At the end of the day, I'm impressed with a lot that they've done, and I try to be understanding of the things I don't think will get done, because of time, budget, choices, and visions.
Agreed. I wouldn’t hang around a forum for a game I didn’t like. I also don’t expect the map to change significantly.
I still think there’s a way to add of touch of life at a reasonable development cost. I’m picturing a handfull of rabbits scattered about who run away when you show up. That would require a rabbit model to be made, but the models for the familiars could be reused. There could be crabs on the beach, and small spiders in dark places.
For conversation, the filler animals could all use the same narrator line (“he doesn’t want to talk to you”). I think that that line already exists in game. For combat, I’d avoid making AI by giving the wildlife 1 hp. For general behaviour, I’d have the animals mill about in a pattern, much like the rats, and run away to a fixed point when the player gets too close.
It’s not literally free for Larian, but the cost to benefit ratio seems good to me.
