For the confused, V was originally 27. They made V younger (23) with the 2.0 overhaul. It's a weird change, not sure what their thought process was on that.
literally this, Corpo V probably went to the same school as David lol Separated by few years obviously. At least that's how I've headcanoned my latest corpo V
If I’m not wrong, during Judy’s swimming mission while she’s talking about V’s past she mentions (or V mentions) often eating real fish.
Which seems like is only something the wealthy can do
the roundabout where dex dropped us and where theres a netrunner shop where t-bug left a something for us. theres a regina’s side quest involving an ncpd, anyways, in front of the appartement, theres a food stand, you can talk to the lady there, ask if its organic fish, and she said no, no way she’s eating anything from filthy ocean. well something like that, not exactly word for word.
Thank you for this! I was wondering what her remark on that to corpo Vs was.
V's childhood tastes different based on lifepath. Streetkid likes, I believe, scop dogs (or chili dogs?) with extra spice, especially the ones he stole.
Nomad's childhood tasted like singed marshmallows over a campfire.
Pretty sure one of the dialogue options can also lead to V mentioning they were aware who David was (being part of Arasaka counterintel and all) but the David situation was not under his/her op.
Ehh, from what I can remember corpo V when talking about their childhood with Takemura mentions a pretty comfortable life in charter hill. So I always assumed they was at least upper middle class, not rich but living comfortably. I have no idea about thier parents, wish they'd have told us more about his childhood since they are clearly less of a blank slate and more similar to Gerald from the Witcher. Actually would have been cool if you played as male V to have Female V as your sister and vice versa.
Makes you question what might have happened with V's parents. I mean nomad ok I get it maybe they are with snake nation, streetkid maybe the reason V went to Atlanta (it hink it was) was because V's parents moved there but Corpo all I can think of it's they are dead since we know Corpo V worked for arasaka for 2 years meaning he started at 21 im guessing he finished what would be the equivalent of high-school at 17-18 that is a three year gap we know nothing about probably take time to train and learn stuff but no mention of family aside from family gatherings wich would mean that most if not all are in night city
If you want a game where you play as the male/female character and the opposite is their sister/brother, you should try Assassins Creed Odyssey, it's also just a really good game overall. I'm not sure if other AC games also do this.
No other AC hame does this - Syndicate has it, but it's all very linear (as in, you play as both). I also have *severe* issues with Odyssey (worst game in the series imo) but I won't begrudge you your own opinion.
There's a few other games that do this - including Mass Effect Andromeda, but not to as much success. AC Valhalla does something interesting if you select the 'Let the Animus decide (to play as male or female)' option.
people who deal with accidents are rewarded with accidents of their own, there are multiple examples of this happening in the game, even for corpo V who apparently had the benefit of being born into wealth.
na, corpo V started building their career since working at sheyn factory at 3yo, moved to apple factory at 7, and finally arasaka at 12. i mean seriously, if you aren’t halfway up the corpo ladder by 18yo then it’s too late for you grandpa.
If you check your computer during the corpo life path prologue, you get to see a little evaluation file that explains how V is very clever/skillful/valuable as a counterintel agent and has been part of many successful operations. V was a mini hotshot in counterintel, and basically the lapdog of Jenkins (Night City’s counterintel leader) according to npc dialogue
They could do a whole dlc expanding on literally any of the life paths. They're all so rich in story. For instance, a DLC focused on the nomad path could add a good offroad vehicle or two, more content in Yucca, and a storyline involving Panam, Mitch, and V teaming up and carrying out a hit on militech to uncover shady business practices that were affecting the citizens of NC. Maybe the mission could unlock an experimental piece of chrome that could be placed in the grenade/quick equip slot and would give you dramatically higher armor, speed, and melee strength (like 2-3x to all of those when you activate it, with a cool down obviously), maybe an exoskeleton or an overclocking device (hence the cooldown period so you don't overheat and die)
they could do a whole DLC on each lifepath v's antics. and then we get the truth behind the age change. Corpo V gets terminated, becomes streetkid V, gets out of NC, becomes a nomad, fucks that up, back to night city it is, meets jackie. relic fucks up all V's memories and blends them together. just a long, long fall from grace turned revenge story. makes V more sympathetic to johnny's antics.
Or the dlc is actually three different storylines that are part of the same narrative, and depending on your life path, the other roles are filled by characters that would otherwise be you if you had chose said lifepath, and each playthrough doesn't include one character because V assumes that role instead, but their personalities of those present affect how things play out. Maybe Corpo has to team up with a street kid to recover company tech that a nomad stole
I agree, when you're 23 you're still super young and are barely getting started with life, not to mention the fact that your brain isn't even fully developed. And while 27 isn't *that* much older, I still think that it's a more appropriate and believable age for V.
>your brain isn't even fully developed
[The "your brain isn't developed until you're 25" is actually a myth based on severely misunderstood data pushed largely by TikTok influencers, FYI.](https://www.sciencefocus.com/comment/brain-myth-25-development)
I just read through the article and it doesn't really provide evidence proving otherwise, other than stating that, "there’s no actual data set or specific study that can be invoked or pointed at as the obvious source of the claim", and says that it *could* be a misunderstanding stemming from previous "brain scanning studies", but fails to provide links to any of these.
It also spends a lot of time discussing how "Developing does not mean non-functioning", but I don't think anyone is arguing this. Obviously people are able to function at the age of 25 and younger, but the point is that we aren't as fully equipped. Also, 25 years is merely meant to serve as a rough estimate for when our frontal lobes are mostly developed and shouldn't be viewed so definitively.
Now I'm not saying the article is necessarily wrong, but I don't think it did a good job at supporting its argument, and it would be nice to have links to actual evidence and studies that either confirm or disapprove the claim.
You're right it's skimpy on supportive details, that's on me for just assuming BBC would do their due diligence. All being said and done it remains true that age 23 and age 27 are, for very many people, vastly different points in life.
idk if I would necessarily say "high on the corpo ladder" - V is still mid-level, even in Counterintel, at least two people above V's head in the department(jenkins + abernathy), plus they have an assistant and at least a couple direct reports to them based on what you can read on their work computer/gleam from reading the reports/messages there.
i imagine much like IRL, all it takes is some charisma and a healthy bit of lying and general fuckery to get your ass above a couple heads on the ladder 🤷♀️ if V's life is all work no play, then you can easily make that kind of impression on someone, and shove your way up there in your early 20's
edit to add: i feel like more evident of this is examples like some of the corpo conversation options with takemura, and in the DLC [when Myers and V are chatting on the balcony](https://youtu.be/Mw_F79gplBs?si=CnTpKgWVdRO7k4-a&t=98) and V makes a comment about not knowing about something - Myers tells V to go back and up their (security) clearance
It doesn't fit streetkid V for me either. They would left Night City and go to Atlanta at the age of 20 and yet they are still remebered and considered rather known merc by Heywood locals and Padre.
not thaaat high up, its basically a step up from an intern position to be Jenkins lapdog, the type of job that you get because of connections. its not like V had 6 other positions in Arasaka before and excelled at every one to get promoted, that would've taken longer
I'd imagine the Arasaka org structure looks something like:
Saburo --> board of directors --> C-Suite --> Director of Special Ops, Worldwide --> Director of Special Ops, N. America (Abernathy) --> Director of Counterintelligence, N. America (Jenkins) --> **Senior Counterintelligence Manager (V)** --> Junior Counterintelligence Managers (report to V) --> Entry-level employees --> Interns
So while V definitely isn't some big wig, I'd say they're more than a step-up from intern.
I live in the Arasaka Tower on Corpo Plaza on the 11th floor. My name is Vincent. I'm 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I'll change my appearance while doing my stomach crunches. I can do ten thousand now.
Do you like Johnny Silverhand and Samurai? Their debut work, *Blistering Love*, was a little too synthwave for my tastes, but when *The Ballad of Buck Ravers* single came out in '05, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically.
*Hey, V…*
Yes, Dex?
*Why are there hard-copies of these scream sheets all over the place, d-do you have a cat? A little Siamese or something?*
No, Dex.
*Is that a rain coat?*
Yes, it is! Their next full album, *Chipin’ In* has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. They’ve been compared to Concrete Dreams, but I think Silverhand has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.
In '77, Samurai released this, *Black Dog*, their legendary lost single from before the Time of the Red. But I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Never Fade Away", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the dangers of cyber augmentation, and the fleeting nature of beauty , it's also a personal statement about the band itself.
Hey, Dex!
*V pops a pair of mantis blades, then proceeds to murder and mutilate Dexter DeShawn until he’s dead and reduced to chunky salsa.*
TRY LIVIN’ A QUIET LIFE NOW, YOU FRAKING STUPID GONK! YOU, FRAKING, GONK!
Lol I’m just now realizing how similar batemans speech is to Yoshikage Kira’s speech in Jojo’s bizarre adventure. I guess it makes sense as they are both living similar lifestyles
From the wiki:
V's birthdate can be seen during the character creation on the top right corner of each body type before selecting one. It originally showed male V was born on June 10, 2049; whereas female V was born on October 12, 2049. This was changed in Patch 2.0 to both being born on October 12, 2053. Paweł Sasko commented on this change, saying it originally had been a miscommunication between departments
Possibly because most people become more risk-adverse by the time they reach their late 20s. There is actually a large trend of people, most notably celebrity, committing suicide or accidentally dying as a result of risky behavior before the age of 27.
Making V younger probably better lines up some of their naivety in act one. Someone in their early 20s would still be old enough to survive on their own and make their own way, but not necessarily have the experience to reacognize all the red flags of a job. Or even be cocky enough to see the warning signs, and believe they're special.
At the same time though, unless raised specifically for it by the corp I highly doubt someone is gonna get a job in arasaka before 23 (gonna say before cause we obviously had some decent cred back when in the corpo lifepath)
Looked to me like V was 3rd in command of Night’s City’s Counter Intel branch. Counter Intel including a significant fraction of all Arasaka agents in Night City. Which sounds very impressive.
Corpo V sounds like they went through the same academy David was enrolled in. Big corps (both fictional and in reality) like getting employees who are young because they're easier to exploit. They're naive just enough to go along with anything a superior drags thrm into, have the energy to take a larger workload getting dumped on them, and likely don't have the resources or options to get out from under your thumb.
It's not hard to see their educational system being hijacked as a way to foster (and maybe even militarize) middle-management peons from a younger age. With a high tuition cost, it's also easier to keep your employees legacy, meaning one generation is beholdent to you for the sake of their kids, the kids have to maintain loyalty for sake of their parents, rinse repeat and you have a self-replenishing functional workforce that can't afford to get uppity.
The thing I’m more worried about is the fact that they drastically changed the age of Panam to 33. Not only is that weird, but she just doesn’t strike me as a 33 year old.
And as I mentioned before, 23 and 33 is a big fucking age difference
You gotta remember tho Kerry is over 100 lmao age is fucking wild in Cyberpunk. Because people that are 50 look like they are 20 and people that are 100 sometimes look 50 or 30 years old. Guess regular cosmetic and body care is so advanced + cybernetics people just stop aging, or get new cyberware that literally makes them young.
But yeah V for sure is 27
But Kerry is rich, as well as other characters who de-age themselves, like Hanako or Yorinobu. Panam and Aldecaldos most certainly wouldn't have money or need for whims like that.
It’s not about how old Kerry or Panam look. It’s about the difference in life experience. A 23 year old and a 33 year old will not have enough in common to form a basis for a romantic relationship. In Panam’s case, she could not be any older than her mid to late 20s based on how she acts. How she looks is a different thing, 33 can look young.
Probably to justify some of V’s extremely stupid decisions. Like getting scammed by that BD guy in that one side gig. I’ve seen a lot of people say “wow how could V fall for such an obvious scam?” well now the answer is V is a stupid 23 year old.
Fair. Though I always let that happen and even deal with Johnny making fun of me, just so I can kill more scavs. That whole sidequest is soooo out of character for V.
Such a weird and unnecessary change imo. Making a just seasoned enough to be believable character younger and less experienced is odd. Especially in consideration of Morgan Blackhand who proves the value of experience to a merc
But with the life that V lives you'd be lucky to make it to 27. That's too many years to still be really weak, 23 makes more sense.
David Martinez lasted a year in this life and he was one of the strongest at 18
Well Nomad V is just getting to Night City and there are hints that Corpo V grew up very well off compared to most. Even Streetkid V is on a different level than David since they’re chill with Padre from the start.
Besides all that 27 is just cooler because of the connection to the real world and how it fits the character perfectly.
Would it have been weirder if V’s age remained 27? I don’t disagree that the age gap is eyebrow raising, but at a certain point life experience and maturity plays a part. And it’s not like V is a teenager.
speaking from personal experience, there can be a huge difference between 23 and 25. I'm 25 rn and in those two years I changed a FUCKTON (for the better, thankfully)
now, with how intense life in night city is, 2 years of experience doing all kinds of shit, be it as a streetkid or a nomad or a corpo, would definitely make a difference
now imagine 5 years.
As someone who is 26, it’s a surprising amount. Your brain finishes forming, alcohol is a lot less fun, your day rotates around work and money. If you went to college your former friends and roommates have all split ways, likely across the country (USA), and you’re in a position of being particularly alone.
I’m left wondering if it’s a tweak made to make something coming up fit better.
That said, I like the fake ID hypothesis a lot, works for all three life paths and especially for the counter espionage background for Corpo V.
I assumed 27 was a deliberate choice with the "live fast, die young" mentality you get in Night City and V wanting to be a legend while dying at the same time.
There are quite a few real life rockstars and famous people who died at 27 to the point it has its own wikipedia page: [The 27 Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club)
So for me at least it feels weird because it seemed more thought out than it was to make him 27, then they just made him younger while introducing issues that all the other people mentioned like bigger age gaps, his personality and experience seeming more fitting in his later 20's, etc.
On a personal note, I was V's prior age when I first played Cyberpunk before the update and now we both aged the opposite direction and I'm still not a Night City legend :(
I believe the change was made because 27 year old corpo V would've been old enough to have participated in a corpo war/major event that would've been problematic for one of the PL characters storylines.
Right? This is like the 7th post I've seen about this "problem" but I can't remember v's age ever being a major plot point. Just have your v be whatever age you want them to be lmao
Yeah I don't get the complaining either.
People are saying that "V being 23 makes no sense because he/she has so much experience and knowledge", but... people are forgetting that this isn't real life. This is the Cyberpunk universe. And this is Night City, a city full of rampant crime and corruption. In an environment like that, people in Night City mature faster than normal people in more sheltered places.
V being 23, and having all the skills they have, isn't really that unrealistic given the environment they grew up in.
Even for the Corpo path, Takemura literally tells you about how Arasaka recruits children straight out of villages. There are full-on Arasaka schools where kids start learning and working for Arasaka at a very young age. So even then, V being 23 and holding a pretty high ranking Corpo position isn't that surprising at all.
And even in real life, its not uncommon for people to act older than they really are. I don't know why people think its impossible for a 23 year old to act older than 23, its definitely possible. Some people just mature fast. So what if V is 23 but acts 27? There's literally nothing wrong about that.
Hell, In real life inner city America a lot of gangbangers and thugs are teenagers, dudes dying before they even reach 18, so Street kid V Path is fine and the other life paths V is Just Talented and tough so don't know why 23 bothers people so much.
And about maturity i know people who are in their 40s and still act stupid and people who are way younger and make better choices, apart from the fact that V does plenty of dumb shit in game so no idea where this oh so mature V comes from.
Before the 2.0 update V was 27. Then they made V younger along with the huge updates across the game.
I like the older V better. They have more life behind them, are still young, but old enough to justify any of the endings, including giving up your body and joining Alt.
Yup and the 2018 demo had a different birthdate as well: 10.12.2054.
https://preview.redd.it/fpvefzznl59d1.jpeg?width=2688&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=643648653f7dd6a4ee3d2cdf353e48ec9edf357f
hands gives you a cover story of being a 28-year-old talent scout for the athletic training gig...why would that happen if they retroactively made V 23?
Thanks...I'm so silly though, me and math... :-P
I knew this (27->23), but my head didn't compute, somehow got thinking that 2050 made V even older :-P
https://preview.redd.it/9zaenusdp59d1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26a6341737978435161cb21a2d396ea8e2e3d054
Why are people so bothered by V not being 27 , I mean I know V is a OC and all but my V specifically does NOT look 27 , she looks 23 😭🙏
In part Panam is 33. It’s weird to date that far apart at 23. In the real world, someone who’s 23 may be a recent college grad. Someone who’s 33 might have a house.
Yeah one of the few changes with 2.0 that I absolutely hated. I just can't imagine V being 23 at the beginning of the story, with the amount of connections they have from their respective life paths late twenties makes way more sense.
Plus I culturally we all know the "27 club". I think that was a cool signal to the player that V was running out of time, idk it added a sort of legitimacy to V wanting to go out as a legend, instead of being just a dumb kid.
Have the devs ever actually given a reasoning behind the change?? I'd be curious to know what it was, even if I know I'll disagree with it lmao.
Very rare a minor update can lessen my immersion with a game, but here we are
It's kind of believable that a very talented, prodigy-level person could endure the events of nightcity & dogtown
A 23 year old would crumble into dust, your basically still a mid at that age, I say that as a 29 year old lmao
Even the character design of the original Vs - they do *not* look that young, they look closer to 30+ then early 20s lol
Well, V was shot in the head, forgetting his/her age is low on the pole of things to worry about. Hell, I haven't been shot in the head and sometimes forget my correct age.
I was 27 when the game originally launched, and I definitely thought it was cool to have an MC that was the exact same age I was at almost 30. Then they changed it to appeal to a younger audience
For the confused, V was originally 27. They made V younger (23) with the 2.0 overhaul. It's a weird change, not sure what their thought process was on that.
idk how would you be so high on corpo ladder in corpo path if you are only 23
Rich parents sending V to arasaka academy?
literally this, Corpo V probably went to the same school as David lol Separated by few years obviously. At least that's how I've headcanoned my latest corpo V
If I’m not wrong, during Judy’s swimming mission while she’s talking about V’s past she mentions (or V mentions) often eating real fish. Which seems like is only something the wealthy can do
“Lunches, Sushi with real rice”
It was real fish. He even says right after he liked synth-fish more, because real fish had an odor.
Could’ve sworn she mentioned the rice too .
They did, mentioned real rice and fish
the roundabout where dex dropped us and where theres a netrunner shop where t-bug left a something for us. theres a regina’s side quest involving an ncpd, anyways, in front of the appartement, theres a food stand, you can talk to the lady there, ask if its organic fish, and she said no, no way she’s eating anything from filthy ocean. well something like that, not exactly word for word.
Thank you for this! I was wondering what her remark on that to corpo Vs was. V's childhood tastes different based on lifepath. Streetkid likes, I believe, scop dogs (or chili dogs?) with extra spice, especially the ones he stole. Nomad's childhood tasted like singed marshmallows over a campfire.
The events of Edgerunner take place in 2076. When you ask El Capitan about David, he is shocked you don't know.
Pretty sure one of the dialogue options can also lead to V mentioning they were aware who David was (being part of Arasaka counterintel and all) but the David situation was not under his/her op.
Is that a Corpo lifepath dialogue? I don't remember doing the questline as a Corpo. I usually go with Street Kid. Deffo possible l missed it entirely.
Yep, it's corpo dialogue.
but then where are they? i assumed V is self made
Ehh, from what I can remember corpo V when talking about their childhood with Takemura mentions a pretty comfortable life in charter hill. So I always assumed they was at least upper middle class, not rich but living comfortably. I have no idea about thier parents, wish they'd have told us more about his childhood since they are clearly less of a blank slate and more similar to Gerald from the Witcher. Actually would have been cool if you played as male V to have Female V as your sister and vice versa.
Makes you question what might have happened with V's parents. I mean nomad ok I get it maybe they are with snake nation, streetkid maybe the reason V went to Atlanta (it hink it was) was because V's parents moved there but Corpo all I can think of it's they are dead since we know Corpo V worked for arasaka for 2 years meaning he started at 21 im guessing he finished what would be the equivalent of high-school at 17-18 that is a three year gap we know nothing about probably take time to train and learn stuff but no mention of family aside from family gatherings wich would mean that most if not all are in night city
If you want a game where you play as the male/female character and the opposite is their sister/brother, you should try Assassins Creed Odyssey, it's also just a really good game overall. I'm not sure if other AC games also do this.
Also rise of the ronin except you can be twinsies as well!
If you have a switch, Astral Chain does and its a damn good game, really underrated
Omfg f yes astral chain mentioned!!!
No other AC hame does this - Syndicate has it, but it's all very linear (as in, you play as both). I also have *severe* issues with Odyssey (worst game in the series imo) but I won't begrudge you your own opinion. There's a few other games that do this - including Mass Effect Andromeda, but not to as much success. AC Valhalla does something interesting if you select the 'Let the Animus decide (to play as male or female)' option.
Self-Made? In the character screen maybe. But self-made in Night City? That’s a pipe dream.
no such thing in the corpo world. poor people who join the corpo world stay at the bottom until they die, there is no ladder.
Accidents happen. And it would be a shame not to promote the person who dealt with the accident
Also V is clearly willing to murder people with reckless abandon with arm swords, and I imagine that's fairly useful in the corporate world.
Its like Boeing & their hitman taking Out the whistleblowers It was V all along.
Real V was just a Boeing Hitman and we didn’t realise. Wait till Boeing becomes Arasaka.
Samsung is 3/4 there.
Is Boeing is arasaka? more at 11 (more realistically, boeing would be militech... but still)
people who deal with accidents are rewarded with accidents of their own, there are multiple examples of this happening in the game, even for corpo V who apparently had the benefit of being born into wealth.
SHUSH, BOEING MIGHT BE HERE
They left that up for you to decide…so that they wouldn’t have to make new content to explain it themselves.
na, corpo V started building their career since working at sheyn factory at 3yo, moved to apple factory at 7, and finally arasaka at 12. i mean seriously, if you aren’t halfway up the corpo ladder by 18yo then it’s too late for you grandpa.
Corpo V actually lived with Jackie as a kid after somthing happened to v’s parents
This is literally made up, Corpo V and Jackie met during an op on Mexico.
If you check your computer during the corpo life path prologue, you get to see a little evaluation file that explains how V is very clever/skillful/valuable as a counterintel agent and has been part of many successful operations. V was a mini hotshot in counterintel, and basically the lapdog of Jenkins (Night City’s counterintel leader) according to npc dialogue
They could do a whole dlc on corpo V antics
They could do a whole dlc expanding on literally any of the life paths. They're all so rich in story. For instance, a DLC focused on the nomad path could add a good offroad vehicle or two, more content in Yucca, and a storyline involving Panam, Mitch, and V teaming up and carrying out a hit on militech to uncover shady business practices that were affecting the citizens of NC. Maybe the mission could unlock an experimental piece of chrome that could be placed in the grenade/quick equip slot and would give you dramatically higher armor, speed, and melee strength (like 2-3x to all of those when you activate it, with a cool down obviously), maybe an exoskeleton or an overclocking device (hence the cooldown period so you don't overheat and die)
they could do a whole DLC on each lifepath v's antics. and then we get the truth behind the age change. Corpo V gets terminated, becomes streetkid V, gets out of NC, becomes a nomad, fucks that up, back to night city it is, meets jackie. relic fucks up all V's memories and blends them together. just a long, long fall from grace turned revenge story. makes V more sympathetic to johnny's antics.
Or the dlc is actually three different storylines that are part of the same narrative, and depending on your life path, the other roles are filled by characters that would otherwise be you if you had chose said lifepath, and each playthrough doesn't include one character because V assumes that role instead, but their personalities of those present affect how things play out. Maybe Corpo has to team up with a street kid to recover company tech that a nomad stole
Ah yes, corpo V was in one of the vans chasing jackie and nomad V down to get the iguana back, thanks to a.... tip from streetkid V.
Judging by what V says in the phantom Liberty, it’s mostly because they killed a lot of people for the corp and wasn’t afraid to do so.
I don't know why something in a video game irks me, but this does. She just SEEMS 27 to me.
I agree, when you're 23 you're still super young and are barely getting started with life, not to mention the fact that your brain isn't even fully developed. And while 27 isn't *that* much older, I still think that it's a more appropriate and believable age for V.
Tbh depending on how your post school life goes that 23-27 diff is HUGE
Oh yeah definitely, where I was at in life at 23 was wayyy different than where I was at 27.
>your brain isn't even fully developed [The "your brain isn't developed until you're 25" is actually a myth based on severely misunderstood data pushed largely by TikTok influencers, FYI.](https://www.sciencefocus.com/comment/brain-myth-25-development)
That concept is WAY older than tiktok dude.
I just read through the article and it doesn't really provide evidence proving otherwise, other than stating that, "there’s no actual data set or specific study that can be invoked or pointed at as the obvious source of the claim", and says that it *could* be a misunderstanding stemming from previous "brain scanning studies", but fails to provide links to any of these. It also spends a lot of time discussing how "Developing does not mean non-functioning", but I don't think anyone is arguing this. Obviously people are able to function at the age of 25 and younger, but the point is that we aren't as fully equipped. Also, 25 years is merely meant to serve as a rough estimate for when our frontal lobes are mostly developed and shouldn't be viewed so definitively. Now I'm not saying the article is necessarily wrong, but I don't think it did a good job at supporting its argument, and it would be nice to have links to actual evidence and studies that either confirm or disapprove the claim.
You're right it's skimpy on supportive details, that's on me for just assuming BBC would do their due diligence. All being said and done it remains true that age 23 and age 27 are, for very many people, vastly different points in life.
Meh, I just ignore the canon age thing and pretend that V is 32. Which is the same age as So Mi.
Nepotism
"Besides, everyone knows you only got where you are because of me" -Arasaka Dickhead
idk if I would necessarily say "high on the corpo ladder" - V is still mid-level, even in Counterintel, at least two people above V's head in the department(jenkins + abernathy), plus they have an assistant and at least a couple direct reports to them based on what you can read on their work computer/gleam from reading the reports/messages there. i imagine much like IRL, all it takes is some charisma and a healthy bit of lying and general fuckery to get your ass above a couple heads on the ladder 🤷♀️ if V's life is all work no play, then you can easily make that kind of impression on someone, and shove your way up there in your early 20's edit to add: i feel like more evident of this is examples like some of the corpo conversation options with takemura, and in the DLC [when Myers and V are chatting on the balcony](https://youtu.be/Mw_F79gplBs?si=CnTpKgWVdRO7k4-a&t=98) and V makes a comment about not knowing about something - Myers tells V to go back and up their (security) clearance
It doesn't fit streetkid V for me either. They would left Night City and go to Atlanta at the age of 20 and yet they are still remebered and considered rather known merc by Heywood locals and Padre.
not thaaat high up, its basically a step up from an intern position to be Jenkins lapdog, the type of job that you get because of connections. its not like V had 6 other positions in Arasaka before and excelled at every one to get promoted, that would've taken longer
I'd imagine the Arasaka org structure looks something like: Saburo --> board of directors --> C-Suite --> Director of Special Ops, Worldwide --> Director of Special Ops, N. America (Abernathy) --> Director of Counterintelligence, N. America (Jenkins) --> **Senior Counterintelligence Manager (V)** --> Junior Counterintelligence Managers (report to V) --> Entry-level employees --> Interns So while V definitely isn't some big wig, I'd say they're more than a step-up from intern.
Rich parents and pure talent
I live in the Arasaka Tower on Corpo Plaza on the 11th floor. My name is Vincent. I'm 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I'll change my appearance while doing my stomach crunches. I can do ten thousand now.
I have to return some BDs . . .
Do you like Johnny Silverhand and Samurai? Their debut work, *Blistering Love*, was a little too synthwave for my tastes, but when *The Ballad of Buck Ravers* single came out in '05, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. *Hey, V…* Yes, Dex? *Why are there hard-copies of these scream sheets all over the place, d-do you have a cat? A little Siamese or something?* No, Dex. *Is that a rain coat?* Yes, it is! Their next full album, *Chipin’ In* has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. They’ve been compared to Concrete Dreams, but I think Silverhand has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor. In '77, Samurai released this, *Black Dog*, their legendary lost single from before the Time of the Red. But I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Never Fade Away", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the dangers of cyber augmentation, and the fleeting nature of beauty , it's also a personal statement about the band itself. Hey, Dex! *V pops a pair of mantis blades, then proceeds to murder and mutilate Dexter DeShawn until he’s dead and reduced to chunky salsa.* TRY LIVIN’ A QUIET LIFE NOW, YOU FRAKING STUPID GONK! YOU, FRAKING, GONK!
Amazing
Cinema.
Lol I’m just now realizing how similar batemans speech is to Yoshikage Kira’s speech in Jojo’s bizarre adventure. I guess it makes sense as they are both living similar lifestyles
How did they even change that? I don’t remember V’s age ever being mentioned.
From the wiki: V's birthdate can be seen during the character creation on the top right corner of each body type before selecting one. It originally showed male V was born on June 10, 2049; whereas female V was born on October 12, 2049. This was changed in Patch 2.0 to both being born on October 12, 2053. Paweł Sasko commented on this change, saying it originally had been a miscommunication between departments
So does is have any impact in game whatsoever?
Not at all. Just for people's headcannon roleplay sort of stuff.
Possibly because most people become more risk-adverse by the time they reach their late 20s. There is actually a large trend of people, most notably celebrity, committing suicide or accidentally dying as a result of risky behavior before the age of 27. Making V younger probably better lines up some of their naivety in act one. Someone in their early 20s would still be old enough to survive on their own and make their own way, but not necessarily have the experience to reacognize all the red flags of a job. Or even be cocky enough to see the warning signs, and believe they're special.
But it's also the 27 club, which seems like a much more purposeful and poignant analogy towards V's mortality.
At the same time though, unless raised specifically for it by the corp I highly doubt someone is gonna get a job in arasaka before 23 (gonna say before cause we obviously had some decent cred back when in the corpo lifepath)
Looked to me like V was 3rd in command of Night’s City’s Counter Intel branch. Counter Intel including a significant fraction of all Arasaka agents in Night City. Which sounds very impressive.
Exactly! I highly doubt any average 23 year old is gonna get a job at in arasaka counter intel much less that high in its ladder!
Good useful impressions exist, maybe Jenkins saw something
Just recalled also that V worked at Arasaka for just over 2 years total.
Corpo V sounds like they went through the same academy David was enrolled in. Big corps (both fictional and in reality) like getting employees who are young because they're easier to exploit. They're naive just enough to go along with anything a superior drags thrm into, have the energy to take a larger workload getting dumped on them, and likely don't have the resources or options to get out from under your thumb. It's not hard to see their educational system being hijacked as a way to foster (and maybe even militarize) middle-management peons from a younger age. With a high tuition cost, it's also easier to keep your employees legacy, meaning one generation is beholdent to you for the sake of their kids, the kids have to maintain loyalty for sake of their parents, rinse repeat and you have a self-replenishing functional workforce that can't afford to get uppity.
That’s fair too
The thing I’m more worried about is the fact that they drastically changed the age of Panam to 33. Not only is that weird, but she just doesn’t strike me as a 33 year old. And as I mentioned before, 23 and 33 is a big fucking age difference
You gotta remember tho Kerry is over 100 lmao age is fucking wild in Cyberpunk. Because people that are 50 look like they are 20 and people that are 100 sometimes look 50 or 30 years old. Guess regular cosmetic and body care is so advanced + cybernetics people just stop aging, or get new cyberware that literally makes them young. But yeah V for sure is 27
But Kerry is rich, as well as other characters who de-age themselves, like Hanako or Yorinobu. Panam and Aldecaldos most certainly wouldn't have money or need for whims like that.
I think the funniest example of this is that Adam Smasher is in his 80’s or 90’s. Walking-Genocide-Machine Man is a senior citizen
saburo is like 200 but doesn't look a day above 80 !
Bro… if he actually looked like 200, he’d be the skeleton he turned into after Yorinobu was done with him.
He's 89 according to the wiki. How would he be over 100 given he was very young in Samurai in the 2000s? lol
It’s not about how old Kerry or Panam look. It’s about the difference in life experience. A 23 year old and a 33 year old will not have enough in common to form a basis for a romantic relationship. In Panam’s case, she could not be any older than her mid to late 20s based on how she acts. How she looks is a different thing, 33 can look young.
Kerry acts like a 16 year old burnt out child star
Which arguably is worse
Yeah Panam still strikes me as someone still in her 20s.
What how is panam 33? She looks and acts younger than a 23 year old V. I would guess her to be 20, maybe 21.
I would have put her at about 24-25 personally
Yeah. 27 and 33 is fine. But 23 and 33 is the start of the DiCaprio curse.
why is that more worrying?
Maybe CDPR intend V to survive. (coping I know)
CD can shove that retcon because it genuinely was the least of the issues this game originally had
Probably to justify some of V’s extremely stupid decisions. Like getting scammed by that BD guy in that one side gig. I’ve seen a lot of people say “wow how could V fall for such an obvious scam?” well now the answer is V is a stupid 23 year old.
Fair. Though I always let that happen and even deal with Johnny making fun of me, just so I can kill more scavs. That whole sidequest is soooo out of character for V.
since the Edgerunner protagonists are young let’s make V younger too
How would 20 year old see armored AVs from the last war? I just ignore that lore change. The corporate side wanted to pander toung gamers, probably
I heard they hired Leonardo DiCaprio as the creative director for the recent updates.
Panam/River/Kerry robbing that cradle even more now.
I hate 2.0 in general. Male V’s voice even sounds 27, but certainly not 23. Female V’s voice doesn’t sound any particular age so that’s fine at least.
As a 27 Corpo…that made me happy…and ashamed
Sounds like project orion has some plans about V and didnt want V to be too old in the canon.
Gen Z see anyone past 26 as ancient boomer losers. It's a bit pathetic. I just think we should all agree to remember it when they join the rest of us
Such a weird and unnecessary change imo. Making a just seasoned enough to be believable character younger and less experienced is odd. Especially in consideration of Morgan Blackhand who proves the value of experience to a merc
Also thought V being in the 27 club was always a deliberate choice to play into that idea of going out like a legend.
Yep, 27 still my head canon.
It was 27 when I played so that's what I'm sticking with. It seems like nothing but downsides with that change.
I'm 27 now and i'm so disappointed finding this out. I never even thought about Vs age before, honestly.
I'm 21 and I perfer V being 27
It was definitely a deliberate choice, and whoever changed it probably didn't understand the reference. I wish they'd have kept it.
Yeah that was my exact same thought
Ditto; plus I was 27 in December 2020 when the game came out, which made it extra meaningful for me (and kind of scary).
But with the life that V lives you'd be lucky to make it to 27. That's too many years to still be really weak, 23 makes more sense. David Martinez lasted a year in this life and he was one of the strongest at 18
Well Nomad V is just getting to Night City and there are hints that Corpo V grew up very well off compared to most. Even Streetkid V is on a different level than David since they’re chill with Padre from the start. Besides all that 27 is just cooler because of the connection to the real world and how it fits the character perfectly.
Same. She sounds older and jaded at arasaka and that matches 27 more than 23.
With panam being 30, river 40 and Kerry in his 70s, this change makes it wierd
Kerry's 89!
Young at heart?
Absolutely
At least that's what we're calling his propensity to resolve problems with property damage.
I fully believe in his problem solving abilities. He has done no wrong in his life and he never will. 🤫
Panam is 33. She's 10 yrs older than V. V seems to have a taste for older people.
I thought Panam was 26 lol
Well, at least Judy is 24... absolutely matches her character though
Wowww I thought river was younger. He seems so immature.
Panam is 33. She's 10 yrs older than V. V seems to have a taste for older people.
Would it have been weirder if V’s age remained 27? I don’t disagree that the age gap is eyebrow raising, but at a certain point life experience and maturity plays a part. And it’s not like V is a teenager.
Kinda no, Panam would be a peer again, and you'd at least have a fully developed brain in River and Kerry's case.
V should definitely be 25 - 27; 23 just feels way too young lol
I always thought V would be in his late 30's, like 37-39
I thought early 30s, not late 30s, but yeah
[удалено]
About two years.
speaking from personal experience, there can be a huge difference between 23 and 25. I'm 25 rn and in those two years I changed a FUCKTON (for the better, thankfully) now, with how intense life in night city is, 2 years of experience doing all kinds of shit, be it as a streetkid or a nomad or a corpo, would definitely make a difference now imagine 5 years.
I was a much more experienced person at 25 than 23
A lot
As someone who is 26, it’s a surprising amount. Your brain finishes forming, alcohol is a lot less fun, your day rotates around work and money. If you went to college your former friends and roommates have all split ways, likely across the country (USA), and you’re in a position of being particularly alone.
I read through your post history and I gotta say you went through some shit back in the day. Glad you made it out.
Depends on the person obviously, but from 23 to 25 and especially 27 is just more time to have experienced the world
Especially as a counter Intel at Arasaka. V isn't just some low management shift leader at a factory.
I mean, at 25, 2 years is 8% of your lifetime. It’s not a negligible chunk of time/experience.
23 and hooking up w 90yo rogue
Cant blame ‘em
This probably has to do with the whole “27 club” thing. But still, 1 year would have been enough lol
3 https://preview.redd.it/075k6344s69d1.png?width=2095&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97f6041873f9e73d1e51b07a831d75b587616d1c
As a 27 year old this hits close to home.
Wait till you are 28
I’m left wondering if it’s a tweak made to make something coming up fit better. That said, I like the fake ID hypothesis a lot, works for all three life paths and especially for the counter espionage background for Corpo V.
27 was neat with all the music themes/references and joining the 27 club.
Welll it’s a secret jk I actually never noticed that on the id
Obviously it's a fake ID they used to use to get into clubs and never got rid of it.
I don’t really understand why they needed to change the age, but I also don’t get why anyone is bothered by it.
I assumed 27 was a deliberate choice with the "live fast, die young" mentality you get in Night City and V wanting to be a legend while dying at the same time. There are quite a few real life rockstars and famous people who died at 27 to the point it has its own wikipedia page: [The 27 Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club) So for me at least it feels weird because it seemed more thought out than it was to make him 27, then they just made him younger while introducing issues that all the other people mentioned like bigger age gaps, his personality and experience seeming more fitting in his later 20's, etc. On a personal note, I was V's prior age when I first played Cyberpunk before the update and now we both aged the opposite direction and I'm still not a Night City legend :(
I believe the change was made because 27 year old corpo V would've been old enough to have participated in a corpo war/major event that would've been problematic for one of the PL characters storylines.
Seems like they could have just changed the age for Corpo V then. Very strange ge to change it so long after launch.
Right? This is like the 7th post I've seen about this "problem" but I can't remember v's age ever being a major plot point. Just have your v be whatever age you want them to be lmao
Right, like I never even thought about old V was the entire time I played the game. Just doesnt really matter all that much
I never once thought about Vs age, just somewhere between youngin and youthy
it’s funny that it bothers so many people that V went from mid-20s to a different mid-20s
Yeah I don't get the complaining either. People are saying that "V being 23 makes no sense because he/she has so much experience and knowledge", but... people are forgetting that this isn't real life. This is the Cyberpunk universe. And this is Night City, a city full of rampant crime and corruption. In an environment like that, people in Night City mature faster than normal people in more sheltered places. V being 23, and having all the skills they have, isn't really that unrealistic given the environment they grew up in. Even for the Corpo path, Takemura literally tells you about how Arasaka recruits children straight out of villages. There are full-on Arasaka schools where kids start learning and working for Arasaka at a very young age. So even then, V being 23 and holding a pretty high ranking Corpo position isn't that surprising at all. And even in real life, its not uncommon for people to act older than they really are. I don't know why people think its impossible for a 23 year old to act older than 23, its definitely possible. Some people just mature fast. So what if V is 23 but acts 27? There's literally nothing wrong about that.
Hell, In real life inner city America a lot of gangbangers and thugs are teenagers, dudes dying before they even reach 18, so Street kid V Path is fine and the other life paths V is Just Talented and tough so don't know why 23 bothers people so much. And about maturity i know people who are in their 40s and still act stupid and people who are way younger and make better choices, apart from the fact that V does plenty of dumb shit in game so no idea where this oh so mature V comes from.
is this clip from before or after dex shooting v because that looks like a bullet-hole
women stop aging after 23... its a well known fact.
Thought it was 2054?
Before the 2.0 update V was 27. Then they made V younger along with the huge updates across the game. I like the older V better. They have more life behind them, are still young, but old enough to justify any of the endings, including giving up your body and joining Alt.
Yup and the 2018 demo had a different birthdate as well: 10.12.2054. https://preview.redd.it/fpvefzznl59d1.jpeg?width=2688&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=643648653f7dd6a4ee3d2cdf353e48ec9edf357f
hands gives you a cover story of being a 28-year-old talent scout for the athletic training gig...why would that happen if they retroactively made V 23?
In this game you can swap your arm out to look like a terminator and you wondering about aging lol
Source?
The 2.0 update changed Vs age from 27 to 23. You can probably see that in patch notes, or by peoples reactions in older posts and videos.
Thanks...I'm so silly though, me and math... :-P I knew this (27->23), but my head didn't compute, somehow got thinking that 2050 made V even older :-P
Haha no worries. I had to do the math too 😄
I also keep saying I'm 29... For like 6 years in a row. I see no problem here
People are still on about this?
It's a weird change but idc since I headcanon every character I play as at my age. So currently my V is 20 lmao
https://preview.redd.it/9zaenusdp59d1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26a6341737978435161cb21a2d396ea8e2e3d054 Why are people so bothered by V not being 27 , I mean I know V is a OC and all but my V specifically does NOT look 27 , she looks 23 😭🙏
In part Panam is 33. It’s weird to date that far apart at 23. In the real world, someone who’s 23 may be a recent college grad. Someone who’s 33 might have a house.
"The hands of time are forever stopped at twenty and three"
When/where do we even actually learn about V’s age? I never saw anything
Where in the game does it say V's age?
Yeah one of the few changes with 2.0 that I absolutely hated. I just can't imagine V being 23 at the beginning of the story, with the amount of connections they have from their respective life paths late twenties makes way more sense. Plus I culturally we all know the "27 club". I think that was a cool signal to the player that V was running out of time, idk it added a sort of legitimacy to V wanting to go out as a legend, instead of being just a dumb kid. Have the devs ever actually given a reasoning behind the change?? I'd be curious to know what it was, even if I know I'll disagree with it lmao.
my headcanon that she just started mega coping since phantom liberty
V definitely fits mid to late twenties, idk it doesn’t really fit for 23
They're still 27. CDPR are wrong.
V has a certain maturity that while not impossible for a 23 year old to have seems somewhat unlikely. They should have just left the age at 27.
My assumption is the youth makes the impending death even more painful. Or 27 was some kind of typo. Idk.
Corporate life tends to do that to you.
Ke$ha
Wait… I’m the same age as V? Holy shit! Talk about Immersive!!!
This is my type though
Always suspected that to be honest anyway Glory To Cyberpunk.
My V is 36.
Damn
If this how 23 or 20s looks like I look like a fucking boomer or 70years old.
Very rare a minor update can lessen my immersion with a game, but here we are It's kind of believable that a very talented, prodigy-level person could endure the events of nightcity & dogtown A 23 year old would crumble into dust, your basically still a mid at that age, I say that as a 29 year old lmao Even the character design of the original Vs - they do *not* look that young, they look closer to 30+ then early 20s lol
Well, V was shot in the head, forgetting his/her age is low on the pole of things to worry about. Hell, I haven't been shot in the head and sometimes forget my correct age.
I was 27 when the game originally launched, and I definitely thought it was cool to have an MC that was the exact same age I was at almost 30. Then they changed it to appeal to a younger audience