The most hilarious moment so far for me? I was doing Takemura's quest to meet with Oda and do some spy shit for Arasaka when Reed calls me about doing some more spy shit. Both Reed and Takemura are insulting me (because Takemura wants me to go and is annoyed I'm not responding to him immediately) because they both think I'm an amateur.
It made my V feel like, "These spies are utter amateurs."
Especially since my V is ex-Counter Intelligence himself.
For me, it felt too reliant on me getting to like/trust Songbird, be amazed by her from the get go.
For the first half of the game, Reed, Myers kept bombarding me with how awesome she is. I can decide myself, thank you very much!
It (the story) felt so forced, hellbent on making you trust someone who lied before for two reasons:
1. She says now she's telling the truth!
2. By now she is - supposed to be - sympathetic.
I am quite sure that when Songbird reveals, during the Space station questline, that she lied, the cure is only for one person, I should have been shocked. Going "Whoa, what the heck!". Instead I was like "Hmm, she lied. Again. Shocker."
The problem isn't with the option to go with these line of thoughts - in rpg-s, the more option the better, I always say - but that the story (decisions, twists etc.) falls apart/feel weak by simply being skeptical. Which is a bullet they dodged elegantly by limiting or not even giving skeptical - "I'm not sure about you, don't take my help granted", for example - dialog options. Even though I wouldn't gone with it in my first two playthrough - Firestarter decision - I would have loved an option at some point of the DLC where, after learning enough about Songbird, Myers, I could have said "You are all a**holes, leave me the f*** alone with your bulls***!" . Even more so, because at that time V could have the options to "cure" himself with the help of Alt. He isn't without options (may they be good or bad).
Now I only go to do the DLC because of three thing:
1. Johnny's wise words - I was worried he would be missing for most of the DLC. His serious talks, witty comments are the best.
2. Dogzone itself, car missions
3. Iconic weapons
The sidequests and gigs felt so much better because they were written with realistic expectations about how much the player have to be invested in them. Those "stories" know their limitations and made full use of them, never feeling like they were reaching for unreachable heights.
I also laughed my a** off during the Lina Malina questline. So much weirdness, so much fun.
Same goes for the quest with Paco - his character and your interaction with him had clear limits, but they covered the whole sidequest well.
I already wrote something to reviews topic, about latter half of my post, but some additional thoughts.
Cyberpunk 2077 and ideals, in context of dystopia, Reed mirrors Takemura on government side.
What we get to learn during story also gives something to think about regarding Hansen and his army. I find that important and while we don't get to meet Hansen that many times Hansen, his idea being this warlord and his army getting recruits makes sense in political context of settings. Power dynamic also works in wider context of game as Hansen can offer benefits not many other factions with low entry point can he is not running out of soldiers. This whole warlord arch is an example of something seen also many times in real history around the world. For me I felt game show things rather than told, to put that together. Anyway, how this worked was something I really liked.
So Mi is very well crafted character. Her situation mirrors V's, but she's also one piece on game board, like Reed and Alex. In this story she is losing herself piece by piece for Blackwall, but it's difficult not to see parallel to double agents, especially how she was this unlucky outlier and got recruited. That she is flawed character ending in her situation echoes events covered in some spy documentaries, really fucked up stuff there.
From main story line, one more character, the drone in Cynosure facility. Like toxins mentioned in terminals, it was just left there. So Cynosure was doing black opp, but had to stop when company went under due their loss on mineral assets in Africa. Say some teenagers had found entrance to facility and started exploring it. Before getting killed by drone some manages to get close enough to surface to send message and media can't ignore it, because Arasaka just can't pass opportunity to pin it all on Militech and push reporting about it on WNS. Nusa takes control of site by throwing excess amount of money to Hands / Hansen to get Barghest to work as their proxy.
That leaves parents of kids to seek compensation but in the end, Cynosure went bankrupt ages ago. Even if someone tried to sue them, NUSA are knee deep in it too and has to protect former Cynosure staff to protect itself. So who would be responsible? Can't get away of murder by drone? except in the world of CP 2077 they could.
On a bit more brighter note. I really liked some of the GIG's. I don't really roleplay, but I like to think many of my V's like pizza guy mercenaries and there were couple of GIG's where dialogue options were just perfect for that. There was one where client wanted couple of cops extracted from certain place and if it's done to the spec even ending is something really hilarious. I don't recall name for other one either and I'm not sure about the details as things are bit blurred in my mind but I recall there were other instances for dialogue which fitted my V really well.
I don't know where I put air drops and car delivery missions. World building? I didn't really care about air drop missions but to try different things as I got more cyberware and unlocked new Perks. Car missions.... I really liked seeing motorcycles in traffic, even if it only occurs during those missions and I don't think I saw but Voodoo Boys and NCPD on bikes. Still, it turned out to be something, bikes that we always saw just parked in places but never seeing them in traffic, I think whoever suggested including them at least in some way to traffic, made a good suggestion.
I'm doing my first playthrough and decided to cross Reed and rescue Songbird. While the FIA are a bit nasty, really they're trying to stop a war by capturing Songbird, so that mission where you're taking her through the space terminal and killing dozens upon dozens of FIA agents really doesn't sit right with me.
V and Songbird are executing probably a couple of hundred people to try and survive. V does the same in the official ending, but by then we realise Arasaka are a sick, evil, twisted company, as are most of its high level operatives that you take out along the way.
It just didn't feel right at all the way I'm saving Songbird.
As far as I understood, NUSA (i.e Rosalind Myers) don't really want "stop a war" by capturing Songbird, it's more not to trigger one... Because they used Songbird to violate international laws by piercing the black wall for their own use and risked everyone security. So everyone (Netwatch, Corporations, countries,...) would likely turn against the NUSA and Myers would likely be deposed
The Tower ending is probably the best ending for V in his quest for survival: not being able to use combat implants is a small price to pay for getting your life back with no clear expiration date in sight. Only thing I disliked is how, just as with other questlines (like Sinnerman) in the game, you can feel the writing team's hand weighing pretty heavily.
For my DLC run, I roleplayed a Corpo V that had no real attachments to Night City: I didn't develop any relationships in my playthrough. Helped Panam get Saul back, but always made it clear it was for a price and didn't make advances on her. Never helped her with the Basilisk either; told Judy I'd call her back on the Clouds insurrection plan, but never did; met with the Peralez's, but never called River after analyzing the BD; and never even got close to meeting Kerry. Didn't even bug the floats with Takemura. Jackie was dead, Viktor and Misty were friends, but they weren't chooms by any stretch of the imagination.
Yet, after surgery with the FIA, there were no dialogue options for my V to just be happy about the third chance he'd gotten and stay with Reed and FIA. I couldn't roleplay that. The writers wanted my V to feel bad about the ending, even though I personally didn't. I roleplayed a detached corpo agent on purpose, I knew what I was doing: for him, getting a cozy desk job in a paradise (compared to Night City) like the one we see outside our window in the medical facility would've been a no brainer. Yet the ending forced me to go back to Night City, get attacked by a junkie, see Viktor had to sell out to Zetatech and find out Misty lost her shop.
Would've appreciated an option to just take Reed's offer and stay with the FIA.
What I have been thinking, is that different options can make players think things from different perspectives. Like @LeKill3rFou explained above, situation isn't really black and white between FIA and Songbird. It's a bit similar dilemma going saving So Mi route. I think player can go any route and there are reasons to justify each choice. The point is about pawns in a sick game.
Having played through a couple of times and got all endings, there are only two things that stick in my throat a bit:
Firstly
If you make choices that mean you get cured, the consequences (physical and interpersonal) for the cure seem very forced. I totally get (and actually really like) how getting the cure puts you back on the street as a nobody (with rapidly-fading Afterlife legend status if you try to go back, as per Rogue's credits holo-call). It is perfectly consistent with the conversation that you have with Dex right near the start of the game. However, I think that the way the consequences are "done to you" off-screen is clumsy and forced.
As for the physical, I don't think there is much, if any, in-game warning that you might lose your ability to have combat chrome enhancements. Maybe I missed it, but something of a hint at that would have been nice.
However, that's a minor point and I can mostly accept it. It does kind-of make logical sense: your entire nervous system is shot, corrupted by experimental cyberware, and these are the consequences. More or less, it feels fair enough. Almost (but, like I said, a better hint in game would have been nice).
What really, really, feels forced is how quickly your friends/love interests give up on you and get on with their lives, and even reject your attempts to get in contact with them when you awake. I mean, seriously, these are people whose lives, careers, families, etc. you saved, who declared their love for you, who said they would do anything for you. But, you drop off the radar for two years (with a damned good reason, that you even tell them about) and they all move on and can hardly be bothered to give you the time of day.
I know several people (in real life) who I haven't spoken to for a similar length of time (even longer) who I know that I could just pick up the phone to and be back to chatting like best-of-chooms within minutes.
It all just feels really forced and too quick. I mean, V even calls everyone important before the procedure to tell them they'd be away for a while (admittedly not two years) and they all knew V was in serious medical trouble. Maybe if the coma had been longer (at least five years, maybe more) it wouldn't be so jarring but it just feels really forced to get the "you're just a face in the crowd" ending that CDPR wanted rather than actually feeling logical. A longer period of coma could make the death of at least on of the significant interests logical/acceptable too. Imagine coming around from a coma after 7 years to find out that Panam had died in a raid or something (rather than just getting the brush-off from Mitch in a credits holo-call), or Kerry had finally died of old age (nah, he's immortal, I can feel it ).
Secondly
Songbird comes clean too late if you have been nice to her. Perhaps it's less jarring than the above, but it still irks me. If you make the choice to side with Songbird, she tells you very, very late in the game that she's been lying to you all along and that the cure can only be used once. OK, she's a hard-nosed FIA agent and walking Blackwall Nuke who has been prepared to do whatever it takes to save her own skin right from the outset. So, yeah, I get it. In fact, if that's the case, why does she even tell you at all? Why not just leave it until it's too late, the ship has launched and there is nothing you can do about it?
But if you have deliberately and explicitly made positive conversation choices with her throughout the game, if you have sided with her consistently, if you have shared a bond, then it would have been really nice to have had her tell you quite a bit earlier. On the monorail near the end, you even have a dialogue option along the lines of "I'd have helped you anyway". So, why not make that an actual choice earlier in the game? e.g. So Mi and you share a moment (perhaps at her little hideout) and she tells you the truth, and you can decide to carry on helping her regardless.
Again, the dialogue as it stands feels a bit forced to add an extra impetus to your decision when Sol Reed confronts you on the walkway: you had been determined to save So Mi, but CDPR set things up for a betrayal at the 11th hour, just to make your "hand her over/don't hand her over" and "kill Sol/don't kill Sol" decision more immediate.
How would I have done it?
1) If you have been positive to So Mi, then she trusts you earlier on and tells you the truth. From there you can stick with your convictions (i.e. allow her to be cured) or play along and betray her in the end (making you the ruthless bad guy instead).
2) If you have not been positive to her, So Mi never 'fesses up but Sol tries to use it as a bargaining chip on the walkway "the way she's doing it, the cure can only be used once, did she tell you that?" (possibly with the option of V asking So Mi to confirm/deny it, or you overhearing Sol/Myers discussing it earlier). Then, if you still put So Mi on the flight, you find out that Sol was telling the truth (i.e. you do not get cured).
Yet, after surgery with the FIA, there were no dialogue options for my V to just be happy about the third chance he'd gotten and stay with Reed and FIA. I couldn't roleplay that. The writers wanted my V to feel bad about the ending, even though I personally didn't. I roleplayed a detached corpo agent on purpose, I knew what I was doing: for him, getting a cozy desk job in a paradise (compared to Night City) like the one we see outside our window in the medical facility would've been a no brainer. Yet the ending forced me to go back to Night City, get attacked by a junkie, see Viktor had to sell out to Zetatech and find out Misty lost her shop.
Would've appreciated an option to just take Reed's offer and stay with the FIA.
Yep, for a Corpo run-through like you describe, that would absolutely make sense and I thought that the option not being there was a poor decision. Like you said, CDPR wanted us to feel bad, but if you didn't care about the things you are supposed to feel bad about, then the ending doesn't fit.
At least Sol leaves the door open for you to get in touch (albeit that it's still not an in-game choice) and his credits holo-call encourages you to reconsider. So, in my head, a detached Corpo has the out-of-game option of calling Sol and taking the offer.
But, yeah, it would be nice to be able to just do it in game and never return to NC.
Songbird comes clean too late if you have been nice to her. Perhaps it's less jarring than the above, but it still irks me. If you make the choice to side with Songbird, she tells you very, very late in the game that she's been lying to you all along and that the cure can only be used once. OK, she's a hard-nosed FIA agent and walking Blackwall Nuke who has been prepared to do whatever it takes to save her own skin right from the outset. So, yeah, I get it. In fact, if that's the case, why does she even tell you at all? Why not just leave it until it's too late, the ship has launched and there is nothing you can do about it?
Being honest in that situation for her is the ultimate expression of trust. Her life and future is completely in your hands here. My guess is that before that moment she didn't trust you (enough) or that at this moment she belief she wouldn't make it and was about to die.
I really felt sorry for her and helping her escape was a no-brainer for me (I played threw the game once three years ago), both to help her and because handing her over to Reed and the goverment would be so much worse and Reed is just completely disilusional.
My major issue with the story is how the aftermath is handled:
One small message which only says "loot there", is just so pathetic and unacceptable. I mean there are sidequests with more than that...
Phantom Liberty reminds me of Blood & Wine without the sweet ending buit the Olgied ending, bittersweet. It was an amazing expansion and Dogtown feels alive which is something lacking in some areas in Night City.
Now if there is something I don't like is how Dogtown is too small for what it is and how Phantom Liberty didn't used other locations in NC aside from a couple gigs, CDPR definitely has more to offer but they wanna play it safe moving to U5 and Project Orion.
Being honest in that situation for her is the ultimate expression of trust. Her life and future is completely in your hands here. My guess is that before that moment she didn't trust you (enough) or that at this moment she belief she wouldn't make it and was about to die.
I can get behind that, but my earlier objections still stand. But, in light of what you said, perhaps I would like to have seen it a bit more like this...
1) If you have been positive to So Mi, then she trusts you earlier on and tells you the truth at that point. From there you can stick with your convictions (i.e. allow her to be cured) or play along and betray her in the end (making you the ruthless bad guy instead).
2) if you have been neutral/less positive then she 'fesses up at the point that she currently does (i.e. on the monorail) This could be seen as a last minute "I wasn't going to tell you this, but you actually had my back when you didn't need to, so I'm giving you the whole story and now my life is literally in your hands; I trust you with that.
3) If you have not been positive to her, So Mi never 'fesses up but Sol tries to use it as a bargaining chip on the walkway "the way she's doing it, the cure can only be used once, did she tell you that?" (possibly with the option of V asking So Mi to confirm/deny it, or you overhearing Sol/Myers discussing it earlier). Then, if you still put So Mi on the flight, you find out that Sol was telling the truth (i.e. you do not get cured).
Hey,
I reworked the main story to be more to the ground, check it out:
After Kurt hadn't got Mayers as a hostage, he decided to take Songbird (further SB) instead. He threatens SB/NUSA/V/Reed/whoever to go public about Myers' political steps; and maybe offers SB the Dogtown as a place to stay,...
SB is confused about the situation and is deciding between staying with Kurt, trying to run away, getting rescued by Reed and V,...
SB is not ill nor dying from any daemons or whatnot. There is no neural matrix at all.
V and Reed infiltrate the party and talk with SB - the situation is mostly the same - they want/need to get SB out.
SB tells them/the duo somehow learns where Kurt keeps SB locked, and they decide to infiltrate in there.
Once they do, there's plenty of dialogue - Reed and SB confront each other and V has some dialogue options to intervene.
The endings include combinations of:
- SB fries Reed
- Reed shoots SB
- SB runs away alone/with V/with Reed,...
- V and Reed kill/get killed by Kurt
- SB decides to stay in Dogtown (and gives V and Reed a chance to get out safely)
In the end, Dogtown stays untouched, the stadium is not destroyed and remains explorable until the end of the game.
What do you think?
I like that it's more to the ground, contains less far-reaching sci-fi elements, the endings are easier to mix and representative of what the story is primarily about - it's not about the neural matrix, Blackwall or shooting SB to the moon - it's about the personal relation between SB, Reed, Alex and Mayers.
There's no need for killing NUSA soldiers, destroying the spaceport, SB's mind fading into cyberspace, etc...
Maybe this thought could serve as a story design rule - if it's not necessary, don't do it
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 Barrier) 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.
You know the feeling, right?
Some thoughts deep inside you that you want to speak out loud, but you just can't, because you are scared of the unknown, of yourself and other people's reactions. And it's eating you alive and putting you in a dark corner.
I believe it's the relief of knowing the outcome that gives you the strength to say it, and it's the fear of the unknown which holds you back.
And those who overcome the fear and say it nevertheless are really strong:
It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.
That's why I think the train is the perfect moment for that.
She feels like she's gonna die in a few hours; or be saved and most possibly lose V who helped her all the way. There's no need for her to lie any more.
But before that, there was - she wanted the cure strictly for herself, and not for V - she wasn't strong enough to say it.
I already wrote something to reviews topic, about latter half of my post, but some additional thoughts.
Cyberpunk 2077 and ideals, in context of dystopia, Reed mirrors Takemura on government side.
What we get to learn during story also gives something to think about regarding Hansen and his army. I find that important and while we don't get to meet Hansen that many times Hansen, his idea being this warlord and his army getting recruits makes sense in political context of settings. Power dynamic also works in wider context of game as Hansen can offer benefits not many other factions with low entry point can he is not running out of soldiers. This whole warlord arch is an example of something seen also many times in real history around the world. For me I felt game show things rather than told, to put that together. Anyway, how this worked was something I really liked.
So Mi is very well crafted character. Her situation mirrors V's, but she's also one piece on game board, like Reed and Alex. In this story she is losing herself piece by piece for Blackwall, but it's difficult not to see parallel to double agents, especially how she was this unlucky outlier and got recruited. That she is flawed character ending in her situation echoes events covered in some spy documentaries, really fucked up stuff there.
From main story line, one more character, the drone in Cynosure facility. Like toxins mentioned in terminals, it was just left there. So Cynosure was doing black opp, but had to stop when company went under due their loss on mineral assets in Africa. Say some teenagers had found entrance to facility and started exploring it. Before getting killed by drone some manages to get close enough to surface to send message and media can't ignore it, because Arasaka just can't pass opportunity to pin it all on Militech and push reporting about it on WNS. Nusa takes control of site by throwing excess amount of money to Hands / Hansen to get Barghest to work as their proxy.
That leaves parents of kids to seek compensation but in the end, Cynosure went bankrupt ages ago. Even if someone tried to sue them, NUSA are knee deep in it too and has to protect former Cynosure staff to protect itself. So who would be responsible? Can't get away of murder by drone? except in the world of CP 2077 they could.
On a bit more brighter note. I really liked some of the GIG's. I don't really roleplay, but I like to think many of my V's like pizza guy mercenaries and there were couple of GIG's where dialogue options were just perfect for that. There was one where client wanted couple of cops extracted from certain place and if it's done to the spec even ending is something really hilarious. I don't recall name for other one either and I'm not sure about the details as things are bit blurred in my mind but I recall there were other instances for dialogue which fitted my V really well.
I don't know where I put air drops and car delivery missions. World building? I didn't really care about air drop missions but to try different things as I got more cyberware and unlocked new Perks. Car missions.... I really liked seeing motorcycles in traffic, even if it only occurs during those missions and I don't think I saw but Voodoo Boys and NCPD on bikes. Still, it turned out to be something, bikes that we always saw just parked in places but never seeing them in traffic, I think whoever suggested including them at least in some way to traffic, made a good suggestion.
I’ve played both Original and PL, and think it’s a fantastic game, a genuine technical achievement. My only small beef were the series of poor endings. It is almost as though the writers wanted to punish players in PL for pursuing what was offered … a cure. Sure other posts must have covered this. As an aside … the relic is not actually killing V. Just to check this I did a series of long sleeps lasting many months (for a laugh, to see what would happen). Nothing happens. There is nothing wrong with V. So maybe there was no reason to play PL and it’s phantom cure hook storyline lol
Being honest in that situation for her is the ultimate expression of trust. Her life and future is completely in your hands here. My guess is that before that moment she didn't trust you (enough) or that at this moment she belief she wouldn't make it and was about to die.
It might be but it also might not. Way I see it Song is a trained liar/manipulator and also under the influence of blackwall AIs. She acts like she has unearned chemistry with you to get you to lower your guard, it's a manipulation tactic. Her dialogue with V all reads like bad writing up to a point when you realize it's how she's working you, just like Reed. They lie with the truth.
What I'm getting at is it's very possible it's a tactic, a roll of the dice. She's still just betting on her survival. She knows you suspect something or at least you should. She likely even suspects if not outright knows Reed will be waiting, they go way back and she understands the man pretty well. She's gambling that if you hear the truth from her first before Reed tries to bargain with you that you'll take pity on her. (I've experienced this with manipulative people irl) It's not that she trusts you any more than before, she needs you and she's currently helpless.
This is what it is for agents, they are playing a part even if that part is mostly themselves, but they will act without emotion to serve their interests when the time comes and you better hope you aren't in the way. She probably does like V, and would probably wish you well, but this is all a con in the end if it gets her what she wants/needs. It's only real if it's still convenient for it to be. She's the type that throws people away like trash, can blame that on her environment and circumstances but it's still what it is. She's lost herself already.
I'm not unsympathetic to her but she'd rip V's heart out and eat it if she thought it would get her one step closer to a cure and freedom. Listen to a lot of what she says about V when you turn against her and try to hear the projection. She's really talking about herself.
Pay close attention to the interaction that happens between Reed and Song during Hansen's party. The body language on these two is some of the best non verbal storytelling I've seen in a while. I wanted to go back and grab a screen shot but I don't often make manual saves so I can't go back that far in my current playthrough. Song goes into the same "Oh I've just made so many mistakes and I'm sorry." routine she gives V later. Reed's body language betrays emotion that does not match his words. Is it judgement? Anger? Then there's a moment where Song looks up at him with cold angry blame in her eyes. I forget the exact words said here but then it's just glossed over.
These two are holding things back, putting on an act possibly for each other but also for your benefit. It's like watching the body language of a father giving a "When company leaves you're in trouble." look, and she fires back her own defiant disgusted look of "Yeah? Why don't you make me then?". Just my take, I think they broke character in this scene and it was by design. You don't get the full spec on their relationship dynamic, you only really catch So Mi's side of things in Somewhat Damaged later. Just like Johnny I believe she's an unreliable narrator, if for no other reason than memories are often inaccurate and self serving by design.
I might read too much into things, I can't know the writer's actual intent for a certainty, but Cyberpunk has been an incredible game for delivering nuanced characters like this. The overarching story beats can be kinda cheesy but the characters themselves are great. Everyone's awesome but everyone sucks. These aren't good people in the classical sense. Night City makes assholes of everyone. You really have to read between the lines to understand who these people are. Watch their faces and be skeptical. Zoom in to get a better look, seems like it helps the game render more facial detail sometimes too.
