How has Parenthood changed your game? «12...Next Go

ThePinkBookGirl

I can't get Parenthood quite yet (will wait for closer to Christmas), but I'm curious has to how the Pack has changed your game, both in the large, obvious ways and the more subtle ways. Whether you play mostly with families or rarely with families, I'd love to hear your thoughts

Sonntam

I feel that the relationship between parents grew both stronger but also more precarious. Children make a mess, dad yells at them. Children ask for advice, parent helps out. One parent lets everything slide, the other one is very strict.

I feel that you can now create a more nuanced relationship between children and parents, so I pay a lot more attention to that. Previously I just had one "parenting" parent and the other one barely interacted with the children. Now it's a bit more than that. Mom may be a business tycoon and not spend much time with the kids, but she still gives them advice and gets calls from school. And after work she volunteers with the kids at a bake sale. It's pretty satisfying, since previously I felt I accidentally made a lot of my parents very distant, now it's not so much of a thing.

I am also making lunchpacks everyday, so my family does not have breakfast together anymore. Guess it saves time, but I also miss it a bit. Makes weekends more meaningful, though.

Cupid

children now constantly make messes in my restaurants... : )

michelei

I love family game play. I would have huge families with lots of children. I did not even realize it but in my Sims 4 families my focus was still on the adults with children in the background. Now I have smaller families and the focus is on everyone and the relationships between them. I love the change.

PixelPerfect245

For me it hasn't changed the game that much. If you aren't playing the kids in the houshold constantly you will proberly not get the new traits. I think the pack influens gameplay for children as much as kids room stuff and this one cost the double. Other than that I think the new build and buy mode objects look good the interacteble objects are a nice adition.

kellza

A bit like @Sonntam - I think my parents are more connected to their children now. I mean they had great relationships (I had two families that already had a teen and child when the GP came out) and although they had that, and talked to one another during certain activities, it still felt like it was more individuals that lived together. Although the parents would help with homework they all did their own things, for the most part.

Now with influencing their behaviour, school projects, advice, volunteering (even if it's off-screen), trying to help them through mood swings etc it feels like the parents are a bit more hands on now

ldmarko

I love the objects & school projects, but I'm so effing tired of spattered paint everywhere & moody teens slumping around the place.

Sha2520032003

As a family player, I always felt The Sims 4 was lacking in family play until Parenthood came out. Teens never felt like teens to me until parenthood. The clothes now seem to set them apart from YA's and those mood swings actually make teens feel like teens. When my teen broke up with her boyfriend and she immediately went into a phase, I thought it was spot on. The family bonds feel stronger. & not just immediate family, but extended family as well, such as aunts or cousins. I notice that family members stop by more often, which I'd rather have versus how strange Sims just pop up unannounced. There's a 'thinking of family member' action which happens autonomously, & I love that feature too. What's been really fun to see is after the teen ages to YA and you see the relationships. I knew that they would have bonds with siblings, such as 'super sibling' or 'childhood buds', but it was really cool to see the relationship with grandparents. My Sim had 'plan ol gran' as she wasn't close to her grandmother.
Overall, I think Parenthood has allowed me to get into family play again. It adds a lot more depth in my legacy families as well.

iEllaLouise

It has completely changed the game for me. It's given me a reason to become more invested. For the first time I've decided to create a legacy purely because of the additional gameplay the parenting pack adds. It makes me want to put more time and effort into caring for my sims rather than just using cheats because it affects how they grow up; they gain certain traits based on how they were raised in their previous stage (toddler to child/child to teen/teen to adult)


I love it :D definitely a must have!

ladybreid

It adds some needed challenges to the game and makes family play actually feel like you are playing with more complex family members that are individuals.

For me this pack was a must and is pretty nearly perfect.

Karilan

I love family play and parenthood has quickly become one of my favorite additions!

On the up side, I really love having more interactions between the parents and children, however I wish some of them were more subtle instead of being direct lessons. I like that kids have more interactions too, and can do very natural things like laying the table settings and other chores. I wish there were more things that affected their traits, because those are fairly limited.

If you play pretty naturally, you're unlikely to actually see any of the 5 traits develop. It's not that they take a ton of work, but for the most part they don't come up constantly in what I'd find to be every-day game play. For example, to have low conflict resolution children would have to use mean interactions with people constantly. While the odd fight will probably happen, I find it unlikely that a child will fight with people as every single interaction in their life time.

CK213

All my young adults (that's all I've ever played since the base game launched and I haven't allowed them to age a day)
are now toddlers and I gave them parents. Family play looks pretty good and I am hopping University will be here by the time everyone is ready to become young adults again. This way I can fully enjoy my favorite sims and flesh them out with Parenthood game play.











However, I am in no rush to start playing them since I sensed we are in a long wait for University. (Pets proved that.)
Seasons will probably be the next EP if seasonal weather doesn't arrive in a game pack. So I haven't fully experienced Parenthood yet. There is still a lot to discover. My sims are still toddlers and only one has aged up to a child so far.

Once they are all teens, they will be perpetual teens until we get Uni.

Loanet

My kids never make messes unless I order them to. Still, Alicia tends to get assaulted by the Monster Under The Bed and wake up her uncle and mom a lot.

filipomel

The main way this pack has changed my game is I play my sims more to their personality, even beyond just parenting. Before the pack I would play the game by just doing whatever, but now I take into account the personality of the sim I'm playing and do/don't do certain things based on who I make them out to be. Whether it's them being a stricter parent so their punishments are more severe, but also live a more modest lifestyle by dressing up more conservatively and not going out to night clubs and whatnot, or them being a more laid back parent who still likes to kick it and have fun with life.

hannashaven

I think it's made TS4 a lot more playable, at least for me. TS4 has always been boring to me, and Parenthood added a lot to the gameplay to make it more interesting. It makes it feel more unpredictable. There are things I've always wanted in The Sims, and this GP actually gave me those things, like setting the table or packed lunches. I think it's the best GP, to be honest.

candy8

No it is not what they said it would be, I knew that but I bought it for the objects.

Dreamie209

It's one of the few packs that deep down I really wanted to preorder, and that's saying something coming from someone who took a complete break from TS4 and hadn't bought a pack since basegame at that time.

It's still one of my favorites, and It's one I think I'd always recommend if anyone is looking for a good help with the 'cradle to the grave' experience . Especially with it helping many families feel, well like families, chaotic families in general . I love the traits that come with it too.

ChampandGirlie

Family play is just one aspect of my gameplay but Parenthood has definitely added depth to my gameplay. Before, all of my families were very similar. Now, they are more complex and their personalities are "deeper". Their upbringings all vary a bit and family dynamics are more complex. I do think this GP added depth to families.

I play a rotation and Parenthood has made it more interesting because all of the families can vary. Now, I need options like more types of vacations and weather patterns to add more complexity.

I also like the cheap but functional appliances that come with the game.

agustd

My gameplay is almost always generational. I've only had like 3 saves since TS4 launched, and the one I'm currently playing is the longest, with the 4th generation of a family I started with a single founder around the time CL came out. It was only after Parenthood came out that I really started /feeling it/ though. It's not like playing families was impossible before but Parenthood just gives you a whole new world of options and scenarios to play out that I now find essential to my gameplay.

The best thing about it is definitely the fact that siblings actually feel like siblings, they act like they're related and not just some random kids living in the same house. They argue, they can read each others' diary, compete for their parent's attention, they go through phases that affect how they react to different family members and their surroundings. Parenthood makes the experience of having a brother or a sister very realistic. Teenagers are way more teenage than before too and I don't find the lack of difference between them and YA's looks wise as annoying now.

Parenthood gives you so much in terms of character development I couldn't recommend it enough. It really does wonders in terms of getting attached to your sims, which I struggled with before. Obviously, there's still a lot more to be done but the whole system of character values and a wide set of new interactions change your game significantly.

BlkBarbiegal

In my game all the teens are different. some have issues and few are good. lol Children are different. It's really awesome.

may151997

I've noticed my kids have their own individual personalities that I don't believe they had before. In one family, I have one little girl who is a perfect angel. She has never once made a mess, or needed to be disciplined. On the other hand, I have a single mom with twin daughters, and her girls are ALWAYS getting into trouble. None of them have/had traits that would make them turn out so different. Beforehand, all the children were pretty much the same, unless you gave them negative traits.

simsonamission

I actually enjoy putting kids into my game now. They usually just get on my nerves, but after parenthood I've had more fun creating families and playing through generations. Normally, I can only handle one generation before I get bored and delete the game or create a new household in a different part of the world. Now, that the kids are doing more I don't get bored as easily. Plus it's nice to have a new skill to play around with. I also have a lot of fun giving Vladislaus a wife and giving them kids. I've done this in several different games since the pack came out, and it's actually a lot of fun and it's a nice mesh of packs.

Hugme556

Did anyone get new clothes in their game and did it disappear when you played it again?

SilentKitty

PixelPerfect245 wrote: »

For me it hasn't changed the game that much. If you aren't playing the kids in the houshold constantly you will proberly not get the new traits. I think the pack influens gameplay for children as much as kids room stuff and this one cost the double. Other than that I think the new build and buy mode objects look good the interacteble objects are a nice adition.

There are cheatcodes to add the traits to grownup sim. I am a rotational player and constantly add a trait or two to the sims I am playing. Really like the effect on the game.

One of my criminal sims got bad manners and bad empathy. Caught him belching out loud in the gym while I wasn't playing him. Nice way of adding something special to a sim. It is like having a extra stack of traits that doesn't take up a slot.

Hope we will get more of these!

Simsfan99111

I think it has changed my game alot! It makes having children feel slightly more challenging (if you want all the character traits) and its really fun too. I welcome any new family gameplay! If a friends of mine ever decides to buy the base game i would 100% recommend getting parent hood alongside it. I also hope its a pack they bring out on console too.

Stormsview

I am not sure if this was just part of our toddler update or did it come with parenthood. I like when the toddler for no reason wants to wake up a parent. That is so like real life after they wake up a parent they are off to play lol. that's so cute.
I give Parenthood B - because >
I wish they had added more parent child interactions, like teaching the child or teen to cook.or just helping with dinner or help with the plumbing like help fix the tub. and bring back making beds, not for maids but for kids.
we needed much more question for kids/teens to ask and not just the same few every day.
Also when a teen comes home from school upset, they should either have the child tell what happened, or the game can say what happened, like a bully, or someone took their lunch money. or they did not get invited to a party.... then we could have picky eaters
that do not want to eat veggies.
A teen can put on too much makeup, and the parent could say go wash your face. now the teen has some reason to come home still mad. Phases do not have to be always angry. it can be just how they want to dress, like they may decide to wear something too dressy to school like a gown. or father tux's teens can sneak and get a tattoo or nose pierce, and hide from parents. they could have the school call and say what the child has done bad, so the parent then can talk to them on that subject.
parents need some calls from school. or asked to come to school.
Like they have the younger kids being a bear, they could have the teen being Gothic, and be wearing all black with black makeup. and even when a parent tries to ask them to change they change into more black lol also a teen friend can come over and help your child shave off half of the hair on their head, then say bye to the parents nicely and go lol.
What gets me is when the game asks can our child or teen bring home a guest, and our kids totally ignore the child. also, our kids should be able to offer their guest something to eat.

Parenthood is ok, but they could patch in a lot more. and not worry about traits so much just let them grow up. I would love more funny phases like real life. the teen can just stay on the phone 24/7

well in my game all or most of my teens live in Teenvill Newcrest. they live with other teens and have nannies only. I have 8 nice homes for the teens they all get visits from parents, and they can go visit their parents. when parents do come they mostly just take them out to eat. it's fun.