Phantom Leviathan discussion and ideas.

Infectedd

So, a while ago when they released this fantastic concept art of the Lost River biome.



There was a post discussing this creature in the art and user '04Leonhardt' came up with the name "Phantom Leviathan." (Which sounds awesome).

Do you think it will make it into the game? It seems to be a fan favourite. Also, what abilities do you think it would have? Please give some suggestions below. I think it would be awesome if it could go completely transparent and become invisible!
I like it and may even prefeer it over the Sea Dragon Leviathan or Emperor Leviathan.

zetachron

It's skeleton and animation wouldn't be too far away from the Reaper Leviathan with its long tail and big head, so could be a greater modification of it, reducing the work to be done. But it would still be too much work until game release to see it happen.

If not it would be cool. I imagine this beast to have a ranged area attack, like spraying acid that melts like in Aliens, or a damaging ultrasound underwater wave with wave ripples you can see coming towards you until you are thrown back by force on wave contact. A damage that would make it dangerous for the exosuit and subs and outright deadly in your swimsuit.

That gives me an idea about a new defense system: The spheric impulse shield
A shield taking energy and protecting in a sphere for a short second only. If you time correctly, a creature attack gets absorbed. If not, the damage gets through.

Sidchicken

The last thing I want to deal with is a giant sea monster with a freaking cloaking device.

Does look sweet though.

Ashkael

Sidchicken wrote: »

The last thing I want to deal with is a giant sea monster with a freaking cloaking device.

Does look sweet though.

I feel like it's not so much "invisible" as it is transparent. Lots of deep sea creatures in real life have transparent flesh and you can see right into their organs! I think it would be really cool to have this kind of inspiration in Subnautica's deepest depths as well.

zetachron

Sidchicken wrote: »

The last thing I want to deal with is a giant sea monster with a freaking cloaking device.

Does look sweet though.

Yes, yes, and yes and thanks. That's a wonderful idea. A creature using a cloaking device. Love that. Maybe not a predator, but a less aggresive and more defensive creature that escapes going invisible. Or goes invisible when hunting lesser fish or other creatures eggs. Maybe the crabsquid's way. He eats small fish and predator's eggs, avoiding getting caught by predators with a cloak. If the player comes by, he'll decide to have him as a snack.


So hear me, gods of implementation:
Allow the crabsquid to use cloaking. It would be freaking to see those giant brain with eyes appear out of nowhere.

Infectedd

zetachron wrote: »

So hear me, gods of implementation:
Allow the crabsquid to use cloaking. It would be freaking to see those giant brain with eyes appear out of nowhere.

I think it would be cool if only his "skin" goes completely invisible and his eyes and brain thing just goes even more transparent.

IntrepidH

now that the devs have added in so many other creatures from concept art, I have to admit I'm most excited at the possibility of something like this guy getting announced next.
The concept art for the creature design in this game is amazing, and It's been awesome to see what all they've managed to bring to life so far from their plans!

*edit* and seeing this thing clipping through terrain like the other leviathans would be amazing haha,

5Raptorboy

It would be cool to see a "leviathan" which is completely harmless. It swims along through the ribcage in the Lost River, it looks at you, and there's nothing you can do to really interact, it's just a beautiful creature.

ResolutionBlaze

5Raptorboy wrote: »

It would be cool to see a "leviathan" which is completely harmless. It swims along through the ribcage in the Lost River, it looks at you, and there's nothing you can do to really interact, it's just a beautiful creature.

We have the Sea Emperor for that (which I think is going or considered being Passive, don't quote me on that), but to me Leviathans are more of the top of the food chain.

If we have too many passive creatures, we lose the fear of the monsters under us. If we have too many predators, we lose the opportunity to appreciate the beautiful aesthetic of the game due to the fact that we are trying not to die twenty four seven.

I still want Subnautica to be scary, despite how terrifying the Reaper Leviathans are already. Leviathans are meant, for the most part, to be the thing you lose sleep over in the game. The giants that lurk under you. I'm not scared of a small biter, I'm scared of those behemoths.

ResolutionBlaze

zetachron wrote: »

It's skeleton and animation wouldn't be too far away from the Reaper Leviathan with its long tail and big head, so could be a greater modification of it, reducing the work to be done. But it would still be too much work until game release to see it happen.

That thing looks twice as big though. That's terrifying.

leviathankiller0909

Perhaps not go into a "cloak" mode maybe the phantom leviathan will blind its enemies temporarily showing a distorted white image of your screen and noobs will crap their pants!

KyukiYoshida

Honestly I want it to be passive, and I'm also hoping the whole body will glow. I really like bio-luminescence, I also like gentle giants, and the only ones we have so far are reefbacks. It wouldn't be very fun or cool for every single large creature to be hostile. The phantom leviathan doesn't really look like something that would be mean, but rather defensive if it were attacked. Just like the upcoming emperor leviathan, it's supposedly only going to be passive or defensive, which makes sense when I look at it. While large and intimidating it's kind of adorable with it's big eyes, round face and tiny mouth. It doesn't look mean when compared to say, the sea dragon or reaper. However in our real life ocean, we have things that look mean and aren't, and things that look cute but are mean. While I realize the game isn't exactly aiming for direct realism, it would be cool if the Devs could create a diverse alien ocean similar to our oceans on earth. Though they're doing a pretty great job so far. While we definitely need large, hostile leviathans to keep the game terrifying, I don't really think the phantom should be one of them. I want large, beautiful fauna that I can swim with and appreciate in between instances of dodging death, and that doesn't really exist at this point.

BloodGod22

Ahhh... the Phantom Leviathan. The one creature I desperately wanted in game. Unfortunately it got cut out.

If they do ever add it in I'd rather they make it part of a side quest/story line where you have to find it by searching for clues.
It could be like a legendary/extinct creature that very few people even think exists let alone seen. The Moby Dick of Subnautica.