How much money should V have?

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G30M1

Forum regular
I was thinking about when I played the beginning of TW3 and how incredibly poor Geralt was for a while. It left me questioning a lot. Isn't Geralt a Witcher that does a lot of work? A Witcher that demands money for the jobs he does? Hasn't he been doing jobs for a while now before I started playing the game? Why is he so poor that he can't even buy an apple? Does he actually suck as a Witcher? Did Vesemir take all of his money? "Geralt, we know you will just buy cards if I let you have control over the money...."

And it got me thinking about Cyberpunk. Don't we start off by picking a background? Is a Nomad, Street Kid and Corpo seriously going to be starting off with the same gear or amount of money? When I pick up the controller is V suddenly not going to have a cent to their name even if they have a Corpo background? If so, I'm hoping the story will make sense of that somehow. I really don't want it to be 'well, you gotta start with nothing so you can level up and feel super rich by the end of the game like you've accomplished something!'

What do you guys think V should start with depending on their background? Also, thoughts about how money should be handled within the game? I also found myself pondering why Geralt would be so insanely rich by the end of the game when essentially, he has done nothing different since before I started playing the game.
 
I think @Rengi_01 has the right idea. The background is how V grew up, but however that was, at the beginning of the game they're still a mercenary running small jobs with a friend. Maybe there'll be a starting bonus depending in background (similar to racial bonuses in fantasy RPGs) and the corpo will have more cash, but I suppose that depends on how supportive V's corpo parents were of his decision to move to Night City and become a merc and/or how much V stole before he left.

In defense of The Wicther 3, witchers are apparently quite poorly paid or stiffed on their payment entirely. They also need to spend a lot on equipment, like the silver sword. Unlike in the game, Geralt and other witchers probably aren't wiping out bandit camps, raiding eleven ruins, looting everything they see then carrying 50 swords into town to sell.
 
Good, bad, or indifferent, it's pretty much the default start games poor and badly equipped. Then over the course of the game you acquire money and gear.

If you started with everything you want what feeling of accomplishment would you get when you find/buy something new?
 
For Geralt you have to remember there's a war going on so the villagers are poor and potions ingredients are expensive . Plus what ever money he makes is split between two people .

As for V he / she is an up and coming Solo or what ever you pick to play as so they shouldn`t have a lot of money , even the Corpo is an ex Corpo .

How much money should V start with depends on how much things cost , maybe you could start with enough money to buy the lowest level equipment :shrug:
 

G30M1

Forum regular
If you started with everything you want what feeling of accomplishment would you get when you find/buy something new?

Not start out with everything. Just something. And if V does start with nothing, I would hope the story and missions V does makes sense as to why V is suddenly rolling in money. Rather than with TW3, like someone mentioned above, game Geralt is allowed to just make tons of money, even though in actuality, it isn't what would be happening.
It feels... well, game-y, if your character is doing the same type of side quests that they would be doing before you pick up the controller, but go from 0 to millions of dollars because you are now playing.

Also, I think it would be cool if you weren't in control of your money as much as you think you'd be. I dunno, I could see V getting into situations where someone steals their money. Or they're forced to pay a huge chunk of money that they weren't expecting to pay to get out of a situation.

However, I do feel a lot of gamers may have issues with their greed. "It's MY money. The game just can't take it away." Even if it were to make the story and your gameplay more interesting...
As much as people want an original game, people are still very stuck on how games are supposed to be.
 
I wouldn`t mind if i chose to give some money away but i wouldn`t like to have heaps taken .


I can`t remember the name of the quest but it was in White Orchard . When i went back to claim my reward i told the Father to keep his money .
 
Well. In original Cyberpunk 2020 pnp, players usually starts with quite a hefty sum of eurobucks, which they use to cyberup their characters. It was dependent on a role of teh character. A Corporate, A Solo or A Netrunner could start with up to 30k (as memory serves) while suckers like Nomad started with way under 10k. Seriously, who would play a Nomad? A solo without all the cool solo stuff ;) Maybe in 77 it would be similar. A corp background would give more money than a street kid and either of them more than a poor nomad soul.
 
0 money, doing shit jobs, taking opportunities when possible, making a little money here and there, hard work and then maybe buy a tent or an appartement if the money is right. Buy weapons, vehicles, body parts, etc...

This game is dystopic, people struggle to make enough money, V should also. That way the feeling of accomplishment gives you alot of satisfaction.
 
0 money, doing shit jobs, taking opportunities when possible, making a little money here and there, hard work and then maybe buy a tent or an appartement if the money is right. Buy weapons, vehicles, body parts, etc...

This game is dystopic, people struggle to make enough money, V should also. That way the feeling of accomplishment gives you alot of satisfaction.
V seems to start with a decent apartment and perks.
 
V will be relatively well off compared to many in Night City who probably (seen from the lower end) can be lucky if they can call a little box or shed, aka a fixed location, their home somewhere. We see aspects of this in the first gameplay demo where V was ambushed by the people who abducted the girl that was rescued and handed over to TT. After the ride in the car and the brief shootout on the street V stops the car in what seems to be a run down area near bridges where the cinematic view towards the inner city briefly starts - shortly before meeting Meredith Stout, the corpo agent.

On the road there we basically see what might be a bum or homeless person and makeshift shelters along the road.

If you compare what V will get or have with that, you'll be considered well off. And you can assume that building a reputation and being involved in something major mean V might not be truly considered rich, but not completely broke or poor either. Maybe sometimes you are really low on eddies but I look at wealth or opportunity in a wider sense. Your social network or currency is often just as relevant as your bank account, if not sometimes more worth.

How V might start seems relatively open to me, and a bit dependent on background. But you surely won't be 'poor' later on.
 
Cyberware, weaponry, and tools are not cheap. So 'V' is relatively well-off to start with, by no means wealthy, but certainly comfortable.
 
Maybe V's starting apartment will be different depending on what type of backstory you pick? Also maybe V has passive traits based on her backstory. Like increased eddie drop rate or shop discount to balance these out.
 
Well if they kept the optic scanner/sub-dermal grip upgrade scene in the final game and explain the relationship between Victor and V as to why Victor just gives this to V for 'free' (or does he?), then this is perhaps a clever way to scoot around the whole starting with 10-30k eddies for cyberware, no?

Then I assume the writers will have a clever way of explaining how/when V gets that apartment, too.

I found the challenge and the roleplay/ 'muh imershun' aspect somewhat diminished when DLCs gave me all this decent gear to start off with in Fallout NV.

I like starting off in the trash in RPGs, then looting/stealing everything to get mega rich real fast. It hits my satisfactions levels to over 9000 compared to shooting NPCs in the face. But I do realise, I'm in the severe minority when it comes to this gameplay style aspect...

So for me: E$10 in my CyberPocket™, Entropic or 'ripped' neo-militaristic clothing, either the 'Gum Wrapper with chewed gum inside' (grey junk item) worth E$1 or 'Used Condom with ...' (grey junk item) worth E$1 random spawn [I totally made these up for the lols], the Federated Arms "Vindicator" and a handful of mags for it.
 
I like starting off in the trash in RPGs, then looting/stealing everything to get mega rich real fast. It hits my satisfactions levels to over 9000 compared to shooting NPCs in the face. But I do realise, I'm in the severe minority when it comes to this gameplay style aspect...

You're not quite alone there. Well, maybe if boiled down to the exact detail. But what I mean with not being alone is that people usually want to see a sort of challenge or progression and it should even be a trope or design called "from rags to riches" (this was likely quoted here on the forums already a few times in the past).

There's just something more impactful to starting as underdog and working your way up, whether in terms of finance or reputation, social standing, etc. It just feels 'rewarding' in the quite literal sense and figuratively opposed to starting with everything or from a good position - and keeping it.

There can be more to it, too. Could play into real psychological factors because some people can surely also relate to that in their own life - I somewhat can, at least.

Now for me in the end it won't matter what exact amount of social standing or wealth you start off with - as long as it's relatively low(er) in relation to where you end up. My point being, you don't literally have to start off as "piss poor" especially with a corpo background. But do not get me wrong. I assume (ex-)corpo background translates to V having been in a job in the lower or medium spheres if the corporate world. From a classic administrative job like a desk clerk to maybe an enforcer type of job, strike team maybe, or something like Meredith with a certain responsibility (and risk). If it's not particularly specified in the game, anyone picking that background can make it up on their own.

But the point is, it couldn't have been too high or else it would make less sense (or had to have the right twist) why V would try to start anew in Night City doing odd jobs for or with fixers when they previously owned a lot elsewhere and had reach.

Long story short I think the devs or creative directors or whoever else may be responsible for the design choices we discuss here will have it figured out and can present us something we can all work with well and something that fits into the narrative of the story.
 
Maybe V's starting apartment will be different depending on what type of backstory you pick? Also maybe V has passive traits based on her backstory. Like increased eddie drop rate or shop discount to balance these out.
Depending on your lifepath, the looks of the apartment will be different. It won't be whole different apartment. And it will also change in some ways throughout the game. Don't know if we'll be paying for those changes or not.
 
It might be cool if each background gave you a unique weapon(s)...maybe a sniper rifle for a Nomad, twin "uzi's" for Street Kid, and an assault rifle for a Corpo. There's little I know about these backgrounds but I think stealth, intimidation, and tech, respectively. As far as actual money I just don't want to start at 0...a small amount to allow us to make a few choices on gear or modifications...the same way you have a couple skill points to spend on abilities when you start the game.
 
As far as actual money I just don't want to start at 0...a small amount to allow us to make a few choices on gear or modifications...the same way you have a couple skill points to spend on abilities when you start the game.
Agree here. I don't expect the game to feature three massively different starting points or conditions for the backgrounds, but I think something should make you feel the difference right off the bat, not just in dialogues. I wonder if there's any contacts or characters we may have unlocked from the start depending on V's background.

I think that nomad should have the least amount of money, something that keeps your from hand to mouth so to speak street kid is slightly more wealthy, but still poor enough to explain the ambitions to the big leagues and such. Corpro is tough, though, it shouldn't give you too much, but that still should give you some degree of power and freedom in the low beginning of the game (maybe some stashes or strings from the previous, corpo life V had).
 
If the game is even remotely realist about money, then V should have a least about 20% of every money the people V kills did spend on they weapons.
 
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