Well, if people want to simulate running a zoo poorly then Frontier has given them plenty of tools to do so. I for one choose to reject the idea.
Planet Zoo: Eurasia Animal Pack arriving 13 Dec ❄️
- Thread starter Lydiah Moon
- Start date
Frontier has given us the tools to run our fantasy zoos how we want... which is generally what you want to let players do in these sort of free build sandbox games...
I mean, it's also semi-realistic, so having the skins/colormorphs isn't too bad. If it isn't for you, you don't need to use it.
Plus, you can roleplay that your zoo rescued these tigers from a poorly managed facility, as well
Put that on a shirtThere are only bad picks, no bad animals.
- CharlieXGaming, December 6th, 2023
I'll be honest, I never understood the appeal of this animal. We already have two brown bear species, what would a third one add that the other two don't have? Is it simply wanting a European bear species?
Agreed. While I love bears, I see no point in adding the EBB. We have a good Europe representation, and I feel like the Spectacled Bear and ABB would add a lot more to the game than EBB.
Also this has nothing to do with anyone but just saying this in general, Europe has a very good representation now, and anyone who says Europe needs more animals for the game to be complete, is to me being selfish (imo, don’t kill me). Europes key species have been covered, I’m happy with the ones they’ve chosen here because they are unique, the rest that they didn’t choose (EBB, Eurasian Otter, etc) would not be beneficial to the game that much imo and have very similar counterparts already in game. There are lots of other animals from other continents that need attention first before we come back to Europe.
The only exceptions to this are the European Rabbit and the Walrus (although the walrus isn’t just European).
I'd say it's more likely because the Himalayan Brown Bear remains one of the strangest and most pointless additions to the entire game... the spot would have been better off handed to either the EBB or the Syrian Brown Bear.
Yes, neither of which is the Eurasian brown bear. It's not complicated.
See, it's easy for me to disagree, because I have literally zero use for the ABB. It would be - quite literally - useless to me. On the other hand, I'd probably put the EBB in a lot of the zoos I build. I like brown bears, but grizzlies are as useless to me as the ABB and the Himalayan model is just bad.
Yeah swams dont really excite me but it is also the animal I am most looking forward to because of what it means for the future. I had all but lost hope for the inclusion of waterfowl in the game so the swans inclusion is a huge step forward in diversity and is exciting for the future.
They only problem is it would cause outrage from all the non europeans if it was in a paid dlc which 100% why it hasnt been done yet.
Im so sad the tortoise has been sent to the jail. I literally despise exhibit boxes because all they do is take my favourite animals suck all the soul and creativity out of them. Why must the tortoise be a glorified prop I want them to be able to walkaround and explore not just turn their heads and blink. I honestly would rather not get the tortoise then have it in the box of sadness and tears. Like I get snakes being boxed but a tortoise cant be that hard to make seriously.
The swans rig will make or break this pack for me. If it is just a smaller flamingo having no diving animations and exclusively walking or swimming I will be thoroughly disappointed.
There are 3 other animals in the pack that the have potential to sell me on the pack. The takin if it can actually climb which I fear it may not. The sloth bear if it actually has the ability to hold its children like was teased in the livestream. The wolverine if it can climb be that either traditional climbing or rock climb.
This is the thing that people for some reason don't understand about rigs.
The 'rig' is just the digital skeleton. It can be manipulated into new shapes, and the devs only reuse existing animations when they make sense. They can and do add new animations to old rigs for new animals all the time. So yes, the swan will probably be a 'smaller flamingo', but it will also certainly have unique animations, probably courtship and possibly some form of diving.
There is a minimum hitbox size I believe (or something like that), so it would be incredibly stupid for them to go in a habitat where a single rock would be enough to demolish their traversible area.
I get the difference between rig and animations the rig is still the issue with what I want because the animations still need to be applied to the skeleton especially ones such as swans divining or low level flying which would require movement of the skeleton in ways the flamingo is not at all capable of.
Then fine fix the exhibit boxes I want just them to be able to walk even if it is looped animations within the box I just hate the fact that they are statues that teleport like weeping angels when you turn around.
There won't be any low-level flying anyway so don't worry about that. Why on earth would there need to be? Anyway, I'm not sure you do understand. There was a dev video a while ago that explained how the animations work now; they can apply any animations to any rig really easily. They demonstrated this by giving the tortoises the bear fighting animations.
In terms of process, unless I'm mistaken, it would go "base rig (flamingo) > reshape into desired rig (swan) > apply animations (either brand new and/or recycled old)". Animations exist as a playlist (again, I'm not an expert at any of this, I've just absorbed things through osmosis). New ones can be added to the playlist and old ones removed.
In terms of what I mean for flying I want instead of it running to a destination like some animals do I want for it to stay low to the ground but fly as its method of faster travel.
If the swam just walks everywhere I will be annoyed.
Honestly I dont know enough on rigs to argue this properly so I wont. What I thought rigs were was an internal skeleton that animations could be applied to in order to run so yes I fully expect a large portion to be reshaped flamingo like bringing leg joints up but for the diving animations and theoretical low level flying I thought that would require new bones to attach to and function I could be completely wrong so ill be quite now.
I disagree regarding the otter: we don't have a counterpart for it. We do have an otter that looks similar but smaller. However, their requirements are completely different. Can we build a zoo in Northern Europe or Northern Asia or Northern America with a single otter in a habitat full of snow? No, we can't. So a cold biome otter is really needed.
I agree entirely. It’s like saying we don’t need the blackbuck because we have the springbok.
If you want a random zoo where the box of “otter” is ticked off then fine. But if you want something more realistic and specific - which increasingly the game allows us to do - then the random “counterpart” simply won’t do.
The press release states:
“The graceful Mute Swan, named for its quiet nature, is also sure to turn heads with its impressive wingspan and underwater foraging behaviour”
People that still wish for European Brown Bears = mostly the same realism lovers that hate the saiga and nose monkey in the game, two FAR superior animals to have in a VIDEO game.
I need Secretary Bird, Markhor, Ratel, Shoebill and Leopard Seals next
Some Tree Kangaroo, Scarlet Ibis, Spectacled Bear, Gelada, Serval, Gerenuk, Hornbill, Golden Pheasant, Kudu, Alligator Snapping Turtle, and Victoria Crowned Pigeon would be lovely as well
Also finally improve the brown bears, lion, kamel and hyena models while you are at it
I need Secretary Bird, Markhor, Ratel, Shoebill and Leopard Seals next
Some Tree Kangaroo, Scarlet Ibis, Spectacled Bear, Gelada, Serval, Gerenuk, Hornbill, Golden Pheasant, Kudu, Alligator Snapping Turtle, and Victoria Crowned Pigeon would be lovely as well
Also finally improve the brown bears, lion, kamel and hyena models while you are at it
I disagree regarding anything; there's no such thing as a 'counterpart' for me, with exception to animals which represent the species level, such as the timber wolf (and even then I'd still prefer to be taxonomically specified into the Eurasian wolf). If they'd just given us a "brown bear" (Ursus arctos) I'd never even mention the EBB. But they didn't, therefore it's not in the game, therefore I want it. I'm not particularly fussed on more river otters (at least, neither the NA or Euro one) but I agree with the point.
You are mostly correct - it's just that you wouldn't need to add new parts to the skeleton to get a swan out of a flamingo. The flamingo already has wing animations, for example - what part needs to be added? In any event they can still add "new bones" to an old rig. Think of the rig like a clay model I guess, rather than a skeleton, that can be reshaped.
Swans use their wings in a variety of ways that don't involve flying. I'll be very surprised if they include any flying animations for it beyond just general wing-flapping displays. Edit: Which I'm fine with, I should add. I'd rather it didn't fly. I just want them to be a decorative species I can put in a pond and contain with a null barrier to fake wild swans.