Like said in another thread and echo several places. I see a enchanced edition coming to give us a happy ending. But think it would need to included more letting us some time with li in game. But i think they shot themself in the foot again. I think this time may serious done more pernment damage
Exaggerate? Dude is not only V they trashed in the endings, they basically trashed everyone's life in that ending where V gets cured, they basically cut the players out from all the people that he helped and were friends, even loved ones, they basically rendered useless all our gameplay....... etc
they basically fucked us over, again.
You can keep blindly defending them, is because of people like you that they did still give us this crap.
And you may think that Chloe got a good ending.... yeah but what of the people who romanced her? that was a punch to their faces.
And the others?
I've constantly been on CDPR for their failures and bad writing.
This is NOT bad writing and you have yet to say why.
You've got a steady gig in Washington, Reed is going to live, none of the Nomads have to die or Rogue, and the "bad fates" are anything but. You are a normal person but you survived Night City and GOT OUT--which is something almost no one can say in the setting.
This is a bad ending if you want V to remain a murderous hired killer and scumbag.
The one person who doesn't DESERVE to live.
Could you explain what's wrong with this ending? I mean, "you become a normal person and retire from being a murderous criminal" is the happy ending of virtually every crime drama ever.
And most stories don't end that way.
I mean I think this is the Enhanced Edition. This is the ending people wanted of "V lives." No one has given me an ending description better than, "And it must be sunshine and rainbows." What bitter are they willing to accept with the sweet?
Other then the fact adding more sad endings. Look your talking to someone was ok with the me3 endings except couple minor plotholes. like how squad your look like they were dead, got back to Normandy. So the new ending made me happy. Cause I come a Soldier family. I know in war people. So Shepard dying or becoming one with the Reapers I was ok with. But saying that. I think Cyberpunk could benefit from a Happy ending. Not oppose to keeping it were you lose your cyberware abilities. But atleast let us be with our li.
I think the problem many people have is that this choice basically ruins every connection the player has made with other characters in the story. The two years coma feels like an artificial plot device to force a negative spin on this ending, for the sake of what?
People have been asking since CP2077 came out for an ending in which V wasn't destined to die. The developers, at last, added this closure but also found a way to mess with the players' emotions by ruining the positive mood, as if being cured from Johnny is a selfish decision that somehow needs to be 'punished'.
It's not that we don't have a 'selfish' ending already in the game (ie siding with Hanako Arasaka).
We know/suspect that V is not returning for a second game, so I can understand why in this ending the protagonist looses its ability to use neural combat implants but all the rest feels like a punch in the face to all players who asked for something different.
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I suppose I think the Misty and Vic business is more touching than other people. I felt that it kind of underscored that Misty was your true family and never abandoned you and is genuinely happy to see you. Judy and Panam are both people who will abandon V in the "never fade away" ending and that is one of the most positive.
So it's apparently in their characters.
If they do return then i thinnk Nomad ending would be cannon. But i agree with your point
People think the happiest ending should be canon.
And honestly I prefer that to Baldur's Gate 3 where they shit all over your accomplishments.
It seems that two years away from Cyberpunk and these forums was enough for me to forget my password and email. But its nice to see some familiar faces still discussing the games story/endings, tho it seems a bit of a ghost town compared to what I remember.
As for the new ending, what can say but LOL. Maybe I'll even throw in a LMAO. Be careful what you wish for should be the name of this new ending and the pettiness (if you want to call it that) on the part of the writers is kind of hard not to notice. They had their vision and two years of complaining, criticizing and wishing for a change didn't sit well with them so they gave folks what they wanted. A 'V survives' ending or at least a version of it.
I do have to say that after finishing BG3 and finding out that one of the companions can cuck you, that Judy ending made me burst out laughing. I honestly don't know what's wrong with modern writers but they do seem to have a hard on for their torture porn.
All of that aside I do have to say that I enjoyed/liked the new ending or at least the idea behind it. But in true CDPR fashion they managed to fumble it.
I was never a fan of making characters do or say dumb things for the sake of the plot/story but those messages between V and their lovers/friends still baffle me. Why have V act like a normal person when they can be vague for the sake of drama. There is nothing stopping V from explaining the situation or the complications that might follow to their friends/lovers and provide a contact to one of the people helping them. Sure the outcome could still be the same (government agents not responding etc.) but it would do wonders for the believability part of it. The drama will still be there just replaced with the shock instead of a stupid 'you ghosted me'.
I wouldn't change much about the ending (Maybe lose the Judy marriage thingy if she was romanced. Have her be married if she's a friend and if you did romance her have her tell you that she recently entered a relationship after waiting for 2 years for V to come back) but seeing how this is the last entry in Vs story I do feel that a lot is left to uncertainty instead of going an extra step to wrap it all up.
Extend the ending with V breaking into their old apartment, reminiscing about the good old days and noticing how everything is quiet with Johnny being gone which would lead into a dialogue tree with three options.
Option A: Uncertainty - V being unsure what awaits them, looking out the window as music starts to play.
Option B: Fixer - Have V call Rogue to set up their new life as a fixer which would lead into Rogue telling them to give her some time to set things up.
Option C: Government agent - V calls Reed and accepts the job.
After choosing either B or C have a scene between mama Veles and V that leads into a time skip (maybe a month or so) where V wakes up to missed calls/messages from their friends/ex-lovers with a optional objective to have one final conversation with them. Give the player an option to choose either ending all contact with them or a chance for reconciliation.
Not a full on rekindiling of a romance seeing how its been 2 years and people have moved on but a chance to stay in contact and maybe down the road something more happening. (Panam calling after finding out that Mitch was hiding the fact that V called, being mad and either staying friends or not. Judy calling and talking about what her and V had and what that means for them. Ending all contact with her or finding out that her new relationship isn't going that well and maybe her and V can stay friends and again a chance for something more down the line. Same for River/Kerry.)
Once the optional calls have ended proceed to the final endings.
Option B - V goes to the Afterlife, gets introduced by Rogue to some people that can help them with their new life. Camera pans, you see new mercs arriving and music starts.
Option C - Reed picks up V and drives them to the airport explaining what kind of a new life awaits them, they'll be working for the government as a advisor/trainer for new undercover recruits. At the airport V takes another look at the city camera pans, music starts.
(these are just quick/rough thoughts about it)
It still keeps the idea/feeling of the original ending/endings and I know that some people would not be happy with it but at least gives V a clear future. One that might not be as glamorous but still. Old life, old friends, old dreams are dead but V is still alive and as Dexter said 'blaze of glory or a quiet life'
When it comes to the DLC as whole. God damn do I wish that Johnny/Arasaka thing was in the background and the main focus of the story was about AI, secret agents, government, illuminati etc. (wait, am I talking about Deus Ex). I really ended up enjoying Songbird/Reed more than the OG characters, which is surprising to me since I remember liking some of them a lot 2 years ago.
As for the new ending, what can say but LOL. Maybe I'll even throw in a LMAO. Be careful what you wish for should be the name of this new ending and the pettiness (if you want to call it that) on the part of the writers is kind of hard not to notice. They had their vision and two years of complaining, criticizing and wishing for a change didn't sit well with them so they gave folks what they wanted. A 'V survives' ending or at least a version of it.
I do have to say that after finishing BG3 and finding out that one of the companions can cuck you, that Judy ending made me burst out laughing. I honestly don't know what's wrong with modern writers but they do seem to have a hard on for their torture porn.
All of that aside I do have to say that I enjoyed/liked the new ending or at least the idea behind it. But in true CDPR fashion they managed to fumble it.
I was never a fan of making characters do or say dumb things for the sake of the plot/story but those messages between V and their lovers/friends still baffle me. Why have V act like a normal person when they can be vague for the sake of drama. There is nothing stopping V from explaining the situation or the complications that might follow to their friends/lovers and provide a contact to one of the people helping them. Sure the outcome could still be the same (government agents not responding etc.) but it would do wonders for the believability part of it. The drama will still be there just replaced with the shock instead of a stupid 'you ghosted me'.
I wouldn't change much about the ending (Maybe lose the Judy marriage thingy if she was romanced. Have her be married if she's a friend and if you did romance her have her tell you that she recently entered a relationship after waiting for 2 years for V to come back) but seeing how this is the last entry in Vs story I do feel that a lot is left to uncertainty instead of going an extra step to wrap it all up.
Extend the ending with V breaking into their old apartment, reminiscing about the good old days and noticing how everything is quiet with Johnny being gone which would lead into a dialogue tree with three options.
Option A: Uncertainty - V being unsure what awaits them, looking out the window as music starts to play.
Option B: Fixer - Have V call Rogue to set up their new life as a fixer which would lead into Rogue telling them to give her some time to set things up.
Option C: Government agent - V calls Reed and accepts the job.
After choosing either B or C have a scene between mama Veles and V that leads into a time skip (maybe a month or so) where V wakes up to missed calls/messages from their friends/ex-lovers with a optional objective to have one final conversation with them. Give the player an option to choose either ending all contact with them or a chance for reconciliation.
Not a full on rekindiling of a romance seeing how its been 2 years and people have moved on but a chance to stay in contact and maybe down the road something more happening. (Panam calling after finding out that Mitch was hiding the fact that V called, being mad and either staying friends or not. Judy calling and talking about what her and V had and what that means for them. Ending all contact with her or finding out that her new relationship isn't going that well and maybe her and V can stay friends and again a chance for something more down the line. Same for River/Kerry.)
Once the optional calls have ended proceed to the final endings.
Option B - V goes to the Afterlife, gets introduced by Rogue to some people that can help them with their new life. Camera pans, you see new mercs arriving and music starts.
Option C - Reed picks up V and drives them to the airport explaining what kind of a new life awaits them, they'll be working for the government as a advisor/trainer for new undercover recruits. At the airport V takes another look at the city camera pans, music starts.
(these are just quick/rough thoughts about it)
It still keeps the idea/feeling of the original ending/endings and I know that some people would not be happy with it but at least gives V a clear future. One that might not be as glamorous but still. Old life, old friends, old dreams are dead but V is still alive and as Dexter said 'blaze of glory or a quiet life'
When it comes to the DLC as whole. God damn do I wish that Johnny/Arasaka thing was in the background and the main focus of the story was about AI, secret agents, government, illuminati etc. (wait, am I talking about Deus Ex). I really ended up enjoying Songbird/Reed more than the OG characters, which is surprising to me since I remember liking some of them a lot 2 years ago.
@CTPhipps
no, this is a bad ending because even though V now is going to live , what reason is he living for?
Most of his friends are fucked up or unhappy, and most of his friends are friends no more at all, he is more or less alone,
The romantic interest mostly abandons them like in other bad endings that were already in the game......
if you compare bad to worse I guess anyone will take the less bad, but that doesn't make it good.
I wonder why you still defend this unless you are some alter account of a cdpr employer, it makes no sense.
Is clear how bad it is to anyone that played the endings of this so-called expansion.
@neocyril2 Fully agree with you, they did give us a "V survives" ending while spitting on our faces and ruining it with other things we cared for....... that only shows how we should respond whenever they release a new game and that's me not buying it, also giving it 1 star in their respective stores will prove to them that they can't just play the fans like this, the main problem is the fanbois defending all the bad they do no matter what .
no, this is a bad ending because even though V now is going to live , what reason is he living for?
Most of his friends are fucked up or unhappy, and most of his friends are friends no more at all, he is more or less alone,
The romantic interest mostly abandons them like in other bad endings that were already in the game......
if you compare bad to worse I guess anyone will take the less bad, but that doesn't make it good.
I wonder why you still defend this unless you are some alter account of a cdpr employer, it makes no sense.
Is clear how bad it is to anyone that played the endings of this so-called expansion.
@neocyril2 Fully agree with you, they did give us a "V survives" ending while spitting on our faces and ruining it with other things we cared for....... that only shows how we should respond whenever they release a new game and that's me not buying it, also giving it 1 star in their respective stores will prove to them that they can't just play the fans like this, the main problem is the fanbois defending all the bad they do no matter what
.
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@CTPhipps
no, this is a bad ending because even though V now is going to live , what reason is he living for?
Most of his friends are fucked up or unhappy, and most of his friends are friends no more at all, he is more or less alone,
The romantic interest mostly abandons them like in other bad endings that were already in the game......
if you compare bad to worse I guess anyone will take the less bad, but that doesn't make it good.
I wonder why you still defend this unless you are some alter account of a cdpr employer, it makes no sense.
Is clear how bad it is to anyone that played the endings of this so-called expansion.
@neocyril2 Fully agree with you, they did give us a "V survives" ending while spitting on our faces and ruining it with other things we cared for....... that only shows how we should respond whenever they release a new game and that's me not buying it, also giving it 1 star in their respective stores will prove to them that they can't just play the fans like this, the main problem is the fanbois defending all the bad they do no matter what
I dunno, I feel like that kind of really grossly exaggerates how bad their situation is. No, Judy and Panam don't want to spend time with you and you're not going to be a badass mercenary anymore. River is in trouble and poor Vic has had to become a chain clinic doctor instead of independent. However, Misty is delighted to see you again and your return has brought her out of a terrible depression. Kerry is interested in seeing you again on tour.
You have a steady gig at Langely and have managed to survive Night City and can live a life of peace now, free from violence.
Basically, it seems like the complaints are like, "I can't believe they had Samwise return to gardening and the Shire! Why is he not staying in Mordor as Barbarian King?"
The main game makes such an enormous stink about what a shitty, awful, and outright evil place Night City is. It shows that being an Edgerunner is a thankless pointless existence of murdering people for corpos and crime bosses with no real heroism. It shows that it chews up and spits out people like Jackie, Sasha, David, and more.
So how is getting OUT a bad thing?
And yes, it's sad that Judy married someone else and Panam is pissed at you (she's ALWAYS pissed at people who love her it seems) but there's other fish in the sea and you now have time to meet them.
So why do I defend it? It is the only genuinely, "I give up violence and live a quiet life in peace" ending.
How many of you knew anything about cyberpunk before playing this game? I don't mean lore about this game I mean the genre. It's never been happy feel good. The only cyberpunk with anything near happy endings is movies that studios demanded a happy ending to sell tickets. The books were cyberpunk was born were much darker. NO happy endings. If you can't enjoy it for what it is then you're playing in the wrong sandbox, Baby
Hell yeah. I hate happy endings. Give me a good tragedy any day.
I'm sorry but that's such a absurd take. Cyberpunk has NO happy endings? (for their characters or in general?)
There is something inherently funny about the smugness of people claiming to know what cyberpunk is and reprimanding anyone for daring to voice their opinion that differs.
Cyberpunk can be a depressing setting sure, seeing how it deals with human nature/corporations/greed/advancement of technology it is to be expected but to claim that anything outside of a dark/sad ending is not cyberpunk is absurd.
One of the granddaddy stories of cyberpunk has its main hero Case ending up married with 4 kids. Blade Runner ends with Deckard running away with Rachel and having a child and in its sequel he ends up reuniting with his daughter while K dies happy knowing he did something he wanted. And many other Cyberpunk stories follow a path that doesn't end up in total disaster. Dark and depressing doesn't mean bittersweet.
When it comes to Cyberpunk 2077 its not the dark/depressing aspect of it that bothers people (well maybe some are bothered by it) but the way CDPR decided to go about it. For a RPG the game sure offers little in the way of roleplaying and player choices, by the end of the game you are faced with 2 endings (yes 2 endings, just because its a different flavor of shit doesn't stop it form being shit now does it) dying or giving you body to Johnny.
There are no endings that explore the merger of consciousness, there are no endings that explore what it means to be a human (V being a replica - even tho its implied in some of the endings its soon erased with the 6 month death sentence).
That's why I said I somewhat like the new ending, because it gives players options. But in true CDPR fashion they decided to do a mediocre job and stuff it with bad upon bad. Don't write a story that demands a player to use superhuman suspension of disbelief so that your story could make sense. Drama is nice, it a spice of storytelling but if you cant do it in a way that makes sense don't do it at all. (hur dur I'm going under the knife and I might die but I'm not going to tell you, I'll be back in a month. just what!?)
And a bit of a defense for those that wanted their romance ending, there is nothing that brings the ending down from its depressing heights by having a sliver of hope for V reenkindling their friendships/relationships. They were still beaten by Night City, their old life is gone and that dream of reaching the big leagues will never again be in their grasp.
There is something inherently funny about the smugness of people claiming to know what cyberpunk is and reprimanding anyone for daring to voice their opinion that differs.
Cyberpunk can be a depressing setting sure, seeing how it deals with human nature/corporations/greed/advancement of technology it is to be expected but to claim that anything outside of a dark/sad ending is not cyberpunk is absurd.
One of the granddaddy stories of cyberpunk has its main hero Case ending up married with 4 kids. Blade Runner ends with Deckard running away with Rachel and having a child and in its sequel he ends up reuniting with his daughter while K dies happy knowing he did something he wanted. And many other Cyberpunk stories follow a path that doesn't end up in total disaster. Dark and depressing doesn't mean bittersweet.
When it comes to Cyberpunk 2077 its not the dark/depressing aspect of it that bothers people (well maybe some are bothered by it) but the way CDPR decided to go about it. For a RPG the game sure offers little in the way of roleplaying and player choices, by the end of the game you are faced with 2 endings (yes 2 endings, just because its a different flavor of shit doesn't stop it form being shit now does it) dying or giving you body to Johnny.
There are no endings that explore the merger of consciousness, there are no endings that explore what it means to be a human (V being a replica - even tho its implied in some of the endings its soon erased with the 6 month death sentence).
That's why I said I somewhat like the new ending, because it gives players options. But in true CDPR fashion they decided to do a mediocre job and stuff it with bad upon bad. Don't write a story that demands a player to use superhuman suspension of disbelief so that your story could make sense. Drama is nice, it a spice of storytelling but if you cant do it in a way that makes sense don't do it at all. (hur dur I'm going under the knife and I might die but I'm not going to tell you, I'll be back in a month. just what!?)
And a bit of a defense for those that wanted their romance ending, there is nothing that brings the ending down from its depressing heights by having a sliver of hope for V reenkindling their friendships/relationships. They were still beaten by Night City, their old life is gone and that dream of reaching the big leagues will never again be in their grasp.
Kinda weird that we are not getting some obvious cyberpunk genre endings. We are completely missing some obvious "live but at what cost" endings.
Ghost in the Shell type outcome where V and Johny would merge would have been interesting, but CDPR did not chose to make one.
Devil ending is weird, since Arasaka has the tech to fix you - have your engram made, manufacture new Saburo resurrections model of the relic, put your engram in there then slot it into your clone. Relic can rewrite any host but clone being tabula rasa should make the process smooth. Yet we are not shown they are in a rush to do so while this seems no brainer given Saburo demonstrated this can work.
It is also plausible to install the engram in a borg body. We are shown than AIs can control heavily chromed individuals via augments like that Maelstrom cyberpsycho so borg body that runs your engram should be possible
---
Extra thoughts about continuity of V for sequel. Since Alt Cunningham really wanted to collect all of the engrams in Mikoshi there is no plausible reason she could not keep copy of your "engramatic data" for herself. And since she still exists in Devil ending her getting access to Mikoshi on her own latter on is possible.
Therefore technically V can continue to exist in all endings but suicide and the new cure one.
So our new protagonist could start with "amnesia" but slowly get memories of V due to new relic inside his brain. Would be interesting mystery to run into dead bodies of yourself or learn there are possibly other active copies of your engram. Could even go crazy with this concept with parallels to Planescape: Torment where your death would result in Alt Cunningham "reloading the quicksave".
Ghost in the Shell type outcome where V and Johny would merge would have been interesting, but CDPR did not chose to make one.
Devil ending is weird, since Arasaka has the tech to fix you - have your engram made, manufacture new Saburo resurrections model of the relic, put your engram in there then slot it into your clone. Relic can rewrite any host but clone being tabula rasa should make the process smooth. Yet we are not shown they are in a rush to do so while this seems no brainer given Saburo demonstrated this can work.
It is also plausible to install the engram in a borg body. We are shown than AIs can control heavily chromed individuals via augments like that Maelstrom cyberpsycho so borg body that runs your engram should be possible
---
Extra thoughts about continuity of V for sequel. Since Alt Cunningham really wanted to collect all of the engrams in Mikoshi there is no plausible reason she could not keep copy of your "engramatic data" for herself. And since she still exists in Devil ending her getting access to Mikoshi on her own latter on is possible.
Therefore technically V can continue to exist in all endings but suicide and the new cure one.
So our new protagonist could start with "amnesia" but slowly get memories of V due to new relic inside his brain. Would be interesting mystery to run into dead bodies of yourself or learn there are possibly other active copies of your engram. Could even go crazy with this concept with parallels to Planescape: Torment where your death would result in Alt Cunningham "reloading the quicksave".
Yes and no.
HARDWIRED, which is one of the inspirations for Cyberpunk 2020 ends with an unambiguous victory for the heroes.
Also, Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk RED actually are far less bleak than CP2077.
They really went hard on the depressing endings when a lot of fiction ends with at least a partial or moral victory. Mike Pondsmith's Edgerunners are a lot more inclined to gum up the works of the corpos or get rich.
I don't understand that after putting all the effort in rejuvenating the game with 2.0, the choice was made to let the game go out with a whimper rather than with a bang. Phantom Liberty was set up to be the fireworks finale and all we got at the end was a wet fart.
The years of feedback in this thread and the choice was to go with, and enforce, the trite cliché of a bleak and hopeless outcome.
I didn't expect rainbows and sunshine but relegating V to low-tier NPC status, trashing all the connections and chooms they made in yet another gloomy ending is just poor low-effort storytelling to close a loop.
Out of all the possible ways to handle this, someone one figured that grimdark for the sake of grimdark makes for a good cyberpunk story ending.
It doesn't.
Despite the fun I had playing through Cyberpunk 2077 the past year and Phantom Liberty this week, all I can hope is that whoever they had writing/directing this story's endings will be kept very far away from the next cyberpunk project.
The years of feedback in this thread and the choice was to go with, and enforce, the trite cliché of a bleak and hopeless outcome.
I didn't expect rainbows and sunshine but relegating V to low-tier NPC status, trashing all the connections and chooms they made in yet another gloomy ending is just poor low-effort storytelling to close a loop.
Out of all the possible ways to handle this, someone one figured that grimdark for the sake of grimdark makes for a good cyberpunk story ending.
It doesn't.
Despite the fun I had playing through Cyberpunk 2077 the past year and Phantom Liberty this week, all I can hope is that whoever they had writing/directing this story's endings will be kept very far away from the next cyberpunk project.
I gotta agree with this. No matter how bleak a story and its ending is, there should be a satisfying payoff. A tragic ending does not equal an unwholesome conclusion, at all, or at least it shouldn't.
Ultimately there is no good outcome for anyone. V can save their life, but at the cost of becoming a nobody, killing Johnny and at best maybe be another suit behind a desk at Langley. You will never have meaningful chrome again and all your friends have moved on. Reed becomes even more disillusioned and, as Johnny says, he might hang himself. Not that Reed was a good person, he betrayed Songbird, by allowing the NUSA to turn her into their Blackwall tool, where the AIs took a part of her personality every time she connected. Reed still buys into the patriotic ideal of country, duty and honor and he desperately grasps at these ideals, cause he can't bring himself to face the hard truth, namely that all of this is bullshit and exploited by politicians like the president to get good little patriots like Reed to play along. If you kill Reed V can drop some hard truth bombs on him, if you use all the dialogue options. Which are some of the best lines V has in the game. In the other endings you can also talk shit to the president and tell her how awful she is and that you want nothing from the NUSA. The relation between NC and the NUSA should be close to a war, after they attacked NC's space port.
Songbird will either die, or (if you pick that outcome) will be returned to the NUSA, who will use her until nothing is left. Sending her to the moon is probably the best outcome, but we don't know if she survives the trip, even when attached to the rocket's life support system. And we also don't know what Mr. Blue Eyes' intentions for her are. Still, seeing her launch into space where the NUSA can no longer get her, is a good thing, cause in the end she is free, even if it's just for her last moments. Even Johnny likes that outcome and seems to learn something from it. Yes, she betrayed us in the beginning and only came clean when she was close to death, but I play Phantom Liberty as if V is Roy Batty from Bladerunner. Another character who was grasping at straws and left a trail of bloodshed behind him in futile attempts to cheat death. But when he realized there was no escape, he did a final act of compassion by saving Deckard, even though Deckard was his enemy. In that context Songbird is my Deckard and once you played through the ending with the Militech bunker, you start to understand her character a lot better and you experience why she would rather die than ever return to the NUSA. Compared to Songbird's tragic story V's life is a comedy.
I like the expansion, cause the new ending brings us full circle to Dex's prologue question "A long life as nobody or go out in a blaze of glory". Now that the "long life" option is available, you can make a meaningful choice and are no longer forced into the "Death in 6 months" endings. And suddenly you realize that survival at any cost might just not be worth it. The new ending also adds a slightly more hopeful touch to the other endings - cause it shows that Mr Blue Eyes really has access to black clinics on the moon and it also shows that there might still be hope in the Nomad ending. Even if it requires a captured AI and cutting edge tech....
I also have a suspicion that the FIA screwed up V's surgery on purpose. Cause at the end of the game a fully cybered V might be too dangerous and too much of a wild card to let roam free.
There are also some missed opportunities. Sending Songbird to the moon should either have tied into the Arasaka ending or the Crystal Palace ending, where V also goes into space. Would it have been so hard to have a fixed Songbird come back and help you in these endings, by slowing V's cancer, so that we maybe get 10 years instead of 6 months? Or have her return during the Mikoshi scene, after she got better on the moon, and have her help Alt in curing us? Or suddenly have her voice on comms when you are approaching Crystal Palace:"V, it's Songbird. Thank you for everything, now it's my turn to help you. We will do this together".
Is it really too much to ask for one happy ending, in a game that has so many downers?
Songbird will either die, or (if you pick that outcome) will be returned to the NUSA, who will use her until nothing is left. Sending her to the moon is probably the best outcome, but we don't know if she survives the trip, even when attached to the rocket's life support system. And we also don't know what Mr. Blue Eyes' intentions for her are. Still, seeing her launch into space where the NUSA can no longer get her, is a good thing, cause in the end she is free, even if it's just for her last moments. Even Johnny likes that outcome and seems to learn something from it. Yes, she betrayed us in the beginning and only came clean when she was close to death, but I play Phantom Liberty as if V is Roy Batty from Bladerunner. Another character who was grasping at straws and left a trail of bloodshed behind him in futile attempts to cheat death. But when he realized there was no escape, he did a final act of compassion by saving Deckard, even though Deckard was his enemy. In that context Songbird is my Deckard and once you played through the ending with the Militech bunker, you start to understand her character a lot better and you experience why she would rather die than ever return to the NUSA. Compared to Songbird's tragic story V's life is a comedy.
I like the expansion, cause the new ending brings us full circle to Dex's prologue question "A long life as nobody or go out in a blaze of glory". Now that the "long life" option is available, you can make a meaningful choice and are no longer forced into the "Death in 6 months" endings. And suddenly you realize that survival at any cost might just not be worth it. The new ending also adds a slightly more hopeful touch to the other endings - cause it shows that Mr Blue Eyes really has access to black clinics on the moon and it also shows that there might still be hope in the Nomad ending. Even if it requires a captured AI and cutting edge tech....
I also have a suspicion that the FIA screwed up V's surgery on purpose. Cause at the end of the game a fully cybered V might be too dangerous and too much of a wild card to let roam free.
There are also some missed opportunities. Sending Songbird to the moon should either have tied into the Arasaka ending or the Crystal Palace ending, where V also goes into space. Would it have been so hard to have a fixed Songbird come back and help you in these endings, by slowing V's cancer, so that we maybe get 10 years instead of 6 months? Or have her return during the Mikoshi scene, after she got better on the moon, and have her help Alt in curing us? Or suddenly have her voice on comms when you are approaching Crystal Palace:"V, it's Songbird. Thank you for everything, now it's my turn to help you. We will do this together".
Is it really too much to ask for one happy ending, in a game that has so many downers?
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I mean, it's not bleak or hopeless. You live and can rebuild your life away from Night City.
I feel like the only thing that people care about is Panam and Judy breaking up with you, which seems to happen in all of these endings unless you die early.
And I 99% believe this is because both will be NPCs in the next game.