I’m ~3/4s through my second playthrough and appreciating it more and more. Haven’t picked up the expansion yet either.
I found it hits much harder with a female character. The Johnny Silverhand situation especially felt much more… metaphorically resonant? And Jackie feels more rogue-with-a-heart-of-gold when his best buddy is a woman.
Quickhacks are OP but felt correctly haxx0r, mantis blades are super fun. I enjoyed the combat well enough. Cars are meh, but it’s cyberpunk so if you’re not riding a futuristic bike ala Akira you’re doing it wrong. And wiping out on a bike is great.
The characterisation and world building are what really shine. I was reluctant to play the corpo background but it really makes the story sing.
spoiler
The first time you’re in a car with Judy she has a prominent tattoo that says “underwater where thoughts can breathe”. Then next mission or a while later her apartment has jellyfish looking paint splotches and an aquarium. It’s expanded on more explicitly later, but I really enjoy the way they pull together their characters.
The scene with Takemura on the roof talking about Bakeneko is another moment that I enjoyed first playthrough and came to really appreciate a lot the second time. His food snobbery becomes quite endearing after he accidentally texts you his attempts to search for restaurants.
It’s also my opinion the female voice actor did an incredible job where as the male voice actor did a great job. Even in the most basic of side quests, it feels like she is giving it her all to be V in that situation whereas on the other hand some lines it feels like he’s just phoning it in.
Admittedly I haven’t played the new expansion as male v yet, and that may change my opinion. Especially considering I think Keanu gave 110% percent on phantom liberty where I feel like there are certain lines in the original game that were just read from a sheet without context and marked as done
It’s also my opinion the female voice actor did an incredible job where as the male voice actor did a great job. Even in the most basic of side quests, it feels like she is giving it her all to be V in that situation whereas on the other hand some lines it feels like he’s just phoning it in.
100% agree. Male V just sounds like “generic video game man who is tough, but not too tough”, where as the female V sounds like a hardened, cold bitch that you don’t want to fuck with. Cherami Leigh’s got range.
Yeah like I said in my other comment, I’m having fun playing through a male v playthrough with the thinking that male v just doesn’t open up often, and is trying his best to keep his cards close. It’s a fun experiment, and plays homage to how male v’s voice actor plays the character, and how a hardened veteran nomad v or abused street kid v might interact with folks, but Cherami’s amazing work is canonical V to me.
Oh yeah, that’s a great point. I admit I stalled out of my male playthrough like 1/4 through, but for sure the voice acting felt lacking compared to female V, who really does a fantastic and job and sells every situation flawlessly. Now that you’ve mentioned it, it seems so obvious that that’s a huge part of the why female V is better.
I’m on a male playthrough a just recently started, and I think the trick is to realize that he’s playing the lines as a more aloof v, which is fine, and actually interesting psychologically as a v that “keeps his cards close to his chest and is cautious about who he opens up to” but you have to accept that version of v in your playthrough, whereas I got used to the “always emotionally invested v” of the female playthrough. Like I said, I still think he did a great job, but that mindset helps me to align the character with the experience. Either way, nice convo, choom
That reading of the character makes sense and jives with how I connect with games I play. I’ll keep it in mind when I go back for a male playthrough - gonna have to romance panam eventually. Agreed choom!
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I’m ~3/4s through my second playthrough and appreciating it more and more. Haven’t picked up the expansion yet either.
I found it hits much harder with a female character. The Johnny Silverhand situation especially felt much more… metaphorically resonant? And Jackie feels more rogue-with-a-heart-of-gold when his best buddy is a woman.
Quickhacks are OP but felt correctly haxx0r, mantis blades are super fun. I enjoyed the combat well enough. Cars are meh, but it’s cyberpunk so if you’re not riding a futuristic bike ala Akira you’re doing it wrong. And wiping out on a bike is great.
The characterisation and world building are what really shine. I was reluctant to play the corpo background but it really makes the story sing.
spoiler
The first time you’re in a car with Judy she has a prominent tattoo that says “underwater where thoughts can breathe”. Then next mission or a while later her apartment has jellyfish looking paint splotches and an aquarium. It’s expanded on more explicitly later, but I really enjoy the way they pull together their characters.
The scene with Takemura on the roof talking about Bakeneko is another moment that I enjoyed first playthrough and came to really appreciate a lot the second time. His food snobbery becomes quite endearing after he accidentally texts you his attempts to search for restaurants.
It’s also my opinion the female voice actor did an incredible job where as the male voice actor did a great job. Even in the most basic of side quests, it feels like she is giving it her all to be V in that situation whereas on the other hand some lines it feels like he’s just phoning it in.
Admittedly I haven’t played the new expansion as male v yet, and that may change my opinion. Especially considering I think Keanu gave 110% percent on phantom liberty where I feel like there are certain lines in the original game that were just read from a sheet without context and marked as done
100% agree. Male V just sounds like “generic video game man who is tough, but not too tough”, where as the female V sounds like a hardened, cold bitch that you don’t want to fuck with. Cherami Leigh’s got range.
Yeah like I said in my other comment, I’m having fun playing through a male v playthrough with the thinking that male v just doesn’t open up often, and is trying his best to keep his cards close. It’s a fun experiment, and plays homage to how male v’s voice actor plays the character, and how a hardened veteran nomad v or abused street kid v might interact with folks, but Cherami’s amazing work is canonical V to me.
Oh yeah, that’s a great point. I admit I stalled out of my male playthrough like 1/4 through, but for sure the voice acting felt lacking compared to female V, who really does a fantastic and job and sells every situation flawlessly. Now that you’ve mentioned it, it seems so obvious that that’s a huge part of the why female V is better.
I’m on a male playthrough a just recently started, and I think the trick is to realize that he’s playing the lines as a more aloof v, which is fine, and actually interesting psychologically as a v that “keeps his cards close to his chest and is cautious about who he opens up to” but you have to accept that version of v in your playthrough, whereas I got used to the “always emotionally invested v” of the female playthrough. Like I said, I still think he did a great job, but that mindset helps me to align the character with the experience. Either way, nice convo, choom
That reading of the character makes sense and jives with how I connect with games I play. I’ll keep it in mind when I go back for a male playthrough - gonna have to romance panam eventually. Agreed choom!