KingOfAshes

Personally, I'm hoping to finally see the mods on console and in particular those that keep the 'Ark Theme'. In particular high quality creatures(new or vanilla replacements), maps with new bosses and activities for survivors and Maps with new varied assets instead of re-hashing or mix and matching existing maps. Maps that are as different as the paid Ark DLCs. I'm sure we're going into ''wish list territory'', but I do hope to see a mod that revamps the water fauna making it as fun and diverse as the land fauna. I've kinda given up on Wildcard revamping it really. It's just so bizarre seeing none of the creatures interact with each other and just waiting for a survivor to jump in and be laser focused on them....like caves where everything just sits still waiting for you. It works for the caves to a degree for spookiness, but not the ocean which feels wrong.

Given the struggle I see with PC hardware to make the game playable and look&run good, it is very worrying for consoles. I do hope they add two Graphics settings options. Bumped up visuals capped at 30fps and performance mode with lower settings capped at 45-60fps (HZD style).

Keeping real, I think Dinos have had the bare minimum changes (mostly resurfacing the outer layer detailing to take advantage of nanite which makes Normal/Specular maps practically redundant ) to be able to get the game out the door, which is understandable really. So, the wonky animations in particular as well as design of many creatures kind of look strangely at odds with the environment. Dinos are the centrepiece of the game really. As such, if they really want the game to look polished and future-proof visually, they really need to TLC pretty much all the creatures in due course. All the sea creatures are long overdue for TLC as well as the largest eye catching Herbivores whose models, animations and abilities have looked very poorly for far too long. I heard some complaints on streams around dino counts, but personally I would rather see a better spawn point distribution and use memory overhead for richer and more varied animation and behaviour work (even seen in the later modded creatures) to liven up them up.

I agree if they are placeholders indeed. It is a bit jarring to see that lovely environment and then seeing the creatures move so rigidly and wonkily on the terrain. Sure UE5 allowed them to remove the specular/normal files need for detail effects like skin folds and scales giving them a more natural look. But the whole artistic design of them was based on those limitations and some look miles better than others. Anything with prominent scales or hard shell/fur all over looks better (say scorpions ,crocks Dinotherium). Others not so much and sea creatures still look really bad. The thing is, Dinos are the centrepiece in ARK really, so they really do need a proper TLC to also make gameplay have a more lasting fresh feel to it.

To be fair....technically if I recall they didn't say they were on track to release it on ''all platforms simultaneously'' so, as a PS5 player I fully expected the staggered release based on the vague language and history. Disappointed? Yes, a bit. At the moment, having seen some footage (I don't want to see too much and spoil some of the surprises for myself), my biggest question is how dumbed down the game will look on consoles and how much less stable. I'm hoping as the engine itself gets updated and they work more on it, it might get better in due course. Concern wise, I have a bit more of those over artwork and animations. I was hoping to see more fluid and varied animations for the creatures, especially the older ones that didn't have a TLC. Also, I'm a little bit surprised that the grey rocks have been dropped making everything on the ground blend it a bit too much and looking overal a bit more ''generic''? I do hope there is alot more artwork changes in due time.

Judging by the multiple Nitrado gameplay Youtube footage, that was quickly taken down, I saw quite a bit of object popping very near the player...and significantly lower quality graphics which doesn't bode very well. I'd say really hold your horses and watch players stream/videos once released before buying. This could be a Vault 76 launch....''16 times the detail and it all just works''. Never trust a trailer unless it's HZD...

C'mon now, you didn't see that staggered release coming when the contract with Nitrado specifically said PC? I won't be surprised if they release Xbox version first and PS afterwards. Expect the worst and you won't be disappointed with Wildcard, that's been their pattern and the wolf doesn't change its clothes. Never trust promises or expectations they set. Anyways, sour grapes aside, it is a very nice trailer with great environments but dinos....a bit disappointed at the relatively minute changes to visuals and animations compared to the environmental ones. As a PS player I'm still very dubious about the product we'll get. It was an Xbox event, yet it didn't say it was captured on Xbox which means...it may actually look nowhere near as good or impressive on consoles (let alone PS who the consider second class customers). So really, apart from at least establishing it's a working product, this hasn't generated any excitement for me yet and have to wait and see what the console version looks like.

Well that's a bit of a pickle. You need the nameless to get venom to raise the Drakes as well. But, you can probably change the INI file to prevent spawning, If you google how to stop spawning, you'll find a steam guide how to do it. The specific creature line to add to the INI can be found on ARK Wiki

DLSS (or the AMD sort of equivalent)?

Indeed PvP and PvE are completely different games, but unfortunately they've ruled out separate balancing. However, I do think they could certainly expand significantly on the options settings and some things they've already done in the past like Cryo sickness etc working slightly differently between PvP/PvE, enabling and disabling features more appropriate to each of them. It's always been very disappointing to see some of the creature over-nerfs for PvE like the Stego TLC'ed on release was fantastic only to go back to...whatever.

The picture almost makes me look forward to the first time I'll spawn on the Island beach only to have one of these guys pounce on me and rip me apart.

I think they're going for the 'shock and awe' styled release like Atlas. As such, I wouldn't really except any preview or trailer to drop till the day of release or day before it. I'd be interested to know if it has passed Sony's certification as at least that's likely to indicate a certain level of stability and performance. Not always the case obviously, e.g. Cyberpunk, but they might have learned to avoid the worst. If it's stable enough, I'm not as worried about the rest like bugs etc as I think everyone should expect some eyewatering ones to pop up...wouldn't have labelled it early access just for lack of content. It's for the bugs and missing features.

Ok so with this one when it comes to tamed creatures, does this mean the random roll stats will also stop allocating points in the speed stat? If not, can any that are randomly allocated actually affect the speed even if you can't level it up afterwards? Secondly, in a similar fashion, what about creatures whose oxygen stat affects swimming speed? Is that also disabled and with the random base stats/extra stats from taming affect them rather than now have two pointless stats?

Something between the Additions Brachy and Titanosaur I'm guessing. Though personally I'm not a fan of OT creature sizes barring bosses....seems to create a lot of hit box and navigation issues

I was always gutted not to be able to have mods on consoles, especially the added creatures and some of the maps. I tried some out last month on PC like Ark Additions and they are truly great high quality stuff, very refreshing. Creatures and maps for me are the main things that would keep up my interest in a re-master. So, I'll be very happy to see them imported on consoles. On another note, I notice people picking up on that water physics plug-in, however it could well be something the modder bought themselves instead of being included in ASA? I'm guessing these sort of plug-ins would not be available on console outside maybe payable mods that include them? It'd be nice to see some info on that if possible.

I was under the impression a giga bleed causes roughly 15-20% health drain each time it applied and ignores armour. I think a speedy Thyla is now the more cost effective way of dispatching it or a fully buffed up Carcha.

You don't need to be so aggressive about a simple question of whether or not you'd prefer a slight change in art direction. You can always just say you prefer the mix of the fantasy style. It's a simple question to gauge people's feeling on it. I harbour no delusions about the intent to make it as close as possible to a direct port without major changes. However, given their stated goals and the way each new map and creature pool is re-created, such a thing wouldn't cause a significant deviation theoretically if they liked to go that direction. Now, one can take the fatalist approach and not try to contribute anything because '' it'll never happen '' or discuss and suggest on the odd chance of potentially influencing decision making. At the end of the day, as the saying goes, you'll never get if you don't ask. As for the moding argument, it works both ways in that you can mod the old ones back in.

I have recently started playing around a bit with creature mods on PC (previously only played the game on consoles till it became largely unplayable in PS5) and I was struck by the amount of creatures modders have implemented in game. Now, I have always been a fan of having real life based creatures in the game instead of utterly fictional ones. I can see from a developer/content perspective point of view how this can limit the opportunities to implement striking and impactful new creatures with significantly varied abilities. However, this can also act as a double edged sword by implementing creatures that do not really fit the visual aesthetics of the world as well as increasing the chance of creature capabilities becoming increasingly unbalanced. Additionally and perhaps unsurprisingly, in terms of creature design and animation work, the creatures that have been introduced in the last 3yrs or so are of far higher quality than all of the previous ones creating a somewhat striking difference between them. Sometimes it feels like they're from different games. So, where am I going with all this you ask? Well, with ASA being a re-boot that doesn't have to worry about removing creatures players owned this may be the perfect opportunity to bring ARK back to a more grounded in reality art style. Also with the benefit of hindsight of what all the DLC maps will offer, creatures can be removed and redesigned to create a better synergy. To be specific, I mean that they could chose not to implement creatures that are wholly fantastical, especially inorganic and replace them with creatures of similar capabilities that keep the more ''realistic/plausible'' visual look. It's like going down the route that say Jurassic Park did with the Indominus Rex, Morellatops, Dragoniasarus for some examples. Effectively combining visual attributes of real creatures to create creatures that appear somewhat grounded in reality. But, not creatures like Golems or Magmasaurus. Now don't get me wrong, from an artistic point of view, I do actually love some of these creatures but at the same time feel like they're creating a very confused sense of the world building. that I feel detracts from the overall feel. Given the creature voting is being based on real life creatures, I do get the sense that Devs would like to move the game's art towards this direction and the submissions themselves have shown the potential for such creature designs to be just as exciting and cool. Background wise, these can be attributed as always to rogue Master controllers experimenting or creating adaptations to suit the specific Arks. Mutations or evolutions diverging from the original creatures due to specific Ark environments etc. Tech creatures can instead become more striking looking boss/cave minions etc. Also given the existence of space biomes or Gen2 space ships the tech creatures could still find a home there creating the more strikingly different biomes. I'd like to what other people feel about the art direction of ASA and if they'd prefer such a shift in art direction even if it means not re-creating some creatures that have become perhaps 'classic staples' in ASE.

Well, they have effectively delayed ARK2 for like 4yrs so what's a one year delay for ASA from their perspective, right? Then again, they did switch over the release to 'early access' meaning they could theoretically pump out a buggy mess running at 15fps, sure. However, given Ark is the only money maker in the portfolio, I'm not sure they'd risk shipping it as an unplayable mess just to hit the holiday window alongside other major heavy hitters. In fact, that's partly why I can't see an October release given the heavy hitters that will start releasing around that time. A Feb-August release is less cluttered and more likely to have a semi stable game ready by then. They might sugar coat the pill for a longer delay saying SE will again be part of the launch. Alas, this is all off topic now I guess Edit: One small note on the non-story maps release schedule. You kinda have to think at the map assets in each one and from what DLC Map they borrow them from. Eg, Ragnarok can't release until SE is out or later ones can't release until Aberration is out regardless of the order in which they do the creature voting.

I like the creature design overall, however like some others have said it really doesn't fit the map and it's underground feel&design (possibly the same reason why Terror birds weren't added). The Rock drake design is really an aberration within Aberration and presents a unique contrast in this environment where the mechanics for loot drops on the surface were designed around it. This creature design feels a lot more like it should be a replacement(because it somewhat overlaps) of say the Terror Birds on another Map. Burrowing creatures or ones able to scale vertical surfaces like the creepy crawly spiders would have been a much better fit for sure. Alas, these are the pros and cons of community voting and the result is what it is.

Realistically, I'm thinking the decision on cryopods will mostly come down to game/server performance on UE5 with large dino populations after testing stability. Honestly, the performance is the biggest concern at this point and why I'm pretty sure ASA release is bound to be pushed back further and into the new year. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it ends up coming out next summer instead. I'd say on the bright side that means keeping ASE servers up for a year longer than they first announced for those still on officials. So, those asking for extension might get their wish. I had an opportunity recently to play Ark on a mid range PC(lower spec than the PS5 I use) and the visual upgrade I saw was huge. Frankly it felt criminal that they left it the way it is in PS5 and between the constant crashes and that difference, I uninstalled the game. I guess the point is, I sure as hell won't buy ASA until I saw it running on PS5 and it's visuals/performance was confirmed with actual gameplay, regardless of any trailer shown or promise made by devs or anyone else really.

I like the chosen creature, though having another option to glide around might somewhat diminish the more grounded feel/style of this particular map. The creepy crawly spiders might have been a better fit, alas...maybe they could at least TLC the current spiders( I mean come on now, a spider that doesn't walk on all surfaces? ) to be much better looking and useful/interesting without having an overlapping creature.

I've always been more partial to dinos rather than anything closely relating or reminding any modern day creature as a personal preference. Similarly, I prefer real life creatures in game, though I wouldn't mind a map devoted to fantasy/mutated creatures that provides different flavour, but I don't like as much having a mix of both on the same map. On another note... Let's see how long the delays are this time around. 4 or 6 months? Or....will they even go down the early access route again?

I do like the creature from PvE perspective (console so no mods available to pick up structures), however for such a late game creature with high requirements it's still a bit lacklustre. I certainly don't see it as a combat dino really. I kinda thought its ranged damage would be the focus that can be upgraded like the wyverns instead of its melee attacks. Alas, it's probably worth taming more in mid-tier with decent stam&weight even with lower quality egg (assuming you can make the saddle). I suspect it might come a bit more into focus with ASA launch than ASE with all the DLC creatures already out and if they launch it with Cryopods.

With ASA being for cash injection and now given when you hit September, big hitters like Starfield will start hitting the market, I'd expect they'll try and push out ASA in August in one state or another to avoid the overlap. So...there is still a chance of release withing they window they set (even as they're already kinda wiggling around the date they mentioned)