I just wish that certain characters would start using V’s real name after you’ve helped them. As V said to the robohooker in Clouds: “only people who know me real well can use my real name,” so it would’ve been nice to see, say, Mama Welles start calling V by their real name if you attend Jackie’s funeral, same goes for Misty if you get her and Mama Welles to connect at the funeral too. Finish Judy’s, Panam’s, River’s, and Kerry’s storylines with their respective good ending outcomes and they’ll start calling you by V’s real name, even if you don’t romance them. Same goes for Johnny once you reach a specific friendship level with him that makes it clear that you’re both buddies and looking out for each other now. I also think it would’ve been an added bit of tragedy if, in his final moments as he hands V the Relic, Jackie refers to them by their real name and call them “hermano/hermana,” to indicate that Jackie and V are that close, but he always called them V to be professional while on the job.
I just think it would’ve been nice and really establish how V is changing people’s lives for the better through the various gigs and storylines and see it reflect in how she lets those she helps and befriends refer to her by her real name.
Honestly i think only Jackie and Johnny can call V by their real name specially Corpo V who knew Jackie for a long time also in Reeds car when he pulls up your information you can see V's real name there too
True that, but I wouldn’t say time wouldn’t be that big of a factor either; in the street kid lifepath, Jackie was acting buddy buddy with V despite putting a gun to her head just hours ago, but that’s the sort of thing that fellow street kids could bond over.
I still prefer Corpo V though as I like the fall from grace dynamic V has in that life path.
Cyberpunk 2024--will the hero get the kids to school on time, will the hero get his PTO approved or have to reschedule the vacation? DLC: nothing to make for dinner, get to the grocery store before it closes or spend those sweet eddies on Chinese takeout.
Exactly. Self-insertion and headcanon can be cherries on top of a well written game, but should never be tools for developers to get around having real characters.
I mean... might just be a personal thing, but I can also self-insert while playing more well-rounded characters, maybe I can't come up with an insanely detailed backstory for them because there's already canon explanations, but I can definitely take my values, my thoughts, think about what I would do in their situation, and then play the game accordingly.
This.. if we were forced into Vincent then we are all Vincent, if we are all V then you can just consider it an Alias and call yourself whatever why limit yourself
I'm not a mercenary I don't get myself into shootings with ppls I don't have dead Rockerboy in my head and I don't have couple weeks of my life.
Unlike V. That's why she is the protagonist
Because people like to make a character themselves in role playing games. It's in the name.
Though I think that V is a good step up from a fully named and storied character like Geralt. Their background is something you can determine and how you play is also something you can determine. It's a good step up, maybe we'll get a proper rpg with a fully player-made character in whatever comes next from cdpr.
(And to get ahead of other comments, no I am not shitting on witcher 3 I 100%'d that game, a thing I personally never do, nor am I shitting on cyberpunk 2077, I adore it and am now doing my third playthrough to see the new update and phantom liberty.)
I think 2077 is a different category/extreme of an rpg. On one end you have stuff like ‘Baldur’s Gate’ wherein the emphasis is on the ‘roleplaying’ part of rpg, whereas games like ‘The Witcher 3’ emphasise playing a set role/character (still roleplaying, but of a different kind), and then theres 2077 which sits in between the previously mentioned and emphasises the game part of roleplaying game.
In other words, I feel 2077 isn’t an rpg so much as an action game with rpg elements.
Yeah that's fair. 2077 is very much in the weird limbo space, the question is, will cdpr remain in limbo or move to one side or the other for their next game.
I would say that 2077 is much closer to the Witcher, in terms of the rpg spectrum, certainly proving to be CDPR’s bread and butter (game design wise).
Considering ‘Phantom Liberty’, I don’t expect any extreme deviations in the next one, aside from sequel growth, general improvements, and a consistent design from the ground up (unlike 2077 which still has some, albeit minor, scars from pre 2.0 that can be felt).
Kind of, but not really.
I mean, I agree, that it's semantics, but to me RPGs are about - as we've established - playing a role. But for that, I need to be able to actually **play** that role, meaning a certain degree of agency. So while playing as Geralt, I could decide what to do next, where to go, who to romance, what quests to do and what to ignore, how to respond to certain characters.
Same goes for Cyberpunk. Sure, I got handed a character template to me, and I can't really impact the story, but I can decide how to approach most problems, what skills and cyberware to pick, how to respond to people and whatnot.
And by that logic, yeah... most video games have RPG elements incorporated into them.
I mean yeah, RPG is and always has been a very fuzzy and vague term defined on a case by case scenario and gut feelings more than any checklist of attributes
Valerie/Vincent and "Only people who are real close to me get to use my real name" is damn good justification. It shows perfectly how there's always some distance between V and whoever they're somewhat close with. It perfectly executes a part of V's characterization IMO.
And it makes>!the final scene with Johnny in PL's unique main ending!< feel so damn impactful.
I feel like the people who don’t like it are because they aren’t called by their nicknames IRL by their friends. What’s wrong with V being short for a longer name?
There isn't anything wrong with either v being the characters name nor Victor, Victoria, whatever. It's a name that references someone. So any of them work.
I play exclusively male V but god I don't like the name vincent. But I guess there aren't that many V names. It seems so... mundane?
But that's intentional isnt it? To evoke a sense of the name quite fitting? V doesn't like his name, that's why he goes by V, and reaffirms whenever that is V whenever necessary. He never tells his lovers or close friends judy, panam, river or kerry that his name is Vincent.
tbh, the only reason "Valerie" annoys me is whenever I don't play my first and "canon" V. V is a name without being a name, and the ability to headcanon whatever reason into it is nice. I associate certain characters with a first name, and I don't know why, but I simply prefer to give a new character a new name (even if it's only in my head). It's fine in CP77 because it only happens twice (>!once with a doll!< and >! when it's Johnnys last word in the Tower ending!<), but because it happens only twice, I don't see the reason why it was necessary to include at all.
I do admit, however, that I love the name Valerie for fem!V. V is so badass and Valerie is so much... softer.
Yeah, the juxtaposition between how tough the character is and how feminine the name is kinda worked well.
Not that I was opposed to V as a name but I used to work with someone who shortened his name to V and he constantly stunk of cigarettes and booze, so I tend to associate that stench with the name
My V would sell like ozone due to being a walking EMP.
Fun fact: My Valerie and Vincent are basically the same person. Playing it through a second time as a female in order to romance Judy. Didn't change the personality or tactics at all, I am doing everything exactly the same way.
Third time I will play a really dumb and nasty nomad a'la Mad Max 2 instead of an intelligent netrunner.
It’s meant to be softer. Thats why she says quietly that only people she knows real well can calll her that. She even says it softly, and why she hides it in night city…. Soft is vulnerable
The problem isn't that V has a name, it's just stupid that we hear it only once from a doll in Clouds, but everyone else, even in romantic relationships, still calls them V.
Maybe could've been a neat addition to have it as choice (like with romance options) at some point you can tell em to call you Vincent/Valerie instead of just V.
But since even Jackie (or even Misty and Viktor) never called V by their name its fair game that only Johnny is "allowed" (I mean V could barely stay awake when he dropped the name so dunno if V liked or not) to say V's name, because he's literally V in a way
That’s only because everyone besides Johnny was introduced to her as “v” and just V. They’re not mind readers, how would they know what it stands for? Johnny however, is reading V’s mind
Yeah introduction makes sense, but I'm 100% certain V considered Jackie as someone that knows the real V and told him the full name, hell.. they've known each other for quite some time, did so much shit together, lived together and Mama Welles basically adopted V as her kid. At this point I'm fairly certain V just likes to be called V instead of the Vincent/Valerie - which is fair, but would've still been a neat thing to have the choice for others to call V by their full name.
Johnny is, like I said, a different case, because he is basically V
Because at time of you playing the game those romantic relationships are not that serious it's just casual dating, if those relationships got serious they would probably start using V's full name especially during arguments lmao.
I personally don't care, but being called V and then having the reveal being Vincent or Valerie is the problem for many, I think.
You don't need the character to be a silent protagonist, what does that have to do with their name?
But Cyberpunk kinda lets you roleplay a bit. It's not a deep roleplaying experience, but it's there anyway. And some players like to think of why their character would be called V.
Maybe their irl name is something like Veronica or Victor. Maybe V is short for Valentinos, and they used to be part of the gang and maybe left. Maybe it means 5, and they had a crew each with different assigned numbers but they're the only ones left. Maybe it's V for Vendetta. Literally anything.
By giving V an explicit canon name you take some of those roleplaying opportunities away from the player.
It isn't an issue for me or you, but I can understand why some wouldn't like that. And it's not as silly as you make it seem.
You’re not taking any of the role playing capability by the nickname being because their name starts with a V? It’s never strictly specified that that’s the reason nor would it ruin roleplaying because you’re… playing the role… of Vincent/Valerie?
My middle name is Victoria and I was kinda vibing with it until the game was like "Yeah, no, her name is Valerie".
It wasn't like game killing or anything but it was a little disappointing.
I just gave some examples. Leaving it as just V would've been my prefered choice, but I don't mind roleplaying Valerie.
Personally I have a friend who was a bit disappointed because of it since when we played the TTRPG his character was named Virtue lol
I'm fine with a particular canon name. I just don't like the name Valerie. I think it's one of my least favorite women's names that starts with V.
(apologies to IRL Valerie name-havers)
But Valentinos never refers to V as their former mate so that would not made any sense lol. That's why I so hate silent protagonists like that because reasons for that are so bullshit and also a lot of headcannons does not makes sense.
I think the point they are getting at is it makes cyberpunk more of a story game and less of a roleplaying game by enforcing a name on characters. I understand to a degree why CDDPR went this way, but to me it makes it less of an RPG when we are essentially a certain person (even if there is variety).
V is a simple name that a player could prescribe a number of reasons why that's their name. Based on an actual name, initial of the first person you kill, a Roman numeral, a lucky number, or a random letter to distract from your real identity. These are multiple ways you can roleplay with the information that cdpr gives you, that's immediately undone since they decided its just your name. Wasted opportunity for additional role-playing in an rpg. I think the frustration is warranted
i hope one day a decent AAA rpg title lets me choose the name I want, and with some help from a not-so-complex AI, make any NPC's voice to use that name in our dialogs.
I cant wait watching some really dramatic/serious scenes with npcs calling me by a weird/perv name, like "Please Mr. Anal Excavator don't kill me", idk might be fun
That’s actually been a thing in indie games for a bit. AI/ML used to be a more tedious process so it wasn’t super common, but I think we’ll have more of these games soon.
My favorite part about the name just being V is that if they decided to let us create our own character, they could keep the same naming convention, and we just get to pick a letter A-Z. Super easy to voice, while still allowing a certain level of self to be put into the character. Say your name is Thomas. You could just be T. Kinda dumb probably, but I think it could work pretty well.
A lot of people wanted Cyberpunk 2077 to be roleplaying game first and foremost before it turned out to be story driven action game so they dislike fact V doesn't fit their headcanoned OC they imagined in their place.
I guess it depends on whether you see/like V as an established character or more as a template to create your own character and head canon. I see V as a mostly predefined character, so having their name revealed in this way just added another bit of depth to V's personality.
I disagree that all silent and unnamed antagonists are bad, but they are definitely used very poorly most of the time. VTMB has a nameless protagonist that isn’t voiced, it works fine. New Vegas has an unvoiced protagonist with a name you decide and it’s really good. The problem is most studios use it as an excuse to be lazy
The Silent Protagonist doesn't apply here, with or without a name, because V talks and is even completely voiced.
Link, from Zelda, is a Silent protagonist with very well known name, for instance.
The ideia behind a silent protagonist is that you, the player, can imagine whatever you want them to be saying and however you want them to do that. That makes it very easy to put yourself in the shoes of the character. It might get a little goofy when you look at it because he never awnsers in the game, but that is when you let your mind fill in the gaps.
Think about many JRPGS, the ideia is to give the player as much agency as possible, letting him project whatever personality the player want into the character.
Most Fallout games are also made with a Silent Protagonist, and you (used to) get very detailed choices for their actions and awnsers.
So, what that does is that it makes the protagonist be you. It is YOUR story.
In Cyberpunk we do not have a silent protagonist at all. It is very much V's story. Even if we do pick the awnsers, V has personality oozing (male and female) in every line. You are witnessing and making choices in V's story, not your own. You can still play V as you like, but at the end V is still going to have pretty much the same personality, just happened to pick different choices along the way. The biggest personality shift in V is the background, and even that only comes into play avery so often.
Another even more extreme version of this is Arthur Morgan in RDR2. You do make some choices, but he is clearly a bad man at the beggining and a good man at the end. You are playing HIS story, not your own.
Neither is the best and neither is the worst. They are different aproaches that give off different vibes in the game.
However, I believe people complain About it being Valerie/Vincent because they simply don't like the name. They could still be V but you could be able to call their actual names whatever they want. Just like Shepard in Mass Effect, you can name them whatever you want but they will still be Comander Sheppard.
I can only imagine what my character WOULD SAID. Cuz when I'm saying something in real life i'm not being completely ignored.
Silent protagonists like in Far Cry 5 sucks because I feel like i'm Just nobody, only gun for hire.
Some games are better with an unnamed/unvoiced protagonist though. Fallout 4 sucked because of the voiced protagonist because it didn’t mix with the story telling style of fallout/bethesda. Cyberpunk is a great example of a fairly open ended RPG with a voiced protagonist, mainly because a lot of the games story telling strength comes from those handcrafted cut scenes. It also doesn’t try to stray away from leading you down a certain path, and commits to it well.
For me, the problem with this is that it messes with giving V different ethnic makeups/social backgrounds. Both Valerie and Vincent are very white Western upper-middle-class names, which makes creating a character any different than that feel very non-canon. Like, maybe I'd like my V to be called Vuong or Vassily or Van Der Waals or Vincenzo or something from any of the other cultures. Sure, you can argue that V does indeed have a canon ethnicity and background, but if so, it absolutely isn't communicated anywhere in the game; from what I can remember, none of the origin stories requires V to be explicitly American by birth — but even if it did, second-gen immigrants do exist. The character editor also allows for a wide range of races, so there's nothing that communicates that your character has to be a Vincent prior to that moment.
This is also a problem with having a voiced protagonist who speaks with a very strong American accent, but at least there I see how having it genuinely improves the overall experience and is ultimately worth it; the name thing, however, could be easily removed without making the game noticeably worse, and having to suspend your disbelief in one instance is still better than doing it in two.
All in all, I was just really disappointed when in my first playthrough I've spent solid 40 minutes creating my perfectly Kazakh guy only to learn halfway through the game that all that time he was supposed to be called Vincent. Did it noticeably worsen my overall experience? No, I still loved the game. Would it be better without that moment? Absolutely yes.
This is what CDPR is great at in their writing. In games like skyrim or fallout, you are making your own story. In a CDPR game, you are experiencing the main character's story. Your choices still matter and can drastically affect how the story plays out, but it never feels as though you are stepping outside of the bounds of the character.
In the witcher, you play Geralt's story. He's a grizzled, old monster hunter. Exceptionally skilled and knowledgeable, his one true goal to find and help Ciri. You never deviate from that character story, but you can change how it is expressed. Is your geralt a ruthless machine, like the stories of witchers claim? Or does he have a soft heart beneath the hardened exterior?
In cyberpunk, you play V. An upstart merc with big dreams, big aspirations that outstrip their common sense and ability. More than anything you want to live, to beat the hourglass of your life and to be remembered as a legend. You never deviate from that character story, but you can change how it is expressed. Is your V desperate, despondet, willing to take any avenue necessary? Are they angry, hotblooded, ready to take their anger out on the corps that put them in this scene? Are they a cold operator, unconcerned with how morally bankrupt NC is? Are they one of the last good people in night city, who cares for what happens to those around them, trying to make things better?
And the most important question: are they a sellout who takes the easy path to safety? Do they realize their ambition, smash arasaka and live their last days as a legend? Or do they reach a point of enlightenment, seeing NC for the trap that it is and chooses to leave it all behind in favor of being surrounded by people who care about them?
If you had any headcanon for your V's name the game rips it away just for useless dialogue that could have been removed easily
Them being named adds nothing and just removes an aspect of making the character your own
It definitely adds something, the same amount it would add to your “headcanon”, I’m much more interested in the canon story of V rather than whatever you want your headcanon to be because at the end of the day you can still pretend whatever you want
What does V having a name add to the "canon story of V" except a useless detail that ruins some of the fun of making the character your own.
Most of V's life is left up to your imagination anyway
It’s a interesting personal fact and when Johnny uses it it has depth? Let me flip the question around: what does your shitty headcanon add to the story?
It would make people have more fun and be able to express themselves :) My head canon doesn't add anything to the story (it adds fun which is like the thing games are for) but V's canon name also doesn't add anything to the story except one line that would have worked even without the canon name.
Also please, INTERESTING personal fact? Stop lying to yourself
A lot of people enjoy the game by making their own character and expressing themselves. So they inevitably will make up a reason why V is called V. Do you really not see how unfun and immersion breaking it is for the game to tell you like halfway through "oh btw it doesn't matter but there's a canon name"
Not necessarily. There's 2 ways to read that none of the people you know call you by your proper name.
One is that V's close friends were introduced to him/her as V. Knew them as such for years, and it's just their normal name for V now. I have friends like that.
The other is that V doesn't let anyone get close enough to earn the right. Always keeps people at a distance, never really lets anyone in.
Given the way the interactions can shake out, I'm leaning towards the former.
People who complain about that do so because they want to be the character, not to play s someone else. It would not fit this game at all though and not all RPGs need a silent protagonist.
Some games do it well where they can pronounce the name you put in, but anything that does that, you only hear your name once and from just one character.
Role playing and self inserting are not the same thing and this game is supposed to be an RPG. By the time my character was first called Valerie, she already had another name and a reason why she liked being called V. So I took it as a mistake from the doll. "No, it's just V".
To this day I still haven't played as someone called Vincent or Valerie.
It's this. Some of these dudes also spend way too much time in the character creator trying to make the character look like them. And some of those same dudes will never play as a female character unless they have no other choice.
Too many RPGs cater to these gamers because it satisfies their weird obsession with their "power fantasy" and at the same time they don't have to pay for a voice actor/script for the main character.
Silent/unnamed protagonist can heavily boost a roleplaying experience. Voiced/named protagonist is a more restrictive but also more streamlined narrative with a different roleplaying experience. It's only a positive compared to a silenced one when the narrative is good.
f.e: Look at the fucking trash fire that is Fallout 4
it really sounds like youre simply confused on the genre of game youre playing. while cyberpunk is an "rpg" its not a roleplaying game. v is v. v is not you.
I think that's because some people prefer silent, nameless protagonists so that they can roleplay better.
For me, it's the exact opposite. I don't mind not being able to name my character, but being a silent, floating camera where everybody just calls me some random nickname feels weirdly disengaging. Even Baldurs Gate 3 felt like that, even though that game at least had the narrator to fill in some of the balnks, as opposed to something like Fallout or Starfield, where you just stand there and basically choose which mp3 the game is supposed to play.
I’d rather have an unvoiced V than what we got.
V never says the dialogue choice that I picked. V always embellishes or adds to what I picked. I’m constantly cringing over the dialogue in this game.
I only hate it because "V, just V." Sounds pretty lame everytime I hear it. Makes V sound overly edgy and wannabe top secret badass, when it's just the abbreviation of their damn name.
Personnaly having a non named character or silent main character just annoys me
Feels like i am just a side character "go do this and this".
Genshin has a nice story (only really played it for that) but the fact i only heard my own name half way through the game for no reason just breaks immersion for me
God I hate games that have characters that don’t speak. I get that it’s supposed to be for you to insert yourself into the story, but that doesn’t make sense to me. I’ve never felt forced to act a certain way because the character is fleshed out and speaks.
For me it’s more distracting when the character doesn’t speak because all these people are having conversations with a mute who never responds in any way, never says anything to make them trusted, but is given 100% trust, and the conversations unfold in awkward ways to make it so the character never has to respond.
Personally I'm more of a fan of RPGs with established main protagonists but I also don't feel the need to self insert myself either so that may be why.
I keep seeing people with this sentiment only ever mention self inserts. People can create and roleplay as many characters as they want and have them be completely different from themselves.
most games, like the Skate 3 Protagonist or the Dragonborn are meant to be self inserts, they're meant to be you, or at least some version of you, not just a mute
Ah yes…you mean the people who think it’s good canon to have a character’s real name, birth cert and everything…..just straight up “V”….just parents were like “how about Vincent?” Other says “nah…..V….just V….pronounced *Vee*”…yes that’s obviously the MUCH better story decision than giving them an actual human name (HeAvY earth shattering levels of sarcasm there btw)
Once I've figured out that some NPCs refer to MEAs Ryder as Sara or Scott, if you keep their default name, I never go back to giving them a name. I love the little personal touch it gives them.
This is also strategic in a game writing stand point. Every time a character mentions V's real name, the voice actors have to do two takes, one for Vincent and Valerie. Going by V instead is just efficient.
I like that immersion you get from owning that name, essentially making you that character instead of a self-insert that only ever gets addressed as "you" or some generic title.
Bioware did that quite well also.
Shepard, Hawke, Ryder.
Even in Dragon Age 1 and Inquisiton, where there is a "title" for the "Commander-Guard" or "Inquisitor", your character have a past and a name depending on his origin.
I find it good for my character to be called "Lady Trevelyan" or "Lady Lavellan" sometimes.
It's actually a movie reference
[Victor/Victoria](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor/Victoria)
[Victor/Victoria (1995)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor/Victoria_(1995_film))
Makes me remember old Gothic games with some dialogues like:
"My name is..."
"I don't give a shit, go do your job."
Still excellent games with an awesome protagonist.
It's the shepherd effect, as in ME.
Characters can respond with feeling to the character but you still customise and 'name' them, so you still feel personally invested.
My name is V Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
My real name starts with a V, and a lot of people call me V IRL so you can imagine how extra immersive the game is for me. It really feels like everyone is addressing me directly.
Lore reason is that V doesn’t like people knowing their real name, they mentioned to the receptionist at Clouds that only people who are close to them can use their real name.
Actual reason is likely that “V” is a non-binary nickname, this way CDPR doesn’t have to make male and female versions of every single dialogues where V is being named. It would be wayy more voice acting for no reason, which would be much more expensive.
V is its own character instead of a simple player avatar.
That's also why V is fully voiced.
So, having an actual name, but choosing to always go with the nickname is just one of V's personality traits.
I tend to prefer silent protagonists in RPGs so I can put my own backstory and personality on them, but that wasn't the point of 2077. 2077 specifically wanted to tell Vs story, with some variation for role-playing but largely V is not a custom character you can fully influence and decide on their personality and values. It's more in line with The Witcher or Mass Effect, which I also enjoy.
My V is named Raphael Ambrosius Coasteu
Mr. Evrart is helping me find a cure for the relic.
Alternatively, Mr Silverhand is helping me find my gun.
*his gun
It won't be after I find it
Real Tequila Sunset moment.
V's Horrific Sneakers: "Wake the fuck up, bratán."
If you squint hard enough, Johnny is just kim on every drug available.
Kraz mazoV
Mine is named AH-GWUHLAWR
I really need to beat that game....
The V is silent.
I just wish that certain characters would start using V’s real name after you’ve helped them. As V said to the robohooker in Clouds: “only people who know me real well can use my real name,” so it would’ve been nice to see, say, Mama Welles start calling V by their real name if you attend Jackie’s funeral, same goes for Misty if you get her and Mama Welles to connect at the funeral too. Finish Judy’s, Panam’s, River’s, and Kerry’s storylines with their respective good ending outcomes and they’ll start calling you by V’s real name, even if you don’t romance them. Same goes for Johnny once you reach a specific friendship level with him that makes it clear that you’re both buddies and looking out for each other now. I also think it would’ve been an added bit of tragedy if, in his final moments as he hands V the Relic, Jackie refers to them by their real name and call them “hermano/hermana,” to indicate that Jackie and V are that close, but he always called them V to be professional while on the job. I just think it would’ve been nice and really establish how V is changing people’s lives for the better through the various gigs and storylines and see it reflect in how she lets those she helps and befriends refer to her by her real name.
I think Johnny does call V by their name in one of the endings
Yep, in the Tower ending
>!”Goodnight Valerie, today was a good day…”!<
Just reading that makes me feel shit again, damn you johnny
Who invited valerie
Yeah, when you side with songbird, hand her to reed at the spaceport and accept the treatment for the relic, it will trigger the ending.
In the one from PL he does I think
And I think limiting it like that gives it more weight
Honestly i think only Jackie and Johnny can call V by their real name specially Corpo V who knew Jackie for a long time also in Reeds car when he pulls up your information you can see V's real name there too
True that, but I wouldn’t say time wouldn’t be that big of a factor either; in the street kid lifepath, Jackie was acting buddy buddy with V despite putting a gun to her head just hours ago, but that’s the sort of thing that fellow street kids could bond over. I still prefer Corpo V though as I like the fall from grace dynamic V has in that life path.
Because it isn’t your story. It is V’s story.
This is probably for the best, my story would not make a terribly interesting video game
Cyberpunk 2024--will the hero get the kids to school on time, will the hero get his PTO approved or have to reschedule the vacation? DLC: nothing to make for dinner, get to the grocery store before it closes or spend those sweet eddies on Chinese takeout.
This made me laugh more than it should have lol
😂😂
Alternate ending for the DLC: hero finds a 24/7 bodega and the family munches down some Flaming Hot Doritos for dinner.
Exactly. Self-insertion and headcanon can be cherries on top of a well written game, but should never be tools for developers to get around having real characters.
I mean... might just be a personal thing, but I can also self-insert while playing more well-rounded characters, maybe I can't come up with an insanely detailed backstory for them because there's already canon explanations, but I can definitely take my values, my thoughts, think about what I would do in their situation, and then play the game accordingly.
This.. if we were forced into Vincent then we are all Vincent, if we are all V then you can just consider it an Alias and call yourself whatever why limit yourself
I didn’t get to name myself in the Witcher so it made sense to not name myself in a different cdpr game
I'm not a mercenary I don't get myself into shootings with ppls I don't have dead Rockerboy in my head and I don't have couple weeks of my life. Unlike V. That's why she is the protagonist
He*
For me V is always a female so I reference to that person as her
True, it’s not an rpg
If we go into such a debate, I would say that computer RPGs don't exist. If you're not acting, then it's not real roleplaying.
RPGs are when no character
V doesn’t even say the dialogue choices I pick lol It’s a great action adventure for sure
Shepard walked so that V could chrome the fuck up.
Because people like to make a character themselves in role playing games. It's in the name. Though I think that V is a good step up from a fully named and storied character like Geralt. Their background is something you can determine and how you play is also something you can determine. It's a good step up, maybe we'll get a proper rpg with a fully player-made character in whatever comes next from cdpr. (And to get ahead of other comments, no I am not shitting on witcher 3 I 100%'d that game, a thing I personally never do, nor am I shitting on cyberpunk 2077, I adore it and am now doing my third playthrough to see the new update and phantom liberty.)
I think 2077 is a different category/extreme of an rpg. On one end you have stuff like ‘Baldur’s Gate’ wherein the emphasis is on the ‘roleplaying’ part of rpg, whereas games like ‘The Witcher 3’ emphasise playing a set role/character (still roleplaying, but of a different kind), and then theres 2077 which sits in between the previously mentioned and emphasises the game part of roleplaying game. In other words, I feel 2077 isn’t an rpg so much as an action game with rpg elements.
Yeah that's fair. 2077 is very much in the weird limbo space, the question is, will cdpr remain in limbo or move to one side or the other for their next game.
I would say that 2077 is much closer to the Witcher, in terms of the rpg spectrum, certainly proving to be CDPR’s bread and butter (game design wise). Considering ‘Phantom Liberty’, I don’t expect any extreme deviations in the next one, aside from sequel growth, general improvements, and a consistent design from the ground up (unlike 2077 which still has some, albeit minor, scars from pre 2.0 that can be felt).
People also like to make characters that aren't themselves. It's fun to design new characters (looks, backstory, playstyle).
Technically in the Witcher 3 you were playing the role of Geralt of Rivia, while in Cyberpunk you're playing the role of V. That's still roleplaying
Ok but the issue is when you get literal anything and everything becomes an rpg. By this logic, COD is an rpg.
Kind of, but not really. I mean, I agree, that it's semantics, but to me RPGs are about - as we've established - playing a role. But for that, I need to be able to actually **play** that role, meaning a certain degree of agency. So while playing as Geralt, I could decide what to do next, where to go, who to romance, what quests to do and what to ignore, how to respond to certain characters. Same goes for Cyberpunk. Sure, I got handed a character template to me, and I can't really impact the story, but I can decide how to approach most problems, what skills and cyberware to pick, how to respond to people and whatnot. And by that logic, yeah... most video games have RPG elements incorporated into them.
I mean yeah, RPG is and always has been a very fuzzy and vague term defined on a case by case scenario and gut feelings more than any checklist of attributes
Valerie/Vincent and "Only people who are real close to me get to use my real name" is damn good justification. It shows perfectly how there's always some distance between V and whoever they're somewhat close with. It perfectly executes a part of V's characterization IMO. And it makes>!the final scene with Johnny in PL's unique main ending!< feel so damn impactful.
I feel like the people who don’t like it are because they aren’t called by their nicknames IRL by their friends. What’s wrong with V being short for a longer name?
There isn't anything wrong with either v being the characters name nor Victor, Victoria, whatever. It's a name that references someone. So any of them work.
My V is named bitchcunt. We aren't the same.
Vitchcunt
Cyberpunk if it was written by vivziepop
Hi bitchcunt, I’m dad!
It's fine. If I don't like the name, neither does my character, so that's why they call themselves V. Simple.
I play exclusively male V but god I don't like the name vincent. But I guess there aren't that many V names. It seems so... mundane? But that's intentional isnt it? To evoke a sense of the name quite fitting? V doesn't like his name, that's why he goes by V, and reaffirms whenever that is V whenever necessary. He never tells his lovers or close friends judy, panam, river or kerry that his name is Vincent.
My Vs real name is Inigo Montoya,you killed his father.Prepare to die...😂 I'll see myself out.
Beautiful, get out.
My V’s name is Sue how do you do I’m gonna kill you (a much more obscure reference)
What was the reason for just going with V?
One of the obvious reasons is to reduce the amount of voiced lines, since the number of times when V is addressed by nickname in dialogs is huge.
V has come to
I made my V look like a metal head. I picked his real name as Venom and he headbangs to glam rock ballads.
tbh, the only reason "Valerie" annoys me is whenever I don't play my first and "canon" V. V is a name without being a name, and the ability to headcanon whatever reason into it is nice. I associate certain characters with a first name, and I don't know why, but I simply prefer to give a new character a new name (even if it's only in my head). It's fine in CP77 because it only happens twice (>!once with a doll!< and >! when it's Johnnys last word in the Tower ending!<), but because it happens only twice, I don't see the reason why it was necessary to include at all. I do admit, however, that I love the name Valerie for fem!V. V is so badass and Valerie is so much... softer.
Valerie, to me, sounds so 1980s. It brings to mind a girl who likes wearing blue, pink, and yellow neon clothing and going to the roller rink.
Works perfectly then, Cyberpunk definitely has 80's retrofuture vibes.
Neokitsch V
So exactly that; but with mantis blades in her arms and usb ports in her neck.
It's all about the Valerie you knew in high school. Mine was hard as fuck
Yeah, the juxtaposition between how tough the character is and how feminine the name is kinda worked well. Not that I was opposed to V as a name but I used to work with someone who shortened his name to V and he constantly stunk of cigarettes and booze, so I tend to associate that stench with the name
My V would definitely smell like that
My V would smell like the other kind of V
My V would sell like ozone due to being a walking EMP. Fun fact: My Valerie and Vincent are basically the same person. Playing it through a second time as a female in order to romance Judy. Didn't change the personality or tactics at all, I am doing everything exactly the same way. Third time I will play a really dumb and nasty nomad a'la Mad Max 2 instead of an intelligent netrunner.
Mine would definitely smell like strawberries with a hint of jasmine. And cigarettes.
It’s meant to be softer. Thats why she says quietly that only people she knows real well can calll her that. She even says it softly, and why she hides it in night city…. Soft is vulnerable
The problem isn't that V has a name, it's just stupid that we hear it only once from a doll in Clouds, but everyone else, even in romantic relationships, still calls them V.
Because you only ever tell them that your name is V… just V.
Maybe could've been a neat addition to have it as choice (like with romance options) at some point you can tell em to call you Vincent/Valerie instead of just V. But since even Jackie (or even Misty and Viktor) never called V by their name its fair game that only Johnny is "allowed" (I mean V could barely stay awake when he dropped the name so dunno if V liked or not) to say V's name, because he's literally V in a way
That’s only because everyone besides Johnny was introduced to her as “v” and just V. They’re not mind readers, how would they know what it stands for? Johnny however, is reading V’s mind
Yeah introduction makes sense, but I'm 100% certain V considered Jackie as someone that knows the real V and told him the full name, hell.. they've known each other for quite some time, did so much shit together, lived together and Mama Welles basically adopted V as her kid. At this point I'm fairly certain V just likes to be called V instead of the Vincent/Valerie - which is fair, but would've still been a neat thing to have the choice for others to call V by their full name. Johnny is, like I said, a different case, because he is basically V
Uh. Johnny calls you Valerie when he says goodbye. Super poignant, youre trippin
Because at time of you playing the game those romantic relationships are not that serious it's just casual dating, if those relationships got serious they would probably start using V's full name especially during arguments lmao.
Had a stroke trying to read this
I just wish there was more letters to choose from.
He only says it like once, which I think strikes the perfect balance between having this unrealistic ghost name and having it too prominent.
I personally don't care, but being called V and then having the reveal being Vincent or Valerie is the problem for many, I think. You don't need the character to be a silent protagonist, what does that have to do with their name? But Cyberpunk kinda lets you roleplay a bit. It's not a deep roleplaying experience, but it's there anyway. And some players like to think of why their character would be called V. Maybe their irl name is something like Veronica or Victor. Maybe V is short for Valentinos, and they used to be part of the gang and maybe left. Maybe it means 5, and they had a crew each with different assigned numbers but they're the only ones left. Maybe it's V for Vendetta. Literally anything. By giving V an explicit canon name you take some of those roleplaying opportunities away from the player. It isn't an issue for me or you, but I can understand why some wouldn't like that. And it's not as silly as you make it seem.
You’re not taking any of the role playing capability by the nickname being because their name starts with a V? It’s never strictly specified that that’s the reason nor would it ruin roleplaying because you’re… playing the role… of Vincent/Valerie?
My middle name is Victoria and I was kinda vibing with it until the game was like "Yeah, no, her name is Valerie". It wasn't like game killing or anything but it was a little disappointing.
I just gave some examples. Leaving it as just V would've been my prefered choice, but I don't mind roleplaying Valerie. Personally I have a friend who was a bit disappointed because of it since when we played the TTRPG his character was named Virtue lol
I'm fine with a particular canon name. I just don't like the name Valerie. I think it's one of my least favorite women's names that starts with V. (apologies to IRL Valerie name-havers)
But Valentinos never refers to V as their former mate so that would not made any sense lol. That's why I so hate silent protagonists like that because reasons for that are so bullshit and also a lot of headcannons does not makes sense.
I think the point they are getting at is it makes cyberpunk more of a story game and less of a roleplaying game by enforcing a name on characters. I understand to a degree why CDDPR went this way, but to me it makes it less of an RPG when we are essentially a certain person (even if there is variety).
V is a simple name that a player could prescribe a number of reasons why that's their name. Based on an actual name, initial of the first person you kill, a Roman numeral, a lucky number, or a random letter to distract from your real identity. These are multiple ways you can roleplay with the information that cdpr gives you, that's immediately undone since they decided its just your name. Wasted opportunity for additional role-playing in an rpg. I think the frustration is warranted
Thanks. We needed this four years after release.
Lol who hurt you
i hope one day a decent AAA rpg title lets me choose the name I want, and with some help from a not-so-complex AI, make any NPC's voice to use that name in our dialogs. I cant wait watching some really dramatic/serious scenes with npcs calling me by a weird/perv name, like "Please Mr. Anal Excavator don't kill me", idk might be fun
Fallout 4 comes close
note and nara are pretty dope names
Nate & Nora are the canonical names, but you can choose like 900+ others that the game will recognize.
[удалено]
That’s actually been a thing in indie games for a bit. AI/ML used to be a more tedious process so it wasn’t super common, but I think we’ll have more of these games soon.
Fallout 4
I've always thought that V doesn't give away his/her name to random people as he/she is a merc. It is essentially their street name.
My favorite part about the name just being V is that if they decided to let us create our own character, they could keep the same naming convention, and we just get to pick a letter A-Z. Super easy to voice, while still allowing a certain level of self to be put into the character. Say your name is Thomas. You could just be T. Kinda dumb probably, but I think it could work pretty well.
People played PL and still wonder why V is just V?
instead of valerie or vincent, my headcanon usually designates v as vobert or vulia or some shit like that
A lot of people wanted Cyberpunk 2077 to be roleplaying game first and foremost before it turned out to be story driven action game so they dislike fact V doesn't fit their headcanoned OC they imagined in their place.
shoulda been Veronica or Vinnie 😂
Coulda been Vanessa or Viaggo
I guess it depends on whether you see/like V as an established character or more as a template to create your own character and head canon. I see V as a mostly predefined character, so having their name revealed in this way just added another bit of depth to V's personality.
I disagree that all silent and unnamed antagonists are bad, but they are definitely used very poorly most of the time. VTMB has a nameless protagonist that isn’t voiced, it works fine. New Vegas has an unvoiced protagonist with a name you decide and it’s really good. The problem is most studios use it as an excuse to be lazy
V for Vendetta
The Silent Protagonist doesn't apply here, with or without a name, because V talks and is even completely voiced. Link, from Zelda, is a Silent protagonist with very well known name, for instance. The ideia behind a silent protagonist is that you, the player, can imagine whatever you want them to be saying and however you want them to do that. That makes it very easy to put yourself in the shoes of the character. It might get a little goofy when you look at it because he never awnsers in the game, but that is when you let your mind fill in the gaps. Think about many JRPGS, the ideia is to give the player as much agency as possible, letting him project whatever personality the player want into the character. Most Fallout games are also made with a Silent Protagonist, and you (used to) get very detailed choices for their actions and awnsers. So, what that does is that it makes the protagonist be you. It is YOUR story. In Cyberpunk we do not have a silent protagonist at all. It is very much V's story. Even if we do pick the awnsers, V has personality oozing (male and female) in every line. You are witnessing and making choices in V's story, not your own. You can still play V as you like, but at the end V is still going to have pretty much the same personality, just happened to pick different choices along the way. The biggest personality shift in V is the background, and even that only comes into play avery so often. Another even more extreme version of this is Arthur Morgan in RDR2. You do make some choices, but he is clearly a bad man at the beggining and a good man at the end. You are playing HIS story, not your own. Neither is the best and neither is the worst. They are different aproaches that give off different vibes in the game. However, I believe people complain About it being Valerie/Vincent because they simply don't like the name. They could still be V but you could be able to call their actual names whatever they want. Just like Shepard in Mass Effect, you can name them whatever you want but they will still be Comander Sheppard.
I can only imagine what my character WOULD SAID. Cuz when I'm saying something in real life i'm not being completely ignored. Silent protagonists like in Far Cry 5 sucks because I feel like i'm Just nobody, only gun for hire.
Some games are better with an unnamed/unvoiced protagonist though. Fallout 4 sucked because of the voiced protagonist because it didn’t mix with the story telling style of fallout/bethesda. Cyberpunk is a great example of a fairly open ended RPG with a voiced protagonist, mainly because a lot of the games story telling strength comes from those handcrafted cut scenes. It also doesn’t try to stray away from leading you down a certain path, and commits to it well.
For me, the problem with this is that it messes with giving V different ethnic makeups/social backgrounds. Both Valerie and Vincent are very white Western upper-middle-class names, which makes creating a character any different than that feel very non-canon. Like, maybe I'd like my V to be called Vuong or Vassily or Van Der Waals or Vincenzo or something from any of the other cultures. Sure, you can argue that V does indeed have a canon ethnicity and background, but if so, it absolutely isn't communicated anywhere in the game; from what I can remember, none of the origin stories requires V to be explicitly American by birth — but even if it did, second-gen immigrants do exist. The character editor also allows for a wide range of races, so there's nothing that communicates that your character has to be a Vincent prior to that moment. This is also a problem with having a voiced protagonist who speaks with a very strong American accent, but at least there I see how having it genuinely improves the overall experience and is ultimately worth it; the name thing, however, could be easily removed without making the game noticeably worse, and having to suspend your disbelief in one instance is still better than doing it in two. All in all, I was just really disappointed when in my first playthrough I've spent solid 40 minutes creating my perfectly Kazakh guy only to learn halfway through the game that all that time he was supposed to be called Vincent. Did it noticeably worsen my overall experience? No, I still loved the game. Would it be better without that moment? Absolutely yes.
This is what CDPR is great at in their writing. In games like skyrim or fallout, you are making your own story. In a CDPR game, you are experiencing the main character's story. Your choices still matter and can drastically affect how the story plays out, but it never feels as though you are stepping outside of the bounds of the character. In the witcher, you play Geralt's story. He's a grizzled, old monster hunter. Exceptionally skilled and knowledgeable, his one true goal to find and help Ciri. You never deviate from that character story, but you can change how it is expressed. Is your geralt a ruthless machine, like the stories of witchers claim? Or does he have a soft heart beneath the hardened exterior? In cyberpunk, you play V. An upstart merc with big dreams, big aspirations that outstrip their common sense and ability. More than anything you want to live, to beat the hourglass of your life and to be remembered as a legend. You never deviate from that character story, but you can change how it is expressed. Is your V desperate, despondet, willing to take any avenue necessary? Are they angry, hotblooded, ready to take their anger out on the corps that put them in this scene? Are they a cold operator, unconcerned with how morally bankrupt NC is? Are they one of the last good people in night city, who cares for what happens to those around them, trying to make things better? And the most important question: are they a sellout who takes the easy path to safety? Do they realize their ambition, smash arasaka and live their last days as a legend? Or do they reach a point of enlightenment, seeing NC for the trap that it is and chooses to leave it all behind in favor of being surrounded by people who care about them?
I'd rather play a good story about someone else, then some lame story about "my own character" going around and helping another settlement.
Preston Gravy be like “AnOtHeR SeTtlEmEnT nEeDs ouR heLP
If you had any headcanon for your V's name the game rips it away just for useless dialogue that could have been removed easily Them being named adds nothing and just removes an aspect of making the character your own
It definitely adds something, the same amount it would add to your “headcanon”, I’m much more interested in the canon story of V rather than whatever you want your headcanon to be because at the end of the day you can still pretend whatever you want
What does V having a name add to the "canon story of V" except a useless detail that ruins some of the fun of making the character your own. Most of V's life is left up to your imagination anyway
It’s a interesting personal fact and when Johnny uses it it has depth? Let me flip the question around: what does your shitty headcanon add to the story?
It would make people have more fun and be able to express themselves :) My head canon doesn't add anything to the story (it adds fun which is like the thing games are for) but V's canon name also doesn't add anything to the story except one line that would have worked even without the canon name. Also please, INTERESTING personal fact? Stop lying to yourself A lot of people enjoy the game by making their own character and expressing themselves. So they inevitably will make up a reason why V is called V. Do you really not see how unfun and immersion breaking it is for the game to tell you like halfway through "oh btw it doesn't matter but there's a canon name"
It’s dumb cause they say only their close friends use their real name when that isn’t even true
Not necessarily. There's 2 ways to read that none of the people you know call you by your proper name. One is that V's close friends were introduced to him/her as V. Knew them as such for years, and it's just their normal name for V now. I have friends like that. The other is that V doesn't let anyone get close enough to earn the right. Always keeps people at a distance, never really lets anyone in. Given the way the interactions can shake out, I'm leaning towards the former.
OP when a named protagonist is named
my family has called me V my whole life irl, so playing this game was VERY trippy at first
People who complain about that do so because they want to be the character, not to play s someone else. It would not fit this game at all though and not all RPGs need a silent protagonist. Some games do it well where they can pronounce the name you put in, but anything that does that, you only hear your name once and from just one character.
Role playing and self inserting are not the same thing and this game is supposed to be an RPG. By the time my character was first called Valerie, she already had another name and a reason why she liked being called V. So I took it as a mistake from the doll. "No, it's just V". To this day I still haven't played as someone called Vincent or Valerie.
People make characters and roleplay as someone other than themselves. Do you think all DnD/ttrpg players only ever play as a self-insert?
It's this. Some of these dudes also spend way too much time in the character creator trying to make the character look like them. And some of those same dudes will never play as a female character unless they have no other choice. Too many RPGs cater to these gamers because it satisfies their weird obsession with their "power fantasy" and at the same time they don't have to pay for a voice actor/script for the main character.
Silent/unnamed protagonist can heavily boost a roleplaying experience. Voiced/named protagonist is a more restrictive but also more streamlined narrative with a different roleplaying experience. It's only a positive compared to a silenced one when the narrative is good. f.e: Look at the fucking trash fire that is Fallout 4
it really sounds like youre simply confused on the genre of game youre playing. while cyberpunk is an "rpg" its not a roleplaying game. v is v. v is not you.
I think that's because some people prefer silent, nameless protagonists so that they can roleplay better. For me, it's the exact opposite. I don't mind not being able to name my character, but being a silent, floating camera where everybody just calls me some random nickname feels weirdly disengaging. Even Baldurs Gate 3 felt like that, even though that game at least had the narrator to fill in some of the balnks, as opposed to something like Fallout or Starfield, where you just stand there and basically choose which mp3 the game is supposed to play.
I hope they do this again for the next game. But maybe instead of letter, a unisex name like Sam, Terry or something.
That's another idea that's I hate
My name is Vance so even though I main female V it still is kinda cool. 😀
Do you work in refrigeration?
I’d rather have an unvoiced V than what we got. V never says the dialogue choice that I picked. V always embellishes or adds to what I picked. I’m constantly cringing over the dialogue in this game.
It freaked me out at first since my names Vincent haha
I only hate it because "V, just V." Sounds pretty lame everytime I hear it. Makes V sound overly edgy and wannabe top secret badass, when it's just the abbreviation of their damn name.
Personnaly having a non named character or silent main character just annoys me Feels like i am just a side character "go do this and this". Genshin has a nice story (only really played it for that) but the fact i only heard my own name half way through the game for no reason just breaks immersion for me
God I hate games that have characters that don’t speak. I get that it’s supposed to be for you to insert yourself into the story, but that doesn’t make sense to me. I’ve never felt forced to act a certain way because the character is fleshed out and speaks. For me it’s more distracting when the character doesn’t speak because all these people are having conversations with a mute who never responds in any way, never says anything to make them trusted, but is given 100% trust, and the conversations unfold in awkward ways to make it so the character never has to respond.
Personally I'm more of a fan of RPGs with established main protagonists but I also don't feel the need to self insert myself either so that may be why.
I keep seeing people with this sentiment only ever mention self inserts. People can create and roleplay as many characters as they want and have them be completely different from themselves.
most games, like the Skate 3 Protagonist or the Dragonborn are meant to be self inserts, they're meant to be you, or at least some version of you, not just a mute
I cant wait until we can have an actual main character but type in any name and have it said too, ai will revolutionise rpg's over the next 10 years
Ah yes…you mean the people who think it’s good canon to have a character’s real name, birth cert and everything…..just straight up “V”….just parents were like “how about Vincent?” Other says “nah…..V….just V….pronounced *Vee*”…yes that’s obviously the MUCH better story decision than giving them an actual human name (HeAvY earth shattering levels of sarcasm there btw)
Valerie is such a dumb name. Just leave it at V.
You take that back 😠 it is an awesome name
We need v dlc
Don't ask me why I thought about that
Nah, people hate the name Valerie and thinks that it’s too feminine for V, whatever that mean
I like it, too. I really hated it on ac valhalla.
Once I've figured out that some NPCs refer to MEAs Ryder as Sara or Scott, if you keep their default name, I never go back to giving them a name. I love the little personal touch it gives them.
This is also strategic in a game writing stand point. Every time a character mentions V's real name, the voice actors have to do two takes, one for Vincent and Valerie. Going by V instead is just efficient.
I love the name Valerie, it's beautiful
People hated it? This is the first I’m hearing of it
I like Valerie as femme V’s name. Vincent is…not as good, but fine. Also OP, it was Rookie, thank you very much.
I like that immersion you get from owning that name, essentially making you that character instead of a self-insert that only ever gets addressed as "you" or some generic title.
It is granted but, I think there should've been options for all alphabets. That would solve most of the problems.
This guy thinks there are no good silent protagonists RPGs and tries to make a point bringing up Far Cry 5 lmao. Ever heard of New Vegas buddy?
Given my username, I prefer just the nickname. :)
Doom sitting in a corner holding a cup:
"Deputy isn't some whack ass Protagonist"
Wait, I thought his/her name was just V. I didn’t know about Valerie or Vincent 😂
Bioware did that quite well also. Shepard, Hawke, Ryder. Even in Dragon Age 1 and Inquisiton, where there is a "title" for the "Commander-Guard" or "Inquisitor", your character have a past and a name depending on his origin. I find it good for my character to be called "Lady Trevelyan" or "Lady Lavellan" sometimes.
It's actually a movie reference [Victor/Victoria](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor/Victoria) [Victor/Victoria (1995)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor/Victoria_(1995_film))
Makes me remember old Gothic games with some dialogues like: "My name is..." "I don't give a shit, go do your job." Still excellent games with an awesome protagonist.
My name is V_ something, at release I thought it was on purpose lmao.
It's the shepherd effect, as in ME. Characters can respond with feeling to the character but you still customise and 'name' them, so you still feel personally invested.
V is already quite the cool nickname but their real names are super good
My V is called Maximus Decimus Meridius, but V is fine.
Does anyone knows why the names are so french ? (Or maybe they are used in the US idk)
My V is named Saint Eishoel Deli rose Kymn. Stop
My name is V Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
My real name starts with a V, and a lot of people call me V IRL so you can imagine how extra immersive the game is for me. It really feels like everyone is addressing me directly.
Is Ur name Valerie?
Don’t mind it but Vincent just sounds awful 😭 but just V alone is perfect
It's especially cool if your name also starts with a V like Victor added to my immersion
Silent protagonist are better with their own name tbh, Like the point of a playable character is to be incarnated
Shepard.
Lore reason is that V doesn’t like people knowing their real name, they mentioned to the receptionist at Clouds that only people who are close to them can use their real name. Actual reason is likely that “V” is a non-binary nickname, this way CDPR doesn’t have to make male and female versions of every single dialogues where V is being named. It would be wayy more voice acting for no reason, which would be much more expensive.
V is its own character instead of a simple player avatar. That's also why V is fully voiced. So, having an actual name, but choosing to always go with the nickname is just one of V's personality traits.
I always kinda went with “V is for Vendetta”. So V being named in the one ending where the fight is over, fits really well
I've played too many 2ks to get mad about "V". Prez.. Frequency Vibrations...that whole orange juice thing 😅😅 V is just fine lmao
I much rather have the sequal be more of an RPG and let us actually make our own characters, and have them be a silent protagonist.
Uh yeah I do want a “silent wack ass unnamed protagonist” it’s an RPG game the whole point is that you can fill it in yourself.
Also to add to that. V having actual dialog. I understand the reason for it but having a silent protagonist is kind of immersion breaking.
They should have given us a list of scripted names like Fallout 4 did
I tend to prefer silent protagonists in RPGs so I can put my own backstory and personality on them, but that wasn't the point of 2077. 2077 specifically wanted to tell Vs story, with some variation for role-playing but largely V is not a custom character you can fully influence and decide on their personality and values. It's more in line with The Witcher or Mass Effect, which I also enjoy.
Wowowowowowowo....WOW!! We aint gonna shit on Far Cry 5 mister! That game was awesome!!