Well, I've recently read a lot of comments saying that the reason V is so incredibly powerful and was able to humiliate the legendary and bloodthirsty Adam Smasher while David couldn't even sustain a fight with him is because V is the protagonist of an RPG video game, while David is the protagonist of an anime. What do you think about this?
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Yes, kind of…?
I mean Cyberpunk 2077 is a power fantasy videogame. No other media in this universe works this way. Not original TTRPG system nor anime series.
Well yea, but if you want a lore reason (which is in the very post you mentioned) it’s because of the Relic chip and Johnny taking his part of the whole thing. Vs tolerance if you will, is much much much higher because of it.
V has the most expensive tech ever in her head that literally resurrected her from death, she is immune to cyberpsychosis.
V has plot armor as much as any MC but canonically V is strong as shit. Even before getting the chip V is built different
V is chromed to the teeth, and doesn’t go psycho presumably because of Johnny’s engram acting as a ‘buffer’, so it’s like having two psyche that can share the burden–thus making V able to sustain more chrome than most without going cyberpsycho.
on the more realistic answer is that because one fun aspect of a videogame is the power trip, while the fun aspect for a medium like anime is the thrill that makes you move to the edge of your seat.
Nope, everyone else is just low level back alley scrap. V is the genuine article.
Firstly, Canon V will be played on Very Hard mode and Adam Smasher is disgustingly scary there.
He basically one shots you even when im rocking tier 5+ implants everywhere. I legitamately screamed when he activated his scandavestian or wtv he calls it.
Another person has mentioned abt V’s cryberpyscho tolerance so that would be the lore reason. But in no shape or form does V “humiliate” Smasher, he even sounds surprised when he beats Smasher.
Whoever hasnt, please play the boss fight on very hard mode at least once. You will respect David so much after.
No David was just a moron. One of the reasons I hate the anime is David was just an idiot all around. One thing I love about the game is the developers gave a lot of nuance to V’s character. The decisions that V makes change everything. You could be stupid and fly off the handle but it has a chain of events that effect your entire story or you could be smart about something and weigh the risks and rewards. For example, everyone wants to kill the Ripper Doc working with the Scavs, but if you think about it, is it the best idea for you personally? Killing that Ripper Doc won’t change anything but it could help you! Or going postal during Stadium Love, if you don’t your dialogue will change during Phantom Liberty.
One of Cyberpunk TTRPG’s main theme is being a badass.
‘Balancing’ or ‘fairness’ isn’t high on the priority list of Cyberpunk 2077.
Yeah, generally both in the TTRPG and game your character gains power way beyond what your average or even extrordinary edgerunner could achieve.
and you can kinda tell cuz most other batshit characters like Spider Murphy are old PCs
plot armor as well as infinite tries to beat the game.
OP you’re not really properly using the term “plot armor”. It’s a literary trope, so you wouldn’t apply it to a video game with a single playable main character.
The game needs to progress otherwise it would be a terrible video game. You also can die, leading to reloading your last save. That’s not plot armor. You can be killed by a random Scav with a crowbar or from a fall.
In the words of Pondsmith (sort of, I don’t remember verbatim)
Cyberpsychosis is not determined by the amount of chrome you have, but more about how you can handle it. Just like not everyone who drinks almost every weekend is an alcoholic, not everyone who is chromed becomes Cyberpsycho.
In the TTRPG, there’s a stat called “humanity” that helps determine how much cyberware you can handle, and it’s often dependent on how much support you have (friends, family, etc.)
David was much more susceptible to cyberpsychosis than V. Although both face losses during their story, David was much younger and much more emotional than V. We can see David slipping after the very first time he uses the Sandy, but thanks to Lucy and the gang, he is able to handle it
In V’s case, well. You have Johnny as support (as weird as that sounds), Jackie (albeit, for a time) Viktor, Misty, Señora Wells and many others depending on how you play the story out.
I hope the next game is a little more restrictive with our choices for chroming up. I want more stuff like the Chimera chase from Phantom Liberty. Give me some borderline horror game scenes from these cyberpsychos.
Kinda, but wouldnt say plot armor. Is the natural progression of many rpgs. Think of all the stories that start with a farm kid doing some chores for someone and by the end of the game they are like “ok, we have to kill god now”.
That being said, i dont even think the sandevistan is that much of a feat when you consider that depending on the choices you make, V can end up being able to upload blackwall hacks at will.
Nah, V’s just built different 😎
Serious answer? Kinda. They’re still surely one of, if not THE most powerful solo to ever exist. (MAYBE even stronger than blackhand, on account of him having more chrome. Tho id still believe blackhand could stand toe to toe with him. Neither would WIN the fight imo, but it would be a long, LOOONG stalemate) Buuut if V hadnt had the relic in his head when he got kurt Co-brained?…
They wouldnt of got anywhere close to that level. He has johnny in his head, mitigating the risk of Cyberpsychosis. But I mean, depending on your ending? They quite literally storm arasaka tower SOLO. And take down everything AND everyone in the way. The fuckin boogeyman of NC, Adam Smasher included. And thats while they’re knocking on heavens door. Nearly dropping dead to a strong, cool breeze. And even that? Is without considering EVERYTHING else that they pull off during the story (If you do the side content and dont just rush the main campaign)
TLDR? V is the kind of cunt that deserves their own drink at the afterlife, WITHOUT being dead first. David thought he was built different. V actually IS
V is insulated somewhat to cyberpsychosis due to Johnny
V is a hypothetical god. So, I guess?
Just like David, V was built different and had a resistance to Cyberwear. But what gave V the advantage over David is Johnny and the Relic. Johnny acted as a buffer, which is why V doesn’t take a humanity hit.
Others have already mentioned Johnny allowing V to be more chromed out than others, but I’ll just add that Smasher was also at the height of his arrogance. Whether it’s Saul or Rogue in your playthrough, Smasher gets sloppy and eats a major shot up close. He doesn’t take any care at all to make sure his opponent is fully disarmed (a basic move).
think of V as naruto with kurama. unlimited chakra.
I think V just has the charisma to form powerful relationships on top of also having Johnny on their head that not only has experience but also has powerful contacts + V with all things considered managed to form a really good relationship with Johnny too that started not liking you and wanting to take over your body to in the middle of the game respecting you
You can argue plot armor with the Relic resurrecting them 8 times, but even then they wouldn’t have the relic without Jackie
The thing about David is that Kiwi and Arasaka set him up for failure and he end up with Cyberpsychosis, none of the people with him has experience and he doesn’t have experience either invading Arasaka or throwinh hands with Adam Smasher nor Arasaka’s army
(He was also underaged when he put Sandevistan on)
V’s high chrome tolerance is in some part thanks to engram buffer, or at least that’s one of the theory.
Cyberpsychosis is imo psychopathic tendencies just amplified by their modification. so with that explanation Johnny is a cyberpsycho too, just not violent all the time. (actually “humanity”, or the support you have, is the attribute that is related to cyberware tolerance) with that in mind, think by the end of the game the amount of support V has? probably way way more than David did. you never go too much over the limit, in which case you kinda start to slip away into it, but not in the state where you are “losin’ it”
Also it’s a miracle David was alive after his first day with Sandy. his head was way up in cloud, and he was stupid, or I should say naive. but he’s been saved by Lucy and the Gang since then. the word that Adam says, “Do you believe yourself to be truly special?” has a point. he is not special in terms of raw capabilities. he shouldn’t. maybe his tolerance was higher on higher side, but nothing unusual. and he is being advised to scale back on his cyberware towards the end of story, but he refused to listen. but clearly, he was not handling it. but he still believed it was himself that it made him special.
with that in mind though, I feel like CDPR could implemented that too, as like a “humanity” value depending on the choice of players. and actually I prefer it to be hidden and work as a background factor / multiplier to the cyberware tolerance. I feel like some modders might be able to do this and I actually would love to do a completely different playthrough as totally normal, sane choices vs intentionally psychopatic awful person type playthrough.
V is literally John cyberpunk
I mean, V is the lead protagonist of a video game. Adam Smasher was poised to be an obstacle between them and the end of the game. So Smasher has to be beatable.
But in LORE Adam Smasher? He is the “rocks fall, everyone dies” of the universe. In TTRPG’s no one gets to be the “main character,” and death is just as likely as success. Smasher is the wall in which characters die.
V already died when he got shot in the head by Dex
Because combat is piss easy in the game.
V was either doing small-time merc work (street kid), corporate espionage (corpo) or mix of merc work and repairman shit (nomad) before prologu, then was a proper if less known merc between prologue and heist reparations meaning V had skills even before chrome while David was a kid learning the ropes.
My theory is your V is already cyber psycho, just a high functioning one. After all you can go on a massacre any time you want and MaxTac will come after you like they do any other cyberpsycho. V just handles it well
Nah, plot armor is bullshit he beat my ass last time we fought 🤣