Does anyone else sometimes feel lost in the story?

[Captain Skinny]

Copious spoilers to follow! Proceed with caution!

Ever since first starting the game, I have often felt like I'm missing things. It all starts when I didn't realize TBug died. Or how after we grab Hanako, Goro is just suddenly dead. Three times I've tried to run it down so he survives, but he never does and I've never even seen his corpse! Or what is going on at Cynosure, was it an AI project? The giant spider bot? Why can't I blow the evil blackwall spider up? How do rogue AIs work, are they like teamed up, why are they unrelentingly evil, what was the 'core' and what the hell was that place supposed to be? A superweapon factory?

I'm not necessarily asking for answers to these questions, but I do find myself kinda taken out of the game at certain points because of it. Am I not finding or reading the right shards? Am I not listening closely enough to Johnny?
This is a unique feeling I get in this game, I usually don't have any trouble with plot or following ideas, but this game keeps me confused.

[Tchuvan]

I'm on my 8th or 9th playthrough on this and still find and learning stuff. Honestly, I think that helps with replayability. If I got all the story and figured it out the first time, I'd be bored out of my mind by the 3rd playthrough.

There's plenty of resources if you want to research to figure out things that stump you, like why Goro dies and what not, so you don't worry on your next playthrough.

I luckily chose the best ending (imo) for Phantom Liberty the first time. You do have to follow the cues that you are given. Johnny does help. Sometimes you learn to listen to him, others you learn to do the opposite.

[chemiman]

I always miss the part where Hellman is first introduced. When I talk to Takemura, I somehow know that Hellman is behind the Relic, and that I should talk to him.

[Captain Skinny]

Ah, the last few puzzle pieces have fallen into place. I always prefer organic discussion about things to just looking them up. It slipped my mind that Hansen already nabbed the core, and was just unsure of its full potential.
It always blows my mind when people say this game has bad writing! There are so many angles and levels to all thats going on. It also blows my mind how many people disliked Johnny and Goro, both of whom I am firmly fond of. Johnny has the best arc since Noah and I don't blame Goro for a single decision he has to make.
Oh, and Hellman is who Yorinobi is talking to on the holo when Evelyn scrolls his room. I didn't realize at first too. It took me a few tries to piece together the whole VDB/Evelyn/Alt connection as well. The game is very good at making you search for answers.
And the best ending for PL is finishing the job, and saving that poor girl's life.

[MrFizzlepop]

Автор сообщения: Captain Skinny

It also blows my mind how many people disliked Johnny and Goro, both of whom I am firmly fond of.

I dislike Goro because he has no honor. He has fealty and allegiance, but not honor.

Well, maybe an extreme, bastardized form of honor where Arasaka is the ultimate moral and ethical authority.

Goro is loyal, but not to V. Goro only saves V because V is evidence Goro needs to save his own hide, and more importantly, his master's plans for the Relic.

Could Goro escape to a new life where he's free? Sure, but then he's not loyal and servile to his former master. The master that ordered him out of the room and allowed himself to be killed, thus washing Goro's hands of any responsibility for his master's death and lack of protection.

Goro's motivations are all selfish, for himself or more importantly, his master.

In Goro's mind, he is not a man without his position within Arasaka and V is just a piece in the game he thinks he needs to play to get back the small pittance of fealty and respect that he is alotted within that one small speck called Arasaka, residing within the enormous puzzle of life that is this world.

What is there to like?

Also, what's with those creepy texts he sends V!?!

[Captain Skinny]

Unfortunately, honor is subjective, whereas ideas like loyalty are not. In some cultures, torturing POWs was honorable, and in others unthinkable.
You said it yourself, his form of honor is unbending, steadfast loyalty to Arasaka and his master. Remember, the only reason Goro didn't live like a rat in sewage was Arasaka, and he was able to see the good it does, while acknowledging the evil as well. Objectively, millions of people can eat and live because of Arasaka, while obviously I'll admit millions more may have been deprived of that by them as well... so you know, mixed bag.
And I also believe Goro is motivated ENORMOUSLY more by bringing justice to Yorinobu than to clear his own name. He takes enormous risks to try to bring Saburo's murder to light, which is objectively the right thing to do. I do NOT get the sense that Goro is doing all this to just worm his way back to a position of power.
And don't diminish the man or position Goro occupied. He was headmost protector of the most important man on earth, that's a helluva job.

And the text exchanges are great and exemplify the whole 'fish out of water' thing he has going on, as well as exposing how he used to be so high in the world he isn't even sure how to use a regular search engine properly.

[A]

Well, the story is pretty easy to grasp imo, idk how you lost the plot. Most of your questions are explained in the dialogues you just gotta pay attention to them and listen, but for the Cynosure stuff you gotta read the militech shards. If you want additional info about the world just read the shards and character bios.

[Phynrae]

Different strokes.

Elden Ring, and the rest of the FromSoft lineup, are continuously celebrated for not "spelling it out for you", for making you work to find lore (or even the game's story, full stop), for forcing you to piece things togeather on your own, fill in the gaps, and make sense of what's going on.

Cyberpunk is not nearly as hard to follow as that, and yet often get's lambasted for not spoonfeeding you the story, and not always spelling everything out for you in clear cut ways.


Eh. What it comes down to, is that you just can't please everybody, nomatter what you do.

[Vela Darney]

If you really wanna dig into the lore/background - there's a sale at HumbleBundle right now for 23 of the original tabletop RPG lore/sourcebooks. Decent price, too. Well worth it if you're into lore and stuff.