Is Adam Smasher doing the right thing in 2077?

[Darkus56]

In Edgerunners he kills Rebecca and David, but in 2077 he helps Yorinobu (who is supposedly the Johnny Silverhand of Arasaka I guess?). He is also against Saburo and kills Hanako when Takemura storms the tower (if you get the V lives ending). So despite trying to kill V, is Adam Smasher actually doing a good thing?

[Pyromaiden]

Smasher is a literal psychopath who enjoys killing people in the most violent ways possible. It's barely even human and basically just exists as a consciousness to be uploaded into a new body whenever he gets bored with the last one. Smasher actually murders people in gruesome, painful ways and enjoys every second of their suffering. He's actually a sadistic serial killer.

Yorinobu is by no means a good guy, either. He's just as ruthless and cruel as the rest of his family. Comparing him to Silverhand is wrong. Johnny rebelled against corps because he hated what they were doing to people and society. Yorinobu rebelled against his father because he wanted to carve his own path to power instead of being groomed for it. Yori doesn't give a ♥♥♥♥ about the little guy and the fact he's willing to hire a bloodthirsty lunatic like Smasher to be his bodyguard tells you he's a piece of ♥♥♥♥ scumbag right off the bat.

Neither of them are good people and shouldn't be mistaken for such. Yori is just as bad as every other corpo and Smasher is literally evil incarnate.

[EricHVela]

Smasher is either a borderline cyberpsycho or a cyberpsycho given the right stimulus to keep him reigned in. Certain lifepaths expose that he's working with Maelstrom to mess with Militech, to the point of extortion on one of the Militech personnel to get inside information.

The extortion turns deadly for very little reason (as if any reason was necessary at all). There's a signature telltale on the corpse that points to Smasher's direct involvement. It doesn't matter whose side V chooses in the Militech connection, the extortion ends the same way.

Maybe, Smasher got bored of the situation even if it could still provide leverage. Maybe the informant was no longer viable after the investigation and loose ends needed tying instead of honoring any promises to the informant. Who knows the kind of mind such an over-chromed person has?

[Silverbane7]

Smasher isn't what most folks consider a cyber psycho.....because.....
He was always like this.
He didn't change when he chromed up. He was already a murderous killer.
Getting whacked by someone and having Arasaka scrape what was left of him up, and put it back together just gave him more ways to murder.

Intact, it's part of his contract that he gets to do the nasywork.

He's a Full Borg, which means he has his brain and at least a little of the spine left. All full borgs have that much left at least.
(That's the reason why I always empty at least one clip down the top of his head and spine zone, to be sure he won't come back lol)
He does have other 'frames' (body's if you will). The one he fought David with is probably being fixed up and upgraded.
He also has an Alpha Series model that looks like Elvis Presley. He used that one to date Michiko Arasaka (Kei Arasaka's only daughter. Kei was the first born son of Saburo)
Alpha Series are more human-like.
The 'infiltration' model he used looked exactly like a normal human (tho, looking like the King might make it harder to be a sneak, at least back in 2013 - 2023 days)

Reason he's working for Yorinobu after Saburo is gone is simple.
He works for the Arasaka Corporation. Not any specific individual Arasaka family member.
He does not care who tells him what to do.
Only that he gets to do things he likes, and gets his bills paid. (Even full borgs got to eat...iif you are wondering, they can have bags of nutrient paste fitted afaik. Most can still eat/drink if they have extra parts added, but it depends on the individual frame. Lizzie Wizzy is an Alpha Series, she drinks, eats and sleeps still...when she remembers to lol)
Maintenance on a battle body Borg like his costs a fair bit.

[Pyromaiden]

Originally posted by Silverbane7:

Smasher isn't what most folks consider a cyber psycho.....because.....
He was always like this.
He didn't change when he chromed up. He was already a murderous killer.
Getting whacked by someone and having Arasaka scrape what was left of him up, and put it back together just gave him more ways to murder.

Intact, it's part of his contract that he gets to do the nasywork.

He's a Full Borg, which means he has his brain and at least a little of the spine left. All full borgs have that much left at least.
(That's the reason why I always empty at least one clip down the top of his head and spine zone, to be sure he won't come back lol)
He does have other 'frames' (body's if you will). The one he fought David with is probably being fixed up and upgraded.
He also has an Alpha Series model that looks like Elvis Presley. He used that one to date Michiko Arasaka (Kei Arasaka's only daughter. Kei was the first born son of Saburo)
Alpha Series are more human-like.
The 'infiltration' model he used looked exactly like a normal human (tho, looking like the King might make it harder to be a sneak, at least back in 2013 - 2023 days)

Reason he's working for Yorinobu after Saburo is gone is simple.
He works for the Arasaka Corporation. Not any specific individual Arasaka family member.
He does not care who tells him what to do.
Only that he gets to do things he likes, and gets his bills paid. (Even full borgs got to eat...iif you are wondering, they can have bags of nutrient paste fitted afaik. Most can still eat/drink if they have extra parts added, but it depends on the individual frame. Lizzie Wizzy is an Alpha Series, she drinks, eats and sleeps still...when she remembers to lol)
Maintenance on a battle body Borg like his costs a fair bit.

Yeah, this is an important bit. A cyberpsycho has generally lost complete control of their faculties and is experiencing an extreme mental breakdown.

Smasher on the other hand was always just straight-up a pure evil sadist. He's not crazy, he's just completely lost any shred of humanity he might have had. He's still 100% in control of his actions he simply doesn't give a ♥♥♥♥. That makes him worse than a cyberpsycho.

[lehuan5062]

He always did the right things he was supposed to do. He was a part of the Arasaka Tower security, he had to kill David and the crew. His master was Yorinobu, he had to kill his enemies on command.

[Darkus56]

Originally posted by Silverbane7:

Smasher isn't what most folks consider a cyber psycho.....because.....
He was always like this.
He didn't change when he chromed up. He was already a murderous killer.
Getting whacked by someone and having Arasaka scrape what was left of him up, and put it back together just gave him more ways to murder.

Intact, it's part of his contract that he gets to do the nasywork.

He's a Full Borg, which means he has his brain and at least a little of the spine left. All full borgs have that much left at least.
(That's the reason why I always empty at least one clip down the top of his head and spine zone, to be sure he won't come back lol)
He does have other 'frames' (body's if you will). The one he fought David with is probably being fixed up and upgraded.
He also has an Alpha Series model that looks like Elvis Presley. He used that one to date Michiko Arasaka (Kei Arasaka's only daughter. Kei was the first born son of Saburo)
Alpha Series are more human-like.
The 'infiltration' model he used looked exactly like a normal human (tho, looking like the King might make it harder to be a sneak, at least back in 2013 - 2023 days)

Reason he's working for Yorinobu after Saburo is gone is simple.
He works for the Arasaka Corporation. Not any specific individual Arasaka family member.
He does not care who tells him what to do.
Only that he gets to do things he likes, and gets his bills paid. (Even full borgs got to eat...iif you are wondering, they can have bags of nutrient paste fitted afaik. Most can still eat/drink if they have extra parts added, but it depends on the individual frame. Lizzie Wizzy is an Alpha Series, she drinks, eats and sleeps still...when she remembers to lol)
Maintenance on a battle body Borg like his costs a fair bit.

Damn now I want to see Elvis 2077

[Silverbane7]

It was probably from the 2020 days because there was a 'Poser Gang' full of them back then.
A Poser Gang was a gang who had a specific 'look' to them, a style or aesthetic.

Ozob Bozo is the last of one of these called 'the Bozo's'
(a killer clown gang who had themselves biosculpted into clowns. And his nose is a call back to this as every Bozo had a 'dead mans switch' implanted in them, tied to their vital signs. When they flatlined, it would trigger an explosive inside them. A dead Bozo was just as deadly as a live one lol)

We had loads of them back in 2013 thru to 2023 (and up to 2027 in the old cybergeneration days, back before most of that was dumped for cyberpunk 203X, which was also mostly dumped)

The Trekies were, you guessed it....all star Trek sculpts. Their leader was Admiral Kirk but they had numerous 'Spock's, 'Data's and 'Wesley's lol. (no mention of DS9 or Voyager tho. But you could probably have those added)
They wore the uniforms and used tech weapons and prop style tech (their Techies were known to maguffin up tricorders ect)

The Valentino gang started out as Posers too. Their thing was seducing the most eligible, rich and beautiful women of NC.
They would meet n greet to talk once a month, about who they 'bagged'

The VooDoo Boys were all white frat boy types, playing at being Satanists and voodoo worshipers, till around 2045, when the Hatian workers of Pacifica decided enough was enough, and took the gang out/over.
(The rest of NC were the ones to call them the voodoo boys, since the old gang was gone, and they had a similar 'vibe' thanks to their old beliefs)

There was also 'the Giligans' (Giligans Island) who had a nasty habit of grabbing guys off the street (an all male gang, who only 'liked' males)
The Bradey Bunch (who prayed on juve's who were alone and vulnerable. Think a sinister family thing, where everyone pretends to be wholesome and kind, but are actually a lot more cult-like than anyone wanted)

We even had a mime gang and a vampire gang (the Philharmonic Vampires)

[Vela Darney]

Originally posted by Pyromania™ (She/Her):

Smasher is a literal psychopath who enjoys killing people in the most violent ways possible. It's barely even human and basically just exists as a consciousness to be uploaded into a new body whenever he gets bored with the last one. Smasher actually murders people in gruesome, painful ways and enjoys every second of their suffering. He's actually a sadistic serial killer.

Yorinobu is by no means a good guy, either. He's just as ruthless and cruel as the rest of his family. Comparing him to Silverhand is wrong. Johnny rebelled against corps because he hated what they were doing to people and society. Yorinobu rebelled against his father because he wanted to carve his own path to power instead of being groomed for it. Yori doesn't give a ♥♥♥♥ about the little guy and the fact he's willing to hire a bloodthirsty lunatic like Smasher to be his bodyguard tells you he's a piece of ♥♥♥♥ scumbag right off the bat.

Neither of them are good people and shouldn't be mistaken for such. Yori is just as bad as every other corpo and Smasher is literally evil incarnate.

Spoilers following, obviously ...









Sorry, but I think you got Yorinobu all wrong ... like, yeah, he did what he could to seize power within Arasaka after he killed Saburo but I think you missed WHY he did that. Back in the day, when he'd graduated university, Saburo took him aside and had "the talk" with him - being him telling his son how he was keeping control of his empire. I don't think it's known what exactly was said (maybe Mike Pondsmith knows) but as a result, Yorinobu was so disgusted that he left the family and founded his own Nomad clan in Tokyo, the Steel Dragons. Their task: to ♥♥♥♥ with Arasaka and ♥♥♥♥ up things for Arasaka as best as they could.

During the 4th Corpo War (the one that culminated in the destruction of Arasaka Tower), IIRc he even passed on important information on Arasaka to Johnny Silverhand (whom he admired). Then, after the attack on the Tower, he returned to the family and - seemingly - took over his position as Saburo's heir (since the older son who would have been taking over had been killed and Hanako - well, she's a GIRL ...). However, you only find out his reason for doing so if you play the Hanako ending (or read his Wiki page ;)). In that one, he tells V (before Hanako comes along to kill him) that, even though Johnny & Co destroyed Arasaka Tower, it didn't really change anything. So - paraphrasing here - what do you do when even bombs fail to accomplish anything? You yourself become the bomb.

Turns out the only reason he returned to the family and "carved his own path to power" was so that he could destroy Arasaka from the inside. Him and his associates were staging a coup at multiple Arasaka locations that night, and if you help Hanako it means the coup fails and, knowing Hanako is her father's daugher, Yorinobu's associates die.

If you play the Sun ending, you'll realize he's indeed going through with his plan of destroying Arasaka from the inside: When you're going to the Afterlife in that one, there's a piece of news that you hear, about how Yorinobu's stopped the Save Your Soul program and how that's cost Arasaka a LOT of money and reputation, sending their stocks plummeting.

So, yeah, he might not be a good guy in the classical sense but from the point of view of a Cyberpunk universe, he's definitely not a bad guy. He's still fighting the fight against evil corporations - he's just not doing so overtly but rather, is planning and waiting for that "opportune moment", to quote Captain Jack Sparrow.