But really. Why can't I pet anything?
Because this is a video game.
Frankly I'm surprised it works. And what I mean by works is that the game can remain rewarding and captivating despite the enormous list of things there are stacked against it. Like it is very resource demanding. What the hell kind of machine runs it in ultra graphics settings? How much more power would be needed to make each dino better pathing AI and more individual personality? I've been hoping Maxis would revisit Spore on modern hardware... But this is just 1 island. Imagine entire food chains and intelligent creatures coralling them. I'd be opposed to playing against other players but having a tribe of mixed AI and love players would be interesting. I'm very much doubting there will be AI humans added to the game though.
With news of Lionheads closure I'm reminded of Black and White. RIP. So many loyal villagers.
Of the first few common reactions to the game though, this is probably universal. Why is it so impersonal?
It's like.. Yes this is a game based on the brutality of survival... But again.. Why isn't there any intimacy to balance the raw violence? Yes you can mate creatures and baby creatures are cute... But you can't pet them. As hilarious as it is if you try to pet the wrong animal, you're likely to lose your arm. Even dismemberment would have been nice. Brutal yes.. But also because it makes more sense for dinos to get beaten and loose limbs rather than just die. As the game features breeding and accelerated development.. And just taming new animals replenishment wouldn't be an issue.
There's just an aspect of the game that's sorely missing.. A simulation aspect that could make this game even deeper and remove aspects of the game's overly complicated and crafting focused UI that require so much time and overhead to deal with inventory and crafting that there doesn't seem to be any effort given to micromanaging your creatures needs.
You can't leave a bronto in the hot noon sun to cook on a hot beach. It will die. You can't bring a trex to the frozen peaks of whitesky. Like I appreciate that it's a video game that has its own rules but...
I figured if the UI was more developed the player would be presented with more information about just about everything up front (like the division) making shit like crafting 10x easier because it would show you what you needed rather than leaving the player to mine every menu and online resource to figure out what they need to craft things, or to tame things. At first I thought it was built this way because they wanted to make survival challenging... But I really don't see anyone playing the game solo, or in default settings... Where the focus is usually on surviving.. But building or exploring. They all play it like Minecraft. It's ridiculously tedious if so. I've really tried to stay out of the menus but still end up paused 80+ percent of the time.
So of course depending on how you play, it might only be evoked some small while after you first commit to learning enough of the basics to actually survive. The more efficient you are about your time in the menus obviously the more you can get done. The game's focus is on punching, taming, killing etc. The dinos aren't social, not with you or each other. Another aspect of Spore's supposed deep simulation was that you could see these systems at play. This eats that. Ideally you'd see characteristics of those prey creatures appearing in the predator creatures.. It makes me sad that the creatures in Ark are set in stone.. But you gotta ignore it. Because the herbivores don't seems to eat their weight or more in greens each day. Ultimately you'd be deforresting the archipelago within weeks to feed real brontos. And then they would be eaten by carnivores... Fine. They'd all go hungry in a minute.
So however while the basics of a simulation are there, it just isn't implemented. Nothing eats anything.. Not really. Nothing smells. Nothing sleeps. There's no salt... Nothing behaves in any given way. Shit man I had to straight up give up trying to incubate all the fertilized eggs I stashed in the ice box because even the weather is too variable to the point that it is nonsense. It'll be 30 degrees then -2 in the time it takes to jump in and out of a menu.
That layer of interaction isn't necessary but it does leave a hole in the overall enjoyment of the game. All the dang dung is the same. There's no mud tracks... No nests.. It could be added later but it's something so fundamental I doubt it could be. Maybe in a next generation sequel.
Like it bugs me the amount of time I have to waste chasing down and parking my dinos because having them roaming around is too much of a hassle to manage. On the one hand the less attached you are the less it matters when the die.. Like TLTTC. And Morgcules the 1th.
So I get that if they did have personalities and socialization was possible, the brutality would be harder to manage. Without any of that nitty gritty stuff more than half the potential for this game is missing.
Again, if these personalities meant a real tribe and pack mentality, not just words on the screen.. If the simulation changed based on connections between the player and each dino.. and other shit like senses of smell etc.. The game would be so much richer. Also if shit stank or smelled awesome then you'd want to manage it like The Sims.
And if the actual simulation was rich enough to require balance in a given food chain.... Like enough vegetation for the local fauna to graze on to sustain the predators.. You could introduce species and watch realtime, even if it takes days as that biotic equlibrium rebalances... Or doesn't and some species die out or room is made for other creatures to slip in.
Why isn't there a Spore 2?