About the endings [edited for spoilers; spoilers included]

+
I don't know what CDPR intends to do with V's story following the events of the main game. The various endings leave her in wildly different places and states of existence. However, this is a way to bring her back for future DLC or a Cyberpunk 2... and yes, I mean from EVERY ending. And it would allow CDPR to introduce a common cyberpunk trope that I don't think they've explored much to date.

The shell.

Altered Carbon calls it the sleeve.

A shell or sleeve is an inorganic or organic body, which can be inhabited by a "ghost" AI or detached consciousness.

This concept is already in the main cyberpunk storyline. Johnny is a ghost, and V is an unwilling shell. The Relic 2.0 injects a personality engram into a braindead body - again, ghost and shell. You see this in a lot of cyberpunk stories. In the 2009 movie Freejack, Emilio Estevez is kidnapped from the past to be a shell to the ghost of Anthony Hopkins.

With the use of a shell, V could return from every fate she meets in the various endings, even the suicide ending. Her retrieved personality engram could be installed in a new shell body, and that body could be all sorts of things. It could be fully robotic, cloned from her tissue, a cyborg, someone else's body... whatever. Players could re-enter the character creator to make a new V body, or keep her old one, or make a version that looks mostly like V but with additional cyber-ness. There are a lot of possibilities.

This could also be an opportunity to add new skill lines. Alita from Alita Battle Angle is a human brain in a cyborg body. Let's say V 2.0 is something like Alita, placed in a Militech cyborg shell for mysterious corpo reasons. Her new form could have all kinds of advanced weapon systems or new abilities that can be unlocked to compliment her existing skills.

There are a lot of possibilities... probably won't happen, but neither can it be said that there is no way forward in terms of her character.

Moderator edit: thread title edited for spoilers.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Would be cool to see the Mike Pondsmith version of Sleeves/Shells. In Ghost in The Shell it's very common for Kusanagi to lose her body.

It's definitely a possibility for them to go that route.

In the sourcebooks Biotechnica and StormTech have made headways with Body, Organ and nanite technology.
 
Why would it be important to bring V back? Not as if it's a good character, it's just an empty shell.
 
Completely disagree more. Do you play male V or female V? Female V is an amazing character.
Both are great, ,both have hi points and both have low non of which is down to the actors and all down to writing/editing
 
I saw this title, did not read the post. Please tell me the title is not some type of spoiler for the ending? If the title is some type of a spoiler for the ending.....

Moderator edit.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
But yeah I can't say I grew so attached to V as a character that I am desperate to see their story continue, why does every new game in a series need to be a continuation of the previous character's story? Surely there are other stories to tell in the cyberpunk universe? And while Night City certainly seems to be the main fleshed out location surely there are other locations to visit as well?
 
Deus Ex is an example of a game where original character isn't continued.

Invisible War is a completely different character (though somehow related to JC), and Human Evolution is a completely different character but a prequel. Mankind divided is the only one that somehow continued with Adam Jensen, even though most the endings in Human Evolution somehow should have ended that character (but Mankind Divided somehow conveniently ignored all the endings, Adam merely passed out, etc.)

I guess Cyberpunk could do the same with V but that would have to be a sequel game. However if it's just DLC then why create a new V body? He/she just merely got transferred to a new body (that is exactly the same as your original V) if body is given to Johnny. If suicide/secret ending lost then relic fixed the damage and now V is a zombie like before because if you recall V was shot in the head after the heist. If V chose to leave NC with the nomads he/she came back, if V chose to go to space he/she came back from the heist, etc.

I think the devs said the story would be expanded, not changed.
 
I've been thinking about this dilemma as well.

It's really utter crap in a way. But of course the goal is to save V. Otherwise the story has no point and no good ending.

We have a problem. V's brain is invaded and occupied of digital technology that alters her brain and overrides it. According to story this happened because this chip assumed V was dead and started to unfold in this brain, as it was programmed to do. It would not take over a living brain but only 'an empty shell'. So far so good.

1. The chip apparently has the ability to do with the brain as it see fit. This is why Johnny can be implemented. If the chip had no way of altering V's brain Johnny couldn't be transferred or even save her from death in the first place. He revived her, remember? So, the chip is the solution. The chip can be altered or reprogrammed? Erase Johnny and reinstate V? Who says the chip can only function with a foreign personality/soul? The chip must have all the options to control and alter a brain in the first place. This is pure logic.

2. Is V's brain deteriorating because of the shot fired by Dexter? Was Johnny's revival of V just temporary?
I don't think so. You are told that it's the chip altering V's brain and the reason she is dying. And as far as I know V wouldn't be able to move or think at all if the brain was rotting away. And why should the chip continue invading this brain if it was damaged?
Does the chip actually destroy V's brain in the process? I hardly think so. It wouldn't make sense that Arasaka made a chip that would destroy the new host, would it?
If Arasaka made a chip worth billions in the developing wouldn't they make sure the chip scans it's surroundings before activating the copy sequence? A company with technology like that wouldn't make such a big mistake. That is why i think the story is a bit thin at this point.

Never mind. If we are to save V we need what "orangejacinto" writes above:
"In the sourcebooks Biotechnica and StormTech have made headways with Body, Organ and nanite technology."
And we need Arasaka to erase Johnny's engram and make space for V's instead.
 
Deus Ex is an example of a game where original character isn't continued.

Invisible War is a completely different character (though somehow related to JC), and Human Evolution is a completely different character but a prequel. Mankind divided is the only one that somehow continued with Adam Jensen, even though most the endings in Human Evolution somehow should have ended that character (but Mankind Divided somehow conveniently ignored all the endings, Adam merely passed out, etc.)

I guess Cyberpunk could do the same with V but that would have to be a sequel game. However if it's just DLC then why create a new V body? He/she just merely got transferred to a new body (that is exactly the same as your original V) if body is given to Johnny. If suicide/secret ending lost then relic fixed the damage and now V is a zombie like before because if you recall V was shot in the head after the heist. If V chose to leave NC with the nomads he/she came back, if V chose to go to space he/she came back from the heist, etc.

I think the devs said the story would be expanded, not changed.

I think the original Deus Ex was a game that needed no sequels, successors to carry on it's legacy sure but in terms of story I think it should just be a stand alone title, also I really hate the idea that the Squeenix games are supposed to be prequels to the original with their lazy "what if Human Augmentation was an allegory for racism" take on the themes presented in the series.

Moderator edit.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've been thinking about this dilemma as well.

It's really utter crap in a way. But of course the goal is to save V. Otherwise the story has no point and no good ending.

I strongly disagree with this premise, it is as if you think a video game is supposed to be something you win rather than a story to experience.

I don't believe there always needs to be a happy ending, a way for the main character to survive and win the hand of the princess, sometimes no matter what you do the outcome is grim and it is about choosing the best of a bad situation, there isn't always a cure for the sickness and even if the main character dies their existence is not the only part to the story.

It is kind of like those people constantly begging for a cure for Thane in Mass Effect, I mean if it were so simple that Sheppard is able to pull a cure from his ass doesn't it kind of trivialize the illness and call into question the abilities of all the previous scientists and doctors who supposedly were trying to find the cure for all these years?
 
I strongly disagree with this premise, it is as if you think a video game is supposed to be something you win rather than a story to experience.

I don't believe there always needs to be a happy ending, a way for the main character to survive and win the hand of the princess, sometimes no matter what you do the outcome is grim and it is about choosing the best of a bad situation, there isn't always a cure for the sickness and even if the main character dies their existence is not the only part to the story.

It is kind of like those people constantly begging for a cure for Thane in Mass Effect, I mean if it were so simple that Sheppard is able to pull a cure from his ass doesn't it kind of trivialize the illness and call into question the abilities of all the previous scientists and doctors who supposedly were trying to find the cure for all these years?

Well, we are not tuned in on each other in this matter I feel?

I don't spend money and use lots of time on something that gives me a bad feeling. Period! Life is too short for being a masochist. Besides, there are already so much sh*te in this world already.
No, I would have had a better feeling buying a new jacket in that sense. At least it would keep me warm. And who doesn't like being kept warm when it's cold outside?

I was actually enraged when I found out there was no happy ending in this game. I simply lost my direction. There was no goal to pursue.
On the other hand: Don't you think people will be able to process the dilemma in the ethics even with a happy ending?
I actually have second thought about buying this game. Had I known there was no happy ending (out of seven possible) I wouldn't have bought the game in the first place. And somehow I also would like to have been notified up front that there was a lack of good endings. After all I spend my money on things I like. I hate being backstapped.

Oh, I forgot! Between you and me: I'm not going to finish the game. I stopped at the 'point of no return'. And it will stay that way. When I finally get bored I'll turn back to Fallout 4, Dragon Age Inqusition, Skyrim, Mass Effect or whatever drags me.
Cyberpunk 2077 as it is right now is not a good story. I like the game world. It's darn well made. But it all falls to pieces because there is no happy ending.
I even pre-ordered. I regret that now.
 
Last edited:
A few posts edited and a few removed.

A couple of key notes:

- Please be mindfull of your fellow forum users and use the spoilers tag feature to mark potential spoilers as well as give proper heads up when creating a thread that contains and discusses potential spoilers. Spoiling the fun of others is against the
rules.

- Any discussion of moderation is to be taken through private messages (PM's) or channeled through the dedicated email address: ban.appeals@cdprojektred.com. For signaling posts that break the rules, use the report feature. Public discussion/arguing of moderation is against the
rules.

Thank you for understanding.
 
Well, we are not tuned in on each other in this matter I feel?

I don't spend money and use lots of time on something that gives me a bad feeling. Period! Life is too short for being a masochist. Besides, there are already so much sh*te in this world already.
No, I would have had a better feeling buying a new jacket in that sense. At least it would keep me warm. And who doesn't like being kept warm when it's cold outside?

I was actually enraged when I found out there was no happy ending in this game. I simply lost my direction. There was no goal to pursue.
On the other hand: Don't you think people will be able to process the dilemma in the ethics even with a happy ending?
I actually have second thought about buying this game. Had I known there was no happy ending (out of seven possible) I wouldn't have bought the game in the first place. And somehow I also would like to have been notified up front that there was a lack of good endings. After all I spend my money on things I like. I hate being backstapped.

Nothing wrong with wanting that, at least you are being honest about what you want, but that said if that is what you are looking for then there are always Disney films or Bioware games. I have nothing against happy endings and if a good believable story can be told that ends with a fitting happy ending then I have no problem with it, but what I do hate is when it feels like a game is trying to stroke a player's ego or provide content that purely exists as wish fullfilment for the player where the player character is infallible and is able to solve any problem that gets thrown their way even if it is incurable cancer that nobody until now how been able to solve, it is part of what made the Witcher games so compelling, that sometimes there is no good choice and you need to choose between a bad situation and a worse situation.
 
I like the shell option.
One path i see that could potentiall work is V's engram loaded into a smart-bio-drone body, personality/consciousness suppressed ... forced to work for Arasaka (again if corpo), but, now as a suppressed cyber drone ... much like we find V in the corpo lifepath (though we don't really realize how much of a drone we actually are then), except here, we're a suppressed slave/drone.
... until something happens. We regain our consciousness, our free will, but, that has consequences like the corpo lifepath did, and we need to start from scratch after regaining our freedom of body and mind.

Eh. it's a fun idea, but, Like lots of Ideas we were all floating around here last year, and before ... we can't get our hopes up.
CDPR could do something better, or ... meh.
Cyberpunk 2 could be Cyberpunk 2078 ... or, it could take us back to Cyberpunk 2020 where instead of flashbacks, we're actually participating in some legendary lore, along side and with legendary character personalities.
Who knows?
 
Top Bottom