Netwatch and the Voodoo People

[Similar]

I couldn't remember quite how I handled the Netwatch agent in the GIM in my previous games (which were, after all, almost a whole year ago, which is a very long time for my memory) and I think I got too chummy with him this time. But you do have to agree to work with him at least to some degree to have him remove Placide's crap and unfreeze Brigitte, don't you?

And, most likely related, isn't there an outcome where Alt wipes the Voodoo Boys out because they suck, and not just as a side effect of some Netwatch attack? I feel like that event was much more satisfying in my previous games than this time around.
Bit worried I've locked myself to a path now (Mikoshi?). The conversation with Johnny rather sounded like I made a choice there.
Not that I know which ending I want to go for (never done any of them).

OTOH, I encountered the big woman with the hammer in the GIM much earlier than usual this time, before I had been to the van, and this is the first time she hasn't bugged out. She actually fought the whole time, rather than just standing in one spot and letting me pour a few hundred rounds into her head until she went down, like she did the other times. Still not a fight that put me in danger at any point, but certainly much less anticlimactic than when she bugs out.

(It is surprisingly difficult to avoid writing Netflix instead of Netwatch...).

[Silverbane7]

Don't worry about Johnny. You have not done/said anything that will lock you out of his secret ending.
(All that matters for that is the correct conversation out in the oil fields)

Iirc the fixed the main bug with Sasquatch where if you got in there before finding the van, you got locked in and couldn't progress.
(Tho she can glitch out and just stand there apparently if you grab her hammer before she does lol)

If you choose to work with Mr Netwatch then Alt will have to fry both the agents and the voodoo's when you get to the Blackwall, yeah.
Mosley will 'remove' the code Placid slipped you (it's called 'he who swallows de light' btw, and they use it on every non Pacifica Merc they use. There is a cyberpsycho out in the badlands with a sniper rifle who survived it and went all Voodoo's on everyone nearby. Read his shard for more data)
But working with Netwatch means Alt has to deal with both sides.

Siding with the gang will get you hit with the same attack, true. It also means you get to choose to flatline the gang at the crypt yourself or walk away.
Flatlining them personally can be therapeutic lol. And if you are a guy, Placid's coat can look good on V. Not so good on girl V unless you use a visual swap mod tho.

Walking away gives you a bonus or two.
First off, if you have the expansion, there is a point where you need to talk to the leader of a group of Dogtown Voodoo's and if you just walked, you can use that to get in easy with no violence.

Second, if you managed to get to Pacifica before Evelyn Parker self deleted, and went to the rollercoaster, there was a small quest there.
Talk to the folks sitting and standing there and they get V to fix it.
You can then test it out, they will dare you. Johnny says 'we're doin this, V' lol.
A while after you walked away from the crypt you can come back and talk to the one remaining choom there and find out that the folks from the crypt have not been seen.
Like, in ages.

Mamon Brigitte was telling everyone that they would be going to the net to talk to the ai's and then EVERYONE would be making some grand pilgrimage lol.
So a lot of Pacifica just suddenly got religious.
Only, he had a friend in that group and.. he hasn't seen her in a while. A friend who left a young daughter behind in meatspace. And he thinks she wouldn't leave her kid if she could get back. So he thinks they are stuck there.
He's right, of course.

Mamon Brigitte was not as smart as she thinks she is.
She forgot the first rule of bargaining with a powerful being.
Be VERY specific about your wish.
"Take us tru de Blackwall" is enough to get you in. But not back out again.

I get the feeling that the reasons V was able to go back thru was
a) Alt pushed us back.
b) Netwatch used Bartmoss's code to build the Blackwall, and Rache set his code to not harm the once human Ai 'ghosts' like Alt
c) V is seen by the Wall as similar to Alt. Because they are both V and Johnny at the same time. So both a normal mind AND an engram too. V is unique in that respect.

Brigitte didn't make Alt promise to bring everyone back through after.
So Alt probably swallowed them up and went back through. If not, she just took them all past the Wall and left them there.
After that, I think Brigitte and co could not get back to the other side.
Think the Blackwall has only got rules to keep the wild Ai's from coming in, but not the humans going out. And once you go through, even being a human, it can't let you just come back in.
But the Blackwall code is based on Bartmoss's work. And he designed the R.A.B.I.D.S not to harm the Soulkilled 'ghosts' should the meet them in the Net. So I figure there is residual protection there.
(Like Netwatch would not just copy and paste half the code from what they have of his stuff already lol)
You get a text message from Placid a little after leaving the crypt. Then you can't contact the number, it errors. Looks like Brigitte finally let him in on the secret lol.

[[=]Josiah]

Choosing to work with Netwatch has consequences in Phantom Liberty, FYI.

[Similar]

Originally posted by Silverbane7:

Don't worry about Johnny. You have not done/said anything that will lock you out of his secret ending.
(All that matters for that is the correct conversation out in the oil fields)

ah, good. It felt a tad too early in the game for that to happen (especially since I've just started on Phantom Liberty too).

Originally posted by Silverbane7:

If you choose to work with Mr Netwatch then Alt will have to fry both the agents and the voodoo's when you get to the Blackwall, yeah.
Mosley will 'remove' the code Placid slipped you (it's called 'he who swallows de light' btw, and they use it on every non Pacifica Merc they use. There is a cyberpsycho out in the badlands with a sniper rifle who survived it and went all Voodoo's on everyone nearby. Read his shard for more data)
But working with Netwatch means Alt has to deal with both sides.

Siding with the gang will get you hit with the same attack, true. It also means you get to choose to flatline the gang at the crypt yourself or walk away.
Flatlining them personally can be therapeutic lol.

yeah, that's what I remembered. It felt very much like something my V would choose to do to people who had screwed her over, and who just weren't all that nice in general either, so it felt much more satisfying than in my current game, even if the outcome was sort of the same.

Thank you! Some day I should try a playthrough where I make really different decisions, I think. There seems to be a lot of stuff I'll probably never see otherwise.

[Silverbane7]

Originally posted by Similar:

Thank you! Some day I should try a playthrough where I make really different decisions, I think. There seems to be a lot of stuff I'll probably never see otherwise.

yeah. tho much of it is the same, there are differences.

i just finally, after so long, paid for the Flathead with V's own money.
didn't call Stout, didn't shoot Royce (even tho i could) walked out quietly.
and it was. . diffeerent lol.
Jackie said he wanted to 'go find Misty and do something to make me feel alive again'
also he commented on how keepin the Corp's out of things was probably the best way to go.
Dumdum took us out the back way still, but he could just open those iron gates (the bars we have to go around normally)
Stout is not mentioned at all, as Gilchrist still gets that promotion...
i wonder if she's where she usually is, and if Gilchrist's family member has the same fate now...
i already know what happens to Brick. . . so likely no change there.

guess the best part is, you don't have to side with ether corp and you won't get Maelstrom chasing your arse every time you get into your car after that fight (if you sided with Meredith)

there are one or two differences, depending on which start you chose.
Corpo's get a lot of snark and cynicism. Streetkids get a lot of sass. Nomads are just kinda tired out, tho they get some outdoorsy and tech related stuff. it's mostly just flavour and conversation.

but a Nomad can tell Jackie he should tune up his exhausts on his bike...persuade fellow nomad's to leave Gary the prophet alone (where as iirc you have to do all of Panam's questlines to do that as a non nomad)
they also can offer to help Meredith Stout out with her supply issue, tell her exactly who to look for and even get a bonus for doing so (box of gear, not the *other* bonus she gives *wink)

a Streetkid can pose as a high end Joytoy and get up to the apartment of a guy Regina wants you to klep from in a early gig, send those two Valentino's packing with the threat of Mama Well's shotgun when they are about to beat on a drunk Corpo at the Coyote.

Corpo V can observe the gate guard freaking out at the storage center where the festival float is kept and bluff their way inside like they own the place. Get the item that Nix sends you for cheaper because they recognise the type of person who is trying to shake them down.

little things for sure. but they can help with replayability. especialy if you add playing different style and start.
like, my main V is Valerie the streetkid. sides with the gangs usually (this time i tried pay yourself at the pickup like i said) over the corps. prefers to knock out the gangoons. if the corpo mooks are aggressive types, like, whipe out a whole homeless camp for one gonk kinda agressive..she'll pay em back in kind. tho if they are just doing their jobs, she'll knock em out.
she always tries to stealth the float mission because of Takemura. and the fact that we are there *just* to plant something and delta. dropping every mook in sight kinda is a red flag there XD
Scav's and Wraiths get no mercy from her ether.

while Veronica is one of my (3 lol) Corpo V's.
she started out a bit crazy when she lost her job, but after bonding hard with Jackie she goes full nutso after act 2.
slowly but surely she looses her grip on reality. don't help that she has Johnny in her head too.
gangoons get flatlined while corp guys get knocked out whenever possible at first... by the time she's past that mission with Takemura, she's starting to loose her grip and has this lovely red custom (moded) Netrunner suit and a red glowing glass Kendaichi Monokatana.
she starts to run around dressed in this and being a bit of a superhero type.
i player her slowly loosing it, goaded on by Johnny.
Soon, i'd say even the maelstrom are scared of her XD 'the Red Ravager'
sometimes she helps out the normies, tho many of them just stand there wetting themselves lol as bits of gangoon or mook fly about.

both of them are V. but one likes stealth and tries to be good and help. the other one starts out a bit scary but goes full on nutjob who just kills everyone in the end.
'kill em all, let the archeologists sort em out' kinda thing XD
roleplaying, even just a little (just playstyle and/or gear) can help make a playthru different

[Notoshy]

Speak with the Netwatcher until the very last moment to get the most of Lore out of him, then attack him and trigger the Voodoo's Virus, killing the Netwatchers (and almost yourself).
Go to Placide and Punch him ( satisfying, he has to let it slide, because Brigitte tells him to leave you alone).
Follow to the Crypt, speak to Alt. If she doesnt kill the Voodoos..... do it yourself.

Netwatchers dead, Voodoos dead - no more problems with both :D
They both would have screwed you anyways.

[Silverbane7]

Originally posted by Notoshy:

Speak with the Netwatcher until the very last moment to get the most of Lore out of him, then attack him and trigger the Voodoo's Virus, killing the Netwatchers (and almost yourself).
Go to Placide and Punch him ( satisfying, he has to let it slide, because Brigitte tells him to leave you alone).
Follow to the Crypt, speak to Alt. If she doesnt kill the Voodoos..... do it yourself.

Netwatchers dead, Voodoos dead - no more problems with both :D
They both would have screwed you anyways.

true. they planned to flatline V later on.
but you don't actualy have to flatline them yourself if you don't want to.
Brigitte and co are history no matter which road V takes. just depends on whether or not you want that sweet phat lootz off Placide or not XD.

V can walk away and 'take the high ground' if you will.
if we had not met Alt tho, all bets would have been off. it's insinuated that they would have taken V out right after meeting Alt, if Alt had not made it part of the bargin that V gets to walk out of there.
it's how they treat everyone that's not Pacifica born and raised.
makes me think both T-Bug and Dex were born there too.
the only reason they don't come after you is, they are too busy being stuck behind the Blackwall XD
(that, and the fact that they are just one small sub faction of the Voodoo boys gang. the rest of the gang don't agree with Brigitte about the 'new Loa of de Net' as they seem to think of the wild Ai's as. they want nothing to do with the Blackwall or the wild Ai's)

[[=]Josiah]

Originally posted by =Josiah:

Choosing to work with Netwatch has consequences in Phantom Liberty, FYI.

*cough*cough* would recommend trying this path.

[Notoshy]

Originally posted by Silverbane7:

Originally posted by Notoshy:

Speak with the Netwatcher until the very last moment to get the most of Lore out of him, then attack him and trigger the Voodoo's Virus, killing the Netwatchers (and almost yourself).
Go to Placide and Punch him ( satisfying, he has to let it slide, because Brigitte tells him to leave you alone).
Follow to the Crypt, speak to Alt. If she doesnt kill the Voodoos..... do it yourself.

Netwatchers dead, Voodoos dead - no more problems with both :D
They both would have screwed you anyways.

true. they planned to flatline V later on.
but you don't actualy have to flatline them yourself if you don't want to.

But i want to do that^^ Placide promised to help me, used me as trojan Horse instead.
I have a simple Mindset sometimes: If youre friendly, iam friendly.
If you try to kill me.... i will massacre you, shred your Corpse and set it on Fire :D

Placide and his Group had it coming.

[EricHVela]

Consequences can turn up in tiny ways in sometimes obscure ways, and sometimes, nothing changes in something that seems like it should change.

Depending on how the Pickup situation is handled, different people will be in different places (sometimes as a corpse with Johnny making a comment).

All the way into Ebunike, there's a link to the Pickup that one will be able to make if V was a Nomad and found a specific email at the factory. Strangely, this link doesn't seem to change at all regardless how the Pickup ended, and it really feels like it should.

The Netwatch/VDB decision gets a rare mention in the base game but nothing more (but also an additional effect in the DLC).

There are a few things that rely on a single encounter. Having access to the (not so) "secret" (anymore) ending is one such thing. Nothing else matters but that one encounter. People used to think it also had to do with a character progression stat, but it doesn't.

[Nar!]

Originally posted by =Josiah:

Originally posted by =Josiah:

Choosing to work with Netwatch has consequences in Phantom Liberty, FYI.

*cough*cough* would recommend trying this path.

For the first time ever, I actually sided with the Netwatch agent, Bryce Mosley yesterday. lol
I was just curious to see what would happen and so far, the effects of that decision were pretty interesting. :D Now I'm curious about what effects it has in Phantom Liberty. I just got Song's call, so I'll be making my way to the stadium soon.

[EricHVela]

For me, V gets Placide's message regardless how I had V handle the VDB/NW situation. He shoulda been dead some/most? of those times, but V still gets a text claiming to be Placide from a disconnected/spoofed number every time I've played.