[Spoiler Alert] About the endings

[Barsenthor]

What did everyone think of the Johnny ending, anyway?

It's interesting that Johnny is so emotionally devastated by V's death. It's clear that not only does he feel that his friend giving up their life for him wasn't worth it but that he didn't actually have any plans to live himself. He has no idea where to go, what to do, and when he hears about Yorinobu planning to start his war with Militech, well, Johnny says, "Fuck it, I don't care. It's none of my business."

Plus Rogue hates him and he can't bear to tell V's friends that he's dead.

I don’t know why they had to drop the expected narrative that Narrator unwilling is turning into Tyler Durden with the climax at the end that is fight between both of them.
Was it because they run out of time or is it because that Keanu or someone else just didn’t like the script where Silverhand is/can be a bad guy

we get another inconsistency in this game and another major choice of the narrative less.

The moment the Vic says that it’s not Johnny fault that biochip is doing what is doing the whole tension was blow out of the water.

So we get very forced buddy action comedy instead the Fight Club in Cyberpunk.
And no I really doubt that this was an overlook or some inconsistency, since there are just many dead end dialogues that lead to the more aggressive stance towards the Johnny.

It’s also completely illogical that Johnny from 2020 would just in the matter of hour max (from V apartment to the ending a dinner with Goro in story time) do U turn in his motives and just stay loyal to it for the whole game, no matter what you do.

He is your nice guy from neighborhood who won’t even criticize you because you are making a pact with his arch nemesis. He doesn’t want your body, is sad when he gets it, and he just leaves NC and his drive to Fight Arasaka with it, he is ghosting all of V friends to not make them sad in the long turn because he took something from them, they will just hate him now - it’s better that way. He will also lie to V like “I’m starting to like Judy” prolly coz he is that nice.

Really this game would be far better without Johnny character as a such since there was no idea what to with him.

 

[SaulTuk]

Like I said, I hope robbing the Crystal Palaces somehow turns into a Heist Job where you can potentially recruit Judy, Panam, River, and Kerry to work together.

You're merciless manipulator). All this people have their own lifes, as significant and valuable as V's. Risking the lifes of V's dear people for his own personal survival, again?

Post automatically merged: Jan 5, 2021

Really, during the main missions, he either acted like an arsehole, treated other people like shit, almost gets V's body killed oh and makes it perfectly clear that he does not want to live anymore.

V defacto ignores johnnie's wish.

And I get the feeling he is secretly smoking in my apartment when he takes over. At least the full ashtray is a good indecation.

And brings hookers too)

 

[Nikola_Nesic]

Not sure if they need Silverhand to be right next to V all the time for this game to be good, i mean Cyberpunk TT is not just Silverhand there are other characters in that setting, i also really don't like that i need to give up my Character just so Silverhand can be back in to setting.

 

[bcraig6010]

Proven? Perhaps but implied you will live? Yes.

only to you my friend - only to you.

the rest of us who can depend on a metaphyscial, legal, and medical definition of death pretty much know all three lead the V is cyberspace is dead and getting merged with AI ALT (who is not a nice person btw) counts as death for V - as V ceases to exist as they are.

and implied ALT absorbs everyone and moves on - I'm not sure if you've seen star trek but being merged into the borg does indeed destroy the integrity of the being - you become borg - no longer you.

"something continues on" does not mean V lives - saw V's funeral box

and other endings nothing is settled - live with some hope in desert, or just 3 months to live single handedly attacking a space station (wtf - why am i doing this???) or after a brain surgery removing parts of brain after leaving arasaka are not all "hopeful" endings. (took them how long to figure of a simplified rubix cude??)

YOU are interpreting based upon your headcanon.

 

[Barsenthor]

Not sure if they need Silverhand to be right next to V all the time for this game to be good, i mean Cyberpunk TT is not just Silverhand there are other characters in that setting, i also really don't like that i need to give up my Character just so Silverhand can be back in to setting.

But Keanu asked them to give him 2x more of the lines and they did it in the fashion that once again proves the Law Of Diminishing Retutns.
And the story gets bloated with him. this wasn’t OG plan for it, since Silverhand was dead in 2077 in 2018 trailer and wasn’t even present in 2019 gameplay trailer.
We can conclude that he wasn’t a focal point of the story up to this point.

 

[SaulTuk]

But Keanu asked them to give him 2x more of the lines and they did it in the fashion that once again proves the Law Of Diminishing Retutns.
And the story gets bloated with him. Since this wasn’t OG plan for it, since Silverhand was dead in 2077 in 2018 trailer and wasn’t even present in 2019 gameplay trailer we can conclude that he wasn’t a focal point of the story up to this point.

It's physics! Stars, like Keanu, are very massive, with strong gravity field, deforming the very space-time around it. Original pre-Keanu plot was deformed too)

 

[CTPhipps]

Johnny's death being worth mentioning means it was ALWAYS focused on him. The problem is that was breaking canon and that's why they changed it.

Seriously, there's never been a chance this story wasn't about Johnny in your head.

 

[SaulTuk]

wtf - why am i doing this???

Because V wants to enter Valhalla)

 

[CTPhipps]

only to you my friend - only to you.

If that were the case, I'd fear greatly for gamers ability to understand storytelling.

the rest of us who can depend on a metaphyscial, legal, and medical definition of death pretty much know all three lead the V is cyberspace is dead and getting merged with AI ALT (who is not a nice person btw) counts as death for V - as V ceases to exist as they are.

Change happens. Delamain becomes a merger of his various selves in his quest.

and implied ALT absorbs everyone and moves on - I'm not sure if you've seen star trek but being merged into the borg does indeed destroy the integrity of the being - you become borg - no longer you.

Apotheosis and losing the sense of self to become part of the godhead is a key feature in many religions.

"something continues on" does not mean V lives - saw V's funeral box

Which was empty.

and other endings nothing is settled - live with some hope in desert, or just 3 months to live single handedly attacking a space station (wtf - why am i doing this???) or after a brain surgery removing parts of brain after leaving arasaka are not all "hopeful" endings. (took them how long to figure of a simplified rubix cude??)

YOU are interpreting based upon your headcanon.

Mr. Blue Eyes made a promise in the Secret Ending, presumably to cure you.

As for headcanon, I'm pretty sure the definition of it is you ignoring all the endings to forward your own interpretation of events. That's fine, it's a video game, but let's not pretend it's what the authors intended.

 

[bcraig6010]

I like it not having a happy ending. This is a dark story, there is nothing happy about the future presented here. If you can't get joy out of a story unless there is some cream-dream-happy scene at the end, you probably shouldn't look to dystopian fiction.

Of all the things they lied about when selling this game, a happy ending was never promised that I saw. Though I would love to see it if I missed that interview or twitter post. I understand your expectations and feelings on this, but I think you are missing the point of the story because you want it to be the "standard" story you are probably used to. Did you like Blade Runner or consider that a happy ending? Perhaps Terry Gilliam's Brazil? How about 12 Monkeys (I will stop mentioning Terry Gilliam movies, though he had clear influence on many of the writers and artists at CDPR). Johnny Mnemonic had a semi-happy ending if I remember properly, but I also read that the studio did a lot of work to make it more mainstream.

You should check out Disney for happy endings. I guarantee you that the "good guy" wins in all of those stories, and the dirtiness, sadness, pain, and suffering expressed in the story will only be short lived, and enough to boost the payoff that you can comfortably rely on.

*sigh* Watch Seven. Very dark. Vary sad. No one hates the ending - why? The morgan freeman character - after everything disturbing and dark we go through - begins to care again - not going to retire. The journey he went on MEANT something.

Shawshank redemption is not the story of andy deufrees going through hell of a prison sentence he did not deserve and escaping. It's the story of Red's redemption. Old man leaves prison after 40 years behind bars and life ruined. But he sees his friend on the beach - and we aren't mad over his lost 40 years - we are happy hes on the pacific ocean - with his friend

V has no journey - V is a vessel for johnny's story and only thing that matters is the choose your color choice on the balcony - which does NOT have a darn thing to do with what you should do after the assault. Yet the game decides your V only interested in glory and becomes uber merc to get rch and blow money on stupid stuff for a dying person.

We have no agency - the near futile endings are the stake in the heart reminding us we had no say, no agency, and nearly no hope.

 

[Ronin1712]

My problem with the Aldecaldo ending is that we still have to cooperate with Alt which leads to V getting soulkilled. The ending itself looks quite positive but I still have a feeling that V just allowed a skynet-type AI to consume the whole Arasaka's database.

I hope Cyberpunk universe has its own John Connor.

 

[Barsenthor]

Johnny's death being worth mentioning means it was ALWAYS focused on him. The problem is that was breaking canon and that's why they changed it.

Seriously, there's never been a chance this story wasn't about Johnny in your head.

Just how and why?
This game was a mainstream release Most people/general audience didn’t know the Johnny, and they bought the game from 2018 gameplay demo that started the hype train. If he is so important character then why he appear only in Act 2 and is not present throughout the whole story?

The fact that they even thought that the game needs some star to back it up is astonishing, let alone to make him or here a main focus in the game.

It can be even the only big game that makes the real life star to be a protagonist.

Like why? The story about the V being pursued by Yorinobu in the open world game with unintrusive MQ would make this game a GOTY material be default

 

[CTPhipps]

We have no agency - the near futile endings are the stake in the heart reminding us we had no say, no agency, and nearly no hope.

I think the problem here is that your V has to make their own meaning from it. He or she is a blank slate and you have to chose what you do with the ending.

* Do you side with Arasaka to survive as an immortal soul in their service?
* Do you stay with the Aldecados to live an uncertain but free future away from Night City?
* Do you want all the wealth, power, and fame of taking over the Afterlife?
* Do you want to transcend your mortality and/or make your death mean something by saving your friend Johnny.

Or do you just want to do good for what little time you have left like my V? Why he helped River, Judy, and Panam.

This game was a mainstream release Most people/general audience didn’t know the Johnny, and they bought the game from 2018 gameplay demo that started the hype train. If he is so important character then why he appear only in Act 2 and is not present throughout the whole story?

Mike Pondsmith said they wanted to tell a story heavily based around Alt and Johnny's story, which was the central focus of the game's metaplot anyway. They even included the adventure "Never Fade Away" in the game and have you play through it,

Never Fade Away (Adventure)

Never Fade Away is a mini adventure featured in both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2020. It is the opening of what is considered the Cyberpunk story and revolves around the kidnapping of Alt Cunningham by Arasaka. 1 Overview 1.1 A Cyberpunk Adventure 1.2 Trauma Ward 1.3 The Naming of Names 1.4...

cyberpunk.fandom.com

The game was setting you up to get the chip from the very beginning but there was never a story where you weren't half-Johnny/half you.

Like why? The story about the V being pursued by Yorinobu in the open world game with unintrusive MQ would make this game a GOTY material be default

Not liking it is perfectly valid but it doesn't mean what it wasn't intended. There's plenty of people who hate Yennefer and love Triss but that doesn't mean the game isn't slanted to romancing the former.

 

[Nikola_Nesic]

Yeah to be legend in NC is so force on V.

 

[bcraig6010]

Jepp, choom

we should not place too much trust in them.... the same people who insitigated vast change in the story in '18, and cut content, and decided to release the game as-is -

are also the ones who decide where it goes from here and what is in fact added.

 

[CTPhipps]

Yeah to be legend in NC is so force on V.

I think part of the issue is the fact that V is a blank slate protagonist unlike Geralt. They might have worked better if they'd made them more defined. Because some gamers clearly don't care about becoming a Legend in Night City and wonder why the game keeps implying we should. Others are selfish bastards. Others want to be Night City Batman and save the city.

Which is GOOD because that means we're roleplaying different kinds of characters.

We're more Dragonborn than Geralt.

This is notably WHY Johnny exists, though. Blank slate protagonists can't have story arcs so you have to create characters to base any emotional story on. Hence blank slate protagonists tend to be supporting protagonists.

 

[bcraig6010]

I think the problem here is that your V has to make their own meaning from it. He or she is a blank slate and you have to chose what you do with the ending.

* Do you side with Arasaka to survive as an immortal soul in their service?
* Do you stay with the Aldecados to live an uncertain but free future away from Night City?
* Do you want all the wealth, power, and fame of taking over the Afterlife?
* Do you want to transcend your mortality and/or make your death mean something by saving your friend Johnny.

Or do you just want to do good for what little time you have left like my V? Why he helped River, Judy, and Panam.



Mike Pondsmith said they wanted to tell a story heavily based around Alt and Johnny's story, which was the central focus of the game's metaplot anyway. They even included the adventure "Never Fade Away" in the game and have you play through it,

Never Fade Away (Adventure)

Never Fade Away is a mini adventure featured in both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2020. It is the opening of what is considered the Cyberpunk story and revolves around the kidnapping of Alt Cunningham by Arasaka. 1 Overview 1.1 A Cyberpunk Adventure 1.2 Trauma Ward 1.3 The Naming of Names 1.4...

cyberpunk.fandom.com

The game was setting you up to get the chip from the very beginning but there was never a story where you weren't half-Johnny/half you.



Not liking it is perfectly valid but it doesn't mean what it wasn't intended. There's plenty of people who hate Yennefer and love Triss but that doesn't mean the game isn't slanted to romancing the former.

Actually ponsmith said cyberpunk was about saving yourself - not the world.

"
* Do you side with Arasaka to survive as an immortal soul in their service?
* Do you stay with the Aldecados to live an uncertain but free future away from Night City?
* Do you want all the wealth, power, and fame of taking over the Afterlife?
* Do you want to transcend your mortality and/or make your death mean something by saving your friend Johnny.

Or do you just want to do good for what little time you have left like my V? Why he helped River, Judy, and Panam. "

I don't recall choosing any of these.
I only got to choose the how to assault a building choice.

From there I was railroaded into subsequent events. Or Johnny was one choosing -
Maybe, just maybe, taking on arasaka alone was to save lives - not some stupid glory and money desire.

 

[Barsenthor]

I think the problem here is that your V has to make their own meaning from it. He or she is a blank slate and you have to chose what you do with the ending.

* Do you side with Arasaka to survive as an immortal soul in their service?
* Do you stay with the Aldecados to live an uncertain but free future away from Night City?
* Do you want all the wealth, power, and fame of taking over the Afterlife?
* Do you want to transcend your mortality and/or make your death mean something by saving your friend Johnny.

Post automatically merged: Jan 5, 2021

Mike Pondsmith said they wanted to tell a story heavily based around Alt and Johnny's story, which was the central focus of the game's metaplot anyway. They even included the adventure "Never Fade Away" in the game and have you play through it,

Never Fade Away (Adventure)

Never Fade Away is a mini adventure featured in both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2020. It is the opening of what is considered the Cyberpunk story and revolves around the kidnapping of Alt Cunningham by Arasaka. 1 Overview 1.1 A Cyberpunk Adventure 1.2 Trauma Ward 1.3 The Naming of Names 1.4...

cyberpunk.fandom.com

The game was setting you up to get the chip from the very beginning but there was never a story where you weren't half-Johnny/half you.

Maybe we played different games since I didn’t get any of it.
Johnny works as a talking brain cancer and being a friend with the malignant tumor is just insane.

Narrator created a Tyler because he was everything that he dream of. Here there is no such things, he is forced in the way that makes him an antagonist the moment you met him. But then game sands some conflicting messages about this.

In Fight Club after the revelation you know that Narrator will fight Tyler, and he really had the reason no to do this. In CP77 V is forced to become suicidal because reasons.

Mike so badly wanted Johnny (forget about Alt since she is in this game nothing more than a plot device) hat they just kept him hidden for the 6 years of marketing, and show you that this game is about everything else from being Max Tac through playing as a Merc to the making some meaningful choices in Pacifica.

 

[SaulTuk]

we should not place too much trust in them.... the same people who insitigated vast change in the story in '18, and cut content, and decided to release the game as-is -

are also the ones who decide where it goes from here and what is in fact added.

Aaaand modding community, at least on Nexus, don't give a shit about endings. They haven't mods for that, they didn't even had mod request for it until i made one yesterday. And this request is completely ignored now, and more recent mod request gets all the attention.

 

[bcraig6010]

The end I cried was the end that Johnny gets V's body and goes to the cemetery to say goodbye to V.
Then every ending I made, I got more and more pissed. lol.

I liked the suicide more, I hate open end!
At least Johnny isn't going to cyber hell.

Just to make you feel oh so much better......
All your friends don't know you're dead...

Johnny just up and leaves....

So they are calling a dead persons phone looking for V - and Johnny the real protagonist of this "action adventure" game never has the guts to even call or message them that their valued friend or lover V is dead.

They will forever not know what happened - unless/until someone comes across the right funeral box.