I played the game extensively when it was first released, putting more than a hundred hours in it around November/the Christmas period. I loved the game back then, but it was flawed. Playing franchise, the pacing/game speed started becoming really troublesome, especially as the parks got bigger. Some other mechanics not working properly and bugs added on to the frustrations and I eventually stopped after I burnt out a bit, combined with my main franchise zoo becoming affected by the infinite loading screen.
These past couple of weeks the bug bit me again, and with the release of the South America DLC I jumped back in. With the quarantine and everything I've had more time and have put another 100 hours or so in the game. The game feels a lot more polished and complete now. Things have been fixed, QoL stuff has been added, and, for me at least, the option to separate animal aging from the universal game time is a game changer. I'm enjoying the game a lot more now than I did when it released, so thank you Frontier for all the hard work you continue putting in the game and your support.
As I have been playing more and getting to know the game more I have a few (I hope simple) suggestions that would really add a lot to the game in future content packs/patches. I just think these will make the game more complete. Note that I will not be going into the nature and content of DLCs in this. That's another topic already extensively discussed on the forums. This is more in the vein of tweaks and little additions that would hopefully come along with whatever we get in future DLCs and patches and that I thought would be helpful or found myself missing in the game.
1. It would be really awesome if we could have more generic decoration pieces for our zoos. Frontier have always done a great job with themed pieces since PlanCo. But PlanCo had a lot more generic stuff we could use for our parks outside of the themed pieces, and that was a theme park game. Zoos are a lot more generic than theme parks generally for a lot of reasons, and yet I feel the parts we have in Planet Zoo aren't enough. Don't get me wrong, I think the themed pieces are great, but their versatility isn't the best, especialy with some of them. I used the temple pieces of the last DLC to make a modern, new South American animal house, but I don't see them being used for anything else in my zoo. And if you want to try your hand at making a zoo that's less prestigious than some of the big ones, you don't have a lot of decorative options. I'd love to have more things to use to deocrate lightly themed areas in my zoo. Just stuff like more generic signs, fonts, logos and especially posters would be great and go a long way, but I hoped we'd get custom billboards where we can put our own images too, like PlanCo had. That one change could add incredible versatility to the game alone.
2. Another thing from Planet Coaster that I would love to see return is the addition of vending machines. Let's face it, guests in this game are constantly hungry and thirsty. No matter how many stalls you put down, they'll always flow to them like crazy and still be hungry and thirsty after. Thirst especially is a big problem for me, and that's even after putting down a drink stand every 20 paces by the looks of it. I can't put any more down because, firstly it's not realistic and secondly I just don't have the space. Vending machines would be a nice, subtle and versatile solution to this. Real zoos have them as well and you can put down a lot more of them than you can put down stands. They can go inside animal houses, on the side of paths or buildings, you name it. And they would not only add to the realism by allowing us to not have as many food and drink stands, but they could introduce another level of mechanics to the game.
3. Staying on the topic of eating, it would be great if guests would be more inclined to sit at and use picnic tables more than they do. Right now they almost don't use them at all. I have three big sitting areas in my current park with dozens of tables. They're all nicely decorated and two of them directly overlook habitats. Yet despite the fact that the food stalls next to them are always overflowing with guests, nobody sits at the tables. I'm lucky if I ever catch one of the tables being occupied. It's just a bummer spending the time to put those down right now only to see them not being used. Please Frontier, tweak the guest behaviour so they're more willing to sit when they eat.
These are the biggest things that came to mind while playing and I felt I wanted to share. Let me know if you guys would like to see these things added to the game too, or if you have any other ideas for small additions that would go a long way, especially in terms of realism, I'd love to see them!
These past couple of weeks the bug bit me again, and with the release of the South America DLC I jumped back in. With the quarantine and everything I've had more time and have put another 100 hours or so in the game. The game feels a lot more polished and complete now. Things have been fixed, QoL stuff has been added, and, for me at least, the option to separate animal aging from the universal game time is a game changer. I'm enjoying the game a lot more now than I did when it released, so thank you Frontier for all the hard work you continue putting in the game and your support.
As I have been playing more and getting to know the game more I have a few (I hope simple) suggestions that would really add a lot to the game in future content packs/patches. I just think these will make the game more complete. Note that I will not be going into the nature and content of DLCs in this. That's another topic already extensively discussed on the forums. This is more in the vein of tweaks and little additions that would hopefully come along with whatever we get in future DLCs and patches and that I thought would be helpful or found myself missing in the game.
1. It would be really awesome if we could have more generic decoration pieces for our zoos. Frontier have always done a great job with themed pieces since PlanCo. But PlanCo had a lot more generic stuff we could use for our parks outside of the themed pieces, and that was a theme park game. Zoos are a lot more generic than theme parks generally for a lot of reasons, and yet I feel the parts we have in Planet Zoo aren't enough. Don't get me wrong, I think the themed pieces are great, but their versatility isn't the best, especialy with some of them. I used the temple pieces of the last DLC to make a modern, new South American animal house, but I don't see them being used for anything else in my zoo. And if you want to try your hand at making a zoo that's less prestigious than some of the big ones, you don't have a lot of decorative options. I'd love to have more things to use to deocrate lightly themed areas in my zoo. Just stuff like more generic signs, fonts, logos and especially posters would be great and go a long way, but I hoped we'd get custom billboards where we can put our own images too, like PlanCo had. That one change could add incredible versatility to the game alone.
2. Another thing from Planet Coaster that I would love to see return is the addition of vending machines. Let's face it, guests in this game are constantly hungry and thirsty. No matter how many stalls you put down, they'll always flow to them like crazy and still be hungry and thirsty after. Thirst especially is a big problem for me, and that's even after putting down a drink stand every 20 paces by the looks of it. I can't put any more down because, firstly it's not realistic and secondly I just don't have the space. Vending machines would be a nice, subtle and versatile solution to this. Real zoos have them as well and you can put down a lot more of them than you can put down stands. They can go inside animal houses, on the side of paths or buildings, you name it. And they would not only add to the realism by allowing us to not have as many food and drink stands, but they could introduce another level of mechanics to the game.
3. Staying on the topic of eating, it would be great if guests would be more inclined to sit at and use picnic tables more than they do. Right now they almost don't use them at all. I have three big sitting areas in my current park with dozens of tables. They're all nicely decorated and two of them directly overlook habitats. Yet despite the fact that the food stalls next to them are always overflowing with guests, nobody sits at the tables. I'm lucky if I ever catch one of the tables being occupied. It's just a bummer spending the time to put those down right now only to see them not being used. Please Frontier, tweak the guest behaviour so they're more willing to sit when they eat.
These are the biggest things that came to mind while playing and I felt I wanted to share. Let me know if you guys would like to see these things added to the game too, or if you have any other ideas for small additions that would go a long way, especially in terms of realism, I'd love to see them!
