Career mode disappointments

[jip241]

A few thoughts, having played through nearly half the scenarios and had a quick look at the rest (didn't take me long!)


The good:

- I have to say, some of the campaign maps are truly stunning.

- Limits on terrain deformation and 'locked' scenery pieces work well, and actually makes for a challenge.

- Monolith is fun, and a just-about-sensible length (though still quite short). I like the small spaces for flat rides, and the need to build coasters over the hills.

- The other two 'coaster king' scenarios look quite good. The skull-run-down-unhappy-guests concept is neat, and building lots of coasters to varying specs in the final scenario is the kind of thing we need more of (though there's a chance the slightly odd ratings mechanics may prove to make them infuriating to complete)

- The science fiction levels also have a few decent concepts.


The not-so-good

- Many just seem too short and simple to complete. All three pirate-themed levels can be completed by building three or four flat rides and a basic coaster, and are over in just a couple of months. 'Hire two entertainers' as a 'hard' goal is a joke, even for an early scenario.

- Pirate Cove in particular is stunningly set up for expansion into a fantastic, massive park....yet I completed it by June in year 1, having only demolished one of the 'coming soon' signs.

- Night Encounters is a pretty cool concept. Unfortunately, it turns out there aren't any rollercoasters to research at all(!), and game mechanics means you just give in and build multiples of the same flat ride.

- The vast majority of goals are will automatically complete relatively quickly if you just go about building a basic park without even considering your objectives, rather than actually going out of your way to do something different. If it's money or guest oriented, at least make the numbers bigger!

- The manor-with-rapids scenario looks cool until you realize that it's just another big flat park with a fancy centerpiece.

- A few too many of them - including the very last one - are not much more than one monstrous terrain piece.

- What's with the pre-built rides having so few cars on them (pirate #2 and fantasy #2 in particular)?

****

In combination with the long-winded park management UI and weird financial balancing across the board, it's so frustrating to see the actual game-play (beyond free-form building) be so....shallow

Also, what happened to the bunch of other parks we saw in the alpha? There were a few partially-built parks with space for expansion, surely they could easily have been included in the career mode with minor adjustment?

PC is a fantastic building environment, and the team have done a stunning job building it - so it's just such a shame that they appear to have skimped on the easy parts, resulting in actually playing the game being somewhat disappointing in some respects.

Back to spending hours carefully adjusting my custom coasters and perfecting the flowerbeds, I guess...

 

[Huge Toad]

I'm having fun on the campaign, and was expecting it to flow more like it did in RCT3. However, it doesn't do so, the way it flows is more like loading custom maps in Doom 2.

*When I go to save on a campaign map, I see the saves of other campaign maps and my sandboxes. That gets cluttered--was hoping it would show saves only relevant to that campaign map.

*When you finish a campaign map, it doesn't give you the choice to go onto the next map, or even the campaign overview where you choose a map. Have to go out to the main menu, then select "Campaign" again almost as if starting a new campaign (if I missed a way to automatically go to the next map or at least the campaign map-picker, please let me know!)

*Research doesn't carry over. This is probably the least concern, as it seems it is just a different way of doing things, with each campaign map having its own restrictions. However, I liked how in RCT3 I slowly unlocked things over time and those carried over, so if I unlocked something I really liked I could use it on the next map.

The third item about research seems to be just a different way of doing things, but I wish the first two were fixed/improved.

Anyway, this is still a great game and I'm having fun, there are just some niggles that could make the game much better (I also missed having an interactive tutorial like RCT3 had--it is better learning by doing than watching a video).

Hopefully a campaign or scenario editor will be out so we can create scenarios and upload them to the Workshop.

 

[Hopix]

Fair comments. The main problem is that the goals are too easy and generic. It wouldn't be difficult to simply make them more elaborate, time-sensitive or just ramp the numbers up.

 

[Fobicafa]

I have to add that money generates way too fast, maybe they could reduce the people-spawn, but I doubt... for example, the very first scenario stars with 1 flatride and 1 coaster and got 600 guests.... reduce by 33%, so it would be 400 guests and money would be some harder to gain... I think it's only a "number" in the code of the game, should be done in minutes and the balance should still be ok even for the harder scenarios (still playing them, the robot-stuff). Maybe reduce only by 20%, but you get what I mean

 

[jimmy1979]

nearly finished it already as some i know already have , i hope to god they add more or thats 1 less part of the game to play now after just 2 weeks (inc beta) and i think part of it is , they have made such a huge deal on the player designing everything themselves with all the scenery parts(even though im sorry its majorly lacking in scenery parts , unless they are going to charge for more ) that yeah im with you 100 percent i adore the game , i love it , i have my moneys worth totally , no grumbles overall , but yes there is ALOT LACKING and feel this may MAY become boring very fast for some people , not all not saying all some people love spacing everything out inch perfect + more fair to them for doing that but some like to play challenges , harder challenges and boy its cities skylines all over again with the money oh no im -25 pounds oh no 2 mins later im + 4 grand

 

[cerealfruitcakes]

They craft these lovely scenario's with stupid easy objectives that take minutes to do and then we're done and on to the next map. I want to spend more time on these with meatier objectives.

 

[Thysios]

Career mode is a bit of a joke unfortunately.

The games probably great if you're just interested in the sandbox mode and want to build big/pretty ❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎. But I like these games for the career mode, trying to complete the challenges.

I completed the first level in about 20 minutes. I didn't even play long enough to need a bathroom or food stalls. I build a couple rides, increased the price to insane levels and people still paid. I thought RCT 1/2 were easy, but this was a joke.

At least by having a time limit in RCT you force the player to spend a minimum amount of time on a level. Challenges like 'build 5 roller coasters with an excitement rating of at least 6.60' forces people to practise building Roller Coasters, instead of relying on pre-builts. Doing it within a time limit means they need to properly manage their money. Removing the time limit removes all challenge.

 

[promoted2001]

Career mode is mostly easy, I have gold stars on every scenario except the last one where I am struggling to crate a coaster with at least 8 excitement, a 100m drop, max fear of 5 and average speed of 35mph. That's a tough ask. All other scenarios are basically build stuff and don't bother about looking at the requirements.

 

[matty b1]

I don't think Career mode should be called 'career' mode, but that's another story.

 

[Kumba]

Is it only me that is having difficulty navigating career mode?

After you complete a level and start the next, it appears that you can't back to a level you completed. When playing career mode in RCT3 I would sometimes go back to previous levels to tweak a park if I was on a particularly annoying level and wanted a break. It seems you can't do this in PC. Am I missing something?

When trying to go back an play completed levels you are given an option to load a park (which takes you back to where you last saved rather than the saved version of the level you are in) or start a new scenario.

Do I need to save each level individually rather than save as one continuous file?

I enjoy career mode more than sandbox but this is proving frustrating.

 

[jimmy1979]

i dont even use sandbox i prefer the research new stuff and MONEY .as oppose to hey who care plonk stuff down and pay staff a billion pounds to be happy lol, yes i found it weird after getting 3 stars on each scenario that i found i had to save the park (my choice) then go back to the main menu to start the next , seems odd , a little gripe but a strange one when it should say would you like to 1.go to next scenario 2. go to main menu 3.continue park or along them lines , like i say little thing but a strange omission

 

[jip241]

Kumba: There is no single 'default save' linked to each career mode level - you have to save your park and then reopen it like you would any other. I tend to save my parks with a filename along the lines of "night encounters completed", in case I fancy going back to them at a later point.

I think perhaps your comment reflects another career mode issue which has been raised elsewhere. RCT3 provided a quick link to your saved game files for just the scenario you were looking at on the career menu, including a 'continue previous' button, which was rather useful. This time round, it looks like you have to search through all of your saved game files to find the one you want.

 

[Kumba]

Kumba: There is no single 'default save' linked to each career mode level - you have to save your park and then reopen it like you would any other. I tend to save my parks with a filename along the lines of "night encounters completed", in case I fancy going back to them at a later point.

I thought that might be the case ... save each completed park as a separate file.

I've tried opening a completed level in sandbox mode (thinking that would be a way to tinker with the park after I had finished) but it still forces you to start new rather than picking up where you left off.

 

[Kumba]

D'oh! I don't know how I missed it!!

If you click on a set in career menu, you can resume where you left off on other levels. Just click on a level you want to visit again and a resume button appears.

Apart from it being fiddley having to go pack to the main menu, I glad there is a way to visit previous parks.

 

[jimmy1979]

yep career mode finished , thats that part of the game done in 2 weeks lol

 

[Sebast80]

Not possible to see this as anything other than a part that needs a major overhaul.

Even if i didn't like (hated ) the fact that in every single park i had to work with the
existing buildings, at least it's some nice introduction to the Themes, Rides etc..

It's really a shame that you have to deliberately take it slow if you don't wan't to
leave the map too soon, but if they ever tweak the Career enough to be Challenging
at least it will be fun to revisit those maps.

 

[widlanquebec]

I was hoping for a feeling to really start small (like a fairytale) and going bigger... a feeling to really have a career. Some competition, an interesting storyboard that continue between levels, maybe some CEO board to please, etc.

And in the game, I would like to have decision to make and not just make the start-up with some rides, employees and shops and see the cash flow going up forever and the park running smoothly forever also. The harder challenge is just tweaking the start elements, once pass this start, it's the same as other level.

For the moment, the game has great potential but I find it boring due to the boring gameplay.

 

[breezerHOG1]

My Career Mode Idea:

Starting out as a traveling carnival, you would have only 2 months in each location for your first year or two. At the end of every 2nd month, your park would close down and you would be given a new terrain. You would start out with mostly shops, and a few small rides. At the start of each new location, you would be able to replace the rides you already owned for free.

After you complete 6-10 of these "carnival" scenarios, you would be able to purchase your first permanent park. Or you could choose to continue your carnival park. You could sell items from your carnival park, or take profits from your permanent park to fund more carnival rides. Rides purchased in a permanent park would not be transferable to other locations (like with the carnival rides).

You should be able to have multiple permanent parks, after your achieve enough cash, and all of your parks would continue operating at the same time. There would be a world map with a clock that shows all of your parks. Also with some competing parks which could take guests away from certain parks if they are outperforming you. And you should be able to buy out your competitors if the price is right.

 

[metsfan1025]

I don't mind the first few pirate levels being quite easy, they are an introduction after all. After seeing some posts on these forums and Youtube of people not understanding why their coasters with 20+ fear aren't exciting/popular, I think its important to realize that not everyone is used to the workings of the genre. The first few levels are typically easy because they have quite a bit of pre-built infrastructure, which gives new players a chance to see some of the commonalities of a successful park while allowing seasoned players to quickly pass on to more challenging levels.

That being said, it couldn't hurt to make the third star maybe a little bit more of a reach to get.

A few thoughts, having played through nearly half the scenarios and had a quick look at the rest (didn't take me long!)

- The vast majority of goals are will automatically complete relatively quickly if you just go about building a basic park without even considering your objectives, rather than actually going out of your way to do something different. If it's money or guest oriented, at least make the numbers bigger!

I think this is the most important point that you brought up. The amount of scenario objectives that could simply be changed to "expand your park" are countless:

-Park value
-Park rating
-Number of guests
-Number of rides

And closely related are objectives like:
-Profits
-Repay your loan
etc.

Heck, even the scenery rating objective n this game for me just ended up meaning saving up enough money to spam a bunch of pre-made buildings.

Objectives like build a coaster that fits some certain criteria are a welcome change for me, but even then I think there is a lot more room for depth here, although it may have to go hand-in-hand with other management and AI improvements.

The other notable challenge I can think of is when the terrain makes expansion tricky, but overall, I wish more time was spent in creating actual depth in the objectives and management to match the detail put into the initial landscapes and backstories of each career park.

 

[Anth08]

At first I was disappointed by the career mode because of its easiness but that changed as I got further into it and I was quite happy with the difficulty by the end. I'm currently on the last scenario.

The issue I have with Career mode is that there is no sense of achievement whatsoever. We don't unlock anything cool, there's no prize or recognition for anything that we have achieved apart from getting stars which offer no bonus in the game. The only thing you get is the Achievements on Steam.

So really, you don't have to touch the career mode at all and it won't affect your gameplay in other modes. I liked in RCT3 that completing the final mission in each scenario rewarded you with a locked pre-made coaster. At least it felt like there was a reason to doing all of the scenarios.

That is what I think lacks in Planet Coaster. I can live with the way they have gone about the levels and using the same method as RCT3 with the three difficulties in each scenario, but unless there is some sort of reward then I'm not sure why I tried to complete them apart from self-satisfaction.