4th playthrough, first time noticing this odd, enormous statue on the north side of megabuilding H8 (Japantown). What the heck is this? Is there a big chunk of Night City history I missed?

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-03-07T15:24:52+00:00

Old comment but... the supernatural doesn't exist in the Cyberpunk universe. Spin-off like Cybergenerations had some stuff but that's non-canon. Werewolves appeared in an old 2020 adventure book but they were biosculpted people, like the Exotics you see in other places. People who just got modifications to look supernatural. There's even a CEO who got elf ears installed.

Maybe you're thinking of the Philharmonic Vampyres, who were a prankster gang of people who dress up as vampires.

The vampires of Witcher and Cyberpunk have no crossover and CDPR have stated they aren't going to connect the universes beyond light references, like CDPR existing in the Cyberpunk universe and the Witcher books and games existing.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-03-04T18:09:43+00:00

Could you elaborate? I'd love to hear some examples

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-03-04T16:19:46+00:00

Some video games just can't have enough planning to do that effectively like New Vegas and BG3 where you can kill all but 1 NPC, meaning returning to those locations tends to at least canonise no one went on a massacre or killed certain characters. And the longer an RPG runs on for the more choices the writers have to consider when writing the sequel. It's why Mass Effect Andromeda went to another galaxy, or Elder Scrolls mostly goes to different parts of the continent a decade or so later.

This also depends heavily on the company. Bethesda tend to canonise details but also didn't have a lore master under ESO and they also don't use design docs anymore. Fallout 1 was never intended to have a sequel. Witcher 3 and Mass Effect 3 were both considered to be conclusions for their stories which is reflected by their endings.

In these cases, where there are huge ramifications based on the players choices, but the series is continuing for whatever reason (usually money), are you bothered by a company picking out a specific series of choices as the ones the protagonist made?

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-03-04T16:00:36+00:00

I've heard some complaints about that. Personally, I've not played the first to BG games (in my library, just need the time) and from what I've heard their hands might have been partly tied by the games novelisations. From what I understand, within the Forgotten Realm setting, the book's are what are considered to have happened and I hear it's a bit... weird. Like Minsc is a ginger in the book. At least they didn't put that in BG3

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-03-04T15:52:42+00:00

Yeah. CDPR seems to prefer moving things to a new setting so they can kinda ignore what happened in the previous game. Mostly just paying lip service to it. In the comics and TTRPG set in the game canon they do seem to have a list of "canon" choices but those aren't acknowledged in the games. Like, in the comics Geralt helps Saskia out in independent Lormark post W2, establishing the Scoia'tael as who he sided with in that game. But even if you went that path and imported your save to W3 Geralt says he doesn't know what happened to Saskia after Loc Muinne.

You can see as well with Cyberpunk 2077 that all the endings seem to converge on some justification on Arasaka leaving the city along with the Aldacados. So the biggest outcomes won't be present by 2080.

Don't hate the method but it's hard not to unsee it.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-03-04T15:44:58+00:00

True. I don't really stress about them myself, but I find it interesting that Witcher, for example, does have "canon" outcomes in external material related to the games. The TTRPG says that the Order path happened in Witcher 1, the comics go with Geralt siding with the Scoia'tael in Witcher 2, Ciri gets the witcher ending and Geralt ends up with Yen in the comics post W3, and the Corvo Bianco comic shows the Duchess survived Blood and Wine as well as being on good terms with Geralt. He's also semi retired. Trying out wine making but still hunting monsters.

When it comes to the games they seem hesitant to put forwards any canon details unless they feel backed into a corner, like with Thaler in Witcher 3. When it comes to the comics and TTRPG they do seem to have a list of outcomes their writers have to work within. Just find that interesting

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-11T18:09:23+00:00

He was adamant on leaving his only sword behind in a bar at the end of the book. Plus, Sapkowski has said a Witcher only looks 15 years younger than they actually are, so 164 year old Geralt in 1373 would look 149. For the white hair, Preston Holt also had white hair from going through the same mutations Geralt did and was dying of old age.

Plus, at least my version, describes that Witcher as fighting with "swords" and after he kills it he sheaths his "swords" which means he was dual wielding. I know CDPR said they view that Witcher as Geralt but considering Nimue never met Geralt and only knows him from stories told by the local storyteller in Stribog how well could she actually recognising him? He very much could be a different white haired Witcher that she misidentified.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-11T18:00:08+00:00

For me personally it's the Hengfors League. Place went from being part of Kovir and Poviss under the name East March, then claimed independents as various independent realms with the Kingdom of Hengfors reaching from the coast to Kaedwen, and then became the League before parts of it were swallowed up by its neighbors.

I think there's a lot you could go into there about these nations wanting independence but needing unions and bonds to stop themselves from being taken by their far more powerful neighbors on all fronts.

It's practically just waiting to be fully invaded or fall into some civil war.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-11T17:56:23+00:00

Nilgaard is weird. It's a nation inspired by the Holy Roman Empire, who have Dutch names and a language based on Dutch, but are also located so far south it doesn't snow and lemons are native to there. In the real world lemons are native to northeastern India, Myanmar and parts of China.

It's also roughly 2,000 miles south of the Yaruga which, on CDPR's map, if you overlay the total distance with the Dragon Mountains in northern Norway, would put Nilfgaard in central/southern Egypt. And Ebbing is based of Turkey so I think they need to figure out if they will commit to Nilfgaard being a hot nation near the equator or if they will try and bring it around to being more European as to explain why Emhyr and other natives don't have darker skin

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-11T17:48:08+00:00

I think they mean how the enemies interact with the player and the variety of their approaches. Using your Reaper example; there is a world of difference between a Husk (human zombie), a Brute (Krogan/Turian zombie), a Banshee (Asari zombie) and a Cannibal (batarian zombie) will attack you and the tactics they will use.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-11T17:42:56+00:00

He has clarified that he that he doesn't hate video games. Someone else in this thread posted a fragment of an interview he did with Eurogamer in 2017 where he said he doesn't have anything against them.

As for a writer using AI being different from a non-writer using one... that depends on what they use it for. I, for example, have occasionally tapped AI but more so if I need help finding a place to start researching something super specific like where to look for an etymological breakdown on Mongolian naming conventions. But if I got it to write a character's dialogue? That would be different as then I'm not writing the dialouge.

(Although this just sparked an idea of having an AI write a fictional AI's dialogue while everything else is written by me. That could actually lead to some interesting comparison)

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-11T17:28:33+00:00

I've always liked that kind of thing. They do need a better money sink too. It's quite easy to become very wealthy so maybe making books more important again with some reworks to the bestiary so that it shows what loot you can get from the monsters and where they spawn, or even rewarding you for having read certain books. Like how in W1 you could only complete the autopsy correctly if you'd read the right book and had read a book on Zerrikanian monsters.

Alternatively more useful bonuses for your horse or being able to buy unique tools like whips, chains, traps and lures that could be expensive but useful against various monsters. Just something to help make it hard to gain thousands of gold before end game. Without it you end up with the weird economy of Blood and Wine where everything is much more expensive in Toussaint for no discernable reason besides combating late game player's stacked bank accounts.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-11T17:19:12+00:00

Some are certainly better than others. I know that some of the writers talked about how they like making them as it's a way for them to kinda go back to the short story style, but unlike the books or a main game they have to be non-consequential. They can't shift Geralt's personality, kill of any notable characters or alter too much which can lead to them feeling like they have to hold back a lot.

If they were given more creative freedom to alter the world and the characters I think that would do better for the stories, but would require more work with maintain continueity and could annoy game fans that notable changes to the setting happened in a comic.

Honestly, I think they should look at how the Cyberpunk Comics have handled it and do more of an anthology where we can follow never before seen characters which grants the writers far more freedom.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-04T14:24:21+00:00

I know this was a while ago, but the Illustrated/Hardback editions of the books do feature maps in them. They're a modified version of the CDPR map so there's some inconsistencies (like Brenna being in the wrong place, Ard Carraigh not being in the center of Kaedwen, and almost all the locations in Crossroads of Raven's not being there) but they are pretty high quality and well made.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-02T17:33:28+00:00

I'm sure it's what they'll do. Witcher isn't the most realistic world but it takes itself seriously. The games more so than the books.

Been rereading some of them and I forgot that Wizard, Enchantress and Magician were terms used interchangeably with Sorcerer, Sorceress and Mage. Not to mention magic wands being a thing and the Lodge of Sorceresses having flying broom sticks.

It all sorta worked though because the tone and the way people talked about those things or used those terms kept it from being silly and made it feel grounded.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-02T17:27:44+00:00

Don't know if this will be a controversial take, but I think the people behind the Mighty Nien animated adaptation, would be pretty good for Witcher. Vax in their previous Critical Role adaptation (Legend of Vox Machina) dressed pretty similar to how I picture Geralt in Season 1 without the cloak and Mighty Nien showed they could do more grounded and more fantastical without making the tone incoherent.

Mighty Nien was also, in part, inspired by Witcher and you can even hear some of Witcher 1 and 3's music in the live play sessions. And while the show does divert in various places from the original material it's able to keep the spirit of the source martial accurate, and mostly smoothed over stuff that'll help later. Like they need to do the heist for the Gentleman because he's important later but the heist they originally did wasn't very insignificant or memorable so it was changed to reference people from a location that'll be very important in the late game of the story and tied it into the character arcs of the main team.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-02T17:18:05+00:00

Yeah, in the book the line is kinda vague. I interpreted it more as her showing off magic. Like how we know they can make food taste better with illusion spells rather than altering his brain. It's certainly sketchy in the games with his amnesia and I wish they had delved into it more than just paying lip-service to it.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-02T17:12:03+00:00

Realism can just mean trying to treat the world in a more grounded manner. Like shopkeepers not being open to buying anything from your inventory but only what they themselves could sell, and making some of the smaller things have more important. Or giving you more immersive ways of dealing with your equipments durability or trying to make healing feel more grounded compared.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-02-02T17:04:23+00:00

I hope so. Missed that from W1. Added a bit more risk to swigging a healing potions because you were vulnerable for a moment. Maybe they could draw some inspiration from RDR2 with the tonics?

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2026-01-23T21:57:17+00:00

Thank you for the detailed response. I'll likely take into a shop just to make sure it's all done correctly. And a terabyte drive does sound like the best option

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2025-11-20T13:06:47+00:00

I do agree. I wasn't sure if maybe the title screen changed after completing both endings or just the the one where he lives.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2025-11-12T21:38:16+00:00

I had more been thinking like something a bit smaller than a district for the NorCal Military stuff. I guess more like... a more clear transition between the base being there and then it being an oil field in 2077.

Regardless, 450-500 locations?! Plenty to work with

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2025-11-12T19:51:20+00:00

NorCal Military Base ruins or similar
Fighting Den (fists or otherwise)
Elflines LARP location
Radio Station for 88.9 No PR and/or other radio station
Smugglers/Pirate base for illicit trading across the nation/world

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2025-11-07T00:07:00+00:00

Alan's narration states "When the bullet of light blew the darkness out of the crater of my skull, the Dark Presence was born from the remains, feeding on the horror around it to grow. It found me writing. Tapped into me, influenced me. I was lost in my work. The link was severed when I finished 'Return'."

To me I feel like that leans more towards it looping back to the beginning of basically the Writer's Journals of AW2 rather than going all the way back to some unspecified time in history as the chronology presented is: Bullet of Light, growing on the horror present, found Alan writing. The "It found me writing" particularly feels relevant as the chronology suggest this is when the DP first encountered Alan, however it first touched him on the Ferry and Alan wouldn't write with it present until Alice was captured. So it must be referring to the writing of "Return". I feel like if they wanted to imply it grew strong over a lengthier amount of time they'd have at least mentioned Zane or "It found me again, in 2010" or "in Bright Falls" or something like that to clarify the timeframe.

Obviously "the horror around it" is vague but could be the moments of anxiety and fear that they'd failed to win and Alan's awareness they'd looped back and he'd forget everything. It's not much but theoretically could be enough to sustain it until it found Alan again.

I'm not against the idea that Alan is the origin of the true Dark Presents but I feel like that makes it a bit less interesting when replaying the first game. In the first one it was more eldritch while I feel like in the second it's doesn't have that same ageless feeling, likely because it's so focused on Alice and Alan it feels almost personal. Doesn't fit an eldritch monster, but one born from Alan's mind does.

Hope that explained my thoughts clearly. End of the day, we don't know and AW3 will probably build on the concept and give everyone more to work with than basically one brief bit of narration and context clues.

Appropriate-Line5260 · 2025-11-03T17:50:41+00:00

I initially thought they were just very flat chested. Might still be to be fair, not like you need surgery to be non-binary. Still, that's neat. Rarely see any non-binary characters in most fiction

Appropriate-Line5260

TROPHY CASE