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Playing for Time


Playing for Time
Type Main Job
Giver Johnny Silverhand
Region Watson
Location Tom's Diner
Previous Love Like Fire
Next Automatic Love, Down on the Street

Playing for Time is the first main job of the second act. V wakes up in a landfill after being shot by Dexter DeShawn and is saved by Goro Takemura, Saburo Arasaka's bodyguard. Viktor Vektor then gives V the bad news: the Relic is slowly overwriting V's mind with Johnny Silverhand's. The job ends at Tom's Diner in Little China, Watson, where the main paths of the story open up.

Story

The Landfill

V drifts through cyberspace and follows a red figure there. Touching it wakes V up in the city's landfill, among the bodies. V crawls out just as Dex and Takemura arrive. V slips in and out of consciousness while Takemura kills Dex and loads V into his car to take V to Hanako Arasaka.

The Chase

On the way, Arasaka assassins on motorbikes attack the car. Takemura is wounded, and he hands V an injection to stay alive and a Kenshin pistol to fight back. If V does not use the injection in time, V dies. The fight is mostly scripted, with each attacker going down at a set moment. Finally an assassin with mantis blades jumps onto the car, and it crashes into a billboard.

After the last attacker is dead, Takemura asks if V knows a ripperdoc who can be trusted. V names Viktor and calls Delamain to pick them up. Takemura keeps V alive in the back of the cab with Delamain's help, and they barely make it to Viktor's clinic.

Viktor's News

Weeks pass, with V waking only for moments while Viktor fights to keep V alive. When V finally comes round, Viktor explains what has happened. The visions are fragments of Johnny Silverhand's memories. When Dex shot V in the head, the Relic in V's shard slot switched on and used nanites to rebuild V's brain. But the nanites see V's mind as a stranger, and they are destroying it to make room for Johnny's engram. V has only weeks to live, and Viktor cannot stop it.

Misty takes V home and leaves two kinds of pills. Pseudoendotrizine speeds up the process, and Omega blockers slow it down. The journal holds Jackie's last wish: as Misty says, as long as V is alive there is hope, so V should use the second chance and get back on V's feet.

Johnny Silverhand

When V wakes up, Johnny is standing in the apartment and is furious about his situation. He tries to stop V from leaving, and the two discover that their movements are linked. Johnny tries to pull the Relic out and knocks V out. When V reaches for the Omega blockers, Johnny slaps them away and tells V to shoot V's own head off. V crawls to the pills, swallows one and passes out.

Tom's Diner

V wakes up in the shower, gets dressed and takes a call from Takemura, who wants to meet at Tom's Diner. The journal warns not to trust him: he is a corporate man, and he wants to use V.

At the diner, Takemura explains why he saved V. He wants to prove that Yorinobu killed his father, with V as a witness, and he promises that Arasaka can help with the chip. V suggests other ways to deal with the Relic, but Takemura dismisses them and leaves. Alone, V sees Johnny again. Johnny has calmed down and admits they need to work together. He suggests talking to Rogue, whom he knew long ago, because she can help.

Playing for Time Map Location and Walkthrough

Playing for Time map location:

The Landfill

  1. Approach the stranger in cyberspace and interact with him.
  2. Dig V out of the landfill.

The Chase

  1. Use the injection Takemura gives V before time runs out.
  2. Take the Kenshin and shoot the Arasaka assassins on motorbikes as they come.
  3. Survive the attack until the car crashes, then deal with the last assassin.

V's Apartment

  1. Talk to Viktor when V wakes up in the clinic.
  2. Talk to Misty in the apartment, then sleep.
  3. Deal with Johnny when he appears, then reach the pills.
  4. Get out of the shower and put on some clothes from the inventory.
  5. Find something to eat and stock up on ammo if desired.
  6. Check the email and read the message from the Megabuilding H10 administration if desired.

Tom's Diner

  1. Leave the apartment and answer Takemura's call.
  2. Go to Tom's Diner, a short way south of the apartment.
  3. Join Takemura at his table and talk to him.
  4. Talk to Johnny after Takemura leaves.

Map credit by Map Genie.

Choices

Takemura's offer is the turning point of the story. After the diner, three leads open up at once: finding Evelyn Parker in Automatic Love, tracking down Anders Hellman with Panam Palmer's help, and working with Takemura against Yorinobu. Johnny's advice adds a fourth, through Rogue. They can be done in any order.

Rewards

The job opens a string of side jobs in Watson. Robert Wilson later calls about a shooting contest in Shoot To Thrill, a garage in Northside opens I'm in Love with My Car, and Human Nature starts once most of the job is done. The Bandage Wrapping, a piece of clothing, is obtained after the car chase.

Tips

Finishing this job quickly opens up much of the open world, including many side jobs and gigs. The map and inventory stay locked until V stands up in the shower.

Characters

The characters who take part in Playing for Time are listed below.

Name Image
Johnny Silverhand Johnny Silverhand
Goro Takemura Goro Takemura
Rogue Amendiares Rogue Amendiares

Notes

  • After the job, a shard called "feed teh cat" lies in a barrel just round the corner from V's apartment. Reading it and leaving cat food leads to adopting Nibbles, a pet cat.
  • An iguana egg taken from the penthouse in The Heist can be placed in a bowl in V's apartment after this job, and it hatches into a pet iguana.
  • After this job, V can talk to Johnny without speaking out loud, and V's voice changes slightly when they talk in V's head.

All Main Jobs