Terrorist or Anti-Hero? How your opinion of Johnny Silverhand can influence the story.

[@Direwolf13PS3]

Its worth noting being extremely antagonistic against Johnny due to a negative perception of him makes you sound just as vitriolic as Johnny did in your first encounter. A 'negative' perspective of Johnny makes V seem like a total prick, which follows with the Devil ending, and ends with Johnny dreading V's choice of action and coming to terms with his own, albeit poorly. As he is seeing his former selfish prick self run full speed off a cliff and can do nothing to stop it. A 'positive' perspective of Johnny both rehabilitates Johnny's issues and makes V come to understand their own actions.

[@Gattsu95]

@Gr8sc0tt I agree because you have to specifically pick the “you blew that too” option

[@zachjollimore4339]

@Gr8sc0tt You have to be honest to johnny, you aren't necessarily being a dick, since Johnny is a massive fucking dick, so some dickitude is necessary to parry and converse. It's not being a dick if it is justified.

[@twinphalanx4465]

In a way you become Johnny

[@davidduncan5897]

@@twinphalanx4465 It's not even "in a way." You do become Johnny. Hellman even says it straight up. You are V AND Johnny Silverhand at the same time. It's not until SPOILER WARNING* Alt hits V's consciousness with Soulkiller that V and Johnny become separate entireties again.

[@twinphalanx4465]

@@davidduncan5897 I meant by being a dick to Johnny you become just like him taking out all your anger and vitriol on him when it's your fault your in this situation

[@redturtle8465]

There's so much choice in this game that other people ignore, it's great to see someone that actually showcase the differences.

[@Guciom]

Most people don't consider the in game choices to be meaningful because they don't get a giant pop up telling them if they made a "Important Life choice!".

[@ItsStridinTime]

@@Guciom And most people who do consider them meaningful are satisfied by a dialogue change lmfao. Or this "invisible mission" that's showcased in the mission log, real invisible.

[@food7479]

Choices in character development, sure. But not choices in the story, as they were you know, PROMISED. You will always end up with Hanako and your Origin still doesn't matter. I like Cyberpunk, but they lied regarding these points.

[@Guciom]

@@food7479 Do you mean, that you think the ending with her is the only one? I don't quite get what you are saying.

[@gorge6885]

@@food7479 if you help panam you get the panam ending you help takemura you get a better saka ending and if you build a friendship with jonny you get a secret ending your decision do matter and affect the ending as if you don't help these people your left with hanako and that's the only ending so yes there were decision to the game that affect the ending.

[@antont4974]

He is a really complex character and it took me a long time to realize why Johnny is so mentally unstable and his whole dynamic with V is quite interesting, 'cause Johnny wants V to not become "Silverhand" both literally and not - Johnny's ending where he survives showcases a lot of his growth as a person and 2077's story themes about death. I like this quote: "When my grandpa died I missed him a lot,... but now I only miss him sometimes"

[@spicydeath82]

the game revolves around two main things with johnny, redemption or condemnation. based off your choices you can redeem him into a decent human being, or you can condemn him to die a second time as the same asshole that died the first time.

[@bayersbluebayoubioweapon8477]

What would you choose, for Johnny? And what would you choose for a terrorist? Sorry to ask such weird questions, redemptions and condemnation have been something I’ve been struggling with in the context of counterterrorism

[@TeleologicalConsistency]

Johnny doesn't die either way. He either leaves beyond the black wall or takes over V's body. The only ending where Johnny dies is if V commits suicide.

[@drrrmkszcz9802]

@@TeleologicalConsistency he gets deleted in arasaka ending so he dies there as well

[@TheDennys21]

He can't die a second time because he's already dead, a construct is not a real person, it's just a bunch of data.

[@joshtanner8048]

@@TheDennys21That’s the philosophical question to answer within the game. Is his construct worth a whole human being or is he just a set of data?

[@RRzombie632]

To be honest, in most Johnny scenes I was usually laughing at the back and forth with V. But I don’t think the game ever tries to convince you that Johnny is a “good person” quite the opposite, however if they learn to work together they both have a bit of redemption before one or both ultimately pass on.

[@stevepenn2582]

Johnny isnt a good person but I do think its interesting that he chooses only the most stubborn headed people to be friends. All the other samurai members are easily pushed around and cause of that mean nothing to Johnny but Kerry constantly fights back

[@Altmer353]

​@@stevepenn2582 Yeah. Noticed that too. Probably because its the only kind of people whom he can tolerate and who willing to tolerate him in return. :)

[@TheDennys21]

@@Altmer353 Rogue, Alt, Kerry, Santiago... they were the closest to him and still had a hard time being in the same room as him, he said so himself.

[@KITT.007]

I noticed when Johnny took over Vs body at the end, he actually cares about V, even after taking over arasaka

[@barkgreen8189]

I was very friendly with Johnny because I wanted to unlock the different endings in one playthrough, it's nice to see the darker options and how that can playout. Thanks for the video!

[@elijahdulay4771]

I was friendly to Johnny because I just didn't want to be a dick to him, like it felt wrong to do so even if he blew up a tower and was trying to kill V in the beginning.

[@evandroescutatrap131]

@@elijahdulay4771 I was nice to him because, for real? Am i gonna get mad FOR EVER to a guy who is actually helping me in someway or another sometimes and actively saying that he don't want me dead, while he works on proving it, just because we had a fight ONE TIME? Sounds pretty stupid to me tbh

[@happydog6500]

The first time Johnny goes on stage in act one is years after he left the band so not only is he high but the others had no idea he was going to turn up, he just turned up out of the blue walks on stage for his "farewell" performance.

[@personman1148]

Didn't he also end up shooting someone in one of his preformances.

[@giovannibalsamo6178]

@@personman1148 all we see in johnny memories are events that or actually never happened or happened but on a wrong and distorted order/perspective. 1) johnny never brought a nuke, that was morgan blackhand. Johnny never wanted to nuke arasaka tower, he joined militech alpha team to set free alt ghost from the arasaka database before militech soldiers would delete it. 2) johnny never had a goodbye performance with kerry before leaving for the raid since samurai were no more since 2008 3) johnny wasn't killed on the arasaka roof but in arasaka dabatase laboratories. Just like in his memories he was killed by adam smasher, but adam never actually never cared or probably not even knew who johnny silverhand was unlike johnny memories that show him as some kind of "rival" of adam smasher. 4) johnny never met saburo arasaka and wasn't soulkilled by that japanese arasaka scientist. Johnny was already dead when spider murphy tried to save his mind in a soulkiller engram. The johnny we see in the game was just a defective engram of real johnny silverhand. The engram was damanged from the very beginning when the spider murphy datacase that was processing johnny silverhand engram got damaged during the shootings inside arasaka laboratories, then the damaged engram spent 54 years in mikoshi and the engram was damaged a second time when V and jackie stole the relic chip from the konpeki plaza suite.

[@NowioFel]

@@giovannibalsamo6178 Or alternative explanation: Arasaka tampered with Johnys engram with parts of Blackhands memories to hush up Blackhands involvement in the Arasaka bombing. Blackhand was associated with Militech and if it got public an open conflict would have been unavoidable, so they shoved all responsibility onto a neutral rockerboy punk that happen to be lying right there.

[@Cmoth040]

I wish that they would have incorporated your choices in dealing with Johnny into the ending. If you rejected symbiosis with the Silverhand engram, the engram chip sees you as it does in the game currently, a virus. This would prevent you from being able to inhabit your body and live past a few months. However, accepting the Silverhand consciousness, rehabilitating it through cooperative growth, would make it possible for the engram chip to see your persona as one and the same with Silverhand by the end and allow Silverhand's sacrifice at the end to actually mean something. He could redeem himself by truly saving someone he grew to care about. This would allow the player to live past the ending and make expansions make sense.

[@jamesvivian2855]

I really wanted a synergy ending where Vs and Johnnys minds merge into one

[@Cmoth040]

@@jamesvivian2855 That would make too much sense.

[@eyo8766]

@@jamesvivian2855 Wrong city. Wrong people

[@jesspavlichenko5745]

Why are you looking for happy endings in anything related to the cyberpunk genre lmao

[@locuraromantica]

The problem with letting the game more open is that narrows the dramatic impact and doesn't exploit the atachment you have to V to the max. Open endings give replayability but stories cant give you the emotional impact of your character dying.

[@HomiePopTart23]

My first play through I was pretty much doing what I wanted before V died, I didn't have hope for V to survive so I wanted to leave good behind no matter how small y'know. Playing this way I really developed a liking to Takemura's character the most through out the game, he's one of the few characters who is very open to you about what he wants and that's very rare in the cyberpunk world. I kind of wonder if that's why Johnny tries to step up and become more friendly with you showing you his cards. It is right after we have the meeting with Takemura after all that Johnny does a complete turn around. I didn't really like Johnny but was coexisting as best you can with him so It's interesting to see the different dialogues. I kind of wonder if Johnny was confused why you had people who genuinely cared for you even though to him you weren't anyone special like himself, you had Jackie, Vik, Misty, Mama Wells, and even if you want in the end Takemura an Arasaka goon incapable of having a soul in Johnnys eye's.

[@DeadlyFungi]

I didn't like in the why Takemura died though

[@HomiePopTart23]

He doesn't have to though ☆〜（ゝ。∂）

[@revyiatan86]

@@DeadlyFungi you can save him tho

[@cristianperezbrunet7944]

@@revyiatan86 there is an opening in the wall during the mission, have to test it yet myself

[@xxnekonekox]

@@DeadlyFungi you can go back and save him, it affects the endings and the missions lesding up to it

[@TheSpook313]

No matter how you treat him, he still tells you goodbye in the end.

[@afxmnstr]

As big as this game makes him up to be I feel like Johnny is a small, possibly even insignificant part of the story. However, this is HIS story, so nothing about what happens is insignificant to you. I believe he was a stepping stone in the world and I hope the Morgan black hand and other legends stories get told.

[@Hylanvahr]

According to the lore, Morgan Blackhand was there helping Johnny raid Arasaka Tower the night the place got nuked. Wonder what happened to him. All we saw was Johnny's perspective. Morgan vanished.

[@CS-yc6qp]

Yeah with other names is like he is a small link to bigger things

[@eddyram4932]

Which is my main gripe with Cyberpunk, this is not V’s story at all, we’re relegated into a player 2 seat while Johnny gets to live again. I hated that part of the story, and I always play according to it, Johnny is dead, I don’t care about his intentions or what he did.

[@eddyram4932]

@@Hylanvahr this is because Johnny is the biggest egomaniac in Night City. Alt says that Johnny’s memories of the events are fake or warped. Johnny was not the hero of that Arasaka raid, Blackhand was there, Blackhand was the leader of the group in charge of the distraction and he fought Adam Smasher by himself and survived, in the same raid where Johnny got beat senseless by Smasher and subsequently got turned into a chip😂 Also, Johnny is the reason why Alt died and became a mask used by the Alt as an Ai.

[@roningfroggy]

@@eddyram4932 He died kinda like a hero though, as he did sacrifice himself to give a brief distraction, even though he immediatly got cut in half by Smasher. And his goal for the raid was pretty altruistic compared to how the game presents it, in the TTRPG lore, he never lied about corporate colonialism or anything, it was known from the get-go his goal was to save Alt by releasing her A.I. And while it is fair to say he is the one to kill Alt, it wasn't like it was intentional, he saw her plugged into an Arasaka computer, an Arasaka suit tells him not to unplug her, so he believes that the suit is lying to him and pulls her out thinking it will save her. Is he responsible? Yes, but it is understandable. And he clearly felt a lot of guilt about it considering his actions during the later Arasaka raid and from the song Never Fade Away.

[@alexdietrich7975]

I was afraid I would look at Johnny and see only Keanu Reeves when I first bought the game. But Keanu is an excellent actor, I was pleasantly surprised with his writing and can distinctly tell them apart as character and actor. The bonding V and Johnny do feels pretty natural too, I felt in control of how much I genuinely liked him, not how V likes him. Great game, hope to see more content soon.

[@HaggisDruid]

Agreed. Keanu doesn't usually get to play characters who say unsavory things or lash out a lot, at least in what I've seen, so it really helps Silverhand stand out among his other roles. I imagine it was a fun change of pace from quiet protagonists.

[@lemjustlem]

I've never yet had the heart, or lack thereof, to be an ass to Johnny. He didn't ask to be stuck in your head, just as you didn't ask to be betrayed; twice, actually.

[@Damalon01]

Did you miss the part when he basically beats V's head to mush against the window right after he wakes up? Or was the blood not obvious enough for you?! Face it the guy is just an arsehole.

[@michaelcavalry8379]

@@Damalon01 Not that bad of a thing IMO to be honest. I'd also go psycho if I woke up as a vegetable inside some goons head - mans probably thought he was in some kind of fever nightmare and wanted to end it all fast. It's the reason he quickly turns around his behaviour after he comes to terms with his reality.

[@namelesssoul8633]

To be honest, this whole game depends on player's personal perception, because i believe it was meant to be this way. Developers put a lot of efforts to make game stories so life related and also making directing of the whole game in the first person, so eventually you can end up finding youself being merged with V in some way and thus feeling these stories even more personal, comparing your own life experience. Like, what is this game about, in general? I think only one would be more or less appropriate - Life. People's relationships of any kind and what for do they exist, liferoads of people - finding your place in this distorted world, different perspectives on death and your attitude to it... All of this stuff is extremely complicated and can be interpreted in absolutely different ways. For me it's a story about standing your ground no matter what's ahead - even impending death, about enjoying every moment while you can, finding the decent people on your path and having no regrets in the end. The story eventually reflected my general outlook on life. May be even helped to form it. "Never stop fightin' " - in some way the motto of this story for me. To not giving up on yourself, not wasting your life on meaningless shit like trying to change this world for something different, always going forward and trying to find your folks even if it means being the whole life alone. For other man it would be a story about realization of your mistakes and thus leading to ultimate self-sacrifse for, at least, saving another life and giving a second chance to a different man, as you can't save yourself. Which can lead to giving V's body to Johnny. For another folk, it's a story about leaving your mark in this world - that you once lived and mattered, even if it requires the highest price - the cost of your own life and throwing everything away what you've got - relationships, your status, whatever. And it would be reflected in Don't Fear The Reaper Ending where you pave your way with bodies, being solo, after all getting to the Major League with the cost of everything. And for the 4th guy it would be the story about surviving at any cost, no matter what is needed for this. Which eventually would lead to even more terrible things than just losing of everything - throwing everything away for nothing, and rejecting all the folks who helped you, in the end leaving only fear and emptiness. Yet such people may find themselves with Devil Ending. And every of us would be right in some way. So the question about relationships with Johnny lays in the same field. He is the "metal soul of rage and fear". He is just a human with his personal mistakes, loses, grief and path, which led to his logical end. Still, he's able to reconsider many things in his afterlife during the story and in the end is another person, which shows that even such adamant personality may change, which in some way indicates that this world and people in it are pretty complex. Sometimes you can't just characterize anything or anyone in straightforward way. The words "good,bad" simply don't appeal both this story and its characters. Sometimes they consist of too many pretty controversial things at the same time. We all look the same picture, but for everyone it would be different, i guess that's the beauty.

[@Axehilt]

One thing the game does great is presenting all sides of the argument: * Johnny's right capitalism is an "entropy" bleeding away humanity's well-being in some ways. * Another character is right to point out the corps are also the reason people have fairly great lives. The only thing missing (that I never found at least) would be that perfect example where like _someone's dad died because they couldn't get a cybernetic heart because Arasaka HQ was nuked._ They do mention people directly killed in the explosion, which makes sense, but it would've also been good to show that it wasn't just a building: it actually produced something that improved lives. So Johnny is both a terrorist and anti-hero.

[@Cr33pysku11]

The after-effects of nuking Arasaka Tower are discussed in the Cyberpunk Red TTRPG. The building itself collapsing killed half a million people near-instantly, and the seismic shock from the bomb caused liquefaction that resulted in massive flooding. 2 million people were left homeless, and the city center was reduced to a radioactive heap of rubble. This humanitarian crisis caused supply chains to break down, making basic resources much harder to access for decades.

[@locuraromantica]

Like any revolutionary. You have both parts, the light and righteouness and the dark side.

[@thebadwolf3088]

​@@locuraromantica Most revolutions usually consist of shades of gray, not good and evil or light and dark.

[@thebadwolf3088]

​@@Cr33pysku11 no wonder they didn't delve into that in the game lmao, Johnny's the biggest terrorist of that world.

[@aBANDIT.]

Silverhand a hero in my books, stleast by the end of the game we where homies and he had become a better person. And our ideals aligned

[@gatetohell9260]

I couldn’t help to really like Johnny as a character because in a weird way I could identify him (don’t worry, I don’t plan on blowing up anything ahahah), so I couldn’t help but be somewhat nice to him. It’s so interesting when you talk with people who love the game but hate Johnny, as their experience was very different. I really like that the game doesn’t make you like him, it lets you decide that

[@vincentolympe98]

Weird. I started playing cyberpunk 2020 (the tabletop) when I was a kid, barely old enough to even understand the themes I was being taught. Given I kept up through my teen years hard-core, it's always been hard for me to step back and view night city as anything other than what I've seen. Johnny good arasaka bad all that jazz. I think this is forcing me to reexamine it from a new point of view. Thank you for that. It's really interesting to see how people who view it different from me see it.

[@rustyjones7908]

I mean, Arasaka is bad. Very very bad. More than one person can be an asshole though, and most of the time everyone's an asshole.

[@vosssanchez8042]

It is the Night City afterall, there’s only bad and worse

[@Riverboat374]

On my fifth playthrough now and this vid has stuff I've never seen. Loved it. Thanks.

[@venveng]

@JayDaSlayer 17 Just like when you start a new game on Skyrim, we always tell ourselves that this time we won't be a sneaky archer.

[@theuberedredspy8791]

@@venveng Or, in this case, a friend to Johnny Silverhand

[@legomikey]

What I like about how the game treats Johnny is that it actually explains his actions without painting him as completely good or bad. His actions and motivations are understandable once you know and understand the world of cyberpunk but it always paints it in at least a slightly bad light. Johnny is by no means a good person and in order to get what most see as the best ending with the least player friendly deaths you actually have to call him out on his actions literally calling him an asshole and terrorist but you also need to understand his actions and him as a person as to not fully trust him until he shows you otherwise, this along with not even having a marker for his body shows him how terrible of a person he actually was and marks his turn to try and be a better person.

[@DrW33kend]

He doesn't have a marker for his grave because his corpse was used as a playground for suit scientists to play around with till it had no more usefully data. Don't get it twisted chief, his government name had a columbarium and he's still remembered in edgerunner circles. I agree he was no great man or saint-but a conflicted man with a goal for the betterment of all.

[@lightwood6193]

It's really nice seeing videos from someone who actually plays the game, rather than ill-informed people complaining about the story without trying the variations

[@odst123451]

I’ve got 300 hours in the game and main story still sucks. The side stories are pretty great though.

[@123armyoftwo]

Cause most people only play a game once, maybe twice if they like it enough. Replaying for changes in dialouge isn't a very good motivator to replay the game unless you rly like the game.

[@commwave5820]

Great video your videos on the cyberpunk story have been really good and informative hope to see more soon.

[@theJuicmanisbak]

Also seems like V starts talking more like Johnny eventually

[@NowioFel]

I mean, even without Johny, in the beginning V is a young buck full of enthusiasm.... and throughout the game he turns into a sociopathic mass murderer, just like Johny before he went to the war and after he came back.

[@RaskaTheFurry]

I played my first playthrough with friendly Johnny. I tried to be friends with him. And he is actually in kinda a grey zone for me. He isnt a bad person imo. At the end, I let him have V's body... It was a hard choice. The ending was great, redeemed Johnny... But I ask... as V, I was practically u multi-millionaire with luxurious home and tons of cars.... how tf did he lose it all ?

[@jeremiahkivi4256]

Probably gambling. He's living it up lol

[@Faendryl]

ik I'm late ^^, but one guess would be that he didn't want to use things that were V's, maybe he even felt bad about it. Maybe he just wanted to start fresh for himself not relying on the things V had. If that makes any sense.

[@void-master9077]

@@Faendryl, I could absolutely see this being the case, Johnny is by no means a good dude, however he’s definitely not the worst person in night city, and I’m definitely going Kay with letting him live his life if I end up getting the ending again.

[@lkoyumil]

@@jeremiahkivi4256 but he has changed

[@rohesilmnelohe]

he went to make his/her own path.. a new chance at a life that he had wasted. By holding on to V's money and assets people could track her/him down.. By going off the grid and leaving everything behind, he has a chance to start anew. Temperance and the Star endings were best in this regard, but neither was truly happy. "Survive" and lose everything and everyone but give a second chance to someone else who blew it all once before.. or enjoy what you have gathered for the little time you still have and hope his ghost finds peace in his new existence.

[@drakecarter1780]

To be fair, Johnny was freaked out at the start just as much as V was.

[@MEATEATERISHERE]

You know that Johnny's memories are fucked because he mentions that he never worked with Thompson again after tryting to save Alt but they did one last mission on bombing Arasaka tower

[@BirdmanDeuce26]

He’s even called out for it later in the story; how he “remembers” events is not necessarily what happened

[@NowioFel]

Ironically Johny was truthful in his statement in never working with Thompson again. The later bombing run on saka tower was done by Morgan Blackhand who at the time was affiliated with MIlitech, and Arasaka tampered with Johnys engram to avoid an open nuclear conflict with Militech by putting all the blame onto a neutral rockerboy punk.

[@PumkRock]

I really like how the "temperance" theme plays out with Johnny and V. V and Silverhand are becoming one person. No matter what you do, Their personalities are blending to the point where they are inseparable. Eventually there is no clear line between the two people. If you antagonise and oppose Johnny, you don't force him out- you just feed the egotistical, vitriolic side of both his AND V's personality. The person you become is the worst aspects of both people. If you work together, you bring out the best side of both people. Synthesise a more mellow, peaceful Johnny, and a calmer V more at peace with his own fate.

[@Damalon01]

I dont agree with your theory that opposing Johnny equals both him and V becoming the worst versions of themselves. Its very possible to disagree with Johnny at every turn and still do positive things in side quests and even story quests. For example you can tell Johnny he's an arsehole and still help Panam or Judy. Or use non-lethal weapons all the time to avoid taking lives...

[@daniel-sunn]

@@Damalon01 fax

[@jancerny3657]

There is one issue with the dogtag scene I must point out, despite Johnny says that those dogtags belonged to somebody who saved his life by sacrificing him self...those dogtags are actually belonged to Johnny him self. The tags clearly shows name Robert John Linder.

[@chaaxfo]

Damn man, your vids are always top tier

[@evandroescutatrap131]

Also, very important to add: the nuke was NOT Johnny's idea. Not entirely at least. Johnny was working with Militech, since Blackhand was working with Militech and needed a team. So he called Johnny, Rogue, Santiago and Spider Murphy and blablablabla. There was two team striking Arasaka: Johnny's team and Blackhand's team. The nuke was part of Militech's plan. Johnny was only there for some personal issues he had with Arasaka... and because he is a cyberpsycho.

[@Solomdoobler]

I can hear the pain in Johnny’s voice as he’s figuring out how much he’s screwed up with V, and how locked into every choice he’s made. It sucks

[@chiselednicknac9734]

It honestly just was so sad. Like when he was asking for a second change I'm like fuuuck just say yes ;n;

[@chiselednicknac9734]

@teratism Truly.

[@idonotcarekek]

I don’t have the heart to be an ass to Johnny, even watching this is difficult..

[@foxxy-3748]

Johnny's character is such a beautiful way of portraying a multi-dimensional character. On the outside, he's an asshole narcissist (who literally looks at himself in the mirror when he does it) who really only does things for himself and never for others, but there's an entire other side of him that you get to see as you progress the game. The side that really does care about others, the side that has morals and principles, the side that nobody really got to see while Johnny was still alive. Johnny says himself that out of everybody he's ever known, he's closest to V. V is the only person that got to see the real, true Johnny. And, in the ending in which Johnny takes control of V's body, Johnny has the option to be very apprehensive about telling Steve that he's Johnny Silverhand, he becomes less proud and borderline ashamed of himself, instead of the obnoxiously narcissistic self he used to be.

[@exemplar7205]

a character analysis for one of my favourite games ever and one of my favourite elements of it, uploaded on my birthday....im sold :P

[@dixiexcord8266]

Johnny isn't a good person, he's an asshole, but he's a hero for standing up to -BlackRock- Arasaka

[@skinisdelicious3365]

It hurts seeing johnny being bullied

[@youdontneedtoknow106]

Johnny is truthful and actually smart cant trust anyone and you must be careful who you trust in their world its not just some drama that gets started if u trust the wrong person in their world it means death and maybe your families death Plus from how it seems he did want to love but feared that can leave him in a bad spot so just lived the way of the rockstar like alt said back when they was having fun

[@zifighterz]

The word "good" or "bad" is a void option in this question of Johnny’s life, it’s more of did he do something to change night city, no matter the moral. All he wanted was to lead a club of people to stop the politics, the end of every political revolution.. He did, but it lacked skill.. He got taken down by arasaka, he couldn’t win but he didn’t lose, it’s more like he was taken into another chance.. Then he meets V, wanted to kill him, but realized their most likely as similar as they both don’t won’t to admit.. V, a man who just wants rich and the "big leagues" but stopped by pure bad luck as V describes it throughout the play through, while JOHHNY just wants to damn die.. Johnny though, he choice to linger onto V like a person who wants to help out someone’s who dying inevitably.. But death can be slowed, that’s all how people can live. Johnny and V meet at the diner and get the discussing after V was talking to takumura.. Johnny has the experience and V has Johnny’s ego and doggish energy. Always disrespectful when he gets the chance, because Johnny does not like corpo, while that’s what the city also doesn’t like, but V and Johnny is actually making steps.. Now my favorite part, the scene when he was done with heller, my opinion the one that really holds.. Johnny’s neck finally turned, he wants to help someone.. Actually this time.. before he shoves off anyone that just even makes the toe bump of a mistake, he wants to truly help. But this time he seems more into V than anything.. Like a black mirror.. But my take on Johnny, he’s just doing anything to pass on, have a legend to carry.. Even if it means little, because the entire story is about corruption, they’ll make Johnny just a small chip at the end of the day, but at the end of the game, they took it down.. ARASAKA and everything.. In all end, Johnny is a damn badass Samurai.

[@GibbyGibbstein]

"Goodbye V, and never stop fightin'."

[@woozy96]

21:44 I can't get enough of this. It's too funny.

[@giovannibalsamo6178]

it's almost ironic that the johnny V has known for the whole game was just a defective ghost full of altered memories... at the end he's not a terrorist and not even a anti-hero since he never brought a nuke to the tower and he joined the militech raid with the only aim to set alt cunningham ghost free from the arasaka database.

[@sh0p7ift]

people only think he is because they covered up Morgan Blackhand involvement, its mentioned in game but no1 seems 2 catch that

[@giovannibalsamo6178]

@@sh0p7ift the game only mentions that all we see is johnny perspective of the events and those aren't exactly the truth. Anyway militech wanted to exploit johnny presence in alpha team to use him as scapegoat. Alpha team wasn't aware of morgan blackhand omega team tasked to bring the nuke. Funny side is that probably wasn't even the militech nuke the one that exploded.

[@MusicaX79]

Played through the first time trying to get along. During the second playthrough I decided instead of "it's this awesome actor and character I could be friends with" I played as "rando is in my head, he's nuts, a user, abuser, and the worst. Make him work for my trust." The story got SIGNFICANTLY better treating him for who he really is.

[@kailenmitchell8571]

Johnny is a monster. I have never hated a video game character more, and I have played video games since PONG. Johnny is lying too you while he is helping you because he knows/expects he will have your body in the end. Replaying the game now just after Phantom Liberty release.

[@tomasbar1101]

When he was alive he was bad guy with good intentions... After all the biochip stuff he slowly changed into good guy with good intentions

[@Darkstepwarrior66]

In my first playthrough I was nice to Johnny after he started to change his tune. Seeing this side of him is quite shocking honestly. It was a redemption arch for him but in the end v took her body back and lived the rest of her days out with her girlfriend Judy. Johnny saved my ass several times and when he said he'd take bullet for me, I just couldn't be mean to him. I did misdirect my anger at him a handful of times but I was overall nice to him. This is an interesting video.

[@Saward420]

That third mission being mean to Johnny actually hurt my heart.

[@citroenboter]

I've honestly not done a run before where I antagonised Johnny so these are really interesting to see.

[@tovarischluna]

Johnny is just a hero there is no other way to look at it, he might be an asshole but hes one of the few people willing to go to the extreme revolutionary lengths required to fight the absolute abomination capitalism has become in Cyberpunk. Arasaka and the corps are pure evil and terrorist is a word with zero meaning, a terrorist to Arasaka is just a freedom fighter for everyone else.

[@visivoakavalerie]

Basically jonhy is a person who is fighting censorship and corporate power. Night city is a place where there is no middle ground, either you are healthy or you are sick, which means, you are either rich or you are poor. Basically this game shows a painting of the reality we live in..and still....we continue to think that jonhy is the bad guy, in the eyes of the world. But then we start to open our eyes....but then it's too late...because we only have 6 months to live... this is just an idea, don't take it seriously :P

[@khana.713]

You are probably one of the best game narrative analysts out there. Amazing work on these series ❤️❤️❤️

[@johnroberts838]

Excellent video, looking forward to more 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@duhmitryov]

This was so hard to watch broski 😭 I can’t be mean like that in real life and I don’t wanna do it in the game either

[@ixiahj]

Even I didn't antagonize him that much on my first playthrough because I was curious why he did those things in the past so I let him talk. Who'd knew it would end up being Yugioh.

[@MrBig913]

For me Johnny went out on the town with Vs body but I kept friendly with him. I did chippin in got his gun and car. When we went to his grave I used to options I read off of a guide and we did the band reunion. Then went on the date with Rouge ( I can't recall if the reunion or the date happened first). I tried the suicide ending first because I was curious Then I let Johnny take over my body and storm Arasaka tower with Rouge and Wayland.

[@epilisium]

The GOAT uploaded

[@semihayparcasi]

35:20 wow, which scene is this

[@TalkingHands308]

He actually did kill thousands of people with that blast.

[@tomasbar1101]

Bomb was supposed to fall all the way down into the foundation, therefor the blast wouldn't affect as large area as it did, but the elevator stopped midway (smasher might have done something about that) so the blast leveled pretty big area around the tower

[@TalkingHands308]

@@tomasbar1101 It was a tactical nuke. No matter where it detonated it would have resulted in mass casualties. Sure it might have done more at elevation, but the difference would have been either 1000 or 3000. There was no situation where that bomb would have only killed the people that have directly wronged him...

[@joeallen7781]

He actually killed almost a million, rather than just thousands. Only people that know nothing of NC Holocaust can even make excuses for the guy. "The blast instantly incinerated over 12,000 people in the vicinity of the Towers, and fatally injured upwards of half a million more. Another quarter million died in the resulting aftermath over weeks and months. " -CPwiki

[@TalkingHands308]

@@joeallen7781 Well, a quarter million plus the initial 12,000 is not really close to a million, but yah, he definitely murdered a whole lot of people...

[@ghosthand8119]

@@joeallen7781 This is why Johnny was the real villain in the story. Unless V was a psychopath themselves they would never want this lunatic to ever get a second chance. In one of the side quests Johnny actually said "What this city needs is another nuke." He's not redeemed, not repentant of what he's done. He's a nut job who only needs to be deleted. He's not anymore a legend than the terrorists who flew the planes into the world trade center.

[@TheGorya92]

can we talk about the fact they finally gave the old man a full had of hair

[@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind]

I like Johnny. He's a good example of extremes of humanity.

[@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind]

He learned so many facets of life and extremes of human behaviour yet only when he meets V he gets a taste of the values of being humble and genuine human connection. True friendship and the facet of the bigger picture not always being worth it.

[@Alcadior]

Didn't Johnny's nuke only destroy a small area around arasaka tower? I thought it was one of the arasakas who set off a second nuke to stop militech and other corps from stealing any soulkiller data.

[@orrthehunter]

The memories Johnny has is altered by his ego and personal beliefs. A lot of things were changed in those memories and what really happened is showing in the tabletop games that are the prequel to Cyberpunk 2077. One change Johnny made was that he removed Blackhand from his memories and put himself as the leader for the attack. In what really happened it was Blackhand who lead the team and it was him who had a battle with Adam Smasher on the top of Arasaka Tower. Johnny never made it to the top and was cut down at the moment when smash blown open the door.

[@danat4914]

it never reached the foundation. The nuke detonated mid air, which impacted the city even more badly than if it would've detonated on the ground.

[@WrottJackson]

I couldn’t hate Johnny Silverhand anyways, simply because he’s portrayed by Keanu Reeves, if it were anyone else, not so much.

[@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind]

Those who are able to see the bigger picture are cursed. They know they cannot change the "Weltschmerz". Those who are able to see the bigger picture and realize the struggle is in vein and instead focus on what they have are closest to being somewhat enlightened. Be it in search for happiness of yourself or the pursue of genuine human connection to take on life together.

[@henriquebecker4453]

26:28 *flashback about eagerunners* Don't need to say twice.

[@vendetta3941]

In the words of the written dialog from V: "how people remember you is what matters"

[@bayersbluebayoubioweapon8477]

My studies of counterterrorism dictate that unfortunately you can both. That being said, I’d love to provide educational material should anyone want any. Part of me wants to do a breakdown of Silverhand from a counterterrorism standpoint.

[@YABUKIJOE2077]

Johnny was the good guy. That’s your presentation. You’re welcome

[@adventuresinbizarreness2165]

Omfg "Satan kicked me out of hell", that's a good one, but I still like "Hey just busted out of soul prison, check out my new ass" better

[@justtheguy9787]

In your first play though you see him as a character played by Keanu Reeves in your second there is where you start learn who Johnny Silverhand rlly was in your third that’s when you will know which he truthfully was.

[@anotherfacelesscomment989]

He really is the Saw Guerrera of Cyberpunk

[@NowioFel]

You give him too much credit with that tbh.

[@YABUKIJOE2077]

Chose the Johnny rampage with rogue. Let him take over, had to do it. Got scores to settle with Smasher.

[@Mr.kendrick82]

Wow!! I Never thought about saying eef Johnny the whole game or what the outcome of that would be I was pretty nice to him through all play throughs. Great video.

[@abdelali9279]

I started playing and realize I got all the negative choices for Johnny's interactions, because it somewhat feels like a nightmare being with him, especially in the beginning, but like V tells Johnny, "I don't hate you, I just can't stand you", and that sums it up, you can try to empathize with him, but he always has to be so toxic that I can barely believe his change of heart, feels so out of character than a real redemption arc.

[@blade1hunter100]

Yeah the thing that solidify me never trusting him was when you let him "talk" with rouge. I.E. He gets shitfaced, stoned out of his mind, gets a tattoo on your body, fucks a stripper, crashes a car, and basically takes your body for a joyride.

[@TrueInvisible]

he's neither a terrorist nor an anti-hero. he's simply a freedom guitarist. he's a rocker. and in night city you either live as a slave, or you die a legend. also going really bad at him, is bad for you as well.

[@Masokitsu]

I keep replaying this game because I love it so much, my first playthrough I did not like Johnny at all, was pretty rude to him because I just saw him as an intruder who was a total d*** lol because the game pushes you to feel that way at first.... Second and third playthrough I grew to love Johnny, and I think my favorite ending was letting him take over V's body. Give Johnny a second chance at a 'full' New Life instead of ditching him to cyberspace with Alt only so V can live just another 6 months (as a construct her/himself anyways). Especially because Johnny changed immensely as a result of V's influence and their bond. Then V Remains safe with Alt in cyberspace and possibly the ability to come back eventually. No Happy Endings but I found this to be the most rational decision. 6 months as a construct as V or a full life as Johnny...

[@zyeet3243]

The Tower was a legit target… the surrounding city was just nuclear collateral 😆

[@HermeticJazz]

This playthrough I did no gigs or cyberpsychos before the heist and only did ncpd stuff for cash. He pops up a lot in Watson after you meet takamura in Tom's

[@This_Guy-]

I like Johny i don't think him as a terrorist

[@DawnApon]

I started my first playthrough like a week ago im 80 hours in and I've been thinking about this sorta topic recently

[@neildunham2328]

johnny silverhand is a revolutionist

[@NowioFel]

Nah, he is a nihilist, nothing revolutionary about him.

[@PawasTastic]

Man its so brutal how V shoves Johnny aside if you choose to. In all my playthroughs I couldn't help but be empathetic to Johnny so I never realized V can be right up there with Genocide run Chara from Undertale when it comes to enmity with Johnny. Such a well documented video, thank you so much. Man people reeeeeally underestimate this game.

[@mikeoxlong3676]

Johnny is dead. His soul is in hell. This Johnny is an AI program mimicking Johnny.

[@eliotsaintjean]

He destroyed an entire city with a nuclear bomb without even killing the prominent people of Arasaka as that was his goal. Debate doesn't exist, anti-heroes sure aren't as shitty as Silverhand is.

[@stealthcobra1525]

I think the game showcases pretty clearly how Johnny was an asshole in his past life, and how he can grow to become a much better person through his interactions with V, provided V gives him a chance to to so of course. At the end of the day, it does seem like a bad decision to antagonise a voice in your head, and imho it says more about V's faults as a person if he / she can never even try to see his point of view and find an outcome where both can get what they want out of being stuck with each other. And honestly , let's face it , Keanu is like an internet god, it's pretty hard to hate the guy even when he's playing an asshole fighting for control of your body..

[@elbee2324]

I do appreciate that as a whole, the game will respect your player choices, even if they might be perceived as poor ones from the perspective of the overall story. Like an NPC quest giver can say "let's go murder this psychopath" and you can respond with "No, murdering them is not the right thing" and either steer the NPC off that path or just straight out walk away from the proposition, even if that shuts down other stories and quests. I treated Johnny as a murderous, narcissistic a-hole, which he really was going for, especially in the memory recalling events. A lesser developer, or at least one not shaped by a master paper RPG maker, would just force you to go "oh look, it's Johnny Silverhand, let's run off hand in hand into the sunset together!". That's not how all players would react to the major conundrums the story is presenting, and it actually empowers those choices, even if they might not get to the "good" ending from the story tellers or developers point of view. It's what the player wanted, and it respects that. It's just so often missing in modern computer game story telling. The developers just force choices down the player's throat, when in reality it should be up to the player to help shape the story with them. From a human player point of view, too often we have the option of "follow my story or switch the game off". That's... kind of dumb. Sure, harder to do, but still dumb.

[@Anthony_Stuart]

It's not hard at all to write Johnny off as an evil person, but honestly? Same is true of V. Just like GTA V, this isn't a game full of good people in big roles (except for Judy and River, I can't say much against either of them). Soon as you realize you're not looking for Jesus among the characters, you can find some major complexity in every character in the game, that's what makes those characters great.

[@celeste579]

37 min video, I'm in for a treat

[@zeuqramjj2002]

It’s definitely worth seeing that he’s not Entirely a psycho, do the coaster way before you actually go to pacifica.

[@ryszakowy]

i kinda don't like that majority of dialog options are either unfriendly or hostile towards johnny not enough friendly options especially when he walks around V's apartment after first sighting should be an option to talk to him

[@SayMy_User_Name]

I just finally did the arasaka ending after doing all the other endings first.. bro, that ending was bonkers, dark and depressing as hell but it was awesome, it felt way longer than any other ending, but it hurts to leave Johnny on such bad terms, my first 2 play throughs I was friendly with him but rhis last one I purposefully wanted to be a Dick to him but it hurt at the end when I told him get the fuck outta my life lol

[@OneDragon]

Agreed! I really enjoy the interactions between characters whether you are friendly with them or not.

[@YABUKIJOE2077]

Hurts more what they reduce Jackie. He’s just repeated lines on a soundboard. That’s no peaceful rest after the end of anyone’s life. It’s gotta burn. No one deserves that power over peoples lives

[@Raiki0]

Loved the video

[@GhostwalkerSparrow]

I like how Johnny has a thick shell, but deep underneath he learns to like V and even to somewhat redeem himself because of how he saw that everyone thought he was a dick after he died. Like he goes from treating V like crap to a feeling of comradery

[@Ecliptor.]

I think everything Johnny did or said while inside V's head was very justified, even what he said about Evelyn not being unconscious. Which she wasn't. Pushing V right away into destroying Arasaka makes a lot of sense if you see it the way he sees it. He closed his eyes after bombing the tower, woke up 50 years later just to see Arasaka is still going strong. Helping Judy and Evelyn was a waste of time without the context of V's death being inevitable. He also wanted to help V even when he thought he could just wait for V's mind to die and take his place. But he was irredeemable before being in the chip, tbh.

[@NowioFel]

Not really if we take into consideration the actual lore. He only made 1 run at Arasaka, to save Alt and got killed. Johnys team was a distraction to help Militech affiliated Blackhand to set and detonate the nuke. Arasaka then tampered with Johnys engram to avoid a nuclear conflict with Militech and blamed the nuking on a smallfry rockerboy who happen to be killed at the site. So the nuking isn't even his doing, he just got implanted with those memories to take the blame, be the fallguy.

[@themissingpeace7956]

I really like Johnny for how charismatic he is. He does try to become a better person but that is long after his death. That aside even in his version of his memories he still acts like a total dick to everyone around him. He was the one who killed Alt by unplugging her, Arasaka just wanted her to work on Soulkiller, they didn’t give a damn about Johnny. But of course he thought it was about him, Johnny is a narcissist after all. And after that he felt like taking “revenge” when he’s the one who killed Alt. His act of terrorism killed half a million people in Night City and didn’t change a damn thing. Arasaka is still standing strong 50 years after his death. I can understand why he did it and even sympathize with him somehow, but in reality Johnny brought his downfall upon himself and killed many innocent people who had nothing to do with Arasaka.

[@jovenlabarda8530]

Story-wise... Even if Johnny wasn't guided by his ego. Fighting Arasaka is still meaningless. In his 'head', after defeating Arasaka, the world would be a better place or something. What he forgot was there were other corporations like Arasaka, they were just ahead of them. Besides, they lasted almost 2 centuries of different wars. So unless he is someone with a bigger vision than that. He won't be able to make a dent.

[@birdnoir5841]

Ngl, seeing you being so rude to my boy Johnny, makes my ticker a lil' bit flat

[@shl6367]

Late to the party but I do want to point out that the explosion isn’t johnnys doing but rather that of Morgan black hand and his team.

[@beaawsome2211]

If you think about it he probably believes your some Arosoka(or however it's spelled) employee that's testing the chip to see if it even works. As later of course he learns this is not the case

[@MatthewEaton]

I never liked the original story for Johnny Silverhand in the original Cyberpunk books. There just wasn't any meat there and seemed to be some bad writing. I am still looking for a mod that will turn off the main quest all together, but allow me to meet other people along the way because THOSE characters were far more engaging and I cared about them more.

[@Chris-fv6yr]

me and johnny are twins ong hes my bro

[@forbidden6543]

Hello. Just curious about the Corpo side... any chance there is an ending where I return to serve Arasaka? Kinda going as a Chaotic Neutral Genius

[@OneDragon]

Yes. There's an Arasaka Ending where a job is offered to V in the end credits.

[@forbidden6543]

@@OneDragon any specifics? I know removing Johnny is one as well as keeping that one guy alive.

[@mountainaccident2001]

​​​@@forbidden6543 its not for arasaka. its for mr blue eyes. this only happens as a result of either the rogue or dont fear the reaper ending.

[@marislenss4083]

Just want to drop a comment that the nuke consequences despite the warning resulted in 4000 casualties. This is revealed during the mission where Tekemura goes to meet Hanako and is broadcasted from the platforms.

[@spicydeath82]

according to arasaka. you have to keep in mind they have a vested interest in not telling the truth.

[@SoftExo]

4.000 was the number for Arasaka casualties mostly, and is reported by Hanako Arasaka. Official sources stated 12.000 people were incinerated from the blast alone, 500.000 were fatally injured, and 250.000 died of the aftermath / radiation. It was known as Night City Holocaust. The ingame tv news reports on this, i don't quite remember the channel, but its the blond lady in pink.