It’s not a fucking do/be whatever you want game

Historically, that is what RPGs are. Role Playing Games. Combined with an open world, and the marketing from CDPR, its no wonder people were expecting an open world role playing game where you could be whoever you please and experience a living breathing Night City while doing so.

Here's a quote from CDPR describing the game world while applying for a grant from the Polish government: "Comprehensive technology for the creation of 'live' cities of great scale playable in real-time, which is based on the principles of artificial intelligence and automation, and takes into account the development of innovative processes and tools supporting the creation of high-quality games with open worlds."

and

"senior level designer Miles Tost and senior quest designer Philipp Weber in a new series of podcasts. Fans translations on Reddit reveal that the developers confirmed that more than 1,000 NPCs in the game will have "a handmade routine." In comparison, there are areas in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt where NPCs just had no routine."

Both of these quotes are laughably false. They DID promise a simulated, living breathing Night City. It is not the people's fault for believing they would deliver on their promises.