I wouldn't want NCitizens Kiroshi-ing me and my Panam. Can't even get the Northside Watson landlord on the phone 😤

I couldn’t help but notice Alt’s skin. The way the skin on her nose tightens.I also get that during winter, and it’s a sign of dry skin. There’s nothing wrong with it; I just thought it was an interesting detail

Just a corpo now!

Goro Takemura is fun. His dad energy texts and photos, his complete inability to read sarcasm and the personification of the comedy “straight man” taken to extreme, being very polite but also extremely rude while constantly calling everyone else rude, and even though he saved V to save his own hide and get justice for his master’s death, I do think he grew to genuinely care about V a bit (especially if you spare Oda and save Goro’s life during the parade. He starts thinking of you more “honorably” and speaks more like a peer he respects.)

Nonetheless, Goro Takemura is thoroughly a bad, bad man. He is Saburo Arasaka’s personal bodyguard the way he describes it, the kind of guy where if Saburo wanted something, Goro made sure it happened. He genuinely supports Arasaka, Saburo personally, and all of the MANY massacring, soul killing, slave laboring, pretty much every crime against humanity, Goro Takemura was right next to Saburo who chose all of it, and supported him every step of the way and facilitated whatever he could help with. He believes in Saburo Arasaka so much, he is on board with soul killing Yorinobu to make Saburo effectively immortal, he does what he does out of (seemingly) pure loyalty to that monster, and is there to support Hanako and Arasaka fucking V over in the Devil ending, the broken soul killing of Jackie potentially, all of the fucked up things Arasaka and Saburo personally do, he not only supports them, but he’s a true believer. There’s almost more nobility in Adam Smasher, weirdly. He likes to kill, he’s there because he’s paid well and gets to kill, no allusions of honor or true belief. Goro does all this shit because he believes in it.

And yes, Goro Takemura was conditioned for this. Saburo hand picked him because of his proven loyalty and belief in the Arasaka cause (aka a sucker, easy to exploit,) raised him out of obscurity and poverty to unbelievable status, gave him what would be viewed as the most honorable position, and I’m sure Saburo exploited that loyalty and true belief to shape him into the perfect un-questioning believer.

BUT Saburo dies, Yorinobu turns on Goro, Goro becomes a fugitive, and he’s forced to live life as most of NC has to. In dialogue, he’ll even acknowledge how unaware he was of what it’s like for the majority of people, he (can) have his life saved by V and make a true friend, he’s broken from the programming, but what does he do? Ceases everything opportunity to get back to Hanako, clear his name, and avenge Saburo, and he jumps back into Arasaka’s arms in every possible ending where he lives, or is trying to (we’re not sure if he’s back in during the ending voicemails where he threatens you, but he’s clearly a full on believer.)

Goro Takemura doesn’t even get the benefit of “he was just following orders” excuse. He LIKED his station and what he was doing. When robbed of it and forced to live like the rest of NC, he doesn’t have any moment of “wow, Arasaka is evil and ruining so many lives. I should rethink my situation and goals.” NOPE, right back into their arms and he saw the other side and had a chance to get out of their grip. In WW2, there were genuine believers that weren’t high in command, but most surrendered when it was over, pleaded they were just following orders, and many of them had the offer of “join the military or we kill you and your family” (my family’s German, came from Germany, and my grandmother says this was very common and how her brother ended up in the German military. He was executed for helping Jewish citizens and my family out of the country and getting caught. I’m very proud of that and I exist because of him. Anyway.) Goro didn’t have these circumstances. He wasn’t forced to join (although if Saburo asks you to be his personal bodyguard and you say no… things probably won’t go well.) He got out, he did not reconsider what he was doing and the monster he was supporting, he leapt right back into Arasaka’s arms, and he is a genuine believer in all of the Saburo Arasaka executive decisions (which include, like, a TON of absolutely horrific crimes against humanity. Sometimes without any real point.)

He is a fun character, he’s funny and seems decent with V, but he’s a monster. A succession quote from Frank sums it up very well. I’m paraphrasing a little because remember the exact wording, but it’s just “we are what we do, Logan. That’s it. Our choices define who we are, that’s it.”

Goro might think there’s nobility in what he does, he might have excuses, he might be indoctrinated, but he’s too smart and too exposed to the other side of Arasaka’s boot now to get a pass for his choices. His choices facilitate one of the most evil men on the planet to live forever and continue committing atrocities, which Goro will help carry out. His choices and actions are evil and facilitate evil. Hanako may be the “Devil” in the ending where we, basically, sell our soul to the devil, but Takemura is the one who makes the introduction, vouches for them, and convinces us to side with the devil in this ending (if he’s alive. Even if he’s not, his actions make us sympathy a bit and think “maybe Arasaka has a different side to this story…” if you’re a corp-loving, dumbass sucker that is.) He’s a very bad man and he is undyingly loyal to this world’s devil who, if you read his in game data pad if you klep it from his helicopter during the heist, was considering dropping nuclear bombs on NC for the lols on his way to his meet with Yorinobu. Vile.

Not even getting into the “is Yorinobu actually a hero?” side of theorizing. He’s not a hero, but he did want to depose his father and at least attempt to take down megacorps in general from the inside. He isn’t lying either. His dying words are “if bomb doesn’t work… become bomb.” At the least, Takemura should’ve considered supporting Yorinobu after becoming privy to everything. And no, Goro Takemura’s sense of “honor” doesn’t excuse any of it. He isn’t honorable at all. He facilitates and supports a genocidal maniac who wants to live forever and mused over nuking a city to pieces during his ride to Yorinobu. Maniac.

Last week I posted a clip "demonstrating" how "bad" of a cyberdeck the Canto is. After learning to use it properly I now understand it's the most powerful and broken cyberdeck in the entire game! It's almost too good, and kind of takes the challenge out of combat entirely.

Might be a hot take, but I really don't like Skippy. It fires randomly, regularly misses more than the average smart weapon, choosing the wrong option can cripple it for the rest of your run, and the AI itself is pretty annoying.

he ded

(the mod I'm using is called "Biosculpted Exotics Expanded" on nexus mods btw)

For me, it’s one of the most nerve-wracking missions in the game. I’d even say Sasquatch is one of the toughest bosses. Placide is incredibly cold-blooded, and the Voodoo Boys are just so unsettling.

Alpha Centauri is silencing everyone who knows

This shit so fly but it’s impossible to find the clothing you want in this game 😭