The Hidden Secrets of Phantom Liberty's Endings in Cyberpunk 2077

one of the biggest choices you'll ever have to  make in cyberpunk 2077 is whether decide with   Reed or Songbird this decision will send you down  to completely different paths until the end of   phantom Liberty and in this video we're exploring  every major and more obscure consequence for both   the Spaceport ending and the cynosure facility  finding and piecing together all the subtext cdpr   Left Behind as well as looking at different gear  you can unlock secrets to be discovered and who   lives or dies before deciding which is best for  the canon and which is best for pure gameplay   let's get to it let's kick this off by looking  at the details of firestarter from the point   where this momentous decision can be made as so mi  is prepping the mainframe we first find a Shard   just up these steps explaining the situation  with some robots dotted around the stadium   it seems that 1R-0NC-LAD isn't the only robot kept  around here and they're stacking shelves of these   things for potential customers in fact if we side  with So Mi she'll be able to hack these things to   fight for us as we escape the stadium before that  though this laptop also has a couple interesting   emails it appears before conducting work on the  neural Matrix Aymeric Cassel has some very specific   working environment requests including a specific  air humidity temperature different temperatured   bottles of water and then he takes the piss  a bit with scented candles French wine flowers   and vases chewing gum and towels and to those  demanding requests so mi agrees to just set the   temperature to 19° after that is a communication  with Jago from the Run This Town Quest about so   mi connecting to the Stadium's local Nets using  it apparently as a buffer should they experience   any unexpected load from opening the neural Matrix  and finally some technical Babble about the neural   Matrix itself which of course was recovered from  the cynosure facility which we'll be diving deeply   into later on in the video with that out the way  it's on to the Big Choice with the rest of this   Mission and subsequent Ones playing completely  differently from the moment we diverge here let's   run through firestarter siding with so mi first  as there's quite a few more obscurities to note   that way and then we'll go back and see the  differences with everything going according   to so mi's plan Alex surprise assassinates Hansen  in this scenario before realizing we don't intend   to bring Songbird in but actually intend to  escape it's a much easier task escaping the   stadium with songbird on side and Hansen already  out the way but there's still a bit of challenge   here especially in the first room equipped with  just whatever weapons are lying around though   in here we can find the recovered corpse of the  militech Chimera from the start of the expansion   and an interesting Shard alongside looks like the  engineers actually repaired this thing and gave it   a new power source but due to not understanding  the AI system now housed within they couldn't   get it working again they considered jolting it  awake by connecting it to Stadium power but very   sensibly to be fair decided this was a terrible  idea due to not understanding the nature of the   AI so turns out barghest they're actually a little  bit sensible and imagine if say the voodoo boys had   gotten a hold of this in that scenario I'm sure a  deadly AI would have probably ripped through half   of dogtown in one of the most powerful mechs  ever and they might have even had to call in an   air strike to the entire District to take it down  so bit of a close call here but hopefully it will   remain asleep now moving on this next part is very  easy to miss and something I totally breezed past   when first playing this path but before retrieving  our gear and reentering the main stadium make sure   to come all the way around here to the room where  we met with kurt since we can actually retrieve   both his wild dog lmg and Bald Eagle revolver no  Fang knife in this instance unfortunately so I   guess Alex took that for herself which is a shame  because it synergizes with bald eagle but at least   we get an alternative iconic melee weapon down  here now Murphy barghest's engineer will only   show up here if we side with Songbird and killing  him will afford us his iconic Baton Murphy's Law   which hits faster against knockdown enemies  decent enough but it's no Fang in my opinion   still fight through the stadium through the boss  fight area which we'll come back to and so mi will   eventually direct us away from the elevator we'd  use in the other path and through a door funnily   enough though there's nothing to stop you instead  taking the elevator much to so mi's dismay V where   are you going however there is a very pissed off  reed waiting at the bottom who legitimately shoots   you on sight an interesting insight and one  that suggests to me at this point anyway that   Reed actually really doesn't give a damn about us  at all or maybe they just needed a quick way to   stop us from progressing through the stadium in  the wrong direction instead we'll leave through   this door and then the sewers where I also found  a really interesting development on the drug ring   Distributing the Phant psychedelic around Dogtown  an underlying plot thread connecting Dogtown's 11   unmarked cyberpsycho encounters that I explore in  this video we already knew that Phant was a highly   Dangerous Drug and likely being distributed by  the scavs but now I think we have a name for the   Heisenberg the supplier pulling the strings of  this situation this deceased merc had assembled   some leads as to where a woman named Colleen might  be hiding an experienced chemist apparently which   would fit who needs a lab to produce her product  the leads conclude she might be with barghest or the   scavs but is probably just hunkered down in a  ditch somewhere likely aware that this guy was   hunting her now this message has apparently been  left for somebody called Mike and immediately Mike   pondsmith creator of this universe who also voices  radio DJ Maximum Mike in the game Springs to   mind though quite what he'd be doing tracking  down the creator of a highly Dangerous Drug is   kind of Beyond me we also know there's two  variations of the drug the weaker deep dive   and far stronger Phant though this chard seems to  insinuate that there's also a third dosage but   I've read nothing else on that in fact the only  other reference to this Colleen character I found   is over here behind this Voodoo criminal activity  a laptop containing an email from Paco the guy   with the Deep dive in the balls to the Wall Quest  asking if someone called C can make him more of   the drug so I think that's pretty conclusive that  someone called colleen created a terrible substance   that's now terrorizing Dogtown and yes we can only  officially learn all of this by siding with Songbird whilst we're out here by this laptop though also  take note of this woman over here named Callie   Smith who only appears after completing Fire  Starter see when Hansen died and [ __ ] hid the   fan this woman who was an accountant of Hansen I  suppose attempted to flee Dogtown by selling the   guy's private data to wakako of all people a small  world when it comes to fixers I guess and she would   have gotten away with it too if it weren't  for this overly high wall and a poor misstep   indeed it seems Callie simply fell to her death here  still pretty cool to see this world react to the   aftermath of that event with cool extra little  lore tidbits like this anyway having escaped   the sewers with So Mi we've opened the way to The  Killing Moon Quest but quickly let's run back   and side with Reed to see the main differences  of Firestarter the first bit is practically   identical just with no songbird on side to help  and you can still get into Kurt's Lounge there   just won't be anything to loot instead there'll  be a deceased Alex whose face imprint has reverted   to her standard appearance sorry Alex and Murphy  this time won't show up down here so no Murphy's   Law of course once we reach the Fast Travel area  of the stadium Kurt Hansen himself will appear   and initiate the boss fight it's genuinely crazy  that this is entirely cut from one of the paths   but honestly compared to what's coming next this  is nothing Kurt of course has his own unique moves   and QuickTime finishers but finally defeating him  we will of course get the full triple set of his   gear including the Fang knife this time we will  have to take the elevator this time that got us   killed before and we now get picked up by Reed in  the garage nothing particularly of note to find   going this way no shards or anything and instead  just catapulting us straight into the next Quest   first though let's go back to siding with so mi  and take a look at the whole Killing Moon Quest   set in the Spaceport kicking off The Killing Moon  we'll find so mi in an Alleyway near to the city   center ripperdoc hidden away in the back of a van  take note of where this is as we'll come back   for a couple things after this Quest is over first  though we're headed to the spaceport and a pretty   interesting thing we can do on the way if you have  20 tech is actually run a full scan of So Mi's systems   to see that she's already been heavily infected  by the blackwall AI this of course becomes even   more apparent in the other ending if we betray  her but I think it shows here just how strong   willed of an individual she must be to resist an  intelligence literally latched onto parts of her   brain we then get an error report text which is  about as helpful as the windows troubleshooting   tool though at least this one acknowledges there  is an error but just has no clue exactly what it   is and the true alien nature of the black wall  AIS are something that gets expanded upon more   in the other ending now coming to the Spaceport  Terminal B and before heading inside First Leap   your way onto this Central area and if you're fast  enough you'll see the outline of what appears to   be a MaxTac mantis operator brandishing their  blades before completely Vanishing leaving behind   a fresh kill holding a Shard titled message to  B now I read this as this guy and whoever B is   are ex soldiers who survived a terrible ordeal  but on returning to night City B was killed   by whoever this figure is now this guy wants  revenge but in the meantime apparently likes   to frequent this Terrace since I guess it's the  best piece of greenery that they have access to   and for some reason this serial killer possibly a  genuine member of MaxTac since they're mostly ex   cyber psychos anyway hunted this guy down as well  it opens the door to a night City serial killer   conspiracy but also in this instance it's a very  clear and obvious not to Predator hell this guy   was even gutted as I guess that was easier to  Source the assets for than getting skinned and   their skull ripped out like in the movie but now  heading into the Spaceport terminal and there's   a ton of different encounters here A whole bunch  more World building and references to other events   in the game starting off in the opening foyer  fancy enough to house a grand piano but the title   song that is playing may sound familiar to you  nocturne op 55 N1 the same name of the quest   in which we meet hanako at Embers I guess maybe  there's a connection there about both of these   being an ending of some sort also we'll once  again be able to to interrupt one of Gillean   Jordan's n54 news broadcasts this time attempting  to interview orbital air and of course some idiot   we can also in this time sensitive and tense  situation do a little bit of dutyfree shopping   gonna [ __ ] shop seriously though sadly there's  nothing particularly interesting to buy though   there is of course a Rayfield stand promoting all  three of their vehicles stationed by the entrance   as people who can afford a holiday to the Moon  may be able to buy one of those hyper expensive   supercars too and of course there's also all sorts  of info on the Crystal Palace the most expensive   and luxurious destination in the world or rather  orbiting the immediate gravity field of the world   now as we make our way through security it is  perfectly possible to completely screw this up   getting arrested and winding up in orbital Air's  one holding cell fortunately this will be outside   the main Tycho terminal area and is in actual fact  the quickest way to gain access to the rest of the   spaceport I wouldn't recommend doing it  this way though thanks to the cool Encounters in   the main terminal area but if you do we learn that  due to the ongoing Renovations this has been left   as Tycho terminal's only holding cell for the time  being causing a drop in possible arrests they can   make and leading the board to pursue an increase  in guilty confessions basically if you're arrested   you're screwed they need High admissions of guilt  in order to justify this ridiculously substandard   interrogation room is there a single Corporation  out there that doesn't constantly cut corners   and bend rules it doesn't look like it still with song  Bird's help escaping into the rest of the terminal   under renovation is easy enough but returning  to the public space is not sadly so going back   and passing through security successfully we  should meet a familiar face on the other side   you remember Cynthia Najarro Pepe's wife from the  Raymond Chandler evening Quest you know the lady   in pink that we follow and eventually learn has  undergone a full appearance reconstruction in the   past but not told her husband well she's picked  up a second job at the Spaceport now and honestly   I didn't think any jobs gave enough free hours to  open the way for a second one but there we go   now we can either rudely pretend not to recognize  Cynthia seriously V are you [ __ ] real ask about   Pepe and the baby or about the new job this all I  think if we resolved her first Quest successfully   so long as we acknowledge Cynthia's existence then  she'll give us a clue as to one of the few ways we   can escape this opening area through the roof  of one of the toilet cubicles on the way there   though v may get a random urge to eye up somebody  else's luggage and when caught unless we're cool   enough to play off being security this can lead  once again to an arrest and winding up in that   cell which isn't a problem per se but again ends  exploring here but heading instead up into the   roof we'll crawl through some maintenance shafts  before coming out onto the rapid transit line   that orbits the spaceport definitely the most  dangerous way to go about this whole Endeavor but   not too tough with air Dash and decent timing in  fact if you manage to get beyond the final Doorway   to the end of the line CDPR left a couple little  reward boxes nothing too fancy just some grenades   money and clothes as well as the message well  done but go back a fun fourth wall break for us but   kind of hard to see with path tracing follow the  correct path through though and you'll eventually   come to a little security room right by where we  need to be but it's not the only way to get here   and there's still stuff back in the public area  to do so next if you've completed the beat on   the Brat quests this dude down here will actually  recognize us and stop to ask us for a photo much   to So Mi's disapproval but with the benefit of hindsight  the NUSA are going to come here anyway so what   the hell we can also learn even more about the  Crystal Palace from shards over here including   testimonials from various celebrities and a  picture of us cracks on there even though they   don't leave a testimonial themselves so that's  probably just for the clickbait which I mean   who would ever do such a thing really but on a  terminal nearby we can also learn that smaller wannabe  celebrities are causing something of a problem  buying tickets for cheaper flights and then making   their way to to the Crystal Palace terminal  just for the selfie this of course disrupts the   day-to-day lives of the elitist of Elites and the  prospect of brushing shoulders with comparatively   poorer people well it's a huge problem to be  honest even instilling hysteria in some guests   because you know diseases now this Tycho terminal  of course is Bound for the moon specifically to   the capital of Tycho with a population of about  40,000 and if we come to the luggage conveyor   belts there's also some info on just a few of the  attractions that tourists go there for including   seeing Earth Rises standing by the Apollo 11 flag  hanging out in low G of course and seeing the   moon's Mass drivers ginormous instruments which  essentially Propel material from the Moon down   to earth an efficient means to transport resources  that can also double as a nuclear Level Threat if   fired in the wrong place a city say oh and we're  sending a woman infected by a rogue AI right into   the place where one of these is based so you know  hope she gets things under control but moving on   we can also grab a disguise from this conveyor  belt thanks to a contact of So Mi's that Curry's favor   with not sure who but I'd recommend this for the  next area as human enemies will be more likely to   leave you alone after this we can pass this guard  for the easiest entrance into the renovation area   or alternatively we can come up by these mechs and  drop down this shaft here there's a couple more   interesting things to find back in the public  space but they're parts of a bigger story and   probably best looked at as a whole in a little  bit item one back here though which I think is   one of the coolest Easter eggs of this Quest is  the lost and found area with some very interesting   items and in fact reading this terminal back by  the Crystal Palace stand we can learn a bit more   about them now firstly I had to Google but this  found text file right here relates to a huge IRL   murder conspiracy from 1984 where a German food  engineer named Gunther Stoll began to exhibit signs of   paranoia and this strange note either YOGTZE YO6TZE was something he randomly wrote on a text file   before winding up found near to death in his car  that same night and dying then on the way to the   hospital the case of why he wrote this mysterious  note was never solved but I think it's presumed   stoll was murdered by a drug gang and the big part  of the allure of this mystery for everyone was what   exactly YOGTZE meant kind of a meta reference to put  here especially in lieu of Cyberpunk also having   its own six-figure Mystery with ff06B5 but that's  not even the coolest reference here we also have an   ashes urn which a certain claimant says belongs  to his partner though he can't get them back due   to the biological risk they hold heading to the  Lost Property itself we can find this urn and an   accompanying Shard with a pretty familiar title  Last Wish is the name of The Witcher story wherein geralt and yennefer meets which involves a  Djinn and geralt making the wish that the two of   them would be forever in love or something  to that effect his actual wish is never put   in words for us then in The Witcher 3 we travel  to a shipwreck on a Mountaintop to find another   Djinn and ultimately break that spell at this point  Geralt can choose to free himself from yennefer or   declare he loves her of his own free will now  this Shard appears to canonize that geralt and   yennefer do profess their love on that Mountaintop  and sometime after somehow crossed spheres to wind   up in this universe not necessarily out of the  question a lot of you already think the ff06B5   conclusion ties these universes together but  the problem I have with that is that we pull   a Witcher 3 magazine out of a drawer in the corpo  prologue and I think having a world exist as media   and a parallel reality at the same time feels a  little bit strange though some meta simulation   Theory could definitely explain all that to be  fair to be honest it's really just a nod like so   many pop culture references in this game and the  only reason to read into it at all is because it's   another cdpr IP maybe there's just a cyberpunk  equivalent to geralt and yen in this world say an   afterlife merc and a Netrunner whose story follows  similar parallels since that's often the case   with the other Shard references personally until I  see the same character model standing in front of   us in the cyberpunk world I refuse to accept for  certain that these two universes have interacted   not saying I don't want that to be the case  or that it definitively isn't I just think we   should weigh other options before jumping to  specific conclusions but anyway this version   of Yen wants her ashes scattered on the moon and  now I keep picturing the sequence from the end of   edgerunners but with Lucy as geralt and David as  yennefer moving on from that though there's also a   terminal in the holding cell listing items that  were confiscated items we can also find up here   in a display cabinet they include a bird's egg  illegal of course after the Avian extermination Act   of 2063 a rubber baton which is another Sir  John Phallustiff maybe Meredith came through this   way with her replacement model and a ritual seppuku  knife with JJ engraved on the handle if you know   who that's in reference to then please tell me as  I'm fairly certain it's not JJ Abrams or J Jonah   Jameson they're the two first Js I could think  of before you come up to this confiscation room   though you'll want to carefully observe it from  down below for one of the most important hidden   secrets observing us through this quest of course  Mr Blue Eyes has been here the whole time pulling   strings and twisting events to work no doubt in  his own favor seriously this guy's plans are still   incredibly illusive but this isn't the first time  he's showed interest in space chronologically it   might be but he's also after the Crystal Palace  in the sun ending and clearly he and night Corp   have shown a great deal of interest in Rogue AIs  on more than one occasion coming up to the room   in which he was standing he'll be gone but we  can spot him again later when departing on the   train for the shuttle standing there amidst all  the chaos staring on under an umbrella this guy   really is quite the Enigma and absolutely  deserves his own Grand unified Mr Blue Eyes   conspiracy video and it's also he who actually  gets so mi her passage to the moon in the first   place proxy showed up a corpo Everyman for the  the ages expensive understated suit dark hair   blue eyes he asked me questions the kind only I know  the answers to Blackwell that the issue and other   things rather not talk about it so clearly he has  a vested interest in so mi but specifically what we   don't quite know and may never know for certain  but I'll leave big theories for some other time   this is more a surface look at what we can pick  up on in these endings anyway after we finally   get to the roof we also have this funny line  no way this will hold the weight I can hear   you you know that right and In fairness song  Bird's body is pretty much entirely Chrome so   it's not an unjustified statement lifting her  body up anyway though we'll then have to hide   from Reed and Meers fight through the Spaceport  to the shuttle and it's really mostly action at   this point with not too many more obscurities  however when the NUSA move into orbital air   territory a full-on battle between the two forces  does ensue with a ton of civilians and orbital air   staff caught in the crossfire now this is the most  immediately negative thing to happen as a result   of us choosing this ending since we do indirectly  cause a cyberpunk equivalent of the controversial   no Russian Mission from Modern Warfare 2 some  of the direct consequences for which we can   read about at a memorial outside the terminal Upon  returning there after the mission and here's what   we've got to go back because hidden amidst this  whole mission playing right through it is a very   tragic love story across four shards between  two people called Dotty and Aluna taking place   over about a month and a half Dotty is an orbital  air hostess I believe whilst Aluna appears to be   a pilot the two are in love but Dotty is more  looking for a stay-at-home partner someone   who'll be there to come home to and fit around  her schedule rather than another orbital air  employee whose timetable will never align so Aluna  did everything she could to make things work out   between them swapping shifts and zipping around  the world just so her and Dotty could wind up on   the same flights together she mentions a blue  rose they acquired on holiday once to Valleta and   explains she wants to return to that moment after  reading this Shard Dotty it seems changed her mind   realizing that aluna's actions really showed that  the two of them could make it work in her pocket   she had a Shard expressing how lucky she felt  and how she couldn't wait for the two to embark   on their new chapter the problem is the first  three shards were found in the open Terminal   area scattered about the fourth one though as of  yet undelivered is found found on dotty's body just   one of many caught in the crossfire of the battle  she was holding this Shard when she died later on   when we return to the memorial Aluna can be  found back here come to memorialize her lover   holding another blue rose in the tributes she  expresses hope and despair at never knowing what   dotty's reply would have been but that at least  we can clear up for her though whether it offers   any consolation that the one she lost did love her  or not I couldn't really say also here is Cynthia   who fortunately survived the ordeal but now is  clearly suffering with survivors guilt and no   doubt this is going to scar her for life on top of  whatever she'd already been through in her past on   the terminal we can read various tributes from the  likes of the peralezes and Company officials and we   can leave our own on top is a huge list of names  of all the people who died in the fighting and   though this whole thing was really Myers's fault  this was the cost of so mi's Freedom or potential   Freedom depending on what we choose at the end was  it really worth said cost after all how many more   like Aluna had their love ones ripped away from  them and compared to the other ending this is a   much more localized and immediate tragedy which  will also definitely have further ramifications   between the major powers in The Wider world but  it still may just be the best path for the planet   in the long run depending on our choices after  somewhat damaged which we're about to get into   first though return to the alley where we started  this Mission for a shard left by songbird though   quite how V knows it's from her before slotting  it well let's be honest they probably didn't and   this one actually plays a video message which  I assume this type of Shard they'll play a bit   more with in the sequel also though around here  is another interesting tidbit the observations   of a homeless man who actually was an informant  for the FIA and it turns out they'd caught onto   us from the moment this van pulled up hence  regardless of how we behave at the Spaceport the   FIA always come so overall choosing this ending  will afford you the Bald Eagle revolver wild dog   lmg Murphy's Law baton from firestarter and then  only if we choose to help So Mi and kill Reed right   at the very end also Reed's silenced Tech pistol  Pariah and the quantum tuner cyberware which so mi   will deliver to you afterwards all decent stuff  overall which I've looked at or will look at   in detail in other videos but on the whole I  would argue we get even better gear from the   other ending personally there's also some extra  dialogue with Alt if we play the Star ending after   this where she draws attention to the raw power  Songbird could unleash by merely touching the   blackwall so a lot of Secrets and consequences  in this ending and some really cool lore uncovered   on Space especially so here's to hoping that in  Orion we get to go there properly even if it's   just a mission like konpeki Plaza and isn't a free  roam place we can properly return to but now let's   go back and see just what extra stuff we can do  and learn when instead siding with Reed starting   from the moment we escape the stadium black steel  in the hour of chaos is a shorter Quest than the   others and whilst not really containing any shards  to read there are a lot of potentially different   ways to approach this Quest the main one being  which Netrunner we choose to hire to help us   with the maxtac Convoy and overall we have five  options four of whom will only be available having   completed various select quests from the base  game so let's go through the results of choosing   each first up if you've completed Queen of the  highway or possibly just With a Little Help from   My Friends then Carol from the Aldecaldos will  be an option however she won't actually agree to   go through with the job still one you should  absolutely make sure to call though as instead   of resolving our issue she'll provide us support  in in either the form of a militech falcon sandevistan   or a decent quick hack depending on how  we respond to our text and even if you don't   wind up using them it's free gear so make sure  to get it before texting reed about the plan   as for the runners who can help let's start  with definitely the worst choice that being   chang Hoon Nam from Japan Town who will first have  to rescue during the wakako's favorite gig when   we first call him here he'll be reluctant before  even knowing it's MaxTac we want him to hack and   he'll explain he's 67 years old and just wants  out of the game now but with a little pressure   and teasing will finally agree what happens over  the next 12 hours though is actually really really   sad when we visit to collect the data chang hoon  was just about successful but is now suffering   from Aphasia V come on come on in basically having  had a stroke whilst breaching Maxtac's ICE and   now being unable to speak properly he claims  it's temporary but that's never proven the   case and whilst before he just wanted to settle  down and retire we now have to tell him to to   leave Night city with the Aldecaldos in order to  avoid being traced by netwatch a sad ending for   a guy who only agreed to do the job in the first  place out of guilt I suppose in not repaying us   otherwise next then even if you haven't unlocked  any other Runners Mr Hands will be able to Source   One for us at the cost of 15K this will put us  in touch with another familiar face Yoko Tsuru   t-bug's friend who will complete the job in just  10 hours and when retrieving the data from her   we'll unlock another optional objective to let Mr  Hands know where we'll be hitting the maxTac Convoy   now whilst this is the most expensive option it  does afford us a nice pair of mantis blades after   completing the expansion in the form of these  exclusive Blue MaxTac ones they offer a health   regen passive on defeating enemies and can only  otherwise be acquired by taking down Melissa Rory   after the bullets hidden Quest at jinguji clothing  store however there are other options still and   completing the Quest full disclosure for Sandra  Dorsett picking the intelligence gated dialogue at   the end of that we will get her as a potential  Runner who is capable of completing the job in   just 8 hours noticing the shortening pattern  here it's kind of a cool way for them to subtly   tier various runers skills Sandra though has a  condition upon which she works for us requesting   that when we take MaxTac down we also install a  trojan virus into their Net allowing her a back   door to some of the highest security data forts in  NC the question is why does she want this and I'm   going to go out on a limb here and assume this is  yet another attempt to get at nightcorp somehow   like she did in the IRL cyberpunk ARG which  involved various real lifee netrunners from   the community alas the quickest runner for this  job is of course Nix from the afterlife he'll   be willing to help after we save his life from Rache  bartmoss's ancient Data Bank found during Kold Mirage   it'll take him a mere 6 hours half that of Chang  Hoon's to acquire the data and there's absolutely no   strings attached with this one canonically I'd  say he's definitely the wisest choice but it's   cool that each of these encounters come with their  own little stories and consequences once having   having fully decided though and got on hold of the  data we'll then go and meet Reed and finally also a   character who got teased a whole lot in the base  game but never actually showed up Will Gunner is   the newly appointed leader of 6th street having  staged a coup quite possibly as late as after the   heist even turns out the FIA and NUSA in general  aren't opposed to secretly working alongside night   City's resident Patriot gang makes complete sense  of course but you can see why working with a gang   would be kept on the down low in fact gunners  reaction to us is going to vary in accordance with   how the stadium Love quest went down either  praising our gun work or branding us a cold   blooded killer which I mean tough to argue with  but this guy's hands ain't exactly clean either   and I explore a lot more encounters and subtext  relating to him in the Santo Domingo gigs video   anyway after this Brief Encounter it'll finally  be time to take down the maxTac Convoy with a   fair amount of choice on where to place mines and  turrets as well as sniper support from Reed it's   not nearly as difficult as when they drop in at a five-star wanted level though definitely   still a challenge for the unprepared build also  these four unlike a standard maxtac Squad do   have displayed names leading me to wonder if  there's any shards or emails about the place   referencing them also thus far though nothing has  come up but keep a keen eye out overall then this   Mission leads to a handful of law enforcement  deaths and maybe one or two civilian casualties   but probably none in so mi's subsequent Escape  clearly it's got nothing thus far on the Devastation   at the spaceport instead leading us away from  civilization into somewhat damaged so the start   of this Quest will send us under Pacifica into  a kind of Waterworks maintenance plant initially   following the blackwall residue So Mi left behind  and on the way we can learn something unnerving   that happened to the janitor down here firstly  on their desk is kept a diary which starts with   the fact that for the last 6 months they've  been working down here alone barely able to   sleep and unable to Dream by August they begin  to discuss hearing whispers from the depths below   this ginormous Chasm that we'll soon jump down in  a moment leads of course to the cynosure facility   and from within those depths something called out  somehow to this guy slowly wearing them down more   and more somehow potentially breaching their brain  implants maybe there's some bleed through from a   local Net but eventually the janitor is convinced  to integrate with the system merging their small   mind to become part of a greater whole not unlike  the fates of the mikosi souls thinking about it   on a document beside this it appears the guy's  name was David Yu an ominous ghostly face now it   seems and indeed it sounds as though David has now  become a ghost in the system and further back in   a room full of pipes we can find a couple more  things firstly another Shard with even crazier   ramblings about Evolution that transcends humanity  and being haunted by the thoughts of the AIS what   became of him definitively if he drowned or left  I couldn't say but he did leave behind an iconic   crowbar a very cool reward for this ending which  actually works as a blunt weapon equivalent of   Byakko swinging exceptionally fast but I'll cover  that in the blunt weapons ranked video anyway   knowing the blackwall can already call out from  below let's descend The Depths further to find   it because obviously that's smart before you do  though with a combo of double jump and air Dash   Crossing this Chasm will actually yield a reward  on the other side in the form of a clickbait   sounding skill Shard that also can be bought  at the BD Shack back at the stadium now into   the main bunker though and before descending this  giant lift there's a few bits of info scattered   around up here some of which is pretty difficult  to see in the dark this is where the excavation   team who recovered the neural Matrix came through  and they continue to make interesting observations   on cynosure facility as we progress by this  blackwall residue we can find some notes from   Lisa Smith one of the scientists describing the  facility as like breaking into an ancient tomb   brimming with Untold relics from before the fall  of the first net basically when the net fell much   of the world's information was lost and locked  away to history or behind the blackwall yet   this place is offering unfettered access into that  digital Wasteland and the dangers that lurk within   except within is a word to describe physical space  and it's not really that at all at a guess it's   more like traversing a spider's web attempting the  impossible task of not oscillating the strands and   alerting the spider or the AIS to your presence  hence the need for top net Runners like the Cassel   twins who are mentioned on this laptop hidden  closed over here up the stairs in the dark on   this we can read an email from Lisa to Evan McCray another member of the team expressing distrust for   the Twins and suspecting they're truly working for  somebody else how very perceptive we can also see   the moment militech ordered Evan to pull his team  out of cynosure acknowledging the genuine risk of   unleashing a black wall AI into the world smart  and surprisingly responsible of militech for   once even though Evan is less than happy about  turning away from such a momentous moment and we   can learn more as we descend when we're down here  this is where things start to get scary I think a   brilliant tone Setter for this mission is these  older terminals with small messages surrounded   by gibberish coming through in sets of three  it really gives you this otherworldly nature   to the AIs their observations are so detached and  alien with the first reading quote their world   is illusory they live in a simulation of their  own making our choices steer their free will end   quote and you know what's most scary about this  one about the idea of the choices of algorithms   steering your free will why did you click this  video is it because you decided you wanted to   find out more on the hidden secrets and details  of phantom Liberty's endings or is it because the   YouTube algorithm knows you so well that it knows  exactly what to serve up to you specifically on a   silver platter that has the highest chance of you  clicking I mean you could flatter me and say it's   because you enjoy seeing the time presentation  effort and detail I put into these videos but   even with all that being true those aspects are  powerless by themselves without the platform that   knows exactly who to show that carefully packed  45 or so minutes too so yeah AI steering your free   will more of a current reality than you might  think of course there are still plenty of human   emails down here with one terminal describing how  cynosure had a facility in Africa mining mineral   deposits to help fund the top secret cynosure  facility but when they lost Africa to arasaka   it contributed to the chain of events resulting  in the Cynosure project losing funding and being   abandoned the first time that is decades ago and  anything human on one of these old terminals we   can assume is from the 2010s with anything  newer in the standard light blue being from   the excavation team we can also learn here that  during Cynosure's initial Foray into pissing   about with AI they were running into problems  from the beginning it's clear from this memo   to all employees that the facility suffered some  undisclosed accident but of course the initial   priority was to Simply keep the problem under  wraps and continue the places running but the   next email on this terminal at least is a formal  termination notice for the entirety of project   cynosure claiming that whilst now closing down it  was instrumental in probing the deepest fathoms   of the net and being able to safely conclude that  man controlled AI not the other way around yeah   not entirely sure about that last bit though  I'd certainly say it is a give and take with   the technologically primitive nature of our world  making it difficult for a code-based AI to wreak   as much Havoc as they otherwise could of course  following this the somewhat damaged Mission gets   turned completely on its head into a cyberpunk  homage to alien isolation which I certainly didn't   expect didn't ask for happened to wind up playing  at 2 in the morning and you know what it wound up   being one of the most terrifying memorable and  Brilliant missions in the entire game for me and   I would say the unique gameplay style that this  particular Mission thrusts you into taking away   all of the Power you may have amassed throughout  your playthrough and pitting you against an   unkillable robot whom you can only hope to hide  from well depending on who you are it's either the   biggest reason to pick this path or not to pick it  and personally as somebody who played through this   the first time with literally zero knowledge as  to what was about to happen I'm really glad this   was my first choice like The Killing Moon is cool  and all but it's very much more the type of thing   I would have expected rather than this which came  out of nowhere and subverted my expectations in   the best possible way and I gotta tell ya digging  up the various notes to share with you guys in   this bit has never been a more anxiety inducing  task especially given whilst reading laptops the   game doesn't even pause though fortunately  the laptop containing Evan McRays research   notes is relatively out of harms way and let me  just read you the end of this first email after   they arrived quote I have The Uncanny feeling  that something was waiting for us here there's   no other way to describe it someone's presence  embedded in the infrastructure even though scans   haven't detected any signs of life if experiments  of Rogue AIs were conducted here then maybe their   remnants are still here inactive dormant waiting End  quote ominous stuff and links completely back   to the janitor working above who felt that voices  in the water were speaking to him then we learned   that the team did establish a connection to the  old Net that they had the intention of reaching   beyond the blackwall and not just interacting  with it but capturing one of the rogue AIs from   within using the remnants of Cynosure's equipment  all without netwatch knowing of course obviously   this is a crazy idea but what's even crazier is  that the team were actually successful in doing   this since that of course is how we got the neural  Matrix with the power to cure Songbird or V with   the twins being crucial in knowing how to unlock  it as they were part of the team which first   captured the thing to get through the big door to  the next part of the facility though we'll have to   sneak around and disable a couple data terminals  first and at data terminal Sierra is our second   transmission from the AI quote everything they  built imperfect so easy to take control they   think that they are safe they are not end quote  and yeah we need no more proof of that than   the damn thing that's hunting us of course two  big things we don't want to miss down here are   the crafting specs for the Erebus submachine gun  and militech Canto cyberdeck and whilst usage   of them may yield dire consequences in the cannon  for the rest of the world acquiring them for use   is cool as hell sadly the room to the Erebus is  locked behind a circuit board requiring the full   20 Tech to tamper with so many of you I'll guess  are getting stuck with the Canto still if you can   break into this room full of Maintenance Bots then  you'll learn just how the One chasing us was able   to get possessed in the first place see these were  originally designed to climb around and perform   maintenance on that Giant floating orb in the  middle of the facility but then the netrunning   team realized they could leverage the bot CPUs  to harness additional processing power as buffers   for their net running Endeavors at the same time  installing all the protocols an AI would need to   latch on and take control of all of this robot's  motor functions and man cdpr really don't cut   Corners when it it comes to leaving explanations  about all of this stuff and yeah this could be   explained with more in your face Exposition but  at the same time I can see they don't want to   take away from the action and suspense especially  for this Quest dropping out of this room then will   lead to that terrifying Chase sequence and closing  the door on an arm provides a very welcome respite   in this airlocked chamber free from the Bots  but clearly not the AI for in here we can find our   next ominous three-part transmission reading quote  their nervous systems are so weak so rudimentary   so fragile easy to break they won't see it coming  End quote and of course this relates directly to   our use of the black wall hack a stream of raw  data from Beyond the blackwall that overloads   one's synapses in an instant and causing the  most chilling of Screams [Scream] also in   this chamber though is one of Cynosure's employees  requesting a promotion after developing a software   that made Cynosure's systems practically unbreachable  from the outside explaining further just how this   place went undiscovered for so long but gritting  our teeth it's time to head out again into the   terrifyingly Hostile next big parts of Cynosure facility to try and save so mi first attempting   to shut down the core from the central control  unit which of course is unsuccessful forcing   us to venture in further once again and turn off  the systems manually one by one more hiding from   a scary robot fantastic before heading out again  though there is an email just to the right here of   a Cynosure employee expressing concern for the  well-being of netrunners on the project with them   suffering serious mental effects such as Aphasia  same as chang hoon so that appears to be a common   symptom of an overstrained netrunning mind  but when requesting the projects be put on hold   for their safety militech of course got back  with a resounding no they agreed reluctantly   to replace them maybe but only if they were  physically incapable of continuing the work   and also offered any medication necessary to  Aid the runners further now that's the militech   I know the project before the employees classic  there's also a Shard here explaining the various   methods to manually deactivate the system and In  fairness they did put in place several failsafes   should things go wrong which is just as well  for us really but then here's an interesting   Shard from one of the employees working down  here titled I may as well have been kidnapped   indeed it appears the working conditions down  here are less than amicable with this worker   in particular given only a small piece of a far  wider equation to work on with absolutely no idea   as to what the big picture look looks like to be  honest that sounds like just working for any big   budget Production Studio albeit without going home  at the end of the day also in this room the next   scary transmission reading quote you are here  with me am I alone so dark in here we hear you   you're on the other side wait for us end quote man  that's another creepy one like a self-aware embryo   and I can't actually tell if the hearing on the  other side is a message from the AIs to us or just   a message from the other AIS that haven't broken  through to the one that has anyway let's continue   in the little cupboard to the side tucked away on  this shelf is another folded down laptop this time   with a singular email from Lisa Smith discussing  how all those deep Dives have been affecting her   neurology yeah you and me both love but in her  case side effects include the loss of certain   sense specific memories retaining for example  the knowledge of what coffee is but not what it   tastes like a sort of sensory Amnesia making Lisa  worry about what else she could have potentially   forgotten certainly not a new idea in this world  per se selective memory loss I mean we need look   no further than Johnny's memories or even the  stolen ones of Aymeric Cassel but interesting to   see how the blackwall can specifically alter  memories like this but that's not all that   the blackwall can do because through the door  opposite but locked behind a code terminal is   the militech Kanto crafting spec luckily if you're  a Netrunner disabling this is Child's Play but if   not the code could be found in an email titled new security protocols at R&D explaining how   military Ops want them to make new implants that  utilize the AI research hence the production of   this lab that is sealed behind a coded door to  keep out any unwanted employees inside the lab   is the Canto and also the final research notes  from Evan McCray turns out that upon establishing   their blackwall contact Lisa was seriously injured  the blackwall latched on to her neuro interface and   attempted to use her to access the giant core  the team managed to stop it luckily but this is   pretty much what ultimately made militech put a stop  to all of this interestingly though Evan was still   insistent that they push forward with the project  like a mad scientist claiming that they're now on   the verge of greatness that they're this close and  I mean clearly he wasn't entirely wrong and before   leaving they did evidently mantle an AI into the  neural Matrix like a Genie in a Bottle but who   knows how far this would have all gone and how bad  it could have potentially gotten if they hadn't   been stopped after that and now we've got to stop  it again by first disabling the neural Network   stabilizers which will need a manually unplugging  whilst hiding from a terrifying robot if you're   extra Brave you can also take the time to learn  that these things are put in place because should   a Netrunner encounter a rogue AI these are the  only things capable of shielding their mind from   Pure staring into that abyss and experiencing  pure Oblivion and you know that email that's   gone around the whole facility vaguely alluding to  the incident well looks like this was it a runner   encountered a Rogue AI without the stabilizers and  Bam huge power surge gone and on this terminal is   a little behind the scenes to the construction  of that accident statement they said everything   was under control it wasn't under control and  they were breached by a quote unquote alien   intelligence terrifyingly and an intelligence  which had now breached the facility to an extent   which they had no way of determining again the  newer research crew felt like they were being   watched the janitor above got possessed so this  thing permeates the walls now and it was a serious   thing too when it happened far more so than they  of course let on to anybody but which eventually   led to the collapse of the facility a further  terminal overlooking the core explains how over   time even more netrunners were getting taken out  by AIS and by the end militech weren't just trying to   mantle one using the power of the core but for  some reason three at a time apparently way too   much intelligence for any of the runners to handle  which yeah makes sense in fact this irresponsible   Behavior may have even been what led to one's  Escape in the first place coming through to the   firewall room there's yet another Shard titled  Full Speed Ahead where an enthusiastic Netrunner   describes what it's like navigating cyberspace  beyond the blackwall becoming a Pioneer a   Columbus of the Net and in a world of untampered  wild data streams with constant fluctuations one   must improvise adapt and overcome every single  second they thank the power of the core for   making it possible and describe snaring an AI like  capturing a wild animal which they can then ride   around on the net so to speak with far greater  ease odds are this is probably one of the runners   who died since their hippocampus was apparently  damaged after the last dive on the computer bide   is another email conversely describing the sheer  danger of the situation or rather dangers see   firstly the level of data that's being messed with  here the sheer power that this core and activities   are drawing it's unsurprising that they have a  constant fear of being detected by netwatch an   AI regulating that police who if they found this  well it would have kind of been like the plot of   hot fuzz of course most of these worries back  then were quickly waved off with the solution   of bribery after all netwatch is still a company  run by fallible people so instead these guys are   reminded to focus on the bigger threat that if  any one of these AIS Escape into the net then the   world is done this nightmare scenario of course  happened in 2022 but not because of cynosure   rather instead rache bartmoss of course the blackwall keeps these AIS at Bay now with relative   success thanks to netwatch but whilst Bryce Mosley  describes it as a torn open trash bag taped over   a broken window I'd say down here if the core is  breached it would be more like a big double door   complete with pillars and a welcome Banner for  the AI to just walk right through after all it   was designed with the intent of controlling such  intelligences but such protocols must also allow   for their passage to this side of the net with  all these systems manually shut down then and   With a Little Help from so mi to shut down the  Cerberus maintenance Bot we can get to her   and decide her ultimate fate I'll go into the  morality and comparisons of these four ending   endings themselves in another video because this  was more about the hidden secrets of both ending   paths but following this whatever happens  so long as you grab the behavioral system   component from the Bots we will get contacted by  the AI again a few days later and they'll have   the tempting proposition of becoming our mantled  AI for the Canto or Erebus weapons this in fact was   something else mentioned back at the facility  in the room where we found the Canto discussing   the application of AI in combat scenarios becoming  more of a combat partner making realtime decisions   as opposed to just an automated weapon of course  placing who lives and who dies in the hands of   another creature with its own code of ethics is an  interesting one to think about morally especially   after we review the ethical code of this thing in  fact using the Canto or Erebus the AI will continue   to voice contempt at having been mantled to  the weapon claiming it is they who should be   in control and not us all whilst at the same time  collecting more and more data on our world no doubt   with the intent to take it over at a greater speed  and efficiency this much is confirmed by alt   during The Nomad ending afterwards who seriously  warns us against using the weapon we're carrying   as it hastens the AI rise to power so overall the  equipment we get from this ending is as follows   all of Kurt Hansen's gear wild dog bald eagle  and Fang this time potentially the maxtac   mantis blades if we message Mr Hands the iconic  crowbar which is as much a halflife reference   as the original has always been and of course the  Erebus SMG or militech Canto cyberdeck so with all   of these differences in mind let's quickly compare  which ending path is probably the best choice so   with those details thoroughly reviewed now looking  from an objective angle at how our interference   influences both ending paths which one is best and  I'm not talking about the conclusion to Phantom   Liberty as a story those four endings again are  getting their own video rather how do the massacre   at spaceport versus the soft unleashing of a  blackwall AI compare when looking at the fate of   the world thereafter signing with so mi and heading  to the Spaceport delivers far more casualties of   course just think if we don't go there then poor  Dotty doesn't get killed and her and Aluna get to   enjoy a wonderful life together zipping around  the globe Cynthia doesn't get traumatized with   survivors guilt this long list of names doesn't  go up outside the spaceports and the NUSA stays   on more peaceful terms with the European space  Council a fifth Corp war is brewing anyway so   do we really need a War of Nations on top of  that too also Alex does survive in this path   but again let's try and just look at the bigger  picture here for this video overall the immediate   death toll is far higher and looks set to rise if  further conflict is instigated I would argue then   that for the canon somewhat damaged is the less  damaging Choice globally probably in fact we could   even call it only somewhat damaging with the big  looming threat here of course being that V takes   the AI with them very irresponsibly back up to the  surface but remember this is entirely our choice   we don't necessarily have to do that and in fact  it'll be interesting to see how they establish   canon from this game in a sequel will they offer  some variance with imported saves to factor in   our choices from this game that may of course be  possible to some extent but kind of downplays the   severity of any of this when we consider it  after all the story of the second game would   have to play out fairly similarly for people  who both did and didn't make this Choice   still Alt made things sound pretty dire when she  addressed our usage of the blackwall and let's   assume the worst case scenario that in gathering  data on us the Rogue AI manages to permeate itself   across our world properly Maybe by hopping from  host to host more efficiently a virus like it is   here albeit one that doesn't kill its host  immediately rather using them to hop from one   person to the next the existence of the blackwall  is what forbids AIS from Conquering the world via   a globally interconnected Net but with real space  becoming constantly more Network dependent it's   only a matter of time before something gets loose  if it's not us today with the Cynosure Bots it'll   be the voodoo boys tomorrow messing with the blackwall do I think V should use these weapons in Canon   absolutely not but whilst an AI takeover seems  inevitable at some point a Spaceport Massacre   is entirely avoidable therefore I'm going to say  that in the wider Canon betraying songbird is   probably the best choice and from a gameplay  perspective too the the unique gear we get via   somewhat damaged is larger in number and greater  in quality I would say personally though that's   also going to depend on your build but I'd argue  that somewhat damaged also caters to more builds   overall Than The Killing Moon anyway thank you  for watching this long ass Deep dive into the   hidden secrets and context of phantom Liberty's  endings cuz personally I was far too terrified to   take in any of the info on my first time playing  somewhat damaged and I'll assume many of you were   the same comment below of course any further  insight you have and all this stuff huge thanks   to my patrons as always for keeping this channel  alive and go and join my Discord if you want to   chat more about cyberpunk cheers for watching  I'm Sam Bram and I'll see you in the next one

Channel: Sam Bram

Views: 118,641

Keywords: cyberpunk, cyberpunk 2077, sam bram cyberpunk, cyberpunk phantom liberty, cyberpunk lore, cyberpunk secrets, cyberpunk somewhat damaged, cyberpunk killing moon, cyberpunk black steel in the hour of chaos, cyberpunk firestarter, cyberpunk firestarter choices, cyberpunk firestarter correct choices, cyberpunk firestarter walkthrough, phantom liberty best ending, phantom liberty best choices, phantom liberty secrets, phantom liberty breakdown

Id: GRldd9lfFfk

Length: 53min 37sec (3217 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 22 2023