Planet Coaster 2 Has A Problem; And Why Planet Coaster 3 Might Come Sooner.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- Sequel Syndrome is something that affects many games and Planet Coaster 2 is suffering from it. Let's take 8 minutes to explore the issue, what Frontier might do next and how that might lead to Planet Coaster 3 earlier than they had planned.
Following on from other "disastrous" sequel releases like Cities Skylines 2, The Sims 4, Sim City 2013, Prison Architect and now Civilization 7 (which is having mixed reviews but ultimately categorised as "under-baked"), Planet Coaster 2 also over promised and under-delivered - it wrote a cheque it couldn't cash. This means that Frontier now have to enter into crisis mode to fix the game they ultimately released too early and jeopordise the long-term performance of the game based on short term decisions.
So, let's look at why that was the case and how they could fix it.
This has been something that has been bothering me over my time in the game and I thought I would share this with you because it is important for you to know where my head is at.
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I haven't bothered hopping back on PC2 in a while now. Can you tell me if they changed the que system at all? The main pathing system is pretty amazing, yet the que system is absolutely awful. Its so bad that my OCD can't even bother with it. Which makes me not even wanna build rides until (or if they ever) do something with it. You can't even make it 4m wide to match the building grid. Drives me insane.
The DLC problem can be solved by letting the community develop their own DLC content. A player creates a new piece using existing pieces and basic shapes or an updated version of the TMTK for the new engine. The item is submitted and for a nominal fee an algorithm converts it into a single piece PlanCo2 item that is optimized to the fewest number of polygons needed to make that item. The item is then available on the workshop to be added to a "Choose Your Own Item" DLC pack for the rest of the community. Item quantity for each pack would be the amount that was normally included in an original PlanCo DLC and would be the number of community created and submitted pieces that can be added to fulfill your pack quota.
So let the community rebuild all the 8 years of PlanCo DLC themes for the new engine instead of the coders.
I can totally see the player base reconstruct the Pirate and Steampunk and other themes faster than the coders can.
I think that replacing the sequel with a 3 is not a good idea here, not only would Frontier not have the budget and probably die, Planet Coaster 2 is very close to being amazing, and if they give up on it they might just go bankrupt.
Oh, for sure. But I wonder how much it "cost" them to abandon JWE1 in favour of 2. There will be economics at play where maintaining a game that has zero momentum because you ruined its reputation is less costly than starting again on another sequel. It's not out of the realm of the possible, even if it is unlikely.
I agree. I've been a detractor of the game from the start, but more because I know the company is capable of doing better, and the game is so aggressively close to being excellent. If they choose to take this to a tertiary sequel, I don't know I'd follow it unless they made something truly MIND-BOGGLING. All they needed to do was give us the textures, details, and love they showed to PZ. The expectations set by that game for the PC followup were immense, and in my opinion they've done nothing to meet those expectations. They took shortcuts, removed much-loved features from the original, they didn't add as much detail to the landscapes, the weather feature seems very lazily implemented with the way the sun barely dims as the weather rolls in, but that's not the craziest part.
I literally just got RCT3 for a buck, and started playing. And don't get me wrong, it really revived my love for PC...but there are features in RCT3 that aren't in PC2. A game from 2002 has more features than a brand new game from 2024. That, to me, is insane. And don't get me wrong, I know there had to have been a ton of unbearable pressure from leadership and shareholders to release the game before it was ready. But that doesn't mean it's okay that we, the audience, got shafted.
I agree, I think PC2 is fixable. I enjoy playing the game. Tho I wish they would add in the PC1 Spooky, Pirate, ect. Who knows maybe they will.
@@7empest376 they already said they will
@@7empest376 I think seeing Frontier go out of their way to acknowledge that they are looking at bringing back the PC1 themes is a really good sign that we'll see them added.
You're absolutely right on how such a fanbase as Planet Coaster's is almost impossible to satisfy at its fullest, but I do think Frontier was too comfortable with the game's hype that they thought releasing it with just the features that people wanted to be on PC1 was enough to create a stable playerbase, which, unfortunately, backfired.
However, seeing how people are not leaving but waiting for the game to be stable gives us hope that the game could recover, especially if/when they add swing launches and many other QOL updates to make the game appealing again, and yes, I'm looking at you, smaller stations and flat ride footprints, hahaha.
Anyway, thank you for talking about this topic, Chacho!
I love your honesty and your impartiality here. I am exactly like you when it comes to the positivity and would not allow myself any acknowledgements of what have been very minor problems. I've done great at keeping things in order and just enjoying the game. But lately the problems seem to have grown and sometimes I might even have to delete and re-installl both Steam and the game then reinstall before I can play. Thanks for this video. I'll stick with it like you're doing.
I expected a very rough launch, but It still was a disappointment.
My main takeaway is, that Frontier didn't quite understand what we loved in PC1 and what we really wanted. I'm not talking about coaster types or other "small things", but big things the majority of players would appreciate. Things like other stations, ride mechanics etc. got completely ignored. Theming is incredibly limited (We don't even have dead trees or tree stumps) and of course the most important thing: The massive amount of game breaking bugs.
Career mode isn't fun since the few maps we have were really easy to complete and sandbox is somewhat limited by the points above. I can't be creative if I can't do things that I want.
The list is huge. But man, Frontier has a ton of work to do. But they NEED TO START COMMUNICATING. Wouldn't be far from the first game that completely dies because the players felt "forgotten".
They recently added the ability to have a off loading and loading station on everything except log flumes and river rapids
They're getting there and at least for me I haven't had any bugs and it's only blue screened me once
However despite the fact that the theming is a bit more broad, allowing you to be a bit more creative, like using the aquatic theme and Viking for steampunk
I do really miss the classic themes from the first game and wish that they would return
Update 2 is next week Thursday.
They literally HAVE been communicating for 2 months now, but you guys keep IGNORING it.
Wait a damn week for once. Even play a different game while you're waiting, like I am doing.
@@scaryhobbit211 I'm talking about more then just announcements of road maps. Ye we got a roadmap... Woohoo... And not even that since it's a "roadmap" that only went two months onto the future when it came online. This ain't it.
I'm talking about proper communication between frontier and their customers.
I just don't understand why they would remove so many established features from version 1 when making version 2. The actual coaster builder + scalable props are huge upgrades... and nearly everything else is a downgrade. No custom friction, no interchangeable trains, stock scenery themes are incredibly limited (bye bye all the DLC that you paid for), no custom music or video, pathways are worse, time of day is only full hours. Like... goddamn you guys. The moving scenery platforms are cool, but they're also missing a layer of control that makes them truly useful.
My guess is that we were expected to be like WYSIWYG
I think it's because they didn't build off the original. They built PC2 on a new engine from the ground up. Which is where all these problems originate from. They couldn't change the pathing system without starting from scratch. Great that they fixed the pathing but sadly, countless things that were established fell by the way side do to the rebuild. Such as changing colors of pieces 🤦♂️. So thats why this game has so many bugs and missing features. It's great for the new pathing system, but sucks even more because the game suffers in so many other aspects because of it.
Talks of Planet Coaster 3, when Planet Coaster isn’t even 3 months is crazy work.
Gotta start the old specco videos early. Doesn't matter if you're right as long as you're first... right?
@ Good point. I don’t mind it lol 😂 I enjoy the content
The game just doesn’t feel right to me. The only thing I enjoy about the game is the track smoothing, the rest of the game just feels off.. I would rather just play Planet Coaster 1 but just add the new smoothing tool as an update. Lol
This. The new game just feels stale. There wasn’t anything that was added as a new gameplay hook. (I suppose water parks but I haven’t touched em)
That combined with the new game making pathing complex and the peeps just kind of suck… just basic PC1 stuff that was fine but is now worse in PC2. And STILL no modern coasters!!
I think for me, a couple of the high-priority wishes on my wish list came true in PC2, and exceeded my expectations.
- Better pathing Tool
- Better coaster and ride customization
- Better lighting
- Scenery Scaling
- Moving platform pieces to animate our own objects
- Version control
Then of course, a lot of features were added that REALLY help.
- Smoother coaster builder (I was hoping for a bigger change to the builder, but smoother is good enough imo),
- Water parks
- Improved sequencer
- Text without having to use a sign piece.
But then a lot of things weren't available that I used (or planned to use) in PC1 a lot:
- TMKT (Really hoping this comes back)
- Custom audio
- Custom images
- Custom Video
- Vista Points
- Hotels (Really weird with the resort theme AND pools/water slides now. Seems perfect for improving the Hotel system from PC1)
Some things that I had hoped they'd keep from Planet Zoo didn't make a return, like the fencing tool used for enclosures. That would be SOOOOO nice for setting up queues and don't die fencing.
I was also hoping the management would improve with more in-depth coaster maintenance with transfer tracks to maintenance areas, different ways trains could break down or need maintenance schedules. I was hoping for a true single-day cycle where you had to account for park opening prep, park closing. Also, quest arrivals and parking / other transport management), maybe even trash pickup and food deliveries. But those were just blue-sky wishes from me.
And then of course, how much clunkier the UI/UX, and the other bugs are probably the biggest overall negatives that most people have. I haven't even really PLAYED enough to really get hit with guests not getting on rides and stuff. I've just been building. But when the game launched, I did try to do a quick video where I build a horrible park that just tortures guests as those videos tend to do really well. But then once I let guests into the park, they weren't behaving like I thought they would so most of what I built to torture them didn't work, so I scrapped the idea.
But that being said, all the positives still outweigh the negatives for me. And for that I don't see myself going back to PC1 soon. I can build so much better and faster just from the pathing, smoother coasters, and scaling alone. But only because I'm super picky. I spent like 5 months building a huge RMC as my last PC1 project (think if you combined Steel Vengeance and Iron Gwazi into one dueling layout like Twisted Colossus), and didn't even finish it. But a lot of that was because of how hard it was to keep it smooth as i tweaked the layout to make it duel and stay in sync with the onboard audio. That whole process would've been SOOOOO much easier if I didn't have to use the 4 or 2 meter method for smoothing. Because I would take an hour to smooth out an element and then it would be out of sync with the music after, or the duel would get messed up. So then I'd have to re-adjust and re-smooth. Over and over again for like 14,000ft of track. It was brutal.
Tmtk will only be available after they finish supporting the game
The custom audio, video and images is coming in a big free update next week. Vanilla coasters, Pathos III flat ride from PC1, more fixes. Did you see the roadmap for the next few months?
I agree with pretty much everything you've said, but no game is fully complete in the modern world where things can be changed and updated at the drop of a hat thanks to the internet. Long gone are the days of a game being on a disk and if its broken it stays broken. Frontier have admitted there is problems and even gave an apology, so long story short im here to stay and am willing to ride out the storm. Plus its a trillion times better than rct world and park beyond put together (and yes i was daft enough to pay for both) and lets not forget we had the original planco for 8 years and that had problems in the beginning and yet we all learned to love it
Very well said, Ginge! 🧡
It's not only the unfinished gameplay mechanics and bugs, it also looks terrible when compared with zoo, other than the dark interiors/lighting it's a huge downgrade. I was always jealous of how zoo looked and couldn't wait to finally get planet coaster 2! Now i can't even get myself to open the game and i spent £3k on a completely new pc setup for it! You are right in that it needs a complete overhaul and I'm not convinced it will happen. Hopefully I'm wrong and future DLCs with scenery will change my mind, would have been happier with rides being added to zoo at this point!
What makes it look terrible? The brighter colours?
@kimbrolyy the colour and the textures. Some stuff looks great but some of it doesn't even look finished. Flat and washed out. I'm sure new scenery will help, hopefully mods will let us port scenery from zoo at some point
I think the game is a massive step up visually to PC1, but I totally accept your point about the main feeling. It's all very colourful and saturated, isn't it? It's a bit over the top. I see why, it is meant to be a sunny and warm fast paced game.. unlike zoo which is meant to be slower and casual.. but yeah. PC2 misses something and I'm not sure what (other than dark skies when it rains)
@@Nerdchacho oh it's definitely a step up from pc1, I guess zoo was a style choice and not necessarily a graphics upgrade!
I don't know why the first step in a sequel isn't to make sure it can do everything the original could do, but better. That in my head should be the foundation. Then from there add things the original was missing. There's so much removed from the 1st game it really does just feel worse.
I wish they'd show their progress on the coming updates more often. I'm simply not playing until the next and possibly not even until the March update. It's just frustrating in its current state.
Me too. Even as a content creator they've gone quiet on us..
It won't be for much longer, fortunately. Update 2 releases next week Thursday.
I hope the really important issues are addressed in the next few updates. Feb, March, April, even May and June. They don’t have June on the roadmap yet.
My issue with the game is not even really sequel syndrome or player expectations. It's companies not caring anymore if they release a complete and feature rich game.
The same thing happened with City Skylines 2. Does the game look better? Yes. Does it have great QOL changes from the first? Yes. Was the game ready for launch? Absolutely Not.
The game released buggy, lacked content, clearly developed with console in mind first, etc. The game was just not ready for release and it's unacceptable. I understand that the game is being fixed, but let's be real here. The fixes are being released at a snails pace. The original Planco has thousands of hours played by me. I haven't even cracked 100 hours since Planco 2 launched in November. That should tell you something.
Perfectly articulated. I totally agree. The fact that many of the most recent games can all be given this title is also frightening. At least some games have the respect to release as an Early Access title where players know to expect something a little scratchy. I didn't expect Civ7 to be torn apart like it is, but it has the same flaws PC2, CSL2 and many others have had. The exact same ones. And the only thing I can think of that unifies them all? Console compatibility. It seems that wherever there is a console version mapped to a PC version, the complaints are all the same. Every time. I just dunno what the answer is either.
honestly, as a console player, my biggest complaint is the percentage counter, as i have tested it, and i know that frontier could at least double the limit without affecting performance, but i feel that everything else is much better than planet coaster 1, apart from a few missing features (which i never used) and getting unnecessary notifications in sandbox, but those are just minor things🤷♂️
I feel like I can have less in my park before it fills up in PC2 compared to PC1. But the reason it exists is PlayStation and Sony's fault unfortunately, not Frontier
@ really? i thought it was because of frontier that the limit was added😂
i don’t have a good point of comparison between the two games since i have planet coaster 1 on my ps4 and planet coaster 2 on my ps5, so naturally, it has a higher limit, but i feel like if i went back on my old planco 1 parks on my ps5, i would be able to make them much better, and i tried to do that before, but planet coaster 1 is so much worse on console than planco 2, so i eventually jst got frustrated without the scaling and the path tool so i gave up😭
I thing what is meant by the other reply is that the limits of the hardware are the reason for the limits on the game... consoles are often only able to offer a fraction of the processing power that a PC can - especially a gaming one. I think the first red flag was the PC version having the guest limit added to it too. That didn't sit right with me at all.
@@Nerdchacho ohhh that makes sense, but i still don’t understand why it can still run well with it being above 200%, which you can get to with a duplication glitch, if its to do with the processing
maybe im just a bit slow😭
also i think the guest limit is a massive improvement from planco 1
@COUMIETONE no, your observation is correct. I can't answer it because I don't know. But as a PC player the first thing I did when I saw the 6000 cap was tell frontier how gash that was... and how it will cause a backlash. Which it did. I get that they want to preserve the smooth experience on all devices, but i do wonder whether they either underestimated those devices or overestimated the strain the game will demand. It is like they didn't bother to stress-test.
I agree with your point about players wanting specific features, and developers not being able to add everything, or not even being aware that players would like these. I think separate loading/unloading stations is a good example. I think Frontier didn't think players cared too much about that and didn't include them in the initial launch, but then people complained so they pushed it through for future updates.
While PC1 had fewer issues at launch, I do also think that people forgot what it was like at the beginning of its life (transport rides not working for example) and are comparing it with their fully updated all DLC version of PC1
I'm always surprised by what a majority wants too.. swing launches is the other one. Like, I personally don't care about them but I know a lot of people DO want them.. more than I could ever imagine!
@@Nerdchacho I can see why people want it (including me). We have tools that let us create smooth and realistic coasters. We all love recreating coasters from our homeparks or modify them because we get inspired, but a lot of the coasters aren't doable and that leaves us disappointed.
I'm not even talking about small stuff, like being able to use the launch as a break on the second pass, but about big things like fast switchtracks, swing launches, proper möbius layouts or even elevater lifts.
We can do these things in OpenRCT2, but not here.
The coasters got a massive technological bump in the last decades. Planet Coaster is still a biiiiit behind, and it shows.
I think the reactions to planco2 have really demonstrated how important attention to details can add to a product. I think that's really what upsets people the most. Bugs can be addressed with patches, but the care given towards those details aren't something we're likely to get in future updates.
Something to consider is that Planet Coaster appears to be the forerunner for developing the cobra engine. The game is built at the same time, and then issues are worked out during development and post launch. By the time they begin on Planet Zoo 2, the engine will be relatively optimized. That's why Zoo 1 had more refinement. The thing is though, Jurassic Park Evolution should've been the franchise they used for that. Not the Planet series.
Having a same-day launch on consoles also taxed the development process immensely, probably more than any other decision.
One final point, is this genre of game actually bringing in enough money today? Or is the decisions of Frontier's management coming from a genuine concern that they cannot stay in business. If I were to blame someone, it would have to blame them, and not the dev team, because these decisions would've been made higher up. But it's possible they had no choice.
Tried to make this wall of text make sense. I do not hate Planco 2 and cannot go back to Planet Coaster 1 (which by the way, still has 2 broken achievements so there is no evidence of my 100% completion). PC2 met my expectations but the bugs are just a tad disappointing when I notice them.
I'm glad you brought up the Cobra Engine, because I noticed the same thing as well in that Planet Coaster & major Cobra Engine versions tend to get developed together. It probably also explains a lot in why many features had to be cut from launch.
But on the flip side, the new engine does appear to have fixed a ton of bottlenecks and limitations that the old engine had. PlanCo 2 runs WAY better on my PC than PlanCo 1 & Planet Zoo, despite having greater hardware requirements. Also if you compare the models of the rides themselves, the ones in PlanCo 2 have a lot more polygons compared to the old game - It's just that the old game already looked so great overall that it's easy to miss the improvements. It's like how people are comparing the Switch 2 Mario Kart to Mario Kart 8.
Same day console launch definitely caused issues (especially with UI and the water slides), though the idea of having a console version at the start makes a lot of business sense. They just didn't have the time to properly support that kind of launch.
But I will note that Frontier going in to overhaul the water slides this March greatly exceeds the expectations that I had for such a major fix. I thought we would have to wait until at least after this August, if at all.
Oh, come on, we didn't even get a sequel for planet zoo
Everything's fine. We got water droplets on the camera when it leaves the water!
The additions and changes to this game from PC1 are strange and disconnected. For example We can now add whatever scenery pieces we want to coasters in a fantastic decorating system, but we can't individually change the colors of vehicles on a ride, something you could do way back in RCT1.
And don't get me started on the power/water management systems they added or the new ability to give lunch breaks and detailed schedules for the staff... fun?....
Even if the bugs are fixed I think this game could have done more... or at least done things differently. More of the systems need redesigns in the same way as the pathing system.
Imagine for wall pieces for example, there's 1000 different wall pieces per texture and shape. Why not instead do a Sims type painting system? Give us the different shapes and let us paint them in game. Changing the color/texture of a building currently game is a PITA.
I agree with you that something feels missing from the game. It is just off overall, the whole game isn't very cohesive it is a janky patchwork of broken systems..
Thing is.... Planet coaster 1 was SO good with TMTK. all it needed was DLC of new rides base scenery packs and the scale tool everything else with Plan co 2 has been awful.
Planet Coaster 1 cannot handle larger parks AT ALL. Absolutely game-killing lag even on the best GPU's and CPU's, with equally bad loading times to boot.
THAT is why Planet Coaster 2 needed to happen. The sequel runs SO MUCH better.
Great video!
I completely agree, the way I’ve been looking at it, is if I can enjoy the game (which I am, very much so) even in it’s somewhat mediocre state, then imagine how incredible it’s going to be in a few months when they’ve fixed the issues.
It would be different if they hadn’t been so open about their plans / roadmap, but knowing they’re working on where they went wrong is a big thing
An update really needs to add a toggle option to turn off flailing arms for when you are inside a guest to ride a coaster from seat view. EVERYONE hates this and it seems the coders are deaf to the cries to remove them.
@@billkeithchannel oh, yeah. I don't ever use guest view, I'm always either seat view on a testing train or track view.. i can see why that would be annoying
I’ve been lucky enough not to have many bugs but the one thing holding me back is the limited resources. With all the dlcs planco1 had a wide range of building materials & props so compare that to 6 very specific & limited themes it feels like a limitation in comparison, also I’d generally like more family flat rides & dark rides
With the scaling ability to recolour items better, you get so much flexibility though
I do see your point here. Even though we can rescale, recolour etc, there is a suite of stuff still missing. Like, I'm gearing up for the next park series but I'm like "So, I still only have these 5 fundamental things to work with" where PC1 had many DLCs that gave even more flex. It will improve in PC2 over time, I remember PC1 being a constant rehash of the same pirate walls initially.
Frontier did this with elite dangerous with odyssey. Relying on their community instead of their QA department
You have honored Frontier and argued for them. This is sad and true. I had mentioned Rudi, DeLadysigner, and Silvarerett on a previous vid of yours. Acknowledging problems and actively remedying them are two totally different things, as you already know. It’s sad to hear that they’ve now gone silent on you. Sounds like a greedy Boardroom has taken over a once breath of fresh air from RCT. Seems like the same RCT curse may be playing out all over again. This time with Frontier.
At least RCT2 was awesome and a total improvement over RCT1.
They haven't gone quiet on us as such. We have no news on the patch coming on the 13th yet.. and we were told of the roadmap literally an hour before the announcement.. but their communication strategy with us until now has been to keep it all a secret and show us from a distance. In hindsight, it didn't sit right with me but I didn't really know any better or realise at the time. I hope there will be more, of course, but maybe this video will put the nail in the coffin. I think they've reused a lot of code or "things" from RCT3.. some things do feel very similar - and always have, even in PC1.
Glad I stuck with PC and didn't move on to PC2 just yet. I still have tons of fun with PC and really don't feel the need to upgrade yet.
Great video! While there are some inconvenient bugs & issues, I'd rather Frontier fix it, then go on to make a sequel or a PC3. I'm not ready to chuck in the towel so soon with this game. PlanCo 1 had issues ~ some major ones even up to early 2020 but by the end of 2024, despite not being able to run a Galcian or Wikz level park, overall PC1 was a pretty solid game. I REALLY want to see PlanCo 2 thrive too! There are a lot of cool elements in this game that have a lot of potential. I really hope the devs are taking notice of this video & what we're all saying & fix the game so we can continue to explore our creativity in the game. ☮& ♥~ Smiling 🙂
i see your point but pebble mulch and treadplates is not too much to ask for
i think if frontier jsut delayed the game and wited until nov 2025 instead of nov 2024, 90% of the problem would of been gone
my problem is very buggy and lacking features from planco1, like custom music
Oh god, give me the pebble mulch. Immediately,
Any game company, not just Frontier, that decides to throw in the towel on one sequel and start building another supposedly to fix everything, has already lost. The players that purchased the first sequel will feel robbed and quite reasonably decided not to buy any more, and the players that were holding off until the first sequel was fixed will forever hold a doubt in their mind that the game company might do them dirty as well at some point. So the fallout extends well beyond the franchise title to anything that the company produces. If it is at all affordable, acknowledge the mistakes, apologize for the losses, and most importantly, fix the game while keeping a positive dialog with players regarding repairs. Hello Games more or less did this with No Man's Sky, and the player base has, over time, rewarded them for the effort.
This is why the launch of JWE2 was so perfect. They were able to bat off that negativity by spinning the sequel to tie in with the new film. And they're about to do that again with JWE3 too. That bit is clever.
They could technically do it again by creating a way to plug in PC2 into Zoo 2. That way they can plausibly drop development of PC2 and allow PZ2 to pick up the slack while PC3 is made.
I love Planco 2, however if they would “remaster” some of the dlcs from Planco 1 and add them into Planco 2 it would make a huge difference. The current building pieces are okay but a lot of it is too strongly themed, and the theme selection we have currently gets old. But we did go from a whole bunch of DLCs to having 4 set theme options. I miss a lot of the old sets/effects we used to have, the old music/sound effect options, so many of the food/drink options (specifically Monsier Frites, Missy Good, Street Fox coffee, Pipshot Water, and the ATM) and for the love of god the Studios pack!!! Any game is gonna have some issues in the beginning but I do think Planco 2 will gain its traction back as they update the game and add more content.
The biggest problem for me was the launch, but as the game works fine for me at least, few bugs here and there, but nothing simply going back to the menu can’t fix.
Aside from that, DLC1, it was AWFUL, Frontier seriously expected you to pay for something a simple update could’ve done.
No new theming pieces
A handful of rides, joy.
On the whole, I do like this game, infact I’ve started building my first major park on the game, inspired by the places I’ve been to, but we need new themes in the game
That's the thing though, as a player who has spent good money on the game, you shouldn't be expected to go back to the menu to correct your experience. They are asking a lot of players to do that. It spends "player faith" very quickly.
A few more decoration items (as well as patching the money management) and I think the game will improve
Oh for sure, it will improve. The question is whether the damage is already done and it will all be in vain
@@Nerdchacho people forget easily. If the game becomes good and the normal community supports it, even casual players will find it and get it. Just look at No Man's Sky. As long as the publisher stands behind their commitment, the community will stay with them
Don't know if this was confusing but I think I got my point across 😂
@@patstuga The same thing happens every time Paradox releases a new game or sequel. The launch is always a mess, but after a bunch of bugfixes & a gazillion DLC's their fans finally embrace the new game.
...And then Paradox eventually decides to make another sequel & the cycle starts anew.
My biggest problems with Planet Coaster 2:
1. Smoothing flumes is SO BROKEN. Good luck smoothing any flume without ending up with pieces that SEEM perfectly fine, but are apparently "at their limits" and turn red
2. Path bugs - There have been SO many times where despite a path being connected, peeps cannot use the paths. Sometimes a simple adjustment to the path fixes it.
3. WHY DO WE STILL NOT HAVE CUSTOM ROOFS AND BUILDING MATERIALS!?? I mean, yes, we have wall pieces that can be moved around like other scenery pieces, but why can't all pieces have an option to rotate them for any axis?
There's a few more I can't think of at the moment, but these are high up there to me!
I mean, they did introduce the off grid half plaster piece etc, so we are kinda there.. but yeah, even if it were just a toggle to allow us to be gridded or free, that would be nice. Not sure how that would code though.. that's quite a lot of variables to consider.
This vid seems like a desperate plea from frontier to its youtubers to put out a "please don't abandon us" video. Frontier mucked up, it is fixable. Make the released game a beta version, offer refunds to those who want it, but offer incentives to those who don't take the refund, but can help test the game. Improve the low hanging fruit issues, quickly. Slowly move the game from beta to version 1. Make sure the game is stable, with basic solid game play. Improve it further, version 2. Get it right, fix it.
Of course, the pound signs Infront of the board members eyes are what caused this mess, so unless the board changes, maybe nothing will improve.
No. I won't stick with it. I refunded it a long time ago because if you make crap, you don't get rewarded. It just wasn't fun. I felt like I was fighting the game more than enjoying it. I even waited for Christmas for a discount and 3 patches and it still disappointed.
Fair. You're very entitled to have that opinion and I respect that :)
It's nice to hear your objective opinions finally about this mess, and especially with omission that the negative opinion may lead to your removal and loss of access/earnings to the game. If I earned a living from PC2 content at launch, I too would respect that I was in a very lucky position and would also have 'made hay' but there does become a point where the ability to mask issues becomes disingenuous to your supporters. I've still played nearly 100 hours but I'm not going to ever pay full price for DLC because I feel I've been taken advantage of; I had to have preorder rides! Let's hope they drop something profitable elsewhere in there IP collection so that they won't need to ever sacrifice their reputation to keep the lights on.
planet coaster 1 brought a modern 3D coaster sim game with the sandbox mode being the best yet. planet coaster 2 brought water parks and lighting nothing else matters as everything else has run through in pc1
My wishlist
Fixing waterparks properly
On ride photos
Ride access pass
Single rider
Improved priority pass system
More family coasters more tracked rides
More themed
Separate gated tickets
Security guards
Weather effects rides and guest
Proper operation of a theme park e.g closed season, quiet mid week busy holidays and weekends opening and closing between days
More staff for things like guest services turnstiles baggage checks and hight check
Rides have hight requirements and guests have different heights
Yeah, track smoothing, kiosk desks, resizing and path tool are the 4 big ones for me. I think I'd have been happy to just have them in PC1 in hindsight..
I think the question of any sequel should ask is why are we doing this? PC2 made sense as they had hit a technical limitation with what could be achieved. However has PC2 increased that roof by a lot? Probs not.
Secondly, no sequel should take away features (in this case themes) that the base game had. It’s just crying out for people to complain
What you'll notice with all of these hollow pointless sequels where it's just the same thing again, the original had nothing to continue. Planet coaster is a great game but it had no story. No progression to extend into a next installment. You could give it wild future tech rolercoasters but would that be a coaster game then? The game's campaign is just a series of jobs so coninuing that isn't a continuation at all. There's litterally nowhere to go except to remake the game they'd already released with marginally better tech and ship it out. This is happening in movies and cars and cellphones. Everywhere that sequels can exist it's not trully a continuation, it's an upgraded remake of the original.
That a good point, and is something that all tycoon games struggle with.. a sequel is always going to be a rehash of the original.
You could also say that across the whole game genre too... RCT was just Theme Park but better. RCT3 was the 3D version of that, Planet Coaster was just a better RCT3; Parkitect and Park Behond side stepped the genre and just did their thing.. It's hard to make a theme park game unique, isn't it? I mean at least Park Beyond took a stab at it.. It's an interesting point you make.
I understand all the reactions. I seem to be the only person who likes the game. My laptop didn’t like all the TMTK-stuff much. In the new game I have more acceptable framerates. The coastersmoothingtool is perfect. Scaling is brilliant. Yes, I don’t like the colour tool and some other bugs. But overall I’m pleased with PC2. I hope you stick to it and bring more content online.
I preordered this game on PS5. Played 5 hours at launch and haven't touched it since. Such a buggy mess. It completely turned me away from playing 😕
I got it for the XBOX. My biggest complaint is the piece count restriction.
My Opinion on the Game as a Player who only had a few hours in PC1 because i bought it on sale at a time where i wasn't that invested in a tycoon game and therefore never played PC1 to its potential: I love PC2, it came for me at a time where i was open minded for a new game. Things like being able to make plazas with the pathing-system had a huge impact on me. It runs on my Steamdeck like a charm (ok, huge Park and 12.000 guests might be "a bit" much for the deck) but overall the performance i think is mostly nice. I personally had only a few crashes on huge parks after i misused the scenery-tool to spam some... ähm... a lot... uhm... way to much... stones on my carved mountains - but maybe playing on linux helps, i don't know (Linux Mint 22 and SteamOS). With less experience in PC1 i still scratch on the surface of PC2 after 200hours and starting to learn to decorate properly.
But there are also Bugs that really annoy me - the Dryer has something going on with its path so it mostly won't connect to a path when added to a building so i forgott about it - with "huge" dips in park rating during/after a storm so in career-mode at the end it was mostly waiting till the stars align to get the 4.5 rating to beat platin - and i stopped career after unlocking all research-tiers for challange-mode. Speaking of which: challange-mode on hard is WAY TO EASY! I mean, i like building my parks but i don't enjoy sandbox - i like the propability to have a hard game. Ah and i hate something on the transport rides. One thing: People get in the ride, ride to the other end of the park just to walk back the whole way because they want to ride with something thats somewhere at the origin of the transport ride... and therefore having problems with hunger/thirst/energy/mood and whatever. Other Problem: having more then 2 stations, apocalypse starts at around 4 stations. Huge queue times because on the mid stations they don't get of the ride so noone can get in - but i guess it's realistic and i am to dumb to plan the transports properly.
So jeah. Thats my experience so far. But with only few experience in PC1 and NO experience in PZ1, the game hooks me like only a few games manage to do (Elden Ring, Cities Skylines 1, Garrys Mod (pre GMOD13 Patch), Minecraft, RCT One and maybe a few others).
BUT: When i imaging to come after 1000 Hours PC1 i see why it only has mixed reviews. It's the Problem i have with Cities: Skylines 2 - it is a decent game now i think and i have/had fun, but when my city is done i'll rather go back to CS1. I never understood why there is a 2 out, the old runs good, there is much more potential for DLC (everyone can decide for her/himself if it's good or bad thing but i understand that a company needs to earn money) and it still playes modern with modern graphics. The sequel, in my opinion, is to early. - PC2 might be to early but i so would have loved to see a city builder in the style of PC1/PZ1.
I see your point about the game being too easy. the park I'm doing at the moment rakes in 1.4m a day... that's madness. I bet the entire park didn't even cost that to build if I were playing with money. That system is so broken it is unreal.
I'm proper chuffed to read that you've had a good experience with it though, that's really refreshing to see. All of my opinions come from a place of 8000 PC1 hours and so a sequel to me would mean something different to you as a casual player.
There is a lot missing from the game but the foundations are solid. It sucks having to wait but the game can be made amazing if you ask me. I think it would be better to get 2 to where it can be rather than start a fresh. I dont think many will trust Frontier again if they dont bring 2 up to scratch. And again, i think it has all the potential to be incredible. Maybe if it had launched into EA like the first game, the kick back wouldnt be so bad.
@tillytony that is the secret right there.. it should have been an EA from the off. Thing is, sequels tend not to have an EA launch in my experience. They go straight into 1.0 releases. But yes, it 100% should have been EA and i think all would have been forgiven.. or people would at least have been kinder towards it.
@@Nerdchacho I think the one thing we need to keep at the front of our mind is, the game isnt broken beyond fixing. I think thats the biggest thing for me and what gives me a bit of hope.
i think PLC2 is a good game just they should of kept what we all loved in the previous game.
I think they're hearing that loud and clear with the announcement of the re-introduction of the original themes. I see what they were going for - make the game different enough to be a sequel, but that strategy failed hard.
1. No this is one of big reasons why we already hating on prison architect 2 cause they have just dumped the first game in. Still a broken state they even came out to let that player base know that we will not be doing anything more with the game, in fact its still 80% unplayable state it seems playable but only for like 20% of the game, once you grow that prison and unlocks stuff it all falls apart. To be clear not the users fault, the ai behaviour just breaks down it just can't handle the features you unlock latter or deal with large prison seems around 95 cellmates is when the cracks start to show. You have to use a community mod fix to be playable again like it used to be before paradox took over. Cause most of the game that is broken actautly used to work flawlessly once apon a time.
So yeah if they just go make a planet coaster 3 and leave planet coaster 2 in the dust just like what's going on with the game you mentioned aka prison architect. It's gonna upset even more people so much they be so cross they gonna put their foot down and may never buy a product from said studio again, cause no one likes being taken for, feels like a scam paid them money only to receive a unfinished product.
2. Also good >:) . Game studios need to learn you need a more suitable to prefect launch of a game if its not suitable enough, then you should of delayed the game to finish it up not push it out the door. We as gamers are sick of company's doing this push it out the door fix it later mindset from 2020-2024, lets not keep letting this scummy tactic happening for more years. Vote with our money people no mater how adored the ip or studio is, put your foot down cause if more people did this we can take control and in the long run game launches should be far better again to even great like they once were.
I know some people would just call it quits and never check out the game again cause of bad launch. Me on the other hand tend to give games at least 2nd chance to win me back, whole year to patch up their mistakes. But after a the year deadline didn't do well enough or not at all only means i leave for good on wanting to play it. So if really do want my > MONEY < they better still work away otherwise not buying it no matter the sale after all still got planet coaster 1 what spite no pools and those graphics still is quite valued game to buy and play to this day.
Sorry for this long text what can i say i have a passion. I do hope P.C.2 will improve even if we not gonna get as much content adds in the future as they might of had in mind.
I love a long reply! Thanks for posting it! Interesting point you make about PA2.. have you been able to play it because it was delayed in Feb 2024 and hasn't been seen since? I'm curious to know what was wrong with it - which must be a lot because it has been MIA for a year..
Have you heard anything about when the next JWE3 game is coming? A bit worried about that after PC2
@@sidz222 I won't be on the early access list for that, but if i were to guess, I'd expect the creator previews to be over the summer and the release to be in October time... that seems to be in line with all of the other releases they have. Although this one will probably be aligned to the new film.. so I'm just guessing..
My guess is it was probably just rushed. Would you have preferred November 2024 or November 2025? Most likely 2024 for most people. You talked about how the release time was good so having to wait another year for it so they could do all of this? I don’t know, but I think that wouldn’t be great. Just a guess though
They release on a schedule of one major game a year. If they didn't release Nov 2024 then they wouldn't have a major game out in this financial year. They had nothing to replace it to delay it. That game was being released do or die..
Frontier is working on the wrong features. Park accumulated money should transfer into our bank accounts in reel life.
@@FishFlags1780 crikey, I'd be a billionaire just from planco2 alone 🤣
for me its just really clear that frontier had no interest in making a good game, but instead wanted a low-cost to produce, high return game. Because of the significant lay offs and likely pretty low budget, everything about planco 2 just feels worse and lower quality than the original, and the small slither of extra content it provides isn't worth putting up with the console-like UI designs, unintuitive controls and infuriating bugs.
the game probably flopped much worse than they expected, i don't see them supporting the game with new updates for much longer. hopefully if frontier have a high profit game release in the future they'll revisit the license and actually put a proper budget and timescale into a proper sequel 🤞
I don't think there was ill-intent with PC2 at all. They clearly care and PC is their flagship title. It is the game that allowed Frontier to be the company they are today. I think there was a pressure to get it out for Christmas and it was rushed - and what we had wasn't even a proof of concept game, let alone a Minimum Viable Product. I do think they went down the "roll it out and patch it live" approach, but the fact that they attempted to launch a DLC suggests that they actually thought the game was in a ready state. It very much wasn't. It should have been a summer release, not a Christmas one.
I TOTALLY disagree with you that PC2 is not fun to play. I am having more fun with it than I EVER did on PC1. The scenario maps are far better and more interesting than the previous game. And everything just looks nicer. If someone told me I could only bring one theme park game with me to a deserted island, I would pick Planet Coaster 2 every single time without a doubt.
They need to Just let us make parks with are friends. Games always getting boring solo
I'll respectfully disagree on that one. I couldn't think of anything worse than having a second player in the park at the same time. I get the appeal, of course, but it's not for me..
The next update will be a while
It is next Thursday...
I don’t hate it I actually made more stuff on this compared to the first game it feels much easier
And I'm glad that you've had a positive experience with the game. That's not even sarcastic. It's really nice to see when some-one has been able to find their own fun with a game that is otherwise ready.
a sequel from 1 to 2 works like with JWE, but 2 to 3 would not work. Nobody's gonna buy it (pun intended)
@@majorpootie *laughs in JWE3* 🤣
@@Nerdchacho oooof i stand corrected.