Animal companion discussion

[Schrodingers Box]

Give one example where raising a dog while alone in a dire survival/rescue situation was a documented benefit other than eating it. 

[ManicManiac]

34 minutes ago, Vareta said:

and so are mine, it’s really just a matter of opinion...

  Of course, and I was just adding my opinion to the conversation.  I'm not condemning anyone for their opinions... It's just something that I would not want in my survival sandbox.

As I said, I do think an animal companion type of thing just would be better suited for the story mode or as a dedicated challenge.
 

34 minutes ago, Vareta said:

dog probably wouldn’t try to attack the survivor instantly, because they are not as wild as wolves

Perhaps, I mean literally anything is possible in a fictional setting. 

However, the way I figure it... being that wolves and dogs are so closely related (Canis Lupus and Canis Lupus Familiaris - respectively), I think it's reasonable that the phenomenon might affect them both in similar ways.
 

34 minutes ago, Vareta said:

it would be a problem during an aurora though, which I think that would create an interesting dynamic.

Agreed, and that's more of what I was referring to when I was talking about said pupper turning hostile on us.

Granted, when I said "immediately" I was using a bit of hyperbole... I was referring to what I think would likely happen with a canine companion as soon as an aurora started.  Though since wolves are already unnaturally aggressive even without being "aurora charged" that could also be explained as lingering effects on wildlife even in between aurora events.

Again, I do think it could be a really interesting addition... I'd just rather it was a dedicated challenge, rather than added to the survival sandbox. 
 

Edited December 27, 2020 by ManicManiac

[UpUpAway95]

1 hour ago, Vareta said:

I guess that would give a “fitting” end to survival mode. Although I’m not sure that would be very appropriate since I think the idea of survival is that there is no end to it.

As I said, it could be a toggled option.  No doubt some people would find it preferable to suiciding their character and others would choose not to use it... not everyone wants to play every single character to the point where they accidentally die... particularly if they happen to start a file that's on a difficulty level that they ultimately find too easy for them.  Alternatively, they could allow players to change/increase the difficulty of file saves as they get more comfortable with different aspects of the survival mode game.  (As I mentioned to you on another thread though - I suggested that a long time ago and it met with heavy resistance... particularly from those of take the view that changing anything outside a "standard" difficulty from start to grave is "cheating."  A commonly heard "complaint" here is that the game gets rather routing and boring after one hits a point where the character is well kitted out and their survival seems basically assured.

Edited December 27, 2020 by UpUpAway95

[Vareta]

1 hour ago, Schrodingers Box said:

Give one example where raising a dog while alone in a dire survival/rescue situation was a documented benefit other than eating it. 

Guess I can’t argue with that.🤣🤣. You really want to eat the damn dog don’t you ?😂

[Vareta]

1 hour ago, UpUpAway95 said:

As I said, it could be a toggled option.  No doubt some people would find it preferable to suiciding their character and others would choose not to use it... not everyone wants to play every single character to the point where they accidentally die... particularly if they happen to start a file that's on a difficulty level that they ultimately find too easy for them.  Alternatively, they could allow players to change/increase the difficulty of file saves as they get more comfortable with different aspects of the survival mode game.  (As I mentioned to you on another thread though - I suggested that a long time ago and it met with heavy resistance... particularly from those of take the view that changing anything outside a "standard" difficulty from start to grave is "cheating."  A commonly heard "complaint" here is that the game gets rather routing and boring after one hits a point where the character is well kitted out and their survival seems basically assured.

I can understand the point of allowing a difficulty change during a save, but for it to work it would have to have at least a couple rules, to not allow someone to, for example, change to pilgrim during a bear encounter. Things like that, but otherwise I guess it could be done.

Even then I think the complaint you mentioned still remains. I like to think animal companions would fix it at least a little, but hell maybe the devs intend the game to stay the way it is, maintaining an atmosphere of complete isolation, and that is completely fine by me, will continue playing it that’s for sure !!  

[Bean]

Instead of a pet dog, let’s have a pet cougar.  And instead of a pet cougar, let’s just have wild ravening cougars hiding in random spots around the map ready to attack and eat you!  
 

that would make TLD much more enjoyable and you’ll forget all about loneliness while fighting off cougars!

[Vareta]

2 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

Again, I do think it could be a really interesting addition... I'd just rather it was a dedicated challenge, rather than added to the survival sandbox. 
 

You may be right about that one. But I don’t know if it’s worth putting that much effort into one challenge... maybe adding it to wintermute, like you mentioned, would make more sense. Kinda like the bear spear.

[Vareta]

14 hours ago, Bean said:

Instead of a pet dog, let’s have a pet cougar.  And instead of a pet cougar, let’s just have wild ravening cougars hiding in random spots around the map ready to attack and eat you!  
 

that would make TLD much more enjoyable and you’ll forget all about loneliness while fighting off cougars!

I cannot if you are joking, being serious or being sarcastic 😂.

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

If you are looking for dogs in a similar style game world to TLD (although the gameplay is very different) then The Red Lantern may be worth checking out.

[Bean]

12 hours ago, Vareta said:

I cannot if you are joking, being serious or being sarcastic 😂.

Yes! 

[djanico]

On 12/27/2020 at 11:46 AM, ManicManiac said:

This gets discussed quite a bit, and I recommend to other folks reading this to also use the search function in addition to reading this thread.  I say that only because there has been a large amount of good discussion about this very topic.  Including many more ideas on how other folks would implement such a thing.

As for me, I really don't want NPCs or animal companions (wolf, dog, or otherwise) in the survival sandbox.

I think this could work fine in the Story Mode or as a dedicated Challenge... but I would not like it if this were incorporated into Survival Mode.  I think it would undermine the lonely isolation and personal struggle that I enjoy so much in survival mode.

Another reason, is that I think that if we had an animal companion... then we might have a hunting partner, or even to a limited extent a protector.
I don't like that idea because it makes life easier for the player... and I'm rarely in favor of things that would make life easier for the player.

Let me clarify that I'm not against the idea  of an animal companion... I just really don't want it in my Survival Sandbox. 

Personally, I don't think an animal companion really works from a lore perspective anyway.  I think even if we did find a wolf or dog... it would probably immediately try to eat our faces off due to the effects the aurora (in that carnivorous animals are preternaturally aggressive and blood thirsty).  Considering they would most likely just turn hyper-aggressive, I think it puts this particular type of animal companion somewhere in between "extremely dangerous" and "just not really possible under the circumstances."

 

Why not have the best of both worlds..

It is why the devs created the custom tooklit sandbox. You could add the option of adding/removing dog companion and there you go...  true solo survival or giving the option of keeping the dog for those that are interested.  You satisfy both end of your customer base.

I understand the point of the game is to survive, but as stated "man" has been using domesticated dogs since the dawn of time for survival. That and how much more difficult it would be to survive for two. 

[Luca Loquax]

I would like a friendly companion Raven!  Kawwww!

My Raven, lets call him Muninn, would fly out ahead of me and do a loooong slow 'kawww' for "Something of interest ahead" and a series of quick, loud 'kaw, kaw, kaws' for "DANGER!".  He may even be able to bring me small objects he found.   I could feed him once a day, give him nesting materials and sacrifice bear hearts to the Old Gods.

Praise Wotan.

[ManicManiac]

On 1/15/2021 at 11:14 PM, djanico said:

Why not have the best of both worlds..

For me though, it's not the best of both worlds.

I'd just prefer it was a dedicated challenge, rather than added to the survival sandbox.  I simply would not want Human NPCs or Animal Companions added to the Surival Sandbox.

As I've mentioned before, just because and idea is proposed as an option doesn't mean we all need to be in favor of it.
Besides, If I wanted to play a game with Animal Companions... I have Fallout (any one of them), Among Trees, ARK Survival Evolved, Subnautica, Minecraft (the list goes on and on).

I wouldn't want The Long Dark to try and be like so many other games... I want it to continue being The Long Dark.

Edited January 17, 2021 by ManicManiac

[Themadlad94]

On 1/15/2021 at 12:59 PM, Luca Loquax said:

I would like a friendly companion Raven!  Kawwww!

My Raven, lets call him Muninn, would fly out ahead of me and do a loooong slow 'kawww' for "Something of interest ahead" and a series of quick, loud 'kaw, kaw, kaws' for "DANGER!".  He may even be able to bring me small objects he found.   I could feed him once a day, give him nesting materials and sacrifice bear hearts to the Old Gods.

A raven would actually be a pretty good companion. They would do everything you said and you would maybe have to build a bird cage for them and make sure they were fed.

 

On 1/15/2021 at 12:59 PM, Luca Loquax said:

Praise Wotan.

I like the name of your raven  Could the geomagnetic storm and the lights in the sky be Ragnarök?

Edited January 19, 2021 by Themadlad94

[Vareta]

On 1/20/2021 at 10:14 PM, Ps4Methuselah said:

Ok...the first time i commented on this topic, i shot from the hip. My apologies.

I have a dog in real life so i asked myself would i want him with me in a survival situation? The answer is probably not...he just wouldn't be very useful because he is too timid.

Then i asked myself if i would want a virtual dog in TLD like the wardog i had in Skyrim....sure why not. 

I have no idea how they are gonna feed it on loper but all other levels should be fine. I like using a bow,...someone else wants a 12 gauge, you would love a travelling companion, it's all fine by me brother.

The great thing about The Long Dark is there is no "right or wrong" way to play the game,...everyone is free to create a world that they feel comfortable surviving in.

I hope you get your K-9 companion my friend....as they say, mans best friend is dog. 

Im sorry but I do not remember what you commented, so that probably means that it had nothing wrong with it. Either way, just as the title says, this is a discussion, negative opinions are more than welcome, Ive learned a lot from those... 😅

[Stinky socks]

I started a new thread for a companion couple days ago upon joining, but I see it was discussed before! Genius minds think alike!!

[AdamvR]

On 12/27/2020 at 8:37 PM, Schrodingers Box said:

Give one example where raising a dog while alone in a dire survival/rescue situation was a documented benefit other than eating it. 

hm, given how dogs were domesticated from wolves tens of thousands of years ago by humans in dire survival situations was the very beginning how this specie came to exist in the first place - this appears to be the "least thought-through" response on the entire forum. full stop.
just my opinion.

[AdamvR]

On 12/27/2020 at 8:46 PM, ManicManiac said:

Again, I do think it could be a really interesting addition... I'd just rather it was a dedicated challenge, rather than added to the survival sandbox. 

... like having it as a completely separate challenge, in which you need to find a pup and go through the struggle to protect and domesticate it - rewarding you a feat (instead of a badge) - something you can choose for one of the slots in your next survival, if you want? And upon activation it would add a pup somewhere in the game that you'd need to find and raise and befriend? I'd probably be fine with that.
 
Would it make your next survival easier? it clearly depends on the balancing that is invested while adding such a game-changing option, but let's say, yes it would. Thank God, adding +2 degrees to your feels-like temperature or reducing your calorie requirement by 10% is making it more difficult...😉

Joking aside:
If there was such an option to play a side-game/challenge like that - even if it were a payable DLC -, I'd very likely give it a try - just out of curiosity.
Whether or not I'd add this option to my next survival, given only 2-3-4 options to choose from is another question, and would depend what kind of game experience I am aiming for there.

Edited February 11, 2021 by AdamvR

[Rose of Madmen]

On 12/25/2020 at 3:47 PM, UpUpAway95 said:

Befriend a dog only to watch it get torn to pieces by wolves or a bear?  Definitely not my cup of tea.  Also, this shouldn't be a Fallout 4 clone where one's companion would be impervious to dying and any domestic dog really cannot hope to effectively fight a wolf.  I'd definitely want an option at least to disable the dog companion feature (again, without the penalty of losing access to feats as is currently the case when the custom menu is used for any reason).

 

Watching your best and only friend die would be refreshing and add a little bit od spice to this game 

[Diogo Guerreiro]

All fun and games until you have to cross the broken railroad in ravine and the dog falls down and dies. 

[Luca Loquax]

Muninn, my companion Raven laughs at your ravine! Laughs I tell you!