Cyberpunk 2077's Main Story Is Shorter Than Witcher 3 Because Players Complained

System · September 2020

Cyberpunk 2077's Main Story Is Shorter Than Witcher 3 Because Players Complained

It looks like Cyberpunk 2077's main story will actually be shorter than Witcher 3's.

MacAllen · September 2020

I hate this so much, caving to babies. I played the W3 story through to the end, including all DLC's, *TWICE*, and have over 1000 hour logged in goofing off with mods. So what if people don't go all of the way to the end? 25% of everyone who tries to run the Boston Marathon quit before the end because it's "too long", but they aren't going to shorten it.

Sucks

WhiteLantern · September 2020

Panzerbeorne39 said:

worldsbestdad said:

Persona 5's campaign was 90 hours and I loved every minute; shouldn't matter how long the game is if the gameplay and writing are quality enough.

You’re the exception not the rule. I won’t touch a persona game with a ten foot pole, CDPR need to focus on the average gamer not the JRPG die hard. The Witcher 3 did drag at some points and I felt like “is this the end” after a while it became tedious and I didn’t even get all the rare gear and do all the side quests.
I think they’re being smart here but I’m not even convinced I will buy this game because I wasn’t too stoked on the combat and dialogue I saw in the previews.

I'm probably the exception too, I want my RPGs to last. My PS1 backlog got huge because every game took months to complete. (Must be the Fortnite kidos that can't follow a story for more than a day...?)

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Amathe · September 2020

"It was fu**ing way too long."

Ridley Scott, on Bladerunner 2049.

Sometimes a story is just too long ( or too short). /shrug

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Valentina · September 2020

Disappointing. People complain about having a long story, then complain when the story isn't long enough lol. I can't with people anymore. I would rather have a long story.

BeansnBread · September 2020

I think Skyrim was like 20 or 30 hours for the main quest line. Then there was the huge amount of other hours you could spend on guilds or sidequests. They even had those radiant quests that were very simple. I don't even think I beat the game the first round I had with the game. There was just so much stuff to do.

If it's even half as robust as Skyim was when it came to exploring the world and doing side activities, then I think I can be more than ok with a measly 30-40 hour campaign.

Neoyoshi · September 2020

As long as they compensate with the side quests and just the overall volume of stuff to keep me living inside that world for months on end; i won't complain.

But if this is what i think it is; a attempt to get people to beat the game as quickly as possible, and then move on to the next game, then I'm convinced this might be some low-key tactic at getting players to move on to the eventual free-2-play microtransaction multiplayer game CDPR is also working on.

But that's me just being paranoid that gone are the days of games like Skyrim and the like; that were designed to keep players playing infinitely due to the world-building that the supplied mod-tools create.

Even a game like GTA5; which is also narrative-based, was designed to keep the player inside the game as much as possible due to how the world is built and how so much of the world is a living-breathing-thing.

Iselin · September 2020

I don't get why anyone would want to play a game like this and just power through the main story. Maybe it's just habit from playing games where side stories are mindless crap compared to the main or maybe its just the "beat the game" mentality brought over from other types of games.

But based on my experience playing The Witcher 3, optional side quests in that game were just as meaty and interesting as the main stuff and there were bucket loads of them. Powering through that main story means you miss out on about 2/3 of the content.

If they do the same with CP77 the main story's length is kind of irrelevant.

Asm0deus · September 2020

Personally I dislike short main stories in my single player games, it makes them feel cheap..... Dunno what metrics they looked at but methinks this will come back to bite them in the arse.

From what I read hanging out in their forums peeps do not want something short and quick.....which is why most folks there were okay with delays etc so cdpr could get it right instead of half arsing a quicker release.

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Sovrath · September 2020

While I tend to prefer longer stories, if the story is good, is engaging, then I suppose it doesn't matter. That is of course if there are other things to do, other types of stories in the world. Which it seems there are.

What is the old phrase? ... long enough to cover the subject yet short enough to be interesting?

Samhael · September 2020

MacAllen said:

I hate this so much, caving to babies. I played the W3 story through to the end, including all DLC's, *TWICE*, and have over 1000 hour logged in goofing off with mods. So what if people don't go all of the way to the end? 25% of everyone who tries to run the Boston Marathon quit before the end because it's "too long", but they aren't going to shorten it.

Sucks

Mac, as I remember from my OTG days, you've always been a completionist. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. I'd prefer a longer campaign as the subject matter interests me more than the Witcher. I think that's because there's too much in 3 that refers to events from the prequels (which I hadn't played) so it was hard to come up to speed and be invested. At least for me. YMMV.

k61977 · September 2020

I personally feel anyone that complains about story being to long in RPG's just shouldn't play RPG's. The longer the story the better. I mean the stories are core to the game in an RPG. Give me something to keep coming back to. If it takes me months to get to the end casually playing that is the best.

Nyghthowler · September 2020

k61977 said:

I personally feel anyone that complains about story being to long in RPG's just shouldn't play RPG's. The longer the story the better. I mean the stories are core to the game in an RPG. Give me something to keep coming back to. If it takes me months to get to the end casually playing that is the best.

Only if the story remains interesting and/or compelling. I can't begin to count the number of RPGs that started out really good, and then took forever to go..... nowhere; after becoming invested in the characters or plot.

Lusts · September 2020

I am all for shortening the story if metrics actually show that barely anyone beat the game, but CDPR didn't provide those metrics, so I can't in good conscious accept that excuse. I went ahead and did the research and found that an average of 41% of the people who played Witcher 3 on all platforms (At least those with public profiles) have beaten Witcher 3. About 42% on PC, 41% on Xbox, 44% on PS4, and 56% on GOG. That is a good chunk of people that have beaten the game. The people who didn't beat the game, that is on them. Now, that raises the question, what percentage of the people who didn't beat the game -actually- complained about the game being too long or felt it was too long and wasn't some other reason for not completing the game?

I'll be honest, I love CDPR and the work they do; but this honestly feels like a huge excuse.

Wylf · September 2020

This is just another sad commentary on the short attention span of so many people today. I agree with those who have said that they prefer a long story .

lahnmir · September 2020

Ohh god, not this travesty again where length and quality have anything to do with each other...

Some of the best games ever are very short, some of the most horrible games ever are very long, there is no relation.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

Bloodaxes · September 2020

Until we try it, we can't know whether the complaints are founded or not. Perhaps, there's some parts of the main story that linger a little.

Scot · September 2020

In gaming, less is more. Less combat, less story, smaller worlds, less quests, less interaction with other players, less lore. What a bloody joke.

From what Lusts said the average to me looked to be about 45% of players got to the end of the story, how many did they expect to finish it?

cheyane · September 2020

I think the story must be interesting but if it is too short I would feel very unsatisfied.

alakram · September 2020

If the story is good, the longer the better. But at this point there is nothing they con do now. Most of it is probably already, scripted or recorded.