[Spoiler Alert] About the endings

[lolic99]

I'm starting to think they purpusefully wrote all the endings in this way, as a mean of keeping consumers interested in the product.

Would you be waiting for a DLC if the story had an happy conclusion?

This decision killed the replayability of the game for a lot of players, and they do not have any ready-to-release DLC yet.
And therefore, if dlc comes out when, players will forget about this game. Do you think someone is still waiting for half-life 3?

 

[nadsh]

The patch of dirt thing made me lol . Personally I like the Nomads, but I feel ya. I also think the Kerry, River and Meredith(?) romances are lacking some attention (I'm a Judy tier 3 simp and unashamed about it).

Oh I like them too, Mitch and Cassidy are great, and Panam is the only LI that has V's back even when not romanced. I just didn't think that they would feel like "family" for my streetkid V who had ties to Heywood, was fine with being a merc given the alternatives (to Kerry, "Fit ain't broken, why fix it?") and met all of them two weeks ago while busy worrying about dying.

I also didn't particularly like any LI choice (I enjoyed them as characters, not as LIs. Meredith might have been a good fit, ironically), and the general message of the story should stand on its own without relying on optional romances.

 

[Kyrielle]

I'm starting to think they purpusefully wrote all the endings in this way, as a mean of keeping consumers interested in the product.

Would you be waiting for a DLC if the story had an happy conclusion?
And here I was praising them for building a game that doesn't feel as industrial as those from Ubisoft.

Personally, I remember playing and finishing Mass Effect 1 right before ME2 came out, and it made me feel inspired, happy and psyched to play the next game knowing that Shepard would be back, and the threat of the Reapers still remained.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is another game that had you defeat the Big Bad no matter what (making it a happy ending by default), but I was very interested in the Trespasser DLC, because I knew that it would deal with the future threat of [Spoiler Character].

The story of CP2077 definitely could have let V be cured while also letting us know that threats remain, leaving the way open for future stories while giving this one a defined ending.

 

[EuphoricM]

Oh I like them too, Mitch and Cassidy are great, and Panam is the only LI that has V's back even when not romanced. I just didn't think that they would feel like "family" for my streetkid V who had ties to Heywood, was fine with being a merc given the alternatives (to Kerry, "Fit ain't broken, why fix it?") and met all of them two weeks ago while busy worrying about dying.

I also didn't particularly like any LI choice (I enjoyed them as characters, not as LIs. Meredith might have been a good fit, ironically), and the general message of the story should stand on its own without relying on optional romances.

You know what, I can see what you're saying now. Specially with a street kid background, ending with the Nomads does feel kinda weird. Street kids kinda strike me ending in the blaze of glory legend thing, rags to riches and whatnot.

Funnily enough, I did a Corpo V and found it very satisfying to end with the Nomads, felt that I have finally made a character have character progression for once.

Post automatically merged: Jan 19, 2021

Personally, I remember playing and finishing Mass Effect 1 right before ME2 came out, and it made me feel inspired, happy and psyched to play the next game knowing that Shepard would be back, and the threat of the Reapers still remained.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is another game that had you defeat the Big Bad no matter what (making it a happy ending by default), but I was very interested in the Trespasser DLC, because I knew that it would deal with the future threat of [Spoiler Character].

The story of CP2077 definitely could have let V be cured while also letting us know that threats remain, leaving the way open for future stories while giving this one a defined ending.

All of the examples you cite, came to my mind when I wrote the:

I don't think a story's end must be open-ended in order for it to be continued, it can perfectly be self contained and reopened (it has been done successfully with quite a lot of titles), but that's my opinion.

I'm happy (but not so surprised) you came out and said them out loud.

 

[Eritros]

This decision killed the replayability of the game for a lot of players, and they do not have any ready-to-release DLC yet.
And therefore, if dlc comes out when, players will forget about this game. Do you think someone is still waiting for half-life 3?

I think we can all agree that CDPR gave too much space to the marketing department. I would not be surprised if the endings were written this way because of them.

 

[Groddon]

You know what, I can see what you're saying now. Specially with a street kid background, ending with the Nomads does feel kinda weird. Street kids kinda strike me ending in the blaze of glory legend thing, rags to riches and whatnot.

Funnily enough, I did a Corpo V and found it very satisfying to end with the Nomads, felt that I have finally made a character have character progression for once.

That's exactly the experience that one of my friend had: he said "The Last Samurai ending" funnily enough.

 

[anyawow]

This is Cyberpunk 2077. There will be dlc which continues. I played at least six endings and Loved two of them. V died in only one. V is not going to die. Even converted to engrams like Johnny, she can continue. Give me a break. Her story will continue. By the way, my PC experience has been great in every way. If you are on an old console, just stop bitching (really tired of all the cry babies) and buy a new console. If you play an ancient PC, upgrade. I keep repeating myself: Galaxy client shows my playtime at 160 hours, I have had zero crashes, zero quest bugs, only a small number of visual bugs. My graphics are awesome, my FPS is smooth. I have totally enjoyed this game.

 

[nadsh]

You know what, I can see what you're saying now. Specially with a street kid background, ending with the Nomads does feel kinda weird. Street kids kinda strike me ending in the blaze of glory legend thing, rags to riches and whatnot.

That's part of why I liked the Don't Fear The Reaper ending the most overall, though the mansion bit in the epilogue was weird. For me the streetkid lifepath was about being able to resist the system from within the city, forming alliances without giving in to the corpo lifestyle or completely losing freedom. Nomads are independent but at the cost of individual freedom, family comes first.

Streetkid V never seems particularly money hungry in the prologue, the whole thing starts with V helping Pepe settle his debt with Kirk (you can pick how selflessly), detective Stints letting both V and Jackie go despite the corpos wanting them dead for trying to steal the car (because he also came from Heywood), and V and Jackie bonding over their failed robbery after meeting as enemies. It gave Heywood a "family" vibe. This is also mentioned in some of the specific streetkid choices, like when talking to Joss.

The evolution of a shallow "becoming a legend" dream could have been fighting against corps in Night City while taking advantage of existing connections, taking only meaningful jobs and trying to make a difference (without necessarily chaging anything in the long term).

 

[EuphoricM]

Streetkid V never seems particularly money hungry in the prologue, the whole thing starts with V helping Pepe settle his debt with Kirk (you can pick how selflessly), detective Stints letting both V and Jackie go despite the corpos wanting them dead for trying to steal the car (because he also came from Heywood), and V and Jackie bonding over their failed robbery after meeting as enemies. It gave Heywood a "family" vibe. This is also mentioned in some of the specific streetkid choices, like when talking to Joss.

That's a cool take. I can see a streed kid ending like a Morgan Blackhand and what not, or becoming more of a vigilante for the city, that works well with the whole Heywood is my place thing.

In the corpo life path you get chewed and spat by the corpo machine. Jackie is an old friend who saved your life years ago in Mexico I think. He serves as this character that reinforces the argument that your life as a corpo is fleeting, lacking in substance, and a lie. He's the one who helps you start your new life as a merc. I find it very natural that someone who failed at the corpo ladder now wants to make it big independently as a merc.

I found it super nice that after the heist, when you get your second chance at living. V is more and more interested in living and less interested in becoming a legend, so I just played with that idea. To end it all with the Nomads felt pretty cool: V found someone to care for (LI), a family, and leaves the "city of dreams" behind, for it's nothing more than lies that will slowly eat at you until there is nothing left. V should know, tried to play by the book once, then tried to become a legend in the streets, but know just cares about those who cares for him/her. Also it made the relationship with Johnny much more organic in my opinion (they hated each other at the start but eventually grow to like each other).

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

IMO, the main problem is how the game lets you reach the endings. For example, take the Aldecaldos' ending (I'll talk about this because I played it yesterday) :

TLDR version: if you read the ending as "it's an ending full of hope, you leave Night City with Aldecaldos and maybe your loved one, and you'll probably survive as the tarot cards imply so (bright future ahead, with Misty happy reading that)", that seems a decent ending, right? But when I've played it, I've felt anything but hope. The Alt part is just insulting, and the DNA thing isn't even the worst part of it.

Long version (English isn't my first language, but I'll try my best):
Context, I've played as Nomad male V, Johnny convinced V that Mikoshi is bad and V had a decent relationship with him, befriended Judy and River, romanced Panam, and didn't want to become a Legend anymore, but wanted to leave Night City. So Aldecaldos' ending is the best ending for my character if you believe tarot cards (and you should believe them here, as it's a videogame and they were always right).

The problem is that even if this is the "hope ending", I haven't experienced hope, only death, and I've instantly regretted my decision to call Aldecaldos for help. There are so many things wrong with how you obtain this ending, I'll list them in random order:

Aldecaldos' part:

- It doesn't make sense to call Aldecaldos for help. Aldecaldos are starving, they are the weakest gang/group in Night City, they are the lowest paid mercenaries (you can read it in messages and shards), asking them for help is just a death sentence to them. Well, even without V, they'll slowly die anyways if they don't leave Night City, but there's an huge difference between them dying because you've sent them to a suicide mission and them dying because of poor choices they've made in their past. And, as soon as the assault starts, 2 Aldecaldos die, just reminding you that you've made a very poor choice.
- Ok, it doesn't make sense to call Aldecaldos for help, so don't call them, no? And that comes the other problem, the only way to leave Night City is to call Aldecaldos of leave the body to Johnny.
- Playing this part felt wrong from start to finish, I don't know how to explain this

Alt's part:

- The Alt part was the most insulting thing I've ever experienced in a videogame (but I've never played Mass Effect 3). I've gotten evil vibes from that encounter, in contrast to the "hope ending" that I was expecting.
- Johnny's dialogues too don't make any sense: as soon as I've met him in Mikoshi, I could only choose "F*ck you" or "Very f*ck you". Wtf? My V was in a good relationship with him.
- The mood is wrong for an "hope ending". I don't even care about the DNA thing, it's not the main problem here. She could've said "you'll die in 6 months because of DNA, I can't do anything because I'm a netrunner not a medic, but from what I see, you can probably find someone that can help you, it won't be easy, but never stop fighting". V is still dying, the ending is basically the same, but atleast it gives you hope. The mood would be compatible with the meaning of the ending.

The aldecados especially under panam's leadership don't leave people behind, and they don't think the right answer is to just let stuff happen. They believe in risking it all for family, even if they take losses. You see this in them going to save Saul, them deciding to get the floating tank. Them hunting down Kang Tao after the attack. Yes there is some guilt there for V, but they are actually mad at you if you do it without them, and don't accept their all for one and one for all mentality.

Not sure how your alt ending went, but my char didnt hate Johnny at the end. Alt's opinion is just her opinion (as t bug tells you) Alt has always been prickly even as a human (when she tells Johnny he is the same as insane bum with delusions) She also doesn't think She, or Johnny has a soul. And she always speaks as if what she is saying is an unchangeable fact, even when its not. She is clearly more human than she believes, which shows the player you can't take her word as law. (She claims she isn't alt, but later admits she is only helping you because of Johnny)

Point being, alt's opinion on your survival is alts opinion. V choosing life is V choosing to struggle against all the doubters that told them they had no chance and keep fighting. In both the pan am ending, and the king of afterlife ending he clearly is still struggling. And the last time he struggled when everyone said he was probably dead, he turned 2-4 weeks into 6 months. After hes gonna try to turn 6 months into years.

The reason people don't see this is because they don't realize that no one in this story plays the part of giving the player universal truth, like some other examples of fiction usually do. Every "truth" you hear is just that character's understanding. If the writers want to show that V died six months later as the set in stone result of his life, they'd have showed it. The ending is V buys himself six more months to try to struggle against the world. Not that he died 6 months later.

 

[CasperTheGhost]

IMO, the main problem is how the game lets you reach the endings. For example, take the Aldecaldos' ending (I'll talk about this because I played it yesterday) :

TLDR version: if you read the ending as "it's an ending full of hope, you leave Night City with Aldecaldos and maybe your loved one, and you'll probably survive as the tarot cards imply so (bright future ahead, with Misty happy reading that)", that seems a decent ending, right? But when I've played it, I've felt anything but hope. The Alt part is just insulting, and the DNA thing isn't even the worst part of it.

Long version (English isn't my first language, but I'll try my best):
Context, I've played as Nomad male V, Johnny convinced V that Mikoshi is bad and V had a decent relationship with him, befriended Judy and River, romanced Panam, and didn't want to become a Legend anymore, but wanted to leave Night City. So Aldecaldos' ending is the best ending for my character if you believe tarot cards (and you should believe them here, as it's a videogame and they were always right).

The problem is that even if this is the "hope ending", I haven't experienced hope, only death, and I've instantly regretted my decision to call Aldecaldos for help. There are so many things wrong with how you obtain this ending, I'll list them in random order:

Aldecaldos' part:

- It doesn't make sense to call Aldecaldos for help. Aldecaldos are starving, they are the weakest gang/group in Night City, they are the lowest paid mercenaries (you can read it in messages and shards), asking them for help is just a death sentence to them. Well, even without V, they'll slowly die anyways if they don't leave Night City, but there's an huge difference between them dying because you've sent them to a suicide mission and them dying because of poor choices they've made in their past. And, as soon as the assault starts, 2 Aldecaldos die, just reminding you that you've made a very poor choice.
- Ok, it doesn't make sense to call Aldecaldos for help, so don't call them, no? And that comes the other problem, the only way to leave Night City is to call Aldecaldos of leave the body to Johnny.
- Playing this part felt wrong from start to finish, I don't know how to explain this

Alt's part:

- The Alt part was the most insulting thing I've ever experienced in a videogame (but I've never played Mass Effect 3). I've gotten evil vibes from that encounter, in contrast to the "hope ending" that I was expecting.
- Johnny's dialogues too don't make any sense: as soon as I've met him in Mikoshi, I could only choose "F*ck you" or "Very f*ck you". Wtf? My V was in a good relationship with him.
- The mood is wrong for an "hope ending". I don't even care about the DNA thing, it's not the main problem here. She could've said "you'll die in 6 months because of DNA, I can't do anything because I'm a netrunner not a medic, but from what I see, you can probably find someone that can help you, it won't be easy, but never stop fighting". V is still dying, the ending is basically the same, but atleast it gives you hope. The mood would be compatible with the meaning of the ending.

the thing with the aldecaldos ending, they actually need the tech and resources from the saka raid, they were helping themselves as much as they were helping you, however saving your life was the motivating factor, they wouldn't have done it if you didn't have literally a day to live.

now, for something completely different... anyone play the first Way of the Samurai back in the day, that was a grimdark setting, and there were also like seven endings, and they varied depending on what you did or didn't do, not all the endings were satisfying, and rightly so, as if you f**ked up enough stuff you shouldn't get a good ending. but, i found each ending fairly appropriate from my character's actions, and the game itself was quite fulfilling, must have played that game 300 times, just because i had interesting character concepts i wanted to try out, even if their actions lead to a shitty ending, as it was at least an ending they/i earned.

---edit) ok, a few of those 300 playthroughs was about maxing out one of every sword, and unlocking all the move blockers on my favorite.

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

Could have worked for me if there was a way to actually pick the loved ones and the new worthier dreams instead of V leaving with (in my playthrough) a bunch of strangers to live in a patch of dirt

That's the problem with a customizable protagonist, I can feel the endings telling me "Please romance Panam.. or Judy, either one is fine.. no one else tho, and don't even look in Johnny's general direction.. NC bad Badlands good, remember that.." regardless of how I played during the last three acts.

You don't have to romance them(just help em out), but if you have no connections to anyone, you have no one to help you other than a transactional corporation, and you get a transactional ending. Also, they aren't telling you not to look in Johnny's direction, I played antagonisticly the first time, ignoring or yelling at him, and it goes substantially differently if you do his stuff and make friends with him.

Also, if pan am's people weren't that close to you, you shouldn't call them to risk their lives. I think pan ams ending is the easiest one to get, that isn't arasaka, but its not necessarily the truest one for everyones character. I also think they could have added a more city based solution, focused on the ties you have there. But I guess the flaw is they didnt let V make any strong ties with powerful people there.

maybe if they added the streets of NC dlc, where you get a little deeper with some fixers and they come up with a plan to help you break into mikoshi.

 

[nadsh]

You don't have to romance them(just help em out), but if you have no connections to anyone, you have no one to help you other than a transactional corporation, and you get a transactional ending. Also, they aren't telling you not to look in Johnny's direction, I played antagonisticly the first time, ignoring or yelling at him, and it goes substantially differently if you do his stuff and make friends with him.

That's not what I meant. I had 70% with Johnny by the end, picked the secret ending and that's fine for my character given the alternatives.

The message of "being with loved ones in the last few months" only works if V romances Panam/Judy, gets incredibly attached to them over the course of 2 weeks and picks The Star. There is little to no resolution otherwise. Panam and Judy are also given a disproportionate amount of content compared to Kerry and River, which is unfair but a whole other issue.

Everyone outside of Jackie, Victor and Misty is pretty much a stranger to V, and if you're more attached to Johnny or Goro than any the LIs by the end of the game, good luck with that. The endings are skewed towards a certain path.

 

[enkee23]

i want to do 20 str, 20 tech, 20 int V
no car door, either in a building or in an elevator, can stop new copy of V
even the door to the orbital station

evertime i rewatch nomad ending because of panam I'm driving further and further from them
why they are so weak and stupid in this game?
mitch words are so nonsense

dear mitch,
you are like a desert vik for me
you steal arasaka immortality technology to build aircraft ship?
did you burn your synapses in the tank?
do you know how much it costs?
do you how much people and power are needed for this?

and then they decided to cross a border when two of them will be baits for militech
nomads... nomads never change...

 

[Barsenthor]

I'm starting to think they purpusefully wrote all the endings in this way, as a mean of keeping consumers interested in the product.

Would you be waiting for a DLC if the story had an happy conclusion?
And here I was praising them for building a game that doesn't feel as industrial as those from Ubisoft.

I usually go back to the games that i have fond memories. CP77 is so far not one of this games. Maybe looks stunning, but as a old jokes goes - it's about soul.
Soul is just one-way-road nihilistic take on the genre.
Not to mention that this game so far leaves a lot to be desire.

 

[Guest 4412420]

The message of "being with loved ones in the last few months" only works if V romances Panam/Judy, gets incredibly attached to them over the course of 2 weeks and picks The Star. There is little to no resolution otherwise. Panam and Judy are also given a disproportionate amount of content compared to Kerry and River, which is unfair but a whole other issue.

This part right here really bothered me.

I like Panam but nowhere near enough to pick her ending and it was pretty frustrating how the game is basically going wink wink, nudge nudge the nomads could be your V's family. My V is a street kid and Mama Welles, Misty and Vik felt more like family to me but it feels like the game just throws them under the bus in favor of Aldecaldos.

 

[Barsenthor]

You don't have to romance them(just help em out), but if you have no connections to anyone, you have no one to help you other than a transactional corporation, and you get a transactional ending. Also, they aren't telling you not to look in Johnny's direction, I played antagonisticly the first time, ignoring or yelling at him, and it goes substantially differently if you do his stuff and make friends with him.

Also, if pan am's people weren't that close to you, you shouldn't call them to risk their lives. I think pan ams ending is the easiest one to get, that isn't arasaka, but its not necessarily the truest one for everyones character. I also think they could have added a more city based solution, focused on the ties you have there. But I guess the flaw is they didnt let V make any strong ties with powerful people there.

maybe if they added the streets of NC dlc, where you get a little deeper with some fixers and they come up with a plan to help you break into mikoshi.

The problem is that story wise you shouldn't do any of side missions, since game is just screaming V is going die with constant relic malfunctions. So it's just MQ, Hanako and then choice if you want to look on your own for cure going back on Earth or want to Hanako look for one while brainwashing you.
In metagaming terms, its fine, since V can spend months in-game time, just coughing.

Not to mention that maybe someone just don't like going full redneck and likes living in the big city? Game/story is just far to much skewed toward country side living, on the verge of preaching.
I found this just off-putting.

 

[Crusher93]

I don't care much for Panam or the Aldecaldos and it was pretty frustrating how the game is basically going wink wink, nudge nudge the nomads could be your V's family. My V is a street kid and Mama Welles, Misty and Vik felt more like family to me but it feels like the game just throws them under the bus in favor of Aldecaldos.

Yeah, too bad there was no streetkid ending option. Rogue or Secret ending doesn't feel like it. Something maybe with The Valentinos or other gang? I dont know.

 

[Guest 4531988]

Life Rarely ends in a happy ending.

 

[Crusher93]

Life Rarely ends in a happy ending.

Yes. And? So?