Are implants mandatory?

[id795078477]

I know some of the implants are installed by the plot. But MC can choose then to install more. Is that mandatory? So far I opted not to install anything more but I have to say, there were challenging moments along the way.

-- Can I uninstall even the implants added by plot? (Viktor does it in the beginning - the palm and the eye, I believe)
-- Is it possible to play with a "clean body" - i.e. just as MC is, no implants?

The reason is I kind of find it.. iffy and even scary. Yeah, I bet folks will laugh their @sses of this since it's Cyberpunk after all, it's the whole point. And I like the concept - but there's a difference between liking the concept and willing to apply it to yourself (MC in this case).

[Coldflame]

V is canonically augmented from the start of the game in a way that's integral to much of the plot. gameplay wise you can opt to not install anything, but you'll still have all of the 'baseline' implants, including brain augments, artificial eyes, a cable that extends from your wrist, a slot for inserting data sticks into your neck.

avoiding installing cyberware is going to make the game significantly harder and you'll miss out on a lot of gameplay options.

tl;dr: no. V is augmented regardless of your choices

[Sentient_Toaster]

I don't think the game allows you to empty the 'eye' slot.

[id795078477]

Originally posted by Coldflame:

V is canonically augmented from the start of the game in a way that's integral to much of the plot. gameplay wise you can opt to not install anything, but you'll still have all of the 'baseline' implants, including brain augments, artificial eyes, a cable that extends from your wrist, a slot for inserting data sticks into your neck.

avoiding installing cyberware is going to make the game significantly harder and you'll miss out on a lot of gameplay options.

tl;dr: no. V is augmented regardless of your choices

Oh that's right, I totally forgot about the hand cable and the chip slot in the head. Well guess I can at least opt for not installing anything else.

[Omnicide]

You'd be going for a minimum spec run, not a 0 chrome run. Still cool though, debatable whether you'd want to allow for subdermal armors etc, might be a harder challenge than before if you don't.

[id795078477]

Originally posted by Omnicide:

You'd be going for a minimum spec run, not a 0 chrome run. Still cool though, debatable whether you'd want to allow for subdermal armors etc, might be a harder challenge than before if you don't.

Well it's not about challenge for me. It's just like piercings - I know a lot of folks who do that and most of it looks really cool (some still looks scary though) - but I wouldn't ever want to do a piercing myself.

So if it's going to be too hard for me I guess I just try easier difficulty. It's a solo game and I have zero need to measure the e-peens.

[Omnicide]

It's smart to be able to make that call if that's the part you care about. More power to ya friend. I cruised over to the nearest ripperdoc and tried to have him rip out my eyes but the message reads "Cyberware cannot be unequipped in the face category." so there you have it.

He was however more than happy to rip out every other mod except for the eyes. Have fun.

[id795078477]

Originally posted by Omnicide:

It's smart to be able to make that call if that's the part you care about. More power to ya friend. I cruised over to the nearest ripperdoc and tried to have him rip out my eyes but the message reads "Cyberware cannot be unequipped in the face category." so there you have it.

He was however more than happy to rip out every other mod except for the eyes. Have fun.

Yeah you're right. The eyes out of all things have to stay I guess. But at least the rest of the body belongs to MC. I didn't install anything after the plot sequence anyways so it was only about uninstalling some stuff.

I guess quick-hacks are impossible because MC has no chips (OS is it?) - and I like quick hacks a lot. Oh well.

Interesting question though - if I have no cyberware installed, will enemies be even able to hack MC?

[EricHVela]

Originally posted by id795078477:

Interesting question though - if I have no cyberware installed, will enemies be even able to hack MC?

It's a moot question because V has cyberware regardless of player choice. The amount of cyberware doesn't matter in a cyberattack.

The question would be more about why cyberattacks aren't more common among the general population. I'm sure there could be a lot of lore-congruent theories.

[id795078477]

Originally posted by EricHVela:

Originally posted by id795078477:

Interesting question though - if I have no cyberware installed, will enemies be even able to hack MC?

It's a moot question because V has cyberware regardless of player choice. The amount of cyberware doesn't matter in a cyberattack.

The question would be more about why cyberattacks aren't more common among the general population. I'm sure there could be a lot of lore-congruent theories.

Well, not really a moot question as per what follows:

I've found a way to actually unequip all cyberware. It has caveats though. So if you use CET (which I do as it's a requirement for one of my graphics performance mods) then you have access to the console. In it you can go with

EquipmentSystem.GetInstance(Game.GetPlayer()):GetPlayerData(Game.GetPlayer()):ClearEquipment()

and that will remove all equipment.

The caveat is that you will have your "fists" unequipped too so your arms will disappear and you'll need to "equip" them back. For obvious reasons this makes sense to do after the "Ripperdoc" tutorial quest.

Anyways, this is the way for V to become a pure life form and I can't wait to test it!

[Evil Inside]

Story wise yes. V getting chipped during the introduction of Vic is mandatory. It servers as ingame justification for being able to scan things and have an ammo counter. V's Kirohi's are also mentioned at some point.

Optical camo is pretty much mandatory if you want to do missions in a stealthy fashion.

[id795078477]

Originally posted by Evil Inside:

Story wise yes. V getting chipped during the introduction of Vic is mandatory. It servers as ingame justification for being able to scan things and have an ammo counter. V's Kirohi's are also mentioned at some point.

Optical camo is pretty much mandatory if you want to do missions in a stealthy fashion.

If so then it's a poor justification. V can scan stuff during the first job right after prologue (rescuing someone from scavengers). That happens before installing the implants. And in-game after I unequipped all the cyberware the only noticeable thing that happened is the impossibility to do any quick-haks because those are installed in the "OS" slot which is now uninstalled.

Without any cyberware it's still possible to scan stuff, hack doors or plug into sockets as well as read any chips - because the "plot" connectors like the one on the left hand and the card slot on the right side of the head are just.. there. There's no cyberware installation for it and it's not really explained - but at some point MC had to be augmented with those. After all, people aren't born with it.

Interestingly, even without any mods the game lets removing the OS slot just fine - it's the eyes slot that it doesn't allow but the eyes slot kind of.. does nothing special, just adds some stat bonuses.

[Coldflame]

V has cybereyes from the start of the game, the ones they get from vik are an upgrade

[id795078477]

Originally posted by Coldflame:

V has cybereyes from the start of the game, the ones they get from vik are an upgrade

Not really. If I open cyberware tab before going to Viktor I see all slots empty. So at least per in-game V has not implants before that. Doc installs them including eye slot which is later impossible to remove.,

[Coldflame]

Originally posted by id795078477:

Originally posted by Coldflame:

V has cybereyes from the start of the game, the ones they get from vik are an upgrade

Not really. If I open cyberware tab before going to Viktor I see all slots empty. So at least per in-game V has not implants before that. Doc installs them including eye slot which is later impossible to remove.,

there's a HUD, camera distortion effects, popups before the scene where the upgrades are installed

vik plugs a surgery claw directly into into it and painlessly unslots it bloodlessly before seamlessly plugging the replacement in

V also refers to the new eyes as a 'bump up' in the scene prior

[HowlingWolfLord]

The cybereyes are there from the start of the game, they are canonically how scanning works, and how stuff like the mini-map and phone is visible without the use of goggles or glasses.

The slot isn't filled at the start because the player gets what the game considers the base set from Vik, so having a worse version just for the prologue would be a bit pointless.

If you choose the Corpo lifepath, V starts with even more chrome, having a multitude of Arasake implants. These also don't show up in the menu, but V demonstrates increased physical ability and the like.