Octopus Overlords

Im going to go ahead and start a new thread for this since its official and I dont want to keep using the Witcher 3 thread for it. Hamlet originally posted that there was a new game.

Now they've confirmed it is a new witcher school

The Witcher 4: Dev Confirms Teaser Is a Brand New Witcher School

CD Projekt Red has confirmed the medallion featured in its new Witcher game tease is from a new School of the Lynx, which will seemingly be invented for the new game.

Speaking to Eurogamer, the developer's global communication director Robert Malinowski confirmed that the medallion isn't from any currently canon witcher school. "Some mysteries should not be so mysterious", he said. "I can confirm that the medallion is, in fact, shaped after a lynx."

Daehawk wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 1:08 pm Im going to go ahead and start a new thread for this since its official and I dont want to keep using the Witcher 3 thread for it. Hamlet originally posted that there was a new game.

Now they've confirmed it is a new witcher school

The Witcher 4: Dev Confirms Teaser Is a Brand New Witcher School

CD Projekt Red has confirmed the medallion featured in its new Witcher game tease is from a new School of the Lynx, which will seemingly be invented for the new game.

Speaking to Eurogamer, the developer's global communication director Robert Malinowski confirmed that the medallion isn't from any currently canon witcher school. "Some mysteries should not be so mysterious", he said. "I can confirm that the medallion is, in fact, shaped after a lynx."

Hmmm. My son heads off to college next year. What are the chances this game is released before he graduates?

"Witcher 4" is probably a misnomer. It sounds like this is going to be an entirely new story (A New Saga Begins) set in the Witcher universe.

I still kind of want a Ciri game (yes, I know it's problematic, but I want what I want). It'll be interesting to see what they make of the setting without Geralt to lean on.

Max Peck wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 4:07 pm "Witcher 4" is probably a misnomer. It sounds like this is going to be an entirely new story (A New Saga Begins) set in the Witcher universe.

I still kind of want a Ciri game (yes, I know it's problematic, but I want what I want). It'll be interesting to see what they make of the setting without Geralt to lean on.

A Ciri game would rock!

Nah a Dandelion game. Own and run a tavern. Romance the ladies. Maybe follow Geralt and Ciri a while and write some ballads. Go on sly and ruckus adventures with Zoltan or help Regis with something.

School of the Lynx?

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-witche ... her-school

That seems to be the assumption, although from what I've seen they simply confirmed that the medallion is a lynx. The could mean a new school, or it could be a particular design for the Cat school.

The medallion kind of looks like a Jaguar or Panther.

Kurth wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 5:27 pm

Max Peck wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 4:07 pm "Witcher 4" is probably a misnomer. It sounds like this is going to be an entirely new story (A New Saga Begins) set in the Witcher universe.

I still kind of want a Ciri game (yes, I know it's problematic, but I want what I want). It'll be interesting to see what they make of the setting without Geralt to lean on.

A Ciri game would rock!

They could have Ciri be the founder of a new School of the Lynx, I suppose.

If you didn't cock up the story in W3, you'd know Ciri is too busy for such things.

Also, the School of the Lynx is a thing already. Spoilers.

Well my faith in them not cocking it up is a lot lower after Cyberpunk. So I doubt I would be day one on this one. Hell I loaded up Cyberpunk a month or so ago and was still seeing bugs everywhere.

Smoove_B wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 11:10 am If you didn't cock up the story in W3, you'd know Ciri is too busy for such things.

Also, the School of the Lynx is a thing already. Spoilers.

I was really confused by this, then I saw this at the top:

This fan-fiction article, School of the Lynx, was written by Witcher190 and SMiki55. Please do not edit this fiction without the writers' permission.

So there isn't an official school of the lynx, at least not yet. I think.

Regardless, if this is going to be a continuation in some form from Witcher 3, then they'll need to pick a canon ending. Hopefully not the one that's a total boner.

Huh. I missed that. Since it fit with how I saw things unfold, I guess it made sense.

El Guapo wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 12:48 pm So there isn't an official school of the lynx, at least not yet. I think.

Yeah, not according to the IGN article posted by Dae. They'll be creating an entirely new school.

I have a strong feeling that the game will also be set long after the events of Witcher 3, like say 10-15 years. Let some time elapse and it won't feel like there's too much overlap, with more of an opportunity to craft a new era in the Witcher universe. My hope is that they can collaborate with the author to maybe write the main quest, seeing as this perhaps goes beyond the books.

That, or set it a hundred years before. They need some breathing room if they're going to successfully continue the series without it feeling tired.

Well it could be same world just a totally new school in a totally new area of the world.

It could be in the future more but I dont like that as Geralts time is already a time of few witchers with their popularity waning and with them and their kind.

Id prefer the past in a time where there were more witchers in better standing and more training areas and fortresses and more monsters. Towards the end or the Order of Witchers time period where they split apart into schools and a couple hundred years before Geralts time.

Maybe the Lunx school is not a new one. Perhaps it is an old one that by Geralts time is long lost or could be out there yet lost to knowledge of them to the the other schools.

Daehawk wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 5:50 pm Well it could be same world just a totally new school in a totally new area of the world.

It could be in the future more but I dont like that as Geralts time is already a time of few witchers with their popularity waning and with them and their kind.

Id prefer the past in a time where there were more witchers in better standing and more training areas and fortresses and more monsters. Towards the end or the Order of Witchers time period where they split apart into schools and a couple hundred years before Geralts time.

Maybe the Lunx school is not a new one. Perhaps it is an old one that by Geralts time is long lost or could be out there yet lost to knowledge of them to the the other schools.

Even with a brand new school, there's an opportunity to tell a story from after Geralt's time. I agree with Blackhawk, in that they need breathing room, otherwise it's just going to invite comparisons. Set several decades later, and you would get a different perspective on the world and into any possible changes that may have happened since Geralt's time. Think of it this way, the fact that there may be fewer witchers might actually provoke more mystery into why there's a new school. Could be that just when everybody thought that they were all extinct, a new school emerges in response to a new threat. Which IMHO would make for a better gameplay experience than having more witcher schools.

And I'd love to see different lands like Toussaint.

Toussaint was beautiful. Its my favorite land of the series and maybe one of my all time favorites in games period.

I could use a dark evil land to oppose the good type. A place of darkness and sadness. Scary and foreboding. A whole land area even if small in the order style like the cradle in Thief or Ravenholm in HL2.

Maybe a map in another plane even like the one the Wild Hunt was from. Not talking entire game set there but a travel to area.

The swamp from the first game was pretty dark and foreboding.

Rumpy wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 7:25 pm Think of it this way, the fact that there may be fewer witchers might actually provoke more mystery into why there's a new school.

Get rid of all of the wolves, and the deer destroy your fields.

Maybe the witchers did mostly vanish, ala the Jedi. And then a new wave of monsters appears to stalk the land, so someone goes and seeks out the last survivors the learn their secrets, leading to the emergence of new witchers - perhaps without as tight of a bond to tradition as those that were inducted in the old ways - ie, they'd have room to create a new Witchers' Code, seeing what worked and what didn't in the past.

Yeah, I like that analogy. Plus, I like to think that there will always be a need for Witchers. It's not like you can make monsters extinct. Witchers are like detectives and exterminators rolled into one. They'll always have something to do. And Witchers aren't gennerally viewed favourably by the population, so of course the best thing to do would be to be in hiding in a secluded area away from prying eyes, and I think Kaer Morhen had a similar purposes. In this case, having a fortress out on a snowy mountaintop probably couldn't be a better setting for a new school of witchers. Given the teaser image and the revelation of the Lynx being that school, I think it's highly likely going to be on a mountain given the lynx's relation with snowy mountains. And speaking of, I don't think any of the games have taken us into snowy areas, so that should be interesting. I'd expect it to be an entire new country on the map.

Id love an upgradable keep. Ive always loved having one. Like in Pillars of Eternity and DA Inquisition. Maybe you could have some small local village supply you or big important folk could come hire you. You recruit new folk for Witchers.

Recruiting new witchers is probably a nonstarter unless they discard canon. Actual gameplay involving trafficking young children, subjecting them to abusive training then killing most of them during the Trial of the Grasses would likely be problematic.

If they were not beholden to the old traditions (my example above), they could change that without messing with canon.

Yeah is there any reason why they *have* to be children?

Quick note: I still haven't finished TW3, so I'm avoiding spoilers for how that one turned out.

I think the Jedi are a better metaphor than I thought. New SW trilogy spoilers:
They could do the same thing with the Witchers. Jump far enough ahead that only two or three are left, living in secret, and maybe a few hidden books. The story could be about rediscovering the secrets and founding a new order that makes them less inhuman. Less the gruff loners to allow for more personality between them. They might even tweak the process to allow women to survive the mutations. It could include plenty of 'they did what with children?' moments. The result could be something akin to the way rat catchers were - respected member of society that did a job nobody else wanted. Or like sin-eaters (which is closer to the way they are now) - people who do something necessary for society, but aren't socially acceptable as a result (although the 'feared and hated' part could be toned down if they went that route.)

I could absolutely see a trilogy with each game standing alone, but with an overarching threat where you spend the games building up this new order of Witchers until you face it down - with all of your decisions weighing into the finale, ala Bioware (the concept reminds me a little of Inquisition - just done with more nuance and meaningfulness.)

Daehawk wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 2:07 am Id love an upgradable keep. Ive always loved having one. Like in Pillars of Eternity and DA Inquisition. Maybe you could have some small local village supply you or big important folk could come hire you. You recruit new folk for Witchers.

I do like the idea of an upgradable keep. Similar to the idea of the upgradable vineyard in Blood & Wine.

El Guapo wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 11:10 am Yeah is there any reason why they *have* to be children?

I didn't even realize they'd have to be children. I mean, look at Ciri in the TV show. She wasn't terribly young when trained. An easy way out on that is to simply have an age cut-off, by only training when having reached the age of consent. In certain cases like Geralt's, it was because they were found as orphans and brought in and given shelter. According to Vesemir, he had found Geralt had an aptitude while young, but I believe that's an exception, not the norm. Netflix's Nightmare of the Wolf which focuses on Vesemir explains some of this.

I haven't read most of the stories/novels, so I don't know if it is ever spelled out in the source material that only children can be turned into witchers. If there is an age constraint on the process, it would be The Trial of the Grasses, not the combat training. My thinking had been that perhaps the mutagen is only (barely) tolerated by juveniles, but possibly not by adults (otherwise, mages would have been enhancing experienced soldiers at some point or another). Maybe trying to mutate adults is how you create monsters instead of witchers, or something like that.

Still, at the end of the day it's fiction, so if the devs want to implement a system for recruiting/training new witchers, they'll do it, one way or another.

I don't think so, although I didn't read every book. I think it's more about indoctrination from a young age combined with the extra years of training.

I do know that the mutagen only works on males (women invariably die due to the different hormones.)

You guys talking about Ciri trained just remember she isn't a witcher.

This PC Gamer story on W4 may help.

https://www.pcgamer.com/witcher-4-annou ... gn=XPG_NWL

My initial impression was that the medallion had the appearance of the School of the Cat, an outcast school that's apparently the only one that trains women and non-humans. It's also the medallion carried by Ciri in The Witcher 3, although she didn't actually earn it from the school, but took it from a bounty hunter hired to kill her—which could point to a post-Witcher 3 spinoff series.

Others, however, have noted that it looks more akin to the School of the Lynx, which the Witcher wiki says came to being shortly after the official end of the Wolf School. It was founded by veterans of the School of the Cat in partnership with Wolf School hothead Lambert and his lover, the sorceress Keira Metz. This would make for a good followup series too, being explicitly post-Geralt but still leaving the door open to appearances by him and other Witcher trilogy supporting characters.

And as we know it is confirmed as Lynx.

And, again, the existing School of the Lynx "lore" is a piece of fan fiction, not anything official.

Yes but why would the dev take and use the name when they could use any animal name? I mean why adopt it then totally change it.

I'm honestly kind of torn regarding what direction they should go with this. I feel Geralt's story is done *. I think I'd most like to play as Ciri, but could be open to a "design your own witcher" mechanic. I guess we'll see.


*The one exception would be if they can write a good "I'm too old for this shit" storyline where he comes out of retirement at the vineyard for one last job.

Or maybe they don't keep track of fan fiction or let it color their design choices.

Daehawk wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 5:56 pm You guys talking about Ciri trained just remember she isn't a witcher.

Yeah, but everyone is not a Witcher at a certain point in their lives before being Trained to be one Doesn't mean she can't still eventually become one. Afterall, look at what they've done with her character in the TV show.

Daehawk wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 6:33 pm Yes but why would the dev take and use the name when they could use any animal name? I mean why adopt it then totally change it.

Because they're developers dictating the direction vs an unofficial fan fiction?

¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

We'll know what they're actually doing when they tell us, and so far all they've said is "Yes, the medallion is a lynx." It could mean there will be a School of the Lynx (which may or may not be based on the fanfic), or it could just mean that someone in the School of the Cat liked that particular type of cat. Or something else entirely.

Fun fact: It seems that the School of the Cat may have trained women (although that is apparently based on the Polish P&P RPG Wiedźmin: Gra Wyobraźni, so I don't know just how canon it is considered to be). If CDPR considers it to be canon, that would make the School of the Cat a good choice for a game with a player-defined witcher character since it would be possible to choose a gender.

Yes, but it is fun to speculate!

And we have years to do it.

I wouldn't want to play Ciri. I like her but as I recall in the sequences I controlled her in W3 she had no magic in combat other than a teleport. I like Witchers due to their magic as well as their swordplay.

I don't know if it'd be the same without Geralt and all his buddies.

Of course, I also thought that about Mass Effect: Andromeda - how do you have a Mass Effect without Shepard? And I actually had a good time with it - they really doubled down on the exploration/planetary terraforming aspect of it. Although my face hurts sometimes. And some of the guys coming out of the cryopods had some uh, rather severe neck deformation issues.

Anyway, the general implication is that Witchers are kind of a dying breed in Geralt's time; maybe they go with the "Ciri is the Empress" ending and she puts boot to ass and injects the Witcher orders with a little life support? It probably isn't hard to put in a little "generate a back story with the more important decisions you made during Witcher series" bit at the beginning if you want to carry some of that stuff forward (although it'll be amusing to see how many 'did you plow this woman and how hard' decision points there are).

What I really don't want to see is another goddamn prequel. Move the setting forward, not backward. I don't want to play a game about Geralt the pimply faced teenager or Radovid's great grandpa; I already know what's going to happen there, more or less. I already know how the 'conjunction of the spheres' worked out (not well for the elves and dwarve, ok for the humans). Move things forward guys!

But what do I know, I'm not an avant-garde entertainment world person, I just play video games.

I do love the "Leto" character, so I'd like to see a little more of him; maybe they give the "heads just roll" witcher guy some more screen time too?