Sirandar said:
He should have gotten a sun medallion, the army of Nilfgaard would come to his aid
everytime his life is in peril.
He should have gotten a sun medallion, the army of Nilfgaard would come to his aid
everytime his life is in peril.
IIRC witchers are supposed to keep ecosystem in balance, not simply go out and exterminate everything that is undesirable for human population. I doubt that meeting some wolves or whatever in a forest would cause Geralt to attack, and vice versa, as Sirandar observed. Wolves/monsters attacking humans for a reason (like, the war chased them out of their areas and near to human settlements) is one thing, but if people are too stupid to stay out of trouble, it's another matter entirely.
BTW Geralt have used Axii sign to calm his horse on numerous occasions. I wonder if it also could be used to calm aggressive animals.
BTW Geralt have used Axii sign to calm his horse on numerous occasions. I wonder if it also could be used to calm aggressive animals.
GuyN said:
From what I've heard, this is somewhat of a modern characteristic of wolves, we have to remember that the Witcher series, whilst being fantasy, takes place in a medieval setting, and in real life, even in the 1600s and 1700s, wolf attacks were somewhat of an epidemic in places such as France, where thousands upon thousands of French peasants, men and women alike as far as I know, were killed by wolf attacks over the centuries. Wolves seem to have only learned to steer clear of humans in the modern era.
Yep, firearms tend to have such effect on wild animals. They are loud, fast, and kill from the distance. But during prehistoric times people could successfully hunt and defend themselves against predators only through sheer numbers and strategy, while even lone hunters were an easy pray for a pack. The same goes for ordinary peasants during the Middle Ages. Even a sword is not such a good defense against a hungry pack for a lone warrior. Women, children, old people were killed in large numbers. This romantic attitude towards wolves is a modern 20-21st century fantasy. Wolves are predators who need meat to survive, and it does not really matter who would provide, a deer or a human being. A pack living near a settlement, and hunting domestic animals and people on a regular basis is as much of a disaster as any fantasy monster.
Wolves would be good to re-introduce for deer here in blighty, they're constantly over populating (especially bloody muntjac, vicious little bastards that they are) and having to be culled. The beauty of wolves is that they're not very efficient hunters and they're smart enough to not risk injury, thus they'll mainly go after the weak and lame, actually improving the herds health and breeding stock. Farmers up here, who rely on a lot of hunting money from the toffs, have long been consulted on it.
Wild boar have actually been re-introduced down south in Corn peninsula, not a single attack or injury yet despite all the demonisation and promises of massive slaughter.
Don't think it'll ever happen though, folk don't want a big powerful fellow predator around, expecially ones that look upon fields of sheep and calves as buffets. Despite this the fact is that wolf attacks pale into nothing compared to human ones, discount rabies and there are almost no reliable documented attacks.
Edit: Course i'm biased because i'm a lycanthrope and I feed on you long pigs, but don't tell anybody.
Wild boar have actually been re-introduced down south in Corn peninsula, not a single attack or injury yet despite all the demonisation and promises of massive slaughter.
Don't think it'll ever happen though, folk don't want a big powerful fellow predator around, expecially ones that look upon fields of sheep and calves as buffets. Despite this the fact is that wolf attacks pale into nothing compared to human ones, discount rabies and there are almost no reliable documented attacks.
Edit: Course i'm biased because i'm a lycanthrope and I feed on you long pigs, but don't tell anybody.
I'm normally agreed with the OP about regular animals acting like insane death machines(Skyrim was really bad for this.) but I'm not so sure about the witcher universe. In a way it kinda makes sense that the predetory animals in the witcher world may be more aggressive than their earth based counterparts. If you were a wolf or a pack of wolves in the Witcher world than you would not only have to compete against other more natural animals for food(Bears, big cats, humans) but also the more extreme and strange beings in the witcher world.
Imagine a pack of wolves having to compete with an Endrega or Kikimore hive. If those wolves want to eat they are going to have to fight off those larger more dangerous opponents and as a result may be more inclined to attack than to run away. Also in our world Wolves are apex predators there's nothing to say that in the Witcher's world this is true it could be that they are prey to the more monstrous denizens of the forest.
Imagine a pack of wolves having to compete with an Endrega or Kikimore hive. If those wolves want to eat they are going to have to fight off those larger more dangerous opponents and as a result may be more inclined to attack than to run away. Also in our world Wolves are apex predators there's nothing to say that in the Witcher's world this is true it could be that they are prey to the more monstrous denizens of the forest.
The wiki for wolf attacks on humans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_attacks_on_humans) has some interesting info that I did not expect. I was always told that wolves are more scared of us then we of them.
"In Scotland, during the reign of James VI, wolves were considered such a threat to travelers that special houses called spittals were erected on the highways for protection. In France alone, historical records indicate that between the years 1580-1830, 3,069 people were killed by wolves, 1,857 of which were non-rabid. Italian records indicate that between the 15th-19th centuries, 440 people were killed by wolves in central Po valley. In Imperial Russia 1890, a document was produced stating that 161 people had been killed by wolves in 1871. During the First World War, starving wolves had amassed in great numbers in Kaunas, Vilnius and Minsk and began attacking Imperial Russian and Imperial German fighting forces, causing the two fighting armies to form a temporary truce to fight off the animals."
Even though I do not think we should be having wolves jumping on our sword like the OP said, I do think the lone Geralt would seem like a viable prey for a pack of wolves. After cutting down a couple of them they should flee of course, but a pack of wolves would not know that they are attacking a witcher until it is too late!
"In Scotland, during the reign of James VI, wolves were considered such a threat to travelers that special houses called spittals were erected on the highways for protection. In France alone, historical records indicate that between the years 1580-1830, 3,069 people were killed by wolves, 1,857 of which were non-rabid. Italian records indicate that between the 15th-19th centuries, 440 people were killed by wolves in central Po valley. In Imperial Russia 1890, a document was produced stating that 161 people had been killed by wolves in 1871. During the First World War, starving wolves had amassed in great numbers in Kaunas, Vilnius and Minsk and began attacking Imperial Russian and Imperial German fighting forces, causing the two fighting armies to form a temporary truce to fight off the animals."
Even though I do not think we should be having wolves jumping on our sword like the OP said, I do think the lone Geralt would seem like a viable prey for a pack of wolves. After cutting down a couple of them they should flee of course, but a pack of wolves would not know that they are attacking a witcher until it is too late!
Very interesting info ..... but even the 1,857 predatory non-rabid attacks in France over 250 years suggests that wolves don't consider humans worth the risk even when humans were clearly encroaching on their territory in that time. That's 7.4 deaths per year in the whole country. In Skyrim the number of wolf attacks are about 7.4 per hour game time, Oblivion was even worse and in both game is it quite possible to have a whole hoard of different kinds of wildlife trying to massacre you at the same time />/>. Witcher was never that bad...
/>/>. Witcher was never that bad...Chief said:
Here is more information from Wiki that do have references but may not be entirely true:
Compared to other carnivorous mammals known to attack humans in general, the frequency with which wolves have been recorded to kill or prey on people is much lower, indicating that though potentially dangerous, wolves are among the least threatening for their size and predatory potential.[1]
A recent Fennoscandian study on historic wolf attacks occurring in the 18th–19th centuries showed that victims were almost entirely children under the age of 12, with 85% of the attacks occurring when no adults were present. In the few cases in which an adult was killed, it was almost always a woman. In nearly all cases, only a single victim was injured in each attack, although the victim was with two or three other people in a few cases.
Wolves know how to pick their targets and I doubt a supernatural rather strapping adult male with armor and a sword with a complete absence of fear and probably smelling like monster would be a likely target for wolves...
But it is a alternate universe so really anything goes ...... but I would prefer to slay more monstrous creatures unless there is a clear reason related to the plot. By all means have villagers or others offer bounties for wolves and bears but also give a satisfying dialog to turn them down if we don't want to kill wolves ..... a good line would be "I'm a Witcher ..... Do I look like a %$#@#$# wolf hunter to you ... kill them yourself. That's all it takes to make a good RPG ..... choice
Compared to other carnivorous mammals known to attack humans in general, the frequency with which wolves have been recorded to kill or prey on people is much lower, indicating that though potentially dangerous, wolves are among the least threatening for their size and predatory potential.[1]
A recent Fennoscandian study on historic wolf attacks occurring in the 18th–19th centuries showed that victims were almost entirely children under the age of 12, with 85% of the attacks occurring when no adults were present. In the few cases in which an adult was killed, it was almost always a woman. In nearly all cases, only a single victim was injured in each attack, although the victim was with two or three other people in a few cases.
Wolves know how to pick their targets and I doubt a supernatural rather strapping adult male with armor and a sword with a complete absence of fear and probably smelling like monster would be a likely target for wolves...
But it is a alternate universe so really anything goes ...... but I would prefer to slay more monstrous creatures unless there is a clear reason related to the plot. By all means have villagers or others offer bounties for wolves and bears but also give a satisfying dialog to turn them down if we don't want to kill wolves ..... a good line would be "I'm a Witcher ..... Do I look like a %$#@#$# wolf hunter to you ... kill them yourself. That's all it takes to make a good RPG ..... choice
That study doesn't account for the impact of firearms, which had been in widespread use for some time. vivaxardas made this point earlier: wolves quickly learn to avoid firearms. Still, I agree that the danger of wolves to fit adventurers, even those who travel solo, is usually exaggerated. But situations in which wolves are accustomed to human proximity or in which they are starving may be very different.
Firearms may have indeed had an impact, but crossbows although less deadly are still pretty deadly, especially when compared to firearms of that era which needed manual priming and loading. The 17-18 centuries didn't have AK47s
I would imagine bows and crossbows would be enough to push the wolves behavior away from humans. I wonder how many native American Indians died per year from wolves before the Europeans showed up? The world will never know probably.
I would imagine bows and crossbows would be enough to push the wolves behavior away from humans. I wonder how many native American Indians died per year from wolves before the Europeans showed up? The world will never know probably.
GuyN said:
I think this whole thread is a bit silly. Woves and other "non-monstrous creatures" aren't attacking anyone. Humans and video game characters are the one walking into dark woods and caves (thier natural homes) and couse trouble. And someone wonder why do they attack people?Sirandar said:
Those few wolves shown on the trailer are led by some supernatural being/demon, they dont raid the towns or invade your homes when you sleep. Damn, in Gothic you were killing big birds and beach turtles, Two worlds 2 had monkies throwing poo at you and WOW.. Recent movie called called Grey is good example. It cant get any simpler then that to explain.
Thing is, in pretty much every RPG I've ever played the fauna and sometimes the flora is/are pretty much out to get you regardless. Personally I don't really see it as that much of a problem, I mean who is to say that the rules in the worlds that games are set are not different from here?
Maybe in Geralt's world the wildlife really is that violent?
Maybe it's something in the water...
Maybe in Geralt's world the wildlife really is that violent?
Maybe it's something in the water...
Sirnaq said:
Not really. It's a culinary preference, I think. Women simply taste better. No all that tobacco and alcohol flavor, and such. Should ask Bloth, he would know
Sirnaq said:
Haha ah cheers for that lads, got myself a nice laughSirnaq said:
In any case, I don't think the player will be encouraged to kill wolves or any other wild animals. Considering that killing aimlessly does NOT grant you any experience, and I imagine the money isn't too good neither, the player will probably avoid getting into violent conflict with the wildlife.
At least, that's how I imagine RED's thinking. Could be wrong.
You certainly have a way of putting things ...... />/>/>
Geralt's medallion is considerably more interesting than the Hello Kitty variety ..... We don't really know who made it and why and what other powers it may have. We don't really know how Geralt got the name White Wolf but I doubt it was from killing wolves ....maybe the books tell
If there are Hello Kitty medallions like that I want one ...../>/>/>
/>/>/>Geralt's medallion is considerably more interesting than the Hello Kitty variety ..... We don't really know who made it and why and what other powers it may have. We don't really know how Geralt got the name White Wolf but I doubt it was from killing wolves ....maybe the books tell
If there are Hello Kitty medallions like that I want one .....
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