#cybepunk2077

[marymunchkiin]

Black Swan by Jinguji

My Fem V in a supermodel AU wearing Swan Lake-inspired couture by Jinguji ><

[argentumcor]

Speculating on the Unmade Cyberpunk 2077 Expansions

I lack hope for the other two planned expansions for Cyberpunk getting made, so I find myself pondering what might have been.

I think one thing that would have bounded the expansions is that they would have been set in Night City. Night City is a character unto itself in the game and the source material, which doesn't go outside the city much. A lot of work was put into the city, including places where there are no quests.

Also, the plot needs to at least seem to be offering V a solution to her dying problem. That's the motive for V doing all the major plot points in the game, while the rest is either helping Johnny save his soul, being able to pay rent, doing favors for friends, or V being mortally curious (many such cases).

That's a useful limit when pondering these never-to-be-made expansions, as is keeping in mind the themes, plot hooks, and existing "gaps" in the game map.

So:

The Arasaka Supercarrier & Arasaka internal politics

Del Coronado Bay is, effectively, a giant hole in the map that isn't used for anything. Existing aircraft carrier are essentially floating cities, so supercarrier Kujira- already named, discussed, and technically existing on the map- could be a "district" the size of Dogtown, easily. Saburo and Hanako traveled across the Pacific on this floating fortress, so it definitely isn't just all practical military asceticism. You'll have those military areas, as well as a hospital, luxury areas, labs, probably even simulated outdoor areas, and much more. The travel to and from the ship could play the role of hidden loading screen like the transition gates to and from Dogtown.

(Look at that concept art. That is some killer concept art.)

We get hints of Arasaka's internal turmoil in shards and in our interactions with Takemura and Hanako. It's the corp's internal turmoil that sets off the whole plot, really. We also know that Arasaka, and many other corps, tend to the cultish, especially in Japan, which is Kujira's home station. So post-Saburo strife to the point of shooting on Kujira is quite possible, with these conflicts serving the purpose of the gangs on land. There's also plenty of room for interpersonal drama- uncertainty about what is going on for employees far from home, the possibility that there are people who essentially live aboard the ship with their families considering the scale of the thing with their own social dynamics, Arasaka corporate backstabbing and secrets.

How would this all pull V onboard? Enter one Michiko Arasaka, granddaughter of Saburo, and her husband Marc Sanderson, one or both of whom get V onto the ship. "Oh not another damsel in distress!" First, couple in distress- more Casablanca, less Super Mario. Second, it's not about saving their lives, but choosing whether or not they come under Yorinobu's control or live free. This would not be black and white, for V, Johnny, or the player, as Yorinobu's motives are much more complicated than just corpo greed. The game ends with a non-solution for V where the pair get free of Arasaka or a solution tendered by Yorinobu, who in this expansion we'd get to learn more about. What this would look like, the mechanics of it, I don't know.

Oh, and we'd also figure out just what Netwatch wanted with the biochip and why Yorinobu insisted the engram on said biochip be Johnny.

Were I inclined to being hopeful, I'd say the convo you can have with Lizzy Wizzy after her Dogtown performance was hint at this one happening. She mentions that V could use spending some time at sea.

The Rest of North Oak & Follow-up to Black Dog

The other big map gap is the sealed off section of North Oak. There's a fully modeled, animated, and uninhabited country club up there, but it's locked off. It's a pretty big area, though I'm not sure how big. I wouldn't mind North Oak getting more filled in overall. I feel the bare minimum was done to it- time is my bet- and it should be more built-up based on in-game chatter. Not dense, but not so sparse.

All this would revolve around Angel (a fragment of Alt?) and the secret she'd keeping that is Johnny's frozen body. North Oak seems like a place she would be for some reason. A lot more glitz and glamor, given the locale. Exploring Alt, who is/was probably not a particularly good person (she made Soulkiller and while Johnny was a bastard, she was just as bad in that scene). This idea is a lot less defined and mostly exists because I swear Black Dog was written entirely to give Cyberpunk 2077 the option for a happy ending, then references were put into the game.

Ending Possibilties

So far, Johnny and V's story is missing only a few possible endings. One ending that isn't there, and I've seen only one fic exploring this, is stabilizing V's brain so how it is in the game is how it is, but with V not dying. I don't think either party views it as ideal, but also it means both live. Another is, of course, the widely explored idea where Johnny gets his own body back. Now, this could kill V, or leave V still dying, or fix everything. Phantom Liberty gave us 'V lives and is not left dying but Johnny is dead' and I would think every expansion would include some new version of an ending addressing the game's core conflict because it gives it stakes.

[myprotestorg]

В Сети появился «настоящий» русский трейлер игры Cyberpunk 2077.

[thatguyrofl-blog]

[Top 25] Upcoming PS4 Open World Games #gaming #cybepunk2077 #finalfantasy7 #minecraft

[argentumcor]

That Which Binds, Chapter 5

Find it here.

Johnny and V, getting a job they don't want from a person they don't want it from.

[argentumcor]

That Which Binds, Chapter 3

Find it here.

Here's where we start taking a different angle on Phantom Liberty.

[argentumcor]

That Which Binds, Chapter 13

Find it here.

Featuring briefly Cliff Notes Egyptian mythology from Johnny, the Stacks cat, and not-so-briefly some unpleasant twists to already unpleasant circumstances.

[argentumcor]

Why I Believe V is Default Female

I'd like to preface this by the fact that, in RPGs, I don't care about the sex of the default character. Commander Shepherd is written to be a guy, if you look at the scanned-in face of a model used for the default. Fine, don't care. I don't care that Revan is canon male and the Exile canon female. I do not care. I'm not a feminist of any sort. I am certain that, if the Cyberpunk 2077 tv/movie thing gets off the ground (you know how many of these things I've seen flame out in my time?), V will be portrayed as male, because demographics and frankly it's for the best because female characters in genre stuff are written very badly 99% of the time in AD 2023.

I write this because I think the game makes the argument for me that V is written to be default female. Feel free to disagree, it is not particularly important in the grand scheme of things, or a small scheme of things, or even to the game's story, but it is nerdy fun. Do you remember that? I remember that. Good times. We should bring them back.

Whew. Okay. Let's get this show on the road.

Game clothing pieces. There are more clothing pieces designed to be worn specifically by female characters than male ones- the bustiers, the bras, the skirts, the dresses, etc. Oh, I know the male characters can wear these. But the thing is that while a woman holding in a bustier and jeans can look like a cool and dangerous action hero, a man in a bustier and jeans may look like fun to you, may look quirky and interesting to you, may tickle you in a particular way, but he doesn't look a cool and dangerous action hero. V is written to be an action hero, that is the character's role in the story. As the game mocks attempted subversiveness relentlessly, it's not trying to do that.

Johnny's commentary. This is a little bit more...in depth. Johnny talks quite a bit early on about how V's body is different. If V was male, this makes not very much sense, especially the hormone comment. Why?

Ok, well, male V is pretty close to Johnny physically, not just in age (26 compared to Johnny's early 30s) but also build. Men do not experience huge hormone variability at that age most of the time, and the little details he mentions (things being the wrong size) would be only noticed in very limited contexts. The big ones would be the not-missing arm (dependent on cyberware I guess) and the lack of drug-induced physiological damage. By the time he dies, Johnny was a patched-together addict who probably wasn't neurologically capable of thinking rationally. V is not even close to that.

A female V and Johnny are in a different boat when it comes to his comments. The differences are starker, from body structure to hormonal levels that change noticeably day-to-day. It would be right there for him from moment one, contributing to the confusion of the situation- which we see on screen.

The "V is not Johnny" factor. I think. thematically, a big part of the story is how V is not Johnny. V's apartment is not covered in Samurai memorabilia. V is not even a part-time musician. V is not any kind of would-be revolutionary, at least not more than anyone else in a city where people wear and graffiti and say "fuck the corps" all the time. V is written to be other than Johnny, a whole other person, not some sort of twin soul or someone who is easily an accessory to him or vice versa.

This fuels their interpersonal conflict and, I think, Johnny's fondness for V, as well as backs up that game's focus on the value of humanity. V being female reinforces this aspect. It makes her more 'not Johnny' and I think things that reinforce that are really important to the game thematically.

The original cinematic trailer. If I do another run through, I really need to download the mod giving that appearance option. Oh, and Jackie's chica sounds cooler than mano, don't @ me.

All this, of course, comes from the idea that V is not written to be a BGIII style 'player insert', but a specific character. Some of this is done by the way the game pushes you to not be an asshat and the decent people you meet who are V's longtime friends, but V is written to be a specific person with some room for flavor here and there, not a lump of clay like Commander Shepard, Revan, the BG series PC, etc. This frustrated a lot of players who thought they were getting Cyberpunk GTA, but it's part of why I find the game so compelling. It is trying to tell a specific story, one with a bit of mythopoetic flare, even, and so V has a default.

Thank you for coming to my stupid TED talk, this why I refer to V as she when discussing the character.

[argentumcor]

That Which Binds, Chapter 12

Find it here.

Just merc things (or are they?).