Planet Zoo | ZooKeepers Animal Pack Announcement

[jcp011c]

Really looking forward to this pack!!! Sifakas have been on my list for a while.

This seems more like a milestone DLC and update than an actual final pack though because the game still needs more South American animals, as well as a few more key animals from different parts of the world. Named a few below.

Echidna, Tree Kangaroo and Perentie for Oceania.
A Walrus and Musk Ox for the Arctic.
The Sea Otter, American Black Bear, Mountain Goat and Elk for the Pacific Northwest of America.
The Honey Badger, Secretary Bird, Shoebill, Grey Crowned Crane, Gelada, Greater Kudu, Impala, Serval, Nile Crocodile and an Eland for Africa.
For Eastern Asia we could still see animals like that of the Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey, Golden Pheasant, Tanuki, Mandarin Duck, Japanese Serow, Reeves's Muntjac and perhaps the Domestic Yak.
The Indian Subcontinent could also still use the Blackbuck, Gaur and Fishing Cat.
Lastly Latin America, the South American Coati, Ocelot, Black Howler Monkey, Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, Bush Dog, Patagonian Mara, Greater Rhea, Scarlet Ibis, Southern Tamandua, Roseate Spoonbill, Common Squirrel Monkey as well as a Tamarin and a Marmoset would be good too.
The exhibits are missing many classic reptiles and other critters like that of the King Cobra, a Chameleon and a Gecko of a sort, a Giant Salamander, Tuatara, a Blue/Dyeing Poison Dart Frog, Reticulated Python, Green Anaconda, Gaboon Viper, Black Mamba, Inland Taipan, Weta, Basilisk Lizard, Caiman Lizard, Mudskipper, Horseshoe Crab, Coconut Crab, Madagascar Hissing Cockroach and many, many others.

I don't disagree that many of those could be considered needed, but it appears the developers don't feel the same way. they simply aren't making the cut.

ETA: seeing people are ranking animals now at this point, and I'd like to just give my "day after announcement" thoughts here. This will probably change after release some.

Spectacled Bear - 9/10 for me. It was a huge want for me and I feel like I finally create my local zoo. There are other animals the game doesn't have but we have animals close enough for replacement, I never felt that way about the bear, it had to be the real thing. Minus one point because if we were getting just one south american animal it should have been a monkey.
Markhor - 8/10. Unique looking goat that I really like as a nostalgia pick.
Pallas Cat - 6/10 - not a bad pack but not an animal I was desperate for. I don't have an issue with it being included but would have gladly taken some kind of South American animal over it.
Hamadryas Baboon - 6/10 - I was never on the "baboon hypetrain" but I realize it was heavily requested. Like above, . I don't have an issue with it being included but would have gladly taken some kind of South American animal over it.
African Spurred Tortoise - 6/10 - definitely a pattern here, just middle ground again. At least it is another reptile I guess.
Kirk's Dik Dik - 2/10 - Another African antelope. Meh, don't really care if it's unique looking, I'm so over the African Antelopes
Sifaka - 1/10 - I would give this zero stars if I could. Unique looking yes but we absolutely did not need a FOURTH lemur over a second New World Monkey. Absolutely baffling and frustrating.

Total ranking: 38/70 - so like 5.3 out of 10. Not awful but also not great, especially for a final pack.


African Leopard - 7/10 - It's free so it's got that going for it. I can't complain too much about a free animal, even though it's not one that I was really excited to get. It's like the same level as the Baboon, Tortoise and cat, but an extra point since it's free.

 

[IberianLink🐾🦖]

As great as some of these picks are, it's just not enough as some others should have taken priority. In consequence, we get a lackluster roster in detriment of some reasonable and louder requests. What is the necessity to still include oddballs when it's the last pack?

It's really noticeable how this pack suffers from the sins of the previous ones that came before it. It truly feels like a leftovers pack more than a celebration one, when it can't even get some of the huge requests right by omitting birds and exhibits again. For instance, reception would have been way better by adding any out of a chameleon, tree kangaroo, coati, South American monkey, duck, pheasant, crane or even flamingo clone. Instead, we are presented with only 7 species and a poor excuse of building pieces for a finale pack.

To not even tease it during International Zookeeper Day last week makes the whole thing seem so tone deaf and careless, but oh well that's the thing you get as a result when you fire your staff.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

I don't disagree that many of those could be considered needed, but it appears the developers don't feel the same way. they simply aren't making the cut.

ETA: seeing people are ranking animals now at this point, and I'd like to just give my "day after announcement" thoughts here. This will probably change after release some.

Spectacled Bear - 9/10 for me. It was a huge want for me and I feel like I finally create my local zoo. There are other animals the game doesn't have but we have animals close enough for replacement, I never felt that way about the bear, it had to be the real thing. Minus one point because if we were getting just one south american animal it should have been a monkey.
Markhor - 8/10. Unique looking goat that I really like as a nostalgia pick.
Pallas Cat - 6/10 - not a bad pack but not an animal I was desperate for. I don't have an issue with it being included but would have gladly taken some kind of South American animal over it.
Hamadryas Baboon - 6/10 - I was never on the "baboon hypetrain" but I realize it was heavily requested. Like above, . I don't have an issue with it being included but would have gladly taken some kind of South American animal over it.
African Spurred Tortoise - 6/10 - definitely a pattern here, just middle ground again. At least it is another reptile I guess.
Kirk's Dik Dik - 2/10 - Another African antelope. Meh, don't really care if it's unique looking, I'm so over the African Antelopes
Sifaka - 1/10 - I would give this zero stars if I could. Unique looking yes but we absolutely did not need a FOURTH lemur over a second New World Monkey. Absolutely baffling and frustrating.

Total ranking: 38/70 - so like 5.3 out of 10. Not awful but also not great, especially for a final pack.


African Leopard - 7/10 - It's free so it's got that going for it. I can't complain too much about a free animal, even though it's not one that I was really excited to get. It's like the same level as the Baboon, Tortoise and cat, but an extra point since it's free.

Imagine giving sifaka 1/10 for being a fourth lemure but the african leopard a 7/10, which is literally our 7/5 member of panthera

 

[USzoofan42]

It’s weird to think that the animals I was most excited for (secretary, tree roo, echidna) weren’t included but they each were in the dictionary. Echidna is arguably the music but still, why didn’t former just make an old world new world pack combo! It would of made them wayyyy more money.

 

[CharlieXGaming]

Oh yeah I forgot to rank the animals should get on that:

Hamadryas Baboon - 8.5/10 - Great choice, I’ve wanted it for very very long and I’m very excited it’s coming, but I gotta take off points for the looks… the fur just doesn’t look nearly as good as some of the slightly older DLC animals, especially the body fur.

Pallas Cat - 8/10 - Basically same feelings as the baboon, an animal I really wanted and am glad we’re getting, but the model just looks off to me just a bit; but tbf they've never really done superb with cats in the past.

Markhor - 7/10 - Giving it a 7 in hopes that it actually looks good, worried about that beard though. A solid pick; not one I was dying for but it was requested and is good to have after it was dropped from Eurasia.

Spurred Tortoise - 5/10 - Was it needed in general? Yes I do believe we need or at least would benefit from another tortoise with the quality we have now, but does it really need to be here in the last pack? No, there’s more important species and this and the dikdik would be the first to go if I could trade animals out of this pack.

Spectacled Bear - 5/10 - It’s good, not much else to say. I am disappointed that out of all SA reps they chose one of the more boring ones, but it was still requested so you can’t blame them. Looks good, just kinda boring to me.

Sifaka - 3/10 - Look it will probably have new animations and everything but it just doesn’t change the fact that this should’ve been a new world monkey, that’s the most disappointing part of this entire pack, the first time we get 2 primates but frontier completely ignores the place that needs primates the most.

Dik-Dik - 2/10 - It just does nothing for me. It’s not final pack material, it wasn’t that requested and I just don’t get excited thinking of building for this one; it’s just eh.

 

[Stygi]

Sifaka - 8/10 - looking forward to seeing the new animations, I think they are really cute although it looses points for not being a new world monkey
Spectacled Bear - 7/10 - more south american animals and it looks quite good in the trailer
Kirk's Dik-Dik - 6/10 - wanted a small ungulate so I guess I got what I wanted but would have absolutely preferred the Southern Pudu instead
Hamadryas Baboon - 6/10 - a monkey is pretty cool but I didn't care about the baboon would have rather had the Gelada or just a standard African monkey, looks worse than all the other furry animals we got last year
African Spurred Tortoise - 6/10 - very unique compared to the other tortoises and the other animals in the pack, very common so I will use it a lot but I would have rather had something more interesting
Markhor - 4/10 - another mountain caprine which I think is really unnecessary hopefully it will look good but the baboon and cat don't inspire confidence
Pallas Cat - 2/10 - another small cat, and it doesn't even look that good

 

[Firestar97]

I love how people are happy about the primates but we already have both! A second baboon and a fourth lemur.

Second Baboon? DLCs you've played in your Dreams don't count

 

[Stygi]

Second Baboon? DLCs you've played in your Dreams don't count

Well we have the Mandrill which is fairly similar, I don't understand how the Baboon was so popular when it is fairly similar to the Mandrill and Macaque and we totally lacked a generic African or Asian monkey (Proboscis doesn't count as generic because they hardly exist in captivity)

 

[USzoofan42]

After digesting this pack a bit more, nice job frontier! How crazy is it the frontier pulled such an amazing pack with so much diverse animals and nailed our expectations into a coffin! This roster of animals don’t match together at all imo. At least try to make the make the pack diverse in some sort of way, instead of the cat or markhor do a simple elk or try to do the echidna or tree roo. I would have be so much happier if you guys didn’t pull the lazy route and at least try with this pack. All of the animals to me look like their lower quality so far, I’ll have to see them in game though. And of course you guys didn’t add 5 more animals to your final pack! I would have been glad for another penguin, zebra, bear, bird or even the ocelot. You guys could’ve made a successful pack if you guys didn’t go the lazy route. It feels like the south east Asia pack all over again.

 

[RightWhale]

Imagine giving sifaka 1/10 for being a fourth lemure but the african leopard a 7/10, which is literally our 7/5 member of panthera

The sifaka is just a poor victim of circumstance for me.

1. Amazing model
2. Super unique animal
3. Awesome animations
4. ZABOOMAFOO

However, due to circumstance it has a lot going against it.

1. We got our last new world monkey 4 years ago, and we already have 3 other lemur species in game.
2. We haven’t got any other Madagascan animal since the fossa, no whistling duck, no gecko, no cockroach, no crocodile.

While that isn’t a ton of issues, #1 is absolutely massive. A multi year campaign for a new world primate brought down in one single moment. A victim of success really. Maybe someone on the Frontier team has a fear of birds and monkeys? Maybe they aren’t scared of lemurs?

 

[USzoofan42]

It feels like a money laundering scheme. They are waiting until PZ2 to add the animals we have wanted since the beginning. Secretary Bird, Yak, Tree Kangaroo, Walrus. That says enough, or how you wait for DLCS to release animals like polar bears, kangaroos, almost all of our bird roster and much more!

 

[Captain Callum]

It feels like a money laundering scheme. They are waiting until PZ2 to add the animals we have wanted since the beginning. Secretary Bird, Yak, Tree Kangaroo, Walrus. That says enough, or how you wait for DLCS to release animals like polar bears, kangaroos, almost all of our bird roster and much more!

We go from frontier has scummy business practises because we can't get birds to it's obviously money laundering because we can't get meta-wishlist animals. Really?

 

[Annie_konik]

Ranking animals, why not
Andean Bear - 9/10 - it looks amazing in the trailer and it was my most wanted bear. And it's an SA animal.
Markhor - 8/10 - I love this species, but I admit we have (relatively) many mountain dwellers in the game now, especially since the Takin. I HOPE it looks good, very excited to see it in the game
Pallas' Cat - 8/10 - it looks very nice, it's a small cat and from a different biome than the sand cat. I'm very excited for it
Baboon - 6/10 - I'm not a baboon enthusiast but it's hard to imagine this game ending without any baboons. The model looks reasonably well made although not as good as say Porcupine.
Spurred Tortoise - 6/10 - I love tortoises so I'm glad the game is getting one more. I would have preferred Radiated Tortoise instead because it's more colorful. Still, nice addition!
Sifaka - 4/10 - I feel rather meh about this inclusion. Nothing against them, but they were never my priority. Not a priority primate for me (that would obviously be an SA monkey or even any monkey from India). And not a priority from its region. For Madagascar representation, a Radiated Tortoise or a chameleon would be nicer. For a lemur even I would have preferred Aye aye.
Dik-dik - 3/10 - the most random of random additions. But maybe they will be cute if the model is well-made. So many better alternatives, be it small ungulates or other mammals (hyrax?) or preferably birds.
African Leopard - 3/10 - Also not too exciting because it's not a new species for the game, just a subspecies. But it looks very good and it's free
Exhibit 0/10 - why oh why? No Chameleon, Gekko or cobra

This DLC is a very mixed bag for me. Having a mix of dream animals and a few that are pretty meh. And a few painful omissions. A bittersweet way to end the game indeed.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

The sifaka is just a poor victim of circumstance for me.

1. Amazing model
2. Super unique animal
3. Awesome animations
4. ZABOOMAFOO

However, due to circumstance it has a lot going against it.

1. We got our last new world monkey 4 years ago, and we already have 3 other lemur species in game.
2. We haven’t got any other Madagascan animal since the fossa, no whistling duck, no gecko, no cockroach, no crocodile.

While that isn’t a ton of issues, #1 is absolutely massive. A multi year campaign for a new world primate brought down in one single moment. A victim of success really. Maybe someone on the Frontier team has a fear of birds and monkeys? Maybe they aren’t scared of lemurs?

Still anybody who says the leopard was a better addition then the sifaka really got to sip some truth juice.
The leopard could have been literally anything, a macaque, a squirrel monkey, a vervet monkey, a rhea, the black swan, a duck even so slandering the most unique animal of the pack but praising the leopard just makes negative sense to me

 

[Swiftie_Midnights_]

Zookeeper Animal Pack - Ranking (Based on the Announcement)​

African Spurred Tortoise - 13/10, I wanted this animal for too long and I can't believe we finally getting it I am so damn excited about this one and I'm sure Frontier knocked their model out of the park as they always do with Reptiles, I can't wait!!!

Spectacled Bear - 13/10, Idc that It's another Bear, that bear is so gorgeous and their model is outstanding, I am so excited for that one mainly when we a least getting smth for our poor South America areas in our zoos! I need to see their babies tho-

Hamadryas Baboon - 9/10 - Again I waited for that animal so long and I can't believe we finally getting it, mainly after losing hope with Arid and Africa Pack so I'm super excited about those guys their model looks really good, although I have to say I am not sure how I feel about the hair but I'm sure it defo would look better in-game so!

Kirk’s dik-dik - 8/10 - I mean, finally we getting a tiny and adorable ungulate which we are lacking on too much. I wanted those fellow's sm and finally we getting it!!!

Pallas cat - 8/10 - The model is gorgeous I mean ya- such a beautiful and cute and angry cat which I adore, and It's a small animal and one thing u should know about me is that
small animals are always a win for me.

Coquerel’s sifaka - 7.5/10 - Tbh I never thought I'll be quite excited to get a new lemur but oh here we r! I'm sure they gonna look incredible, and I really do hope Frontier gave them a whole new and cool rig, and it wouldn't be just another 4.0 lemur

Markhor - 7/10 - One thing we all know about Frontier is that they r so good at creating ungulates, so I'm sure this one is no exception, I am very hoping it gonna use the Mountain Enrichment Item

African Leopard - 5.5/10 - I mean the model is gorgeous and It's a free animal, just they are very rare in zoos and It's another leopard, still It's amazing animal just idk how much use I'm gonna find in them.

Overall: 8.5/10, such a great pack!!! Do I think It's a good last DLC? yes and no, like all those animals are super requested but... (South America looking through the window...)
I wanted to get the Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo and Waterfowl sm, and I still have tiny bit of hope that It's not the last dlc and we still can get more amazing creatures that r missing from the game.

 

[CharlieXGaming]

Well this meme just got more sad

 

[RightWhale]

Still anybody who says the leopard was a better addition then the sifaka really got to sip some truth juice.
The leopard could have been literally anything, a macaque, a squirrel monkey, a vervet monkey, a rhea, the black swan, a duck even so slandering the most unique animal of the pack but praising the leopard just makes negative sense to me

Oh trust me, the more I think about this pack the less I think the African Leopard was the way to go. Having the big 5 in game is cool admittedly.

But the American flamingo was right there! At least then we would have had a bird, and one for both NA and SA in base game. Now NA and SA will have no birds, unless Frontier decides “we have another one coming”. I know the chances of that are less than 1%. But I really would love to know this isn’t the end.

 

[jcp011c]

Still anybody who says the leopard was a better addition then the sifaka really got to sip some truth juice.
The leopard could have been literally anything, a macaque, a squirrel monkey, a vervet monkey, a rhea, the black swan, a duck even so slandering the most unique animal of the pack but praising the leopard just makes negative sense to me

What can I say, it’s my opinion . Of course yours is aiso right, for you.

Just to clarify my line of thinking lemurs aren’t on the same level as big cats to me. It’s more like they’re on a level with tigers, lions, etc. so a fourth lemur does get ranked lower than a second (and free) true leopard.
But again just my own opinion

 

[USzoofan42]

We go from frontier has scummy business practises because we can't get birds to it's obviously money laundering because we can't get meta-wishlist animals. Really?

Money Laundering was the wrong term, its meant that they are saving these animals for PZ2 just for people to buy it.

 

[RightWhale]

Money Laundering was the wrong term, its meant that they are saving these animals for PZ2 just for people to buy it.

Yeah, sounds like a normal business decision. Trust me I’m not happy about it either, in case I didn’t make it obvious.

Frontier does need stuff if they are going to sell a sequel down the line, and unfortunately the zoo animals I love were a deciding factor. It is what it is. You and I can find it unfair, but it’s a very normal business decision.

Which is why I am now getting into modding. If Frontier decides they don’t want my money for birds I’ll use our wonderful community.