Thoughts on different endings?

[LADYK22]

Pretty much exactly what the title says. I was wondering what everyone’s thoughts are on the different ending “paths” and how different life paths make those better or worse I guess?
Just finished playing through all the endings and my favorite was Don’t Fear(The Reaper) as a Street Kid.

[wyodinosaur]

You know what they say: 'Great minds think alike.' That is also my favourite ending. And 'Street Kid' is also my favourite role.

[LADYK22]

Originally posted by wyodinosaur:

You know what they say: 'Great minds think alike.' That is also my favourite ending. And 'Street Kid' is also my favourite role.

Hey wyodinosaur! It’s nice to meet someone else with the same favorite ending and path! The best ones in my opinion lol

[Silverbane7]

Streetkid till I flatline, myself.
Well.... My 'main' V is, that is.
Tho i never actually GET to an ending (lmao), that's the one I would pick for her (but no 'path of glory' post ending stuff....mine would stick with the H10 apartment. Who needs to own Afterlife anyway?...unless it comes with Rogue at your side *grin* )

My nomads would ride off with Panam, not sure about my other streetkids.
My two Corpo girls.....would both go in guns blazing with Johnny. Violet would leave him the body to save him, while Veronica would do it to go hunting past the Blackwall...she's mad as a box of rats, and twice as nasty lol.

Only Mr Victor Masters would take anything different.
The Arasaka path before the expansion (with the hopes of a political marriage to Hanako, before getting to the end) but full in with Prez Myers after the expansion....with that leverage, he'd hope to be Rosalind's personal 'advisor' (*winks*) by the time he's done.
Would have gone with Meredith Stout and MiliTech, if she'd ever called him back after that meet up at the NoTell....lol.

[EricHVela]

My favorite is Path of Glory (The Sun) via (Don't Fear) The Reaper as a Street Kid, but also for me, I don't think it's the most appropriate.

All Path of Glory variants feel too perfect. It walks through V's minor accomplishments (memorabilia found in the penthouse and flyby of V's first apartment), provides positive takes on the final status of all relationships—romanced or not—and several acquaintances, and achieves the foreshadowed status by living in that penthouse that's always visible from the H10 apartment and becoming the Legend of the Afterlife just like Jackie wanted. V is going to have another chance at a cure (and 2 if V made good with the Aldecaldos who let V know they're willing to ride with V once V's done). V's going on a legendary heist. V beat Night City.

It's like V is dying and having that last dream of a paradisal life before the brain shuts down.

It doesn't fit with CP'77's tone to be "real" (as real as fiction can be within itself).

Streetkid has the dialog options I prefer, but it conflicts with minor things about Night City and V's familiarity with it. Despite growing up there and frequenting the Lame Coyote pub (El Coyote Cojo), V and Jackie never met. Of all places, V returns to Night City after managing to get away, and everyone else is constantly telling V to get away from NC if there's a chance... which happened once already but is only mentioned optionally once more after the initial talk with el Padre.

What feels appropriate to me: Either Star or Temperance with Nomad. The Tower is iffy for me. The Devil is a middle finger to the player, bested only by "the easy way out" (which also is the price for failing The Reaper) where the game, several times during the credits, practically tells the player, "♥♥♥♥ you."

Nomad has the best explanation how V and Jackie met without the weird "corporat+streetkid" friendship and the coincidental unfamiliarity resolved by being at odds with each other. Jackie and V work together and survive on their first encounter. (This is also the only one where it involves combat in the prologue.) It explains how V's still discovering Night City and how V came to Night City without realizing what a social black hole it is. (It also is the only path with a foreshadow of a memorabilia item V can obtain.)

Temperance is the bittersweet tone of Johnny having ruined someone's life but that person still made a willing sacrifice for Johnny rather than what he had throughout his rebellious career with people doing things for him only because they felt they needed to do so but "couldn't ♥♥♥♥ing stand to be in the same room with [him]". Night City defeated V. Despite all his efforts and accomplishments, Johnny was beaten by NC, too—beaten by an act of kindness never expected to be seen in the likes of NC—and he has to live with it. I think Nomad makes this choice more believable than Streetkid or Corpo Rat.

Star is bittersweet with a dash of hope. V stopped playing Night City's game before it could win. It might be too hopeful, but the alternative is losing. In my opinion, this one fits better with a Nomad finding a new family and returning to the life V once had while bearing the scars Night City gifted to V.

The issue I have with Tower is that Johnny is outright killed and V becomes a faceless NPC. Night City wins the pot against absolutely everyone in V's life in the most ultimate way possible: Obscurity. There's also the weird interaction with Panam. V can tell unromanced Panam what's about to happen with the procedure with Panam's blessing to go through with it, but Panam still seems shocked and extremely upset when it happens. So, that nixes the Tower for me.

What makes sense to me in the tone of Cyberpunk: Night City never loses. People simply stop playing its game. It's not the same as winning against Night City.

[Actalo]

I find it ironic the two endings, Tower and Devil, are the least favorite endings and yet they are only endings with continuity of V.

Because the game allows the player to keep playing after Mikoshi, there seems to be this disconnect between what the player believes happens and what the game tells you is happening.

Prior to PL, the Devil ending was the only ending where V actually survives their ordeal, their soul is saved at the cost of their ethical 'soul'. They have continuity of character, they survive.

IT MATTERS.

The Devil was my favorite ending because I saved V, that was the entire purpose - Arasaka was Johnny's vengeance and I wanted V to have agency beyond being the chauffeur of some delusional narcissist.

With PL, we players get another chance to save V via the NUSA - albeit, if we choose to help Reed instead of handing So Mi over to the AIs on the Moon. Dunno how players rationalize helping the same AIs trying to take over humankind just cause they hate Meyers.

[LADYK22]

Originally posted by Actalo:

I find it ironic the two endings, Tower and Devil, are the least favorite endings and yet they are only endings with continuity of V.

Because the game allows the player to keep playing after Mikoshi, there seems to be this disconnect between what the player believes happens and what the game tells you is happening.

Prior to PL, the Devil ending was the only ending where V actually survives their ordeal, their soul is saved at the cost of their ethical 'soul'. They have continuity of character, they survive.

IT MATTERS.

The Devil was my favorite ending because I saved V, that was the entire purpose - Arasaka was Johnny's vengeance and I wanted V to have agency beyond being the chauffeur of some delusional narcissist.

With PL, we players get another chance to save V via the NUSA - albeit, if we choose to help Reed instead of handing So Mi over to the AIs on the Moon. Dunno how players rationalize helping the same AIs trying to take over humankind just cause they hate Meyers.

Hey! I love your take on this. I don’t see many people that like the Devil or the Tower as much as Sun or Temperance. I see the appeal of an ending where your V takes back their life, and allows for story continuity. Personally the PL ending feels somewhat off brand for the narrative pushed in the storyline. Then again allowing you to continue your story after Mikoshi also breaks the narrative that Night City is a place you never leave and where you don’t get second chances.

[Actalo]

Originally posted by LADYK22:

I don’t see many people that like the Devil or the Tower as much as Sun or Temperance. I see the appeal of an ending where your V takes back their life, and allows for story continuity. Personally the PL ending feels somewhat off brand for the narrative pushed in the storyline. Then again allowing you to continue your story after Mikoshi also breaks the narrative that Night City is a place you never leave and where you don’t get second chances.

I love the Sun ending and the Star ending - they're really interesting for everyone but V. Night City is unforgiving, which is why all those popular endings are just a mirage - a false hope to give the player some open-ended fantasy to grasp onto. V is already dead, V died in Mikoshi.

Players sacrificed V's life in order that an engram of a dead mass murderer, working for Militech, could reenact a 50 year old revenge by giving thousands of engrams to an AI from beyond the Blackwall that uses Alt's engramatic data.

These two jerks are why V needs to go blow up Arasaka and die?

The Devs were kind enough to give the player an out - but painted it as defeat so the player would choose their own death in order to facilitate the will of two rather evil entities.

[LADYK22]

Originally posted by Actalo:

Originally posted by LADYK22:

I don’t see many people that like the Devil or the Tower as much as Sun or Temperance. I see the appeal of an ending where your V takes back their life, and allows for story continuity. Personally the PL ending feels somewhat off brand for the narrative pushed in the storyline. Then again allowing you to continue your story after Mikoshi also breaks the narrative that Night City is a place you never leave and where you don’t get second chances.

I love the Sun ending and the Star ending - they're really interesting for everyone but V. Night City is unforgiving, which is why all those popular endings are just a mirage - a false hope to give the player some open-ended fantasy to grasp onto. V is already dead, V died in Mikoshi.

Players sacrificed V's life in order that an engram of a dead mass murderer, working for Militech, could reenact a 50 year old revenge by giving thousands of engrams to an AI from beyond the Blackwall that uses Alt's engramatic data.

These two jerks are why V needs to go blow up Arasaka and die?

The Devs were kind enough to give the player an out - but painted it as defeat so the player would choose their own death in order to facilitate the will of two rather evil entities.

It definitely feels like the idea that Johnny could “take over” V’s mind happened way earlier into the story, if you follow the laid out path line and make the more “obvious” choices. V tends to do what everyone else wants, unless you take the “easy way out”. Paths excluding the PL ending or the Devil ending lead to Alt and Johnny getting exactly what they want regardless of V’s stance and point in life. Again, love your take on all of this. It’s refreshing to see someone that doesn’t wholeheartedly love and agree with Alt and Johnny, as they were never designed to be good characters as many take them to be.

[Actalo]

After two or three play throughs of the game, dozens of lore videos, and a few trips to the wiki, I came to the conclusion that the real story of Cyberpunk 2077 is humankind dealing with the aftermath of Rache Bartmoss' misguided and ultimately extinction level attempt to destroy the corps hold over the net.

Throughout the game, there is this power 'tug-of-war' going on between AI and humans - the pre-war AIs driven mad and infected with Bartmoss' RABIDs who want to wreak their vengeance on humans. The decisions the player makes on behalf of V directly or indirectly influence this tug-of-war.

The "Blue Eyed Conspiracy" is a huge part of this - basically a bunch of AIs believe they can run the world better than humans and are slowly trying to replace/reprogram humans in positions of authority to bring about AI dominance.

Key Players in the BEC:

Mr. Blue Eyes - A proxy for AI
Peralez(s) - Reprogrammed by AI
SSI - Security firm employed by AI
So Mi - Recruited by Mr. Blue Eyes, Infected and influenced by AI
The Moon - Apparently a base where AI dwell
Maelstrom - Servants of AI
Lilith - An AI sent to take over Maelstrom
Garry - Somehow intercepting AI communications
Night Corp - Possibly already controlled by AI
Sandra Dorsett - Trying to expose Nightcorp
...and many more

On the other side is possibly an even greater danger, AI: "Alt Cunningham" or rather, "0-1", an AI that likes to consume other AI's. There's a hypothesis that Alt's engram data was consume by 0-1 in order to breach the Blackwall as its ultimate goal was to consume all the AIs in Mikoshi.

So as the player, you kinda have to ask yourself, who's side are you on and which future do you want to bring about?

The future where human despots rule atop Corporations as they'd done for 100+ years?

or...

The Matrix.

[Vela Darney]

Nomad - female V - Don't fear the reaper - Path of Glory/The Sun

1) in the don't fear the reaper ending, I'm not involving anyone else in my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, it's just me and Johnny, so the chances of another of my friends getting flatlined is zero
2) I was really torn whether to send V back or Johnny but in the end, I stuck with V - it's what Johnny wanted. Might repeat for the Temperance ending, though
3) You get to go to space! How awesome's that? I've wanted to go to space since I was a little kid watching Star Trek. :D

As for Actalo's question - I'll take the Matrix. We know the Matrix can be beaten. Corporations - nah. Never ever. Eliminate one and there'll be three new ones popping up in its stead before you've had time to turn around.

[Tokenn]

In my view, all the endings are basically meditations [usually with gunfire and explosions] on how an individual stands up against an unwelcome fate...but eventually finds a way to accept it. Some seem to be better than others, but really they all end up in the same place [as they do IRL].