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An exploration of the various consequences and morality of Phantom Liberty’s 4 endings in Cyberpunk 2077. Ranked by my analysis from Worst to Best.
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:19 King of Swords
06:29 King of Cups
13:50 King of Wands
22:16 King of Pentacles
26:02 Conclusion
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Keeping someone who is suffering alive is a selfish act. The person who refuses to let them go is avoiding suffering loss at the expense of the one who is suffering. I say this as an older gamer who has seen a lot of suffering IRL. "Million Dollar Baby" , a movie from 2005, illustrates my point perfectly for those that might disagree.
imo the best ending for my v is helping song bird an shooting reed getting the cure comes at too steep of a price an Alex gets to live
Sam just pumping these out. Well done dude
King of wands will always be the best ending to me. For me. We are literally the same as So Mi it makes more sense to side with her and now Songbird doesn't have to be a weapon slave for Myers anymore. Alex gets to live and retire. Sadly reed does die but atleast he won't have to live on with guilt and regret and he went out a soldiers way. Myers gets screwed and will probably get exposed in the near future. And we get to go out a legend and keep our loved ones from moving on. It's the ending that is best for the majority of all parties involved.
Only the 3rd ending, because it's the most wholesome and potentially saves the entirety of human race, for a time at least. I just can't bring myself to do the Tower ending, it just reeks of desperation on V's part.
22:52
You get the Tower Ending if you choose King of Pentacles or King of Sword
The main point it's deliver So Mi to FIA. In King of Sword, after Sonbird's confession in train, when you speak with Reed tell him that the matrix can be used only once, he agrees to save it for you in exchange on Songird
Don't talk about other options when presenting a path to an ending because that makes the video very confusing. If So Mi needs to die in King of Cups, there's no need to talk about her being alive in that section.
King of Pentacles – worst ending ever for me…
I sent Song to the moon. Song hired V, the payment was V's life (lol, did anyone believe her story?). When she admits having lied about the cure, V could legitimately consider the contract with Song null and void. However, all the work was already done. Reed was a loyal dog to an evil tyrant, and I thought handing Song over to Myers was the dumbest thing I could imagine.
The best ending, however, is to let Myers die.
Incredible video. Thanks 😉
Reed is exactly what i never want to become. a slave to the cause of other people while believing it is his own.
i am disgusted by him. as stupid as it sounds this story helped me deal with my own situation at work.
i am very loyal and only work at my current company because of the people that i have known for the past 8 years.
we have become friends. some of us even more. we had a band together till Covid anyway. it was a family business.
it used to be only the 10 of us and then we merged with another company one year ago. now we are 40…
the company has completely changed since then even tho we are the ones who bought the other company and it was our values that were supposed to carry over…that did not happen… the values are gonne. it is soulless now.
most of us from the OG crew want to quit but not everybody can cause life reasons.
i can afford to quit but leaving them behind is realy hard knowing it will get even worse for the ones who cant quit.
i am also afraid of not knowing what comes next…. 2016 to 2022 was the best time in my grown up life i could have ever had!
it was the best first job after a careere change one can have!
our boss made his decision and we all have to live with the consequences…. himself included.
i sure as hell will not let anyone use my own values against me.
hmm..Do you really think they will make another expansion?
Well imagine that you have 2 kids NUSA and Night Corp, and So-Mi is a Nuclear bomb, What are you gonna do give one of them the nuke ? or just take care of it like a responsible grown ass adult. In life you don't get to make choices of everybody being happy, you need a specific mind set to see beyond the blind fold, you need to take the approach of less casualties and one that does not let you with a big question mark that makes you wander what are they gonna do with So-Mi on the moon cause let me tell you there is no good Samaritan in NC or in real life all want to take something from you. The PL is using the trolley problem kill 1 and save 5 or do nothing and let 5 people die, lets spice the things one of the 5 people is someone you love most, what do you do ?
On the path you side with So Mi. You can only get Hansen's LMG and handgun, its because Alex took it to end him with it. That why when you go loot his body, the knife is missing. Which is great attention to details
New sub here, I really wish I would’ve found your channel sooner. Cyberpunk is the only game i’ve played that has really grabbed me by the balls and engrossed me into the world CDPR has built. I recently got your channel recommended to me and I am very glad that it happened. Your work is phenomenal and I will definitely be watching all your future installments on your channel. Hope to see you in Night City sometime, choom. Godspeed. 🫡
Ranking these endings is not so simple because people emphasise different criteria as to what constitutes the best and worst endings. For me personally, I would not assess it on gameplay or access to iconic gear, but purely the consequences and implications of the choices made.
That's why I agree with King of Swords being the absolute worst ending, but King of Pentacles would be 3rd imho. If you think about it, all the events of Phantom Liberty happened because Myers viewed Songbird as more of a netrunning WMD than a human being, and felt justified in treating her as such due to her being a politician and no doubt resorting to excuses such as 'in the interests of national security' even if it means committing a massacre at NCX.
Both those endings ofc are the only way for V's life to be saved by the FIA. But the other price to pay is that because Myers, arguably the biggest villain in all of this, is the biggest winner in both endings, she doesn't learn her lesson – she'll see it as a success that Songbird is back in her hands, and that she was justified and vindicated by pushing her to the point where Song had to become more machine than woman, and losing her memories, all because Myers forced her to poke and prod at the Blackwall for her own personal gain.
As for the other two endings, it's tough to decide which is better. The NCX massacre in King of Wands is a hell of a farce by the FIA and a war of nations is potentially looming in the aftermath, but at least Alex lives, Song might live albeit it in the hands of Night Corp potentially, and Reed's death is a bit easier to swallow when he stubbornly clings to his ideals in service of the wrong woman, and you're acting in self-defence. In King of Cups though, Reed has his realisation in the aftermath, but Song dies, Alex dies, and V still soft-releases a Blackwall AI out into the open world, which may have far graver consequences than a shootout at an airport and a war of nations.
The endings are easy for me because I would never reward Myers for causing all this mess to begin with, especially when she conveniently forgets that you saved her life and is willing to have you killed (as too is Reed, if you take that elevator) if you actively work against her retrieving her favourite toy. The real difficult choice is in the Stadium when trying to retrieve the neural matrix from under Hansen's nose, and deciding whether to side with Songbird or Reed.
I went with the king of swords ending first I just really wanted to seek out the possibility of a cure because that was V's main objective towards the end of the game, to live.
But then even handing So Mi over to the NUSA again after going through the spaceport didn't even feel right to me (although Mr.Blue Eyes was the main reason we even got through that). I don't know, I was just hoping for a happy ending where V gets to live, gets to be with his romance partner and continue on doing what they want. I was just hoping but deep down I kind of knew, that there are no happy endings in Night City and that by finally getting the "cure" there would be a big price to pay.
After playing through all the endings, the one that felt right to me was the King of Cups. Hearing her last words and her coming to terms with the consequences of all the decisions she's made was heartbreaking but it seemed like for the first time in a while, she was finally at peace. And then hearing her say that she tried to end her own life already but didn't have the strength to do it decided it for me. It was either that or sending her back to Myers which just sets her back to where she started.
just did king of cups after doing pentacles in my first run and liked it way better in pretty much every facet since I had the money to buy chitin anyway
im so glad i got the king of cups ending first time through it made helping so mi more meaningful the next time
I still don't understand why we're not given the option to off songbird right then and there in the shuttle. Neither of the options at that point felt like something my V would do. Literally carry the one who lied to and manipulated you the whole time you've known her to a place that could hold the cure for you if you went in her place. Also you have to kill Reed, which i didn't really want to do at the time. Hell, why not give the option to shoot songbird instead of Reed? That way NUSA doesn't win and the one that backstabbed you and left you to die alone doesn't get to fly away on a rocket to a cure. (Likely ending up super kidnapped, but still)
It just irked me how many times the story forced my V to make decisions that went completely against the type of character i was trying to roleplay.
Handing over So Mi over to Myers is just wild! 😅
I got the worst one… Oops
I went with one where I kill Reed cause that felt the most fulfilling to me. Idk.
Reed is such an obvious cuck for Myers and the NUSA how could anyone side with him?
So Mi is OBVIOUSLY going to be used as a computer with no thoughts and memories, it's a fate worse than death.
finished my first playthru and chose the selfish ending in my opinion. turn somi over and take the surgery. i liked the idea that V could become a fixer or some kind of influence in NC even without being chromed up. V is alive and has the chance to live a full life which is what V wanted.
want to go back now and try the johnny in V body ending because that is my second fav ending from watching these videos.
I think one of the reasons why I prefer King of Cups is because So Mi is basically full borg. She wasn't like say David and basically replacing parts to become better she was replacing parts because she her body was torn to pieces to many times and that just seems like she can't possible want to really survive. Just seems like the other 3 endings are nothing she wants, It's either Nusa and Myers choice, Mr blue eyes choice, or you being spineless and giving up.
Based on V's lifepath, I think these are all the endings that follows V's arc the most:
1. Male Nomad V – King of Swords – The Star
2. Female Street Kid V – King of Cups- The Sun
3. Male Corpo V – King of Pentacles – The Devil
4. Female Corpo V – King of Wands – Temperance
5. Male Street Kid V – King of Swords – The Tower
6. Female Nomad V – King of Pentacles – The Tower
Johnny's quote simply describes the whole of cyberpunk
I do like the 2nd ending, I feel like it has good character arcs and gameplay direction. Reed's convo after the events is probably the best in the whole dlc and game
You don't need the king of pentacles Ending to get the tower ending. I was able to get that ending through doing the king of swords by giving her the reed and then waiting a couple of days for him to respond back
one of the best reasons, out of several, i like sending Song to the moon as the best outcome is because the best girl from Edgerunners is also up on the moon. i like to think that maybe, although unlikely, she might have some role to play in Song's future up there, with the possibility of seeing them both again in future content. Also, Myers was obviously a power hungry corrupt politician, gross. Reed's lapdog nature to the NUSA was obvious to me from the start, and i never really trusted a single word out of his mouth, including "and" and "the". i didn't even shake his hand. to me, he's no different than Takemura being a willing slave to Arasaka who will do and say anything to achieve their master's ends. the conversation you overhear between those 2 at the space port only confirmed my choice.
So Mi is a terrible planner. "Hey Kurt, lemme into dog town…. Wait, whadda ya mean you're gonna shoot down the president's plane?" "Hey V, get me to the airport…. Wait, whadda ya mean Meyer's started a literal airport war?" So I think the thing I wish existed the most was a path where you tell Songbird: "Yo, I think Reed honestly wants to help you, let's take his escape plan. And at the very least, I think I can shoot past one Reed a hell of a lot easier than one entire stadium of Barghest grunts. So just fall down and pretend to pass out and we'll make it out of this together."
I have two main characters, and the one I consider more canon helped So Mi to the moon. It feels more correct for the anti-"The Man" character that seems to be more canon to Cyberpunk. I do think it was maybe a subconscious choice that my Corpo-douchebag chose to betray songbird and then keep her alive to be returned. "Maybe she'll break free again? The same time as Arasaka and Militech pay reparations for all their corporate misdeeds while burying the hatchet and giving up the weapons business!"
Phantom liberty endings reminds me of something Dexter Deshawn said "Would you rather live in peace as Mr. Nobody, die ripe, old and smelling slightly of urine? Or go down for all times in a blaze of glory, smelling near like posies, without seeing your thirtieth?"
My ranking:
– BEST: you start the DLC but let the plane crash, that's all Myers' wrote and probably So Mi too, who herself in other branches admits death is her single best outcome. And since she's also the single most dangerous person alive on the verge of unleashing the evil AIs behind the Blackwall (and does @Spaceport and it looks EVIL), for humanity sake, she must go too. You can fail the DLC later on downing Reed as well, not sure he deserves it
– WORST: you let So Mi fool you, break her out of the Stadium with dozens of casualties and many more civilians corking at Spaceport all the while she admits she betrayed the Prez, Reed and You, killed the plane staff, those it crashed into and the innocents at the spaceport. She has no cure for you that was a lie, and she blindly ends in Mr. Blue Eyes hands, a likely malicious Blackwall AI already brainwashing and controlling the formerly humanitarian, now dehumanized mayor of Night City, Peralez. Nooooo sir
– 2ND WORST: putting So Mi and the best access to breach the Blackwall in Blue's hands is the absolute worst outcome for humanity and So Mi still gets used, 2nd is returning her to Myers who will use her for the same purpose, but at least I THINK she's less close to unleash those AIs. Plus if you trust Reed and betray Song you skip the Spaceport civilian disaster
– 2ND BEST: betray Song to avoid the Spaceport disaster, let her fade away in Cynosure and in turn close down the rouge AI's potential apocalyptic breakthru thru Songbird who's already deeply into the Blackwall in all branches of the story.
Really sorry pro-rocket launch ppl., but V saving So Mi and throwing away a new path to save him/herself is a pure stroke of his/her own ego to look like the hero she never was. She's a contract killer and a murderer, and it's a delusion that you did right to give Song to Mr. Blue after the innocents at Spaceport got caught.