This was something I found by complete chance but if anyone ever wondered what River sounded like in Korean, here's a video that covers his romance route in the Korean audio. However, the only ending featured here is "The Sun", and this video is from before Phantom Liberty came out.
His voice is deeper than I expected, but compared to the excerpts I heard from his Japanese and Chinese voices (which I find... mismatched, at best), the Korean one is surprisingly decent, and quite fitting for his character. So I'm sharing this video here for those who might be curious.
On a side note, I love female V's Korean voice as well, and Johnny doesn't sound so bad either. It kind of sounds like Keanu Reeves learned Korean and did the dub himself.
Also, the channel also features videos for the other three romances.
Warning: This post is very long so don't read if you don't want to, since this is about River and is not the kind of post that slanders him. If you still choose to read in spite of this heads-up, don't complain "I'm not reading all that" or go be an ass in general when you've already been warned.
I know that this topic has been brought up by others before but I myself also have to express how baffled I am at why people think that River was written to promote copaganda. I've had this thought for a while now since I played the game this February, but what incited me into making this post was a message I saw on a server this morning:
"river was only put in the game because of the CIA & NSA intervening in CD projekt red's development to conduct a psyop"
I don't know what's the term people use for the polar opposite of rose-tinted glasses, but whatever that is, that is what River's haters were wearing whenever they are talking about him.
What is even more vexing is the hypocrisy in hating River for being a cop (and one who can eventually quit, mind) despite other fictional characters affiliated with the police or the government being immensely popular, with one of the most popular examples being Leon Kennedy, who started as a cop before becoming a government agent.
And from what I've gathered, and is something other posts have also mentioned, those who loathe and badmouth River - in the same vein - like Takemura, even though he advocates for corporations and chooses to stay loyal to the Arasaka family (specifically Saburo and Hanako) in spite of being aware that their endgame goals are the farthest thing from noble, and even they are aware of him being someone who puts loyalty and honor above any and all reason. And despite his admittedly hilarious moments with V and the fact that he never tries to dupe them, he doesn't think highly of them either and derisively calls them a thief on more than one occasion.
Yet with River, these same people don't try to even objectively take into consideration how he ends up leaving the police force because he is someone who genuinely wants to do good but realizes that goal will go nowhere in an establishment as corrupt as the NCPD. Yes, you can say he's idealistic and naive to a fault, but he does acknowledge this and learn from it. But of course, his haters are so intent on keeping focus on the fact that he's introduced as a cop and use that to mock and deride him to hell and back.
Those two examples of double standard treatment (Leon and Takemura) are only the tip of the iceberg. Granted, liking/hating/not having much of an opinion on each character is typically a case-to-case basis. You can like this criminal character but then dislike another criminal character because of their differing personalities or generally because of how they're portrayed or written differently, among other reasons. Even then, it's telling that all in all, a good portion of the supporting cast of Cyberpunk 2077 - objectively speaking - includes characters who loyally serve either corporations or the government (either wholeheartedly or otherwise), had sold out to them in the past, or is generally a militaristic person. And some of them are divisive among the fanbase, but River tends to get singled out negatively (and rather vitriolically at that), and the purpose of his character is to glorify the police and/or the government.
It's not just River; I noticed through posts on various platforms (primarily Discord, Reddit and Twitter) that certain other characters in Cyberpunk 2077 - as long as they have a badge - tend to get ragged on immediately due to the real-life opinion of ACAB, which ends up bleeding into a biased perception of fictional characters. To name a few:
Ayden Daniels. Aside from being an NCPD badge, he's not shown to have a pleasant personality (from what we see in his interactions with V at least) and gets very upset at V if they save his life (because saving him inevitably results in some of the medical equipment they klepped from Arasaka getting damaged), and is decried for being more corrupt than the actual corrupt cops because - as described in his bio - he's a "pragmatic badge" who's willing to forge evidence if it means criminals who otherwise would've gotten away ends up getting sent to prison instead. And yet, if other vigilante or at least non-law enforcement characters pull a similar stunt to capture elusive bastards, it's all good. Okay then…
I've seen some call Mendez an utter POS, even though the worst trait about him is his well-intentioned but undoubtedly poor attempt of showing tough love - and he clearly shows guilt and regret for his words if Barry commits suicide. While he definitely needed a push in properly empathizing with Barry, when told about the latter's friend Andrew actually being a pet tortoise and that Barry kept mum about that little detail because he thought Mendez would make fun of him, Mendez actually realizes just how bad his friend's situation is, which allows him to reach out to him better by recounting a experience about witnessing a horrific crime but not being able to do anything about it because the culprit had connections to higher-ups (which Barry had also gone through, and it's why he left, to begin with).
However, there is one cop character who I noticed that still gets dunked on… but not as often or as viciously. This character is Anna Hamill: another rare "good cop" character like River who her fellow cops want dead because her investigations ended up rocking the boat a bit too much. Even Regina, who was hired to have her offed, would prefer that V handles the situation peacefully because Anna is no criminal; at worst, she's just someone with a good and steady set of morals and integrity, meaning she's someone who doesn't belong in a place Night City.
Indeed, most do not opt to kill her and just talk her down or tell her to leave the city. Which is surprising given the vitriol that the few other cops that aren't corrupt get a lot of flak, and again, she is similar to River in being a rare kind of badge that genuinely wants to do good. This makes me wonder: if River was in her exact position, and it was up to the player to choose what to do with him, would he have received the same leniency?
The way I see it, the essence of the quest with Anna Hamill more or less mirrors the development of River's questline, and the Aesop it means to impart about how good intentions won't get you far if you work with the police, and they might even turn against you for that. To recap:
After investigating enough about Mayor Rhyne's death, which he's able to do so thanks to V (due to being hired by the Peralezes to look further into the matter), he decides to rock the boat by trying to reopen the investigation even though Detective Han warns him that all he'll get is quite the ugly backlash. And as "The Hunt" would show, he gets suspended for his efforts.
Having been suspended, which means he doesn't have anyone in the force to turn to, he asks V for their help in his search for his nephew. In "I Fought the Law", he's establsihed as mostly rule-abiding since he - without a warrant - can't personally enter the Red Queen's Race club to investigate the scene; though he does get around it by sending V, a merc, instead. But in "The Hunt", where he mentions that he's officially not allowed to do anything about the case with Peter Pan, the fact that he's breaking and entering the NCPD lab shows his willingness to act outside the law if necessary.
When River and V get caught red-handed by Yawen, River doesn't even show any disapproval if V tells Yawen that the police does jack to help the public ("Feed 'em analysis, they shit out failure.") and will even counter Yawen's accusation that it's that kind of thinking why Night City is lawless by essentially calling her a hypocrite (since she's all but outright stated to have cheated in her medical exams).
If V helps him to the end, River proves that like Anna (in a potential ending where she goes on a last stand attacking those who set her up), he's also capable of doling out some understandable vigilante justice by expressing his intention to kill Anthony Harris. V can either tell him to go for it or to not even bother since Harris, at his current state (brain-dead, under constant police watch, will never fully recover if he wakes up, and is also likely to be executed if he does come to), isn't worth the effort and River should focus his efforts on watching over his family instead, something that River does see the point of.
In another ending to the gig with Anna, which is only possible with a Nomad V, Anna can be told that Night City doesn't deserve her and she's better off with the nomads, to which she'll take their advice and join the Aldecaldos. River doesn't do that, per se, but he does come to a similar realization that continuing to work with the NCPD isn't worth the effort anymore and leaves, planning to become a private detective instead. And this is notable character development on his part since in your very first chat with him, he didn't have the highest opinion of PIs.
In addition, the quest involving the Semimaru has him say this outright when you manage to get the car and find out the history of its users (where some other NCPD cops use it to run over whoever they don't like), to which he then tells you to have the car and he'll ensure that the NCPD won't be looking for it any time soon.
"I know what justice looks like - sometimes you gotta find it outside the established system. If the rulebook's written by the corrupt, what's the point in following it?"
So to return to part about why Anna, even though some still do get dismissive of her or are notably blase about her, doesn't have it as bad as the other few non-corrupt cops introduced in the game. This is where we take into consideration the difference them and Anna: that being she's a female cop, and also has an attractive-looking face, which qualifies her as what's known as a "fair cop".
While many fans don't want to admit it, the attractiveness and "availability" of a character plays a huge role in how quickly or easily the audience can be willing to either excuse them or sympathize with them, and sometimes simply "flipping the coin" (or rather, switching their gender and sometimes, even their preference/orientation) can quickly change the fandom's opinion of them in the blink of an eye. This is a hill I'll be dying on, but I'm sure that if, say, Panam and Judy's genders were reversed, they wouldn't be as popular as they are now. And likewise, if River was genderbent, he wouldn't have as much haters.
Now as for the claim that the game is promoting copaganda, it definitely is not. I even have to clarify that I'm not speaking in defense of the NCPD. It is an undeniable fact that the NCPD as a whole is corrupt and inefficient, with their current police commissioner even making a deal with Scavengers to eliminate homeless people (this shows up in one of the many NCPD gigs you can do across Night City). So the public not thinking highly of them isn't without reason, to the point that even Ziggy Q (who is a blatant corpo-shiller, mind you) preys on this fact for publicity.
But like in any kind of corrupt/evil organization, whether they're affiliated with the law or not, there are members who embrace the corruption and there are those who don't give in to it and even attempt to fight it, even if it's an uphill battle, or if that won't do anything, they leave and go do their own thing instead - the very latter of which is what River does at the end of his questline. Yet to this day people still use the reasoning of "He's a cop, so yuck!" to basically boo and throw tomatoes at him nonstop.
Heck, the game itself has V and Johnny acknowledge that River is a decent badge, the latter's dislike of River aside.
In "I Fought the Law", V expresses skepticism when River reveals why he showed up at a certain press conference (where a cyberpsycho snuck their way in and attempted to kill Mayor Rhyne): mainly because he heard about the cyberpsycho's next actions and was attempting to thwart them. Sure, he got awarded with a medal for it later, but he didn't know that at the time; as far as he was concerned, it wasn't an active case he was assigned to, and he had nothing to gain from it. He took the initiative to help just because he could. V even notes that a cop - let alone a person - in Night City doing the right thing just because isn't exactly a common occurrence.
V: So you saw him as a potential threat, decided to warn the mayor? Just like that, 'cause… ya got a good heart?
River: Make it sound like that's somethin' to be ashamed of.
V: Ashamed - no. Just not somethin' you see every day.
Other posts have already expressed this, but if you think that "Johnny hates River so that means he's trash" is a valid reason, then you're just grasping at invisible straws. Johnny, being Johnny, doesn't like River on principle, and even this is one of the pettier cases. He's a badge, something which immediately won't sit well with a chaotic and anarchistic terrorist like Johnny. And their personalities couldn't be any more different, which means they're unlikely to be friends if they ever meet.
But that's about it, really. Where Johnny can get rather savage about Judy herself and about and helping her with both Evelyn and the other dolls, the worst he says about River is that he's a cop (or eventually an ex-cop) and gripes that V still continues to hang out with him, but even he doesn't argue that River is a rare kind of cop in a conversation with male V during "The Hunt":
Johnny: Cops seem to like you. Careful this one doesn't start sendin' you out for donuts.
V: Whaa? No, River's all right.
Johnny: For a cop, you mean.
V: Not every cop's a bastard, just like not every rockerboy's a narcissistic dickhead.
Johnny: Dunno, V. You ever actually met a rockerboy who didn't fit that description?
V: All in all… No.
All he can complain about if V and River sleep together is that he, being in V's body, experiences the whole thing as well ("Can't believe you're making me fuck a cop."). Yet even I'm sensing that he wouldn't have made that complaint if River was a woman, considering his reaction if V accepts a certain proposition from Meredith Stout (who is actively working for a corpo).
Meredith Stout invited you over to her room at the No-Tell Motel? Shit, V, don't know whether to give you props or talk you out of it… Either way, you're telling me your secret for picking up corpo chicks.
So at that point, it's obvious that he's nitpicking about V and River getting together when he can't come up with anything else more cutting/insulting to say.
Honestly, I can go on and on but this post is meant to focus on the topic about River being unfairly disliked and maligned (almost) solely on the basis that he's a badge, and I've said what I can say.
And no, I'm not expecting everyone to be his fan instead. Every character has their fans, their haters, and those in-between. But there's a difference between simply disliking a character and outright slandering them, the latter of which seems to be the unlucky recipient of both then and even now. There's also a difference in a solid character who just wasn't given enough content and a badly-written character, and River's haters have this tendency to deliberately conflate the two.
There's no doubt that there are other characters and works that are meant to promote copaganda, but River and Cyberpunk 2077 in general is very obviously not among them.
I like both characters in their own way (and I'll be upfront that River is my favorite among V's four potential romances).
I ask this question mainly because I want your insight on who Johnny is likely to have a stronger beef with all in all, and not just because of petty or surface-level reasons. Because he's very vocal in his opposition of nearly the entirety of Judy's questline, whereas the most he rags on about River is that he's a badge (eventually ex-badge), and thinking about those tidbits made this question pop up in my head.
I must stress the fact that this is NOT me asking you who you dislike more, nor is this me telling you to freely dunk on either Judy or River - especially River, since I've only started playing the game since 2 months ago, but 2 months is more than enough to tell me how this fandom works. There is a reason why I elected to ask the question here instead of Reddit and Twitter.
Please keep this poll/post civil, as I am asking for objective answers.
Now that I'm checking the journal entries more thoroughly the second time around, I noticed this for the quest where River indirectly gifts you the Semimaru.
As it turns out, Johnny does acknowledge that fact that River is no longer a NCPD officer.
I'm not sure if the quest entry is the same for a non-romanced River, but either way, it's funny that he chose to remain salty about how V slept with someone who had affiliations with the police force - which is hilariously hypocritical since he semi-approves if V gets on bed with Meredith - even if you can have V themself express a low opinion of the NCPD ("Feed 'em analysis, they'll shit out failure.")
I tested the waters by posting this on Reddit first and I can't say I'm surprised at how people were determined to hate even to this day. I may have gotten into Cyberpunk since last mid-January but I'm aware that River continues to have a poor reputation among players/fans both then and now.
So to take a bit of what I warned in that post: If you do not like River, that's your opinion. But please know the rule "don't like, don't read/engage" exists for a reason.
With that out of the way, I'll start by expressing that I'm still of the opinion that there should have been a few more quests (and text chains) between "The Hunt" and "Following the River". River had so much potential that was either tossed to the bin or never realized, and that sadly caused him to become a punching bag for the fandom.
But even when putting that grievance aside, I still like how V's relationship with River can culminate in the story proper.
The two start off as just working together because they shared a common goal (albeit for differing reasons), and they go their separate ways after that, expecting that to be the end of it. But they inevitably meet again, and they next time they do, it's so that V can assist him with a personal and crucial matter.
This, despite not knowing each other all that well, partly because River had no one else to turn to at the time, and partly because the little he knew of V from their interaction showed someone who's either pragmatic but not immoral (if they tell River to not push the case with Mayor Rhyne because of the potential blowback) or someone who's willing to take a risk to do what's right (if they tell him to go through with it).
It's also worth mentioning that unlike with the other love interests' questline (finding Evelyn for more information about the Relic, needing help for tracking down Hellman, helping Johnny reunite with his band), V doesn't have anything to gain in return. No money, no information, no doing favors for someone else, etc. Helping someone in need was its own reward.
It's not hard to see why River would quickly grow attached. Even with a male V, he quickly regards them as a friend for that gesture alone. Because finding someone like that is rare in a place like Night City.
Even if River got more quests, I bet he'd still be derided for falling for V too hard and too fast... yet while the other LIs get more spotlight, when looking at the timeframe of their quests, it's not like they've known V for that long either. Case in point, Panam's romance can be initiated at her third quest when the first two had her and V mainly in a "you help me with this, I help you with that" kind of situation. Yes, it takes a few more quests for them to actually do the deed, but the point is how it takes no more than a month in-game for the others to get to know V and fall deeply in love with them. And again, I already pointed out that it's not hard to see how and why River would fall for V.
And as for the moment River confesses to V at the water tower, I think he gets unfairly admonished for that. He's not forceful since if he's let down, he accepts it and won't push any further; and it's hinted that he might have taken his time in courting V had his sister not outed his crush during the dinner scene.
Yes, that was awkward and kind of embarrassing. But that's family shenanigans for you, and what was River expected to do after that? Lie and brush it off as just his family speaking nonsense and deny having any feelings for V? He's not the kind of guy to do that. The cat was already out of the bag by that point, so he may as well take his chance, and whatever the outcome may be, he's shown to accept it.
In an ideal world, they could take more time to get to know each other and take things slowly before they make their relationship official and consummate it. But Cyberpunk's world is no ideal world, Night City is no ideal place, and let's not forget that V is currently on a timer.
I'm also sure that no matter what, some would continue to find River "boring" because his romance has more of a down-to-earth, domestic vibe, what with him being moral and a family man, and it's usually the one who has the most normal-seeming romance who's often written off as one-note and bland.
But I think him being a different flavor from the other three romances is meant to be the point. Some may want a partner whose warmth is the passionate and blazing kind, while others may want a partner whose brand of warmth is more peaceful and soothing and neither is better than the other. It all comes down to a matter of preference.
And let's not forget how another reason behind his hate is because he's a cop... yet by the time he and V can become an item, he had already left the force to become a PI instead. I won't even try to go into too much detail about this because anyone who uses this reasoning definitely missed the entire point of his questline about how he quits the NCPD so that he can still help people but without worrying about any corrupt higher-ups or his hands being tied by the rules of the force.
So to conclude: there's no denying that, again, River was robbed and I will forever be heated about that. And I mourn what could have been... but I still am glad with what we've got. It doesn't stop me from loving River all the same and it definitely doesn't keep me from smiling and feeling fuzzy when my V gets to see an affectionate, earnest man underneath the aloof and hardened detective that she first sees him to be.
Which character is shafted/overlooked more by their developer?
Wyll Ravengard (Baldur's Gate 3 - Larian Studios)
River Ward (Cyberpunk 2077 - CD Projekt RED)
Voting ended onMar 25
I also asked this on both the game's subreddits (here and here), and I also phrased the question more bluntly there because it's hard for me to register that a character can't get shafted that badly unless, if not laziness, someone has it out for them.
But I know Reddit, and I want to hear what others have to say here.
You're the mod to the n+c masterlist right? do you have the rest of clean dishes leveret.? or know where to find it?
Hi! And yes, I made the masterlist.
As for the manga, I do not know if there is a translation (as far as I know, it hasn't been done yet) and as for where to find it, it's definitely found only in certain anime/manga/VN forums. I could happily share it but I am aware of how things work in fandoms nowadays and someone else might nuke the link because of anti-piracy views which was why I only opted to share translations on the masterlist and not links to download the media themselves.
So I'm sorry I can't be of any more help. But I can tell more if approached via PM.
I'm not the one who made this mod (that credit goes to Kelocena), but I am just so happy about this mod that I have to share it here.
When I checked the dialogue files, I found that that there actually is a platonic path for your relationship progression with Halsin, which sadly is locked because his script was either bugged or what and so no matter what you do (or don't do), you're always railroaded into getting propositioned by him.
I have nothing against Halsin, but I admit that his propositioning (particularly the timing and the lack of sufficient triggers) is rather awkward... and that is already after more than half of your companions come onto you beforehand even if you didn't say anything.
This mod makes it that you are always locked into the platonic route. The night where he usually confesses that he's begun to feel something more instead becomes one where he expresses his thanks in having found a true friend, and leaves it at that.
Additionally, I did backtrack to a save in Act 2 where I'd ask Halsin what he wants. He still gives his answer of "Perhaps there is more that I want...", but the option to ask the "What is this 'more' that you speak of?" (which he'll clarify that he meant "who" rather than "what") is removed and the only option that remains is "I'm glad to have you." This is also mentioned in the mod description.
However, I remember checking the dialogue files for this exchange and he's meant to have an alternate platonic response to that question as well.
Perhaps the mod might get to that in the future, but for now, at least I won't have to deal with yet another awkward "I wish to jump your bones" moment from yet another companion.
I love your metas on slow damage. I was wondering what sort of ideas you had on Rei’s endings? I feel as if it’s the games true “ignorance is bliss” ending as Towa confronts almost nothing from his past. We don’t even know what happens to the Takasato-gumi or what the other characters were doing in the background. However i dont think this is a bad thing. I feel as though unlike other routes, it’s one where Towa gets to prioritize someone else’s problems and finds happiness and healing through that.
Hi, anon! I know that this response is very much overdue, partly because I always want my responses to be completely satisfactory and not just 50% (another is because I got preoccupied). So I deeply apologize for this and I hope that you can see this reply.
Honestly, I do think that Taku and Rei's endings point to the same concept in that Towa can heal and move forward even without confronting his past. But yeah, while Taku's ending can be summed up as "the past no longer matters when there's the present and the future", Rei's ending (while also having hints of that) does really encapsualte the "ignorance is bliss" concept since his route felt the most detached from the overarching plot (besides the dropping of some hints that Sakaki isn't all that trustworthy and a certain dirty business that Towa's parents engaged in), and honestly, what you said about his route showing Towa actively acting for someone else's sake in this one, which is how he can improve as well, makes perfect sense.
I mean, Towa does this as well in Taku's route, but it's kind of balanced between helping Taku with his issues (mainly by being straightforward with Taku about his hesitation) while also digging a bit deeper into himself and his relationship with the other man. Whereas with Rei, Towa also has to be a shoulder for him to lean on and sounding board for the other (which, now that I think about it, could also be him subconsciously doing with Rei what Mei did for him. We may not know much details of their friendship, but we definitely know for sure she was one of his very few pillars of support).
But now it also makes me think that Rei's route is something of a foil to Madarame's. While Madarame himself (and his romance with Towa) is a foil to the other three with the whole "I can make him worse" thing, it's telling that while Madarame himself is a figure from Towa's past, the route doesn't exactly touch on Towa's childhood per se, and also has the "ignorance is bliss" aspect albeit with a different execution.
