Creature thoughts and observations
TalesofTim
New York Join Date: 2015-05-14 Member: 204488Members
New York Join Date: 2015-05-14 Member: 204488Members
I'm pretty new to this forum. This happens to be my first post and the reason I signed up in the first place.
Lets get to business then ...
1. Crashs don't make sense.
The Crash fauna protects itself by flying at the danger and then exploding. You guys, the developers, have done a wonderful job creating creatures that are beautiful and believable but this creature feels more like a game mechanic then a living creature. I don't know of many creatures that kills themselves for protection and the ones that do use it as a last resort or when they're protecting something.
Perhaps they could release electricity when the player gets close doing some damage that way, or maybe there could be nests hidden in the caves the the crash would be protecting. I don't know I just wanted to point this out.
2. Reefbacks needs a way to protect themselves, MAYBE?
I'm not too sure about this one. See, whales have very few natural predators on earth, which is why they haven't evolved any real defense mechanisms. Reefbacks, however, do; or at least I'm lead to believe that they do based on Reaper Leviathan behavior and planned future creatures. This doesn't feel right.
However, I am not sure because those sphere underneath it look a lot like the spheres on the tails of Gasopods, so they might be super poisonous.
That's about all for now. If I think of more I'll come back.
I do hope we get a lot of creatures added to the game both aggressive and not because my favorite thing to do is find them.
Lets get to business then ...
1. Crashs don't make sense.
The Crash fauna protects itself by flying at the danger and then exploding. You guys, the developers, have done a wonderful job creating creatures that are beautiful and believable but this creature feels more like a game mechanic then a living creature. I don't know of many creatures that kills themselves for protection and the ones that do use it as a last resort or when they're protecting something.
Perhaps they could release electricity when the player gets close doing some damage that way, or maybe there could be nests hidden in the caves the the crash would be protecting. I don't know I just wanted to point this out.
2. Reefbacks needs a way to protect themselves, MAYBE?
I'm not too sure about this one. See, whales have very few natural predators on earth, which is why they haven't evolved any real defense mechanisms. Reefbacks, however, do; or at least I'm lead to believe that they do based on Reaper Leviathan behavior and planned future creatures. This doesn't feel right.
However, I am not sure because those sphere underneath it look a lot like the spheres on the tails of Gasopods, so they might be super poisonous.
That's about all for now. If I think of more I'll come back.
I do hope we get a lot of creatures added to the game both aggressive and not because my favorite thing to do is find them.
Comments
You see if you go close to the crash, it releases the little red guy so that it repels any danger for the base(which I believe is the crash) to be safe, then it regenerates it to keep it protected again.
and as for reefbacks seeing as how they have a dark shell on their back, they could probably lay low underneath any predator and they won't see the reefback because it's using camoflaug as their defenses.
which in this case isn't really considered defense, but more like stealth, hide from danger and you will live another day basicly
I think that the reefbacks should definitely have behavior for when they are being attacked, but I don't know that they necessarily need a defense, other than just being big and, probably in the future, covered in coral/plants. It would also be entirely possible that, if the environment on their backs is dense enough, bleeders and those biters could live there, providing a symbiotic defense for the reefback.
However, everyone seems to be assuming that exploding is the Crash's normal defense mechanism. We don't know that. Keep in mind that we are a strange creature they will have never seen before nor will they have been able to evolve instincts for dealing with us. And don't forget that, at least as far as I can tell, humans are far, far larger than Crashes. We may be triggering a last-ditch defensive measure when we approach them.
I don't think the Reaper leviathan should be as big as they are. At least not as big as the Reefbacks. I always thought of the Reefbacks as being the blue whales of this planet- too big to mess with. Huge lumbering gentle giants of the deep. Now they move too spastic and the reaper is bigger than they are. Actually, I don't think I like the design of the Reaper in general. There's something about it that doesn't fit somehow. Make it smaller and I guess it works, but not as it is.
I think this is one of the best things about them. I want more massive and dangerous creatures.
Personally, I think it's just its mouth. It's way to human-like. It's just not as alien as everything else in the game.
There is going to be even bigger creatures in the future. There even exists some concept art of a whale-like creature that is way bigger than reefbacks. They would 'blue whales' of this planet, reefback would maybe be 'humpback whale' (notice -back in both).
The planet is suitable for human beings, which would mean that all the life is based on same rules than in Earth. We have lots of alien-like creatures in our oceans, so the new planet might as well have some creatures with human-like features.
Just because life on the game's planet obeys the same rules does not mean anything even remotely human-like is likely to evolve. There are an effectively infinite number of ways for life to evolve without coming close to resembling humans. While it is possible for something human-like to evolve, that doesn't make it likely.
I got my BS in Biology, focusing on evolution, and currently work in a Marine Biology lab (psst guess what our favorite species to study is *wink* *wink*). Trust me, there is no scientific reason for anything in this game to resemble humans.
Well, okay... I'll given them bilateral symmetry, as it has some real advantages. And a whole host of other characteristics of in-game creatures one could point out resembles humans (two eyes, one mouth, etc). But those are very basic forms.
But I shouldn't even have to bring up the science. This is a game. A game trying to illicit an undeniably alien experience. If the game is in fact aiming for the alien, as it so clearly is, it should not accept anything that feels human, as human is the least alien experience the people playing the game could possible have.
The only design issue I have with the Reaper are the claws that seemed to be designed to grab a sub of the exact size of the Seamoth. If they were suckers then I'd understand and think that perhaps its main food source was something bigger. Other than that I love the Reaper.
Okay, I'm not going to argue with actual pro, but I'll say this: the reapers face has just very slight resemblance to humans. While human-like life is indeed extremely unlikely to evolve again, it's still not that surprising if an alien creature has tiny 'earthly' features. However rare it is, it's still possible. But yeah, this is a game so it doesn't really matter that much.
To be honest I don't mind it that much. I just think the developers should avoid anything human-like like the plague. Humans are very good at spotting such features, even if only at a subconscious level.