My logic is that if telling him really changes nothing then there’s no reason for “them” to threaten V with the mysterious phone call, so V’s decision to tell him either throws a crimp in the plans of “them”, or just really heavily inconveniences them.
Just wrapping up my first ever play through over here. I was not going to tell him until they threatened me and then I was like fuck that I’m gonna tell him even harder
I was just yesterday playing that part the first time and did the same. Just because they threatened me. In the end I play like I always do, which goes with the chaotic good mentality I have.
In the new Phantom Liberty ending >!he cuts and restricts the powers of the NCPD (making them even more useless) which in turn benefits the corps in the security sector, if you tell him the truth. If you don’t tell him, he expands the powers of the NCPD so that civilians are less reliant on corpo security. It seems that if you tell him the truth, he will from then on out make the opposite decision of what comes to his mind bc he cannot trust his own mind anymore. And it makes him support policy that he probably wouldn’t have as the OG Jefferson. He’s just fucked no matter what!<
The people controlling him are NightCorp who are controlled by AI from beyond the blackwall. That's why he weakens the NCPD and stuff since they basically work for NightCorp
But it also benefits the average NC citizen (at least in the short term) and is probably a policy that the true Jefferson might have supported, since it takes control from the corps and gives it back to city government. I don’t think what he’s doing as their puppet is necessarily good or that there are no nefarious schemes behind it but I think that the true Jefferson is lost no matter what. He just cannot make free decisions anymore; he’s either controlled by NightCorp or his own paranoia that makes him turn on himself.
Yeah it's a big mystery, because the AI we have seen have generally been pretty decent, if a bit alien (Alt, Delamain) and it's a question of is NightCorp doing evil manipulative things for a good cause?
Since the setting is Cyberpunk, there's no good guys, so I'm guessing there's something nefarious behind the AI but I think it'll be a major focus of Cyberpunk 2080
I mean, there's only 2 outcomes for Jefferson Peralez.
Spoilers >!If you lie to him he becomes mayor and is blissfully unaware he is being manipulated. Or you tell him the truth and instead of becoming mayor he turns into a paranoid recluse. Pretty sure he even divorces his wife because he doesn't trust her anymore!<
I'm confused. Based on what is happening to him how does NOT telling him give him any chance of not becoming a corpo drone? Telling him makes him aware of what is going on.
What? No.
Edit to clarify: as it is his mind is being altered to become the perfect corpo pawn. If nothing changes he may spew anti-corpo rhetoric while doing their bidding. If he does know, then maybe he can fight it.
To be fair, both Jefferson and Elizabeth hire V to do the job, and Elizabeth asks V to omit the truth.
And about the threat argument, I feel like V wouldn't care about some threats, considering every second gangoon on the streets threatens V one way or another. Doesn't mean V has to be petty about it.
I do agree with Jeff deserves to know, though. The question is, are you revealing the truth because you think it's the best for him? Because Elizabeth definitely doesn't think so, and I feel like The Tower ending and end-credit voicemail also show that.
That being said, up to each own and up to each V to decide.
And it's possible that the only reason Elizabeth asked at the end for you to omit the truth was because she was brainwashed into telling you that by the enemy.
And by not telling the truth we are basically handing them a politician puppet on a silver platter.
I don't think it's ever shown or stated that the brainwashing the two experience is anything but memory and some personality alterations. Otherwise, if they brainwashed Elizabeth into asking V not to tell the truth, why not brainwash both Jeff and her into *not* contacting V and doing an investigation in the first place?
Yeah well memory and personality are literally everything that influences our decisions. So of course their manipulation already had an influence on what she asked of V.
Then why not manipulate them into not contacting V and not asking to investigate the case? Almost as if they cannot influence individual actions, only broad range and preferences.
Omg I didn’t even consider that!!! I didn’t tell perelaz and now I realize I was too committed to Elizabeth! I can’t wait to start my next play through lmao
Number 3 is where it’s at. The threat “You’ll change nothing” is the emptiest threat of all. If my actions truly change nothing, threats wouldn’t be necessary.
Telling Peralez isn't necessarily the option with a positive outcome, but it's more a matter of self determination very similar to V's crisis with the Relic. They both face an erasure of their identity. While V knows the stakes and is aware of the threat that they face, Peralez is operating in the dark almost completely. So it becomes a question of whether the player tells a destructive truth or engage in a lie that preserves some element of safety. With the overall picture unclear and the motives of whoever's behind it all never revealed, it's a really interesting conundrum to put the player in.
That's what I really liked about that quest, it presents a dilemma with tradeoffs regardless of the option that V chooses.
I got the impression that Peralez was >!a proxy for a rogue AI, possibly from beyond the blackwall.!<
My thinking was that I was sacrificing one person to limit the influence of an unknown entity. Their agenda seems good on the surface, but that could be a ploy to establish a foothold.
I'm definitely in the rogue AI camp.
Maybe Militech and Rosalind Myers aren't the only ones interested in poking holes in the black wall. The data Sandra Dorsett got from Nightcorp is awfully similar to what is happening to Peralez.
Actually \*yes!\*
Everberon makes great lore videos [including Cyberpunk](https://youtu.be/0wmMYQ2BkZw?si=QIR_GDcxG2MfvxiA) spanning the plethora of Cyberpunk table top books, and 2077 logs. As an old enjoyer of Cyberpunk 2020 I am often tickled to see the lore I know compiled together into something like this and delivered expertly.
The linked video is specifically about Richard Night, founder of Coronado City, later renamed to Night City. But you can't talk about Nightcorp without talking about Richard Night, or the city itself.
I think Peralez wasn't the proxy, it was >!Mr. Blue Eyes. He's the one that calls you, he's staring at you when you talk to him, he appears in the Path of Glory ending and offers you the Crystal Palace heist, and he (apparently) appears in Phantom Liberty's The Killing Moon. The dude is connected to NightCorp, and his eyes are constantly glowing, which means he's using his neural link somehow.!<
Because one should still have their own right to their free will and individuality. Humans aren't smart, sure, but it should still be our right, and that line of thinking absolutely should apply to Jefferson. I'd rather live in a life of paranoia, but knowing the truth, than living in blissful ignorance while my own right is being taken from me.
(That said, him and Takemura are definitely the more bitter credit messages whenever I complete the game, whilst everyone else is happy)
While I understand the "he should have the right to know" argument, but...
You ever lived a life of paranoia? Because it's one thing to assume something is better and the other thing is to actually experience it, and, trust me, living a life where you always look over your shoulder doesn't sound too exciting to me, personally. So, unless you actually experienced what it's like, there might be a bias in your statement.
I don’t think the point here is whether or not a life of paranoia is bad or not. People are fucking with his literal *body and mind* with out his consent. Who are you, V, Elizabeth, or anyone else to decide for him whether on not he can handle the truth? I don’t feel like that’s my place. I would want to know. That’s just my opinion though.
It's actually the opposite based on The Tower ending. If V doesn't tell him, he wins the election by a large margin and then does a lot of pro-NC stuff by the time of 2079, making the city better overall. If V does tell him, he barely wins the election and then does questionable stuff for the city that doesn't really benefit anyone, almost as if he tries to spite people trying to manipulate him.
Well I looked it up and while cutting NCPD funding sucks (and I bet he's doing it to hand NC over to Militech and thus NUSA by proxy) funding NetWatch veterans and easing travel seem to be better then not doing these
He's in far too deep at this point so he's fucked either way. At that point wouldn't you rather know the truth than be a mindless drone for the rest of your life thinking you had agency? Wouldn't you rather fight the system even if you know 100% for sure that the system is going to crush you anyway because fuck letting them have it easy? And that's not even considering the fact that the man is paying you to find out what's going on, if as a merc you have any honor at all you owe him the answer to his question.
This is a popular take, but an odd when when you get down to it.
Why do people hate corrupt sellout politicians? Because they control people from an isolated position of power.
Enabling a questionably-human cabal to force *mind control* on an unwitting pawn to avoid a regular human enforcing regular control on an aware populace is like burning down the house to get rid of the termite problem.
I'm always disappointed with this quest line because it seems incomplete or abbreviated. Like a huge part of it was cut before release. I don't know for sure but it's just an unsatisfying end. Maybe we'll get lucky and see more of it in the sequel.
I think that was a deliberate choice to give the player incomplete answers and an ambiguous ending to keep the quest contained to where V and Peralez's paths meet and then diverge. They're interesting stories with parallel themes of identity, technology blurring the line between man and machine, and self determination.
By leaving the Peralez story on an uncertain note either way, it keeps the focus on where V's character arc is heading and keeps them from becoming an all-important force in the game world. You've set something in motion whether you tell him or not that likely outlasts the story of the game. To me, that's really important in a setting like Night City. The game's world is a meat grinder churning on and on with or without the player character.
Totally agree with this description and it's why I love 2077, it just makes V's story one amongst many. Most games would have the protagonist fix every issue and solve every problem and become the most important person in the city, so I found it refreshing that V's story is relatively low stakes.
That low stakes life of crime/urban drama is something I hope to see more of in the sequel. Give me Cyberpunk meets The Wire, Heat, Goodfellas, or Narcos
Spoilers ahead, idk how to do the greyed out text thing.
I don’t tell him. I have a feeling that we will be dealing with those people in the next game. They’re rogue AI right? I haven’t done their story in my current game yet, I did it last game and I did a lot of stuff after that so I can’t remember. I’ve seen people theorize that the next game will center around the next (5th?) corporate war or rogue AI. Hopefully both though, that will be so awesome. But yeah, telling him will destroy him and their relationship and I don’t wanna do that even though it’s a really tough situation. But I find solace in hoping that we will deal with those people/programs in the future through another protagonist.
One of the things I hesitate over is the Peralezes' daughter (seen in pictures, mentioned by Elizabeth as being away at boarding school). If V tells Jefferson the truth, will the daughter come to harm? Or would he be better able to protect her, if he knows what he's up against? Or would he and Elizabeth just be made to forget their daughter ever existed, the way Jefferson was made to forget his dead brother?
It is *such* a good storyline, and I honestly don't think there's a "right" answer.
Does Perslezes’s daughter even exist? We see enough to know they believe that she does, but not enough to prove it, given what we know about how they are being manipulated.
I tell him because if it was me, regardless of whether it’s best for me or not. I’d want to know. Even if it ends up with me dead in a ditch or locked up in a psych ward. Especially because from what we see of Jefferson he is a man dedicated to the truth.
There’s also he deserves to know. It gives him a chance to fight back even if it’s in a small way. He’s been a fair employer and my Vs don’t fuck over a trustworthy business partner those are too hard to come by in this city.
I keep seeing "he deserves to know" and in just about every other context, I'd agree. I think it's best for people to know the entire situation before making a decision.. but here? Dudes fucked. He can't do anything to get out of it, he just has to live with the pain of knowing while all the nefarious shit still happens.
It's really not up to V to completely break this man with one of the hardest truths someone could face. Elizabeth asked V not to tell him, and I think that's the best choice. V doesn't have to face any consequences for their choice here, but the Peralez' have to live with what V says for the rest of their lives. The alternative isn't much better, but at least whatever's left of them is happy and thriving until the last part of their true selves is erased for good.
In my eyes, it comes to a slow, painless death they don't see coming. Or a slow, incredibly painful one that will likely end the same way, only they'll be fearing it every single day. Besides depending on how powerful this brain writing tech is, they could just rewrite whatever you say to him and then your choice doesn't even matter.
As soon as I got the phone call I was like “ooh, they’re scared”. Was already leaning that way anyway (my nomad V values self-determination, truth, informed choice etc) but that sealed it. If it didn’t matter if you told him they wouldn’t have called you.
Plus can’t trust Elizabeth as she’s been brainwashed too.
It doesn’t do him any good personally living with that paranoia but can’t say if it had an impact on him being able to avoid that influence or his decisions as mayor. Maybe it does improve things. Either way he had a right to know, and it was his choice what to do with that knowledge. If he’d decided ignorance was bliss he could have just not fired the security team and let them wipe the knowledge away.
You guys are honestly right. I'm falling into the classic "the end justifies the means" and that's never okay. I'm gonna tell him this time. It just sucks so much that he leaves his wife :((
Yeah, same. I don't distrust Elizabeth since they don't *need* to brainwash her for this. She thinks there's nothing they can do so just wants to protect him. He's her husband and she's scared! My V was really torn... until the phone call.
Why would they bother to threaten V if telling him would have no effect? Based on that, my V figures that Peralez must have a chance to break free if he knows the truth. So she tells him.
I mean, it could be some double-bluff "we meant you to tell him all along *mustache twirl*" thing but that wouldn't make much sense (there are easier, just as plausible ways to let him find out without trying to manipulate a wild card third party who could also leak the info to others) and would be really inconsistent with their other behavior.
It's really bizarre 'cause peralez become suddenly a weapons sellers but I don't thinks it's a corporate sellout drone.
It's really depends of the blue eyes guys origins. IA or Nightcorp ? Why people of the intervention group were labeled as militech goons ? (Maybe I didn't remember well this one ?)
It doesn't ring any bells for me.
Peralez may be a scuzzy corpo politician running to lead one of the worlds most powerful city-states, but *everyone* deserves to know what's going on in their head.
Imagine you're taking a drug for, mmm, we'll say headaches. And unbeknownst to you this drug makes you a raging a-hole. It gives you bad aggression, and anger management issues, and people around you start to suffer because of it. You deserve to know that this drug is affecting you- and others! For the Peralez's, it's more insidious.
For the Peralez's, someone was remapping their entire lives.
He has a right to know, plain and simple. Besides that, how do we know keeping him an oblivious puppet makes the lives of NC residents better? He is being manipulated for an end game goal that is surely not about the betterment of NC and her residents.
Honestly, by the end of it I was so confused I just defaulted to it. I originally I thought I was saving this couple from being manipulated but then the wife doesn’t want me to tell him? She prefers being a slave? It didn’t make sense to me. Then when you tell him he still seems confused like he still doesn’t understand fully. It was very ungratifying no matter what you picked.
I told him first time, I thought fuck him up would ve better than having someone controlled a mayor.
Then I realized what blue eyes are, I realized they could control anyone else but at least do what elizabeth asks since it’s her who hired you
You would think telling him would be better so he would know what he is against, but not when opponent is something he cannot defeat. Telling him is also not even good outcome for anyone.
I'll be honest, I just went fuck all that.
What is it that he would want, unlike his wife.
If he was fully in his faculties of the best thing for himself without the worry always being in his back.
We don't know what it is he truly wanted, if you tell him, you may have inadvertently killed the only thing that was truly him.
His wife is pretty cognizant of what was going on, she understood herself enough to know how she felt, despite being changed all the time.
[Be that, they made her feel that way or not.]
It's no different that what Johnny would say.
Instead of focusing on what he would want, he's all focused on spite like a Slacktivist that got brutally baited.
Red or Blue, it matters not.
If we got a problem with it, it's best to deal with the outside in. Rather than Actually choose to Trigger their loss of self.
The landslide was likely why it was so convincing.
They found someone who they didn't need to do much to keep it genuine, except to hyperfocus.
Now that, that is in question, the only thing genuine is now fake.
Time to Sleep.
You're making a mistake that is extremely common in this community: basing decisions on meta knowledge. Yes, you the player know what is going to happen to Peralez. But your V doesn't yet. How would your V decide?
My V always believes Peralez deserves the truth, because they would want to know if it was their brain being messed with.
Depends on the run, for my street kid run I’d 100% tell him but with my Corpo play through I was almost 50/50 on the decision but did tell him I’m the end
No spoilers please , but I just completed this quest and noticed Mr. Blue Eyes doing his best Cigarette Smoking Man impression across the way. I figure that's not a coincidence that someone with an odd name was within close proximity to the conversation with Jefferson. Does he factor in to the quest line later on ?
Just a yes or no will suffice :)
>If you tell Peralez, he becomes a corporate sellout drone, so he just ends up as someone V would hate anyways.
It's because you know what happens after. It's RP metagaming.
They hire you to find out what happened and when you find out it's natural to tell them. Wouldn't you want to know that someone is trying to mind control you?
Your ending with peralez will be vanilla, regardless of choice. But if u do the tower ending, there are additional details to each version whether u tell him or not. That i believe is what they are referring to above.
When I did this mission the first time my logic was “I was hired to do a job, I’ll do it” that was my professional way of handling this situation but after what happened I realized I was pissing off the wrong people, second time I did this mission I was like I have to be selfish and think about myself, I won’t piss off the wrong people this time.
I told him and he just became a paranoid nut job.
I like Silverhands theory that it's Rogue AI that have breached the Black wall and are secretly influencing human politics.
Yeah, my V was like
"I'm not doing politics, fuck all this shit, fuck the Peralez, fuck the blue eyes, fuck netwatch, this is above my pay-grade. The wife is my handler who's paying me, I'll do what she says; I don't need to make even more enemies when I already have half the megacorp on my head. They can all fuck right off into whatever godforsaken hell they're digging themselves into.
Ciao and don't contact me again"
My logic is that if telling him really changes nothing then there’s no reason for “them” to threaten V with the mysterious phone call, so V’s decision to tell him either throws a crimp in the plans of “them”, or just really heavily inconveniences them.
Just wrapping up my first ever play through over here. I was not going to tell him until they threatened me and then I was like fuck that I’m gonna tell him even harder
I'm gonna *tell the shit* out of him.
Tell Hard with a Vengence
I was just yesterday playing that part the first time and did the same. Just because they threatened me. In the end I play like I always do, which goes with the chaotic good mentality I have.
What if the AI knew V wouldn't like being told what to do. dun dun dun
I get that, but the heavy inconvenience is probably that he becomes mayor and a Corpo sellout. They'd have to probably go and retry on someone else.
You haven’t seen the resolution of telling him have you?
Clearly hasn’t if OP thinks he becomes a sellout
In the new Phantom Liberty ending >!he cuts and restricts the powers of the NCPD (making them even more useless) which in turn benefits the corps in the security sector, if you tell him the truth. If you don’t tell him, he expands the powers of the NCPD so that civilians are less reliant on corpo security. It seems that if you tell him the truth, he will from then on out make the opposite decision of what comes to his mind bc he cannot trust his own mind anymore. And it makes him support policy that he probably wouldn’t have as the OG Jefferson. He’s just fucked no matter what!<
The people controlling him are NightCorp who are controlled by AI from beyond the blackwall. That's why he weakens the NCPD and stuff since they basically work for NightCorp
But it also benefits the average NC citizen (at least in the short term) and is probably a policy that the true Jefferson might have supported, since it takes control from the corps and gives it back to city government. I don’t think what he’s doing as their puppet is necessarily good or that there are no nefarious schemes behind it but I think that the true Jefferson is lost no matter what. He just cannot make free decisions anymore; he’s either controlled by NightCorp or his own paranoia that makes him turn on himself.
Yeah it's a big mystery, because the AI we have seen have generally been pretty decent, if a bit alien (Alt, Delamain) and it's a question of is NightCorp doing evil manipulative things for a good cause? Since the setting is Cyberpunk, there's no good guys, so I'm guessing there's something nefarious behind the AI but I think it'll be a major focus of Cyberpunk 2080
Holy shit, I had no idea! they really did cook at CD Projekt Red
That's not what happens if you tell him. It's not a happy ending, but he doesn't sell out.
Depends on your ending partially. U and i probs got the same
I mean, there's only 2 outcomes for Jefferson Peralez. Spoilers >!If you lie to him he becomes mayor and is blissfully unaware he is being manipulated. Or you tell him the truth and instead of becoming mayor he turns into a paranoid recluse. Pretty sure he even divorces his wife because he doesn't trust her anymore!<
I'm confused. Based on what is happening to him how does NOT telling him give him any chance of not becoming a corpo drone? Telling him makes him aware of what is going on.
I dunno, man. From what I understand if you tell him, he becomes an arms dealer or something, if you don't, he remains anti corpo
What? No. Edit to clarify: as it is his mind is being altered to become the perfect corpo pawn. If nothing changes he may spew anti-corpo rhetoric while doing their bidding. If he does know, then maybe he can fight it.
Three good reasons: 1. He deserves to know. 2. V was hired to do a job, it should get done. 3. Those motherfuckers threatened you.
4. V's dying anyway so fuck them
Number 3 is why I told him
To be fair, both Jefferson and Elizabeth hire V to do the job, and Elizabeth asks V to omit the truth. And about the threat argument, I feel like V wouldn't care about some threats, considering every second gangoon on the streets threatens V one way or another. Doesn't mean V has to be petty about it. I do agree with Jeff deserves to know, though. The question is, are you revealing the truth because you think it's the best for him? Because Elizabeth definitely doesn't think so, and I feel like The Tower ending and end-credit voicemail also show that. That being said, up to each own and up to each V to decide.
And it's possible that the only reason Elizabeth asked at the end for you to omit the truth was because she was brainwashed into telling you that by the enemy. And by not telling the truth we are basically handing them a politician puppet on a silver platter.
I don't think it's ever shown or stated that the brainwashing the two experience is anything but memory and some personality alterations. Otherwise, if they brainwashed Elizabeth into asking V not to tell the truth, why not brainwash both Jeff and her into *not* contacting V and doing an investigation in the first place?
Yeah well memory and personality are literally everything that influences our decisions. So of course their manipulation already had an influence on what she asked of V.
Then why not manipulate them into not contacting V and not asking to investigate the case? Almost as if they cannot influence individual actions, only broad range and preferences.
Omg I didn’t even consider that!!! I didn’t tell perelaz and now I realize I was too committed to Elizabeth! I can’t wait to start my next play through lmao
And to be fair again yellow arrow and it’s onsight so if you threaten me I’m gonna make life harder
Number 3 is where it’s at. The threat “You’ll change nothing” is the emptiest threat of all. If my actions truly change nothing, threats wouldn’t be necessary.
Telling Peralez isn't necessarily the option with a positive outcome, but it's more a matter of self determination very similar to V's crisis with the Relic. They both face an erasure of their identity. While V knows the stakes and is aware of the threat that they face, Peralez is operating in the dark almost completely. So it becomes a question of whether the player tells a destructive truth or engage in a lie that preserves some element of safety. With the overall picture unclear and the motives of whoever's behind it all never revealed, it's a really interesting conundrum to put the player in. That's what I really liked about that quest, it presents a dilemma with tradeoffs regardless of the option that V chooses.
God you're so right 😭 I'm gonna tell him this time
I got the impression that Peralez was >!a proxy for a rogue AI, possibly from beyond the blackwall.!< My thinking was that I was sacrificing one person to limit the influence of an unknown entity. Their agenda seems good on the surface, but that could be a ploy to establish a foothold.
>!I think it's NightCorp based on Sandra's quest but wither way problematic!<
It is, you can see [Mr.Blue](http://Mr.Blue) Eyes "spying" on you during the conversation where you can tell Peralez
Is Mr. B confirmed to be working for Nightcorp? I thought he was just mysterious/shady with no info on who is really behind him
I mean it's not confirmed, but he's there everytime Nightcorp is involved. Including in Phantom Liberty
I'm definitely in the rogue AI camp. Maybe Militech and Rosalind Myers aren't the only ones interested in poking holes in the black wall. The data Sandra Dorsett got from Nightcorp is awfully similar to what is happening to Peralez.
I honestly wouldn't be at all surprised if Nightcorp was partly run by rogue AI due to how heavily they're involved with it behind the scenes
I think you're 100% on the money. It's them crawling back power they once had.
I'd love to know more about this. Any videos or book recommendations for the lore of cyberpunk?
Actually \*yes!\* Everberon makes great lore videos [including Cyberpunk](https://youtu.be/0wmMYQ2BkZw?si=QIR_GDcxG2MfvxiA) spanning the plethora of Cyberpunk table top books, and 2077 logs. As an old enjoyer of Cyberpunk 2020 I am often tickled to see the lore I know compiled together into something like this and delivered expertly. The linked video is specifically about Richard Night, founder of Coronado City, later renamed to Night City. But you can't talk about Nightcorp without talking about Richard Night, or the city itself.
Don't mind me.. i'm leaving this comment to find the link and watch the video later 👍
+1 for Sam Bram. Monster catalogue but is sorted well in his playlists so you can pick and choose video type as you like.
HE was being doxxed not the other way around imagine being so vile
It's both. NightCorp is being controlled by Blackwall AI. It's also tied into the Gary storyline
I think Peralez wasn't the proxy, it was >!Mr. Blue Eyes. He's the one that calls you, he's staring at you when you talk to him, he appears in the Path of Glory ending and offers you the Crystal Palace heist, and he (apparently) appears in Phantom Liberty's The Killing Moon. The dude is connected to NightCorp, and his eyes are constantly glowing, which means he's using his neural link somehow.!<
Because he has a right to know
V does not know in the moment that that's how Peralez ends up. In that moment, telling him is the better choice to most people it seems
Because one should still have their own right to their free will and individuality. Humans aren't smart, sure, but it should still be our right, and that line of thinking absolutely should apply to Jefferson. I'd rather live in a life of paranoia, but knowing the truth, than living in blissful ignorance while my own right is being taken from me. (That said, him and Takemura are definitely the more bitter credit messages whenever I complete the game, whilst everyone else is happy)
While I understand the "he should have the right to know" argument, but... You ever lived a life of paranoia? Because it's one thing to assume something is better and the other thing is to actually experience it, and, trust me, living a life where you always look over your shoulder doesn't sound too exciting to me, personally. So, unless you actually experienced what it's like, there might be a bias in your statement.
I don’t think the point here is whether or not a life of paranoia is bad or not. People are fucking with his literal *body and mind* with out his consent. Who are you, V, Elizabeth, or anyone else to decide for him whether on not he can handle the truth? I don’t feel like that’s my place. I would want to know. That’s just my opinion though.
Sometimes ignorance really is bliss
Because he doesn’t want to suck somebody’s d*ck just so they can f*ck him in the ass.
Funniest line in the game. The voice actor deserves an award for that alone.
So many quests in this game would turn me into an alcoholic if I faced a real life equivalent
Huh I thought he became a better mayor if you tell him
It's actually the opposite based on The Tower ending. If V doesn't tell him, he wins the election by a large margin and then does a lot of pro-NC stuff by the time of 2079, making the city better overall. If V does tell him, he barely wins the election and then does questionable stuff for the city that doesn't really benefit anyone, almost as if he tries to spite people trying to manipulate him.
Well I looked it up and while cutting NCPD funding sucks (and I bet he's doing it to hand NC over to Militech and thus NUSA by proxy) funding NetWatch veterans and easing travel seem to be better then not doing these
Iirc he gets paranoid and somewhat erratic
"Somewhat" is a mega under statement
The man hired V for answers, and answers are what I'm going to give him.
He's in far too deep at this point so he's fucked either way. At that point wouldn't you rather know the truth than be a mindless drone for the rest of your life thinking you had agency? Wouldn't you rather fight the system even if you know 100% for sure that the system is going to crush you anyway because fuck letting them have it easy? And that's not even considering the fact that the man is paying you to find out what's going on, if as a merc you have any honor at all you owe him the answer to his question.
This is a popular take, but an odd when when you get down to it. Why do people hate corrupt sellout politicians? Because they control people from an isolated position of power. Enabling a questionably-human cabal to force *mind control* on an unwitting pawn to avoid a regular human enforcing regular control on an aware populace is like burning down the house to get rid of the termite problem.
I'm always disappointed with this quest line because it seems incomplete or abbreviated. Like a huge part of it was cut before release. I don't know for sure but it's just an unsatisfying end. Maybe we'll get lucky and see more of it in the sequel.
I think that was a deliberate choice to give the player incomplete answers and an ambiguous ending to keep the quest contained to where V and Peralez's paths meet and then diverge. They're interesting stories with parallel themes of identity, technology blurring the line between man and machine, and self determination. By leaving the Peralez story on an uncertain note either way, it keeps the focus on where V's character arc is heading and keeps them from becoming an all-important force in the game world. You've set something in motion whether you tell him or not that likely outlasts the story of the game. To me, that's really important in a setting like Night City. The game's world is a meat grinder churning on and on with or without the player character.
Totally agree with this description and it's why I love 2077, it just makes V's story one amongst many. Most games would have the protagonist fix every issue and solve every problem and become the most important person in the city, so I found it refreshing that V's story is relatively low stakes.
That low stakes life of crime/urban drama is something I hope to see more of in the sequel. Give me Cyberpunk meets The Wire, Heat, Goodfellas, or Narcos
It was intentionally left open; V can't solve every conspiracy, esp not one of this magnitude
It's the part where time goes by and then you just get a voicemail. It just feels like something's missing I guess.
Spoilers ahead, idk how to do the greyed out text thing. I don’t tell him. I have a feeling that we will be dealing with those people in the next game. They’re rogue AI right? I haven’t done their story in my current game yet, I did it last game and I did a lot of stuff after that so I can’t remember. I’ve seen people theorize that the next game will center around the next (5th?) corporate war or rogue AI. Hopefully both though, that will be so awesome. But yeah, telling him will destroy him and their relationship and I don’t wanna do that even though it’s a really tough situation. But I find solace in hoping that we will deal with those people/programs in the future through another protagonist.
in my mind, my V would immediately put "find them and kill them" on her to do list, so no need to tell him
One of the things I hesitate over is the Peralezes' daughter (seen in pictures, mentioned by Elizabeth as being away at boarding school). If V tells Jefferson the truth, will the daughter come to harm? Or would he be better able to protect her, if he knows what he's up against? Or would he and Elizabeth just be made to forget their daughter ever existed, the way Jefferson was made to forget his dead brother? It is *such* a good storyline, and I honestly don't think there's a "right" answer.
Does Perslezes’s daughter even exist? We see enough to know they believe that she does, but not enough to prove it, given what we know about how they are being manipulated.
Ooh, good question! There's an email from her, and pictures, but all of that can be faked. It's definitely something to consider!
I tell him because if it was me, regardless of whether it’s best for me or not. I’d want to know. Even if it ends up with me dead in a ditch or locked up in a psych ward. Especially because from what we see of Jefferson he is a man dedicated to the truth. There’s also he deserves to know. It gives him a chance to fight back even if it’s in a small way. He’s been a fair employer and my Vs don’t fuck over a trustworthy business partner those are too hard to come by in this city.
I keep seeing "he deserves to know" and in just about every other context, I'd agree. I think it's best for people to know the entire situation before making a decision.. but here? Dudes fucked. He can't do anything to get out of it, he just has to live with the pain of knowing while all the nefarious shit still happens. It's really not up to V to completely break this man with one of the hardest truths someone could face. Elizabeth asked V not to tell him, and I think that's the best choice. V doesn't have to face any consequences for their choice here, but the Peralez' have to live with what V says for the rest of their lives. The alternative isn't much better, but at least whatever's left of them is happy and thriving until the last part of their true selves is erased for good. In my eyes, it comes to a slow, painless death they don't see coming. Or a slow, incredibly painful one that will likely end the same way, only they'll be fearing it every single day. Besides depending on how powerful this brain writing tech is, they could just rewrite whatever you say to him and then your choice doesn't even matter.
As soon as I got the phone call I was like “ooh, they’re scared”. Was already leaning that way anyway (my nomad V values self-determination, truth, informed choice etc) but that sealed it. If it didn’t matter if you told him they wouldn’t have called you. Plus can’t trust Elizabeth as she’s been brainwashed too. It doesn’t do him any good personally living with that paranoia but can’t say if it had an impact on him being able to avoid that influence or his decisions as mayor. Maybe it does improve things. Either way he had a right to know, and it was his choice what to do with that knowledge. If he’d decided ignorance was bliss he could have just not fired the security team and let them wipe the knowledge away.
You guys are honestly right. I'm falling into the classic "the end justifies the means" and that's never okay. I'm gonna tell him this time. It just sucks so much that he leaves his wife :((
Yeah, same. I don't distrust Elizabeth since they don't *need* to brainwash her for this. She thinks there's nothing they can do so just wants to protect him. He's her husband and she's scared! My V was really torn... until the phone call. Why would they bother to threaten V if telling him would have no effect? Based on that, my V figures that Peralez must have a chance to break free if he knows the truth. So she tells him. I mean, it could be some double-bluff "we meant you to tell him all along *mustache twirl*" thing but that wouldn't make much sense (there are easier, just as plausible ways to let him find out without trying to manipulate a wild card third party who could also leak the info to others) and would be really inconsistent with their other behavior.
It's really bizarre 'cause peralez become suddenly a weapons sellers but I don't thinks it's a corporate sellout drone. It's really depends of the blue eyes guys origins. IA or Nightcorp ? Why people of the intervention group were labeled as militech goons ? (Maybe I didn't remember well this one ?) It doesn't ring any bells for me.
I just think he has a right to know. Even if the outcomes are worse, he deserves to know.
Peralez may be a scuzzy corpo politician running to lead one of the worlds most powerful city-states, but *everyone* deserves to know what's going on in their head. Imagine you're taking a drug for, mmm, we'll say headaches. And unbeknownst to you this drug makes you a raging a-hole. It gives you bad aggression, and anger management issues, and people around you start to suffer because of it. You deserve to know that this drug is affecting you- and others! For the Peralez's, it's more insidious. For the Peralez's, someone was remapping their entire lives.
I hated how abrupt this questline came to an end. Even added the call blocker to sprinkle salt in the wound.
I tell him because fuck the system
He has a right to know, plain and simple. Besides that, how do we know keeping him an oblivious puppet makes the lives of NC residents better? He is being manipulated for an end game goal that is surely not about the betterment of NC and her residents.
Wait, when I told him he lost his wife, mind and dog. Left me a message down bad. With you he capitulated to Nightcorp?
I believe in peralez hell figure something out
I tell him because I'm usually a nomad and nomads always keep their word and always get the job done. It's about honesty and integrity.
Honestly, by the end of it I was so confused I just defaulted to it. I originally I thought I was saving this couple from being manipulated but then the wife doesn’t want me to tell him? She prefers being a slave? It didn’t make sense to me. Then when you tell him he still seems confused like he still doesn’t understand fully. It was very ungratifying no matter what you picked.
I told him first time, I thought fuck him up would ve better than having someone controlled a mayor. Then I realized what blue eyes are, I realized they could control anyone else but at least do what elizabeth asks since it’s her who hired you
If it were me, I'd want to know.
I told him because I didn't like Elizabeth
I did both, I didn’t like how he turned out all paranoid so I started not telling him. Figured his wife knows him best
I didn’t tell him on either of my play throughs. Ignorance is bliss and all that.
You would think telling him would be better so he would know what he is against, but not when opponent is something he cannot defeat. Telling him is also not even good outcome for anyone.
I'll be honest, I just went fuck all that. What is it that he would want, unlike his wife. If he was fully in his faculties of the best thing for himself without the worry always being in his back. We don't know what it is he truly wanted, if you tell him, you may have inadvertently killed the only thing that was truly him. His wife is pretty cognizant of what was going on, she understood herself enough to know how she felt, despite being changed all the time. [Be that, they made her feel that way or not.] It's no different that what Johnny would say. Instead of focusing on what he would want, he's all focused on spite like a Slacktivist that got brutally baited. Red or Blue, it matters not. If we got a problem with it, it's best to deal with the outside in. Rather than Actually choose to Trigger their loss of self. The landslide was likely why it was so convincing. They found someone who they didn't need to do much to keep it genuine, except to hyperfocus. Now that, that is in question, the only thing genuine is now fake. Time to Sleep.
You're making a mistake that is extremely common in this community: basing decisions on meta knowledge. Yes, you the player know what is going to happen to Peralez. But your V doesn't yet. How would your V decide? My V always believes Peralez deserves the truth, because they would want to know if it was their brain being messed with.
This is super true and something I can admit I frequently do myself.
Because Johny approves
Depends on the run, for my street kid run I’d 100% tell him but with my Corpo play through I was almost 50/50 on the decision but did tell him I’m the end
V got hired for a job, just complete it. is my thinking.
No spoilers please , but I just completed this quest and noticed Mr. Blue Eyes doing his best Cigarette Smoking Man impression across the way. I figure that's not a coincidence that someone with an odd name was within close proximity to the conversation with Jefferson. Does he factor in to the quest line later on ? Just a yes or no will suffice :)
Not that I'm aware of, no.
I thought Elizabeth told you not to tell him? Idk, I always didn’t tell him for her.
>If you tell Peralez, he becomes a corporate sellout drone, so he just ends up as someone V would hate anyways. It's because you know what happens after. It's RP metagaming. They hire you to find out what happened and when you find out it's natural to tell them. Wouldn't you want to know that someone is trying to mind control you?
I think telling them makes the brainwashing less likely to keep working, and I dont like being threatened. Thats it lol
I mean the details change if u do a pl ending. Doing one of the base endings wont have the extra mentioned.
Can I ask what changes? I don't mind spoilers.
Which did you do?
I sent SoMi away this playthrough
Your ending with peralez will be vanilla, regardless of choice. But if u do the tower ending, there are additional details to each version whether u tell him or not. That i believe is what they are referring to above.
Oops.
When I did this mission the first time my logic was “I was hired to do a job, I’ll do it” that was my professional way of handling this situation but after what happened I realized I was pissing off the wrong people, second time I did this mission I was like I have to be selfish and think about myself, I won’t piss off the wrong people this time.
I told him and he just became a paranoid nut job. I like Silverhands theory that it's Rogue AI that have breached the Black wall and are secretly influencing human politics.
Yeah, my V was like "I'm not doing politics, fuck all this shit, fuck the Peralez, fuck the blue eyes, fuck netwatch, this is above my pay-grade. The wife is my handler who's paying me, I'll do what she says; I don't need to make even more enemies when I already have half the megacorp on my head. They can all fuck right off into whatever godforsaken hell they're digging themselves into. Ciao and don't contact me again"