Can someone explain to me the lore reason why some people choose to get chrome skin for?

[Amplifier]

I'm referring to people like Lizzy Wizzy, or those hotel staff at Konpeki. There's also a few chrome skinned pedestrians I rarely see walking around the richer districts of Night City if I recall.

What's up with this? Is it just for fashion beauty thing or does chrome skin provide some benefit to the user?

[Crimsomrider]

There isn't just one reason so they vary a lot from person to person and there is an entire quest in the game wonderfully dedicated to this subject in Heywood that tackles one of the reasons why someone might want to entirely replace their skin.

It does have its benefits depending on who you are (sturdiness, everlasting appearance, becoming someone else, quitting your past life, public display of your wealth etc...), but in a nutshell people mostly just wanna look different and in some cases, special. Which ain't too different from people today who dye their hair, get piercings or golden teeth and such.

Shiny *Ba Bling* is the thing :D

[Zebedee]

Chemskins and synthskins are purely cosmetic. Uniformity among corporate staff hints at the relationship between employees and corporation.

Lizzy Wizzy is a little stranger because she's replaced her entire body and seems to be slipping into cyberpsychosis as a result, her's seems to have started as extreme performance art. Grimes has said there'll be more Lizzy Wizzy in the expansion btw, so may be more added to her story arc (it currently ends with a tv segment which is easily missable).

[Zoid13]

vanity.
same reason why people get cosmetic surgery.

[JACKSin]

Speaking of lore, before you meet Lizzy Wizzy is there any evidence that she's a star in this world? Is she featured in billboards anywhere or mentioned in any way? I'm just curious.

[Mander]

Originally posted by It was Jack:

Speaking of lore, before you meet Lizzy Wizzy is there any evidence that she's a star in this world? Is she featured in billboards anywhere or mentioned in any way? I'm just curious.

Yes to both: in game, she is a guest to both radio and television broadcasts.
Here an example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgY3BzoVQKY&ab_channel=Kazuliski

[JACKSin]

Thanks. I've been passively looking for her on billboards ever since I met her. Now I feel better.

[Zebedee]

The advert you can see is for Lizzy Wizzy and the Metadwarves, but I've only ever seen it in poster sizes ingame - never on the large billboards. As Mander mentions, she's also mentioned on radio - one piece on one of the stations is on how hard it is to get tickets for her show.

edit: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2996270331

[Gillsing]

There's a shard mentioning her as well. Think one copy might be at the Afterlife. Or it was in some other bar.

[Silverbane7]

if i remember correctly, part of the deal to get a job at the Konpeki Plaza hotel chains (yes, there are multiple, Corpo V can say as much when talking with Evelyin Parker) is that you get the golden skin. its considered part of the 'uniform'

i assume that many of the folks with full gold skin you see walking around the city may be workers from Konpeki who are 'laid off' while the building is closed due to the investigation ect.

when it's just the skin, yeah, it can be done to be 'cool' it was popular back in the 'golden age of cyberware' which was the 2000's thru to 2023 and the start of the Red.
People did crazy stuff back then.

you could get all kinds of augmentation. The 'Bug eye' cyber-eyes that one of the Us Cracks girls has, was a thing, though her eyes dont 'bug' quite so far out as the originals (which probably gave you the full 'fish eye' style vision you see some gamers use when its on offer.)
you could have fur...scales....chrome. Be a Dog. be a Cat-girl, or a Shark-man, even a snake-woman. or, the classics like elves, orks and so forth.

Dumdum's new pointy teeth, gills, or go full 'Borg and have a total conversion (what Lizzie had done)
granted, even then, it cost a lot of money to go so far. but some people had to 'take it to the max' and internal chrome wasnt going to cut it for them. and if you did jump into it that far, you also paid for comprehensive psyche evaluations, training and counseling to help keep you from (possably) going cyberpsycho. even then, we had cases of people just snapping, but it usually happened to folks who didnt have the money to do it legit.

some folks started with just implants. eyes for work. an arm, because their own was weak...maybe they lost a leg, got a new one.
then, something else...and something else...and eventually, there was more machine than flesh and they just said 'ah, frak it, lets go all in' and got the skin.

it's probably a bit like folks addicted to getting tattoo's or plastic surgery. to them, they think they look fantastic, they feel fantastic and more like 'themselves'