Permadeath

[Altanese]

I just spent weeks and weeks getting good at this game, checking in multiple times a day, and generally building up my character slowly but surely. Then, a streak of bad luck. VERY bad luck. I'm talking failures on multiple roles with 80% or greater chance of success. Suddenly, the game treats me to several pages worth of telling me I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up (which I didn't bother reading cause I knew what was coming) and suddenly 'lol you died, hope your successor does better'

No. There will be no successor. I'm not going to play any more. Not on that account, and not on the second account which I spent actual real money to unlock a couple weeks ago. I don't care, cause what's the point if a random ♥♥♥♥♥♥ roll will permadeath them?

The game already has a pay to win system with credits allowing better rolls at things and unlocking content that is above what you would get without paying. Why wouldn't they extend that to escaping the stupid permadeath system?

And before the inevitable fanbois fall all over themselves to tell me how wrong I am for being upset at having 50+ hours of my time wasted, let me intercept your comments and respond to them pre-emptively:

"The risk of permadeath makes it fun"
Makes it fun for you, maybe. Don't force others into your narrow expectations for what is otherwise a very good game.

"But subverting permadeath takes away fun for me"
How? I'm only saying make it an option, not give everyone free revives. If you're too weak-willed to not accept the option if it's presented to you, then that sounds like a you problem.

"Wow you sure are mad over this, it's just a game"
Why are you telling me how I should feel about a game I spent time and money on?

"Have you tried getting better?"
Did you not read my post or do you suffer from some sort of brain damage that impairs cognitive thought? I spent a lot of time getting good, it was just ♥♥♥♥♥♥ luck that did me in.

And finally the inevitable-
"The game says not to get too attached to your character"
Thank you for your helpful input. You've really opened my eyes and made everything so much better. /s Seriously though, I am aware that permadeath was always a chance. That's why I was always fairly cautious in everything I did. It's how I survived that long. My second account I opened was purely for fun to try and do way riskier options just to see what would happen. I never thought my cautious, skilled, experienced character would die unless it was in one of the few high-stakes scenarios I got into, not some random ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fluke of luck.

tl;dr Please add in a way to avoid permadeath, developers. Make it wildly expensive, like 100 credits or something. More money for you, more fun for fans.

[One Shot]

Wow you must be really disappointed with the game and everything you say is pretty much true.
Permadeath in this game is pretty much your character dies and have to play it from the beginning again and again which is a waste of time. If you were to spend credits on a alt character, it's not going to make a difference when you going spend even more time making your character better.
This question if someone were to ask this"Have you tried getting better?"is silly like how do expect people to get better when percentage of actions are very low and you could easily fail the same thing all over again and again which is very frustrating.
This one as well "The risk of permadeath makes it fun" no means no it ain't fun at all because now you have to do play the game all over again. Waste of time and Waste of everything.
I'm curious did you spend 50 hours on one character or alt character? and if so how did your character die? Posioned, Got shot by a gun, or overdose on drugs or something else.

[SLOWpoke]

I'm fairly new. but doesn't having a 'crash team' help if you die? Sorry if I'm wrong, I admit there's a lot about the game that I don't fully understand yet. I can relate to your pain, I hate dying too. I'm doing the same as you, going slow and building my character...if I die I don't know if I'll keep playing, especially if its a series of bad rolls. lol

[Renoehe]

When you die you get a resource called "Following in Another's Footsteps" that gives you various options to speed up your progress (such as inheriting your last character's home properties) and also boosts your base stats from the get go, making things easier. There are also subtle things that speed up, like you seem to meet characters faster (after I revived I no longer needed to meet Smith through Dusty's questline, the ethanol plant just unlocked) and also more explicit things (I had the option to skip the storyline where you get kidnapped and lose 3 days completely). Some things are only unlocked after your first death also.

There are options to avoid death and they are in the game, such as the revival clause (?) from the backstreet clinic but I don't know much about them since I've only died once. The crash team mentioned above probably also helps. So you can actually buy into escaping death from ordinary stuff, just like you want. It seems you didn't get far enough to see that stuff though.

[falcata]

Out of curiosity did you die during a showdown with Zane? I was wondering if that might be the case based on you saying you had played for a few weeks. Things went fairly smooth for me with the slums hunt & my character killed both him and one of his henchmen, but the text of that questline seems to suggest the possibility of permadeath, and from reading some posts here it sounds like the street war option could be more difficult if you don't have the right teams.

I haven't had my character die yet outside of an intentional & early suicide to reroll some things, but the Revival Clause purchase from the Backstreet Clinic seems like a way to prevent permadeath. You get access to that purchase fairly early on & when you should have, or be close to getting, a windfall from finding the fuel tanker out in the Borderlands.

The description suggests something like Trauma Team from the Cyberpunk series, and that it would revive your character at the cost of rerolling certain stats. Maybe someone who used it can weigh in the exact effects?

[KillerNexus]

Taking serious choices lightly can and will lead to death. That's why you work hard to develop yourself. If you ignore bad things they get worse and can make other bad things worse, shinning in rolls you will have to make. Your cautious character obviously wasn't cautious or perceptive enough to do what you were trying to do, without risk. Which means next time you know that you need to take things a little more seriously so you don't get killed or die to menaces. If you quit and miss your chance to get your next character good enough to overcome and possibly see the other side of that roll, then that's on you. Wanting no feed back on a post here in discussions, also kinda defeats the purpose of posting here.

[AnUnculturedLittlePotato]

Listen m8, maybe the game just isn't for you then? Not every game is meant to be enjoyed by everyone, that doesn't make it a bad game that you can't enjoy it.

[SLOWpoke]

For those even newer to the game than me, reading this thread about dying and feeling nervous, I just want to mention a few things you can do.

Wearing certain clothing can really affect your circumstances, dress for the situation. Check clothes and accessories in the shops for ones that have skill bonuses. ie resilience helps how you take damage, flirtation to get your way, etc.

Take showers and stretch in the gym, after waking each new day, to replenish many stat boosts.

Use the mood cards in your inventory to gain important temporary bonuses, and to increase skill-ups. Doing 'shake it up' can give some great boosts.

Test and note which drugs give the bonus effects you want, they often have negative repercussions too so be judicious.

Check through your medical equipment, some are helpful for more than wounds and such, ie surgical tape gives temporary fighting bonuses.

Some weapons have handy bonuses and negative repercussions on them, be mindful what you have activated.

Certain foods can give you helpful bonuses to things like stamina, handy when you are chasing or being chased. Don't just eat ready-made foods, get in the habit of creating meals that give bonuses but also clean up afterwards for even more bonuses.

Be mindful of what you have activated in Equipment, some can really affect your outcomes.

Use your phone to call friends, often you can get bonuses and skill-ups.

Build your crew and create teams that can help you get out of dangerous situations.

Don't skimp on going to school and working on your body in the Dojo and Gym, they often result in great bonuses, both temporary and permanent.

Don't walk around hurt. As you get knocked around by the game, don't let anything get beyond 2 or 3 for any extended period of time, especially injuries.

Try to avoid conflicts when you have wounds and broken bones that are still healing, the negative effects can really hamper your outcomes. It's a great time to go to school.

I want to stress again, wearing the wrong outfit in the wrong situation can really affect the outcome. *Note that some clothing or items have effects not openly listed on them, check in equipment tab and your character skills for hidden repercussions.

Hope that helps a little, I'm sure people can add lots of other things

[falcata]

Speaking of outfits, what exactly is the loaded up stat? I noticed that appears on at least one pair of boots my character owns. Is that encumbrance?

[Sador]

Originally posted by falcata:

Speaking of outfits, what exactly is the loaded up stat? I noticed that appears on at least one pair of boots my character owns. Is that encumbrance?

Heavy weaponry or clothes you're carrying.

[Snefu]

ngl this is pretty cringe lmao. You honestly just sound like a mad kid with your whole "let me intercept your comments and respond to them pre-emptively" as if you knew you were going to sound like a brat

[AyeBraine]

I just wanted to say that the most frustrating moments in this game is exactly when you stop reading the cards and get into a rut, trying to push it into submission. This happens when things are not great, or especially if you're in a binge. It's kind of similar to people who stop making rational decisions in life (in a simulator-like fashion).

The worst, most frustrating moments I had with the game mostly were during binges when I tried to get to the result despite the game, auto-clicking through annoying cards (and there are moments where you're showered with annoying cards — mostly because of unresolved problems before, i.e. rushing, fighting mechanics, etc.). This causes a downward spiral, just like losing your temper in a TBS game like XCOM or a strategy simulator. It's no fun.

CPD is basically a caution simulator, all said and done.

[Sador]

Another reason skimping on reading is a bad idea is that cards can have drastically different outcomes. Some cards have rare(-ish) results that'll let you get to new story, meet new NPCs, have new opportunities etc. even on cards you've probably read a bunch of times before. If you stop reading them, you'll miss out on this stuff entirely.

[Attelso]

Truly its you who are dragging your expectations down on others. The developers wanted to make a perma death game, you KNEW it was a perma death game, yet you continued to play and then complained that it has perma death.

The "It doesnt hurt you if perma death is removed" argument is so tiresome.

Not every game has to cater to every player, I dont go on hello kitty island forums and complain theres no perma death in their game and complain they dont cater to me.

If you dont like perma death then stop playing perma death game, stop being upset that the game doesnt cater to you, I will also not complain in other games that theres no perma death modes.

[Blackdog420]

Originally posted by Attelso:

Truly its you who are dragging your expectations down on others. The developers wanted to make a perma death game, you KNEW it was a perma death game, yet you continued to play and then complained that it has perma death.

The "It doesnt hurt you if perma death is removed" argument is so tiresome.

Not every game has to cater to every player, I dont go on hello kitty island forums and complain theres no perma death in their game and complain they dont cater to me.

If you dont like perma death then stop playing perma death game, stop being upset that the game doesnt cater to you, I will also not complain in other games that theres no perma death modes.

cool

[geolgren]

Super funny post and interesting discussion/responses! I have been building a character for a few months now and was starting to worry that the whole 'difficult game/permadeath possible/choices matter' thing was overblown and a honey trap for oldschool masocore gamers and choose-your-own-adventure enthusiasts like my nerdy self. Like, scratching my head and wondering if all the nailbiting and bullet-sweating I've been doing over my choices and trying to learn the <system> to effectively ride the risk/reward curve was... just me being a gullible gamer got swept up in some hype. I read this post and subsequent discussion and felt relief. OK, so it IS hard and very possible to get yourself de-rezzed from the cyberpunk apocalypse... tho maybe not as hard as Fallout games because no save points. That's really good by me. I've mellowed a bit since my masocore heyday when 'Bring the pain!' was my battlecry.

I've so far been shot twice in the Projects, roughed up countless times by street thugs that can't figure out how to do permanent damage with their beatdowns and will forever appear in my mind's eye as the gang fight scene from Grease (more dancing than lacerating), I've been poisoned with toxic waste and smart mined so many times I earned the Deep Bruising wound condition... which takes like 6 straight failed checks that go bad the same way. All of which is to say, I really don't think I've been that cautious at all. But I avoid slippery slopes, which is really the danger on offer in CPD - that you won't take any hint that you need to dial it back/do sth different and maybe actively manage your most festery risks for a second.

Case in point: one of the closest calls I ever had was after a beatdown by some street scum because I didn't realize I was bleeding out and that, shucks, that situation will go downhill really fast if you just spend a couple actions doing anything drawing cards. Pay attention to the warnings you receive from the game! It gets a lot less dangerous if you do.

The issue of not reading the cards after the 50th time drawing the same one is real, and telling players not to skim the same block of text after the 50th time in case the 51st time is a rare outcome seems... unrealistic. I try to train my eyes to check for new text at the bottom of each outcome, but Devs could also consider sth simple that checks if the player has encountered this outcome before, perhaps coloring a previously viewed tile a different shade than one the player has never seen before. Fantastic game!