Welcome to my netrunners nest!

●In this sideblog, you'll find a dump of all my cyberpunk 2077 related content for the townspeople to see, along with other random bits of content sprinkled in. I generally post sfw things. However, warnings will be posted when I decide to push the bounds, if you will. (Minors exit stage left. Blank profiles don't bother.)

A little about me:

● 31 | Pronouns: She/her| Been playing CP77 since launch, and I've enjoyed every minute of it. I play on the ps5, but I try to get my screenshots as clean as possible. I plan to dabble in fics/one shots for cp77, some of which I have written but not posted.

OC(s):

• Siboney Valkari Taylor (30) 《-Free Spirited, Streetkid Netrunner with a love for tech and a "mild" obsession with fashion. Although her fate is sealed, it hasn't stopped her from having fun while fightin' to live. Maaaybe a little too much fun. She thinks of herself as the "Black widow of the Blackwall". She won't go beyond it, but doesn't have a problem pushing others through it ;)

• Arrow "Ari" Vazier Taylor (32) 《- A man who sold his soul to NC. Sib's older brother, and ex-corpo turned underground ripperdoc with an unchecked love for blades...There's a reason he lost his position, and it's pretty bloody.

Be sure to Jack Out safely, chooms!

22 and 23 for Kerry and V!

22. What’s different about their backgrounds? Do those differences affect the relationship?

V is a StreetKid raised by mercs and a ripperdoc, Kerry was already at the top by that time. V could only dream of having a nice house like the ones the two live in now. But it also taught him how to be a bit rougher around the edges, but he forgets Kerry wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. That Kerry doesn’t mind getting down and dirty when needed, that V living in a tiny apartment isn’t a big deal to him, because Kerry was already being called a corpo sellout by the time V was into his music, not knowing how he grew up and how almost.. similar they could have been.

It does affect them in a way that Kerry desperately wants to spoil V, but V is happy with a roof over his head and a comfortable bed to sleep in. V only uses money for cars, his apartments, and guns and chrome. Kerry WANTS to use his money on V, and V is like “I don’t need it.” And Kerry is like “but you want it. And you drive me fucking insane.”

23: What was their first impressions of each other?

V is a known Kerry Eurodyne lover by his friends, Jackie used to make jokes that if V made it big, maybe he had a shot. So obviously when he comes too and Kerry is like two inches in from his face and touching him, he’s close to losing his shit, but he was closer to dying and was more worried about making Johnny happy, not thinking he really had a shot with THE rock legend.

Kerry saw him as an obstacle. V was dying so that meant when he died, maybe he could have Johnny back. He was cute sure, and he could see the starstruck look in his eyes when Johnny left. But he saw him as a person to help him, help get samurai back together, help blow up the van. He was a merc getting paid to do what Mercs do and make Johnny happy.

NAME ORIGINS

RULES: Search and post the meaning of your OCs’ names (if you made their name up or they go by a nickname, post an explanation of how it came to you)! Bonus if you can find something for their last name too.

Thank you for the tag @tetratronic. I'm not going to do this for my Dragon age OC's because 19 of them is a itsy bitsy bit much! 😂 For Cyberpunk there are only 3 of them which is not that time consuming.

Valaire Dercks

Valaire is, although it sounds more like French, a Dutch name. The French version is written Valère. Both names are derivation of the Latin name Valerius. Valerius has several meaning like: strong, healthy and mighty.

I chose Valaire because of the fancy sound. Dercks was a very common name in the US during the immigration. The name Dercks is mostly found in PA. I couldn't find a specific meaning for it.

Veerle Braam

Veerle is also a Dutch name and I love this one. I always thought that this name is a combination of "veer" and something else or just random gibberish to make it sound better. Veer means feather in English. Actually Veerle has nothing to do with feathers but is a derivation of the germanic name Farahild which means "Travel to battle". I like my feather theory more! 😅

Braam is also a common Dutch family name, it is in the US mostly found in Ohio. Braam is a derivation of Abraham (Father of many nations).

Vicco

I'm sorry to disappoint, but Vicco is not a Dutch name, well not really. The name Vicco is used in all of Europe as a derivation of Victor. Another name I really love, but because we already have our favourite ripperdoc that has that name I needed to come up with something else. Victor is a latin name which means victory.

Vicco is a streetkid, he never knew his parents and he doesn't know/won't tell his full name.

I won't tag anyone, but if you like to do this feel free to tag me :)

·:*¨༺ V ༻¨*:·

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ name: Novva “V” Lightfoot (only 5 people know his name) ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ pronouns: he/him/fae ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ gender: transmasc ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ age: 26 (aug. 2) ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ sexuality: aspec achillean ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ path: streetkid, netrunner ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ height: 5'9 ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ weight: 180lbs (not accounting for chrome) ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

.｡.∗⁕☆*:✧★✧:*☆⁕∗.｡.

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ likes: cats, old tech, werewolves, bugs, stars, shiny things, bread, his vintage modded headphonss, loud & fast music, biting things/Kerry (in a non-sexual way), wizards, silly little aliens ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ dislikes: loud noises, politicians, corps, cops, stroping lights, being physically intimate with almost everyone, moist textures, mushy textures, dry textures, long conversations (when he's done with conversations he usually just walks away. not in a mean way, he just has autism lol) ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ friends: Jackie Welles, Mama Welles, Misty Olszewski, Kerry Eurodyne, Viktor Vektor, Johnny Silverhand, Judy Alvarez, River Ward, Jass Ward, Blue Moon, Roxanne Summers, Crispin Weyland, Panam Palmer, Mitch Anderson, Saul Bright ˎˊ˗✩°｡⋆

.｡.∗⁕☆*:✧★✧:*☆⁕∗.｡.

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽⋆ personality: V isn't outgoing, he prefers to keep to himself more than anything, but he's always been a people pleaser, which definitely conflicts with his introverted tendencies. he's also pretty impatient and impulsive, which isn't always great when you're a merc. his insatiable curiosity has also led him into more shit than he should be getting into. V'll check out just about any un-labled shard & BD he can swipe, leading to countless viruses & lectures from Vik - the only ripperdoc he goes to for regular mantinence, since he's loyal to a T. he also has autism & bpd, which both greatly affect his moods ⋆☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽⋆ traits: introverted, people pleaser, impatient, impulsive, curious, loyal, temperamental ⋆☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽⋆ appearance: V's a little shorter than your average amab person, though not by much. he's a little on the chubby side, a mix muscle and fat, although most of the fat is located in his hips & legs. he has shoulder-length, curly hair, which he frequently dyes, but more often than not it's teal with green roots. V usually keeps his hair in a ponytail with two chunks framing his face. he has a short & scruffy beard, many facial piercings, and larger-than-average canines. V has a lot of tattoos, mostly depicting fairies, stars, bugs, suns, and wizards. he also waxes his eyebrows off, which makes his forehead look massive when his fringe is up ⋆☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽⋆ chrome: aside from the standard tech almost everyone in NC's got, V has custom-plated Kiroshi MK.3's that resemble opalite, even shifting color in the light. since the top layer is more transparent than the standard line, he's more sensitive to bright/flashing lights. he has custom crowns that lock onto his canines that can inject venom when enough force is applied, as a last resort in close combat. he can take them off, but it can be uncomfortable, so he usually keeps them in. V has reinforced knee, wrist, ankle, and hip joints due to their frequent dislocations ⋆☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽⋆ fashion: V tends to go for soft, cropped, tank tops paired with loose pants and boots. he has several bracelets he almost never takes off, the necklace Misty made him, arm warmers, an off-the-shoulder bag, Johnny's tags, and his clunky antique headphones he modded to be compatible with modern tech. after Johnny, Rogue, & Crispin stormed Mikoshi, V was able to take the relic out. being sentimental as all hell, he turned that into a necklace too, not before drilling a hole through the middle for good measure. ⋆☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽⋆ disorders/disabilities: POTS, PCOS, BPD, autism, ADHD, chronic fatigue, HEDS, and psychosis. even after the chip was removed, V still experiences adverse side-effects, similar to the chip malfunctions. episodes of severe nausea, numbness in parts of his body, and migraines come on occasionally, although less frequent than when he had the relic in. he also has CPTSD, both from before & after the heist, and deals with survivor's guilt (mainly over Jackie & Johnny) ⋆☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

.｡.∗⁕☆*:✧★✧:*☆⁕∗.｡.

⋆｡°✩˗ˏˋ other: he has a cat (Nibbles), & an iguana (Speedwagon) that Johnny named. Johnny also knows V's full name (since he was literally in his head), but since V hadn't ever really told Johnny it himself, he just calls him V. V wouldn't mind if he used it though, he just never thought about it ˊ˗✩°｡⋆

As much as I love the romance options for the game not being tied to specific life paths, I think that it would have been cool for additional romance options depending on the path you choose. Nomads would get Saul, Corpos would get Takemura, and Streetkids would get Viktor. It’d make the life path choice more meaningful since those are already popular ship characters.

Romancing Saul would let Nomad V weigh in more on the power dynamic between him and Panam. Ultimately V and Saul lead together and have many nights together to look forward to- them sitting in the bed of a truck, gazing at the stars, talking about nothing in particular ad they hold each other.

Takemura would have him take V on a date for some real cuisine, something that’s not “sawdust and plastic.” They’d share stories from their good times at Arasaka and realize that they’d give it all up again in a heartbeat because despite what they’ve been through, they find they’re at peace when they’re together.

Vik and V would help each other heal/move forward from Jackie’s death, falling in love despite both of them knowing V’s condition is not looking well. V would get teased lovingly by Vik for “falling for an old man” but then follow it up by saying he’s the luckiest ripperdoc in NC because he’s got his V, and he’s not going to lose another person he loves. The true definition of hurt/comfort.

Night City, I barely remember ya

I beat Cyberpunk 2077 last month, and honestly, I haven’t thought about Cyberpunk 2077 that much since.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. CD Projekt Red’s follow-up to The Witcher 3 was meant to be the sort of game that would stick in your mind after completion. It was promoted over eight years of hype stemming from its initial 2013 reveal as a example of CD Projekt’s infamous “vodka and Slavic magic” - a behemoth destined to change open world RPGs forever. But in the roughly 12 weeks since its release, the stuff that’s happened to Cyberpunk 2077, including its delisting from the Playstation store for being chock full of bugs and the theft of its source code by hackers, has been more cyberpunk than the actual game.

I was one of those people super hyped for this game when it was first announced. I mean, the Witcher franchise left an indelible impression on me; how could I not be psyched to see its devs tackle one of my favorite sci-fi genres? But my hype deflated over the years, largely due to tales of terrible crunch emerging from CD Projekt’s studios and social media marketing that was ill-advised at best and transphobic at worst. Everything seemed to slowly hint that the game’s vision of “cyberpunk” - a genre that can tell incredible futuristic tales of social upheaval and marginalized peoples - would be mostly style with not so much substance.

Despite me keeping my fingers crossed, the end product is pretty much what I feared - and I guess I should’ve known, since the official sourcebook for Cyberpunk 2020, the tabletop RPG that CD Projekt Red used as inspiration, actually lists “style over substance” as one of its rules.

Cyberpunk 2077’s main story revolves around a merc who dreams of big time heists in Night City named V. After a heist goes south, V ends up absorbing a biochip made by big bad corporation Arasaka that features the captured personality of rockstar-turned-terrorist Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves - who, to be fair, does a good job with the material he’s given. Cue a bunch of quests that revolve around V and Johnny coming to terms with each other, taking down Arasaka and figuring out how to separate the chip from V’s brain.

In theory, this sounds like a cool way to explore the very cyberpunk themes of identity and what it means to have a corrupt company preserve a human soul beyond its organic shell. In reality, though, the story’s a surface level examination of these concepts, and Johnny Silverhand remains a massive dick throughout most of the game, only becoming relatable if players give him the benefit of the doubt - which they’re expected to do because he’s played by Keanu Reeves.

Johnny’s animosity towards Arasaka is also never completely outlined. He - and most other characters in Night City - keep telling V that corporations are awful because they disregard human rights and destroy the environment, but we never get many chances to see for ourselves how Arasaka and similar companies, like Militech or Kang Tao, actually do this. Arasaka does kidnap Johnny’s ex-girlfriend and is behind the tech that transfers his soul to a biochip, yes, but Johnny also threatens to destroy them at all of his shows and eventually sets off a bomb in their headquarters. Not that I’m siding with the corporation, but for much of the game we’re expected to treat them as the number one enemy simply because other characters say so, which is very much a “show, don’t tell” missed opportunity. If anything, Arasaka’s portrayal feels more like a vestige of the cyberpunk genre’s unfortunate maturation during the 1980s, where the fear of Japanese conglomerates taking over the world was common and a future where Asian companies were all-powerful instead of Western ones seemed like a dystopia.

Cyberpunk 2077 is very much caught in that yesteryear mold, featuring elements that might have been progressive in the 1980s but seem passé now. For a game that relied on questionable representation of trans people in its marketing, there were no notable trans NPCs that I came across, and even though there’s a robust character creation system where you actually can make a trans person, the game makes the troubling decision to only offer binary pronouns tied to V’s voice. Despite the fact that many of the best modern cyperbunk works deal with body augmentation and the line between man and machine, most of the physical modifications you can pay for at Night City’s “ripperdoc” facilities are niche features that only offer minimal stat boosts, with only two major ones that I know of - the mantis blades and gorilla arms - actually causing extensive changes to V’s looks. And finally, while there are tons of characters of color in the game, ranging from the Haitian Voodoo Boys gang to V’s “friendly ethnic friend™” Jackie Welles, most of them are varying degrees of stereotypical. For instance, Goro Takemura, an ex-Arasaka employee, sends you text messages reminiscent of haiku at one point because he’s Japanese and has to talk like a formal, honorable samurai or something.

If you’re able to look past these issues - along with the myriad of bugs that Cyberpunk 2077 shipped with - there’s still the niggling feeling that this game could have been so much more. The signs of a troubled development process are numerous, and there are Reddit threads packed with still-visible remnants - like useless combat skill perks and an entire metro system - that were part of gameplay elements gutted at some point in order for those overworked CD Projekt Red programmers to make a long-delayed release date. Even mainstay stuff in the open world genre - like the police chases common in the Grand Theft Autos - are absent, and Cyberpunk 2077’s 2018 demo, chock full of promised features that never made it into the final product, has to be one of the most notorious bits of smoke ‘n mirrors “gameplay” in recent memory.

Perhaps most bothersome is the feeling that a lot of your choices don’t seem to matter all that much in Cyberpunk 2077, which once touted itself as “a full-fledged RPG, not a shooter with RPG elements,” but ends up feeling more like the latter than the former. The game’s three different lifepaths - nomad, streetkid and corpo - only amount to about thirty minutes of unique playtime at the start and a few different dialogue options. The vehicle combat sequences that punctuate key missions are largely scripted, looking cool but offering little consequences depending on what V aims at. The side quests I encountered had minimal branching paths, and the only time the main story opened up to offer some real choice was in the game’s final chapter. Considering that CD Projekt once developed The Witcher 2 - a 2011 game that branches dramatically at its halfway mark to the point where a lot of folks insist that you need to play it twice in order to feel satisfied - Cyberpunk 2077 feels like a step back.

And yet, despite all of these criticisms, I still put nearly 80 hours into the game over the course of December, January and February. You don’t do that for something that’s patently unfun, so let me be clear - there is an entertaining experience buried beneath an avalanche of unfulfilled potential here. Driving on my Akira-esque bike through Night City’s slums as the game’s best song bumped on the radio, taking out legions of baddies with my mantis blades and relishing in the game’s extensive photo mode (as you can probably tell by my screenshots above) was a good time. In spite of his assholery, I did feel something akin to attachment for that bastard Johnny Silverhand by the finale, and there were a few key moments - like when I was scuba diving in the ocean with my girlfriend Judy, looking at the remains of a town destroyed by the land seizing machinations of corporations - that felt like this game had something to say beyond “bang bang gunplay and neon aesthetic.”

But at the end of the day, while I do feel moderately interested in someday checking out Cyberpunk Red (the newest iteration of this franchise’s tabletop RPG), CD Projekt’s seven-year-hyped-up behemoth has largely faded from my brain one month after beating it. On Twitter, I’ve seen Cyberpunk 2077 described as something akin to a flashy Netflix series with lots of fanfare and flair but not much else - and I can’t really argue with that statement.

Night City was supposed to be the stuff of a long-term relationship. Instead, it feels more like a fling.

It’s nearly 1am so here are my random “chicken scratch” notes app notes on what affiliation I think some of my muses would have in Cyberpunk:

Corpo: Rose, Cynthia, Janie, Kirk, Scout (formerly), Malcolm, Isabella (it’s complicated 🥴), Angelique (it is also complicated 🥴)

Streetkid: Vera (getting to notorious fixer status), Vincent, Angel, Eliana, Marco (runs a small less violent scavenger gang), Matias, Oscar (fixer most likely or gun for hire), Xena, Munroe, Leonel (the Amici name actually holds weight in this verse, but I know for a fact it’s the bad kind)

Nomad: Adonis, Andre, Destiny, Ishani & Ethan (more like scavengers but not as mean and gruesome and they don’t forcefully take cyberware from ppl)

Others: Violet (law enforcement, duh), Xavier (NCPD officer, duh), Cornelia (cyberpsychosis therapist), Cordelia (ripperdoc), Monica (solely black market ripperdoc), Elijah (still a pawnshop owner, has things like used cyberware implants & “vintage” technology alongside jewelry), Naomi (she’s a mess in this verse honestly, think a mix of Lizzie Wizzie with a splash of that man running for Mayor and his wife; her mind is all over the place)

Cyberpunk 2077 criticism

I’m not a reviewer. Just a guy that has played video games the better part of 25+ years. Expectations are a strong factor in how well a game will be received. CDPR had built up a strong reputation with well made games in the pass and Cyberpunk WAS supposed to be an easy homerun for them.

  Bugs, glitches, crashes placed aside, the game just feels half done. It was promised as a deep RPG set in an open world and what we got was an action game with RPG elements. Many of the promises made were left on the cutting room floor. Lifepaths don’t matter beyond the intro and a select few dialogue choices. I played a Streetkid and honestly the game felt like it was designed with V being a streetkid from jump. I’ve heard that folks playing Nomad or Corpo were severely disappointed with the opening and I don’t blame them. Originally, I wanted to have a separate playthrough with each lifepath to better experience the game but with what little choices streetkid offered, I don’t see any point to it.

The world, while fascinating at first, is only knee deep. Giant ads ala Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner play on repeat and if you actually sit there for more than 20 mins, you’ll realize you’ve seen them all. Quest givers and story NPCs aside, the everyday npc of NightCity feels like a shell designed to give the illusion of a sprawling city. On the surface it works so long as you don’t look too close at their behavior. In fact, I could say that about so much of the game and how it feels. Sex is overexaggerated, and that’s coming from a guy who has modded his Skyrim to be a succubus play den. Everywhere you go, there is an ad with some form of sexual innuendo or just plain dicks. It’s a prominent enough for you to notice but stays just long enough as to not overstay its welcome. There was one time I was doing an investigation mission Corpo woman whose penthouse had been broken in.  mood all serious, I’m doing my best Private eye work and then I hear this moaning coming from the walls. I rush over, thinking I found a clue and it was the ad for the Orgasmic drink playing from the TV. It’s a bit of cyberpunk flavor that I’m not sure needed to be in the game at least to this extent.

The gameplay is your typical open world go here and kill or fetch this affair with a sprinkle of real gems in some side missions. This is where the game shines the most in that its not always so cut and dry. One minute you think you’re on a standard assassination mission and the next your going on a joy ride with a reborn Christian looking to change the world. The quests and the world are the saving grace of this game and I can’t think of anything specific about this game I would have to point out.

The story is…unique. There’s a lot to like about it but two things didn’t sit with me well after completing the game. The beginning has you meet with a merc named Jackie and you two become best friends almost instantly. From there, the game does a time skip montage showing all the fun you have with your new bestie until something like a year pass. WHY? The game could have easily took its time to have Jackie show us around the city, get familiar with the place and build a real relationship with the guy. Instead we’re treated to this montage like we were given a relationship skip option and didn’t remember accepting it. It makes your relationship feel forced and rushed and that’s never good.

Keanu Reeves is in the game.

Speaking of Johnny Silverhand. One of the “best” endings in the game is tied to dialogue options you have with Johnny without really knowing about it. This may sound nitpicky but any game that asks you to play for 60+ hours but ties you to dialogue choices without a better understanding of the consequences. True some endings are more organic but as far as I’m concerned, there should never be an ending that requires knowledge prior to starting the game.

Then theres the Roleplay aspect. From a character building standpoint, it leaves a lot to be desired. This game was based on a table top game of the same name and you would think they would give it the same treatment when it came to creating your character or toon as some serious RPers call em. Nope. As I mention before, lifepaths are a shell of a good idea and the perk/skill tree system is a mess. There are two prominent schools of roleplaying, play-as-you-go-jack-of-all-trades and dedicated class builds ala tank, dps, healer, etc. Cyberpunk forgoes the class build system in favor of the more common jack of all trades but with a twist. While you’re not locked into a particular build initially, as you level up, your given two points. One for attributes and another for skills. Your skill tree unlocks as your attributes go up. Once you have an understanding of what playstyle you like, raise your attributes to the required levels and unlock your skills. If you make a mistake, you can go to a ripperdoc and respect your skill points for the hefty price of 100k. At first that may not seem like a bad trade until you realize that your still limited to your attribute point selections from previously. It’s a small oversight and one that can be patched down the line or corrected with mods on the pc but it’s an oversight nonetheless. I’ve played for over a hundred hours and the idea that I have to start a character from scratch for any reason other than to replay the story is atrocious.

All in all, the game is a huge let down for anyone that was expecting to actually roleplay their character beyond surface level shooter. There are a lot of nice components that make the game enjoyable for the most part but it also fails to deliver on what was promised. For me, that’s a bigger deal breaker than bugs and crashes.  Despite how pretty the game can be when it works, its still only a part of the experience as a whole.

There is way more I could complain about but this is already lengthy as it stands.

For fans of Cyberpunk genre I can give this an 8/10. There isn’t anything like it at the time of writing this and hopefully it won’t be the last.

For none fans, I can see this closer to a 6/10. It’s a half decent GTA clone with more steps but a clone none the less. Replay GTA V if you crave a open world city.

"Closed Early" (NSFW)

A cheeky little NSFW Viktor/V set is up on my Pillowfort.