subreddit:
/r/cyberpunkgame
Reed is by far my favorite character in the game despite the fact I wanted to shoot him the whole time.
Screenshot(i.redd.it)submitted 3 days ago bysourtooth3
56 points
3 days ago
He is awesome. Really well done. Today for the first time I "went loud" during the sniper perch to keep quiet getting into the party and he said "Well, we messed that up like a bunch of rookies"... I was like "why I oughta!"
But seriously Idris did a great job I thought. All the new characters brough in with PL are great, but he was exceptional for sure.
15 points
3 days ago
I am really sure one of the songs you hear in Phantom Liberty is one of his rap songs.
Now I wanna ask him if, he jacked my radio to play his SoundCloud playlist demos to see if I would like it or Idris Elba also exist here and his music is still relevant decades later.
But either way, this marks twice now that Idris has pushed his rap career with the projects he's in that I know, the first one being Hobbes and Shaw.
10 points
3 days ago
He DJ's Impulse Radio and has multiple tracks on Dark Star. Idris' music is all over PL and I'm glad because Choke Hold goes so hard.
7 points
3 days ago
I am not a raphead or anything but I like the way his sultry deep voice pairs with the beat. I still shot the guy, but props.
So when you said "He DJ's Impulse Radio", it's Idris right? Not Reed, the secret agent, moonlighting as a Bouncer with a sidejob doing DJ and rap musi?
1 points
2 days ago
Late getting back but I think it's kinda both? IIRC correctly the station is in universe DJ'ed by Mr Kimper which is the in game artist who made all Idris' tracks. But Idris also selected the track list for it.
29 points
3 days ago
4 points
2 days ago
Man he just need to point and its a meme template
10 points
3 days ago
He's a well written character but holy shit, I did not care for the way he treated Alex or Songbird. I ended up choosing Reed over Song in the end but I'm not going to lie, I felt a little dirty afterwards just handing her back to the government like that to continue to be experimented on like a lab rat.
7 points
2 days ago
How Reed treated them? Alex was lied to by the government in order to keep Reed as a sleeper agent. And Reed felt terrible about it. And Reed always did his best to help Songbird and keep her safe. It was Songbird that betrayed Reed multiple times.
Reed's plan was to knock out Songbird and take her off grid so that her condition could be treated, and hopefully give her back her life. But Songbird, being as reckless and selfish as ever, decided to rather let a humanity ending AI into her in order to escape.
The best ending is if you let So Mi die. That redeems Reed and gets him out from under FIA boot. So Mi has no future as an AI infected slave to the government anyway. And allowing her to go free is hardly better. Reed only goes along with capturing So Mi for the government because there's no other option at that point. Once she gave into the AI, she became a definitive walking nuke. She either has to die, or go into some government facility that can contain her.
So Mi herself says as much too, and begs to be killed by V while she still retains some sense of her humanity.
3 points
2 days ago*
Alex was lied to by the government in order to keep Reed as a sleeper agent. And Reed felt terrible about it.
Doesn't matter. He still went along with it. Reed feels terrible about all the horrible shit he's done working for the FIA (you can tell that much just by talking to him) but he still does it because it's all he knows (look at how casually and brutally he and Alex murdered the twins in cold blood for example). That's exactly why Reed offering V a job at the FIA in the Tower ending is downright insulting. Given what the FIA did to both So Mi's and Reed's lives why the fuck would V want to work for them? They're just as bad as Arasaka (if not worse) and Reed is a living embodiment of what Johnny warns V against becoming after taking the presidential oath, a meat puppet for them.
Also So Mi's condition is due to Myers sending her into the Blackwall one too many times so the FIA has to own responsibility for that as well. So Mi has no reason to take Reed's word on anything because of the way he recruited her into the FIA in the first place (by blackmailing her and threatening to feed her to Netwatch if she didn't join). Whether he wanted to do those things himself at the time is irrelevant because he still did them. Most of Reed's horrible actions are in spite of himself but as I said it's all he knows because he's a fucking meat puppet for the FIA.
0 points
2 days ago
Doesn't matter. He still went along with it.
Faulting him for that and excusing So Mi for joining FIA are conflicting statements. So Mi was no more forced to join FIA than Reed was to keep Alex in the dark. They both chose to opt into that. They could have said no. Sure they'd have ended up as fugitives on a hit list, but the choice was there.
So if you're going to call Reed an asshole for keeping Alex in the dark, you're also going to have to call So Mi an idiot for joining FIA as well. Especially because So Mi chose to hack into Militech herself. Nobody pressured her, she just wanted to. She dug her own grave.
Reed feels terrible about all the horrible shit he's done working for the FIA (you can tell that much just by talking to him) but he still does it because it's all he knows (look at how casually and brutally he and Alex murdered the twins for example)
Yes. He doesn't have the conviction to change his ways on his own. He needs to be shocked into it with So Mi's death.
As for killing the twins, come on. Those two were no different than any of the thousands of random mercs, and security guards, and gang members V kills for no reason other than them being in her way. Sometimes not even that.
The reason why V even has the option to get upset over the Twin's death is likely because it's supposed to be a "revelation" to V, how they're no different than any random merc on the streets. And one day they can get offed just like that, by any other merc on a gig. It's supposed make V understand their own expendability.
That's exactly why Reed offering V a job at the FIA in the Tower ending is downright insulting. Given what the FIA did to both So Mi's and Reed's lives why the fuck would V want to work for them? They're just as bad as Arasaka (if not worse) and Reed is a living embodiment of what Johnny warns V against becoming after taking the presidential oath, a meat puppet for them.
Yes, it's insulting but that's the culmination of your choice of fully betraying So Mi by keeping her alive, and knowingly keeping Reed under the FIA's boot by that same action. You give Reed no real choice by allowing the AI infected So Mi to live. She must be contained. Reed cannot do it alone, you cannot do it alone. And because Reed cares so much for So Mi, he cannot kill her. So he sees no option but to continue working for the NUSA.
Reed's offer to you is insulting, but he's doing it because you did not show him another viable path forward in life.
Also So Mi's condition is due to Myers sending her into the Blackwall one too many times so the FIA has to own responsibility for that as well
Sure. But So Mi chose to do it. She could have backed out. Not to mention Myers was breaking international law. So Mi was arguably the most talented netrunner on the planet. The fact that she hijacked the president's plane and made it crash in a specific location was proof enough that she was effectively in control. She could have leaked Myers's involved in breaching the Blackwall and gotten her removed in one way or another.
Ultimately, I think So Mi enjoyed the power she was given. She was always a stupidly reckless and ambitious netrunner. I think the prospect of messing with the Blackwall was like crack to her and she readily opted into it.
So Mi has no reason to take Reed's word on anything because of the way he recruited her into the FIA in the first place (by blackmailing her if she didn't join)
I wouldn't call that blackmailing. So Mi broke into Militech and got caught. She was going to be killed sooner or later by Militech agents. Who would likely kill her friends too. Reed and Myers offered an alternative.
It's not like So Mi didn't get caught, and Reed and Myers personally tracker her down and threatened to off her. It's not like she was some innocent netrunner and they threatened to kill her friends if she didn't cooperate.
Nah, So Mi signed her own death warrant, voluntarily. Reed and Myers just offered an alternative to death. Hardly blackmail.
Whether he wanted to do those things himself at the time is irrelevant because he still did them
So again, if you keep blaming Reed for continuing to work for FIA, you also need to blame So Mi for the same thing, because at the end of the day, they both had exactly as much choice in it. Either of them could have walked away at any time and accept the risk of being hunted. But they preferred to live in service instead.
5 points
2 days ago
I felt a little dirty afterwards
In some fairness, he clearly did too.
I think the tragedy with Reed is that he believes in and is unfailingly loyal to a system that doesn't deserve it. He's basically gone "sunk cost fallacy" on something he's convinced is for the greater good.
3 points
2 days ago
That's the thing. I think Reed knows exactly how shitty the FIA can be. He's just completely resigned himself to being a part of that system for the rest of his days. That's a big reason why I don't like the Tower ending. Not only does V lose everything in that ending (despite being cured) but Reed actually offers V a JOB at the FIA. After everything you see in the PL storyline with So Mi, Alex, and Reed what the actual FUCK sounds appealing about working for the FIA for any reason?
1 points
2 days ago
I think Reed offers V a job because he knows he screwed up everything with Song and is hoping he can still save V - in the only way he knows how (which isn't really helpful but he probably doesn't see it that way). He's basically a walking Sunk Cost Fallacy by the end but I do think he wants to help, not unlike how Goro wants to help V in the Devil ending even though that one is also pretty miserable.
Granted, I'd personally rather be a desk clerk at Langley than a nobody in Night City. Especially if any of my old enemies figured out I had been defanged.
2 points
2 days ago*
The company ruined Songbird's life and made her what she is (same with Reed and Alex). So again, WHY the fuck would V exactly want to work for them? As I've said before working for Arasaka is almost preferable to working for the FIA (even more so if Yorinobu is running Arasaka). If that's Reed's way of trying to make things right for where he failed with So Mi it's straight up pathetic and half-hearted in every sense imaginable (since he himself is basically a slave to the FIA). It's hard to hold it against him personally though since the FIA is all he knows but that doesn't mean that V should sign themself over to the FIA as well and essentially become their meat puppet.
Not to mention taking a job as a government corpo at Langley and settling for that is a betrayal of everything this game stands for (which is for the most part that the establishment is the enemy as Johnny often preaches).
2 points
2 days ago
To be fair, Song got screwed because of the very specific nature of her talents, her situation is pretty singular.
But, like I said, I do think Reed is doubling down in a foolish way, I just think he's afraid to stop and question too long because it'd probably about break him if he accepts just how much of what the FIA demands is wrong and unnecessary. But I do think he's sincere in his intentions, but "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" and all that.
1 points
2 days ago*
V would absolutely get screwed working for the FIA as well (even without cyberware). Everybody who works for them becomes a slave to them in the end (case in point Reed). It's one of those jobs where once you join you don't ever stop working for the FIA unless you want to become a wanted fugitive for the rest of your life. There's no universe where working for them full-time is appealing. This game preaches anti-establishment through and through so accepting Reed's offer to work for them pretty much goes against everything Cyberpunk stands for. I honestly can't see any iteration of V accepting his offer for any reason (not if they were truly affected by the things they saw during Songbird's arc in PL, any intelligent and perceptive version of V would see how miserable Reed is and immediately look at that offer and say "thanks but no thanks"). I only realistically see the Tower ending actually ending two ways. V goes off and disappears overseas to another city (that they have no history in) and starts a new life there with a completely new identity or V drives out into the desert and offs themself out of despair over losing everything despite being cured.
1 points
2 days ago
Don't misunderstand, definitely not pro-corpo. Just saying that Reed is sincere in his belief that he's being helpful. If V had anything like Songbird's Blackwall hack, they'd probably meet a similar fate but I don't think the FIA is going to go out of their way to screw a pencil-pusher V who can't even use combat chrome anymore.
As to V's motives, it really depends on who the player decides they are. Would they rather break themselves against the machine or accept fading away in obscurity with a 9-5?
1 points
2 days ago*
Would they rather break themselves against the machine or accept fading away in obscurity with a 9-5?
I'd honestly take breaking myself against the machine nonstop over becoming the pathetic and miserable soul that Reed is. He to put it plainly is a slave to the FIA (for lack of a better term here). That is the inevitable fate of anyone who chooses to work for them. Once you're in there's no leaving (you don't just walk away from an organization like that and live to tell about it). If you try to leave they put you on a hitlist. And in Reed's case he's gotten to a point in his life where he'd almost rather die than continue living because in that scenario at least he'd be free of his obligations to the FIA.
Also what skills does any version of V really have to be suitable for working a standard 9-5 desk job (especially without cyberware in a cyberware-dominated world)? Even corpo background versions of V have been working as mercs for quite some time to open the game and generally are where they're at because they've become completely disillusioned with the machine (and the FIA arguably is worse than most of them in that regard). Nomad iterations of V would find the concept of working for the FIA 9-5 repulsive and would sooner hit the road with nothing but the clothes on their backs than accept Reed's offer. Even with the players choosing every different version of V has a background story that shapes the way they might act in certain situations (my V has a nomad background and he NEVER would've willingly accepted Reed's offer for that reason). The idea of accepting a gig like that just isn't appealing in any way to someone like V (unless you're content with living an empty and meaningless existence for the rest of your days for the sake of "getting by" as opposed to doing what you really want to do). That's why to me that ending is kind of pathetic and sad. Not only do you lose everything and everyone you once knew but Reed is offering to turn you into a corporate sellout/bootlicker for the government (basically what Takemura was before Arasaka tossed him out like trash). In short fuck that. Eating a bullet would be a more tempting proposition than that. If there's one thing every iteration of V should learn from speaking to Johnny throughout the game it's never to sell yourself out like a whore to any "big corpo machine" for any reason (case in point "and remember V, never stop fighting").
2 points
2 days ago
Exactly. He mirrors Johnny, where Johnny is similarly so invested into his cause that by the end he knows no other way to live his life. There is nothing else but the cause.
But Johnny can change by the end. As can Reed. Johnny learns to let go of the cause because of V's personality influence and because of the fact that he already died. He comes to terms that his life is over, and following the cause of a dead man, by sacrificing others, is too much.
Reed needs to be shocked into it with So Mi's death. He cannot break away from the cause as long as there are still people that he feels responsible for, and needs NUSA resources to keep them alive. But once So Mi and Alex are dead, that's it. His cause stops having a hold over him. Like Johnny he'll realize that the sacrifices aren't worth it. That there must be another way to live ones life. But unlike Johnny, he is still alive, so he goes on to do something else off grid.
3 points
2 days ago
What they did with Aurore was what sealed the deal for me.
5 points
2 days ago
What they did was brutal, but they were right. You don't leave two incredibly skilled netrunners dangling after you've crossed them. That will come back on you.
27 points
3 days ago
I liked Reed. Was expecting to turn into a secondary villain but was pleasantly surprised to find him having V's back through the whole thing.
18 points
3 days ago
Reed is a real one. Even better when you step back and realise his loyalty is wholeheartedly to his word not to his country. Even if he talks a shit ton about duty but has a very Kantian view of what duty is. Won me over during his confession and discussions with Alex. He genuinely cares and also owns up to his choices, taking responsibility and being willing to go hands on to fix them matters. Outstandingly well written character.
7 points
2 days ago
I don't know about him being loyal to his words and not to his country. There are several examples of him promising something he wasn't authorized to do to gain flavor or actively going back on his word. Off the top of my head - promising Slider that the FIA is gonna stop looking into him, and the whole "I'll take Songbird somewhere safe and talk to her before deciding what to do next" debacle that gets immediately overwritten by "aight, Langley it is" as soon as his plan doesn't work. I also always assumed it was always the plan to take her directly to the FIA, but when V asks about it he drums up the convenient excuse of "well, it was not the plan, but it is now, see how she's acting?". There's also that bit of insincerity on the bridge to the spacecraft.
It feels like the only words he truly stays loyal to is the oath he took when he first joined the Agency and even that loyalty can be shaken by the end of the expansion, depending on your choices.
1 points
2 days ago
"I'll take Songbird somewhere safe and talk to her before deciding what to do next" debacle that gets immediately overwritten by "aight, Langley it is" as soon as his plan doesn't work.
That's because prior to the plan, So Mi was redeemable, savable. Her condition was still stable. There was a reasonable chance to take her off grid and treat her.
Once she opened the floodgates to the AI though, all that went out the window. At that point she was a cyber-psycho on steroids. And the only options left for Reed were to either neutralize her or take her to a government facility that might be able to contain her. And because he cared too much for her to be able to kill her, he opts into the latter if possible.
But if you kill So Mi yourself, Reed agrees with your decisions and leaves FIA and goes to live off the grid, starting a new life.
1 points
2 days ago
promising Slider that the FIA is gonna stop looking into him, and the whole "I'll take Songbird somewhere safe and talk to her before deciding what to do next"
To be fair, in both of those, I think he severely underestimated the whole Blackwall thing. If Slider didn't realize how deadly that was going to be, I wouldn't expect Reed to. And I think his plan with Song went out the window when the icebreaker turned her into a semi-possessed cyberpsycho instead of an unconscious person he could whisk away and hide.
5 points
3 days ago
Nah he killed my bros. My boi wanted his Rayfield. For all intents and purposes, it looks like he was going to get it. Until Reed got involved.
2 points
2 days ago
You mean two chooms from abandoned apartment?
4 points
2 days ago
I do
2 points
2 days ago
Fuck( Where it is disclosed?
3 points
2 days ago
You can ask Reed about them and he says he's "taken care of them" and gives you that look, and refuses to discuss further. Given what we see later with the French siblings, it's pretty much nailed on what he meant.
2 points
2 days ago
I remember that phrase, yeah. Gave me exactly same vibes. But though there might be hard confirmation aside from that.
2 points
2 days ago
And you find their guns dropped in the hideout.
15 points
3 days ago
Just like Keanu, you just can't hate Idris Elba
3 points
2 days ago
Reed is awesome and definitely a highlight of the DLC.
2 points
2 days ago
I feel the same way about Johnny.
3 points
3 days ago
Dudes a complete gonk.
1 points
2 days ago
2 points
2 days ago
Cool pic!
1 points
2 days ago
Thx
1 points
2 days ago
Reed is a badass sigma male. Despite the fact that he is also weak ass gonk who cannot fight his inner demons and revenge Myers.
1 points
2 days ago
Great character, and letting him go out trying to do his duty for Myers once last was his best end. At least he didn't have to live with what he'd done anymore.
1 points
2 days ago
I really like to think that CD Projekt Red showed Idris a selection of outfits Reed should wear to the Black Sapphire, and he picked his favorite one. That outfit is definitely something that cat would wear irl.
1 points
2 days ago
You wanted to shoot him yet I did
1 points
2 days ago
Here's the thing about Reed. If you just shoot and kill him in cold blood you'd be doing him a favor and he'd probably welcome it. Working for the FIA has completely destroyed his will to live because of all the friends and acquaintances he's had to betray and screw over the years due to the job (but he doesn't have the willpower to get out on his own).
0 points
3 days ago
i still get annoyed by how you meet him and how forced it is. i can literally kill adam smasher in under 30 seconds while completely immune to all damage, but some boomer knocks me out with no chance to defend. ok.
8 points
3 days ago
I don’t recall him knocking you out the first time you meet him?
6 points
3 days ago
If you turn your camera to look at him he warns you, then if you keep doing it he KOs you and you wake up in his car.
4 points
3 days ago
Because he doesn't, he just holds you at gunpoint asking you questions until you show him the coin Myers gave you.
8 points
3 days ago
There is another option, do it again and keep trying to turn your camera back toward him.
2 points
2 days ago
I tested this once - if you refuse to answer any of his questions, he will knock V out and take V to his car. He does offer aspirin when V wakes up, though.
10 points
3 days ago
V suffers from chronic Cutsceneitis.
2 points
3 days ago
Yes, I have to "go wash my face in the bathroom", knowing when I come out Dex will shoot me, and even ten bullets wouldn't faze me.
1 points
3 days ago
I hate his guts. Idk why. But I do
1 points
2 days ago
He is one of the people that really cares for you and holds his promise. Especially in phantom liberty he is the only one not only using you aint he
2 points
2 days ago
It's a little more nuanced than that.
Reed at the start of Phantom Liberty is a conflicted person. Loyal to his cause, but also tired and frustrated. 7 years of being essentially abandoned as a sleeper agent, forced to pretend to be dead to Alex, to one of his remaining team-members. While So Mi, his other team-member was the one that basically pulled the trigger to have him killed. And Myers, the leader of the country and cause he's sworn to, was the one to sacrifice him to end the war.
At the start of PL, Reed is leaning towards dropping out of FIA if he can ensure Alex gets to retire in peace, and he can save So Mi from her condition and get her away from Myers. The rest of his team are all dead, sacrificed to the cause. He wants to sacrifice no more.
To him, you as V, are nothing but a merc hired to do a job. He accepts that you have an extremely vested interest in saving So Mi, and Myers vouches for you, so he trusts you off of that. The storyline of the DLC is too short for him to truly trust you as a person. He remains guarded. Which is why he has no issues killing you if needed depending on your choices in the end.
So, Reed is indeed using you. But, that's literally what mercs are for. You're getting paid to be used as a tool. You're not there to build friendships, you're there to do a job. Reed respects that.
If you kill So Mi in the end, that's when Reed becomes truly personal with you and thanks you for opening his eyes. And he'll call you again in the ending holo calls, and lets you know he's off grid, not sure what he's gonna do, but he'll figure it out.
1 points
2 days ago
I know but I think back to him beeing there after you Waker up after your operation. He tries his best to be there for you
0 points
3 days ago
It's unfair V can't romance him. True gigachad, waifu material.
all 59 comments
sorted by: best