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Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

One of the fun things about open-world games that have that sort of "ratchet" mechanism to their world development is that as long as you don't do the story mission that advances the world to the next stage, it's not a problem!

(For instance, in Oblivion the Oblivion Gates don't become a ubiquitous problem until you actually go to Kvatch, however long you dick around before you finally do that. Although you can hear people in the streets talking about how Kvatch has been totally destroyed, which frankly would make my character less inclined to go there than before if he heard about it. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

That seems to be a Bethesda trademark, alongside enough bugs to stock the world's most massive terrarium. The Enclave doesn't start air-dropping in on you or setting up check-points until you bring your dad to Project Purity, while the dragons don't start trying to BBQ you every 10 steps until you try to do the fetch quest for the Greybeards.

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CdrMike, Overwatch Reject

Well, it's a logical way to set up world changes tied to story progression. It's not their fault it gets broken when people choose to exploit the open world and just dick around for months before getting on with the main quests. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Sort of think it's the other way around, Bethesda seems to literally encourage players to spend weeks or months completing every single little quest that smacks them in the face between quest markers set on the other side of the map. It's like "You could take that wagon over there and go straight to Markarth or you can walk on foot and arrive there sometime next year decked out in end-game tier gear." Throw in any DLCs and...well..let's just say I've never finished the main storyline for a Bethesda game since New Vegas.

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CdrMike, Overwatch Reject

To be fair, I think that's a sample size of... two. If you don't count Elder Scrolls Online. Which you shouldn't.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

And that one game we don't talk about because Bethesda certainly doesn't want to these days. If you ask them, they haven't anything slated for release until Starfield, which is sometime between now and the heat death of the universe.

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CdrMike, Overwatch Reject

I didn't count that one because it doesn't have a single-player campaign.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

So this may have been a factor of difficulty setting, but when I did some of those missions it seemed to be nigh impossible to actually kill those dudes. I got thanked for being gentle with the guy I took down with several well placed sniper rounds.

Not saying there isn't entertainment value in dildo delivered subdual damage, just that more tools might be available to you than you'd think.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "This Space For Rent."

Well, yeah, I mean I could fit a gun with the "does non-lethal damage" mod or whatever, but the buried lede here is that Sir John Phallustiff is an incredibly powerful non-lethal melee weapon. Like, numerically the most powerful (non-cyberware) melee weapon V owns, more so than the legendary katana she picked up somewhere. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Ah, OK. The blades replaced fists as weapon 4, and I didn't investigate beyond that. (I was relieved to discover that the "street fight" missions were smart enough to opt for fists even though the blades had replaced them in regular combat. That would've been awkward.)

Dildo's still funnier, though. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

Well, in the interest of full disclosure, that's the only thing it says. You know how most (if not all) cars in CP2077 have a "startup sound" when you get in? "Konnichiwa!" is the Maimai's. :)

Also, I have to admit I half bought it because of Wakako's sales pitch. "It's small, but it has room for you, your gun, and some groceries, and what more do you really need?" You have a point, Madame Okada. You have a point. Although, do people in Night City even buy groceries? I mean, my apartment has a burrito vending machine inside it.

Which reminds me, it occurred to me the other day, as I was out in the absolute ass-end of nowhere and came across a row of vending machines--who maintains them? Does somebody in a jumpsuit come into my apartment every now and then to stock up the burrito machine? Or is it supplied by some kind of automated system built into the space between floors of the megabuilding? And what about the ones out in the Badlands, and wedged into the darkest, farthest alleys of the city?

Which, in turn, reminds me that one of my favorite little bits of worldbuilding in Fallout New Vegas was the discovery that there is actually someone (or, well, some robots, anyway) restocking the Sunset Sarsaparilla machines when no one's looking, and you're not out there drinking 200-year-old soda pop. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

--G.
><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

It could be another one of the noodle ghosts, but this one just happens to like burritos.

And yet, as one of the loading screen tips says, all of Night City's weirdest urban legends have a habit of being true. :)

--G.
Admittedly, in the Cyberpunk mythos, Burrito God would probably end up really being Burrito AI, but sufficiently advanced technology and all that.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

The writers definitely laid into the mysticism a little during the game. The Tarot quest is given to you early, and later on there's another meditation series of quests as well.

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Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

Given that it's the outfit that made the Witcher games, we're probably lucky the engram on the Relic isn't slowly turning the PC into Koschei the Deathless. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

She would make a more tolerable mental presence. I picture her as being one of the less malicious escapees from beyond the Blackwall.

I'm actually just a little surprised I haven't seen any Vocaloid-ish references/Easter eggs. They stuffed a GLaDOS one in after all.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "Here come the test results: You are a horrible person. I'm serious, that's what it says: A horrible person. We weren't even testing for that."

Don't get me wrong, I actually appreciate what they did with Johnny Silverhand and if you handle it right he -does- mellow out some. But...yeah. A mod that changes him to that jaded, dry-humor Haku Mitsune would be hella awesome.

Set the whole piece to Fleet of Fog-era Earth...

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Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

*Sighs*

Maybe back in the day when I first found EPU I might have had the chops to pull something like this off.

Now? Fuggedaboutit. :(

Upon reflection, I can't decide which would be funnier: to swap Miku in for Johnny, or for V. Up-and-coming solo with an engram based on a turn-of-the-century virtual idol in her head, or real-life ex-aidoru trying to make a living as a solo, saddled with the digital ghost of a dead rockerboi who harbors a towering, ill-concealed contempt for corporatized entertainment.

--G.
"Well, that didn't work. Why don't you try giving him the winky face and shaking your ass at him, like old times?" "As opposed to what you would've done in YOUR day: drink most of a bottle of Black Label and write another crappy song about how Arasaka-senpai won't notice you."
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Starting with, "I don't care how many eddies Kiroshi is paying you, those eyes look fucking stupid."

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Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

Heh, I just did that mission tonight. Y'know, I'm starting to think that of the two, although Johnny is hands-down the bigger jerk, Kerry is actually the dumber one. Boy's just not serving from a full pitcher.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I hadn't thought about the song, I admit, but 100% that sheriff looked like he was going to be an antagonist for some silly sidequest somewhere. Maybe he was taking money from the Wraiths to harass V's old crew. But...yeah, he never shows up again that I've seen, and I've done most of the sidequests and gigs by now.

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Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge