Disclaimer: I am abundantly aware of the Wish List. Please do not suggest I post there. I did...80+ pages ago (at the time of this post). I'm making this post just to give my feedback with "wishful" thinking sprinkled throughout it. My only wish would be some sort of reassurance that our community wishes (mine in this case) are being read through since 154 pages (at the time of this post) makes the idea that someone is reading and considering all of our ideas even less likely which each passing day.
Addendum: Before you put the kibosh on this for not being in the ether that is the Wish List thread, I wanted to put in on-record that I spent two days putting this together and it would have probably went unnoticed and marked as spam (or something to that likeness) for how lengthy it is even if I did put it in the Wish List thread :|
I've been playing JW:E for a full month now and why I do enjoy the game, that doesn't dismiss any of its faults.
This topic has been done to death but, four islands later, this issue has become too glaring to ignore. I know the argument always comes up that "it might make the ACU Center obsolete" but, that couldn't be any further from the truth. You always need the ACU to extract assets. With the lack of cattle prods in the game, it is worth noting that you actually CAN use the dart gun to deter dinosaurs from attacking perimeters. One or two clean (and unnecessary) shots anywhere on a dino that's attacking a wall will send it panicking for a few seconds to buy the choppers more time but, its such a dumb strategy that it makes me wish Rangers had access to tranquilizers.
This is a screenshot I made as a proof-of-concept for how giving the tranquilizing ability would benefit for Rangers.
Keep in mind, you still need to have an ACU center to airlift the dinosaurs. Also, here's a screenshot of me trying to get an ACU chopper with 3.0 Accuracy to hit a panicking Gallimimus...
Rangers Can't Use Dart Guns to Resuscitate Wrongfully Tranquilized Dinos
Every once and a while, ACU will accidentally hit the wrong dinosaur and put it to sleep. I shouldn't have to call in a chopper to airlift the dinosaur an inch every time this happens because its a waste of time and resources that make the rangers seem all that more useless.
Whenever I see that a guest is in-danger (despite there being no perimeter breaches), I don't even bother sending out ACU teams. While it probably was a glitch caused by guests managing to clip their way into a paddock by having a jeep startle them 'through' a wall, I (personally) consider that guest as a trespasser that "rightfully" deserves to be Dilophosaurus food because they shouldn't have hopped the fence.
With that being said, Rangers should have the opportunity to pick up guests that managed to find their way into enclosures. Just think of it as a spiritual successor to Planet Coaster's security guards.
Wishful Thinking: Adding security options as well as a the possibility of vandalism.
Has anyone ever noticed that there isn't a single map in the game that features a river running through the playable area? Need I say more?
It's probably common knowledge at this point that the moment a guest has become a loose dino's prey, they're locked into an animation that not even tranquilized will break them out of. Make lethal force an option in the Ranger's interface.
Wishful Thinking: The InGen Recovery Team matte green (from Lost World) is not a skin for Rangers or ACU or the ACU transport chopper that is automatically unlocked when you visit Isla Sorna for the first time.
Working Ranger car horns as a gameplay mechanic would be nice because dinosaurs could care less if they were blocking the path of the player's jeep.
I know this game isn't Planet Coaster but, the fact that I can't make gyrosphere paths seems like a fundamental thing that should have in the game in 1.0. Not only can there not be overlapping tracks but, you can't connect the the track from one Gyrosphere station to another (in the event you have a paddock large enough that you want to have the ride available at two different ends of said enclosure). The overlapping issue also makes the presence of two gyrosphere stations impossible.
I've actually addressed this issue as a bug because I genuinely thought it was. There is no evidence in the films to support the assumption that T.Rexes are solitary. In fact, the image for this bullet point is actually a screenshot of the T.Rex family at the end of Lost World (a buck, a doe, and a child); meaning T.Rexes could live in groups of at least two (3 if you count the presence of the child). Additionally, the novel version of the first park actually had two T.Rexes; not one.
With the exception of Tacano, there never seems to be any real financial obstacles in the game. I'm not saying ramp up the prices of everything in the game. All the in-game prices for buildings and dinosaurs seem to be rather realistic (reasonably expensive) but, two paddocks and several financial bonuses for park quality later, the game seems like it can't go anywhere but upward. There's nothing the spend the money on and the game eventually devolves into a glorified 'cookie clicker' game. There needs to be more obstacles and chaos to look out for which brings me to my next point...
I know there has already been a whole discussion about the plight of the Rangers (which I contributed to) and I wanted to continue here to address the same ethical gripe I had at the time of that post. Park workers (Rangers especially) SHOULD be die. Not because I want them to but, because this is the business of death we're talking about (to quote Roland Tembo). In the first 3 or so minutes of the original Jurassic Park, we witnessed an unfortunate park worker getting pulled into a the raptor cage while dozens of fellow workers attempted to save him to no avail.
I already addressed the fact that money just never seems to fun out and how its impossible to run out of money even if you tried so what 'better' way is there to add a layer of difficulty to the game than by making Rangers NOT invincible to dinosaurs (and tornadoes). On top of losing a $50k ranger team, the player should also have to pay a $25k penalty to compensate the families of the killed workers.
If by chance you lose one of the two Rangers in a freak carnivore feeder accident or while trying to contain a loose dino, you should be fined a $10k penalty to accommodate the loss of half of a Ranger team. The team could be 'repaired' when they return to Ranger station.
I get some of the devs are a bit iffy about letting park workers die but, to be blunt, this is Jurassic Park. Its a series built on the ideas of ethics and the risks presented with the opportunity to play God or as Ian Malcolm put it so eloquently...
Not only does the risk of losing Rangers and other park workers make for a challenge that needs to be overcome but, it would also make the game more engaging by making the player want to put in the effort to keep his/her guests and employees alive. Several 'died from old age' dinosaurs laters, I (and probably the majority of the playerbase) have become desensitized by death and losing nameless guests to wild dinosaurs just doesn't leave an impression like it should which brings me to my next point...
Guest deaths are so trivial to grand scheme of things in this game that I honestly, don't even try to defend them when a dinosaur is loose. Every guest death in the game should take a toll on the players funds because when I lost my first guest, I honestly didn't see any impact in the game beyond a new line of text in the escaped dinosaurs stats. There's stats for kills and infamy but, do they even do anything?
There needs to be a reassessment and overhaul to the reputation and guest casualty system because there's videos of players trying to see how many guests their dinos can eat or trample for sh--s and giggles.
As a rough draft for a potential reworking of the system, I would that each guest death should inflict a $5k penalty while each guest injury results in a $2k penalty. I don't want Claire talking down to me about how guest safety is important if I can 30 casualties without even flinching. We need consequences for our negligence because our consequences for our negligence don't even seem to have consequences (if that makes sense).
Furthermore, guests that have a high guest kill count should have lower popularity and even warrant the selling of the dinosaur in order to avoid negative PR; something I actually did when my first carnivore killed its 3rd guest.
Once Isla Muertes' missions are completed, airdropped in dinosaurs should become a part of the game's randomized contracts to keep players on their toes. I was actually surprised (and disappointed) when I discovered that the arrival of sick/injured dinosaurs wasn't a recurring contract once the Muertes missions were completed. Maybe some system reboot (Nedry style "debug") contracts would be fun too just to mix things up even further. Something that would require Rangers to be on stand-by in the event that gates open during the debugging process.
Having recently rewatched the first film, I realized how little the diseases actually show visible side effects in the dinosaurs in-game. I think some of them sneeze when they have common colds but, nothing beyond that. In the future, that needs changing. Dinosaur dropping inspections by Rangers could be something. Some sort of action that requires Rangers to get out of their jeep instead of relying on their magic healing gun.
Wishful Thinking: If fossilized flora is ever added, add options for what types of plants can be placed in enclosures that have vary in the likelihood of disease contractions.
Every island has their own set weather condition. Matanceros always has rain, Muertes always has storms, etc. While the addition of weather conditions was a nice notion, the lack of rogue weather conditions is a bit of a disappointment (ergo: the small but possible probability of lightning storms on islands that don't normally have them). We could do without the cyclones though. Those should be once in a blue moon scenarios. Also, there's no random weather option for Nublar (and as of this post, the weather conditions on Nublar are still non-existent).
Also, whatever happened to fogs?
Wishful Thinking: Time progression with sunsets and sunrises (like Planet Coaster).
Aside from printing money and looking nice, they don't really serve any real purpose (just like the Wonders in Age of Empires). Their existence in itself is a paradox. They're a waste of money but can be used to generate more money based on your reputation with a specific branch of your team.
Wishful Thinking: Ideally, the three buildings should offer perks (that aren't financial) while also paving the way to new opportunities.
For example:
The original Visitor Center had a built-in restaurant, creation lab (least tangible of the bunch in-game), and a gift shop.
Maybe the Innovations Center can be upgraded to have guest services inside of it. No alterations to the exterior but, maybe the multiple entrances could double as entrances to facilities (via upgrades). That way, the I.C. could offer food and shopping options.
Maybe the I.C. could give the player access to park promotional material.
Example: Clicking on the I.C. would give the option to spend a daily/annual fee to mail out flyers/brochures to increase park attendance rates.
The Security Center could offer research upgrades for stuff like Tranquilizers or Lethal rounds for Rangers that has to be researched at that island's Security Center to make the Ranger Upgrade available at that particular island. While it would take away from the Research Center, it would give the Security Center some functionality.
Maybe the Security Center could double as a shelter (which it currently doesn't and takes damage like any other building).
Maybe you can add a weather upgrade to the S.C. that would display a timer for when the next hurricane/storm is coming.
Etcetera.
The Science Center (which is more-or-less the same as the Innovation Center) could allow the player to mix and match different dinosaurs genomes to make abominations like the ones in Jurassic World: Alive (or whatever its called).
Long story short, all the branch buildings are pointless if they don't have any functionality beyond churning out capital.
Oftentimes I catch carnivores missing their meals when they're eating and instead chomp at the ground a good couple of meters passed it. I can't show off the games to my friends anymore because I don't want to accidentally show them how clumsy the animations look.
I shouldn't even have to explain this one. I want to love the game and be immersed but, the pathfinding is so predictable that this is has become the """norm""" (I can't emphasize those quotes enough).
Lets not beat around the bush. The combat system is as riveting as watching to low level starter Pokemon in the original Pokemon games use tackle (in 2018). I can only pray that the combat gets more dynamic and the animations less repetitive (and recycled) in the future. Claiming that its an impossibility could spell out some negativity towards the games future. Also, I've never seen armored herbivores actually use their armor to reduce damage.
There's gyrosphere cameras but, the lack of viewable cameras in the viewing areas seems like missed opportunity (especially after developing Planet Coaster). While this may seem like a "wish", it seems more like a missing game mechanic but, that's just me.
This is probably a bug but, its still something worth addressing on top of the hill of other things addressed in this post.
I think that covers all of the obvious issues but, I honestly hope this isn't just going to be locked and redirected to the Wish List because that thread is getting too long for me to even have any hopes that my feedback is even being looked at (let alone being considered) [where is it]
Does anyone in the Evolution community agree with my points? I would love to get some feedback (that I won't need to comb through 100 pages to find).
Addendum: Before you put the kibosh on this for not being in the ether that is the Wish List thread, I wanted to put in on-record that I spent two days putting this together and it would have probably went unnoticed and marked as spam (or something to that likeness) for how lengthy it is even if I did put it in the Wish List thread :|
I've been playing JW:E for a full month now and why I do enjoy the game, that doesn't dismiss any of its faults.
Rangers Can't Tranquilize Dinosaurs
This topic has been done to death but, four islands later, this issue has become too glaring to ignore. I know the argument always comes up that "it might make the ACU Center obsolete" but, that couldn't be any further from the truth. You always need the ACU to extract assets. With the lack of cattle prods in the game, it is worth noting that you actually CAN use the dart gun to deter dinosaurs from attacking perimeters. One or two clean (and unnecessary) shots anywhere on a dino that's attacking a wall will send it panicking for a few seconds to buy the choppers more time but, its such a dumb strategy that it makes me wish Rangers had access to tranquilizers.
This is a screenshot I made as a proof-of-concept for how giving the tranquilizing ability would benefit for Rangers.
Keep in mind, you still need to have an ACU center to airlift the dinosaurs. Also, here's a screenshot of me trying to get an ACU chopper with 3.0 Accuracy to hit a panicking Gallimimus...
Rangers Can't Use Dart Guns to Resuscitate Wrongfully Tranquilized Dinos
Every once and a while, ACU will accidentally hit the wrong dinosaur and put it to sleep. I shouldn't have to call in a chopper to airlift the dinosaur an inch every time this happens because its a waste of time and resources that make the rangers seem all that more useless.
Rangers Can't Escort Guests Out Of Paddocks
I've seen a few posts here and there about how users don't know how to get guests out of carnivore paddocks so I thought it was time to address that with a joke answer as well as a possible solution.Whenever I see that a guest is in-danger (despite there being no perimeter breaches), I don't even bother sending out ACU teams. While it probably was a glitch caused by guests managing to clip their way into a paddock by having a jeep startle them 'through' a wall, I (personally) consider that guest as a trespasser that "rightfully" deserves to be Dilophosaurus food because they shouldn't have hopped the fence.
With that being said, Rangers should have the opportunity to pick up guests that managed to find their way into enclosures. Just think of it as a spiritual successor to Planet Coaster's security guards.
Wishful Thinking: Adding security options as well as a the possibility of vandalism.
Bridges Aren't a Thing?
Has anyone ever noticed that there isn't a single map in the game that features a river running through the playable area? Need I say more?
Shoot To Kill?
It's probably common knowledge at this point that the moment a guest has become a loose dino's prey, they're locked into an animation that not even tranquilized will break them out of. Make lethal force an option in the Ranger's interface.
Player-Controlled Rangers Can't Move and Shoot at the Same Time
The AI-controlled Rangers can fire darts while in-motion but, the player-controlled ones can't.
The AI-controlled Rangers can fire darts while in-motion but, the player-controlled ones can't.
Wishful Thinking: The InGen Recovery Team matte green (from Lost World) is not a skin for Rangers or ACU or the ACU transport chopper that is automatically unlocked when you visit Isla Sorna for the first time.
Dinosaurs Don't Care If They're In The Way
Working Ranger car horns as a gameplay mechanic would be nice because dinosaurs could care less if they were blocking the path of the player's jeep.
Gyrosphere Paths Can't Overlap or Interchange w/Other Stations (and more)
I know this game isn't Planet Coaster but, the fact that I can't make gyrosphere paths seems like a fundamental thing that should have in the game in 1.0. Not only can there not be overlapping tracks but, you can't connect the the track from one Gyrosphere station to another (in the event you have a paddock large enough that you want to have the ride available at two different ends of said enclosure). The overlapping issue also makes the presence of two gyrosphere stations impossible.
One T.Rex Should NOT Be The Social Limit
I've actually addressed this issue as a bug because I genuinely thought it was. There is no evidence in the films to support the assumption that T.Rexes are solitary. In fact, the image for this bullet point is actually a screenshot of the T.Rex family at the end of Lost World (a buck, a doe, and a child); meaning T.Rexes could live in groups of at least two (3 if you count the presence of the child). Additionally, the novel version of the first park actually had two T.Rexes; not one.
Money Isn't An Object
With the exception of Tacano, there never seems to be any real financial obstacles in the game. I'm not saying ramp up the prices of everything in the game. All the in-game prices for buildings and dinosaurs seem to be rather realistic (reasonably expensive) but, two paddocks and several financial bonuses for park quality later, the game seems like it can't go anywhere but upward. There's nothing the spend the money on and the game eventually devolves into a glorified 'cookie clicker' game. There needs to be more obstacles and chaos to look out for which brings me to my next point...
Park Workers Are Not Expendable
I know there has already been a whole discussion about the plight of the Rangers (which I contributed to) and I wanted to continue here to address the same ethical gripe I had at the time of that post. Park workers (Rangers especially) SHOULD be die. Not because I want them to but, because this is the business of death we're talking about (to quote Roland Tembo). In the first 3 or so minutes of the original Jurassic Park, we witnessed an unfortunate park worker getting pulled into a the raptor cage while dozens of fellow workers attempted to save him to no avail.
I already addressed the fact that money just never seems to fun out and how its impossible to run out of money even if you tried so what 'better' way is there to add a layer of difficulty to the game than by making Rangers NOT invincible to dinosaurs (and tornadoes). On top of losing a $50k ranger team, the player should also have to pay a $25k penalty to compensate the families of the killed workers.
If by chance you lose one of the two Rangers in a freak carnivore feeder accident or while trying to contain a loose dino, you should be fined a $10k penalty to accommodate the loss of half of a Ranger team. The team could be 'repaired' when they return to Ranger station.
I get some of the devs are a bit iffy about letting park workers die but, to be blunt, this is Jurassic Park. Its a series built on the ideas of ethics and the risks presented with the opportunity to play God or as Ian Malcolm put it so eloquently...
"If there's one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories, and crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh, well, there it is."
Not only does the risk of losing Rangers and other park workers make for a challenge that needs to be overcome but, it would also make the game more engaging by making the player want to put in the effort to keep his/her guests and employees alive. Several 'died from old age' dinosaurs laters, I (and probably the majority of the playerbase) have become desensitized by death and losing nameless guests to wild dinosaurs just doesn't leave an impression like it should which brings me to my next point...
Guest Deaths Are Too Trivial
Guest deaths are so trivial to grand scheme of things in this game that I honestly, don't even try to defend them when a dinosaur is loose. Every guest death in the game should take a toll on the players funds because when I lost my first guest, I honestly didn't see any impact in the game beyond a new line of text in the escaped dinosaurs stats. There's stats for kills and infamy but, do they even do anything?
There needs to be a reassessment and overhaul to the reputation and guest casualty system because there's videos of players trying to see how many guests their dinos can eat or trample for sh--s and giggles.
As a rough draft for a potential reworking of the system, I would that each guest death should inflict a $5k penalty while each guest injury results in a $2k penalty. I don't want Claire talking down to me about how guest safety is important if I can 30 casualties without even flinching. We need consequences for our negligence because our consequences for our negligence don't even seem to have consequences (if that makes sense).
Furthermore, guests that have a high guest kill count should have lower popularity and even warrant the selling of the dinosaur in order to avoid negative PR; something I actually did when my first carnivore killed its 3rd guest.
Beyond Repetitive Contracts
Once Isla Muertes' missions are completed, airdropped in dinosaurs should become a part of the game's randomized contracts to keep players on their toes. I was actually surprised (and disappointed) when I discovered that the arrival of sick/injured dinosaurs wasn't a recurring contract once the Muertes missions were completed. Maybe some system reboot (Nedry style "debug") contracts would be fun too just to mix things up even further. Something that would require Rangers to be on stand-by in the event that gates open during the debugging process.
Diseases
Having recently rewatched the first film, I realized how little the diseases actually show visible side effects in the dinosaurs in-game. I think some of them sneeze when they have common colds but, nothing beyond that. In the future, that needs changing. Dinosaur dropping inspections by Rangers could be something. Some sort of action that requires Rangers to get out of their jeep instead of relying on their magic healing gun.
Wishful Thinking: If fossilized flora is ever added, add options for what types of plants can be placed in enclosures that have vary in the likelihood of disease contractions.
Lack of Predictable "Randomized" Weather
Every island has their own set weather condition. Matanceros always has rain, Muertes always has storms, etc. While the addition of weather conditions was a nice notion, the lack of rogue weather conditions is a bit of a disappointment (ergo: the small but possible probability of lightning storms on islands that don't normally have them). We could do without the cyclones though. Those should be once in a blue moon scenarios. Also, there's no random weather option for Nublar (and as of this post, the weather conditions on Nublar are still non-existent).
Also, whatever happened to fogs?
Wishful Thinking: Time progression with sunsets and sunrises (like Planet Coaster).
Innovations, Science, and Security Centers are Useless
Aside from printing money and looking nice, they don't really serve any real purpose (just like the Wonders in Age of Empires). Their existence in itself is a paradox. They're a waste of money but can be used to generate more money based on your reputation with a specific branch of your team.
Wishful Thinking: Ideally, the three buildings should offer perks (that aren't financial) while also paving the way to new opportunities.
For example:
The original Visitor Center had a built-in restaurant, creation lab (least tangible of the bunch in-game), and a gift shop.
Maybe the Innovations Center can be upgraded to have guest services inside of it. No alterations to the exterior but, maybe the multiple entrances could double as entrances to facilities (via upgrades). That way, the I.C. could offer food and shopping options.
Maybe the I.C. could give the player access to park promotional material.
Example: Clicking on the I.C. would give the option to spend a daily/annual fee to mail out flyers/brochures to increase park attendance rates.
The Security Center could offer research upgrades for stuff like Tranquilizers or Lethal rounds for Rangers that has to be researched at that island's Security Center to make the Ranger Upgrade available at that particular island. While it would take away from the Research Center, it would give the Security Center some functionality.
Maybe the Security Center could double as a shelter (which it currently doesn't and takes damage like any other building).
Maybe you can add a weather upgrade to the S.C. that would display a timer for when the next hurricane/storm is coming.
Etcetera.
The Science Center (which is more-or-less the same as the Innovation Center) could allow the player to mix and match different dinosaurs genomes to make abominations like the ones in Jurassic World: Alive (or whatever its called).
Long story short, all the branch buildings are pointless if they don't have any functionality beyond churning out capital.
Dinosaur Animations (while killing) Needs Work
Oftentimes I catch carnivores missing their meals when they're eating and instead chomp at the ground a good couple of meters passed it. I can't show off the games to my friends anymore because I don't want to accidentally show them how clumsy the animations look.
Dinosaur Spacial Awareness and Collisions Detection is IMPOSSIBLE to Ignore
I shouldn't even have to explain this one. I want to love the game and be immersed but, the pathfinding is so predictable that this is has become the """norm""" (I can't emphasize those quotes enough).
Less Rock-Paper-Scissors Turn-Based Dinosaur Fights
Lets not beat around the bush. The combat system is as riveting as watching to low level starter Pokemon in the original Pokemon games use tackle (in 2018). I can only pray that the combat gets more dynamic and the animations less repetitive (and recycled) in the future. Claiming that its an impossibility could spell out some negativity towards the games future. Also, I've never seen armored herbivores actually use their armor to reduce damage.
No Gallery/Observation Tower or Monorail View?
There's gyrosphere cameras but, the lack of viewable cameras in the viewing areas seems like missed opportunity (especially after developing Planet Coaster). While this may seem like a "wish", it seems more like a missing game mechanic but, that's just me.
Weird Detection of Guest Services for Viewing Areas
This is probably a bug but, its still something worth addressing on top of the hill of other things addressed in this post.
I think that covers all of the obvious issues but, I honestly hope this isn't just going to be locked and redirected to the Wish List because that thread is getting too long for me to even have any hopes that my feedback is even being looked at (let alone being considered) [where is it]
Does anyone in the Evolution community agree with my points? I would love to get some feedback (that I won't need to comb through 100 pages to find).
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