[Spoiler Alert] About the endings

[kaz_ds]

The main issue is that this game has been waited for 8 years now, and people were starting to lose interest/hope, so they pushed a release date just so people still waited. As they said it themselves, the game was in a "playable" state. Was it complete? Far from it.

I don't think so, I was never super hyped for this game and I waited patiently, they needed at least a year and probably two to do what they wanted. I bet most people would have gladly waited for a better product, just because some people were foaming at their mouths for the game and pestering the developers doesn't mean they wouldn't have waited 5 years for it, we all know they would.
Besides, the teaser trailer was released 7 years ago but I doubt that they had done anything but concept and art for the game at that point, designing etc. They probably went into full production after Witcher 3 (possibly DLC) so that's like what 4-5 years.

As for the waste of time -- I meant more as in the story sense, not as in the players time. As in you could have killed yourself in the beginning and generally it would be the same outcome, despite the game saying you've earned something along the way, you don't even get to experience that. But to each their own.

 

[neocyril]

This whole thread started an interesting conversation about endings and about what people wanted/were expecting.

But at the same time it makes me curious.

How many of you were familiar with cyberpunk, and I don't mean just the game but the whole setting?

Whether it was Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, movies like Bladerunner and ghost in shell, maybe books like Neuromancer etc.
Because it seems to me people went into this game/story with their own ideas of what cyberpunk is...

I understand the need for a happy ending, I really do. But truly happy endings in this setting are always rare. There is always something stopping the main character form achieving it. (death, loss of a loved one, depression, merger with an AI ang I can go on and on. The point I'm trying to make is that in this kind of world you are a spec of dust, irrelevant and changing the world for the better is basically impossible. The best you can count on is to continue living in some fucked up way.)

Now to the endings,

This game has multiple endings and not a single one of them is outright bad or good. What do I mean by that is that they are all bitter sweet.

V's life ends the moment Dex shoots him/her in the head, that's a fact. (like it or not, it is what it is)

The game revolves around a man/woman franticly trying to save his/hers life while the the inevitable doom lurks around the corner. V is going to be erased, the chip made that sure the moment it brought you back to life.
It's up to you how you deal with it and whether you accept it or lash out.

Despite all of that being true you are still given an option to save yourself but in true cyberpunk fashion it's never that simple.

- V finally succumbs. The pain, the fear, loosing yourself it is too much. All that you were all that you could've been, all the dreams you had are gone but one thing remains. The final action, defiance to the fucked up situation you find yourself in. BANG, you take your life away and the pain is gone. Your life truly ended that day when everything went to shit in that hotel. (it is a sad ending but in a way beautiful. V was put against unbeatable odds and only way out was death)

-V realizes that his/her life is over, the biochip did so much damage and he/she is fading. But one thing remains. This man that has been with you since the beginning, this man that you hated for what he was doing to you, this man that you've seen change in front of your own eyes from an arrogant asshole to a caring prick that would take a bullet for you. And you decide that if I'm going to disappear at least some good can come out of it, you give Johnny a second chance at life or an opportunity for a payback against Arasaka.

-V fears for his/her life, he/she doesn't want to disappear, the life he/she lead, the dreams he/she had. V wants to chase them still. It is not know whether he/she would succeed but it's worth a try. And the only way to save your life is making a deal with the devil/Arasaka (in true cyberpunk fashion). For a chance at life, for a chance of a brighter future, that some day you might walk as a free man/woman, you take that deal. Who knows what the future brings, but maybe just maybe one day you'll be yourself again.

-V's life is at an end. He is loosing himself. The fear, the pain. (you can see this at Clouds, V fears being forgotten, V fears death...'Death is death is death'). But there is a way out, there is a person in your life that would throw it all away, climb the highest peak to be with you. Would walk through hell to see you safe. And so you call Panam even though you know you would be putting her in danger and her whole clan, but the fear of dying is to much.

(I consider this ending the best and yet I would call it bitter sweet. You are given control back, you are given your life back but with that comes a price. Now there are things implying that V's condition could be salvaged and that those six months aren't a sure death sentence but we will have to wait and see. If V is going to die and there is no 'cure' despite there being obvious implications that there is a way I find Panams messge at the end is out of character. But if they did find a 'cure' then okay.)

Like I said, the endings are bitter sweet (you wont find sunshine and rainbow in them lol. All of them demand some kind of sacrifice...your body/mind, freedom, glory in Nighy City etc.)
But I do think there should be an ending that gives you a happy/bitter sweet ending separate from Nomad/Panam one, because not everyone is going to be playing a male V romancing her.

An ending where V lives, but has to leave NC or finds and opportunity of fixing himself/herself in another part of the world.

 

[Kikinho]

Here is the ending where we get to "live" in a certain way, without Arasaka's bankrupcy,
I think it's the only positive ending where we can still hope to live more than 6 months...
and so I think and hope it's an opening for a potential DLC story continuity as V in another body.

Wait! Takemura lives? I thought his death was unavoidable in the story!

 

[AKANexus]

I loved the Nomad+Judy ending, I will probably never play out any other ending, just as I never choose anybody else than Liara in ME. I was sad than Panam was male-only. Her voice reminds me so much of Jennifer Hale.
I feel about the ending like I do with the game generally, what's there is great, it's just that it needs polish.
The thing about Soulkiller is that it's history from the original cp2020 universe. I don't remember having heard about Mikoshi, but I don't know everything cp2020 either.

For me, FemV's voice sounds more like Hale's Shepard...

It is your own premise to stick to Liara everytime you play Mass Effect (I do it as well, her soft voice is sooooo damn soothing, ffs), as should be our own premise to stick to a good ending every time we finished CP2077, yet we are robbed of that possibility...

 

[Simuxas]

I still can't stop thinking about this. Never in my entire life was there a game that conflicted me that much. It's just the whole story revolves around V and working towards not dying. There is no great plot where the world is in peril and we need to save it or the great conspiracy that needs to be stopped. Just us trying our darndest to survive. "We can not save the world just ourselves" Jeah right...worked out great that one. There are places for endings where the MC dies in the end by heroicly sacrificing themselfs to slay the beast, safe the world or the entire galaxy or whatever! But in a game where almost the whole story revolves around that one goal: saving oneself. And not being able to do that in the end feels like the bitchslap of the century.

Agreed, no higher stakes here, just live or die, but apparently, just die.

 

[AKANexus]

This whole thread started an interesting conversation about endings and about what people wanted/were expecting.

But at the same time it makes me curious.

How many of you were familiar with cyberpunk, and I don't mean just the game but the whole setting?

Whether it was Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, movies like Bladerunner and ghost in shell, maybe books like Neuromancer etc.
Because it seems to me people went into this game/story with their own ideas of what cyberpunk is...

I understand the need for a happy ending, I really do. But truly happy endings in this setting are always rare. There is always something stopping the main character form achieving it. (death, loss of a loved one, depression, merger with an AI ang I can go on and on. The point I'm trying to make is that in this kind of world you are a spec of dust, irrelevant and changing the world for the better is basically impossible. The best you can count on is to continue living in some fucked up way.)

Now to the endings,

This game has multiple endings and not a single one of them is outright bad or good. What do I mean by that is that they are all bitter sweet.

V's life ends the moment Dex shoots him/her in the head, that's a fact. (like it or not, it is what it is)

The game revolves around a man/woman franticly trying to save his/hers life while the the inevitable doom lurks around the corner. V is going to be erased, the chip made that sure the moment it brought you back to life.
It's up to you how you deal with it and whether you accept it or lash out.

Despite all of that being true you are still given an option to save yourself but in true cyberpunk fashion it's never that simple.

- V finally succumbs. The pain, the fear, loosing yourself it is too much. All that you were all that you could've been, all the dreams you had are gone but one thing remains. The final action, defiance to the fucked up situation you find yourself in. BANG, you take your life away and the pain is gone. Your life truly ended that day when everything went to shit in that hotel. (it is a sad ending but in a way beautiful. V was put against unbeatable odds and only way out was death)

-V realizes that his/her life is over, the biochip did so much damage and he/she is fading. But one thing remains. This man that has been with you since the beginning, this man that you hated for what he was doing to you, this man that you've seen change in front of your own eyes from an arrogant asshole to a caring prick that would take a bullet for you. And you decide that if I'm going to disappear at least some good can come out of it, you give Johnny a second chance at life or an opportunity for a payback against Arasaka.

-V fears for his/her life, he/she doesn't want to disappear, the life he/she lead, the dreams he/she had. V wants to chase them still. It is not know whether he/she would succeed but it's worth a try. And the only way to save your life is making a deal with the devil/Arasaka (in true cyberpunk fashion). For a chance at life, for a chance of a brighter future, that some day you might walk as a free man/woman, you take that deal. Who knows what the future brings, but maybe just maybe one day you'll be yourself again.

-V's life is at an end. He is loosing himself. The fear, the pain. (you can see this at Clouds, V fears being forgotten, V fears death...'Death is death is death'). But there is a way out, there is a person in your life that would throw it all away, climb the highest peak to be with you. Would walk through hell to see you safe. And so you call Panam even though you know you would be putting her in danger and her whole clan, but the fear of dying is to much.

(I consider this ending the best and yet I would call it bitter sweet. You are given control back, you are given your life back but with that comes a price. Now there are things implying that V's condition could be salvaged and that those six months aren't a sure death sentence but we will have to wait and see. If V is going to die and there is no 'cure' despite there being obvious implications that there is a way I find Panams messge at the end is out of character. But if they did find a 'cure' then okay.)

Like I said, the endings are bitter sweet (you wont find sunshine and rainbow in them lol. All of them demand some kind of sacrifice...your body/mind, freedom, glory in Nighy City etc.)
But I do think there should be an ending that gives you a happy/bitter sweet ending separate from Nomad/Panam one, because not everyone is going to be playing a male V romancing her.

An ending where V lives, but has to leave NC or finds and opportunity of fixing himself/herself in another part of the world.

Ok, we all get that the cyberpunk trope is "everyone dies, boohoo". But as was said earlier, just because there is a trope, it doesn't mean you have to stick with it till the end of times. Not all cyberpunk stories MUST end bad. Not all love stories MUST end well. Tropes don't define a genre, just as I could easily DM a cyberpunk campaign where my players save the fuckin' world by destroying the cyberspace.

What we were promised was not a cyberpunk story. We were promised a cyberpunk-themed RPG. They used plots, characters and corporations from the universe of cyberpunk to create their own story. It doesn't matter which universe you are writing into, it can end however you feel like ending it.

Is it hard to imagine a Call of Cthulhu campaign where not a single investigator dies or becomes insane? Is it hard to imagine a Pathfinder campaign where at the end the players either have to kill each other, or they'll all die, rather than the party being welcomed at the realm's capital as heroes? No, because that's the point of writing a story into an universe - all the universe gives you are tools to write you own story.

 

[TheGrandSage]

I know the Cyberpunk genre is usually tragic and bittersweet especially towards the end but just because something 'is' doesn't mean it always has to be that way.

My Female V was a Nomad that romanced Judy and became friends with Panam..Pretty much sisters. I never cared that Fem V couldn't romance her. Their friendship and bickering was more than enough. V being welcomed back into a clan was one of the best moments of the game(Cherami Leigh was outstanding). I can't choose any other ending than V being happy with Judy Panam and the Aldecados.

Spent too much of the game putting her life in danger and having friends die to help cure her just for her to what? Off herself on a damn rooftop? Become a lab rat? Let Johnny takeover? Uhh nope.. And if she doesn't find a cure then so be it. She dies surrounded by friends and family but she deserves a happy ending

 

[BlackHawkV]

Totally agreed. You spent the whole game with the underlying promise that you can be saved, just to get killed. The issue here, probably, is that we got spoiled by other great stories that have good endings, so we are conditioned to expect good endings whenever we play a game we play to escape the real life grind. People usually play games for escapism, and when that expectation is thrown out of the window we feel betrayed and depressed. "If I can't even save a character that I was promised I could save, what good will I ever find in my life?)" right?

And it's not like the bad endings don't have a place in the game on the contrary they really do belong. Just why oh why is the absolute best outcome a careful maybe? If you take the time to make SEVEN endings why can't there be just one where we get to live? I try to come up with a reason and i just can't.

 

[Nekatinyz]

Wait! Takemura lives? I thought his death was unavoidable in the story!

Lol real

 

[AKANexus]

This whole thread started an interesting conversation about endings and about what people wanted/were expecting.

But at the same time it makes me curious.

How many of you were familiar with cyberpunk, and I don't mean just the game but the whole setting?

Whether it was Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, movies like Bladerunner and ghost in shell, maybe books like Neuromancer etc.
Because it seems to me people went into this game/story with their own ideas of what cyberpunk is...

I understand the need for a happy ending, I really do. But truly happy endings in this setting are always rare. There is always something stopping the main character form achieving it. (death, loss of a loved one, depression, merger with an AI ang I can go on and on. The point I'm trying to make is that in this kind of world you are a spec of dust, irrelevant and changing the world for the better is basically impossible. The best you can count on is to continue living in some fucked up way.)

Now to the endings,

This game has multiple endings and not a single one of them is outright bad or good. What do I mean by that is that they are all bitter sweet.

V's life ends the moment Dex shoots him/her in the head, that's a fact. (like it or not, it is what it is)

The game revolves around a man/woman franticly trying to save his/hers life while the the inevitable doom lurks around the corner. V is going to be erased, the chip made that sure the moment it brought you back to life.
It's up to you how you deal with it and whether you accept it or lash out.

Despite all of that being true you are still given an option to save yourself but in true cyberpunk fashion it's never that simple.

- V finally succumbs. The pain, the fear, loosing yourself it is too much. All that you were all that you could've been, all the dreams you had are gone but one thing remains. The final action, defiance to the fucked up situation you find yourself in. BANG, you take your life away and the pain is gone. Your life truly ended that day when everything went to shit in that hotel. (it is a sad ending but in a way beautiful. V was put against unbeatable odds and only way out was death)

-V realizes that his/her life is over, the biochip did so much damage and he/she is fading. But one thing remains. This man that has been with you since the beginning, this man that you hated for what he was doing to you, this man that you've seen change in front of your own eyes from an arrogant asshole to a caring prick that would take a bullet for you. And you decide that if I'm going to disappear at least some good can come out of it, you give Johnny a second chance at life or an opportunity for a payback against Arasaka.

-V fears for his/her life, he/she doesn't want to disappear, the life he/she lead, the dreams he/she had. V wants to chase them still. It is not know whether he/she would succeed but it's worth a try. And the only way to save your life is making a deal with the devil/Arasaka (in true cyberpunk fashion). For a chance at life, for a chance of a brighter future, that some day you might walk as a free man/woman, you take that deal. Who knows what the future brings, but maybe just maybe one day you'll be yourself again.

-V's life is at an end. He is loosing himself. The fear, the pain. (you can see this at Clouds, V fears being forgotten, V fears death...'Death is death is death'). But there is a way out, there is a person in your life that would throw it all away, climb the highest peak to be with you. Would walk through hell to see you safe. And so you call Panam even though you know you would be putting her in danger and her whole clan, but the fear of dying is to much.

(I consider this ending the best and yet I would call it bitter sweet. You are given control back, you are given your life back but with that comes a price. Now there are things implying that V's condition could be salvaged and that those six months aren't a sure death sentence but we will have to wait and see. If V is going to die and there is no 'cure' despite there being obvious implications that there is a way I find Panams messge at the end is out of character. But if they did find a 'cure' then okay.)

Like I said, the endings are bitter sweet (you wont find sunshine and rainbow in them lol. All of them demand some kind of sacrifice...your body/mind, freedom, glory in Nighy City etc.)
But I do think there should be an ending that gives you a happy/bitter sweet ending separate from Nomad/Panam one, because not everyone is going to be playing a male V romancing her.

An ending where V lives, but has to leave NC or finds and opportunity of fixing himself/herself in another part of the world.

Also, how would a good ending be "trying to change the world"? Read the summary I posted - one of the arguments were "I don't fucking want any of this "go out in the blaze of glory" merc stuff. Jackie wanted, all I want is to get back on my feet doing easy gigs, and when I'm done with all that, I'm off to live my life with my love interest on a goddamn sandy village away from Night City. Arasaka can blow themselves, or not. Militech can overpower the citizens or not. Alt can invade the Net or not, V does not care. All he cares is to live the rest of his life with Panam doing whatever he feels like. If the so called "trope" is to be a speck of dust in the middle of the universe, then let me be my own spec of dust by myself with my special sexy speck of dust at my side. Let the universe blow themselves up.

 

[Kikinho]

This whole thread started an interesting conversation about endings and about what people wanted/were expecting.

But at the same time it makes me curious.

How many of you were familiar with cyberpunk, and I don't mean just the game but the whole setting?

Whether it was Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, movies like Bladerunner and ghost in shell, maybe books like Neuromancer etc.
Because it seems to me people went into this game/story with their own ideas of what cyberpunk is...

I understand the need for a happy ending, I really do. But truly happy endings in this setting are always rare. There is always something stopping the main character form achieving it. (death, loss of a loved one, depression, merger with an AI ang I can go on and on. The point I'm trying to make is that in this kind of world you are a spec of dust, irrelevant and changing the world for the better is basically impossible. The best you can count on is to continue living in some fucked up way.)

Now to the endings,

This game has multiple endings and not a single one of them is outright bad or good. What do I mean by that is that they are all bitter sweet.

V's life ends the moment Dex shoots him/her in the head, that's a fact. (like it or not, it is what it is)

The game revolves around a man/woman franticly trying to save his/hers life while the the inevitable doom lurks around the corner. V is going to be erased, the chip made that sure the moment it brought you back to life.
It's up to you how you deal with it and whether you accept it or lash out.

Despite all of that being true you are still given an option to save yourself but in true cyberpunk fashion it's never that simple.

- V finally succumbs. The pain, the fear, loosing yourself it is too much. All that you were all that you could've been, all the dreams you had are gone but one thing remains. The final action, defiance to the fucked up situation you find yourself in. BANG, you take your life away and the pain is gone. Your life truly ended that day when everything went to shit in that hotel. (it is a sad ending but in a way beautiful. V was put against unbeatable odds and only way out was death)

-V realizes that his/her life is over, the biochip did so much damage and he/she is fading. But one thing remains. This man that has been with you since the beginning, this man that you hated for what he was doing to you, this man that you've seen change in front of your own eyes from an arrogant asshole to a caring prick that would take a bullet for you. And you decide that if I'm going to disappear at least some good can come out of it, you give Johnny a second chance at life or an opportunity for a payback against Arasaka.

-V fears for his/her life, he/she doesn't want to disappear, the life he/she lead, the dreams he/she had. V wants to chase them still. It is not know whether he/she would succeed but it's worth a try. And the only way to save your life is making a deal with the devil/Arasaka (in true cyberpunk fashion). For a chance at life, for a chance of a brighter future, that some day you might walk as a free man/woman, you take that deal. Who knows what the future brings, but maybe just maybe one day you'll be yourself again.

-V's life is at an end. He is loosing himself. The fear, the pain. (you can see this at Clouds, V fears being forgotten, V fears death...'Death is death is death'). But there is a way out, there is a person in your life that would throw it all away, climb the highest peak to be with you. Would walk through hell to see you safe. And so you call Panam even though you know you would be putting her in danger and her whole clan, but the fear of dying is to much.

(I consider this ending the best and yet I would call it bitter sweet. You are given control back, you are given your life back but with that comes a price. Now there are things implying that V's condition could be salvaged and that those six months aren't a sure death sentence but we will have to wait and see. If V is going to die and there is no 'cure' despite there being obvious implications that there is a way I find Panams messge at the end is out of character. But if they did find a 'cure' then okay.)

Like I said, the endings are bitter sweet (you wont find sunshine and rainbow in them lol. All of them demand some kind of sacrifice...your body/mind, freedom, glory in Nighy City etc.)
But I do think there should be an ending that gives you a happy/bitter sweet ending separate from Nomad/Panam one, because not everyone is going to be playing a male V romancing her.

An ending where V lives, but has to leave NC or finds and opportunity of fixing himself/herself in another part of the world.

You see, I'm happy to admit that I was not familiar with the Cyberpunk universe in large. Never played the PnP games or the other game titles. I saw Bladerunner but that is about it. Not even a huge Matrix fan tho I know they are good.

And I am happy to admit that maybe my expectation for the story wasn't realistic in a way. But the fact is, this game is going to be a first entry to the Cyberpunk universe in large, and as that it can be expected that not everyone will be so understanding towards the ends. Even if the ends were influenced by the creator of the IP. You need to have at least 1 ending that will please the average consumer.
And if the vague ends are to leave space for future stories in DLCs, it has to be more obvious.

But as I mentioned before, my issue is not even about V dying, my issue is the denial of closure. I personally went with the Arasaka ending where I get the brain surgery, go through that horrible sequence of tests only to be told by Hellman that I die in 6 month anyways. As a street kid I decided that selling my literal soul to the devil with a wage contract is not an option. So I decided to go back to earth!
And this was the point where even this ending could have felt better!
Let me go back to the city, tie up lose ends knowing in 6 month I will be gone. Let me go back to my friends/love interest to explain to them why I did what I did and say goodbye with earnest words face to face.
Or even better! Let me organize my own heist to take arasaka down, even it means I die in mid battle.

My biggest issue is that even after all the struggle and pain, the game ends with a vague cutscene fading away while I listen to heartbreaking voicemails during the credit.

 

[Nekatinyz]

This whole thread started an interesting conversation about endings and about what people wanted/were expecting.

But at the same time it makes me curious.

How many of you were familiar with cyberpunk, and I don't mean just the game but the whole setting?

Whether it was Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, movies like Bladerunner and ghost in shell, maybe books like Neuromancer etc.
Because it seems to me people went into this game/story with their own ideas of what cyberpunk is...

I understand the need for a happy ending, I really do. But truly happy endings in this setting are always rare. There is always something stopping the main character form achieving it. (death, loss of a loved one, depression, merger with an AI ang I can go on and on. The point I'm trying to make is that in this kind of world you are a spec of dust, irrelevant and changing the world for the better is basically impossible. The best you can count on is to continue living in some fucked up way.)

Now to the endings,

This game has multiple endings and not a single one of them is outright bad or good. What do I mean by that is that they are all bitter sweet.

V's life ends the moment Dex shoots him/her in the head, that's a fact. (like it or not, it is what it is)

The game revolves around a man/woman franticly trying to save his/hers life while the the inevitable doom lurks around the corner. V is going to be erased, the chip made that sure the moment it brought you back to life.
It's up to you how you deal with it and whether you accept it or lash out.

Despite all of that being true you are still given an option to save yourself but in true cyberpunk fashion it's never that simple.

- V finally succumbs. The pain, the fear, loosing yourself it is too much. All that you were all that you could've been, all the dreams you had are gone but one thing remains. The final action, defiance to the fucked up situation you find yourself in. BANG, you take your life away and the pain is gone. Your life truly ended that day when everything went to shit in that hotel. (it is a sad ending but in a way beautiful. V was put against unbeatable odds and only way out was death)

-V realizes that his/her life is over, the biochip did so much damage and he/she is fading. But one thing remains. This man that has been with you since the beginning, this man that you hated for what he was doing to you, this man that you've seen change in front of your own eyes from an arrogant asshole to a caring prick that would take a bullet for you. And you decide that if I'm going to disappear at least some good can come out of it, you give Johnny a second chance at life or an opportunity for a payback against Arasaka.

-V fears for his/her life, he/she doesn't want to disappear, the life he/she lead, the dreams he/she had. V wants to chase them still. It is not know whether he/she would succeed but it's worth a try. And the only way to save your life is making a deal with the devil/Arasaka (in true cyberpunk fashion). For a chance at life, for a chance of a brighter future, that some day you might walk as a free man/woman, you take that deal. Who knows what the future brings, but maybe just maybe one day you'll be yourself again.

-V's life is at an end. He is loosing himself. The fear, the pain. (you can see this at Clouds, V fears being forgotten, V fears death...'Death is death is death'). But there is a way out, there is a person in your life that would throw it all away, climb the highest peak to be with you. Would walk through hell to see you safe. And so you call Panam even though you know you would be putting her in danger and her whole clan, but the fear of dying is to much.

(I consider this ending the best and yet I would call it bitter sweet. You are given control back, you are given your life back but with that comes a price. Now there are things implying that V's condition could be salvaged and that those six months aren't a sure death sentence but we will have to wait and see. If V is going to die and there is no 'cure' despite there being obvious implications that there is a way I find Panams messge at the end is out of character. But if they did find a 'cure' then okay.)

Like I said, the endings are bitter sweet (you wont find sunshine and rainbow in them lol. All of them demand some kind of sacrifice...your body/mind, freedom, glory in Nighy City etc.)
But I do think there should be an ending that gives you a happy/bitter sweet ending separate from Nomad/Panam one, because not everyone is going to be playing a male V romancing her.

An ending where V lives, but has to leave NC or finds and opportunity of fixing himself/herself in another part of the world.

You can end with nomads as female V and also take judy with you if you want

 

[AKANexus]

You see, I'm happy to admit that I was not familiar with the Cyberpunk universe in large. Never played the PnP games or the other game titles. I saw Bladerunner but that is about it. Not even a huge Matrix fan tho I know they are good.

And I am happy to admit that maybe my expectation for the story wasn't realistic in a way. But the fact is, this game is going to be a first entry for the Xyberpunk universe in large, and as that it can be expected that not everyone will be so understanding towards the ends. Even if the ends were influenced by the creator of the IP.

But as I mentioned before, my issue is not even about V dying, my issue is the denial of closure. I personally went with the Arasaka ending where I get the brain surgery, go through that horrible sequence of tests only to be told by Hellman that I die in 6 month anyways. As a street kid I decided that selling my literal soul to the devil with a wage contract is not an option. So I decided to go back to earth!
And this was the point where even this ending could have felt better!
Let me go back to the city, tie up lose ends knowing in 6 month I will gone. Let me go back to my friends/love interest to explain to them why I did what I did and say goodbye with earnest words face to face.
Or even better! Let me organize my own heist to take arasaka down, even it means I die in mid battle.

My biggest issue is that even after all the struggle and pain, the game ends with a vague cutscene fading away while I listen to heartbreaking voicemails during the credit.

You're basically saying the story was too damn short and cut abruptly. That's one of the biggest issues here

 

[Buckadoz]

The fact that there are sidequests that increase Johnny's % makes me think that, back when the devs thought they were making an RPG, there might've been a way to actually get there on time if you completely ignored and rebuffed Johnny. I cynically suspect one reason this was removed (besides the reason everything was removed from this game) is that it is very, very easy to hate Johnny.

-V's life is at an end. He is loosing himself. The fear, the pain. (you can see this at Clouds, V fears being forgotten, V fears death...'Death is death is death'). But there is a way out, there is a person in your life that would throw it all away, climb the highest peak to be with you. Would walk through hell to see you safe. And so you call Panam even though you know you would be putting her in danger and her whole clan, but the fear of dying is to much.

(I consider this ending the best and yet I would call it bitter sweet. You are given control back, you are given your life back but with that comes a price. Now there are things implying that V's condition could be salvaged and that those six months aren't a sure death sentence but we will have to wait and see. If V is going to die and there is no 'cure' despite there being obvious implications that there is a way I find Panams messge at the end is out of character. But if they did find a 'cure' then okay.)

Since I'm a broken record, I'm delighted to inform you that you get your dark and depressing cyberpunk ending anyway: as Alt says, Soulkiller kills the original V. V dies lonely and unacknowledged on the table. Whatever goes on to leave with the Nomads is just a copy.

 

[Nikola_Nesic]

I understand the need for a happy ending, I really do. But truly happy endings in this setting are always rare. There is always something stopping the main character form achieving it. (death, loss of a loved one, depression, merger with an AI ang I can go on and on. The point I'm trying to make is that in this kind of world you are a spec of dust, irrelevant and changing the world for the better is basically impossible. The best you can count on is to continue living in some fucked up way.)

Again rare and hard, happy ending should not be impossible, in all Shadowrun Dragonfall and Hong Kong you have happy ending, Ghost in the Shell still have good ending, saying that happy ending is rare in that settings should not mean impossible.

 

[cergyn]

You can end with nomads as female V and also take judy with you if you want

But not any male romances for some stupid reason.

 

[Kikinho]

You're basically saying the story was too damn short and cut abruptly. That's one of the biggest issues here

Indeed. I can live with the death sentence. In my head the inevitable death was really only introduced when Hellman told me after the brain surgery.
I simply refused to believe that I have to die with a completely random terrorist in my head. But if you gonna tell me that all my efforts were for nothing... at least give me a chance to say goodbye to my loved ones properly.

 

[Nikola_Nesic]

Also saving a world, when that was a thing in this game? you don't need to save world in every game?
This supposed to be V story a badass mercenary in Night City not a hero who going to save the world of Corps.

 

[Simuxas]

This whole "Cyberpunk is gritty universe so everything with it has to be gritty" is one of the worst arguments i've heard in a while. It's utter garbage.

People accepting the endings as it is fine, but are you going to tell me out of 7 endings, there could not have been one where V lives as V? Would that hurt cyberpunk universe that everything falls apart?

Look at Blade Runner movie, first one it is dark movie, cyberpunk movie with androids and stuff, yet the ending isn't dark or gritty, it ends with the question on who main protagonist really is after his journey. It let's viewers themselves to decide who he really was. This could have been perfectly adapted to at least one ending if you wanted that mysterious ending.

The world is filled with such highly advanced medicine and tech and there is no way to revert the damage? Okay the shard is prototype okay, but seriously, have not such a huge empire like Arasaka thought of malfunctions, possible problems with it and how to fix it? They always thought that it will work fine every time? I call it bullcrap.

And V dying at the end of the first act. Okay if the shard brought V back, right, so it is still V then. It is a cool story but with really similar endings that destroys the whole point of act 2. Fighting for something that you can't change? Why fight at all. the game is a huge tease where it tells you your choices of path matter, but it does fk all.

 

[AKANexus]

Again rare and hard, happy ending should not be impossible, in all Shadowrun Dragonfall and Hong Kong you have happy ending, Ghost in the Shell still have good ending, saying that happy ending is rare in that settings should not mean impossible.

I had not finished SRHK, so that's a mild spoiler to me
I don't mind it though, it's ok. And it's another proof that cyberpunk stories can have happy endings...

Post automatically merged: Dec 16, 2020

This whole "Cyberpunk is gritty universe so everything with it has to be gritty" is one of the worst arguments i've heard in a while. It's utter garbage.

People accepting the endings as it is fine, but are you going to tell me out of 7 endings, there could not have been one where V lives as V? Would that hurt cyberpunk universe that everything falls apart?

Look at Blade Runner movie, first one it is dark movie, cyberpunk movie with androids and stuff, yet the ending isn't dark or gritty, it ends with the question on who main protagonist really is after his journey. It let's viewers themselves to decide who he really was. This could have been perfectly adapted to at least one ending if you wanted that mysterious ending.

The world is filled with such highly advanced medicine and tech and there is no way to revert the damage? Okay the shard is prototype okay, but seriously, have not such a huge empire like Arasaka thought of malfunctions, possible problems with it and how to fix it? They always thought that it will work fine every time? I call it bullcrap.

And V dying at the end of the first act. Okay if the shard brought V back, right, so it is still V then. It is a cool story but with really similar endings that destroys the whole point of act 2. Fighting for something that you can't change? Why fight at all. the game is a huge tease where it tells you your choices of path matter, but it does fk all.

We were promised a revolutionary choices system, and all we got was a 4-way dialogue asking how would you like to die...
Btw, Blade Runner's ending is dark and gritty, just not "bad" per se...