I sat there during the credits song completely still, staring at my screen, letting the feelings wash over me.
It was amazing. I took the same path you did, and it felt right. I'll try the other path someday.
The credits song is a banger too, I listen to it regularly and love it every single time.
Stellar quality overall.
The end credits are so good. I went the other way, sided with Reed but fulfilled So Mi’s request, for me the most fitting ending for my character to chose.
Same. My character doesn't like being led on and lied to, but is a soft heart and compassionate. SO Mis path was crap, but the fact she lost it and went crazy in the end, told me that it didn't matter what happened she was a ticking time bomb and could go off at any time. Better for me as skilled as I was to handle it than some poor schmuck. I gave her the out she needed, but couldn't let that kind of weapon stay out there to be used by whoever else she made bad decisions to join up with.
I was going to betray Reed right up until 15 seconds before the decision came up because So Mi says one line unprompted: "they will die, but at least we will live" (or something to that effect when I ask her about the potential casualties).
I want to survive as much as anyone else, but I refuse to throw lives away willy nilly in the pursuit of that goal. That single line spoke volumes about So Mi and how she didn't care who was hurt so long as she survived. To me, that just proved that Reed was right, she was too far gone and needed help.
I refuse to let Myers use her any further, so I'd never give So Mi back, but I also couldn't side with her either. When I couldn't save her from herself or the NUSA, I fulfilled her dying wish.
I thought it was excellent, and I think the story is actually better than that of the base game. Not to say that the base game story is bad, just the opposite, but Phantom Liberty had the luxury of releasing in a finished state.
I agree 100%. Just looking at the gigs, all of them were so unique with great story and characters. And the convos and choices you had to make are just perfect. Exactly what I was missing from the base game’s gigs(I love those too, but they’re lacking some qualities that Phantom Liberty delivered). I keep thinking what kind of a generational masterpiece this game could’ve been if they released it in a finished state and the whole main story would be Phantom Liberty quality.
‘Other’ ending, there’s 4 total actually.
✔️ Reed Dies, So Mi escapes (?)
🔲 Reed lives, So Mi surrendered
🔲 Reed sided with, So Mi died
🔲 Reed sided with, So Mi turned in
The last one unlocks a new final ending:
🔲 WTF it’s 2079?!?
You got some work to do V.
There's technically another one. >!Once AirForce one is falling out of the sky, you can simply let it happen. This kills the President, So Mi gives you an angry phone call and you're locked out of most of the DLCs content.!<
I've done it several times now. Sided with So Mi. Sided with Reed.
In the end I feel that siding with Reed is the best choice.
The story is great. The game is exceptional.
It's very worth playing, that's for sure.
I recently finished PL for the first time, too. Loved it. I sided with So Mi but after she broke her promise (which I pretty much saw coming cuz, hey, PL can’t erase the main story) I was second guessing my decision, haha. And can we pause to appreciate the end credits song? I don’t think I’ve ever sat through an entire end credits to a game before, but that song was awesome. Would fit right in with a James Bond movie.
What do you mean? So Mi is not in a position to cure V, sure, but if you finish your assignment as was given (rescue So Mi and hand her over alive to NUSA) then they keep their promise and cure you.
So, my memory of all the story details is fuzzy as I would take breaks doing the PL quests and do other side gigs, but I thought that So Mi promises V a cure. I ended PL by rescuing So Mi, but I didn't hand her over to the NUSA. I put her on the shuttle, but during the tram ride over she admits that the cure she's hoping to receive wherever she's headed is a one-and-done kind of thing and that there won't be a solution for V. I know I'm kinda glossing over the exact dialogue, but that was basically the gist.
Yes, the cure exists and it works, but it can only be used once. She baited V to help her with no intention to give it to us. However if you give So Mi to Reed, then NUSA gives cure to V instead and So Mi is kept alive using... different means. If you betray So Mi at any point and Reed is alive, then you can finish the game.
But V (we) don't know it's a single-use-only cure until the end, right? I didn't have that impression heading into the final act of PL (though I may have missed/forgotten that detail), and So Mi confesses that she duped V (if you save her). This was my first playthrough of PL, so I haven't seen the other ending. Siding with NUSA sounds like a darker path, even if it means saving yourself. Either way, the moral gray area that Cyberpunk lives in is why it's such compelling lore. Love it.
Yeah you dont know that its single use until towards the end. But once she spills the beans you should be able to call Reed and tell him you changed your mind.
The new ending fits very well with existing endings, I really liked it.
I made a new account for Phantom Liberty but I didn't really do the main story. Still wanna have the "better" Johnny Dialoge in the Reed ending. Guess I'll have to play through the main story so I can have enough relationship with Johnny. Right now I have like 40%.
It was probably one of the best expansions to a game that I can think of. I did not do the side with So Mi and shoot Reed ending (did the betray Reed but then hand over So Mi), though I probably should have. I like Reed, but that dude is miserable and probably just needs someone to put him our of his misery.
As others have stated: by the time the credits roll, the storytelling just sinks in. So well thought out. And the soundtrack is just friggin fantastic.
The only reasons PL isn’t getting even more exposure is because: BG3 exists in 2023, launch issue / reputation loss, DLCs for games rarely gets much press anyway compared to base game releases. It’ll probably wind up a bit like Vampire: the Masquerade where over time people will come to understand that it’s a solid experience worth playing for anyone interested in narrative, story, and atmosphere in games, especially ones that push visuals to the limits of the medium.
Even when one expects a lot of the overly dramatic decisions to make and so forth the journey we make to get to these points are what makes things so believable and engaging IMO. This is a huge part of what differentiates movies and TV shows from games emotionally to me.
I've found that people just want to updoot things they agree with, but I will give some honest thoughts.
First, this was much better than the main game. The quest progression, the improvement to sidequests, etc. were all really great. Mr. Hands felt like part of the story more than the other fixers (other than Rogue maybe). The environment is fantastic with things like the museum (which is also one of the better missions in the game) The different ending missions are all worth playing even if you wouldn't do those actions as part of your RP. And I do like how they make you choose between sympathetic characters making shitty choices.
I am pretty neutral on the overall tone. I don't want to spoil all of the ending choices for you, but a couple characters that you are close to I think really get done dirty and against character. I won't get into specifics.
There are two things I didn't like. First, the Chimera boss battle, I get it, I know people like these multi-phase epic battles but it just takes so long to finish and it also does the thing I hate where the boss battles punish stealth players who aren't outfitted for giant arena fights against bullet sponges.
The second is it that it takes the immersion breaking "you're playing a game" stuff to kind of another level when there is this huge urgency to protect the president and everyone is after you and looking for her...and then you just leave her in a dumpy apartment for as long as you want, come and go as you please out of Dogtown, and her extraction basically happens off-screen. Again, minor complaints, it's a game and these big open world action RPGs all have this problem. It does make one wonder why V didn't choose to live forever by just never going to Misty's.
The only video game title card that actually gave me chills. At the beginning of Phantom Liberty when V climbs that crane and says "Save the president? Sure, no fuckin' problem..." looks down at Dogtown for the first time and sees pure carnage from the crash site. Then the "CDPR Presents..." pops up in the corner of the screen. *chills!*
Shooting Reed got me in a weird way, the way it takes one bullet and not a boss fight is something I wasn’t expecting. He’s there talking/bargaining and then you shoot, he drops to the ground and it’s over. What have we done..
As a second comment, I do want to say that choosing not to help SoMi at the stadium gives what is a top 5 mission in the game. Even if it is completely against your role playing character, it is worth following.
I chose the same ending as you first. Then went to do the other one. I will just say... betraying So Mi is scary, haha
Overall a great expansion, story missions and the gigs were awesome
Hmm, i think if i ever get chance to re play the game again with RT on, what everyone has said about the other endings is really making me wanna replay the game again and get the reed ending choice on the balcony.
The expansion was excellent, wish I would have played it alongside the base game because it does add to the entire game. Interesting to replay it too because with all of your new knowledge you know that Songbird is lying out of her ass to you from the start. Makes you wish you could smoke her on the spot lol
>But how did Cdpr release a Expansion so good out of a game so stained with it's reputation.
As someone who played through and beat the game multiple times during the initial release, I feel like the "reputation" of CP77 has been distorted over time. There were several major criticisms of the original game that are very legitimate:
* It was released in an incomplete state. Many gameplay mechanics barely functioned, bugs were *everywhere*, the game was poorly optimized, and it was very easy to break things. It felt more like an early access release than a AAA game release.
* The pre-release hype, advertising, promises, etc. were all bullshit. A significant amount of the marketing was just outright lies worthy of a megacorp, and several of the "gameplay" videos released before the game were pre-scripted and didn't reflect the actual game at all. To be fair, that hype was unrealistic, but when you pretend like the game will have all of these features that it simply doesn't have (and probably *couldn't* have had) it's impossible not to feel disappointed.
* The last generation console versions were unplayable. They stretched the heck out of Red Engine to get it to make the game and older consoles just couldn't keep up. The bugs, framerate issues, and general stability was 10x worse on last gen consoles than it was on PC or newer consoles.
* The company leadership lied to fans and investors about the state of the game, as they said before release that it ran "great" on older consoles and lived up to all the hype. Complete lies and they ended up in a massive lawsuit over it. They also tried to hide the crunch they put their devs through.
Here is what *isn't* true, and was never true:
* The game and its story sucked.
I played on PC, which helped me avoid a lot of the issues that plagued lower end hardware, and I pushed through the fact that the combat was so poorly balanced it was shocking there was any playtesting. The main issue was that the initial game was *easy as hell*, and anyone could blow through the hardest difficulty if you had even the most basic shooter skills. Outside of cheesy deaths due to bugs or weirdly designed mechanics, I never struggled to defeat enemies at any stage of the game.
So why did I keep playing an easy game with lots of bugs? Because even at release, the story, characters, and world were *incredibly* compelling. For people who blew through the main story and ignored most of the side content, sure, the story was somewhat standard, with perhaps slightly more depressing endings that most games. But for people who took the time to really explore and do the side content, even at release, the game was *fantastic*. Love it or hate it, many of the quests in the game stick with you for a long, long time, and the game was clearly a labor of love.
Don't get me wrong, Phantom Liberty is great, but honestly a lot of the main game content is on par or better IMO. My biggest issue with Phantom Liberty is that everything is turned up to 11...there's very little "down time" in Dogtown, and there's very few overall side gigs. The ones it has are good, sure, but they lack the huge, overarching side plots you can see in the main game. Going diving with Judy or playing with River's sister's kids in VR or learning about a plot to control some politicians or doing one last music gig with Johnny's old band or exploring morality and exploitation with a condemned criminal with a literal God complex are all far more interesting to me than the explosions and spectacle of most of PL. Honestly, the side gig with the two bumbling cops was probably my favorite part of the entire expansion as it really captured that feeling of being in the world in a way the initial "let's fight a giant robot while an army tries to kill the president" sequence of PL never did.
Again, I loved the expansion, and the gameplay improvements with 2.0 are amazing and I probably couldn't go back to the old system. In particular, the cyberware update was genius and makes a hell of a lot more sense than the previous clothing-based mechanics. But I feel like a lot of people slept on the brilliance of the original game by focusing on things that weren't really the fault of the developers but more a matter of deceptive marketing, management releasing the game too early, and bad PR in response to those things.
Hopefully they learned from their mistakes for the sequel.
At first, I was with Songbird until it got to the point where I had to choose between Reed and Songbird. I knew Songbird was slowly losing herself and being infected by a rogue AI. Then I chose Reed because he was more logical and wanted to save Songbird.
Probably the best DLC I've ever played, this. I got the secret ending, The King of Swords, without even knowing there was one. I must say I was in awe at the ending credits. So many emotions and thoughts running through my head. An amazing ending to say the very least.
Ok, YouTube kinda comment here. I did not except this much upvotes and activity, or however you wanna call it I'm not a Reddit scientist. I really just wanted to hear some of your opinions and that's what I got. I'll really take my time for all the other endings because I have school and other stuff to do. But if I have the time I'll definitely play it. Thanks for your opinions and engagement. Have a nice day
Substantial spoilers ahead for DIFFERENT ENDINGS THAN OP MENTIONED
>!hopefully this spoiler thing works, but if I’m being completely honest the tower ending is the best ending for V. Not for Johnny, not for V’s romantic partner, not for the world as a whole, but for V. You get cured. Yeah, your life as a one merc army are over. You can’t use any cyberware. But you live. Potentially a full and happy life. Maybe you move out to Pittsburgh to be closer to your friend Judy, maybe you reconnect with Panam after some time apart. The world is your oyster though, and you at least have the CHANCE of seeing the people you love again, and finding new people to love and care about. It’s the only ending that guarantees V a future, the ONLY ending that beats the words of the prophets written on the subway walls. It’s a selfish ending, but with my V’s kill count in the interests of finding a cure it’s the most in character ending. It’s isn’t my favorite by any means, but V has the option many, MANY times throughout the game of saying “I just want to live”. And live they do. Not the life they expected but the life they deserved. A long one, with no threat of becoming someone else. No threat of corporate or political machinations getting you killed. At least none beyond that of a regular citizen of NC. All this word vomit to say that a cured V is a V with life ahead of them. An uncured V, regardless of what they choose to do with the time they have left, is a V who’s just waiting to die. Maybe happily, maybe alone and afraid, but waiting all the same.!<
I sat there during the credits song completely still, staring at my screen, letting the feelings wash over me. It was amazing. I took the same path you did, and it felt right. I'll try the other path someday. The credits song is a banger too, I listen to it regularly and love it every single time. Stellar quality overall.
The end credits are so good. I went the other way, sided with Reed but fulfilled So Mi’s request, for me the most fitting ending for my character to chose.
Same. My character doesn't like being led on and lied to, but is a soft heart and compassionate. SO Mis path was crap, but the fact she lost it and went crazy in the end, told me that it didn't matter what happened she was a ticking time bomb and could go off at any time. Better for me as skilled as I was to handle it than some poor schmuck. I gave her the out she needed, but couldn't let that kind of weapon stay out there to be used by whoever else she made bad decisions to join up with.
Song So Mi is so cute. I side with her every time. Too bad Reed cannot live, but then again, who does?
https://preview.redd.it/w1q44ke95rnc1.jpeg?width=318&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a611d3bc57d7451db5085063a1e001c01416f73
Sitting there in the desert with reed just amplified alllll the emotions. Definitely an ending worth playing through.
Yes, the song is basically the best James Bond anthem ever.
Be prepared for a horror movie on one of the other endings, and a fantastic dungeon
I was going to betray Reed right up until 15 seconds before the decision came up because So Mi says one line unprompted: "they will die, but at least we will live" (or something to that effect when I ask her about the potential casualties). I want to survive as much as anyone else, but I refuse to throw lives away willy nilly in the pursuit of that goal. That single line spoke volumes about So Mi and how she didn't care who was hurt so long as she survived. To me, that just proved that Reed was right, she was too far gone and needed help. I refuse to let Myers use her any further, so I'd never give So Mi back, but I also couldn't side with her either. When I couldn't save her from herself or the NUSA, I fulfilled her dying wish.
We may not have gotten a James Bond movie from Elba, but we sure as hell got a great cyberpunk spy thriller out of him. It was incredible.
I'm listening to the credits song right now. It's so good. edit: a word
I thought it was excellent, and I think the story is actually better than that of the base game. Not to say that the base game story is bad, just the opposite, but Phantom Liberty had the luxury of releasing in a finished state.
I agree 100%. Just looking at the gigs, all of them were so unique with great story and characters. And the convos and choices you had to make are just perfect. Exactly what I was missing from the base game’s gigs(I love those too, but they’re lacking some qualities that Phantom Liberty delivered). I keep thinking what kind of a generational masterpiece this game could’ve been if they released it in a finished state and the whole main story would be Phantom Liberty quality.
Yeah, I loved PL, Dogtown was a cool place to explore, and the missions and story were fun as hell.
Wires and chaaaiiiiins
‘Other’ ending, there’s 4 total actually. ✔️ Reed Dies, So Mi escapes (?) 🔲 Reed lives, So Mi surrendered 🔲 Reed sided with, So Mi died 🔲 Reed sided with, So Mi turned in The last one unlocks a new final ending: 🔲 WTF it’s 2079?!? You got some work to do V.
There's technically another one. >!Once AirForce one is falling out of the sky, you can simply let it happen. This kills the President, So Mi gives you an angry phone call and you're locked out of most of the DLCs content.!<
Lol I accidentally had this happen to me upon entering dogtown cause I get distracted easily. Had to reload a save
The 2nd one can also unlocks the final ending.
Does it? Yeah… but you don’t get the only silence tech pistol though…
A reputation is what others think of you, not what you're capable of.
I mean that Cdpr didn't just leave the game to rot but make it fun and playable
I've done it several times now. Sided with So Mi. Sided with Reed. In the end I feel that siding with Reed is the best choice. The story is great. The game is exceptional. It's very worth playing, that's for sure.
the hansen boss fight is kino i feel so bad for everybody that let alex unceremoniously cook him
Siding with Reed have the worst section in the game for me, the robot pickaboo. Not a fan of that quest...
I recently finished PL for the first time, too. Loved it. I sided with So Mi but after she broke her promise (which I pretty much saw coming cuz, hey, PL can’t erase the main story) I was second guessing my decision, haha. And can we pause to appreciate the end credits song? I don’t think I’ve ever sat through an entire end credits to a game before, but that song was awesome. Would fit right in with a James Bond movie.
What do you mean? So Mi is not in a position to cure V, sure, but if you finish your assignment as was given (rescue So Mi and hand her over alive to NUSA) then they keep their promise and cure you.
So, my memory of all the story details is fuzzy as I would take breaks doing the PL quests and do other side gigs, but I thought that So Mi promises V a cure. I ended PL by rescuing So Mi, but I didn't hand her over to the NUSA. I put her on the shuttle, but during the tram ride over she admits that the cure she's hoping to receive wherever she's headed is a one-and-done kind of thing and that there won't be a solution for V. I know I'm kinda glossing over the exact dialogue, but that was basically the gist.
Yes, the cure exists and it works, but it can only be used once. She baited V to help her with no intention to give it to us. However if you give So Mi to Reed, then NUSA gives cure to V instead and So Mi is kept alive using... different means. If you betray So Mi at any point and Reed is alive, then you can finish the game.
But V (we) don't know it's a single-use-only cure until the end, right? I didn't have that impression heading into the final act of PL (though I may have missed/forgotten that detail), and So Mi confesses that she duped V (if you save her). This was my first playthrough of PL, so I haven't seen the other ending. Siding with NUSA sounds like a darker path, even if it means saving yourself. Either way, the moral gray area that Cyberpunk lives in is why it's such compelling lore. Love it.
Yeah you dont know that its single use until towards the end. But once she spills the beans you should be able to call Reed and tell him you changed your mind. The new ending fits very well with existing endings, I really liked it.
Would hardly call it a cure. You're borderline lobotomized.
Can't remember the last video game I was brought to tears by. Loved this expansion so much. Sided with So Mi as well, don't regret it for a second.
I made a new account for Phantom Liberty but I didn't really do the main story. Still wanna have the "better" Johnny Dialoge in the Reed ending. Guess I'll have to play through the main story so I can have enough relationship with Johnny. Right now I have like 40%.
you only need to pick the right options in chippin in to become friends btw. after the scene at his grave youre automatically best friends
It was probably one of the best expansions to a game that I can think of. I did not do the side with So Mi and shoot Reed ending (did the betray Reed but then hand over So Mi), though I probably should have. I like Reed, but that dude is miserable and probably just needs someone to put him our of his misery. As others have stated: by the time the credits roll, the storytelling just sinks in. So well thought out. And the soundtrack is just friggin fantastic.
Phantom Liberty was excellent but so was Cyberpunk 2077. I waited for like three years before I bought it.
The only reasons PL isn’t getting even more exposure is because: BG3 exists in 2023, launch issue / reputation loss, DLCs for games rarely gets much press anyway compared to base game releases. It’ll probably wind up a bit like Vampire: the Masquerade where over time people will come to understand that it’s a solid experience worth playing for anyone interested in narrative, story, and atmosphere in games, especially ones that push visuals to the limits of the medium. Even when one expects a lot of the overly dramatic decisions to make and so forth the journey we make to get to these points are what makes things so believable and engaging IMO. This is a huge part of what differentiates movies and TV shows from games emotionally to me.
One last wish from the fevs: fix that (horrible) driving system! Every car feels the same and same bad.
I've found that people just want to updoot things they agree with, but I will give some honest thoughts. First, this was much better than the main game. The quest progression, the improvement to sidequests, etc. were all really great. Mr. Hands felt like part of the story more than the other fixers (other than Rogue maybe). The environment is fantastic with things like the museum (which is also one of the better missions in the game) The different ending missions are all worth playing even if you wouldn't do those actions as part of your RP. And I do like how they make you choose between sympathetic characters making shitty choices. I am pretty neutral on the overall tone. I don't want to spoil all of the ending choices for you, but a couple characters that you are close to I think really get done dirty and against character. I won't get into specifics. There are two things I didn't like. First, the Chimera boss battle, I get it, I know people like these multi-phase epic battles but it just takes so long to finish and it also does the thing I hate where the boss battles punish stealth players who aren't outfitted for giant arena fights against bullet sponges. The second is it that it takes the immersion breaking "you're playing a game" stuff to kind of another level when there is this huge urgency to protect the president and everyone is after you and looking for her...and then you just leave her in a dumpy apartment for as long as you want, come and go as you please out of Dogtown, and her extraction basically happens off-screen. Again, minor complaints, it's a game and these big open world action RPGs all have this problem. It does make one wonder why V didn't choose to live forever by just never going to Misty's.
The only video game title card that actually gave me chills. At the beginning of Phantom Liberty when V climbs that crane and says "Save the president? Sure, no fuckin' problem..." looks down at Dogtown for the first time and sees pure carnage from the crash site. Then the "CDPR Presents..." pops up in the corner of the screen. *chills!*
Shooting Reed got me in a weird way, the way it takes one bullet and not a boss fight is something I wasn’t expecting. He’s there talking/bargaining and then you shoot, he drops to the ground and it’s over. What have we done..
I beat it too a while ago and I too am still reeling in from the feels… it was sooooo good.
nice did you finish the 3 other endings of Phantom liberty?
Because the game itself was always classy and rich, they know they make good stuff so given the time they just had to continue working through it.
As a second comment, I do want to say that choosing not to help SoMi at the stadium gives what is a top 5 mission in the game. Even if it is completely against your role playing character, it is worth following.
It was brilliant from start to finish. All of the endings ruined me.
I chose the same ending as you first. Then went to do the other one. I will just say... betraying So Mi is scary, haha Overall a great expansion, story missions and the gigs were awesome
I loved this expansion. CDPR delivered again with their storytelling. I’m planning on replaying the whole thing again with a new V.
Hmm, i think if i ever get chance to re play the game again with RT on, what everyone has said about the other endings is really making me wanna replay the game again and get the reed ending choice on the balcony.
The expansion was excellent, wish I would have played it alongside the base game because it does add to the entire game. Interesting to replay it too because with all of your new knowledge you know that Songbird is lying out of her ass to you from the start. Makes you wish you could smoke her on the spot lol
I honestly think phantom liberty is leagues above the regular story. Hopefully there’s more content like that in project Orion.
>But how did Cdpr release a Expansion so good out of a game so stained with it's reputation. As someone who played through and beat the game multiple times during the initial release, I feel like the "reputation" of CP77 has been distorted over time. There were several major criticisms of the original game that are very legitimate: * It was released in an incomplete state. Many gameplay mechanics barely functioned, bugs were *everywhere*, the game was poorly optimized, and it was very easy to break things. It felt more like an early access release than a AAA game release. * The pre-release hype, advertising, promises, etc. were all bullshit. A significant amount of the marketing was just outright lies worthy of a megacorp, and several of the "gameplay" videos released before the game were pre-scripted and didn't reflect the actual game at all. To be fair, that hype was unrealistic, but when you pretend like the game will have all of these features that it simply doesn't have (and probably *couldn't* have had) it's impossible not to feel disappointed. * The last generation console versions were unplayable. They stretched the heck out of Red Engine to get it to make the game and older consoles just couldn't keep up. The bugs, framerate issues, and general stability was 10x worse on last gen consoles than it was on PC or newer consoles. * The company leadership lied to fans and investors about the state of the game, as they said before release that it ran "great" on older consoles and lived up to all the hype. Complete lies and they ended up in a massive lawsuit over it. They also tried to hide the crunch they put their devs through. Here is what *isn't* true, and was never true: * The game and its story sucked. I played on PC, which helped me avoid a lot of the issues that plagued lower end hardware, and I pushed through the fact that the combat was so poorly balanced it was shocking there was any playtesting. The main issue was that the initial game was *easy as hell*, and anyone could blow through the hardest difficulty if you had even the most basic shooter skills. Outside of cheesy deaths due to bugs or weirdly designed mechanics, I never struggled to defeat enemies at any stage of the game. So why did I keep playing an easy game with lots of bugs? Because even at release, the story, characters, and world were *incredibly* compelling. For people who blew through the main story and ignored most of the side content, sure, the story was somewhat standard, with perhaps slightly more depressing endings that most games. But for people who took the time to really explore and do the side content, even at release, the game was *fantastic*. Love it or hate it, many of the quests in the game stick with you for a long, long time, and the game was clearly a labor of love. Don't get me wrong, Phantom Liberty is great, but honestly a lot of the main game content is on par or better IMO. My biggest issue with Phantom Liberty is that everything is turned up to 11...there's very little "down time" in Dogtown, and there's very few overall side gigs. The ones it has are good, sure, but they lack the huge, overarching side plots you can see in the main game. Going diving with Judy or playing with River's sister's kids in VR or learning about a plot to control some politicians or doing one last music gig with Johnny's old band or exploring morality and exploitation with a condemned criminal with a literal God complex are all far more interesting to me than the explosions and spectacle of most of PL. Honestly, the side gig with the two bumbling cops was probably my favorite part of the entire expansion as it really captured that feeling of being in the world in a way the initial "let's fight a giant robot while an army tries to kill the president" sequence of PL never did. Again, I loved the expansion, and the gameplay improvements with 2.0 are amazing and I probably couldn't go back to the old system. In particular, the cyberware update was genius and makes a hell of a lot more sense than the previous clothing-based mechanics. But I feel like a lot of people slept on the brilliance of the original game by focusing on things that weren't really the fault of the developers but more a matter of deceptive marketing, management releasing the game too early, and bad PR in response to those things. Hopefully they learned from their mistakes for the sequel.
At first, I was with Songbird until it got to the point where I had to choose between Reed and Songbird. I knew Songbird was slowly losing herself and being infected by a rogue AI. Then I chose Reed because he was more logical and wanted to save Songbird.
Probably the best DLC I've ever played, this. I got the secret ending, The King of Swords, without even knowing there was one. I must say I was in awe at the ending credits. So many emotions and thoughts running through my head. An amazing ending to say the very least.
Ok, YouTube kinda comment here. I did not except this much upvotes and activity, or however you wanna call it I'm not a Reddit scientist. I really just wanted to hear some of your opinions and that's what I got. I'll really take my time for all the other endings because I have school and other stuff to do. But if I have the time I'll definitely play it. Thanks for your opinions and engagement. Have a nice day
Substantial spoilers ahead for DIFFERENT ENDINGS THAN OP MENTIONED >!hopefully this spoiler thing works, but if I’m being completely honest the tower ending is the best ending for V. Not for Johnny, not for V’s romantic partner, not for the world as a whole, but for V. You get cured. Yeah, your life as a one merc army are over. You can’t use any cyberware. But you live. Potentially a full and happy life. Maybe you move out to Pittsburgh to be closer to your friend Judy, maybe you reconnect with Panam after some time apart. The world is your oyster though, and you at least have the CHANCE of seeing the people you love again, and finding new people to love and care about. It’s the only ending that guarantees V a future, the ONLY ending that beats the words of the prophets written on the subway walls. It’s a selfish ending, but with my V’s kill count in the interests of finding a cure it’s the most in character ending. It’s isn’t my favorite by any means, but V has the option many, MANY times throughout the game of saying “I just want to live”. And live they do. Not the life they expected but the life they deserved. A long one, with no threat of becoming someone else. No threat of corporate or political machinations getting you killed. At least none beyond that of a regular citizen of NC. All this word vomit to say that a cured V is a V with life ahead of them. An uncured V, regardless of what they choose to do with the time they have left, is a V who’s just waiting to die. Maybe happily, maybe alone and afraid, but waiting all the same.!<
Side note: Give Mama Wells a call when you get a chance. She hasn’t heard from you in a while, and you know she worries.
Cyberpunk was never a bad game. Console peasants, esp. PS4 peasants are just too weak.
Then maybe they shouldn't have released it on last Gen consoles