V isn't a good guy...

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I'm sure this isn't news for many, but after the natural feeling when you begin the game that your toon is essentially a good guy, even if they do unsavory things, it has been sinking in more and more that V is just a criminal. Of course, roleplaying you can moderate V's actions to make them mostly nice, but when it boils down: V is a hitman, and the targets aren't always really bad people. V is a thief. Not only during gigs, V goes into any house or business and shoplifts everything that isn't glued to the floor. V grabs anyone's car from the street. V commits cybercrimes. V commits horrendous massacres. Sure mostly they are bad guys and many deserve it, and the city is better without them. But others are just guards, cops or soldiers in a, let's say, justified mission. Sure, they sometimes are found around a crime scene but does that justify flatlining them all? There are some gigs where the victim is some 6th street or Valentino gangoon who stole something. The guards, Militech or Arasaka or whatever came in and finished him. Nothing different to what you do all day. Colleagues I would say.
You know I've pointed the Kiroshi at some friends and most have warrants! Panam has a long list. Judy is wanted for some minor disturbance and resisting arrest or something like that. I wonder what would V show if you could scan yourself?
 
My previous V, I would say nothing or almost.
All of the quests and GIGs were completed without been detected, so no one was able to see my V in any way. She never got a single NCPD bounty during the whole game and I don't remember that she killed anyone. All the enemies were knocked out, She even spare Nash, Sasquatch (gave up her 15K eddies bounty), Woodman or the XBD family. All the targets were knocked out and put in the fixer's car trunck, so at best, a bounty hunter.
So no, maybe not the best NC citizen, but definitely not a "bad girl", a criminal or a hitman :)
 
What would be best way to knockout those cyberpsychos without guns? I’d like to try to beat them by being stealth, but nope, not gonna happen with my stealth skills :)
 
I think it really comes down to how you play and your views on what makes a criminal and the morals behind said actions and world. Like if you view V with real world logic and morals Oh hell yeah V is a criminal and dangerous to society, however if you play a non lethal V and go by game world logic and morals V is just a thief at best or a edge runner with a heart or on the opposite side if you are out here playing V how you described like you are kinda making your V a "criminal/bad" person kinda, cause in the game world V is a Merc/edge runner which alone does not make V good or bad they are just another clog in the machine that makes night city run. So it really comes down to what you make your V do and how you play them that makes them good or bad. Also everyone in night city is a criminal one way or another so does it really matter
 
There are 2 things to consider here.

The first is the morality of night city, When the city is so dangerous, they sell guns in vending machines just so people can feel safe walking to the store and there are criminals and threats around every corner, with a police force that is at best overtaxed, overworked and outgunned and at worst corrupt and criminals themselves. Some would say "flatlining" some people is just part of surviving. Then if you can make it a point to only use violence when 100% necessary that's a win.

The other thing to consider, is it is entirely possible to finish the game without killing anyone sure a few people get injured or incapacitated, but no deaths on Vs hands. Even smasher you can leave him a broken mess and choose not to finish him off and I'm pretty sure Araska or Yorinobu would rebuild him if you let him live. Or you can only kill with a code. Only kill the worst of the worst or any sort of variation of that.

Personally, I don't kill cops (at least not during a real playthrough) First it's not worth the hassle of the wanted level it's easy enough to escape. 2 from a roleplay standpoint it's hard to play the "Decent person stuck in a bad situation in a worse city" role and then be gunning down cops left and right. Same thing with gangs, generally I take a non-lethal approach, but there are exceptions. 6th street, Valentinos, animals, claws even the VDBs, I usually let them live unless I'm in a situation where I absolutely need to take the kid gloves off I go non-lethal, sure they're not good guys but also they're not evil (Jotaro and Woodman are exceptions those guys are monsters so personally no guilt here) However Scavs, Wraiths and Maelstrom, yeah those are some pretty sick individuals, they torture, kill and commit all sorts of depravity just for fun Night city is better off without them.

Corps I have mixed feelings about, in some ways they operate like any other criminal organization, but in other ways it's a job and those people are just trying to live, so again generally don't just go around killing corpos without good cause. Plus, I like Netrunner builds so it's a little easier to go no lethal.

SO really what it comes down to is the rules night city plays by, and how you choose to play the game, it's entirely possible to kill no-one or only the absolute worst people (3-5) tops, or to only kill certain types of criminals. Sure, V is NOT the typical "Good Guy" or "Hero" from many games but depending on your choices and looking at the "world" they're in, they're definitely not "bad" Unless you play as a cyberpsycho and well then yeah, they're bad.
 
What would be best way to knockout those cyberpsychos without guns? I’d like to try to beat them by being stealth, but nope, not gonna happen with my stealth skills :)
Sneak up behind them, grab them, and knock them out with a nonlethal hit. The only one where I can remember not being able to do that was the Maelstrom psycho in the ice bath. Gorilla arms took care of her pretty quickly.

Edit: I just realized that you said that you're no good at stealth. In that case, gorilla arms. Also, melee with a gun works well, especially if you take a couple of perks that make it more powerful. For guns, you can attach the non-lethal mod.
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Regarding V being a bad guy/gal, by today's standards (are there any standards today ??) that's definitely true. However, in a dystopian context where gangs rule the city and the police are just another, better funded gang, mercenaries are just an extension of an individual's attempt to protect themselves and their property rights.

So, V can be a ruthless killer. Or, V can be a non-lethal mercenary, taking only jobs that relate to protecting or rescuing someone, or returning somebody's stolen property. Now, the main missions do impose some criminality on V. My V would never have taken the Arasaka job in the first place, because that's an outright theft. It's also an obvious set-up, but that's a side point here. But to unlock the city, I don't have any choice other than to play that mission.
 
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Sometimes you gotta get your hands dirty to clean up a cesspool of a city. And Night City is quite the cesspool. Sure, my Vs have killed, but those killed were not innocent. A lot were sociopaths, scumbags, and murderers. An eye for an eye.
Well said. If you live in a world in which being a pacifist is not an option, you gotta live by the sword :shrug:
 
Electric baton Beta/Projectile Launching System with Tranq Darts ftw.
I tried the tranquilizer darts. Didn't seem to work. I though it was just my bad luck, and then I read something about the tranq darts being nerfed sometime back, so that they no longer take out cyberpsychos. That's disappointing.
 
I play mostly good guy, spare as much as I can guards and other not so clearly bad guys. I do kill bad guys with prejudice, especially Maelstrom and scavvers, but those deserve it. Clearly justified given V's vigilante role. Even then, if you do all the gigs as they supposed to some leave a bad taste. A few are outright hits. Codename V-47. You can still refuse to do the dirty work, but then you won't complete the gig and with the new system that has new ones opening only if you complete previous ones, well...
The cutscene between meeting Jackie and saving Sandra Dorsett shows V and Jackie as a pair of low-lifes. But they could also be in that gray area just doing gigs for fixers.
OTOH, V is sort of a bounty hunter doing all those NCPD assaults, so that's a point in favor. Anyway, this is just a philosophical discussion :think:

Oh and I forgot to mention, crossing red lights and jay-walking 8*D
 
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I play mostly good guy, spare as much as I can guards and other not so clearly bad guys. I do kill bad guys with prejudice, especially Maelstrom and scavvers, but those deserve it. Clearly justified given V's vigilante role. Even then, if you do all the gigs as they supposed to some leave a bad taste. A few are outright hits. Codename V-47. You can still refuse to do the dirty work, but then you won't complete the gig and with the new system that has new ones opening only if you complete previous ones, well...
The cutscene between meeting Jackie and saving Sandra Dorsett shows V and Jackie as a pair of low-lifes. But they could also be in that gray area just doing gigs for fixers.
OTOH, V is sort of a bounty hunter doing all those NCPD assaults, so that's a point in favor. Anyway, this is just a philosophical discussion :think:

Oh and I forgot to mention, crossing red lights and jay-walking 8*D


You never have to kill anyone, even the "Gun for Hire" Gigs. you can usually find another way, some people can be convinced to leave NC, Others can be incapacitated and brought to the fixers car, sure it's a bit of a "Grey Area" as to what happens after you give them to the fixer alive, arguably a potentially worse fate may await them. But it is still entirely possible to not kill anyone or at least not directly kill them you can argue a kidnapping is a good as killing them yourself, but honestly you have no idea what happens to them so you can just assume they get dumped at NCPD or some other option.

Besides the game never really sets you up as the "Good Guy" just a person who gets involved in an insane situation. For what it's worth I usually like playing the "hero" or at least someone who is a bit more on the side of good, but Sometimes it's nice to play a little bit on the "Dark side" or the "Anti-hero" not really the typical good guy but also not evil. And then of course there is the Trevor from GTA5 situation where sometimes is fun to just go full madman.

It's actually an interesting conversation, A lot of games run into that Ludonarrative dissonance issue, the game tells you in the story your character is this type of person, but then in making the mechanics fun you end up killing a lot or doing things the story or character development would strongly contradict. Funnily enough, Uncharted was so notorious for this that, Nathan Drake being the funny charming adventurer who's rough but with a heart of gold, but then killing literally thousands, dude has a higher body count than most video game assassins/hitmen. It was so jarring that I think in Uncharted 4, naughty dog actually put in a trophy called "Ludonarrative dissonance" which you got for killing over 1000 Npcs. and yet he is supposed to be the "Hero" of the story.
 
Interesting read, for a game that's touted as not being an RPG there sure are many ways to role play the main character.

V was never a good guy/gal, they're simply trying to survive in a very ruthless society the best they know how.

That's really what it is in real life as well, it's where you grow up, who you know, who you get to meet and how you deal with the situations that life provides for you.

Nothing is black and white, it's all about perspective, but yeah, V was never a good guy/gal per definition, an antihero if you will.

The fact that they're slowly turning into Johnny during the course of the game solidifies that.
 
Interesting read, for a game that's touted as not being an RPG there sure are many ways to role play the main character.

V was never a good guy/gal, they're simply trying to survive in a very ruthless society the best they know how.

That's really what it is in real life as well, it's where you grow up, who you know, who you get to meet and how you deal with the situations that life provides for you.

Nothing is black and white, it's all about perspective, but yeah, V was never a good guy/gal per definition, an antihero if you will.

The fact that they're slowly turning into Johnny during the course of the game solidifies that.
Many ways to roleplay the character, if you mostly ignore the story.
 
Many ways to roleplay the character, if you mostly ignore the story.
Not necesarily, the story does not revolve around a certain V, there is no ''main V'' or so to speak which is what I think this whole thread is ultimately about.

There are a few archetipes that can be combined to create a personalized V in the end, or so I experienced during my multiple playthroughs.
 
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