Whoa there, choomba. I see you reaching for your keyboard after only reading the title. Just hear me out a moment.
We know that animals were pretty much wiped out through world pandemics. This is something we hear about in news broadcasts from very early in the game onward. Evidence of animals and pets does exist in the game.
My suggestion is to allow us to acquire pets similarly to cars. Have contacts message you about both legal and illegal pets you can buy. Maybe Wakako knows someone who can connect you with show quality koi. Meredith Stout could hook you up with a robotic attack dog. So many possibilities.
So yeah, in the distant future, after all the major bugs are worked out, I would love to see dlc for some kind of pet system, either as companions or just fun stuff for you to do in your apartment. If anyone else has any ideas for pets they would like to see, I'd love to know!
We know that animals were pretty much wiped out through world pandemics. This is something we hear about in news broadcasts from very early in the game onward. Evidence of animals and pets does exist in the game.
- Cats. I have personally seen three cats through the game so far- a hairless cat, however, so it makes me wonder if the cat is either 1. the same cat each time, or 2. a synthetic cat. What? Synthetic cat? Yes! There is a cybernetics magazine in the game that has a synthetic cat on the cover.
- Dogs. The appearance of the animated showing of Officer Dobs and Mr. Puggles, an instructional video about safety in Night City, isn't a good argument for dogs existing in the world, because today, in real life, we have animated shows with dinosaurs as the main characters. However, npcs have talked about dogs existing. During the quest Woman of La Mancha, while searching for Anna Hamill, I overheard a conversation between three children about Officer Dobs where one of them asks 'why do they look weird' to which another replied 'because they're dogs' and mention someone having a dog that looks like Dobs. So this would imply that doberman exist, which would imply that there are dog breeders.
- Birds. Bird flu was one of the viruses mentioned that took out a large swath of animals in the world, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. During the main story mission M’Ap Tann Pèlen, an npc is seen with a live chicken. To which V asks if he has a license to sell and distribute them, implying that there is legal and illegal trade of at least poultry in the world.
- Reptiles. There is an iguana in the nomad life path mission. Sure, it's an extinct species, but there is implication that the reptile is going to be taken to someone who knows more about reptiles and is capable of breeding them. In the side mission Happy Together, you discover Barry had a tortoise. So clearly there are still reptile keepers in the world.
- Fish. The only definitive evidence I have of fish is a conversation with Misty about a mini shark Jackie had once. It seems that all of the food containing fish flavored materials are just that, flavored with synthmeats. There are the holograms of koi in Japantown, so it's apparent people at least know what fish look like. It's possible fish are extremely rare or very expensive- more so than other pets. That would be interesting since fish are viewed as a low-cost, expendable pet in our current day and age, even though proper fish care can be quite time consuming and costly, and more than your common pet store fodder fish species can easily ramp up in price. I would find it extremely amusing if real fish were quite expensive to come by in Night City. Imagine an oscar worth more than your car.
- Pet Licenses. While riding in elevators early in the game, I very clearly heard the television say something about a recent increase in pet license fees. There is strong implication during this news bulletin that in order to keep living pets, you have to pay for a license. I didn't get enough context from the bulletin to determine if this was a yearly fee or a one time fee. I'd imagine it would be yearly, much like pet deposits in apartments now days.
- Synthetic Pets. As mentioned above, there is a cybernetics magazine about synthetic pets. There are also commercials on the television and radio advertising robo pets. There was one radio broadcast I heard about the first synthetic horse prototype.
My suggestion is to allow us to acquire pets similarly to cars. Have contacts message you about both legal and illegal pets you can buy. Maybe Wakako knows someone who can connect you with show quality koi. Meredith Stout could hook you up with a robotic attack dog. So many possibilities.
So yeah, in the distant future, after all the major bugs are worked out, I would love to see dlc for some kind of pet system, either as companions or just fun stuff for you to do in your apartment. If anyone else has any ideas for pets they would like to see, I'd love to know!