Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/12/14/cyberpunk-2077-publisher-apologizes-offer-refunds.html
…
2 Likes
Harumph! When I was your age we’d fix glitches by simply blowing into the game cartridge!
20 Likes
Not that fussed about a refund.
Wouldn’ta minded a bigger dick, tho…
3 Likes
…There are sites on the internet that can… accomodate you. /rimshot
3 Likes
I’ve seen those sites. I was an inch away from clicking on them.
No, wait… maybe an inch and a half
3 Likes
I think roundly panned is not accurate. According to metacritic, as of now, the metascore is 90: https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/cyberpunk-2077
4 Likes
“You’ve got it set to Channel 4! Of course it’s not working!”
7 Likes
Honestly it runs & looks fine on my One X (not Series X). Sure there’s some weird glitches but what game doesn’t have those? The backlash is overhyped.
3 Likes
There seems to be a lot fewer complaints from the PC gamers with higher end video cards. I’m enjoying it, but I understand the issues console gamers are experiencing.
3 Likes
the game itself has been roundly panned by critics
Has it though? It’s sitting at an average of 90 on Metacritic.
I do see reviews that bring up technical difficulties and glitches but the consensus from critics is far from it being panned. Average gamers have panned it for it being a shit show, that’s a more fair assessment as the score there is about 60
2 Likes
My personal policy is not to buy these large-scale games until they release all their expansion content and sell the whole thing as a bundle. By that time, all the major bugs are fixed, it’s cheaper, and the Internet is full of answers to any questions I might have. I miss getting to be an early adopter, but it sounds like that’s not the best experience.
9 Likes
So the majority of refunds are for glitches, and not the obvious and unapologetic transphobia of the game and its developer? Interesting.
5 Likes
This is pretty much where i’ve landed. Honestly i already have a bunch of other games to play and/or finish so i’m never in a hurry to play a game right when it comes out. These days any large game is pretty much at Beta when it launches and takes anywhere between 3 months up to a year or longer for it to be fully functional, plus i like to wait until all or most of the DLC is out so i can get the complete game for the same launch price or much cheaper.
Right now i’m playing Deep Rock Galactic and having a blast. When i get tired of that i have a few other games on my radar to play, maybe in a few months time i’ll give Cyberpunk a try.
3 Likes
Ah. Roundly panned on consoles. Yes, that seems to check out.
rubs bridge of nose There is no way for me to ask this very honest question without looking like a complete ass, but I feel like not asking would be worse, so …what transphobia?
I found the character creation process to be very, I dunno, non-judgey and flexible about gender fluidity. ( if not body image )
I’ve not really played the campaign yet ( mostly just walking around looking at the architecture, if you can believe it ), the world seems pretty even handed in its inhospitability to people, generally. No spoilers if possible but is there something later in the game where you have to target the trans population specifically, a la Rockstar’s Haitian / Cuban thing in Vice City years back? Or, like, a succession of evil characters who are trans?
If at all possible please try not to destroy me in the responses if I have not picked up on something obvious.
2 Likes
The transphobic bits are largely attributed to your voice selection determining the pronouns the game uses for your character and the presence of otherwise femme presenting characters sporting comically large dildos in advertisements both in and out of game, something that leans into fetishization rather than support. The devs have handled their social media reactions to that second part fairly poorly .
I have a feeling that a minority of refunds are for the transphobia issues, due to anyone making that a purchasing consideration already being aware of the problem and opting out. The glitches on the other hand are harder to see coming. (Though I’d argue that if you’ve paid any real attention to AAA launches over the last decade, it’s more common than not for big titles like this to drop with a host of glitches.)
2 Likes
Thank you. I appreciate the response and your patience.
FWIW, it’s never a compliment to the state of the thing when someone outside a community ( myself, in this case ) looks on and says, “but it could be so much worse.” While that is kind of my reation, I can understand those criticisms. I think the game has moved the bar in the right direction but hope future designers do better. I think there is cause for optimism.
Honestly, I’m setting the in game advertisements to one side as a bit of a separate issue. While the advertisements are consistent in tone they squander a huge opportunity for worldbuilding for puns/jokes/juvenalia. What I see there has me thinking, tiredly, that yup, when I was in high school I would’ve thought this much sexual innuendo was funny. They have accurately captured my immaturity from back when I played this game. ( now please stop ) I’d like to think the decision was made to create a clear contrast between what is important to the flow of the plot and what is toss away visual noise but… eh. Not the choices I would’ve made.
1 Like
The additional concern from the trans community is that CD Projekt isn’t really being inclusive because that’s the right thing to do, but instead is just making a somewhat hamfisted attempt at inclusiveness to co-opt pro-transgender sentiment as a point of marketing. The frankly hilarious bit being where CD Projekt’s art director made the point how the corporations in Cyberpunk are using “hypersexualized advertisements” and how bad that is and whatnot… while CD Projekt themselves are doing the same damned thing.
3 Likes
My take on it is that the developer is mainly just including trans themes without much thought purely because it’s a checkbox they’d like to tic off for marketing. Which is obvious i’d say, their inclusion of trans characters and themes might’ve been wildly different if they had bothered to hire a trans game developer or writer so of course their version of inclusivity is going to be anything but nuanced or subtle.
Judging by previous transphobic jokes they’ve made in The Witcher 3 i’m not really surprised over their flippant attitude towards the whole thing.
3 Likes
