Like the system we got in the game is great don't get me wrong and I can understand they likely had to change several things here and their in-between development and fixing the game but the original look of the character customization menu we got looks so cool! and also a lot more in depth / in line with the original TRPG 

The role model system sounds really cool! I imagine this was just an early design of the life-path specific dialogues But Imagine if had other functions too! like it could effect your starting stats or weapon options what if it had an impact on your characters relationships or beliefs? what if by picking a certain childhood hero, you could unlock certain skills that you otherwise wouldn't be able to acquire or have a harder time getting, It could also have an impact on your cyber ware potentially maybe by picking Blackhand you have a higher chrome tolerance at the start of the game or by picking Johnny you are more charismatic, or if you chose Saburo maybe you could acquire higher quality cyber ware!  

Combined with the "Key Life Event" and "Why Night City? makes it a lot more interesting and personal to the player as it's now just not where you from? and how did you get to Night City, your character has a specific reason and goal among actual hero / strong tying to the world along with a key life event that could have affected your character's dialogue options / relationships with other characters like Takamura or Panam, V feels much more flushed out and has an actual background, As in the game, V's history / previous life is kinda obscure, Sure depending on your chosen Lifepath and extra dialogue options you might have access to depending on your stats you get some minor details here and their like when talking to Kerry on why merc work or when talking to Songbird when your making your way through Dogtown at the start of Phantom Liberty but besides that it's very minor and not even concrete especially with the whole Johnny conundrum makes it hard to say whether V's memories are their own we know Johnny's memories are slightly warped what's to say V's isn't either I mean Johnny was a nomad for a good portion of his life too. 

I don't hate the obscurity of V's past though, I do think it works for players who want to maybe theorize or have their own headcannons to V, and it works for the game's story but I think having the two prompts of why Night City and Key life event make it a lot more personal to the player but adds contextualization for V's choices or actions later on in the game, It also adds the potential for even more story options or roads down the line for quests like "The Ex-lover in town" option what if that was supposed to be a character we already met? Maybe it was supposed to be Judy or Evelyn Parker? or the "Unfinished Business" what if V was tracking someone down from their past who wronged them? I mean in pre-production / early planning for the game, They had initially planned for Jackie to betray V instead of Dex and while that obviously isn't canon or the case anymore (probably) What if that option was referring to Jackie or it could have tied into your first mission for the StreetKid lifepath with Curt? Then the Childhood Hero thing How would a V who looks up to Saburo as a Corporate God be affected when they witness his death in front of their eyes? coupled with being framed for it? Would they try and get revenge for Saburo? Would they renounce their faith? Would they maybe try and replace him? or What if you chose Blackhand, while it isn't public knowledge that he was responsible for the 2023 Arasaka HQ Bombing (Thanks Johnny) many do know he was their and the higher ups of the world for sure realize it probably was him What if V happen to suspect it or learn the truth and when seeing Johnny's incorrect memories call him out on his Bullshit! And that's only 3 what if they had tons more you choose from like Spider Murphy or Rache Bartmoss "The Ghost Lord" for Netrunner's or Adam Smasher and Andrew "Boa Boa" Waylen for your Solo's the same could go for the other prompt options having more then we were shown like "Being on the run" or "Falling out of the good graces of Biotechnica" or some other corp maybe even you could have been apart of an old band / activist group which could line up with the "Samurai Rockerboy" option for childhood hero.

But I don't know, I think it would have been a really cool idea to keep and made the customization a lot more in depth for everyone's unique V's tell me Am I the only one?

Am I the only one who kinda misses the original character customization menu?