Out of all the endings in the game, the nomad ending is the only one where I don't end up feeling like complete crap afterwards...but that one is just beyond terrible. It ranks along with "the mist" for one of the worst possible ways to end a story of all time.
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They could have done that without ostracizing V from everyone in their life. Any first-year writer would know this unless the goal was to make the player as miserable as possible.
Well, we don't know what they did with Johnny. All we know is that he's no longer in our head. For all we know, NUSA has him stored somewhere. I think in this new ending, they neutered V on purpose.
in game they say that they will wipe out Johnny and he even says that you're doing this in exchange for his life... i don't recall they saying that they will backup or whatever as the ending there's even an option that V says that they killed him for nothing... and seeing that all your friends kicked your ass, yes IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING... yeah, V will live now as a normal human (also called NPC) but loosing all including your friends, lover and also Johnny, was worth it? Aldecaldos ending is still the best, even if you know that V will probably die, it still gives you HOPE that maybe you can find another way to cure V... i really tought the DLC was going to be based on that ending but guess what? no, there's no happy ending for V if you win something you loose everything else, what a piece of shit.
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i guess we finally see the difference between Judy and Panam here, i'm sure if Judy didn't married she would be back to V while Panam just gave you a "burn in hell, fuck off you piece of shit". The way also Judy acts with your death (the suicide ending) just shows that she really cared about you while Panam again, gives you a shitstorm...
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I will never forgive CDPR for the new ending, to be honest. It is not only extremely poorly written, but also very poorly and lazily executed.
Unless they fix it, it will forever taint what is otherwise a near-perfect game. I really wish fans raised more of a ruckus over it.
Unless they fix it, it will forever taint what is otherwise a near-perfect game. I really wish fans raised more of a ruckus over it.
I've spent a couple of weeks now digesting The Tower ending and letting it bother me a bit. I completely agree that it's disappointing, poorly done, and that there was scope for at least one finale that try to force po-faced woe.
But after exploring all choices that can lead V to that point, I don't think I'd ever choose that for them - I appreciate that Phantom Liberty challenged V's personal morality here, but sending So Mi to the moon is the only outcome where I don't feel like a complete piece of crap.
Maybe what awaits her there is worse than what the FIA has in store for her, but betraying her and accepting that cure feels like [my] V betraying themselves as well.
But after exploring all choices that can lead V to that point, I don't think I'd ever choose that for them - I appreciate that Phantom Liberty challenged V's personal morality here, but sending So Mi to the moon is the only outcome where I don't feel like a complete piece of crap.
Maybe what awaits her there is worse than what the FIA has in store for her, but betraying her and accepting that cure feels like [my] V betraying themselves as well.
They could have done it better. Kicking us in the teeth over and over for daring to want V cured was unnecessarily cruel. But they're not gonna 'fix it' and to demand that is kinda childish. I mean, I'm just glad they threw Kerry-romancers like myself a bone in that ending. They didn't have to, but they at least did that.
This right here is one of the problems I also had with the base game. I only do the nomad ending because the rest of them feel terrible. If the cyberpunk universe is all about making you feel miserable regardless of your choices or their efforts to get you attached to the world/characters, I have a LOT less interest in any sequel.
This is one of those general narrative trends I started to noticed a lot more several years ago, around the time Game of Thrones became a thing. It's like there's a sizable chunk of the population obsessed with misery ****.
It's an RPG so it entirely depends on how your character views the world and their end goal. If all your characters have an aversion to it, then that's on you, not the character.
Personally, I find the new ending to be a good one, regardless. The whole goal is to find a cure so you don't die. This ending does that. It does kill a few relationships made along the way, but so what? V is, what? Mid twenties? There's now a whole future to look forward to with new relationships to be made. No cyberware, but as was asked at the start.. quiet life, or blaze of glory? If the quiet life means survival, is that so bad?
Not childish at all. Back in 2012 when Bioware released a crappy ending for Mass Effect 3, fan outcry led to the release of the Extended Cut, which remedied the situation.
Just recently, fan outcry over Diablo 4 let to Blizzard rapidly implementing changes and now the community perspective is far more positive.
If you don't like something, let the developers know. Don't take the path of cope.
People want an ending where V lives. This is it, and it sucks.
Guess people want an ending where they raid the Crystal Palace. In fact, you are looking at one of them. Give us that satisfaction, you CDPR **s! ^^
Guess people want an ending where they raid the Crystal Palace. In fact, you are looking at one of them. Give us that satisfaction, you CDPR **s! ^^
If we are lucky, maybe we get to do that in the first Act of the sequel if one chose The Sun ending. Would love to do that with my Nomad boy.
I'm fine with it sucking, if it's executed properly.
The drama and "sadness" in The Tower feels really forced and heavy-handed. Not to mention the whole ending is very low-effort compared to the others.
An ending where V lives and takes up with his love interest and lives happily ever after. Not everyone wants that corny old ending but old romantics like me do. Of all those endings they could have given us one. I know its the Cyberpunk genre and it's suppose be bitter sweet, but its also a main stream game where a huge part of the audience loves a corny romantic ending. I love the expansion but when it comes to the new ending for the main game, CDPR you suck!
Finally, somebody is apprecating "The Sun" ending. The only thing which they should have added, that you could decide if you want to run the Afterlife or leave with the nomads. But all in all the best ending.
You are in the wrong city to expect a happy ending, but I think they should have created a "Happy Ending". Not where V gets old lives happy with Panam, but one where V stays true to himself (I play mostly male V, if it offends you, get offended). " Just want the world to know, I was here and I mattered". My fault was, that I was expecting something in this direction and not some political/spy BS. I would have understood if they casted Gerard Butler for Reed. He has more experience to play a role as a dog (I was already fed up with Takemura), but selfnamed Black Superman gave me other expectations about the addon and I was hyped for nothing. But it was my fault, I didn't want to get spoilered with any trailers.
Later on I saw a Video about the best ending of PL. It's funny you just have to walk away and ignore So Mi, Myers dies, but you miss out on some interesting quests. And even though So Mi threatens you, you can't confront her or anybody else. You don't even get to meet Hands.
PL has some parts I don't get...Panam's reaction is pretty dumb, same reaction for male and female V. And of course there are some who believe she died, but why did Mitch contact V? How did he found out, that you contacted Panam and still are alive?
Aguilar...at first I liked the quest, but if you play it again with another gender it kinda gets weird. Hands knows what he/she/it wears, the way he/she/it talks and the weapon he/she/it uses. But weird enough Aguilar is whatever you decide on if you create your V. Alex was able to impersonate either of the twins, but it doesn't work with Aguilar.
In some quests you lose or don't earn eddies if you do the quest. For example the grimoire quest of Nix, you get less than what you pay the seller and in Ozob's box fight you earn nothing, if you bet 50k, you get 50k back and same with 100k. It got useless and there are probably other quests. But what I like you pay more than a few hundred Eddies for your old nomad car. It kinda got realistic.
Yeah, in theory it is easy to create a story which gets you hyped for the sequel, but I don't get the feeling CDPR is interested in it.
I mean, they had so many possibilities with Edgerunners. It could explain, why Smasher is a joke in 2077 and the lapdog of Yori, but instead we got some forced piece of dog sh1t. First he talks some BS and in the next moment he is on David's back and ripping up the exoskeleton.
Or the statement of Smasher where he says that Davids weakpoint is the exoskeleton. David just handled MaxTac, but obviosly the cyberware, which Arasaka forged for Adam Smasher is the weapoint. V would be god if he would be able to get the exoskeleton. And Rachel died, because of a stupid pun "smashed by Smasher". They could have used some charakters of Edgerunners in the Addon and not just Davids Jacket and Guts.
Build up a story for the sequel where you don't need actors like Keanu Reeves to promote your game. That should have been the target and not a short lifed story which leads to nothing. With some changes here and there they could have created a Seed of Rebelion in NC and a Legacy for the sequel where you play either one of the children/ addoptive child of Jacky(I know it sounds dumb, but I liked the twist in Edgerunners where friends turned on one another), V or David.
Jackies child isn't with Misty, but with his Ex. He kills Misty and Vic at V's funeral.
And the Seed of Rebelion was created when V wrecked NC in his last 6 month of life. Cleaning NC of all Gangs and visiting the big Corps(but not NightCorp) after another.(Each Corporation has somebody like Smasher and if you invade Militech you can kill Morgan Blackhand) But not just to kill the people there, but although to search for files where their misconducts are listed and send the data to Lucy who will in return hack N54 News and publish all the Data. This will obviosly create a big havoc and everybody will know that V was behind it.
But V was already dead, found by Panam. He looked different because of the cell breakdown.
I know this ending would be way to weird for NC, more like a real Happy Ending if it ends there. We need some bloodshed. Game of Thrones did it on a weeding. Cyberpunk does it on a funeral. Jacky obviosly survives and kills Misty(his original target because he found out, that she is at fault, that V did the Heist alone while he was sleeping in the Delamain taxy), Vik and many more. He joined Arasaka later on, marries his Ex like his mother wanted and gets a child. His wife leaves him and his child later on for some higheranked dude in Arasaka. He starts to drink and at some point does suicide, because he regrets what he did. The child is around 11 years old and starts to live on the street, because the mother isn't interested to take care of him.
Panam, Mitch and some Aldecaldos survive, but none other of the veterans. They fled out of NC and moved around while beeing harrassed by Wraiths and Corps. At some age V's child and other kids were even abducted, until the adults arrived some children died and most of the wraiths as well. The point where V's child changed from some docile kid(he was mobed by the other kids, because what happened at the funeral of his father. But nobody touched him because of Panam. He was a lone wolf and trained most of the day his body and knive throwing) to a psychopath maybe. I mean, the way I played V, he was a psychopath as well. At some point the Aldecaldo camp gets attacked where all but V's child die and Junior finds out who sent them. Everything leads to NightCorp in NC. ( I just made them out as the big villian)
Yeah, well the same happens more or less to David's child as well, who had a happy life until he came home and Lucy and Falco were dead, while Rachel was wounded while protecting her child. Obviosly with one of the best Netrunners as his mom, his Uncle with good driving skills and his Aunt Rachel who handles Big Guns like a Pistol. They trained him. He kills the two guys who were still alive and takes care of Rachel and the child until she got better.
Both don't move right away, but funny enough they arrive in NC in 2099 and have different targets. I think it should be possible, that if you decide on a charakter, that you first of all play some time of their childhood and don't start with the same skills. I mean, it doesn't matter if you start as nomad or streetkid in 2077. You just have different talk choices and your starting point is different. That's it.
The skills, the kids learned in their childhood should be part of their charakter in 2099. And that you meet the other two in NC, you can become friends or enemies, depending on your choices.
Well, I would have loved to play something like this for the Addon and in a few years with the sequel, but that will never happen. I think it isn't dark enough. Since I never read the lore, I don't have any comparisons.
Yup, I think sending her up was the right thing too
Personally I decided that V had placed her faith in the tarot cards, which would mean that sending Songbird to the Moon would potentially mean getting her help later on. Before meeting Songbird, The King of Cups basically "tells" you who you're about to deal with:
"When fate is in their favor, compassion guides their actions. When they're at odds with fate, it'd be unwise to trust them."
So, yeah, predictably untrustworthy given the extreme circumstances they were in, but if they really do get cured, then fate will be in their favor again... so presumably she'll try to help out and atone some time later.
Of course, part of the dilemma V faces is the fact the AI neural matrix is a one-use thing - however that was really in the context of Songbird believing she was gonna die any day now, and V had, at best, maybe a week or so left. Meaning, there was really nowhere near enough time to do the same trick twice.
In any case, my V decided to take a leap of faith, "this is crazy, I can't believe I'm doing this, she fucking played me, but you know what? Fuck it, I'm going with my gut and helping her anyway. I don't know why, but I think it's the right thing to do. I can still try Mikoshi and get Alt's help anyway."
And it's worth bearing in mind that Songbird chose to confess. She didn't have to; in fact it was in her best interest NOT to tell V the truth... but she put herself at risk and did it anyway. So I guess the tarot cards aren't bullshitting - deep down she is compassionate.
And what I found interesting is how this fits in with the Star and Sun endings. While you didn't get fully cured, the 6 months don't feel quite as hopeless as before. It might actually be feasible to capture another AI and use the neural matrix again - even easier if you have Songbird's and Mr Blue Eyes' help.
Also, as much as I can't stand the new PL ending, I do appreciate that it unambiguously confirms that V can absolutely get cured. Which in turn makes the Star ending make more sense for me now... Thematically it was always going for "freedom and hope through family" or something along those lines... but since my V was still primarily concerned with getting a cure, that meant she wasn't free of her problem, and there didn't seem to be any hope at all, despite the "knowing" look she has on her face when she's sat next to Panam. It just felt inconsistent with itself. But PL provides so much more information and context that now it actually does feel realistic that she'll get cured. We know it can be done, we know there are ways of doing it, and given what V was able to do in a couple weeks, I have a lot of faith that 6 months will give her plenty of time to find a more permanent solution.
So I'm inclined to think the tarot cards are indicitive of a benevolent guiding hand trying to steer V in the right direction. That's what I choose to believe anyway. Perhaps the Zen Master is in on it too. Mr Blue Eyes - I'm not so sure. I know he's the prime suspect with the Peralezes - but maaaybe he wasn't manipulating them? Maybe he was just observing? In any case, I like the idea that maybe there are friendly rogue AI's helping V out for some reason...
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Welp, it doesn't look like it:
I'd still love to see V return in some way. I'm fine if we don't get to play as V again and that article makes it feel very unlikely that we will... But I damn well hope we at least get to cross paths with them again (depending on our CP77 save). If V the legend shows up in front of us and it's this big epic surprise, I will probably lose my shit and squeel.
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The article says nothing about whether or not V returns in the sequel, just the reasons why there was never an expansion in the works for post-game.
But I didn’t say V wouldn’t return in the sequel. V returning in some capacity, like an NPC, would be one thing; but getting to play as V, with the whole story centred around them, is another. I assumed you were talking about the latter, playing as V post ending, but what Igor Sarzyński said in that article pretty much poo-poos that idea:
“
According to CD Projekt Red narrative director Igor Sarzyński, though, the team was always firm on Cyberpunk's endings being the final word on V's story. Spoilers for 2077 and Phantom Liberty ahead.
"We did consider a couple of other scenarios," Sarzyński explained of Phantom Liberty's development in an email Q&A with PC Gamer. "But none of them were a continuation of the main game story.
"The endings are too diverse to have a single post-main story thread make sense for them all—and you don't want to pick one and invalidate other people's choices."
That difficulty accommodating Cyberpunk's varied endings makes plenty of sense on its own, but this decision goes even deeper than that, according to Sarzyński: "The endings are written as we wanted them—leaving players with an uneasy feeling, forcing them to think, not providing straight answers.
"They stick with you. No need to water them down. Sometimes less is more."
If that’s their logic, then I don’t see them selectively applying it to expansions only. So unless their attitudes on this change, I doubt Orion‘s story will orbit around V. Showing up as an NPC in a limited capacity maybe.
It’s disappointing to hear for sure - I personally think the vagueness of the Star and Sun endings just don’t work very well and basically feels a bit contrived. I mean, it sounds like they invented a rule that they had to strictly adhere to with all their endings - the danger with that is, if you have a definitive ending that organically fits the story, but happens to violate that rule, then you end up modifying that ending so that it fits the rule, but not the story. I kinda feel like that’s what’s happened with the Star, Sun and Tower endings :/
Well then. I finished the main story of Phantom Liberty and stayed with Songbird until the end. And I did this with conviction for one reason: I remember that Myers is the former CEO of Militech. All NUSA presidents strangely are former Militech CEOs. In practice, the NUSA government is the same thing as Militech. In other words: Reed and Alex, in practice, work for Militech. They are dogs trained to do what has to be done in the name of a patriotism that only exists in their heads. Wow, why kill the twins if they were already incapacitated? No. It’s Militech’s “DNA”: always kill, destroy, leave no trace. You can sympathize with them, try to understand them but don't forget: they are FIA agents..., therefore they are Militech puppets. And Songbird wants to free herself from this slavery even though she lies to you all the time. Let's be clear: there is actually no government in the Cyberpunk universe that is truly concerned with the people. Everything is literally a pile of scum.
Continuing.
When we analyze the entire game and not just the expansion, we will notice the following:
A) Arasaka has internal control of the city;
B) Militech has external control of the city, half-waiting for an opportunity to invade it.
There is a kind of Militech “siege” in relation to Night City. We have to remember that the NUSA are so “good” that they bomb Texas (listen carefully to the radio – this has been in the base game since launch in 2020).
I chose Songbird also thinking about the common good of the city. I thought: which corporation is more oppressive? Arasaka or Militech? After having finished the ending by sending Songbird to the Moon and having destroyed with pleasure those FIA bastards, doormats of a villain as filthy as Hanako (if not more so because she plays with the Black Wall) that is Myers, I watched videos of the new ending . And I really made the right choices.
Betraying Songbird and staying alongside the FIA/NUSA/Militech puppets (Reed and Alex) my character stays alive and healed in a city taken over by..., Militech! A terrible ending! This goes back to the question I asked: which corporation oppresses the most? Arasaka opts for selective assassinations, all silent. Militech is brute force, widespread killing and blatant oppression (as we can see in the mission in which I took Songbird to the rocket launch station for the Moon; FIA agents arrive killing Orbital Air staff and ordinary people – a bloodbath approved by Myers). In the new ending, listen to the radio while strolling through the “new” Night City without the presence of Arasaka: mysteriously all the homeless people have disappeared. Through the car window you can see an even darker atmosphere, in a scarlet tone (symbolizing, who knows, even more blood?), Militech in the streets beating people. Biotechnica (which is allied with Militech) is responsible for the emergence of a frightening deadly virus in Night City.
Zetatech's presence is even greater. Vik becomes a ripperdoc at Zetatech. Judy and Panam don't want anything to do with you anymore. You lose all your "friends". You are homeless, a nothing, a person completely devoid of means of defense (you are knocked down even by a simple marginal) in a city that has clearly become an autocratic place; a city even more bloodied by Militech than by Arasaka. Don't forget: who provided the bomb for Johnny to blow up the Arasaka Tower that killed thousands of innocent people? Militech.
Finally we found Misty. And she says she's leaving town. From her very rebellious look, I got the feeling that Misty will be an important character in the next Cyberpunk game. But this is mere speculation for a future game.
And to top it off…, when you are cured by the NUSA, you lose the illusion of having a single friend: Johnny Silverhand.
So, in my humble opinion, Arasaka is less oppressive than Militech although the game always fools you. The "romance" with Meredith Stout was created to give you this misleading feeling: oops, Militech is less bad than Arasaka. Obviously this doesn't make Arasaka "cool". But it is something that must be taken into consideration.
Anyway, CDPR was faithful to this dystopian universe.
There are no happy endings.
Note: Songbird on the Moon reminds me a lot of Edgerunners.
Continuing.
When we analyze the entire game and not just the expansion, we will notice the following:
A) Arasaka has internal control of the city;
B) Militech has external control of the city, half-waiting for an opportunity to invade it.
There is a kind of Militech “siege” in relation to Night City. We have to remember that the NUSA are so “good” that they bomb Texas (listen carefully to the radio – this has been in the base game since launch in 2020).
I chose Songbird also thinking about the common good of the city. I thought: which corporation is more oppressive? Arasaka or Militech? After having finished the ending by sending Songbird to the Moon and having destroyed with pleasure those FIA bastards, doormats of a villain as filthy as Hanako (if not more so because she plays with the Black Wall) that is Myers, I watched videos of the new ending . And I really made the right choices.
Betraying Songbird and staying alongside the FIA/NUSA/Militech puppets (Reed and Alex) my character stays alive and healed in a city taken over by..., Militech! A terrible ending! This goes back to the question I asked: which corporation oppresses the most? Arasaka opts for selective assassinations, all silent. Militech is brute force, widespread killing and blatant oppression (as we can see in the mission in which I took Songbird to the rocket launch station for the Moon; FIA agents arrive killing Orbital Air staff and ordinary people – a bloodbath approved by Myers). In the new ending, listen to the radio while strolling through the “new” Night City without the presence of Arasaka: mysteriously all the homeless people have disappeared. Through the car window you can see an even darker atmosphere, in a scarlet tone (symbolizing, who knows, even more blood?), Militech in the streets beating people. Biotechnica (which is allied with Militech) is responsible for the emergence of a frightening deadly virus in Night City.
Zetatech's presence is even greater. Vik becomes a ripperdoc at Zetatech. Judy and Panam don't want anything to do with you anymore. You lose all your "friends". You are homeless, a nothing, a person completely devoid of means of defense (you are knocked down even by a simple marginal) in a city that has clearly become an autocratic place; a city even more bloodied by Militech than by Arasaka. Don't forget: who provided the bomb for Johnny to blow up the Arasaka Tower that killed thousands of innocent people? Militech.
Finally we found Misty. And she says she's leaving town. From her very rebellious look, I got the feeling that Misty will be an important character in the next Cyberpunk game. But this is mere speculation for a future game.
And to top it off…, when you are cured by the NUSA, you lose the illusion of having a single friend: Johnny Silverhand.
So, in my humble opinion, Arasaka is less oppressive than Militech although the game always fools you. The "romance" with Meredith Stout was created to give you this misleading feeling: oops, Militech is less bad than Arasaka. Obviously this doesn't make Arasaka "cool". But it is something that must be taken into consideration.
Anyway, CDPR was faithful to this dystopian universe.
There are no happy endings.
Note: Songbird on the Moon reminds me a lot of Edgerunners.
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I have yet to see the new ending. Currently working a playthrough to see it. But I will say this, the moment they said it would be possible to save V's life in Phantom Liberty, I thought it would this new ending would need to have some huge drawbacks. I mean adding a golden ending through an expansion would suck.
It's heavily implied that Mr. Blue Eyes is the one behind the "cure" for Song Bird. Given it's possible connections to the AIs beyond the Blackwall, sending Songbird to the Moon might not be in anyone best interests of anyone, including Song Bird herself.
Arguably the best ending to PL might be the one where Reed actually says to V he did the right thing: betray Song Bird and kill her at her request. You end her suffering, Myers and NUSA loose their WMD and Reed might actually become a free man instead of ending his days in service of the NUSA.
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It's heavily implied that Mr. Blue Eyes is the one behind the "cure" for Song Bird. Given it's possible connections to the AIs beyond the Blackwall, sending Songbird to the Moon might not be in anyone best interests of anyone, including Song Bird herself.
Arguably the best ending to PL might be the one where Reed actually says to V he did the right thing: betray Song Bird and kill her at her request. You end her suffering, Myers and NUSA loose their WMD and Reed might actually become a free man instead of ending his days in service of the NUSA.
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