I don't know about you guys, but on my second play through I caught onto a dialogue, with Alt, that sent everything I thought pertaining the endings out the door. If any of you have seen Repo Man? Or even Total Recall (2012)? You may already be familiar with this concept.
Theory
What if the endings are scripted? A lie, which is meant to deceive us, the gamers, as V lives in his/ her own personalized Mikoshi prison? Are the "good endings" really the lie?" Did we really meet any of these allies? OR are they also in Mikoshi with us (everyone involved in the assault dies)? Is the bad ending really the only truthful ending? The ending where we already know that we are stuck in Soul Prison? Did we ever storm the tower at all? Or was it just a simulation and we had died/ been capture a long time before that? Regardless of which of the above are true V could have just been fed this alternate reality, to live out this rest of his/ her days in, essentially, a lie...but a paradise none the less. Whether that ending is the Kingpin/ Night City Legend ending, or a happily ever after with Judy/ Panam..."it all may leads back to MIkoshi" as Johnny once said.
You see? I think the endings are all one of the same. There is only one conclusion...MIkoshi. Soul Prison. The "good" ending being nothing more than V's own personal fantasy. A "happily ever after..." written by Arasaka themselves. When V jacks into Mikoshi it blacks out and suddenly we are having a spiritual discussion with an old friend. Shortly after, at least in two of my runs, you wake up in reality. It felt all too "Repo Man" to me. If you haven't seen Repo Man you should. It's about corpos who come to reposes implants when they fail to be paid off. A lot of the movie scenes remind me of Scav dens in Cyberpunk. Bodies tore open. Harvested.
Anyway...I felt like the Aldecaldo ending was too good to be true. Too easy. Too fairy tale. I felt like all involved must really lay dead in a field somewhere.
...And what of Silverhand? Did the real Silverhand die? Back in 2050? Was 2077 Silverhand always meant to lead us to Soul Prison? Set us up to fail? Arasaka doesn't just copy and keep engrams...they edit them--change them. Johnny mentions about how this was his greatest fear; being reprogrammed unknowingly. Ergo the real Johnny died, but the "copy' Johnny possesses at least some his memories, but not necessarily his "end motives..." and if they were genuinely his thoughts then he could have been made to follow a course...a subroutine...failure. All of this inside of a simulated reality perhaps.
So what of that dialogue with Alt that I mentioned?
The dialogue with Alt that got me thinking this was when you re-visit her, confirming she was still going to help in the final assault and open your way to Mikoshi. V comments on how Cyberspace looks different since the last time he/ she was there (provided you selected that optional line). Alt comments back that each time you visit you loose touch with your reality and Cyberspace takes on a more "real" appearance. We begin to make sense of it, in other words.
Also, it makes sense that the, seemingly, "bad ending" be the only truthful ending. In befriending Hanako and accepting her offer she spares you from the lies and simply just locks you away. Preserves you. Possibly even for restoration down the road, as she promised.
What do you guys think? The idea that 3 optional endings are really just one. MIkoshi. That makes future DLC/ a sequel easy to kick off. Everyone has the same ending, but took different roads to get there.
I wouldn't have thought any of this had I not seen Repo Man, which clearly outlines its ending, while Total Recall (2012) just leaves you wondering if it was all happening in Recall, or whether it was a true ending. I detect a bit of The Matrix in Cyberpunk too...but that movie takes things further and suggests that life is constantly resetting and that their lives are but one of billions taking place in parallel, each making different decisions.
Theory
What if the endings are scripted? A lie, which is meant to deceive us, the gamers, as V lives in his/ her own personalized Mikoshi prison? Are the "good endings" really the lie?" Did we really meet any of these allies? OR are they also in Mikoshi with us (everyone involved in the assault dies)? Is the bad ending really the only truthful ending? The ending where we already know that we are stuck in Soul Prison? Did we ever storm the tower at all? Or was it just a simulation and we had died/ been capture a long time before that? Regardless of which of the above are true V could have just been fed this alternate reality, to live out this rest of his/ her days in, essentially, a lie...but a paradise none the less. Whether that ending is the Kingpin/ Night City Legend ending, or a happily ever after with Judy/ Panam..."it all may leads back to MIkoshi" as Johnny once said.
You see? I think the endings are all one of the same. There is only one conclusion...MIkoshi. Soul Prison. The "good" ending being nothing more than V's own personal fantasy. A "happily ever after..." written by Arasaka themselves. When V jacks into Mikoshi it blacks out and suddenly we are having a spiritual discussion with an old friend. Shortly after, at least in two of my runs, you wake up in reality. It felt all too "Repo Man" to me. If you haven't seen Repo Man you should. It's about corpos who come to reposes implants when they fail to be paid off. A lot of the movie scenes remind me of Scav dens in Cyberpunk. Bodies tore open. Harvested.
Anyway...I felt like the Aldecaldo ending was too good to be true. Too easy. Too fairy tale. I felt like all involved must really lay dead in a field somewhere.
...And what of Silverhand? Did the real Silverhand die? Back in 2050? Was 2077 Silverhand always meant to lead us to Soul Prison? Set us up to fail? Arasaka doesn't just copy and keep engrams...they edit them--change them. Johnny mentions about how this was his greatest fear; being reprogrammed unknowingly. Ergo the real Johnny died, but the "copy' Johnny possesses at least some his memories, but not necessarily his "end motives..." and if they were genuinely his thoughts then he could have been made to follow a course...a subroutine...failure. All of this inside of a simulated reality perhaps.
So what of that dialogue with Alt that I mentioned?
The dialogue with Alt that got me thinking this was when you re-visit her, confirming she was still going to help in the final assault and open your way to Mikoshi. V comments on how Cyberspace looks different since the last time he/ she was there (provided you selected that optional line). Alt comments back that each time you visit you loose touch with your reality and Cyberspace takes on a more "real" appearance. We begin to make sense of it, in other words.
Also, it makes sense that the, seemingly, "bad ending" be the only truthful ending. In befriending Hanako and accepting her offer she spares you from the lies and simply just locks you away. Preserves you. Possibly even for restoration down the road, as she promised.
What do you guys think? The idea that 3 optional endings are really just one. MIkoshi. That makes future DLC/ a sequel easy to kick off. Everyone has the same ending, but took different roads to get there.
I wouldn't have thought any of this had I not seen Repo Man, which clearly outlines its ending, while Total Recall (2012) just leaves you wondering if it was all happening in Recall, or whether it was a true ending. I detect a bit of The Matrix in Cyberpunk too...but that movie takes things further and suggests that life is constantly resetting and that their lives are but one of billions taking place in parallel, each making different decisions.
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