Having taken a few days now to mull over all the information rather than a knee jerk reaction, I have some thoughts.
First off, I am glad that overall Frontier seems to still listen to the community as there were numerous requests that were confirmed in the trailers that were released and the accompanying materials. So personally I am actually much more optimistic for JWE3 than JWE2 as the direction and extent of the changes is definitely more impressive and worthy of that sequel moniker it bears. Very pleased on that front, but like with JWE2 I do have a few concerns given the lack of highlight in the trailers thus far.
Campaign
Extremely happy with the overall information shared about the campaign. One of the main low points of JWE2 was sadly one of the original JWE's strengths. I understand there was a concerted effort to experiment with a new direction here and also bring in the Evolution series closer to the franchise canonicity over at Universal, but I don't believe I am alone in stating it turned into a misstep. The Campaign felt like a tutorial albeit it had a fine premise and really Chaos Theory felt redundant like what the Campaign ought to have been. Seeing the actual creativity of the Dominion Chaos Theory being the ultimate highlight of the scenarios only made me miss the structure of the first game further even as we leaned more into it with the Biosyn/Malta expansions.
The best received scenarios were those that most closely resembled and built upon the foundations of the original campaign. I also can't help but feel that we lost a lot of the fun and originality in the Jurassic franchise and the Evolution series specifically by trying to toe-the-line with the films too closely as to be canonical tie-ins. Historically, outside the film canon, the franchise has been a place open for interpretation and its led to main unique creations over the years. I felt a bit of that with JWE and then its loss with JWE2, so it feels really good to have custom Frontier original scenarios back as the narrative is in service to gameplay and overall on delivering a stand alone experience.
Most of all, I can't understate how important the progression system(s) created by this whole affair is simply stellar. This time around I believe the factions can be better implemented as the game itself is overall more varied and consists of more systems, so it won't be hampered as the original JWE had been. The diverse ecosystems across the globe is going to make the experience more rich and set the Evolution series apart as a more distinct part of the franchise and bringing back Jeff Goldblum as a narrator just feels right in many ways. Looking forward to this next chapter overall a net positive impression.
Terrain, Customization & Modular Building
Absolutely massive improvements across the board here. Not much of a downside here a major highlight of the trailers is the sheer variety of new environmental creation tools at our disposal. From the more immersive deep water, to the dynamic waterfall creation and brush tools, to the more robust ability to create inclines and gorges it add a lot of verticality to the game and it teases you just enough to want to know more. The seeming lack of terrain constraints and the relative lack of collision boxes on decorative pieces is great, and while I am a bit cautious as those could be added later, despite that it still looks to be a massive overhaul in our capabilities from prior entries.
I also love that we have actually committed to a Jurassic Park Japan scenario with a full on tileset and accompanying building complement. Then built on the Malta tileset to give a more proper Mediterranean set and surprisingly Las Vegas and Badlands sets which really mixes up things all over again. I feel this adds so much to the overall experience as just looking at a new environment can change your opinion of it and opens up new possibilities. Then we have to talk about decorations and how the Preorder and Deluxe Edition themselves have some beefy building/decorative sets! We have asked for this for ages, but to include them as paid content, I hope this is a precedent that we will get more and more decorations over time and give credence to future guest management potential.
When we look at how combines with some crazy modular building it is both overwhelming and exciting all at once. More natural enclosures are possible not just terrestrially, but also with how lagoons can be formed and we have come a long way. Even the aviaries seem much larger able to fit entire structures inside or be built on/into natural terraces. Only concern here is that we don't just wind up with a meager handful of premade buildings and the rest force players into the depths of customization. Its far too easy for this to be balanced too heavily towards player agency that the nice Frontier crafted buildings are an afterthought and readily abandoned on a whim. I hope Frontier is aware of this and is careful not to overwhelm people going too far into the customization aspect particularly as the biggest weakness across the Evolution series has been its management.
Overall a major upgrade, but temper the urge to go too far into leaning on community creation.
Genetics, Breeding & Behavior
Broad category as this overall encompasses everything from new species interactions and the absolute selling point in baby dinosaurs. Long requested pterosaur walking animations and even Spinosaurid swimming animations are now available. Paired with how sauropods now seem to be able to stroll through deep waters, the tiny tidbits that you can customize deep water and make a natural food source out of them has a lot more implications that it first appeared such as creating a truly natural ecosystem. The wording has my mind racing, but I am cautiously optimistic about semi-aquatic species as this can just mean Spinosaurids exclusively, but I smell some DLC in the future to expand upon this foundation.
The introduction of juvenile dinosaurs though is something entirely different. This is a huge selling point for the game, but it also raises a ton of questions. While I feel some people are caught up focusing on species cuts (Don't cut Metria, please!) and fretting about a few minor tidbits, its actually more than I expected. That's a lot of species with juvenile models and I noticed from the trailer, the Tricertops juvenile has two models, so I won't say its a ontogeny system, but it certainly doesn't appear this is going to be a stark jump from infant to adult that some feared. I am also very impressed that Frontier has gone to the lengths to actually add some quality of life, immersion, and management aspects to the juveniles.
Perhaps I was pessimistic, but I really didn't dare hope for sexual dimorphism, too many unique juvenile behaviors/interactions, or too much in ways of the genetics system. I am very pleasantly surprised how well fleshed out the incorporation of the juveniles is just from the trailers. They interact and play with each other via social animations and with their parents too. The juvenile Carno and Baryonyx trying to break out really threw me for a loop. That said, I hope Frontier does consider a few more animations to cycle between for species just so they feel a little more dynamic. I understand one social per species is a lot of work, but even if we could make 2-3 per a species group (ex: stegosaurs, sauropods, etc.) it would help them feel more alive and less repetitive to watch without the crazy cost and time to try and make them freely interact with their entire environment.
On the website I also came across a bit about territory and after JWE2 I am a bit hesitant to take that as more than a play on words. While it technically exists, the territory system in JWE2 really needed work and it doesn't actually feel like you are doing anything. I also can't help but emphasize, please don't apply the same animation/behavior to every single species using a particular or similar model/rig. We were so excited for pack hunting and fence climbing, but then the number of species that could perform the action just homogenized the feature too much that it no longer felt unique and fun, but more like a chore you are going to have your Rangers automate away.
Still, to have actual dinosaur nests feels surreal, that one inclusion alone just completely changes the way you look at the game to see a clutch of eggs sitting there or juveniles emerging from a nest in your enclosure. Speculation is going mad about caves and natural arches and things just from a glance at a Triceratops nest, but even if those aren't a thing, this is more than enough. Seeing the actual interface including live previews made my day the ultimate quality of life we have long requested! All the matters of genetic inheritance feel like these could play into some fun and unique campaign/challenge mode scenarios and its going my minding whirring back to all the dynamic animal behavior and genetics system I wrote of so extensively here: Genetics System & Dinosaur Behavior.
I am hoping some of my more elaborate ideas might stand a chance in some shape or form now we are seeing the slow development and growth of species management start to open up with the new entry: Potential of Compsognathus & Potential of Dilophosaurus. My real concern now is less than we have the big features, its their implementation and what they will do at the end of the day. I am very optimistic, but I have a lingering sense of caution not to get too enthusiastic. These features I concocted are complicated and would likely be a tad difficult to implement, but I think we need to shift thinking increasingly in that direction otherwise we are just going to wind up with JWE3 turning into just a Sandbox simulator with some pretty landscapes and species, but very limited gameplay opportunities.
Guest Management & Attractions
I saved this one for last as this is my number one priority. I am pleased to see we are getting more interactive attractions such as the Balloon Tour and the surprising Gentle Giants Petting Zoo, but the tease of a potential water-based attraction is the primary #1 alluring bit. The prior two games just severely lacked in attractions that weren't just reskins of old attractions. Gyrospheres weren't even destructible or at threat and that felt wrong on many levels not just in terms of immersion but in terms of gameplay, like why research what was at times a high reputational or research tree reward only for it to be a reskinned basic truck tour?
For the Gentle Giants attraction, I would be remiss if I didn't believe it will turn out to be a simple looped animation kind of attraction. Not to say this is a bad thing, but Frontier has set a precedent for me not to expect much whenever the word Guest is even uttered. I mean, the bar is set so that we got excited seeing them sitting on benches and at tables. The same community that spent years hyping of bins and benches like a cult. Its fun and it is a tie-in for a big selling feature, but I'd be lying if it didn't underwhelm me. I would have liked mention of a more unique attraction to be highlighted and its a shame the Balloon Tour was relegated to a line of text, but I understand its probably not finished yet. Having said that, I do hope the pterosaurs can at least attack the balloons like they do the heli and maybe give them both a fun crashing animation, its a bit underwhelming seeing a heli limp back to base while its on fire rather than spinning out of control and disappearing in an overexaggerated explosion.
This sort of hope is why I took aim at writing up a more unique Dilophosaurus, I thought having a dino with a projectile that can harm guests would open up some fun gameplay and give reason to tailor some management tools around. It is called the Spitter, after all, and I am a bit let down that it looks like the same steel fences are back yet again. Nice to have some aesthetic guest fencing or return of low fencing, but the lack of actual cable fencing and the same look of guests wandering around has me a bit disappointed I won't lie.
I hope I am overthinking things, but attractions only mean something if the guests do and that is the Achilles' heel of the Evolution games all the way back to the first. If we just get more copy and paste guests with a few new static animations tied to decorations or the Gentle Giants attraction, we are back to square one. I understand technical limitations were a big reason for this, but I am a sneaking suspicion all of that processing power is going straight to the species and the park guests are once again the literal afterthought of the game. I feel like Frontier in part is focusing on the wrong aspects of the game. Like many young writers fall into the trap of is writing a good story beneath fantastical elements, I feel like the Evolution games are striving for the spectacle of lush environments and dinosaurs that they forget that a park simulator/management game is built upon a solid foundation of the park management itself being fun.
I wrote extensively on this very thing: Guest Management - Comprehensive Overhaul.
JWE2 introduced Guest Types then subsequently ignored their very existence as it meant nothing but some numbers in a spreadsheet that typically was barely acknowledged by Challenge Mode players and was easily brute-forced by cramming in stuff into your parks to overwhelm the ratings requirements. It was disappointing as the guests don't have a lot of relevance and yet they should be the core of the experience. I don't expect individualized guests and in fact we can rule that out from the trailers alone, but I hope I am just being pessimistic and the reality is we aren't just phoning it in business as usual.
I see the Maintenance Team and the Security Cameras and I feel like Frontier agreed that the Sierra Nevada scenario in the Dominion Chaos Theory was the highlight of JWE2 because it actually strived to do something with its gameplay. The watch towers are apparently coming back and I like the separation of roles and implementation and immersion of the Security Cameras and hope this is what is to come, but I need to see some gameplay of JWE3 otherwise we are just going to be hoping for JWE4 and hope that becomes a reality.
We don't all the resources to bring back all 40+ cut species via DLCs or more building and tile sets in all honesty, we need management features. Creative players have pretty much everything they could hope for with JWE3, I hope management gets the same. We need guest to matter then attractions will matter. If that happens then their deaths matter and some cool interactions like mosasaurs snapping zip-lines, Dilos spitting through fences and river cruises, and Compies running all over the park spreading diseases turn into the most intriguing experiences possible that set the game apart from being good to being great.
I implore Frontier to use the remaining time until release to prove me wrong and make sure guests have meaning otherwise everything else is just for show and a few months post-release we will all be back begging for expansions and more things to do since we got bored after burning through new content faster than it can be made. Something that adds replayability cheaply is guest management. Thoughts? Opinions?
First off, I am glad that overall Frontier seems to still listen to the community as there were numerous requests that were confirmed in the trailers that were released and the accompanying materials. So personally I am actually much more optimistic for JWE3 than JWE2 as the direction and extent of the changes is definitely more impressive and worthy of that sequel moniker it bears. Very pleased on that front, but like with JWE2 I do have a few concerns given the lack of highlight in the trailers thus far.
Campaign
Extremely happy with the overall information shared about the campaign. One of the main low points of JWE2 was sadly one of the original JWE's strengths. I understand there was a concerted effort to experiment with a new direction here and also bring in the Evolution series closer to the franchise canonicity over at Universal, but I don't believe I am alone in stating it turned into a misstep. The Campaign felt like a tutorial albeit it had a fine premise and really Chaos Theory felt redundant like what the Campaign ought to have been. Seeing the actual creativity of the Dominion Chaos Theory being the ultimate highlight of the scenarios only made me miss the structure of the first game further even as we leaned more into it with the Biosyn/Malta expansions.
The best received scenarios were those that most closely resembled and built upon the foundations of the original campaign. I also can't help but feel that we lost a lot of the fun and originality in the Jurassic franchise and the Evolution series specifically by trying to toe-the-line with the films too closely as to be canonical tie-ins. Historically, outside the film canon, the franchise has been a place open for interpretation and its led to main unique creations over the years. I felt a bit of that with JWE and then its loss with JWE2, so it feels really good to have custom Frontier original scenarios back as the narrative is in service to gameplay and overall on delivering a stand alone experience.
Most of all, I can't understate how important the progression system(s) created by this whole affair is simply stellar. This time around I believe the factions can be better implemented as the game itself is overall more varied and consists of more systems, so it won't be hampered as the original JWE had been. The diverse ecosystems across the globe is going to make the experience more rich and set the Evolution series apart as a more distinct part of the franchise and bringing back Jeff Goldblum as a narrator just feels right in many ways. Looking forward to this next chapter overall a net positive impression.
Terrain, Customization & Modular Building
Absolutely massive improvements across the board here. Not much of a downside here a major highlight of the trailers is the sheer variety of new environmental creation tools at our disposal. From the more immersive deep water, to the dynamic waterfall creation and brush tools, to the more robust ability to create inclines and gorges it add a lot of verticality to the game and it teases you just enough to want to know more. The seeming lack of terrain constraints and the relative lack of collision boxes on decorative pieces is great, and while I am a bit cautious as those could be added later, despite that it still looks to be a massive overhaul in our capabilities from prior entries.
I also love that we have actually committed to a Jurassic Park Japan scenario with a full on tileset and accompanying building complement. Then built on the Malta tileset to give a more proper Mediterranean set and surprisingly Las Vegas and Badlands sets which really mixes up things all over again. I feel this adds so much to the overall experience as just looking at a new environment can change your opinion of it and opens up new possibilities. Then we have to talk about decorations and how the Preorder and Deluxe Edition themselves have some beefy building/decorative sets! We have asked for this for ages, but to include them as paid content, I hope this is a precedent that we will get more and more decorations over time and give credence to future guest management potential.
When we look at how combines with some crazy modular building it is both overwhelming and exciting all at once. More natural enclosures are possible not just terrestrially, but also with how lagoons can be formed and we have come a long way. Even the aviaries seem much larger able to fit entire structures inside or be built on/into natural terraces. Only concern here is that we don't just wind up with a meager handful of premade buildings and the rest force players into the depths of customization. Its far too easy for this to be balanced too heavily towards player agency that the nice Frontier crafted buildings are an afterthought and readily abandoned on a whim. I hope Frontier is aware of this and is careful not to overwhelm people going too far into the customization aspect particularly as the biggest weakness across the Evolution series has been its management.
Overall a major upgrade, but temper the urge to go too far into leaning on community creation.
Genetics, Breeding & Behavior
Broad category as this overall encompasses everything from new species interactions and the absolute selling point in baby dinosaurs. Long requested pterosaur walking animations and even Spinosaurid swimming animations are now available. Paired with how sauropods now seem to be able to stroll through deep waters, the tiny tidbits that you can customize deep water and make a natural food source out of them has a lot more implications that it first appeared such as creating a truly natural ecosystem. The wording has my mind racing, but I am cautiously optimistic about semi-aquatic species as this can just mean Spinosaurids exclusively, but I smell some DLC in the future to expand upon this foundation.
The introduction of juvenile dinosaurs though is something entirely different. This is a huge selling point for the game, but it also raises a ton of questions. While I feel some people are caught up focusing on species cuts (Don't cut Metria, please!) and fretting about a few minor tidbits, its actually more than I expected. That's a lot of species with juvenile models and I noticed from the trailer, the Tricertops juvenile has two models, so I won't say its a ontogeny system, but it certainly doesn't appear this is going to be a stark jump from infant to adult that some feared. I am also very impressed that Frontier has gone to the lengths to actually add some quality of life, immersion, and management aspects to the juveniles.
Perhaps I was pessimistic, but I really didn't dare hope for sexual dimorphism, too many unique juvenile behaviors/interactions, or too much in ways of the genetics system. I am very pleasantly surprised how well fleshed out the incorporation of the juveniles is just from the trailers. They interact and play with each other via social animations and with their parents too. The juvenile Carno and Baryonyx trying to break out really threw me for a loop. That said, I hope Frontier does consider a few more animations to cycle between for species just so they feel a little more dynamic. I understand one social per species is a lot of work, but even if we could make 2-3 per a species group (ex: stegosaurs, sauropods, etc.) it would help them feel more alive and less repetitive to watch without the crazy cost and time to try and make them freely interact with their entire environment.
On the website I also came across a bit about territory and after JWE2 I am a bit hesitant to take that as more than a play on words. While it technically exists, the territory system in JWE2 really needed work and it doesn't actually feel like you are doing anything. I also can't help but emphasize, please don't apply the same animation/behavior to every single species using a particular or similar model/rig. We were so excited for pack hunting and fence climbing, but then the number of species that could perform the action just homogenized the feature too much that it no longer felt unique and fun, but more like a chore you are going to have your Rangers automate away.
Still, to have actual dinosaur nests feels surreal, that one inclusion alone just completely changes the way you look at the game to see a clutch of eggs sitting there or juveniles emerging from a nest in your enclosure. Speculation is going mad about caves and natural arches and things just from a glance at a Triceratops nest, but even if those aren't a thing, this is more than enough. Seeing the actual interface including live previews made my day the ultimate quality of life we have long requested! All the matters of genetic inheritance feel like these could play into some fun and unique campaign/challenge mode scenarios and its going my minding whirring back to all the dynamic animal behavior and genetics system I wrote of so extensively here: Genetics System & Dinosaur Behavior.
I am hoping some of my more elaborate ideas might stand a chance in some shape or form now we are seeing the slow development and growth of species management start to open up with the new entry: Potential of Compsognathus & Potential of Dilophosaurus. My real concern now is less than we have the big features, its their implementation and what they will do at the end of the day. I am very optimistic, but I have a lingering sense of caution not to get too enthusiastic. These features I concocted are complicated and would likely be a tad difficult to implement, but I think we need to shift thinking increasingly in that direction otherwise we are just going to wind up with JWE3 turning into just a Sandbox simulator with some pretty landscapes and species, but very limited gameplay opportunities.
Guest Management & Attractions
I saved this one for last as this is my number one priority. I am pleased to see we are getting more interactive attractions such as the Balloon Tour and the surprising Gentle Giants Petting Zoo, but the tease of a potential water-based attraction is the primary #1 alluring bit. The prior two games just severely lacked in attractions that weren't just reskins of old attractions. Gyrospheres weren't even destructible or at threat and that felt wrong on many levels not just in terms of immersion but in terms of gameplay, like why research what was at times a high reputational or research tree reward only for it to be a reskinned basic truck tour?
For the Gentle Giants attraction, I would be remiss if I didn't believe it will turn out to be a simple looped animation kind of attraction. Not to say this is a bad thing, but Frontier has set a precedent for me not to expect much whenever the word Guest is even uttered. I mean, the bar is set so that we got excited seeing them sitting on benches and at tables. The same community that spent years hyping of bins and benches like a cult. Its fun and it is a tie-in for a big selling feature, but I'd be lying if it didn't underwhelm me. I would have liked mention of a more unique attraction to be highlighted and its a shame the Balloon Tour was relegated to a line of text, but I understand its probably not finished yet. Having said that, I do hope the pterosaurs can at least attack the balloons like they do the heli and maybe give them both a fun crashing animation, its a bit underwhelming seeing a heli limp back to base while its on fire rather than spinning out of control and disappearing in an overexaggerated explosion.
This sort of hope is why I took aim at writing up a more unique Dilophosaurus, I thought having a dino with a projectile that can harm guests would open up some fun gameplay and give reason to tailor some management tools around. It is called the Spitter, after all, and I am a bit let down that it looks like the same steel fences are back yet again. Nice to have some aesthetic guest fencing or return of low fencing, but the lack of actual cable fencing and the same look of guests wandering around has me a bit disappointed I won't lie.
I hope I am overthinking things, but attractions only mean something if the guests do and that is the Achilles' heel of the Evolution games all the way back to the first. If we just get more copy and paste guests with a few new static animations tied to decorations or the Gentle Giants attraction, we are back to square one. I understand technical limitations were a big reason for this, but I am a sneaking suspicion all of that processing power is going straight to the species and the park guests are once again the literal afterthought of the game. I feel like Frontier in part is focusing on the wrong aspects of the game. Like many young writers fall into the trap of is writing a good story beneath fantastical elements, I feel like the Evolution games are striving for the spectacle of lush environments and dinosaurs that they forget that a park simulator/management game is built upon a solid foundation of the park management itself being fun.
I wrote extensively on this very thing: Guest Management - Comprehensive Overhaul.
JWE2 introduced Guest Types then subsequently ignored their very existence as it meant nothing but some numbers in a spreadsheet that typically was barely acknowledged by Challenge Mode players and was easily brute-forced by cramming in stuff into your parks to overwhelm the ratings requirements. It was disappointing as the guests don't have a lot of relevance and yet they should be the core of the experience. I don't expect individualized guests and in fact we can rule that out from the trailers alone, but I hope I am just being pessimistic and the reality is we aren't just phoning it in business as usual.
I see the Maintenance Team and the Security Cameras and I feel like Frontier agreed that the Sierra Nevada scenario in the Dominion Chaos Theory was the highlight of JWE2 because it actually strived to do something with its gameplay. The watch towers are apparently coming back and I like the separation of roles and implementation and immersion of the Security Cameras and hope this is what is to come, but I need to see some gameplay of JWE3 otherwise we are just going to be hoping for JWE4 and hope that becomes a reality.
We don't all the resources to bring back all 40+ cut species via DLCs or more building and tile sets in all honesty, we need management features. Creative players have pretty much everything they could hope for with JWE3, I hope management gets the same. We need guest to matter then attractions will matter. If that happens then their deaths matter and some cool interactions like mosasaurs snapping zip-lines, Dilos spitting through fences and river cruises, and Compies running all over the park spreading diseases turn into the most intriguing experiences possible that set the game apart from being good to being great.
I implore Frontier to use the remaining time until release to prove me wrong and make sure guests have meaning otherwise everything else is just for show and a few months post-release we will all be back begging for expansions and more things to do since we got bored after burning through new content faster than it can be made. Something that adds replayability cheaply is guest management. Thoughts? Opinions?
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