:yea: however, atleast in the game its shown that USSR has better living standards than US like free healthcare, education and shit. In game version of the U.S. is basically ancapistan (not that different from real life ig)
Strictly speaking Pondsmith wrote it as if Gorbachev's plan had worked out like Deng's instead of leading to liberal/fascist coups dissolving the USSR. He's got some absolutely galaxy brained takes and ideas but as far as libs go he's weirdly endearing.
It just liberalized. USSR stands for Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics and they're just as infested with megacorps as the rest of the still-habitable parts of the planet
Yes of course, but what i was referring to was this line in the game about how a liberal socdem 'USSR' still manages to be better than the U.S.
Show
Show
Show
And in CP2077 Yurop all citizens are legally entitled to real vegetables in their diet. Murikans get kibble and high-protein bacterial colonies.
LOL would the Russian version of this new name even translate to USSR?
yes!
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) = Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (СССР)
Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics (USSR) = Союз Суверенных Советских Республик (СССР)
It's funny because the SSRs already had the legal right to secede lol. Why change the name?
The idea of "Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics" is taken from real life. It was an attempt to reform Soviet Union into less centralized federal system. They wanted to give it a new name but also save acronym (USSR/СССР). This replacement never happened because of August Coup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Union_Treaty).
I remember reading a chip about how the USSR would implant criminal's brains inside of bulldozers and stuff and use them for construction
Ukraine getting their own special version with completely different lore is really funny and also a little sad when you think about it too much.
One line of police dialogue referring to the game's Scavengers faction has been altered from the English "Couldn't all these assholes bite it out in the Badlands?" to a Ukrainian phrase that translates as "Couldn't all this rusnia bite it out in the Badlands?" As Tarasov explains, "'rusnia' is a Ukrainian derogatory term for russians. Scavengers are the stereotypical Eastern European gang in the game's universe."
Adding new slurs to own the russians
The "punk" part of the cyberpunkerinos is so thoroughly bleached out that it's unbearable.
Uh, punk is just being angry and doing drugs
Idk why you have to bring politics into music
Cyberpunkerinos is about sexy sex with prosthetics and neon and helping cops and saving the president.
Considering just how stale the political views and even the aesthetics are (dae le scary 80s Japan corps), may as well call it Cyberboomer.
Fucking Watch Dogs 2 had a more convincing and thought out cyberpunk setting with some actual punk vibes.
To be fair to the setting, "scary 80s Pajan" is a core part of the 1980s conception of what Cyberpunk was, and this is an adaptation of a specific setting first created in the 1980s. I also don't think the main plot does a good job of really getting the setting across at all, as it's pretty laser-focused on V and Johnny. It's laden with side content and lore that paints a much more fleshed-out picture of the world.
I will admit the plot is kinda meh. They made a serious error having V be an apolitical dickbag for the entire plot. He's supposed to be just some average Night City low-life player stand-in, and it's entirely appropriate that you eat shit and die going up against a giant corporation, but it means that V can't properly engage with anything that Johnny is saying. Not like there are any factions to engage with anyway.
If nothing else, remember this: Yorinobu Arasaka did nothing wrong
I'd be fine with some homage/nostalgia bits if it went more past that instead of just digging in, then and there, while moving the calendar date up some decades.
I'm going to be a real asshole now and argue that the total cultural stagnation adds a bit to the bleakness of the setting and Johnny even points it out in several instances
Shadowrun, as a counter-example that you definitely can't dismiss as easily as the other one I gave, is a franchise that decade after decade, for better or for worse, does change. It can be a bleak, even dark setting, but it doesn't wallow in creativity-stifling excuses like "if nothing changes, that's actually the message. Yeah, that's the ticket." It also helps that there's a lot of urban-legend style street magic and lots of color and variety so it isn't just 1980s aesthetics forever and ever.
I know what it's doing. It's awfully convenient too, to just extend what was in the 2020s to the 2070s and say "it's the same because it's bleaker that way, maaaan."
Could have been bleaker in newer, updated ways, the way Watch Dogs 2 was, for example.
tbh I've not seen anything of Watch Dogs or its sequel that made me do anything but disregard it as shallow trash, but then again I never looked very closely. So maybe I'm just too dismissive. What's so great about it?
I think I might just be enamored by the experience of deflecting bullets with a katana and using a mag rifle to shoot people through walls or something but I really do love the setting of CP2077. I'm willing to overlook that bit of laziness and let it rest on its laurels, because I really felt they nailed the atmosphere even if it was a janky piece of shit.
tbh I've not seen anything of Watch Dogs or its sequel that made me do anything but disregard it as shallow trash,
I feel the same way about the CDPR take on the Cyberpunk franchise. I gave up playing it and watched some fairly long critical reviews instead.
What's so great about it?
I could ask the same question. I didn't say Watch Dogs 2 was high art but it was trying something other than "what if Cyberpunk setting but 50 years later with more copaganda and a lot less punk?"
I think I might just be enamored by the experience of deflecting bullets with a katana and using a mag rifle to shoot people through walls or something
That's fine and you can enjoy that all you like. I'm talking themes and messaging for the most part, not moment to moment gameplay. The game certainly is less of a chore to actually play than the Witcher series was.
What I like about CP2077 is that when you take the setting as a whole, not just as presented in the game (though visually and aurally they really do a fantastic fucking job, I really must stress that) it's basically the most purely distilled essence of the genre you can get anywhere. I'm not sure how bleak Watch Dogs 2 is, but is it "Africa and a good chunk of South Asia pretty much entirely depopulated due to starvation since no corporations wanted to invest in hydroponics skyscrapers there" bleak? Is it "rats and homeless people are mentioned in the same breath and both disposed of with nerve gas" bleak? It's so fucking ridiculously bleak that it becomes humorous, and then keeps going to become sad again, because it's so fucking believable. It's entirely believable that US intelligence agencies would just fucking coup the country and do drug wars in South America to line their pockets and strengthen their grip until it just collapses into an economically broken heap. It's disturbingly plausible that corporations would gain so much power that they engage in open warfare with each other over security contracts. It's a setting that's ridiculous and over the top and cheesy but in a way that somehow resonates deeper than one which takes itself more seriously.
There's a powerful manic energy to the setting that is barely masking a despair that runs to its deepest hollows. Articles you find discuss the horrors of companies being allowed to enforce cyberware installations like dress codes, and how it's not a big leap for them to enclose and monetize and entirely control human reproduction, creativity, and thought. It's a society that has entirely given up hope and is running out the clock in as flashy and fun a way as possible. The highest aspirations most mercs have is dying violently and gloriously, in a way that makes people remember you.
It is, in a word, Jokerfied
(Or maybe I'm just a pretentious drunken fuckwad lol)
Again, you do you. I have problematic favorites of my own, but when it comes to bleak future dystopias, I could easily find something a lot more diverse, creative, and complex that isn't so rigidly confined in the tropes under whatever excuse and dares to reach out from there, including into the supernatural. By that I mean Shadowrun as the first and most shining example, rough patches and bad editions at times and all.
I actually enjoy grim fantasy medieval settings, as a parallel example, but if the bleakness is all that there is to emphasize, I'm going to lose focus and interest fairly quickly if it isn't even going to try to reach beyond that and just wallow in it the way ASOFAI does. That's my same issue with the franchise you like; it just... stops there. It's fine if it goes there, but I want more, without any "doing more is not as bleak, we have a doctor's note to stop here" excuses.
To be clear: if it was a book I'd entirely agree. But as a giant digital diorama to fuck around in, I adore it
That's fine; just not for me. I see the plot rails way too quickly, already know what CDPR expects me to do and what typically happens if I try to step out of bounds by caring about other people too much or even try to improve society somewhat.
For very similar reasons I also tried, disliked, and stopped playing each and every Witcher game pushed on me, after multiple recommendations each time, especially for the third one. It's a subjective thing.
I wasn't asking for that.
Something can be stale to the point of being Flanderized in its own genre, which is fine and even good to some, but not to others.
part of the reason cyberpunk has remained relevant is precisely because the things it critiqued in its early days are still present today
Sure, sure, but updating almost nothing to meet the present reality (even the USSR is somewhat still existence in the game's setting) is making that "still present today" more and more vague.
That'll get em! Next time I want to hurt someone I'll say a few mean things about them in a language they don't speak in a game they can't buy.
Aren't Russian and Ukrainian so similar that they're mutually intelligible except for a few things here and there?
It's a 60% lexical similarity rate (including writing scripts) . That's like equivalent to the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese...
Oh darn I thought it was higher, but I guess a lot of Ukrainians are bilingual too
Yeah, I suppose that, especially in the Donbass, Luhansk, et Crimea regions...
When the Bandera Bucks get chargebacked because your government won't buy Ukrainian grain
I wonder if they left in the dog whistle to the right wing "FBI crime stats" trope, just to have extra solidarity with Ukraine
This makes me wonder, what's some good sourced rebuttals against the 13/50 argument? (Edit: A direct one, so to speak)
If you adjust crime stats with socioeconomic factors there is little racial disparity in crime rates within a certain economic bracket
Furthermore minorities also attract more police attention and get caught more hence higher arrest rates
Can you give me a scientific study on that, if it's fine?
Then I'd suppose you point at least one example of each for your points, because this feels like a lot to handle...
even if racially enforced poverty weren't a factor it assumes as a given that police evenly and impartially enforce the law.
I've had these saved as pictures so idk where the post is hosted, but this gives a good sourced breakdown of why that claim is wrong.
Show
Show
Show
Show
Show
At least this is something I can work with...
The studio that made translation said that "All terminology is directly agreed with the CDPR" (https://x.com/unlocteam/status/1704887560063914442?s=20)
Show
Meanwhile CDPR said: "The release version of Ukrainian localization of Cyberpunk 2077 features elements of dialogues that can be considered offensive by Russian gamers, These lines have not been written by CD PROJEKT RED staff and do not represent our views. We are working to produce correct lines and substitute them in the next update." (https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/cd-projekt-apologises-for-cyberpunk-2077-ukrainian-scripts-potentially-offensive-references-to-russians)
This likely means that 1 employee was responsible for it and did do it, however very little oversight goes into the translations and now that it's caused a problem the marketing/sales people are doing damage control because it will affect sales.
Yea but they banned sales to Russia and Belarus so idk who exactly they want to apologize to
Maybe to these types?
⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜
🟦🟦🟦 🟥🟥🟥
⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜
But I doubt it.
Edit: It has to look like shit because Lemmy doesn't allow to make it non shit.
another reason to pirate, especially games with no DRM.
But damn Russia got SO owned here.
So not only did they fuck over builds and skill trees. (Firing a weapon uses stamina? Like WTF. Separating pistols into a completely seperate branch in cool away from the rest of the guns forcing you to pick a dedicated style instead of a hybrid well rounded char.) They went Oops! All Nazis!
I think I'l just finish my playthrough on the 1.63 beta patch on Steam and forget PL. The more I hear about this 2.0 thing, the more
I get with the direction they went.The guns are split between Body, Reflex, Cool, and Tech actually, with Intelligence being devoted totally to quickhacks
It is honestly a hell of a lot better than the original system they had.
I genuinely am, but for the exact opposite reasons conservatives are. They think everything is being controlled by jewish communists when in fact it's just liberal brainworms. Every time I see a game about "fighting megacorporations" I just assume it's another shitty game about spray painting an anarchist A while some quippy millennial character cracks jokes over your earpiece, and the megacorporation CEO is some 2010 hipster beard having ass who also acts like the world is his stand up routine audience
the megacorporation CEO is some 2010 hipster beard having ass who also acts like the world is his stand up routine audience
Best I can do is a Gen-Xer with a literal neckbeard who acts like the world is his stand up routine audience and throws billion dollar tantrums if people don't laugh.
USSR didn't dissolve in Cyberpunk universe.
