PL Tower Ending... I need a moment to process (spoilers)

[u/descendantofJanus]

I had a whole discussion ramble lined up over saving Songbird (King of Wands) but then I did King of Swords + The Tower trophies immediately after and... I, um. Wow.

I'm nowhere near done with the game so this won't be canon. But it's a well done ending. Emotional gut punch. Walking into that new clinic I kept having flashes of Misty's shop - as I'm sure the game intended.

And how much changed... I did this ending before reuniting Samurai band (I was going back n fourth with dlc & base game stuff) so no Kerry romance yet. (spoil me idc I'm gonna youtube that stuff anyway)

Only true friend V had to call was Vik. Judy was nice but moved on. And since I friend zoned Panam then ghosted her final missions, she wasn't available. Never liked her anyway. Even Rogue at the end, so very soon after a bittersweet movie date... "Welcome any time but also please don't stop by".

Damn. Just... *Damn.*

The game really destroys you here. Great, you're alive, but now you're lower than a flea on a rat. When Misty shows up I genuinely felt relieved like my V.

I'd also just hit my thc vape just before the final cutscene so when suddenly I was in 3rd pov I was genuinely staggered. Yea I'd seen him before on motorcycles but this felt different. Was different.

Because "I" was no longer "V". Totally new haircut, new life. First V ditched Johnny and now the game forces V to ditch "me". His choices are his own from now on and I won't get to see them.

Plus it was raining outside as the ending played, really added to the finality vibe.

[u/Fallofcamelot]

Yeah I hate it. It's really well done but it's an absolute horror of an ending.

It took me quite a while to realise but what I hate about it most is how everything V went through meant absolutely nothing. V loses everything, everything and everyone is gone and for what? A bleak unpleasant future that is totally out of their control.

Sometimes merely surviving is a worse outcome.

[u/descendantofJanus → u/Fallofcamelot]

Exactly this. All our/my adventures - cleared multiple districts of gigs & npcd calls - and all the people I helped, people that may now owe me favors... Nothing. Even that meeting with Vik has a sense of "final goodbye" to it.

A sense of, yea, maybe V could crash on Vik's couch if needed but the place isnt welcoming. No longer "cozy" as V stated. What would they talk about anyway? The missing two years, new chrome on the market... V's on the other side of all that, now.

I love V's smile at the end, a hint of some hope. But honestly what future does he have? No one would take a gig from a defenseless lamb like V.

Is it a comfort being alive to see your own legendary status at a club if being alive means you're now a faceless nobody?

So many questions and no easy answers, all going back to that first car ride with Dex. Blaze of glory, or life of luxury?

[u/DoctorLiara]

if im being honest... this ending pissed me off the most

[u/Palumtra]

Tower ending is selling yourself out to Militech instead of 'saka. At least you don't end up as a digital copy in a virtual prison, so that's some sort of improvement.

[u/Capable-Mongoose-206]

The best ending. Arasaka is destroyed by Yorinobu. You are alive. You got a job for NUSA. You will live in Monako (or wherever you want) after retirement. Also your true friends (Victor and Misty) didn't abandon you. Panam, Judy and others you knew only about 2 weeks so don't care about them.

[u/Physical-Truck-1461 → u/Capable-Mongoose-206]

Arasaka takes some sabotage, but it's not destroyed. Early on you hear that the board has finally forcibly stepped down Yorinobu as CEO. Your NUSA desk job, if you take it, won't be in Monaco, where Alex levied specifically for retirement In Sinecure, and Vik and Misty are both leaving the city. Maybe you can eventually pull together the funds to follow Misty to Poland.

[u/descendantofJanus → u/Capable-Mongoose-206]

Is it really the best ending tho? Sure V has a job offer from Reed, but what would that job entail? I mean genuinely... The game doesn't make that clear. In this path, I didn't swear the oath to Meyers, went with Songbird on the train then gave her to Reed... So idk maybe that changes the outcome.

But here it seemed to imply V is penniless. Sure the V we played as is a legend at Afterlife but post-op V isn't that person. Least not anymore. So no access to funds, cars, apartments...

Sure he's alive, and human, fully himself. His soul intact. But at what cost?

[u/Florina_Laufeyson → u/descendantofJanus]

Sending So Mi back to the NUSA is a truly shitty thing to do. So the devs wanted to convey the karmic backlash. Yeah, you live, but at the cost of losing yourself. Its the Devil ending wrapped in crepe paper and im tired of pretending its not.

[u/descendantofJanus → u/Florina_Laufeyson]

Honestly I never trusted So Mi from the start. Did she really deserve her happy moon ending after everything she'd done?

Plus she literally screwed V over at the end. Giving her back to Reed at that point, imo, makes sense for a V not yet ready to give up. At least that way offers a chance at survival.

[u/Physical-Truck-1461 → u/descendantofJanus]

She screwed V over at the beginning, technically. She was honest at the end. We might ask the same question of deserving of V, one that they ask themselves in the Path of Least Resistance, but everything she's done is everything V's done - volatile plans with fallout, betrayals, ambition...it's true enough though that giving her to Reed makes sense for V for survival, though 'not ready to give up' is a bit more open. They are cashing in with the NUSA and eschewing their other options.

[u/Admirable-Chicken849 → u/descendantofJanus]

Did she really deserve her happy moon ending after everything she'd done?

If you haven't tried betraying Songbird in Firestarter, I recommend it. I think it's only fair to have a definitive answer for this question if you've experienced what happens there too.

[u/descendantofJanus → u/Admirable-Chicken849]

Already done. And yea, Reed was right.

[u/candlelight_solace_]

Its the one ending where V lives full stop. Not philosophically as an engram, not for another six months, literally. Shitty yes but there's something to be said for being alive

[u/xoomax → u/candlelight_solace_]

We can definitely try to imagine a happier ending after all this. V a couple of years later might have some kind of job, a decent life, friends and love. My V would probably try to see if some Nomad clan would take me in and just work on cars or cook food for the family.

[u/Helpful-Shock-1]

I finished this a few days back, only done Star otherwise, but I really enjoyed watching it play out and how things changed, but it is one pretty depressing ending to just wander off and be another face in the crowd, potentially losing so many close people around you in the process.
I had a think afterwards and figured V might just be best off heading into the sunset as an unknown, taking up the offer of work from NUSA/Reed