I personally hope Skyrim has lots of non hostile animals, unique ones not like horses, sheep, and deer from Oblivion. I felt that Oblivion's animals were boring because there was no sense of discovery, I could look at basically every animal and I immediately knew what it was. I'm hoping for unique animals this time around that are friendly so I can observe them while they aren't trying to kill me and maybe some that are hostile but only if you get too close.

So what about you guys, do you want to see lots of friendly critters roaming around as well as your usual violent ones or do you prefer stuff that tries to kill you?

I prefer friendly animals, but the wildlife shouldn't be too passive or we wouldn't have anything to kill, unless we attack friendly wildlife. In every single RPG that I have played, the roads from town to town are so insanely populated by murderous beasts and bandits that I can't imagine anyone getting from town to town without dying. Maybe that's where all the undead come from.

Hopefully, we'll get wild wildernesses and safe roads, though I doubt that will be so in the midst of a civil war.

I want mah guars. :c

I want ES games to have A LOT of hostile animals/creatures/NPCs and so on. HOWEVER, I would like to see an almost equal amount of non hostile wildlife.

Simply put, I dont want to put animals in either category by itself. Wolves, bears, mammoths and so on should be hostile. But guar, deer, rabbits and so on should be non hostile.

This, mixed with non-animal enemies and creatures, I think would be great. Well done OP.

I remember reading that the dynamic event system, would have say a pack of wolfs attacking a lonely mammoth- which im guessing is a friendly creature. Though I also hope that not all wolfs are hostile, as they arent IRL. Sorta annoys me how games/movies portray awesome wolfs.

voted for 2 opinion,I want more aggresive animals,and I want humanoid bodyguard which you can give armor like in fallout:NV......having 6 armored knight around you would be ------ GREAT

I hope for more non-hostile animals than in Oblivion, but it'd be boring exploring the wilderness if you knew it was safe. I'd like around 9/10 animals to be hostile.

Well I didn't really mean an absence of hostile animals, I just meant more non hostile ones than in OB and more unique animals in general after all I play ES games to escape real life not to simulate it so I don't want to instantly recognize every animal I see. I just don't want nearly every animal trying to kill me.

Personally I think thats the wrong way of looking at it. It shouldnt be hostile vs non hostile, but rather a blend of both. Imagine if in addition to the regular enemies and creatures and whatever, there were also different species of birds, fish, small mammals, livestock, and other made up creatures that made the world feel real. I would never sacrifice things to fight for things that are cool to look at, but adding more non hostile animals makes the world livelier, and more realistic if you ask me

Wow this thread really died quickly, anyways I haven't been keeping up with the info have any creatures been announced yet?

Non hostile animals already confirmed.

Indeed, this is very much how I feel. Make some more passive, and some aggressive... A regular traveller would never have survived coming across all the hostile animals I've encountered on a short travel from the Imperial City to Skingrad. Don't want too much realism, but that's just not realistic to be attacked with such frequency.

Every predator being a suicidal monster is stupid in my opinion. Thankfully it sounds like they are moving away from that.

Yes, bring back non-hostile critters. I was very dissapointed with the non-hostile critters in OB. Deer, seriusly?

What would horkers be classified as?

I dunno but I think horking is illegal in Skyrim.

Already confirmed.

I hope we see lots of wildlife ... also, some animals should only attack in packs (if you find a solo one, it wont attack you).
Also, lots of domestic animals (that you can maybe harvest for resources?).

Yes. Can you imagine a world without these friendly beasties? It would be empty. Like the last couple of games, and like real life, which if seen without humans is very unfriendly.

Alternatively, if you roll in wolf poo, you have a chance of being initiated into their pack as a member. Look it up, there are some pretty cool stories based on real events. You don't simply feed a feral beast and pat it on the head, you roll in its poo. The fresh stuff. If that was socially acceptable, we would all be one with nature.

My attention/danger ranking system:
1) Violent enemy
2) Territorial defense
3) Dangerous and unpredictable
4) Deadly but not currently hungry
5) Scary but not dangerous
6) curious and devious
7) would make a great pet, if you could catch it!
8) Completely oblivious to people
9) curious but skiddish
10) just plain avoids people

Unfortunately, for Skyrim, most of the creatures should be viciously hostile, with intent to devour you, especially in the mountains with not much food around. Although on second though, I suppose any creature that lives near the settlements should be relatively harmless, due to the population killing off the monsters.

They were hostile in Bloodmoon. Or was that just a mod?