I haven't played since launch, what's changed?

[MRboss11]

I played and finished the game when it first came out, more or less 100% aside from the police help side quests. Could I get a rundown of the main things that they have added since then?

[yahboi1988]

Dude It's way too much to list. They have been updating it since it released. New gigs, side jobs, cars, bikes, weapons, gameplay, ect, ect. I recommend starting a new game instead of loading an old one. The base game story is the same and has only had the bugs fixed (No more Hanako bodyguards with their face floating away).

[orcaa]

Originally posted by yahboi1988:

Dude It's way too much to list. They have been updating it since it released. New gigs, side jobs, cars, bikes, weapons, gameplay, ect, ect. I recommend starting a new game instead of loading an old one. The base game story is the same and has only had the bugs fixed (No more Hanako bodyguards with their face floating away).

The Op wants people to provide a rundown of the main things that they have added instead of doing the research on their own ( youtube, streamers, reading patch notes, etc )

[vram1974]

Everything. Everything is changed and it's so much better. The launch was a thumbs down for me, the current version is one of the best Next gen games on the market.

[Synopse]

Just play it, the game is complete now.

[Defective Dopamine Pez Dispenser]

I'm one of the few outliers who feels the fundamental experience at its utmost core hasn't substantially changed. But there's enough small changes that cumulatively, the experience is enhanced and can feel different to people returning to the game. (Though I still feel the degree to which this is true is a bit exaggerated. But then, I also loved the game on day one. So if someone didn't, and really, really loves the changes, then I guess I can see their experience feeling more profoundly transformed, though.)

But off the top of my head:

• Totally overhauled police. They don't spawn in right in front of you anymore (usually,) can actually pursue you in cars now, etc.
  
• Vehicular combat has been added.
  
• Playable arcade games in the world.
  
• More purchasable apartments.
  
• The Phantom Liberty expansion, which is a massive new area of the city with its own story content and side content.
  
• Totally revamped progression trees, rebalancing of perks, changes to gameplay flow/feel etc.
  
• Improved vehicle handling (though some say they still don't like it.)
  
• New upscaling implementations, optimization, performance, stability patches, etc.
  
• NPCs no longer unload when you look away from them and are persistent. They also react more realistically and will fight back sometimes if attacked, etc.
  
• Changes (the full nature of which I can't recall right now) to romantic encounters which can be had in your apartment(s) now.
  
• Rideable NCART tram.
  
• New enemy gang encounters.

Tons of other minor changes as well.

[CoffeeBro]

OP, the game is one of the best games ever. I recommend a playthrough, then again and again.

[Simbolic]

It's way better then it was before it went through alot of significant changes.

[Amanoob105]

I only started playing this game about a month ago, yet even I can tell that this game was almost remade from the ground up at some point.
This is most obvious when trying to look up any sort of advice or guide on YouTube as any video from 2 or more years ago (which by all accounts is most of them) now contain information that is effectively worthless.

[Maviba]

Originally posted by MRboss11:

I played and finished the game when it first came out, more or less 100% aside from the police help side quests. Could I get a rundown of the main things that they have added since then?

A lot has changed but the plot.
New content was added, old got polished. the crafting system got an overhaul.

Too many changes to mention here. So better try it for yourself and find out.

[Defective Dopamine Pez Dispenser]

Originally posted by Amanoob105:

I only started playing this game about a month ago, yet even I can tell that this game was almost remade from the ground up at some point.
This is most obvious when trying to look up any sort of advice or guide on YouTube as any video from 2 or more years ago (which by all accounts is most of them) now contain information that is effectively worthless.

I mean... again I know this makes me an outlier, and obviously "feel" is very subjective ... but it doesn't feel that way in actual practice to me though, as someone who's been playing since day one.

Factually, what you just said is all true. Tons of character build stuff, perk tree stuff, specific minutia, etc. are all totally different, things have been totally rebalanced, etc. But in actual practice... I don't know, it still feels at its core like the same game to me. Walking around the city and living in this world and playing through its story and missions do not feel profoundly transformed to me, even though I can see the changes in character build and so forth obviously.

I note and am appreciative of the changes. But outside of the paid expansion, everything still just feels more or less like it always did to me in terms of my moment to moment experiencing of the world. It's not like I booted up the game after the updates and thought to myself, "Omg this is a totally different game now! It's like a whole new experience!" You know?

Which... for me, is awesome. I loved the game in its original state, never had the issues many people seem to have had with it, outside of some broken perks and perks not matching their descriptions functionally, etc. The game was stable for me, and delivered what I expected from it, and I enjoyed it from day one. So for me all these changes were just gravy on top of a game I already absolutely loved.

The changes I appreciate the most, honestly, are just having more places to live, and little immersive touches like the rideable NCART. Things like that are great and do give me more to do to just experience the world. Which was one of the few things I felt the game in its original state lacked.

But those things are kind of extraneous to core experience of the story and missions, and if someone's major critiques of the game at launch (which I never shared, since I loved it the way it was) was that they felt it lacked roleplay flexibility, or didn't have enough choice and consequence (which, again, I don't agree with that critique personally, I always felt it was less than TW3 had, but still significant,) or that Lifepaths didn't affect things dynamically enough, or that consumables and healing items weren't really necessary or well utilized enough, or that there weren't really any sort of inter-factional dynamics for the most part, or NPCs weren't all scripted ala an Elder Scrolls game, etc. etc. ...

... those things haven't really changed fundamentally in ways that provide a, "Holy crap, this is all totally different now!" feeling imo. Nor did I expect or want them to personally, but I just don't want to give people the impression that they have who might come back to it thinking that's the case.

No doubt, a ton of work has been done, and I don't want to come off as unappreciative of it. I'm honestly astounded by how much they've done to a game I already thought was great. I just want to provide an alternative pov for people who might not feel the game has changed as dramatically as the popular consensus makes it out to have.

It never needed a redemption arc (except on base last gen consoles) in my eyes, and the changes made haven't "made it good" or transformed it for me. They've just added some dynamism and sizzle to some of the things to see and do between the main content of the game's characters and story imo.

But, that's just me. And since I loved the game on day one, I probably just don't appreciate some of the changes as much as those who wanted overhauls to some of the other systems in the game do. YMMV, as always.

[-VonKeRo-]

Just play the game and find out.

[Zero McDol]

Originally posted by orcaa:

Originally posted by yahboi1988:

Dude It's way too much to list. They have been updating it since it released. New gigs, side jobs, cars, bikes, weapons, gameplay, ect, ect. I recommend starting a new game instead of loading an old one. The base game story is the same and has only had the bugs fixed (No more Hanako bodyguards with their face floating away).

The Op wants people to provide a rundown of the main things that they have added instead of doing the research on their own ( youtube, streamers, reading patch notes, etc )

Well, it's not as if we don't have a Events & Announcements section that accurately provides all of the info that the OP is looking for, so yea I agree.

[Northwold]

I would say beyond stability / performance changes, the biggest changes are as follows:

- Skills and perks have been completely redesigned, including abilities that didn't exist before. You can now have builds with much more specialised abilities than before.

- The way cyberware works has changed significantly. You now have a set capacity for cyberware that increases as you move through the game, and your armour comes from cyberware, not clothes. Clothing in the game is now, with a handful of exceptions, purely cosmetic.

- Some new features have been added such as repeatable car racing.

- The way gigs work has been radically redesigned. Fixers now only make available a couple of gigs at a time, with more difficult gigs becoming available as you level up your street cred and complete the easier ones. Personally, I think this change was a mistake because it forces you to do some of the more boring gigs and softens the joy of exploring the world and randomly picking up new content (because there is less content to pick up at any given time), but I can see why they did it.

- The police system has been overhauled so there are now five tiers of response the more you mess about, with Maxtac turning up if you go completely psycho.

- Hacking has been overhauled, including new hacks such as vehicle quick hacks, and a skill tree unlockable ability to "overclock", using your health to give you more RAM.

- Vehicle combat now exists beyond the previous very limited examples.

- There is now the option to use path tracing for graphics if your hardware is up to it (although it's an experimental tech so sometimes does funny things with some textures).

Almost all the changes, I'd say, have taken what I thought was the excellent story base of the original launch game and enhanced gameplay / made the game run more smoothly. If you had a smooth experience first time round (and I did and loved it), what I think they add is a more active, more engaged, prettier experience in the open world.

Plus an iguana.

[Gibbo]

Also you can skip the start with Jackie and dive straight into Phantom Liberty. Also with PL you get some new cyberdecks. Some iconic.

[Ruben_101]

you still can't f liz peralez...