I've almost had it with this game.

-TC- · Nov 22, 2024

I was so hyped for this game, but it dissapoints me more and more.
Where Planet Coaster was a breath of fresh air, PC2 comes to me like a verry unfinished and rushed game.
With all due respect to the developers but..what happened?

Do not understand me wrong, a few things are great about this new release. We asked for swimming pools, we got them! We can create plaza's now...GREAT!
But what went wrong with the basic stuff?

Communication :

I had a great time, and with me a lot of people, watching the streams with Bo etc... , now : the deep dives were boring, and never showing things what people actually wanted.
Replies from devs are almost 'non existent'.

Paths :

Why are exit paths and staff paths standard 4m while queues are standard like 2m?
Why do queus not have the same options as standard and staff paths?

(Flat)Rides :

Who took the decision to get classic rides that are in practicaly every themepark out of the standard pack of rides and put them behind a paywall? That is just not done.
People asked in PC1 for adjustable tower rides, and we got them in an update (or dlc), why the decision to throw that overboard again?
Some ride sequences are just bad, like Wild Blue, why change something that was good in PC?

Coasters :

Junior coaster still themed as a dragon, can't lap, if you set it to two laps it only does one.
A lot of coasters dissapeared from the lot we had.
Coaster supports are not looking great, was way better in later updates in PC, certainly wooden ones.
Still no swing launches.
Special tracks only available on certain coasters.
Still no decent powered coaster.
no supports above a path

Water Rides :

ew, what happened with the bouncing on the water for some rides?
Still no turntables for guest loading. (same for coasters btw).
Lifts are not (again) hight adjustable.

Transport rides :
- For trains still no level crosses, you can lay a track over a path, but people just walk through the train.

Facilities :

Why do waterfilters and powerdistributors not need maintenance? Like a watertower does need maintenance... but the filter not?
Where is security, camera's etc...
Hotels, restaurants all gone...
Info booth doesn't sell maps anymore.
EHBO stands gone? People not getting sick anymore?

Scenery :
- Again no collision for the guests, before we could use planters, doesn't work anymore... (bins do)

I can go on and on like this,
And my biggest respect towards the devs : but this is not a finished game, and is certainly not worth to put agains PC1 and Planet Zoo.

Aaronroberts12567 · Nov 25, 2024

You can edit the queue paths by selecting the normal path, then the edit tool, but I'm surprised there's no wider option :/ It does come in handy though for pushing a fence right up to the ride area so that a circular queues look nicer

I just had a look at lap mode on the junior coaster, I thought it worked yesterday when I tried it, I'm really surprised that's not working :/

eznapor · Nov 26, 2024

It feels like it was made by another studio completely that have never played Planet Coaster or Planet Zoo :/ I hope they can quickly patch in all of the quality of life features we've come to enjoy over the past several years of planet games.

MrBrickUK · Nov 26, 2024

I think a lot of the team that made the original PC are not with the studio anymore or on other projects.

I agree with so much of this post, especially the lack of reponse from the devs on the current progress and what they are looking to fix. For the game feels like a jump forward in some small ways but some real steps back in a lot of others.

Mechanics and Facilities

Why are there so many notifications on rides and facilites telling us they are loosing thier badge status and need fixing ? I have mechanics, so go fix them. Why do I need to keep clicking the emergency call button.
On the same note about Rides and facilites, I seem to be refurbishing rides far roo frequently, its day 7 in my park and I have refurbished most of my rides at least twice.
Why can I not schedule for a ride to be serviced at certain intervals of the day?

Ride Excitement and Fear

Adding scenary and head chop moments with scenary, or dark buildings and tunnels for a ride to enter doesn't make any difference to the ride excitement or fear. WHY?

Other

Where are security guards and vandalism
Hotels, why have they gone?
Proper shops like the ones added in Planet Zoo
Photo kiosks for rides
Turntable stations for water rides
Level crossings.
The AI seems dumber than PC1
Why can't I change the price of Child Park entry tickets ?
If you don't fill your park really quickly with all the rides your unique attraction rating drops like a stone, even on day 1. I like to take my time to build so this really affects my playthourgh
Luxury ? This is always really low yet the only luxury items, which I assume are hats, balloons etc, are everywhere in my park.

There are other issues as well but these are my main ones, along with the OPs already mentioned.

Ramm · Nov 27, 2024

Im mostly just curious as to how this exactly happens. Back in the day you knew a sequel of a good game made by the same studio was gonna be like an improvement over the first. But now a days this isnt the case anymore (Cities Skylines 1 and 2, Planet Coaster 1 and 2). Somewhere in the chain something goes horribly wrong. Maybe corporate management and the devs and artists not having proper communication? People who are in it for the money instead of for the love of the game? It is the only logical explanation that I can come up with because sometimes it really seems like they are oblivious to what people actually want and need.

Back in the days of RCT1 and RCT2 you had Chris Sawyer who was a genius and actually knew what had to be done. I think now a days things are just too corporate, people get hired with a business background instead of a gaming background or they get hired out of some quotas so they have no actual clue what has to be done yet they still think so because they maybe have a business background or whatever.

It's just bad and in the end this corporate greed is killing off great games and studios which had great potential.

lilibat · Nov 27, 2024

Ramm said:
Im mostly just curious as to how this exactly happens. Back in the day you knew a sequel of a good game made by the same studio was gonna be like an improvement over the first. But now a days this isnt the case anymore (Cities Skylines 1 and 2, Planet Coaster 1 and 2). Somewhere in the chain something goes horribly wrong. Maybe corporate management and the devs and artists not having proper communication? People who are in it for the money instead of for the love of the game? It is the only logical explanation that I can come up with because sometimes it really seems like they are oblivious to what people actually want and need.

Back in the days of RCT1 and RCT2 you had Chris Sawyer who was a genius and actually knew what had to be done. I think now a days things are just too corporate, people get hired with a business background instead of a gaming background or they get hired out of some quotas so they have no actual clue what has to be done yet they still think so because they maybe have a business background or whatever.

It's just bad and in the end this corporate greed is killing off great games and studios which had great potential.

The bigger studios have lost their soul and no longer seem to make games because they love games. It's just business now and as such bad decisions are being made that are pennywise and pound foolish because they alienate players. They need to bring back their passion for the art form the way indies still have it and the magic can happen again.

eznapor · Nov 27, 2024

Ramm said:
Im mostly just curious as to how this exactly happens. Back in the day you knew a sequel of a good game made by the same studio was gonna be like an improvement over the first. But now a days this isnt the case anymore (Cities Skylines 1 and 2, Planet Coaster 1 and 2). Somewhere in the chain something goes horribly wrong. Maybe corporate management and the devs and artists not having proper communication? People who are in it for the money instead of for the love of the game? It is the only logical explanation that I can come up with because sometimes it really seems like they are oblivious to what people actually want and need.

Back in the days of RCT1 and RCT2 you had Chris Sawyer who was a genius and actually knew what had to be done. I think now a days things are just too corporate, people get hired with a business background instead of a gaming background or they get hired out of some quotas so they have no actual clue what has to be done yet they still think so because they maybe have a business background or whatever.

It's just bad and in the end this corporate greed is killing off great games and studios which had great potential.

Couldn't agree more with this!! I genuinely believed for some reason Frontier would not fall victim to this, and they wouldn't be able to do Planet Coaster 2 injustice. It just felt right and impossible. Yet here were are. It's heartbreaking man.

It's like... the moment a games company can get away with releasing the minimum possible they will take it. Where is the passion? The self respect? Reputation management? Competitive spirit? Improvement acumen?

Valdo82 · Nov 27, 2024

MrBrickUK said:
Ride Excitement and Fear

Adding scenary and head chop moments with scenary, or dark buildings and tunnels for a ride to enter doesn't make any difference to the ride excitement or fear. WHY?

Cause it got moved to the scenery section of the ride. I actually think you can make a strong case for both parts, but if you want to have scenery a bigger impact, this system is better:
EFN - is the technically pure ride experience.
Scenery Rating - is the scenery impact of the ride (not just the station)

Prestige - is actual how good your ride is.

so i feel you get more than a few excitement and fear points added by having good scenery, though i can't deny that some near misses should add to the exciting of the ride, but PC 1 was never good at calculating the near misses.

cstrfrk · Nov 27, 2024

Ramm said:
It's just bad and in the end this corporate greed is killing off great games and studios which had great potential.

It’s such a sad state of affairs really. This is the only thing I can think of that has brought us where we are today. Corporate greed. I get it, you’re running a company but when your motivation for money outweighs your motivation for heartfelt content, well there’s a problem and the community feels it.

Ramm · Nov 27, 2024

lilibat said:
The bigger studios have lost their soul and no longer seem to make games because they love games. It's just business now and as such bad decisions are being made that are pennywise and pound foolish because they alienate players. They need to bring back their passion for the art form the way indies still have it and the magic can happen again.

Yes, passion, that's where modders come in handy. Game studio with a passion + modders with a passion = infinite replay-ability. But if they lock away stuff so it isn't as moddable as the first Cities Skylines for example which was great and then became even better. And then greed came in and they released a unsuccessful second game based on the name alone which wasnt actually so much of an improvement and everything got ruined. Or corporate suits that ran some numbers and then decide to make a console game and take away Steam Workshop, one of the greatest features for succesfull games. And they had Planet Zoo which had like a great fence tool and everyone assumed it would be in Planet Coaster 2 because everyone was asking for it in Planet Coaster 1 and it was just missing for whatever reason.

007 · Nov 27, 2024

I'm curious to see if they update the pricing for tickets.
I've got a park and in all honesty it's not that big, maybe uses just over 1/4 of the map space and in total between rides, pools and flumes there's like 30 attractions? If I set the tickets to "full price", where the game picks it for you based on your park, it's at like $119.99... and when you get a peep family of 4 or 5 people, they're paying close to one thousand dollars to enter

That's unheard of.

It needs looking at, I get that IRL parks can charge quite a bit but a family price at hundreds just to get in nevermind buying food, drinks, passes and so on.

HeatherG · Nov 27, 2024

-TC- said:
I was so hyped for this game, but it dissapoints me more and more.
Where Planet Coaster was a breath of fresh air, PC2 comes to me like a verry unfinished and rushed game.
With all due respect to the developers but..what happened?

Do not understand me wrong, a few things are great about this new release. We asked for swimming pools, we got them! We can create plaza's now...GREAT!
But what went wrong with the basic stuff?

Would you like this thread posted in the Feedback section?
If not that's okay but you have some good Feedback

Branes51 · Nov 29, 2024

The answer is that probably everyone who worked on Planet Coaster 1 or Planet Zoo, except for the projects managers is gone. Frontier got rid of 1/3 of their workforce in 2023 after a couple of bad quarters. I'm guessing they hired a bunch of wet behind the ears, just out of school programmers. I'm betting they never even played or created a full park in either Planet Coaster or Planet Zoo which is why almost none of that content is present in this game. Now, developers, tell me I'm wrong.

Ramm · Dec 1, 2024

The problem is just studios being completely out of touch with what is needed. It's just corporate making bad decisions thinking they know what has to be done for the most profit, but the game will suck which will return in lower profits.

Reminds me of the Diablo 4 release when it was released on mobile and everybody was disappointed. Classic example of corporate being out of touch with reality, focussing on numbers and projections instead of actually knowing a thing about gaming. Thinking that releasing something on mobile devices or consoles will guarantee more profits in the end, but neglecting the most important aspects (PC) that actually made the first games successful to begin with.

Shame, but sounds to me these businesses need to learn the hard way and some should even go bankrupt before we can go back to the roots and focus on quality and replay-ability.

Right now I have 0 motivation to purchase any DLC in the foreseeable future until the most important aspects are fixed, until it feels like Planet Coaster 1 PC quality. Then i will invest more money in the company. But not at this point where I feel like I, and every other PC player that made the first game a success, are neglected.

lilibat · Dec 3, 2024

There is a huge opportunity for redemption and regaining the faith of the players but do they have the mettle to actually rise above the lackluster zeitgeist?

Valdo82 · Dec 3, 2024

Maybe the perspective shouldn't be so one sided....

Again I still feel the game was a bit rushed and it should have probably a 2025, but also there was the opportunity to do a Q4 release and they took it. Keep in mind for most media Q4 is the strongest quarter in Terms of sales. So having your brand new game as a 'Christmas gift' is something you want.

But and here comes the but, the Zeitgeist isn't that lackluster, even PC2 isn't totally lackluster, but you have development costs. The more and the longer you work on an unfinished product the more money it costs and then there is also the risk that you cut a number of losses, which Frontier actually did a lot as they tried to expand their portfolio.

So which would be the alternate? Wait 4 years sink millions of money in it and then declare bankruptcy right before release? Then we would have probably ended up with no game at all.

Frontier as far as I see it from their last reports needs money and a 'big game' or they may run out of business.

CKMcardesign · Dec 3, 2024

GAME USELESS TO ME NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can ANYONE help. Game is after spending 400h on it now USELESS to me. Blueprint saving stopped working. Cant save any blueprints anymore on my PS5. I tried everything inc reinstall game. Seems to me more that have same problem and no solutions. Seems to been a problem on PC1 as well and theyb still get errors like this. They even care??

Wagi · Dec 3, 2024

I'm just not agreeing with the sentiment that a game that's not finished and, while it has some real bright spots it is sorely lacking in others, is better than no game at all.

It's not my problem that they have financial problems, that might well explain it, but it doesn't excuse it. I understand about the desire for a Q4 release, that makes perfect sense, but still doesn't excuse the state of the game upon release. Q4 is also when other businesses also want their product to sell as "Christmas Gifts", but if a bakery puts out a fruitcake that's raw dough in the middle it doesn't matter if they added some nice cherries to the top, the cake still wasn't ready to sell even if they needed the income.

If they needed a 'big game', then they should provide a 'big game', and not one with so many problems and limitations. They trumpeted this as being that 'big game', their hand-picked early access creators in large part trumpeted this as being that 'big game' before release...yet when people actually got their hands on it it turns out it's not quite the 'big game' they claimed it was. It all just seems a bit ingenious. They are now even holding a challenge event that requires the use of their Workshop which has it's own wonky problems. As much as I love Planet Coaster, yes, I would have rather not gotten a new game than a half-done one that sours the franchise and the good will Frontier was previously known for.

Can they fix things? Certainly they can. The question is "will they?"...

Valdo82 · Dec 3, 2024

This is of course most subjective: But this game is far from an 'unfinished' and not playable release. The game is playable, but certainly lacks a bit of polish in some areas, but this polish will come.

I think many people (as i said in other threads) are blindsided by the state of Games Frontier have know. RCT 3 nor PC 1, and from what i hear Zoo too, was a good and polished game from the start. So the good will was a bit misplaced from the start. This is the foundation Frontier build on and they do it over 20 years with that exact model. So saying it sours the Franchise is a bit early and not true so far.

If you want to have your fully fledged PC 2 experience, you should buy this game on a sale in 2 years (with some bundled DLC), but expecting the full base game + free update + DLCs from the get go, maybe a little misplaced trust in a company, that made fantastic coaster sims, but all of them took some time to 'get there'

Sclurp · Dec 3, 2024

Valdo82 said:
Maybe the perspective shouldn't be so one sided....

Again I still feel the game was a bit rushed and it should have probably a 2025, but also there was the opportunity to do a Q4 release and they took it. Keep in mind for most media Q4 is the strongest quarter in Terms of sales. So having your brand new game as a 'Christmas gift' is something you want.

But and here comes the but, the Zeitgeist isn't that lackluster, even PC2 isn't totally lackluster, but you have development costs. The more and the longer you work on an unfinished product the more money it costs and then there is also the risk that you cut a number of losses, which Frontier actually did a lot as they tried to expand their portfolio.

So which would be the alternate? Wait 4 years sink millions of money in it and then declare bankruptcy right before release? Then we would have probably ended up with no game at all.

Frontier as far as I see it from their last reports needs money and a 'big game' or they may run out of business.

Well I hope they're proud of their decision.

Frankly, I won't be ever buying another one of their games at launch again.