Mechanics between Wilbur and Prime Apes seems weak

[oCrapaCreeper]

It's great Wilbur was finally pulled from the depths of the unused content and put into Shipwrecked, and while I think his sprinting ability and general benefits of being a monkey are great and all, the part of him that has the most potential with him appears to be undeveloped thus far, that of course is the relationship with the natives monkeys. 

So far Wilbur seems to have the potential to be the next Webber, a unique character that is meant to survive in environments and with methods not favorable to other characters, so far though he seems kinda bland other than having the novelty of being a monkey. This is okay though, because Webber started out relatively weak until he was buffed according. 

He's the monkey king, right? Shouldn't the prime apes play a key role in Wilbur's playstyle? Aside from not harassing him, Prime apes just have that mechanic where they seem to randomly pick up items and throw them at him (which I can never see for myself). Aside from that they just pretty much do... nothing, from my understanding. After that he's just a character who has the ability to sprint. So I think Wilbur's playstyle should be more centered around the prime apes, similar to how Webber's playstyle is centered around spiders. You should have a reason to want to settle near the apes.

I think a good start would be giving Wilbur a placeable prime ape hut at the start of the game. Give him some bananas in his starting inventory as well, since they help him with sanity. Then, make it easier to befriend the apes. He's the monkey king, I don't think he should have to bribe them. In general it should be beneficial to live near prime apes. 

Those are just my thoughts. Wilbur seems to have a lot of potential but he's not quite there. Any other ideas? It seems like there's a lot that can be done here.

[giodelmar]

In my opinion, Wilbur does not have to be "like webber". I like the unique ability "running" and the visual it gives (he holds a tool using his tail when he runs) it is very unique from other characters- good job to Klei.  If you make him "like webber" then it is not really a different play style for those people who already tried Webber before. Wilbur is a perfect addition to SW.

 

[oCrapaCreeper]

4 minutes ago, giodelmar said:

In my opinion, Wilbur does not have to be "like webber". I like the unique ability "running" and the visual it gives (he holds a tool using his tail when he runs) it is very unique from other characters- good job to Klei.  If you make him "like webber" then it is not really a different play style for those people who already tried Webber before. Wilbur is a perfect addition to SW.

 

The sprinting feature is nice and all be he's incredibly undeveloped beyond that. Most character have more than one interesting perk that effects gameplay. In other words, he's nothing more than novelty right now and becomes bland in late game, an issue that all of the Shipwrecked characters appear to have.

[rezecib]

Apparently they will harvest things as well. So it's possible to make a grass/twigs garden with monkey and have them help harvest. There's a hefty cooldown on it, though... perhaps that could be removed or greatly reduced in the presence of Wilbur.

[hijoker]

Well Wilbur was found on a raft in the ocean.. and also those prime apes had his crown. Maybe there's a story there? Perhaps he used to be king but was banished, so they aren't as loyal to him as spiders are to Webber.

[AnonymousKoala]

30 minutes ago, hijoker said:

Well Wilbur was found on a raft in the ocean.. and also those prime apes had his crown. Maybe there's a story there? Perhaps he used to be king but was banished, so they aren't as loyal to him as spiders are to Webber.

They still behave themselves while he's around though and give him stuff though.

 

2 hours ago, rezecib said:

Apparently they will harvest things as well. So it's possible to make a grass/twigs garden with monkey and have them help harvest. There's a hefty cooldown on it, though... perhaps that could be removed or greatly reduced in the presence of Wilbur.

Im on day 7 and settled near Prime Apes on day 2. So far I had 2 cut reeds thrown at me, and that's it. I feel like the cooldown really is too high.

I think that a nice idea would be that he's not webber. Webber makes friends with spiders because they're all he gets. Wilbur should be protected by them and having all of their loot thrown at him. He is their king after all. 

I also really like the suggestion about him befriending apes more easily, since he doesn't need to bribe them.

[GiddyGuy]

I kind of hope they improve his running like if you stop moving you stop immediately and lose all momentum, I think I'll just stick with Walani and Warly. 

[Urfable]

I settled on an island with about 6-8 monkey huts around me and a beach to the left. From what I've seen they throw things at me regularly but maybe because there's enough resources(beach)/monkeys nearby?

I agree though, i initially thought the mechanics between the two were better in terms of having an "army" of some sort without necessarily having to bribe them. Maybe a hostile mob would have to have hit you before the prime apes start protecting you or something like that.
I think his running should be more of a buildup or slightly easier to control. It sucks when you're almost forced to run even though you're about to starve. And in that case, maybe if your hunger is down to a certain point you won't be able to run at all?

Besides that, I actually like Wilbur a lot more compared to Walani and Warly.

[FreyaMaluk]

I agree with the idea of fixing the annoying cooldown for the running. But more importantly, I think he deserves a voice. Why can't he have the ability to communicate? He doesn't have to be extremely articulate, but I wish we could have some insight into the mind of this character. He is the King of the Monkeys after all. Besides, apes are known to be able to comunicate with humans. A cool way to introduce this change would be to make his voice quest related. You need to colect certain things or discover something or someone how has imprisoned his voice. Dunno.... something like that.