For anyone who has questions or is confused about the video. This was supposed to be a whole lot longer and have a much better commentary about V's character and how you fit into their story. I unfortunately ran into a lot of roadblocks and wasn't able to make the video I originally wanted. So there's a ton of missing pieces which is evident. I was going to make a comparison to the Delamain story as well, which a little bit of got left in the video. V isn't a blank slate and has character depth, Im aware. They've got a story to themselves on all fronts and yes, you are V in a way. This video shouldve been about the relationship between you and V and not just V. Sorry if I made anyone in here upset.
It's kinda poetic how the video about Cyberpunk 2077 was originally going to be longer and have more commentary and had some evident missing pieces. (Still loved the video and subbed though!)
For me Corpo is most interesting lifepath to take. V know Night city well from bottom life perspective and middle-high corpo member. Is even more interesting when you play Phantom Liberty from counter Intelligence Arasaka agent which was accused of treason against corporation to one of the best mercenary in Night City to FIA agent. And also Corpo dialog choices are quite nice.
There is an authored V. When I was playing I was wondering did CDPR have an ideal V they largely crafted the story around or is it open ended like some of Bethesda's game are. From what I see, there is definitely an ideal V...who you nudge in directions but to really get the best character arc there is a specific path. First V is definitely a street kid, the street kid dialogue makes him a natural fit for the interactions he encounters. Street kid V actually DID try to leave the city but came back because he flamed out and he's desperate to get a second chance at fame/fortune...almost like Jackie. So this plays into his character arc with the Aldecaldos and Panam(whether you romance her or not). There is a VERY telling comment V has with Panam where he outright says he KNOWS he needs to leave the city for his own good, he just has unfinished business. Your relationship with Judy also pushes you in this direction. So it's heavily implied that a ideal V ultimately leaves the city which is an option with the Aldecaldos/Judy(who is the closest representation of a family presented to the player). My own personal opinion is that either V solos the tower or goes in with Rogue..but Johnny leaves to go with Alt. If you go in AS Johnny it brings his arc full circle where he finishes what he started AND can help V at the same time. Rouge, Johnny, Alt...it's kind of implied they have a shared fate. If you form a bond with Johnny..Silverhand practically says he actually wants to help V after he handles business with Smasher/Arasaka...he doesn't care to take over V's body anymore because they become brothers in arms. The dialogue is a little inconsistent if you go in solo with Silverhand because he seems a little peeved you want to leave him behind. BUT if you go in AS Silverhand and decide to leave with Alt, the dialogue fits in perfectly with previous conversations if you form a bond with Johnny. So if you go through all the expected content fully... You're a street kid who bonds with Johnny and the Judy/Aldecaldos. Ends up fulfilling Johnny's wishes, reconcile with Rouge(who likely dies) who meets her fate along with Johnny, knows they have done all they can at the end and leaves Night City for a second time...THIS time with a family that supports them. Judy(who is SUPPOSED to become your friend) leaves either way if you could romance her or not. The Fame/Fortune ending isn't THAT far fetched especially if you purposefully play V as someone who is dog determined to finish what they started with Jackie...but you REALLY have to stick to that option in nearly every personal conversation in order for it to be consistent with V. The only ending that makes just as much sense..is the new Phantom Liberty ending which is written strongly enough that it fits in with the original writing. I just started the DLC so not sure how much CDPR may or not have reinforced their own writing in that story..but I'm betting they did.
Another major problem with V as a character is the plot itself. The game's overall structure, design and story doesn't allow the player to try and be their own cyberpunk, be it one that is a total psychopath, sociopath, or a heart of gold ubermench. If the prologue montage was an actual game where you did odd jobs for fixers and grow your career as a solo mercenary (a structure akin to old school GTA games), the writers would allow the player to induct themselves into the world while allowing a sense of identity as to who V is or what he/she represents within the themes of the narrative, aka the disillusioned entrepreneurial visionary that discovers the American dream is a fable. When the relic plotline comes in and your life both ends and goes to shit, the player would allow some sacrifice of their developed identity in permission of the developer's intended plot twist. In fact, it helps with Cyberpunk 2077's intention of presenting a cynical and pessimistic worldview that who we are and what we intend to become in Nightcity is an illusion; a bull shit sense of individuality to trick its citizens into taking part in an entropic system that feeds off of them. In the end, it is our mortality and what we do with it that defines us, not our personality, which in the end results in us all sort of being the same. Don't take my word for it, Arthur Schopenhauer, the father of pessimism, spoke a lot about this stuff and there are data logs that constantly take from his essays. Imagine the player taking part in this awesome crime fantasy of using cool gadgets, meeting cool characters, augmenting their dude like a nice car, and making quest decisions that empower the player to feel like a total bad ass, only to get humiliated in the end and realize what Mike Pondsmith meant about cyberpunk being about self-preservation rather than world saving. It would take us off guard and let go of this V we've created, for we now know who V is: Not your typical ubermench in a dark world, but a human in a world with truly no future.
All life paths make sense for V, sure, in some situations a street kid might be more appropriate when in others a corpo is more suited but overall V can be all three without breaking the consistency of his character.
Weird. UA-cam is like that sometimes I guess. I'll be uploading pretty frequently for the next week or so. Not longform unfortunately but shorts are still something
@@ParkerRat Maybe because of the gap of uploads you had. Very similar to mine, I suppose yoy have other priorities than making videos! Anyways, great work, hopefully you get suggested more ;)
This is such a simple concept that seems to elude people often. One of my favorite examples is Joker in Persona 5. People all the time ask, "why can't you be a girl" or "why can't you romance guys," but why stop there? Why can't you be an adult? Why can't you be a villain or side with the bad guys? The answer to all of these questions is the same: that's just not who Joker is. He is a character within the game's universe, just like any other in that he has a written personality, preferences, likes and dislikes, moral framework and sense of ethics, background, just to name a few. Just because a character is customizable, or even non-voiced, that does not mean that they're intended to be a blank slate, self-insert avatar. Same goes with V, except that the devs decided that gender and orientation was not a defined element of their character, but unlike Joker, name is. Funnily, the analogous "character controversy" in CP77 is that the romanceable characters have orientations that are defined parts of the character. We can debate the merits of making certain things character traits instead of customizable options for PCs and NPCs, but before we do any of that we've gotta recognize that there's a difference between a character or playable character and a player avatar.
As I played through the game I started to realize that I'm playing a premade character. I like how the game is written as a choose your own adventure story, but that's about all I can say about it. As long as there's no "Canon" ending.
In my opinion all the trailers are the cannon V, so Nomad V, evrey dialog option from the E3 gameplay was cannon, and the phantom liberty trailer of course
I think the problem V suffers is that they're not presented as a set character, and they're occasionally treated like a customizable one. Cyberpunk was heavily advertised as an RPG with a customizable character who you can play how you want. In truth, 2077 isn't really that different from the Geralt in Witcher 3; a character with a set personality that can have different expressions based on narrative decisions, but ultimately will always be the same character. I began to enjoy the game a lot more when I stopped trying to think of V as my character, because the game just doesn't support that level of character creation. However, the only reason WHY I thought this in the first place is because the opening of the game feels like the opening to a game with that freedom. You can completely change how V looks, right down to altering their goddamn genitalia. That and the life paths prime the player to think of V as their own character. (Though you can never give them a name. Considering V feels like a universal alias, I'm surprised that wasn't the case. It would at least be helpful for save labelling on console, but that's more a quality of life issue.) But the game just isn't set up like that. Hell, I'd actually say it's one of THE most restrictive games when it comes to it's protagonist. Persona 5 comes to mind. Joker, the game's silent protagonist, has an incredibly set personality AND exists in a linear story where you can't change much about him. Yet, he feels more player driven than V. While you can't make narrative decisions, you can choose some lines of dialogue in certain instances, which allow you to sort of steer his personality in a direction. Cyberpunk just... doesn't have that. Most conversations are around 3 or so dialogue options, with one being a "Progress dialogue" option, and the others being various ways to access a few bits of extra information or delay the conversation. There's a few times when you can end a conversation with one or two different quips, but those are mostly in the lifepath intros, at least the ones I remember. It's a significantly more restrictive system, made worse by V being a voiced protagonist, so often times the choices you make don't sound quite like what you expected. In all honesty, I think they should have done away with customizable V entirely, and just had them be a set protagonist like Geralt. Maybe have a male/female option, but the extensive customization feels like it only misleads players from who V is, while also keeping them from being written like a set character. At the moment, they just feel like the Fallout 4 protagonist, but somehow MORE rigid. Which just makes them feel a bit uncanny. TL;DR - V is a prewritten character trapped in the body of a custom protagonist.
For anyone who has questions or is confused about the video.
This was supposed to be a whole lot longer and have a much better commentary about V's character and how you fit into their story. I unfortunately ran into a lot of roadblocks and wasn't able to make the video I originally wanted. So there's a ton of missing pieces which is evident. I was going to make a comparison to the Delamain story as well, which a little bit of got left in the video.
V isn't a blank slate and has character depth, Im aware. They've got a story to themselves on all fronts and yes, you are V in a way. This video shouldve been about the relationship between you and V and not just V. Sorry if I made anyone in here upset.
It's kinda poetic how the video about Cyberpunk 2077 was originally going to be longer and have more commentary and had some evident missing pieces. (Still loved the video and subbed though!)
The real V was all the cyberpunks we met along the way
Classic line.
There is an older version of Cyberpunk where you had more background choices. INstead of a life-path it was a choice of life events and personality
I remember that scene where V cyperpunked all over the place
Who is V? VEEZ NUTS!!
Truly, I am God's funniest fella.
HAAA! GOT 'EEEM!!!
Unfunny, no bitches, no dick, no balls and no asshole for u
😂😂😂
For me Corpo is most interesting lifepath to take. V know Night city well from bottom life perspective and middle-high corpo member. Is even more interesting when you play Phantom Liberty from counter Intelligence Arasaka agent which was accused of treason against corporation to one of the best mercenary in Night City to FIA agent. And also Corpo dialog choices are quite nice.
There is an authored V. When I was playing I was wondering did CDPR have an ideal V they largely crafted the story around or is it open ended like some of Bethesda's game are. From what I see, there is definitely an ideal V...who you nudge in directions but to really get the best character arc there is a specific path.
First V is definitely a street kid, the street kid dialogue makes him a natural fit for the interactions he encounters. Street kid V actually DID try to leave the city but came back because he flamed out and he's desperate to get a second chance at fame/fortune...almost like Jackie. So this plays into his character arc with the Aldecaldos and Panam(whether you romance her or not). There is a VERY telling comment V has with Panam where he outright says he KNOWS he needs to leave the city for his own good, he just has unfinished business. Your relationship with Judy also pushes you in this direction. So it's heavily implied that a ideal V ultimately leaves the city which is an option with the Aldecaldos/Judy(who is the closest representation of a family presented to the player). My own personal opinion is that either V solos the tower or goes in with Rogue..but Johnny leaves to go with Alt. If you go in AS Johnny it brings his arc full circle where he finishes what he started AND can help V at the same time. Rouge, Johnny, Alt...it's kind of implied they have a shared fate.
If you form a bond with Johnny..Silverhand practically says he actually wants to help V after he handles business with Smasher/Arasaka...he doesn't care to take over V's body anymore because they become brothers in arms. The dialogue is a little inconsistent if you go in solo with Silverhand because he seems a little peeved you want to leave him behind. BUT if you go in AS Silverhand and decide to leave with Alt, the dialogue fits in perfectly with previous conversations if you form a bond with Johnny.
So if you go through all the expected content fully... You're a street kid who bonds with Johnny and the Judy/Aldecaldos. Ends up fulfilling Johnny's wishes, reconcile with Rouge(who likely dies) who meets her fate along with Johnny, knows they have done all they can at the end and leaves Night City for a second time...THIS time with a family that supports them. Judy(who is SUPPOSED to become your friend) leaves either way if you could romance her or not.
The Fame/Fortune ending isn't THAT far fetched especially if you purposefully play V as someone who is dog determined to finish what they started with Jackie...but you REALLY have to stick to that option in nearly every personal conversation in order for it to be consistent with V.
The only ending that makes just as much sense..is the new Phantom Liberty ending which is written strongly enough that it fits in with the original writing. I just started the DLC so not sure how much CDPR may or not have reinforced their own writing in that story..but I'm betting they did.
He is literally me
Blud just discovered single player RPGS
They accidently made V exactly like me.. but with opportunities and motivations to fight back. Be glad I am content and not chromed. 😂
Another major problem with V as a character is the plot itself. The game's overall structure, design and story doesn't allow the player to try and be their own cyberpunk, be it one that is a total psychopath, sociopath, or a heart of gold ubermench. If the prologue montage was an actual game where you did odd jobs for fixers and grow your career as a solo mercenary (a structure akin to old school GTA games), the writers would allow the player to induct themselves into the world while allowing a sense of identity as to who V is or what he/she represents within the themes of the narrative, aka the disillusioned entrepreneurial visionary that discovers the American dream is a fable.
When the relic plotline comes in and your life both ends and goes to shit, the player would allow some sacrifice of their developed identity in permission of the developer's intended plot twist. In fact, it helps with Cyberpunk 2077's intention of presenting a cynical and pessimistic worldview that who we are and what we intend to become in Nightcity is an illusion; a bull shit sense of individuality to trick its citizens into taking part in an entropic system that feeds off of them. In the end, it is our mortality and what we do with it that defines us, not our personality, which in the end results in us all sort of being the same. Don't take my word for it, Arthur Schopenhauer, the father of pessimism, spoke a lot about this stuff and there are data logs that constantly take from his essays.
Imagine the player taking part in this awesome crime fantasy of using cool gadgets, meeting cool characters, augmenting their dude like a nice car, and making quest decisions that empower the player to feel like a total bad ass, only to get humiliated in the end and realize what Mike Pondsmith meant about cyberpunk being about self-preservation rather than world saving. It would take us off guard and let go of this V we've created, for we now know who V is: Not your typical ubermench in a dark world, but a human in a world with truly no future.
V for Vendetta
All life paths make sense for V, sure, in some situations a street kid might be more appropriate when in others a corpo is more suited but overall V can be all three without breaking the consistency of his character.
bro is onto absolutely nothing
Bro confused, you are not V because V is in a videogame, but within that Videogame you are V
It's been awhile since I've see you upload! Idk why I haven't been getting notifications from your upload :/
Weird. UA-cam is like that sometimes I guess. I'll be uploading pretty frequently for the next week or so. Not longform unfortunately but shorts are still something
@@ParkerRat Maybe because of the gap of uploads you had. Very similar to mine, I suppose yoy have other priorities than making videos! Anyways, great work, hopefully you get suggested more ;)
This is such a simple concept that seems to elude people often. One of my favorite examples is Joker in Persona 5. People all the time ask, "why can't you be a girl" or "why can't you romance guys," but why stop there? Why can't you be an adult? Why can't you be a villain or side with the bad guys? The answer to all of these questions is the same: that's just not who Joker is. He is a character within the game's universe, just like any other in that he has a written personality, preferences, likes and dislikes, moral framework and sense of ethics, background, just to name a few. Just because a character is customizable, or even non-voiced, that does not mean that they're intended to be a blank slate, self-insert avatar.
Same goes with V, except that the devs decided that gender and orientation was not a defined element of their character, but unlike Joker, name is. Funnily, the analogous "character controversy" in CP77 is that the romanceable characters have orientations that are defined parts of the character. We can debate the merits of making certain things character traits instead of customizable options for PCs and NPCs, but before we do any of that we've gotta recognize that there's a difference between a character or playable character and a player avatar.
As I played through the game I started to realize that I'm playing a premade character. I like how the game is written as a choose your own adventure story, but that's about all I can say about it. As long as there's no "Canon" ending.
great point
May I introduce multiverse theory?
what is this trying to say ? Like whats the point ?
In my opinion all the trailers are the cannon V, so Nomad V, evrey dialog option from the E3 gameplay was cannon, and the phantom liberty trailer of course
I think the problem V suffers is that they're not presented as a set character, and they're occasionally treated like a customizable one. Cyberpunk was heavily advertised as an RPG with a customizable character who you can play how you want. In truth, 2077 isn't really that different from the Geralt in Witcher 3; a character with a set personality that can have different expressions based on narrative decisions, but ultimately will always be the same character.
I began to enjoy the game a lot more when I stopped trying to think of V as my character, because the game just doesn't support that level of character creation. However, the only reason WHY I thought this in the first place is because the opening of the game feels like the opening to a game with that freedom. You can completely change how V looks, right down to altering their goddamn genitalia. That and the life paths prime the player to think of V as their own character. (Though you can never give them a name. Considering V feels like a universal alias, I'm surprised that wasn't the case. It would at least be helpful for save labelling on console, but that's more a quality of life issue.)
But the game just isn't set up like that. Hell, I'd actually say it's one of THE most restrictive games when it comes to it's protagonist. Persona 5 comes to mind. Joker, the game's silent protagonist, has an incredibly set personality AND exists in a linear story where you can't change much about him. Yet, he feels more player driven than V. While you can't make narrative decisions, you can choose some lines of dialogue in certain instances, which allow you to sort of steer his personality in a direction.
Cyberpunk just... doesn't have that. Most conversations are around 3 or so dialogue options, with one being a "Progress dialogue" option, and the others being various ways to access a few bits of extra information or delay the conversation. There's a few times when you can end a conversation with one or two different quips, but those are mostly in the lifepath intros, at least the ones I remember. It's a significantly more restrictive system, made worse by V being a voiced protagonist, so often times the choices you make don't sound quite like what you expected.
In all honesty, I think they should have done away with customizable V entirely, and just had them be a set protagonist like Geralt. Maybe have a male/female option, but the extensive customization feels like it only misleads players from who V is, while also keeping them from being written like a set character. At the moment, they just feel like the Fallout 4 protagonist, but somehow MORE rigid. Which just makes them feel a bit uncanny.
TL;DR - V is a prewritten character trapped in the body of a custom protagonist.
quick question, does this video spoil phantom liberty? I want to know before watching
No it does not. Dont even mention it once. There are spoilers for one of the base game endings and part of a quest
@@ParkerRat ok thanks
Uhh no, V is not a blank slate character. Was this ever disputed? I though it was pretty self evident.
Hoes mad.
Erm actually? 🤓
There have cryogen anabiosis capsule.
B-but he literally me.
i always seem to pick the nomad v
maybe because of panam tbh
> Cinematic story
> Freedom of player expression
pick one
> There is another way
his names steve actually🤓