Why does the entire story hinge on Yorinobu being a moron? *SPOILERS*

+
I am genuinely astounded that it appears like Cyberpunk's main story beats are held up almost single-handedly by Yorinobu constantly holding the idiot ball.

For reference:

1. Yorinobu trusting his prostitute (Evelyn) with access to THE VERY ROOM THAT HOUSES THE RELIC is what allows for the initial heist to take place due to Evelyn's surveillance.

2. Yorinobu kills his father seemingly on a whim without having planned for it, meaning Takemura's suspicions are instantly alerted. Later on this will screw him over as Takemura finds V and recruits him to try to get revenge.

3. Yorinobu betrays the ONLY person who trusts him 100% (Hanako, his sister) and tries to kill her. Later if you take Hanako's deal to save your life you find out that Hanako ALREADY KNEW Yorinobu killed their father and was ok with it since she trusted her brother, and her sole motivation for taking over Arasaka is because she realizes Yorinobu is trying to kill her and it's a matter of survival. Hanako was even willing to let Takemura die simply so that Yorinobu's awful cover story ("ummmm Saburo died of a mysterious """"poisoning"""" am I the CEO of Arasaka now guise plz plz plz :D ") could hold up and he could retain legitimacy. She was also fine with keeping Saburo's engram buried in Arasaka Tower forever because she also disliked her father (seriously just go on the Cyberpunk wiki and look at the tabletop lore, Hanako was still communicating with Yorinobu WHEN HE WAS ACTIVELY RUNNING A TERRORIST CELL TO KILL SABURO AND DESTROY ARASAKA, that is how loyal she was).

4. Yorinobu repeatedly fails to kill Takemura or V. Hell he doesn't even have to kill V since V doesn't even think about telling others about Saburo's murder since he knows no one will believe him. On Hanako's ending path you literally walk into a board room meeting of the Arasaka bigshots and they still don't believe you even with Hanako's backing, until Hanako pulls out Saburo's engram, because your word is worthless to them. But Takemura? Are you joking? How hard is one guy to kill? He even dies during the Hanako kidnapping if you don't try to save him - why couldn't he have been killed earlier before he got Hanako and V involved? Just send Adam Smasher after him or something.

5. Yorinobu's motivations in-game are, if not schizophrenic, then genuinely insane. Yorinobu in the tabletop was basically a Japanese patriot who didn't trust megacrops with the future. In the tabletop lore he works with the Japanese government to nationalize part of Arasaka. It stands to reason then that he should be working to, if not neutralize Arasaka from the inside, then at least place their remaining assets in the hands of the Japanese government so that Japan can have some measure of control.
The entire business with the Relic is sketchy as hell - if he had remained consistent with his previous characterization, Yorinobu would want to destroy such "immortal" technology and not allow elites to live basically forever off the backs of the poor. Instead in-game his major dispute with his father that leads to him killing him is due to wanting to sell the technology to Americans to get more money. Wut? How is Yorinobu greedier than Saburo, are you joking? Yorinobu literally turned his back to Saburo and tried to blow up Arasaka the first time because he was sickened with the moral boundaries Arasaka was breaking just to make a profit.

I was actually expecting the heist to be revealed in the end as some 500 IQ plan by Yorinobu to ensure that the relic and all relevant research data were destroyed so that no one could have it, and for Yorinobu's desire to kill you being based out of a fear of letting the technology live to be controlled by elites and megacorps. Hell they could have even written the suicide ending like Letho's conversation at the end of Witcher 2 where you realize that the main villian actually had good reasons and you didn't have to fight him. Instead on the Hanako path V ends up so confused as to what Yorinobu was even trying to accomplish that there is literally a dialogue option where V can call Yorinobu insane because nothing he did in the entire story ever made any sense.
 
"5. Yorinobu's motivations in-game are, if not schizophrenic, then genuinely insane "



Agreed with your point, Yorinobu's actions make no sense., it would have been far more impactful if they hadn't tried to sell him as the greedy run of the mill ass. Also, characters' motivations in general is in my opinion by far the WEAKEST point of CB's writing. None of the characters have clearly identifiable, logical motivations. Here are more examples, but there are tons:

-Hanako: Her reason to collaborate with V is season 7-8 GoT level of retard.
She knows about the chip being in V's head, so she accepts to collude with and trust the person with a mind being actively rewritten with that of JOHNNY SILVERHAND, ie the man who got the closest to destroying Arasaka, she has no idea about who is holding the reigns between V and Johnny. It is implied several times that Arasaka and her father are very important to her, and that she's pretty savy regarding the corp's own tech. So she takes this huge and dumb risk anyway, for what reason? Testifying as an eye witness in front of the Arasaka higher-ups who have 0 reason to trust you (of course your testimony does fuck all in the end, as could be expected).

I'm sorry, but this alone qualifies as terrible writing.

-Johnny: Towards the middle of the story, he accepts being erased if he can go take a last shot at fucking with Arasaka. This fizzles out into nothing in the end, it's not ever mentioned again in the final act.

Also, in a sidequest when you meet a old fan of Samurai who loves the rebellious message of the band regarding the corps and Arasaka, Johnny complains that the man is stuck in the past, but Arasaka is all he himself ever talks about? Where is the continuity in his personality and motivations?

These are just a few examples, but there are tons of others (Johnny's old friend wanting to get revenge on Adam Smasher for no reason then not caring about it a minute later, since he's just "the tip of the iceberg", and then V tells her Johnny wants to kill Adam with her as some kind of couple activity like in the good old days, LOL...).

Problem is, characters' motivations are crucial to a great story. For this reason and a few others I don't believe CB tells a particularly good story.
 
Last edited:
...if not schizophrenic, then genuinely insane.

Schizophrenic is how I've been describing the game in general and much more outside of the story. There's so many aspects of it that imply one thing but the reality is another and it's kind of a mindfuck but not in a good way. Night City for instance is (apart from it's construction) pretty lame for a so called futuristic, dystopian cyberpunk city. No stripers, 2 Joy Toys and drug dealers that sell legitimate medicine.....lol...sigh. Ruins the experience for me.
 
None of the characters have clearly identifiable, logical motivations. Here are more examples, but there are tons:

-Hanako: Her reason to collaborate with V is season 7-8 GoT level of retard.
She knows about the chip being in V's head, so she accepts to collude with and trust the person with a mind being actively rewritten with that of JOHNNY SILVERHAND, ie the man who got the closest to destroying Arasaka, she has no idea about who is holding the reigns between V and Johnny. It is implied several times that Arasaka and her father are very important to her, and that she's pretty savy regarding the corp's own tech. So she takes this huge and dumb risk anyway, for what reason? Testifying as an eye witness in front of the Arasaka higher-ups who have 0 reason to trust you (of course your testimony does fuck all in the end, as could be expected).

I'm sorry, but this alone qualifies as terrible writing.

-Johnny: Towards the middle of the story, he accepts being erased if he can go take a last shot at fucking with Arasaka. This fizzles out into nothing in the end, it's not ever mentioned again in the final act.

Also, in a sidequest when you meet a old fan of Samurai who loves the rebellious message of the band regarding the corps and Arasaka, Johnny complains that the man is stuck in the past, but Arasaka is all he himself ever talks about? Where is the continuity in his personality and motivations?

These are just a few examples, but there are tons of others (Johnny's old friend wanting to get revenge on Adam Smasher for no reason then not caring about it a minute later, since he's just "the tip of the iceberg", and then V tells her Johnny wants to kill Adam with her as some kind of couple activity like in the good old days, LOL...).

Problem is, characters' motivations are crucial to a great story. For this reason and a few others I don't believe CB tells a particularly good story.

Yeah you're actually right it's not just Yorinobu - no one in this game has any basic logic or common sense.
 
What not one knows is that the Yorinobu that we see here, is just a copy of his mind with another microship on a empty shell body, he died on 2023, with the Soulkiller and his mind databased. Yorinobu and Silverhand both wanted destroy Arasaka corp. They even we could say were 'allies'.
 
I came looking for an answer, but I think instead, that I might be able to provide one.

At the end of 'totalimmortal', Yorinobu is killing Arasaka employees on a global scale. So, his father's murder may have been unplanned and impetuous (perhaps in frustration at having his theft discovered so quickly), it does appear that he is using his new found power to quickly damage Arasaka and its holdings as soon (and as thoroughly) as he can.

Less schizophrenic, and more psychopathic.
 
bit off-topic but...If only V had a BD chip installed during the heist...
 

I just did a post breaking down Yorinobu's actions during the heist. I can say that your most glaring mistake is that you got an easy Yorinobu moment wrong. He wasn't trying to kill Hanako at all, or his guards would have executed her during the strike on Takemura. A missile strike into your apartment would have been enough. Yorinobu was trying to bait Takemura into revealing himself, and would have killed him without your help. Don't forget that Takemura is an elite operative, dangerous even without his implants- and that's assuming he didn't get new ones (even inferior versions) installed by Viktor. Oda complains that Yorinobu is making it too easy for someone to break into Hanako's float- but he didn't know that Yorinobu is counting on that, so that he can track Takemura. Tracking one person down if they don't want to be found is hard- unless you give them an incentive to be where you want them to go.

Once you realize this, not only is it clear that Yorinobu wanted the heist to be successful, but it's evident that doing so was one of the few ways to lure Saburo somewhere he could be killed. He neutralizes Hanako effortlessly on any route but Devil- it's Alt Cunningham who kills her, though. Not Yorinobu.
 
I didn't know this but this game is based on a lore-rich old pen-and-paper roleplaying game called Cyberpunk, where all these characters (Yorinobu, Silverhand) were originally created. I literally had no idea and thought CDPR just made a new IP/lore.

Apparently a lot of this stuff, including Yorinobu's behavior is part of that old lore. I'm guessing people familiar with the old game probably view/approach this game very differently that people like me who didn't know.
 
I completely agree that Yorinobu character is poorly presented. I suppose the writers intended to show him as some genius who's always one step ahead of you, but the problem is that his motivation stays unclear until the end and you don't get clear hints that he's something more than just a heist greedy for power.

After finishing the game multiple times and choosing different lines in dialogues with Takemura, I think the idea was like this: Yorinobu is aware that Takemura would try to prove that he killed his father - and he knows that the only way for Takemura to do so is to contact Hanako. Or maybe it's Wakako who betrayed us by telling Arasaka that we'd asked her about the Corp - because I don't see any reason for that woman to selflessly help us in the war with Arasaka. She's too careful for that, plus Takemura had suspicions too and his dialogue with her makes it clear that later she'd ask something in return.

Anyway, Yorinobu expects Takemura to come to the parade and wants to kill Hanako so that everyone would think of Takemura as a murderer - thus, all this blabbering about bad security between Oda and Smasher. When the mission started I was absolutely sure that it would turn this way: initially our goal is to help Takemura talk to her, but then we have to save her from the murderers but fail and become the prime suspects. Or we have to choose who to save: Hanako who can help us with the chip or Takemura who we trust and have friendship with. That would add a twist and make it a really hard choice between "want" and "need". Because, as much as I love the "room 303" mission, saving Takemura the way it's done in the game is not a choice of your morality but rather the choice whether you go up the stairs and fight guards.
 
I think that Takemura's corporate optics immediately recognized that Saburo had been strangled, but he put off retaliation because of Smasher. Perhaps Wakako told Yorinobu what happened- or perhaps Oda included it in his report, as he really should have.

And no one is trying to kill Hanako. Only Takemura believes that, and he's a bit biased. That's why Yorinobu can afford to downgrade the security- that and the fact he wants Takemura to kidnap Hanako.
 
1. Yorinobu genuinely cares for Evelyn and trusts her. He's a very lonely man.

2. Yorinobu's relationship with his sister is fucked after he killed their father.

3. Arasaka was going to execute him so Yorinobu had to kill him.

4. Yorinobu went after Goro immediately after realizing he was a traitor. Goro will die if not for your actions.

5. Yorinobu was working with Netwatch to show the evils of his father's plans. He's actually on the same side you are in trying to wipe out Arasaka. His plans just change once he's its leader.
 
In one of side missions we find a guy protected by Arasaka from NCPD. His mission was to attack Arasaka staff using Militech gear and branding. Padre after the job says there is many such people lately in the city.

Yorinobu is planning a war with Militech. The conversation we hear during parade - it's like asking for an assasination attempt. Likely if we would not intervene she would get a bullet to the head.

If gramps get the resurrection ending he de-escalates Militech conflict. If not then I would say there could be a war. Arasaka is weakened after other endings so the question is does Militech wants to benefit from this? They seems to need more cash...
 
I completely agree that Yorinobu character is poorly presented. I suppose the writers intended to show him as some genius who's always one step ahead of you, but the problem is that his motivation stays unclear until the end and you don't get clear hints that he's something more than just a heist greedy for power.

After finishing the game multiple times and choosing different lines in dialogues with Takemura, I think the idea was like this: Yorinobu is aware that Takemura would try to prove that he killed his father - and he knows that the only way for Takemura to do so is to contact Hanako. Or maybe it's Wakako who betrayed us by telling Arasaka that we'd asked her about the Corp - because I don't see any reason for that woman to selflessly help us in the war with Arasaka. She's too careful for that, plus Takemura had suspicions too and his dialogue with her makes it clear that later she'd ask something in return.

Anyway, Yorinobu expects Takemura to come to the parade and wants to kill Hanako so that everyone would think of Takemura as a murderer - thus, all this blabbering about bad security between Oda and Smasher. When the mission started I was absolutely sure that it would turn this way: initially our goal is to help Takemura talk to her, but then we have to save her from the murderers but fail and become the prime suspects. Or we have to choose who to save: Hanako who can help us with the chip or Takemura who we trust and have friendship with. That would add a twist and make it a really hard choice between "want" and "need". Because, as much as I love the "room 303" mission, saving Takemura the way it's done in the game is not a choice of your morality but rather the choice whether you go up the stairs and fight guards.

Yorinobu is not fool, they force him fool, by a stupid story
Too much point can and should be filled
To build the twist, a charactor will looks retarded at first, then story can chage it
But they don't finish the story, so the only part left is retarded.
 
Yorinobu is not fool, they force him fool, by a stupid story
Too much point can and should be filled
To build the twist, a charactor will looks retarded at first, then story can chage it
But they don't finish the story, so the only part left is retarded.

Honestly I think Yorinobu won handily and wanted to side with him.
 
Honestly I think Yorinobu won handily and wanted to side with him.
Won handily is wrong, it make everything fxxking easy, and corp looks retarded.
That's still because the story is cut off.
Yorinobu have power, so does Hanako and Saburo. They should fight, a war, not a game.
Hanako’s spuer-carrier is just anchoring at the Night City, That's not a toy, she can call the army.
We should work with Yorinobu, and V can deal with the war, that's the line.
Which is too big for them to made it, so retarded left, both Yorinobu and V
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom