Zoo Tycoon 2 Animals
- Thread starter Fossa
- Start date
Can we maybe change this topic to 'Planet Zoo 2 animals', as the thread has nothing to do with ZT2?
That said, I can imagine some things to be implemented that would make PZ2 worth buying:
I would hope we keep most of the species we have now, although I could imagine some are taken out to be added later (or removed completely as they're already unpopular for species such as the HBB and titan beetle). Perhaps DLCs could then focus on specific ecoregions (i.e. combine regional and biome DLCs).
That said, I can imagine some things to be implemented that would make PZ2 worth buying:
- Reducing the number of items and increasing the number of options in the building system by adding more 'flexi' options: not only colours, but also textures (i.e. all stone walls could be the same item with a texture toggle), paint (on/off), etc. I believe this is done in Prehistoric Kingdom or JWE (always confuse the two). For foliage, there could even be a toggle for seasonality (i.e. select Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter for temperate species).
- Rescaling items (also done in one of the other games).
- Adding a separate habitat/exhibit mechanic for flying and fully aquatic animals.
- Terrain improvements, e.g. making steeper (90 degree) slopes, adjusting slopes to building objects and being able to edit terrain closer to paths and water.
- A new pathing system which includes standard 2m and 3m path options.
- A fix of the time system where we don't have to deal with the confusing double time system anymore.
- Ambient species like squirrels or lizards that show up randomly throughout zoos based on the selected location.
- New exhibit system with far more flexible options.
I would hope we keep most of the species we have now, although I could imagine some are taken out to be added later (or removed completely as they're already unpopular for species such as the HBB and titan beetle). Perhaps DLCs could then focus on specific ecoregions (i.e. combine regional and biome DLCs).
Yet is still missing some iconic animals that make it feel kind of incomplete.I know that it's off topic, but it's funny seeing the roster laid out like that, there's 130 animals total, and not counting the extinct and marine animals, 70 animals that would fall under what PZ is doing, a total of 30 from the base game. The whole idea that Planet Zoo's roster is emptier than ZT's was never true and it's even less true now. It's all about the species, I think.
Also....ooof. That gibbon
I understand where you're going with that, but by that same feeling, Zoo Tycoon should feel more incomplete than Planet Zoo - not taking extinct and marine animals into count of course. I realize you're talking about more iconic animals, probably the ones up high on the meta wishlists, but with 120 animals, PZ far overtakes ZT's offerings.
Absolutely correct me if I'm wrong, but by iconic I'm thinking you're referring to - the Secretary Bird, Spectacled Bear, Muskox, Wolverine, and a Baboon (Gelada). By that I mean that Zoo Tycoon 2 had those animals but Planet Zoo does not (as yet).
But animals like the Tasmanian Devil, Crested/Cape Porcupine, Coatimundi, Collard Peccary, Tree Kangaroo Howler Monkey, Spider Monkey and Hamadryas Baboon aren't in either.
Meanwhile Planet Zoo offers,
As a ZT2 addict in my middle school days, when the roster for Planet Zoo dropped - mind you I didn't start playing PZ till early 2021 - I thought the roster was good, but great.
It was a significant improvement over Zoo Tycoon Xbox (yikes), but they're clearly many, many icon species missing - polar bears, kangaroos, koalas, foxes, meerkats, penguins, moose, otters, pinnipeds, etc.
Needless to say, Frontier ingeniously left them out create DLCs, with said icons sprinkled in.
Imo the Planet Zoo roster was just as good as ZT2 Complete Collection when the North American Animal Pack came out.
It surpassed it with Conservation Pack - leopard, gibbon, and Pzweralski's horse were in my mind the top tier remaining quintessential zoo animals (save for personal preference and of course birds, but that's a WHOLE other story).
It was a significant improvement over Zoo Tycoon Xbox (yikes), but they're clearly many, many icon species missing - polar bears, kangaroos, koalas, foxes, meerkats, penguins, moose, otters, pinnipeds, etc.
Needless to say, Frontier ingeniously left them out create DLCs, with said icons sprinkled in.
Imo the Planet Zoo roster was just as good as ZT2 Complete Collection when the North American Animal Pack came out.
It surpassed it with Conservation Pack - leopard, gibbon, and Pzweralski's horse were in my mind the top tier remaining quintessential zoo animals (save for personal preference and of course birds, but that's a WHOLE other story).
Oh indeed. At launch there were definitely some key missing species not in the game that probably should have been. Mammal wise, I truly believe we've gotten all of the basic mammals at this point. Are the porcupine and Tasmanian Devil popular and notably missing now? Yes, but I can't see a fervent call that they should have been included at launch, as basic zoo staples.
My timeline's a bit different on when PZ surpassed ZT to become the, IMO, the best zoo game of all time, and that was when the North American pack came out. It's only gotten better and better since then. For the most part, when the most wanted animals, either individually or as a community, started out 3 and a half years ago as animals that were only mildly wanted and less important to get from launch. Priorities shift as the game progresses. Of my top 10 wishlist right after game launch, the Wombat was the final animal from that list to be needed. The Wolverine is the only one remaining out of my top 20. The "most important" now are actually less important than the most important additions we got a year ago, much less two years ago.
Again, on birds...a whole different story to that. So I try to mainly just talk about mammals for the most part.
I have to say that base game PZ is better than base game ZT2.
The latter had only 30 species, all famous and iconic in their own rights. PZ had 50 habitat species (52 including the black-and-white ruffed lemur and the red deer).
Iconic species missing? Yes. Polar bear, jaguar, red kangaroo, southern white rhino being the big species missing.
However, like @TheDuckKnight stated, these were clearly added in to headline the earlier DLC packs. Polar bear is obvious for Arctic, jaguar for South America, red kangaroo for Australia, and rhino for Africa.
But, we also got many other iconic animals that weren't essential for the base game for essential for the game's lifespan:
All of these are iconic, same as Zoo Tycoon 1 and 2 nostalgia, others because of pop culture, like Madagascar.
And now I don't remember where I was going with this...
The latter had only 30 species, all famous and iconic in their own rights. PZ had 50 habitat species (52 including the black-and-white ruffed lemur and the red deer).
Iconic species missing? Yes. Polar bear, jaguar, red kangaroo, southern white rhino being the big species missing.
However, like @TheDuckKnight stated, these were clearly added in to headline the earlier DLC packs. Polar bear is obvious for Arctic, jaguar for South America, red kangaroo for Australia, and rhino for Africa.
But, we also got many other iconic animals that weren't essential for the base game for essential for the game's lifespan:
- Reindeer
- Giant anteater
- Koala
- King penguin
- Clouded leopard
- Fennec fox
- Meerkat
- Moose
- American alligator
- California sea lion
- Cougar
- Alpine ibex
- Asian small-clawed otter
- Scimitar horned oryx
- Przewalski wild horse
- Blue wildebeest
- Striped hyena
- Caracal
- Lar gibbon
- Red river hog
- Fossa
All of these are iconic, same as Zoo Tycoon 1 and 2 nostalgia, others because of pop culture, like Madagascar.
And now I don't remember where I was going with this...
This may not be it, but it comes down to the idea that since the point of the game's launch, all of the higher profile and potentially necessary mammals (and a handful of birds/reptiles) that were not included in launch have now been included; and then some.
Every animal is going to be someone's favorite missing animal, even from launch. I'm sure there were a few people who questioned them leaving out the Tasmanian Devil from the base game, but there was no surge of complaints that it should have been included as a base game animal. heck even the Capybara, it took a while to really catch on that it was essential, even after the South America pack (where it should have been IMO) and Aquatic pack did not bring it. We're we'll beyond the point where any additional mammals would be considered animals that were high profile enough that they should have been in the base game.
Your list gets to the heart of it, but even then it may be more lenient on what should have been included. 41 months ago we weren't crying out for New World Monkeys, Secretary Birds, Porcupines and the like. It was more...no Polar Bear, Penguin, and "they forgot Australia!" - because that caliber of animals are common in zoo games.
Having to balance out getting to those iconic inclusions that show up in most games while giving us oddball choices no one saw coming, from the very first pack, was probably not easy to do. Yet, they did it, and here we are...our high priorities were not really high priorities originally, they're only made so because everything else above them has already gotten included, mammal wise anyways.
More like dromedary camel, black rhinoceros and nile crocodile mostly. But yeah secretary bird, wolverine and musk ox could fallo under this definition as well just not as much.
And yes i agree that PZ roster is way better than that of ZT2 but for me is just weird that they went for the less common less known alternative for these animals (bactrian, indian rhino and salty even though the bactrian i would argue is just as iconic as the dromedary though) and that now almost 4 years in we still haven't got them and if we do get them in a DLC at this point will feel like a wasted slot like what happened with the blue wildebeast.
I would've just prefered for most of this animals to be in the base game and their alternatives added later on in DLC since they are more interesting choices for an expansión pack.
But yeah without them i still feel like the roster will be kind of incomplete, for me at least.
The 3 you mentioned. The bactrian, salty and Indian rhino, I honestly like more. I've seen both rhinos and camels an equal amount of times and for crocs I've only ever seen slatwater, freshwater and American Alligator.
Now that you mention Zoo Tycoon 2, Fossa, since Europe pack featuring an ibex, Planet Zoo had most of the genera featured in Zoo Tycoon 2 excluding and before expansion packs and downloables. These genera were the exceptions.
| Zoo Tycoon 2 species | Planet Zoo species |
| 1. Gorillas | mountain gorilla couldn't last and/or breed in captivity | western lowland gorilla |
| 2. Big apex predatory crocodiles | nile crocodile | saltwater crocodile |
| 3. Camel | dromedary camel | bactrian camel |
| 4. Antarctic penguins | emperor penguin Were there any in captivity beside Seaworld San Diego? | king penguin |
| 5. African rhinoceroses | black rhinoceros | white rhinoceros |
Before I'll jump to conclusions, what did you mean about your mountain gorilla part?
We have the western lowland gorilla, a species already in a captivity. As far as I know, there’s only one mountain gorilla in captivity in Antwerp.
That one is an eastern lowland gorilla
Yeah. Only western lowland gorilla species could last and breed in captivity so far.