Cyberpunk 2077's main story is shorter than Witcher 3's due to "tremendous" amounts of people not completing it

[Ploid 6.0]

On the topic of Bethesda's Skyrim.

I have multiple hours in Skyrim, hundreds but I have yet to finish the main story or dlc. Mostly because I only play and mess with mods. Lately game changing combat mods have been popping up, it's showing it's age now though, a generation later. It still looks incredible modded, but with no effort for the player, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Horizon looks even better.

I doubt Cyberpunk will be half as moddable as Skyrim though.

 

[Sign My Guestbook!]

The only thing that really bums me out is they removed wall-running. I was planning on going full Mirror's Edge ninja mode. Shame...

 

[Nessus]

Is that a good excuse to make it shorter? What do they gain or lose by people not completing the main story?

FWIW, I do think Witcher 3's main quest was a tad too long.

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I mean they potentially save a lot of money not spending months working on content the vast majority of players will never see.

This isn't just a Witcher III/Cyberpunk 2077 problem, it's a thing with most single player games that most players will never end up finishing the story/campaign.

 

[unicornKnight]

More side content and a shorter story is the way to go.

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Yes.

 

[Deleted member 1003]

That's fine. It can be as long as it needs to be.

 

[denx]

So the opposite approach of Ubisoft, who keep making AC more bloated with each new entry. I'm OK with this.

 

[Ada]

I'm one of those that never finished W3, so it's understandable.

 

[Deleted member 12352]

Awful combat did make many stretches of Witcher 3 a chore to get through.

Wonder if this'll mean more side content or just an overall shorter game in general.

 

[Papercuts]

I feel like they've essentially said this before. A bigger focus on variables and branching paths as a tradeaway for sheer runtime, which sounds fine on paper.

 

[Deleted member 76797]

So the opposite approach of Ubisoft, who keep making AC more bloated with each new entry. I'm OK with this.

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only difference is, ubi stretches their games out in the most obnoxious ways possible.

 

[NoSmallWave]

To me, one of the worst things about Bethesda games is that the main story is lacking. To each their own.

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Yeah, I see it as great since its easy to ignore and, for me, the "story" is all of the shit I do with my character in the world. I honestly prefer that kind of thing to an on-rails story most of the time, the exception being the kinds of games that are intended to tell a very specific story - ie TLOU/Pt2 - and also commit to it through gameplay. For open world games, I rarely find the stories compelling and its very jarring for me to have this over-arching narrative that often has nothing to do with how you're playing the game. But, as you say, we all engage with this stuff in our own way!

 

[KnivesAndCoins]

As long as they add more sidequests... i don't really need to replay anything "main" for the sake of branches - which eventually will mean "choices i'd never take" - i just want to live in that city

 

[Son of Sparda]

So what's the implications of this for people like me that did finish the game (more than once even)?

Are they saying that they care more about other people who dropped their game rather than those who stuck with it all the way through to the end? That's a weird excuse to give tbh.

 

[TheZynster]

I could see it............Witcher 3 had both an insane amount of side content as well as the main story being insanely long.

Main story was damn long that i basically vowed to one playthrough and never touching it again. It's still in my top 3 game of the generation but it was just exhausting to finally finish the game.

 

[Tovarisc]

So what's the implications of this for people like me that did finish the game (more than once even)?

Are they saying that they care more about other people who dropped their game rather than those who stick with it all the way through to the end? That's a weird excuse to give tbh.

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If you watch segment of interview where he talks about shortened crit path he goes to say that they focused on adding side content and replayability with freed up resources from shorter crit path.

 

[HonestAbe]

I get it. At some point it feels more like work than having fun in a game.

 

[Sorel]

But I did finish it, Twice ! :(

 

[Aurongel]

Yup, probably the right call given how the best parts of Witcher 3 were the side quests and even those who love the game admit that it drags at several points in the main story.

Plus it allows them to go all in on having three unique starter classes.

 

[Son of Sparda]

If you watch segment of interview where he talks about shortened crit path he goes to say that they instead focused on adding side content and replayability.

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That still doesn't answer my question tho.

It seems like they are trying to cater to people who dropped Witcher 3's story instead of people who were interested enough to finish the main quest in that game.

 

[Spiderman]

That's a shame, I like my games long. But CyberPunk should be extremely replayable so hopefully it's not that bad.

 

[LazyLain]

That's great and all, I definitely support making RPGs with shorter crit paths... but I guarantee there will still be a tremendous amount of people who don't complete Cyberpunk either, especially if they're compensating for the shorter campaign by adding more side content.

 

[Budi]

Are they saying that they care more about other people who dropped their game rather than those who stuck with it all the way through to the end?

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They're basically spitting on your face and slapping it afterwards.

Spoiler

No, they're not saying that.

 

[Kaguya]

Good, W3 overstayed its welcome, wish it was as focused as the DLCs, with more effort put into side quests for those who want to keep playing while the main game is shorter.

 

[Ænima]

Thats disappointing. I finished Witcher 3 main story 2 times, platinum the game and then finished both expantions and i still wanted more. :P

 

[Unaha-Closp]

I finished it twice - Geralt is Level 100 and chilling with Jen in the South of France.

 

[KomandaHeck]

I love Witcher 3 but the main story absolutely starts to run out of steam after the Kaer Morhen battle. I'm fine with this news, although I do hope there are plenty of side-stories.

 

[Budi]

Thats disappointing. I finished Witcher 3 main story 2 times, platinum the game and then finished both expantions and i still wanted more. :P

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I also finished the main story, the DLC and the better side quests (so not points of interests or all the treasure hunts) twice. And I still wanted more, but not necessarily from the main story. Side quests were just as good and even better.

I love Witcher 3 but the main story absolutely starts to run out of steam after the Kaer Morhen battle.

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There's some truth to this for sure.

 

[FFNB]

I bought Witcher 3 on launch day in 2015, and didn't beat it until 2018. It was a massive game, and I didn't explore every nook and cranny in the game. I'm thinking of revisiting it on the PS5 at some point to see all of the sidequests and other things I missed. I got to the point where I eventually just made a beeline through story quests, because I just wanted to beat the game already. I wasn't a fan of the combat, so I wasn't really having as much fun as I had hoped. Once I dropped the difficulty down to easy, I was enjoying myself more.

I don't mind the main campaign in Cyberpunk being shorter than the Witcher 3. With this game, I just want to roam around and get lost in the city. I'm actually more intrigued by the side quests I'll stumble across in this city moreso than the main campaign. I'm going to be Nomad first playthrough, as I think the "outsider in a new city" angle works better for my first playthrough. Then, during a second playthrough, when I'm super familiar with the city, I'll play Street Kid, and third playthrough, when I know the world like the back of my hand, I'll play corporate. This is assuming I'm in love with the game and actually want to play through it that many times. I'm also imagining that I'll want to play it once the PS5 update releases on it next year.

 

[ANDS]

I've literally never understood how people can play 100hr+ games to completion. That shit's insane. Vidja games are fun but they shouldn't take up your entire life to play ffs

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A 100HR isn't the problem. A 100HR main campaign is and that is what they are addressing. The main campaign for THE WITCHER was long. Definitely didn't not enjoy the journey, but the journey was absolutely long. The first time I played the game (on PS4) I did Velen and moved on and still managed 50-60 something hours in the game.

 

[JMY86]

This sounds good to me with as much as I enjoyed The Witcher 3 I never once got out of Novigrad, but to be fair I restarted several times while switching platforms.

 

[Muitnorts]

The main story being somewhat brief(er than it could have been) actually makes me more interested in the game.

 

[Yabberwocky]

I always thought the TW3 had an impressive completion length considering the potential length of the game. That being said, TW3's main quest -- though extremely enjoyable -- treads water until reuniting with Ciri, which is about 3/4 of the way through the main quest. I wish more of it had been optional. A shorter main quest for Cyberpunk sounds great.

 

[methane47]

As a man with 2 babies I appreciate this

 

[Aangster]

Don't have an issue with this provided that their end/post-game side content is beefed up.

TW3's Reason of State quest was a real let down in both narrative development/impact and length.

 

[Blade30]

How long to beat says Witcher 3 is 172 hours long for a completionist run, so slightly shorter is still gonna be long as hell especially with DLC and such.

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I feel like How Long To Beat is widely off in this case. My playthrough (full campaign, every sidequest I found, every monster contract) only clocked in around 60 hours. If I beelined it I imagine that ould have been cut in half.

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Nah HLTB is quite accurate. It took me ~160 hours and I did pretty much all I can (quests, story, exploring, looking for witcher gear) with the exception of the little treasure icons (skellige), monster dens etc.

 

[Deleted member 1698]

There is like three different quest types repeated a billion times in tw3. A shorter main quest and not bothering with side quests would be welcome.

The people who did put themselves through following footsteps over and over and over and over could simply punch themselves in the face repeatedly instead and have a better time.

 

[Tovarisc]

There is like three different quest types repeated a billion times in tw3. A shorter main quest and not bothering with side quests would be welcome.

The people who did put themselves through following footsteps over and over and over and over could simply punch themselves in the face repeatedly instead and have a better time.

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Nah, writing and stories made for those quest structures hard carried TW 3. One of few things that majority of people who have played it seem to agree on.

In CP77 it will be different because apparently devs have went to great lengths with having side quests directly impact and change main quests. You can get credits roll without ever reaching "true ending" because of that.

 

[Sponged]

Good I'm done with 50-70 hour long games

20-30 hours is the sweet spot for me in terms of just the story. If they combine that with meaty sidequests it will be perfect.

 

[Comrade Grogu]

Good I'm done with 50-70 hour long games

20-30 hours is the sweet spot for me in terms of just the story. If they combine that with meaty sidequests it will be perfect.

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Thank you.

I'm playing Pathfinder: Kingmaker which is easily over 100 hours, no joke, and while I enjoy it, I'm kinda eager to move on from it, or at least approaching that point.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

I might finally be able to beat it. IDK but anybody else, but as I'm leaving my twenties and starting a family, the idea of playing a 50-100+ hour game sounds honestly depressing and implausible.

 

[Roytheone]

There is like three different quest types repeated a billion times in tw3. A shorter main quest and not bothering with side quests would be welcome.

The people who did put themselves through following footsteps over and over and over and over could simply punch themselves in the face repeatedly instead and have a better time.

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Doing the side quests in the witcher 3 is legit the most fun I had this generation. So unless you are really into punching yourself (I will not judge) this is not true for me.

 

[OneTrueJack]

Nah HLTB is quite accurate. It took me ~160 hours and I did pretty much all I can (quests, story, exploring, looking for witcher gear) with the exception of the little treasure icons (skellige), monster dens etc.

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That's crazy to me. I only did a few of the witcher gear quests (all of the wolf and the first from a different school), but the 100 hour difference between our playthroughs is insane. I don't feel like I was rushing either. It's possible I missed one or two side quests, but that wouldn't make up the difference.

Wild.

 

[SmartWaffles]

Good, not all games needs to be 100 hour slogs.

 

[OneTrueJack]

Doing the side quests in the witcher 3 is legit the most fun I had this generation. So unless you are really into punching yourself (I will not judge) this is not true for me.

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The side quests and monster hunts are definitely where the real meat of Witcher 3 lies. The main quest is fine but gradually runs out of steam with each new area.

 

[BraXzy]

I see no problem with that. There's going to be tonnes more content in side quests for people who want to sink their teeth in.

Let people who just want to experience the core story do so without hundreds of hours invested.

 

[arts&crafts]

The side quests in RPGs are almost always better than the main "story" quest so as long as their are enough varied side quests I see no problem with this.

 

[Altair]

The Witcher 3 has one of the best stories I've ever played in any game. Anybody who missed out on it missed one hell of a ride. Wish CDPR didn't do this because their storytelling is one of their best attributes.

 

[Sprat]

This is me 100%, I wasn't going to torture myself.

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I did torture myself and it wasn't worth it. The story was crap.

The dlc however was excellent the combat was still awful though

 

[Kubricks]

It's ok to have a shorter length story in cp2077.

And I completed witcher 3 three time, over 600hrs easily. ;/

 

[Admiral Woofington]

The side quests and monster hunts are definitely where the real meat of Witcher 3 lies. The main quest is fine but gradually runs out of steam with each new area.

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yeah if anything Hearts of Stone expansion is a meaty 'sidequest' that was more enjoyable on a writing side than the main quest. And Blood and Wine's 'main quest' wasn't necessarily amazing, but it brought a whole new area with tons of fun side content to do