Tropical Pack Animal Discussion

KönigDerKaffeebohnen

K
Instead of clodding up other threads, i thought im just gonna make a new one.
After looking at all the animals we got, im even more disappointed then when they were announced.
Fossa allways has been and still is cool, but the others really dropped the ball for me, not in quality but regarding actually bringing something new to the game.
Bla bla red river hog = prettier wart hog bla bla dont care gets a pass for popularity alone. I might be hyper meh on it, but ik that thats a me thing and im happy for everyone who desperatly wanted them.
The asian water monitor literally is what a nile monitor remaster should be. Tbf, those 2 look very similiar irl aswell with the nile monitor being a bit smaller and quite yellow, but in game really the only significant differences is model quality. No joke i put both into a habitat to compare and for a second i wasnt sure which one was which before realising that one looks much newer then the other and less unhealthy yellow.
It also exclusivly got the diving, so instead of getting a new animal, this one is just a replacement for an old one. I have no problem with the fact that we got a monitor, but any other more distinct and preferably oceanian monitor would have been a better choice. Imagine we got the crocodile monitor. Distinct in look, climbing > diving regarding interesting habitat builds especally when the nile monitor could and honestly should be diving aswell, something new for oceania with the apex predator of new guinea, whats not to love?
And lastly the lar gibbon, while fine is just an inferior siamang for what sounds at first like a stupid reason: its to small.
In general a smaller gibbon is a positive change and any other primate i would have prefered over it would have had the same size or smaller, but regarding actual usability the siamang feels much better because they are actually visible in their habitats. While i thought about it with the pigs, i have no doubt that im gonna keep the siamangs over the lar gibbons.
In most sizeable habitats or those with a gap inbetween like islands they are extremly hard to spot.
Heres an example from my gibbon outdoor enclosure, they are so tiny. Its not like they are unusable or anything and i might just let them stay in here cause they seem to use the brachiachiton pieces better then the siamangs, but while still completly fine and good animals i cant help but feel like they are just a straight down grade from the siamang just by size factor.
gi.jpeg

Lastly the sloth is the wrong one, nuff said.
This pack feels really meh, its pretty much 1 good animal, 1 thats just a remaster of a base game animal, 1 thats an inferior version of an animal that came before, 1 thats pretty and the wrong sloth.
It just really left a sour taste in my mouth.
But hey my racoons cant annoy me to hell and back anymore and my siamangs brachiate better, so the update is still good even if the animals feels very underwhelming
 

FoxyDee

FoxyDee
Regarding the animal picks for this pack:

With the red River Hog being my number one wish, so I really cannot complain about that. I dont really think of them as an improved warthog, because for me, they represent a different niche. Warthog being mainly a Savannah animal, while the Red River Hog being more of a tropical forest/Congo animal. Their amazing striking colours aside, they can also be mixed with so many species, which makes them extremely versatile animal in my opinion, especially adding an enrichment bonus with tropical forest animals that had no enrichment bonus with any other animal, being able to build primate/ungulate shared enclosure is amazing.

For me personally I also wanted the Lar Gibbon, even after recieving Siamang, as those are the species I think of when I hear the word "Gibbon". I spend alot of time zoomed in and just watching my animals, so their relatively small size, which differentiate them even more from the Siamang is a positive instead of a negative for me. I also appreciate their various colour morphs, because when i build a SEA section, alot of the animals are black or dark grey (Siamang, Sun Bear, partially the Malayan Tapir, Water Buffalo, Binturong...) so it is nice to break the colours with some blonde/beige Lar Gibbons.

The Fossa, was on my list too, not too high, but still. Amazing pick in my opinion, as they are really unique animal and Madagascar Sections are now possible to build for. Not to mention the quality of the animal itself. I have no issue with it whatsoever.

The Asian Water Monitor is in a weird a position for me. I dont build for the monitors too much, mainly because the absurd space requirments they have. If I could re-pick this spot, I would probably pick something like a Roseate Spoonbill or a Scarlet Ibis for a Tropical pack, as an SA colourful bird is needed imo. But I am not particularly upset with this pick, as we havent recieve a habitat reptile other than crocodillian ever. Could they go with some Oceanian reptile instead? Yes. I have a feeling the Monitor was choosen to complement the SEA building theme, so they had 2 from the SEA region and 2 from Triopical Africa. just as the Aquatic had 2 tropical SA species and 2 cold climate species.

Now the Sloth I am a bit dissapointed. 1) That it is not the species I would pick and 2) that it is contained in the huge WE exhibit, making smaller realistic non-walkable exhibit impossible. I would ahve zero issues with it being exhibit species if the god damn WE box would be at least half that size.

All in all, scenery packs can only contain a very limited number of species, so it very easy to upset people with the picks. That is why I prefer animal packs. But even with the limited roster size, it had 3 and half (a Sloth, but a wrong one) animals from my wishlist, so for me personally, it would end up as one of the better scenery packs.

Edit: I wish the Tropical theme would be used for an animal pack. I miss Coati, SA monkey species and a colorful SA bird (Spoonbill/Ibis), which would make the pack perfect in my eyes.
 
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Karen F

K
The animal choices are good I think. The Red river hog is an excellent choice for a third hog. Many zoos keep them, they look amazing, are from a different region than the others and we only had two.. The Fossa is a unique animal and we needed more than lemurs from Madagascar. The gibbon is also ok: Well made, a smaller size monkey, often kept in zoos, popular animal. Then there is always a very similar animal to what we already got: the asian water monitor. I am glad it was a Nice looking monitor this time. Not as bad as another crocodile or cat. The sloth was obviously chosen because People recognize it more than the two-toed. Two-toed would have been better, but really I am just glad we have a sloth. I also don't mind the exhibit box and the new scenery is just gorgeous! For me one of the better DLC.
 

SuzieSky

SuzieSky
The models are so well done and the choices aren't bad individually. I did not care much which sloth.

I was crushed, though, when I realized there were no monkeys and so little from South America in a tropical pack. I'm really hoping they're saving them for an Amazon, Central America, or Rainforest pack. The animals of this pack were so well done that I'm starting to get over it, but I will be sad if we don't get monkeys or a good showing from SA before support ends.
 

DarthQuell

DarthQuell
The pack itself is great, fantastic. Animal choices are wonderful.

However, I wouldn't have put these all in the same pack.

The gibbon, fossa, and monitor would've been perfect for islands, as well as with the accompanying theme.

The red river hog and sloth should've/could've been saved for something else....

Come to think of it, this is essentially an Islands pack, y'all, and I don't know how I feel about it. 3/5 animals are found on islands, so I dunno, I feel like, just I dunno...

I'm not complaining about the animals and theme, per se, but more about the combination of everything. Had they chosen the Tasmanian devil over the RRH and some kind of island WE/E, I feel like it would've been far better
 

Fossa

F
I feel your pain, I love the Fossa and the River Hog, but the other two are cheap copy animals not needed at all... I really hope frontier is releasing a 8-animal based bird pack soon, because no new bird in a jungle Pack?

Oh and the sloths... I wish I could just use them like the other animals, modders do your job and release them from this private cage

I also love 8-animal packs much better than the 4-ones...
 

Fossa

F
I don’t really care for American zoos though, I would really be disappointed if the boring bear made it in over the much more interesting Spectacled Bear, the only bear I still want
 

DarthQuell

DarthQuell
Fossa said:
I don’t really care for American zoos though, I would really be disappointed if the boring bear made it in over the much more interesting Spectacled Bear, the only bear I still want
Click to expand...
I don't find it boring. In my opinion, the black bear would be more fun to use than the RRH
 

Captain Callum

Captain Callum
Well I'm kinda in a burnout phase from playing , but i have managed to look at the dlc content and pretty impressed what the pack has to offer. That said I haven't actually used any of the animals yet but I do hope in the coming months (yes months not weeks).

First off the animals are not the reason I rate this pack highly as I'm still mildly annoyed that both south America and Africa didn't get there long awaited monkeys. Me being a builder values a scenery pack entirely around its scenery pieces and what kind of miscellaneous assets are of value. I'm not lying when I say the new cardboard boxes are my favourite part of the pack , much like the yellow skip was my favourite part of the conservation pack. The building pieces for the Indonesian theme are outstanding and can't wait to utilise them properly in my zoos.

Now for the actual topic - the animals. Like I mentioned I haven't even seen a single animal in action but I'm still excited we got some animals I have been wanting for while even if it means the monkeys are taking the backstage yet again. My personal favourite is definitely the red river hogs despite how controversial these hogs were. The addition is extremely important to tropical African habitats to boost the already strong roster we currently have.

The Asian water monitor while regarded as a clone is still welcomed in south East Asia despite already having it's bigger brother already ingame. The quality seen from pictures really shows how much frontier is paying attention to detail these days. Also it wasn't a crocodilian at last, while it will likely see very limited uses in my zoos it is still great that a non crocodilian reptile was added to the game.

The Lar gibbon is another gibbon which is middle ground for me personally. The White cheeked gibbon would of been a better use for me given the more popular presence of that gibbon compared to the Lar gibbon in my recreation zoos. I never understood the sheer hype for the Lar gibbon itself and here we are and people are let down that it's basically half the size of the Siamang. A smaller gibbon is a great thing for smaller habitats and especially primate houses where smaller primates are in rather high demand rather than the towering Siamangs.

Fossa ... Eh not too bothered personally. It's great for Madagascar areas with diversity now including a predator but it's not really that common to be considered a zoo staple. I'd still rather use my red ruffed lemurs.

Now Mr Controversial himself, the brown Throated Sloth. I PREFER THE BROWN THROATED , yeah it's not realistic at all and does not work with my recreations in any shape or form. But the iconic sloth will always be the brown Throated and that's all I need. The only issue I have with the sloth is that the climbing frame for enrichment are gonna be difficult to make a natural appearance. I want sloths climbing in a tree, not drunk sloths in a basket.

So the tropical pack doesn't beat the Europe pack for the best scenery pack but sure is tied with the conservation pack due to its high quality animal design and excellent scenery choices. Yeah the animal choice could of been better but still a solid roster.
 

DarthQuell

DarthQuell
Fossa said:
Even with all those colors it is still the house, garden and kitchen bear to me lol
Click to expand...
That's your opinion and it's entirely valid. But, the bear is key for me and, regarding it's huge range, worth it.
Plus, with that kinda thinking, then the fallow deer, European badger, and wallaby would be "house, garden, and kitchen" animals in their respective countries
Fossa said:
What is RRH?
Click to expand...
Red river hog
 

Fossa

F
I like the fallow deer, it’s the vanity smurf of animal land, the other two, MEH, not a fan, tree kangaroo and honey badger is where its at
 

Chuditch

Chuditch
Here’s my opinions on each of the animals:

Lar Gibbon - I wasn’t particularly fussed over getting a second Gibbon and would always have preferred another South American primate or the mantled guereza over them, but now that we do have the lar I’m happy with their addition. As well as promoting very welcome improvements to the brachiation system that also benefit the siamang, a lot of the zoos I have been to have had both siamangs and a smaller, more typical Gibbon species on display, so having both allows me to properly replicate that (even if I would have preferred northern white-cheeked given lar gibbons are becoming increasingly rare in Australia). I also love their new bipedal walking animations and really hope they are added to the siamangs in the future as well.

Red River Hog - Don’t really have much to say on this one. I never had any interest in the river hog and probably won’t get much use out of it, but the model is stunning and I’m very happy for those who were desperate for it.

Fossa - This was the last remaining carnivoran I’d have considered essential aside from maybe a coati, and so understandably I was thrilled at their inclusion. Their model is fantastic, their animations are fantastic, their sounds are fantastic, just a fantastic animal in general.

Asian Water Monitor - I was an #AsianWaterMonitorAppreciator since the moment they were announced, and despite not being on any of my wishlists they ended up as my favourite of the pack! I’m a huge fan of varanid lizards, I’d buy a whole animal pack full of them if I could, so getting our first one since launch was always going to be exciting for me no matter the species. Yes, the Asian water monitor is very similar to the Nile monitor and essentially acts as a replacement/remaster, but I would still much rather that over our only option for a semi-aquatic lizard looking that bad. I have only ever used the Nile monitor once, mostly because I just didn’t like how it looked, but I picture the Asian water monitor making it into most of my zoos from now on, filling in the niche of a smaller-than-Komodo monitor lizard (at least until we get another option like an Australian goanna).

Of course I would have preferred to get an arboreal species like a lace monitor or crocodile monitor, but I am now unsure about how climbing habitat lizards would work given they wouldn’t be able to just reuse their walking animations on the climbing frames like they have done for every other climbing animal (their sprawled gait would make them appear to be floating). And, while I can live with an Asian water monitor that can’t climb, both the lace and crocodile monitor would feel incomplete without it. Therefore, if climbing wasn’t an option, my preference would have been for a terrestrial or semi-aquatic monitor from tropical Australia like a yellow-spotted monitor or Mertens’ water monitor. But, with all that said, the Asian water monitor is one of the most impressive varanid species and an iconic animal for south-east Asia so I remain very happy with its inclusion nonetheless. I just hope Frontier still gives us an Australian monitor somewhere down the line (perentie for the 4th anniversary?).

Brown-throated Sloth - Definitely the wrong species, but other than that I’m fine with it. I was never someone who was going to use a sloth much so I’m not kicking myself over it, and I think they chose the best possible option (walkthrough exhibit) for their implementation.
 
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