I was talking to my GF about the Eurasia pack, and all around the packs from the past year or so. I also watched a YouTubers video on the slow and steady decline of community involvement. As much as I have enjoyed every animal that has been added into game, and I think every animal even “clones” deserve to be in here, I do think as time moved on each DLC has added less gameplay into the game. That doesn’t mean the DLCs haven’t done other things, like providing cool scenery or fleshing out regions with needed animals. If anything I have found the free DLCs have done more, but even then what might be exciting for all of us on the forum just may not be all that interesting to a majority of the players.
As to the Gameplay thing, if we look at what each DLC added this past year their hasn’t been much “new” animals to build with. The tropical pack added the Gibbon which has brachiation, one of only three animals in game to have it. It also added a monitor that deep dives, so if you don’t want a crocodile you have that. It also added a new flavor of WTE. The arid pack gave us the porcupine, it also gave us our first small cat in the sand cat. (I am not starting the arid pack argument, I have come around on it a lot. But while it did a great job adding some needed animals and fleshing out the Middle East, once you build an exhibit for one African ungulate you have built one for them all (obviously there are exceptions but then it is getting into it too much)) The Oceania pack gave us another flavor of WTE, and building for the kiwi is different as it is a burrowing bird. Likewise the little blue penguin can also use a burrow, but otherwise how different will its habitat be from the African Penguin? Finally the Eurasia pack added the Wolverine, which can climb and use the burrows! It also added the swan, the first waterfowl in game. Still, how different is building for the flamingos from the swan? Or crane? I know I am being overly pedantic, and people could probably point out a million small ways that building for x animal is different than Y animal. “Well the region, climate, and scenery are different. It’s also not the same species!” That is all true, and why I think every animal deserves to be in game. You may build the same habitat for a greater flamingo as you would an American, but that doesn’t mean the American flamingo doesn’t deserve to be in game. Though that is what I am trying to talk about, in terms of gameplay how different is a zebra, from a wild horse, to a Somali ass?
I often forget that us on the official forum probably makes up some of the most dedicated players to the game, so it can be easy to fall into a bias. I get Planet Zoo is a niche game, but we make up a niche of a niche if that makes any sense. So while I 100% agree the Wolverine, wild boar, takin, and wisent are needed and some awesome animals, it makes me wonder what the rest of the player base thinks? While we are certainly a dedicated bunch, we probably don’t even make up half of Frontiers sales. So it just makes me wonder, what do the rest of the player base want? When I talk to most people, they don’t even know what a takin or wisent even is. I know I am from North America so there is massive bias there, but I still wonder just how much do people care? Most people are pretty shocked that a zoo game doesn’t have parrots, and at this point in Planet Zoos run we have covered most of the Universal ABC zoo animals. So it still makes me wonder what is in store of the future.
I think what Planet Zoo could really use is something along the lines of a bird/ aviary dlc or an aquatic dlc. The thing is I don’t think it will happen though. Frontier has found a formula that works, and like I have mentioned in the past there has been financial issues and lay offs. That isn’t to say I don’t think planet zoo doesn’t need a South American dlc, or more monkeys. It’s just in terms of gameplay I think it could use those packs, especially to revitalize interest in the game. Especially it’s the new social media accounts. Still I expect the next dlc to be along the normal Frontier formula. And I am hoping it’s a Latin America/ South America. Still I have been thinking about Planet Zoos future a lot lately, what do you guys think?