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Re:The Influence of Neuromancer on Cyberpunk by the_af on Tuesday April 05, 2022 @02:48PM (#30923202)
> "It was a fantastic game that spent a lot of time ruminating on topics like transhumanism, sex, and corporate power"

I can't say anything about C2077 because I haven't played it, I can just repeat what Gibson said about it. And he didn't play it either, he was just judging the trailer.

What I can say is to note the three things you mentioned, "transhumanism, sex and corporate power" are also explored in other highly derivative and uninspired works of cyberpunk-influenced fiction, like Altered Carbon. Boy, was I disappointed by that show [1]! It's completely shallow, uninterested in exploring the philosophical ramifications of the technology it introduces, and instead goes for flashy visuals, endless action and explosive gore. I watched season 1 because I wanted to know whodunnit -- it was disappointing -- and season 2 was unbearable.

Whether you agree with me or not that Altered Carbon on Netflix was garbage, at least you must concede using those cyberpunk tropes you mentioned is not enough to determine quality or complexity of the plot and/or message. They are just tools in a toolbox, and can be used to build something interesting or something utterly uninspired, just another "gritty" cyberpunk copycat.

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[1] and from what my friends tell me, the book series is not fundamentally different. Only the details vary.

Re:The Influence of Neuromancer on Cyberpunk by philipkglass on Tuesday April 05, 2022 @07:23PM (#30926442)
I found Altered Carbon significantly different from and more thoughtful than the TV adaptation, as I commented here a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16348681

Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon books (as well as his Black Man, published as Thirteen in North America) are very angry and bleak in tone, from what I recall. (But they were not angry at technology itself, the way the characters of the Altered Carbon TV series were; in-universe characters weren't trying to eliminate the cortical stack in the books.) They also have some spectacular action sequences, which is probably why they were picked up for TV. They have some horrific tortures (both in VR and out of it), much worse than shown in the TV adaptation, which is why I haven't re-read them like I did Neuromancer.

Re:The Influence of Neuromancer on Cyberpunk by tomc1985 on Tuesday April 05, 2022 @10:17PM (#30927731)
I enjoyed the first season of Altered Carbon but I was really looking for something to scratch the Westworld itch while I was waiting for the next (disappointing) season to come out.

But as a fan of the genre I think that CP2077 did what it set out to do and then some. And while those points may be somewhat tired cliches -- and admittedly these are my favorite kinds of narratives so I don't really care -- the only pieces of any kind of media that made me truly feel like I was in the driver's seat roleplaying that experience was the original Neuromancer and Cyberpunk 2077. Not Rifts RPG, not Blade Runner, not The Ascent (and holy shit what a suprise blessing that game was), nor anything else.