Hot takes for planet zoo

[Mr-Hyrax 2]

What are your guys hot takes, you can react to others opinions but don't be jerks about it, I will start

I think the herrman Tortoise is better as a exhibit, it's just ashame that they can't be made null, also Egyptian Fruit Bat is the best animal from twilight, and probably the best exhibit animal in the game, or at the very least in the top 3

 

[USzoofan42]

Hot Take-
Birds are not essential.
Well yes, some are like macaws, birds of prey and budgies, they are being over-exaggerated by the community. In irl zoos, they are mostly filler species with the only exception being, aviaries, birds of prey and possibly stick-macaw habitats. Here are some prime examples of "essentials by the community:
Duck- Sorry @RightWhale but they are just niche filler species overlooked at most zoos. Only needed species is Mandarin Imao.
Pelican- This is one of the few essential birds left. iconic and people know what it is
Secretary Bird- Extremely Niche, can be neat for educational perspective, only wanted due to nostalgia and looks
Shoebill- Meme bird, kind of iconic not needed.
Eagles- Only essential species is Bald and maybe Golden eagle. Fight Me.
Vultures- Cinerous and African species are essential, overall, needed
Storks- Maybe saddle billed stork, mostly filler species
Rheas- Not entirely essential, but should be added
Penguins- Maybe one more Antarctic but that's it.
Owls- Eurasian Eagle Owl, essential
Falcons and Hawks- Unnecessary, little zoos house them
Macaws and Toucans- Essential, no argument.
I will add more soon.

 

[RightWhale]

My hot take is the exhibit box not having fish at the start is worse than the WTE having no birds. I mean it’s literally a giant tank, and fish are perfect animals to have on looped animations.

 

[Mr-Hyrax 2]

Hot Take-
Birds are not essential.
Well yes, some are like macaws, birds of prey and budgies, they are being over-exaggerated by the community. In irl zoos, they are mostly filler species with the only exception being, aviaries, birds of prey and possibly stick-macaw habitats. Here are some prime examples of "essentials by the community:
Duck- Sorry @RightWhale but they are just niche filler species overlooked at most zoos. Only needed species is Mandarin Imao.
Pelican- This is one of the few essential birds left. iconic and people know what it is
Secretary Bird- Extremely Niche, can be neat for educational perspective, only wanted due to nostalgia and looks
Shoebill- Meme bird, kind of iconic not needed.
Eagles- Only essential species is Bald and maybe Golden eagle. Fight Me.
Vultures- Cinerous and African species are essential, overall, needed
Storks- Maybe saddle billed stork, mostly filler species
Rheas- Not entirely essential, but should be added
Penguins- Maybe one more Antarctic but that's it.
Owls- Eurasian Eagle Owl, essential
Falcons and Hawks- Unnecessary, little zoos house them
Macaws and Toucans- Essential, no argument.

I actually somewhat agree, we do need a ton of birds for stuff like Tropical Houses, and at least 3 for African areas, but after that I can only think of the Mandarin Duck, Pelican, and Golden Pheasant are essential, everything else is nice but I could live without

 

[Mr-Hyrax 2]

My hot take is the exhibit box not having fish at the start is worse than the WTE having no birds. I mean it’s literally a giant tank, and fish are perfect animals to have on looped animations.

Oh I agree, I personally feel that the red-eyed tree frog was a good pick but a Electric eel or a Piranha would be better for South America Pack, for example.

 

[NegativeHeli]

My hot take:

We have more than enough animal representation for North America and Europe in the game.

 

[Tatanosaure]

My hot take, PZ roster and modders will make PZ2 bomb hard similarly to PC2.

 

[Marvinb]

Mine is that big cats and pandas are zhe most overrated zoo animals

 

[RightWhale]

My hot take, PZ roster and modders will make PZ2 bomb hard similarly to PC2.

To be honest, PC2 has way more problems than what an equivalent PZ2 would be like. As of right now anyways, though, with how good modders can be if PZ2 is anything like PC2 then yeah I might wait awhile before I get it.

 

[Tatanosaure]

To be honest, PC2 has way more problems than what an equivalent PZ2 would be like. As of right now anyways, though, with how good modders can be if PZ2 is anything like PC2 then yeah I might wait awhile before I get it.

One of the reason for criticism is the loss of content from the first game. And eventually, the water park is not enough to compensate. I guess expectations will be the same for PZ2 and we know that from a DLC point of view they will remove content we had in PZ1 and I can see people being ed and birds/fishes that could be provided by modders in PZ1 wouldn't be sufficient to balance.

 

[RightWhale]

One of the reason for criticism is the loss of content from the first game. And eventually, the water park is not enough to compensate. I guess expectations will be the same for PZ2 and we know that from a DLC point of view they will remove content we had in PZ1 and I can see people being ed and birds/fishes that could be provided by modders in PZ1 wouldn't be sufficient to balance.

Yeah, honestly I would be less mad about the loss of animals than the QOL features being gone, I mean imagine not having:

1. Being able to add custom signs
2. Loosing small animal behaviors like sniffing, group chorus, brachiation

Or any of the other features added over 6 years! I would go crazy, more than “loosing” any animal.

 

[Tatanosaure]

Yeah, honestly I would be less mad about the loss of animals than the QOL features being gone, I mean imagine not having:

1. Being able to add custom signs
2. Loosing small animal behaviors like sniffing, group chorus, brachiation

Or any of the other features added over 6 years! I would go crazy, more than “loosing” any animal.

Actually they lost features and content, many themes are gone. Which makes it even more catastrophic. Considering Frontier will need cash they will need DLC to work. They can't put all the themes and animals we already paid and waited for in the base game for this reason. People could be upset and simply wait and in fine kill the game (including me).

 

[Mr-Hyrax 2]

Mine is that big cats and pandas are zhe most overrated zoo animals

I agree, the panda is definitely overrated, the Sloth, sun, and andean bear are much more interesting, I do disagree about big cats, especially jaguar, tiger, snow Leopard, etc but like I said everyone's opinion is valid.

 

[synthetase]

1. Being able to add custom signs
2. Loosing small animal behaviors like sniffing, group chorus, brachiation

Two of my faves!
Here are a few of my unpopular ideas:

• Color morphs are cool and Frontier should expand on them! Especially the variations... IRL African Wild Dogs have different patterns. Wolves too, need different types of patterns such as some of the Arctic wolves having black fur on their back or some wolves have darker faces than the wolf in game. I'd even like to see Red Foxes that don't have the white tail tip. For some reason I feel like a cross fox without the signature white tail tip could be a better sub for other fox species...
• Intra-genus variation is important. I'm fine with a second: giraffe, kangaroo, zebra etc... NOT to the extent of zt ultimate animal collection but I just like zoos having choices which particular type of giraffe to keep...
• Zookeeper mode would be cool! Maybe not in Franchise though...
• Sumatran Tiger would be cool.
• Lastly... ...I don't need the top wishlist animals too much. Coati, Musk Ox, Walrus, Grey-crowned Crane, Echidna, ABB and MAYBE Tree Kangaroo are the only ones I could think of that I'm rooting for. Other than that I prefer oddballs...

 

[synthetase]

Mine is that big cats and pandas are zhe most overrated zoo animals

Big cats: yes. Pandas: No.
The former are majestic but so are elk, rams, etc... Also, I feel like they are overrated because they are literally in every single zoo practically. Even zoos that focus on native wildlife still have their cougars, LOL. Yes, I know cougars are technically related to small cats but to me they are the size of a big cat so that's what matters...
Pandas on the other hand are not, in my personal opinion, overrated just because they are rare in zoos AND they are unique looking. Taxonomists weren't even sure IF they are true bears or related to lesser pands or relative of raccoons!

 

[Marvinb]

Big cats: yes. Pandas: No.
The former are majestic but so are elk, rams, etc... Also, I feel like they are overrated because they are literally in every single zoo practically. Even zoos that focus on native wildlife still have their cougars, LOL. Yes, I know cougars are technically related to small cats but to me they are the size of a big cat so that's what matters...
Pandas on the other hand are not, in my personal opinion, overrated just because they are rare in zoos AND they are unique looking. Taxonomists weren't even sure IF they are true bears or related to lesser pands or relative of raccoons!

Idk the fact that they are artificially kept rare instead of being rare because they are incredibly hard to keep, breed or any other reason just makes the fact that they are rare alot less interesting to me.

I think they are cool, i just dont think they are this incredibly appealing, top of the top, the creme de la creme zoo animal they are always made out to be

 

[Marvinb]

I think i have another spicy one.

I really dislike colormorphs

 

[Sclurp]

• Albino / other colourmorph animals should be treated like a punishment in the game's logic, even if they are cool and rare (well, outside of Franchise mode). If the focus is on conservation, you now have an animal that cannot be released to the wild. Good job. Saying that, Frontier need to find the fun and let us have more control in Sandbox mode and let us pick perfect or imperfect or colourmorphed animals from the market without having to purchase 5 million animals to get what we want.
• After PC2, I feel certain a PZ2 would end up an inferior game to the first and y'all should stop asking for it. We'll definitely be losing Steam Workshop support with the sequel so, enjoy it while it lasts in PZ1.
• If animals have inter-species enrichment when housed together, they should have at least a couple of interactions/ animations. Even if it's simply just an animal making a gesture to another species to communicate 'get away from me' etc.

 

[Doran]

My hot take, PZ roster and modders will make PZ2 bomb hard similarly to PC2.

Frontier seems to be satisfied with PC2 performance so I dont think this would be end of the world for them.

 

[SuzieSky]

Hot Take-
Birds are not essential.
Well yes, some are like macaws, birds of prey and budgies, they are being over-exaggerated by the community. In irl zoos, they are mostly filler species with the only exception being, aviaries, birds of prey and possibly stick-macaw habitats. Here are some prime examples of "essentials by the community:
Duck- Sorry @RightWhale but they are just niche filler species overlooked at most zoos. Only needed species is Mandarin Imao.
Pelican- This is one of the few essential birds left. iconic and people know what it is
Secretary Bird- Extremely Niche, can be neat for educational perspective, only wanted due to nostalgia and looks
Shoebill- Meme bird, kind of iconic not needed.
Eagles- Only essential species is Bald and maybe Golden eagle. Fight Me.
Vultures- Cinerous and African species are essential, overall, needed
Storks- Maybe saddle billed stork, mostly filler species
Rheas- Not entirely essential, but should be added
Penguins- Maybe one more Antarctic but that's it.
Owls- Eurasian Eagle Owl, essential
Falcons and Hawks- Unnecessary, little zoos house them
Macaws and Toucans- Essential, no argument.
I will add more soon.

I've been feeling that way for a while. Most of the essential, high-demand birds people want are parrots, raptors, and a few others, mostly flying species. Adding a bunch of habitat birds most people have never heard of aren't going to fill that gap. I'd like more habitat birds and am personally willing to pay for them, but I don't think 20+ habitat birds are going to go over well with a general audience. I disagree with your take on ducks; they are the opposite of niche and even more recognizable than the pelican.

Flying birds:

• Parrots: macaws, probably grey parrot, cockatoo(s), budgies, and lorikeet(s) are essential, well-known, highly-requested zoo basics
• Raptors: bald eagle (perhaps other eagles if they're easy), eagle owl, snowy owl, and hopefully an African vulture are well-known and highly requested. More would be nice.
• Other: kookaburra, toucan(s), and hornbill(s) are the main ones. Others would be nice to have.

Habitat birds:

• Ducks: Mandarin (requested), mallard (useful for barnyard and ambiance), and WFWD (mixed wetlands) are needed. Black swan and a goose for mods are somewhat important. Only the first one would probably 'sell' in packs, but the other two would have so many interspecies bonuses that I think even the haters would come to recognize their importance. (essential to me)
• Pelican: They are better than ducks at being a star, but not quite as good filler. I wouldn't call them essential, but they're very good and likely to be comparably popular to the Mandarin duck. (almost essential to me)
• Additional Wetlands Species: Grey crowned crane and spoonbill/ibis are the big ones that would let people build the habitats they want. (essential to me)
• Rhea: Important to essential as a regional pick but not too exciting and does nothing to 'fix' birds. 'Kevin' from the Urban Rescue Ranch is a rhea. (important, but I won't use it often)
• Pheasants: Kind of small and usually in avairies, but the colorful ones are nice. Is the chicken okay for a mod base? (cool but not essential to me)
• Secretary bird: super popular and would go over well as long as it has a snake or lizard toy to bully (very cool but not essential to me)
• Rockhopper Penguin would be nice to go with king penguins sometimes (good, but I won't use it often)
• Wild Turkey is useful for barnyard sections and giving NA a bird (very useful to me, but I'd live if they went with a different bird for NA)

All of the flying ones I listed are basics that I'd use more often than some of the in-game birds. Relatively, the 3 ducks, grey crowned crane, any of the pink trio, the turkey (though that might just be me), and maybe the pelican would come up a lot for me, but many of the others strike me as nice-to-haves that might not sell so well. I'd like additional cranes, waterfowl, pheasants, ground hornbills, storks, and more flying birds, but I don't need them in the same way.