WARNING: I'LL BRIEFLY MENTIONS THE EVENTS OF THE EDGERUNNERS ANIME, SO IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET, EITHER DON'T READ THIS POST OR READ IT AT YOUR OWN CAUTION!
After replaying the game again, and paying extra close attention, I began thinking what could be the definitive "canon" ending to V's story in Night City. Let me remind y'all, this is MY opinion on the matter. If you disagree, I respect it, but please be civil about your reasons for disagreeing, alright? OK, in my eyes, I truly believe "The Star" ending in which V leaves with the Aldecaldos is the canon ending.
Throughout the game, if the player visits Misty to have her read V's tarots, the tarots correctly foreshadow the events that'll unfold in V's life, or rather, the player can choose to avoid (aka. the other endings based on the player's choices and actions). And out of all the endings, The Star is the only one with a positive result. During the ending credits, Misty reads another tarot for V and the results are positive, and Misty says that "V would be living a good life ahead in the Badlands". Now, here's where it gets tricky. Sure, Misty could be referring to the six months that V seemingly has left, but seeing how positive she was, and how she never referenced the timestamp, I believe that V could live through it.
Something caught my attention, which happened during V's first meeting with Alt in the cyberspace. Alt is an A.I. now, and with that, Alt only believes in the logistics and mathematics of the situation. Only logic and numbers were "right" and "proof" enough for her for basically anything. But then, something that most players either don't remember or brush over, is how Johnny says that Alt never "banked in the human factor" of things. Alt believed she couldn't infiltrate Mikoshi alone, but with the "human factor", what was once impossible, became possible. Maybe the "human factor" that Johnny mentioned can apply to V's situation. Alt says that it was inevitable that V would die if he returned to his body, but like Johnny said, Alt never counted in the "human factor". V could very well use Panam's contacts outside of Night City to find a way to save his life.
Also, in The Star ending, V says how Vik's drugs were "working better now", which shows that while the effects weren't stopped, the medicine was delaying or repressing... whatever it is that's going in V's body. Besides Night City, we don't know almost absolutely nothing about the Cyberpunk-verse. I'm certain that Night City isn't the "be-all-end-all" of the game's lore. Panam could be right in finding a cure for V's condition away from the city.
One might argue that the Moon ending or the ending in which V becomes a Legend in the Afterlife could be the canon ending since it might help him find a cure, but as I mentioned, Misty's tarots seem rather bleak and negative even in those endings. The Star ending is the only one with positive results, and Misty's tarots proved truthful in the forashadowing of events.
SPOILERS FOR EDGERUNNING INCOMING:
The reason David's story ended in tragedy is because David became too obcessed with chrome and becoming a "big shot" in Night City's underworld. Or, he became obcessed with accomplishing Lucy's dream at the cost of his own life. At the beginning of the story, V was most likely the same as David. Hungry and determined to prove himself in Night City. But after losing Jackie, V slowly realizes that his ideals of becoming a "legend" were worthless. Through his meetings with Panam, Judy, etc. etc. V probably realizes there were things more important than his legacy. V managed to find a way out while David didn't. As Lucy herself said, David was always living the dreams of other people instead of his own, and that was his downfall. V abandoned his death sentence of a dream and that prevented him from suffering the same fate as David.
SPOILERS OVER!
Let's talk about a possible sequel for Cyberpunk, however many years that'll be until then. Let's be honest, the majority of the people here and over the world got introduced to this series through the video-games. I'm sure that there a lot of people that have been following the series since it first started as a pen and paper RPG series, and Night City was always the location of the lore and stories. But now that the franchise has grown into video-games, and an anime series (which is blowing up at the moment), this is CDPR's chance to expand the Cyberpunk universe to other places. I'm certain that we'll see a sequel eventually, and in my eyes, the right choice is to have it take place away from Night City to expand the verse. V and the Aldecaldos were heading towards Tucson. Sure, it's a real-life city, but since the Cyberpunk universe is WAY different than the real world, they could literally create a different enviroment from the real city of Tucson to fit with the "futuristic" set of the universe. Sure, they could still make a sequel in Night City, but the landscape and enviroment would be largely the same, albeit with some changes of course, but the location would still be the same, and not as intriguing.
I'm certain that V would still be the protagonist of the sequel, in which we try and find a cure for him. The same "I want to become a Legend" story in the sequel wouldn't hit as hard since both V and David went through the same, and both lost a lot along the journey. The sequel should make V the "exception" to the rule of which a Merc of Night City can indeed have a happy ending. Kinda similar to Arthur Morgan's story in Red Dead Redemption 2 (hopefully with a better ending to his story). Introduce new characters (maybe returning ones, too, depending).
Maybe I'm rambling too long, but I wanted to put this out there. It's been on my mind for a while. Again, if someone disagrees, I respect your opinion, but please be civil about it.
After replaying the game again, and paying extra close attention, I began thinking what could be the definitive "canon" ending to V's story in Night City. Let me remind y'all, this is MY opinion on the matter. If you disagree, I respect it, but please be civil about your reasons for disagreeing, alright? OK, in my eyes, I truly believe "The Star" ending in which V leaves with the Aldecaldos is the canon ending.
Throughout the game, if the player visits Misty to have her read V's tarots, the tarots correctly foreshadow the events that'll unfold in V's life, or rather, the player can choose to avoid (aka. the other endings based on the player's choices and actions). And out of all the endings, The Star is the only one with a positive result. During the ending credits, Misty reads another tarot for V and the results are positive, and Misty says that "V would be living a good life ahead in the Badlands". Now, here's where it gets tricky. Sure, Misty could be referring to the six months that V seemingly has left, but seeing how positive she was, and how she never referenced the timestamp, I believe that V could live through it.
Something caught my attention, which happened during V's first meeting with Alt in the cyberspace. Alt is an A.I. now, and with that, Alt only believes in the logistics and mathematics of the situation. Only logic and numbers were "right" and "proof" enough for her for basically anything. But then, something that most players either don't remember or brush over, is how Johnny says that Alt never "banked in the human factor" of things. Alt believed she couldn't infiltrate Mikoshi alone, but with the "human factor", what was once impossible, became possible. Maybe the "human factor" that Johnny mentioned can apply to V's situation. Alt says that it was inevitable that V would die if he returned to his body, but like Johnny said, Alt never counted in the "human factor". V could very well use Panam's contacts outside of Night City to find a way to save his life.
Also, in The Star ending, V says how Vik's drugs were "working better now", which shows that while the effects weren't stopped, the medicine was delaying or repressing... whatever it is that's going in V's body. Besides Night City, we don't know almost absolutely nothing about the Cyberpunk-verse. I'm certain that Night City isn't the "be-all-end-all" of the game's lore. Panam could be right in finding a cure for V's condition away from the city.
One might argue that the Moon ending or the ending in which V becomes a Legend in the Afterlife could be the canon ending since it might help him find a cure, but as I mentioned, Misty's tarots seem rather bleak and negative even in those endings. The Star ending is the only one with positive results, and Misty's tarots proved truthful in the forashadowing of events.
SPOILERS FOR EDGERUNNING INCOMING:
The reason David's story ended in tragedy is because David became too obcessed with chrome and becoming a "big shot" in Night City's underworld. Or, he became obcessed with accomplishing Lucy's dream at the cost of his own life. At the beginning of the story, V was most likely the same as David. Hungry and determined to prove himself in Night City. But after losing Jackie, V slowly realizes that his ideals of becoming a "legend" were worthless. Through his meetings with Panam, Judy, etc. etc. V probably realizes there were things more important than his legacy. V managed to find a way out while David didn't. As Lucy herself said, David was always living the dreams of other people instead of his own, and that was his downfall. V abandoned his death sentence of a dream and that prevented him from suffering the same fate as David.
SPOILERS OVER!
Let's talk about a possible sequel for Cyberpunk, however many years that'll be until then. Let's be honest, the majority of the people here and over the world got introduced to this series through the video-games. I'm sure that there a lot of people that have been following the series since it first started as a pen and paper RPG series, and Night City was always the location of the lore and stories. But now that the franchise has grown into video-games, and an anime series (which is blowing up at the moment), this is CDPR's chance to expand the Cyberpunk universe to other places. I'm certain that we'll see a sequel eventually, and in my eyes, the right choice is to have it take place away from Night City to expand the verse. V and the Aldecaldos were heading towards Tucson. Sure, it's a real-life city, but since the Cyberpunk universe is WAY different than the real world, they could literally create a different enviroment from the real city of Tucson to fit with the "futuristic" set of the universe. Sure, they could still make a sequel in Night City, but the landscape and enviroment would be largely the same, albeit with some changes of course, but the location would still be the same, and not as intriguing.
I'm certain that V would still be the protagonist of the sequel, in which we try and find a cure for him. The same "I want to become a Legend" story in the sequel wouldn't hit as hard since both V and David went through the same, and both lost a lot along the journey. The sequel should make V the "exception" to the rule of which a Merc of Night City can indeed have a happy ending. Kinda similar to Arthur Morgan's story in Red Dead Redemption 2 (hopefully with a better ending to his story). Introduce new characters (maybe returning ones, too, depending).
Maybe I'm rambling too long, but I wanted to put this out there. It's been on my mind for a while. Again, if someone disagrees, I respect your opinion, but please be civil about it.
