CDPR Has no intention of continuing V's story

[Shadow Wizard Money Gang]

***Heavy Ending Spoilers***
With Phantom Liberty's new ending its all but confirmed CDPR has no intentions of continuing V's story in this game or the next. I genuinely will be surprised if we even see Night City again.
-Devil: V's an engram which can be written out of the story without any fanfare
-Nomad: V disappears looking for a cure never to be seen or heard from again
-The Sun: V is a legend and is only mentioned in passing as another merc like Blackhand and Smasher
-Temperance: Johnny takes your body and knowing him gets killed in some piss covered alley
-The Tower: Militech controls Night City, V has no cyberware and everyone hates them/has moved on. V dies in obscurity as a legend who can't capitalize on it anymore

I wont lie I was expecting a more bittersweet ending to Phantom Liberty, but the gutpunch of depression they deliver is in line with this world I guess. Kinda makes no sense how so many people drop V like they meant nothing to them

[Balekai]

With all the endings behind us they definitely left room to not revisit V's story. In fact it's much easier to not do so rather than trying to line up all the different endings so V's story starts all in the same place more or less. Doable but complicated.

Regardless, some of their pigeonhole narrative direction with the latest ending suggests they really want A) V committed to staying in Night City no matter what and B) V wanting to continue mercing no matter what.

It seems strange to force these two personality characteristics or whatever on V/players if they aren't going to revisit V as a protagonist or future NPC. Especially when there were other options to let V as a protagonist fade into history. Like V just staying in DC or working at Langley as Reed suggested. Still possible that's just what V will do in the new Tower ending after meeting with Vik/Misty.

As a last note:

- Temperance: There's always the chance this is the case as it is with any addict or hothead personality. However, it really seems like Johnny is trying to turn a new leaf.

- The Tower (new ending): Not everyone hates/moved on from V. Panam is really the only one that hates V in the end because she's super needy and her own personal self absorbed enemy, that doesn't need Night City to pull herself down. She might not even be alive in the ending. Everyone else is mostly sad/remorseful about giving up or forgetting about V, but glad he/she's still alive and well. Like really how many people in real life keep hope up for someone missing for 2 years? Let alone in a dystopian Cyberpunk near apocalyptic setting? Where being missing for 2 days usually means you're dead. :D

[Deklend]

You're probably right about V's story being ended, though the next game we'll probably see references. As to never seeing Night City again...that'd be a terrible decision on CDPR's part if they went that far. Night City IS the main character of the Cyberpunk Universe. It's where all of the wheeling and dealing is done from the lowliest gang to the largest Megacorps. It'd be like taking the Comic Book Sin City but then have all of the stories take place in Reykjavik. It'd no longer be Sin City.

[Shadow Wizard Money Gang]

Originally posted by Balekai:

With all the endings behind us they definitely left room to not revisit V's story. In fact it's much easier to not do so rather than trying to line up all the different endings so V's story starts all in the same place more or less. Doable but complicated.

Regardless, some of their pigeonhole narrative direction with the latest ending suggests they really want A) V committed to staying in Night City no matter what and B) V wanting to continue mercing no matter what.

It seems strange to force these two personality characteristics or whatever on V/players if they aren't going to revisit V as a protagonist or future NPC. Especially when there were other options to let V as a protagonist fade into history. Like V just staying in DC or working at Langley as Reed suggested. Still possible that's just what V will do in the new Tower ending after meeting with Vik/Misty.

As a last note:

- Temperance: There's always the chance this is the case as it is with any addict or hothead personality. However, it really seems like Johnny is trying to turn a new leaf.

- The Tower (new ending): Not everyone hates/moved on from V. Panam is really the only one that hates V in the end because she's super needy and her own personal self absorbed enemy, that doesn't need Night City to pull herself down. She might not even be alive in the ending. Everyone else is mostly sad/remorseful about giving up or forgetting about V, but glad he/she's still alive and well. Like really how many people in real life keep hope up for someone missing for 2 years? Let alone in a dystopian Cyberpunk near apocalyptic setting? Where being missing for 2 days usually means you're dead. :D

You make some great points. I think it would be a massively missed opportunity if we never even hear about V again. I think their story is over, so seeing them as a playable character would be out of place but never hearing from them again would be a travesty. You arent wrong about Panam but this leads me back to my complaint about the ending making so many characters act so irrationally. I would hope that people would understand (ala Judy) but still. And yeah Johnny honestly is turning a new leaf, but that was due to V's constant and direct influence. I fear for him after they are gone and he no longer has a conscientious voice in him.

Originally posted by Deklend:

You're probably right about V's story being ended, though the next game we'll probably see references. As to never seeing Night City again...that'd be a terrible decision on CDPR's part if they went that far. Night City IS the main character of the Cyberpunk Universe. It's where all of the wheeling and dealing is done from the lowliest gang to the largest Megacorps. It'd be like taking the Comic Book Sin City but then have all of the stories take place in Reykjavik. It'd no longer be Sin City.

This is what scares me with the endings though. Over half of them have NC becoming an unrecognizable place. Depending on what ending becomes cannon it either gets torn apart, becomes militechs stronghold (and risks becoming part of the NUSA now that it is under their control), or has Arasaka consolidate power further pushing it into it's grasp. All make sense in world but I fear they will move us to a new location. I hope I am wrong tho

[gotico gordo]

Could not care less, if they don’t use V as the protagonist I ain’t playing, and that is where I stand, I didn’t spent 200+ hours loving the game and reading every text loving every interaction I had with V and V with the world for them to just “hehe f you fam, let’s get another one now”
Nah nah nah, no V no sequel for me, y’all can eat my shorts 😎😎😎

[Izzy Wit Da Uzi]

I'm 99.99% sure that V won't be the protagonist in the sequel but I also won't be playing the game if V isn't the protagonist in the sequel.

[Graf Erik]

Yeah, it quite obvious thats Vs story is told, one way or another. New game, new me.

But I think "The Tower" is quite okay. A good ending. Essentially its just V retiring.

The devs obviously tried to make it feel as depressing as possible, especially with Misty coming to you after these punks beat you up 'Oh! Dont worry! You'l get used to it. You're now one of us, just another face in the crowd'

But really, it not bad at all.

You're not losing all cyberware, just 'combat implants' (as Reed put it), Vic says its something with your motoric cortex (iirc). In any way, you still can use plenty of cyberware. I mean, you can still see, so obviously your Kiroshis are working. You also have onscreen displays and a data link.
Passiv implants like dermal platingshould also still work
But most importantly: It not like you are helpless without combat implants.

I tested it. Had all combat implants removed, went on a killing spree. Taking out 10 bargest soldiers to clear an airdrop? No issues.
Slaughtering 20 scavs? Sure thing.
I mean, I just started a new playtrough. Level 3, no combat implants whatsoever. And I just killed 5 Tyger Claws.
I probably cant take down 100 spec-ops soldiers at the same time in an open battle anymore, but thats about it.

Also, you are filthy rich at the end. I ended with 5M on the bank, 40 cars and bikes, 4 appartments (you only lose the pod in h10, that one was rented the others are bought), and about 500 iconic/tire 5++ weapons in my stash.

Arasake is more powerfull then ever (and took over Dogtown), but Jorinobu is gone, and his father wasnt revived.

Sure, many of your friends moved on, you'll make new ones.

[Phynrae]

The Cyberpunk universe is one in which you could tell a million different storries. It was made for that.

I know most of us have grown attached to our V, but what makes you all think you coulden't grow equally attached to a new character in the same way?

[Shadow Wizard Money Gang]

Originally posted by Graf Erik:

Yeah, it quite obvious thats Vs story is told, one way or another. New game, new me.

But I think "The Tower" is quite okay. A good ending. Essentially its just V retiring.

The devs obviously tried to make it feel as depressing as possible, especially with Misty coming to you after these punks beat you up 'Oh! Dont worry! You'l get used to it. You're now one of us, just another face in the crowd'

But really, it not bad at all.

You're not losing all cyberware, just 'combat implants' (as Reed put it), Vic says its something with your motoric cortex (iirc). In any way, you still can use plenty of cyberware. I mean, you can still see, so obviously your Kiroshis are working. You also have onscreen displays and a data link.
Passiv implants like dermal platingshould also still work
But most importantly: It not like you are helpless without combat implants.

I tested it. Had all combat implants removed, went on a killing spree. Taking out 10 bargest soldiers to clear an airdrop? No issues.
Slaughtering 20 scavs? Sure thing.
I mean, I just started a new playtrough. Level 3, no combat implants whatsoever. And I just killed 5 Tyger Claws.
I probably cant take down 100 spec-ops soldiers at the same time in an open battle anymore, but thats about it.

Also, you are filthy rich at the end. I ended with 5M on the bank, 40 cars and bikes, 4 appartments (you only lose the pod in h10, that one was rented the others are bought), and about 500 iconic/tire 5++ weapons in my stash.

Arasake is more powerfull then ever (and took over Dogtown), but Jorinobu is gone, and his father wasnt revived.

Sure, many of your friends moved on, you'll make new ones.

You're seeing this too much from the player side unfortunately. Of course you can kill people still without implants, what game would make it so you were completely unable to defend yourself? As for money that has been made clear time and time again in this universe that money only goes so far. You have to have the ability to act to get anything done and unfortunately without combat implants anything outside of run of the mill NCPD will annihilate you. Do you truly believe V could take on anyone they did without the implants they had (again not referring to you as a player doing it)

[Shadow Wizard Money Gang]

Originally posted by Phynrae:

The Cyberpunk universe is one in which you could tell a million different storries. It was made for that.

I know most of us have grown attached to our V, but what makes you all think you coulden't grow equally attached to a new character in the same way?

Not saying that at all. Just pointing out that V's story, for better or worse, is finished

[Actalo]

I could argue the canon ending is the endings where the evil moon-based AI gets Songbird and the V starts to work for the evil AI (Blue Eyes), and V themselves is now a souless AI (engram) as well. And this could be the start of a new game.

However, let's face it, why would anyone wanna play a sequel as a souless engram copy of a dead protagonist? I think most players don't realize that in all endings but the Devil and NUSA - Alt Soulkills V and that's it. The entire second and third act were pointless, V is dead. If someone told you "I am going to kill you and make an AI copy of you, then plant it in your body" ... who the f**k would be like, "Now we have a plan" ... biggest plot hole.

In other words, the likely canon ending(s) to V story is the one where V's story is over.

[Shadow Wizard Money Gang]

Originally posted by Actalo:

I could argue the canon ending is the endings where the evil moon-based AI gets Songbird and the V starts to work for the evil AI (Blue Eyes), and V themselves is now a souless AI (engram) as well. And this could be the start of a new game.

However, let's face it, why would anyone wanna play a sequel as a souless engram copy of a dead protagonist? I think most players don't realize that in all endings but the Devil and NUSA - Alt Soulkills V and that's it. The entire second and third act were pointless, V is dead. If someone told you "I am going to kill you and make an AI copy of you, then plant it in your body" ... who the f**k would be like, "Now we have a plan" ... biggest plot hole.

In other words, the likely canon ending(s) to V story is the one where V's story is over.

Agreed. Unless they add more context with shows/movies/books, V as we know them is gone. However you bring up a good plotline: Blue Eyes hoarding the engrams of thousands of famous people (Rache Bartmoss??) and using clones of them to influence the world. Maybe we can see V again as a miniboss or something in the next one.

[Phynrae]

Originally posted by Actalo:

If someone told you "I am going to kill you and make an AI copy of you, then plant it in your body" ... who the f**k would be like, "Now we have a plan" ... biggest plot hole.

I don't think it's a plothole, just that V doesen't really grasp the full consequences of what's being said here (V's not exactly a rocket surgeon, if you catch my drift).

And hey, a lot of players missed it too, not just V.

But yes, V dies in all the Mikoshi endings. Infact i'd say the FIA ending is the only ending in which we can say for sure that she survives (we only have Arasaka's word that they will try to help you someday, but their word isen't worth a whole lot).

[Actalo]

That's fair and yet, what was the point? The entire story is V wanting to survive by removing Johnny from his mind and yet - with Mikoshi, V basically gives his/her body to an AI version of him/herself.

I've seen a lot of people write on the message boards about how V's consciousness (soul) is transferred temporarily into Mikoshi and then back into their body - this misconception is entirely CDPR's fault. However, there was a vocal minority of players who understood what happened at Mikoshi and were "What the f**k did I play 100hrs for???"

I think the PL ending was made especially for them - as if to say "Here, you little whiny b**ches finally get to live, but guess what, I'mma take all your ♥♥♥♥, all your cyberware, all you friends, all your lovers, muhahaha"

It's sad because I really like the ending where V and Johnny take on Arasaka on their own but I just wish they had brought a different kind of nuke NOT called Alt to destroy Mikoshi. Alt is clearly malevolent - she eats all those AI and is probably now some kinda imergent super-intelligence. Maybe, in the end, V's like "Nah, f**k it, Johnny and me can just live together" - and maybe in some small way, V lives on through Johnny as a voice in his head. That would be an interesting sequel.

[Tokenn]

This is likely the case...V will just be a memory in the CP77 sequel. But I feel pretty sure CDPR will give us new characters we'll love just as much. I'll be looking for references to the first game however...easter eggs, etc.

[Silverbane7]

Originally posted by Tokenn:

This is likely the case...V will just be a memory in the CP77 sequel. But I feel pretty sure CDPR will give us new characters we'll love just as much. I'll be looking for references to the first game however...easter eggs, etc.

Thats what i am hoping for too. For the game to ether ask you (who were you?) if it detects a cp77 save, or if there is more than one ending save.

so, depending on what you did in 2077, you would get different things happening.
Graffiti, Legends, Urban Myths and the like.
If you and the Nomads raided the tower, the Aldecaldo's could have fled to say, Alaska with V (if you chose to go back), or been whiped from the map (if you chose to give Johnny your body)
If you went alone, with just your inner munchkin..well...whether or not you gave the body to Johnny, V is a Legend among Legends.
The tale of the Gonk-ass Merc who walked in thru the FRONT DOOR! of Arasaka, like they owned the place, and went on to OWN THE HELL out of Arasaka...(if you went dressed in full Johnny gear too, they remark about that with grins) Then...made it out in one piece, only to vanish, like a ghost.
Arasaka adds another ghost story to the one they already tell about Johnny (scare the new hires with tales about the ghostly figure of a shot in half man that haunts the upper floors already...)

things like that.
Gangs you went in hard on might be smaller. Gangs (or even corps) you left breathin in the dirt (rather than stuffing their corpses into trashcans..yeah, my Veronica does that to everyone XD) might be bigger and better than if you went sneaky everywhere or did a semi pacifist run (yeah, some play that route too)

and yeah, i would also like to hear the trash tech's talking about the legendary year of 2077...the year of the Corpse Cans...when some SubCon for the NCPD spent time stuffing dead gangoons, mooks and so on into the trashcans, bins, freezers and fridges of NC..so many infact, that the new mayor (insert ether Holt or Peralez here) had to order a mass cleanup (evil grin) if you stuffed all your kills (maybe 60%+) into the trashcans, fridges, chest freezers and car trunks/boots of the city, like a one merc vicera cleanup crew

things like, if you helped Clouds become a doll collective (it probably got whiped) or if you sided with Maiko (it carried on working, and eventually she chilled the hell out and stoped being a mean kitty to the other dolls)
if you helped River or not.
Helped Kerry, and he made a record in Vs honour (if you romanced him, its an album of love songs, and a goodbye song. if you were just his friend, a bunch of loud, happy or angry songs to dance to)

nothing that actually impacts the game as such (yeah bigger or smaller gangs/corps might, but im talking about the lore side of size, rather than the in game mechanics side of size)