Indian elephant. If not, Sri Lankan elephant. If not, Himalayan monal
DLC20 Discussion (maybe, but why not?)
- Thread starter DarthQuell
- Start date
Assuming a South Asia theme:
- My head tells me that the blackbuck is the one that should be locked. It is popular, its absence is a bit annoyingly obvious, and the forums will likely be unpleasant if it is skipped. They are useful and nice.
- My heart tells me that the fishing cat is my favorite potential option. I like them a lot, and they'd be fun to build for.
- Another voice in the back of my head almost wants to lock in the cobra because a few more exhibit animals would be nice, but I tend to care more about habitat animals.
King Cobra, grey Langur is a close second
Asking for two payments of one model when one payment was once satisfactory feels quite greedy to me.
I'd already be having to pay for a whole new game. That's a far cry from "free". Consumers shouldn't be ostracized for having standards to ensure a quality product. Again, we are paying money for a sequel, it's fair to demand that it actually be an objective upgrade without cutting corners for a buck.
20 animals for 30 bucks seems like a fair deal to me. People survived that model 20 years ago, I don't see why things would change now.
We're assuming that the work put in would be no different than what the base game animals would warrant. I ask that you refer to my past examples for a reference point. If the defence to this sliminess is "that's business", then maybe the people conducting such business should be put out of business.
If I buy sushi at my favorite sushi place for a while, and then they open an upgraded restaurant at the other side of the city with a different menu that doesn't have all the dishes from the first restaurant, am I entitled to get the dishes not in the menu because they offer them in another place in the city? It's the same restaurant chain after all, why shouldn't they offer me, a regular customer, the same menu in each venue?
If they advertise it as being the same restaurant but better using the same aesthetics and likewise, then I would honestly feel disgruntled if I could only order a certain dish from the old place. What if I want to try something only at the new place with a sauce that's only available at the old one?
It's fair to want meaningful updates, yes. But to basically expect what we already have PLUS new stuff, that's crazy. I mean, we already have free updates, after all. Paradox keeps game changing updates behind paywalled DLC. Several games do, so it's not like we have to pay for more updates after we buy the game, just content itself
I really don't think it's crazy for a sequel to actually elevate the material of its predecessor, but I guess it's the unpopular opinion for the week
Fair enough. My point is that this is something that happens a lot in real life, and is not considered controversial. What it does cause is that sometimes I prefer to go to an older venue of a chain restaurant over others because I like the older options better. Maybe the new gimmick of the new venue fails and everyone still goes to the old venue.
To take it back to gaming, look at the civilization games, which are currently in their 7th installment. Each one starts with a lot of new features added, a lot of basic mechanics changed and upadted, and a lot of old mechanics either completely removed or added later in dlcs or updates. So far this formula worked for them well, and every game since civilization4 had some disgruntled purists that preferred to stay with the older game, and the new game also managed to attract both an old and a new crowd overtime. This is why civilization5 and civilization6 are still doing really well despite both being a decade old games. Civilization7 however changed basic concepts in the game that were so disliked it failed to launch properly.
If Frontier makes PZ2 lacklustre and also remove many of the existing animals, it will fail. But if they make an entirely new game with new features, and we get the old animals over time in dlcs that allow the devs to keep on getting paid and work on the game, I don't see the harm in that. Especially when I compare how much the free updates (which were in practice paid for by the collective revenue of the DLCs) improved the game over time. Planet Zoo at launch was a much worse game.
I get that it's realistic. My argument is that it's not good practice for the consumer. I care vastly more about ethos and standards than business and economics.
If I played Civilization games, I'd probably feel quite burned out with that model. The problem here is that when your franchise gets big enough, you can do anything because people will buy it on branding alone. It's like some horrible mix of populism and capitalism in the general entertainment industry.
If they're using the cobra engine, it will never be "entirely new". It'd have to be a complete overhaul of everything. If they made as big a leap as Blue Fang did from ZT1 to ZT2, then it's entirely fair to not have the same roster. Just Frontier loves their engine a lot, so I'm not expecting this dramatic of an upgrade.
There's a lot of ways devs can get paid. CEOs can stop being greedy, advertising their game better to ensure more people buy, thinking outside the box with what gets added, etc. Re-selling old models is not a healthy way to secure a payment. If Frontier must rely on this to stay in the black, then maybe it's time to pull the plug.
I mean, consider it like this:
Imagine we get everything we have in the current game and a few updates, but nothing worth it. Essentially, Planet Zoo 1.5. That would be a huge flop.
But giving us PlanZo 2 with huge upgrades and 80 animals (why are we using that number?), that'll be way more popular. And, the devs don't have to worry about animal models as much and updating them, giving them more time to make a better, enjoyable game.
Don't get me wrong, I understand why we'd want a full roster in the game. But realistically, I don't see it happening
Why not have the huge upgrades, updates, and keeping our existing roster? This doesn't need to be a binary "either-or", and it feels dishonest to present the situation as such.
Also, people are saying 80 because JWE3 will have 82 species in its base roster. Whether or not that would reflect PZ2 is currently unknown.
I think we'd also need to keep in mind the time it'd take to port everything over, update the animations and textures, and on top of that update the AI to work smoothly with the new features they add, whatever they are.
I highly doubt it's as simple as many are making it out to be. Don't get me wrong, I don't think anybody wants roster cuts, but at this point I'm pretty sure that's what's gonna happen
If it takes time to happen, then I will happily wait to receive what will be best. In life, you reap what you sow. Waiting longer for a good product means it has more time to nurture and flourish.
That we can agree on. But, at the same time, Frontier is a company and will need to make money. It's possible the game will need to be released sooner than later, and if that's the case then I'd rather a few cut content (that can easily be added later) than a half-baked game with everything we already have
They can make money from ways mentioned above. If a game must be rushed, then I think it's better to go in with better practices than burning yourself on a cut.
Nobody is arguing otherwise though. People just have a different opinion on what they consider "better than its predecessor". I don't see how that's hard to understand.
You are of the opinion that the sequel can't be better if it sells some of the animals from the first game as DLC animals in the sequel, which is a perfectly fine and valid opinion to have. Other people look at it differently than you and don't draw a hard line as you draw it. That's also a valid and perfectly fine opinion to have.
It doesn't have to be this black and white binary thing here, you can just have a different perspective than someone without turning the other into this kind of antagonistic "so you just want the game to be bad then" persona.
Back on topic, I'm really excited we're getting an India / South Asia themed pack. I kind of didn't think we would, although I've always really wanted one. The honey badger is a huge win, I can't believe we're finally getting such a nasty critter!
What would knock it out of the park for me is the inclusion of a langur and a loris. I'm truly not expecting either, but if they were on the roster it would shoot this pack up into my top 3. I think the lion tailed macaque will be the only primate though - not my top choice but I am really glad to be getting an Indian monkey. Long awaited, much needed and I bet it will look great.
I can't really see any bad picks for this pack. I know I'm in the minority with welcoming another elephant! But honestly any wildlife from South Asia is going to rock and fill out a much neglected area (IMO). We've had all these Indian themed decorations for so long, now we can actually put them to good use. Jungle park of my dreams, here I come.
Every pack has its surprise pick - I can't wait to see what it will be for this round. I hope it's a small mammal. A mongoose would be very cool. The Tibetan fox would be my next guess and would be quite exciting. I have such a soft spot for grumpy-faced animals.
Given recent trends I am sort of expecting a bird? It feels like Frontier realised these were really lacking in the community's eyes and has been trying to make up for it by having one in almost every pack. The monal seems likely but I'm not too hyped about it. I would prefer a pond heron or a cormorant, or something else a bit different.
Feels like exhibits are done with and so no king cobra, which is a shame. I wonder what the scenery pieces will be like. I've been a bit annoyed at the lack of foliage in these new packs, that's my main quibble with the game these days.
What would knock it out of the park for me is the inclusion of a langur and a loris. I'm truly not expecting either, but if they were on the roster it would shoot this pack up into my top 3. I think the lion tailed macaque will be the only primate though - not my top choice but I am really glad to be getting an Indian monkey. Long awaited, much needed and I bet it will look great.
I can't really see any bad picks for this pack. I know I'm in the minority with welcoming another elephant! But honestly any wildlife from South Asia is going to rock and fill out a much neglected area (IMO). We've had all these Indian themed decorations for so long, now we can actually put them to good use. Jungle park of my dreams, here I come.
Every pack has its surprise pick - I can't wait to see what it will be for this round. I hope it's a small mammal. A mongoose would be very cool. The Tibetan fox would be my next guess and would be quite exciting. I have such a soft spot for grumpy-faced animals.
Given recent trends I am sort of expecting a bird? It feels like Frontier realised these were really lacking in the community's eyes and has been trying to make up for it by having one in almost every pack. The monal seems likely but I'm not too hyped about it. I would prefer a pond heron or a cormorant, or something else a bit different.
Feels like exhibits are done with and so no king cobra, which is a shame. I wonder what the scenery pieces will be like. I've been a bit annoyed at the lack of foliage in these new packs, that's my main quibble with the game these days.
I mean the elephant would probably be the most surprising pick ever
The plants in JWE3 are giving me hope that Frontier gets it together for PZ2... much much much better quality than in PC2. I also like the colors better, but am aware that JWE3 is no Planet game, so in the worst case PZ2 could still be as oversaturated as PC2.