Although we’re not quite one year into planet zoo it is fast approaching. My thoughts on the game are...... it’s a amazing game and one I’ve been waiting years for as zt2 at the time was booming with mods and user created content but it was beginning to stale a little bit. Not to mention the building limitations were starting to hinder the overall game experience. Don’t get me wrong I’m greatfull for the years blue fang provided many fun entertaining hours plus the zt community and the generous members who shared their creations making the game even better. Planet zoo looks stunning and the gaming experience for me has been great I do however play sandbox for the creativity the game allows. Stability for the most part has come a long way and should continue to improve. I’m still hopeful the devs are listening and taking all measures to at least try to include aviary and aquatic animals and animations if possible. Dlc has been pretty good imo overall with a few questionable additions and a few great unsung heroes along the way for me the Dall Sheep for example. As for the future I’m hopeful for long term support and continued improvements to game stability. Hard telling what’s lined up for future dlc content and what animals will end up making the roster but as I said hopefully we get a few more years support. I wish overall communication between frontier and community was a little better. And hopefully the game doesn’t go silent like jwe and Planco have in the last year. Anyway I’m looking forward to seeing the future of planet zoo and thank you frontier for creating such a great game.
First year impressions of planet zoo and what you hope for the future?
- Thread starter paul78
- Start date
I am very greatful for this game and for devs that are listening to our feedback and improving ALOT of things that the community want, if it was not this way, I would not even play Planet zoo because originally PZ was about to release without an offline management mode - something that was unacceptable for me as I hate sandbox or games that require you to be always online. Me and other players were quite vocal about it and Frontier added challenge mode - I will be forever grateful for that.
Regarding the post release fre updates and content - free updates were always a blast, with so many things and improvements that community want, it is really amazing.
However... regarding the DLC - would I like more animals? Yea. I would not mind this 4 animals per DLC if the game had many, many years ahead, but we will not know this for sure.
Ideal situation would be having these smaller DLC continued every 4 months, but at the same time, working on bigger "expansions" with more animals, but more importantly, with new features. We got some new features, but truth to be told, most of them are changes in the management tabs, animal colour and such (which is great, do not get me wrong), but... I feel we need more meaningful features, that you can actually add to your zoo. Example would be the new vendig machines which was great. I think we need this but on a bigger scale.
Things like animal/prehistoric skeletons that people could actually look at, aviaries, guides, more natural objects such as mineral deposits, tree annual rings, rare plants that you could build exhibition for...(alot of other natural wonders other than animals really), all kinds of kiosks with face painting, photo stands, PLAYGROUNDS (really, a zoo sim without playgrounds??)...all these buildings with guest activities that were in ZT...Juts more things to add to your zoo really. Animals will always be the stars, no doubt about that, but in real life, zoo also have more things than that - full of fun activities and other exhibition other than animals. I think that would really add alot. I feel like this is something that is missing from PZ. We got building objects and animals from DLC, but any new gameplay is really not there. Zoo tycoon did a bit better regarding this I think. Their expansions added alot of new gameplay/activities/ things to add to your zoo for guests AND animals ( we should be getting new fences, new feeding stations (for example more natural feeders such as logs etc), more enrichment, new animations for animals (eggs, nurturing.,,)....but we mostly just get new objects to build the scenery around the exhibits.
I really adore this game, but regarding new content, I wish PZ would be a bit closer to the ZT in this regards. Game is currently doing great for builders, but without new features that are actually visible in your zoo, it lacks in the new gameplay/simulation department.
Regarding the post release fre updates and content - free updates were always a blast, with so many things and improvements that community want, it is really amazing.
However... regarding the DLC - would I like more animals? Yea. I would not mind this 4 animals per DLC if the game had many, many years ahead, but we will not know this for sure.
Ideal situation would be having these smaller DLC continued every 4 months, but at the same time, working on bigger "expansions" with more animals, but more importantly, with new features. We got some new features, but truth to be told, most of them are changes in the management tabs, animal colour and such (which is great, do not get me wrong), but... I feel we need more meaningful features, that you can actually add to your zoo. Example would be the new vendig machines which was great. I think we need this but on a bigger scale.
Things like animal/prehistoric skeletons that people could actually look at, aviaries, guides, more natural objects such as mineral deposits, tree annual rings, rare plants that you could build exhibition for...(alot of other natural wonders other than animals really), all kinds of kiosks with face painting, photo stands, PLAYGROUNDS (really, a zoo sim without playgrounds??)...all these buildings with guest activities that were in ZT...Juts more things to add to your zoo really. Animals will always be the stars, no doubt about that, but in real life, zoo also have more things than that - full of fun activities and other exhibition other than animals. I think that would really add alot. I feel like this is something that is missing from PZ. We got building objects and animals from DLC, but any new gameplay is really not there. Zoo tycoon did a bit better regarding this I think. Their expansions added alot of new gameplay/activities/ things to add to your zoo for guests AND animals ( we should be getting new fences, new feeding stations (for example more natural feeders such as logs etc), more enrichment, new animations for animals (eggs, nurturing.,,)....but we mostly just get new objects to build the scenery around the exhibits.
I really adore this game, but regarding new content, I wish PZ would be a bit closer to the ZT in this regards. Game is currently doing great for builders, but without new features that are actually visible in your zoo, it lacks in the new gameplay/simulation department.
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After a year, I'd say my impression is that we need less of the same, but more of the same at the same time. Confusing, yes, but it sort of makes sense.
I appreciate that we seem to regularly get new content, and I certainly want more of that, but the gameplay has become rather stale. Compared to Zoo Tycoon, for example, it takes an extraordinarily long time to make something beautiful in PZ, so doing the same thing over and other becomes tedious. Now, they can't fix that, because that is just how the game is played, but if we had new gameplay features, more things to make all the effort worth it, then I think it could be mitigated.
One thing in particular I'd like to see is more guest interaction with the zoo beyond the facilities and animals. I'd like for my guests to appreciate the fact that there are gardens, statues, themed areas, and so on. I feel like it would be rewarding if there was some kind of scenery rating in the game, for the zoo as a whole, so guests could comment on and appreciate when areas are well decorated. Vista points akin to those in PlanCo would be a good thing to introduce, but overall I'd love it if my zoo guests actually gave a damn about feeling immersed in, say, an Asian-themed area.
Wellington Zoo here in New Zealand has a beautiful little tucked away corner for their red pandas and Himalayan monal pheasants, where there's a Buddhist prayer wheel, those colourful triangular flags, and some information about conservation efforts in Nepal. Whenever we go there, I love this section in particular, because of the atmosphere. The theming is minimal compared to some international high-budget zoos, but it's still an effort, and it's beautiful, and immersive, and that is my favourite part. It makes me want to see the animals in the wild, which ought to be the goal of any zoo. Make people care about this species, make them want to see it where it belongs, where it could be if humans weren't so terrible and greedy.
So, yeah, more guest interaction with their surroundings would be great.
Other than that, it'd be amazing if we could see animal personalities introduced. I don't think it needs to be super complex, either, but it would be really fun if we had, say, a particularly playful animal that loved enrichment items, a curious animal that loved to explore and get near the guests, a shy animal that preferred to hide (making it even more special when they emerged), and so on. The coat variations were a great start on this sort of individuality for sure, but there is a lot more they could do!
I appreciate that we seem to regularly get new content, and I certainly want more of that, but the gameplay has become rather stale. Compared to Zoo Tycoon, for example, it takes an extraordinarily long time to make something beautiful in PZ, so doing the same thing over and other becomes tedious. Now, they can't fix that, because that is just how the game is played, but if we had new gameplay features, more things to make all the effort worth it, then I think it could be mitigated.
One thing in particular I'd like to see is more guest interaction with the zoo beyond the facilities and animals. I'd like for my guests to appreciate the fact that there are gardens, statues, themed areas, and so on. I feel like it would be rewarding if there was some kind of scenery rating in the game, for the zoo as a whole, so guests could comment on and appreciate when areas are well decorated. Vista points akin to those in PlanCo would be a good thing to introduce, but overall I'd love it if my zoo guests actually gave a damn about feeling immersed in, say, an Asian-themed area.
Wellington Zoo here in New Zealand has a beautiful little tucked away corner for their red pandas and Himalayan monal pheasants, where there's a Buddhist prayer wheel, those colourful triangular flags, and some information about conservation efforts in Nepal. Whenever we go there, I love this section in particular, because of the atmosphere. The theming is minimal compared to some international high-budget zoos, but it's still an effort, and it's beautiful, and immersive, and that is my favourite part. It makes me want to see the animals in the wild, which ought to be the goal of any zoo. Make people care about this species, make them want to see it where it belongs, where it could be if humans weren't so terrible and greedy.
So, yeah, more guest interaction with their surroundings would be great.
Other than that, it'd be amazing if we could see animal personalities introduced. I don't think it needs to be super complex, either, but it would be really fun if we had, say, a particularly playful animal that loved enrichment items, a curious animal that loved to explore and get near the guests, a shy animal that preferred to hide (making it even more special when they emerged), and so on. The coat variations were a great start on this sort of individuality for sure, but there is a lot more they could do!
Only have game for like month, but is true all is building, building, building. You build zoo and you go to build another, not stay in first one, because there is not much gameplay. I agree, game needs more things for animals and guests in expansions. Building objects are great, but should be more about simulation and animals! Marine animals, aquariums, birds, more items for animals and gameplay!