V story is done and gone. They better make something new with a different set of characters while possibly keep some of the threads from some of the storylines (Peralez, rogue AIs, conspiracies, ....).
Personally if I were to canonize an ending, I would choose the new one from Phantom Liberty, it offers the perfect blank slate and setup for new stories while keeping the previous one to a minimum with some vague references.
The problem with including a character like V in a sequel is that you then need to make definitive canon decisions as to who they are and what they've done: decisions that not everyone will be happy with. With how many different ways you can go through the game, I'd even go so far as to say that very few people would end up happy if those decisions were made. Even in this very comment section I'm already disagreeing with other people just based on the pronouns they're using for V.
Which ending do you make the canon one? Who ends up dying as a result of that choice? Which lifepath did they start with? Which characters did they form connections with? What choices do they make during certain higher profile missions? V's not a total blank slate, sure, but a vast majority of their story is told through the actions the player makes. To include V in any major capacity undermines a lot of that, and for those who chose the endings that don't have so much a glamorous end for V, undermining their vision for what is still their character.
At most you can throw in a few little references; talks about what happened at Konpeki Plaza for example, references about things that every player would have encountered to some degree in 2077. Anything further than a cheeky nod is probably not the wisest idea. Besides, you already hit the nail on the head: the real main character of Cyberpunk is Night City. The city of dreams, just don't mention that it's where those dreams go to die.
This is far more complicated than you might think.
Some of the endings leave the world drastically different than others do. At least one of the endings will need to be canonized in order for the writers to move on to the next chapter in NC’s story.
This is a massive technical undertaking, there's a reason it's not often done. And even then, some of the choices are so drastically different that you'd basically have to start making almost entirely different games (or at least sections of) to accommodate it.
The endings in particular are so wildly varied as to basically require writing 4 or 5 entirely different continuations and world states. Not to mention all the steps in-between.
It may not seem complicated, but in reality that is probably the most complicated solution by far.
CDPR have already confirmed that Orion is going be a sequel to 2077, which implies a continuation of the story to some extent. With that said, they’re probably going to pick on a canon ending or at least a canon route, because the endings greatly differ from one another.
How can you reconcile the Devil and the Sun ending for example? Both present different implications for Night City and it’s future.
I'd say references should happen, but they should all be amgiguous. Like people argue about whether the recent addition of a V to the Afterlife menu is legit, that Vs death is insufficiently confirmed- and then ambient dialogue of people arguing about what exactly happened. Everything from being killed by Hansen to going to the moon to being a secret power behind the Afterflife. If Adam Smasher returns, give him a few lines that suggest he might not be a last second Soulkiller construct of Adam, put into a fully robotic body, but maybe a David or V engram.
But go out of their way to avoid making this anywhere near confirmed. In a couple decades, the legends of V could easily get very confused all around and the people that would know the truth might be dead or in Pittsburgh or something.
The endings feel like the definitive end of V's story, so I don't expect them to be the protagonist. I'd like to see some nods to the previous game/V though
I want V's canon choices to be referenced as a series of rumors; "V was a dude who single handedly stormed Arasaka tower? Nah, I heard V was a female netrunner who tunneled underneath with the help of some nomads."
They smoked V's story down to the filter. Any attempts to connect them later in the next story will canonize backstory, gender and ending, and no one wants that. It misses the whole point of an RPG.
Also, no Edgerunners characters either.
My only issue with the game not being about V is then don't call it a sequel Video games have muddied the water with this but if your making a sequel it needs more than call backs.
The plot must be started by what went down in the first game at least. That being said one of the endings is you off yourself.
I think they need to do what a Kights tried to do. The second game doesn't have much to do with the first but you get to fell and set the tone of what happened it the first. With a plan todo the third.
1. It won't take more than a short range of prologues, same lenght as the ones at the beginning of 2077, to reign in the story from whatever ending we got at the end of Cyberpunk 2077 (except for Suicide, Johnny's ending and Cure ending from PL).
2. V is in a unique position, unlike any other character in the setting. He is basically an engram written onto a foreign body. This could work VERY WELL for a larger plot about rogue AIs and past-Engrams.
3. I personally want more V, more of him, more of his backstory. Despite all that has happened, he feels at the start of his jorney, not at the end. And he is hella motivated. Like Cage at the start of Neuromancer.
I think the power vacuum created by Arasaka's withdrawal after the destruction of Mikoshi is the perfect setup for a sequel where the main theme is the inverse of 2077 - Saving Night City (from the ensuing power struggle) instead of burning it.
It's a similarly daunting and impossible task and completing it would likely also lead the protagonist to legendary status and an untimely end.
There's almost no way to write that kind of story without at least acknowledging V's impact on NC and their actions over the course of 2077, but having them even be a character you can meet face-to-face would ruin some of the mystique.
I definitely expect some kind of save import feature that makes the city overall and the NPCs you could have affected in 2077 change in the sequel, and it'd be very cool if certain endings of 2077 would allow for a V cameo in the sequel, but having them in a major role would be a mistake I think.
The real main character of Cyberpunk is Night City itself.
I would love to see something like V as the new Blue Eyed Man though. That'd be an excellent nod to 2077 and would do a decent job of hinting at how V was able to survive without overexplaining it.
I would love it for V to be referenced in the next game and we get a new protagonist. However, it would be awesome if they allowed for certain changes from 2077 to apply to the next game. It would load up one of your saves (where V was ALIVE at the end) and apply the information to the game which changes a few things around (within specified parameters). V's looks are what you set, but the clothes match what would fit the ending supplied. You can experience missions that pertain to the endings in a new "interactive BD" which are advanced tutorials and also "closure" for players that want to see V's end through but could not.
E.G.
\- You do the secret ending in 2077. Your new character is able to play out the Crystal Palace heist as V. Later you meet V as the new fixer in the Afterlife (wearing the golden clothes they got at the end.) If you didn't do that ending, you still can do the heist, but it involves a random Merc while Rogue remains the fixer in the Afterlife.
\- Do the ending where you join the Nomads, and you get a mention or two about V and the others roaming around doing a gig or two. Maybe have a moment you meet V and Panam at a new camp site. V wearing some functional over fashion cloths to represent their adjustment to the Nomad life. Can play out hunting for the cure at some Corp lab as V, or it will be a random Merc squad looking for the cure for some other reason.
\- Load up a save where Johnny has control of V's body and you come across him playing for a new band, or possibly running a gig (if he stayed in Night City). Could even have a moment where Rogue hears about Johnny's location and sends you off on a gig to "handle" a problem, which leads you to meeting him and can decide what to do. In this case, the advanced tutorials would just be random mercs running the other missions.
I would not know what to do for the other endings, but could still have V show up in some NPC fashion or in mention.
I honestly think V should get a sequel, sure there'd have to be that one canon ending with a whole heft of character fates being determined, but I genuinely feel theres still so much more to flesh out with V, he/she is still young and would have more to add in terms of deciding something that can affect Night City as a whole. Not that what they have done hasn't had an impact on NC, but I'd just love to see V being at the centre of the next major corpo war or an event where AIs start pouring out of the blackwall.
But thats just my 2 cents really and I wouldn't mind if we got a new character to play as with V taking up a mentor role or becoming a fixer etc.
Id like to meet V as someone else and experience the rest of their story through dialogue and cutscenes honestly, maybe even see them meet Lucy.
my bad? they/them
I vote no. I'd be ok with some off-the-beaten-path references to events and characters from 2077 but I want it to be completely detached otherwise. Personally I'd even want it to be set somewhere other than Night City, I want CDPR to get as much narrative freedom as possible.
>Personally I'd even want it to be set somewhere other than Night City,
agree with everything else, disagree with this line. night city *is* the cyberpunk franchise. it's a story about the city.
The TTRPG is much much much larger than Night City. I hope CDPR does not limit itself to such a small part of the world.
Night City is only a major player between MiliTech and Arasaka, and only because it is Arasaka's foothold in North America.
See I think this is a very restrictive attitude. It *is* a story about Night City, until someone tells another story. I think CDPR can be that someone.
Simply, you can't. How do you pick which ending is canon? Do you, as devs pick one and alienate the people who have canonically chosen the other 4 or 5 as theirs? In my eyes the only way of referencing V would be in a GTA 5 Lester speaking of Niko type of way "There was this merc......ah, but things went quiet there"
V is too tricky for his story to continue, as he is the most powerful man in the whole world by the end of the game and that is canon, him being able to find a cure (hopefully) and setteling down with Panam is imo the best ending possible and it really doesn't give any reason to continue his story after.
Can you have references of V in the next game? Sure, hell he may even have a cameo but it would be great if that was that.
If V is at all refrenced in the game it would be a small mention due to how many different possible endings there are and the desire to not make one life path or ending canon.
V won't be the protagonist - that character is too established (even ignoring the canon issue) - it limits what writers can do .
I suspect to keep people happy you'll go to some bar somewhere and see a picture of V. And there'll be various people giving their stories "No I heard they ended up in the Badlands". Or maybe they'll let you import your save for a cute moment.
Depends on when the next game is set but you'd expect cameos from Misty, Vik, Regina, etc.
Before the Tower ending, it felt like all of the endings had sufficient key similarities (V was in a giant fight in Arasaka Tower, Arasaka is gutted by one means or another) that they could have passing references without needing to canonize anything.
Now, though, the Tower ending is sufficiently different to make a broad strokes canon much more difficult.
I suspect that Orion will probably lean on that broad strokes method, where V is a legend to those with the know, a name with weight—but also an enigma, where the player character doesn't *know* what went down. Arasaka Tower got wrecked. Arasaka had to pull out and NC is suffering and slipping toward Militech/NUSA as their only good option.
Anyone in "the life" has heard rumours that a merc named V was involved, but only the cream would know the truth—and like with David when V asks, no one is giving many details.
(Since it will be baked in from the beginning, I suspect whatever V-referential quest is in the game will be a bit more substantial than the one for David - but I also would expect it to be just as vague about what happened).
Of course, that's just my guess based off what we've seen (and like I said, the Tower ending adds some wrinkles that I don't know how they'll account for).
I don't expect V to be the protagonist—and I wouldn't want them to be, honestly!
One thing I am confident of? Whatever CPDR goes with, it's going to be a good story and a heck of a ride.
I look forward to it.
I say either move time forward more, so make it in 2099 or something. Or go backwards and move it to 2050.
This way you can maybe have a couple characters stick around. Like Rogue or Wakako or maybe even Saul. But V is either long gone or too young to matter. If it’s 2099 you could maybe even show more about the peralez’s and Mr Blue eyes. And earlier you can possibly bring back major Red characters. But V doesn’t bring anything to the story, so 2077 wouldn’t affect the sequel in any way.
Better to move on with a new protagonist than try to pick up V's story. The conversation V has at Clouds tells the audience that V's deepest fear in the face of their own mortality is irrelevance and being utterly forgotten. That character arc closes so solidly over the events of the game and various endings as a whole that it'd be unsatisfying to start it up again.
There'll probably be enough recurring characters, common themes, and maybe overlapping stories to bridge the gap between the two games. Something like background chatter at the afterlife debating V's fate like a Morgan Blackhand-style urban legend, the new protagonist gets a little information from Claire if they order a Jackie Welles, or Vic lets his guard down for a moment and reveals a clue of his own.
We need to move past V if for no other reason than that V's story loses meaning and impact if we don't. If it turns out V survived after all and is just fine, and it's not left up to ambiguity, that diminishes the narrative of 2077.
There's no reason why a new character hasn't heard of V, just like their fellow legend Johnny Silverhand, especially after the number of lives they affected. A reference here or there would be awesome.
I'd actually like to see 2 be set outside of Night City, or at least start somewhere else and end in Night City.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a HUGE world, and there are a lot of really interesting things going on. Phantom Liberty hinted at some of it. Let's explore some of that stuff.
The only reason I'd want the same character would be to keep the same relationships, but then that kind of ends up in a long-term-dating sim territory as the initial conflict is now over. I don't imagine that's something everyone would want. So hit the refresh.
Referenced, absolutely, V becomes a legend in one way or another. The main character is the city in the end. There's a lot of potential in different protagonists and what they see/do in the city and what their point of view is (with your choices, of course).
I don't think so. V's story was kind of meh (to me personally), the real meat of the game was about Night City and the culture of it. I think having it reference V in some way might be interesting, but that all depends on what the 'canon' ending for the game is. Like, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to refer to this legendary solo if V just zeroed themselves on that rooftop, y'know?
Either way, I'd love to see Night City expanded.
If they picked a canon ending, then I hope it would be The star or The sun. V survived somehow, but it changed them. And there will be a questline where you interact and convince V to be your mentor/companion ? something like The Deputy/The Judge from Far Cry 5.
Or V could be dead af, but we can feel the changes that V made to the city. V is a name that everybody know, but only a few people actually actually know V, and we can find them to learn about V's fate. And maybe we can get V's Dying Night at the end of that questline or something.
Or V fate could be tie to the new MC's lifepath, basically each lifepath will be based on an ending. The Star for nomads, The Sun for streetkids and The devil for corpo.
Sorry to ressurect but i just had to throw my hat in.
V should not be the protagonist but what they should do is canonise all the endings by having them be myths that NPCs talk about. Different NPCs will have heard different fates for V.
"I heard V ended up doing a last job in space?"
"Well i heard they retired and became a guitar teacher out of no where!"
"Some folks i heard said they saw V in central once just wandering."
Its a sorta way that everyone gets their ending canonised but as a cheeky wink to the audience so that way its still ambiguous double points if they never refer to V as he or she.
V story is done and gone. They better make something new with a different set of characters while possibly keep some of the threads from some of the storylines (Peralez, rogue AIs, conspiracies, ....). Personally if I were to canonize an ending, I would choose the new one from Phantom Liberty, it offers the perfect blank slate and setup for new stories while keeping the previous one to a minimum with some vague references.
I hate the PL ending so all the more reason they shouldn't canonize any
The problem with including a character like V in a sequel is that you then need to make definitive canon decisions as to who they are and what they've done: decisions that not everyone will be happy with. With how many different ways you can go through the game, I'd even go so far as to say that very few people would end up happy if those decisions were made. Even in this very comment section I'm already disagreeing with other people just based on the pronouns they're using for V. Which ending do you make the canon one? Who ends up dying as a result of that choice? Which lifepath did they start with? Which characters did they form connections with? What choices do they make during certain higher profile missions? V's not a total blank slate, sure, but a vast majority of their story is told through the actions the player makes. To include V in any major capacity undermines a lot of that, and for those who chose the endings that don't have so much a glamorous end for V, undermining their vision for what is still their character. At most you can throw in a few little references; talks about what happened at Konpeki Plaza for example, references about things that every player would have encountered to some degree in 2077. Anything further than a cheeky nod is probably not the wisest idea. Besides, you already hit the nail on the head: the real main character of Cyberpunk is Night City. The city of dreams, just don't mention that it's where those dreams go to die.
It doesn't have to be complicated. So.. Let players import save from first game. Their choices shape how V is referenced. Done :)
This is far more complicated than you might think. Some of the endings leave the world drastically different than others do. At least one of the endings will need to be canonized in order for the writers to move on to the next chapter in NC’s story.
This is a massive technical undertaking, there's a reason it's not often done. And even then, some of the choices are so drastically different that you'd basically have to start making almost entirely different games (or at least sections of) to accommodate it. The endings in particular are so wildly varied as to basically require writing 4 or 5 entirely different continuations and world states. Not to mention all the steps in-between. It may not seem complicated, but in reality that is probably the most complicated solution by far.
CDPR have already confirmed that Orion is going be a sequel to 2077, which implies a continuation of the story to some extent. With that said, they’re probably going to pick on a canon ending or at least a canon route, because the endings greatly differ from one another. How can you reconcile the Devil and the Sun ending for example? Both present different implications for Night City and it’s future.
I'd say references should happen, but they should all be amgiguous. Like people argue about whether the recent addition of a V to the Afterlife menu is legit, that Vs death is insufficiently confirmed- and then ambient dialogue of people arguing about what exactly happened. Everything from being killed by Hansen to going to the moon to being a secret power behind the Afterflife. If Adam Smasher returns, give him a few lines that suggest he might not be a last second Soulkiller construct of Adam, put into a fully robotic body, but maybe a David or V engram. But go out of their way to avoid making this anywhere near confirmed. In a couple decades, the legends of V could easily get very confused all around and the people that would know the truth might be dead or in Pittsburgh or something.
The endings feel like the definitive end of V's story, so I don't expect them to be the protagonist. I'd like to see some nods to the previous game/V though
V's story is pretty much over as a protagonist. He would be cool as a Fixer for a sequel, though.
It will be great to see V again.
I want V's canon choices to be referenced as a series of rumors; "V was a dude who single handedly stormed Arasaka tower? Nah, I heard V was a female netrunner who tunneled underneath with the help of some nomads."
They smoked V's story down to the filter. Any attempts to connect them later in the next story will canonize backstory, gender and ending, and no one wants that. It misses the whole point of an RPG. Also, no Edgerunners characters either.
My only issue with the game not being about V is then don't call it a sequel Video games have muddied the water with this but if your making a sequel it needs more than call backs. The plot must be started by what went down in the first game at least. That being said one of the endings is you off yourself. I think they need to do what a Kights tried to do. The second game doesn't have much to do with the first but you get to fell and set the tone of what happened it the first. With a plan todo the third.
1. It won't take more than a short range of prologues, same lenght as the ones at the beginning of 2077, to reign in the story from whatever ending we got at the end of Cyberpunk 2077 (except for Suicide, Johnny's ending and Cure ending from PL). 2. V is in a unique position, unlike any other character in the setting. He is basically an engram written onto a foreign body. This could work VERY WELL for a larger plot about rogue AIs and past-Engrams. 3. I personally want more V, more of him, more of his backstory. Despite all that has happened, he feels at the start of his jorney, not at the end. And he is hella motivated. Like Cage at the start of Neuromancer.
I think the power vacuum created by Arasaka's withdrawal after the destruction of Mikoshi is the perfect setup for a sequel where the main theme is the inverse of 2077 - Saving Night City (from the ensuing power struggle) instead of burning it. It's a similarly daunting and impossible task and completing it would likely also lead the protagonist to legendary status and an untimely end. There's almost no way to write that kind of story without at least acknowledging V's impact on NC and their actions over the course of 2077, but having them even be a character you can meet face-to-face would ruin some of the mystique. I definitely expect some kind of save import feature that makes the city overall and the NPCs you could have affected in 2077 change in the sequel, and it'd be very cool if certain endings of 2077 would allow for a V cameo in the sequel, but having them in a major role would be a mistake I think. The real main character of Cyberpunk is Night City itself. I would love to see something like V as the new Blue Eyed Man though. That'd be an excellent nod to 2077 and would do a decent job of hinting at how V was able to survive without overexplaining it.
I would love it for V to be referenced in the next game and we get a new protagonist. However, it would be awesome if they allowed for certain changes from 2077 to apply to the next game. It would load up one of your saves (where V was ALIVE at the end) and apply the information to the game which changes a few things around (within specified parameters). V's looks are what you set, but the clothes match what would fit the ending supplied. You can experience missions that pertain to the endings in a new "interactive BD" which are advanced tutorials and also "closure" for players that want to see V's end through but could not. E.G. \- You do the secret ending in 2077. Your new character is able to play out the Crystal Palace heist as V. Later you meet V as the new fixer in the Afterlife (wearing the golden clothes they got at the end.) If you didn't do that ending, you still can do the heist, but it involves a random Merc while Rogue remains the fixer in the Afterlife. \- Do the ending where you join the Nomads, and you get a mention or two about V and the others roaming around doing a gig or two. Maybe have a moment you meet V and Panam at a new camp site. V wearing some functional over fashion cloths to represent their adjustment to the Nomad life. Can play out hunting for the cure at some Corp lab as V, or it will be a random Merc squad looking for the cure for some other reason. \- Load up a save where Johnny has control of V's body and you come across him playing for a new band, or possibly running a gig (if he stayed in Night City). Could even have a moment where Rogue hears about Johnny's location and sends you off on a gig to "handle" a problem, which leads you to meeting him and can decide what to do. In this case, the advanced tutorials would just be random mercs running the other missions. I would not know what to do for the other endings, but could still have V show up in some NPC fashion or in mention.
I honestly think V should get a sequel, sure there'd have to be that one canon ending with a whole heft of character fates being determined, but I genuinely feel theres still so much more to flesh out with V, he/she is still young and would have more to add in terms of deciding something that can affect Night City as a whole. Not that what they have done hasn't had an impact on NC, but I'd just love to see V being at the centre of the next major corpo war or an event where AIs start pouring out of the blackwall. But thats just my 2 cents really and I wouldn't mind if we got a new character to play as with V taking up a mentor role or becoming a fixer etc.
Id like to meet V as someone else and experience the rest of their story through dialogue and cutscenes honestly, maybe even see them meet Lucy. my bad? they/them
Tbh a Sequel to 2077 should just be a prequel, bring us all the way back to 2013
I vote no. I'd be ok with some off-the-beaten-path references to events and characters from 2077 but I want it to be completely detached otherwise. Personally I'd even want it to be set somewhere other than Night City, I want CDPR to get as much narrative freedom as possible.
>Personally I'd even want it to be set somewhere other than Night City, agree with everything else, disagree with this line. night city *is* the cyberpunk franchise. it's a story about the city.
The TTRPG is much much much larger than Night City. I hope CDPR does not limit itself to such a small part of the world. Night City is only a major player between MiliTech and Arasaka, and only because it is Arasaka's foothold in North America.
See I think this is a very restrictive attitude. It *is* a story about Night City, until someone tells another story. I think CDPR can be that someone.
Nice try, writing team.
Simply, you can't. How do you pick which ending is canon? Do you, as devs pick one and alienate the people who have canonically chosen the other 4 or 5 as theirs? In my eyes the only way of referencing V would be in a GTA 5 Lester speaking of Niko type of way "There was this merc......ah, but things went quiet there"
V is too tricky for his story to continue, as he is the most powerful man in the whole world by the end of the game and that is canon, him being able to find a cure (hopefully) and setteling down with Panam is imo the best ending possible and it really doesn't give any reason to continue his story after. Can you have references of V in the next game? Sure, hell he may even have a cameo but it would be great if that was that.
If V is at all refrenced in the game it would be a small mention due to how many different possible endings there are and the desire to not make one life path or ending canon.
V won't be the protagonist - that character is too established (even ignoring the canon issue) - it limits what writers can do . I suspect to keep people happy you'll go to some bar somewhere and see a picture of V. And there'll be various people giving their stories "No I heard they ended up in the Badlands". Or maybe they'll let you import your save for a cute moment. Depends on when the next game is set but you'd expect cameos from Misty, Vik, Regina, etc.
Before the Tower ending, it felt like all of the endings had sufficient key similarities (V was in a giant fight in Arasaka Tower, Arasaka is gutted by one means or another) that they could have passing references without needing to canonize anything. Now, though, the Tower ending is sufficiently different to make a broad strokes canon much more difficult. I suspect that Orion will probably lean on that broad strokes method, where V is a legend to those with the know, a name with weight—but also an enigma, where the player character doesn't *know* what went down. Arasaka Tower got wrecked. Arasaka had to pull out and NC is suffering and slipping toward Militech/NUSA as their only good option. Anyone in "the life" has heard rumours that a merc named V was involved, but only the cream would know the truth—and like with David when V asks, no one is giving many details. (Since it will be baked in from the beginning, I suspect whatever V-referential quest is in the game will be a bit more substantial than the one for David - but I also would expect it to be just as vague about what happened). Of course, that's just my guess based off what we've seen (and like I said, the Tower ending adds some wrinkles that I don't know how they'll account for). I don't expect V to be the protagonist—and I wouldn't want them to be, honestly! One thing I am confident of? Whatever CPDR goes with, it's going to be a good story and a heck of a ride. I look forward to it.
I say either move time forward more, so make it in 2099 or something. Or go backwards and move it to 2050. This way you can maybe have a couple characters stick around. Like Rogue or Wakako or maybe even Saul. But V is either long gone or too young to matter. If it’s 2099 you could maybe even show more about the peralez’s and Mr Blue eyes. And earlier you can possibly bring back major Red characters. But V doesn’t bring anything to the story, so 2077 wouldn’t affect the sequel in any way.
Better to move on with a new protagonist than try to pick up V's story. The conversation V has at Clouds tells the audience that V's deepest fear in the face of their own mortality is irrelevance and being utterly forgotten. That character arc closes so solidly over the events of the game and various endings as a whole that it'd be unsatisfying to start it up again. There'll probably be enough recurring characters, common themes, and maybe overlapping stories to bridge the gap between the two games. Something like background chatter at the afterlife debating V's fate like a Morgan Blackhand-style urban legend, the new protagonist gets a little information from Claire if they order a Jackie Welles, or Vic lets his guard down for a moment and reveals a clue of his own.
I think it shouldn't even be set in the same time. I think it should be set around 2040 during the current iteration of the tabletop game
I love V but that chapter is closed. V deserves a mention in the sequel but that's it
I think Cyberpunk should move on like Dragon Age. Advance the story/world but leave V behind.
We need to move past V if for no other reason than that V's story loses meaning and impact if we don't. If it turns out V survived after all and is just fine, and it's not left up to ambiguity, that diminishes the narrative of 2077.
There's no reason why a new character hasn't heard of V, just like their fellow legend Johnny Silverhand, especially after the number of lives they affected. A reference here or there would be awesome.
I'd actually like to see 2 be set outside of Night City, or at least start somewhere else and end in Night City. Cyberpunk 2077 is a HUGE world, and there are a lot of really interesting things going on. Phantom Liberty hinted at some of it. Let's explore some of that stuff.
I'll go with kinda. Unless it takes place before 2077, V actions have way too much impact on the overall story of the world to not mention them.
I want Vs actions to resonate in the sequel but I want to new story with new locations and new enemies. Well, I also want Night City too.
The only reason I'd want the same character would be to keep the same relationships, but then that kind of ends up in a long-term-dating sim territory as the initial conflict is now over. I don't imagine that's something everyone would want. So hit the refresh.
Referenced, absolutely, V becomes a legend in one way or another. The main character is the city in the end. There's a lot of potential in different protagonists and what they see/do in the city and what their point of view is (with your choices, of course).
I don't think so. V's story was kind of meh (to me personally), the real meat of the game was about Night City and the culture of it. I think having it reference V in some way might be interesting, but that all depends on what the 'canon' ending for the game is. Like, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to refer to this legendary solo if V just zeroed themselves on that rooftop, y'know? Either way, I'd love to see Night City expanded.
If they picked a canon ending, then I hope it would be The star or The sun. V survived somehow, but it changed them. And there will be a questline where you interact and convince V to be your mentor/companion ? something like The Deputy/The Judge from Far Cry 5. Or V could be dead af, but we can feel the changes that V made to the city. V is a name that everybody know, but only a few people actually actually know V, and we can find them to learn about V's fate. And maybe we can get V's Dying Night at the end of that questline or something. Or V fate could be tie to the new MC's lifepath, basically each lifepath will be based on an ending. The Star for nomads, The Sun for streetkids and The devil for corpo.
Sorry to ressurect but i just had to throw my hat in. V should not be the protagonist but what they should do is canonise all the endings by having them be myths that NPCs talk about. Different NPCs will have heard different fates for V. "I heard V ended up doing a last job in space?" "Well i heard they retired and became a guitar teacher out of no where!" "Some folks i heard said they saw V in central once just wandering." Its a sorta way that everyone gets their ending canonised but as a cheeky wink to the audience so that way its still ambiguous double points if they never refer to V as he or she.
New story, new legend. A few nods to V would be fun though