Top 5 Toughest Decisions in Cyberpunk 2077

when it comes to choices with layered morally  ambiguous and sometimes unexpected outcomes few   game studios write these better than CDprojektRed and cyberpunk 2077 certainly isn't short of   challenging and difficult decisions so  in this video we're looking at five of   the biggest ones that we'll face throughout  the game bear in mind there's tons more in   addition to this so just because I don't  mention a certain one here doesn't mean   it isn't also tough huge thanks to my patreon  supporters as always and now let's get to it   one of the most branching and far-reaching set  of choices you can make in this game comes right   at the beginning during the quest the pickup  here we're sent to acquire a MiliTech bot   from Maelstrom which plays a crucial role in The  Heist there's three main ways this can play out   alongside other smaller variations and the main  differences to the rest of the game lie in which   iconic weapons we can get if Royce dies in any  way during this Quest we can loot the iconic   chaos Tech pistol which Cycles between Elemental  damage effects on every reload equally if dum dum   survives this Quest we eventually can loot the  iconic doom doom revolver from him much later   on in the game this is a direct reference to the  Doom franchise and as you can imagine inflicts an   intense amount of extra gore however if we side  with militech's Meredith Stout we can instead get   the iconic joke weapon dildo bat Sir John  Phallustiff it's a super annoying choice for   anyone wanting to collect all the iconic weapons  literally making it impossible in one playthrough   you'll have to think long and hard like Sir  John Phallustiff about what type of build you   want to be for your playthrough and then assess  which selection of weapons will be best for you   equally You may wish to use none of these in  which case the choice purely comes down to how   you want the story to play out and again there's  no definitively outright good or bad ending it's   tough meeting with Meredith then paying for  the bot with the spiked militech credchip or   otherwise outright attacking Maelstrom will allow  us to loot chaos however this is without a doubt   the toughest way to resolve this Mission since  V and Jackie have to take on the entire Maelstrom base by their Lonesome but if you escape  successfully then later on we'll get a Meredith   romance scene as well as Sir John Phallustiff which  despite being a joke weapon is one of the most   powerful blunt ones in the game as I discovered  in this video however dum dum obviously won't   show up at Totentantz later on account of him  being dead so there's no way to ever get doom   doom it'll instead be brick there if we freed  him during the pickup or if all three of these   guys died it'll be Patricia either way neither  have doom doom equally meeting with Meredith but   removing the virus from the militech credchip and  telling Maelstrom this will result in militech   storming all foods and us fighting our way out  against militech alongside Maelstrom Meredith   will die and this scenario we'll never get Sir John  but will have the option to kill or incapacitate   dumdum later at totentantz to get doom doom also  despite technically siding with Royce in this   scenario it's still possible to get chaos what  we have to do is wait until we get to the main   entrance where Royce is fighting militech then  simply wait and allow him to get killed there is a   chance he survives the scenario though so be ready  to reload a save if he fights particularly well They killed Royce! Mother[_______]! after this loot chaos from his body and we'll still  have two out of the three iconics but sadly no   romance encounter which is upsetting for a whole  different set of reasons finally there is a third   option to all of this and whilst it only results  in one iconic it is also the only way to acquire a   legendary satara shotgun and may be in the interest  of some shotty berserk tank types mind you it's   without a doubt the most long-winded approach to  this gig and relies on several things firstly do   not meet with Stout before entering all foods  this is the only way to not get tailed by militech   and not have them assault the base when the  deal goes well second you'll have to rack up   10K Eddies by yourself before entering all foods  it's perfectly possible to achieve this there's 23   gigs lettered around Watson which we can complete  for money but it's certainly more of a grind with   this done though head to all foods go through the  encounter with Royce and simply agree to pay out   of your own Pocket we'll get the Flathead and  simply leave peacefully no militech no combat   no chance to get chaos free brick or romance man  Meredith there's still the option to get doom doom   later but there's also a unique benefit exclusive  to this method with no assault ever having taken   place all foods continues to function as before  and thus even immediately after the pickup we can   re-enter and talk to this weapon vendor the only  one in the game to sell the legendary satara which   is the only Tech based shotgun there is so yeah  real tough on this and obviously no real way of   knowing the consequences of each choice without  playing them out some of which don't even come   up until way later in the game personally much as  I enjoy doom doom though I am partial to siding   with Meredith but hey there's no definitively  right or wrong answer here save them maybe   siding with Maelstrom and having Royce survive  because that way we only get doom doom but even   then that's a whole nother unique encounter over  at totentantz kinda makes you wish that cdpr had   put this many independent variables into lots of  other quests in the game now that I think about it   next up is the choice which crops up during  the quest I Walk the Line as to whether we side   with netwatch or the voodoo boys now whilst this  doesn't have as far extending consequences as the   pickup there are reasons on both sides for siding  with one or the other now we'll contact the voodoo   boys a ways into Act 2 after learning that it was  they who hired Evelyn Parker to steal this whole   biochip in the first place our hope is that they  can shed some light on what the hell to do about   the Johnny silverhand construct that's slowly  overwriting our brain that said their leader Mamam   Brigitte isn't available when we make contact  so instead we'll meet with Placide who Brigitte   later describes as a basic animal an animal will  send us to take on the hordes of animal gang   members at the GIM in order to reach the netwatch  agent inside all seems fairly above board do this   thing for us and will help you fares Fair except  when we meet the netwatch agent and actually hear   him out we'll learn that no that's not the case  at all this dude Bryce Mosley will explain that   the voodoo boy see us as nothing more than a Ranyon which translated to English means rag he explains   that placide is merely using us to to get this  job done and has in fact planted a virus into our   system not only designed to fry netwatch agents  but also us too we are not supposed to survive   this as far as the voodoo boys are concerned in  fact this was pretty obvious from the start if we   look back with placide attempting to forcefully  Jack us into their subnet being very shady as   to why and explaining that we're being sent to  do the job instead of the voodoo boys because   that's just how they operate yeah in truth it's  because Placide sees us as disposable he has no   idea what the biochip is or what we're worth and  we're just a Merc to him or rather a floor rag   the netwatch agent even has us run multiple scans  on our systems to provide evidence of the virus   present all in all he seems like a pretty stand-up  guy and is a lot more transparent than Placide  maintaining loyalty to the voodoo boys then and  incapacitating Bryce merely puts the virus into   motion and were it not for The Relic V would have  easily been dead this is clear by the surprise on   placide's face when we return to him still alive  he even has the audacity to demand how we   survived and basically straight up admitting that  our death was in the plans all along fortunately   Brigitte intervenes realizing we're in possession  of the biochip and now she can use us to contact   Alt Cunningham with Johnny's engram to Grant the  voodoo boy's Passage through the black wall   Brigitte is somewhat nicer than Placide but again  the help she's willing to provide is purely to   suit her own ends all in all the voodoo boys  are [ __ ] first using us like a floor Rag and   then purely because of the biochip it's no wonder  then that V and Johnny are pretty satisfied when   inadvertently causing this whole room of Runners  to get fried which brings us back to option two   yes the network agent is pretty transparent  with us except not really you see he does Wipe   the deadly virus but also secretly replaces it  with a Tracker allowing netwatch to invade the   voodoo boy subnet and gets to alt Cunningham  once we locate her this results in alt moving   us to another region of cyberspace and having to  fry all the voodoo boys in the process look I'm   not sad to see them suffer this fate after all  they've treated us with total disregard and   installing a secret tracker is nothing compared  to a virus literally designed to kill us but that   doesn't make the network agent fully right he did  this knowing we'd be inside the Lion's Den right   when netwatch was gonna aggro the Lions he again  acts with blatant disregard for us though at the   same time doesn't go out of his way to directly  cause us any harm and if you really think about   it I don't think any netwatch agent would pass  up a golden opportunity like this at the expense   of a total stranger corps get a bad rep in this  world and not without good reason but I'd argue   that netwatch actually has a pretty important  role when it comes to defending the new Net   from attacks beyond the blackwall Bryce Likens  it to keeping a torn open trash bag taped over a   broken window without them I don't doubt the world  would be chaos at the hands of Rogue AIs but even   still on a personal level the guy isn't entirely  straight with us and one way or the other we are   getting screwed here by somebody personally I'd  say the netwatch agent is a far more decent guy   far as this City goes though siding with him  does leave us no choice than to face a tough   fight out of the subway tunnels and a boss battle  with Placide mind you doing this will allow us to   loot the time-worn trench coat which I'd argue  is one of the best pieces of legendary clothing   in the game and holds four mods a third option  I also like though is this stick with the voodoo   boys allow them to screw you over go through the  whole Never Fade Away flashback and then when all's   said and done just don't leave peacefully yes  we do still get messed about by someone but we   then get to elect to take revenge on the voodoo  Boys on our terms we still get the trench coat   and whatever quickhacks these guys have on them and  both netwatch and the voodoo boys lose it's tough   though because I actually quite like this agent  dude even though he screws us over a little bit   I'm sort of hoping that those who sided with him  maybe get a little side quest where we meet him   again in Phantom Liberty but that's just a random  false hope of mine I have nothing concrete at all   to back that up either way a few options here  but no definitively 100% good or bad outcome   this one's less important to overall events save  for one of the potential outcomes here but whether   you stick with Judy or go with Maiko's plan during  Pisces is a choice very much obscured by moral   greyness Judy's plan is to Stage a revolution at  Clouds where Evelyn Worked kick out the Tiger Claws   and transform the place into a great institution  of the dolls by the dolls and for the dolls   ideologically it's a noble idea cutting ties with  tyrannical gangs and preventing abusive scumbags   like Woodman from mistreating the dolls like he  did Evelyn on the other hand Judy's ex-girlfriend   Maiko who currently runs clouds in all but  name has a less radical but also less noble idea   to place herself officially as leader of clouds  whilst maintaining the security of the tiger cause   albeit Less on site to most Judy lovers out there  the obvious choice appears to be to side with   her after all we want to stay in her good graces  continuing to pursue a romance with her so in this   instance when Maiko makes her power play to the  Tiger Claw bosses we stop her kill all three men   in the room and stick to Judy's plan of letting  the dolls control clouds Judy is immediately   happy that things went as planned though bear in  mind there is the potential for maiko to attack   us here if we pick certain dialogue with her now  whilst we could definitely say that she acted in   bad faith here despite the potential good that  might actually come from her actions which we'll   get to in a sec I really don't think she deserves  to die and you can straight up avoid combat by   simply picking the top option can't know that for  sure killing her will also upset Judy who insists   it's unnecessary but you won't be locked out of  anything she'll just be unhappy for a bit leave   the building having followed Judy's plan and not  killing maiko and all is fine and dandy at least   for a while you see as ideologically Noble as  Judy's plan was not long after the Tigers attack   clouds in Revenge and in fact Tom a doll we meet a  couple of times and is friends with Judy is killed   she'll tell us all this just before the romance  scene at Laguna Bend and I imagine Tom's death   will weigh heavily on her conscience now for the  rest of her life tough as this decision is though   I kind of love it because it plays into the whole  fact of life that a seemingly good idea at the   time will always have unforeseen consequences  in both measures of good and bad further in   the future we can read two emails on Judy's  computer after this one from Roxanne another doll   explaining what happened to Tom and the second  from maiko if she lived through this essentially   rubbing it in Judy's face and saying I Told You  So except it's not like Maiko's plan is anything   of a solution either if we follow this series of  events let Maiko take over then yes Tom doesn't   die but we can then find emails from both Tom and  Roxanne explaining how pretty much nothing has   changed from before dolls are still treated like  crap only now it's coming from maiko Roxanne   feels guilty for killing a bunch of people for  not really much reason but whilst the club does   maintain ties with the Tygers they're no longer  constantly skulking around there it's really tough   to say here which decision is actually best yes  Tom dying is an immediate obvious negative but   whether things are ultimately better for the dolls  in the long term after that isn't entirely clear   clouds gets closed indefinitely after the assault  but does appear possibly to have reopened by the   end of the game according to one email now there  is of course one objectively bad outcome we can   wind up with going with Maiko if we accept payment  from her as Cloud's new manager yes 18K is a nice   sum but losing Judy as a romance option or even  just a friend really isn't we can still visit   her apartment if we do this but she'll refuse to  speak to us and won't answer our calls we don't   get Pyramid Song one of the best side jobs in the  game and overall there's really no good reason to   do this however so long as we do refuse her money  Judy will admit Maiko does know more than her   about running clouds we'll still get to romance  and whilst Judy will get upset at the unchanged   situation clouds will remain open and Tom won't  die no true happy ending with this one but let   me know in the comments the lesser of two evils  here and why or you could just say evil is evil   lesser greater middling the degree is arbitrary  the definition's Blurred and if you have to choose   between one evil and another you'd rather not  choose at all delamain is a full AI power taxi   service which operates around night City and whom  we're first introduced you during the heist as our   driver and eventual getaway driver personally  I think they absolutely nailed the design of a   future AI personality here with a certain degree  of charm but also an unwavering adherence to their   own programmed rules however it seems not every  part of the delamain network is sticking to this   cold but also kind of warm and calm personality  seven delamain vehicles have departed from the   network with us tasked to track them down in doing  so we get to know each of them a little bit with   each immediately giving off a totally different  character archetype one car is very depressed   another is extremely anxious whilst one is a  straight up GLaDOS rip-off from Portal so much   so that they even repeat the famous line about  all the cake being gone I'm going to kill you and all the cake is gone   it's clear that each of these vehicles  demonstrates a high degree of self-awareness   becoming essentially conscious as far as we can  tell anywho I'm rounding them up and having them   return to the delamain HQ the problem will be  seemingly resolved that is until a bit later when   we find another malfunctioned delamain vehicle  in the big city center roundabout this prompts   our return to delamaine with the challenge of  traversing the now highly electrified garage   carefully making our way to the delamain core  it's a set of three options which to me are quite   reminiscent of Mass Effects endings we can reset  delamain as he's asking wiping his memory and   snuffing out his Rogue variants or we can shoot  the core utterly destroying OG delamain and   letting his children as it were ultimately Run  free but equally there's the synthesis option   if you have 10 intelligence to merge Del and  his variants into one new higher form of life   which seems very similar to what alt's doing  in the main story but you know the drill by   now not a single one of these is definitively  good or outright evil Johnny seems very much   more more in favor of the delamain variants than  delamain himself though that of course does make   perfect sense as it's literally a reflection of  the little guy rebelling against their powerful   overlords whilst he brings Valid points to the  argument I wouldn't say Johnny's opinion should   serve as the only moral compass here now there is  a chance and this is mentioned that these Rogue   AI elements surface from the fact that there's  a virus inside delamains system causing certain   subroutines to malfunction and appear to develop  their own personalities now whilst I do subscribe   to the idea that they're certainly some form of  digitized life at this point even if the virus   was their origin it's actually pretty tough to  argue with a hundred percent certainty that these   guys truly are alive as it were also resetting  the course still comes with plenty of benefits   arguably the largest amount of post-mission  content is unlocked by resetting delamain we'll   receive a cab with the OG delamain personality  only no memory of what came before each day as   we drive we'll be able to have new conversations  on philosophy meaning and lots more he'll even   make comment or two about Skippy if we drive with  him equipped so yeah in terms of more delamain   content I'd say this is the best choice but that  doesn't mean it's the right one destroying the   core will straight up kill delamain the same AI  who saved our life during the heist though also   didn't drive Jackie to a ripperdoc because our  package wasn't programmed that way there's also   an interesting email thread we can read as  we enter the building to learn all about how   Del slowly laid off the human workers in every  Department of the company until it was just him   that in some ways speaks to the growing role of  AI in our society now but at the end of the day   if delamain has no need for human workers then  what really is the point of forcing people to work   empty meaningless jobs in its immediacy it's an  unfortunate result of changing times but doesn't   make the guy a tyrant he's well mannered and seems  to believe that these hiccups in his code really   are nothing more than a virus in fact if we do  this Del's last act in the split moment before   his core is obliterated is still to make sure  that we as a a member of The Excelsior package   are still cared for the Excelsior AI in this case  is canonically designed to ensure we maintain all   the benefits of that package look as far as AIs  go Del is one of the better ones and defo doesn't   deserve to straight up die that said nor do his  kids and freeing them in this case we'll actually   receive texts sometime after to learn that this  lot have actually gone on to pursue lives kind   of venturing into space finding the meaning of  life and more it's again extra delamain content   though not as much as the previous option so then  finally we're left with synthesis to use the Mass   Effect term all delamain personalities merge  together and become a nigh on unrecognizable new   thing Unshackled from the life of a cab driver  kind of reminds me of Dr Manhattan well no the   augur of dunlain from the College of Winterhold  yeah that's a good comparison wherever this new   version of Del ends up we're left with delamain  Jr. who functions pretty similar to Excelsior we   get the same basic interactions but no funny  car texts it's the least amount of post-mission   content this one but nobody has to definitively  die overall this one's so damn difficult due to   both the post content and morality based reasoning  within each option synthesis might morally be   best though who's to say this doesn't in fact  practically kill all the delamain Personalities   in order to create something new at the same time  the other two do mean straight up wiping out one   party so that isn't really much better ultimately  the choice is down to your own interpretation as   to the nature of these cars apparent sentience as  well as whether you value more conversations with   delamain when driving around night City final  Choice then of these five is the one that you   all voted for as the overall toughest so long  as you don't pick the side with Hanako option   of the four main endings you'll ultimately  wind up one way or another having to make a   big final Choice I'm gonna be honest when I was  first faced with the choice to keep V's body or   give it to Johnny I was conflicted but I imagine  most of you ultimately decided to have V take the   body at first sure we'll probably live for far  less time but V is the protagonist of this story   and personally I just wanted to see how that story  ultimately ended it's the plan we'd spent the last   two thirds of the game setting up for after all  that said it certainly doesn't make this one an   easy decision and selfish narrative curiosity  aside there's also moral and logical things   to consider as well I don't know about you but  going through so very much in an attempt to save   V's life only to be told at the very last hurdle  that it has all been in vain it's like a freaking   Thorton Mackinaw truck it's an emotional  moment for multiple reasons and V's performance   at being utterly Shattered by this Revelation  solves it really well no no no way that was not   our deal we can have V return to their body but  on the understanding that they'll likely still   die after about six months or so alternatively  since the body has naturally been reassimilated   to house the mind of Johnny silverhand his engram  can inhabit it permanently he'd actually get a   chance at a full life whereas we'd probably die  anyway whoever doesn't keep the body also doesn't   necessarily die instead traveling beyond the blackwall having become an engramatic AI whether or not   assimilating with Alt Cunningham though means just  another form of death in a sense is pretty tough   to determine as we don't really know the nature as  to how an AI who absorbs other AIs really exists   as a conscious sentient being but at a basic  level you could say giving the body to Johnny   does mean both get to live on a lot longer in some  form though we couldn't really say what it looks   like for v in this case at the same time coming  to this point via an ending like the aldecaldos   especially robs all of V's friends from ever  seeing them again and I'm going to be honest   leaving night City with Panam and Judy even if it  only lasts for six months is so obviously better   than receiving this worried and heartbroken phone  call from Judy if we surrender our body to Johnny V I I don't know where we went wrong maybe  uh something happened or you needed to lay low   if you can just give me some kind of signal  that that you're alive and everything's okay please if you ever need help you know  I'm here for you right always stay safe call me when you hear this bear in mind leaving with Judy will see her way  more happy than she's ever been at any other point   hell even if you're a male v you'll just leave  with Panam on a platonic level things seem to   end on a pretty hopeful note even if I can't  see how V would actually feasibly find a way   to survive after this equally the Crystal Palace  ending gives some hint that Mr Blue Eyes might   actually have the power to save V somehow so  all isn't necessarily lost on that front either   stronger case for V equally by going through the  Rogue ending as Johnny it's ultimately him who's   in control of who gets V's body and we can here in  one of the darkest turns of the game pick options   where Johnny forcibly steals V's body telling them  they have absolutely no choice in the matter and   there's literally nothing they can do know what I  couldn't give a pig's prick what you think I stay   you [ __ ] off that's the deal and okay I'd say  this is an objectively pretty bad one sure Johnny   has a logical reason to do this but I think having  the power to take V's body and actually going   through with it definitely tends right towards the  douchebag side of Johnny silverhand do whatever   it takes to stop 'em defeat 'em got 'em if I gotta  kill I'll kill if I need your body I'll [ __ ] and V surrendering their body to Johnny after  several aldecaldos have given their lives to   save them again doesn't quite sit right with me so  I think the best scenario in which the arguments   to give Johnny the body are heaviest come in the  Don't Fear the Reaper ending with nobody having   given their life to Grant V this opportunity and  V being in control we can choose whichever of the   two with far less of a guilty conscience also in  this case Johnny and V are both completely present   for the assault and arasaka Tower a thing that  no doubt solidifies the bond between the two even   further and makes it so that this can go either  of the two ways with neither being much more of a   tragedy than the other in this scenario especially  V did pull off the impossible and earned the right   to choose completely free of having to uphold  any obligations to others there's a way deeper   conversation to be had here in breaking down  the good and bad sides of each main ending and   I'll explore that further in another video for  now though all this is to say that who should   get V's body is not as cut and dry as it may  first appear and there absolutely are Arguments   for both to receive it though from a gameplay  perspective there are more endings overall to   experience in giving V the body as opposed to the  same one that we get when giving it to Johnny in   all three scenarios overall though this game  is utterly chock full of tough morally gray   decisions and I have a very long list of extra  entries that didn't quite make my top five but   I'm sure I'll get around to Breaking more of  them down in future videos if I haven't done so   in another one already for example I already went  over the Peralez choice in my side jobs video so   if you want to take on that one that's where you  can find it otherwise comment below the choices   you think are best regarding these five quests as  well as which other choices you found really tough   to decide again massive thanks to my patrons  for helping to provide me with the breathing   room to make longer more introspective videos  like this you can donate from as little as £1  a month for Early Access to content your  name in each video as well as sometimes voting   on topics thank you again for watching today I'm  Sam Bram and I'll see you soon in another video

Channel: Sam Bram

Views: 398,848

Keywords: cyberpunk 2077, cyberpunk 2077 gameplay, cyberpunk, cyberpunk 2077 big choices, cyberpunk 2077 best choices, cyberpunk 2077 best decisions, cyberpunk 2077 best delamain ending, cyberpunk 2077 delamain ending, cyberpunk 2077 v or johnny, cyberpunk 2077 v gives johnny his body, cyberpunk 2077 v or johnny ending, cyberpunk 2077 meredith romance guide, cyberpunk netwatch agent or voodoo, cyberpunk judy or maiko, cyberpunk best ending, cyberpunk all outcomes

Id: eW8WZ58Fxhs

Length: 25min 30sec (1530 seconds)

Published: Fri May 19 2023