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Author Topic: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners  (Read 4267 times)

jeff37923

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Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« on: September 21, 2022, 08:48:30 PM »


This anime is the ttrpg game brought to the screen.

Watching it inspired me to drag out my old Cyberpunk 2020 books and campaign notes to start game prep. Vox Machina left me uninterested in  gaming with D&D style rules, but the opposite happened with Cyberpunk Edgerunners. Good animation, style, story, and characterization  - it will be tough to beat.

There was a touch of pseudoscience near the end, but it was pretty forgivable.

Give it a shot. If you don't like it, I'll refund any money you give me.  ;D

"Meh."

BoxCrayonTales

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2022, 11:16:06 AM »
What I like about the cartoon is that it is a self-contained story, doesn't expect you to read a ton of lore to understand the plot, isn't trying to push a stupid social justice message (the anti-corpo message is social justice, just not the stupid kind), understands the conventions of its own genre, and is more or less well plotted. So it doesn't suffer the pitfalls of shows made for a lot of other franchises.

It's a simple cyberpunk story. In fact, you could strip out Mike's IP and it would still work as a cyberpunk story. (I say that as someone who isn't familiar with Mike's work beyond it being cyberpunk.) It stands on its own.

GeekyBugle

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2022, 01:48:23 PM »
I haven't seen it yet, but plan to binge it today or tomorrow.
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Thornhammer

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2022, 06:48:39 PM »
I started this after finishing Ep 3 of Andor.

Five minutes of this has been better than the entire series of that.

jeff37923

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2022, 04:43:29 PM »
A short music video made by the same team with a connected story.

"Meh."

Shrieking Banshee

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2022, 04:48:24 PM »
The only sucky thing is that this will give leeway and forgiveness for a game that doesn't deserve it.

jeff37923

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2022, 05:04:24 PM »
The only sucky thing is that this will give leeway and forgiveness for a game that doesn't deserve it.

Which one? The TTRPGs are not bad at all.
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Shrieking Banshee

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2022, 05:18:33 PM »
Which one? The TTRPGs are not bad at all.

Cyberpunk 2077 which this in theory is based more off of then the TTRPGs.

jeff37923

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2022, 07:16:30 PM »
Which one? The TTRPGs are not bad at all.

Cyberpunk 2077 which this in theory is based more off of then the TTRPGs.

I don't know much about the computer game. What was wrong with it?

And I think that the show takes place earlier in the timeline, like around 2045.
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Shrieking Banshee

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2022, 07:27:11 PM »
I don't know much about the computer game. What was wrong with it?

And I think that the show takes place earlier in the timeline, like around 2045.
It was a massively glitchy mess. So glitchy it was extremly broken. Even after it was fixed, it remains a really bland experience. The devs behind it made clear a long history of mismanagement and corporate bullshitting with the team (ie pulling them around with no clear direction).

The anime has like 300 times the style the game has, which yes is because its an anime, but also because the base game is rather uncreative.

tenbones

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2022, 10:17:32 AM »
I bought the game at launch, played about 60-seconds of it... ran into a bug, then heard all of my gaming friends complaining about bugs while on Discord... I immediately uninstalled it.

I'm a Cyberpunk super-fan. And a big fan of CDPR. However, I'm not a fool. CDPR dropped the ball and shipped the game *waaaay* too early. I knew they would try to fix the game, and so now like two years later, they've made massive updates to the game, I reloaded it... and now?

Well I'm loving the shit out of the game. I spend a lot of time exploring and while it's not perfect, it is definitely worth playing. I've avoided most spoilers, but I know the lore as well as anyone else, so it was delightful to see the callbacks to the TTRPG (and specifically to some of the printed adventures - some of which you get to play in flashbacks) is really cool.

It's *not* Battlefield in terms of FPS - it's very loosey-goosey bullet-spongey for people that don't like FPS games, although it is lethal if you think you can just go murder-hoboing. If you have the gear and skills, you certainly CAN. Conversely, if you like challenge, you can go stealth and even get through the game without killing people (though this would be really tricky).

So *I* don't know about any of the early bugs or system-issues that initially plagued the game. Right now? This game *seems* to be in a very good place. I feel great knowing I dodged all the drama. Right now, and I'm not even mid-way through the game (I'm a completionist) I'm giving this game a solid 8/10.

Pros - Very much captures the look, the feel of the Cyberpunk world (specifically Night City). Dynamic means of progress in terms of style of play - you can go gun-bunny, stealth, melee etc. Hacking matters, but it's not mandatory. Sidequests are fun and engaging with good rewards and surprisingly good narratives that expand the world in terms of texture. Transmog system is in place so you don't look like a dork all the time*. Mod community is now going wild with CDPR's blessing. The game is beautiful (this depends on your GPU. I'm rocking a 3070ti)

Cons - *I really dislike you can't play in 3rd person. What is the point of having a Transmog system if you can't see your character? No Multiplayer (yet). Combat can be a little spongey. This is a problem only for people that are into FPS games (like me), but for those that aren't - this is not a real issue. I don't *really* think this is a big deal, but it makes the game much more accessible to people that don't like hyperkinetic FPS gameplay, but don't pretend this game won't kill your ass. It's arcadey-vs-realistic which is fine.

Long game - CDPR just announced a full expansion is incoming, and it will have multiplayer (which could be amazing). And there are demands that they put in 3rd-person (but that's a stretch). But this expansion is supposed to be a huge deal... until the sequel drops which will be in Unreal 5, in a few years, so we'll see.

BoxCrayonTales

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2022, 11:07:19 AM »
I'm hoping that this ushers in a new wave of cyberpunk media. In the current era of social media, the genre is more prophetic and relevant than ever.

tenbones

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #12 on: October 05, 2022, 11:26:10 AM »
Yeah... only we don't have the cool cyberware. It'll be scary when we do develop this stuff, it'll be used against us.

My only complaint about the anime is the use of Sandevistan is *way* overboard, and it's hilariously swapped with the Kerenzikov. The whole POINT of Sandevistan is it has less impact on your humanity since you're not juiced up all the time as one is with Kerenzikov... but whatever, it's anime and fun.


BoxCrayonTales

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #13 on: October 05, 2022, 12:13:35 PM »
Yeah... only we don't have the cool cyberware. It'll be scary when we do develop this stuff, it'll be used against us.
Scifi has rarely been about describing what the future would realistically look like (and remotely accurate prognostication has so far proved impossible). It's typically been about holding up a mirror to our current era, reflecting our social anxieties. Or imparting moral messages through elaborate cautionary tales. Or exploring a philosophical concept to its furthest extremes. Whatever.


jeff37923

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Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
« Reply #14 on: October 07, 2022, 04:28:19 AM »
Yeah... only we don't have the cool cyberware. It'll be scary when we do develop this stuff, it'll be used against us.
Scifi has rarely been about describing what the future would realistically look like (and remotely accurate prognostication has so far proved impossible). It's typically been about holding up a mirror to our current era, reflecting our social anxieties. Or imparting moral messages through elaborate cautionary tales. Or exploring a philosophical concept to its furthest extremes. Whatever.

I dunno.....

There were a lot of things predicted by the low budget Max Headroom TV series that came out in the 80's which came to pass within a decade.

In Cyberpunk Red, you can have your Agent (super cell phone) be a virtual person which can lead to scenarios like the Gatebox product being developed below. I'm using this idea in a current Cyberpunk game as a way of giving missions to a single character who doesn't know whether or not the person giving him those missions is real, virtual, a netrunner, or a rogue AI.





"Meh."