To everyone complaining about the Panam ending not being 'happy' enough I highly encourage you to go back, reload the savefile and do that ending all over again. But this time,
pay attention to all the little details. There are many details littered throughout hinting why this is a better ending than you think (e.g. Tarots) but I'll give you a less obvious example. When you're at the tent where the Basilisk is there's a data pad called 'The Iliad'.
Here's what it says and i've added my interpretation in brackets:
- "If I abide here and war about the city of Trojans [Night City], then lost is my home [Mother Nature with the Aldecaldos], but my renown shall be imperishable [maintain a strong reputation in Night City - this is basically the Johnny ending].
- "But if I return home [Mother Nature] to my dear native land [the great outdoors] then lost is my glorious renown [NC reputation], yet shall my life long endure, neither shall the doom of death come soon upon me."
This poem in my opinion is proof that the Aldecaldos ending is happy and that V will probably be cured in an expansion. Especially when it corroborates with what Misty says.
Just because an ending isn't happy at face value doesn't make it automatically bad! You need to pay attention to the little details.
I already explained over the past days why the pieces of world literature, which we find in the game, are either red herrings, or that the writer's came to very strange conclusions from these books, which would go against accepted literature theory. See
For Whom the Bell tolls and
The Odyssey if you look up my posts. I only mentioned
The Iliad briefly, mostly in regards to
Achilles and the
Blaze of Glory trope, but I will gladly elaborate why the
Iliad in this context is another red herring:
Many of the heroes who fought at Troy have no long life afterwards, instead finding their demise or being robbed of their years on long, lost journeys.
Agamemnon: King of Mycenae and commander of the Greek host. Murdered by his wife upon his return, in other versions murdered by his wife's lover.
Menelaus: King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, cheated husband of Helena. Loses his way when sailing back to Sparta. Lost for 8 years. Loses most of his fleet. Has no kids with Helena. Depressed over the many lives lost at Troy. At least he goes to Elysium after his death, so he has one of the better outcomes.
Achilles: Greatest hero and warrior of the age. Trades a long life for eternal glory. In most versions dies to an arrow that hit his only vulnerable spot. Ambiguous if he went to Elysium or stayed in the Underworld. Voiced regrets about his choice in
The Odyssey.
Odysseus: King of Ithaca and one of the greatest champions of the Greek host. 20 years to finally make it home. A life of hardships, sacrifice and loss. Reaches his goal in the end (at great cost).
There are others. But as you can see The Iliad is not a happy story and the most prominent survivors of the Troyan War (with the exception of Achilles, who in most versions dies in the last phase of the war) either come to an inglorious end, or suffer great loss before making it home.
However, if you view
The Iliad as an example for the ultimate fate of V, then it fits. You already died in the city upon entering Mikoshi (depending how you view the effects of Soulkiller), and your engram ghost lives out it's remaining 6 months in the desert, or does a suicide run against Crystal Palace.
Sad...really....delivering such endings and robbing us of a good outcome, which could provide some escapism in a shitty year like 2020, is almost shameful.
!! We might eventually get a response/statement sooner than later, a "we're working on it" at least, hopefully 
