If thats the case you do you and the point is that i do not have all that experience, but imo its hard to argue that the two packs we got have left the game in a better state then those two hyptheticals would have
Arid Animal Pack, what do we think of it now?
- Thread starter CharlieXGaming
- Start date
sure 4 times the same exact habitat and two that repurpose fenec fox and meercat/aardvark enclosures, nice.
If you want to be cynical on a gameplay level of what new kinds of habitats we can build now the only one that brought opportuintys completly new to even just that area is the dromedary, as it can go in petting zoos and lends itself to african village displays, expedition outpost or implied dromedary rides
I don’t think this would work. I like the tropical pack the way it is, you get 5 unique animals, none of which are that boring, and you get the scenery that we missed out on in the SEA pack. Yes the Arid Pack has its flaws but turning it into a scenery pack wouldn’t fix it i don’t think. I mean think about it for a second, first of all there would be absolutely no difference between this pack and the Africa Pack. Second, the porcupine looks the way it is because they made cuts on new animations of the other animals and there wasn’t scenery to make. If this was a scenery pack, they would have to make over 150 pieces which is harder than making 4 animals, I guarantee the porcupine wouldn’t look as good as it does if this was a scenery pack.
Explain sand cat.
*sand cougar
It’s not really a new rig, it’s just a shrunken down version of the original cat rig with one new animation which I believe is the sleeping animation. Out of the cat and the porcupine though, the porcupine clearly won the most time spent on.
1. I agree about the scenery 100% only downside for the swap.
2. No it wouldnt cause he scenery has nothing to do with the animals. Different people work on scenery and animals from what we know so it wouldnt be a stretch to say that cutting out 4 clones would make up enough budget to give us the baboon and to change the snake into a chameleon
Yeah maybe, the other problem with switching them would be that you would have to have an animal pack in the spring, which I don’t think they would put two animal packs back to back, or else the people who love scenery (including myself) would be disappointed.
I will continue doing me, and you can continue doing you. The point I'm taking issue with is that there's an air of that your opinions and thoughts on the pack are based on something more objective than how you personally feel about the animals. There isn't an argument to win because it's literally just preference. I love the addax and wild ass and think they were close to an essential part of the game, and don't care about getting a baboon or a chameleon, and you're the opposite. That's it, there's no way to ever convince the other.
The issue comes when we act like the game is objectively worse as a product or that the developers are morons for not catering to an individuals preferences.
It might surprise you, but every single sand cat animation is unique. They put great amount of effort into this one.
Edit: this animal is even considered star species by frontier since its on launch trailer thumbnail.
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I didn’t know this actually, the cat is the only one actually haven’t built for yet, just because it isn’t an animal I’m interested in, I’ll check it out soon. I also heard people on other platforms weren’t satisfied with its design, like the head being too big for its body.
Pros:
Cons:
- exceptional animal design
- Focused on an under-represented region
Cons:
- Very low geographic diversity
- Low taxonomic diversity
- Almost no new niches filled…To explain, I mean that every animal in the pack (with the exception of the pocupine) did not present a need / opportunity for a new habitat design…. Somehow they managed to add 8 animals to North Africa without really introducing anything interestingly new! (Porcupine excepted).
- Unfortunately, each of these builds on the others, so that the end result is… dull (exacerbated by the fact that ungulate and desert habitats aren’t very interesting to build for to begin with).
Generally, my opinion on the pack has changed very little.
I still think that if you want to have the complete zoo experience that you need all DLCs and with the Arid Animal Pack that opinion didn't change. So my ranking never really goes from "amazing" to "bad" but more of a "must have" to "buy when on sale" scale. For me this pack sits right between the "buy it next time you have some money to spare" and "buy when on sale". It's still a good pack to have from a zoo experience, but if you don't have all the packs yet I would suggest getting different ones first.
The overall feedback the pack got is in my opinion still justified, and I think my personal focus lies with the lack of diversity. Whilst I completely agree with the fact that these animals for the most part don't fill any new niches, I don't agree that that is a bad thing. Short term that is something that is indeed a bit of an issue; but long term I want to be able to switch up animals between zoos and not be stuck with just a bunch of animals I have to repeat over and over again.
Diversity wise, yeah, there I think Frontier did drop the ball a little bit. There are a bunch of arid and semi-arid areas all over the world and restricting yourself to only Africa, the area the game already has a lot of animals of, felt like a missed opportunity to me. There were animals that I would have wanted more, like a peccary for instance. At the end of the day I'm not said about the animals we've gotten, I think they're still good additions to a zoo game, but it makes me miss the other possible animals we could have gotten more.
On top of that though, I'm also still of the (albeit controversial) opinion that putting all your eggs in one basket (pun intended) and expecting that birds would bring something brand new to the game is well... going to backfire. Especially in the current model the community is expecting, being walkthrough and not walkthrough exhibits, I simply cannot see this big "new challenge" birds would bring to the game. I see no difference between decorating an exhibit with bats and decorating an exhibit with birds.
Even if the game would come with complete custom aviaries, as I would like them to be, I still think that that would still very much be a similar thing to what we have today. It's a new way of building habitats, but still building habitats nonetheless. People who grew tired of that will grow tired of building habitats for birds equally the same, and probably faster. Don't get me wrong, I love building habitats and building habitats for birds would be awesome; but I'm not expecting some kind of renaissance that only birds could offer.
To each their own though, it's not something I want to go into a huge debate about as I stand firmly with that opinion
I still think that if you want to have the complete zoo experience that you need all DLCs and with the Arid Animal Pack that opinion didn't change. So my ranking never really goes from "amazing" to "bad" but more of a "must have" to "buy when on sale" scale. For me this pack sits right between the "buy it next time you have some money to spare" and "buy when on sale". It's still a good pack to have from a zoo experience, but if you don't have all the packs yet I would suggest getting different ones first.
The overall feedback the pack got is in my opinion still justified, and I think my personal focus lies with the lack of diversity. Whilst I completely agree with the fact that these animals for the most part don't fill any new niches, I don't agree that that is a bad thing. Short term that is something that is indeed a bit of an issue; but long term I want to be able to switch up animals between zoos and not be stuck with just a bunch of animals I have to repeat over and over again.
Diversity wise, yeah, there I think Frontier did drop the ball a little bit. There are a bunch of arid and semi-arid areas all over the world and restricting yourself to only Africa, the area the game already has a lot of animals of, felt like a missed opportunity to me. There were animals that I would have wanted more, like a peccary for instance. At the end of the day I'm not said about the animals we've gotten, I think they're still good additions to a zoo game, but it makes me miss the other possible animals we could have gotten more.
On top of that though, I'm also still of the (albeit controversial) opinion that putting all your eggs in one basket (pun intended) and expecting that birds would bring something brand new to the game is well... going to backfire. Especially in the current model the community is expecting, being walkthrough and not walkthrough exhibits, I simply cannot see this big "new challenge" birds would bring to the game. I see no difference between decorating an exhibit with bats and decorating an exhibit with birds.
Even if the game would come with complete custom aviaries, as I would like them to be, I still think that that would still very much be a similar thing to what we have today. It's a new way of building habitats, but still building habitats nonetheless. People who grew tired of that will grow tired of building habitats for birds equally the same, and probably faster. Don't get me wrong, I love building habitats and building habitats for birds would be awesome; but I'm not expecting some kind of renaissance that only birds could offer.
To each their own though, it's not something I want to go into a huge debate about as I stand firmly with that opinion
Totally agree with that outlook on the whole birds aspect, I see birds especially flying birds as just another expansion of animals (like the aquatic pack was at the time) rather than this whole game changing breakthrough we have been waiting 3/4 years for.Generally, my opinion on the pack has changed very little.
I still think that if you want to have the complete zoo experience that you need all DLCs and with the Arid Animal Pack that opinion didn't change. So my ranking never really goes from "amazing" to "bad" but more of a "must have" to "buy when on sale" scale. For me this pack sits right between the "buy it next time you have some money to spare" and "buy when on sale". It's still a good pack to have from a zoo experience, but if you don't have all the packs yet I would suggest getting different ones first.
The overall feedback the pack got is in my opinion still justified, and I think my personal focus lies with the lack of diversity. Whilst I completely agree with the fact that these animals for the most part don't fill any new niches, I don't agree that that is a bad thing. Short term that is something that is indeed a bit of an issue; but long term I want to be able to switch up animals between zoos and not be stuck with just a bunch of animals I have to repeat over and over again.
Diversity wise, yeah, there I think Frontier did drop the ball a little bit. There are a bunch of arid and semi-arid areas all over the world and restricting yourself to only Africa, the area the game already has a lot of animals of, felt like a missed opportunity to me. There were animals that I would have wanted more, like a peccary for instance. At the end of the day I'm not said about the animals we've gotten, I think they're still good additions to a zoo game, but it makes me miss the other possible animals we could have gotten more.
On top of that though, I'm also still of the (albeit controversial) opinion that putting all your eggs in one basket (pun intended) and expecting that birds would bring something brand new to the game is well... going to backfire. Especially in the current model the community is expecting, being walkthrough and not walkthrough exhibits, I simply cannot see this big "new challenge" birds would bring to the game. I see no difference between decorating an exhibit with bats and decorating an exhibit with birds.
Even if the game would come with complete custom aviaries, as I would like them to be, I still think that that would still very much be a similar thing to what we have today. It's a new way of building habitats, but still building habitats nonetheless. People who grew tired of that will grow tired of building habitats for birds equally the same, and probably faster. Don't get me wrong, I love building habitats and building habitats for birds would be awesome; but I'm not expecting some kind of renaissance that only birds could offer.
To each their own though, it's not something I want to go into a huge debate about as I stand firmly with that opinion
This whole bit is just so true.
Wow. We are on the exact opposite on the spectrum on this topic. Everything you said I fundamentally and passionately disagree with.
However, it is vital in the world of discourse to uphold civility and tolerance to those who with different perspective, and it is with that ideology to accept such perspectives, for it is the diversity of thought that we- OH FORGET THIS!!!
@Iben , you have besmriched the honor of birds and I demand satisfaction. If you refuse, grab a second - your Lieutenant, when there's reckoning to be reckoned. For it is a duel between us.
Weehawken. Dawn. Guns drawn.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant.
D dot Knight.
IMO, birds wouldn’t bring any more ‘challenge’ than we currently have - it’s more like having a paint set that doesn’t have any red… it’s not that there’d be a different challenge - it’s that without it there’s something missing.
That’s how I feel about the birds. It’s less that I think they could offer new ways to build, and more “why can’t I have macaws in my silly zoo game”. It really does feel like I’m missing something huge.
I don’t even care if the birds don’t move much, they don’t in real zoos. Even if they are glorified exhibit animals I would be fine with that, I just want them in game. Zoo Tycoon for the Xbox (Also made by Frontier) had a number of bird species. They had looping animations, and didn’t move much, but I was happy just to be able to use them at all.
The updated game (Zoo Tycoon Ultimate Animal Collection) gave us all of these bird groups to play with: cockatoos, trumpeter birds, falcons, owls, king quail, magpie goose, flamingos, peafowl, and macaws.
Well said my leige. Hav' at the.
In all honesty I agree on needing some birds desperately. They'll at least give fresher habitats then African ungulates lol.