Cyberpunk 2077

[SteveGrabowski]

“Coping” about a video game? Lol, no. Just getting a kick out of all the ridiculousness surrounding this. One guy on a different forum, or here, can’t remember, went so far as to call CDPR evil .. give me a break. If this is what evil looked like then the world would be in pretty great shape. Anyway all started in this thread because of an offhand “crying about it” remark after posting a summary of the patch notes. Apologies to those that remark set off.

Great news about the save bug btw ... fixed, no need to accept it or not accept it as normal.

That was me. I said conning people was evil. And that game most certainly was a con on last gen systems.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

these glitches and collision bugs are no different than what we are still seeing in Skyrim, 9 years after launch. is Skyrim still not one of the most popular, most critically acclaimed, and best selling games of all time?
i don't recall massive amounts of people requesting Skyrim refunds back in 2011 (2012 actually...) however for FO76 i do.

did anybody say Fallout 2077 yet?

I heard Skyrim was a mess on PS3 but don't know the extent since I only played it on 360. The game was great on 360 when I played it a month after launch. Skyrim on 360 didn't have ten second loads on textures, you weren't stuck looking at LODs constantly, it didn't crash much if at all, the performance felt pretty even, and about the worst thing I could say about the game is the savefiles seemed to get big, which was especially noticeable on a 20GB drive. Skyrim on console was never a completely broken game the way Cyberpunk is on PS4/XB1.

 

[Avalon]

to be fair, FO76 also had a lot of other issues...like apparently being a complete turd of a game with nothing to do, right? Honestly, I didn't play it but I never saw a review that didn't describe an empty, boring world that forced this PvP thing that never worked. My nephew loves everything Fallout, and he hated it after a day.

FO76 had massive design issues at launch. It was a nice open world, but there was nothing to do except fetch quests. PvP was broken and lame. There were no human NPCs to talk to, only robots, since you were the first folks to leave a vault. That meant no factions, and the robots all looked the same. They've fixed some of the issues with DLC, so it's at least somewhat enjoyable now, but the quests are still very lazy for the most part.

 

[balbogun]

Just finished the game. That was... an incredible experience. The bugs were a shame, but they never bothered me that much. I would have been willing a few more months, though. Still, I definitely enjoyed the game. And had I not also played Disco Elysium this year, it would easily have taken the spot as best written game I played this year.

 

[Racan]

last night, I did notice a HUGE change in the same conversation, depending on your sequence of responses (so, no difference with street cred or any previous interactions).

Main quest line:

Spoiler

When you're meeting with Takemura and scouting the Arasaka plant to infiltrate it and plant a ...uh, hack or something on the Arasaka daughter's float in the upcoming parade. You follow him up to the construction tower across the street, and have a long conversation as part of it. I had gone through this bit the evening before, saved near the end of it--walking down to the ground to being the infiltration, and then quit. ...so I loaded it last night at that point, and was kinda confused because I didn't recall what I was supposed to do, so I reloaded from the beginning to go back through the conversation. After choosing what were a couple of different blue comments, which were actually "antagonistic" in my mind, he opened up and started talking about a lot of relevant backstory that, I think, opened up a new branchline for side missions. ...and, I already forget the details, lol. Maybe I need to stop playing this game when "a bit" stoned. Anyway, it struck me as a bit nuts because I'm not used to games like this opening up huge bits of information and options like that, just from otherwise mundane conversation sequences, that are dependent on the choices you make. ...That's what is always promised anyway, right? I think it's actually happening in this game, haha.

Spoiler

That was a great mission, and playing as a corpo I had a unique solution for this mission

Spoiler

convinced the guards I was still working at Arasaka and was on a surprise inspection, so basically I walked in there unabated until I planted the bug lol

 

[zinfamous]

Spoiler

That was a great mission, and playing as a corpo I had a unique solution for this mission

Spoiler

convinced the guards I was still working at Arasaka and was on a surprise inspection, so basically I walked in there unabated until I planted the bug lol

yep, I'm finding that even as the game space opens up for you--serious piece of advice: get your jumpy legs ASAP. It is absolutely worth the cost, because it really opens up the verticality in this game, and your options to a serious degree, and none of it feels "cheap"--kinda like how Saint's Row "4" is really just an elaborate DLC for the previous one, that uses the exact same map but just gives you "god powers" as an excuse to just break everything and play through basically the same missions using permanent console mode, lol. To contrast in CP, where the city map and missions are carefully designed to exploit the levels, but also not to make it either too powerful, or feel like you were missing out that much if you don't. Still, it changes things...if for no other reason that the driving is so bad and so...pointless in this game, that you realize that it is best avoided. Double Jump and sprinting actually let's you clear more straight paths in this game, quicker, than a lot of city driving otherwise makes you take--the minimap path hints though...still don't really work for walking, haha. you usually have to ignore that and, especially when you can start jumping, make your own way. And as you clear out crime events and muggings in those spaces, it opens up even more for quick travel...which also will very slowly level up athletics. I have no points in that tree, so it's like free juice. The city map actually starts to get really annoying, and even lazy in a way "it's just compact and dense in spots, to make it "feel bigger," maybe, so going around in constant loops to get somewhere feels cheap (forced to drive)...until you start being able to just run fast and fluidly across the city at a time....and across rooftops through a lot of major areas. It's actually really well done

So, finding new clever ways just to start a mission, you can sneak around warehouses, avoid a lot until the mini boss....but then learn that if you had snuck in a different way, could have taken care of that boss/not hurt or killed some person attached to that boss....in a more beneficial way, hah. you don't get those details going in to some missions, which I like. You will have an optional task, but sometimes there are other "lacking in information" events that happen within that mission, that you simply can't know unless you take an entirely different approach. It's small details, but it does add depth to each gig or event that you might otherwise think start to get cookie-gutter, as they do in most such games.

 

[bguile]

So, finding new clever ways just to start a mission, you can sneak around warehouses, avoid a lot until the mini boss....but then learn that if you had snuck in a different way, could have taken care of that boss/not hurt or killed some person attached to that boss....in a more beneficial way, hah. you don't get those details going in to some missions, which I like. You will have an optional task, but sometimes there are other "lacking in information" events that happen within that mission, that you simply can't know unless you take an entirely different approach. It's small details, but it does add depth to each gig or event that you might otherwise think start to get cookie-gutter, as they do in most such games.

Yea, they did a good job with designing multiple ways in and out of buildings for side missions, and lots of time you don't even notice them till its after the fact.

 

[Racan]

Yea, they did a good job with designing multiple ways in and out of buildings for side missions, and lots of time you don't even notice them till its after the fact.

I think Cyberpunk 2077 does this much better than the last two Deus Ex games where you had ridiculous man sized vent holes all over the place, that was poor design IMO.

 

[DigDog]

oh heck, i decided that why not, i too can play Cyberpunk77.

so i got Deus Ex Mankind Divided. it's the same thing, no?

 

[cytg111]

Im trying to like this game a lot but they are making it hard.
Decided to start over and level up some before going down the main quest route, cause ass spanked once and all that.
Quests.
What the actual. Having to google solutions to your current situation is not ideal.

Read shard "farewell" on the attacker.
Attacker has no shard.
Google.
Shard is on vic1.
I am looking at vic17.
Backtrack to vic1, that you did not kill your self, thus is NOT an "attacker".
Vic1 has some stuff, but cant grab it.
Cant pick up vic1 and move him.
Cant grenade vic1 to move him.
Cant do * with vic1 actually.
Quest clustered.

Its stuff like this.
What were they thinking? Its not ready.

 

[zinfamous]

oh heck, i decided that why not, i too can play Cyberpunk77.

so i got Deus Ex Mankind Divided. it's the same thing, no?

I call the modern Deus Ex games "expensive tidying up simulators"

So, if you like moving boxes around filthy apartments that you've snuck into, then you will probably love Deus Ex, especially MD.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ok, so one of my friends just gifted my CP2077 through Steam, so I might be playing this sooner than I anticipated...

 

[DigDog]

I call the modern Deus Ex games "expensive tidying up simulators"

So, if you like moving boxes around filthy apartments that you've snuck into, then you will probably love Deus Ex, especially MD.

i'm quite liking it and have had to move very few boxes. Maybe a couple of trash cans to jump on.
But, i like the combat, and the stealth too. I'm terribad at stealth games, but i like this one.
Aside from my snarky post, how do you feel DXMD and CP77 compare?

I know that CP77 is bigger, but when it comes to sneaking around an enemy and then shooting your way out, how do the two compare?
Do the augmentations work similar in CP77 and DX? Or is CP more of .. Dungeons & Dragons "i got blades on my arm" combat thing?

 

[zinfamous]

i'm quite liking it and have had to move very few boxes. Maybe a couple of trash cans to jump on.
But, i like the combat, and the stealth too. I'm terribad at stealth games, but i like this one.
Aside from my snarky post, how do you feel DXMD and CP77 compare?

I know that CP77 is bigger, but when it comes to sneaking around an enemy and then shooting your way out, how do the two compare?
Do the augmentations work similar in CP77 and DX? Or is CP more of .. Dungeons & Dragons "i got blades on my arm" combat thing?

the combat in both seems a bit similar, in that it just doesn't feel that impactful? I never played DX games as run and gun, so I generally go stealth as well, but even so, the combat in CP77 is a bit more actiony and fluid, which is nice, but like DX the gun play just doesn't feel right, if you know what I mean. Compared to straight-up shooters, aiming/shooting/impact have always felt flat in these games. CP77 is like that, but I feel like the engagements are much larger, and there is more of a focus on drawing you into the action, even if you are stealthy, unlike how DX combat is generally arranged.

the mele/blade work is about what you expect...not great in FP, or maybe I just think that about all such games that do it this way. I haven't even purchased the mantis blades yet, so haven't used them once, haha, mainly because it strikes me as no different than using a sword (you can augment those mods, though, to have different damage type effects, but otherwise the 4 arm mods don't have any specific level pathing within them--though main attributes in your skill system will boost one of each general damage type). I've been using the monowire (barely....it's just like swatting a whip around in front of you....I couldn't figure out what to do with it, as I recall early video showing them use it to lasso and stun people at a distance, or fry them...so I don't know if that just isn't in the game, or I haven't spent time learning how to use it) and the arm rocket homing thingy....kinda useless so far. the tranq darts on the arm cannon were supposedly granting one-shot kills at first (knock someone out is "perma disable" as far as the game is concerned. they don't wake back up), and then you could actually kill them once knocked out and get double credit for the takedown--that might still be happening but I haven't gotten a tranq dart to really work, so maybe they fixed that. Dunno.

There is a lot of itemization, on top of just the skill tree systems, and I think it's done pretty well: armor skin system is pretty good, if you're into dressup. The stats aren't really that diverse, so all armor is pretty much the same couple of things. Your cyberware has a lot of diversity, though, and limited slots per class of cyberware, that really change up how you play because certain types of features (Say, you want to go power, or more reflex/stealth) on some gear are skill-locked at higher levels. swapping skills is quite expensive, too.

smart weapons are kinda neat, but I haven't used them much (they home and track targets around cover, and do it really well. super casual playstyle, but kinda fits in this world so it doesn't bother me. ...and you also have to deal with enemies using that tech against you, so it makes things interesting.) you can replace your cyberdeck (basically teh device that allows your standard hacking tricks, and then mod slots that allow for all of your various system and enemy hacks--so it's own internal skill system), with a select couple of mods that just focus on specific assault skills (handguns/rifles vs the power/mele/brawler/shotgun style), so you can truly go all-assault or all-hack/stealth if you want. Later in leveling, doing both actually does work pretty well (this is hard to do in early game, say the first 15-20 levels). on-the-fly enemy hacking in combat is actually pretty decent. You have to hold your "hack menu" to access it, and it does turn to super-slow, or not depending the state of action, so you can get used to working through it while fighting, but also not cheesing things buy having it be an effective "pause action" menu. you can equip skills that just shut down function of enemy netrunners, which is very useful, put points into skills and equip mods that limit their ability to attack you.

it has a lot of just "in the world" node hacking exactly like in DX: basically get crafting item bits and cash. sometimes mods (if you put some skill points into it). So the skill and item system overall, I think, allows for some really diverse playstyles if you want to stay faithful to one method, completely switch up to another, or even do the combo. I think DX was very similar to that; but the battle maps in DX are more "on rails" with very specific, obvious paths marked out for you to make the "Stealth run," and in those maps, there really were few options to do that in each map. you just could not stealth through without accessing vent B, for example. It's not like that in CP77--it is just a much more open map (even the random "Stop crime" events that you happen on to, some can be very long with very diverse "trapped open warehouse" sort of maps, and each sequence can allow you to cover/shoot run and gun or stabby, or sneak, gank, knockout, hack, whatever. It's just more...open. Well, it really is an open world game, and it does do it very well. ...and the double jumping. Can't say enough about how learning to just run and jump through the whole city changes one's perspective on the game. (the driving is that bad, and should be avoided if not for the well-selected, moody, perfect soundtracks on the available radio stations).

This, on top of the more open flow, just easy trick into the cinematic mission and story sequences. You never feel like you are "activating" a mission. You just walk up to the people on your quest marker and the conversation is available or already happening. You can explore in a normal amount of space as you hold these conversations (say, you leave the room, which you can, it won't work, as it wouldn't in real life), but you can explore the room. This isn't anything completely new of course, but it feels more natural in CP77 than I have seen before. The dialogue responses if you are a goon like me and just have to select ALL of the additional options, aren't as broken/awkward as they tend to be, so that's a little bit better (you know, holding a natural conversation with an NPC...but then shuffling back through the menu to ask that one final piece of non-necessary line, when it was well past that point in the conversation, heh), still not perfect, but you also don't get a whole lot of additional dialogue options.

You DO get a lot of primary dialogue options, which are the ones that lock you into a path that could actually determine the progress with that story or more that character, and these have been pretty consequential and, I imagine, do make for some very different playthroughs for different character types. You can't bed anyone just because you want to. The main characters actually have PREFERENCES in their mates. Imagine that! In fact, I'm finding that sexy moments in CP77 are far less common than they were in The Witcher games--mainly, yes, because you can't just bed any of the main options at any one time, but also because there are just less brothels as far as I can tell (the city really is pretty well divided by actual neighborhood characteristics, so yeah--your brothels or dollhouses or whatever, really only in one specific area, and there are only a few options). ...but the sexy times are quite impressive indeed. Indeed....

 

[MrSquished]

Investors are now suing over Cyberpunk https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020...tors-sue-company-over-cyberpunk-2077-debacle/

 

[cytg111]

Ah man .. Im really getting into this game, holy moses a good story.

Why oh why did they have to screw it up with all the bugs and small brainfarts?

If you factor out the bugs, this, so far, is the game of the decade ... century?

Every time I quit the game its because some bug is too much to cope with.
The story keeps pulling me back.

It should be criminal to taint such a master piece with ... a lack of QC.

One of many brainfarts : Having to craft your own ammo from dismantling the guns you pick up ... why cant I just pick up the bullets I need them now, I am in a firefight and out of bullets, I have no time to craft!! <- Right? Wrong. You can craft anything at anytime between two frames of the game.
But it is tedious, the constant maintenance of inventory and farming...

Ignore that for a second, this is the first game where the acting is really punching through the screen from the movies into your AAA game. Holy F*.

We should have waited another 6 months .. paid the double, still been worth it.

 

[zinfamous]

Ah man .. Im really getting into this game, holy moses a good story.

Why oh why did they have to screw it up with all the bugs and small brainfarts?

If you factor out the bugs, this, so far, is the game of the decade ... century?

Every time I quit the game its because some bug is too much to cope with.
The story keeps pulling me back.

It should be criminal to taint such a master piece with ... a lack of QC.

One of many brainfarts : Having to craft your own ammo from dismantling the guns you pick up ... why cant I just pick up the bullets I need them now, I am in a firefight and out of bullets, I have no time to craft!! <- Right? Wrong. You can craft anything at anytime between two frames of the game.
But it is tedious, the constant maintenance of inventory and farming...

Ignore that for a second, this is the first game where the acting is really punching through the screen from the movies into your AAA game. Holy F*.

We should have waited another 6 months .. paid the double, still been worth it.

yeah, that was one of my first bummer moments in the game: "why can't I just have a "Take ammo" button when hovering over gun? er how about "dismantle" button, at least?

but yeah, the story stuff has a way of drawing you in. it varies in some ways that I haven't seen other games do before: the montages, lol. those are....something.

 

[cytg111]

yeah, that was one of my first bummer moments in the game: "why can't I just have a "Take ammo" button when hovering over gun? er how about "dismantle" button, at least?

but yeah, the story stuff has a way of drawing you in. it varies in some ways that I haven't seen other games do before: the montages, lol. those are....something.

Also. Not Woke. Thank god.

 

[hardhat]

I've gotta say, this is the first game in a long time that I actually feel pulling me in to play again and thinking about during other activities. I like the story. I think the voice acting is great. I REALLY like the atmosphere, and variety. If I didn't get through at least the heist mission I would have thought the game wasn't very good as the starting areas and side quests are pretty bland. But once I got past the starting area (as a street kid) I found so many different unique areas, things to do, and memorable characters. The world is full of awesome experiences that explain the world, like the sharpshooting challenge with the 6th street gang. I didn't have any idea what they stood for. Or finding the group trying to fix a roller coaster. Very simple quest, but awesome experience (with Johnny beside me).

I mean, the game's got problems, especially on console. And the late game is very much you just running around one shotting most enemies, which is unfortunate. But the world is awesome and Night City is a great theme to build on. I hope CD Projekt Red doesn't give up on this game.

 

[cytg111]

I've gotta say, this is the first game in a long time that I actually feel pulling me in to play again and thinking about during other activities. I like the story. I think the voice acting is great. I REALLY like the atmosphere, and variety. If I didn't get through at least the heist mission I would have thought the game wasn't very good as the starting areas and side quests are pretty bland. But once I got past the starting area (as a street kid) I found so many different unique areas, things to do, and memorable characters. The world is full of awesome experiences that explain the world, like the sharpshooting challenge with the 6th street gang. I didn't have any idea what they stood for. Or finding the group trying to fix a roller coaster. Very simple quest, but awesome experience (with Johnny beside me).

I mean, the game's got problems, especially on console. And the late game is very much you just running around one shotting most enemies, which is unfortunate. But the world is awesome and Night City is a great theme to build on. I hope CD Projekt Red doesn't give up on this game.

1. I rebooted about 5 hours in and went with a gal/female voice. The fem actor is at least one level above the guy. Both good but she kicks it out of the park.
2. I was really worried Keanu was going to be mal placed weirdo “see we have an a list actor on set” bragging rights... But he effen brings it home too.

 

[zinfamous]

I've gotta say, this is the first game in a long time that I actually feel pulling me in to play again and thinking about during other activities. I like the story. I think the voice acting is great. I REALLY like the atmosphere, and variety. If I didn't get through at least the heist mission I would have thought the game wasn't very good as the starting areas and side quests are pretty bland. But once I got past the starting area (as a street kid) I found so many different unique areas, things to do, and memorable characters. The world is full of awesome experiences that explain the world, like the sharpshooting challenge with the 6th street gang. I didn't have any idea what they stood for. Or finding the group trying to fix a roller coaster. Very simple quest, but awesome experience (with Johnny beside me).

I mean, the game's got problems, especially on console. And the late game is very much you just running around one shotting most enemies, which is unfortunate. But the world is awesome and Night City is a great theme to build on. I hope CD Projekt Red doesn't give up on this game.

I don't think it's an issue of them giving up on the game, but of the current bloodthirsty nerd army DEMANDING! CDPR be punished into bankruptcy, probably being bought out by Activision or some other actual horrible company, and possibly paying those very nerds money (many of whom never bought or played the game) because they feel their rage is deserving of compensation. It's getting ugly, lol.

 

[zinfamous]

1. I rebooted about 5 hours in and went with a gal/female voice. The fem actor is at least one level above the guy. Both good but she kicks it out of the park.
2. I was really worried Keanu was going to be mal placed weirdo “see we have an a list actor on set” bragging rights... But he effen brings it home too.

lol, Keanu is really good in this game...some wooden delivery from time to time, but he isn't just a gimmick in this game. He's got his very own, specific personality that takes over some times.

Lol--that one montage bit...later on...also as fem V. ...quite hilarious.

 

[EXCellR8]

I might just stop doing the side missions & gigs to finish the story and then re-play as fem V. Very few of the side missions have been either fun or rewarding although some were a bit more on the 'interesting' side. Also, driving around in the city is annoying; the traffic patterns are so very puzzling and inconvenient at times that I feel like fast-traveling (since there are so many stations) is just the more sensible option. Is there any way to improve the mesh quality of the vehicles that pop in or is that purely a hard drive speed? That chunk blur mess hurts my soul every time it happens--so you can imagine I've no soul now.

Overall, at 40 hours in, I still don't know how to feel about the game. I like the story, most of the characters, and Night City is genuinely awe-inspiring, but at times I just fail to have fun playing it. The combat is forgettable at best with terrible cover mechanics and the perks/upgrades are mostly fluff. I think I saw a +1.0% stat for attack speed and was like "oh, game changer." Has anyone been able to successfully do a stealth run of any hostile area without just pacifying the entire enemy force? I was told that sneaking with a silenced weapon and getting head shots would keep you undetected if you hid bodies but I've not been able to do that. Maybe I just don't have the right perks?

 

[zinfamous]

I might just stop doing the side missions & gigs to finish the story and then re-play as fem V. Very few of the side missions have been either fun or rewarding although some were a bit more on the 'interesting' side. Also, driving around in the city is annoying; the traffic patterns are so very puzzling and inconvenient at times that I feel like fast-traveling (since there are so many stations) is just the more sensible option. Is there any way to improve the mesh quality of the vehicles that pop in or is that purely a hard drive speed? That chunk blur mess hurts my soul every time it happens--so you can imagine I've no soul now.

Overall, at 40 hours in, I still don't know how to feel about the game. I like the story, most of the characters, and Night City is genuinely awe-inspiring, but at times I just fail to have fun playing it. The combat is forgettable at best with terrible cover mechanics and the perks/upgrades are mostly fluff. I think I saw a +1.0% stat for attack speed and was like "oh, game changer." Has anyone been able to successfully do a stealth run of any hostile area without just pacifying the entire enemy force? I was told that sneaking with a silenced weapon and getting head shots would keep you undetected if you hid bodies but I've not been able to do that. Maybe I just don't have the right perks?

that sounds like a skill under Cold Blood and no, it's not 1% of X, it's 1% (though likely 2.5% for recoil) per stack of Cold Blood, which you can probably max out to 5% per stack. (attack speed under COld Blood is 10% per stack, max 20% per stack) When you trick out Cold Blood tree, you can max it up to 5 stacks, then unlock stacks on crit hits, which trick off of the fact you have already been spending points in crit hit %, and stacks decay rather than lose all at once, or max stack on 40% health drop, etc....and of course all of the 20% armor per stack of Cold Blood; Crit damage; Pistol recoil, status effect invulnerability--yes, just one point for invulnerability--health regen, movement speed, damage reduction. It's a late game skill tree because you need to invest a ton of points to make it work, but super effective once you can just roll through with lots of stacks of cold blood almost permanently active.

But yeah, this is very looter-shootery in terms of the skills/RPG elements: all you will ever do is point and shoot, or hack with sword or fists. That's it. No skills are going to effectively change that. Some guns have specific different functions, but there are like...maybe 4 of those types in the entire game, across all guns? and that is the same for every gun of that type, so you don't really effect that with skills, either. it's just in the weapon, and like all the other weapons like it (you can equip a few mods that are specifically meant for those weapon types, and that is nice, but it's a gearing thing, which really isn't complex beyond that small thing). ...but it isn't very looter shootery in terms of loot. you aren't really that interested in collecting super special things. Crafting seems to be mostly useless, but it seems possible to craft most (maybe all?) potential legendaries in the game...but not even sure legendaries matter. handguns tricked out in skills and high crit...I'm now doing quite well with greens and blues at level 34ish? on Hard.

 

[bguile]

I might just stop doing the side missions & gigs to finish the story and then re-play as fem V. Very few of the side missions have been either fun or rewarding although some were a bit more on the 'interesting' side. Also, driving around in the city is annoying; the traffic patterns are so very puzzling and inconvenient at times that I feel like fast-traveling (since there are so many stations) is just the more sensible option. Is there any way to improve the mesh quality of the vehicles that pop in or is that purely a hard drive speed? That chunk blur mess hurts my soul every time it happens--so you can imagine I've no soul now.

Overall, at 40 hours in, I still don't know how to feel about the game. I like the story, most of the characters, and Night City is genuinely awe-inspiring, but at times I just fail to have fun playing it. The combat is forgettable at best with terrible cover mechanics and the perks/upgrades are mostly fluff. I think I saw a +1.0% stat for attack speed and was like "oh, game changer." Has anyone been able to successfully do a stealth run of any hostile area without just pacifying the entire enemy force? I was told that sneaking with a silenced weapon and getting head shots would keep you undetected if you hid bodies but I've not been able to do that. Maybe I just don't have the right perks?

Maybe once or twice I managed to get through a mission totally undetected. Sneaking is ... iffy. It feels like all the mechanics are there for it to work, but like a lot of things in this game in needs more finetuning. I can happily sneak around and knock over a pile of whatever and the guards never notice. Sometimes I sneak right past a guard and they will barely notice me, other times it's instant detection even if I just poke my head out. Lots of times I takedown three to four guards on my way to the objective, taking care to hide the bodies, but then I get a body spotted message and everyone is on alert?? There is also a bug or something, where sometimes you brush up against a shelf or something and you get taken out of crouch.

Plus as a major annoyance, it was really stupid to make the crouch key and the skip conversation key the same binding.