i would recommend at least doing the first mission of phantom liberty when you get access to it so you can unlock the relic abilities. they are very fun to use!
Does it mess with the main story at all? Right now I had just finished the funeral for Jackie, got panams car back, and doing the quest for taka whatever. I just didn't want to skip ahead at all or miss any of the main quests
@@bobdylan1968 no, it doesn’t affect the main story. i haven’t done anything besides the first two missions of phantom liberty, but neither of them interact with the main story.
I really wanted to like starfield but this game really shows how dated starfield is. I know people say they’re different games but I honestly feel like there’s more game changing stuff in pl then starfield. I have no idea where starfield spent all there effort because it doesn’t make sense
@@edsherwook5196 it does there is a ton of content in the game. I agree with you but starfield is just made on a bad engine. Which tbh they were right they could get away with. People love it. It definitely made money. But cyperpunk has made way more. Most people have played starfield because it’s on gamepass. If it wasn’t for that I don’t think that many people would even have an opinion on it. I personally think the game is okay. It’s the fact it look like a Xbox one game that barely run on series x that’s bad. And no vehicles because the engine is awful.
The best time to do Phantom Liberty is when you're at the "meet Honako" quest in the main game. There are a ton of good iconic contained within PL if you leave it till you've completed everything else you'll never get to fully enjoy them. Get to Honako Point, do Phantom Liberty, clear the Night City map if you're a completionist (like me), and finish the main game.
Thx man. Thatcher the answer I was searching for. Im Just at "meeting hanako" mission its a point of no return. Im at 40 lvl and done most of mission, at least Thatcher important ones. So I was wondering can I go to PL beat the dlc Than go back and beat the game?
thank you, not sure why this guy couldn't just have said that, save before starting the quest "Firestarter" basically and then finish all the side shit and original games story up until the point of no return and then go back to phantom liberty to finish with every ending you wanna do. Cause there ain't no fucking way I'm making a new character just to experience another ending fuck that, it would be such a huge timesink and I really don't like wasting my time.
@@HikariSakaiokay so basically I should play the main story until the hanako embers thing. Play phantom Liberty and save a the fire starter mission to experience different ending? What if I want to experience the different endings for the main story? Should I save at the embers and have a different save for fire starter?
I agree that it seems to make more sense to start PL in late game rather than mid-game. I'm not that far into it, only did a couple of hours playthrough last night, but Dogtown is fantastic. I feel like it's a lot bigger of an area than I was expecting it to be and it's easy to get lost in (but that's a good thing). Really enjoying what CDPR has given us so far!
can you access all the new items without entering dogtown? Thats what I dont get. Couldnt we just do mission one of PL then wait until Hanako mission to finish the rest? I want the new clothes, cyberware, and guns for both storylines. Or does it not work like that?
@@MarcFerrer-n3h the 2.0 update is for everyone, regardless of whether or not you play Phantom Liberty - so all of the cyberware, new skills, perks, weapons, weaponized vehicles are all available to all players.
As vague as Paul is being here, it is clear to me that he means that you should enter the Phantom Liberty questline, starting with the 'Dog Eat Dog' quest, right before you begin 'Nocturne'. Personally I think he is being too cautious. So, if you are at level 20-25, you can do 'Dog Eat Dog' and the following until you open up Relic powers(i.e. ‘Get It Together’), then bail out and go back to the game main questline. It doesn't really do anything to harm your immersion with the main quests, as long as you bail right after that point(i.e. the first part of PL).
@@jacemunoz9989 If you disagree, you should be a bit clearer so as to help others reading this thread. When would you suggest starting the Phantom Liberty quest chain with the quest 'Dog Eat Dog'(my suggestion is when the quest pops after level 20 or so)? When would you suggest bailing out of the Phantom Liberty quest chain(my suggestion was at ‘Get It Together’)? Or should you wait until just before 'Nocturne' and do the PL quest chain all in one go?
I started a new save and new character after having three playthroughs previously (and over 300 hours). I wanted to make sure to get the new 2.0 update in its entirety after not having played the game in at least 9 months. I also increased the overall difficulty on this play through and it has made it more challenging-while also feeling fresh because of the update! I am flying through the main story content faster than previous playthroughs, and after 12 hours I’m already at the Pacifica/VDBs mission. However, I’m going to play a lot more of the side-content before going into Phantom Liberty. I just want to level up my character a lot more before jumping in there. It’s been really fun to be back in the Cyberpunk world after so long. Been playing a lot of Starfield-and it’s been awesome- but I have to say that this game just scratches a completely different itch for me and it feels great!
I did the same thing…. Unfortunately I was in the middle of Automatic Love gig where the relic gives V their 1st episode and the dlc was downloading. Messed up my file and now my Netrunner build is constantly in malfunction state. So now I have to restart it…. Fortunately I still have my old Nomad V build so now that I’m familiar with the new updates I’m probably just gonna jump into that.
@@robinpkstr It does get better. The beginning of the game is pretty slow, but the story and gameplay improve a lot the more you stick with it. That said, the action/setting/gameplay elements of Cyberpunk just feel better to me.
Definitely complete your love interest and friends side quest before starting (panam, river, rouge etc) to get extra dialogue options and new texts from your lover
I would recommend that once you hit a certain point in PL, you drop a save file. You cannot go back and repeat endings as you can with the base game. You can only experience an ending once per character, unless you reload a save.
In my experience the best time to do it is just before the Nocturne mission which is a point of no return. At that point you should be pretty high level already and have most of the skills where you want them to be and have some good gear as well. That alone will make the Phantom Liberty part much easier and way more fun to do
@@Tomlatel just start it whenever it pops up, simple as that cause i heard it disappears on you if you don't do it earlier. But idk if that person was simply talking out of their ass or if it was true. I just didn't risk it personally.
They should be offended. This is literally an expansion which I guess you could put under the category of DLC but DLC can be something as dumb as horse armor. Old heads remember when any additional purchase to a game was always a huge expansion and cosmetics were free.
It’s definitely shorter then blood and wine and making the player wait definitely makes the expansion artificially last longer. Like wait 2 days? Really. No other mission has you wait more then a day
For real ! Same for me. It's my 3rd playthrough to the game. When i started again from 0, i got tired after a few hours because i didnt want to be stuck at the beginning with no build, until the end of the prologue for 10hrs of story so i can finally play PL. So the new save for PL after pacifica was good for me. After farming a few NCPD scanner and gigs, im already lv 30 and 50 street lv and ready for the expension because the prologue and Act 1 are boring after 3 times.
Completely DISAGREE. 1st your missing out on playing the game not using all your relic abilities. 2nd. The endings can change in the normal playthru based on your choices in phantom liberty. Why would you want to play having the Relic abilities for only 14 hours. Its a complete waste of that talent tree. You shouldn't always listen to youtubers. It's only his opinion. You should go into the dlc about a 3rd of the way thru the game. That's a perfect point to hop in you'll get context of the game and understand whats happening. Plus that'll give you plenty of time to enjoy all the relic tier abilities. CDPR intended for you to play it during the middle of the play thru of the main campaign. That's the best way to play it
The thing is you get cyber upgrades, weapons, and other benefits like the relic system by playing Phantom Liberty that you can then bring back into the main campaign and have a much better experience. I love when DLC becomes available early to mid-way in a game, because there are almost always new and cool things you can then use in the main story. That's why I always did the DLC in Witcher 3 as early as I could, like the mutagen system for example, that completely changed the way you play the game. Honestly I'm not a fan of any new systems, weapons etc. you have to wait until late game to access, because what's the point, the game will be over soon, and you won't get to use them much.
Doing what youre saying requires completely breaking the story, the dlc where u get the mutagen powers takes place after the story, so going there early makes no sense. I get why its worth it for you but those powers are not worth breaking the game and dialogue for me.
I agree Locking weapons behind late-game checkpoints makes no sense. They should offer them at lower levels and allow you to upgrade them like they do with all the other weapons.
I rolled a new character for it. Started last night. Been playing a lot of starfield lately and wow I had forgotten how great this game looks on PC with all the fancy NVIDIA switches..
I have played the entire main game four times (450 hours) and I have played Phantom Liberty as soon as it came out. That's why I have knowledge of all the endings and I have decided to play a new game for the first time with version 2.01, so this time I will get to Voodoo Boys and jump to PL to play the ending that leaves me back in Night City to do all the remaining primary and secondary missions and then do the finale with Panam but this time I will have all the advantages obtained in PL to use.
Thx for the comment,glad you enjoyed it enough to plat that much! I'm loving it too, but have a problem with the dlc. I went there when I bought it and was a level 30 or so and got the new weapons and a bunch of air drops, did Mr.Hands gigs, but can't get the story missions to activate. Nobody calls me, I've met songbird, she's in my contacts...but nothing is on the map and I've No Clue how to trigger it to take place. Just running around like a kook at this point,lol. Anybody help is Greatly appreciated!! ✌🎮
First game of this type for me ..I am an older player and have to say it is a terrific game .. not going to lie I’m a bit lost a lot .. but I’m slowly figuring it out and enjoying it very much ..
@@TheBigtlopez Hacking = spell casting. Operating System = spellbook. RAM = mana. Relic = extra abilities for arm cyberware, cloak cyberware (optical camouflage) and lets you see + exploit weak spots in enemy armour/cyberware. Netrunners are the mages of Cyberpunk's world. Since almost everyone has a net connected brain in 2077, a person's mind can be hacked just like a person may be lulled by an enchant or tricked by an illusion cast by a mage. A cyberdeck is the router or modem that connects your brain to the net. You can think of it like the mage's spellbook. It gives your brain direct access to the net and you can store hacks (spells) in them like a wizard might scribe spells. When you use hacks (spells) on people, it costs RAM, just like a spell costs mana. Your spells come in 4 different schools - combat, control, covert and ultimate. Combat hacks hurt people. Control hacks CC them. Covert hacks either create visual/auditory distractions or prevent enemies from seeing or hearing you. Ultimate hacks are like the fanciest spells in Cyberpunk. These usually kill or disable people in dramatic fashion, like forcing them to turn their gun on themselves and commit suicide (very brutal) or knock them out cold in such a way that you are completely untraceable. You can get many cyberdecks (spellbooks) in the game and each one is suited to a different type of spell school. For example, Arasaka MK5 gives you bonuses related to covert hacks, so its suited for stealthy mage playstyles. Each deck gives you different bonuses that encourage different playstyles within the netrunner archetype. Some give you bonuses to monowire damage or they make your hacks upload quicker if you are shooting smart guns.
@@noturmum7967 Finish the main game (and all Johnny side quests.) Up until you get to the available mission called “Nocturne OP55N1.” Once that mission becomes available - do not do it. Complete Phantom Liberty THEN go do the Nocturne OP55N1 mission.
I’m absolutely LOVING the main game right now. It took me like 18 attempts to really fall in love with it, but I’m absolutely floored by it. I’ll take your advice and start PL just before Nocturne.
@@ma-scalia8629 yeah. I realize I have to be in a certain mood to play meaty games. Same thing happened with the Witcher 3. It went from “I can’t get into it” to “my top five favorite games of all time”
@@XSi1entSpartanX happend to me with elden ring. started it 6 times, but almost always imediately dropped it. which is a shame i love youtubers playwing that game but it was just too hard for me. now i have baldurs gate 3 installed for a month, and i have 2 hours on it lol.
@@ma-scalia8629Im on my 4th attempt with Witcher 3 and almost lost interest in Cyberpunk but kept going, Im glad I kept going. I fucking love Cyberpunk 2077. Dont get me wrong nothings wrong with Witcher, I can see why fans love these 2 games and the Dev team, but sometimes a game is or at least at the very same doesnt feel like its for you. I wasnt a fan of Mass Effect till Legendary Edition dropped and/or the remastered version of TLOU. Its a Me problem. Imma keep trying with Witcher 3 tho
My plan was to pick up my save sitting outside Embers as that save has every mission and achievement done. Every weapon and car etc etc. And start Phantom Liberty from there. I really don't want it start over another 120 hours as I have too many games backlogged I'd like to get to. So I it sounds like this is a good choice to make.
I also have a character in that state. However I opted to make a new character because of the 2.0 update and I've thoroughly been enjoying doing another full playthrough. I have like 2 maxed out characters, and two low ones, so I'm using this as an opportunity to play a completely new build from the beginning with the new system.
I had a level 30 character, but they’ve made so many changes to the cyberware, the perks and such that I ended up rolling a new character and learning the new systems slowly. I think I’m going to do Panam’s series of quests before tangling with the VDB on this playthrough. That way, I’ll be sufficiently leveled up and used to the new systems, but still have some of the game left to play with the new Relic perks and new weapons.
I finished the game on 1.0 and loved it. 1.6 came out and I played it again, and finished it, trying to do things differently, and wow what an experience. 2.0 is out and I am playing it, and I am going for quick hacks only, and man, its just a game that keeps on giving just like witcher 3 and skyrim. The best part of cyberpunk is its not a very long game. It took me over 80 hours to finish Witcher 3 and I skipped SO MUCH CONTENT. It took me like 100 hours to finally put down Skyrim. But I beat cyberpunk with almost 75% completion the first time in juts 22.5 hours. I finished it in 35 hours the second time around with 85%+ completion. Its very easy to do another run.
I'm loving it so far. I'm still at the beginning, and my only complaint so far is how my V is so cordial with songbird. I wanted to be confrontational like bitch you invade my mind and mute my boy johnny, but my v is friendly and even flirty. She cracked a joke like, "you get to work with me, " and my v says, "there is that." Like what? lol. The other thing was how worried my v sounded about songbird, but that can be chalked up to the fact that she can potentially help us
I went to dogtown around level 25 and was jumping in and out continuously doing little bits of PL and Judy/panam questlines as they showed up. Barely touched the MQ other than rushing the pacifika bit to access PL. With a solid build you should be fine even at lower levels. It also gives you access to relic levels and carjacking for el capitan, plus some crazy good iconic stuff, so in my opinion the sooner you enter the better. Then you can do a few gigs there and see if you're up for the task or not.
Hey if you see this do i have to do all gigs and ncpd before i go Dogtown cause i wanna go to dogtown and back to night city dont know if it would lock me out
@@pancake7366 Hey, you can go in and out of dogtown as you please. I believe you gotta do the first couple missions in Phantom Liberty (which can be tough at lower levels), then you unlock the gate, which is basically your pass in and out of dogtown.
@ras_eo how do you unlock the gate into the stadium? I've only got as far as kidnapping the female ceo with Takemura. Hope this makes sense? I've literally only started playing cyberpunk since the PL dlc release, hence I'm abit confused.
@@steveazyb2595 To be able to start phantom liberty you need to do a quest called Transmission. It's the last quest in the pacifika main questline. You can start it by helping Judy find Evelyn, then there will be a bunch of follow up quests, some of them will take time to trigger
So could I hypothetically do enough quests in PL to open the dog town gate and get access to the gigs & contracts, then go back to the main story stuff until I’m ready to fully go into PL?
It's odd that CDPR would recommend people to start fresh and natural go into the expansion only for reviewers to recommend playing the normal campaign in its entirety first.
I actually wouldn’t go with what the reviewers are saying, because then you just pretty much went the whole game without using your Relic powers (unless you saved the side missions, etc.) I think I would do the first PL mission that unlocked the Relic powers and then bail out and continue with the main story.
Hopefully they've provided the same 'point of no return' warning for Phantom Liberty so I can experience the end of the PL story and then decide if it's worth it going back to finish things up in the base game. I'm sure PL does a great job of wrapping up the story, but it's hard to imagine a more satisfying ending than V leaving Night City with the Aldecados and Judy. Edit: Watched the rest of the video and apparently they do not provide such a warning so thank you for the heads up Paul.
I’m afraid to check my end game save before the first major overhaul update, so can’t imagine it now. I started new character wit 2.0 so this video was what I was looking for, thank you!
I haven't played the game at all yet. I got it when it released but with all the issues I never got past the 1 chapter. So most of the game will be all new to me.
as a veteran player i did the 1st mission of phantom liberty around level 30 just to unlock everything and i can get back to the dlc whenever i see fit but have access to dogtown, new cyberware, gunshops…you loose nothing and get more content for the base game missions. just have to figure out how to get the new tech sniper and have most content to do with it. such a shame you cant get that thing earlier.
Because I'm so desperate for the new story, I'm jumping into Phantom Liberty on my 100% save. Then planning on rolling back a fresh character to play through the main campaign with the 2.0 update.
This right here. I tried it and it is jarring. Definitely recommend starting from the get-go cuz you can really build your V without using your one time respec.
Okay so not really related to the game in question, I have heard your name in passing when the topic of game journalists comes up. I recently discovered your channel and can I just say that its refreshing to see that you have passion for your field. Not to disparage other journos but you do get the impression they would rather be writing op-eds on other subject matters sometimes so its a bit of a novelty to see someone actually enjoy their work. Keep it up, you've earned a subscriber and a fan.
playing phantom liberty is meant to be played when it becomes available, and it makes sense by a narrative standpoint. when you do the main campaign after finishing phantom liberty, there's special dialogues that reference what happened at the end of phantom liberty (Herman is an example and there's more). so canonically it is meant to be completed before playing the rest of the story
It is insane to go directly to phantom liberty from a new game start. If your character is already well developed I guess you would go straight into phantom liberty because... you get the prompt to start it from Songbird immediately after completing MapTien the VooDooBoyz mission and anybody at a high level would have already completed that but if you just downloaded 2.0 and PL then you would have a huge learning curve to figure out all the new features. So if you want to wait after starting a new game to learn the new features, dont start the VDBz mission till you want to go into PL. What sux about it, is if you go straight into PL from a new start, and you have already played the game and know it well , you start at level 15 with all green cyberware (pre chosen for you) your Cyberware capacity is set at 71, you get $20K (nothing), you get 100 white components, and 20 green (much lower than if you actually played till level 15), You have a green cyberdeck, you get a choice of different green weapons to use and you are squishy and weak as F**K. Of course you can go thru it because they make the enemies weak also but...one of the best combat action you will see in PL is the very beginning saving Meyers, taking on the Chimera (Super MECH) and then the ending combat is great, everything in between is gigs and missions that are not as thrilling IMHO. The mission where you make a choice that splits into 2 different endings its called Firestarter. I would always start a new game and level up to around level 40 at minimum before starting the VDBz mission. Cyberware comes in different options at lvl 1, then lvl 20 (new cyberware) and then lvl 30 and you wont have the better cyberware if not at those levels and if you dont have Edgerunner (20 in Tech) you will be at a dissadvantage. I was going to do a video on how rediculous going directly to PL with what CDPR offers you is insane but why, no one really watches my videos anyway, so...
You are right - I don't see why people would like to go straight to Phantom Liberty lol Anyone who is an absolutely new player would enjoy playing the main story. Those who played it already may just use the save from the past and use the respec offered by the game. Anyhow, I feel that the best way of doing it is replaying the game from the get go - so many things were changed. I am 25 hours or so into my new rerun and it's amazing!
Other than bloodborne and dark souls 3, this is the only game I’ve played that I enjoy starting a new game from the ground up. Played 3 characters. Now that I have PL as of this morning I’ve been working on my new character. My female corpo netrunner techie with Judy romance that I will be going into the expansion in. But I did remake my original character all over again to also go into the expansion with. Male street kid pistol shotgun build panaam romance. So I’m really excited to see how the life paths affect phantom liberty with dialogue choices and such on dynamics.
i love this and wish i had seen it earlier. I booted up 100% preheist save when 2.0 dropped and spent the rest of the week getting to voodoo boys and figuring out the combat and changes. then jumped in right after “I walk the line” and it certainly felt like it would have been beneficial to start late game for more options and easter eggs to be triggered. in any case, i wanted to see the story play out and once i finished it i went back to the save after voodoo boys and now i’m gonna wait until all the main endings are opened before starting the Dog eat Dog quest again.
I have over 1000 hours in the game and as the mission to save Sandra was bugged, I had no other choice than to begin with PL, I've finished what I wanted to do and then started a new play through. I really like what they did with the game.
@@alien457 i don't think there is a best time as the relic tree will change so much. I am doing a new play and I did the Judy and Panam quests and then I took out the VDB's, after which I started with PL
@@alien457 I have over 1000 hours in the original game. I have done all of the endings and I know what I like and dislike about the quest lines. So for me it made sense to do it like this. I want to get a really good sniper rifle and shoot the van in the Perez quest line from the top of their apartment. I already have Overwatch from Panam and O'Five from the Arroyo fight. Keep in mind this is something I haven't tried yet. I don't know if I could headshoot the driver of that van. My point is. Enjoy the game in its many facets, there is no right or wrong. If you don't like something, go back to an earlier save or make a new character.
Should I do one of the particular paths that leaves it open (able to return) to get the Blackwall Gateway quickhack - to make the other stuff easier for a netrunner build - for the main quest (such as for Oda and Adam Smasher)?
2:03 you skip all the early missions when skipping to dlc. I decided just to start over but unfortunately I haven’t gotten to dlc content yet. Super close though. Just did automatic love. Also there is an additional ending that opens up from the DLC so keep that in mind. Point of no return was a good point to run through DLC although since I’ve already played through the game before I’m play it through when I get to Pacifica.
I've played through the game many times, so I didn't play a lot of the game before plunging into Phantom. Now I don't want to play the main game, much as I know I'd enjoy it. I'd recommend doing a bunch of gigs in the main game, and play through the Evelyn quest, the Panam quests, the Takemura jobs and the search for Smasher with Rogue and the oilfield scene, in approximately that order. In any case, do the Voodoo Boys/Pacifica quests _last_ because it triggers the Phantom Liberty content, and like me, you probably won't want to wait.
I got to the end credits from this dlc expecting that it did same as base game and that you could carry on just before the final mission but unfortunately it doesn't whitch is a shame so save regularly
I didn't start playing the game until very recently. I picked it up on the Steam Summer Sale, and really happy I did. That being said. I waited to start the entirety of Phantom Liberty until after I completed my first ending of that Hanako mission. I then proceeded to steam roll Phantom Liberty at terminal velocity, and that was a disappoint to me at first because in my ending with Hanako I gave Johnny the driver's seat, picked up Pride, and didn't get to keep it, or Prejudice post mission. But, I did get a stupid shovel that I found. Sad. I didn't understand why the post game put me back to the Hanako mission. I was confused. Then proceeding to Phantom Liberty, it made zero sense to me because in my ending, I made Johnny walk across the bridge and stay in Cyber Space with Alt to keep his promise to V. So, when I went into Phantom Liberty, it made no sense to me that Johnny was miraculously back. It didn't click until later when google searching, expecting this to have been a bug. This all being said. I did NOT manually save before that undercover mission, and will have to go back and make a whole new V. Which I am not upset about at all. Before getting super deep in the game I made three characters, one per background. I put about 30 hours in each one. I wound up playing through a female Street Kid, as a Netrunner, because I fell in love with that play style, and was feeling inspired by Lucy from Edgerunners. But, I was let down by a lot of critical story moments when my level 20 Netrunner that was fully spec'd in the intelligence tree "wasn't good enough" in a few main story missions and had to go see other runners to proceed the story. (Both in the base game and Phantom Liberty. I thought I was a living effin' legend?) That being said, I'm definitely playing all over again to make a male nomad, because I went back and did the Hanako mission a couple more times while waiting for Reed to call me back at a few points. I feel like the "best" possible play through now is a male nomad, who romanced Panam, and got the Aldecaldos ending. So, I'm going to have to go all the way back through, and complete every gig, side biz, etc, all over again, to get what I think would be greenest of green grass on the other side of the fence. I also want to make sure that I get a manual save on that undercover mission to secure all possible outcomes. Great video over all. I really liked it. Subscribing, now.
I didn't know that mission woild activate phantom liberty yesterday during my first playthrough of this game. Have i lost any storylines entering the phantom liberty storyline? Should i revert and continue with all the storylines prior to phantom liberty?
Totally disagree with doing it all at the ends, would feel disjointed and out of place, at the end of the main story you're supposed to be at death's door, yet phantom liberty takes places over quite a long period of time, week minimum, I started it as soon as it became available, enjoyed the extra content it introduces, items, guns, cars etc, but took it easy, did one PL mission, a few gigs, side quests in between, then one main, felt much more cohesive, since in both PL and the main quest delve into the sake topics, trust, relationships, mortality, during both you get t know johnny better, so yeah I think it's better to mix it all together at a good pace, never rushing both storylines
Also, it is a very clear DIALOGUE moment where you need to make a branching choice. I will say that I was surprised about how much iconic weapons and cyberware you get as part of PL. Enough to change your approach messin' about in the open world.
If you do it before have finished Judy, Panam and Takemura’s quests at least they will call you to leave Dogtown, which disrupts the flow of Dogtown and the story as a whole I feel. You should probably skip car (steering wheel icon) quests until you have finished the Phantom Liberty story - to again avoid being pulled out. These car gigs can easily be done before the point of no return when you run around doing everything you want before doing the end of the story.
After having finished my first run of Phantom Liberty (for the most part), I can confidently say that you need stuff to do between quests, unless you want to skip time in the menu. The airdrops and car missions are perfect for this, and so are other side quests from the base game story. The car stuff even has some story elements by itself (not necessarily a direct link to PL). Also, some quests in PL will have you going outside Dogtown anyway, so no need to limit yourself like this. It is one big city after all, and the transition back and forth just makes the different districts feel more unique in my opinion.
@@muad_ yeah, I see that, but if you have been focussed on Judy, Panam and Takemura there is still a lot to do to fill that time - and maybe V could catch some sleep?
@@ObsidianCrane Yeah, there is plenty else to do, I agree. But I just wouldn't advise anyone not to do parts of the expansion because it "disrupts the flow". With how easy it is to go in and out of Dogtown, I would recommend people to experience the jarring switch from Dogtown to Night City fairly often, as it adds to the experience, in my opinion. I managed to do the whole Panam romance run from the first Afterlife visit to the very end with her between a handful of expansion missions. Also, the quests fit nicely into the story, and have added options for some dialogues, both base game and PL, depending on the order one does them.
I think they are making the difference between DLC and Extension clear so that when they do come out with more DLC, people aren't expecting a huge expansion
@@vagrantender It might be their last expansion, but I feel they will still have content packs every now and then, similar to the Edgerunners stuff, ya know? That would all still be considered DLC
The only problem I have with waiting till the end, is that you find out there is like 24 hours before the plane crashes, which is why Songbird was trying to contact you in Pacifica. Doing it at the end basically destroys the whole premise. I wish I knew this as I followed the advice to wait. I think it might have been better, in retrospect, to start the quest right away, then continue the rest of the game before finishing off PL. I really wish the devs didnt put these "timed" narrative events in the game which the character cannot necessarily follow, as it just ruins the immersion. They should have left the timing vague.
I absolutely cannot stand that I spent as much time as I did playing through the game for my third time first experience with phantom liberty and I made the choices that led to a permanent end. Nothing to do after no continuing my build and finishing other gigs etc. I’m currently actually really upset and disappointed about this.
I'm trying to 100% all previous material before approaching the new material. Had the "most common ending" on my previous playthroughs because who doesn't want a chance at robbing a Casino in Low Earth Orbit? Now it's time to try for the "secret" ending.
Finally got around to getting this recently. I played the original game when it first came out. So I’m doing a whole new play through with PL. It is good but it seems so out of place when you play it in the middle of the base game storyline. That’s really my only complaint about it. It just seems out of place some how. I would say waiting until near the end is the best time to play it.
I'm not sure why watching the different endings on TH-cam after you've completed the game is super lame compared to save scumming your way through all of them. It's perfectly valid to just you know just play through the game and get an ending.
Not gonna lie, CDPR made this extremely confusing as hell for those of us who have no beaten the game yet. The main take away I'm getting from this video, comments, and reddit threads, is once you reach the mission "Nocturne Op55N1", do NOT go and meet Hanako. Instead, save that for after you finish Phantom Liberty. Begin the Dog eat Dog quest. Which should trigger for you once you complete the Voodoo Boys quest "Transmission".
I say when you get to the Point of Dress up with a Brother & Sister Hard Save at that point. Because your at a point where there pathways and make 2 saves after that. But yes I agree play the whole Game first & then the DLC. Yes I really could care less what CD Projekt Red calls it Frankly they could of easy made this in Unreal Engine instead of waiting. Like Standalone mini Exps.
COOL ! Thanks! I am totally new to the CyberPunk universe and i am enjoying it 1000% although still struggling with the "mechanics, build ups, playstyles etc etc!" just a lot of information ! so knowing this is PERFECT! One less thing to try to figure out on my own.
I just found out about the secret ending and I did everything, including the ending for pl but I love this game soo much I don’t mind restarting from scratch
Hy there! As a new player what you recommend to do first? should I start the base story or to skip to Phantom liberty? I just downloaded the game today so I dont know what to do :)) thanks a lot!
I want to know, can I start a new game in Cyberpunk 2077 and then buy the DLC later - and play Phantom Liberty in the same save? Or do I need to have it at the start? (I just want to wait on it since I can’t afford it right now.)
When do you get her magesty I would like to save the best quests for when I get the nice new stuff from phantom liberty also is this point that you mentioned to make a hard save a good point to stop and finish the rest of the game before doing it and still getting the best rewards from the dlc?
I did not get a choice of when to start Phantom Liberty. There I was, busy collecting tarot cards and had just arrived at an area I had not seen before (I said to myself, "Wow, I wonder what that place is."): I went to collect the card and, boom, I was suddenly being hacked by someone who turned out to be someone in need of urgent, urgent help which was rather difficult to ignore (when all I was doing was collecting tarot cards) so there I was, unexpectedly playing the first mission, which in turn led to quite a long sequence of missions before it felt right to take a break and get back to the main game.
Man wtf literally every other outlet says you should weave phantom liberty gradually into the main story after the pacifica quest. Rather then play it as an epilogue but no Paul tassi says the opposite 🤦♂️.. so which is it?
Appreciate the insight. I’m in the middle of a playthrough but I wanted the new purchasable vehicles which are apparently only available once ur able to access dog town 🙃 but yea I’d rather save the cohesiveness of the story
I started all over did almost all the side quests. Got to the point of where you leave the president. Stole the car for captain and started the main missions got a few more side quests that are going to pop up and then I’ll go do phantom liberty! I’ve already put 60 hours into this new game and barely touched phantom liberty! I’m stoked!!
Thank you for all you do .I’m an older / not very experienced player .so forgive my ignorance. I started playing original game recently and I am enjoying it very much . I know allready I’m going to play PL . But I’m not sure if I should buy it or wait until later in the original game ? What do you suggest ?
If we’re doing a replay of the game, are there any side quests you recommend doing prior to starting the expansion? I already did almost all the side quests on my first play through, and would prefer to skip those this time if it doesn’t affect the expansion much.
Is the undercover mission you're talking about a base game or phantom liberty misson? Ive completed the base game before but can't recall what mission you're mentioning.
If you leave Phantom Liberty until the End then you will not get much use or there would be NO point finding the new weapons and outfits , why because by that time you get or find these items there will be basically nothing left to do in the game at all. Don’t know why CDPR locks the new outfits and clothing behind Phantom Liberty. Plus I found starting at Phantom Liberty you get to avoid the annoyingly aggressive story line of Takemura, who basically pesters you through out the whole game to help him and thus rushing you to meet Hanako at Embers. Then you have the annoying quest marker constantly appearing on your map and changing your mission objectives, which you then have to constantly turn off.
should I get the DLC ? I am a completely bewildered to the game, just bought the game yesterday. Haven’t installed it yet to be honest. Should I buy the DLC right away or maybe do one playthrough and then go for it?
I would download the 2.0 or 2.1 whatever current version you get and play Cyberpunk to see if you love it or not. IF you love it and want more then get Phantom liberty as it gives an addition to the CP experience but...its a 20 hour ride next to Cyberpunk itself which is a 60 hour ride. It is hard to completely appreciate Cyberpunk with 1 playthrough as very few would explore all the options and capabilities that it offers in just 1 playthrough.
Could I just start the PL campaign earlier but wait to play through it? What about all the weapons clothes cyberware and gear? I'd like to use it as early as possible
Well I started the DLC first mission. Then ran away as soon as you get the relic power. Nice turn of events and not sure if it changes the story that much.
I made a new character and tried to streamline myself to dlc. I cant beat the voodoo boys mission since the cyberfreak before meeting agent takes no damage no matter what I do. I wonder what level I should try again?
i would recommend at least doing the first mission of phantom liberty when you get access to it so you can unlock the relic abilities. they are very fun to use!
Does it mess with the main story at all? Right now I had just finished the funeral for Jackie, got panams car back, and doing the quest for taka whatever. I just didn't want to skip ahead at all or miss any of the main quests
@@bobdylan1968 no, it doesn’t affect the main story. i haven’t done anything besides the first two missions of phantom liberty, but neither of them interact with the main story.
@@aratsorceress sweet, thanks!
I was wondering about this.
@@bobdylan1968 **you have to get to the point of Pacifica to start phantom liberty btw**
Coming fresh off of Starfield, and having never played Cyberpunk, I gotta say, this game is fire!! Soo damn good!
yeah I like starfield but playing this after that really makes going back and playing that hard
I really wanted to like starfield but this game really shows how dated starfield is. I know people say they’re different games but I honestly feel like there’s more game changing stuff in pl then starfield. I have no idea where starfield spent all there effort because it doesn’t make sense
@@edsherwook5196 it does there is a ton of content in the game. I agree with you but starfield is just made on a bad engine. Which tbh they were right they could get away with. People love it. It definitely made money. But cyperpunk has made way more. Most people have played starfield because it’s on gamepass. If it wasn’t for that I don’t think that many people would even have an opinion on it. I personally think the game is okay. It’s the fact it look like a Xbox one game that barely run on series x that’s bad. And no vehicles because the engine is awful.
Yeah I stopped Starfield to play this again!
Your not wrong it is awesome! I even loved it the first time, I started all over again and love it after Diablo 4 this game is amazing
The best time to do Phantom Liberty is when you're at the "meet Honako" quest in the main game. There are a ton of good iconic contained within PL if you leave it till you've completed everything else you'll never get to fully enjoy them. Get to Honako Point, do Phantom Liberty, clear the Night City map if you're a completionist (like me), and finish the main game.
Thx man. Thatcher the answer I was searching for. Im Just at "meeting hanako" mission its a point of no return. Im at 40 lvl and done most of mission, at least Thatcher important ones. So I was wondering can I go to PL beat the dlc Than go back and beat the game?
@@alien457are they saying to beat the mission than play phantom or play phantom and then go back to this mission?
@@AstralAlien it seems That best way is to go for dlc right before last mission in main game which is "meeting hanako"
Yes, it's the best way to approach it as far as I'm concerned.@@alien457
I'm trying to get the legend ending for main story so could I do that ending then reload from the point of no return and just go phantom liberty?
The mission where you make the choice is "firestarter" just save regularly.
thank you, not sure why this guy couldn't just have said that, save before starting the quest "Firestarter" basically and then finish all the side shit and original games story up until the point of no return and then go back to phantom liberty to finish with every ending you wanna do.
Cause there ain't no fucking way I'm making a new character just to experience another ending fuck that, it would be such a huge timesink and I really don't like wasting my time.
@@HikariSakaiokay so basically I should play the main story until the hanako embers thing. Play phantom Liberty and save a the fire starter mission to experience different ending? What if I want to experience the different endings for the main story? Should I save at the embers and have a different save for fire starter?
I agree that it seems to make more sense to start PL in late game rather than mid-game. I'm not that far into it, only did a couple of hours playthrough last night, but Dogtown is fantastic. I feel like it's a lot bigger of an area than I was expecting it to be and it's easy to get lost in (but that's a good thing). Really enjoying what CDPR has given us so far!
can you access all the new items without entering dogtown? Thats what I dont get. Couldnt we just do mission one of PL then wait until Hanako mission to finish the rest? I want the new clothes, cyberware, and guns for both storylines. Or does it not work like that?
@@MarcFerrer-n3h the 2.0 update is for everyone, regardless of whether or not you play Phantom Liberty - so all of the cyberware, new skills, perks, weapons, weaponized vehicles are all available to all players.
@@MarcFerrer-n3hThere is weapons for the DLC but noting special so far 2 missions in!!! Cyberware I think is for everyone could be wrong
So you want to not have the relic abilities during most of your play thru? Kinda pointless to me.
@user-ic7rj3dw7e you can't iconic weapons are only found where they're found.
Thank you very much for delivering this information in a spoiler-free yet informative way. I know a lot of gamers appreciate your degree of tact.
As vague as Paul is being here, it is clear to me that he means that you should enter the Phantom Liberty questline, starting with the 'Dog Eat Dog' quest, right before you begin 'Nocturne'. Personally I think he is being too cautious. So, if you are at level 20-25, you can do 'Dog Eat Dog' and the following until you open up Relic powers(i.e. ‘Get It Together’), then bail out and go back to the game main questline. It doesn't really do anything to harm your immersion with the main quests, as long as you bail right after that point(i.e. the first part of PL).
Thank you!
Cheers! Appreciate it 🙂
The point of no return is fright before this mission so I’ve always considered nocturne openis to be the last mission. I feel like everyone knows that
@@jacemunoz9989 If you disagree, you should be a bit clearer so as to help others reading this thread.
When would you suggest starting the Phantom Liberty quest chain with the quest 'Dog Eat Dog'(my suggestion is when the quest pops after level 20 or so)?
When would you suggest bailing out of the Phantom Liberty quest chain(my suggestion was at ‘Get It Together’)? Or should you wait until just before 'Nocturne' and do the PL quest chain all in one go?
I started a new save and new character after having three playthroughs previously (and over 300 hours). I wanted to make sure to get the new 2.0 update in its entirety after not having played the game in at least 9 months.
I also increased the overall difficulty on this play through and it has made it more challenging-while also feeling fresh because of the update! I am flying through the main story content faster than previous playthroughs, and after 12 hours I’m already at the Pacifica/VDBs mission. However, I’m going to play a lot more of the side-content before going into Phantom Liberty. I just want to level up my character a lot more before jumping in there.
It’s been really fun to be back in the Cyberpunk world after so long. Been playing a lot of Starfield-and it’s been awesome- but I have to say that this game just scratches a completely different itch for me and it feels great!
We are in the same boat and I did exactly the same, started a new game ( 3th play) and I'm not regretting, awesome game 👍
I tried starfield but ended deleting it after couple hours coz it seemed super boring. Does the game rly get better? And is the story worth it?
I did the same thing….
Unfortunately I was in the middle of Automatic Love gig where the relic gives V their 1st episode and the dlc was downloading. Messed up my file and now my Netrunner build is constantly in malfunction state. So now I have to restart it….
Fortunately I still have my old Nomad V build so now that I’m
familiar with the new updates I’m probably just gonna jump into that.
@@robinpkstryes the story and gameplay is far better than Starfield imho
@@robinpkstr It does get better. The beginning of the game is pretty slow, but the story and gameplay improve a lot the more you stick with it. That said, the action/setting/gameplay elements of Cyberpunk just feel better to me.
Definitely complete your love interest and friends side quest before starting (panam, river, rouge etc) to get extra dialogue options and new texts from your lover
That's a good choice!
And you activate the sixth skill tree during act 2, with enough content still to be done, before entering the endings.
Nah. The story feels way longer when you do phantom liberty before that
I would recommend that once you hit a certain point in PL, you drop a save file.
You cannot go back and repeat endings as you can with the base game. You can only experience an ending once per character, unless you reload a save.
In my experience the best time to do it is just before the Nocturne mission which is a point of no return. At that point you should be pretty high level already and have most of the skills where you want them to be and have some good gear as well. That alone will make the Phantom Liberty part much easier and way more fun to do
Thank you!
thats what im doing. felt like the right time
I reached 60 barely going through story lol, I'm the type of person that does every single side quest and gig first before continuing with story
How do you start the dlc from when you say?
@@Tomlatel just start it whenever it pops up, simple as that cause i heard it disappears on you if you don't do it earlier. But idk if that person was simply talking out of their ass or if it was true. I just didn't risk it personally.
They should be offended. This is literally an expansion which I guess you could put under the category of DLC but DLC can be something as dumb as horse armor. Old heads remember when any additional purchase to a game was always a huge expansion and cosmetics were free.
To be fair, it does feel more expansive than just “DLC.” The content that you get with Phantom Liberty exceeds the quality of most games nowadays.
Standard cdpr game. Look at blood and wine.
Because is called expansion , not dlc
While an expansion is dlc the meaning behind it can be quite different
It’s definitely shorter then blood and wine and making the player wait definitely makes the expansion artificially last longer. Like wait 2 days? Really. No other mission has you wait more then a day
@dankusmemeus7093 whys that an issue, cant you just rest or sped up time?
I just want a heist skip option. I don't want to skip that far ahead to the VDBs.
Yeah start at the part where your brain reboots and crawling out of the trash pile
For real ! Same for me. It's my 3rd playthrough to the game. When i started again from 0, i got tired after a few hours because i didnt want to be stuck at the beginning with no build, until the end of the prologue for 10hrs of story so i can finally play PL. So the new save for PL after pacifica was good for me. After farming a few NCPD scanner and gigs, im already lv 30 and 50 street lv and ready for the expension because the prologue and Act 1 are boring after 3 times.
@@BlueOvals24 Gentlemen. here we have someone who uses his brain efficiently. Take your like, good man. 🤔👍
Completely DISAGREE. 1st your missing out on playing the game not using all your relic abilities. 2nd. The endings can change in the normal playthru based on your choices in phantom liberty. Why would you want to play having the Relic abilities for only 14 hours. Its a complete waste of that talent tree. You shouldn't always listen to youtubers. It's only his opinion. You should go into the dlc about a 3rd of the way thru the game. That's a perfect point to hop in you'll get context of the game and understand whats happening. Plus that'll give you plenty of time to enjoy all the relic tier abilities. CDPR intended for you to play it during the middle of the play thru of the main campaign. That's the best way to play it
Thanks, much appreciated.
What would be a third into the game like after what mission do you recommend me jumping into phantom liberty
@@joshuachelette6277 Right after you have questioned Helman.
The thing is you get cyber upgrades, weapons, and other benefits like the relic system by playing Phantom Liberty that you can then bring back into the main campaign and have a much better experience. I love when DLC becomes available early to mid-way in a game, because there are almost always new and cool things you can then use in the main story. That's why I always did the DLC in Witcher 3 as early as I could, like the mutagen system for example, that completely changed the way you play the game. Honestly I'm not a fan of any new systems, weapons etc. you have to wait until late game to access, because what's the point, the game will be over soon, and you won't get to use them much.
💯
Doing what youre saying requires completely breaking the story, the dlc where u get the mutagen powers takes place after the story, so going there early makes no sense. I get why its worth it for you but those powers are not worth breaking the game and dialogue for me.
I agree Locking weapons behind late-game checkpoints makes no sense. They should offer them at lower levels and allow you to upgrade them like they do with all the other weapons.
I rolled a new character for it. Started last night. Been playing a lot of starfield lately and wow I had forgotten how great this game looks on PC with all the fancy NVIDIA switches..
I have played the entire main game four times (450 hours) and I have played Phantom Liberty as soon as it came out. That's why I have knowledge of all the endings and I have decided to play a new game for the first time with version 2.01, so this time I will get to Voodoo Boys and jump to PL to play the ending that leaves me back in Night City to do all the remaining primary and secondary missions and then do the finale with Panam but this time I will have all the advantages obtained in PL to use.
What endings send you back to night city?
I want to know too
Thx for the comment,glad you enjoyed it enough to plat that much! I'm loving it too, but have a problem with the dlc. I went there when I bought it and was a level 30 or so and got the new weapons and a bunch of air drops, did Mr.Hands gigs, but can't get the story missions to activate. Nobody calls me, I've met songbird, she's in my contacts...but nothing is on the map and I've No Clue how to trigger it to take place. Just running around like a kook at this point,lol. Anybody help is Greatly appreciated!! ✌🎮
First game of this type for me ..I am an older player and have to say it is a terrific game .. not going to lie I’m a bit lost a lot .. but I’m slowly figuring it out and enjoying it very much ..
You’ll get the hang of it the more you play it. It’s amazing
Where are you getting lost?
Just take your time and really soak in everything the game has to offer. The slower you go the more you will be rewarded for it.
@@island_dancer Hi.I’m having most trouble understanding the cyberware ,hacking ,ram ,operating systems,?and now relics ? Very confusing for me .
@@TheBigtlopez Hacking = spell casting. Operating System = spellbook. RAM = mana. Relic = extra abilities for arm cyberware, cloak cyberware (optical camouflage) and lets you see + exploit weak spots in enemy armour/cyberware.
Netrunners are the mages of Cyberpunk's world. Since almost everyone has a net connected brain in 2077, a person's mind can be hacked just like a person may be lulled by an enchant or tricked by an illusion cast by a mage.
A cyberdeck is the router or modem that connects your brain to the net. You can think of it like the mage's spellbook. It gives your brain direct access to the net and you can store hacks (spells) in them like a wizard might scribe spells.
When you use hacks (spells) on people, it costs RAM, just like a spell costs mana.
Your spells come in 4 different schools - combat, control, covert and ultimate.
Combat hacks hurt people. Control hacks CC them. Covert hacks either create visual/auditory distractions or prevent enemies from seeing or hearing you.
Ultimate hacks are like the fanciest spells in Cyberpunk. These usually kill or disable people in dramatic fashion, like forcing them to turn their gun on themselves and commit suicide (very brutal) or knock them out cold in such a way that you are completely untraceable.
You can get many cyberdecks (spellbooks) in the game and each one is suited to a different type of spell school.
For example, Arasaka MK5 gives you bonuses related to covert hacks, so its suited for stealthy mage playstyles. Each deck gives you different bonuses that encourage different playstyles within the netrunner archetype. Some give you bonuses to monowire damage or they make your hacks upload quicker if you are shooting smart guns.
I think doing chippin in and everything with Johnny is the perfect final pre phantom liberty quest line
Agreed!
As in finish chipping in and everything else before starting phantom liberty?
@@noturmum7967 Finish the main game (and all Johnny side quests.) Up until you get to the available mission called “Nocturne OP55N1.”
Once that mission becomes available - do not do it. Complete Phantom Liberty THEN go do the Nocturne OP55N1 mission.
That was one of the most incredible animated intros I've ever seen! I laughed, I cried.. truly a whirlwind of emotions.
I’m absolutely LOVING the main game right now. It took me like 18 attempts to really fall in love with it, but I’m absolutely floored by it. I’ll take your advice and start PL just before Nocturne.
Bro 18????
@@ma-scalia8629 yeah. I realize I have to be in a certain mood to play meaty games. Same thing happened with the Witcher 3. It went from “I can’t get into it” to “my top five favorite games of all time”
@@XSi1entSpartanX happend to me with elden ring. started it 6 times, but almost always imediately dropped it. which is a shame i love youtubers playwing that game but it was just too hard for me. now i have baldurs gate 3 installed for a month, and i have 2 hours on it lol.
@@ma-scalia8629Im on my 4th attempt with Witcher 3 and almost lost interest in Cyberpunk but kept going, Im glad I kept going. I fucking love Cyberpunk 2077. Dont get me wrong nothings wrong with Witcher, I can see why fans love these 2 games and the Dev team, but sometimes a game is or at least at the very same doesnt feel like its for you. I wasnt a fan of Mass Effect till Legendary Edition dropped and/or the remastered version of TLOU. Its a Me problem. Imma keep trying with Witcher 3 tho
My plan was to pick up my save sitting outside Embers as that save has every mission and achievement done. Every weapon and car etc etc. And start Phantom Liberty from there. I really don't want it start over another 120 hours as I have too many games backlogged I'd like to get to. So I it sounds like this is a good choice to make.
yeah i dont see much need in starting a new character there 😂
I also have a character in that state. However I opted to make a new character because of the 2.0 update and I've thoroughly been enjoying doing another full playthrough.
I have like 2 maxed out characters, and two low ones, so I'm using this as an opportunity to play a completely new build from the beginning with the new system.
I had a level 30 character, but they’ve made so many changes to the cyberware, the perks and such that I ended up rolling a new character and learning the new systems slowly. I think I’m going to do Panam’s series of quests before tangling with the VDB on this playthrough. That way, I’ll be sufficiently leveled up and used to the new systems, but still have some of the game left to play with the new Relic perks and new weapons.
same...3 playthroughs at Embers...hundreds of hours
I finished the game on 1.0 and loved it.
1.6 came out and I played it again, and finished it, trying to do things differently, and wow what an experience.
2.0 is out and I am playing it, and I am going for quick hacks only, and man, its just a game that keeps on giving just like witcher 3 and skyrim.
The best part of cyberpunk is its not a very long game. It took me over 80 hours to finish Witcher 3 and I skipped SO MUCH CONTENT.
It took me like 100 hours to finally put down Skyrim.
But I beat cyberpunk with almost 75% completion the first time in juts 22.5 hours. I finished it in 35 hours the second time around with 85%+ completion. Its very easy to do another run.
I'm loving it so far. I'm still at the beginning, and my only complaint so far is how my V is so cordial with songbird. I wanted to be confrontational like bitch you invade my mind and mute my boy johnny, but my v is friendly and even flirty. She cracked a joke like, "you get to work with me, " and my v says, "there is that." Like what? lol. The other thing was how worried my v sounded about songbird, but that can be chalked up to the fact that she can potentially help us
I went to dogtown around level 25 and was jumping in and out continuously doing little bits of PL and Judy/panam questlines as they showed up. Barely touched the MQ other than rushing the pacifika bit to access PL. With a solid build you should be fine even at lower levels. It also gives you access to relic levels and carjacking for el capitan, plus some crazy good iconic stuff, so in my opinion the sooner you enter the better. Then you can do a few gigs there and see if you're up for the task or not.
Hey if you see this do i have to do all gigs and ncpd before i go Dogtown cause i wanna go to dogtown and back to night city dont know if it would lock me out
@@pancake7366 Hey, you can go in and out of dogtown as you please. I believe you gotta do the first couple missions in Phantom Liberty (which can be tough at lower levels), then you unlock the gate, which is basically your pass in and out of dogtown.
@ras_eo how do you unlock the gate into the stadium?
I've only got as far as kidnapping the female ceo with Takemura.
Hope this makes sense?
I've literally only started playing cyberpunk since the PL dlc release, hence I'm abit confused.
@@steveazyb2595 To be able to start phantom liberty you need to do a quest called Transmission. It's the last quest in the pacifika main questline. You can start it by helping Judy find Evelyn, then there will be a bunch of follow up quests, some of them will take time to trigger
So could I hypothetically do enough quests in PL to open the dog town gate and get access to the gigs & contracts, then go back to the main story stuff until I’m ready to fully go into PL?
It's odd that CDPR would recommend people to start fresh and natural go into the expansion only for reviewers to recommend playing the normal campaign in its entirety first.
Recommended because of all the changes in 2.0. That’s what I did and it was awesome.
I actually wouldn’t go with what the reviewers are saying, because then you just pretty much went the whole game without using your Relic powers (unless you saved the side missions, etc.) I think I would do the first PL mission that unlocked the Relic powers and then bail out and continue with the main story.
Hopefully they've provided the same 'point of no return' warning for Phantom Liberty so I can experience the end of the PL story and then decide if it's worth it going back to finish things up in the base game. I'm sure PL does a great job of wrapping up the story, but it's hard to imagine a more satisfying ending than V leaving Night City with the Aldecados and Judy.
Edit: Watched the rest of the video and apparently they do not provide such a warning so thank you for the heads up Paul.
v and panam is the most satisfying ending for me,with alacados being second
10:27
I’m afraid to check my end game save before the first major overhaul update, so can’t imagine it now. I started new character wit 2.0 so this video was what I was looking for, thank you!
I haven't played the game at all yet. I got it when it released but with all the issues I never got past the 1 chapter. So most of the game will be all new to me.
as a veteran player i did the 1st mission of phantom liberty around level 30 just to unlock everything and i can get back to the dlc whenever i see fit but have access to dogtown, new cyberware, gunshops…you loose nothing and get more content for the base game missions. just have to figure out how to get the new tech sniper and have most content to do with it. such a shame you cant get that thing earlier.
Because I'm so desperate for the new story, I'm jumping into Phantom Liberty on my 100% save. Then planning on rolling back a fresh character to play through the main campaign with the 2.0 update.
Same just jumped in on my completed save but probably won’t play the game all over I played it 2 and half times can’t imagine doing it again
This right here. I tried it and it is jarring. Definitely recommend starting from the get-go cuz you can really build your V without using your one time respec.
Okay so not really related to the game in question, I have heard your name in passing when the topic of game journalists comes up. I recently discovered your channel and can I just say that its refreshing to see that you have passion for your field. Not to disparage other journos but you do get the impression they would rather be writing op-eds on other subject matters sometimes so its a bit of a novelty to see someone actually enjoy their work. Keep it up, you've earned a subscriber and a fan.
playing phantom liberty is meant to be played when it becomes available, and it makes sense by a narrative standpoint. when you do the main campaign after finishing phantom liberty, there's special dialogues that reference what happened at the end of phantom liberty (Herman is an example and there's more). so canonically it is meant to be completed before playing the rest of the story
It is insane to go directly to phantom liberty from a new game start. If your character is already well developed I guess you would go straight into phantom liberty because... you get the prompt to start it from Songbird immediately after completing MapTien the VooDooBoyz mission and anybody at a high level would have already completed that but if you just downloaded 2.0 and PL then you would have a huge learning curve to figure out all the new features. So if you want to wait after starting a new game to learn the new features, dont start the VDBz mission till you want to go into PL.
What sux about it, is if you go straight into PL from a new start, and you have already played the game and know it well , you start at level 15 with all green cyberware (pre chosen for you) your Cyberware capacity is set at 71, you get $20K (nothing), you get 100 white components, and 20 green (much lower than if you actually played till level 15), You have a green cyberdeck, you get a choice of different green weapons to use and you are squishy and weak as F**K. Of course you can go thru it because they make the enemies weak also but...one of the best combat action you will see in PL is the very beginning saving Meyers, taking on the Chimera (Super MECH) and then the ending combat is great, everything in between is gigs and missions that are not as thrilling IMHO. The mission where you make a choice that splits into 2 different endings its called Firestarter.
I would always start a new game and level up to around level 40 at minimum before starting the VDBz mission. Cyberware comes in different options at lvl 1, then lvl 20 (new cyberware) and then lvl 30 and you wont have the better cyberware if not at those levels and if you dont have Edgerunner (20 in Tech) you will be at a dissadvantage. I was going to do a video on how rediculous going directly to PL with what CDPR offers you is insane but why, no one really watches my videos anyway, so...
You are right - I don't see why people would like to go straight to Phantom Liberty lol
Anyone who is an absolutely new player would enjoy playing the main story.
Those who played it already may just use the save from the past and use the respec offered by the game.
Anyhow, I feel that the best way of doing it is replaying the game from the get go - so many things were changed. I am 25 hours or so into my new rerun and it's amazing!
I'm glad I watched this, I like to do the side quests and stuff to build up my character for the main quest
I realized today that the actual storyline of main quests is very short...like right after the parade its time to meet hanako at embers
thats why i've been putting it off for so long side quest cyber psycho's the car contracts etc
Other than bloodborne and dark souls 3, this is the only game I’ve played that I enjoy starting a new game from the ground up. Played 3 characters. Now that I have PL as of this morning I’ve been working on my new character. My female corpo netrunner techie with Judy romance that I will be going into the expansion in. But I did remake my original character all over again to also go into the expansion with. Male street kid pistol shotgun build panaam romance. So I’m really excited to see how the life paths affect phantom liberty with dialogue choices and such on dynamics.
Paul, you're great. You are a quintessential gamer.
i love this and wish i had seen it earlier. I booted up 100% preheist save when 2.0 dropped and spent the rest of the week getting to voodoo boys and figuring out the combat and changes. then jumped in right after “I walk the line” and it certainly felt like it would have been beneficial to start late game for more options and easter eggs to be triggered. in any case, i wanted to see the story play out and once i finished it i went back to the save after voodoo boys and now i’m gonna wait until all the main endings are opened before starting the Dog eat Dog quest again.
I have over 1000 hours in the game and as the mission to save Sandra was bugged, I had no other choice than to begin with PL, I've finished what I wanted to do and then started a new play through. I really like what they did with the game.
So best time to go PL is right before "meeting hanako" with point of no return? Its my first playtrough
@@alien457 i don't think there is a best time as the relic tree will change so much. I am doing a new play and I did the Judy and Panam quests and then I took out the VDB's, after which I started with PL
@@larscw74 so U suggest Thatcher best option is to start PL sooner? Anyway my problem was should I first beat the game or PL
@@alien457 I have over 1000 hours in the original game. I have done all of the endings and I know what I like and dislike about the quest lines. So for me it made sense to do it like this. I want to get a really good sniper rifle and shoot the van in the Perez quest line from the top of their apartment. I already have Overwatch from Panam and O'Five from the Arroyo fight. Keep in mind this is something I haven't tried yet. I don't know if I could headshoot the driver of that van. My point is. Enjoy the game in its many facets, there is no right or wrong. If you don't like something, go back to an earlier save or make a new character.
Should I do one of the particular paths that leaves it open (able to return) to get the Blackwall Gateway quickhack - to make the other stuff easier for a netrunner build - for the main quest (such as for Oda and Adam Smasher)?
2:03 you skip all the early missions when skipping to dlc. I decided just to start over but unfortunately I haven’t gotten to dlc content yet. Super close though. Just did automatic love.
Also there is an additional ending that opens up from the DLC so keep that in mind. Point of no return was a good point to run through DLC although since I’ve already played through the game before I’m play it through when I get to Pacifica.
That's EXACTLY the advice I've been looking for ! Thanks Mr. Tassi...
Thank you Paul, this was very helpful! Subbed to your channel! Thanks again!
I've played through the game many times, so I didn't play a lot of the game before plunging into Phantom. Now I don't want to play the main game, much as I know I'd enjoy it. I'd recommend doing a bunch of gigs in the main game, and play through the Evelyn quest, the Panam quests, the Takemura jobs and the search for Smasher with Rogue and the oilfield scene, in approximately that order. In any case, do the Voodoo Boys/Pacifica quests _last_ because it triggers the Phantom Liberty content, and like me, you probably won't want to wait.
I got to the end credits from this dlc expecting that it did same as base game and that you could carry on just before the final mission but unfortunately it doesn't whitch is a shame so save regularly
I was totally thinking about this. Saving Phantom Liberty for when I do absolutely everything in the game. Besides like arcades and shit lol.
I didn't start playing the game until very recently. I picked it up on the Steam Summer Sale, and really happy I did. That being said. I waited to start the entirety of Phantom Liberty until after I completed my first ending of that Hanako mission. I then proceeded to steam roll Phantom Liberty at terminal velocity, and that was a disappoint to me at first because in my ending with Hanako I gave Johnny the driver's seat, picked up Pride, and didn't get to keep it, or Prejudice post mission. But, I did get a stupid shovel that I found. Sad. I didn't understand why the post game put me back to the Hanako mission. I was confused. Then proceeding to Phantom Liberty, it made zero sense to me because in my ending, I made Johnny walk across the bridge and stay in Cyber Space with Alt to keep his promise to V. So, when I went into Phantom Liberty, it made no sense to me that Johnny was miraculously back. It didn't click until later when google searching, expecting this to have been a bug.
This all being said. I did NOT manually save before that undercover mission, and will have to go back and make a whole new V. Which I am not upset about at all. Before getting super deep in the game I made three characters, one per background. I put about 30 hours in each one. I wound up playing through a female Street Kid, as a Netrunner, because I fell in love with that play style, and was feeling inspired by Lucy from Edgerunners. But, I was let down by a lot of critical story moments when my level 20 Netrunner that was fully spec'd in the intelligence tree "wasn't good enough" in a few main story missions and had to go see other runners to proceed the story. (Both in the base game and Phantom Liberty. I thought I was a living effin' legend?) That being said, I'm definitely playing all over again to make a male nomad, because I went back and did the Hanako mission a couple more times while waiting for Reed to call me back at a few points. I feel like the "best" possible play through now is a male nomad, who romanced Panam, and got the Aldecaldos ending. So, I'm going to have to go all the way back through, and complete every gig, side biz, etc, all over again, to get what I think would be greenest of green grass on the other side of the fence. I also want to make sure that I get a manual save on that undercover mission to secure all possible outcomes.
Great video over all. I really liked it. Subscribing, now.
i was wondering, thank you for the video!
I’ve been looking for a video like this to explain this. I rushed thru part 1 not realizing I missed all the side missions
the decision point is during the quest chippin in, where you can choose between a red and a blue pill!🤗
I didn't know that mission woild activate phantom liberty yesterday during my first playthrough of this game. Have i lost any storylines entering the phantom liberty storyline? Should i revert and continue with all the storylines prior to phantom liberty?
Nevermind. I reverted back about 3 hours. No regrets lol
Totally disagree with doing it all at the ends, would feel disjointed and out of place, at the end of the main story you're supposed to be at death's door, yet phantom liberty takes places over quite a long period of time, week minimum, I started it as soon as it became available, enjoyed the extra content it introduces, items, guns, cars etc, but took it easy, did one PL mission, a few gigs, side quests in between, then one main, felt much more cohesive, since in both PL and the main quest delve into the sake topics, trust, relationships, mortality, during both you get t know johnny better, so yeah I think it's better to mix it all together at a good pace, never rushing both storylines
Also, it is a very clear DIALOGUE moment where you need to make a branching choice. I will say that I was surprised about how much iconic weapons and cyberware you get as part of PL. Enough to change your approach messin' about in the open world.
If you do it before have finished Judy, Panam and Takemura’s quests at least they will call you to leave Dogtown, which disrupts the flow of Dogtown and the story as a whole I feel. You should probably skip car (steering wheel icon) quests until you have finished the Phantom Liberty story - to again avoid being pulled out. These car gigs can easily be done before the point of no return when you run around doing everything you want before doing the end of the story.
After having finished my first run of Phantom Liberty (for the most part), I can confidently say that you need stuff to do between quests, unless you want to skip time in the menu. The airdrops and car missions are perfect for this, and so are other side quests from the base game story. The car stuff even has some story elements by itself (not necessarily a direct link to PL). Also, some quests in PL will have you going outside Dogtown anyway, so no need to limit yourself like this. It is one big city after all, and the transition back and forth just makes the different districts feel more unique in my opinion.
@@muad_ yeah, I see that, but if you have been focussed on Judy, Panam and Takemura there is still a lot to do to fill that time - and maybe V could catch some sleep?
@@ObsidianCrane Yeah, there is plenty else to do, I agree. But I just wouldn't advise anyone not to do parts of the expansion because it "disrupts the flow". With how easy it is to go in and out of Dogtown, I would recommend people to experience the jarring switch from Dogtown to Night City fairly often, as it adds to the experience, in my opinion. I managed to do the whole Panam romance run from the first Afterlife visit to the very end with her between a handful of expansion missions. Also, the quests fit nicely into the story, and have added options for some dialogues, both base game and PL, depending on the order one does them.
I think they are making the difference between DLC and Extension clear so that when they do come out with more DLC, people aren't expecting a huge expansion
Unfortunately this is the final dlc for cyberpunk 2077. Now they are full steam ahead on their 6 other projects.
@@vagrantender It might be their last expansion, but I feel they will still have content packs every now and then, similar to the Edgerunners stuff, ya know? That would all still be considered DLC
I think they're done, even with small DLC
@paul_tassi cyberpunk 2 then? It's a massive ip now I don't see them just dropping it
@@JIBRAEL11witcher first
The only problem I have with waiting till the end, is that you find out there is like 24 hours before the plane crashes, which is why Songbird was trying to contact you in Pacifica. Doing it at the end basically destroys the whole premise. I wish I knew this as I followed the advice to wait.
I think it might have been better, in retrospect, to start the quest right away, then continue the rest of the game before finishing off PL. I really wish the devs didnt put these "timed" narrative events in the game which the character cannot necessarily follow, as it just ruins the immersion. They should have left the timing vague.
I absolutely cannot stand that I spent as much time as I did playing through the game for my third time first experience with phantom liberty and I made the choices that led to a permanent end. Nothing to do after no continuing my build and finishing other gigs etc. I’m currently actually really upset and disappointed about this.
I'm trying to 100% all previous material before approaching the new material. Had the "most common ending" on my previous playthroughs because who doesn't want a chance at robbing a Casino in Low Earth Orbit? Now it's time to try for the "secret" ending.
Finally got around to getting this recently. I played the original game when it first came out. So I’m doing a whole new play through with PL. It is good but it seems so out of place when you play it in the middle of the base game storyline. That’s really my only complaint about it. It just seems out of place some how. I would say waiting until near the end is the best time to play it.
I'm not sure why watching the different endings on TH-cam after you've completed the game is super lame compared to save scumming your way through all of them. It's perfectly valid to just you know just play through the game and get an ending.
Not gonna lie, CDPR made this extremely confusing as hell for those of us who have no beaten the game yet. The main take away I'm getting from this video, comments, and reddit threads, is once you reach the mission "Nocturne Op55N1", do NOT go and meet Hanako. Instead, save that for after you finish Phantom Liberty. Begin the Dog eat Dog quest. Which should trigger for you once you complete the Voodoo Boys quest "Transmission".
I say when you get to the Point of Dress up with a Brother & Sister Hard Save at that point. Because your at a point where there pathways and make 2 saves after that. But yes I agree play the whole Game first & then the DLC. Yes I really could care less what CD Projekt Red calls it Frankly they could of easy made this in Unreal Engine instead of waiting. Like Standalone mini Exps.
COOL ! Thanks! I am totally new to the CyberPunk universe and i am enjoying it 1000% although still struggling with the "mechanics, build ups, playstyles etc etc!" just a lot of information ! so knowing this is PERFECT! One less thing to try to figure out on my own.
Thanks for the heads up. Was mid way through. And was thinking of completing Phantom Liberty then finish main game.
Thanks for the advice.
Thank you for this. I was confused.
Got it. Thanks. Makes sense about the play order.
It makes you do like 3 quest before even jumping into the phantom liberty
This video was perfect, thanks for the info
I just found out about the secret ending and I did everything, including the ending for pl but I love this game soo much I don’t mind restarting from scratch
PL is best enjoyed after the main campaign IMO
Hy there! As a new player what you recommend to do first? should I start the base story or to skip to Phantom liberty? I just downloaded the game today so I dont know what to do :)) thanks a lot!
I want to know, can I start a new game in Cyberpunk 2077 and then buy the DLC later - and play Phantom Liberty in the same save?
Or do I need to have it at the start? (I just want to wait on it since I can’t afford it right now.)
@@yourfriedlyahole1985 Thanks
I really like the little edit to the intro. Small but enjoyed it
When do you get her magesty I would like to save the best quests for when I get the nice new stuff from phantom liberty also is this point that you mentioned to make a hard save a good point to stop and finish the rest of the game before doing it and still getting the best rewards from the dlc?
I did not get a choice of when to start Phantom Liberty. There I was, busy collecting tarot cards and had just arrived at an area I had not seen before (I said to myself, "Wow, I wonder what that place is."): I went to collect the card and, boom, I was suddenly being hacked by someone who turned out to be someone in need of urgent, urgent help which was rather difficult to ignore (when all I was doing was collecting tarot cards) so there I was, unexpectedly playing the first mission, which in turn led to quite a long sequence of missions before it felt right to take a break and get back to the main game.
Man wtf literally every other outlet says you should weave phantom liberty gradually into the main story after the pacifica quest. Rather then play it as an epilogue but no
Paul tassi says the opposite 🤦♂️.. so which is it?
Appreciate the insight. I’m in the middle of a playthrough but I wanted the new purchasable vehicles which are apparently only available once ur able to access dog town 🙃 but yea I’d rather save the cohesiveness of the story
great into by the way 😎
Can you use relics if you don't touch the dlc though? If you do that last it makes the new powers kinda pointless?
Super cool intro
I started all over did almost all the side quests. Got to the point of where you leave the president. Stole the car for captain and started the main missions got a few more side quests that are going to pop up and then I’ll go do phantom liberty! I’ve already put 60 hours into this new game and barely touched phantom liberty! I’m stoked!!
What is really shocking to me is how good this game is after playing starfield 😅
Thank you for all you do .I’m an older / not very experienced player .so forgive my ignorance. I started playing original game recently and I am enjoying it very much . I know allready I’m going to play PL . But I’m not sure if I should buy it or wait until later in the original game ? What do you suggest ?
i thought the expansion takes places halfway through the story? didn't CDPR say that?
After you finish the Pacifica mission
I took their word and went into the dlc and got curb stomped it should be near end game level for dlc
@@kevo300 good to know
@@kevo300I’m level 50 and still get curbed quite a bit
If we’re doing a replay of the game, are there any side quests you recommend doing prior to starting the expansion? I already did almost all the side quests on my first play through, and would prefer to skip those this time if it doesn’t affect the expansion much.
Do the Judy and the Panam quest lines first
Is the undercover mission you're talking about a base game or phantom liberty misson? Ive completed the base game before but can't recall what mission you're mentioning.
it's in Phantom Liberty
I chose to do it after doing the voodoo boy mission I doing just fine I now the choice he talking about u will have to choose
Thank you!
If you leave Phantom Liberty until the End then you will not get much use or there would be NO point finding the new weapons and outfits , why because by that time you get or find these items there will be basically nothing left to do in the game at all.
Don’t know why CDPR locks the new outfits and clothing behind Phantom Liberty.
Plus I found starting at Phantom Liberty you get to avoid the annoyingly aggressive story line of Takemura, who basically pesters you through out the whole game to help him and thus rushing you to meet Hanako at Embers. Then you have the annoying quest marker constantly appearing on your map and changing your mission objectives, which you then have to constantly turn off.
It's unplayable on the ps5 because there's a save corrupting bug which has been destroying everyone's save files.
should I get the DLC ?
I am a completely bewildered to the game, just bought the game yesterday. Haven’t installed it yet to be honest.
Should I buy the DLC right away or maybe do one playthrough and then go for it?
I would download the 2.0 or 2.1 whatever current version you get and play Cyberpunk to see if you love it or not. IF you love it and want more then get Phantom liberty as it gives an addition to the CP experience but...its a 20 hour ride next to Cyberpunk itself which is a 60 hour ride. It is hard to completely appreciate Cyberpunk with 1 playthrough as very few would explore all the options and capabilities that it offers in just 1 playthrough.
Could I just start the PL campaign earlier but wait to play through it? What about all the weapons clothes cyberware and gear? I'd like to use it as early as possible
Well I started the DLC first mission. Then ran away as soon as you get the relic power. Nice turn of events and not sure if it changes the story that much.
I made a new character and tried to streamline myself to dlc. I cant beat the voodoo boys mission since the cyberfreak before meeting agent takes no damage no matter what I do. I wonder what level I should try again?
just play from beginning until reaching point of no return then start PL and finish it then finish the game.