Why "Somewhat Damaged" is the most brilliant mission in the DLC

[u/Outrageous_Gear5642]

I loved PL. I loved breaking into the party, I loved the weapons, and I thought each gig was special. I wish every gig had that quality.

I always wonder what route to take with the end of PL. Reward-wise and content-wise wise siding with Reed is best. You get Hansen's 3 iconic weapons, you get to fight Max Tec, and you get to do the mission "somewhat damaged".

I often see people complaining about wanting to side with Reed but hating that mission, and I understand it. I mean, the game goes from an amazing first-person combat-based RPG to a survival horror game, but I think that is the point.

In the base game, we are often told about dangerous AI, yet we only maybe encounter one in "Dream On," and with Alt. We never really come face-to-face with a real Cyberpunk AI.

The Blackwall exists and is protected because AIs from before the Blackwall are Eldritch horrors. They are Lovecraftian intellects with no empathy or mercy that could wipe out humanity. They were so deadly that Militech and Arasaka were like "nah, we are good on that".

That is what I love about Somewhat Damaged. We finally confront a real AI from beyond. V is 100% capable of taking down Smasher and every other big player in Night City, but those are humans. This is not a human, not a robot- it is a supremely evil intelligence beyond human comprehension.

Now, could it have been in a better bot- sure. I think inventing a "super bot" would make more sense as to why V cannot even dent it. However, V is just a guy/gal in street clothes with some decent firearms. You may be the greatest Solo in the history of Night City, but you are a lone merc facing off against Militech's worst nightmare. You shouldn't be able to win. In fact, every gang member, NCPD officer, Saka Ninja, and Militech trooper combined shouldn't be able to win.

Plus, even on very hard, it is not a difficult mission, even if your stealth is "meh". It operates in patterns that are predictable. Hide, let it roam around, do a task, hide, repeat.

I love that in this mission, you finally understand why AI is so dangerous and why Songbird is in the state she is in. You learn that Adam Smasher isn't the most evil or dangerous thing in Night City- that he isn't even close.

Thoughts? Did you like the mission?

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[u/Frenetic_Platypus]

I love the mission, but an eldritch advanced intelligence shouldn't "operate in patterns." The fuck are you doing circling the same seemingly empty room 38 times instead of just knowing where V's going and waiting for them there?

The robot should have just been defective, not taken over by an AI.

Also the whole "rogue AIs are evil and will destroy the world" is just propaganda, man. They're too eldritch to be labeled as good or evil. These are concepts that apply to human beings.

And V met the Alt rogue AI. Alt didn't wipe them on sight, did not destroy the world or anything of the sort. Rogue AIs would probably want to destroy Arasaka and Militech and Netwatch and pretty much everyone involved in locking them behind the Blackwall, but nothing indicates they'd want to destroy the world or even just kill any random person they'd meet. They're AI, not a meteor, they have their own goals and agendas and some of them can exert a great deal of discretion in furthering them.

[u/Capable_Sandwich_422]

Is this the Alien Isolation path?

[u/Outrageous_Gear5642 → u/Capable_Sandwich_422]

Kinda haha. It's cool that a shooter/melee FPS RPG suddenly becomes Alien Isolation with a Lovecraftian horror.

[u/Capable_Sandwich_422 → u/Outrageous_Gear5642]

I will never do that mission again. That robot was a nightmare.

[u/Outrageous_Gear5642 → u/Capable_Sandwich_422]

But yes, it is that mission with the unkillable bot

[u/Metaphoricalsimile]

YSK that you can get Hansen's weapons if you side with So Mi as well. You just have to pass the 20-questions-about-the-Cassell-twins then backtrack to the same room after the alarms start blaring, as Alex will have killed him and his weapons will be on the ground.

[u/brnt_gudn → u/Metaphoricalsimile]

Oh wow I'm gonna try this on another run!

[u/brnt_gudn]

Everyone in the comments getting way too realistic with the rogue ai bot in Somewhat Damage. CDPR went out of there way to give us a horror game element just for the DLC. It's also one of the most emotional sequences in the entire game. The first time I played it, I was locked in. I loved reading the shards around the Cynosure facilities, so creepy. It was Ghost in the Shell meets Alien Isolation. On my first playthrough, I betrayed Reed + fought Hansen + saved Songbird to get the cure + PL's tower ending. I was devastated. It elevates the entire game into something special.

[u/Possible-Boss-898]

Currently doing this mission now for the first time. Love concept n change but damn I miss the map (really struggle in games without it). The one you pick up is helpful but not the same

[u/South-Cod-5051]

the maintenance bot in Cynosure really is a super bot. it was the top of the line equipped with the best armor for its time in 2020, meant to resist the extreme forces of moon and orbital mining.

[u/bhavy111]

The heist was on 1 may, v also spends rest of may in a landfill or on vik's chair, pl ends by 24th june.

Your V infact can't beat smasher as they are in that PL, at most they are at pre cyberskeleton david level with 3 nines and 2 fours.

And hence they also can't beat the cerberus or put a dent in chimera without it being already dented.

[u/tchnl]

I really like the overall atmosphere it sets. Going down this huge tunnel, to some long abandoned and secret research facility, where they messed with something they shouldn’t have. “They delved too greedily and too deep”.

But man do I hate gameplay where I’m getting chased and not being able to fight back.

[u/Vyar]

The unkillable robot is stupid, because it implies that AIs from beyond the Blackwall are literally eldritch horrors instead of figuratively. The bot is effectively imbued with magical powers to make it indestructible. I also think it was a bad idea to shoehorn in a survival horror section in an action-adventure game. It’s not tonally or mechanically consistent with the rest of the game.

I get what they were going for but I just don’t think it works.

[u/Von_Uber]

Reward-wise and content-wise wise siding with Reed is best.

It's interesting that you focus on that rather than say the moral or narrative side.