[Spoiler Alert] About the endings

[Nimarus]

My life is depressing enough without a game that makes me feel even more depressed. It's okay to have some sad moments in a game to add depth to a story. The feeling of hopelessness just grows and grows as you chase after that small glimmer of happiness you hope will be at the end of the tunnel. But it was all an illusion. I went with the Aldecaldos ending because everyone said it was the "happiest" of the endings. For me, it all seemed pointless. Riding off into the sunset to die a slow death from a terminal illness. Everything felt pointless in the end.

 

[TwoNeonEyes]

My life is depressing enough without a game that makes me feel even more depressed. It's okay to have some sad moments in a game to add depth to a story. The feeling of hopelessness just grows and grows as you chase after that small glimmer of happiness you hope will be at the end of the tunnel. But it was all an illusion. I went with the Aldecaldos ending because everyone said it was the "happiest" of the endings. For me, it all seemed pointless. Riding off into the sunset to die a slow death from a terminal illness. Everything felt pointless in the end.

I just got done playing this ending again. I saved it for last because this time I was playing as male V and felt it would be the most heart warming out of what I've seen. Then I thought about it, and V gets helps from Alt during this ending, so they end up an engram. I just couldn't enjoy the ending because of that. I don't think I fully realized it last time I played. They went through all of that and V is basically dead already. After actually playing all the endings I can say I respect them, they're well written, and they fit the feeling and tone of the stories/world. That said, I now agree there's something unsatisfying with them. V ends up dead - 6 months/ engram, or Johnny. For me, I would have loved at least for V to not be an engram after all that went down, even if they were still dying, idk. Panam making plans with a digital construct just made me sad. But again, I can't say it didn't fit with story and overall feel, theme of the game.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

I just got done playing this ending again. I saved it for last because this time I was playing as male V and felt it would be the most heart warming out of what I've seen. Then I thought about it, and V gets helps from Alt during this ending, so they end up an engram. I just couldn't enjoy the ending because of that. I don't think I fully realized it last time I played. They went through all of that and V is basically dead already. After actually playing all the endings I can say I respect them, they're well written, and they fit the feeling and tone of the stories/world. That said, I now agree there's something unsatisfying with them. V ends up dead - 6 months/ engram, or Johnny. For me, I would have loved at least for V to not be an engram after all that went down, even if they were still dying, idk. Panam making plans with a digital construct just made me sad. But again, I can't say it didn't fit with story and overall feel, theme of the game.

At the same time, Alt had said long before that she was going to use the SoulKiller to "untangle" Johnny's engram from V's (during Transmission).
And the question about engram does it still the "original person" ? It's all matter to debate and there is no "real" answer in the game, only some "clues".
- For Johnny, whatever...
- For Saburo, no problem to be an engram and be transfered in his son body (he's "still" himself).
- For monks, it's matter to debate/interpretations.
It's to players to decide

 

[Naz.exe]

I agree that all endings are sad, but i think that's what makes them memorable. There's plenty of games with happy endings, and they never quite stick with me as much as the ones that made me cry.
Who knows what the expansions will bring, but i'd definitely like to see Night City from the perspective of a new character!

 

[R001c]

Eric Idle - "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" - STEREO HQ - YouTube

 

[Yllana_Ardais]

Just because something is sad doesn't make it deep or memorable. Also, there's a difference between sad and depressing in my opninion. For example, Aerith dying in FF7 is super emotional, but not depressing, whereas in CP2077 the endings felt just like a slap in the face. Misery banzai!

 

[motionblur]

At the same time, Alt had said long before that she was going to use the SoulKiller to "untangle" Johnny's engram from V's (during Transmission).
And the question about engram does it still the "original person" ? It's all matter to debate and there is no "real" answer in the game, only some "clues".

Also don't forget that the engram is from the point before Any plans V made with anyone. The engram doesn't remember the 6 months. It's more or less an earlier savestate of a person.

Just because something is sad doesn't make it deep or memorable. Also, there's a difference between sad and depressing in my opninion. For example, Aerith dying in FF7 is super emotional, but not depressing, whereas in CP2077 the endings felt just like a slap in the face. Misery banzai!

SOMA raised some very relateable questions to Cyberpunk and I find for as harsh as its ending was it didn't feel as depressing. Not going into it for spoiler reasons but despite the protagonist facing similarly severe decisions throughout the whole game the story gave you more reason to expect what will happen or ... cope with it, better. Ultimately it's still the writers' choice. Also with SOMA, the Witcher, Final Fantasy, Life is Strange ... in all of these games I am playing a defined character. Cyberpunk expects the player to become V and make decisions for a character the player creates like in a real pen and paper RPG. At least it says so.
Again: I am making this sound much harsher than I feel. The game is fantastic. I love the atmosphere and the amount of work that has been put into it is clearly visible. It's probably a very personal thing that I am just currently not in the mood to be hit with such a depressing outcome for a character I am very much invested in at this point.

I'd also be really interested in the statistics on how many people actually didn't like the ending choices. It's clear that in a thread about the endings there will be mostly people who have very strong opinions about it and not a representative number.

On a much more speculative and entirely personal opinion note - I feel like stories before 2020 times overall became more and more grittier and darker. It feels like with the whole mess going on in the world people in general seem to crave less depressing stuff than before. Yet with a production scale of an open world RPG like Cybperunkt you simply can't make these kinds of changes last minute anymore.
The game needed polishing to be released. No room for any story or feature changes.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Also don't forget that the engram is from the point before Any plans V made with anyone. The engram doesn't remember the 6 months. It's more or less an earlier savestate of a person.

The engram "is from" (is created) at the exact moment where V (or Johnny) is conected to Mikoshi (when Alt use the soulkiller). So nothing to do with the 6 months
Exactly there :

PS : an engram is not simply "a stupid" copy. he/it can learn, evolve, acquire new memories,... like Johnny's. Johnny's engram at the beginning have nothing to do with Johnny's engram at the end

 

[motionblur]

The engram "is from" (is created) at the exact moment where V (or Johnny) is conected to Mikoshi (when Alt use the soulkiller). So nothing to do with the 6 months
Exactly there :
View attachment 11274211

Jup. Most of the actual plans happen after that, IIRC.
At least in personal relations time. V doesn't have that much time with either partner before the Arasaka raid.
That's what I was referring to.

 

[CS554]

While it appears that Reddit isn't that popular platform among forum users, I sometimes lurk in Low Sodium Cyberpunk Reddit and found pretty cool topic about how V comes to repeat things Silverhand does. That is very interesting angle I have been wondering for months but didn't came to post here. At least now I know I'm not the only one who has come to think about that and what Hellman says earlier about scale of decisions that changes.

Anyway, Reddit topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/LowSodiumCyberpunk/comments/spbt59
Recommended reading for those who want to give ending one more go for fun or general interest. Credits to waktivist at Reddit.

 

[Guest 4412420]

If I remember it right, Johnny went and spent some time with the Aldecaldos after Alt's death. But he came back and we know how that ended for him. If V is following in Johnny's footsteps in some ways, you think they might repeat the same mistakes too?

 

[LeKill3rFou]

If V is following in Johnny's footsteps in some ways, you think they might repeat the same mistakes too?

If it mean that V leave Night City with the Aldecaldos, come back later and die... I hope not

 

[medion_no]

If I remember it right, Johnny went and spent some time with the Aldecaldos after Alt's death. But he came back and we know how that ended for him. If V is following in Johnny's footsteps in some ways, you think they might repeat the same mistakes too?

He/she already raided Arasaka tower XD.

 

[seracy]

If I remember it right, Johnny went and spent some time with the Aldecaldos after Alt's death. But he came back and we know how that ended for him. If V is following in Johnny's footsteps in some ways, you think they might repeat the same mistakes too?

I think this is what was being hinted at with the Iliad shard in the Star ending. Achilles chooses the quiet life in that excerpt, but soon after jumps back into battle to avenge the death of Patroclus, whom he loved deeply and he asked that their bones/ashes be mixed and buried together. It's very similar to Johnny's path of joining the nomads after the 2013 raid but then returning in 2023 for Alt. It leads to death for both Achilles and Johnny.

Looking at it from the reddit post's perspective, the bickering with the LIs in the Sun ending is also reminiscent of Johnny's last argument with Alt.

Either way, V is still caught in Johnny's loop.

 

[medion_no]

In the Arasaka ending, only Arasaka win.

 

[BigWezz69]

In the Arasaka ending, only Arasaka win.

In a way you could argue that Arasaka win's in every ending. V certainly has some personal/small victories, but Arasaka (and the other big corporations) are still going strong, ravaging NC and its population ..

 

[SteelDragon2050]

In a way you could argue that Arasaka win's in every ending. V certainly has some personal/small victories, but Arasaka (and the other big corporations) are still going strong, ravaging NC and its population ..

In the aldecaldo ending, they actually take a pretty big hit. The secure your soul program they spent millions, if not billions, on is destroyed, a good chunk of their headquarters is destroyed, partially due to the actions of Smasher, and the Aldos make off with a bunch of equipment.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

In the aldecaldo ending, they actually take a pretty big hit. The secure your soul program they spent millions, if not billions, on is destroyed, a good chunk of their headquarters is destroyed, partially due to the actions of Smasher, and the Aldos make off with a bunch of equipment.

And Yorinobu will continue his "sabotage" of Arasaka
(If some didn't already note it, he want the same thing than Johnny...)

 

[medion_no]

Sometimes a man has to be the bomb.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Sometimes a man has to be the bomb.

Yorinobu : "Kyoto, dubai, paris... These people have a chance today... But they lost it."
V : "A chance...? A chance for what...?"
Yorinobu : "To forget their fear."
V : "This how you help poeple... forget their fear ? By killing them...? Sorry... Just don't get it."
Yorinobu : "Fear... Ever since I can remember. One thing I cannot deny, he knew how to cause fear in poeple."
V : "Saburo..."
Yorinobu : "He once told me anything of value is only a flag blowing in wind. And wind is fear. And then... you know what he did ? Blew my face. That was the one time he was wrong. And others ? It worked on them. They feared him. Even now. You saw ! Idiots terrified of a dead man talking from a box ! Pathetic. I would change that. If only you did not appear."
V : "You're even worse than him. Saburo ruled... with an iron fist, but he didn't... need a purge... to hold onto power."
Yorinobu : "Power ? You... you think I wanted power ? Fifty years ago terrorists blew this building into smoke."
V : "Yeah... so I heard."
Yorinobu : "And...? What it give us ?"
V : "Not much."
Yorinobu : "Nothing ! But I learned lesson ! If planting bomb not enough, what can you do ? You become bomb."

So the Devil ending is the only one where Arasaka "win", i.e Saburo (and only Arasaka). Yorinobu is defeated and can't demolish Arasaka from inside, Saburo return from the deads (and become almost immortal), Mikoshi still active, Johnny is wiped and V become "no one" or stored in Mikoshi.