DLC 19 Speculation
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I'm going to stir the wasps nest.
Chat: do we think this is the final DLC?
Chat: do we think this is the final DLC?
3 NA, 2 CA, 3SA
NA: coyote, bighorn and flamingo
CA: coyote and flamingo
SA: flamingo, rhea and monkey
So far we're getting 3 South American animals, the largest amount since DLC number 4 (aquatic)
I agree, the American flamingo is very different visually due to the colour and that's the one I want.I really, really hope that the flamingo in question is the American. There is possibility of it being Chillean, which would surely fit the theme more, but like, it has similarly boring colours as the Greater Flamingo.
Please, I need a colourful bird for south american sections.
Also, any hopes for getting pampas grass since we're getting the rhea?
No, I personally do not think so
Agreed. Which is why the skunk and raccoon were generally received well by us here in Europe and panned by the NA player base on release of twilight. They often make up ‘critter corners’ or even animal handling sessions in zoos here in Europe.
On the other hand, the armadillo wasn’t too well received by us in Europe either because it’s not a common species in European zoos and the six-banded was right there…
Coyote 100% fits in the latter. Virtually non-existent in Europe or anywhere outside the US except for a handful of individuals that ended up needing rehoming..
If you’re gonna release ‘roadside critters’ - makes sense to at least release ones that are common in zoos outside their native range, even if people living within their native range dislike having the backyardigans in the roster…
Anyone noticed that none of the DLC animals besides the monkey live in the Amazon? I think at least one of the 2 unrevealed animals is an animal found in the Amazon
I don't know what to think of this pack some animals are just...why? xD Some of them just have way better options in my opinion.
-Coyote: Not my thing, there are better SA canids, like the bush dog, way better option.
-Rhea: I actually dig this one, this is a good choice and a good bird to round up the ratites. I personally don't really need tinamous and I think they are highly doubtful to come.
-American Flamingo: Why? xD I mean, as a bird lover, I like the American Flamingo and I've seen them in the Galapagos. However, there are way better SA birds to choose from and that are water biome. Brown Pelican/American White Pelican would be way better and way better received. American flamingo should be a free animal as it's literally a reskin of a flamingo.
-Bighorn sheep: Not bad, but there are better options. It all depends on the species, is it a desert one? or a North American one? I would've gone with the Snowy Goat, way more unique, this is just a brown Dall Sheep.
-Saki: So far it looks to be most likely to be a saki. Again, there are just way better and interesting options. Howler monkey or a spider monkey. They literally introduced chorus in update 1.10 and the Howler monkey would be so perfect for that. Spider monkey for branchation, it's just better. Saki isn't bad per se, but I just think there are better choices.
I hope for a coati, mara or tamandua, that might save the pack for me, but so far, this is not looking like an amazing pack. In the end, I'm an idiot and I would even buy it just for the Rhea xD
-Coyote: Not my thing, there are better SA canids, like the bush dog, way better option.
-Rhea: I actually dig this one, this is a good choice and a good bird to round up the ratites. I personally don't really need tinamous and I think they are highly doubtful to come.
-American Flamingo: Why? xD I mean, as a bird lover, I like the American Flamingo and I've seen them in the Galapagos. However, there are way better SA birds to choose from and that are water biome. Brown Pelican/American White Pelican would be way better and way better received. American flamingo should be a free animal as it's literally a reskin of a flamingo.
-Bighorn sheep: Not bad, but there are better options. It all depends on the species, is it a desert one? or a North American one? I would've gone with the Snowy Goat, way more unique, this is just a brown Dall Sheep.
-Saki: So far it looks to be most likely to be a saki. Again, there are just way better and interesting options. Howler monkey or a spider monkey. They literally introduced chorus in update 1.10 and the Howler monkey would be so perfect for that. Spider monkey for branchation, it's just better. Saki isn't bad per se, but I just think there are better choices.
I hope for a coati, mara or tamandua, that might save the pack for me, but so far, this is not looking like an amazing pack. In the end, I'm an idiot and I would even buy it just for the Rhea xD
But the last few animal packs (since we switched to this format with Eurasia) have been an exercise in putting one or two high wishlisters for which the pack is formed around and then a load of lower down the wishlist riff-raff that fits the theme.
Zookeepers brought the Hamadryas Baboon and the Spectacled Bear with them a hodge-podge of lower animals in the top 100 (I think Pallas’ cat was top 20-30 maybe, same with Markhor?)
Barnyard is an outlier given its unique theme. But the highland cow in particular was fairly up the wishlist, as was a domestic goat.
But go back to Eurasia and it’s a similar picture - Wolverine was a high wishlister. Takin and Boar weren’t too far down either.
For this to be the theme of the next pack I struggle to see how the coati is not in this pack with either the Mara or ocelot alongside. You’ve got Coati sat at the top of the list and the other two in the top 20 or so. Rhea is also up there too.
Then they splatted the rest of the roster with lower ranked clones.
TLDR: They seem to build these later animal packs as a theme around a high couple of high wishlisters, and it kind of feels that has to be the coati and either the ocelot or Mara here given there’s no other high wishlisters that fit the theme.
It was the first thing I tried to find in the backround of the keyart hahaha. No luck in there unfortunately, but I really hope it is included.
Counterpoint: markhor
Counterpoin: Markhors live on cold climates, so basically the same as the other goats and like their distant cousin, the takin.
I'm very happy to see another pack, and it's the americas, better. Two birds and a NW monkey are great!!
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Last time it also revealed plenty, it's only weird if you want it to be weird tbh. I wouldn't try to read so much into it, you're setting yourself up for unrealistic expectations.
Now that I've slept on the reveal for a night, time for my proper thoughts.
The pretty much confirmed animals:
- Coyote: Honestly, not so high in my personal wishlist as the bush dog was; but after seeing just how many US zoos have coyotes I'm on board with it being in the game. Feels like an important animal to have when making US based zoos.
- Rhea: Yup, totally necessary inclusion. Again, very very common zoo animal so that's perfectly fine for me.
- Flamingo: Will really depend on the species. Both possible options are very common in zoos but I do hope it ends up being the American one as that one is the more visually distinct one. Andean one would be fine as well, if you give us another flamingo a rare one in captivity is fine by me too. At the end of the day, almost every zoo has flamingos and it's just nice to be able to switch it up between the zoos you make.
- Saki: Yeah I don't know what people are talking about when it comes to this one being a potential Howler, I think it's extremely obvious that it's a White-Faced Saki.
Fully on on board with this one. Extremely common in captivity and just a nice animal to have overall. - Desert Bighorn Sheep: The animal I'm least looking forward to of the bunch, but I'm still okay with it being added to the game. Had the chance of seeing them in Burgers when they were in the desert area and they're cool filler animals for desert themed areas of your zoos.
Now for the potentials:
- American Black Bear: Lowest on my list, as much as I like the idea of having pretty much all the bears in the game, I only really want it if the 7th animal is a coati.
- Coati: Yup, this is the big one. If it is in then this boosts my excitement for the pack by 1000%. I still consider it to be a reasonable option for the pack, we're at a point where making a coati wouldn't really take that much extra work. Though that's really the case for almost every animal.
- Vicuna/Guanoco: Neither would really interest me but I wouldn't be mad if they were in. Again, the last slot can go to any animal as long as it has a coati
- Ocelot: Fine addition, got nothing against it.
- Mara: Honestly the one I want the most after the coati, it's inclusion would make my most hated exhibit combination official (mara, bairds tapir, caybara, rhea, giant anteater) so whilst I genuinely hate that combination in zoos it's a popular one so being able to recreate that is a plus lol
- Agouti: Would be on par with Mara for me, just a nice small animal that's cool to have in any rainforest based exhibit.
Yes, a thousand times yes. One of the biggest blind spots in the game so far has been some just flat-out desert themed props. We've long been able to make all kinds of desert related builds but there's been very little in the game to really solidify the desert feel. Give me everything, I'm here for it. Heck, give us a cow skull, just do it; as long as there's a balance between real life inspired stuff and some just flat-out tacky stereotypical zoo desert props. Mine carts, pickaxes, etc. Just go for it.
General thoughts and feelings:
When it comes to the pack overall I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm not going to say that I expect this pack to be something akin to Tropical, Europe or Africa in terms of versatility; but it isn't an Arid or a Barnyard pack either for me. For me it's just looking like a good pack, nothing more but certainly nothing less. And that's fine. Several people have mentioned it already but I think that this was kind of inevitable.
I strongly believe that flying birds and fish are being kept for a potential sequel, so you're going to come to a point where you have DLCs that are more divisive. Where one half sees a bunch of clones, the other half sees animals that they really wanted. We're in the late stage of development of this game so it's bound to happen either way, the big hitters that everyone can agree on are already in the game.
Not every pack is going to be everyone's cup of tea, and that's fine. I for instance never really liked Barnyard as I'm not really into petting zoos and really didn't like a lot of the animal choices; but at the end of the day others did and I'm happy for them. It's perfectly okay to voice your dislike of this pack, I certainly won't hold back when it comes to Arid or Barnyard, but at the end of the day you can wallow in endless negativity or just let go. The latter really is the healthier option, it's just a game after all.
All in all, promising pack from the looks of it. If it can nail the desert themed props and give us a coati then it's going to be a solid "buy this one once you have the must haves" DLC; if not, it's still nice to have a rhea and a saki added to the game.
Hard to say, Barnyard was full of clones, Arid was full of clones, SEA was full of clones. If the team is half the size or smaller, it's expected to get similar results from double the time.
I feel it'd be too distinct to not put on a decoration like that, and from the repeats it seems like it's just the 4 species on it. Could say the same about the Mara sadly, so what's left might not be too exciting.
At this point, who bloody knows? It's not a safe bet either way now.
I do think Frontier's financial state isn't the best right now, but I also think people vastly underestimate how many animals really need more than a handful new animations. Perfect example being the Tasmanian Devil that for the vast majority uses the Raccoon animations, which hardly anyone noticed.
The vast majority of animals that can be added to the game at this point need a similar treatment as the Tasmanian Devil. Reuse existing animation sets and add some iconic animations for that animal, they've been doing that for pretty much every pack since the start, I see no reason to think this won't be the case for this pack.
That basically describes every single "South American" area in Italian zoos (minus the anteater...)
This.
A rhea and a cow skull are all it would take for me to buy this pack.
Please. Give us that cow skull.
I definitely don't think it's the last DLC. Here are the reasons (imo):
1) There is no way they will stop at 19 DLC. It's a stupid point but I really do think they're at least gonna make it to 20.
2) Last financial report showed that PZ continues to bring money to Frontier. Maybe not a lot, I don't know, but they are still making profit out of it.
3) There is still room to make easy DLCs with lots of "clones" that would still sale easily. In other words, there are still possibilities for Frontier to earn easy money while not having to do too much work.
4) There's this bundle thing for the console edition. I'm guessing they will have at least one more DLC to go with the one we're getting in 2 weeks.
5) Last but not least, the potential line-up that we have here for the incoming pack doesn't feel like a final pack at all. Maybe I'm being too idealistic but I thing that Frontier will want to finish this game the correct way. I don't know if we'll get a bigger pack but I expect a theme that includes species from all around the world. An 8 animal pack would be the strict minimum imo (like 1 animal from NA, 1 from SA, 1 from Europe, 1 from Oceania/Australia, 2 from Africa and 2 from Asia). 12 species would be great. 16 or more species would be fire
I'm feeling the most disappointed with a pack since maybe ever. The strong case for a New World pack was filling the roster with very needed Pacific Northwest and Amazonian species. But it seems that we are going to miss most of those and instead we'll have an Arid Pack 2.0 with a New World monkey (the only 100% new animal for now).
Apart from the very needed monkey, the only really good thing about this pack is that we are still getting DLCs and it pretty much looks we will have another one later this year. But we have been knowing this pack exists for about half a year, so not really good news because it's not new information.
Waiting so much for a Clone Animal DLC is disappointing. And once again without Exhibit animal, it looks. I would trade the coyote and bighorn clones for a chameleon, cobra or gecko. That would at least be something new, no matter the problems of the exhibit system.
The problem is actually the Dall sheep, since the very beginning it was a bad choice. If they had given us the musk ox or the Rocky Mountain goat as the Arctic DLC caprine, I would be very happy with the bighorn sheep now.
The American flamingo is not giving me as much clone vibes because of the need for birds. But as someone (@KönigDerKaffeebohnen I think) said, they had better options. The Roseate spoonbill or the Scarlet ibis were just as good as a bright red American bird while being a more demanded and really new animal.
The coyote adds nothing new to the game. Pretty much every other canid (except for a third grey world subspecies) would have been better: grey fox, bat-eared fox, bush dog, raccoon dog, jackal...
Apart from the very needed monkey, the only really good thing about this pack is that we are still getting DLCs and it pretty much looks we will have another one later this year. But we have been knowing this pack exists for about half a year, so not really good news because it's not new information.
Waiting so much for a Clone Animal DLC is disappointing. And once again without Exhibit animal, it looks. I would trade the coyote and bighorn clones for a chameleon, cobra or gecko. That would at least be something new, no matter the problems of the exhibit system.
If they wanted to give us a hot climate sheep the aoudad (Barbary sheep) was the correct one. Or Sumatran serow if they wanted to be crazy surprising. But a brown Dall sheep is the worst option. I would even have preferred Nubian ibex, that would be hot climate + Africa sheep, but that would still be a cheap Alpine ibex clone.
The problem is actually the Dall sheep, since the very beginning it was a bad choice. If they had given us the musk ox or the Rocky Mountain goat as the Arctic DLC caprine, I would be very happy with the bighorn sheep now.
The American flamingo is not giving me as much clone vibes because of the need for birds. But as someone (@KönigDerKaffeebohnen I think) said, they had better options. The Roseate spoonbill or the Scarlet ibis were just as good as a bright red American bird while being a more demanded and really new animal.
The coyote adds nothing new to the game. Pretty much every other canid (except for a third grey world subspecies) would have been better: grey fox, bat-eared fox, bush dog, raccoon dog, jackal...
South East Asia was the first Animal Pack IIRC, so few of them could have been clones at the moment. In fact I would say it was a very innovative pack. Ironically, it came with the most outrageous clone with the Baird's Malaysian tapir, but that has been thankfully solved.
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Re free update: I try my best to not be too delusional, but... the timing.... I really would celebrate and scream and jump for joy SO MUCH if they would just give us the Planet Coaster Western theme in free update. I mean.... it can't be that much work, right? Same engine... Just make it not scaleable and call it a day.... would it really be that much work programming wise? From the outside it feels like the perfect opportunity for a free update with little staff left to work on the game....
And it's a theme that would really work in a zoo game - other than sci-fi, for example.
And it's a theme that would really work in a zoo game - other than sci-fi, for example.