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City Living Constructive Criticism Thread.
papersuitcase
Posts: 838 Member
Welcome to the City Living constructive criticism thread.
This thread is for those of us who think CL falls short in one aspect or another. Here we can discuss why we didn't buy it, or if we did buy it, what it could have done better.
Please note: This thread isn't for bashing, nor is it a place to argue others opinions. This is a place for people to let the devs know what you feel they could have done better and what to add or improve upon next time. Fans and skeptics welcome. Be good to each other and post about THE GAME. This is not a place to try to invalidate others opinions. If criticisms about the game upsets you, this probably isn't the best thread to read.
This thread is for those of us who think CL falls short in one aspect or another. Here we can discuss why we didn't buy it, or if we did buy it, what it could have done better.
Please note: This thread isn't for bashing, nor is it a place to argue others opinions. This is a place for people to let the devs know what you feel they could have done better and what to add or improve upon next time. Fans and skeptics welcome. Be good to each other and post about THE GAME. This is not a place to try to invalidate others opinions. If criticisms about the game upsets you, this probably isn't the best thread to read.
Post edited by papersuitcase on
23
Comments
Apart from the theme not grabbing my interest, I'm not sure if cl would have satisfied me regardless. I'm sensing a lack of replayability with this pack since we weren't given any way to customize much gameplay wise. We got retail in gtw and clubs in GT and with this pack we aren't really getting anything game changing. I hate to use buzz words but set-dressing really does describe this EP well. It offers a lot to look at, but not much to do that we couldn't already do before.
I would have liked each festival to be more involved and unique in their game play. Instead of offering a new place to do the old things that our sims could always do, we should have had new experiences unique to each festival.
Let's take the spice festival for example. Instead of merely eating spicy food, we should have been able to participate in making the spiciest or best tasting dish. I would have loved to see cooking stations set up for our sims to interact with and actively adding spices and ingredients, concocting our own Frankenstein curry dish. Sims could scan the crowd or ask around to see what people are craving and take that into consideration when adding items to their dish. The 'best' dish could depend on how the visiting sims are feeling that day, and it would be random and ever changing much like our taste buds in real life influence what we're in the mood to eat. As of right now, the spice festival only offers eating, which has some cute and funny interactions but not much replayability once you've seen the animations once or twice.
As of right now, (with the exception of the marketplace) the festival themes feel like they were specifically chosen to take advantage of using old animations. They use and reuse base game items, interactions and animations which is why I fear they will become stale rather quickly. I wish that the devs would have instead given us 2 really fleshed out events, with all new items, interactions and animations, and then implemented a system for us to customize our own festivals.
Over all I found that CL wasn't worth it's price tag because of everything I just said. I hope devs if you are reading this you do not take offense. The city and festivals you create are beautiful, but I want to do more than look and take pictures. Please consider giving us more tools in the future so we can create the world we want to.
No, and I listed the reasons why I didnt buy it.
Yes I know you are able to buy spices and use them at home. I wanted unique game play at the festival. Sort of like a chilli cookoff with a twist.
Also, the trailers differed vastly from what we actually got. For one, the trailers didn't show how much stuff we're getting (still dying over that). The rest is in my critique.
I haven't done much beyond look at things in CAS, buy, build so I'll just comment on that. Overall, I like the EP and feel that sheer amount of stuff we get is well worth the money.
However, this is a constructive criticism thread so now will focus on that.
1 - The pre-built lots are pretty bad, IMO. They look as if very little attention was given to them and there is a ton of wasted space.
2 - I do not like having lot traits set. I know this was mentioned in the trailer and that some love this. However, this should be an option and not a requirement. It's my game, I should be allowed to decide how I want to play it without EA telling me what I should do. I'm not a child who needs to be shown the way, please don't treat me as such. Beyond that, if I wanted to be told exactly how to play my game then I'd be playing an app game like Free Play.
I will probably add more as I delve further into the EP.
Right now, I'm hopping mad over the set lot traits.
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.
SIGHS
And waits for a modder to fix this (or just does it myself).....
I agree with this so much. While the City Living hoods are way more detailed, Windenburg feels like it has more soul. I feel like when I'm in San Myshuno, I'll still crave Windenburg.
The Neighborhoods should have more too them.
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g
If I were to be able to build my own apartments i'd probably buy it.
Not exactly, no. There are penthouse lots and some ground lots that you can build on - they just aren't empty lots. The interior of each apartment is editable. Selected lot traits cannot be removed but otherwise they are changeable.
Zero empty lots in San Myshuno, attempting to place apartment buildings in other worlds just results in normal housing, existing apartments cannot be edited beyond their confined space and shape, lot traits can mostly be changed with few exceptions.
Not every lot has locked in traits
That's a disappointment. Good suggestions.
Might be worth seeing more earthquakes, though. They said in a liveplay that there's a 1-10 scale for them.
They also said that it was just shaking the screen and affecting your sim's mood, but I guess we'll have to wait that someone get a level 10 one to tell us if it does anything else.
But other than that, I quite enjoy the pack as is. I like the challenge of making apartments work with their predetermined size. I like that if I want fully customized living in the city, I can get a penthouse. I like the festivals. I like that I could be in charge of everyone who lives on the lots in the city. The city theme isn't even my kind of thing and it still really works for me.