I finally finished this and don't have all that much to add to everything else said above except to say that while I generally enjoyed my time with the game and the story, the endings seem like a real bummer. Then again I think this game overall has a huge problem with bringing anything to a meaningful end. A lot of really good sidequests just kind of trail off and end on a whimper. It's like they are scared to commit to anything or they just didn't have time to make custom setpieces for the endings so you are generally wrapping things up by getting a text message that reads "thanks for the help bye." This is best illustrated by the sidequest "Violence" with Lizzie Wizzy or whatever her name is. Starts off really interesting, you do some digging and wonder how this will develop.. and it doesn't, it just ends.

I really liked the character of Panam so I chose to do her ending path and that felt kind of bad throughout as everyone is dying left and right to help me. Then to make things worse, after all that sacrifice I'm still basically dead with 6 months left to live.. so I thought well better to take my chances out beyond the Blackwall and let Johnny enjoy a full lifespan with my body - but that seems to be the canonical "bad" choice since everyone that calls you during the credits is either in distress or mad at you. Redid the end and chose to live out my remaining months and that was a bit better. The ride on the tank was nice.

That said I gotta agree with people above that no matter what you pick it seems like you lose in the end. You're this person trying to make it to the top, along the way you get caught up in some shit, and then by the end you don't come out on top. Arasaka lose their big storage with souls but thats it. The corp stays standing. The city has literally chewed you up and spat you out and in the Nomad ending you kind of just limp away. I would like for one classic "cool guy" ending where you get to stick it to the corps and all the people along the way and come out on top. The entire game is one big power fantasy and then it reminds you that an individual can't actually fight against these corporations?

@humanity: Closet feeling ending to that is umm.. if I can remember the path to get it.. I think it was the Johnny/Rogue path and then you choose to keep your body? Of course with the 6 month thing that undermines all of Vs endings.

So then you're suddenly the best of the best and top dog of Night City? But it doesn't feel earned? And more like its just because Rogue died. And then Panam is also mad at you. The news or Delamane or something tells you that Arasaka is actually kinda fucked now after what you did and it'll take them "a long time to recover" And then you're doing this orbital casino space heist?

All mixed bags.

Also agree on some side quests being intriguing but then falling off. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop on Evelyn's death. She just fades into the background of the story, and then kills herself in the tub? For the rest of.. Julia?-- I suddenly can't remember her name.. The BD tech lesbian side character-- I was waiting for her to dip into Evelyn's memories/BD recording and discover that someone snuck into her place and made it look like a suicide to cover up other stuff that was happening behind the scenes. But nah. She just got this unceremonious end /shrug

That one you mention with Lizzie also lead to nowhere. *ahem* And this just may be me but, I was disappointed during Kerry's quests that I didn't get to have some whole crazy/fun orgy with the girl group in some capacity.

It's weird, writing this now, I'm realizing how much of the particulars I've already forgotten. Character names and other side stuff. Eh, I still enjoyed the game overall I guess.

@seikenfreak: Ya I looked up the "secret" ending and apart from the beginning I think the backend is the same template of waking up in a rich mansion with your own flying hovercar? That seems a lot more in-line with what I'd consider a classic Hollywood ending. That said.. the game makes such a big deal about your connections and the friendships you made along the way that I thought it was a weird choice to let Johnny exact his personal vendetta and take control to go on another adventure with Rogue. It's like I've built up this entire story with my own character and then the game sidelines all that in favor of finishing up Johnnys story instead.

It's a shame because I generally had a pretty good time with the game. I played on PC and experienced minimal bugs and the ones that I did get were purely cosmetic with the exception of one trivial sidequest that became unfinishable. The end sort of left a bad taste in my mouth like the game defeated me or something. I don't mind a somber ending but it just didn't really fit for me and I felt like I basically accomplished nothing.

I went with the Johnny + Rogue ending. I liked it up until a point, pretty much echoing everyone else's thoughts. Where was my option to run away with Panam at the end? I hate forced choices. What the hell was this space casino and why was it a thing? Who owned it? What was the mission? Did V die on his way to it? I feel like I missed a lot of things or stuff was cut and rushed.

But ultimately, it's an open world game with a point of no return that kicks you back. That's always a bummer to me. Just give me a good ending and let me continue on from that. There was no reason for V to die.

Finished yesterday at 100 hours. I chose to go in with Rogue as Johnny too, and in the end, I tried both endings where Johnny talks to the kid and gets him a guitar, then, not liking that end (it was sweet, but that ending was perhaps the ending I wanted least, and I was a bit confused by the choices so it led me there). Then once I was put back into the game, I chose to have V come out. Panam was there since she was my love interest, and then V went to the orbital space station. I didn't love that ending either. I think the option I might like is taking Panam on the final mission. I checked, and it sounds as if that is the 'happiest' choice to take, and really is the one I wanted. I didn't take her though because I didn't want her to die. Thinking about it, the main story is extremely short.

I had done all the side missions that I could see (aside from buying all vehicles), which is one of the reasons why it took me 100 hours, but the main story felt like it would take 15 or so. I can't say I loved the main story. The events were fun to play out, but there wasn't a whole lot there. It's really about going everywhere and doing the side stuff that adds to it. That said, it's mainly the side stuff you pick up along the way during the critical path that felt most important. The majority of side quests/gigs felt relatively unimportant even when they were interesting. In a sense, it was disappointing. I enjoyed my time with the game, and I feel like going back in just to do my preferred ending, but I'm also already feeling like I've gotten what I wanted out of the experience and being put back into the world the way we were doesn't give a lot of motivation to keep going.

The best moments are the ones spent with the female characters in the game; I thought they were the strongest characters. I really felt a connection to Judy and was sad when she left. Panam was cool, but a bit generic. I liked Misty and I wish they did more with her; not necessarily as a love interest, just more. The world of Night City was great to walk around in. I enjoyed the sights and sounds of it, but perhaps my favorite was being in the badlands or in North Oak and looking at it from the outside. A few characters along the way also point that out, so maybe that's the point. Stealth/combat was nothing new, but it was fun. It's just unfortunate because I'm not sure how interested I am in seeing what the game feels like after these new patches come out. Maybe I'll explore the world a lot more when I can play it on Xbox Series X.

Something I didn't like, but would explain an issue some people have about the offensiveness and it not making a whole lot of sense, is that the world that Johnny came from didn't feel much different than 2077 that V is in. I wanted it to mirror ours more with modern tech, and the look of the city/clothing, but it does explain that even in 2013, 2025, etc., the world is pretty consistent up to 2077. In the end, I think I just wanted more time with the characters I cared about.

I did all the ending and made sure I did the bad one first Arasaki one.

And made nomad ending my final ending which I’m satisfied with especially with Judy romance

The secret ending was disappointing because Rogue being alive didn’t play a role if your Johnny

It didn't occur to me until well after finishing the main mission, but it's also weird that all the former members of Samurai are supposed to be in their 70's or 80's and absolutely don't feel like that. They end up being the most prominent link to 2023 we have, but they don't really feel like characters from another era, and I think that was a missed opportunity.

Johnny was basically frozen in time, but he seems to fit right in. Denny and Kerry come across as "middle aged rockers". We find out at the very end Rogue has a son, but for most of the game she's "middle aged punk fixer & bar owner". Bes Isis has genuinely moved on to another stage in her life, but even she doesn't come across like someone who's been around for the better part of a century.

As a theme, "nothing ever changes" is powerful, but it feels more like a cop out with respect to Night City and these older characters.

Does a refund count as an ending?

I went back and saw all endings, except for the "go out in blaze of glory" with Johnny ending. My instinct went towards Arasaka because I still believed Takemura wasn't dead and he'd factor in. His end felt untimely. As it turns out, there's an ending where he factors in- he replaces Hellman as your driver and delivers you the Mikoshi contract on the space station. I'd mistaken his friendship during our missions as genuine, but ultimately he only had an unwavering devotion to Saburo Arasaka, who is a ghastly human being. I'm happy I was spared this ending to remember Takemura more fondly.

So the Arasaka endings were the first two I saw. Going into Mikoshi sounded awful & repulsive. Refusing it and going back to Earth, unsure of what's next, felt pretty appropriate. My reasoning to go with the Arasaka to begin with ending was I cared too much about Panam to involve her, and I didn't trust that Johnny could execute his plan.

Learning that Yorinobu was basically a somewhat noble anarchist who wanted to dismantle Arasaka from the inside made things click. I had totally misjudged him. I'd thought he was just a thug.

I wanted to get back with Panam after returning but that wasn't possible in this ending, at least explicitly. Maybe back on Earth V could track her down and they'd get back together.

The Panam ending felt a bit bittersweet. I liked riding out into the sunset with her, but I was so hesitant to risk their whole clan on a suicide mission. Mitch implied it might've been for loot on Saul's side, but I think Saul genuinely wanted to help. The nomads were portrayed as very noble people.

The "Johnny gets to live" ending dragged a bit for me. I genuinely saw myself in V and the Johnny epilogue felt like a different game.

The Panam ending had a sweetness to it but also a feeling of very dark guilt. If she wasn't the leader of the Aldecaldos, and V wasn't her partner, they'd definitely refuse his request for help. But they had no choice since Panam was their leader. Although the Aldecaldos do keep reassuring V that she/he's truly family and that they'd do a suicide mission for one of their own, so maybe this earning is deserved.

Also a special shoutout to the Gary the Prophet side quest. I wish that side quest went deeper. I know they definitely wanted to go deeper and have more fun with the conspiracy theory side of this dark future and dabble a bit in Rockstar territory with some goofy missions but probably didn't get there budget wise.

I applaud CDPR's ambition to pull off this production. I felt like 3-4 Call of Duty campaign's worth of incredibly fluid & detailed first person visuals alonside this jigsaw puzzle of an open-world dynamic storyline and immersive-sim style combat sandboxes. However the world felt empty and unpolished and driving always felt horrendous except for the bikes. I had a terrible time every time I accidentally went into the water under the highways. I only drove the bike and hated Claire's dull race quests.

But I still chose to drive my bike around town even into the Badlands almost the entire game. And I finished all side quests, except for Kerry's romantic lead and the Cyberpsychos elimination quest. ~70 hours total.

I loved the game, probably the one that's immersed me the most since Breath of the Wild, in a very different way. I was completely sucked in and only wanted to play this game for almost 10 days. I had vivid dreams walking around the Night City game world. It's so enchanting and intoxicating as a production. Every single significant character you got to spend time with was genuinely well realized and had something real to say- or at least an engaging twist to their story.

I just started a 2nd playthrough in small bits and pieces on Stadia just to see the female V and go for a different combat spec. I know the game's flawed, but I love it.

The developers should feel proud of what they've accomplished. I don't think the console situation is worse than some stuff we've seen this generation. Avengers & Control one to mind where it's basically unplayable on base consoles. But there's hysteria since this game's marketing was overhyped. I think the news cycle will get old.

I went with the V and Panam end. It was good and ill go back and see the others at some point, it did feel like it reduced Johnny to a none entity so a little more satisfying closure to his character would have been better and the six month thing was kind of bad.

Overall I liked the game a lot due to the interesting story and characters, sure the emersion breaking bugs were a downer, and I did manage to break the combat by using a tech gun that could one shot just about any enemy through walls made some of the stems simply feel half finished, but there are the bones of the game the hype promised there.

@serryl: Well, I chalked that up to both the money they have, as well as the talk of technology and medicine(?) going a long way toward prolonging people's lives, so they were able to be that way. There's some content in the game that shows that the tech can really change your identity too. I agree though that I wish they would have looked and sounded drastically older than they were, I felt there was enough story reason for them not to though.

I've heard that love interests are involved somehow and maybe affect the ending, but i didn't romance/sleep with anyone in the game because i hated everyone, the character i wanted to make isn't an option so i ended up blowing off a bunch of people and unfortunately couldn't get Panam killed, despite my best efforts.
I chose to go with Arasaka because they seem like literally the only people capable of helping, which my friends despise me for because apparently they WANT me to die, the Smasher fight was shit, for some reason Yorinobu gives up like you've thwarted all of his plans, even though the only bad thing that happened to him is that you killed a handful of his guards, is that really all he has? Him being taken over by Saburo was predictable and in a world where you witness brains being hacked every minute or two not at all surprising. I have no idea what the purpose was of being subjected to repetitive psychological tests, i assume they wanted to do something bad to V? Non of that is explained, the guard speaking in code like Takemura was weird, i thought that was going to go somewhere but ended up being nothing, then for some reason Hellman flies to space just to talk to you even though that's not his job AT ALL, then you have basically radiation sickness for reasons, and i refused to be digitised because i was fucking bored, then an awkward cutscene plays where my dodgy looking character attempts facial animation, then the game ends.
Actually terrible, i assume any of the other endings are better.

@cikame: My headcannon for the psychological tests was some combination of them actually trying to help V. and, probably more importantly, just a desire to study him, especially because a variant of the chip is being used for Saburo now so they want to gather as much info about it and how it functions and its effects as possible. Studying V. is in Arasaka's interests.

If you meant what was the game design purpose (rather than narrative) it was to set up the jump scare and also just induce a sense of unease and captivity. It was kind of boring and long but I saw what they were going for.

Also Hellman's job is whatever Arasaka tells him it is. The game implies that Hanako is actually kind of fond of V. and tries to do right by him.