I have to commend CDPR for the Voodoo Boys

[Mwatuangi]

Have you ever read Count Zero?

I'm familiar with it, yeah. I found some of its ideas interesting from a sci-fi perspective although there were a few other elements it missed the mark in and I think needed improvement, but I'd have to read it again apart from a few things that stuck out. I've noticed a couple other books by authors have tried to incorporate Lwas, etc., as artificial intelligences in their work before. It almost seems - according to a shard I read in this one - that Cyberpunk was trying to allude to a similar concept vaguely.

 

[Axreal]

I have to admit, butchering the VooDoo boys was even more satisfying than massacring Arasaka towers employees.

Every time Placide started speaking all I heard was this little voice going "kill me, kill me, kill me, kill me". Anyone else hear it too?

 

[Willowhugger]

Oddly, the Voodoo Boys remind me a lot of Iraq and his crew from WATCH_DOGS. Iraq is sort of a mini-Eric Killmonger in the fact that he's aware that everyone sees him as nothing more than a gangbanger and thug so he doesn't bother to present himself as anything else despite being an incredibly skilled former Army Intelligence officer running a private army inside of the Chicago projects. Iraq is a genuinely terrible fucking person and involved in the South Club's human trafficking and murder for hire but he's a genius and a character that comments on the fact the Chicago PD utterly miss how dangerous he is because they're racist as fuck (RAF).

The Voodoo Boys are a very interesting rebuttal to a lot of stereotypes in Night City because they're called that by outsiders according to Placide but not by themselves. Which means, RAF gangsters see a bunch of Haitians and basically called them after a white gang in the city. They're by FAR the most advanced gang in the city, have their own supply lines rather than the ones the rest of the gangs use, easily tear through the firewalls of Clouds, and are not even concerned with "street crime." No, they outright RULE Pacifica as a feudal domain and are planning to side with the Machines in the upcoming Singularity War.

But people can't see the fact they're an army of super-genius hackers because they're Haitian refugees. Is it a bridge too far that Brigid confirms they're not even religious? Maybe. However, they use a church as a cover because they're dangerous high tech criminals using the RAF Night City's assumptions against them.

There's something else there, though, too. The Voodoo Boys aren't an uplifting positive discrimination story. You know where the white savior V (assuming they're white) comes in and helps them and they all become friends. No, the Voodoo Boys are evil as fuck. They are not you friends, they have no interest in being your friends, and think of you as disposable street trash. They're not any more evil than any other gang in Night City but they're just a nasty bunch of people and that makes them more interesting, IMHO.

When I killed them, it was basically because they killed Evelyn and dismissed her as a whore. Which was all the more powerful because of the empire they'd built.

 

[PoppyRunner]

Have you ever read Count Zero?

Also, to expect that any religion in this setting has not been highly cannibalized and stylized to be fed back to the masses is unreasonable, in my opinion.
There is even a questline in the game where you...

Spoiler

nail a fucker to the cross because he want to share his salvation with the world.

You are missing the point completely the problem with factions in this game is that you never truly interact with them Vodoo boys use you and try to kill you you never actually become a voodoo boy its either help them or help Netwatch the game is treating you as an outsider not matter where you go
Animals : not matter what if you dont kill Sasquatch nothing happens you never get to meet her you never get to interact with them
Maelstrom: save dont/ save Royce not matter what doesnt bring you anything good
Militech: Help dont help Meredith doesnt matter
I can go on an on you are grabbing an unreasonable points
If you are so stuck with religion why not throw shades at Vahlalla? the game literally throws arrows at any religion in game

 

[vindelanos]

You are missing the point completely the problem with factions in this game is that you never truly interact with them Vodoo boys use you and try to kill you you never actually become a voodoo boy its either help them or help Netwatch the game is treating you as an outsider not matter where you go
Animals : not matter what if you dont kill Sasquatch nothing happens you never get to meet her you never get to interact with them
Maelstrom: save dont/ save Royce not matter what doesnt bring you anything good
Militech: Help dont help Meredith doesnt matter
I can go on an on you are grabbing an unreasonable points
If you are so stuck with religion why not throw shades at Vahlalla? the game literally throws arrows at any religion in game

Huh? None of this has anything to do with the topic at hand.

 

[Charline_Keith]

I found they did really good at making you want to learn about this group, BUT also realize real quick V is not welcomed. Not just by the Voodoo boys, but also the community. The only positive interaction is the interaction at the roller coaster and that's because V was able to fix it which is something they couldn't do. Other than that? V is told multiple times, "You don't belong here."

I'm also extremely mixed on feelings of a life path of someone from the Voodoo boys area. A part of me would LOVE a DLC to learn more about the culture, people, etc because clearly they are not evil people towards each other (You see this when you're being shown around) -but- I also would hate for the mystery of the Voodoo boys to be ruined.

 

[vindelanos]

but... I also would hate for the mystery of the Voodoo boys to be ruined.

This. The best horror is horror that is left to the imagination.

 

[Mwatuangi]

Have you ever read Count Zero?

Also, to expect that any religion in this setting has not been highly cannibalized and stylized to be fed back to the masses is unreasonable, in my opinion.
There is even a questline in the game where you...

Spoiler

nail a fucker to the cross because he want to share his salvation with the world.

You continue to miss the point of my critique. You don't have to portray the VDBs as saints to get basic aspects of the tradition correct and not perpetuate silly stereotypes of human sacrifice, and this goes beyond the gang because they are not the only ones in the community who are depicted. Once again, there are scenes where you're supposed to take the community authentically that are incredibly wrong and lazily-done. Not even vèvès are drawn correctly and are literally random. Do you know the one shown during the BD and at the funeral is literally one meant to represent the Lwa Manman Brigitte/Brijit, who the central leader is named after (it's specifically of Gran Brijit, as each Lwa is a family of spirits) but as I said it's altered with a large skull superimposed on it. Even one of the Lwas I serve - Ézili/Erzulie - is depicted as some kind of mummy and called a saint in one mural.

Not to mention in the example you provided, basic aspects of Christianity were contextualized correctly as it pertained to the beliefs of the person in that quest. The same easily could've happened with the Cyberpsycho I mentioned, but they once again were too lazy to do that.

The VDBs let alone the community itself aren't practitioners anymore, according to Placide and literally the character Manman herself. They "left their gods" in Ayiti(Haiti). Outsiders are supposed to be the reason the moniker and stereotypes are applied to them - and this is reflected in the commentary outsiders have written about them in shards - and yet how some of them are depicted contradicts this. Even Pondsmith literally praised CDPR initially back when he wrote his reddit post in response to the controversy people raised for "reclaiming" them. Yet they aren't reclaiming anything in the end result and it's not unreasonable to hold them accountable for failing to be consistent.

 

[flippimonkey]

Idk, I found them to be one dimensional and very stereotypical. TBH, there isn't much to them. Their story points are very short, and they are ultimately discarded once it's all completed.

Kinda disappointed in how they were handled.