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City Living Constructive Criticism Thread.

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  • TheGoodOldGamerTheGoodOldGamer Posts: 3,559 Member
    Y'all have spent more time and posts critiquing (i.e. bickering) each other's semantics than the game, lol. Agree to disagree, let bygones be bygones, and get back on topic, please.

    I'm hoping with the flea market and how buying and selling is being improved over time in this game, this will lead to merchant NPCs you can walk up to and order specific stuff from (like collectables, items/clothes that are normally locked for careers, etc). Or maybe there could be a 'flea market coordinator' NPC you could talk to and ask for certain things, and the next time the flea market shows up, some tables have that category of stuff. :)
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  • PolyrhythmPolyrhythm Posts: 2,789 Member
    I haven't played this yet so I'll only make 2 points, pls don't hurt me

    For a city, I would've expected more lots and buildable space. I'm not expecting 90 lots, but more to put down some commercial venues would've been nice, I'd imagine a city would have more clubs, bars, lounges, etc that a tiny suburb. Many of the lots seem to be solely for apartments.

    The clothing is really out there and I wish there were more neutral options for some of them.

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  • GoldmoldarGoldmoldar Posts: 11,966 Member
    I got CL at a discount and I felt buying at discount than paying full price is better for me for various reasons. One reason I can't use apts in other neighborhoods which is sad and you cannot build from scratch. The trait system is nice and glad it can be used in other neighborhoods but it was not a major or strong reason for me to get it. Seeing that you have to pay rent for apts and penthouses that system could have been used on houses in other neighborhoods and you have the option to rent or rent to own or something to that effect, however I still like it. there is no walking from one point of the city to another even if there would be loading screens. For me after awhile I am going to want to expand out of the city because apts can also be found in other areas and it would interesting to build apts in other neighborhoods. Overall though CL is not a bad EP just has limitations when it comes to building. :)
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  • meeounmeeoun Posts: 2,173 Member
    edited November 2016
    I also think CL should've incorporated Vampires too. I miss Vampires. They've been in every city theme EP so far since TS2. That's all my criticism for now.
  • tasmabeltasmabel Posts: 207 Member
    My biggest complaint is that everything they advertised is basically it. There isn't really anything to discover. I really wish some of the preset traits could be accessed to use in your own builds. Historical is pretty dumb, but there are others that are pretty neat.

    I wish basketball had its own skill. It's disappointing that it's just athletic skill. It could have built both skills and thus been a really useful thing to use.

    The festivals are seriously boring. I think I truly prefer TS3 festivals and I didn't even use them too often. Those festivals offered new experiences completely unique to each festival. I do love flea markets, but that's just a consignment store to me (I LOVE ts3 consignment).

    The careers are pretty neat. This would have been a perfect pack to introduce police, though. I don't really care for the social media career, but that is personal preference. I liked the work at home options and wish they incorporated it for all careers. I don't mind sending some sims to work, but to have the choice to work from home like that would be AMAZING!
  • cactusjuicecactusjuice Posts: 573 Member
    I'm not purchasing CL, I fell for the initial hype of Get Together only to find it got staid and boring within a very short period. I expect CL will be the same after all the shiny new things start to get a bit tarnished after repetitive playing. CL just appears to be a new coat of paint on what's already available. I've been very disappointed with what Sims 4 considers involved game play and so CL will also remain a non purchase. I hope this criticism is constructive to EA :p
  • LBDXLBDX Posts: 382 Member
    I have not purchased this pack because, for me, it does not change the game at all, and adds very little gameplay.

    The festivals do not interest me at all as they have very little unique gameplay. They are just a new setting to do things we already can.

    Lot traits are a great idea, but do we really need to make levelling skills easier when there are so many ways of doing that in game already? I would have preferred more negative lot traits.

    Whilst on the topic of traits, I would have liked to have seen an update that boosts the effectiveness of traits we already have, and an increase from 3 to 5.

    I find it immersion breaking that we have fx cars and transport in game that our sims cannot use as they teleport everywhere.

    The lack of an elevator animation, and the facility to use it as a build object makes me wonder where their priorities are.

    The talking toilet and raccoon suit ...

    Where is the gameplay?

    Where is the new interactions?

    I want an EP to expand and improve the sims themselves. How is more set-dressing going to improve the game when the sims, the focus of the game, all act the same due to the emotion system constantly overriding traits?

    The game needs deep gameplay, not surface content.

    There are tons more lot traits in CL! There are negative traits as well, I highly recommend looking into that if you are interested in negative lot traits.

    I think a lot of your criticism stems from what you see on the surface of CL, but after having played it for several hours today I honestly think there's way more to it than people see in the adverts.

    I would try and keep a bit more of an open mind about it- it's a pretty great EP so far!
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  • candy8candy8 Posts: 3,815 Member
    I didn't buy it and I have no intentions of buying it ever, I think it is the worst EP that EA has made for Sims4, the reason being that it does not give any new game play to the Sims 4. Shame on them for giving this to us when we have waited for a long time and anticipated something really good from them. I don't have it but after watching various videos on it I realize that I would completely waste my money on it if I decided to buy it. There is absolutely no new interesting objects to even entice me to buy it. Clothes are horrible unless you like dressing up for Halloween all the time. I want other things the my Sims can do with each other, and with their children I mean really say what you want about Sims 3 it had it's quirks but at least it wasn't boring.
  • blueturtleotterblueturtleotter Posts: 867 Member
    edited November 2016
    LBDX wrote: »
    I have not purchased this pack because, for me, it does not change the game at all, and adds very little gameplay.

    The festivals do not interest me at all as they have very little unique gameplay. They are just a new setting to do things we already can.

    Lot traits are a great idea, but do we really need to make levelling skills easier when there are so many ways of doing that in game already? I would have preferred more negative lot traits.

    Whilst on the topic of traits, I would have liked to have seen an update that boosts the effectiveness of traits we already have, and an increase from 3 to 5.

    I find it immersion breaking that we have fx cars and transport in game that our sims cannot use as they teleport everywhere.

    The lack of an elevator animation, and the facility to use it as a build object makes me wonder where their priorities are.

    The talking toilet and raccoon suit ...

    Where is the gameplay?

    Where is the new interactions?

    I want an EP to expand and improve the sims themselves. How is more set-dressing going to improve the game when the sims, the focus of the game, all act the same due to the emotion system constantly overriding traits?

    The game needs deep gameplay, not surface content.

    There are tons more lot traits in CL! There are negative traits as well, I highly recommend looking into that if you are interested in negative lot traits.

    I think a lot of your criticism stems from what you see on the surface of CL, but after having played it for several hours today I honestly think there's way more to it than people see in the adverts.

    I would try and keep a bit more of an open mind about it- it's a pretty great EP so far!

    I know about the negative lot traits. I don't think there is enough of them and that they are negative enough.



  • DJNSDJNS Posts: 74 Member
    edited November 2016
    I don't guess it's deep gameplay but today I discovered my sim could play videogames online with his son and nephew, both of whom he doesn't see very often, and the activity increased his relationship with both of them. It wasn't a gigantic leap or anything but I thought it was a nice touch. It's those little things I think would be difficult to experience through someone else's livestream.
  • BudgieSimBoyBudgieSimBoy Posts: 139 Member
    edited November 2016
    This is the First Ep, Game pack or Stuff pack I will not be buying in 16 years, the fact you cannot build your own apartment blocks is a very big negative from me and the apartments are limited to only one world (City), it seems in TS4 the sandbox is so very small and limited even compared to TS2 IMO.

    I have also watched a heap of play throughs etc over the last 24 hours, it for me adds very little depth to game play compared to the previous two ep's and even some game packs. While it looks nice in the new careers seems very shallow as well. There is nice little touches the cultural diversity, basketball, markets and the Bubble blower, however as someone else has mentioned this EP would of been perfect to bring back thieves and police.

    But for me value for money It's hard to justify the hefty price tag for an Ep that is more expensive than a lot of new games on the market and really has no huge selling point that will keep replay ability going for another 11 months to the next ep for me.
  • GruffmanGruffman Posts: 4,831 Member
    My biggest complaint would be that apartments can't be placed anywhere. There are many large lots that would be perfect for a four story apartment.
  • Zeldaboy180Zeldaboy180 Posts: 5,997 Member
    I actually found a way to criticize the aesthetics, which is sad given this should be it's strongest suit:

    I want you all to load up your game and go to Windenburg. Once you have Windenburg loaded up, either go to the neighborhood that has Partihaus in it, or go to the neighborhood that has Discothek Pan Europa in it. Once there, take a look around. Just start moving the camera around and look at the neighborhood to see how the buildings of the neighborhood are connected. You'll find the neighborhood itself is very expansive and very detailed, with little painting canvases, benches and unique statues all over the place. Heck, there's plenty of areas that lead to no actual lots, and yet have a lot of detail put into them.

    Now go watch a Let's Play of City Living, or even look at the basic overlay map. What do you notice?

    Circular neighborhoods every single time.


    Every neighborhood is practically the exact same layout: four lots encircled around a festival grounds area. There's no additional roads to explore, there's no variety in where Sims walk or gather, it's always always ALWAYS the same. Even areas such as the neighborhood in Oasis Springs where you find the Caliente household...? That neighborhood has sims walking all over the place, fishing at some fishing spots here and there, and generally making use of every bit of sidewalk.

    The same cannot be said for City Living. Really take a look at the outer sidewalks, and you'll notice they're absolutely barren. EVERY Sim in the neighborhood gravitates towards the festival grounds, and if a sim is found walking on the outer sidewalks in front of apartments or the like, you can make a safe bet they're either on their way to the festival grounds or on their way out of the neighborhood entirely. The entire neighborhood is built like they want you to focus all your attention to that festival ground area, and you know why? Because there's literally nothing else in the entire neighborhood.

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but does ANYONE remember seeing a kids playground anywhere ala some of the neighborhoods in Oasis Springs and Newcrest? Does anyone recall seeing another square where you can sit and relax, grill or play chess? Off the top of my head I think I recall ONE neighborhood having the space for a basketball court near the festival grounds and that's it. I could be mistaken of course, but the point is that the festival grounds are pretty much it in terms of detail. You're not gonna find places to scrounge for the vanilla collectibles, you're not gonna find back roads that are quiet and secluded but still have things of interest, and you're not going to see ANY variance in the makeup of the neighborhood layout; the rich district is probably as different as it gets, but even that's the exact same layout with a different coat of paint.


    Even their creativity in terms of neighborhood layouts seems lacking here, because if you've seen one neighborhood, you've seen them all. There's no incentive to explore and look around, because everything is right there in front of you in a perfectly circular neighborhood where you can see everything, and that's the case pretty much every single time.

    For a pack that seems to have tried to utilize visual aesthetics, it's amazing to me that the neighborhood layouts themselves are practically identical and devoid of anything overtly unique to help make them feel special.

    This is a city world, everything is supposed to be tight together. Why do you expect vast open neighborhoods in a CITY. Why do you expect frog spawners or rock spawners in a CITY. Have you even ever been to a city before? Everything is super tight like how it is here. And I don't know what you mean by circular. Do you even own the game?
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  • DragonCat159DragonCat159 Posts: 1,896 Member
    edited November 2016
    I may not give one of the best construtive criticism, but here I go:
    There isn't much anything that would interest me. I'm looking for new features in a ep, not just new objects and aesthetic stuff (clothes, city, its deco, ect.). While these packs have two new features (I' sure that there are more, but I can't recall them right now out of my head), there are some flaws with 'em.

    Lot traits are awesome, but like every body - they don't bring much new to it. (Most of them) Just things that can already be enforce to the gameplay previous content/base game wise easily: emotions, skill boost. Honestly, they could have taken more inspiration from Karma powers that was a neat thingy featured for console games to make them somehow unique from pc version. Along with that issue in the way, that feature got patched into a base game with quarter of those traits added, making that feature not so intresting to the ep because it isn't an exclusive thing.

    Festivals to me don't have the same vibe than how they were presented in the sims 3. That's is probably due to the difference of TS3:S having a lot more new its exclusive expansion pack content than the base game while CL is the other way around. In that iteration there were ton new activities to that specific series: eating contest, ice skating, snowboarding, dancing, scooter, face painting, throwing horse shoes, kissing booths, kiss machines, baloons fights, ect. - you name it. While The Sims 4 City Living is just 55-70% base game stuff, it isn't that exciting to use as for some players who already played the base game over time since begging, because they know what to expect. We (or I personally) want new things to try out what the ep efforts within these these new venue types as they happen to be called "festivals", not the things that most of it includes what we already tried out within base game. It's pretty much like going to a festival that doesn't change over the years, with it remaining the same old boring repeative routines and same old boring events.

    Another thing, some may find it annoying what I'm about to say-- but EA has ran out of ideas. There's really no new objects to the series, other than just what - 1 new object? C'mon. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the return of new objects, but I don't just wanna be stuck with "a few new content, but that won't keep entertain for the lack of new stuff to make up for". I don't wanna stuck in a century where I have to wait for new content that return from the game's predecessors. Apart from the talking toilet, yeah we have the bill board, but that doesn't gonna have me jump out of my socks to be excited for (its) an interaction that lasts half a sim minute and that doesn't benefit the reading sim any way than to notify the player of incoming event and asks for neighborhoods to stop being annoying.

    *I'm in a hurry, so I will continue on typing this comment and ending the next day (prob. tommorow) when I'll get time*
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  • mauvejinjomauvejinjo Posts: 126 Member
    Is it just me, or do quite a few career reward objects seem... simply recolored? I'm still debating purchasing this expansion, and I was a bit dismayed when I noticed that several of the political career rewards are simply recolored versions of base game content. (Like the globe or the mirror) Doctor, Detective, and Scientist (Even Business and Athletic from the earlier free update) all unlocked objects that made me feel like I had earned them working in their respective career. I'm not sure what to think with this expansions' career rewards.
  • OEII1001OEII1001 Posts: 3,682 Member
    I may not give one of the best construtive criticism, but here I go:
    There isn't much anything that would interest me. I'm looking for new features in a ep, not just new objects and aesthetic stuff (clothes, city, ect.). While these packs have two new features (I' sure that there are more, but I can't recall them right now out of my head), there are some flaws with 'em.

    Lot traits are awesome, but like every body - they don't bring much new to it. (Most of them) Just things that can already be enforce to the gameplay previous content/base game wise easily: emotions, skill boost. Honestly, they could have taken more inspiration from Karma powers that was a neat thingy featured for console games to make them somehow unique from pc version. Along with that issue in the way, that feature got patched into a base game with quarter of those traits added, making that feature not so intresting to the ep because it isn't an exclusive thing.

    Festivals to me don't have the same vibe than how they were presented in the sims 3. That's is probably due to the difference of TS3:S having a lot more new its exclusive expansion pack content than the base game while CL is the other way around. In that iteration there were ton new activities to that specific series: eating contest, ice skating, snowboarding, dancing, scooter, face painting, throwing horse shoes, kissing booths, kiss machines, baloons fights, ect. - you name it. While The Sims 4 City Living is just 55-70% base game stuff, it isn't that exciting to use as for some players who already played the base game over time since begging, because they know what to expect. We (or I personally) want new things to try out what the ep efforts within these these new venue types as they happen to be called "festivals", not the things that most of it includes what we already tried out within base game. It's pretty much like going to a festival that doesn't change over the years, with it remaining the same old boring repeative routines and same old boring events.

    What about the traits that are killing sims and/or making them miserable? There's a few of those. One guy on this forum reported having seven sims drop dead over the course of his time thus far. Seems that there's a lot more to traits than skill boosts.

  • meeounmeeoun Posts: 2,173 Member
    Another constructive criticism:
    Why do we still not have photo booths?
    There's just too much missing and not enough added for me to really accept and appreciate this EP.
  • mirta000mirta000 Posts: 2,974 Member
    edited November 2016
    -content removed-

    I'm going to quote this and move on. Don't feed the trolls and hope they they get out of this thread.

    Edit: to restart the discussion - I would have liked for the flea market to sell either recolours that we can not get, or furniture that is not in the buy catalogue. It's so easy to earn money in this game that a discount really makes no difference.
    Another suggestion would be hard to get craftables, like TS3 did.
    Post edited by SimStaffBethelle on
  • SimChickeeSimChickee Posts: 402 Member

    @DeservedCriticism I don't know what the romance guru does, I have never used that in the game, my sim is married :P
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