Phantom Liberty was never V’s story. It was always Songbird’s. After getting the “cure” ending in Phantom Liberty, it almost feels as if I am getting punished for wanting to see V live again. What endings did you follow?
Phantom Liberty was never V’s story. It was always Songbird’s. After getting the “cure” ending in Phantom Liberty, it almost feels as if I am getting punished for wanting to see V live again. What endings did you follow?
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I think its a little disappointing that the DLC only offers another grim ending. Yes I understand that this ending is thematically appropriate and I appreciate it but I wish we could have more “all’s well that ends well” endings too. I loved the ending option for Witcher 3 and ME3 made up for its initial ending with the Citadel DLC.
The “cure” ending is genuinely awful. There’s having a bittersweet epilogue with pros&cons, and then there’s straight up misery porn. Never again. I play games for escapism, not simulating depression.
It’s my biggest gripe with Phantom Liberty tbh. Great content overall, but damn does it fizzle out at the end. Same with Mr. Hands, I expected something to happen after his 10 contracts, but turns out giving him control over Dogtown didn’t amount to anything in the end.
I guess PL is best enjoyed as side dish to the original content instead of a self-contained DLC like Witcher 3’s Hearts of Stone or Blood&Wine, both of which stood perfectly fine on their own. Whereas PL’s narrative starts off with a banger, but ultimately feels a bit pointless by the end, other than V gaining a small power-up before going to deal with Smasher in the real endings.
Don’t fear the Reaper / nomad endings remain the 2 best ones by a long shot. Johnny taking over also remains a decent way to wrap up. Shit, I’ll even take the Arasaka ending over PL’s.
My V would rather go out as a legend as well and get a drink named after her in the afterlife
I did the PL ending and immediately went back to a safe point and went out as a legend owning the afterlife.
YOU ARE BEING PUNISHED
CDPR are trying to tell you that selfish acts arent the way to live, sure you can dislike Songbird and believe Reed is more in the right or whatever but giving her a fate worse than death so you get to live is not an act that should be rewarded.
Personally this became my favorite ending, I was not sure about it the first time but after replaying it a couple times to fully immerse myself into it I ended up making it my canon ending for V.
On a side note, one of the devs wrote this about it and it’s exactly what I thought about the Tower :
https://preview.redd.it/fnl0arkr2h7c1.png?width=440&format=png&auto=webp&s=f750152d3d85790bb92ff1fa84d4386e7a440e9a
Or maybe the whole merc lifestyle is a farce that almost always ends with people dying at a young age and the whole “legend” thing is something that gets sold to young impressionable kids to recruit them to do dirty work and to make them think that getting shot in the street before they turn 30 is okay and even something to aspire to.
Like seriously? You get to live like a normal person and that’s suddenly the worst thing ever. You act like nobody has ever changed their career because of an injury and lived a fulfilling life afterwards. But people on this sub are like “no, I want to be bringing death and misery to other people I never knew because someone else pays me for it, that’s what legends do”.
Jackie dies in a “blaze of glory” but then youre at his funeral and nobody gives a shit about the major leagues or any of this stuff, what matters is that hes dead and the only people who will remember him are his friends and family.
I love the Tower, its my favorite ending
If my friends didn’t hate me I would do it but they do so I won’t
It retroactively ruins the game’s narrative for me because it goes against everything they’ve set up throughout the entire story. Feels like a copout and really wish they did not include it in the dlc.
Whether I go out in a blaze of glory as the greatest merc that ever lived, disappear beyond the Blackwall while my friend lives his next life better than the first, or fly off into freedom with my new nomad family, I found the courage to bet on myself. And that fulfilled my dream, even if my life is that much shorter.
Exactly my thoughts. I made a similar post a week or so ago and it was just filled with “You bought into the lie” comments
I don’t mind the Phantom Liberty ending. That’s just how life is. Shit happens, people move on, everything changes. In the end, we’re all just faces in the crowd.
Ppl don’t realize this ending punishes v for giving back a slave to her captor . Side with reed and kill her or even if u side with so mi and give her back to reed don’t ask for the cure . The moment u go for the cure u are punished
For me the best ending of PL is delivering Songbird to the Moon. My own favorite ending is the Star ending, where V leaves Night City alongside Judy and Panam, free at last and hopeful for what lies beyond the horizon.
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I also enjoyed the ending where you give Johnny your body. It was interesting to see the effect it has on him, but still not my canon ending. I find it somewhat sad that he ghosts the people in V’s life instead of properly cutting off ties. It feels rather cowardly of him.
I wouldn’t call it a punishment. You are a legend based off the halo message from Rogue and to protect legend status it’s best to stay away. People will remember what you did and you have to find a way to start new. That the ending shows V walking away confidently after getting shoulder checked in the crowd and how happy Misty and even Victor were to see them, I don’t think it’s a punishment.
However, I do think it’s interesting that it’s a hard stop. You get that ending and it doesn’t throw you back into Night City to finish other gigs like it does with the other endings (unless I missed that).
I love the Tower ending, and I don’t find it at all depressing.
I don’t really see it as an ending, but a new chapter in V’s life. V was the greatest merc in NC at one time. But all things change. Now V is alive and free to do whatever comes next. Maybe become the greatest fixer in NC. Maybe see what NUSA has to offer. Anything is possible
This is split between the people who don’t care about dying, and the people who want to live methinks
Obviously if you don’t care about dying you won’t care about having an ending where you live past your 6 month expiry date, so you’d want to have as much of a blast as you can before you fizzle out
The people who want to live see more value in a longer life even if you have to lose what you “value”
Although by fading into the crowd you lose control, and maybe those who don’t care about dying early crave that control, that power.
Nevertheless, live your life the way you want, quiet life, or blaze of glory. But just don’t be a snake, for God’s sake.
This ending is kinda BS to me. As the title states V always wanted to go out as a legend and yet they stole it from him and labeled it the “good ending”.
My V “died” as a merc, got her name as a drink in the Afterlife, then she’s reborn as a fixer.
Is rather take Judy and Panam with me to Langley, to make sure the surgery goes well. I know that Judy would like being anywhere other than Night City, and Panam would go because she’s our Ride or Die. That way Judy doesn’t get married to some chick named Bianca on the other side of the country and Panam doesn’t get her abandonment issues vibe checked.River and Kerry don’t have the time to spare.
I finished the DLC yesterday.
I did not think twice sending So Mi to the moon.
While she did keep things from V and betrayed her (I played fem-V), she wanted to survive, she obviously did not like betraying V, at least that’s how I got it.
In many ways, she is V, she did not give up, she was not scared, and went all the way to save herself.
That’s what I has been doing during the whole main story.
Keep going until the end.
I respected that in So Mi.
As Johnny said as well in the end in the train.
She may have betrayed everyone, but she did so due to lack of any other choice.
Everybody else, Myers, Reed etc wanted So Mi for their personal gain, they thought they knew what was best.
At the end of the day, I chose to go with the ending that gives the characters (V and So Mi) to chose their own fates.
Personally, my first two playthroughs end always with me leaving NC with the nomads and Judy.
But I want to try the Don’t Fear the Ripper one.
I’ve seen and read what the new PL ending, and I hate it as much as the Arasaka one.
You actually bow to the wants of a more powerful organisation and getting something for yourself on the side, effectively losing everyone close to you.
So for me there was always the one option: So Mi gets her end in PL and V gets her end in the main story.
Fuck NUSA and Arasaka.
idk how this would work but it would have been amazing if the choice you get with Dex about “Quiet Life” or “Blaze of Glory” tied into this ending. Depending on the choice you would either get “The NPC Ending” or “The Fixer Ending”. ik this really isnt V’s Choice to make it more impactful but still.
That’s definitely *a* good ending, and maybe it would be the best ending *for me*, but it’s not my favourite ending *for V*.
In The Star, V’s surrounded by people who care about them, and while their life expectancy is likely limited, they have hope and a mission, and seem to be at peace with themself.
That’s what I’d call a happy ending for the person V became after losing Jackie.
I actually play each lifepath as a different person with different motivations.
Streetkid V tries to do the right thing and wants to be a legend. He’s fiercely independent. He tends towards either the (Don’t) Fear the Reaper ending or jumps at the chance to work with legends and takes the ending with Rogue. He wants to be a Legend himself and is willing to die if he gets it. He’s the hacker of the group using a Cyberdeck.
Corpo V is more ruthless and is also independent. She’s more likely to do whatever makes her more money in her jobs regardless of the morality of it. She’s also the one who’s most desperate to live and will grasp at any attempts to do so. She’ll take the Tower or the Devil. She uses a Sandi.
Nomad V is kinda lost. He spent most of his time in a clan, and immediately after leaving his old one, he forms a new smaller one with him and the Wells. Losing Jackie untethered him, and he’s looking for approval. He’ll do the jobs exactly as he is told. He goes for the ending where he feels he belongs. Usually, the Nomad ending but I can also justify the Sun by claiming he’s found his place among his fellow Mercs. He’s a brute using a berserker.
I mean FIA office work doesn’t sound too bad. Plus you can get out of the hellhole that is Nighy City
Tower Ending is getting Dex DeShawn Ending
“quiet life , no blaze and glory for me”
Same, but fuck Songbird. Better to die as a cybernetic demigod, fighting, than to live as a cripple.
Well that’s you palying a game, you wouldn’t know how it is to actually gaing in deathzones with a time bomb inside your head.
I personally would take the safe way out, to survive, to remake my life, as V’s just around mid 20 when the game ends. The only thing would’ve stopped me was the sympathy with Songbird. I’d rather die than letting Myers gets her hand on her.
I would much rather go out a legend and a god of the world then be reduced to a nobody who gets robbed by the kind of people you killed in droves just a short while previously.
I feel like this mentality is straight up what the game is arguing against.
The Phantom Liberty ending is the only remotely happy one, unless you’re completely obsessed with the idea that V needs to be a killing machine in order to live.
The two downsides are that you betray someone who already betrayed you, and that you can’t use implants and can’t be a merc anymore. Neither of those seem like major issues to me given the trade offs in other endings.
I love the Tower ending. V is just 27-29 years old at the end of this ending and has a long life ahead. V has millions of eddies in the bank, and a job at Langley. Can V kill 10 gonks in 2 seconds now? No. But working at Langley, V can influence the world in a different way than he/she could do while being a merc. Also, V’ll meet a lot of other people in the future, which will heal the past wounds of Panam/Judy, leaving him/her.
Lastly, the world of Cyberpunk is ever evolving. In 2079, V can’t do certain “thing”. But maybe in the future he/she will have the opportunity use those “things” againg due to technological advancements, and whatnot.
Some people see the tower ending as a end all be all, for V’s story. I see it as the “hopeful” ending, and the beginning of a new chapter in V’s life. A second chance in the world of Cyberpunk is incredibly rare, if not non-existent. V’s luck is incredibly good and bad at the same time lol.
Nothing beats going nova on saka goons. Grab the hottest iron you can find and mobilize.
Streetkid with King of Wands leading into the Star ending will always be my canon.
Absofcknglutely. I love Dog Town for it’s run down look. I played Shadowrun with my friends for decades and that’s how I imagined the Seattle Barrens. Defo the district with the most character in NC. But the story? I found it to be a nice idea. Have a spygame fitted in all that chaos in NC. But in the end it didn’t add anything for me. Decided to help SoMi until the bitter end. Launched that thing. Then back to square one and NC. Was pretty startled tbh. It felt like PL only took my time since I met up with Hanako anyways. Glad that I took the chance to play as a Nomad for PL. Got a pretty intense showdown for Mikoshi and a awesome ending with Panam.
Knowing the world will remember you and achieving something monumental is neat. Though on the other hand I still thought the “NC Legend” aspiration was bullshit. Mercs dying in a “blaze of glory”, when the real circumstances and extra details were tragic and small, and the world is still shit afterwards. And they built that reputation on graveyards or whatever means that likely wouldn’t be as glorious knowing or watching at first hand. Not sure what there is to “prove” to this city.
I’d be fine with losing implants after the cure… though that apparently means killing Johnny while he practically begs you, losing the friends you made in this journey (With some in shitty spots), having the knowledge that Adam Smasher still walks the earth somewhere, delivering Songbird back to the hell she was trying to escape from, which also means that Myers still has an empty shell/tool to continue fucking with the Blackwall, Reed still being an aimless willing slave of the NUSA, and likely having heaps of enemies who probably won’t let the shit V piled on them go after 2 years and may find out how defenseless you are. And there could be another corporate war looming.
The Tower isn’t the absolute worst l can agree, but I’ll pass.
Everyone also forgets that the faces in the crowd are the ones who actually make the world go round, not the legends. This is especially true in the era of social media.
I haven’t finished PL completely yet, still on Killing Moon but if I’m being honest I feel like, if we grew up as Streetkid then to be a legend is all Jackie ever wanted. I feel like I’d be telling Jackie a big “F you” if I would give up everything just to save myself for a bit longer
I think V will be fine. It’s more or less reconstructing yourself without cyberwear. I usually do a stealth knife guy or full melee brute but both I don’t use cybernetics. This isnt impossible to think about either since morgan blackhand is known for being mostly ‘ganic and still being able to beat adam smasher in every iteration of their fight. (despite one time he lost his arm hence black hand)
Congrats, you bought the lie of Night City. Death is death, always choose life.
Bless your heart
One of the best endings imo
The cyberpunk motto is Style over substance, bright and burn, live fast and die in style… And some people want a desk job at Arasaka or live working a job serving Nicola (taste the love!) as a cyber implant incapable nobody.
Sigh!
Edit: typos
While a very interesting and cool ending, I don’t think I’ll ever pick it as my personal Canon ending. Mostly because v makes alot of enemies, you don’t do a crap ton of merc work and start such big fights in dogtown without someone gunning for you. And now that you have no cyberwear you are extreamky easy to kill. The chances of you leaving night city alive is slim and even if you did the chances of someone putting a bounty on you is extreamly high. I don’t any place would be safe for V. If you go through the trouble of needing this many people, killing so many people, and making such a name for yourself why leave now before doing anything.
That’s my opinions of the ending. But in my own opinion I don’t think any ending is canonm the way I think they’ll do V’s story is by making it like a boogeyman story where there are so many different stories of V any ending could be true but noone will ever truly know.
I think the majority would prefer the opportunity to start a new life as a nobody and probably over 100 years still to go instead of a couple weeks of fame and than certain death.
I would really enjoy playing as V again with your choices and outcomes relevant to the sequel game. Especially with the theory that could very well be possible that the NUSA lied to V about their health condition with cyberware, or is heavily embellishing it or something.
I just loved the ending of Phantom Liberty so much and despite the ending seeming like the end of Vs story, with the changes to night city, the impending next major corporate war, I get a strange and unsettling feeling that a V actually enjoying the simple life might get roped back into the world of mercenaries, corporations and warfare.