Cyberpunk 2077: patch 1.2 improves gameplay on PS4 Pro only, Digital Foundry says

Cyberpunk 2077: patch 1.2 improves gameplay on PS4 Pro only, Digital Foundry says

Cyberpunk 2077

Apparently the Cyberpunk 2077 patch 1.2 is not exactly the boon that the owners of old-gen consoles were waiting for: according to the analysis of Digital Foundry, the update improves the game's performance in an eventual way only on PS4 Pro. br>
You have probably read our analysis of Cyberpunk 2077 patch 1.2 on PS5</a>, but if you own a PS4 or an Xbox One the speech is of course different and the update fails to do what originally promised by CD Projekt RED, that is to offer a consistent experience even on previous generation platforms.

Specifically, on PlayStation 4 Pro the frame rate becomes stable at 30 fps, thus eliminating all the problematic situations encountered so far, although paying an inevitable price in terms of graphic detail.

However on other consoles, including Xbox One X, there are still obvious difficulties in maintaining a certain degree of fluidity, with a series of the "blocks" that literally stop the action for an instant, and drop to 20 fps in the most hectic situations.

On PS4 and Xbox One base the game improves by 2-3 frames depending on the case, but as mentioned we are still very far from an ideal situation. The hope is that CD Projekt RED will not give up and continue in this direction, in a very evident delay compared to the launch.

Cyberpunk 2077, an image captured by the console version. Source Did you notice any errors?





A Theory On Where Cyberpunk 2077’s Lifepath Content Went

Cyberpunk 2077

CDPR

One of the great mysteries of the release of Cyberpunk 2077 was that after much discussion about how “lifepaths” would determine the course of the story as they do in many RPGs, in the end, Cyberpunk’s had close to no effect on the game at all.


The sum total of the entire lifepath idea was:

  • A different 10 minute introductory mission
  • One 30 second to 5 minute side mission relating back to that first mission.
  • Different dialogue options occasionally that did not actually change the story in any way.
  • So what happened? I came across a rather interesting theory by u/vveeveevv that I hadn’t really considered before, but the more I think about it, the more it makes a lot of sense.


    The idea is that many large pieces of the main story and its most significant side quests were formed through a hacking up of the original life path system, and in the end, they were all joined together, as perhaps the fear was that there was not enough content without all players having access to all quests, or there wasn’t time to fully flesh them all out.


    The three life paths may be represented by major side characters in the game:

    Cyberpunk 2077

    CDPR

    Panam is clearly the Nomad path, and while everyone has to meet Panam in the main story and most will see her quest through until the end, it seems possible that she was the Nomad-specific path through the main story that other lifepaths may not have had access to. I’d say her storyline was the most fleshed-out, including having the dedicated Nomad ending of the game being the best one (that any lifepath can access, of course)

    Cyberpunk 2077

    CDPR

    Judy was likely the Street Kid path, and while Judy’s romance/friendship path pans out, it’s easy to see how aspects of her storyline were left unfinished or appear to be cut. The entire resolution of her taking over Cloud from the Tyger Claws happens offscreen. Evelyn Parker seems like she’s going to be a major character in the story and yet she doesn’t speak at all after her initial introduction, is kidnapped, put in a quasi-coma, and then kills herself, all without saying a word. Extremely weird. Something happened here.

    Cyberpunk 2077

    CDPR

    The Corpo life path seems the least fleshed-out, but the idea is that it may have originally tied into Meredith Stout, another one of Cyberpunk’s baffling “wait what happened to her?” characters. In her case, she seems set up to be a major figure, and strangely, the game actually builds in a one-off romance with her right off the bat, but she’s never seen or heard from again after that. There are also additional hints about a Corpo path, like Militech headquarters having a partially built-out interior that’s never used.


    So, instead of three, separate paths player could have taken, they were all left unfinished in various stages, and combined into one central quest all centered around Johnny and chip. In the end, the lifepaths don’t change the game at all outside of six total, extremely short missions/intros that have little impact on the rest of the game.


    Is this better or worse? Probably worse, though it is somewhat hard to imagine people playing through Cyberpunk and not experiencing both Judy and Panam’s storyline in one playthrough, and having to go through the entire game in a different lifepath to get the other one. But I guess that’s how RPGs work, and it would have definitely given the game more reasons to start over again and make different choices. And a more robust Corpo path in particular would have been interesting, as that was the one I picked and I regretted it because it was so lame, and I was immediately thrown into Street Kid life in the first ten minutes of the game.


    Anyway, it’s just an idea, but it makes a whole lot of sense to me.


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