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Sims 4 High School Year's Negative thread

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  • elanorbretonelanorbreton Posts: 14,518 Member
    Ziafar wrote: »
    @Handel Is it possible to do that? It does not seem to be a lot you can buldoze and change.
    Was that question meant to be about my post? If so, the gurus have confirmed we can bulldoze the school and rebuild it.
  • HandelHandel Posts: 395 Member
    Amapola76 wrote: »
    I don't see boba tea as a teen thing (particularly since it's been trendy for closer to two decades than the one decade they mentioned in the livestream. (I mean, I'm solidly middle-aged, and we were going out for boba in my younger days). Thrifting was also trendy all the way back in the 90s, and never stopped being a thing for lots of people (I wasn't super into it, but some of my friends were and still are.)

    Unfortunately, it looks like you can't just do thrifting as thrifting; they've wholly integrated it into the Trendi app, which I don't want to have anything to do with. So I may just rename the shop, rip out all of the thrifting objects, leave the boba bar, and add ice cream and/or baked goods and maybe a coffee bar to make it a little more of an all-purpose hangout for the town.

    Like the only thing that's "new" about boba tea is posting pictures of it on Instagram, and even that's not particularly new at this point.

    The difference is that for me, I grew up in the STICKS, far out in the country and in the Midwest, so also ultra-conservative. I did look around at local business within the larger towns where I was adjacent to, but didn't live in. Something that would have been more comperable to what I feel Copperdale is trying to recreate. There really still isn't much in the way of dedicated cafes out there. More just breakfast restaurants.

    Granted, times have changed slightly and there is one cafe in a town aways where I live that is like a proper cafe and breakfast place and serves boba. But it is very new, compartively. Didn't even exist when I briefly went back home after college. So yeah, for me, I'm more trying to aim to recreate the small town life I personally lived through and experienced and this feels a lot like that moderately sized town with some local business around. Which could mean thrifting. Thrifting is a lot more common than boba and that's what feels bad to me. Because I spotted that venue type and they are combined which yeesh.

    Townie/NPC lore nerd!
  • lexibeelexibee Posts: 163 Member
    Welp it looks like that blue roofed building complex in the bottom right is just an empty shell and not an apartment building 😔😢 RIP to me I suppose. More lots having to go towards housing... Really tired of them adding so many empty shells and open spaces where there's nothing to do. I appreciate that there's at least a few areas for sims to hang out, and that they added lore to the areas, but I'm definitely still disappointed. Why is it so hard to get larger worlds/more lots? Also, while the town looks nice enough, I'm really getting tired of all these post industrial towns. These and ones that look like Willow Creek. I think we have enough by now.

    I'm really afraid by some of those Trendi outfits. Weird choice for the outfits to be hidden until you actually buy them and try them on. Some of the outfits they showed off looked like randomized townie outfits 💀 and I'm expected to PAY for that?

    School day could've been worse but it also could've been much better. No options to socialize in class? Slack off or work hard? The football field behind the school is a barren wasteland... The "sports event" they showed off was really...Empty... Not even really sure what your sims do there. Practice cheerleading, throw a football, take selfies? That's it? No thanks... Also not a fan of the way the school looks at all. When I eventually get this pack (because my teen sims desperately need more life stage specific things to do), I'll definitely be rebuilding it. Also sucks that all sims attend Copperdale. I personally was expecting this, especially with the auditorium next door, but it's still a disappointment.

    Prom looks decent enough, but why is it every Saturday? It'd be nice to be able to customize how often it occurs. I play with aging off, so I'm definitely going to get tired of prom QUICK. They talked about how sims are thinking about prom throughout the week, but by that logic, that means their entire lives would revolve around it. Also, since I've used seasons holidays to give my sims summer vacation, would they still have prom during no school holidays? I don't think I heard them mention anything about how these events work with seasons holidays. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

    Was really excited about wants and fears, since they were such an integral part of my play style in previous gens, but so far I'm not impressed. Only 1 fear? And from what I've seen so far of early access reviews, people are saying how so far a lot of the fears are the same... And it's just fear of not fulfilling wants... Where's my sims fearing death and sending emails? The wants at least seem... more thought out, with the long term and short term and reactionary wants. Still not really happy with how limited they feel though :/ Also I'm pretty sure there was a bug with whims in the past where even if you had them locked, they would still refresh when traveling or changing households or something. I wasn't able to see if they've fixed that but I hope so.

    Body hair growing is pretty cool. Unfortunate that the growing part is only included with the pack and not base game. They said it was because they were focusing on puberty, but like, does hair stop growing when you're an adult? Felt like a choice to push people to purchase the pack :/

    The social bunny app and the streaming career, while done decently enough, just kind of make me frustrated? We have all these social media accounts for sims now and they're all separate, which I guess makes sense in real life, but for the sims it would be nice to just have one social media to focus on. Aren't there like 3 now? And I'm pretty sure your pet gets their own account when posting pics of them, so 4? And with the streaming career, you could already do that with I think the Tech Guru career (yep, eSports)? And also the Social Media career in City Living lets you be a live streamer. So now we have 3 live streaming/social media careers? It's so messy and really shows how these packs are made without the others in mind. It feels bloated at this point. Not sure why they couldn't just rework Simstagram (which, as an app name, I prefer to Social Bunny).

    Hmm. I think that's at least most of my concerns. Really gotta stop letting myself get hyped up over trailers. I've been good about being critical but I was really hoping for this one. It doesn't seem BAD necessarily, but definitely didn't hit the mark I was hoping it would. Regardless, at least my teen sims are finally getting some attention. It's only been 8 years.

    Oh yeah. Still really disappointed in the lack of art/drama/music focused after school activities. Really don't understand why they weren't included. Because art is in Uni? Because drama is in GF? If we can have 3 different social medias and streaming careers, I think we can double dip in the after school activities 🙄
  • AngeliqueAdelaideAngeliqueAdelaide Posts: 1,026 Member
    I try and try but nothing about this pack has managed to impress me. Maybe I am getting old, but it feels kind of...childish and superficial. I can't see any of my sims fitting in to that kind of a gameplay. Time to move on and forget about it, I guess.
  • DarrenDarren Posts: 129 Member
    It definately looks like that all the interesting stuff are in the patches while the expansion is just what we already have with a slight recolor.
  • LiELFLiELF Posts: 6,439 Member
    I feel like this pack is going to have the same issue that Discover University has, which is that it's trying to constantly have a "positive" or "serious" outcome and doesn't have depth of drama and spontaneity. It doesn't allow Sims to let loose and go crazy and have regrets. Sims 4 tends to fall short of that aspect of life, which is what makes it seem so sugar-coated.

    I would still get get the pack regardless of this, but my main concern is the social media stuff and more excessive phone use. Does anyone know if we can opt out of it? If not, I may not get the pack at all. I've been requesting a phone "turn off" option since 2014. Those new phone features aren't getting patched in, are they?

    I'm definitely more looking forward to some of the patch content. And I hope the patch stuff, like wants/fears is just the beginning and that they actually add onto them so we have more interesting and unexpected gameplay. I also hope they consider putting in attraction preferences so our Sims actually gravitate towards other Sims who fit those choices.
    #Team Occult
  • CK213CK213 Posts: 20,525 Member
    edited July 2022
    I suspect that putting my sim in an after school club/career will be a very rare thing.
    Unless I just gotta have that trophy. There are several features I probably won't bother with because lack of depth.

    I think I would rather have that 3-5 pm time slot to have my sims gather at various lots after school to socialize.
    They can have a homework club and just do whatever they want after homework is done. I hope the game does not kick you off the lot after the day's timer runs out. I would rather hang around the school and leave from there to other lots instead of going directly home.

    I would certainly put more time into customizing the school if I have the free time to actually enjoy my customizations.
    I also hope that they make some of these activities transfer to Get Together club activities.
    The%20Goths.png?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds
  • DarrenDarren Posts: 129 Member
    I hope Sims will not autonomusly open/go through windows.
    I don't want to always have to worry when building homes that technically the window is the fastest way out and sims deciding to always use windows instead of doors when going to work.
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,665 Member
    LiELF wrote: »
    I feel like this pack is going to have the same issue that Discover University has, which is that it's trying to constantly have a "positive" or "serious" outcome and doesn't have depth of drama and spontaneity. It doesn't allow Sims to let loose and go crazy and have regrets. Sims 4 tends to fall short of that aspect of life, which is what makes it seem so sugar-coated.

    I would still get get the pack regardless of this, but my main concern is the social media stuff and more excessive phone use. Does anyone know if we can opt out of it? If not, I may not get the pack at all. I've been requesting a phone "turn off" option since 2014. Those new phone features aren't getting patched in, are they?

    I'm definitely more looking forward to some of the patch content. And I hope the patch stuff, like wants/fears is just the beginning and that they actually add onto them so we have more interesting and unexpected gameplay. I also hope they consider putting in attraction preferences so our Sims actually gravitate towards other Sims who fit those choices.

    The phone was one of my disappointments. I don't think it's an option, the phone will just be that new one. I'm not looking forward to having to police my sims phone fixation, but they're already fixated. If they don't have a computer handy, or a tv they already grab the phone and start in. If I have a hobby for them that helps some, but it's hard to imagine using their phones more than they already do.

    My big problem with the phones remains. When they started mentioning the new phone I really hoped that would be the end for those irritating 'should I calls' or the creepy 'Can I give this stranger your phone number'. I was so looking forward to those ending. Then right there during the discussion of the new phone what comes up on screen, a 'Should I' call. Oh, lovely. I hope the rest of the new phone features make up for the continued presence of those calls.
  • ncisGibbs02ncisGibbs02 Posts: 2,019 Member
    edited July 2022
    One negative is the fact features are no longer restricted to the pack itself.

    I’ve read that they are adding fears back. I hope there’s an option to turn them off. I’ve been playing about eight years now, I adjusted my play and managed without fears since Sims 2. It’s weird now. Why so sudden?

    There’s about five features now that have been added to base game that I don’t use. 🙄😭

    Now alternating between Sims 2,3 and 4! 😊☕️🌞
  • ZiafarZiafar Posts: 695 Member
    @elanorbreton No My post was about the thrift shop
  • logionlogion Posts: 4,712 Member
    edited July 2022
    Pretty disappointed to learn that after school activities are rabbit holes. It also looks very troublesome to play some premades like Molly, she is supposed to be the principle's daughter but if you actually play her, well then her mom is no longer the principle but some random sim will take her role.

    Come on Maxis, we want to actually play your packs, not just do set dressing.
  • Pamtastic72Pamtastic72 Posts: 4,545 Member
    edited July 2022
    Darren wrote: »
    I hope Sims will not autonomusly open/go through windows.
    I don't want to always have to worry when building homes that technically the window is the fastest way out and sims deciding to always use windows instead of doors when going to work.

    They can only go out the set of specific windows included with the pack, and the house has to be designed so there’s a landing of at least 1 full tile wide below the window but before the ladder/trellis, like this:

    c3tKlVZ.png

    or the windows need to be at the ground floor level. So you can totally design an escape proof home.
    CK213 wrote: »
    I suspect that putting my sim in an after school club/career will be a very rare thing.
    Unless I just gotta have that trophy. There are several features I probably won't bother with because lack of depth.

    I think I would rather have that 3-5 pm time slot to have my sims gather at various lots after school to socialize.
    They can have a homework club and just do whatever they want after homework is done. I hope the game does not kick you off the lot after the day's timer runs out. I would rather hang around the school and leave from there to other lots instead of going directly home.

    I would certainly put more time into customizing the school if I have the free time to actually enjoy my customizations.
    I also hope that they make some of these activities transfer to Get Together club activities.

    You can stay on school grounds after the school day is over, just like in Get Famous where you can choose to leave the studio or stay after your acting gig. I don’t know for sure though if you can go to the school and hangout like outside school hours like from home on a Saturday or not.
  • CK213CK213 Posts: 20,525 Member
    CK213 wrote: »
    I suspect that putting my sim in an after school club/career will be a very rare thing.
    Unless I just gotta have that trophy. There are several features I probably won't bother with because lack of depth.

    I think I would rather have that 3-5 pm time slot to have my sims gather at various lots after school to socialize.
    They can have a homework club and just do whatever they want after homework is done. I hope the game does not kick you off the lot after the day's timer runs out. I would rather hang around the school and leave from there to other lots instead of going directly home.

    I would certainly put more time into customizing the school if I have the free time to actually enjoy my customizations.
    I also hope that they make some of these activities transfer to Get Together club activities.

    You can stay on school grounds after the school day is over, just like in Get Famous where you can choose to leave the studio or stay after your acting gig. I don’t know for sure though if you can go to the school and hangout like outside school hours like from home on a Saturday or not.

    Good.
    I am working on a library in my custom school and it should be good for calling a study group.
    After they are done, I can have them go hang out at the Boba Tea shop.
    The%20Goths.png?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds
  • gc6164gc6164 Posts: 516 Member
    After watching the livestream I am quite underwhelmed. The school gameplay looks really shallow especially the classes. I thought they'd be fleshed out in this pack but instead it's like a side thing? Very weird as the trailer focused on the school so much. Once again I fell for the trailer magic which I should stop doing lol because at the end of the day it is The Sims 4.... Also what is with this 'T-pose challenge'? are they making fun of how bug-ridden the Sims 4 is and making it a feature? I am glad that I changed my decision a week ago to wait instead of pre-ordering. Anyway the patch seems to be more exciting than the pack for me.
    rqjiqrf78ux6.gif

  • OnverserOnverser Posts: 3,364 Member
    Darren wrote: »
    It definately looks like that all the interesting stuff are in the patches while the expansion is just what we already have with a slight recolor.

    I feel like this is always one of their biggest trick for releasing packs.. They save all of the best updates and then just release them all at once at the same time as expansions. They intentionally overload players by releasing it all at once so then that information overload tricks people into thinking a ton is in the pack, when it's actually just updates you're gonna get anyway that have just been timed with the pack.

    I always think it's better to buy late for that reason, once the updates are old news then you can see what's actually in the pack and properly judge if it's worth it
  • MidnightAuraMidnightAura Posts: 5,809 Member
    I haven’t watched the live stream yet. I watched Plumbella’s review and that put me off.

    I can’t believe the game is getting more live streaming as a career. We have that already. Twice. Once in city living, I think it’s in the tech career and you can also live stream as a celeb perk.
  • GordyGordy Posts: 3,015 Member
    gc6164 wrote: »
    Also what is with this 'T-pose challenge'? are they making fun of how bug-ridden the Sims 4 is and making it a feature?
    The game's bugginess could be inspiration, but T-Posing is/was pretty popular with kids IRL, and a popular internet meme in general. Though it's much more popular with 7 year olds than it is with teenagers.
    TS1_dragons_hatching.jpg
    The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
  • mewo13mewo13 Posts: 60 Member
    edited July 2022
    Handel wrote: »
    Thrifting is a lot more common than boba and that's what feels bad to me. Because I spotted that venue type and they are combined which yeesh.

    Well... I mean for you guys, maybe. But I'm asian, grew up in asia and milk tea (or "boba/bubble tea" as its known in the west) is HUGE. Friends hang out at milk tea shops after school, boys ask girls out for milk tea, people bring milk tea for everyone in the office.

    AFAIK there's a pretty sizable asian player base, obviously not as much as the west (also, playing true to stereotypes, half of my friends pirate the game cus were asian and stingy lol). Pretty awesome for EA to throw us a bone since all we've gotten is 1 Japanese expansion pack, and like... 2 Kits. I guess you can count city living? Meanwhile Americans have majority of the worlds catered to them.


    PS. I have never pirated a Sims game. JUST A DISCLAIMER lmao. You can even check my origin.
    Post edited by mewo13 on
  • GordyGordy Posts: 3,015 Member
    I wish we could write up our own Social Bunny posts, instead of just letting the game generate some for us. It'd be a great way to keep track of our sims' stories and personalize how they speak and act.
    TS1_dragons_hatching.jpg
    The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
  • HandelHandel Posts: 395 Member
    What is the difference between Social Media career and being a Simsfluencer as a job anyway? Other than one is part time and the other positions you as a...cooperate backed Social Media person? Hmmm.

    Love streaming as a part time job though. Kinda wish it was a freelance thing. Honestly need to see a little bit more of the gameplay with the two of those to see how they'll work.
    Townie/NPC lore nerd!
  • BeardedgeekBeardedgeek Posts: 5,520 Member
    Handel wrote: »
    What is the difference between Social Media career and being a Simsfluencer as a job anyway? Other than one is part time and the other positions you as a...cooperate backed Social Media person? Hmmm.

    Love streaming as a part time job though. Kinda wish it was a freelance thing. Honestly need to see a little bit more of the gameplay with the two of those to see how they'll work.

    Yeah this one is one of those that doesn't make sense. It's like the difference between making mix tapes on the mix machine or in the DJ booth. Same thing, different name.
    Especially since you can just go the third option and DO all the social media stuff without picking a career at all, or just register your own career.
    Origin ID: A_Bearded_Geek
  • BreazonaBreazona Posts: 1,335 Member
    I was writing this in another thread then thought hey, should probably save this for the negativity thread! So here's that: My current family is from komorebi so going to a very american school doesn't feel right. I'm really hoping modders can make it possible to have schools in other worlds but who knows. We can have 2 school rabbit holes in sims 3 in the same world, so I don't see why we can't have 2 schools in the same same game at all, let alone only on that one specific lot. I bring that up because it seems like it would be easier to tell the game I want this sim to go to x school in 4 than it would be in Sims 3 but I don't know anything about game design, so maybe I'm way way off. I just know this way is very immersion breaking, which seems to be a common theme in my sims 4 gameplay. Also, plumbella said after school acitivites don't even happen after school? And you can only do one. Even in sims 3 you can do 2 as long as the two don't coincide, so pretty disappointing there. I'd love for my overachievers to have a full schedule with multiple extracurriculars. Another complaint is that the outside of the school looks pretty dead. Half of the american school experience (which this pack clearly wants to emulate) takes place on the football field whether that be actual games, band practice, running the mile, or assemblies so to see it look abandoned when they pushed it so hard in the trailer is disappointing (but not surprising).
    Cinebar wrote: »
    I have a general complaint. I love animations, I want more animations in any game. Slot popping is not my idea of fun. However, it seems TS4 sometimes, is treated like it's the first to ever invent the wheel. Take the ability of a Sim high school kid being able to sit on the bed with crossed legs< I read a lot of excitement and squealing about that. Yay!!!
    Ok, yes, yay! but why is anything like that cheered so much when Sims have been doing that since The Sims twenty-two years ago. It wasn't teens in that game, but kids. And so did the kids in TS2. I don't remember if it was a thing in TS3 but here we are twenty two years later and something that was just part of Sims acting and looking human is cheered in TS4 as if they invented the wheel. Sigh.

    Spot on with everything you said, and can confirm that sims 3 sims can't do that but they can however use laptops on the floor which drives me absolutely nuts in Sims 4 like please use ur laptop you don't need a desk for it that's like half the point of it being portable is using it anywhere!! Which is part of why I'm excited about the sitting on bed because I'm pretty sure I heard they could use laptops on their bed too.
    My main complaint with the pack so far is that it's so... Gen Z. I get that that seems to be the Sims' target demographic right now and the only generation that's in high school in real life right now, but I was hoping for something a little more generic that spans multiple generations. Prom, pranks, American Football, and Cheerleading are all generic enough and the kind of stuff was hoping for

    I'm also concerned about how many of these things are going to be tied to the teenage lifestage directly. Some things of course should be like prom and sneaking out. But others like football, cheerleading, sitting cross legged... should be accessible by YA+ as well. Football and cheerleading for instance are still a big part of American colleges and although Britchester is supposedly British inspired I would like to have the option for cheerleading and football for my YA Sims as well, but I have a bad feeling I may need to depend on modders to do that.

    I'm gen Z (21 and graduated in 2019) and I feel that a lot with sims 4. The game dates itself by putting the current tech and trends in, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but it is when we don't have options outside of the current technology. Like an example from sims 3: every sim has a cell, but you also have the option to never use that (since sims don't really use it autonomously and you can just silence it) and buy a landline instead. We also got hoverboards in itf, which were a big thing around that time (of course they're literal hoverboards in itf but you get my point) and you don't see sims in Appaloosa Plains cruising around on them because that's super immersion breaking. Every sims game dates itself, it's just part of it being a life sim since tech and trends evolve as time goes on, but less options is never the way. Specifically thinking about promposals when writing this as I'm not sure if we have the option to just ask to prom without making a big deal of it but imo it applies to a lot of Sims 4.

    Also: on the topic of career day I agree the sims team could've done more here, but I'm not too upset. Honestly that's pretty much career day in the states. You walk up to some booths and they're like here's what I do it's great and that's kinda..it. It's boring and I've never heard anyone say it helped them pick a career or anything unless you guys maybe have a better experience with it

    side note @jpajari the sim in ur pfp is so pretty!
    sims 2&3 my beloved♥
  • SilentKittySilentKitty Posts: 4,665 Member
    - I am not interested in the careers
    - Prom was a lukewarm for me earlier. How does it impact the game when it is weekly?
    - Tartosa was a more important world for me since it is much more different from what we already have.
    - I will have to see more of how it works before adding it.
    - The T-challenge is not a positive for me. Little things like this makes it more difficult to add a school to my stories. Zerbu might make us able to place the school anywhere but then you have in school odd behaviors that you will have incorporate into your story. It makes the school-day very current, and less ideal for my stories that jump all over the place.
    - It is more a feeling of ever new little cool detail added that should make me care for the pack is for me the search for a new mod that seeks to remove it from the game completely.
    - I cannot really see myself paying full price when it will be difficult to merge this pack with my personal stories.
  • rubygloomzrubygloomz Posts: 8 New Member
    i still wish there was more distinction between teens and YAs

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