Help me understand if I am going to enjoy this game (please)

[goofy2feet]

OK. So, it's a £50 game. But it's Christmas and I might treat myself.

The game looks lovely - I've watched plenty of videos on YouTube and saw some good clips on the charity livestream last night.

My favourite game currently is Elite Dangerous - mostly for the exploration or the trade. I like the relaxed progression, curiosity gameplay and minimum stress. I'm useless at anything FPS, though might buy Far Cry 5 if JWE is not right for me.

Someone on Steam commented that the islands are too small and they find this limiting. I would appreciate comments on this.

Also, as I haven't been following this game, are the updates regular and is the development ongoing? Elite has recently had a pretty spectacular update. Do you feel/think/know that Frontier will take the same attitude with this game.

Finally, how many hours of play will I get out of this game if I enjoy it? I've been playing Elite since 2015 (700+ hours) and will be playing it for several years to come.

Thanks for any answers to these queries but also anything anyone wants to say about the game to a potential newb. I look forward to reading what people have to say.

 

[Leftthisplacebehind477544678865]

I find the game to be beautiful and relaxing and have clocked over 300 hours at this point, but it can have a lot of downtime waiting on timers for research, fossil extraction etc. so your enjoyment might hinge on that. Updates have been regular and expansive. I wish there was a bigger sandbox island, but I've been able to build decently sized parks all the same.

 

[goofy2feet]

Thank you Funderbunk. I don't mind waiting for things, that happens a bit in ED depending how you play - I just get up and make some tea or something. Thanks for your honest comment about the island size issue, and also the updates.

 

[Winterwalker]

I'm an Elite player for the most part too, as it happens. (One with a thing for dinosaurs! lol)

386 hours logged in Jurassic World, I've only really played through the main campaign, yet to go back to improve/restart early islands with newly unlocked dinosaurs and buildings (I do have one record breaking carnivore though).

The map sizes are I think only a problem if you want to cram every dino onto every island. I don't see it like that myself though, because there are so many dinosaurs. I think you can keep ankylosaurs on one island, therapod carnivores on another .. thinking of the whole island chain as one, 'jurassic world'. Seen that way islands can be an interesting puzzle on making best use of the space you have. Then jump in your helicopter and go see your sauropod collection.

 

[jessydion]

Thank you Funderbunk. I don't mind waiting for things, that happens a bit in ED depending how you play - I just get up and make some tea or something. Thanks for your honest comment about the island size issue, and also the updates.

I found the maps to be mostly big enough. I was dissapointed at first, but now I look I what and how I built on them and Im surprised. But sometimes you want to use ALL the space given for building things and the system won't allow you to put a building somewhere when it seems clearly flat and far enough from the edge of map. Little frustrations. Dinos got much more pleasant to deal with after all the updates. For me filling up the feeders every 10 minutes all over your park was killing the game and I had to stop playing some times in August, but the have a bigger capacity now.
But the dinosaur part is all worth it to my opinion. They are beautiful, sound real, and move pretty well. I'm a very creative person and it's eady for me to imagine being iny park, walking around and judging the way the park has been designed and built. I wish for more terrain options, and that dinos were not walking through one another, but lately I've said out loud while playing "Man this game is great!!" 4 seconds later, a tornado hit my park, destroyed fences, Styracos and Nodos crossed into my high population Floodplain enclosure, and went beserk into fences and broke hell on main street!
I really think it's worth it. I play often, redesign my parks, and I imagine a world where I was rich or had great contacts and would be brought to those islands to visit the most incredible zoos on the planet!

 

[goofy2feet]

I'm an Elite player for the most part too, as it happens. (One with a thing for dinosaurs! lol)

386 hours logged in Jurassic World, I've only really played through the main campaign, yet to go back to improve/restart early islands with newly unlocked dinosaurs and buildings (I do have one record breaking carnivore though).

The map sizes are I think only a problem if you want to cram every dino onto every island. I don't see it like that myself though, because there are so many dinosaurs. I think you can keep ankylosaurs on one island, therapod carnivores on another .. thinking of the whole island chain as one, 'jurassic world'. Seen that way islands can be an interesting puzzle on making best use of the space you have. Then jump in your helicopter and go see your sauropod collection.

Thanks Winterwalker. I appreciate your response, especially the comments about using island space in the game.

 

[goofy2feet]

Thanks jessydion. Your comment is very helpful.

So, I'm really keen to buy this game. Been doing some watching on YouTube of playthrough vids and I think it's going to be perfect for me.

Might wait for a sale, but I think it is probably worth the full price, especially going on how good the development on Elite has been.

Thanks to everyone who commented.

 

[Leftthisplacebehind477544678865]

To be perfectly fair, it's gone on relatively low sales already and that's definitely worth waiting for.

 

[jessydion]

It's up to you but I would get the deluxe edition too. I LOVE the Styracosaurus. Crichtonsaurus is cute grumpy looking too and sounds funny. Suchomimus is unusual and really nice looking and has a violent roar.
Like Winterwalker was saying, trying to fit all dinos on every island is a mess or simply impossible. It's better to see them as a whole park. I designed some islands by continent ( more or less, still working on it). Matanceros was all North American dinosaurs. Muerta was Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. With the new DLC, I will run out of room on Muerta. Pena was the "freaks" island with hybrids and large carnivores. Tacaño is just a happy beautiful place with dinos and Sorna is a Safari park mostly designed to be visited in a Ranger jeep ( assuming they take in visitors like in African safaris). I'm sure you can have many hours of good times and feel like John Hammond when everything goes well...

 

[goofy2feet]

Sounds like a plan.

 

[Leftthisplacebehind477544678865]

Steam version of the game is having a 75% sale right now.

 

[DBlac]

Oh damn, it really is. That pretty much seals the deal doesnt it? No better time to get it! As for my own opinion, i can say that i pre-ordered teh game and for once, was not disappointed. Yes it launched in a bit of a bare bones state, but i had high hopes given the amount of potential i saw and so far Frontier have not let me down. DLC, Dino packs and pretty huge updates in just the span of half a year, all quite constant and all things that have been asked for by the community. If anything, that alone is worth rewarding.

 

[goofy2feet]

Yup, I got it in the sale - total bargain. Played my first three hours the same day, and enjoyed it. I like the replay value angle of the game, the desire to do it a bit better the next time you start over.

 

[Selim No Kashi]

Hi OP advance Merry Christmas to all!

first of all i have played the game for 319 hrs. And to think they haven't YET added decorations and updated terrain tools. Because I am confident that F.Dev will add this. Why? Because since launch they have constantly LISTENED to the fans and updated the game to what it is currently now version 1.6.

So as for replay value, yes you will definitely get your money's worth! and much more especially if you are a Jurassic Park / World and dinosaur fan in general. But I am sure you are or otherwise you wouldn't be here asking hahaha.

Good luck and enjoy! My advice let your imagination run wild and just enjoy the game, take it all in, all of it.