The motivation for everything that happened. (MAX spoilers)

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tldr: the true mastermind behind the Arasaka heist is the person the game discredits in act 1!


ACT 1:

"You don't wanna know what's out there, trust me on this." - Constantine

"and choom, no f**** netrunning. They got better runners than you, you won't haze em."



A random datapad from Westbrook criminal activity makes an excellent point: elite Arasaka domains like Kanpeki Tower should be crawling with netrunners, particularly if a member of the Arasaka family is residing there. Do we really believe a Flathead drone and T-Bug can subvert all that security? T-Bug is also very hesitant to tell you how she knows Dex. It's entirely possible that Jackie is wrong about how far back they go, and they barely know each other. When Jackie decides to lie to a receptionist about an easily checked fact, and seriously expects her to not notify a major Arasaka rep about the arrival of his clients, T-Bug interjects and pretends that she's the rep's assistant if V doesn't fix the situation. From experience in the corporate world, the odds are good that the receptionist is in daily contact with Taki-san's staff, and would know instantly if someone isn't supposed to be there. Meanwhile, when the Flathead drone is used to neutralize the netrunner in the plaza, the screen switches from lines of code to the T-Bug logo. If security was monitoring the cameras, with eyeballs or automation, they'd instantly catch this breach. T-Bug's sudden nervous proclamation that she needs two hours for additional work on the corporate ICE makes a lot more sense if you imagine that someone put a virtual gun to her head and ordered her to stall you.

By now, most players realize that Dex couldn't organize an orgy at Lizzie's. So who is the real mastermind behind the Relic heist at Arasaka? Evelyn Parker? Worth a guess, but no. Evelyn's braindances are key to understanding this. They show that the Voodoo Boys had zero intention of getting her to do anything with the biochip, just make a virtu of Yorinobu's suite. Evelyn's cunning in that regard makes her a prime target for the VDB to kill the minute she's fulfilled her purpose. But the second braindance is even more interesting. A male VDB (probably Placide) had suspected Evelyn's intelligence, but Brigitte thinks she wouldn't dare go against them, while they badly needed the connection to Yorinobu. Evelyn wants the chip for herself so that she can escape her awful life. She is not, however, the one with the power to actually make the heist happen. Yet even V knows that Evelyn had way better options if she wanted to escape the wrath of Arasaka- especially considering Clouds was Tyger owned, which Johnny connects back to Arasaka during your visit there. Evelyn put her head in the dragon's mouth to protect the people she loves back at the Mox, especially Judy.

Are Brigitte and the Voodoo Boys the critical part of the heist? Getting warmer, and server16ark comes up with a very good explanation of how the Voodoo Boys are the driving force behind much of the plot, from Evelyn Parker's "suicide" to the reason Silverhand was chosen as the Relic's engram, but it's not the best answer possible.


(EDIT: skip this reddit post unless you want to read an alternate theory!)
https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/jzutmy


The only question left is... WHY does Brigitte believe that the Relic would contain a useful soul in this regard, much less the soul of Johnny Silverhand? Why is Brigitte so confident that someone inside Arasaka can deliver Silverhand at all? How on earth could the VDB persuade Arasaka to agree to such a scheme? The Voodoo Boys need little from Arasaka, and Arasaka needs even less from the Pacifica netrunner gang. As Mr. Hands explains before we even meet the Boys, which is reinforced by every interaction with them, they are incredibly disdainful of outsiders. They laugh at credits, butcher actual chickens for real meat in Haitian tradition in defiance of the Avian Extermination Act, and make their own netrunning equipment to avoid corporate sabotage. So why would Arasaka take a relatively junior role in a plot from the VDB?

But turn the tables. If a saboteur within Arasaka itself is offering a Silverhand engram that can lead the Voodoo Boys to Alt Cunningham and the Blackwall, they'll do anything needed to secure that power. The saboteur could even have been the one to explain what Alt Cunningham was, and why Silverhand is likely to bridge the gap between man and AI. The VDB likely didn't hack this information from the Arasaka systems, it was given to them. By who, you ask? Well-



ACT 2:



"A man of focus, commitment, sheer will. Something you know very little about." - John Wick

"Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline, simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength." - Sun Tzu

"Would you like to join my gang?" Jackie scoffs, imagining that Yorinobu had Arasaka security backing his nomad gang- the Steel Dragons. As the player themselves learns, that's NOT how nomad society operates, at all. They respect loyalty, hard work, and talent. The kind of person who could lead a successful nomad gang, much less avoid complete annihilation at the hands of Arasaka, would at minimum need to have iron resolve and incredible skill- much like Panam Palmer. To escape accusations of being a corporate pawn, Yorinobu would need to be even more skilled than that. As we see in the datashard "Tamed Dragon," Yorinobu grew up quite normally until his 21st birthday, when Saboru Arasaka took him aside for a private conversation. Now, anyone familiar with Saboru Arasaka would know that he's a deeply unpleasant person despite his incredible business skill, unlimited resources, and utterly commanding voice. He's an unreconstructed Japanese militarist who hates America for defeating the Empire in WWII. In short, he's morally worse than most neo-Nazis. The general lore is that Yorinobu was shocked to his core to learn of the true purpose of the Arasaka corporation and family. If you recover the datashard from Saburo's car-


-you realize that he still hates Militech, and would happily have razed one of their fortresses to rubble in retaliation for old slights. Even before Project Soulkiller, Yorinobu has a real reason to detest his family and the fact they are making the world a far worse place. Even the maids in Konpeki Plaza are attracted to him- not just for his wealth, but for the fact he's a biker at heart, relentlessly single. Evelyn thinks that she's in control of their relationship, but she's almost certainly wrong.

So knowing that Yorinobu has the kind of moral purpose and determination to turn against the Arasaka family and work towards their downfall, we can analyze the odd factors in the Arasaka heist in a new light. Starting with Evelyn Parker: you start to wonder why Yorinobu wouldn't realize that Evelyn remembers things from their previous sessions, like the drugs they did together. The answer would be that Yorinobu wants Evelyn to remember the things she sees in his suite. The layout is what the Voodoo Boys claim to be interested in, but during the braindance Evelyn goes through Yorinobu's mail while adjusting the lighting and music. If she did so, and the VDB analyzed a copy of the virtu, all parties involved would realize that Yorinobu was dealing with Netwatch for a copy of the engram- and that Netwatch manager Ronald Cheever was perplexed that Yorinobu insisted that the engram be Johnny Silverhand's. I surmise this explanation:

I) Make Saburo enraged enough to cross the sea and confront Yorinobu personally over his treachery with the hated West, setting up an assassination that Yorinobu has been planning for decades.

II) Put Mama Brigitte into meltdown as she sees her chance of contact with Alt Cunningham slip through her fingers.

III) Make Netwatch likely to turn over any information about a stolen Relic straight to Yorinobu.

IV) Guarantee Silverhand's resurrection if the theft goes sideways and some idiot ends up slotting the Relic into their brain.


And all from a glimpse of an email in a doll's braindance if the information is leaked. This many avenues for victory indicate a brilliant tactical and strategic genius, able to bend lesser men to their will and manipulate even the most powerful people around them. Especially their father, who is otherwise indomitable. In reality, Yorinobu's primary deal is with the Voodoo Boys. I'm sure he pretended to be pretending that he was "Yorinobu Arasaka," and Brigitte rolled her eyes before telling him to get bent. But then "Yorinobu" gives the VDB enough information to realize that the Relic is absolutely priceless to their dreams of being loyal servants to the machine AIs beyond the Blackwall. In exchange, what can they give him in return? The fact is, Yorinobu would happily give the chip away just to frustrate Saburo's ambitions and attract the AIs to destroy Arasaka- as they do in most endings of the game. But he can instead command an exorbitant price:



I) The VDBs will be expected to arrange the motley team of Dex, Evelyn Parker, and whatever expendable gonks that will take the fall. In short, people who won't be missed.

II) Poke holes in the power grid- this is brought up by Stan in the opening credits, and the VDB could use this to wage war against Arasaka. Which they would ordinarily avoid, except in the context of gaining the Relic.

III) Silence anyone who knows about the Arasaka theft- not something the VDB are tasked with, but something they'll do to avoid blowback. Which is why they go out of their way to destroy Evelyn.


Now that Netwatch and the VDB, each the premier netrunner groups in Night City, are both nominally on his side and against the Arasaka "loyalists," the Dragon can spring into action. Yorinobu managed to retrieve a copy of the Relic and download Silverhand's engram to it from Mikoshi. Anders Hellman realized what was happening and furiously confronted Yorinobu over it. Reporting the theft to Saburo, as detailed in Saburo's datashard, was rewarded with rare gratitude from the old man for loyalty above and beyond the expected. It's also why Hellman fled when Yorinobu took over the company, correctly realizing that he would face retribution. As leader of the company, Yorinobu proceeds to start a war with all of Arasaka's "enemies." Militech is immediately engaged in what promises to be a new Corporate War- not only does Yorinobu have a useful target to blame for the death of his father, but now he can use Militech to destroy Arasaka much as he is using the Voodoo Boys. Anyone who would rather serve his father is pushed out- the opportunists and gullible flock to Yorinobu, a fact Saburo is deeply annoyed about when his engram addresses the company directors. In short, Yorinobu has successfully launched his corporate coup and quelled anyone with a serious chance of politically maneuvering against him. But he didn't count on one man.


No, not you. Takemura.



(PART 2 COMING SOON!)

PS: I also successfully called Celebrimbor being evil in Shadow of Mordor before the final DLC was released, much less the second game which confirmed the theory, so I'm feeling pretty good about this one.
 
Good theory.

Mind you, Yorinobu was working with Netwatch before the events of the game to help bring down Arasaka.

Also, Goro says that the Steel Dragons could have been crushed at any time by Saburo.

But I totally believe the Voodoo Boys planned to kill Evelyn all along.
 
I'm sure Saburo would have smashed the Dragons apart if he realized what a threat Yorinobu would become to the Arasaka legacy. As I'm sure that Yorinobu would cancel his plans if the Voodoo Boys betrayed him, and hand the Relic over to Netwatch. In exchange, the UN and America would dismantle Arasaka but spare its people.
 
Thanks! I'm super glad people liked it, and one reason Cyberpunk 2077 is going to go down as an all-time great is because there are so many hidden agendas which can be pieced together on second playthroughs- or even first playthroughs, if you think hard about all the dialogue as it's being said.

For instance, Oda complaining that the security around Hanako is far too loose- he's right to complain, because Yorinobu is trying to open the way for Takemura to meet her.
 
I wrote some guess about the true story they may finish by the first DLC
And I agree that Yorinobu is plan to do something
But, obviously, no one would make a plan to creative V, it's a rare event
I think, he is prepared since decade ago, but kill Saburo is out of his plan
If he plan to thief the Relic, he won't kill Saburo at the same room, which make it hard to touch the Relic
I think, his plan has finished 80%, and the visit of Saburo force him to move
So V should have the chance to cooperate with Yorinobu, at the timing V faced him, the devil-ending
V should trust Yorinobu and help him, he is much better than hanako, and if he can get help, hanako will lose at that time. and story will go on.
So many foreshadowing shows that, but CDPR don't have time to finish it.
 
I genuinely think the DLCs will explain some of the things seen in the game. It would have been great to work with Yorinobu directly, but he wouldn't have a reason to trust anyone but Silverhand. He wins quite convincingly if we do anything but work for Arasaka.
 
So, here is my 2 cents as I have understood the story so far regarding the chip, minus the plot twist I think it's hidden in the past.

Saburo Arasaka in 2023 uses soulkiller to interrogate Johnny on why he nuked his tower and where he got the nukes, then locks him up in Mikoshi because fuck you plus science.

Yorinobu Arasaka plans to undermine the father and destroy Arasaka from the inside. (corpo ending)
Knows the obsession of the father with his immortality chip and decides to stole it and sell it. But it's too hot to just sell, and can't really go to the competition. His only real contact with pockets deep enough to buy such a thing? The Neutral Corpo Sponsored Netwatch. (evelin parker tells us so)

Netwatch though doesn't care about an immortality chip really, well not enough to get on Arasaka Corp bad side, so how to make them buy the thing and hurt daddy?
Netwatch is kinda obsessed with finding and icying Alt Cunningham rogue AI (even Johnny says so), so Yorinobu doesn't sell them the chip, he sell them the bait for Alt. Puts Johnny on the chip, they agree to buy it.

Voodoo boys gets wind of the fact that Netwatch is about to buy Alt Cunningham bait because they're always fighting with the Netpolice. They want the chip so plan to stole it. Hire the Doll (Evelin) because of her implant (she can record BDs and have access).
The Doll earsdrop on a phone conversation and realize what's going on, she can sell the chip to Netwatch herself (mail found on the Netwatch agent laptop at the cinema).
Organize an Heist herself with the only person who can actually think of a crazy and risky plan like this: a semi-desperate ex fixer who has a grudge with the Voodoo boys, has just being scammed by Maelstrom and it's trying to get back in the game after two years of hiding.
Enters V...
 
So, here is my 2 cents as I have understood the story so far regarding the chip, minus the plot twist I think it's hidden in the past.

This is an excellent addition, BUT the Netwatch manager who agrees to buy the Relic is confused about Yorinobu insisting that Silverhand's engram be on the artifact. Yorinobu is quite ready to patiently explain things, but in person- you can examine this mail thread yourself in Yorinobu's penthouse. If the Voodoo Boys continued to drag their heels, perhaps Yorinobu would actually sell the chip to NetWatch. My own theory is that he let Evelyn look through his mail in order for the VDB to discover Netwatch's interest, which would force them into a hurried deal before they lost the Relic entirely. The VDB don't have money, but they have tons of elite netrunners, which would be a unique asset that Yorinobu couldn't simply buy.
 

Glifu

Forum regular
This is an excellent addition, BUT the Netwatch manager who agrees to buy the Relic is confused about Yorinobu insisting that Silverhand's engram be on the artifact. Yorinobu is quite ready to patiently explain things, but in person

I believe that You could misunderstood that one mail in Yorinobu apartment, where NetWatch agent asked at the end of mail "Just one more question: Why?" - This question was about why Yorinobu want to sell Relic 2.0 to NetWatch and cause damage to Arasaca while he is The Son of The Emperor. This can be backed with his reply about "stake of Corpos games" which make sense with Yorinobu background when he sided with Japan gov, in try to nationalize Arasaka during the Fourth Corporate War.
 
I pick nomad for a couple reasons but mainly one, to leave Yorinobu alone

Great read will be eagerly waiting more
 
"For our agreement to succeed, we only require a sample biochip with a valid engram. The only question is, why must it be Johnny Silverhand's?"

Without offense, perhaps the email has a different text and meaning in your language. In the English localization of Cyberpunk, Cheever believes the agreement is a sure thing, but is curious as to why Silverhand must be the beneficiary. Clearly this is a stipulation from Yorinobu, not NetWatch.
 

Glifu

Forum regular
"For our agreement to succeed, we only require a sample biochip with a valid engram. The only question is, why must it be Johnny Silverhand's?"

Without offense, perhaps the email has a different text and meaning in your language. In the English localization of Cyberpunk, Cheever believes the agreement is a sure thing, but is curious as to why Silverhand must be the beneficiary. Clearly this is a stipulation from Yorinobu, not NetWatch.

No offence taken :)
And more to that, You are completely correct about those mails translation. Just changed audio settings and load old save to check it out, and it look as you said, that definitely Yorinobu want Johnny Engram on that chip not NetWatch. What somehow is disturbing because i wouldn't expect such significant difference in their (CDPR) "home" localization.
 
My bet is on the fact that Saburo Arasaka isn't really dead. I'm sure someone at Arasaka have is backup emgram store somewhere and that Saburo ultimate goal is to plant his engram into his son and take over him. That's the real reason he kept his son alive all this time.

The relic storyline push really hard on the immortality aspect. Furthermore, you see ads in-game about the relic as a back-up system. You even have a Gig with Lizzie that is root on this aspect. I'm prety sure that if Arasaka is pushing the relic commercially, it's because they already abuse it internally.
 
"For our agreement to succeed, we only require a sample biochip with a valid engram. The only question is, why must it be Johnny Silverhand's?"

Without offense, perhaps the email has a different text and meaning in your language. In the English localization of Cyberpunk, Cheever believes the agreement is a sure thing, but is curious as to why Silverhand must be the beneficiary. Clearly this is a stipulation from Yorinobu, not NetWatch.


This was the in game lore/transcript I have been looking for. Bummed I missed it when reviewing Evelyn's Braindance. So, this establishes that Yorinobu was the individual who ultimately determined to encode Johnny Silverhand on RELIC 2.0. His motivations for doing so are still subject for debate. Perhaps it was simply an act of defiance to his father. This particular e-mail implies that Netwatch had convinced him that they possessed the missing element needed to ensure a successful application of the biochip. (Hellman's notes indicate that all trials to that point had ended in failure) Was Yorinobu convinced they would succeed and thus wanted to see Silverhand's resurrection? Or was Silverhand just an additional sweetener to lure his father from his eastern Empire. The VooDoo Boys want RELIC 2.0 as it is their only realistic chance of obtaining an engram of Johnny, which they want to use to contact Alt. But, Netwatch appears to be far more interested in the biochip and its potential.

Another interesting question, what was Netwatch paying Yorinobu in exchange. I doubt money alone would have motivated Yori, he's already heir to one of the richest and most powerful Corporations on Earth. Perhaps, you could argue that he doesn't care about his compensation, he is merely trying to sabotage his father's ambitions. But, I suspect there was a price, and it was hefty enough that Netwatch was willing to work with Evelyn who likely significantly underbid Yorinobu's quote. Yes, Netwatch plays dirty, but they aren't going to randomly screw over one of the most powerful men on Earth just to save a few Eddies. Price difference has to be significant to risk Yori's eventual wrath.

But once again, what is Yorinobu's endgame here? Was the resurrection of Johnny crucial to his plan, or simply a serendipitous middle finger to his father. Did Yorinobu want the destruction of Mikoshi? We know from dialog from Alt that she has been attempting to breach it for years, with no success. Was the re-introduction of Johnny to the playing field intended to sway the match into Alt's favor? I'm hoping that either somewhere in the game propper, or in future DLC, or even in the CyberpunkRed materials there is additional info on Yori that will shed some more light on to his motives.
 
I finally found the final piece to help everything click into place for me. But, I can't take credit. I got it from this reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LowSodiumCyberpunk/comments/kjt6d6
We know from the lore that on his 21st birthday, Saburo Arasaka summoned his son to a private meeting where he revealed the true purpose of the Arasaka Corporation. Rather than sharing his father's ambitions, Yorinobu was shaken to the very core by what he learned. He disappeared without a trace later that night. Four years later her surfaces as the leader of a Nomad gang dubbed the Steel Dragons. For years Yorinobu led his gang in open defiance of the Arasaka Corporation.

We know that eventually Yorinobu leverages the affection of his younger sister, Hanako, to return to the Arasaka fold. I have my suspicions regarding why Saburo permitted Yorinobu's return, but I am unconvinced it was simply due to weakness for his daughter's love. I am also unconvinced that Yorinobu returned to Arasaka as an act of contrition. Instead, I believe that Yorinobu realized that his external efforts to destroy his father's ambitions had thus far been futile. He would need to destroy the Arasaka Legacy from within.

Each member of the Arasaka family is playing a long game. And while they each have suspicions regarding each other's true motives no one is yet ready to reveal their hand....until the development of RELIC 2.0. Yorinobu makes the first move by imprinting Johnny Silverhand's engram onto the biochip and then stealing it from the heart of Arasaka laboratories. He reaches out to Netwatch to make a deal for the prototype. We know from the documents we receive from Anders Hellman that Arasaka to that point had been unsuccessful with their trial runs. Despite several different laboratory conditions, they had been unable to activate and implement the functions of RELIC 2.0 as designed. From their correspondence, Netwatch appears to have convinced Yorinobu that they can succeed where Hellman has thus far failed. But even they appear to be confused as to why Yorinobu select Silverhand as the engram.

The answer is crazy, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Yorinobu intended to become Johnny Silverhand. He would give his life to resurect one of Arasaka's most entrenched enemies and place him in the heart of the organization where he could do maximum damage. At one point, Yorinobu even states that he will become the Bomb.

Of course, nothing goes according to plan. The VDBs likely learned of Silverhand via their netrunners intercepting Netwatche's communications and hired Evelyn to gather information. Evelyn, being smarter than either Yorinobu or the VDBs gives her credit for, learns about the biochip and makes a deal with Netwatch. Once she reaches an agreement, she hires Dexter to put together a crew for a heist. And the rest is history.
 
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