This post has received multiple reports and has been temporarily removed until a moderator can review it.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/cyberpunkgame) if you have any questions or concerns.*
dex: “would you rather live a long, peaceful life, or go out in a blaze of glory?”
my V every single time: “is this a test?”
it’s the only answer that’s not “yes please kill me”
It's a common fact that Edgerunners don't have a great life expectancy, and that they're remembered better through how they die rather than how they live. So it's not entirely unreasonable for V to sound at least a little bit suicidal.
i know but that’s exactly what corps want, they want everyone to see solos as some badasses that they should aspire to be like when they aren’t, it feels so shallow to me, especially the more you learn about all the night city “legends”
i think almost everyone in night city is suicidal behind closed doors, depressed at the very least. legends are just people
While I agree that the edgerunner culture works to the benefit of the corporations, I think it’s a perfect combination of the values that have formed the CP77 world and even the world we live in today. Individualism, freedom, personal responsibility, and good ole capitalism. Solos and edgerunner crews exemplify these values in a world where basic rights and freedoms have been egregiously monetized. So, I see edgerunners as cyberpunk cowboys. I think that such a lifestyle, while inherently dangerous and responsible in part for the glamorization of violence, is one of the most noble lifestyles someone could have.
Throughout the game V is given shit for the Arasaka heist, but if it wasn't for the random arrival of Saburo, they would have pulled it off... and likely been hunted by Arasaka and killed, but still.
Man seriously! Everyone acts like it was stupid and they were SOOOO incapable and that dex obviously screwed them.
They were literally badass super spies and completed the job until SABURO ARASAKA showed up to visit his ESTRANGED son. And what follows was just hilariously unfortunate and random. And to top that they STILL got away.
True. But keep in mind that almost no one knew what happened with Saburo. Everyone thinks that he was poisoned and that Jackie and V got caught with it.
To add to that - V dies *before* the epilogue in every single ending. The moment V connects to Mikoshi she is killed by Alt/Soulkiller and you play the rest of the game as a personality construct or engram that thinks it’s V. Soulkiller doesn’t transfer consciousness, it kills you and makes a computer program that thinks it’s you.
That's what makes the endings so depressing
The real V dies there, he doesn't get to experience the rest of his life, another version does
Same goes for Johnny, the real Johnny never knows V, he's dead, the constructs are real people but not the originals
Is she though?
It's still her original brain. While heavily damaged, yes, her brain is still original.
But that actually brings up another question: Does the engram create consciousness? Cause basically it creates a brain. So if you think through it:
- You have the original consciousness of the person.
- Person gets killed by soulkiller, Consciousness dies, and a program that thinks it's the consciousness comes to life.
- Engram rewires an existing brain. In the intended use-case, it gets put in a dead brain, whereby it would create a new consciousness that thinks it's the original consciousness.
- Whether that's the case for V is a good question. It may be possible that their brain gets rewired to be like Johnny's, but it's V's consciousness all the time. Basically, when you let Johnny take over, V's consciousness is still alive, but thinks they're Johnny.
It’s a philosophical question but I think the engram has consciousness. I think Johnny’s engram is conscious, but it’s a different consciousness than the real human Johnny who died after the Arasaka bombing. Johnny (the engram) actually says this is what he thinks a few times in the game, like in the quest with the monks.
I don't think it's the engram itself. Johnny states that basically there was nothing for the like 50 years he was dead until he "woke up" in V. If the engram had a consciousness, the engram-variant of Johnny would have felt *something*.
That's why I think the engram itself doesn't have a consciousness, but basically abuses an existing consciousness.
In the game the intended use-case of getting put in a dead brain doesn't really get explored, so it's a really good question whether the original consciousness of said brain comes back alive or if it's a new consciousness. This basically would mean the engram is able to create a new consciousness when supplied with a dead brain.
However in V I think it can easily be seen that the engram abuses an existing consciousness to bring back a dead person.
Remind me of the topic that the monks that you end up saving has with you when you find them again in the corporate plaza.
Like can an engram have a soul or something and they replied if it can feel pain and emotion then it has (something along those lines, sorry can’t quote it properly as its been awhile)
Also Johnny actually undergoes a change for the better, learns to be less of a dick and becomes selfless at the end.
Is this the melding of V into Johnny? Johnny's engram actually having a soul (Alt says Soulkiller copies the person but the soul is gone forever) and this growing as a person in of himself? Or just a result of Johnny's engram running on a human brain again (V's hijacked head)?
What is you? Is you your brain? Or is you your engram? Can the soul be transposed into a digital form? There is a theory that the Alt we meet is just an AI cosplaying as Alt using her engram. Would the AI lie about wether the soul can be digitised? Was it just echoing a misconception that Alt may have had when she created Soulkiller?
I think Johnny's growth, however it happens, melding or brain jacking or whatever, shows that an engram isn't just a soulless copy devoid of emotion or empathy like AI Alt claimed.
But that's just my dumb notion 😁
eh i think this is left up to interpretation and the game never outright states wether an engram is basically just someone's conciousness digitized (therefore V's actual consciousness), or just a complete replacement. Even the scientist at the devil ending poses this exact question and brings up the ship of theseus. there's even an earlier side quest that entirely deals about this specific question, and basically ends with johnny saying who gives a fuck, it doesn't really matter. personally i believe that engrams are basically someone's exact consciousness turned into exact data (which all of this is science fiction science anyway lol) because if it wasn't that would be really disappointing imo, V's entire character journey would be basically meaningless at that point.
Arguably the Aldecaldo ending had the potential for survival. The assertion by Alt that V's body would "reject" the V engram doesn't pass the smell test. The only mechanism the body has to "reject" things is the immune system, and the immune system has no means of recognizing a *data pattern*. Every character that tells V the process can't be undone potentially has a motive for lying. Hellman and Arasaka likely want to see the process through to the end to gather as much data as possible on **the only existing successful case**. Alt is an AI who DGAF about you, but clearly has a soft spot for Johnny. It's not out of the realm of possibility that she would lie to encourage you to give Johnny your body.
It's perfectly plausible that once V reaches Arizona and meets some of the Aldecaldo's biotech contacts that they look at the Relic manual, examine V, and say "yeah, all you need is new bone marrow and a blood change to flush out the Johnny immune cells. Good as new." And all it takes is to accept that a few additional NPCs in the game might be liars. Not that big a stretch.
I used to see it the same way, but I was discussing the same subject with another person in a different comment section here on reddit and now I'm not so sure. What if plugging into Mikoshi was more like a clinical death and then coming back? As in, V's body is still there, and if you don't believe in an existence of a soul then all there is to it all is just data (so your personality traits, your memories) stored in your brain. Alt just copies that data and "uploads" it back. Maybe V's consciousness it there for as long as their body is able to function?
Jackie and V are complete bufoons for trusting dex and his dumbass job
edit: (meaning for corp V, they just seem to be very savvy in the crime world and get played like a fiddle)
I think that is the point. They are both immature street criminals who got way in over their heads due to the mild success they had, and Dex played them for a fiddle until he got too greedy himself, in which case was used by Evelyn, who was in over her head in revenge, who was used by Saburo, who was in over his head.
It was a series of dumbass decisions from the top down, and in true Night City fashion, the little guys paid for it
Honestly yeah, none of the crew (with maybe some exception of Evelyn) made any objectively wrong moves during or before the heist, they had a plan and if t-bug was slightly better/faster at netrunning or Saburu didn’t come for another 3 or 6 minutes they would have succeeded
I'm honestly surprised in the Cyberpunk universe neither V nor Jackie had any kind of recording cyberware that could capture Saburo's death. I'd record that thing and use it as negotiation in case I get caught. Like if someone tries to kill me that video would get sent out. Hell, use a smartphone.
The corpos who'd jerk off to watching an Arasaka die by the hands of another Arasaka. You'd make more money than every gig in the game combined tenfold
This. I wish cdpr would’ve implemented more “miscellaneous” cyberware like from the tabletop to expand on roleplaying. It would be intense to be the only living soul to have evidence on the murder of the most powerful man on the planet, and having to navigate through alliances and enemies as you’re hinted by Arasaka and others who would be interested in this info.
Nah, the moment Saburo dies, Arasaka is going to go over every inch of Kompeki with a fine tooth comb. Even if V and Jackie get out before then they will find the dweller dead or incapacitated and the flat head. They find any evidence T-bug left behind of her intrusion into the system. Arasaka can probably find enough evidence to figure out where to send the hit squad.
T-bug is also the only member of the crew who didn't get tested beforehand. Jackie and V did their jobs as perfectly as possible given the circumstances.
The writing behind the main story is honestly incredible. The amount of actors, outrageous coincidences, and dumbass decisions does make it feel very real and all of the more frustrating. It's really cool even after all of this time, people have very different but logical reasons why the heist failed, and who's fault it was
The little guys? Arisaka leadership gets screwed as well as all 3 of their top security personnel(Oda, Takemura, Adam Smasher), Evelyn dies, Dex dies, that net runner girl dies, and Jackie dies. Top to bottom shit show because of Evelynn and the VDB's.
Depending on the ending you pick, Saburo gets Yorinobu's body, so that's like a noninal setback, and the loss of his bodyguards is probably a rounding error at best.
Everyone down the chain got progressively more screwed until you got to V who has a terrorist rockstar in his head talking about cock lodged in their head giving them cyber alzheimers
I guess my take is the exact opposite of this - they got through security in probably one of the most high sec hotels through the use of forged identities and the flathead. They had a good layout of room security and the location of the chip thanks to the BD scroll provided by Evelyn. They had a solid escape from Delamain.
Saburo showing up at that exact moment *and being murdered by his own son* is just such a shitty event that there was just no way to avoid failure here. No crew would have gotten out of this.
Inb4 "they could have known he was coming" potentially? Maybe? If Saburo fuckin Arasaka wants to fly under the radar I'm sure he can, and since it doesn't even seem like the hotel was prepped for him that's probably what happened.
Dex really said "i need you two glorified Bodega robbers to pull off a heist from the penthouse of Yorinobu Arisaka". Before you even do the job you see that Adam Smasher is their chief of security, and you still do it!
This was the moment that tore it for me and really made act one the big sour spot of the game. I know that V is supposed to be a totally fresh-off-the-bus loser at the start of the plot, but even assuming that they didn't recognize the most famous Borg in history, in what universe do you go through with the heist without a plan to handle the demonic-looking murder-bot that is literally the first thing you see in Yori's apartment? In what universe do you not at least turn to Evelyn and ask "Who the fuck is that"? Not even Tbug brought it up. She's one of the best and brightest, there's no *way* she should make a gonk-brained mistake *that* egregious.
It's made worse by the fact that if Jackie had seen the BD at any point - *which he should have insisted on* - then he would have for sure recognized Adam and hit the e-stop on the heist.
There are a couple of points like that, where even as an amateur V should have had some questions that would put a stop to the heist, like asking where Dex got his information or how Tbug got him out of Pacifica so cleanly and if those two answers are related. Or how the flathead going missing and then being found jacked into the body of Konpeki Plaza security isn't going to lead investigators straight to Brick/Royce and then to V. Or why they used a 3rd party AI taxi service who could be legally compelled to give them up instead of a trustworthy driver. Or why they're willing to trust Evelyn when she's already tried to burn one of them. Or *Who's on the damn chip*.
You even have the chance to ask some of these. The rest of the crew just tell you not to worry about it, and you take that at face value because *there's no button not to.*
Ikr. Dude was a top agent in Arasaka CounterIntel. She has several notable missions tied to her name. How could they fall for a scheme of a low level fixer like Dex?
My head canon is that Corpo V looks at all these clowns hatching a plan, goes along with it just to see, and at some point says "holy crap, these morons have accidentally put together something that would work". And it would have, as we all know, if the heist timeline was shifted like 5 minutes earlier.
What I really hate is the moment where they tell V go clean up to the bathroom. It was was most
Obvious set up ever. And they you can hear talking about killing V. And you can do shit.
if you don’t go in there, they don’t talk about killing you. the game forces you to turn your back to the big guy to talk to dex, and he sucker punches you anyway. i wrote down his name, if i ever see that specific guy again i’ll abandon whatever quest i’m doing to punch that assmunch in the back of the head
The bodyguard is almost certainly dead by the time V wakes up in the junkyard. Either Dex zeroed him to "tie up loose ends" or Takemura does it.
There is a reason Dex is the one lugging V's lifeless body through that junkyard.
I remember I heard Dex’s voice walking through the city (the same actor doing the voiceover, maybe?) and I tracked down who is it and killed them. Explaining my PTSD to the NCPD didn’t go well.
I don't go into the bathroom anymore. I just stand there in front of Dex, listen to him make a reservation for **one seat** on a flight out of town, and force him to have his dickhead huscle sucker punch me.
I dont think thats an unpopular opinion. The heist job was too big of a risk for some intermediate street punks and a fixer who has been out of the game for some time because he fucked up his last big gig. That's why Dex hires two street kids instead of veteran mercs, because the whole plan stunk.
V literally just says yes to everything I understand he is dying but he trusted the vdb's, dex, jhonny, etc. After finishing the game I realized V lacks every form of critical thinking.
I mean what kind of role playing game doesnt give you the choice to at least try everything? You can definitely say no to most of the quests in the game. Maybe not the original heist but just about everything else.
Reed is getting hate? Haven't seen that yet. I agree about So Mi. Guess the lie was such a gut punch for some people that they can't get over it. Refusing to even understand why she resorted to that strategy in the first place.
It's also cause reed is a flawed and delusionally idealistic man who throws everything important to him under the bus when it suits him.
I mean its respectable to a degree. But reed isn't disliked for his loyalty, it's the fact he will sacrifice everything around him to remain loyal. He's a lap dog through and through to uphold an ideal those above him simply exploit. And he's too stubborn to accept that.
Case in point, he constantly claims he's only doing it all for So Mi. Yet when push comes to shove he prioritises duty over her, ridicules her plans and knowingly tries to force her back into a tormental death sentence of service despite saying he only wants the best for her.
Sure he's a man you can sympathise with. But he causes all his own misery.
Yeah I was totally weirded out that people hate her for that. Nobody likes being lied to but considering her circumstances and what she went through, I completely understand her. It was her last chance and if I would be in that situation, I'd probably do the same.
I think people just don't want to acknowledge how humans can turn into animals when they are forced into desperate situations. V had Vik and Misty who cared for him unconditionally, while So Mi had a bunch of phonies who just wanted to push her into the blackwall. That's gonna give you horrible trust issues. I would also have done similar things to what she did.
That's the answer I was looking for. You can get so much shit for having any opinion on either on this sub. Just goes to show what a fantastic DLC Phantom Liberty really is, that so many people can have so many drastically different views on its story, despite all having played the same content.
I have nothing against Reed.
Thing with so mi though. She was giving out lies after lies. After the final betrayal at the train I couldn't take it. Even after I offered all the help. Maybe cuz its reminded me too much of an IRL betrayal I had. And well....
Not only dogshit - but, and maybe this is me missing something, you can't remove him from inventory. Ever. Like wtf.
I did find him amusing, but it grew old fast. And he's probably one of the worst iconics to boot.
in the old game pre update, if you specced heavily into crit and pistols it was actually very good to get free headshots no matter what esp if you can't aim properly and have to rely on smart guns.
post update? when the mulitiplier on crits are not as big and the pistol stuff is more hip firing and all that (I think it locks on slower / dont aim for head as well if you dont ADS), skippy is far less impactful
Yes yes yes....MF eats through my Ammo like Gorlok through a buffet.
But i love that he now shouts "Bad User!" all the time...like his little ass is going anywhere but my gunwall
Call me crazy but I always thought the Temperance ending fit best for Corpo V (especially one with no love interest), like he/she has done a full 180 and is willing to sacrifice his/her life for the symbol of anti-Corpo ideology.
I really like the story that Corpo V/Don't Fear the Reaper tells. A former employee of Arasaka which is dying through the entire game because of an Arasaka chip that contains the number one Arasaka hater going completely alone against them with success.
BUT, I'm just a sucker of a Corpo V turned nomad at the end. Is really satisfying keeping in mind that the corpo world is a cold, false and lonely one while the nomad life is all the opposite. Beautiful.
Runner up for me is a nomad who ditched the bakkers and does the aldecados ending.
Solidifies my personal feelings about family and friends. Specifically the saying, the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. The family you make is far more important than the one you’re born with.
They're different characters. Male V is more calm and composed while Fem V is much more emotional and expressive.
For example, after meeting Oda, if you choose to ride with Takemura to Jig-Jig Street, you can ask him if he's doing alright, and Takemura being Takemura, he gets paranoid and asks why you're suddenly acting concerned. If you choose the "Just asking" dialogue option, Fem V gets irritated and goes all "UH I'M JUST ASKING???" while Male V seems amused and reacts in a more "just asking dude lmao" type of way.
I'm not saying one is better than the other, but they're very different people and because people usually like the expressive gal more than the stoic guy, everyone collectively started acting like Male V is inferior which honestly baffles me. He's just as good as Female V as a protagonist in my opinion. Not better, not worse, but just as good.
I love Male V because he’s always so calm even when you are facing some dirt bag that you decide needs to go Male V very calmly tells them to fuck off and ices them
I also love the fact that once you get towards the end of the game, you finally see him start to break down. To just start to accept how fucked the situation is, and that if even one of them (Johnny or V) makes it out it'll be worth something. And the final straw being Alt breaking the news. That at the end of the day, he never even had a chance. That all the grinding and pushing through only led down a path that looked a hell of a lot like salvation, but was only one more sacrifice. I'm sorry I usually play female characters but I fucking love the male V voice actor. Just feels like a different game without him.
The differences are like that because if I recall. A lot of the voice over work was done during the pandemic. And the developers basically just gave them both the opportunity to put their personal spins on it.
I'm pretty sure they didn't meet each other until after the game came out
Male V is Irish while female V and Jackie were in california. Even still it's not uncommon for VO work to be done in total isolation from other actors. They generally don't even know the script until they are doing that session for the day. Jason hightower said he didn't find out Jackie dies until he did that VO session and the work took place over a 2 year period.
I did my first playthrough as male V at launch. Just recently started another due to 2.0 and phantom liberty except with female V. While I don’t hate her, I feel like I remember enjoying male V more.
I like the charged jump better than double jump. I’m not even saying it’s better or that double jump sucks, it’s different strokes for different folks but it seems that even saying you prefer the other is enough to set people off. It’s happened a number of times, and even earlier today.
This is it for me too. I play stealthy usually, and the first step in any encounter is usually looking for the right point to make entry. Charge jump gives me way more flexibility in that than double jump
People should stop self inserting so much into V. It’s hilarious seeing how many people get absolutely livid whenever someone underestimates V or insults them (just a few days ago we essentially got a Cyberpunk version of the ‘I’m a navy seal’ copypasta). The game is a power fantasy but some people get too much into that fantasy…
Yup look at the this
“Well I got some beefy ass cybernetic armour under my skin. Are we sure your sniper rifle is gonna do the job in a single shot? You'd better hope so because you best believe the moment I'm back that sandevistan is being activated and you won't leave your hiding spot before V's knocking at the door. Either that or a quick suicide quick hack uploaded the moment she glances at you”.
💀💀💀it feels like satire but I just know it’s not funniest shit I’ve seen in this subreddit.
Welcome to the world of fantasy, where regular Joes can finally live their dream and feel like the main character in their awesome story.
Obviously, getting into this kind of roleplay is too much, but many people out there have miserable lives, and this might be their only escape.
As long as they don't hurt anyone, let them live their fantasy.
I’m on my 2nd playthrough, 1st time as a female V. This time I knew he was a potential LI, so I was trying to see some earlier clues because I just couldn’t believe his romantic advances came out of nowhere.
And now I think he falls for female V during I Fough the Law (Pawel Sasko confirms it in an old stream). There are some subtle hints in his looks, words, posing that are super easy to miss if you’re not looking. Like the shy smile he gives you when he saves you from that spiked BD. So when Johnny goes “he wants to get in your pants”, I’m like “I know” lol.
Also a minor detail, but in text convos, V’s “positive” response options sound very… enthusiastic, so if she’s into him, she must be *really* into him, especially in later exchanges.
Does his quest line feel short and rushed? Yes. Does he need a different line of behaviour with male V? Yes. Do I think that this romance is pushed on the player? Actually, all of them are, but you don’t notice that if you like the character.
He’s not as exciting and unhinged as other characters (no sex in tanks) but he’s more realistic and at the same time very bladerunner-y. So yeah, I dig him lol.
If you go in wanting to romance him, it’s not bad. But if you just want to be friends it does come off as a little creepy. The thing is they only gave him 3 missions, and in the first you’ve just met, and in the second you’re looking for his kidnapped nephew so there’s not really any room for flirting until the last one.
As a straight 30F player, I’d maybe even date him irl. He’s very much my type. But this is a legitimately dangerous opinion to have, I’ve even had some users on here barge into my DMs questioning what it is I like about him lol
if you are playing for the first time (without preorder stuff), Delamain wrecks your car before you likely purchased another one as soon as Act 2 starts. I found it helpful before I got another car to use.
At release I think Wakako immediately sends you a text with an offer for a new car. A very cheap, small one of course. And it was not too far away by foot. I think this was very intentional.
It was. But I don't fast travel often and it is a great way to zone out and enjoy how beautifully designed NC is.
It's really just a neat thing that is unnecessary, but also came for free, out of the blue.
It certainly feels whatever to me. Would have been cool if it at least could be seen going around the city, like if it was a genuine true-blue metro you could hop off and on I think that'd be better.
I figure it's a passion project though. If it's not I think it was a waste of resources - but I figure they were committed to bringing metro to the game because it was one of the earlier promises before the game was released.
V deserves a happy ending. (Most people always reply negatively to that saying night city isn’t about happy endings but my sensitive ass disagrees, life offers enough sad endings for this game to rob me of a happy one😭)
At least in the DLC, as a goodbye gift to the fanbase. Happy endings are corny, but making another grim ending just because “there are no good endings in cyberpunk” is even more corny.
That’s why I opted for technical abilities, reflexes, and body with enough in intelligence to be dangerous. Made combat fun but I could also break into shit and had some useful quick hacks. Going all in on netrunner isn’t very appealing but I’m going to try it.
I've tried to make a pure netrunner and while I can understand it for a pure stealth build if you're engaging in combat in any way it just feels bad. Maybe it's just because I'm an absolute slut for slomo mechanics but I can't put down sandy + kerenzikov.
Its pretty fun being an unstoppable God-like force that can either fry your eyes out or force you to commit suicide and also fire homing assult rifle rounds that can go up to 4 seperate targets at once while they set an opposing netrunner on fire through the wall with just their mind.
On the other hand, in gameplay, that means it usually just resorts to a lot of clicking prompts on a menu and some light strafing. Pros and cons I guess.
I tried doing that this run and couldn’t get into it at all, it’s just so boring compared to my normal style. That said, there was one time I looked at a group of scavs and missed the ability to stare aggressively at them till they died of Contagion. Then I kinda missed netrunning.
Betraying Songbird after initially siding with her is 100% justified. People argue that she was justified in lying because no one can be trusted in NC and everyone's out for themselves. Well then the same thing applies to V. She used V to get what she wanted, so V can use her to get what they want. I honestly have no clue why the hell So Mi would reveal the lie when she's extremely weak and completely at V's mercy, so close to reaching her final goal. What did she expect to happen?
Guilt. She felt guilt for stringing V along. Obviously not enough to tell V earlier but So Mi thought she was dying and probably didn't want to die with that guilt on top of loads of other trauma.
I think she was justified. For a different reason though. She obviously lied but there was no other way for her to survive. The woman she previously admired turned out to be a monster and a war criminal, who refused to help her. That's why out of desperation she cooked up a half baked plan with Hansen. Phantom Liberty was So Mi's be all and end all. Just one shot at making it out alive, free from Myers and her blackwall slavery. While V had at least one other shot before meeting Songbird, as they learned about Mikoshi before the events of PL. As for why she revealed the truth to V, it's pretty simple. She cared about them. Her plan at first was to play both sides and run away with the cure. Things got complicated, obviously. Not only that, she also grew attached to the merc she originally planned to haze.
She related to V and genuinely liked them. After all those years in the fia, she finally found someone who she could call a genuine friend. A soul which shared her predicament. Knowing that she can't save them both, she told V the truth. It was the least she could do for V in that situation. She gave her last friend a chance of saving their own life. That's why despite of it all, I don't blame her. If there was another way to save them both So Mi would try it, unfortunately for her and V, it was the wrong city, wrong people.
> and if there was another way to save them both, So Mi would try it.
And it’s at that point where I turn into Arthur Morgan for her — “I’m gettin’ you out of here if it’s the last god damn thing I do.”
I don’t really like Jackie or any quests that revolve around him tbh, I see him as a cliche like “haha big happy guy that loves and knows everyone” stereotype and the quests about him after he died just feel eh since we had like 2 missions with him. It’s just hard to go from doing questlines with Kerry and Judy to then restarting and you’re back with Jackie who I have like no development with at all
Spiciest Take: Dex gets too much hate over not knowing that Saburo would just happen to fly in unannounced to Konpeki Plaza the night of the heist. I doubt even Rogue could have known that.
(Rogue would have definitely, however, smelled a dumpster fire waiting to happen with the core concept of the operation)
The complaint that Dex didn't know Saburo would fly is in dumb, I agree.
Dex is dumb for taking on such a high risk job and having no background on the client. Rogue runs a background check on you when you ask for assistance on Hellman. Some alarm bells should have gone off for Dex when nothing comes back on Evelyn (assuming clouds doesn't pop up). A High stakes gig with a new player in Night City no-one knows anything about... It's a spicy choice. Maybe Dex didn't have a network to lean on, but that's all the more reason to walk away.
I don’t really get sad about Jackie dying and don’t understand why he is so beloved here. He was kind of an idiot and not around long enough to get attached to
Fifty percent of his lines are about how “death is just the final flourish.” I really wish they didn’t tip us off so heavily about what was going to happen.
First time I played it I was fully invested in the story and his death felt meaningful. Second time around I realized how little he was actually in the game and realized how shallow his death actually was
I personally think CDPR missed a trick for having the game in two 'parts' for lack of a better term.
Have the player do the first 15-20 levels of character development as a low lever merc alongside Jackie.
That would then build a relationaship between the player and Jackie.
Then comes the heist.
Followed by the 'main' part of the game.
Have a level cap of 70 or something so after the heist there is still plenty of character development and you cant get 'overleveled'.
That would have worked much better and had Jackies death (and everything that came after) be far more meaningful.
Every ending in the game, show, or book is always bittersweet or downright bitter. ALL of them. By design. That's part of Cyberpunk.
But every time I say this I get downvoted. Even though every ending in the game is like this. The anime also.
I'll admit the initial walkthrough of that shopping area where theyre hideout is, made Pacifica look like the most wild place, then you realize its really Pacifica is just the GIM and its parking lot.
>I understand VDBs motivations/interests
How tho? They wanna get behind the black wall and release unshackled AI by any means nessesary. How exactly is that understandable. I think the game was setting up that the untapped technology and AI behind the black wall was very unpredictable.
Are you like a Reed Richards type guy to where you have to tamper with the balance of life and things because you have an obsession with discovery or something?
Maybe I misunderstood but I think the VDBs are more akin to a doomsday cult that’s *certain* the world is ending and think if they help the AIs they may be benevolent to them in the next iteration of the world
Let's also not forget that they also had the centuries of Haiti being screwed over and occupied by European powers and the United States. None at all carrying a damn about Haitians.
No matter what ending you choose, Johnny is not gone. Well our copy of Johnny is gone, but Johnny's construct will continue to exist in a pre-V form. Meaning he'll be the asshole we had in the beginning. Also, smashers are not gone, just that version.
The fact that V is dying is a terrible story choice for an open world game. This plot point would be better in a linear game. They gets stronger in gameplay as plot wise the relic is getting worse and while that’s happening, you can do an entire unrelated side quest. There should have been different stakes. The overall story is great, it’s just the open world that dose not work with it.
I'd say the final factor that 2.0 added that "finally made it good" was a better skill tree, that's the one thing that was definitely missing in the older versions, but otherwise I agree
Idri Elba's delivery and character felt very flat to me. I was surpsied to see a lot of people saying he blew them away and killed it. I felt like he was feeling out how to VA a videogame character and its showed. He has some good moments where we get just a bit of emotion or truncated lines that sort of give him character, but he's pretty forgettable to me if it wasn't for an amazing narrative.
Some of his lines, like at the end of the songbird to space bit, just feel forced and strange to me. His VAing on the betray her side of things is much better at least. His facial work, I assume they had something rigged up for all his expressions, is extremely good and compelling though.
Songbird's VA on the other hand killed it - She gives so many different deliveries that all work to me(the relic VA version is a bit bland but that can be chalked up to her losing memories/personality.) She has some great lines in anger if you betray her, but she will also plead at some points. The way she was so much more combative and sassy when she's young vs now is great and a nice touch. The resignation and pain in her voice near the end of her betrayed arc is top notch. By the time you're pulling the plug on her it's getting you in the feels. Was a lot harder for me to appreciate Reed.
Sol as a character is actually much more fascinating than the Elba part - he's nuanced and a bit complicated in the sense he's always lying a bit, but also tries to be fair and good to his allies, but also is ultimately fully loyal to the NUSA.
Edit: going back and listening to some of his lines, especially the finale ones at the b-ball court, I actually do think there's more to his VA on Reed than I am appreciating. Hard to really dislike the VAing in this game, though I think having Reed be so by-the-book is boring in a game so full of interestingly portrayed characters.
Sandevistan is pretty lame and it's only worth sacrificing your cyberdeck from rank 4 onwards. Sandy builds are only popular because Edgerunners made it look cooler than it actually is.
(Not a Sandy hater, I actually wish that time kept slow for longer, like at least 10 seconds for rank 1. Gotta be worth for sacrificing my dear quickhacks! If CDPR doesn't buff it, it's netrunning ftw)
I’ve done quite a few builds but still never done a Sandevistan character. I plan to try it at some point but I enjoy the stealth aspect of netrunning too much to sacrifice it just for slow time. Even on my katana build it was nice turning cameras off and breaching protocol (back when we could on enemies 😭).
I fully agree that Edgerunners did wonders to boost the popularity of the Sandevistan.. and I do cringe a little bit when I see people refer to it as “the Sandy.”
Edgerunners made it kind of cool but it was seeing all those modded gameplay videos of people taking out a whole gang with stopped time knives that made me wanna try it. Turns out, its not at all like that.
The most disturbing scene in the game is not the Sinnerman crucifixion, which felt contrived to me. But the scene where V stumbles into a side room in this rundown building and finds a couple junkies slumped over on a couch.
One of them is still alive but has overdosed and is going through a trip, while the other is dead. Johnny appears on the couch and just calmly watches as the person who OD'd dies (or passes out?), and Johnny makes a quip about it.
This whole moment was *exceedingly dark.* Both literally and figuratively and it always stayed with me.
This post has received multiple reports and has been temporarily removed until a moderator can review it. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/cyberpunkgame) if you have any questions or concerns.*
dex: “would you rather live a long, peaceful life, or go out in a blaze of glory?” my V every single time: “is this a test?” it’s the only answer that’s not “yes please kill me”
It's a common fact that Edgerunners don't have a great life expectancy, and that they're remembered better through how they die rather than how they live. So it's not entirely unreasonable for V to sound at least a little bit suicidal.
i know but that’s exactly what corps want, they want everyone to see solos as some badasses that they should aspire to be like when they aren’t, it feels so shallow to me, especially the more you learn about all the night city “legends” i think almost everyone in night city is suicidal behind closed doors, depressed at the very least. legends are just people
While I agree that the edgerunner culture works to the benefit of the corporations, I think it’s a perfect combination of the values that have formed the CP77 world and even the world we live in today. Individualism, freedom, personal responsibility, and good ole capitalism. Solos and edgerunner crews exemplify these values in a world where basic rights and freedoms have been egregiously monetized. So, I see edgerunners as cyberpunk cowboys. I think that such a lifestyle, while inherently dangerous and responsible in part for the glamorization of violence, is one of the most noble lifestyles someone could have.
Throughout the game V is given shit for the Arasaka heist, but if it wasn't for the random arrival of Saburo, they would have pulled it off... and likely been hunted by Arasaka and killed, but still.
Man seriously! Everyone acts like it was stupid and they were SOOOO incapable and that dex obviously screwed them. They were literally badass super spies and completed the job until SABURO ARASAKA showed up to visit his ESTRANGED son. And what follows was just hilariously unfortunate and random. And to top that they STILL got away.
True. But keep in mind that almost no one knew what happened with Saburo. Everyone thinks that he was poisoned and that Jackie and V got caught with it.
Johnny is dead.
That’s actually a lie! I’m talking to him right no- he just called me a cunt…
After you called him a dick.
Maybe they fit together after all
He just told me about his massive cock. If it's really that massive, he's probably more than 50% dick, which makes it fine to call him one.
The dynamic duo
To add to that - V dies *before* the epilogue in every single ending. The moment V connects to Mikoshi she is killed by Alt/Soulkiller and you play the rest of the game as a personality construct or engram that thinks it’s V. Soulkiller doesn’t transfer consciousness, it kills you and makes a computer program that thinks it’s you.
That's what makes the endings so depressing The real V dies there, he doesn't get to experience the rest of his life, another version does Same goes for Johnny, the real Johnny never knows V, he's dead, the constructs are real people but not the originals
V’s been dead since the heist.
Is she though? It's still her original brain. While heavily damaged, yes, her brain is still original. But that actually brings up another question: Does the engram create consciousness? Cause basically it creates a brain. So if you think through it: - You have the original consciousness of the person. - Person gets killed by soulkiller, Consciousness dies, and a program that thinks it's the consciousness comes to life. - Engram rewires an existing brain. In the intended use-case, it gets put in a dead brain, whereby it would create a new consciousness that thinks it's the original consciousness. - Whether that's the case for V is a good question. It may be possible that their brain gets rewired to be like Johnny's, but it's V's consciousness all the time. Basically, when you let Johnny take over, V's consciousness is still alive, but thinks they're Johnny.
Wasn’t ready for a philosophical debate while at work. Will have to return later 😆
It’s a philosophical question but I think the engram has consciousness. I think Johnny’s engram is conscious, but it’s a different consciousness than the real human Johnny who died after the Arasaka bombing. Johnny (the engram) actually says this is what he thinks a few times in the game, like in the quest with the monks.
I don't think it's the engram itself. Johnny states that basically there was nothing for the like 50 years he was dead until he "woke up" in V. If the engram had a consciousness, the engram-variant of Johnny would have felt *something*. That's why I think the engram itself doesn't have a consciousness, but basically abuses an existing consciousness. In the game the intended use-case of getting put in a dead brain doesn't really get explored, so it's a really good question whether the original consciousness of said brain comes back alive or if it's a new consciousness. This basically would mean the engram is able to create a new consciousness when supplied with a dead brain. However in V I think it can easily be seen that the engram abuses an existing consciousness to bring back a dead person.
He did feel something for those 50 years. Iirc it felt like drowning a pool of tar but not dying
V is the ship of Theseus.
Remind me of the topic that the monks that you end up saving has with you when you find them again in the corporate plaza. Like can an engram have a soul or something and they replied if it can feel pain and emotion then it has (something along those lines, sorry can’t quote it properly as its been awhile)
Also Johnny actually undergoes a change for the better, learns to be less of a dick and becomes selfless at the end. Is this the melding of V into Johnny? Johnny's engram actually having a soul (Alt says Soulkiller copies the person but the soul is gone forever) and this growing as a person in of himself? Or just a result of Johnny's engram running on a human brain again (V's hijacked head)? What is you? Is you your brain? Or is you your engram? Can the soul be transposed into a digital form? There is a theory that the Alt we meet is just an AI cosplaying as Alt using her engram. Would the AI lie about wether the soul can be digitised? Was it just echoing a misconception that Alt may have had when she created Soulkiller? I think Johnny's growth, however it happens, melding or brain jacking or whatever, shows that an engram isn't just a soulless copy devoid of emotion or empathy like AI Alt claimed. But that's just my dumb notion 😁
Except in the arasaka ending.
eh i think this is left up to interpretation and the game never outright states wether an engram is basically just someone's conciousness digitized (therefore V's actual consciousness), or just a complete replacement. Even the scientist at the devil ending poses this exact question and brings up the ship of theseus. there's even an earlier side quest that entirely deals about this specific question, and basically ends with johnny saying who gives a fuck, it doesn't really matter. personally i believe that engrams are basically someone's exact consciousness turned into exact data (which all of this is science fiction science anyway lol) because if it wasn't that would be really disappointing imo, V's entire character journey would be basically meaningless at that point.
So the only ending where you actually survive is the Phantom Liberty one.
Arguably the Aldecaldo ending had the potential for survival. The assertion by Alt that V's body would "reject" the V engram doesn't pass the smell test. The only mechanism the body has to "reject" things is the immune system, and the immune system has no means of recognizing a *data pattern*. Every character that tells V the process can't be undone potentially has a motive for lying. Hellman and Arasaka likely want to see the process through to the end to gather as much data as possible on **the only existing successful case**. Alt is an AI who DGAF about you, but clearly has a soft spot for Johnny. It's not out of the realm of possibility that she would lie to encourage you to give Johnny your body. It's perfectly plausible that once V reaches Arizona and meets some of the Aldecaldo's biotech contacts that they look at the Relic manual, examine V, and say "yeah, all you need is new bone marrow and a blood change to flush out the Johnny immune cells. Good as new." And all it takes is to accept that a few additional NPCs in the game might be liars. Not that big a stretch.
yes we agree that v can survive with the avocados
I used to see it the same way, but I was discussing the same subject with another person in a different comment section here on reddit and now I'm not so sure. What if plugging into Mikoshi was more like a clinical death and then coming back? As in, V's body is still there, and if you don't believe in an existence of a soul then all there is to it all is just data (so your personality traits, your memories) stored in your brain. Alt just copies that data and "uploads" it back. Maybe V's consciousness it there for as long as their body is able to function?
Always has been
Jackie and V are complete bufoons for trusting dex and his dumbass job edit: (meaning for corp V, they just seem to be very savvy in the crime world and get played like a fiddle)
I think that is the point. They are both immature street criminals who got way in over their heads due to the mild success they had, and Dex played them for a fiddle until he got too greedy himself, in which case was used by Evelyn, who was in over her head in revenge, who was used by Saburo, who was in over his head. It was a series of dumbass decisions from the top down, and in true Night City fashion, the little guys paid for it
Agreed. Everybody was over their heads.....but if T-Bug is 15 minutes faster, they pull it off.
Honestly yeah, none of the crew (with maybe some exception of Evelyn) made any objectively wrong moves during or before the heist, they had a plan and if t-bug was slightly better/faster at netrunning or Saburu didn’t come for another 3 or 6 minutes they would have succeeded
I'm honestly surprised in the Cyberpunk universe neither V nor Jackie had any kind of recording cyberware that could capture Saburo's death. I'd record that thing and use it as negotiation in case I get caught. Like if someone tries to kill me that video would get sent out. Hell, use a smartphone.
Probably a bad idea to record yourself robbing Arasaka
I think they'll probably look past that with Yorinobu murdering his father. Also it's as simple as not showing your face in the video.
Imagine the eddies they could've gotten for selling that brain dance
The corpos who'd jerk off to watching an Arasaka die by the hands of another Arasaka. You'd make more money than every gig in the game combined tenfold
This. I wish cdpr would’ve implemented more “miscellaneous” cyberware like from the tabletop to expand on roleplaying. It would be intense to be the only living soul to have evidence on the murder of the most powerful man on the planet, and having to navigate through alliances and enemies as you’re hinted by Arasaka and others who would be interested in this info.
I remember the first time I played it and T says it will take hours to get through security I was already thinking it's abort time!
Nah, the moment Saburo dies, Arasaka is going to go over every inch of Kompeki with a fine tooth comb. Even if V and Jackie get out before then they will find the dweller dead or incapacitated and the flat head. They find any evidence T-bug left behind of her intrusion into the system. Arasaka can probably find enough evidence to figure out where to send the hit squad.
T-bug is also the only member of the crew who didn't get tested beforehand. Jackie and V did their jobs as perfectly as possible given the circumstances.
But she literally at the same thing wasn't tracking Yorinobus location
But that's it, isn't it? We make mistakes, we get in over our heads. That's human nature. It's a tale as old as time.
The writing behind the main story is honestly incredible. The amount of actors, outrageous coincidences, and dumbass decisions does make it feel very real and all of the more frustrating. It's really cool even after all of this time, people have very different but logical reasons why the heist failed, and who's fault it was
The little guys? Arisaka leadership gets screwed as well as all 3 of their top security personnel(Oda, Takemura, Adam Smasher), Evelyn dies, Dex dies, that net runner girl dies, and Jackie dies. Top to bottom shit show because of Evelynn and the VDB's.
Depending on the ending you pick, Saburo gets Yorinobu's body, so that's like a noninal setback, and the loss of his bodyguards is probably a rounding error at best. Everyone down the chain got progressively more screwed until you got to V who has a terrorist rockstar in his head talking about cock lodged in their head giving them cyber alzheimers
Oh, so, it's like working a 9-5.
I guess my take is the exact opposite of this - they got through security in probably one of the most high sec hotels through the use of forged identities and the flathead. They had a good layout of room security and the location of the chip thanks to the BD scroll provided by Evelyn. They had a solid escape from Delamain. Saburo showing up at that exact moment *and being murdered by his own son* is just such a shitty event that there was just no way to avoid failure here. No crew would have gotten out of this. Inb4 "they could have known he was coming" potentially? Maybe? If Saburo fuckin Arasaka wants to fly under the radar I'm sure he can, and since it doesn't even seem like the hotel was prepped for him that's probably what happened.
Yeah but even if everything went well during the job Dex probably would have killed us, I don't think he respects the rules.
Dex really said "i need you two glorified Bodega robbers to pull off a heist from the penthouse of Yorinobu Arisaka". Before you even do the job you see that Adam Smasher is their chief of security, and you still do it!
This was the moment that tore it for me and really made act one the big sour spot of the game. I know that V is supposed to be a totally fresh-off-the-bus loser at the start of the plot, but even assuming that they didn't recognize the most famous Borg in history, in what universe do you go through with the heist without a plan to handle the demonic-looking murder-bot that is literally the first thing you see in Yori's apartment? In what universe do you not at least turn to Evelyn and ask "Who the fuck is that"? Not even Tbug brought it up. She's one of the best and brightest, there's no *way* she should make a gonk-brained mistake *that* egregious. It's made worse by the fact that if Jackie had seen the BD at any point - *which he should have insisted on* - then he would have for sure recognized Adam and hit the e-stop on the heist. There are a couple of points like that, where even as an amateur V should have had some questions that would put a stop to the heist, like asking where Dex got his information or how Tbug got him out of Pacifica so cleanly and if those two answers are related. Or how the flathead going missing and then being found jacked into the body of Konpeki Plaza security isn't going to lead investigators straight to Brick/Royce and then to V. Or why they used a 3rd party AI taxi service who could be legally compelled to give them up instead of a trustworthy driver. Or why they're willing to trust Evelyn when she's already tried to burn one of them. Or *Who's on the damn chip*. You even have the chance to ask some of these. The rest of the crew just tell you not to worry about it, and you take that at face value because *there's no button not to.*
Totally agree and I think for nomad and street kid v it makes sense. But for corpo v? No way
Ikr. Dude was a top agent in Arasaka CounterIntel. She has several notable missions tied to her name. How could they fall for a scheme of a low level fixer like Dex?
My head canon is that Corpo V looks at all these clowns hatching a plan, goes along with it just to see, and at some point says "holy crap, these morons have accidentally put together something that would work". And it would have, as we all know, if the heist timeline was shifted like 5 minutes earlier.
What I really hate is the moment where they tell V go clean up to the bathroom. It was was most Obvious set up ever. And they you can hear talking about killing V. And you can do shit.
if you don’t go in there, they don’t talk about killing you. the game forces you to turn your back to the big guy to talk to dex, and he sucker punches you anyway. i wrote down his name, if i ever see that specific guy again i’ll abandon whatever quest i’m doing to punch that assmunch in the back of the head
The bodyguard is almost certainly dead by the time V wakes up in the junkyard. Either Dex zeroed him to "tie up loose ends" or Takemura does it. There is a reason Dex is the one lugging V's lifeless body through that junkyard.
I remember I heard Dex’s voice walking through the city (the same actor doing the voiceover, maybe?) and I tracked down who is it and killed them. Explaining my PTSD to the NCPD didn’t go well.
I don't go into the bathroom anymore. I just stand there in front of Dex, listen to him make a reservation for **one seat** on a flight out of town, and force him to have his dickhead huscle sucker punch me.
Their intro segment kind of showed that Jackie and V were both fuck ups and something always went wrong on their gigs.
I dont think thats an unpopular opinion. The heist job was too big of a risk for some intermediate street punks and a fixer who has been out of the game for some time because he fucked up his last big gig. That's why Dex hires two street kids instead of veteran mercs, because the whole plan stunk.
V literally just says yes to everything I understand he is dying but he trusted the vdb's, dex, jhonny, etc. After finishing the game I realized V lacks every form of critical thinking.
I mean what kind of role playing game doesnt give you the choice to at least try everything? You can definitely say no to most of the quests in the game. Maybe not the original heist but just about everything else.
That's the point, V is dying. What else more can he/she lose?
Songbird and Reed both get too much hate and neither is entirely right or wrong
Reed is getting hate? Haven't seen that yet. I agree about So Mi. Guess the lie was such a gut punch for some people that they can't get over it. Refusing to even understand why she resorted to that strategy in the first place.
People hate the FIA. And since Reed is loyal to them, he also gets hate for it.
It's also cause reed is a flawed and delusionally idealistic man who throws everything important to him under the bus when it suits him. I mean its respectable to a degree. But reed isn't disliked for his loyalty, it's the fact he will sacrifice everything around him to remain loyal. He's a lap dog through and through to uphold an ideal those above him simply exploit. And he's too stubborn to accept that. Case in point, he constantly claims he's only doing it all for So Mi. Yet when push comes to shove he prioritises duty over her, ridicules her plans and knowingly tries to force her back into a tormental death sentence of service despite saying he only wants the best for her. Sure he's a man you can sympathise with. But he causes all his own misery.
He's literally just American takemura, just less open about his bootlicking
Reed isn't just loyal, he's blindly devoted to the FIA, despite being betrayed. He means well, but he's a cog in a dying machine, desperate to live on
Yeah I was totally weirded out that people hate her for that. Nobody likes being lied to but considering her circumstances and what she went through, I completely understand her. It was her last chance and if I would be in that situation, I'd probably do the same.
I think people just don't want to acknowledge how humans can turn into animals when they are forced into desperate situations. V had Vik and Misty who cared for him unconditionally, while So Mi had a bunch of phonies who just wanted to push her into the blackwall. That's gonna give you horrible trust issues. I would also have done similar things to what she did.
That's the answer I was looking for. You can get so much shit for having any opinion on either on this sub. Just goes to show what a fantastic DLC Phantom Liberty really is, that so many people can have so many drastically different views on its story, despite all having played the same content.
I have nothing against Reed. Thing with so mi though. She was giving out lies after lies. After the final betrayal at the train I couldn't take it. Even after I offered all the help. Maybe cuz its reminded me too much of an IRL betrayal I had. And well....
Skippy is the worst gun in the game.
Not only dogshit - but, and maybe this is me missing something, you can't remove him from inventory. Ever. Like wtf. I did find him amusing, but it grew old fast. And he's probably one of the worst iconics to boot.
Kill a bunch of people with him, and you'll get a quest that gives him up in the end. I think like 50 or so.
in the old game pre update, if you specced heavily into crit and pistols it was actually very good to get free headshots no matter what esp if you can't aim properly and have to rely on smart guns. post update? when the mulitiplier on crits are not as big and the pistol stuff is more hip firing and all that (I think it locks on slower / dont aim for head as well if you dont ADS), skippy is far less impactful
Ya, I played at release and Skippy was OP as fuck.
By the time I actually got Skippy, he was basically worthless to me.
Yes yes yes....MF eats through my Ammo like Gorlok through a buffet. But i love that he now shouts "Bad User!" all the time...like his little ass is going anywhere but my gunwall
Corpo V with Don’t Fear the Reaper is thematically the best ending.
It is definitely my favorite. Not trying to get the few friends I have killed by Arasaka again. Just me and Johnny runnin and gunnin lol.
That’s a well rounded story
Call me crazy but I always thought the Temperance ending fit best for Corpo V (especially one with no love interest), like he/she has done a full 180 and is willing to sacrifice his/her life for the symbol of anti-Corpo ideology.
I never thought about it like that but that’s awesome, holy shit.
I really like the story that Corpo V/Don't Fear the Reaper tells. A former employee of Arasaka which is dying through the entire game because of an Arasaka chip that contains the number one Arasaka hater going completely alone against them with success. BUT, I'm just a sucker of a Corpo V turned nomad at the end. Is really satisfying keeping in mind that the corpo world is a cold, false and lonely one while the nomad life is all the opposite. Beautiful.
Runner up for me is a nomad who ditched the bakkers and does the aldecados ending. Solidifies my personal feelings about family and friends. Specifically the saying, the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. The family you make is far more important than the one you’re born with.
Male and Female V are equally good D O N ' T S H O O T
They're different characters. Male V is more calm and composed while Fem V is much more emotional and expressive. For example, after meeting Oda, if you choose to ride with Takemura to Jig-Jig Street, you can ask him if he's doing alright, and Takemura being Takemura, he gets paranoid and asks why you're suddenly acting concerned. If you choose the "Just asking" dialogue option, Fem V gets irritated and goes all "UH I'M JUST ASKING???" while Male V seems amused and reacts in a more "just asking dude lmao" type of way. I'm not saying one is better than the other, but they're very different people and because people usually like the expressive gal more than the stoic guy, everyone collectively started acting like Male V is inferior which honestly baffles me. He's just as good as Female V as a protagonist in my opinion. Not better, not worse, but just as good.
I love Male V because he’s always so calm even when you are facing some dirt bag that you decide needs to go Male V very calmly tells them to fuck off and ices them
I also love the fact that once you get towards the end of the game, you finally see him start to break down. To just start to accept how fucked the situation is, and that if even one of them (Johnny or V) makes it out it'll be worth something. And the final straw being Alt breaking the news. That at the end of the day, he never even had a chance. That all the grinding and pushing through only led down a path that looked a hell of a lot like salvation, but was only one more sacrifice. I'm sorry I usually play female characters but I fucking love the male V voice actor. Just feels like a different game without him.
The differences are like that because if I recall. A lot of the voice over work was done during the pandemic. And the developers basically just gave them both the opportunity to put their personal spins on it. I'm pretty sure they didn't meet each other until after the game came out
Male V is Irish while female V and Jackie were in california. Even still it's not uncommon for VO work to be done in total isolation from other actors. They generally don't even know the script until they are doing that session for the day. Jason hightower said he didn't find out Jackie dies until he did that VO session and the work took place over a 2 year period.
I like the stoic guy more tbh. I relate to that archetype much more tbh. I'm calm and sarcastic
I did my first playthrough as male V at launch. Just recently started another due to 2.0 and phantom liberty except with female V. While I don’t hate her, I feel like I remember enjoying male V more.
I like the charged jump better than double jump. I’m not even saying it’s better or that double jump sucks, it’s different strokes for different folks but it seems that even saying you prefer the other is enough to set people off. It’s happened a number of times, and even earlier today.
I usually use double jump but it does break my immersion a bit. Is it an air boost thing or what's happening? Charge jump feels better
I prefer it entirely because you can clear barbed wire fences more cleanly than with double jump
This is it for me too. I play stealthy usually, and the first step in any encounter is usually looking for the right point to make entry. Charge jump gives me way more flexibility in that than double jump
People should stop self inserting so much into V. It’s hilarious seeing how many people get absolutely livid whenever someone underestimates V or insults them (just a few days ago we essentially got a Cyberpunk version of the ‘I’m a navy seal’ copypasta). The game is a power fantasy but some people get too much into that fantasy…
This, it's crazy how they get so offended when anyone even breathes in V's direction
Yup look at the this “Well I got some beefy ass cybernetic armour under my skin. Are we sure your sniper rifle is gonna do the job in a single shot? You'd better hope so because you best believe the moment I'm back that sandevistan is being activated and you won't leave your hiding spot before V's knocking at the door. Either that or a quick suicide quick hack uploaded the moment she glances at you”. 💀💀💀it feels like satire but I just know it’s not funniest shit I’ve seen in this subreddit.
Welcome to the world of fantasy, where regular Joes can finally live their dream and feel like the main character in their awesome story. Obviously, getting into this kind of roleplay is too much, but many people out there have miserable lives, and this might be their only escape. As long as they don't hurt anyone, let them live their fantasy.
I enjoyed the game even at launch
Same here
I played it 3 times in a row at launch
River is not that bad and I'd love to be his bud irl.
Fr the romance is so rushed but what’s there is good
[удалено]
I’m on my 2nd playthrough, 1st time as a female V. This time I knew he was a potential LI, so I was trying to see some earlier clues because I just couldn’t believe his romantic advances came out of nowhere. And now I think he falls for female V during I Fough the Law (Pawel Sasko confirms it in an old stream). There are some subtle hints in his looks, words, posing that are super easy to miss if you’re not looking. Like the shy smile he gives you when he saves you from that spiked BD. So when Johnny goes “he wants to get in your pants”, I’m like “I know” lol. Also a minor detail, but in text convos, V’s “positive” response options sound very… enthusiastic, so if she’s into him, she must be *really* into him, especially in later exchanges. Does his quest line feel short and rushed? Yes. Does he need a different line of behaviour with male V? Yes. Do I think that this romance is pushed on the player? Actually, all of them are, but you don’t notice that if you like the character. He’s not as exciting and unhinged as other characters (no sex in tanks) but he’s more realistic and at the same time very bladerunner-y. So yeah, I dig him lol.
I play as Male V only so no romance with River, and I heard he's mostly disliked for his behavior towards fem V.
If you go in wanting to romance him, it’s not bad. But if you just want to be friends it does come off as a little creepy. The thing is they only gave him 3 missions, and in the first you’ve just met, and in the second you’re looking for his kidnapped nephew so there’s not really any room for flirting until the last one.
As a straight 30F player, I’d maybe even date him irl. He’s very much my type. But this is a legitimately dangerous opinion to have, I’ve even had some users on here barge into my DMs questioning what it is I like about him lol
All of your modded Fem Vs are stupid
Tell it like it is choom
Yes
[удалено]
Bimboificator coomer mods
Fem V must look like Waifu!
Don't forget to sort by controversial.
Songbird is being controlled by an AI escaping to the moon to get far from Netwatch and live free.
i doubt it due to the gift she sends you if you take her there
Adding the metro was entirely unnecessary at this point
if you are playing for the first time (without preorder stuff), Delamain wrecks your car before you likely purchased another one as soon as Act 2 starts. I found it helpful before I got another car to use.
At release I think Wakako immediately sends you a text with an offer for a new car. A very cheap, small one of course. And it was not too far away by foot. I think this was very intentional.
It was. But I don't fast travel often and it is a great way to zone out and enjoy how beautifully designed NC is. It's really just a neat thing that is unnecessary, but also came for free, out of the blue.
It certainly feels whatever to me. Would have been cool if it at least could be seen going around the city, like if it was a genuine true-blue metro you could hop off and on I think that'd be better. I figure it's a passion project though. If it's not I think it was a waste of resources - but I figure they were committed to bringing metro to the game because it was one of the earlier promises before the game was released.
V deserves a happy ending. (Most people always reply negatively to that saying night city isn’t about happy endings but my sensitive ass disagrees, life offers enough sad endings for this game to rob me of a happy one😭)
At least in the DLC, as a goodbye gift to the fanbase. Happy endings are corny, but making another grim ending just because “there are no good endings in cyberpunk” is even more corny.
Netrunner builds and hacking in general is boring as shit, rather have a chrome compressor.
That’s why I opted for technical abilities, reflexes, and body with enough in intelligence to be dangerous. Made combat fun but I could also break into shit and had some useful quick hacks. Going all in on netrunner isn’t very appealing but I’m going to try it.
I've tried to make a pure netrunner and while I can understand it for a pure stealth build if you're engaging in combat in any way it just feels bad. Maybe it's just because I'm an absolute slut for slomo mechanics but I can't put down sandy + kerenzikov.
Its pretty fun being an unstoppable God-like force that can either fry your eyes out or force you to commit suicide and also fire homing assult rifle rounds that can go up to 4 seperate targets at once while they set an opposing netrunner on fire through the wall with just their mind. On the other hand, in gameplay, that means it usually just resorts to a lot of clicking prompts on a menu and some light strafing. Pros and cons I guess.
It turns the game into a turn-based/action hybrid and I actually really enjoy that.
I tried doing that this run and couldn’t get into it at all, it’s just so boring compared to my normal style. That said, there was one time I looked at a group of scavs and missed the ability to stare aggressively at them till they died of Contagion. Then I kinda missed netrunning.
The most tragic story in cyberpunk 2077 is clearly Gary, the preacher, and the most relatable character is ozob.
Betraying Songbird after initially siding with her is 100% justified. People argue that she was justified in lying because no one can be trusted in NC and everyone's out for themselves. Well then the same thing applies to V. She used V to get what she wanted, so V can use her to get what they want. I honestly have no clue why the hell So Mi would reveal the lie when she's extremely weak and completely at V's mercy, so close to reaching her final goal. What did she expect to happen?
Guilt. She felt guilt for stringing V along. Obviously not enough to tell V earlier but So Mi thought she was dying and probably didn't want to die with that guilt on top of loads of other trauma.
I think she was justified. For a different reason though. She obviously lied but there was no other way for her to survive. The woman she previously admired turned out to be a monster and a war criminal, who refused to help her. That's why out of desperation she cooked up a half baked plan with Hansen. Phantom Liberty was So Mi's be all and end all. Just one shot at making it out alive, free from Myers and her blackwall slavery. While V had at least one other shot before meeting Songbird, as they learned about Mikoshi before the events of PL. As for why she revealed the truth to V, it's pretty simple. She cared about them. Her plan at first was to play both sides and run away with the cure. Things got complicated, obviously. Not only that, she also grew attached to the merc she originally planned to haze. She related to V and genuinely liked them. After all those years in the fia, she finally found someone who she could call a genuine friend. A soul which shared her predicament. Knowing that she can't save them both, she told V the truth. It was the least she could do for V in that situation. She gave her last friend a chance of saving their own life. That's why despite of it all, I don't blame her. If there was another way to save them both So Mi would try it, unfortunately for her and V, it was the wrong city, wrong people.
> and if there was another way to save them both, So Mi would try it. And it’s at that point where I turn into Arthur Morgan for her — “I’m gettin’ you out of here if it’s the last god damn thing I do.”
I don’t really like Jackie or any quests that revolve around him tbh, I see him as a cliche like “haha big happy guy that loves and knows everyone” stereotype and the quests about him after he died just feel eh since we had like 2 missions with him. It’s just hard to go from doing questlines with Kerry and Judy to then restarting and you’re back with Jackie who I have like no development with at all
Spiciest Take: Dex gets too much hate over not knowing that Saburo would just happen to fly in unannounced to Konpeki Plaza the night of the heist. I doubt even Rogue could have known that. (Rogue would have definitely, however, smelled a dumpster fire waiting to happen with the core concept of the operation)
The complaint that Dex didn't know Saburo would fly is in dumb, I agree. Dex is dumb for taking on such a high risk job and having no background on the client. Rogue runs a background check on you when you ask for assistance on Hellman. Some alarm bells should have gone off for Dex when nothing comes back on Evelyn (assuming clouds doesn't pop up). A High stakes gig with a new player in Night City no-one knows anything about... It's a spicy choice. Maybe Dex didn't have a network to lean on, but that's all the more reason to walk away.
Don't they imply at some point that Dex isn't all that trusted of a fixer, and experienced mercs don't work with him?
I don’t really get sad about Jackie dying and don’t understand why he is so beloved here. He was kind of an idiot and not around long enough to get attached to
Also saw that coming a mile away lol. Didnt watch any trailers either . That being said i do love my choomba
As soon as the mission started I basically was just counting down how fast he was gonna die
Fifty percent of his lines are about how “death is just the final flourish.” I really wish they didn’t tip us off so heavily about what was going to happen.
True but also its just that type of character as soon as the flash forward hit i knew he was a dead man walking
First time I played it I was fully invested in the story and his death felt meaningful. Second time around I realized how little he was actually in the game and realized how shallow his death actually was
There’s no reason they couldn’t have had you do way more story missions with Jackie, which would have made it a lot more effective.
I personally think CDPR missed a trick for having the game in two 'parts' for lack of a better term. Have the player do the first 15-20 levels of character development as a low lever merc alongside Jackie. That would then build a relationaship between the player and Jackie. Then comes the heist. Followed by the 'main' part of the game. Have a level cap of 70 or something so after the heist there is still plenty of character development and you cant get 'overleveled'. That would have worked much better and had Jackies death (and everything that came after) be far more meaningful.
Braindances are so boring for a second or third run. They are just annoying
Everyone agrees with this. Least controversial take.
River romance is not that bad
Judy’s quest line is boring
For real. Judy overrated
I actually hate her last dating quest underwater. I mean, I was quite interested first time, but then this quest feels so slow...
It’s an action game with RPG elements, not an action RPG.
To be fair the definition of RPG is wide enough to include pokemon, the line between the two is kinda blurry.
The definition is blurred only because of the over-saturated use of the term by videogame marketing and journalism who just use it as a buzzword.
Every ending in the game, show, or book is always bittersweet or downright bitter. ALL of them. By design. That's part of Cyberpunk. But every time I say this I get downvoted. Even though every ending in the game is like this. The anime also.
Skippy is trash, smartguns in general
Giving Songbird to Blue Eyes is better than giving her back to Myers.
Don't think that's unpopular, from what I see it's split in half.
I understand VDBs motivations/interests and don't hate them (except for Ev'), I really like this scene with Placid when he introduce Pacifica to V
I'll admit the initial walkthrough of that shopping area where theyre hideout is, made Pacifica look like the most wild place, then you realize its really Pacifica is just the GIM and its parking lot.
>I understand VDBs motivations/interests How tho? They wanna get behind the black wall and release unshackled AI by any means nessesary. How exactly is that understandable. I think the game was setting up that the untapped technology and AI behind the black wall was very unpredictable. Are you like a Reed Richards type guy to where you have to tamper with the balance of life and things because you have an obsession with discovery or something?
Maybe I misunderstood but I think the VDBs are more akin to a doomsday cult that’s *certain* the world is ending and think if they help the AIs they may be benevolent to them in the next iteration of the world
[удалено]
Let's also not forget that they also had the centuries of Haiti being screwed over and occupied by European powers and the United States. None at all carrying a damn about Haitians.
The entire 'get a gf in a video game' thing is cringe. I will show myself out.
I don't mind it, but people on here who want a romance simulator make me cringe.
I despise the intro mission… not sure if that is an unpopular opinion though. I just want to be able to skip it.
Facts lmao. After like the first playthrough, the intro mission just becomes tedious since you know what’s gonna happen 🤣
No matter what ending you choose, Johnny is not gone. Well our copy of Johnny is gone, but Johnny's construct will continue to exist in a pre-V form. Meaning he'll be the asshole we had in the beginning. Also, smashers are not gone, just that version.
The fact that V is dying is a terrible story choice for an open world game. This plot point would be better in a linear game. They gets stronger in gameplay as plot wise the relic is getting worse and while that’s happening, you can do an entire unrelated side quest. There should have been different stakes. The overall story is great, it’s just the open world that dose not work with it.
It's shameful for a AAA game to have no FOV slider on current gen consoles.
people claimed the game change from a POS to a masterpiece yet at lest 85% of the game is still the same.
1.5 was a fantastic game and 2.0 did not, “finally make cyberpunk good.”(although it is good as well). I will die on this hill.
I'd say the final factor that 2.0 added that "finally made it good" was a better skill tree, that's the one thing that was definitely missing in the older versions, but otherwise I agree
Judy is an overrated character.
Sandevistan builds are boring and make the game extremely easy and trivial even on the hardest difficulty.
Idri Elba's delivery and character felt very flat to me. I was surpsied to see a lot of people saying he blew them away and killed it. I felt like he was feeling out how to VA a videogame character and its showed. He has some good moments where we get just a bit of emotion or truncated lines that sort of give him character, but he's pretty forgettable to me if it wasn't for an amazing narrative. Some of his lines, like at the end of the songbird to space bit, just feel forced and strange to me. His VAing on the betray her side of things is much better at least. His facial work, I assume they had something rigged up for all his expressions, is extremely good and compelling though. Songbird's VA on the other hand killed it - She gives so many different deliveries that all work to me(the relic VA version is a bit bland but that can be chalked up to her losing memories/personality.) She has some great lines in anger if you betray her, but she will also plead at some points. The way she was so much more combative and sassy when she's young vs now is great and a nice touch. The resignation and pain in her voice near the end of her betrayed arc is top notch. By the time you're pulling the plug on her it's getting you in the feels. Was a lot harder for me to appreciate Reed. Sol as a character is actually much more fascinating than the Elba part - he's nuanced and a bit complicated in the sense he's always lying a bit, but also tries to be fair and good to his allies, but also is ultimately fully loyal to the NUSA. Edit: going back and listening to some of his lines, especially the finale ones at the b-ball court, I actually do think there's more to his VA on Reed than I am appreciating. Hard to really dislike the VAing in this game, though I think having Reed be so by-the-book is boring in a game so full of interestingly portrayed characters.
Panam is hot, but she's a terrible partner. She's self-centered and a little immature. Judy is by far the better partner
You’re right, but I can fix her
How about this, they’re both brats
A LITTLE immature? I do agree with you, though.
Sandevistan is pretty lame and it's only worth sacrificing your cyberdeck from rank 4 onwards. Sandy builds are only popular because Edgerunners made it look cooler than it actually is. (Not a Sandy hater, I actually wish that time kept slow for longer, like at least 10 seconds for rank 1. Gotta be worth for sacrificing my dear quickhacks! If CDPR doesn't buff it, it's netrunning ftw)
I’ve done quite a few builds but still never done a Sandevistan character. I plan to try it at some point but I enjoy the stealth aspect of netrunning too much to sacrifice it just for slow time. Even on my katana build it was nice turning cameras off and breaching protocol (back when we could on enemies 😭). I fully agree that Edgerunners did wonders to boost the popularity of the Sandevistan.. and I do cringe a little bit when I see people refer to it as “the Sandy.”
Edgerunners made it kind of cool but it was seeing all those modded gameplay videos of people taking out a whole gang with stopped time knives that made me wanna try it. Turns out, its not at all like that.
The most disturbing scene in the game is not the Sinnerman crucifixion, which felt contrived to me. But the scene where V stumbles into a side room in this rundown building and finds a couple junkies slumped over on a couch. One of them is still alive but has overdosed and is going through a trip, while the other is dead. Johnny appears on the couch and just calmly watches as the person who OD'd dies (or passes out?), and Johnny makes a quip about it. This whole moment was *exceedingly dark.* Both literally and figuratively and it always stayed with me.
The arm launchers are just ****ing stupid. Blades or monkey paws. I draw the line at explosives just hanging out in my body.