Builder/Sims made dumb for consoles.

[FrumpyFurling]

TLR : Console limitations are crippling what should be a PC centered genre

So, played last night for about 5 hours last night, and this seems to be an issue I keep seeing. Companies keep making Builders and Sims and then trying to streamline them for console use...(this may just be me...) but honestly who plays builders on console? Is PC not the main Demographic? If not why not make a good robust sim/builder for PC then curtail that down for console? Instead of making a Bleh builder/sim for both? I cant tell you how many times I got frustrated last night because I can only rotate the buildings a certain amount of degrees because (what I assume) is the rotational feature has been dumbed for controller support...? which makes for wonky crooked buildings along the path. Speaking of straight lines only on pathing and fences...another feature made dumb to support controllers...I have also seen several mentions of land (Size) limitations which is no doubt again in order to accommodate consoles. Maybe the market is bigger than I know, but seriously, PC should be primary focus and the game shouldn't suffer because of consoles...Im a little disappointed in the direction this went I was genuinely excited for a very ROBUST park sim that I could put lots of hours in. If Im wrong and just expecting too much let me know.

 

[Guardian Kaiser]

How would land size be a console limitation? This game was like 6 gb. My X1X is probably more powerful then the average pc gamers rig. So it's certainly not holding back the graphical limitations.

Controls I'll give you a maybe however your building example would not be one. I use the bumper to rotate buildings. They could have made that as precise as they wanted and I would have had no issue.

I have a decent gaming pc but as I get older and spend most of my work day at a desk on a computer, console gaming has become more appealing to me so I'm glad this game is on console.

 

[FrumpyFurling]

How would land size be a console limitation? This game was like 6 gb. My X1X is probably more powerful then the average pc gamers rig. So it's certainly not holding back the graphical limitations.

Controls I'll give you a maybe however your building example would not be one. I use the bumper to rotate buildings. They could have made that as precise as they wanted and I would have had no issue.

I have a decent gaming pc but as I get older and spend most of my work day at a desk on a computer, console gaming has become more appealing to me so I'm glad this game is on console.

While, I have doubts on the XBO-X being comparable to "Gaming" rigs i will concede that BUT the SAME game also released for Xbox One standard and PS4...can you say that the build spaces presented or the buildings, guest management, or decorations are even comparable to their own Planet Coaster? or Even go back to their predecessors with the Tycoon Series? I was a weak opening. I also don't want this to be construed as my hating on the game...I like it, it had HUGE potential it could have been SOOO much more I think they limited themselves and their fans while trying to conform to the lowest system...

 

[Ian Skippy]

While, I have doubts on the XBO-X being comparable to "Gaming" rigs i will concede that BUT the SAME game also released for Xbox One standard and PS4...can you say that the build spaces presented or the buildings, guest management, or decorations are even comparable to their own Planet Coaster? or Even go back to their predecessors with the Tycoon Series? I was a weak opening. I also don't want this to be construed as my hating on the game...I like it, it had HUGE potential it could have been SOOO much more I think they limited themselves and their fans while trying to conform to the lowest system...

Err, the recommended system requirements are higher for JWE than PC. Its honestly silly to see people immediately point to consoles whenever they dont get what they want in a game. The reason there are not more decorations is because FD simply didnt put them in, not because consoles wont be able to handle rendering a garbage bin.

 

[FrumpyFurling]

Err, the recommended system requirements are higher for JWE than PC. Its honestly silly to see people immediately point to consoles whenever they dont get what they want in a game. The reason there are not more decorations is because FD simply didnt put them in, not because consoles wont be able to handle rendering a garbage bin.

The recommended system requirements are higher than what on PC? Also, its not just a garbage bin, its the difference in having a garbage bin, and having a full system of garbage bins with employees who run background automation and sweep the park and deposit randomly generated garbage that is dropped by guests (non-existent guests....seriously, is there even a way to monitor how many guests you have?) into said bin and then deposit the contents of said bin in the recycling center that I have placed strategically on the other side of the island away from guest services. This Genre used to be an amazing complex easel that you could create and build amazing things...but yes due to the limitations of consoles I believe we are getting diminishing returns. At this point (even compared to JP:OG) this is the "Builder Lite" version. There is a reason you don't see games like (Cities XL or SimCity {minus one} on Console) I hope you're right though, and I kind of don't because that would mean the Devs were just cashing in....

 

[Variance]

Just addressing one of your points about paths and fences being straight lines only. You can make curved paths and fences once you have selected the right tool there is a keybind to switch from straight to curved, not sure what it is by default because I rebound mine but it is there. I believe it even shows you in the bottom left context menu what the keybinding is when you have a path or fence tool selected.

 

[edjenoh]

I agree, this game is extremely dumbed down, even compared to Planet Coaster, which lacks in that department. And then they state JPE is all about management sim and PC is more of a sandbox creative game.
I feel this is just a clicking and waiting simulator, there are no failure states. Basically just clicking and waiting untill you get to view the next type of dinosaur, the fossil research is boring and tedious, it's just clicking and waiting, which would be fine if you wouldn't have to do it 20 times to get one dinosaur. This game lacks meaningful gameplay. At least they nailed the dinosaurs, they look fantastic, but I could've watched a movie for that. I feel Frontier simply isn't aiming to make games, they just want to keep providing new shiny content for players to look at. It's sad, because it's really not that complicated to design good game mechanics that actually provide a challenge.

 

[PCMR4Life]

How would land size be a console limitation? This game was like 6 gb. My X1X is probably more powerful then the average pc gamers rig. So it's certainly not holding back the graphical limitations.

Controls I'll give you a maybe however your building example would not be one. I use the bumper to rotate buildings. They could have made that as precise as they wanted and I would have had no issue.

I have a decent gaming pc but as I get older and spend most of my work day at a desk on a computer, console gaming has become more appealing to me so I'm glad this game is on console.

The larger a land mass the more you have to render. Also I doubt your Xbox One X is more powerful than a good gaming rig.

 

[Ian Skippy]

The recommended system requirements are higher than what on PC?

PC=planet coaster. The game you think is better has lower system requirements than the game that runs on consoles, so clearly it isnt about consoles.

Also, its not just a garbage bin, its the difference in having a garbage bin, and having a full system of garbage bins with employees who run background automation and sweep the park and deposit randomly generated garbage that is dropped by guests (non-existent guests....seriously, is there even a way to monitor how many guests you have?) into said bin and then deposit the contents of said bin in the recycling center that I have placed strategically on the other side of the island away from guest services. This Genre used to be an amazing complex easel that you could create and build amazing things...but yes due to the limitations of consoles I believe we are getting diminishing returns. At this point (even compared to JP:OG) this is the "Builder Lite" version. There is a reason you don't see games like (Cities XL or SimCity {minus one} on Console) I hope you're right though, and I kind of don't because that would mean the Devs were just cashing in....

I think you are forgetting that FD is a company. They have invested their own money in paying dozens upon dozens of people full-time wages for two years with the hope of earning a profit. Sure, the above would be cool (although I'd personally much prefer other stuff than that, but that is just my opinion). And sure, if they would spend six months more on it the game would be better. But you know what? If they miss the tie-in with the movie that'll cost them millions in sales. If they have to keep paying the team another six months that costs them millions in operating costs. I sincerely doubt you would find hundreds of thousands of people who otherwise wouldnt be interested suddenly spending $50 on this game just because of the added Advanced Garbage Bin Gameplay.

It may sound crude, but JWE is just a game. FD is just a company. And we are just customers. If there is sufficient interest, additional stuff will be developed and sold to us. If not, they move on. If you and enough others feel strongly enough about it, you can start your own company and work as long as you want on the perfect ideal Dino game. Or see what another company does. But I can guarantee you this: if you take for granted all the stuff FD did and dismiss it as 'just cashing in', you'll never be satisfied.

 

[PCMR4Life]

While I am enjoying the game from what I have played of it. About 6 hours so far. I watched the video with the first in game footage yesterday and I can't help but feel what I saw was a bit better. You can see the Dinosaurs actually herding. The game even looks better in some aspects. You can also see distinct dirt paths in the video with actual ground texture.

Now I don't know what effect herding Dinosaurs would have had on performance but I suspect if you got a lot of them together all moving at the same time you would see a performance drop. Also some of the lighting looks better and so does the foliage. I will bring up again how that mist/haze in the video looks great. The game we have now looks great as well. But I wish some of the stuff in that video would have carried over to what we have now. I can't help but think some of it was cut to help the game run better on consoles. Games are usually made on PC's and you can do a lot with a good setup. I think they had to tone down the graphics and some of the features a bit. I could be wrong.

But I understand it's not financially lucrative to make PC exclusives anymore. I would rather have the game like it is than not at all. But I still can't help having a feeling of "what it could have been". Of course Frontier could have dropped working on some of these issues to get the game out on their scheduled release date. So again I am sure they will improve the game as time goes on.

I still like this game a lot though.


[video=youtube;HVnk3yT2Lgo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVnk3yT2Lgo[/video]

 

[Guardian Kaiser]

The larger a land mass the more you have to render. Also I doubt your Xbox One X is more powerful than a good gaming rig.

I said average gaming rig. I'm not a specs guru but I would guess the average gaming PC doesn't run games in 4k? I could be totally wrong on that. Just saying the X1X feels very powerful with short load times, visuals, etc...

 

[Faneaw]

How would land size be a console limitation? This game was like 6 gb. My X1X is probably more powerful then the average pc gamers rig. So it's certainly not holding back the graphical limitations.

Controls I'll give you a maybe however your building example would not be one. I use the bumper to rotate buildings. They could have made that as precise as they wanted and I would have had no issue.

I have a decent gaming pc but as I get older and spend most of my work day at a desk on a computer, console gaming has become more appealing to me so I'm glad this game is on console.

a single gtx 1080 has more power then an entire xbox one s.

not exactly hard to beat consoles when talking about PCs. the only issue is pricing.

 

[PCMR4Life]

I said average gaming rig. I'm not a specs guru but I would guess the average gaming PC doesn't run games in 4k? I could be totally wrong on that. Just saying the X1X feels very powerful with short load times, visuals, etc...

It doesn't. But I also doubt the Xbox One X is running in 4K at maximum graphics settings. I have said that from the start with all this 4K stuff with the consoles. Either it's not true native 4K, just upscaling or there have been other sacrifices with graphics settings.

 

[Faneaw]

It doesn't. But I also doubt the Xbox One X is running in 4K at maximum graphics settings. I have said that from the start with all this 4K stuff with the consoles. Either it's not true native 4K, just upscaling or there have been other sacrifices with graphics settings.

the X1X is not nearly powerful enough to run true 4k at 60-fps with max graphics settings.

considering the gtx 10xx series has JUST enough power to run 4k 60 fps max graphics for most games, even then you need a pretty good system overall. 4k is too new and no console can run it at its full potential.

 

[Cooja]

Apart from designing for use with a controller there realy isn't all that many limitations.

CPU usage might be one but JWE isn't maxing that out (not even close). Like other builder/sims on console, you can have robust system of complex background computations and it'll run just fine.

Everything we got is design choices by Frontier NOT the limitations of the console.

 

[BrijG]

People are always too quick to lay the blame on consoles. A lot of the issues in the game are ones that can be patched and are probably there due to the short development time/release window coinciding with the JW:FK