I can’t imagine them using V again. Geralt was a character in his own right that had character traits that were handed over to you to play with. The world was built for Geralt to be in. V was built as a blank slate character to insert yourself into. There’s no reason to keep them. I’m pretty sure they only gave the character a name so everyone else in the game could have voice lines for everything and refer to the character by name. It was an attempt to make it a smoother experience, but really, V was a faceless avatar for the player no different to the Fallout games. But because they did the thing with the name it’s seamless and everyone sees V as a character, but they’re all seeing them as a different character based on how they played. It was pretty clever and I’m sure they’ll do it again.
I don’t think I agree with you entirely about V being a blank slate. In fact, wasn’t this one of the criticisms people had of the game? Many were hoping for a blank slate and an immersive open world where you could be anyone you wanted in Night City, but what was delivered was a linear narrative and a fairly pre-defined character.
Whatever you pick and decide, V will end up being a Merc that was hardened by previous failure and personal loss, and whose personality was shaped by the year with Jackie. You have some wiggle room occasionally, but by and large all the dialogue options and decisions fall under that same umbrella; they’re all just different flavours of V, not really options to portray vastly differing characterizations.
I can’t imagine them using V again. Geralt was a character in his own right that had character traits that were handed over to you to play with. The world was built for Geralt to be in. V was built as a blank slate character to insert yourself into. There’s no reason to keep them. I’m pretty sure they only gave the character a name so everyone else in the game could have voice lines for everything and refer to the character by name. It was an attempt to make it a smoother experience, but really, V was a faceless avatar for the player no different to the Fallout games. But because they did the thing with the name it’s seamless and everyone sees V as a character, but they’re all seeing them as a different character based on how they played. It was pretty clever and I’m sure they’ll do it again.
I don’t think I agree with you entirely about V being a blank slate. In fact, wasn’t this one of the criticisms people had of the game? Many were hoping for a blank slate and an immersive open world where you could be anyone you wanted in Night City, but what was delivered was a linear narrative and a fairly pre-defined character.
Whatever you pick and decide, V will end up being a Merc that was hardened by previous failure and personal loss, and whose personality was shaped by the year with Jackie. You have some wiggle room occasionally, but by and large all the dialogue options and decisions fall under that same umbrella; they’re all just different flavours of V, not really options to portray vastly differing characterizations.