anyway.

Nice apartment. That was worth +5% Stamina Regen Rate.

Next cyberpsycho. Thank goodness throwing a knife a speakers shuts it off.

Some of these psychos I'm saving I'm not so sure should be. Some of them are just evil or stupid, and got a lot of innocent people killed. I'm rescuing them to give to Regina for what? Some of them can be studied, some are crazy, but some are just criminal.

I see some high mountains in the distance, and no obvious barrier. How long before invisible barrier?

I'm at 16/17 cyberpsychos in the journal, but there are no more on the map. Not this bullshit again, where I can't finish the collectibles again.

It's for story reasons. The less spoilers the better; it will wait.

Being mostly done is a bit of a milestone. Taking note of some stats, I'm Level 27, Street Cred 35, with $254k, available 18 Attribute Points and 15 Perk Points. Body 4, Reflex 3, Tech 8, Int 5, Cool 10. Cyberware at 106 (149 available), armor 252. Story: Rising Start 30%, Breaking the Ice 10%, Initial Symptoms 10%.

As mentioned above, I'm somewhat handicapping myself by not advancing my character on purpose. Maybe I will run into some tough problems, and I'll need to spend. Until then I

making do with what I have.

I don't like the way my car wheezes and coughs. I'm almost at the eastern edge of the world might as well check it out. How literal, just tells you, and resets. Same message for driving up the mountain.

Next, cars with Claire. I sign up for races, but there's more waiting. Head to Afterlife, and there's Claire behind the bar. If this game is going to do timing as a thing, why not just have the bar closed during the day? The least they could have done is have an alternate bartender during the day.

At least I can ask her about racing, not that it goes anywhere.

Talk to Rogue. Go meet Panam (I just saw the name in a spoiler about story you need to advance to get last cyberpsycho - glad that didn't take long).

Cycling through the dialogue with Panam, I wasn't paying close enough attention and wound up going down a path that means going behind Rogue's back (info thanks to Johnny) - which is totally not what my characters is about. Reload.

Again - Johnny is complaining about going behind Rogue's back. I don't see where in the dialogue I made that choice. Everything seems straight forward. Is the problem in the inital phone call?

Skip phone call, just go straight to meet.

Same problem.

I'll risk some spoilage, find exactly my question

https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/18gb4a7/got_a_question_about_panam_and_rogue/

from the same perspective - don't want to screw over Rogue, every path leads to it. Why?

Seems like it won't affect the story they way Johnny is saying; Johnny is trying to make trouble for you. And it's written poorly.

Still, there was a good point in that thread, if you really are role playing, you do the best you can with what you know, and you keep going because there is no reloading your save in real life. Good point.

Go through the conversation again, making as honest choices as possible.

Rogue sent me

Help me and you'll find out

Hey relax

Gotta get this one guy

horn beeps

Car's in Rocky Ridge

Rocky Ridge let's go

Johnny going behind Rogue's back?

Panam phone call

Boz?

Where to now

Rogue said you were cast out

Nomad Use to ride with

Fine lets go

During drive conversation

choices are Screw Rogue, Rogue might like pulling strings, You'll have to ask her. choose the last one.

Might not have known

{ is there any point to recording more? }

Later, at the ambush, I want to take them out non-lethatl, but someone is sitting downm ad I can't sneak up on them. Is there a knock out grenade? Maybe optic camo? I need something so I can take them out fast, without alerting the others.

Reading.. throw a knife to distract them? I've tried the Recon grenades, but it didn't work. Knife at wall did get her off the sofa, but she sat right back down. Try faster.

Next time I got lucky, nabbed her before she sat down. Couldn't finish off gang all non lethal, but at least I did it stealth.

Can't backpack heavy machine gun? They can be put in stash?

Some time later, after another hare brained mission, I'm trying to take out the turret on the AV with little luck. I don't want to have to look it up. Keep going around... find it's terminal, and it's not even protected. Easy. Really glad I didn't look it up.

Don't like the story putting me on rails, but it's the story. I got Hellman, but there's no way forward without calling Takemura. I'd rather get out of here first. It's too bad I can't do anything about this witness, except...

2026.02.14

That was a really long session yesterday (~10h). A lot happened, the story moved forward, but it felt more like watching than participating. A lot of things were just on rails, but at least it didn't seem so obvious in the moment.

It started with meeting Panam and 'deciding' to betray Rogue or not, which felt inevitable no matter what dialogue I chose.

The fight at the gas station was OK; I got to take the lead on how to deal with them. Getting in the driver seat and then being immediately pushed over was a metaphor.

We go on a revenge mission, which seems slightly out of character for my normally sensible V, but I allowed it (could I have skipped it if I wanted to? actually not sure, not going to look it up)

Long conversation at the bar. I just recently learned romantic partners were part of this game, and I can see conversation threads for it, but my V is too busy puking and dying right now - no time for love.

We chase the target, Panam's nomad clan gets attracted to the event, and gets their ass kicked off screen. There's nothing we can do to get there sooner, or somehow warn them. Panam's heist plan was always a bit reckless, but it seems a little odd for her to be operating in her home territory and not warn them about it. Even if it was just to warn them about the EMP. She probably knew they would just stop her, so that does make some story sense.

The fight to get the target back is good. I choose how to do it, and again I am free to stealth the whole thing by myself. Despite the constant idea to hurry before reinforcements arrive, I felt like this event was scripted and it didn't matter how long it took (seems true, took my time).

I played a mostly non-lethal approach, but at the very end there's a guard with the target. I can't knock him out, and he sees me, and hears my communications. Maybe if I had thought to pack some non-kill gear, I might have had more options. I could have just left him there, but at this desperate part of the story it doesn't seem like a good idea.

Knocking people out with your gun butt just seems ridiculously old fashioned now, let alone a century from now (in an alternate timeline). Either your victim is so chromed up it's barely a scratch, or you've caused potentially serious head trauma. Even if there's a technical knockout solution in this game, the script only allows for head smashing.

The phone call to Takemura is the worst part. You can't proceed without calling him. In front of the guard and the target, and supposedly when there's a clock running. I say my destination out loud, in front of who knows what sensors might be in the room, the guard, and the target. What if I don't even want to involve Takemura at all, let alone right now. At this point your nose is being rubbed in your own lack of control. You might as well make this a cut scene.

A long conversation with Johnny might as well have been a cut scene too. At least you have some control here. It's nice that there's the option to take your pills and make him go away. But you supposedly have been taking your pills all this time? Why are you not now?

It's nice to hear Johnny's motivations directly from the man himself. It felt like a pivotal moment in your relationship with him, and in the story overall.

Load in, and finally - a new intro screen (after the usual talk show one). With a compliment from Johnny. A welcome change to the routine.

Character screen. Reputation 60%, Metamorphosis 15%, Clock's Ticking 20%. Level 29, Street 39, $321k. Skills Headhunter 35, Engineer 14. Cyberware 106/161. Attribute points 20, Perk points 18.

Weapon1 Power Revolver 3+ Overture, Weapon2 Power Sniper Rifle 3+ SPT32 GRAD, Weapon3 Knife 3+ Knife.

Finally, the last cyberpsycho is on the map. First, my new ritual of sleep, shower, coffee; got my status effects. I like having the coffee added to the list, but the time in elevator is ~24 seconds. Way too long. Maybe I need to look into the other apartment.

Random encounter in the wastes for the NCPD. Affiliation: Wraiths - haven't heard of these yet.

Another random encounter, Wraiths vs Miltech.

I appreciate the kipple mountains. Makes sense, since even the city seems to be getting overrun with it, even in the nicer areas there's a lot of junk lying around.

Last cyberpsycho... no. Now I have to 'wait for update'. Did what I could.

All kinds of weird new jobs just keep showing up in my Journal. And Wakako wants to hire me to do a hit. My V doesn't want that kind of work; hope the story doesn't railroad me into it.

My old car, a Thorton Galena 80845, is messaging me? I thought my old car was the Hella EC-D I started with. I find it in the junkyard. Feels like an ambush - I hope so. The effect is somewhat diminished by my old car floating a foot or more over the ground. Maybe if I save and reload... no.

Well, there was a surprise, but not what I expected. Nice to see someone wanted the old car.

I could use 4 more Technical for this conversation; I want it for cyberware anyway, might as well.

Lana was a fairly innocent encounter, almost comic relief for this game.

Where to now? Off to help Panam.

I make it a long stealth mission, taking out every last one of them without raising an alarm.

Get Saul. Nice to see acknowledgement that the place is clean, and I did it myself.

Van ride, uneventful.

Dust storm, interesting.

Abandoned farm, sad.

2026.02.15

I haven't noticed any Steam achievement notifications - surely there must be some?

That's good to see, just completed "I Am The Law" (Complete all Cyberpsycho Sightings). I don't remember seeing it in game, don't know why, because it seems like the Steam overlay is working.

I'm at only 6/57 (10%) achievements in this game. I wonder how long this game is, but I'm not going to start looking at the achievements because spoilers.

Back with Panam and Saul. More potential romance options. I save scum a few tries, mostly out of curiosity, but it doesn't seem like a great time for V to be looking for love.

At the end, before you go to sleep, Johnny makes a reference to the pretend hotel name we are staying at. This only seems to come up in one of several conversation paths. Is that the canonical path? And why does he seem so nice all of a sudden.

Nice prize, a Tier 4 Power Sniper Rifle with silencer. Was this gift customized to my character? It's exactly the upgrade I want right now.

Johnny again, in an even more sentimental mood - but this time I like how V notices and mentions it.

It would be interesting if you could summon Johnny when you want to, instead of only him coming to you. I can see why they didn't, it would be a lot of extra writing and voicework. There is already so much voicework in this game.

After all that work getting Hellman, it seems right to follow up on that next. To Takemura.

Oh wait, Regina calls, first that. No, first apartment.

I'm glad there's an acknowledgement about collecting all cyberpsychos 100% non lethal.

The reward money and XP is OK, but I was hoping for some new knowledge, ability, or access.

The stuff is a nice addition, maybe this tier 4 Pax will come in handy.

One of the constant messages I'm getting mentions Judy - who? I'll read the in-game journal before I look online. Going through Journal entries, read Johnny's, describes him as egomaniac and narcissist. That could explain a few things.

Back to messages. The one from Panam, where V says he just helped Judy - how would Panam know Judy? Oh, ok, he does tell her who she is. Why?

OK, now I can go see Takemura. Long long setup, some character exposition. My Relic fails the more story missions I do. Not a single glitch for the past who knows how many weeks in game that I've been just chasing side jobs.

Leaving the construction site, there are loot boxes scattered about. One has a very useful upgrade for my EMP grenade. Is this random? Would this always be here? Why is so much useful equipment just sitting in odd places, unsecured?

I don't know how to get into this Arasaka building, and I don't want to start a long mission now. On the way out, another upgrade for my Char grenade. Why in this construction site? There's so much free stuff scattered everywhere, to the point of immersion breaking. Reminds me of one of the worst instances I've ever seen: Deus Ex 3 you find ammo in office drawers. Actually, in Night City that wouldn't be so surprising.

2026.02.16

The Takemura mission script seems to have paused long enough for me to save. Can I just walk away and do something else? Will Goro just hang out on the bridge indefinitely? Probably, since he was waiting in Kabuki the whole time I finished collecting psychos and tarot cards.

I can't believe Panam is calling me yet again with some urgent problem. I still get to do my apartment wakeup ritual first.

There's a fast travel station in the nomad camp? Why? The game could at least pretend, and put it some distance away.

Train mission. Easy. The story choices were the only part that required any effort.

Back to Takemura. How to get in? Going through the drainage channels, taking out various gangs down there, still no obvious way in. Memory of our recon conversation doesn't help. Various ways in were mentioned, but I don't see them. Keep looking.

This is boring, going around and around the building, through industrial sites.

Maybe I could look up a small hint...

There was a van I could hijack to drive in, but that's long since gone. There's something I can climb over, but I must have missed it. Even with stealth, there's a high likelihood of having to fight. This mission doesn't even make sense unless it's a pure stealth mission. Otherwise, if the parade floats are known to be compromised before the event, they would just fix it.

Even overlooking that, all the knocked out guards will indicate something happened.

Duh, the footbridge, one of the first obvious ways in. I walked under it a few times, forgetting I could maybe drop down onto it from the construction site (that works).

I knew I was going to feel silly for looking this up, but I more feel lazy for not just replaying the recon scene. Also, there was a cat.

This is more time consuming than difficult. I will put 5 into cool so i can unlock Ninjutsu, and sprint while crouching. Might as well drop as many Perk points as I can on new unlocks, especially since it's refundable.

I think I'm stuck in here - I may have broken into the wrong Arasaka compound. Is it too late to get that van? It still spawns!

Oh yeah, this is so much better. Takemura starts talking right away on the phone, so it must be what the mission wants.

This is great, but there are so many cameras. I really regret giving up having a cyberdeck sometimes.

Still going to spec up; could use fast crouch sprint.

Knocked out everyone in the warehouse. The last one was interesting; had to bank shot a recon grenade to get him to turn around so I could quickly sneak up on him.

After leaving, Takemura sends a picture of the cat, and a message about bakeneko being able to consume and replace a human (nice story meta).

Doesn't respond to dinner conversation.

I go back into the base to see what's left of what little area I didn't explore. No one but turrets. Worth it, found a perk shard.

Relationship with Panam continues - makes sense for this V, considering the nomad connection, and he's probably a bit of a white knight (in the criminal world).

There are clothing stores? V talks to proprietor Nova like he knew her already? I like the "Not in Wardrobe" button, useful. I don't like how you can't see what you're wearing while you shop, also the merchandise is hard to evaluate based on tiny thumbnails. GTA 5 did this so much better a long time ago.

Whether I buy something or not Nova asks I'm just going to leave. And when you buy something it says looted. This part of the game is very crude.

Time to go see the only ripperdoc I know and trust. It makes sense this V would stick with who he knows. I hope I can get optical camo now.

Takemura calls to say parade will soon start. Will it wait until I show up? I bet it will.

I get my tarot read again. Is it changing, or is my understanding of it changing?

Didn't know there were all these types of Sandevistan.

2026.02.19

It makes sense that male nomad V (with criminal world lawful tendencies) would romance female nomad Panam (similar alignment). Got no problem with that path, seems to fit the story just right.

But sometimes I think of my next run, a female corpo netrunner (with sociopath tendencies). Who's she going to date? Goro?

Back to Viktor. Got $392k, and 98/179 cyber capacity.

Frontal Cortex

nothing - only Kerenzikov looks good but probably wouldn't use it

Operating System

Dynalar Sandevistan 3 -> 4+

Arms

nothing here seems useful. don't want gorilla, mantis, or monowire

Face

Kiroshi Clairvoyant Optics 3+ -> 4 -> 4+

Skeleton

Bionic Joints 3 -> 3+ -> 4 -> 4+

Universal Booster 3 -> 3+ -> 4 -> 4+

{increase Tech 12 -> 15, Tech Ability License To Chrome 0 -> 3, unlock 3rd skeleton}

Kinetic Frame 4 -> 4+

Hands

Ballistic Coprocessor X

Handle Wrap 4

{perk Ambidextrous to unlock a second hand slot}

Shock Absorber 4

Nervous System

Visual Cortex Support 4

Tyrosine Injector 4

Reflex Tuner 4

Circulatory System

Blood Pump 3 -> 4

Biomonitor 4

Clutch Padding 4

Integumentary System

Subdermal Armor 3+ -> 4

Cellular Adapter 4

Legs

Lynx Paws 3+ -> 4

Cash now at 143k, cyber at 176/179. Had to skip a few upgrades, can come back when more cyber capacity.

Time to review perks. Wait a sec...if I have Driver Update and Chipware Connoisseur I can get additional stat modifiers and choose between them.

And I could have gotten optical camo?

OK, I'm deleting my last few saves and starting over.

Back to ManualSave-370 2/16/26 11:49PM

Maybe this time I'll just get a few updates instead of maxing out. I can use cash or components, and last time I ran out of components. Maybe I can use more cash, and hold off on some upgrades.

Tech

perks: Driver Update, Chip Connoisseur

Tech 12 -> 15

perk: License to Chrome, all three levels

perk: Renaissance Punk, Ambidextrous, Built Different, Lucky Day

Cool

subtract a few perks i don't know if i'm even using

Cyberware

Frontal Cortex

Operating System

Dynalar Sandevistan 4

Arms

Face

Kiroshi Clairvoyant Optics 3+ -> 4

Skeleton

Bionic Joints 3 -> 3+

Universal Booster 3 -> 3+ -> 4 -> 4+

Nervous

Visual Cortex Support 2 -> 4

Tyrosine Injector 4

Reflex Tuner 4

Circulatory

Blood Pump 3 -> 4

Integumentary

Optical Camo 4

Subdermal Armor 3+ -> 4

Cellular Adapter

Legs

Lynx Paws 3+ -> 4

The story demands... continue with Takemura. It seems the Hellman thread is stalled until I deal with that.

First, I need to get rid of this 30 second elevator ride every time I want a cup of coffee (and my daily stat bonuses).

I can't buy an apartment from my second apartment? Back to first; there it is EZestates. Corpo Plaza, 110k.

As soon as I fast travel there, some new job lands in my phone. Overly detailed, from out of nowhere. Ignore.

11 second ride.

I can live with this.

For once, there feels like real time pressure with this float parade mission (probably not, but I'll try and get into it).

Well, that was a lot. Again, all on rails. I had some choice, a moment of mercy, but not really the rest of the time. It was like a choose-your-own-adventure, with a tiny choice somewhere in the middle, but I think most pages would be the same.

Still, a mostly entertaining chapter.

Got a message that a mission failed, load an old save.

Yeah, "I'll Fly Away", talk to Mitch. Consequence?

A funeral for Scorpion. I'm not replaying the parade for this. We'll see what comes of it. Would have been worth it for the fast and easy XP.

Feel dirty for save scumming this from the past, but curiosity.

Let that be a lesson - clean up loose ends before moving the story forward.

2026.02.20

Speaking of feeling dirty for save scumming - should I go back and try and save Goro?

I think it was pre-destined and there was nothing I could do about it. We got separated, and my area seemed isolated.

Storywise it was his time to go. Something about his honor, and failing to protect his daimyo, always meant he was going to die. It was just a matter of how and when, and he seems to have found an honorable way out, after delivering his message.

Maybe if I had escaped faster it would have changed something? It shouldn't.

I am not going to look this up. I have already seen too many spoilers, and I'm finally here playing the game, so I will just play it on my own as best as possible.

I am very glad I did not look up the Odu fight. I got killed a few times, but I kept listening to Takemura's advice, and focused on keeping distance. Firearms barely scratched him before he regenerated, so in desperation I used my knife to parry, and surprisingly it worked. Even more surprising, it was very effective in getting his health down fast.

I've been enjoying the knife more and more, and used it to get through all the guards I couldn't mug. I might lean into knives even more.

The conversations with Johnny keep getting more interesting, even though they are highly scripted and I can't really change much. I like how he started as an existential threat and now seems more and more sincere about helping you.

I can only guess at the end of the story he gets a new body, or is allowed to die. I forget which William Gibson story, but one of the characters who is a construct requests that as his payment. It would fit what we know of Johnny's personality, and his desire to set all the other constructs 'free' (which sounds like destroying them - what's the alternative, bodies for everyone?).

Another new intro scene on game startup, nice.

I wasn't going to do the hit job, but my V is feeling disoriented, and maybe a little angry, so yeah. And maybe on the way I can change my mind, or the client's mind. Or maybe something unexpected.

Switch out Overture pistol for non lethal Liberty.

I hate missions like this. Long fake car sequence, then seemingly scripted death.

Weird situation, but Johnny approved; let's go.

As far as I'm concerned, my client 'fired' me from the contract by running ahead of the job and into a bullet. So I'm free to follow the prisoner.

At the end, the conversation with Johnny at the pizza place is the most interesting part. Don't even know if the prisoner will go through with his stunt.

Do a race, not bad.

Back to the BD case. Can I even stop this? I can't resist save scumming for answers.

Seems like there's no way to stop it at this point.

At the end, Johnny is there, but I like that he says nothing.

Got a message from Mitch, as if I went to Scorpion's funeral - but I didn't.

I've got too much stuff. Cash $244k.

sell all: lmg, smg, shotgun, assault.

2026.02.23

Can I sell all clothes? Reading. Seems like almost all clothing is an unlock that is always in your wardrobe, with the exception of out of game bonus items, and some outfits. Most people say break it down with crafting, better than selling.

Can I sell all junk? Seems so, but again better to break it down for components (and some xp).

Can I drop all my stuff outside my stash, so I can just load up on salable items? Seems like I can't drop half my weapons. Time to start disassembling and selling.

I want to just carry the 3 weapons in my 3 slots and that's it. Don't feel like swapping. Sell almost all the weapons in my stash, including lower end non-Power iconic weapons, now have $500k. Should be enough next time go to doc.

Go to Drop Point, sell all junk for $1540 (haven't gotten rid of any since beginning).

Get rid of a bunch of food and drink too. First playthroughs of any game I pick up everything; second will be more focused.

Sometimes I feel like doing main story, right now it's cleaning up the lengthening side mission list.

Start mission about mayor. I like the small silver AV - despite the fact that, like a vampire, I am the only thing not reflected in its beautiful surface.

Racing with Claire. Let her drive us home, end up crashing into walls, car blows up, I can't get out. Guess I'm not taking that way home again.

NCPD roadside job - can't resist. Why does my optical camo activate automatically when I do a takedown? I don't think it used to do that.

Reading. It's a 'skill' that activates at level 40, and I hate it. No way to shut it off without a mod? I would not use a mod on my first run of anything, unless it was a game stopping problem. Most useful recommendation is to just keep it unequipped, which is a poor solution. I'll just deal with it, until I have to change something.

I find a flare; classifies as junk - too bad it's not usable. There's a flare in the concept art, seems like it should be more important (still no flashlight, or see in dark modes).

I only use fast travel now, especially with keeping up my status effects. Once I've done a mission, and effects have worn off, then I'll start wandering around, maybe even getting home that way. If there's a random mission on the way, I don't think I'm missing out on my effects.

Continue with Panam, tank sex massacre, more Relic troubles.

I have a tent here now at the Aldecaldo camp. Includes home essentials: stash, wardrobe, even a mirror.

I can also disassemble weapons mods - good, even more clutter I can get rid of, and get more components for upgrading cyberware.

2026.02.24

I'm 105 hours in. I see some Steam achievements (9/57) I did not notice happen in-game. "Completed Panam Palmer's storyline." yesterday - well, that's kind of a spoiler. Now I can't look at achievements. Steam shouldn't be telling me there's nothing more, unless the story makes it clear.

I like how the mission to investigate the mayor's death only comes up now. If this had shown up sooner in the story, when V was nobody, it would have been bad writing. Now that V's 'street cred' is much higher, it makes more sense that he's attracting higher end clientele. Is this a direct function of the street cred score? I'm going to give this game the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes it gets heavy handed, but overall at least it's good enough quality for a movie. Hopefully by the end it will be enough for a good or even great videogame.

I Fought the Law. Interesting mission. I wonder if it will be as consequential as it feels.

On the way out stop at ripper across the street. I have a doc, but can't hurt to look. Ripper there, Nina Kraviz, and I start a conversation about something that never happened, something about her uncle, as if I was here before.

2026.02.26

Another race with Claire. Winning makes her angry. I'll regret this save scumming, but let's try the alt. Seems like following the corpo off the track has the same ending; dies either way. But it seems like my V would at least try to talk her out of it.

Ultimately, Claire is a big deal at Afterlife, and that's a place I want to stay on the good side of.

At least Claire admits she was just using me to get her revenge.

Great - another new car.

6th Ave party, win contest easily, both final options mean saying no to Gunner - whoever that is. Receive useless Smart weapon.

River Ward texted me a request to testify. Ignored until now, now it's something else.

Try mystery at No-Tell Motel. Familiar, wasn't this a place during heist with Jackie?

It's Lizzy Wizzy! Who the f is that, never heard of em.

The Cool response is very disappointing; nickel and dining is the opposite of cool.

Send info, mission over?

Outside. Message from Panam about chip in my head conversation. My only response is a short confession - seems crazy to just send text like that out into the ether, who knows who will read it. Ignore, for now.

Text from River is still there, do I want to testify. Seems wrong for V, reply negative.

River still wants me to do some other job.

Followup from Claire.

2026.02.27 Beforing hitting play, another achievement occurred I didn't notice in game: max street cred.

Chase the red sports car for Ward. I don't really have a fast car for chasing; I'll try a bike. I run into things. There are 2 people in the car. Follow for how long? Try shooting tires. Eventually they stop, and get out. It's like fighting 2 cyberpsychos at once, fun challenge. I keep backing off, and trying to use stopped cars for cover, regenerating as I go and hoping they can't regenerate faster.

They have so many hit points... had.

Interesting back story on the car - who was Mint?

Of course, the car is mine now.

River makes it work on the back end, of course, but he mentions being off the force for now. When did that happen.

Of course, Johnny shows up for this one.

New button, Y, problem with the CrystalCoat tech, whatever that is. New job for Claire, nice that I have a car person to call.

Not a car person myself (must remember V is), but this is fun to drive. 200mph (or is it kph?) through city traffic is like butter, didn't hit anything.

Fixing car problem, learn more about Mint and her people. Sad. Well drawn (written) characters for such little time.

Cool, the car can change colors at will. Makes sense that exists in this world, but its a very high end option.

Off to next job. It's far but I'm still enjoying driving. This thing is so fast I think it's messing with the draw distance. NPCs are popping into existence a little late and crudely; don't think i've seen that before.

Back to Peralez. Starting to enjoy these detective style missions.

What's Guns-N-Horses? Sounds interesting, but it's probably a throwaway gag and will never come up in the game again.

Interesting coincidence that there's a Lizzy info shard here. But maybe it's just because I happened to be doing these missions back to back.

And now a connection to Judy Alvarez. Small world. Oh, so she was the source of the referral. I appreciate that little detail. I was wondering if V got the job just because of increasing reputation.

Some of these fiction shards are fun (WYSIWG).

Interesting take on corporate influence over politicians. Literal brain influence.

On my way to the meeting with Jefferson I still had a lingering doubt not to tell him, but then the bad guys decide to lean on me, making my decision clear.

Wow. Driving at night, the neon reflecting off the wet streets, I'm starting to see where all the computer resources are going.

Now I have a Mordred. I did not realize I needed to pick up a key once I released the car. After some futility, looked it up. In my defense, I read all the files, don't remember seeing you needed a key.

That's 2 shiny new cars in one day.

2026.03.01

I started listening to the soundtrack in real life but quickly stopped myself - what if there's a spoiler title ("The Death of ...") that I can't unsee. There's so much about cyberpunk in general I want to look up, but so many things link to this game now. I must be patient. You only get to play a game for the first time once.

At ripper doc, deciding on upgrades. I have 262 of Tier 4 Item Components, and 140 Tier 5. I'm getting more and more items that break down into those higher tier components, so I should be able to spend some now.

Cyberware upgrades go from 5+ to 5++? Why break the pattern now? Why not just go to 6?

That was for armor, marginal increases. Optical Camo upgrade from 5 to 5+ seems to do nothing, skip.

Several more upgrades don't increase stats, just give a little armor, don't know if worth emptying out my components for that.

Cash at 500k+, so from now on I will just break everything down for components, except for low end components. I will continue to sell low end weapons and at least get some money coming in.

I have two cars out - can I put them away? Seems not, it's automatic. So I have to wait for it to disappear.

I try out the dodgy braindance dealer. Of course it's a trap, but I have save powers, plus I doubt I would just die doing a quest (that would be interesting for a game to include that). These scavs seems to know me, and there's even an email addressed from me to them? Or is that some other Viktor.

At least this is a more realistic take on the video game trope of depriving the player of all items.

Hmm, looks like the place where we rescued a VIP and she got medivaced out.

The locker doesn't just contain an item that is all my stuff - but every single thing that was in my inventory, individually itemized. This could be a good way to drop some stuff I can't transfer to my stash, but I don't think I need that right now. Take all.

I take professional pride in doing non-lethal stealth takedowns on the entire operation, all the way to the exit. Then I pick up the HMG I found on them and start over from the beginning - these guys are murderers. I use up all 200 rounds. Uncivilized weapon.

3 more downstairs. Not hostile, but they should have been. Easy.

Not that I think this whole lethal / non lethal thing makes any difference in game, it's just my role play of this run. I wish it did matter though, and the game and the story would change to suit. This reminds me of the first level in Deus Ex, and if you took the time and effort to do it non-lethal, you'd at least be rewarded with different conversation and items. There was clearly so much effort put into Cyberpunk 2077, but about this they do not care.

It would also be nice if your clothes had some impression on people. Isn't this world supposed to be about style over substance? Whole perks work around attacks done in stylish manner, but somehow your clothes - the most stylish thing about you - doesn't count?

Back to Stefan. I am unsatisfied with the options. You get your money back, and ~2k xp; that's good. Let him go or exile and threaten, he runs either away. Might as well not even let him leave the alley. Some slight variation if I draw a weapon during conversation. Moving on.

I like this little side quest of looking for old bootlegs of Samurai events. Low stakes, but good worldbuilding.

I like Johnny more and more over time, as I'm sure it was planned. For such a heavy handedly drawn character, the subtleties are shining through. The actor behind it doesn't hurt, either. I can't see any other ending other than some redemptive death.

Off to do more work for River. If this whole game turned into a NCPD detective game, I wouldn't mind.

Locked door, wants Tech 19, I have 15. Do I want to spend 5 more points just for the Edgerunner (+50 cyberware) ability? Oh, there's a way over the fence; can put off spending points, as usual.

Why is there an artificial womb in a police station.

Reading the terminal - is this a police forensic lab, or a basic research lab? It says NCPD on the door, but it's mostly scientific research in here, with some vague connections to the police. Odd writing.

Much later, on the trail of some weird cattle cult. A large minefield - so much free XP. Sometimes you don't get XP for disarming mines if you do them too fast. I must have gone up 5 levels in Engineer and I'm not even done with the mines near the turrets.

Sometimes some of the mines I've disarmed blow up anyway. Annoying.

Disable security. As I suspected, mines are disarmed. Glad I harvested most of them first.

Interesting to be inside the police caution tape, for once. This little cult investigation was simple, but interesting.

Kold Mirage. Something seemingly important, but maybe not main story.

Or not, it leads to the dead body of our old fixer, Dex Deshawn. Why now? Why here out in the dumps?

Even bigger WTF, Rache Bartmoss in a freezer!?

Taking it to Nix and rescuing him from it seems underwhelming, especially since I have no skills in it.

{ looking back on this later, I wonder if Dex's body was always just sitting there waiting for you to come back here, and the Bartmoss body just happened to be here later - but when and would you have even known to come back here and see Dex's body }

Before I can even leave Afterlife he's got a job for me.

Did the basic decrypt - is that enough?

I still don't fully understand the hacking mini game.

I got 16k, seems like job done.

This dating sleepover 'mission' keeps coming up. It would be OK if it ever changed. Maybe next time try different apartment.

2026.03.03

The voice acting in this game is very good, especially considering there is so much of it. Even NPCs in the street are mostly good.

Quest list is getting short, it's been a while since I advanced the main story.

Time to call Mr. Hands.

As usual when pursuing story missions I'm blacking out and coughing up blood. Doesn't happen any other time. Would be nice if it it did, even without consequence, to just to remind me of some sense of urgency.

Matilda is tough, lots of attacks, hard to evade. But on one of several reloads, she glitches out, getting stuck, letting me whittle her down. It's cheap, but I'll take it.

I reload and try again. Very tough. Take the glitch, or look it up? I'd rather just take the glitch.

Netwatch, interesting.

Can't help but reload the other path - very interesting alternative.

But my V stays loyal to the job, so we take the path of getting used by the VDB. Let's see where that goes.

Interesting where this is going, finding a way through the black wall, a coming disaster?

Reliving Johnny's memories.

Why would some old associate, Alt Cunningham, be important to this operation... oh, she's the connection to Soulkiller. Johnny's connected to everything.

Looking for Rogue in the Atlantis...

2026.03.04

I looked up Matilda, now that I'm past that, and I am once again embarrassed. The clues were given, but I dismissed them. My handler said scan her, look for weakness. I did scan her multiple times, but did not notice some energy pack on her back, and that you can remove it to greatly weaken her. To be fair - such a thing has never been introduced in game before now.

I also did not realize I could just pick up her hammer before she does.

And worst of all, I could have just snuck right by her. I didn't even try.

Next boss fight - listen for clues.

My first game crash! Flatlined, cute.

Find out what happened to Alt Cunningham (at what point did she actually write Soulkiller?). Alt being beyond the black wall seems possible if she still has some knowledge or control of Soulkiller. Still can't see what Brigitte is looking to get out of contacting her.

Story guess: I used to think Johnny's happy ending was to be erased, but now I'm thinking at the end of all this, Johnny's engram escapes beyond the black wall to reunite with Alt, where they can live in free cyberspace forever.

We finally meet Alt, but it's not really her? Just something that... is using her engram? Like Johnny? But at least he thinks he still Johnny.

The plan is to copy V out to an engram, separate it from Johnny, then put it back in me? But I'll lose my soul along the way? (and that's why the blackwall AI is called soulkiller?)

And somehow I will get Alt into Mikoshi, whereas she can not get in through cyberspace.

So... what are the Voodoo Boys getting out of this? We both wanted audience with Alt. My deal is to get her into Mikoshi so she'll fix my head, but what are VDB getting? And we don't seem to be getting along, but they have to let me go because Alt said so.

Well, they decide to treat V like a rag from the start, so who cares about them.

Johnny's tags (or rather, a friend's). He served in the Mexico conflict, helps explain his fighting ability.

What was Hanako's offer again? I don't think we had an actual deal set up, more of just intent to help each other with our problems.

Revenge on Adam Smasher seems inevitable in this story. And I have to involve Rogue, also seems fitting.

Act 3 flashes briefly on the screen, small and light, easy to miss. And just like that, Hanaka is calling. Why is she acting like I called her... did I?

And another one - who the heck is Songbird. So, finally I am finding out what this Dogtown is.

Clearing up calls list. Still there is an unfinished conversation with Panam about my situation. Might as well finish it, secrecy doesn't seem to be so important anymore.

And now Judy, at least she's texting, not calling.

Finally, quiet. Take stock. Level 40, Street 50. The top 3 panels in the dashboard are at 90% 60% 56%, whatever that means.

Well this is heavy handed. Go to meet Hanako, the game just halts on a big neon POINT OF NO RETURN SIGN. Why the heck would I know in this world that if I enter this place I get locked out of all other work until done with Main Jobs.

Very crude, very immersion breaking.

It would be very cheesy to load in and try it, then back out and do other stuff. But then this whole message was very cheesy.

It puts me in an awkward spot. Going to see Hanako is exactly what I should be doing straight away, but now I have to try and guess if it's better to do all other side quests first.

I need to go home.

2026.03.05

Parts of this story seem tacked on, and I think I can see the seams.

I had been looking at Cyberpunk TTRPG materials, and it seems Johnny Silverhand goes way back to the beginning. I don't think the current story was anywhere this developed in the beginning, and has only become this over time.

In a smaller but similar way, Songbird, Dogtown, and what I assume is the Phantom Liberty DLC. No one ever mentioned Dogtown before this, but now suddenly, it's "as you know".

The story is good, and I've been enjoying it, but the game might it might as well just be one very long cut scene. I have very few decision points, and I don't think they will change much.

How much of the game can I, or should I, finish before going to see Hanako?

What level do I need to be to defeat Adam Smasher, get everyone's engrams sorted, and finish the game? Is there any game after the main story is done?

I can't look anything up now.

I think I will putter around in the sandbox for while, then continue the story. Which doesn't make sense in the game. In the game, V should go from one potential solution to the next as his Relic slowly fails and he is aware of running out of time. But that's not what I've been doing at all. I've been taking off for weeks or months, running around doing side jobs and slowly levelling up. V shouldn't have had that luxury. He should be facing the end game at a fairly low level, without much in game experience. Which is probably not good enough, but the game doesn't really tell you how much you're going to need.

Load in, new load screen vignette, new comment from Johnny.

Get rid of old inventory, purchase upgrades. Hmm, Second Heart, sounds useful.

Doing odd jobs around the map. Also doing more driving between, instead of fast travel.

Went for long walk, impressed by large amount of pedestrian traffic; feels crowded enough for a real city. Reflections continue to be amazing, but I am always missing from them.

2026.03.06

Who the heck is Doctor Paradox? This is the weakest voice acting yet in the game. Or is this supposed to be a Saw parody?

Finally a way to end this Beat on Brat job that has been sitting in my list the whole game.

I find a cat on the boardwalk, but I think I am lost. And a locked container. I've never seen something like this in the game. It's just locked. Maybe quest item I can't touch until I can.

Can't pet the cat. Can't even scan the cat. Is the cat even there?

Confused from following the trail marker; go back around, find fight.

Everybody is here tonight. Fred, Cesar, Rhino, Vik, the twins.

I get offered to throw the fight, which is exactly something this V would not do.

Right before the boss fight, Vik gives me a clue. This is also the game telling me how to handle it, so trying to pay attention to that - it's all i got.

Vik keeps telling my to keep my guard up, and I do, but I can only take a few hits and I'm done.

Internet advice: use Sandy and gorilla. Don't want gorilla. COuldn't use healing - didn't know i could use Sandevistan.

I wouldn't have asked for internet advice, but the constant is reloading boring.

I find a hint, do strong attacks only, don't parry, keep him locked up. It works!

I don't think I would have figured that one out on my own. It feels like a cheat, but having that guy take me out in 2-3 hits is unacceptable.

Also, I popped a Black Lace. Good drug, knew I was saving that for something. Where can i get more?

Next mission: Follow River. Near the trailer park, a gratuitous San Andreas reference. Gross; do better CD Projekt Red.

We're cooking food now. I hope this isn't some dating path or something. Anyway, V could use a friend, since Jackie.

Yep, there's a dating path. Maybe for some other V, but not this one; he's got someone already. I really don't see why they don't let you mention that at the dinner table, and cut this whole thing off at the pass.

Wow, that was a lot of XP for a small social event. I think got less for the boxing match.

Suddenly Judy. This is a nice way to step up the urgency.

The door won't open? Reload. It's OK now.

What a shit end for Evelyn Parker. So much of this story seemed to revolve around her, and it just ends like this. This is so pointless, it's realistic; I commend the writing if so.

Next, another free car. That was a little too easy. Strange, this car does't have my stash. Maybe next time I reload.

Now I'm getting messages from Placide?

Random gig. Why am I only getting 12xp for a takedown? Reload; same. Is the game slowing down as I level up? They seem to be able to detect me while hidden more easily too. At least the job gives 1000xp.

Next gig, takedown xp is back to 200 or so. Ah no, it's headhunter +200 ,level +10. Makes more sense this way, didn't pay enough attention before (this is a long time not to notice this distinction).

Interesting new sub plot, Arasaka looking for war with Miltech. Is this just Yorinobu's doing? Or a setup for the next corpo war?

I wonder if I'll ever get to the orbital cities in this game. Maybe in the sequel.

2026.03.07

I'm still not bored enough to return to the main story, but I think I can visit Dogtown.

Read the database, it's not even a District, it's a Subdistrict.

Sounds a lot like the failed mall beach entertainment complex, but taken to another degree of dangerousness. It's got a hint of Kowloon Walled City from the real world, and from the ruins of Dubai from in-game lore.

I don't like that the in game dashboard is already mentioning things I've seen in Dogtown - very sloppy - so I might as well get over there.

Trying out new Power Revolver Crash; still using Power Sniper Rifle Overwatch, and a plain ol' Knife.

Doing 7th Hell gig. Wow, lot of cool loot in the basement, even cyberware.

Do I want to +5 Tech just to open this door? What's in here... GASH grenade, that's new, but too lethal. No, rewind.

Jack Mausser has incredible awareness, more than any other character i've even seen in the game - he immediately can tell that I walk in the room, even from behind. Is it a door based trigger?

Seems so, camo makes no difference. Can't sneak up on this situation, have to talk. The game is very heavy handed about this.

Doesn't seem to matter much that I had to fight in the club. No way to finish the job stealthy without letting him go.

Driving. Judy calls, Ev buried.

I have an idea for a work loop - when inventory full go get upgrades, then sell and break down loot as needed.

So many ripperdocs on the map, maybe I'll visit them all.

There don't seem to be any Frontal Cortex Cyberware for me. I don't have Kerenzikov. Self-Ice seems to be useless, according to consensus.

Never looked this up until now, but seems Tier 5++ is max.

While reading that, I find there used to be differences between the ripperdocs. You'd have to visit multiple to find all cyberware, but not anymore. Seems almost a shame. I guess I don't have to go on a doc tour, but I will anyway.

I don't remember seeing Militech Apogee Sandevistan, seems like a good improvement. $118k, but it would use up my remaining cyber.

I like the ripperdoc who prefers being organic, and the one who believes a solar flare will destroy all cyberware.

OK, that's everyone.

Time to go see Judy about her new plan for Ev's old workplace.

next job: Killing In The Name

Why does this job lead me to the terminal in my first apartment? Why couldn't this be done in any apartment?

Now I have to wait. Look for side jobs on map.

Doing an NCPD assignment against some Maelstrom, always fun to take these guys apart. They have a robot - can you takedown a robot? No. Can I knife headshot it? Yes. I thought I only did half of its hp in damage, but it blew up anyway.

Knife headshot on the boss in one go, nice.

Try Panam date in first apartment. Seems mostly the same. Can stand at the window, that's different. Where did this Yellow Jacket Warrior figurine come from. Also a boxing trophy, but that one I can figure out.

2026.03.09

Going to need a few hundred more Tier 5 components to finish cyber upgrades. Don't seem to need cash for anything, so just break down everything I find, convert small components up the chain into 5s.

Wanted to put a silencer on my revolver, seemed safe enough to look that up.

Can't put a silencer on revolvers; people started complaing when this was patched out. There will be iconic weapons later, but for now I need to find a Nue and stick one on.

Coughing blood in the shower is the only reminder that there's any kind of urgency.

On the way out the door, trying to decide what to do next, Judy calls, game crashes.

You know you are playing main story when the Relic is giving you trouble. Even though I opted to sleep on the sofa my status effects are still not even 15 minutes old.

Another gig, another gun store. Got a Nue with silencer. Will have to try that out later.

2026.03.10

Been thinking about whether to continue main story, or go on to DLC (I'm assuming that the new Dogtown section is where Phantom Liberty takes place).

There are two reasons why to continue with main story (go see Hanako, and get past that point of no return message):

* In game, if you're playing V straight, he should be most concerned about his failing health and imminent death, and should proceed directly to the next solution possible without delay.

* Out of game, the main story existed for a while before the DLC came out (December 2020, September 2023) so Phantom Liberty should be held apart on at least the first playthrough.

Those reason are good enough for me to continue the story now, but just considering the negatives:

* The game puts up a roadblock for a main story element (Hanako) but not the DLC, as if it's OK to go do that first

* The sandbox part of the game has no urgency at all. I'm already level 40 and could probably go to 50 just on random missions. Wouldn't it be good to be maxed out for the final challenges? I can finish my cyberware, get the best weapons possible, and practice with them for the end

* What if the game ends with the story end? It can be bad either way. When New Vegas ends you get the slideshow, and the story freezes there, giving you a sense of finality, but you can't go back. GTA 5 lets you play on, but even though there are things you can still do, it feels meaningless at that point.

* I am impatient now, and just want to get it over with. I just want to know how the story ends so I can start reading about cyberpunk in general without stumbling across spoilers. This is not a flaw with the game, but with me, but it goes here.

The Last of the Original Video Gamers

Thursday, January 1, 2026

status 2026

Monday, December 8, 2025

CyberPunk 2077 (2020)

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