yo, i totally get where youre coming from with the budget struggle. i spent like ten years chasing the perfect display setup and i actually went through three different 34 inch ultrawides before i finally settled on what worked for me. i remember when i first loaded up cyberpunk 2077 on a standard ips panel... the neon lights looked great but the dark alleys of night city just looked kinda grey? it really sucked the immersion out for me tbh. for your situation, i would suggest going with a va panel if you want that cinematic depth. honestly, at the sub $400 price point, you get much better contrast ratios with va. i mean, ips is king for color accuracy and viewing angles, but for immersive rpgs where you want those deep blacks to actually look black, the Gigabyte G34WQC A-SA 34-inch Ultra-Wide Curved Gaming Monitor is a solid bet. it usually sits right around $350 and it hits that 144hz sweet spot too. another decent option if you can find it on sale is the Samsung 34-Inch Odyssey G5 Ultra-Wide Gaming Monitor. i used one for about a year and the 1000r curve really helps with the immersion, though some people find it a bit too aggressive i guess. the lesson i learned after wasting money on cheap ips panels is that for single-player games, contrast matters way more than slightly better color gamuts. as long as you can handle a tiny bit of black smearing when you pan the camera fast, the va contrast makes the game look so much more real. definitely prioritize those blacks for rpgs!!

Tbh for immersive RPGs like Cyberpunk, contrast is absolutely king. If you go with an IPS, you're looking at a 1000:1 contrast ratio which usually makes Night City look more like Grey City when its dark out. A VA panel typically hits closer to 3000:1 or 4000:1, which is night and day for immersion. Just keep an eye on response times tho, cuz budget VAs can sometimes get that black smearing effect during fast movement... it can be a bit distracting if youre sensitive to ghosting.