New Ending (SPOILER ALERT)

[LeKill3rFou]

Are they your loved ones though? You did a few jobs for the Aldecaldo's, enough to get you invited to their pack. You've just started a relationship with one of them, so fresh you only slept together once. That's enough to burden 6 months of care and the possible release of a terrorist psychopath onto them? Hmm..

It depend of players obviously... But for me, Panam became my best friend (as Jackie was). She ready to risk her live to try to save mine. So yeah, she really care about V and V really care about her. Mitch is also become a close friend

Beside, Johnny's gone at this point... Only V remains in the body in the Star ending (Johnny "follow" Alt behind the black wall). So yes V will die, but V won't become someone else
(the only ending in which Johnny is not gone or deleted is the temperance ending. In every others, he's no longer here).

Edit : Beside, during the ending, when Saul give you the Aldecaldos jacket, V became officially an Aldecaldos which mean that it's now V's familly (for life and death).

 

[aladinf]

I wonder how hard a run would be without "combat" cyberware (guessing stuff like subdermal armor or some skeleton stuff would still be possible), so that V is still badass in the PL ending.

 

[BigWezz69]

Ok, so let's imagine. I say "imagine" because obviously, I wish the best for you and wish such things which never happen to you, but let's imagine :
You learn that you are very sick, that you will slowly die until 6 months and there is no cure. Sad and inevitable...

So now, what would you think your loved ones would prefer ?
(dade, mom, wife, husband, brother, sister, kids, friends, whatever,...)
> You running away from them to not burden them?
> You staying with them, so they can take good care of you and enjoy the last moments with you, until the inevitable, you passing away?

For me and I bet, for most people, it would be the second option

If you didn't watch it, there is a good movie (for me) about that, a life in a year.

And then you get Phantom Liberty where you get cured and they bail on you

 

[warlock75]

Beside, Johnny's gone at this point... Only V remains in the body in the Star ending (Johnny "follow" Alt behind the black wall). So yes V will die, but V won't become someone else

Yeah, been a while since I played the original endings, I forgot that Johnny and V are split. To be fair, in that regard, riding off into the sunset until your life finally ends doesn't sound all bad, though I think after all the chaos, it would be better to have a quiet life than be destined to die in 6 months. Heroic maybe. Realistic? I think I'd take the quiet life every day of the week if I got to live another 50+ years. A lot can happen in that time, technology can improve and repair the issue of not being able to have cyberware. Or just creating a whole new life with new people.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

And then you get Phantom Liberty where you get cured and they bail on you

Not then, "before"...
So as long as you don't call Panam on the roof, you're not an Aldecaldos, V already said to Panam that it's not possible to join the family yet and so, without news from V, they leave Night City as planned.

Realistic? I think I'd take the quiet life every day of the week if I got to live another 50+ years. A lot can happen in that time, technology can improve and repair the issue of not being able to have cyberware. Or just creating a whole new life with new people.

That's pretty what V answer to Misty (if players select the dialogue option).
V say to Misty she is right. She will do what she do best, starting over again and maybe avoiding to make the same mistakes again (i.e trying to fly too close of the sun and get burned).

 

[BigWezz69]

Not then, "before"...
So as long as you don't call Panam on the roof, you're not an Aldecaldos, V already said to Panam that it's not possible to join the family yet and so, without news from V, they leave Night City as planned.

The point being; the so called "family" dips and Panam isn't happy either ..

"Wow, no worries, its not like I helped you guys out and I've just recovered from a terminal illness.. cool I guess" V

 

[ChiliDragon]

The point being; the so called "family" dips and Panam isn't happy either ..

"Wow, no worries, its not like I helped you guys out and I've just recovered from a terminal illness.. cool I guess" V

"Helped" is probably to mild of a statement for what V did for the Aldecados.

They still exist period because of V. Without the help that V gave them, they'd have been wiped off the face of the planet. He/she saved all of their lives. But I guess being in a coma isn't a good enough excuse to set aside being out of touch for two years.

When people complain about the writing of the new ending this is ONE example. It's bad writing because the ending completely distorts how the characters of the Aldecados have been written up until that point. Panam in particular, you could totally understand being hugely angry...until she finds out you've been in a coma!

That you can leave that as a message and she still never wants to talk with you ever again, despite everything you've done for "the family", is just completely contrary to the established character every other time she's been written. That is bad writing. Period.

 

[AlienSpaceBats]

"Helped" is probably to mild of a statement for what V did for the Aldecados.

They still exist period because of V. Without the help that V gave them, they'd have been wiped off the face of the planet. He/she saved all of their lives. But I guess being in a coma isn't a good enough excuse to set aside being out of touch for two years.

Some dialogue examples;

Saul: "If you need help, the Aldecaldos are here for you."

Panam: "You'll find a way. And once you do, let me know. I will help. This whole family will help. Saul was not joking. You understand?"

Saul "It's a simple matter. We - all of us standing here - owe you, and it's a great debt."

Saul "You've been a de facto member of this family for a while now. You saved my rumpus, and as Bobby tells it, Mitch's too. I won't even mention Panam."

Hey, Panam. I found a way! Oh, you've blocked me. OK.

 

[ChiliDragon]

Some dialogue examples;

Saul: "If you need help, the Aldecaldos are here for you."

Panam: "You'll find a way. And once you do, let me know. I will help. This whole family will help. Saul was not joking. You understand?"

Saul "It's a simple matter. We - all of us standing here - owe you, and it's a great debt."

Saul "You've been a de facto member of this family for a while now. You saved my rumpus, and as Bobby tells it, Mitch's too. I won't even mention Panam."

Hey, Panam. I found a way! Oh, you've blocked me. OK.

Panam in base game: "You want me to sacrifice my clan in a raid on Arasaka because you think it will save you? Sure, we're family and we got your back always. We won't leave you hanging after everything you have done for us."

Panam in PL: "You were in a coma for 2 years? FUCK YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT. NEVER CONTACT ME OR MY CLAN EVER AGAIN!"

 

[vvk]

We can see the apparent contradiction between what you expect from Panam based on your relationships with her and the way she suddenly decides not to even talk with you.
My guess is that the writers were trying to get a different ending compared to the base game one with Panam. Because otherwise the new ending would have been just V + Panam together but V is healed and not facing just 6 months to live.
A better alternative would have been to mix stories from Phantom Liberty with the base game. For example , V could be cured but he needs to storm Arasaka tower for a vital component so as a reward for doing both PL + Arasaka ending V is cured , gets rid of Johnny and is together with Panam. If he decides to just do the operation without storming Arasaka he is healed but loses ability to use implants.
If V storms alone Arasaka as a reward none of his friends dies, he is healed , gets the money and the girl ( Panam).
Only reason we are not seeing some mixing of the endings is CDPR decided not to make changes in the base game.

 

[BigWezz69]

Some dialogue examples;

Saul: "If you need help, the Aldecaldos are here for you."

Panam: "You'll find a way. And once you do, let me know. I will help. This whole family will help. Saul was not joking. You understand?"

Saul "It's a simple matter. We - all of us standing here - owe you, and it's a great debt."

Saul "You've been a de facto member of this family for a while now. You saved my rumpus, and as Bobby tells it, Mitch's too. I won't even mention Panam."

Hey, Panam. I found a way! Oh, you've blocked me. OK.

Exactly.

Its just another symptom of sloppy writing overall, and I have no idea how people cannot see that.

 

[Orikon25]

Let's not forget that Panam acts this way regardless if you romanced her or not. Which makes zero sense.

The entirety of the new ending screams low-budget and like it was scrapped together in the last 10 minutes with no direction.

 

[vvk]

As I was arguing in a post above CDPR had the issue of going with the best in terms of logic decision i.e. the events in PL and V's decisions should affect the base game OR to make PL entirely separate game that nominally has the same protagonist but de facto is a separate story.

They choose the second option at the expense of breaking logic probably because they didn't want to spend money for changing the base game.

Better option would have been to link the outcome of PL with the endings of the base game as then V and the player would have been rewarded for all of his or hers efforts in PL.

The way PL ends now all is in vain.

 

[vyvexthorne]

My main problem with the new ending is that they completely seem to have forgotten V's motivation. V was only a "merc" because of their situation. They did not aspire to be one.. Jackie's Dream was to be a legend. However, by the end of the game the story has done it's best to try to convince you that Jackie's dream was V's dream all along. V doesn't even start out with any combat cyberware so losing it after only having it for a few months shouldn't have been that big of a deal and wanting to go back to Night City to try to re-establish themselves as "merc" instead of accepting a sweet gig working for the FIB is completely silly.

 

[RedStigg]

Yeah, I'm a Panam fan and the ending doesn't make much sense compared to what we know about her and her relationship with V. I watched again all the interactions from beginning to the end with her again and yeah. It doesn't look like her, the same for the Aldecaldos. It's just pure bullshit, and I state this as a guy who greatly enjoyed the DLC. My immersion was broken at this particular moment however. It's kinda bad that the DLC had to finish that way. I didn't particularly need a perfect happy ending, though.

But It feels like CDPR was so obsessed with balancing the tone of the ending, compared to the other ones, giving a particular narrative ( V MUST BE ALONE AT ALL COST ) that they made it this way just for the sake of it, even if they probably knew the thing with Panam would feel a little contrived.

 

[Hiei-YYH]

i can't believe i've played the whole dlc just to get a NEW shit ending... i tought V could finally be free and alive and happy but guess what? waste of time, not dying has the price of loosing everything and the worst part to me is just Judy/Panam SHIT conclusion if you romanced them (Judy i accepted, she suffered enough and didn't knew anything) but PANAM? jesus, you tell her that you were in coma and what you get? "don't call her again" from Mitch, for ALL you did for the Aldecaldos that's what you deserves.... who wrote that ending? ffs

 

[warlock75]

... and the worst part to me is just Judy/Panam SHIT conclusion if you romanced them (Judy i accepted, she suffered enough and didn't knew anything) but PANAM? jesus, you tell her that you were in coma and what you get? "don't call her again" from Mitch, for ALL you did for the Aldecaldos that's what you deserves.... who wrote that ending? ffs

I've mentioned it in another thread but Panam is a me me me narcissist, absolutely terrible person, so the way she is in the ending made sense to me. You didn't put her thoughts and feelings before everything else so you can rot. Typical narcissist.

 

[AlienSpaceBats]

but PANAM? jesus, you tell her that you were in coma and what you get? "don't call her again" from Mitch, for ALL you did for the Aldecaldos that's what you deserves.... who wrote that ending? ffs

It's either hamfisted or bad writing (are these mutually exclusive?) as though whoever wrote this was unaware of the dozens of times an Aldecaldo said they're indebted to V and that they'd do anything for them. Not just Panam, but the rest of the family too.
Another example (I posted a few more elsewhere): when you pull Cassidy, Carol and Teddy out of a sticky situation in Gun Music Cassidy says "Neither do we [abandon friends in need]. Remember that when the time comes."
So all of these are platitudes that got pushed off the table because Panam had a hissy fit?

It's just terrible, it wrecks characters and does irreparable damage to the base game unless you consider the outcome of The Tower to be nothing more than a what if? scenario.

 

[AikoHayashi]

Well, I love PL with the main story and all side quests. But the new ending is another ending that overwrites all choices the players have made. I always finish Panam's quest line, we exchange messages even about Dogtown, but in the end, that doesn't matter, and V can't find a few minutes to call Panam before the surgery. It is very weird.

 

[vvk]

I remember you are allowed to message Panam saying something like "they are taking me" so it is pretty clear to Panam that V is under duress. It is also clear that CDPR wanted to make an ending that is distinct ( different from all other endings). They didn't know how to do it logically ( except maybe by killing Panam off screen but that would have infuriated the fans even more).