Do wolves get a dodge-weird animation while they rush at you?

[CarlaRis]

Hi. Carla here, from Hushed River Valley/Mountain Town.

Do someone else notice that the wolves animations have been changed (for worst) in the recent updates? They, at least in my playthrogh, don´t rush straight at you anymore like used to be, but start to run drunk trying to dodge the arrows. It looks weird and ugly; they are wolves, not lame ninjas. What do you think?

[xanna]

I thought that was always the case, perhaps with the wolves getting more evasive the more days you have in the game?

[Leeanda]

As far as I know they do zig zag towards you but they will run in straight lines if they're already really close to you...  

[Serenity]

I don't think that was always like this. The game is relatively old now and has been through a lot of changes from the earlier days. But they have done that for years now.

[Dan_]

Yes. They ran straight at you waaay back when story mode was in it's infancy, but they changed the wolf charging mechanics when they removed the "bait and shoot" mechanic a few years ago. It's been like this for quite some time now, if you aim too soon you get the comical Naruto wolf.

[I_eat_only_wolf_meat]

I have noticed the wolves seem to do more close range "dodging" lately.  I used to almost never get in a wolf struggle.  These days I seem to miss my last second headshot with the bow much more frequently.

[Semple Fi]

That’s why you have to Naruto side step at the same time you are drawing your bow.  
I usually step left because they angle to their right pretty consistently, and will line up with your crosshairs if you keep them down about midway in front of your view.  

[CarlaRis]

Maybe devs are trying to address some issues with wildlife and that´s great. But I'd rather they focus on fix hunting: Today I was trying to chase a wounded deer, but it climbed a giant rock and goodbye XD. If you could at least to jump 15 cm... Then we have the sparins thing, following the trail of blood. It's funny somehow.

[Semple Fi]

1 hour ago, CarlaRis said:

Maybe devs are trying to address some issues with wildlife and that´s great. But I'd rather they focus on fix hunting: Today I was trying to chase a wounded deer, but it climbed a giant rock and goodbye XD. If you could at least to jump 15 cm... Then we have the sparins thing, following the trail of blood. It's funny somehow.

I usually don’t follow, the wounded animals will make a loop and die somewhere close to where they were wounded.  Come back a few hours later and look for the crows.  

[ManicManiac]

For many years (up to the present) wolves would tend to "juke" due to a combination of their individual targeting/pathfinding limitations and  small bumps/imperfections in terrain causing them to "recalculate" their angle of approach to reach the survivor most directly.  This tended to cause wolves to appear as though they had almost Jedi-like reflexes.   

Edited July 25, 2023 by ManicManiac

[James Hickok]

Yes wolves do that for years now but at the end when they get close they run str8 so it better to just aim in front of you at the floor and w8 for them to get in line of shot than to try to keep aim at them while they run. 

Also keep in mind that if the terrain is not flat and have even slight level or angle diffrence the animals will zig zag on it.