Does this game still suck?

[Merlin.']

played it on release for a week - was trying hard to build enclosures but always having problem with the animals escaping or getting sick despite hiring about 10 vets per animal and 20 janitors etc, never actually do their job.

animals ALWAYS sad despite 99% of their cage being full of toys, food, trees... always some problem and never just had 1 day of a nice zoo where it went right.

i quit the game cos it became so annoying fixing these stupid problems and you arent actually allowed to just build a zoo and enjoy it.

[BonPadre]

To me, it's really a hit or miss game.
There are so many game mechanics knowledge needed when you build your own zoo, that if you don't take a good enough amount of time playing the career mode to begin with, you have almost 0 chances to get it right if you dive straight into franchise mode or sandbox mode.

There are so many little things here and there that if you want to just build a "nice looking zoo" without caring much about "but will it work ?" it will still be a no go.

Now if you played it at the time and you still own the game, you probably should go back at it, but with a different mindset. which is, actually learn the game's mechanics, spend a lot of time watching YouTubers even struggling with all those little things when they have a vision on how they want to do things and yet it still doesn't worked as planned to understand that it's not only you struggling.

If you are not ready to invest some serious playing time into this game because you have other games you want to play, just play the games you have fun with.
Gaming is made to have fun, not to get yourself frustrated. Life can be bad enough already that games should only be fun and entertaining to you. But some games are definitely not for everyone.

That's a take from a quite new'ish' player that gets frustrated as well often enough while playing the game, but who has actually fun solving those problems. So that game is right in my alley.

Have fun gaming, whatever game you play

[Varick]

BonPadre - and that is well said. :)

[audiolady]

I enjoy the challenge of building custom items to be set pieces for other designs.
Plus trying to figure out why the elephant kept breaking the glass, then standing on people til they finally noticed him.

[Varick]

Originally posted by audiolady:

I enjoy the challenge of building custom items to be set pieces for other designs.
Plus trying to figure out why the elephant kept breaking the glass, then standing on people til they finally noticed him.

That is an easy one. It is a known fact that most people will try to ignore the elephant in the room. :D

[audiolady]

Or standing on you in the middle of the path!

[audiolady]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2651850797

[Jendowoz]

This game is all about micro-managing so that is it's aim, Merlin. Use sandbox and look at the options menu to turn off all the main issues that come up if you want to just build a zoo and not be too concerned with the restrictions found in franchise or challenges. Just have to make sure you check the zoopedia for the correct needs of the animals..size of enclosure food, shelter and enrichment items etc., and it doesn't have to be fancy or anything, just in line with the needs of the animals. If you don't enjoy micro-managing games then perhaps this isn't the sort of game you prefer.

[audiolady]

As you can tell from my profile pic, I'm a cat, so I'm patient.
Unless it's loading too slow, or the server disconnects.

[Ellorien]

“Does this game still suck?”

Still? It never sucked, outside of some old and new bugs that get eventually fixed (unfortunately, an endless process) and some pathing issues.
The vast majority of problems people post here stem from their basic ignorance of the relatively complex system based on micromanagement.

So, if your keepers “don’t feed your animals” or animals repeatedly break a fence or vets don’t attend your habitats it is most probably your own error. You might have forgotten to create work zones, placed too few keeper huts and placed them too far away, hired too few keepers, built a tier 2 fence instead of recommended tier 5, and had all your vets doing research.

This game has a learning curve and is supposed to be played at a slow pace.

[audiolady]

Some people creep around the curve, others fly off the curve from speeding!

[audiolady]

I bet there were a lot of others behind you, honking their horns, wanting to go flying off of that curve!

[Ellorien]

You guys crack me up. 🤣

[audiolady]

Thanks. It's my one job, so I was hoping I'm doing it right!

[NanoGrrl]

To be literal-minded and answer the OP's first question--the game sucks a whole lot less! A lot of those issues you mentioned have been addressed, especially the enrichment item happiness thing! And animals do not get sick so easily (unless you forget to place water purifiers). Guests get happiness from education more easily now that there are animal talks. The animal diving is a very nice addition as well, so we have seals and penguins and otters that do cool things underwater.

I do still find that animals playing with boxes next to habitat barriers will somehow teleport outside the habitat and escape, but that Houdini act is kind of fun, dontcha know?

Tip for the Elephants + Glass issue is to use concrete barriers with the window option. The glass is then as strong as the concrete and no longer breakable. Magic! You can do the same with brick or wood barriers and their windows, for that matter.

Something else I'm finding that works super well is if you've got a critter that doesn't climb really well, sink its habitat by a meter or two--not much--and then put railings on ground paths for the guests. The animals won't get over the railings and the guests love it. Like, with gharials, for instance. Sadly, you cannot feed the guests to the gharials, but they'd likely get indigestion from guests anyhow.

[audiolady]

How expensive are gharials to feed? Just curious. More expensive than my lucky cougar who had a person donated to her?