The "Best" Ending? [Spoilers]

[Actalo]

Finished PL and now have completed all of the endings. In all of the Main endings V dies before or in Mikoshi. The V that comes back isn't V, it's just an AI recording of V. No matter what the "six month" outcome, V already died.

As screwed up as the PL ending seems with how it treats the relationships as if V never bothered to leave information in case of prolonged treatment, it's the only ending where the V we players created and played for dozens of hours, lives.

In some ways I resent Johnny since Johnny and Alt seem to know that going to Mikoshi means V's death, but we as players are blissfully unaware until that bitter twist. In fact, if you try to get surgery to live, Johnny is angry and bitter with V, despite those moments the player may have had where Johnny claims he'd die for V. In the end, Johnny and Alt killed V as their personal s**cide-bomb against Mikoshi, against Arasaka.

I like the Panam ending, riding over the water, but again, that ain't V. Panam lost the man she loved and is relegated to six months with an AI puppeteering V's animated corpse. The sense of hope and new beginnings is totally overshadowed by this fact. All in all, it's just kinda sad.

So the "best" ending? I think it's the one where the character we players made survives, barely, alone, but still lives on with possibility.

[Bufflehead]

Originally posted by Ishan451:

Originally posted by Kiwichris:

Does V really die after 6 months?

According to Alt V has an autoimmune disorder. Akin to Multiple Sclerosis or Aids (yes AIDS is technically autoimmune deficiency sydrome). The body will reject the implant, which makes no sense, and thus Vs brain. The problem here is that technically the chip would just need to do what it has done all along and rerewrite the Johnny rewrite with the new V stuff, but Alt says because the DNA is now Johnny it rejects the implant, but wouldn't if the Implant contained Johnny. Its a contradiction in the Story.

Originally posted by Kiwichris:

We don't really know. In the Nomad ending the voice call from Judy that female V gets implies V is alive and well, cooking her breakfast no less! If V was terminal no way Judy would be so happy.

Based on the above you can choose: Alt lied to V to make V give up the body (and since Johnny goes with Alt you can't say she did it because she wants to be with Johnny, thus she has no real reason to lie) or V doesn't tell Judy and just takes pills until they drop. My money is on the later.

That's not at all what AIDS is. It's acquired immunodeficiency syndrome that is brought on by the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). It infects T cells. A key cell in your immune system, which is why people with AIDS are immunocompromised. In other words it's in no way an autoimmune disorder. Though the comparison to MS is comparable to what the game describes.

Though the odd part is while MS is a little tricky, there are plenty of autoimmune conditions that can be treated to some extent with steroids which will 'dampen' the immune systems efforts to destroy the body. And that's current day medicine. One would think by 2077 they'd have even better options to treat what is effectively autoimmunity.

[Detective Dan]

Originally posted by Bufflehead:

Originally posted by Ishan451:

According to Alt V has an autoimmune disorder. Akin to Multiple Sclerosis or Aids (yes AIDS is technically autoimmune deficiency sydrome). The body will reject the implant, which makes no sense, and thus Vs brain. The problem here is that technically the chip would just need to do what it has done all along and rerewrite the Johnny rewrite with the new V stuff, but Alt says because the DNA is now Johnny it rejects the implant, but wouldn't if the Implant contained Johnny. Its a contradiction in the Story.



Based on the above you can choose: Alt lied to V to make V give up the body (and since Johnny goes with Alt you can't say she did it because she wants to be with Johnny, thus she has no real reason to lie) or V doesn't tell Judy and just takes pills until they drop. My money is on the later.

That's not at all what AIDS is. It's acquired immunodeficiency syndrome that is brought on by the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). It infects T cells. A key cell in your immune system, which is why people with AIDS are immunocompromised. In other words it's in no way an autoimmune disorder. Though the comparison to MS is comparable to what the game describes.

Though the odd part is while MS is a little tricky, there are plenty of autoimmune conditions that can be treated to some extent with steroids which will 'dampen' the immune systems efforts to destroy the body. And that's current day medicine. One would think by 2077 they'd have even better options to treat what is effectively autoimmunity.

I think more realistically they will find more advanced ways to slowly kill you and sell you the treatment. Nothing is ever cured nowadays only treated

[Drahknon]

Originally posted by Actalo:

Finished PL and now have completed all of the endings. In all of the Main endings V dies before or in Mikoshi. The V that comes back isn't V, it's just an AI recording of V. No matter what the "six month" outcome, V already died...

In the game world, we're led to believe it is a seamless transition and the V that makes it out of Mikoshi _is_ V. Otherwise, the game would end for the player's POV upon entering Mikoshi, no? The text of the game supports the player staying the same "soul" or something like, or there would be support in the text for your interpretation.

Fiction takes liberties, and not everything needs a logical explanation. You can choose to accept the fiction or not, but if not, you're creating your own head cannon, and that's fine, too.

[Alex_x86]

Originally posted by Actalo:

In some ways I resent Johnny since Johnny and Alt seem to know that going to Mikoshi means V's death, but we as players are blissfully unaware until that bitter twist.

Did you completely skip the dialogue you had with Alt when talking to her at VDBs? She actually describes that she will use Soulkiller on V to create his engram, separate V from Silverhand and then upload V back. There is a literally option for V to say "Gotta kill me to save me?" And if you select that option she actually tells V something like "Soulkiller is going to kill his soul in the process"...

[Grandmother CFO]

The Tower ending its the best one!!
Its like real life.

[Bufflehead]

Originally posted by Detective Dan:

Originally posted by Bufflehead:

That's not at all what AIDS is. It's acquired immunodeficiency syndrome that is brought on by the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). It infects T cells. A key cell in your immune system, which is why people with AIDS are immunocompromised. In other words it's in no way an autoimmune disorder. Though the comparison to MS is comparable to what the game describes.

Though the odd part is while MS is a little tricky, there are plenty of autoimmune conditions that can be treated to some extent with steroids which will 'dampen' the immune systems efforts to destroy the body. And that's current day medicine. One would think by 2077 they'd have even better options to treat what is effectively autoimmunity.

I think more realistically they will find more advanced ways to slowly kill you and sell you the treatment. Nothing is ever cured nowadays only treated

That depends what exactly you’re referring to. There are things that can be cured, particularly acute conditions. Though of course autoimmune conditions less so. That said even needing lifelong treatment is better than nothing. This is the case when someone has a kidney transplant for example, needing lifelong immunosuppressive treatment to prevent their body from destroying the new organ.

One might suggest it’s an almost identical thing that is happening with V and they could be treated in the same way. Might not be a cure as such. But I think in the instance of the Panam ending at least, I’m sure V would take another 50+ years of lifelong medication as opposed to deterioration leading to death over the next 6 months.

Though yeah I could also absolutely see corps in Cyberpunk selling faulty drugs or finding a way to create a health issue to sell the cure.

[EricHVela]

All friends still alive left alive, all mementos collected through the short-lived saga, a chance at a future if completing a dangerous what-have-I-got-to-lose heist, an invitation to join the Aldecados at any future date?

EDIT: Living in that luxurious apartment that was visible outside V's H10 apartment window even in inclement weather, achieving the dream of the big leagues and in charge of the Afterlife's merc scene?

Sun ending via Don't Fear the Reaper and completing Aldecado's story.

Best ending.

Most appropriate to how things work in Night City? Questionable. Sun doesn't really fit the style of Night City. It feels more like a fever dream of someone's who's currently taking their final breath... a heavenly ideal.

[Actalo]

Just replayed some parts of the game and it definitely reinforced my original opinion. And I was wrong, Alt did tell V he would die.

Reading through some of the comments I think my words were heavily misinterpreted. I don't think the "cure" ending is the best, gameplay or canonically, for V. But if you die, say, from a gunshot, and are resuscitated, you're alive again and that's still you. In Cyberpunk, people have souls, and V's soul returned to their body because the Relic restarted their brain via nanobots and electricity-magic, I guess. Still, V that woke up in the dump is still the same V that went to Konpeki Plaza. The Relic, I repeat, the Relic is NOT Soulkiller.

The V that comes back from Mikoshi is not V. V, as we knew them was Soulkilled, then an engramatic copy was made of their psyche, and then replanted into V's body. That engram is no more V than the engram of Johnny is the original Johnny.

So again, the only ending in which V gets to live, the soul, the person, the entity of V, gets to live, is the Tower ending.

However, I'll add one caveat: it would not surprise me to learn that the Neural Matrix was something akin to Soulkiller and its AI routine simply did the same thing Alt was going to do; Soulkill V, turn them into an engram, detach their engram from Johnny's - and place it back into the body. V now gets to live longer because there's no more cyberware. Perhaps the V in all the other endings only gets six months because the cyberware is destroying their CNS.

[MASTAXPLODER]

The worst part of the endings is that if you want the fun ending prizes you cant send songbird to the moon.

[TigerKhajiit]

Every ending where you tell Johnny to ♥♥♥♥ off is good. Just focus on that. He's a baby and a tool. I never give him the body. I'd rather die.