Did you play it shortly after it launched, or some time after? The game was very unstable and buggy for a while after it released, but it's been largely improved since then. There's still a few minor bugs that are kinda hard to fix (usually scripting issues with some quest lines that can be broken, but I think most of those have also been repaired), but otherwise it's very solid now.
Also, are you playing on a current-gen system? PS4/XB1 are going to have really bad performance, even with the updates.
If you didn't quit due to performance problems, why did you decide not to continue? Maybe I could shed some light on things you're missing out on.
I played on PC only. I played it within a day of launch. It has been so long that I hardly recall. I believe it wasn’t the most smooth experience, but more so than that, I didn’t enjoy the gameplay. I didn’t feel like my bullets were making a connection. The world felt more contrived than I thought it would.
I also feel like perhaps I bit into the hype to the point that I hadn’t seen the forest for the trees. During my time playing, I realized I wasn’t that into the whole cyber punk concept to begin with. That’s my fault obviously. Shameful though that I didn’t set myself up for a successful refund.
Ahh, I gotcha. I'd definitely recommend giving it another shot if it's been a while! Some of the early weapons you'll find will have some pretty poor stats, but once you get past the main "intro" quest (without spoiling anything, it's after V and Jackie part ways), you'll unlock basically the full game at that point, with access to a lot more options for weaponry.
I also wasn't a huge fan of the gunplay in this game, so I ended up going with a netrunner build, so most of my combat was done a lot slower and from safe distances. If you ever try rolling another character, I definitely recommend going that route, instead. Dump the majority of your points into netrunning and cyberware, and also spec into stealth, and you're basically the world's most dangerous computer virus, IRL. Drop a few points into some melee abilities and keep a katana or some throwing knives equipped, and you've got yourself a really fun "cyber ninja" character going at that point. I prefer this playstyle, personally, because it feels a bit more appropriate for the world you're playing in. It also keeps you safe from a distance, but capable to defend yourself up close, without needing much in the way of firearms. While you can absolutely run-and-gun your way through it if you want, I feel like you miss out on a lot of what makes Cyberpunk so special that way.
That said, if you come across any "smart" weapons (instead of bullets, they fire homing projectiles that auto-track enemies), those definitely felt a lot more fun to use for me. The only gun I really keep equipped is Skippy (a smart pistol that's tied to a really fun quest) because it's great for those situations where you're waiting for your skill cooldowns and need to drop an enemy or two and don't feel like aiming.
Alternatively, you could also just "bypass" the combat by dropping the difficulty to just breeze through the story and the environments. Despite a lot of the game's flaws, it has some of the best narrative I've seen in a game in ages, so the story is absolutely worth digesting even if the gameplay isn't your cup of tea, in my opinion. The game actually poses a lot of really interesting philosophical questions to the player (if you enjoy some of the themes in Black Mirror about technology, identity, and ethics, then you'll probably dig Johnny's quest line), and goes into some pretty dark places. I'm usually not the kind of person to be emotional with movies or games, but there were several moments in Cyberpunk that had me really invested in the well being of some characters and making choices not for myself, but for them.
But also, if it's not for you, then it's not for you. There's a lot of parts of the game that I can see being an absolute turn-off for some people, and I get that. It can be gross, immature, and even unnecessarily disturbing at times. Sometimes the humor doesn't land, and some characters just aren't memorable or even likable. But, at the very least, the story is absolutely fantastic, and there's very little I can criticize in that regard.
If you're into anime at all, maybe also check out the Edgerunners show on Netflix. It's fairly short, and focuses on its own completely separate story from V's, in a slightly different point in time than the game takes place in, and with its own characters, so it's not related much to the game's story (and thus, won't spoil anything about the game). But it does a pretty great job at capturing the feel of Night City and the characters in it, and uses a ton of songs from the game, too. I'm not a huge anime fan, so I couldn't really say how it compares to other shows, but the artwork and action sequences are fantastic. Honestly, I feel like the anime is a better starting place if you want to get familiar with the world of Night City.
This is probably a lot more than you asked for, lol.
I leave the cool gun play to YouTube like Benjamin Winters and others who post their cool gun-fu. I really enjoy watching them do it.
That said, i just use smart pistol who can target 2 or 3 people and go brrrr.
Oh yeah, once you get good at it, you can do some really sick things with the guns in this game! I'm really hoping that Phantom Liberty will let us dual-wield pistols, because I definitely want to make a full Neo build with some Sandevistan shenanigans at some point.
I'm not gonna convince you playing again if you really feel like it is not for you. Maybe someday you might feel like giving it a go again and play it, so hopefully you will enjoy it that time. So for now, thank you for supporting CDPR financially! 😅
The game is actually very close to what it promised initially. Obviously some things just aren't possible (you can't open every door to every building unfortunately) but cyberpunk has really come into it's own in the past few years. Not to mention that Phantoms Liberty is going to essentially be a soft relaunch along with a whole new story and world map. I'd say it's at least worth a couple more hours of trying it out.