Monsters and Animals

I am new to SotA and watched a video of some R4 gameplay.

I noticed the area next the main town was full of bears, wolves and spiders.

Should all those creatures really be mixed together? Would it add more realism to the game to maybe separate the giant spiders and throw them somewhere else (perhaps a cave or a very web-filled forest as seen in the Hobbit)? I would imagine they would not do well living with pretty much any other kind of creature.

Also, shouldn't bears be a bit bigger and a lot more scary (perhaps somewhat difficult to kill)? I know that if I were ever in a forest and ran into a bear (sword and shield or not), I would at least be concerned. It would be cool to have that feeling of slight intimidation from monsters/animals like this in the game so you might take caution to avoid them until you had a group!

I know it is still early on but just wanted to throw these ideas out if they aren't already on the table. Making bears stand up on their hind legs sometimes would be pretty awesome too.

Edit: I guess I should have posted this on the Release 4 feedback forum. Whoops.

 

And you are correct. Whenever a Bear and Giant Spider got too close together, they attacked each other.


Not sure about Bears and Wolves though : I did see them commingling pretty close together without violence, however that could simply be an error.

I would expect a pack of Wolves to gang up on a Bear if they are in the same vicinity.

 

Ah, didn't see them attack each other (only briefly watched the youtube video). However, I still don't think they should be in the same territory in the first place. The spiders would be constantly fighting for the territory whereas a normal creature would probably see risking its life constantly isn't worth it and move on to a better habitat.

 

I saw a stag attacking a wolf or was it the other way round... But definitely they were involved in a fight against each other. Liked that.

 

I liked that too. It happens in nature. But given the density of monsters in that area, that stag would have been long gone (dead or run off because it is literally surrounded by threats). I'm just talking about taking monster/animal placement to the next level so it is both more realistic and immersive.

Perhaps a better monster fight would be Kobolds fighting off some giant spiders for control of a cave they are in... or as previously mentioned a group of wolves attacking a bear (or stag!).

 

I saw a wolf chasing a rabbit while being chased by a stag. The three bounced around for a good long while. It was quite amusing. I think it shows the dev team is implementing different aggression/combat behaviors for different MoBs, but that all the details aren't worked out yet. I agree Boosh, as it stands the MoBs are a little close together, then again this was a test. I expect things to get a better balance as time goes on.

 

I like this idea. You could also make things based on their real world counterparts. Bears tend to be solitary except the mother travels with her children. Wolves are nomadic pack animals. Giant Spiders would probably act like regular spiders, infesting an area and using it as either a hunting or trapping ground. Wouldn't it be cool if wolf packs roamed forests and hills like they do in real life. Always moving together. If you're lost in the wilderness and need food you could shadow wolf packs and pick off their scraps after a hunt if you don't make them too nervous. And no wolves don't just attack people out of nowhere, they're more likely to run off unless cornered or VERY hungry since they don't tend to eat people. It would really help the immersion and help you to be able to work around animal migrations if you are worldly enough. Too many times have I seen animals that would not have any interest in you being treated as some sort of berzerking monster. Elder Scrolls I'm looking at you.