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Seasons, Generations or Island Paradise?
ProMarshmallow
Posts: 77 Member
I'm wondering which EP I should get. Origin is having a sale and I'm definitely going to buy an EP but I don't know which one I want. I've been told Island Paradise is fun because of the businesses and Houseboats and also it usually costs more than the other EP's it sounds really fun. A lot of people have also told me Generation is fun because of all the added gameplay with Teens and kids, it sound good to me too. Finally there's Seasons. People say that this is the best EP and offers the most gameplay and apparently the fairs are really cool. I'm torn. Which one should I buy?
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Here are my favourite features of each:
Generations:
-New profession, Daycare
-New CAS and build/buy items catered to children, teens, and sims of all ages
-Field trips for children
-The opportunity to go to prom and have a graduation from teens who are soon becoming YA
-Home videos: capture every moment from birthdays, to toddlers walking, to teenagers graduating
-Mood swings for teenagers and Mid-life crises for adults, which I find hilarious (and potentially annoying)
-All life stages have several new interactions
-Teenagers and toddlers can pull pranks, both at school and at home
-New traits (both of which I do use a lot): nurturing and rebellious
-Teen house parties. Most to all of my parent sims will be prompted with a "free vacation" opportunity for two days, where they are assured the teenagers in the house will be fine and "not throw a party" ;) watch out, there is a nasty glitch related to this one if the parents do not leave properly
-Tree houses, Slip 'N' slides, playgrounds, etc.
-After school activities: 2 for children and I think 6(?) for teens
-New life state: imaginary friend. Most to all of your new babies/toddlers will be presented with a mysterious package from a distant relative. The imaginary friends are pretty self-explanatory: your other sims will see them as just a doll, but they come to life for the child sim if he/she has a good enough relationship with it. The imaginary friend can perform interactions such as get a snack, and even be brought to life with a high enough skill level and a chemistry set.
-Strollers
-Walking canes for elders
-New wedding content: wedding cake and arches
-Bachlor(ette) parties, complete with champagne and live performers!
-Sims can now ask their mother or father-in-law for their child's hand in marriage
-Children and teens can dream
-Soooo much more that I can't even begin to cover!
Yes, I realize most of these relate to toddlers-teenagers, but as you can see, there is a lot this game has to offer. In my mind, it is a must have and I don't know what I would do without it. However, it all relates back to your style of play: if you don't play with large families and simply just sims of one age group, you won't enjoy this EP, though there is new features for every age group and is just a good add-on in the game.
Seasons:
-New seasons: winter, spring, summer, fall and many new interactions with all the seasons: building snowmen, playing in the ocean, blowing up fireworks, jumping in leave piles, etc.
-New holidays relating to the weather: Spooky Day in the fall (basically a combination of Halloween and Thanksgiving),where you can throw feast parties and have your child sims go Trick-or-treating, Snowflake Day in the winter (basically Christmas) where you can throw gift giving parties, Love Day in the Spring (basically a cross between Valentine's Day and Easter) where your sims can go on egg hunts and use the love tester machines and kissing booths. Then there's Leisure Day in summer, where your sims can throw pool parties and blow up fireworks.
-New festivals for every season, which I enjoyed a lot
-Sims start to feel temperature: they can get too cold and freeze to death or get hot and sweat
-New life state: alien (not sure what it has to do with seasons, lol)
-New traits: Loves the Heat and Loves the Cold
-New food and drinks, somewhat relating to each season
-New party types, as mentioned above.
-New weather: snow, fog, hail and rain which can come in degrees of heaviness
-As usual, there are some CAS and build/buy items, all of which are weather-related. Oh, and a new clothing type, outerwear.
-New skills, snowboarding and ice skating/roller blading
-In the winter, the pool will freeze over and you can skate on them
-Illnesses: your sims can get sick and have the ability to get a flu shot in winter/fall or call in sick to work (and fake sick if they're aren't really ill)
-New interactions
-Diving boards
-Weather stone if Supernatural is installed
The seasons are beautiful, especially in Sunset Valley or Bridgeport. This EP did add a lot and like Generations, I think it is very necessary and I wouldn't want to do without it. Personally, I think these two EP's pair very nicely together, as you have snow days and trick-or-treating for the kids, which goes along with Generations.
Island Paradise:
-Building your 5-star resort was pretty cool
-Mermaids
-Fish and sharks
-Island/beach lifestyle
-Houseboats
-Boats replacing taxis and cars normally used to get around the world
-New CAS and build/buy items that were very "beach-y" and I enjoyed them all
-New traits: Sailor and Loves to Swim (have to say, don't really use those often)
-Windsurfing, jet skiing and more ocean interactions
-Water slides and pool bars
-Fire pits for your resort guests to walk on
-Guests leave reviews at your resort, which I thought was a fun little add-on
-Scuba diving
-Pre-made resorts for your sims to spend the night at
-As usual, new lifetime wishes, lifetime rewards, moodlets, etc.
-New music type
-New town, Isla Paradiso
Like I said, it's a good pack overall, but I had some glitches. I feel like this pack had so much potential, and it delivered in some aspects, but I kind of wish Isla Paradiso was more of a vacation town that you get in WA. Having the ability to send your sims off to a beach vacation would be pretty cool. I would recommend all of these packs, but IP being at the bottom of my list. I think Seasons and Generations are must-gets. Hope this helped!
Seasons: I love the aspect of realism it has bought to the game, the novelty festival days are really cool & the interactions with the weather are great (snowball fights/ snow angels / skating). It doesn't change the game play in such a way that it becomes distracting (like pets/supernatural) I always wondered why they didn't incorporate weather into the original sims game, but now they have it does make it cooler (don't mind the winter pun) !!
Generations: This game was up there with 'Seasons' in terms of maintaining a sense of realism with the game, as well as giving you greater opportunities and more enhanced features for your growing family. I find myself swapping between singles/bachelors/grumpy old people and do not always take advantage of the 'family' aspect of playing the Sims however I feel like if I did I would really want this pack. As @zipperly mentioned, if you're into the family aspect of the game then you wouldn't want to be without it!
Island Paradise: From watching the videos I noticed this pack was closer to the bottom of the list each time, there were some new 'novel' aspects and opportunities however depending on your style of play it seems a lot of people got a bit bored of the new content & therefore the game didn't really end up being worth it. Again though it depends on your style of game-play and I'm sure a lot of people would have enjoyed it!
If you look at all three of them, I'd say 'Seasons' and 'Generations' are the two most likely to enhance the gameplay and will always give you something (even if its subtle, unlike Pets or Supernatural) the thing you appreciate most about the Expansion Pack is always active and it can carry over into every EP following. I feel like with Island Paradise you're restricting yourself to a couple of new novelties so that's less likely to be of value in the whole scheme of things :)
Just a few tips from the videos I was watching :smiley: Let us know which one you go for!
In general I would say my favorite out of those three is Seasons. But each of these EPs is very different so it depends on which direction you want to go in next.
Island Paradise is fun, and comes with a great world and some decent content - owning and operating a resort, mermaids, and houseboats, but I felt that Seasons and Generations had a bit more "meat" I guess. Generations added gameplay throughout the various life stages, and I loved playing my children/teens with that additional content (slumber parties, prom, playing, imaginary friends, etc.).
Seasons was one of the EPs I couldn't do without. I loved the variation it added to the world, and the changes in gameplay with each season. I liked having to plan for wearing a coat, or dealing with rain, or avoiding heat exhaustion. I liked being able to lay out on the beach and get a little sun, or going outside on the first day of winter and building snowmen and igloos (and woohooing in igloos.. risky!) :) Plus, the festivals can be kind of fun. Then again, I've always liked it when games include weather.. and being able to watch it snow from my high rise apartment with full floor to ceiling windows and the fireplace going is just fantastic.
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> You've probably long since made your decision, but I'd say between Generations and Seasons.
>
> Island Paradise is fun, and comes with a great world and some decent content - owning and operating a resort, mermaids, and houseboats, but I felt that Seasons and Generations had a bit more "meat" I guess. Generations added gameplay throughout the various life stages, and I loved playing my children/teens with that additional content (slumber parties, prom, playing, imaginary friends, etc.).
>
> Seasons was one of the EPs I couldn't do without. I loved the variation it added to the world, and the changes in gameplay with each season. I liked having to plan for wearing a coat, or dealing with rain, or avoiding heat exhaustion. I liked being able to lay out on the beach and get a little sun, or going outside on the first day of winter and building snowmen and igloos (and woohooing in igloos.. risky!) :) Plus, the festivals can be kind of fun. Then again, I've always liked it when games include weather.. and being able to watch it snow from my high rise apartment with full floor to ceiling windows and the fireplace going is just fantastic.
Omg you posted the comment on my birthday!
I always thought the game would be SO much better with different seasons. I prefer realism, and living in Florida, I don't get snow, so that's why I picked Seasons. Seasons changes the whole dynamic of the entire game. The animations for weather, especially rain, are absolutely stunning. There is so much you can do with all of the seasons. For example, the snow collects on the ground, and your sims are able to interact with it, making igloos and building snowman and snowball fighting and much more. You can play in puddles in the rain. You can watch the change in the leaves on the trees; as fall progress, the leaves are animated to fall off the tree, and by the end of the season, they are completely gone. Even the seasons have sounds. Winter always has this unique, distinct sound of soft rushing wind, just like real life. It changes the way you play the game, and the mood of the game. Out of all the packs, EA really did a good job on this one, and for my two cents, you should definitely buy it.
I don't know much about the other packs, but Generations really sells the "play with life" mantra, so if you're into the storyline style playing, then that's the one for you. And from what I've heard, Island Paradise gets old after a while. Personally, the amount of money you have to pay isn't worth it.