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 start a 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 unlocked, but I have almost no money. That at least makes sense (but I already have a car).
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%.
Now here'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.
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. 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.
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 searchs 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 converation nicely, you can't just stop running and resume walking. You have to just stop moving entirely. It's similary 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 in tothe 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 enctouner, tjhat 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 event 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 wnat 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 rediculous. 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 work; the writing is all over the place.
I'm enjoying my simple playthrough as a fighter, but Im 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. Reaload, try agin. 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 aparrments.
When you take a shower you cough blood.
What happ[ens 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 wepaons (ENgineeer), smart weapons (Netrunner). Staying with the Headhunter path, I need to focus on pistols, revolvers, sniper, and throwables.
Theres 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 careless 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 think it precedes the TV show. Can't remember how far back in cyberpunk lore it originates. 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)". Bet 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 fininsh with club (unfortunatley 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 cna 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 enemoes? 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?
Someties 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 anway - 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 stadngin 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. Wrokgin 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 Atrribute 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. Unti 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 recordin 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, Im tryin to take out the turret p the AV with little luck. I don't want to have to look it up. Keep going around... its just a terminal, and its not even protected. Easy. Really glad I didn't look it up.
Don't like the story putting me on rails, but its the story. I got Hellman, but there's no way forward without calling Takemura. I'd rather get out of here first. Its 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 custom to my character? It's a good upgrade over what I have now.
Johnny again, in an even more sentimental mood - 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. Though there is already so much voicework in this game.
After all that work getting Hellman, it seems right to follow up on that next. Takemura.
Oh wait, Regina calls, first that. No, first apartment.
I'm glad there's an acknowledgement about collecting psyberspychos 100% non lethal.
The reward money and XP is OK, but i was hoping for something 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 geting mentions Judy - who? I'll read the in game journal before I look online. Going through Journal entries, ready 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 tells her who she is. But why.
OK, now I can go see Takemura. Long long setup, some character exposition. My Relic fails the more story missions I do.
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?
