[Spoiler Alert] About the endings

[DROZD01]

Btw, people, can someone explain to me why the either engram in "Don't fear the ripper" should go with Alt?
Why can't V or Johnny just take it with them?
Personally, i'd be perfectly ok with "Johnny get's the body" ending if V weren't just disintegrated by Alt for some goddamn "reason".
Hell, i'd be more than happy if they just made a goddamn smartphone/car/anything with V's engram to stay wth new-Johnny, thus giving at least to me some hope of reviving any-V (copy or not - to me it's irrelevant) later in DLC, for example.

Moreover, just removing that "6-month crap" from the opposite ending in "Don't fear the ripper" i would still consider a sorta-positive ending. Yep, we basically lost a friend (yes, i did consider that douchbag-terrorist-rocker a friend during the game after some point), but at least V achieved something by so much struggle along the way.
The same "why can't we just save an engram" question somewhere outside that "cyberspace with Alt" applies here too.
I mean... just add some midgame quest for obtaining some other "almost-relic" suitable for storing engrams, which would be another part of getting that "secret" ending. Otherwise there's nothing secret about it, nothing special. Just not sacrifising friends along your struggle.

 

[MeinChurro]

Cyberpunk 2077 - The only truly punk move is not to play

Another spot on review of the game

I've been actually starting to get burned out because of the god awful, repetitive gig design, and this is probably because I deleted a couple other characters after finding out about the endings. Put in 110.1 hours. I just don't really have much motivation to continue playing other than , "it's kind of fun", it's not like I care to get to the ending. I might be shelving this game earlier than I thought, unfortunate. Going the punk route.

 

[V-time]

Regarding the Johnny Engram, it seems to me that this was specifically done to get information on who supplied them with the bomb. Basically wanting information on who they're working for. Militech - basically - and their connection with NUSA. It's probably easier to interrogate him.

The game already introduces being able to tell lies through jacking into your brain slot (Meredith Stout scene when you get the flat head). So that seems much easier then creating an engram. So I'll agree with you there.

 

[ArrowOCE]

This may come off as weird, but I felt that this ending was just perfect either way. It looks like they're looking to do Witcher style expansions which could lead to an eventual path to survival, but in general even if it didn't, this was a fitting end. From the start, the entire game could literally be said to revolve around the song 'never fade away' and it's hammered into you over and over, as your goal goes from becoming a legend, to becoming famous, to simply not fading away and being forgotten as V fights to just survive.

It's incredibly similar to RDR2 (even better in this case I'd say), where in RDR2 your death comes from an event that, for alot of people, would be completely out of character and highly preventable (stats show alot of people went high honor Arthur, and beating up a poor debtor as a high honor Arthur made no sense to me, which made his death much less impactful in this case), V's path to his own death is completely out of both the player's and the character's control and in a world as big as Cyberpunk where there is always a bigger fish, it's simply both unironic and fitting and nails home the message that the world is not something a single man can stand up against (I mean, setting off a nuke in a city barely stopped or changed anything).

I completely disagree with people saying that there isn't a happy ending, because truly V's ending is a happy one I'd say. We've come to know all along that V's goal was to become an NC legend and that goal only got even more intense after Jackie's death. His happy ending is to go out with a bang and seeing his final act of going to the crystal palace for seemingly something huge, it's a perfect end for V's adventure.

Though, there is always the possibility that future expansions flesh out those months that V has to live and present a path to a disney like happy ending for all, which by all means sure go ahead as it will make alot of people happy, but for me I'm completely satisfied as it is.

 

[Loud.mp3]

What she is saying gives some hope, also it looks like they started to work on voiceover only in 2018

 

[Subenu]

This may come off as weird, but I felt that this ending was just perfect either way. It looks like they're looking to do Witcher style expansions which could lead to an eventual path to survival, but in general even if it didn't, this was a fitting end. From the start, the entire game could literally be said to revolve around the song 'never fade away' and it's hammered into you over and over, as your goal goes from becoming a legend, to becoming famous, to simply not fading away and being forgotten as V fights to just survive.

It's incredibly similar to RDR2 (even better in this case I'd say), where in RDR2 your death comes from an event that, for alot of people, would be completely out of character and highly preventable (stats show alot of people went high honor Arthur, and beating up a poor debtor as a high honor Arthur made no sense to me, which made his death much less impactful in this case), V's path to his own death is completely out of both the player's and the character's control and in a world as big as Cyberpunk where there is always a bigger fish, it's simply both unironic and fitting and nails home the message that the world is not something a single man can stand up against (I mean, setting off a nuke in a city barely stopped or changed anything).

I completely disagree with people saying that there isn't a happy ending, because truly V's ending is a happy one I'd say. We've come to know all along that V's goal was to become an NC legend and that goal only got even more intense after Jackie's death. His happy ending is to go out with a bang and seeing his final act of going to the crystal palace for seemingly something huge, it's a perfect end for V's adventure.

Though, there is always the possibility that future expansions flesh out those months that V has to live and present a path to a disney like happy ending for all, which by all means sure go ahead as it will make alot of people happy, but for me I'm completely satisfied as it is.

Same for me, thanks for putting it into those good words.
(The only thing would be fleshing out the way towards this ending, but this is another topic :x )

 

[Alex_Step900]

I do believe they have said that they wanted a second IP to bring forward aside from TW (even though it won't be called TW) so it's safe to assume they'll do just that, it's time and money consuming to find a new IP each time, acquisition of rights cost, ideas etc. take time to develop.

On another note, I was thinking about how similar the future of CP may look to Metro Exodus plotline.
Major Metro Exodus spoilers ahead including ending.

Spoiler

So basically in Exodus you find out everyone in the metro other than the higherups have been duped and find out life prospers outside so you set out to find a spot where it's not a radioactive hellhole, in literally I believe the first act, Anna, your wife, goes into a bunker that holds a bunch of toxic gasses, passes 'tf out and basically gets cancer or some sort of terminal lung disease.
The "Run around the world and find the place to live happily ever after" plot changes to "Find a cure at all costs." and then swaps back to the original goal.
Now, the resemblances might be to travel around the world with your nomad gang to find a cure at all costs to live happily ever after (even though that won't happen).

Then again this would only make sense with one ending even though it wouldn't be too far fletched for others either, clearly if Arasaka/Alt can't help you then you'd fuck off and find a way instead of accepting it, unless the whole "Underdog survival" plot just doesn't matter anymore out of a sudden, as if V would like dying as king of NC without even -trying- to find a cure and completely giving up.

I agree with you

 

[Solidus2kill]

This may come off as weird, but I felt that this ending was just perfect either way. It looks like they're looking to do Witcher style expansions which could lead to an eventual path to survival, but in general even if it didn't, this was a fitting end. From the start, the entire game could literally be said to revolve around the song 'never fade away' and it's hammered into you over and over, as your goal goes from becoming a legend, to becoming famous, to simply not fading away and being forgotten as V fights to just survive.

It's incredibly similar to RDR2 (even better in this case I'd say), where in RDR2 your death comes from an event that, for alot of people, would be completely out of character and highly preventable (stats show alot of people went high honor Arthur, and beating up a poor debtor as a high honor Arthur made no sense to me, which made his death much less impactful in this case), V's path to his own death is completely out of both the player's and the character's control and in a world as big as Cyberpunk where there is always a bigger fish, it's simply both unironic and fitting and nails home the message that the world is not something a single man can stand up against (I mean, setting off a nuke in a city barely stopped or changed anything).

I completely disagree with people saying that there isn't a happy ending, because truly V's ending is a happy one I'd say. We've come to know all along that V's goal was to become an NC legend and that goal only got even more intense after Jackie's death. His happy ending is to go out with a bang and seeing his final act of going to the crystal palace for seemingly something huge, it's a perfect end for V's adventure.

Though, there is always the possibility that future expansions flesh out those months that V has to live and present a path to a disney like happy ending for all, which by all means sure go ahead as it will make alot of people happy, but for me I'm completely satisfied as it is.

We have just to wait the roadmap of the game.

Maybe in January CDPR will inform us

 

[Shaamaan]

But i thought that cyberpunk is the world of crime and corpo abuse by very definition, the world where solo hero is almost always screwed by bigger fish and almost never gets happily hereafter

I would argue that no, the hero isn't always going to get screwed over (albeit it's a common starting point).
The takeaway tends to be that the hero can't really change the world all that much - it's unyielding and uncaring. But the hero can certainly achieve small personal victories, but not world-chaning ones.

 

[Arkei1]

But keeping the engram is strange unless it's possible to open up an engram like a braindance and edit it thoroughly. Upload this new engram into a body and then use them as a hidden agent.

As far as I remember, something along those lines is possible. I think it happens when Takemura talks to V during the scouting. V can ask something like: "Why did Arasaka find Jackie and upload him?", and he answers that Arasaka has ways to pick memories apart and sort of reprogramme personalities.

 

[StarkHelsing]

This may come off as weird, but I felt that this ending was just perfect either way. It looks like they're looking to do Witcher style expansions which could lead to an eventual path to survival, but in general even if it didn't, this was a fitting end. From the start, the entire game could literally be said to revolve around the song 'never fade away' and it's hammered into you over and over, as your goal goes from becoming a legend, to becoming famous, to simply not fading away and being forgotten as V fights to just survive.

It's incredibly similar to RDR2 (even better in this case I'd say), where in RDR2 your death comes from an event that, for alot of people, would be completely out of character and highly preventable (stats show alot of people went high honor Arthur, and beating up a poor debtor as a high honor Arthur made no sense to me, which made his death much less impactful in this case), V's path to his own death is completely out of both the player's and the character's control and in a world as big as Cyberpunk where there is always a bigger fish, it's simply both unironic and fitting and nails home the message that the world is not something a single man can stand up against (I mean, setting off a nuke in a city barely stopped or changed anything).

I completely disagree with people saying that there isn't a happy ending, because truly V's ending is a happy one I'd say. We've come to know all along that V's goal was to become an NC legend and that goal only got even more intense after Jackie's death. His happy ending is to go out with a bang and seeing his final act of going to the crystal palace for seemingly something huge, it's a perfect end for V's adventure.

Though, there is always the possibility that future expansions flesh out those months that V has to live and present a path to a disney like happy ending for all, which by all means sure go ahead as it will make alot of people happy, but for me I'm completely satisfied as it is.

See, this is a thing about the endings. Or rather the supposed happy ending. You're missing out on the whole point and development of V if you come to this conclusion. V is terrified of death of becoming nothing.

Now, to fully explain it you need to look at Act 1 and Act 2 - and see the difference. In Act 1 V is ready and primed, they talk big. They're ready to throw it all away if it means becoming a legend. This gradually changes. The first taste we get of this is during the brain dance where we experience the death of the guy by his Choom. V is lowkey distressed about what he saw/felt. Even so far saying that they need a break as it shook them up. V has dealt death before, but they've never actually received it. They've been so far 'untouchable', and this has developed them to think they're hotsh*t.

When everything goes to crap, that fear comes out. Jackie is dying, V fears they're going to die. That they'll be iced. T-bug is dead, and V snarls at Jackie because if they weren't so freaking stubborn and up their own butts with confidence then maybe they would have been smarter. If this was all about going out with a bang then why the hell is V trying to survive so hard.

After all of that, they die. They're betrayed. They're killed by dex. This is their going out with a bang - they left a mark because everyone thinks they killed the Emperor. An immortal god among men, and everyone believes that except those who know the truth. Even then he's still the guy who screwed over Arasaka and succeeded in a sense. But, this is where the 'Going out with the bang' wish ends. They've done that, and it freaking sucks.

After this V doesn't want to go out with a bang, they've tasted death twice. After that, they're frankly terrified of being a corpse again. You can hear it in their voice and the emotion they display. Why do they have to die again? They've tasted it, and they don't want it. There's no honour or fun in it.

V is terrified of death, they got their wish beforehand and they evolved beyond it. No matter how you try to RP it. V will always portray that. The whole plot is literally about V trying to survive because their existence matters to them.

 

[tRYSIS3]

The logic behind accepting V's death because it's "Cyberpunk" is inherently flawed. I'll try to make my point through a couple movie examples:

In the movie The Dark Knight Rises (SPOILERS), towards the end we see batman flying away from the city, with a nuke on his aircraft. The nuke explodes and batman dies (let's assume it's true). Would you say it's a happy ending? probably not but at least he saved the city. Now, let's assume batman is trying to get away from the city, but for some reason couldn't, and the nuke exploded in the middle of the city, killing him as well as destroying the city. Well, now what would be the point of watching the movie? It is still a "sad" ending, but now the entire movie becomes a waste of time. (Which is the case with Cyberpunk)

My second example is from the movies Batman v Superman and Justice League (SPOILERS), at the end of BvS you see Superman dying, taking the villain away with him. Sad ending right? but at least he accomplished something. Now imagine Superman dies but the villain stays alive, then he now died for nothing. Alright, now you could say, well, Superman comes back to life in Justice League! Was that the entire plot of the movie? No! He only came back to life towards the end (and wasn't the main character anymore). Also, it was only towards the end that it happened, because bringing him back to life earlier would have made the entire "death scene" pointless.

The point here is that Cyberpunk's ending is not just sad, it makes the entire journey prior pointless. And no! DLC won't bring V back to life, because that would make even the ending pointless, you don't kill a character then bring them to life one second later (especially if you have done earlier in the story after getting shot by Dex). The intention from Cyberpunk's ending essentially is to make players feel like useless trash (or "life isn't fair" as some would say). If you are ok with a company telling you that you are useless, then maybe you have a bigger problem than the ending to worry about.

 

[StarkHelsing]

The logic behind accepting V's death because it's "Cyberpunk" is inherently flawed. I'll try to make my point through a couple movie examples:

In the movie The Dark Knight Rises (SPOILERS), towards the end we see batman flying away from the city, with a nuke on his aircraft. The nuke explodes and batman dies (let's assume it's true). Would you say it's a happy ending? probably not but at least he saved the city. Now, let's assume batman is trying to get away from the city, but for some reason couldn't, and the nuke exploded in the middle of the city, killing him as well as destroying the city. Well, now what would be the point of watching the movie? It is still a "sad" ending, but now the entire movie becomes a waste of time. (Which is the case with Cyberpunk)

My second example is from the movies Batman v Superman and Justice League (SPOILERS), at the end of BvS you see Superman dying, taking the villain away with him. Sad ending right? but at least he accomplished something. Now imagine Superman dies but the villain stays alive, then he now died for nothing. Alright, now you could say well, Superman comes back to life in Justice League! Was that the entire plot of the movie? No! He only came back to life towards the end (and wasn't the main character anymore). Also, it was only towards the end that it happened, because bringing him back to life earlier would have made the entire "death scene" pointless.

The point here is that Cyberpunk's ending is not just sad, it makes the entire journey prior pointless. And no! DLC won't bring V back to life, because that would make even the ending pointless, you don't kill a character then bring them to life one second later (especially if you have done earlier in the story after getting shot by Dex). The intention from Cyberpunk's ending essentially is to make players feel like useless trash (or "life isn't fair" as some would say). If you are ok with a company telling you that you are useless, then maybe you have a bigger problem than the ending to worry about.

Exactly. I've never actually gone through a game, film or book where the ending basically gives it to you that you've wasted your time. Because even if you're having fun and whatnot. V has ultimately wasted their time. And you've wasted your time as well.

Actually, this is a lie, it's like one of those stories where someone goes searching for the fountain of youth and they die of old age after never finding it.

There is zero rewards for your effort or Vs, at least not yet.

Still never had it in a game where I can 100 percent it and my reward for that is nothing. :|

 

[SaulTuk]

The logic behind accepting V's death because it's "Cyberpunk" is inherently flawed. I'll try to make my point through a couple movie examples:

In the movie The Dark Knight Rises (SPOILERS), towards the end we see batman flying away from the city, with a nuke on his aircraft. The nuke explodes and batman dies (let's assume it's true). Would you say it's a happy ending? probably not but at least he saved the city. Now, let's assume batman is trying to get away from the city, but for some reason couldn't, and the nuke exploded in the middle of the city, killing him as well as destroying the city. Well, now what would be the point of watching the movie? It is still a "sad" ending, but now the entire movie becomes a waste of time. (Which is the case with Cyberpunk)

My second example is from the movies Batman v Superman and Justice League (SPOILERS), at the end of BvS you see Superman dying, taking the villain away with him. Sad ending right? but at least he accomplished something. Now imagine Superman dies but the villain stays alive, then he now died for nothing. Alright, now you could say, well, Superman comes back to life in Justice League! Was that the entire plot of the movie? No! He only came back to life towards the end (and wasn't the main character anymore). Also, it was only towards the end that it happened, because bringing him back to life earlier would have made the entire "death scene" pointless.

The point here is that Cyberpunk's ending is not just sad, it makes the entire journey prior pointless. And no! DLC won't bring V back to life, because that would make even the ending pointless, you don't kill a character then bring them to life one second later (especially if you have done earlier in the story after getting shot by Dex). The intention from Cyberpunk's ending essentially is to make players feel like useless trash (or "life isn't fair" as some would say). If you are ok with a company telling you that you are useless, then maybe you have a bigger problem than the ending to worry about.

And i would say that if you know you're not useless, but very useful, you know, in real life, you don't care about uselessness of some pre-written fictional characters in visual novel. On a contrary, if you escape from reality in a stories, you will annoyed by Cyberpunk, sure.

 

[ArrowOCE]

See, this is a thing about the endings. Or rather the supposed happy ending. You're missing out on the whole point and development of V if you come to this conclusion. V is terrified of death of becoming nothing.

Now, to fully explain it you need to look at Act 1 and Act 2 - and see the difference. In Act 1 V is ready and primed, they talk big. They're ready to throw it all away if it means becoming a legend. This gradually changes. The first taste we get of this is during the brain dance where we experience the death of the guy by his Choom. V is lowkey distressed about what he saw/felt. Even so far saying that they need a break as it shook them up. V has dealt death before, but they've never actually received it. They've been so far 'untouchable', and this has developed them to think they're hotsh*t.

When everything goes to crap, that fear comes out. Jackie is dying, V fears they're going to die. That they'll be iced. T-bug is dead, and V snarls at Jackie because if they weren't so freaking stubborn and up their own butts with confidence then maybe they would have been smarter. If this was all about going out with a bang then why the hell is V trying to survive so hard.

After all of that, they die. They're betrayed. They're killed by dex. This is their going out with a bang - they left a mark because everyone thinks they killed the Emperor. An immortal god among men, and everyone believes that except those who know the truth. Even then he's still the guy who screwed over Arasaka and succeeded in a sense. But, this is where the 'Going out with the bang' wish ends. They've done that, and it freaking sucks.

After this V doesn't want to go out with a bang, they've tasted death twice. After that, they're frankly terrified of being a corpse again. You can hear it in their voice and the emotion they display. Why do they have to die again? They've tasted it, and they don't want it. There's no honour or fun in it.

V is terrified of death, they got their wish beforehand and they evolved beyond it. No matter how you try to RP it. V will always portray that. The whole plot is literally about V trying to survive because their existence matters to them.

I disagree with your last sentence here. Your RP entirely decides what V's view on death is. I also said that V's goal eventually does become to just not fade away in the end, and yes he is terrified of that, but of death he is not scared anymore, that's the thing about character development. The entire story is that of survival, and it is very clear that V will do anything to just not fade away. Yet, by the end of the story, V's view on death itself doesn't appear to be so desperate and clingy as it once was.

You can of course just choose to give your body to completely exemplify this as V willingly gives himself away for the happiness of someone. A 'bang' doesn't have to be an impact on the world, but just something enough to ensure that he is remembered in the end- THAT is what he is afraid of. Not death, but fading away and being forgotten by the world. You can see it when he tells Johnny to remember him when heading towards the bridge with Alt. You can see it when he accepts that killing himself is the only way to ensure those that you care about will continue to live on with surprising calmness for someone supposedly scared of death itself.

You can see it when V decides to storm Arasaka alone with Silverhand so that no one he cares for and remember him fondly don't die. Your point on Saburo doesn't go deep enough in my opinion. Yes, V and Jackie killed Saburo, but you soon find out through the side missions and gigs that only a select few people, aka some of those in the merc business, seem to know who you are. The vast majority of people only know that someone poisoned Saburo, nothing more. There is no remembrance here, only another name passing by with you having done nothing to mark yourself in this world, in people's memories.

In the endings where V becomes a legend, if V simply simply had only survival in mind anymore and didn't care anything more than that, it makes no sense for him to seemingly siege the Crystal Palace (solo too). Perhaps there is something he wants there that will help in his survival which could help prove your point, but we honestly don't know. For all we know, this is his final act in the memory of Jackie, knowing that he has made his mark on the world and people will remember him/her as Vincent/Valerie closely, not 'that guy who offed Saburo'

To be scared of death and to be scared of being forgotten can sometimes be mistaken for one thing at times in this game, but fundamentally they are two different things

 

[Froste29]

See, this is a thing about the endings. Or rather the supposed happy ending. You're missing out on the whole point and development of V if you come to this conclusion. V is terrified of death of becoming nothing.

Now, to fully explain it you need to look at Act 1 and Act 2 - and see the difference. In Act 1 V is ready and primed, they talk big. They're ready to throw it all away if it means becoming a legend. This gradually changes. The first taste we get of this is during the brain dance where we experience the death of the guy by his Choom. V is lowkey distressed about what he saw/felt. Even so far saying that they need a break as it shook them up. V has dealt death before, but they've never actually received it. They've been so far 'untouchable', and this has developed them to think they're hotsh*t.

When everything goes to crap, that fear comes out. Jackie is dying, V fears they're going to die. That they'll be iced. T-bug is dead, and V snarls at Jackie because if they weren't so freaking stubborn and up their own butts with confidence then maybe they would have been smarter. If this was all about going out with a bang then why the hell is V trying to survive so hard.

After all of that, they die. They're betrayed. They're killed by dex. This is their going out with a bang - they left a mark because everyone thinks they killed the Emperor. An immortal god among men, and everyone believes that except those who know the truth. Even then he's still the guy who screwed over Arasaka and succeeded in a sense. But, this is where the 'Going out with the bang' wish ends. They've done that, and it freaking sucks.

After this V doesn't want to go out with a bang, they've tasted death twice. After that, they're frankly terrified of being a corpse again. You can hear it in their voice and the emotion they display. Why do they have to die again? They've tasted it, and they don't want it. There's no honour or fun in it.

V is terrified of death, they got their wish beforehand and they evolved beyond it. No matter how you try to RP it. V will always portray that. The whole plot is literally about V trying to survive because their existence matters to them.

Fantastic post. Could not have said it better myself.

 

[SaulTuk]

I would argue that no, the hero isn't always going to get screwed over (albeit it's a common starting point).
The takeaway tends to be that the hero can't really change the world all that much - it's unyielding and uncaring. But the hero can certainly achieve small personal victories, but not world-chaning ones.

Can achieve, and can fail, both possibilities are viable and to be expected.

 

[acakomandos]

The logic behind accepting V's death because it's "Cyberpunk" is inherently flawed. I'll try to make my point through a couple movie examples:

In the movie The Dark Knight Rises (SPOILERS), towards the end we see batman flying away from the city, with a nuke on his aircraft. The nuke explodes and batman dies (let's assume it's true). Would you say it's a happy ending? probably not but at least he saved the city. Now, let's assume batman is trying to get away from the city, but for some reason couldn't, and the nuke exploded in the middle of the city, killing him as well as destroying the city. Well, now what would be the point of watching the movie? It is still a "sad" ending, but now the entire movie becomes a waste of time. (Which is the case with Cyberpunk)

My second example is from the movies Batman v Superman and Justice League (SPOILERS), at the end of BvS you see Superman dying, taking the villain away with him. Sad ending right? but at least he accomplished something. Now imagine Superman dies but the villain stays alive, then he now died for nothing. Alright, now you could say, well, Superman comes back to life in Justice League! Was that the entire plot of the movie? No! He only came back to life towards the end (and wasn't the main character anymore). Also, it was only towards the end that it happened, because bringing him back to life earlier would have made the entire "death scene" pointless.

The point here is that Cyberpunk's ending is not just sad, it makes the entire journey prior pointless. And no! DLC won't bring V back to life, because that would make even the ending pointless, you don't kill a character then bring them to life one second later (especially if you have done earlier in the story after getting shot by Dex). The intention from Cyberpunk's ending essentially is to make players feel like useless trash (or "life isn't fair" as some would say). If you are ok with a company telling you that you are useless, then maybe you have a bigger problem than the ending to worry about.

Agree 100%

 

[tRYSIS3]

Actually, this is a lie, it's like one of those stories where someone goes searching for the fountain of youth and they die of old age after never finding it.

Unlike the fountain of youth, the cure for V's condition exists. Cdpr just didn't want the players to get their hands on it.

Those happy by the ending are blinded by Panam/Judy or a none existent "space heist". Which frankly might have been one the most fun missions in Cyberpunk, but again that is too much enjoyment for the useless players.

 

[StarkHelsing]

I disagree with your last sentence here. Your RP entirely decides what V's view on death is. I also said that V's goal eventually does become to just not fade away in the end, and yes he is terrified of that, but of death he is not scared anymore, that's the thing about character development. The entire story is that of survival, and it is very clear that V will do anything to just not fade away. Yet, by the end of the story, V's view on death itself doesn't appear to be so desperate and clingy as it once was.

You can of course just choose to give your body to completely exemplify this as V willingly gives himself away for the happiness of someone. A 'bang' doesn't have to be an impact on the world, but just something enough to ensure that he is remembered in the end- THAT is what he is afraid of. Not death, but fading away and being forgotten by the world. You can see it when he tells Johnny to remember him when heading towards the bridge with Alt. You can see it when he accepts that killing himself is the only way to ensure those that you care about will continue to live on with surprising calmness for someone supposedly scared of death itself.

You can see it when V decides to storm Arasaka alone with Silverhand so that no one he cares for and remember him fondly don't die. Your point on Saburo doesn't go deep enough in my opinion. Yes, V and Jackie killed Saburo, but you soon find out through the side missions and gigs that only a select few people, aka some of those in the merc business, seem to know who you are. The vast majority of people only know that someone poisoned Saburo, nothing more. There is no remembrance here, only another name passing by with you having done nothing to mark yourself in this world, in people's memories.

In the endings where V becomes a legend, if V simply simply had only survival in mind anymore and didn't care anything more than that, it makes no sense for him to seemingly siege the Crystal Palace (solo too). Perhaps there is something he wants there that will help in his survival which could help prove your point, but we honestly don't know. For all we know, this is his final act in the memory of Jackie, knowing that he has made his mark on the world and people will remember him/her as Vincent/Valerie closely, not 'that guy who offed Saburo'

See with this, they're still terrified of death. But they don't want others to die. They've developed and gained friends and loves. If you were terrified of death would you also force your loved ones to go through the same thing? Some will, but not V. Yet you're given the choice to ask for help because again, you want to survive. It's why the mission where you go solo is 'secret'.

It actually does make sense regarding the crystal palace. V at this point is the best Solo in Night City, they did something that not even The Morgan Blackhand did. They're a living legend. Also, it's clear cut that the guy who's giving you that mission is working with the NUSA. It's rumoured that it's the NUSA - that is at war with Arasaka and has links with Militech, can save them from their six-month timer.

And of course, if we do stick to RP matters. Then why is everyone's V forced into a specific ending where our choice doesn't matter because either way you're forced to die. What if you picked the options that show that you don't want to go out in a bang? That you think dying is a bit too steep to become a Legend? Those options are there, with this viewpoint it means they mean nothing.