Cyberpsychosis isn't only caused by getting chrome, it's caused by the disassociation from reality and others from loss of humanity(a stat from the tabletop game). If you go through the cyberpsycho side mission in 2077 we also find out that people who suffered from traumatic experiences recent or otherwise; the mission also reveals that it can be treated or cured if caught early enough
I recall hearing that in the tabletop game, cyberpsychosis is treated as the broadest possible mechanical justification for limiting your character's power and lifespan, and lore-wise it's actually a huge corporate lie marginalizing mundane phsychoses (or something like that, I don't know the details). That's why Adam Smasher is chromed up to the max, but totally fine: he's a sociopath who merged a stable job with his hobbies. Psychologically speaking, he's not under enough stress to get any worse. Comparatively, Edgerunners' heroes ran into trauma and cyberware addiction on the regular, as well as potentially early-onset dementia or schizophrenia in Maine's case. David didn't need those upgrades, that's the whole point of his arc. He *thinks* he needs them. As someone who's dealt with addiction, I know how he feels - it's there, it's good, he can get it, so he will get it. Everything he says and does is slanted towards getting it even if he tells everyone, including _himself,_ otherwise. It's all to cope with accumulated trauma from seeing his mom die and working a horrifically violent and unstable job (though the experimental nature of his core tech, and the rough insertion of all his chrome, probably didn't help). I feel like the exoskeleton is the thesis statement of all this. Sure, there's some genuine cyberpsychosis in there, but of COURSE there is, it's an _experimental_ *FULL-BODY PROSTHETIC* that grants janky telekinesis! And it's probably interacting with a bunch of other black-market cyberware he's got! Why wouldn't he be tripping balls in that thing? But that's me inventing justifications in my head. To reinforce that David's mental issues are his own, he's portrayed as less far gone than Maine was, seemingly able to respond dynamically to orders and his situation, and appears fully lucid till his death once Lucy and Adam are present. The climactic do-or-die may have set off his existing condition, which was already giving him trouble in response to more specific triggers. Portraying all of this is a very (very!) complicated balancing act by the writers and animators, and I certainly applaud them for trying. There's more to go over on this subject than any of us can be bothered to write in or under one UA-cam video. Even so, I see David's story and place in Cyberpunk's universe and mechanics as successful, demonstrative, and compelling in both fun and dramatic ways. Thanks for kicking off discussions with videos like this.
I think an easy way to fix this is to show that his body was getting fucked up from him using the super speed a lot. This would justify why he needed to chrome out his body to reinforce it. Also could have had other characters tell him that chroming out is better than relying on and overusing the sandivistan
So in the game (2020) if you go to clinics you can reduce the humanity loss by a certain amount, and in the other game (red) a clinic might be able to stop you from losing any altogther, they also say that slowly chroming up is way worse than doing it all at once Edit: he was also going to a ripper doc rather than a clinic, so no option for reducing or preventing humanity loss
Looking at it from just the standpoint of the anime, which is a 100% fair way to look at it, this makes perfect sense. From the perspective of the Cyberpunk 2077 game, it's the opposite problem. Bulking up on crome absolutely makes a difference both offensively and defensively. What's missing is that while the idea of cyber-psychosis exists in the game, there is even an entire line of side quests focused on it. You, as the player character, never have to worry about it. Any psychosis you do experience in-game has nothing to do with the amount of tech you have equipped or how advanced it is. The place where I feel like the idea is actually explored in a more interesting and complete manner is the original Cyberpunk 2020 D&D style game. There is an actual cost to the tech that affects your rolls and skill checks. Of course how well this plays out as a story is reliant on the DM.
Yes I thought him going so crazy about chrome improvements was pretty dumb. But he seems like he did it out if depression and wanting to be like the guy who died
I think so too, I wish they portrayed it a little more firmly. If they expanded his explanation a little more, or talked a tad bit more about how he felt after his mom/Maine died, or even discuss if that left him with any regret, that would have sealed the deal perfectly for me. Its pretty easy to believe that he wanted to disassociate himself with the frailty of his previous self -- lots of people in that universe seem to be that way. But the universe seems to take it as a given instead of highlighting that on a per character basis -- which is sort of the only issue I have with it. Otherwise it was good.
Cyberpsychosis isn't only caused by getting chrome, it's caused by the disassociation from reality and others from loss of humanity(a stat from the tabletop game).
If you go through the cyberpsycho side mission in 2077 we also find out that people who suffered from traumatic experiences recent or otherwise; the mission also reveals that it can be treated or cured if caught early enough
I recall hearing that in the tabletop game, cyberpsychosis is treated as the broadest possible mechanical justification for limiting your character's power and lifespan, and lore-wise it's actually a huge corporate lie marginalizing mundane phsychoses (or something like that, I don't know the details). That's why Adam Smasher is chromed up to the max, but totally fine: he's a sociopath who merged a stable job with his hobbies. Psychologically speaking, he's not under enough stress to get any worse.
Comparatively, Edgerunners' heroes ran into trauma and cyberware addiction on the regular, as well as potentially early-onset dementia or schizophrenia in Maine's case. David didn't need those upgrades, that's the whole point of his arc. He *thinks* he needs them. As someone who's dealt with addiction, I know how he feels - it's there, it's good, he can get it, so he will get it. Everything he says and does is slanted towards getting it even if he tells everyone, including _himself,_ otherwise. It's all to cope with accumulated trauma from seeing his mom die and working a horrifically violent and unstable job (though the experimental nature of his core tech, and the rough insertion of all his chrome, probably didn't help).
I feel like the exoskeleton is the thesis statement of all this. Sure, there's some genuine cyberpsychosis in there, but of COURSE there is, it's an _experimental_ *FULL-BODY PROSTHETIC* that grants janky telekinesis! And it's probably interacting with a bunch of other black-market cyberware he's got! Why wouldn't he be tripping balls in that thing?
But that's me inventing justifications in my head. To reinforce that David's mental issues are his own, he's portrayed as less far gone than Maine was, seemingly able to respond dynamically to orders and his situation, and appears fully lucid till his death once Lucy and Adam are present. The climactic do-or-die may have set off his existing condition, which was already giving him trouble in response to more specific triggers. Portraying all of this is a very (very!) complicated balancing act by the writers and animators, and I certainly applaud them for trying.
There's more to go over on this subject than any of us can be bothered to write in or under one UA-cam video. Even so, I see David's story and place in Cyberpunk's universe and mechanics as successful, demonstrative, and compelling in both fun and dramatic ways. Thanks for kicking off discussions with videos like this.
I think an easy way to fix this is to show that his body was getting fucked up from him using the super speed a lot. This would justify why he needed to chrome out his body to reinforce it. Also could have had other characters tell him that chroming out is better than relying on and overusing the sandivistan
So in the game (2020) if you go to clinics you can reduce the humanity loss by a certain amount, and in the other game (red) a clinic might be able to stop you from losing any altogther, they also say that slowly chroming up is way worse than doing it all at once
Edit: he was also going to a ripper doc rather than a clinic, so no option for reducing or preventing humanity loss
Looking at it from just the standpoint of the anime, which is a 100% fair way to look at it, this makes perfect sense.
From the perspective of the Cyberpunk 2077 game, it's the opposite problem. Bulking up on crome absolutely makes a difference both offensively and defensively. What's missing is that while the idea of cyber-psychosis exists in the game, there is even an entire line of side quests focused on it. You, as the player character, never have to worry about it. Any psychosis you do experience in-game has nothing to do with the amount of tech you have equipped or how advanced it is.
The place where I feel like the idea is actually explored in a more interesting and complete manner is the original Cyberpunk 2020 D&D style game. There is an actual cost to the tech that affects your rolls and skill checks. Of course how well this plays out as a story is reliant on the DM.
Yes I thought him going so crazy about chrome improvements was pretty dumb. But he seems like he did it out if depression and wanting to be like the guy who died
I think so too, I wish they portrayed it a little more firmly. If they expanded his explanation a little more, or talked a tad bit more about how he felt after his mom/Maine died, or even discuss if that left him with any regret, that would have sealed the deal perfectly for me. Its pretty easy to believe that he wanted to disassociate himself with the frailty of his previous self -- lots of people in that universe seem to be that way. But the universe seems to take it as a given instead of highlighting that on a per character basis -- which is sort of the only issue I have with it. Otherwise it was good.
I feel like you're missing a few pieces here and there but I can't say I disagree that they didn't sell it to us very well
Interesting video :)
your videos could really benifit from music in edited into the background