Yeah, and I wasn't refering to you or anyone is particular. I am just saying that at this point it is simply personal opinion against personal opinion. There is no real conclusion because everyone is right on their own way.
The shard about space stations was pretty good. A space station can be private property and a sovereign state by law, so if you're rich enough to own your own space station you can keep servants, have capital punishment, 10 wives & husbands and so on. A few shards talk about human colonies, the labour there and subsequent corp exploitation. AIs only aid in that
Man, so many important moments didn't have enough dialogue options, even simple ones in blue, that woulda helped a lot.
Of course there is a reason to question Alt, one of the main reasons why someone might go with another ending is to avoid her.
Yea well thats allways gonna happend unless they really clear things up. Take the Nomads ending for example. Some ppl are happy. V got the lover and a new life, i bet s/he can solve that 6 month problem easy. Some ppl got pissed: Wtf going to Arizona to fix something that nobody in NC can fix?
Both sides could be right but its also about who you are as a person imho. Some ppl have a easier way to see the problems some see the good side. And then we run with it... We dont know what will happend during those 6 months.. at all...
Both sides could be right but its also about who you are as a person imho. Some ppl have a easier way to see the problems some see the good side. And then we run with it... We dont know what will happend during those 6 months.. at all...
If the point of Soulkiller was that we were to dwell on it and wonder whether V after Soulkiller is still V or not, then they fucked communicating that up too, since the main focus of most people in this thread is the 6 month expiration date instead of Soulkiller.
You don't understand what I mean. There is a reason to question her motives. That is exactly what I did, albeit only in proxy. I had no reason to question what she said about "everything being different after soulkiller", and the name being quite literal.
So for me the most logical path was to avoid the soulkiller at any cost.
The Soulkiller black IC originally copies then wipes the minds of its victims, leaving a vegetable, an empty husk. The body is intact, but there is no one inside. Hence the name, "soulkiller".
That is not the explanation in the original PnP lore tho. And this is completely irrelevant to my statement because Alt never explains it ingame.
The solution is so simple.
Just cut the BS-cancer out of the endings. Maybe V wants to become an Ingram... Not the worst ending for a netrunner and the world itself is shit.
In most endings, V has to live with being responsible for many good people's death and the possibility that the soul is lost. (religious people)
In addition the bodily harm endured during the process forces V to settle down after the low effort ending. Choice engram and the chance to get e fresh and strong body or live a long life as a possible fixer.
Penam ending - V retires and leaves the idea behind to become a legends in the city.
The legend ending is a bit more tough to explain but in essence, V takes on the final mission to become a living legend. Boarding the crystal palace in a suicide mission. Open end.
It would be different though, because V would take on the job because it would cement the status as a living legend instead of doing it to just go down in a blaze of glory.
Just add additional triggers or a few side missions where V gets the opportunity to dodge the BS if the player put enough effort into the game.
It would perfectly be within the borders and reality of the games universe.
Alternatively, just cut out the cancer lines... when I see the pile of cut content, those few additional voice lines would not matter anymore.
Again, like we're going in circles.
I brought up the themes of transhumanism. What makes a consciousness is the meat. You ARE your meat. With the body/mind separate you lose that connection.
Johnny to live in V's body has to change V's body to accommodate him. This is showing the importance of the human body.
ALT , again, has no experience with this. If you cannot or choose not to connect the dots the narrative is showing you then that's again, on you. For such a big question the game asks, "what makes you, you" to have Misty console you and tell you everything is ok would undermine this question.
I get the mechanics of writing a narrative is what you're focusing on, but I feel you're ignoring what we already have.
And with that i'm done. I am not interested in talking in circles anymore. In 6 months to two years you might be proven right, or I will, or neither of us will and CDPR will be making money with their version of Shark cards.
And when the soulkiller was created, there was no chance to re-upload the mind to the body.
That changed with the biochip.
Kinda strange why the default ending with Arasaka wasn't that (V has tumors after removing the biochip) + all the other side content related endings not mentioning a timeframe that short. Drama and dark Cyberpunk atmosphere, I guess
That's what the game says though. Alt created Soulkiller and died to it. Johnny states that.
Agree with your points. But I personally too tired at this point to discuss possible solutions. There are as many ideas as many people on the forums and all of them could be valid.
I personally would'nt have even mind my arasaka>back to earth ending if the game would allow me to say goodbye to my loved ones in person, and be able to finish the sidequests in the last 6 month.
I really only dived into this discussion so deep because the game didn't give me the minimal closure I deserved.
That's what most people here would approve of. Or at the very least, make it avoidable within the game.
There are plenty of things that are not explained in the video game .
And yes, it is what soulkiller is in cyberpunk lore. https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Soulkiller :
Developed in a lab on the 120th floor of Arasaka Towers in 2013, the Soulkiller virus is a program capable of creating a digital emulation or copy of a netrunner's mind, utilizing an advanced matrix recorder storing it in a huge database. It then wipes the original personality away, leaving a mindless husk that eventually dies. Few mainframes in the world are capable of running the program, with the only mainframes running it present in Arasaka Towers in Night City, or in Tokyo.
Thing is, when Alt says that the Soulkiller does what the name promises, she kinda indicates that there is actually a soul, and the program kills it.
Now you can argue that she meant in a methaphorical way, but the problem is, noone in the game points that out. Noone in the game questions if she meant it literally or if she is just refering to our body turning into a corpse.
If someone for example Misty, or hell even if V would challange that statement, I would be so much more keen to believe that she didn't mean it in a literal way.
But as things are in the game, what Alt says is: There is a soul, and you lose it if you use the machine. Now if that is a big deal or not, that is personal opinion. Obviously people who don't believe in a soul will interpret it a way that it means you won't actually lose anything.
And then it goes further to explain that the name soulkiller comes from the fact that engrams that are trapped within slowly lose their humanity factor due to lack of any stimulus within the net space. But again. This is not explained in the game. And the funny thing is, if Alt doesn't make that casual comment about everything changing, noone would even think twice to use the soulkiller. That line as it is currently only serve the purpose to make the story feel deeper with a phylosophical undertone, when in reality, it shows 0 effort in exploring it further.
This is the bullshit the writers introduce to forbid the immortality in the machine, introducing the soul, a religious notion, where there is only the mind.
That's pretty lame, and absurd.
It should be avoidable by completing certain goals in the game. It just isn't.
Yes, Alt straight up states that there is a soul that perishes. First conversation with her.
Isn't the point of this that nobody questions it outright? When Soulkiller is used on V, the soul part dies.
From what we see in the game, that seems pretty clear to me.
Johnny is on the other side, telling us Alt is spouting nonsense.
But at that point I'm more inclined to believe the all-powerful AI instead of the rocker's ego.