Lions need overhaul.

[Murray]

I know this has been talked about on other threads but I think the main focus is on the color variations when it should be on the texture and skin of the male lion. Before color variations the male lion needs to look more relalistic and less cartoony. Compared to other animals it looks like the lion would be something you see in a game from 7 years ago. I hope that frontier works on their overall look first before worrying about color variations.

 

[Moonfox]

The lionesses are one of the most beautiful animals in the game, in my opinion. I watch them all the time. I can't wait to see the variations to be added soon, and hope they extend to female lions (just shades of tawny, gold and cream to add to the leucistic). The males, on the other hand, look a bit taxidermied and could do with a touch-up. I could never figure out what it is about them, their faces just look, as you say, cartoony.

 

[Murray]

The lionesses are one of the most beautiful animals in the game, in my opinion. I watch them all the time. I can't wait to see the variations to be added soon, and hope they extend to female lions (just shades of tawny, gold and cream to add to the leucistic). The males, on the other hand, look a bit taxidermied and could do with a touch-up. I could never figure out what it is about them, their faces just look, as you say, cartoony.

I agree it is mostly just the males I think the cubs and lionesses look great.

 

[Murray]

Any devs see this!?

 

[Murray]

I just hope they address the issue in the near future because I’m sure frontier is aware the male lion looks cartoony but it’s probably not an easy change.

 

[tigris115]

I'd like to see the lions changed too tbh. The manes are not at all consistent and the grizzlies and bison look fine in terms of being thickly furred animals.

 

[Murray]

Exactly other thickly furred animals looks amazing. Meanwhile the lion looks years outdated.

 

[Protaygo]

Exactly!

 

[Dinocanid]

Exactly other thickly furred animals looks amazing. Meanwhile the lion looks years outdated.

The lion doesn't look outdated, just incorrectly styled. No offense to the devs, but some of the animals look like the art director took a break for the day. The style for some animals are pretty inconsistent, some are very realistic, some are semi-real, and some (like the male lions) are just cartoony

 

[paul78]

I like the planet zoo lion a lot and since the lion is my favorite animal I use it every time plus what’s a zoo without a lion? Could it look better imo? Yes but imo it’s the best gaming lion to date. I’ll admit something does seem off tho.

This is the lion from the original trailer and does look amazing but it was a trailer of course. Also please understand I’m in no way trying to take anything away from frontier as their devs did a amazing job.

And of course the lion in game. Maybe it’s the top of the mane but still amazing and one of my favorite in game animals.

And here is Smithsonian zoos lion which is the prettiest lion I’ve ever seen. So to me it’s the crown of the mane that looks off in game. Like I said still amazing nonetheless although the west African lion wouldn’t have been my first or even second choice I do get why frontier did it.

 

[DrBurrito]

although the west African lion wouldn’t have been my first or even second choice I do get why frontier did it.

Here's my two cents about this:

I think Frontier is also not certain which lion they want to go with. When the game was first released, Zoopedia showed all sub-Saharan lion populations on the distribution map. Then at some point they actually removed the Western and Central clades from the map and left only the range of the southern lion (P. l. melanochaita), or in other words Northeastern and Southern/Eastern clades; which is the exact opposite of what I would have expected as a fix for the map, as the West African lion population belongs to the northern lion (P. l. leo).

This made me question whether they actually wanted to change the subspecies/population after the beta (due to its mane), but this process was halted halfway in (assuming), since that would require another session with one of the voice actors, who particularly refers to the lions in the first career mode scenario as West African lions.

An official response, of course, would be very appreciated. To me it is one of the greatest mysteries in the game.

 

[Firestar97]

I like the planet zoo lion a lot and since the lion is my favorite animal I use it every time plus what’s a zoo without a lion? Could it look better imo? Yes but imo it’s the best gaming lion to date. I’ll admit something does seem off tho.
View attachment 174188
This is the lion from the original trailer and does look amazing but it was a trailer of course. Also please understand I’m in no way trying to take anything away from frontier as their devs did a amazing job.
View attachment 174190
And of course the lion in game. Maybe it’s the top of the mane but still amazing and one of my favorite in game animals.
View attachment 174191
View attachment 174192
And here is Smithsonian zoos lion which is the prettiest lion I’ve ever seen. So to me it’s the crown of the mane that looks off in game. Like I said still amazing nonetheless although the west African lion wouldn’t have been my first or even second choice I do get why frontier did it.

Now that I see the Pictures for Comparison directly next to each other I agree. The Mane could look better and something is wrong with the Face.

This made me question whether they actually wanted to change the subspecies/population after the beta (due to its mane), but this process was halted halfway in (assuming), since that would require another session with one of the voice actors, who particularly refers to the lions in the first career mode scenario as West African lions.

Did they change it? As far as I remember it was for some Reason called the Barbary Lion in the Tutorial (in the German Version of the Game)

 

[DrBurrito]

Did they change it? As far as I remember it was for some Reason called the Barbary Lion in the Tutorial (in the German Version of the Game)

Dunno about the German version, but in the English version it was always called the West African lion in the tutorial. Now what you said adds a completely new dimension to the mystery. As for the map, would you like me to DM you the link showing the old distribution map? There was such a video from the beta IIRC.

(Don't want to take the thread off-track by linking a video that is relatively unrelated to the original post)

 

[Dinocanid]

Damn, if the lion in-game looked similar to the one in the trailer then it'd be perfect

 

[Murray]

Yeah it definitely looked better in the trailer but still not great. It is by no means the best lion model to date if you go and look and other threads with similar discussions he shows pictures of lions from other games that look far better. (Can’t remember which one exactly sorry.) I’m not trying to bash the Devs either but after seeing how good the other furred animals look I’m just so confused as to why the male lion looks cartoony and outdated. I’ve been trying to get this point across for a while now since I love the game and lions are my favorite animal but have not gotten a response from a dev once yet.

 

[Firestar97]

Dunno about the German version, but in the English version it was always called the West African lion in the tutorial. Now what you said adds a completely new dimension to the mystery. As for the map, would you like me to DM you the link showing the old distribution map? There was such a video from the beta IIRC.

(Don't want to take the thread off-track by linking a video that is relatively unrelated to the original post)

Of course you can send me a DM. What's weird about it, is that the Lion is still called West African Lion everywhere else in the Game.
Just noticed that there is a small Part in Asia on the Distribution Map. They really need to do better Research. Not only about Animals but also about some of the Plants

 

[tigris115]

Here's a big boi that was made for a ZT2 mod a while ago. I didn't import this critter into blender but I"m sure the poly count is mega low compared to the PZ lion. Thus, something like this but more HD can be easily accomplished.

 

[NZFanatic]

I'm fairly certain they already said they had no plans to change the lion model.

Edit:

the team currently have no intention to change the Lion model.

From the 1.2.4 thread.

 

[tigris115]

Why not though? It would be fairly easy to make a few changes to the lion model to make the mane look better. It can be on the backburner

 

[NZFanatic]

Why not though? It would be fairly easy to make a few changes to the lion model to make the mane look better. It can be on the backburner

Probably because it's not at all easy. I imagine that any change to the rig would also necessitate changing countless animations to account for the new shape, even if the changes in shape are minor. I'm not a game developer though, so I defer to the experts (i.e. the Frontier devs) and assume there's a good reason they aren't going to change it.