The site I know all you folks love, Kotaku, drops another article exploring if another play through with just the current patches is worth it or to wait for the expansion. And in typical cyclical Kotaku fashion they drop gems like this; "Having a game that crashes less doesn’t make its combat encounters more engaging, it doesn’t make its rancid, cynical politics any better..." you mean the dystopic "politics" that makes cyberpunk cyberpunk? Sorry this world on the brink of collapse dystopia doesn't have enough rainbows and unicorns for you kiddo... for fucks sake. None the less here is the full clip;
What happens if I play Cyberpunk 2077 before these changes?
At this point, playing Cyberpunk 2077 before Phantom LIberty is playing a mostly improved version of the game that launched in 2020. Fundamentally, the game is still the same as it was, but is held together by a better foundation. There’s an argument to be made that this game cannot be salvaged, even as CD Projekt Red has rolled out a ton of patches and free updates over the past three years. And to some degree, I agree with that. Having a game that crashes less doesn’t make its combat encounters more engaging, it doesn’t make its rancid, cynical politics any better, and it doesn’t make Night City feel like more than a really, really pretty city skyline that beckons toward possibilities it can’t realize. But Phantom Liberty seems like an earnest attempt to make good on some of the mechanical promise the game had before it launched.