Arid Animal Pack, what do we think of it now?
- Thread starter CharlieXGaming
- Start date
I mean I still love the bat, be thankful we even have something that flies, but yeah more flying animals at least for the WTE would be nice, like buddies or hummingbirds.
I don't get what Frontier's plan with birds is anymore. The walkthrough exhibits seem like they must be some sort of test for birds with the bats and butterflies. I think the sloth was an outlier, they wanted it as a habitat animal but because of the games engine it proved too difficult. But then with the Arid pack we went back to a normal exhibit? My only guess here is that the porcupine really did take so much work everything else had to be a clone or easy to make. If we don't get birds in the walkthrough next DLC I am going to be genuinely confused at what the point in walkthrough exhibits were.
As for habitat birds, there really is no excuse for not adding more. We could have had a good few landfowl species from the peafowl rig at this point and we still have no waterfowl... I hope they finally deliver on this front but I feel like they won't.
I hope the feedback from the Arid Animal Pack has made Frontier realise that just putting in a lot of requested animals in a pack isn't enough but there also needs to be VARIETY. Having a pack full of ungulates is boring and doesn't allow for much creativity unfortunately. Look at the first biome based animal pack we got, Wetlands. In the Wetlands Animal Pack we got a carnivore, two ungulates, two new unique mammals, a bird, and a reptile. Now that is a varied pack, it's just missing a primate lol. Hopefully we can have packs more like that from now on.
As for habitat birds, there really is no excuse for not adding more. We could have had a good few landfowl species from the peafowl rig at this point and we still have no waterfowl... I hope they finally deliver on this front but I feel like they won't.
I hope the feedback from the Arid Animal Pack has made Frontier realise that just putting in a lot of requested animals in a pack isn't enough but there also needs to be VARIETY. Having a pack full of ungulates is boring and doesn't allow for much creativity unfortunately. Look at the first biome based animal pack we got, Wetlands. In the Wetlands Animal Pack we got a carnivore, two ungulates, two new unique mammals, a bird, and a reptile. Now that is a varied pack, it's just missing a primate lol. Hopefully we can have packs more like that from now on.
Such theory would make sense, but sand cat somehow ended up with new animation set.
Especially if the next pack is a Mountains pack with Wolverine, Andean Bear, Takin, and Pallas Cat, all of which wouldn’t need a new rig.
They should give us volture for mountains pack. That would be great!
They should do Ruppel’s Griffon Vulture (I might have misspelled that) It’s the highest flying bird in the world
Lord forgive me for more Arid Pack slander.
Before I get into it, let me make it clear, if you like or even love this pack, that's great! I'm genuinely happy that animals you like made into the game and I hope you make some great exhibits for them!
And if Frontier is reading this, I cannot overstate the immense talent, passion, artistry, and craftsmanship that went into these animals. The DLC creatures this year all have been absolutely breath-taking. No matter what kind of beast, fish, or fowl, Frontier is second to none in their photorealistic design and execution.
With that said, for me, this is the weakest pack of the game. That doesn't mean bad, but just not the best.
My biggest issues are at a conceptually level.
It just feels so inconsistent and strange to have a pack dedicated to arid climates but only contain one region of the world. This is the first and only time its ever been done in a biome-based pack, and just makes the pack feel too specialized.
It's also worth reiterating the animals selected are from the most represented region and the most represented clade - Africa and ungulates.
The lack of birds for a second time in a row is deeply painful, especially when the most requested one by the community (the secretary bird) feels like a natural fit considering the pack's direction.
I really don't like the return to terrariums when the potential of walkthrough exhibits remains unexplored, especially with flying birds.
But let's look at what the pack DOES offer us:
I'd give it a 5/10.
Before I get into it, let me make it clear, if you like or even love this pack, that's great! I'm genuinely happy that animals you like made into the game and I hope you make some great exhibits for them!
And if Frontier is reading this, I cannot overstate the immense talent, passion, artistry, and craftsmanship that went into these animals. The DLC creatures this year all have been absolutely breath-taking. No matter what kind of beast, fish, or fowl, Frontier is second to none in their photorealistic design and execution.
With that said, for me, this is the weakest pack of the game. That doesn't mean bad, but just not the best.
My biggest issues are at a conceptually level.
It just feels so inconsistent and strange to have a pack dedicated to arid climates but only contain one region of the world. This is the first and only time its ever been done in a biome-based pack, and just makes the pack feel too specialized.
It's also worth reiterating the animals selected are from the most represented region and the most represented clade - Africa and ungulates.
The lack of birds for a second time in a row is deeply painful, especially when the most requested one by the community (the secretary bird) feels like a natural fit considering the pack's direction.
I really don't like the return to terrariums when the potential of walkthrough exhibits remains unexplored, especially with flying birds.
But let's look at what the pack DOES offer us:
- The African Crested Porcupine is a MASTERPIECE. It is the reason why I cannot ever say this is a bad pack. This is one of the most gorgeous, detailed, intricate animals the game has given us. It is worthy the $10 alone for the porcupine.
- Similarly, the Dromedary Camel is another excellently done animal. Long requested, an icon of zoos everywhere, the wonderful color morphs, it's a high quality choice and execution.
- With that said, the Black Rhino is a pretty middle of the road choice for me. 3 rhinos feels a bit like overkill to me. But I can't act like I don't see the appeal. There was also the issue of its incorrect posture, which was fixed! So that's certainly commendable.
- The Addax and Dama Gazelle is where the pack starts to lose me. While I understand the conservation value and stories, these two now bring the total of African hoofstock to 12, and that's excluding icons like zebras and giraffes. That's more than birds, primates, rodents, marsupials, AND habitat reptiles. You can't tell me there wasn't a better choice from less represented group.
- Like the rhino, the Somali Wild Ass is okay. Another equid is welcomed, but it makes my hope of getting a donkey in a potential Children's Zoo pack wane.
- I actually like the idea of a Sand Cat, but this is the one animal (now that the rhino was fixed) where the actual execution was a bit off. The head appears too big, the eye color seems de-saturated, I think it could have used a tweak or two.
- And the Desert Horned Viper was a letdown for me. Between the return to static, uninteresting terrariums, the much more popular choice of a cobra, and a lack of new features to exhibits, it just fell flat. Good model though, the work on the scales is something to behold!
I'd give it a 5/10.
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They have been avoiding flying birds like the plague. Would be funny if the first one we get is that one lol
If we get a bird in a mountains animal pack my moneys going on the golden pheasant.
My bet would be himalayan monal
I really think that they’ve put so much effort in creating the porcupine which seems to be the most complex model in the whole game that’ve needed to choose simpler animals for the rest of this pack. So you can always consider the rest of the roster simply as a bonus to this star animal
The naming of the pack is unfortunate and it should be named Sahara pack so everybody would be ok with It’s North African animal roster.
Peccary - most of It’s range is not arid
Secretary bird - porcupine and Secretary bird would be a real waste of a star animal for a future pack
Echidna - it actually doesn’t live in deserts same as rock wallaby and we just got a monitor species in tropical pack so It’s also a no for perentie
There are actually not so much desert species that could fit this pack. I am really happy that finally North Africa received a wider range of species since it was poorly represented before.
Still Audad, Hamadryas baboon and honey badger are species that could still be added to the game.
I don't think water monitor would've taken perentie off the table. Considering we got american Alligator and the 2 packs later got the spectacled caiman.I really think that they’ve put so much effort in creating the porcupine which seems to be the most complex model in the whole game that’ve needed to choose simpler animals for the rest of this pack. So you can always consider the rest of the roster simply as a bonus to this star animal
The naming of the pack is unfortunate and it should be named Sahara pack so everybody would be ok with It’s North African animal roster.
Peccary - most of It’s range is not arid
Secretary bird - porcupine and Secretary bird would be a real waste of a star animal for a future pack
Echidna - it actually doesn’t live in deserts same as rock wallaby and we just got a monitor species in tropical pack so It’s also a no for perentie
There are actually not so much desert species that could fit this pack. I am really happy that finally North Africa received a wider range of species since it was poorly represented before.
Still Audad, Hamadryas baboon and honey badger are species that could still be added to the game.
TBH I haven’t bought this pack, it doesn’t do too much for me. I haven’t played the game in over two months now, maybe it’s due to school and burnout, but the last two packs didn’t offer me much to come back with. That’s not to say I won’t buy the pack, I actually love all the animals in it.
I think my problem is all the animals could have been used in other packs, my problem is all of them being together doesn’t do much for me. I actually wanted the black rhino, Somali Wild ass, and dromedary camel for hoofstock. Them, with the two gazelles (who are amazing in their own right), makes this pack way too ungulate heavy for me to get reasonably invested in the game again.
The next pack is hopefully something more diverse that will get me in the game again.
Overall I would rate the pack
I think my problem is all the animals could have been used in other packs, my problem is all of them being together doesn’t do much for me. I actually wanted the black rhino, Somali Wild ass, and dromedary camel for hoofstock. Them, with the two gazelles (who are amazing in their own right), makes this pack way too ungulate heavy for me to get reasonably invested in the game again.
The next pack is hopefully something more diverse that will get me in the game again.
Overall I would rate the pack
- 10/10 in terms of animal quality
- 5/10 in terms of what I needed to get me invested in the game again
I’ve seen this statement (or similar) before… TBH I couldn’t care less about the name of the pack, I want more variety. The only sub-regional pack I’d be interested in would be Amazon and even then, I’d at least want taxonomic diversiry but, in general, I want both.
Also, I’m not sure I’d say North Africa was poorly represented before - it was just as well represented represented (at least in terms of habitat species) than arid areas in Siuth America, Australia or Asia… it was arguably one of the best represented arid/desert area in the world before even the arid pack.
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My opinion is the same; I love every animal in the roster, but I feel some are in the wrong pack. A baboon and the secretary bird absolutely should have been in it. I'm on the "still hoping they'll show up later" train, though.
Honestly these past two packs haven't done much justice to the biomes they're meant to represent. The models are gorgeous of course and many were needed (the Indonesian theme is also one of the most useful for me yet), but a tropical pack with only four animals and an arid pack with only African animals... Very, very weird, limited choices for environments with tons of species diversity.
Honestly these past two packs haven't done much justice to the biomes they're meant to represent. The models are gorgeous of course and many were needed (the Indonesian theme is also one of the most useful for me yet), but a tropical pack with only four animals and an arid pack with only African animals... Very, very weird, limited choices for environments with tons of species diversity.
What I think about that pack was that I'm glad that that latest zoo game has both camel species (dromedary as one-humped and bactrian as two-humped) and crested porcupine (most recognizable to me since I first knew porcupines).
Yeah with two species Scimitar oryx and Fennec fox.
Most iconic desert species that are also kept in zoos are from North Africa and that’s a fact so I would never understand this constant whining about the Arid roster. You got porcupine for CS! Why do people always complain so much? It is what it is and Arid pack won’t magically exchange Dama gazelle for baboon or secretary bird. Get over it people and let the other folks be happy with the pack for moment. It’s unbearable and boring really to read all the same everyday.
And no, peccary is not typical desert species since it’s also found in rainforests and grasslands.
It’s not just to you Monk it’s to everybody. Please stop being so negative it’s ruining all the fun that others have with this new pack.
Maybe just try to use those animals that you don’t like and maybe you’re gonna change your mind. It worked for me with the Twilight pack where I wasn’t happy with any of the animal choices until I give them a chance and played with them a little.
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That was the main point I made this thread for, I wanted to see if anyone warmed up to the animals like I did, I wasn’t trying to bring up any negative discussions.
Honestly I actually went from really liking the whole addition of african animals on the release week to the arid pack leaving a bitter taste the longer I used the animals. Not wanting to join the argument of saying the arid pack is wrong named, but I feel its simply completing the gaps that the Africa pack left kinda similar to the sea / tropical packs.
Of all the animals that I have warmed up to, the dama gazelle is now one of my favourite additions in the past year due to 2 factors. One is seeing such an animal in a real life zoo furthers my interest that they are unique enough on their own, and the other is I'm simply sick of using the Thomson gazelle over and over in literally every african savannah habitat. I have the same opinion on the black rhino which I vastly prefer over the white Rhino.
The only true problem I have is the optimisation for the porcupine in large zoos, I love the addition of the porcupine but maybe its just too detailed for those who have hundreds of animals to care for in a zoo. The rest of the roster is largely disappointing for an arid pack, like the tropical pack it needed to be so much more to represent the true diversity of the biome.
But most importantly we got another danger noodle
, my reptile house needs are satisfied for another year.
Of all the animals that I have warmed up to, the dama gazelle is now one of my favourite additions in the past year due to 2 factors. One is seeing such an animal in a real life zoo furthers my interest that they are unique enough on their own, and the other is I'm simply sick of using the Thomson gazelle over and over in literally every african savannah habitat. I have the same opinion on the black rhino which I vastly prefer over the white Rhino.
The only true problem I have is the optimisation for the porcupine in large zoos, I love the addition of the porcupine but maybe its just too detailed for those who have hundreds of animals to care for in a zoo. The rest of the roster is largely disappointing for an arid pack, like the tropical pack it needed to be so much more to represent the true diversity of the biome.
But most importantly we got another danger noodle
, my reptile house needs are satisfied for another year.