Difference is that David thought he was the main character, whereas V actually is.
tittywaffles420
David was distracted, V wasn’t
CrysisFan2007
David is a teen who that thought he could beat a cyborg who only has 4% humanity in himself…
I‘d not mess with that guy
95_slowvette
tbf, average end-game V would’ve wiped David even faster than the average smasher fight.
International-Toe598
David also couldn’t handle the level of chrome he had like V or Smasher, so even if he had won against smasher he was going to die after putting on that suit.
sivaya_
It’s less to do with Smasher, and more about V being a super high functioning cyberpsycho.
VivaLaDio
Without the engram holding shit together, V’s brain would’ve been fried a long time ago from all the chrome.
That’s why the tower ending is the way it is. It shows you the difference your chrome and engram was making.
VicariousDrow
Neither, V is just *that* strong, neither can hold a candle to V.
Ashi4Days
David shows very high tolerance for implants.
V is really a combination of V and Johnny. So V has basically two people’s tolerance for implants.
CheekyWanker007
david is p damn strong but smasher is leagues above. and above that is V.
V basically can take an unlimited amount of cyberware and be completely fine, he can soak bullets like no one else too
Knightmare945
V is truly just built different.
Consistent-North7790
V is just that guy
BarryAllensMom
David replaced a majority of his body. He went out knowing he lost his humanity in a last ditch effort to use some experimental chrome.
A very popular theory to V in 77 is that the Engram prevents V from going Psycho.
By the time you get to fight Smasher, you have a full body replacement of gear.
I think that’s the beauty of one of the endings PL introduced as well. It supports the theory.
metallee98
When smasher uses the sandevistan to match David in edgerunners he refers to the sandy as “a rudimentary implant.” David’s signature cyberware that allowed him to climb to where he is is basic to smasher. Respectfully, David is not built different. V should be a cyberpsycho but the chip is spreading the mental load of that cyberware between two minds. V is what david thought he was. But for v, it comes at the cost of slowly dying. Smasher is a freak of nature. A perfect specimen. A high functioning psychopath before he got super chromed up. He didnt lose his humanity and become a cyberpsycho because he didnt have any humanity in the first place. In 2077 terms David would probably be about level 25 in game.
GrumpiestRobot
David was a gonk with an above average tolerance to chrome and an unwarranted sense of self-importance.
nonameavailableffs
David a bitch
BagofBones42
David was a gonk kid who thought that chrome was substitute for skill. The whole crew was in fact a bunch of gonks, act like they did in the tabletop, and you’re a dead gonk walking.
V was supremely skilled and desperate, which enabled him to take down the second strongest version of Smasher (Blackhand still has the crown).
SauceK-
Secret 3rd option, V is wildly overpowered
SauceK-
Secret 3rd option, V is wildly overpowered
Traditional_Card_976
DAVEY COULDNT HANDLE THE CHROME MON!
_heyb0ss
powerscaling mfs when introduced to a narrative:
ResolveLeather
The difference is that we control V. If you put David in a video game, gave him a 9 mil that deals exactly 1 ball tickles worth of damage to Adam Smasher and enough ammo to get the job done, Adam Smasher won’t stand a chance. Even if David had no cyberware.
EnchantedShroom
Besides having better cyberware and guns, V also has much more combat experience. V can also sit there killing MaxTac goons for hours on end and doesn’t risk going cyberpsycho like David would, thanks to the relic. V can even go cyberpsycho for a short while receiving the benefits of the rage boost minus being permanently crazy.
KaiFanreala
You have to remember David’s mind was already mostly gone be the time he got his big mech suit. He was not fighting at 100%. Additionally the only TOP SHELF CHROME that we know for sure David had was his Sandy. V can have a top of the line Sandy, as well as top of the line EVERYTHING else. Additionally V doesn’t suffer from cyberpsychosis. And tbh that’s probably because of the Relic rewritting V’s brain preventing the cyberpsychosis from ever taking true hold. Because remember there’s a perk where V does go a little batty in the Tech tree. But baically David while having pretty intense resistance to cyberpsychosis still fell prey to it. V can stuff as much chrome into his body as he can hold, and he doesn’t. V is always at 100% and becomes basically his own tank. Not to mention the arsenal of top tier weapons that V gains throughout his career. David is a wonderful character, but V in terms of skills, tech, and weaponry just outranks him in every single possible way.
imaginewagons198
David was a big fish in a small pond who thought he could make it easy in another pond with bigger fish. The moment he encounters someone else with a sandi or decent cyberware, he stops being “special”.
quixote_manche
Chromed out gonk
mudokin
V has the power of being a mentally “stable” cyberpsycho with his second consciousness
Ythio
David is an NPC and V is the PC.
Exciting-Profession5
Wait … Do people really think we killed Adam Smasher outside Mikoshi? Cuz there’s definitely no way he’s been backed up and installed across several bodies…. Especially as a full borg. This may have just been a weaker copy as the rest are being sent out to satellite Arasaka sites to destroy them, given he was hired by Yorinobu.
DerReckeEckhardt
Because endgame player characters, at least in RPGs, are almost always gods compared to anyone else in their verse. And, if you’re unconventional enough to apply c0da to other series than Elder Scrolls, PC’s with access to the console and modding are literally gods.
Merkkin
David was just a gonk
lordekeen
David was still too young, another few years and he could be in V’s level of power.
633397
alot of people seem to have the misconception that V is waaaaay stronger than smasher when actually they’re closer to equals. smasher is the final boss for a completely maxed out V and canonically im sure it was a struggle to win.
dannyb2525
Honestly just bad game design imo. There’s nothing really all that challenging about Smasher unless you go into the fight under leveled
JohnArtemus
By the end of 2077, V is basically a cybergod. And if you’ve unlocked the relic tree, V is ridiculously OP. He or she could probably challenge Alt Cunningham at that point.
According-Camera-974
Nah V just thought he was him
PancakeParty98
David is a chromed out gonk. I’ve been downvoted for saying it but David actually doesn’t grow very much himself, he just buys nicer stuff to use, and then uses it in the intended way. The most creative thing we see him do is grab the tow cable and clothesline the saka transport with it.
GeneralKosmosa
V is him.
(Her?)
AdamSmashy
David was a nobody
Teacherguy3
I like the theory that the smasher V encounters is just a copy of the real one Arasaka is using as a body guard. It would be amazing in the next game to see smasher again and find out he was in Japan when V fought him.
Sr_Viktor
These are different types of media and this means a lot for power scaling. In an animation like Edgerunners, it wouldn’t make much sense for David to be able to scale as much as V. And in a game like Cyberpunk, it wouldn’t make sense for V to be “limited” in his scaling.
They are different worlds with different objectives. Just note that V gets tons of legendary cybernetics and legendary weapons from common vendors. He makes a fortune with robberies that are much simpler than the ones that left him in the situation he’s in. So in my opinion, V is just a stupidly strong character, but he would never fit into an animation script or anything like that. While David didn’t even have the chance to acquire what V got.
I even believe that in the future, if V gets any representation, whether in cinematics of future games or a series/animation, he won’t be this super OP version of us that we do in the game, but something closer to a mid-game V.
41 Comments
Difference is that David thought he was the main character, whereas V actually is.
David was distracted, V wasn’t
David is a teen who that thought he could beat a cyborg who only has 4% humanity in himself…
I‘d not mess with that guy
tbf, average end-game V would’ve wiped David even faster than the average smasher fight.
David also couldn’t handle the level of chrome he had like V or Smasher, so even if he had won against smasher he was going to die after putting on that suit.
It’s less to do with Smasher, and more about V being a super high functioning cyberpsycho.
Without the engram holding shit together, V’s brain would’ve been fried a long time ago from all the chrome.
That’s why the tower ending is the way it is. It shows you the difference your chrome and engram was making.
Neither, V is just *that* strong, neither can hold a candle to V.
David shows very high tolerance for implants.
V is really a combination of V and Johnny. So V has basically two people’s tolerance for implants.
david is p damn strong but smasher is leagues above. and above that is V.
V basically can take an unlimited amount of cyberware and be completely fine, he can soak bullets like no one else too
V is truly just built different.
V is just that guy
David replaced a majority of his body. He went out knowing he lost his humanity in a last ditch effort to use some experimental chrome.
A very popular theory to V in 77 is that the Engram prevents V from going Psycho.
By the time you get to fight Smasher, you have a full body replacement of gear.
I think that’s the beauty of one of the endings PL introduced as well. It supports the theory.
When smasher uses the sandevistan to match David in edgerunners he refers to the sandy as “a rudimentary implant.” David’s signature cyberware that allowed him to climb to where he is is basic to smasher. Respectfully, David is not built different. V should be a cyberpsycho but the chip is spreading the mental load of that cyberware between two minds. V is what david thought he was. But for v, it comes at the cost of slowly dying. Smasher is a freak of nature. A perfect specimen. A high functioning psychopath before he got super chromed up. He didnt lose his humanity and become a cyberpsycho because he didnt have any humanity in the first place. In 2077 terms David would probably be about level 25 in game.
David was a gonk with an above average tolerance to chrome and an unwarranted sense of self-importance.
David a bitch
David was a gonk kid who thought that chrome was substitute for skill. The whole crew was in fact a bunch of gonks, act like they did in the tabletop, and you’re a dead gonk walking.
V was supremely skilled and desperate, which enabled him to take down the second strongest version of Smasher (Blackhand still has the crown).
Secret 3rd option, V is wildly overpowered
Secret 3rd option, V is wildly overpowered
DAVEY COULDNT HANDLE THE CHROME MON!
powerscaling mfs when introduced to a narrative:
The difference is that we control V. If you put David in a video game, gave him a 9 mil that deals exactly 1 ball tickles worth of damage to Adam Smasher and enough ammo to get the job done, Adam Smasher won’t stand a chance. Even if David had no cyberware.
Besides having better cyberware and guns, V also has much more combat experience. V can also sit there killing MaxTac goons for hours on end and doesn’t risk going cyberpsycho like David would, thanks to the relic. V can even go cyberpsycho for a short while receiving the benefits of the rage boost minus being permanently crazy.
You have to remember David’s mind was already mostly gone be the time he got his big mech suit. He was not fighting at 100%. Additionally the only TOP SHELF CHROME that we know for sure David had was his Sandy. V can have a top of the line Sandy, as well as top of the line EVERYTHING else. Additionally V doesn’t suffer from cyberpsychosis. And tbh that’s probably because of the Relic rewritting V’s brain preventing the cyberpsychosis from ever taking true hold. Because remember there’s a perk where V does go a little batty in the Tech tree. But baically David while having pretty intense resistance to cyberpsychosis still fell prey to it. V can stuff as much chrome into his body as he can hold, and he doesn’t. V is always at 100% and becomes basically his own tank. Not to mention the arsenal of top tier weapons that V gains throughout his career. David is a wonderful character, but V in terms of skills, tech, and weaponry just outranks him in every single possible way.
David was a big fish in a small pond who thought he could make it easy in another pond with bigger fish. The moment he encounters someone else with a sandi or decent cyberware, he stops being “special”.
Chromed out gonk
V has the power of being a mentally “stable” cyberpsycho with his second consciousness
David is an NPC and V is the PC.
Wait … Do people really think we killed Adam Smasher outside Mikoshi? Cuz there’s definitely no way he’s been backed up and installed across several bodies…. Especially as a full borg. This may have just been a weaker copy as the rest are being sent out to satellite Arasaka sites to destroy them, given he was hired by Yorinobu.
Because endgame player characters, at least in RPGs, are almost always gods compared to anyone else in their verse. And, if you’re unconventional enough to apply c0da to other series than Elder Scrolls, PC’s with access to the console and modding are literally gods.
David was just a gonk
David was still too young, another few years and he could be in V’s level of power.
alot of people seem to have the misconception that V is waaaaay stronger than smasher when actually they’re closer to equals. smasher is the final boss for a completely maxed out V and canonically im sure it was a struggle to win.
Honestly just bad game design imo. There’s nothing really all that challenging about Smasher unless you go into the fight under leveled
By the end of 2077, V is basically a cybergod. And if you’ve unlocked the relic tree, V is ridiculously OP. He or she could probably challenge Alt Cunningham at that point.
Nah V just thought he was him
David is a chromed out gonk. I’ve been downvoted for saying it but David actually doesn’t grow very much himself, he just buys nicer stuff to use, and then uses it in the intended way. The most creative thing we see him do is grab the tow cable and clothesline the saka transport with it.
V is him.
(Her?)
David was a nobody
I like the theory that the smasher V encounters is just a copy of the real one Arasaka is using as a body guard. It would be amazing in the next game to see smasher again and find out he was in Japan when V fought him.
These are different types of media and this means a lot for power scaling. In an animation like Edgerunners, it wouldn’t make much sense for David to be able to scale as much as V. And in a game like Cyberpunk, it wouldn’t make sense for V to be “limited” in his scaling.
They are different worlds with different objectives. Just note that V gets tons of legendary cybernetics and legendary weapons from common vendors. He makes a fortune with robberies that are much simpler than the ones that left him in the situation he’s in. So in my opinion, V is just a stupidly strong character, but he would never fit into an animation script or anything like that. While David didn’t even have the chance to acquire what V got.
I even believe that in the future, if V gets any representation, whether in cinematics of future games or a series/animation, he won’t be this super OP version of us that we do in the game, but something closer to a mid-game V.