How 'invasive' is Into the Future

Shrill

Hi there,
I'm just getting back into Sims after a long break, the only EP I don't have is Into the Future so I'm looking into it now. The concept of it really doesn't grab me - I'm more of a down-to-earth legacy type player and I don't really dabble in the supernatural/weird side of Sims. That said, I felt that Supernatural was worth it for the additional decor and things, and although I hate the zombies I don't feel that I'm bombarded with supernatural stuff in my game. Also, I'm a bit of a completionist and the knowledge that I don't have an EP makes me a bit itchy.

So I'm wondering if anyone would be kind enough to let me know 1) If they feel ItF is easy enough to ignore if you don't want the additional play elements it provides; and 2) Are the new items, additional speech options, actions etc good enough to make the pack worth it? Is Sims lacking without this EP, basically.

I've looked at some reviews but it would be great to get a few personal opinions on the above.

Thanks!

TreyNutz

1) If you don't actually go into the future then it's not invasive at all. You get a time portal spawned on your home lot, but you can put that in a sim's personal inventory and dump it on any community lot. I usually choose a park.

Once you go to the future, you land in Oasis Landing, which I personally think is quite beautiful. There are "adventures" much like WA has but your sim gets them from Emit Relevart, the Time Traveler guy. How much of it you do is up to you. Whether you just hang out in Oasis Landing, buy a house, get the astronomer/bot areana job, meet your sim's relatives, treat it like a vacation, and ignore Relevart is up to you.

Occasionally, when back in the homeworld, I'll get notifications that something has happened in the timeline to my sims' relatives and that I should return back to Relevart to find out what's going on. I'll get one notification per adult/teen sim in the household, usually every time I enter build/buy mode. They'll be persistent for a while, then stop. I just ignore them and follow up when I choose. I don't know if you'd consider that invasive. After your first trip to the future, if you leave the time portal activated instead of deactivating it, you can get future tourists visiting your homeworld. I find that much less invasive than supernatural sims (which I like). But I don't see present day sims starting to use future vehicles and tech.

So I'd say no, it's not invasive, even if your sim(s) visit the future. In comparison, I found the zombies so invasive and bothersome I got a mod to stop them from spawning.

2) I wouldn't say the sims is lacking without this EP. I don't think there's only one new speech option (high five). I do love many of the objects though. The new musical instrument is cool. The wind carvers (futuristic skate boards) are real handy when getting around WA worlds as long as your sim has a fairly high Advanced Technology skill. The 2 tile tube elevators are very handy in building even if they don't fit present time decor. The dream pods give some nice bonus moodlets for skill building and other things, don't require beds to be made, but then don't provide the well-rested moodlet. Still, sims sleep pretty fast in them and I use them a lot. The food synthesizers make food that apparently never spoils; I'm not sure if they ever catch on fire. I started using them in dorms in UL, along with the all-in-one bathrooms (I don't have IP installed ATM). That seemed to work pretty well with the inactive dormmates.

Many of the other ITF household items, like dining table, coffee tables, etc. are mostly metal/glass with a bit of plants growing underneath. IMO it's an interesting mix of futurist and organic, an aesthetic I turned out to like.

If anything, the "must have" item may be soil rugs if your sims are into gardening. You can't build a proper greenhouse without them. But if your sims never garden, then that might not be of interest to you.

Finally, plumbots are quite useful to have around the house. You can tailor them to your household needs. In one household I have a plumbot who handles all the cooking, clearing, and gardening, but he's not sentient and doesn't have a fun bar.

So, depending on your play style and aesthetics, you might find the other ITF additions very useful or just clutter in Build/Buy mode. Hopefully some of my descriptions help you figure that out.

I generally like ITF, but then I like supernatural and futurist stuff.

ceejay402

oh i find it was easy to ignore. the only thing when you start playing a new game you will get that time portal. you can delete and if you use mods there may be a mod stopping it from loading. i have to say starting a new game is rather annoying with so many EP related things at the start up, UL guy, the seasons thing, and then add portal oh and you can move

during game play i would forget there was this option so nothing in your face or disruptive like

Shrill

Thanks for those great answers! That's really helpful Treynuts, I hadn't heard of the soil rugs and they sound great, and I think the furniture is pretty cool in small doses. I think it's a one for me to buy in a sale maybe, doesn't quite sound like it's worth full price for what I'd get out of it. Cheers!

Mistletoe143

Pretty much echo what TreyNutz said, plus:

* I think you can actually delete the time portal and it won't reappear again. But, if you ever want to travel to the future, you can purchase it in buy mode.
* The soil rugs are nice for planting and gardening indoors. Much better than the indoor planters from Supernatural, as with the soil rugs, you can even plant trees indoors.
* If you use the food replicators on a community lot in present time, they will spawn waiters, so you can have a real restaurant experience (for the most part). Not as glitchey as the bistro oven from the Store.
* It's a little trickey, but with the clothing pedestals, you can set up a present day clothing store.
* You can buy lotto tickets from the grocery store.
* If you're into downloading player-made lots and worlds, you'll have an easier time with having the EP than without. I recommend worlds by Rflong7 and MySimRealty (SimRealtor).

Jessa_Dakkar

Shrill wrote: »

Thanks for those great answers! That's really helpful Treynuts, I hadn't heard of the soil rugs and they sound great, and I think the furniture is pretty cool in small doses. I think it's a one for me to buy in a sale maybe, doesn't quite sound like it's worth full price for what I'd get out of it. Cheers!

You've got some great answers and I have nothing more to add in that respect. I got ITF when it went on sale for $7.99 on Origin, it is bound to go on sale similarly at some point. There are a lot of really cool things in the EP and I think I got a steal at that price. Having played it, it is definitely (IMO) worth the asking price. But yeah, sales are always better. It is a great EP, I truly enjoy what it brings even in saves which I never go to the future. It is great that it is so non-invasive. Hope you get it soon and enjoy it!!

TreyNutz

Shrill wrote: »

Thanks for those great answers! That's really helpful Treynuts, I hadn't heard of the soil rugs and they sound great, and I think the furniture is pretty cool in small doses. I think it's a one for me to buy in a sale maybe, doesn't quite sound like it's worth full price for what I'd get out of it. Cheers!

I hear you. I haven't bought anything TS3 at full price. The base game and every EP I have I bought at 50% off or more. Maybe I paid full price for a venue or two, but that's it.

KATENESS

I agree about getting it on sale. Or maybe as a gift. I've only actually traveled to the future a couple times, and I've had the EP for about a year now.

But I do like some of the stuff that comes with it. Those soil rugs are used in almost every game I have. They are super handy! They almost make it worth it altogether.

LaBlue0314

I would suggest if you don't want people from the future popping in, delete the time portal. In one of my games, in Dragon Valley I did not do this. Before I knew it I had plumbots and sims from the future showing up, what was suppose to be an old world setting (just had to over look the cars, lol).

Shrill

Thank you all! Now that I've heard about the lotto tickets and food replicators too that's sealed the deal, it's mine come sale-time!

applefeather2

Informative thread. Thumbs up.
Another thing I like is the food replicator making food from World Adventures. The dip kiss is also cute.

ratsrbest

I put off getting ITF because I didn't think it would appeal to me. Honestly, I don't think any of the pictures and advertising I saw online really did it justice.

When I did finally buy it I fell in love with it. Oasis Landing isn't all about smart, futuristic buildings. There's a Wasteland and a small mining community, too, so there's some real contrasts.

I didn't expect to like the Plumbots as much as I did, but they're streets ahead of the Simbots and have a real charm to them. In some ways they seem to have more character than the human Sims. They don't seem to have much trouble finding themselves things to do and are really sociable.

One highlight from my game came when my Plumbot had been left to her own devices at the park, back in present time. I found her dancing at the Spring Festival

When you buy it, its definitely worth having a look at the Future - hunting nanites is fun even if you don't expect it to be and coming home with the winning lottery ticket isn't too bad, either.

TadOlson

I've had Into The Future for a while now and I'm planning to use the soil rugs a lot even in Glen Harbor which is taking place in the 1660's because I want them to be able to have proper greenhouses.I see little difference to my game other than having to use Retuner to change the chance of death from jetpacks to zero so they can't die from them and Master Controller to hide ITTF things in CAS.

Karritz

I think ITF is one of my favourite EPs. I've recently been building a lot using the gondola from the store and I wanted a garden. I especially wanted the Dew Flowers that spawn in the Utopian Future. I had never been to that future so I had to get there and the Dew Flowers spawned and they are in my lot.

The thing that happened though is all the colours of the plants from the lot changed when I placed it in the future.



The purple spikey and lacy trees are from Lunar Lakes. They completely changed colour in the future world.

And this is the colours in Aurora Skies.



I was delighted with the Dew Flowers. Sims can collect dew from them and throw it at other Sims and they change colour. I think the dew also affects their emotions.

I think this EP reminds me of aspects of Sims 4.

Here is a Sim that changed colour after having Dew thrown on her. The colour change lasts a few hours.



I love the soil rugs too. I use them in every game as my Sims do a lot of gardening.

Here is a NPC waiter spawned from the food synthesiser in one of my bakeries. Her customers are townies that came to the bakery and sat down and ordered and ate their food.



In other words, I think ITF is well worth it. I love it.

applefeather2

Karritz wrote: »

I think ITF is one of my favourite EPs. I've recently been building a lot using the gondola from the store and I wanted a garden. I especially wanted the Dew Flowers that spawn in the Utopian Future. I had never been to that future so I had to get there and the Dew Flowers spawned and they are in my lot.

The thing that happened though is all the colours of the plants from the lot changed when I placed it in the future.



The purple spikey and lacy trees are from Lunar Lakes. They completely changed colour in the future world.

And this is the colours in Aurora Skies.



I was delighted with the Dew Flowers. Sims can collect dew from them and throw it at other Sims and they change colour. I think the dew also affects their emotions.

I think this EP reminds me of aspects of Sims 4.

Here is a Sim that changed colour after having Dew thrown on her. The colour change lasts a few hours.



I love the soil rugs too. I use them in every game as my Sims do a lot of gardening.

Here is a NPC waiter spawned from the food synthesiser in one of my bakeries. Her customers are townies that came to the bakery and sat down and ordered and ate their food.



In other words, I think ITF is well worth it. I love it.

Those are wonderful pictures. Wow. I love ITF, too.

Beorthedog

I wouldn't consider it invasive. I mean, it's not like in Supernatural where zombies are in your yard. Hope this helps. :P

Renamed2002180839

I haven't had much problem. A few people wearing some future clothing and once I saw someone riding a hover cycle down the streets in Roaring Heights but otherwise nothing. It's a great set.

carleighcane

I honestly originally bought ITF for the kitchen counters. More specifically the half height cabinet for above the fridge, but the matching pieces as well.

When you start a new lot the time portal appears, but you can delete it and it doesn't respawn. You can buy one in buy mode if you change your mind later and want to play in Oasis Landing. I find it to be much like WA or UL in that if you choose to travel/attend college/go to the future your game becomes more focused on earning higher visa levels/finishing a degree/changing the future, but even then it's not very invasive. For the most part I haven't seen townies in the clothing or makeup, so it's easy enough to ignore.

simgeek79

I too bought ITF when it was on sale on Origin back in November and am so glad I did. I love the look of the ultra modern paired with all of the plants, the homes and world are stunning. The first sim I sent to the future went to the City Hall and looked up the old Lottery results. When she returned to Aurora Skies, I sent her to the grocery store to buy a lotto ticket and surprise, surprise...she won! 1.5 million Simoleons! So cool

Sid1701D9

I switched the Into the Future to the dytopia because I am trying to get my sims to learn how to eat bugs, but I think they need more than just one bug, but I haven't had any luck with them eating bugs outside the future.

MemoriiValentine

There's currently a origin promo ,not much of a sale though

w_lynn125

I'm just getting back into sims again after my computer crashed a year ago, I took my time building a great computer that can truly handle sims instead of the constant lag and game crashes, it's working so far. I bought ItF while i was building though and I'm just getting to experience this, I was really surprised that you can customize your baby in oasis landing as well and that I hadn't heard any mention of it. currently waiting on my sims to finish so i can see exactly how it works. besides that, i like ItF. both my sims are really busy with work, so having a plumbot to garden for me and help actually take care of the children instead of the babysitter that doesn't really babysit. I also love the anti-gravity chutes used for traveling from floor to floor in my house, the elevators and stairs took up more space, didn't look as good and they took longer.

Rukola_Schaaf

Karritz wrote: »

Dew Flowers ?

once again a thing i missed completely although i played ITF

TS3 is so immensely vast


& looking at pictures like this i just don't understand how someone can say that TS3 is ugly

SimsxZelda_fan

Its totally optional, and if in the future you ever happen to want to explore the future you can always get another portal if you deleted yours already