Katakans able to assume human form in the Witcher 3

[Gerald01]

Katakans able to assume human form in the Witcher 3

Hello,
sorry if asked already but I could not find any existing thread about the issue.

In the game, there are two quests where you come in contact with 100% human looking creatures who then turn out to be Katakans.

I think there are various issues with this:
a) Katakans are not supposed to be able to do that
b)the witcher medallion does not react to them, while it should. It's higher vampires (Regis) who do not trigger it


So what I'm wondering is.. are they supposed to be Katakans? Or is this an error? Or are the models placeholders for actual higher vampires?

If they're supposed to be higher vamps, why are they so easy to kill?


Thanks in advance.

 

[Willowhugger]

I think they're supposed to be Higher Vampires.

 

[Gerald01]

I think they're supposed to be Higher Vampires.

As I see it, the most likely explanation is they just used Katakan's model and drops due to time constraints, like they did in the Witcher 2 with the bruxa model in place of Wraiths. Probably they had an unique transformation and drops as planned initially.
Still, they're too easy to be higher vampires, but I guess that's debatable.
The fact the witcher medallion does not react at all heavily points in this direction and to a simple model error.

 

[Willowhugger]

Well, the Serial killer flat-out says he's a Higher Vampire.

So that's just canonical.

 

[Gerald01]

Well, the Serial killer flat-out says he's a Higher Vampire.

So that's just canonical.

Ah, but you see, CDPR messed up and they call even Alps and Bruxae "higher vampires" in the bestiary.
So the term is not used exclusively for Regis-es.

"The bruxa is a higher vampire, that is a post-Conjunction creature, an intruder in our world. She appears as a beautiful woman, but when she is hungry or attacking, she is terrifying. As a vampire, the bruxa drinks blood. She often finds a victim to become her lover and a constant supply of sustenance at the same time."

 

[MasterDassJennir]

Well, the Serial killer flat-out says he's a Higher Vampire.

So that's just canonical.

Pretty much. The game says old Katakans are really tough monsters.

 

[Gerald01]

Pretty much. The game says old Katakans are really tough monsters.

The uncanonicity would be Katakans able to look exactly like humans with no witcher medallion reaction at all, not that katakans ain't tough.

 

[Sharpy47]

And here I thought there are no human looking vampires in Witcher 3... Good to know I was wrong.

But seriously - why I never met them? Is there some specific quest / contract for them?

 

[MasterDassJennir]

One is hidden inside a cript on Novigrad's tunnels(the vampire who says Fuck off to Geralt on that trailer) and the other requires some detective work to discover the true murderer(the higher vampire) in a quest about a serial killer on the streets of Novigrad (forgot the quest name).

 

[Gerald01]

One is hidden inside a cript on Novigrad's tunnels(the vampire who says Fuck off to Geralt on that trailer) and the other requires some detective work to discover the true murderer(the higher vampire) in a quest about a serial killer on the streets of Novigrad (forgot the quest name).

Spoiler

The second one is from Carnal Sins, the secondary (quite big) quest involving Priscilla. He's the secret murderer and doctor at the hospital.

 

[Captmorgan72]

Vampires in the Witcher lore are a species. In our world primates are a species that consists of many different forms, including humans. In the Witcher lore you have higher and lower vampires, just like in our world we have higher and lower primates. Bruxa and Katakan are two higher vampires that can shapeshift into human form to hide their true form and blend in with their prey. We see a Bruxa in the cgi trailer A Night to Remember in the form of a beautiful woman and in the game we see a Katakan in the form of a man.

 

[Gerald01]

Vampires in the Witcher lore are a species. In our world primates are a species that consists of many different forms, including humans. In the Witcher lore you have higher and lower vampires, just like in our world we have higher and lower primates. Bruxa and Katakan are two higher vampires that can shapeshift into human form to hide their true form and blend in with their prey. We see a Bruxa in the cgi trailer A Night to Remember in the form of a beautiful woman and in the game we see a Katakan in the form of a man.

Please post source for your claim that:
-Katakans are "higher" vampires (in CDPR sense, not Regis')
-Katakans can shapeshift in human form

 

[Captmorgan72]

Please post source for your claim that:
-Katakans are "higher" vampires (in CDPR sense, not Regis')
-Katakans can shapeshift in human form

I did post the source, it was from me. Where am I getting my info from? Observation. In the game we see higher vampires in human form that morph into Katakan form that I interpreted as their true form, since they are not human but vampire. In nature many species can "mask" their appearance to attract or blend in with prey, it would only make sense this is the case in this fantasy world.

 

[Gerald01]

I did post the source, it was from me. Where am I getting my info from? Observation. In the game we see higher vampires in human form that morph into Katakan form that I interpreted as their true form, since they are not human but vampire. In nature many species can "mask" their appearance to attract or blend in with prey, it would only make sense this is the case in this fantasy world.

Well, the games are set in an universe with its own (relatively massive) lore, and quite detailed regarding vampires.
So, saying that it happens because we see it happen in the game, in a topic about how the game shows something that should not happen, is... tautological.
I get what you were meant to say, and it would obviously make sense in any other original game, where we would be working from induction, but it's not the case for Witcher, and what we see can either be an error of somekind or, even worse, a retcon.

 

[Gerald01]

Any opinion from devs (yea right) or lore experts on this?

 

[chiefje]

I agree with your observations. It's weird to see the so called "higher vampires" among which are supposedly bruxae and Regis, to include weak katakans, a lower vampire species. It seems so strange to just cut down a legendary higher vampire like all the other monsters when the stories from the books tell us Geralt does not want to fight Regis because he thinks it's certain death for him.

 

[GZulu]

I agree with your observations. It's weird to see the so called "higher vampires" among which are supposedly bruxae and Regis, to include weak katakans, a lower vampire species. It seems so strange to just cut down a legendary higher vampire like all the other monsters when the stories from the books tell us Geralt does not want to fight Regis because he thinks it's certain death for him.

EAXCTLY this. What the hell CDProjectRED?

 

[Ortwyn]

Any opinion from devs (yea right) or lore experts on this?

‘Don’t mock. You’ve seen more than once the signs of a vampire bite. Have you ever encountered a vampire that tears its victim to pieces?’
‘No. It doesn’t happen.’
‘Never, if we are dealing with higher vampires,’ Emiel Regis joined the conversation. ‘From what I understand, the victims of Alps, Katakan, Mula, Bruxa, Nosferat are not hurt terribly. However, Fleders and Ekimma are quite brutal with their victims.’
‘Well done,’ Geralt looked at him with unfeigned admiration. ‘You did not miss any kind of vampire. And you have not mentioned any of the mythical ones, which only exist in fairy tales. Truly, an impressive knowledge. So you would know that Fleders and Ekimma do not live in this climate.’

This passage from Baptism of Fire suggests that katakan is a higher vampire. About shapeshifting into human form - I think it depends. Vereena (from short stories) looks like a rusalka, not entirely human, but almost. Geralt was not sure if she was an alp, mula or bruxa (so all of those might look almost human-like). Unfortunately we know nothing about katakans, only that they are higher vampires and that they do not tear victims into pieces. Therefore I think that CD Projekt can allow them to shapeshift into human form. Satisfied?

 

[Gerald01]

Satisfied?

While I thank you for that quote and the effort you put into in your response, no.

As I said there are two ways the term "higher vampire" is used. It can indicate the more human-like species, but it is often (and in colloquiality very often) indicate whatever species Regis belongs to.

CDPR itself does this. For instance, in the game there's a book talking specifically about REGIS vampires (don't remember the name, the bookshop in Novigrad main square has it I believe) and they're called higher vampires. But the bestiary calls Bruxae, Alps, etc. "higher vampires" too, as a category.
It also does not mention anything about Katakan's human form or shapeshifting ability.
Which it should, if that were the case.

About the portrayal of Katakans in the game, they're presented elsewhere as very similar to Ekimmaras in appearance and habits.
Excluding the two quests above, where they appear and act as Regis-es. Especially since the medallion doesn't react.

Wasn't this detail a big deal in Baptism of Fire? The fact there's a species of vampire unknown to Witchers, whose medallion wouldn't reveal and so on, as an exception vs all other species?

 

[GZulu]

I want this cleared as well. It's inconsistent.