Zoological Observations...what do the critters do and why!

I can't find a thread related to this idea, but it has been an interest of mine for a while. Things like you always find scarabs and spiders related in the Maguuma Jungle. Is this a parasitic relationship or commensal relationship? Ever notice you only find wind riders and wild stone golems where there is a constant source of environmental magic or areas disturbed by strong magic? Why do the plants in Elona travel in the packs they do? (obvously it's the Asuran in me that's putting this out there!) Zooligically/biologically what is the necessity of these groupings?

Well, I could be a smartass and say "Becuz its coded that way"

or

there can be a wall of text that would rival the Great Wall of China where I discuss lore and stuff

I think people will choose option 1 just for the sake that they don't want me talking much

RedDog, this IS Druid's overlook. This is the lore section. This is where we WELCOME long walls of text, because the people that come here do so to discuss and overanalyze and nitpick everything in the game, because it's fun.

From the forum guidelines:



On that note, I'd love to see your wall of text. I truly hope you give the Great Wall of China a run for its money.


EDIT: In the above quote, I wasn't saying you were doing what it warns against. I was just using it for its explanation of why we do what we do.

I'm not exactly sure that I fully understand your question, but I'll give it a shot anyways.
I would assume that creatures of similar types are always together is for the same reason why animals of the same species travel together. (Picture yourself in Africa.... it's safari time!). Ever watch National Geographic and see a zebra, a lion, and an elephant all strolling down the veldt to hand out at the watering hole? Nope. However, you will see two zebra's going together. For all we know, zebras may have some sort complex way of communicating that only is specific to them, and same goes for lions, elephants, etc. I guess the game programmers decided to group creatures of the same type together for this reason. Otherwise, it might be difficult for gamers to understand why Titans, Mursaat, dinosaurs, and plants are all together in one mob, kicking your ass in one giant, multi-species extravaganza.

In the real world as noted above, you see zebras javelina water buffalo together in a casual sense. then on the perimeter you see the jackels or the lions or jags. Its just predator Vs prey in that scenerio. In Gw i dont know if there was ever any thought put in to the critter grouping. I think each animal (creature) is simply unique to its own enviroment.

Id say that there is a purpose to the location of each group of animals, however they dont seem to have any real solid connection to the area where they reside.

My 2 cents.. hard as it was to understand.


Cronk

Well, I'll come back and edit this post when I'm done then

I don't think this is completely true. There are a lot of creatures that would seem extremely out of place. What if you saw the bison typically found in the Far Shiverpeaks over in the Ring of Fire mission? A lot of these creatures do seem to be related in some way to their environment. In the Underworld, for example, every enemy is demonic or ghostly. Nightfall is a great example of this - a lot of monsters, especially in Kourna, are based off exotic animals typically found in Africa, such as the Howlers, based off gorillas. While some of these might not have a perfect connection to their environments, most creatures do seem to be specifically designed for that area, and would not make as much sense if found elsewhere.

There are several zoological entries in the lore forum archives if Im not mistaken. But perhaps you should compile your own study if you'd like. Make a list of critter behaviour and locations and whatnot. Might make a good temporary hobby. Plus it'd be fun to read people's observations.

There have been such discussions in the past, especially over at the GWO lore forums.

There should links to them in the archives.

Surprisingly to most, even in Prophecies there are behaviors of creatures noted - most famed one being the grawl in Regent Valley (particularly the "heritics" and the "petitioners"). Creatures also are typically found in a particular spot in explorables (e.g., skales near the swamps of Kryta, mps in the valleys and canyons, and mergoyles nearby non-swamp water and sand), indicating that the programmers did put thought into their environment - despite what some, as shown in this thread, would think.

Ok well from a biological/zoological/evolutionary standpoint, in the real world, life evolves to suit its surroundings and life that cannot adapt becomes extinct or moves to another area.

On a large scale, mammals developed separately in environments all over the world and are very different in some parts of the world. Then in areas across the world with similar but slightly variant environments, similar animals will evolve. Take for instance turtles or sea birds or large cats.

Life changes to suit its surroundings. Some have grown and adapted to a particular local climate and environment, some have come originally from another environment and adapted to a new one. Some similar creatures have spread across large areas and been separated due to changes in the landscape and thus have evolved differently.

There is similarities to each of these examples that could be construed from the game. Some animals across the continents are similar but seem to be adapted to different environments. Some creatures seem to be unique to a particular environment. Some creatures seem to appear together with other similar creatures.

In nature, there is examples of predator/prey, parasitic and symbiotic or cooperative relationships. There are examples of these across guildwars, where some npc enemies attack each other, some have different types of creatures cooperating and then there are unique creatures who attack you in groups only of their own kind.

Now, coming out of the biological reasoning, there's the restriction of having to create new creatures for every area. Sometimes it's just easier and more efficient to reuse a creature either in whole or in part, either with the same or modified skin, same or different skillset etc.

Plus it's more realistic to find similarities across the gameworld much like across the real world. It all builds well to make it a more immersive experience to have some variety but not absolutely unique variety across a game world.