Why I'm not excited for University (worst case scenario).... «1234...Next Go

bixters

WARNING: These are my thoughts and opinions, and they are not positive. EA/ Maxis, prove me wrong!!!

Ever since University was leaked, a lot of people have been excited and speculating about it. However, based on previous packs in the Sims 4, particularly Expansion Packs, I'm not looking forward to it. The majority of Expansion Packs for the Sims 4 have been fairly lackluster; the only one that stood out was Seasons. This is all speculation! Here are my top reasons why I'm (personally) not excited for University....

1. The World: Most likely, the world will not be very large, with very few lots. I'm basing this off the worlds we've gotten with packs like Get Famous and Get to Work. Both of those packs had more of gameplay elements which meant they had to limit the world sizes. I think University will be similar to these packs. Also, I don't think we will be able to edit university building lots at all. If there anything like the work buildings in Get Famous and Get to Work, they won't even be able to be selected from the map screen at all. All in all, I think the world will disappointing.

2. Dorms/ Roommates: After the disappointment of apartments in City Living, I don't think dorms will be any better in University. There will probably be loading screens between each dorm room. I also think dormitory buildings will be much smaller because the Sims 4 can't handle that many sims active on one lot. They will probably just be a copy of apartments from City Living with only 3-4 rooms per building with one large gathering area for eating and leisure activities. Dorm building will not be able to be edited. Also, I don't think we will get unplayable roommates since we didn't get them in City Living, which is something I've wanted since the Sims 2...

3. Classes/ Careers/ Fraternities & Sororities: Classes will most likely be rabbit holes. They will claim it's too many sims to have active in one room. There will probably be only have 1 career as a Teacher, and it will also be a rabbit hole career. Fraternities and Sororities will be extremely easy to join and barely even a challenge, based on how easy the game is generally. Also, they will most likely just be a household you can join with barely any new interactions or gameplay other than throwing keg parties and wearing togas.

4. Lack of New Gameplay to the Sims 4 as a Whole: There will probably only be one new trait, something ridiculously specific like "college savvy," where you get a positive emotional buff from being on campus. There also will only be one new aspiration that is also way too specific to University. The grading system will be directly pulled from Get Famous, Realm of Magic and Vampires, with very little variation. Grades you get in school will barely have any effect on your future career prospects. Dropping out of college makes no difference, since you can easily get to the top of your career without going to college in the regular game.

Things That Might Change My Opinion: Attraction, turn ons/ offs, hobbies, the ability to get "juiced," online classes, community college options for non-university sims, non-playable roommates (both at university and OUTSIDE university), no loading screens in dormitories.

What do you think? Are you excited for University? Or do you think it will be a disappointing like other Expansion Packs? Feel free to share, and don't take my opinion as fact

nerdfashion

I, personally, really like how apartments work in City Living and hope they work this way with dorms. Lots of what you said you didn't want, I do want. So... agree to disagree?

QueenMercy

Wasn’t Magnolia Promenade originally supposed to be part of Willow Creek or something? It seems a little unfair to judge it based on that.

Anyway lectures in TS3 were boring, so I really don’t care if classes are rabbitholes.

Community Colleges and online classes would be super cool though. Get a degree with it becoming your entire life! It was honestly really frustrating to have to put the rest of your sim’s lives on hold to get your sims through school.

Jordan061102

Just like you, since the beginning of this year TS4 has been a big downfall, I don't play the game anymore and probably won't until TS5 (if it's good). Otherwise I'm gonna play Paralives.

CK213

You could be right.
My big concern is that I won't be able to make custom dorms.
My custom dorms were a big part of why I enjoyed University in TS2 and TS3.
If we just get shells and editable interior walls, I hope we have regular lots that we can build alternative housing.

The other stuff aside, I managed to enjoy TS2 Uni despite classes being rabbit holes and community lots being closed world, and the entire time at Uni grind. Fingers crossed that EA manages to make a Uni that I can still enjoy.

TheIntrovertSimmer

we're living in a dark era where our last two brain cells have to choose between having a great gameplay and decent world lot sizes in a 40 dollar expansion.

island living offered a pretty world with 14 lots but gameplay was mad ugly as sin while get famous offered a lazily done LA world but gameplay was deep and has great replay value.

if im gon choose between them two, im digging an expansion pack that actually expands existing gameplay and add new ones so if that's the case, im rollin with get famous.

MidnightAura

I feel similar to you OP.

I think university is going to be extremely easy based on complaints of how difficult sims 2 uni was and how long it was. I expect many rabbit holes.
I don’t think the keg will come back, I will be surprised if it does as the sims can’t even get juiced in this version. Unless they change that but as they seem to be more erring on the side of T for toddler I wouldn’t be surprised.

If we get dorms I think it will be very similar to city living apartments. I think university will be a lot shorter and it will be a case of study once and boom you have passed your semester!

Prove me wrong EA.

bixters

nerdfashion wrote: »

I, personally, really like how apartments work in City Living and hope they work this way with dorms. Lots of what you said you didn't want, I do want. So... agree to disagree?

We can agree to disagree There are some things I like about City Living Apartments, like the lot traits that came with it, and I do like the interactions you can have with neighbors, like banging on the door if they're too loud. However, for me personally, I'd just prefer being able to build them and have them in every world. The Sims 2 Apartments did them the best IMO.

bixters

QueenMercy wrote: »

Wasn’t Magnolia Promenade originally supposed to be part of Willow Creek or something? It seems a little unfair to judge it based on that.

Anyway lectures in TS3 were boring, so I really don’t care if classes are rabbitholes.

Community Colleges and online classes would be super cool though. Get a degree with it becoming your entire life! It was honestly really frustrating to have to put the rest of your sim’s lives on hold to get your sims through school.

I would love a community college and online classes option. I just hope they don't replace regular university with community college and online classes, which is something I'm a bit worried about. They need to have both.

Also, if Magnolia Promenade was supposed to originally be a part of Willow Creek, doesn't that sort of prove my point? We either get a small/ no new world, or we get lots of gameplay. There doesn't seem to be anything in between, like getting a nice big world and lots of gameplay. The only pack I can excuse this for is Seasons, because they had to repaint each new world and STILL added lots of gameplay.

Abeeric

I didn't know University was leaked! It was one of my favorites to play in Sims 2. I'm curious to see what they might do with it now. I loved the secret societies and customizing my dorms. I am looking forward to something like that, but your fears Bixters on gameplay would be very similar to mine. I hope they do right by it.

Chazzzy

QueenMercy wrote: »

Wasn’t Magnolia Promenade originally supposed to be part of Willow Creek or something? It seems a little unfair to judge it based on that.

Seriously? So it was supposed to be a little commercial section over to the side like how they did with Windenburg? Interesting.

simgirl1010

I honestly don't have any expectations for University. If anything this game has taught me after 5 years is to expect the unexpected. I have no preconceived notions of features, no beloved features from 2 and 3 that I'm dying to see return. No particular objects that would result in disappointment if they weren't included. I just want a satisfying university experience for my teens Sims. Educational opportunities for my adult Sims would be a bonus.

Movotti

Worst case scenario: we're forced to suffer greek houses, mascots, and cheerleaders. And forced to have our student sims live on campus.

It's about time they gave us more flexible university options.

izecson

Yeah i agree with all of it, that is why i was excited with university but given latest packs qualities im not really that interested anymore.

ChadSims2

I completely agree which is why I expect this pack to fall flat. I'm also expecting City Living type apartments as prebuilt dorms that take the sandbox out of a sandbox game who cares about the players who play this game just to build or players who want to make the world their own when the Sims team can do it for you.

Cinebar

Considering the GM told me one time she was very happy they could keep adding 'gameplay' to the Sims' pc, (just look at how much revolves around the Sim pc in this game) and thought it was a good idea to be able to reuse the pc over and over... I fear the pack will revolve most of any class work, tasks and or activities around the Sim pc.

It is the go to object when they don't want to build anything new to reflect a career, or a task, etc. And it's my fear the 'new' careers or degrees in this pack will revolve around more and more, of what is already in game and over used, like writing, painting, and of course working out.

If they even add any sort of degree for those three things they should have just left this pack in the alcoves of their minds. Because that is all this game offers or at least that is the total of what any new career or task pertains and it's so mind numbing they don't add any new objects and or activities or careers that don't use those, or any new aspiration or career that doesn't revolve around those three things or the Sim's pc. (If any, they are so few most can't even think of them).

rhalius

Won't be keg parties, they'd just drink fruit juice since they don't dare to put alcohol in the series anymore after sims 1.
Really weird since sims medieval does have it.

invisiblgirl

Movotti wrote: »

Worst case scenario: we're forced to suffer greek houses, mascots, and cheerleaders. And forced to have our student sims live on campus.

It's about time they gave us more flexible university options.

Sims 4 has been less American-centric than previous games, so I'm hoping University will offer more options than the middle and upper class American experience. (And really, that's becoming more myth than reality in the US.) Of course, options would mean less focus on the campus experience, and I can already see the complaints.

Dannydanbo

If they made a real American University experience then sims would go to Uni, take classes that will never lead to a real job, hangout in coffee shops while on their phones, amass a huge debt that they can never repay or worse, expect it to be removed because, you know, life is hard. The only reason Universities still exist is football.

MidnightAura

LGR predicts it will re use a lot of realm of magic:

https://twitter.com/lazygamereviews/status/1175834589820051456?s=20

https://twitter.com/lazygamereviews/status/1175835423719010304?s=20

I bet he’s not far off the mark.

Paigeisin5

I'd bet money your worst case scenarios aren't very far off the mark. All we have to do is look at Island Living and RoM to know the truth about what a uni-based EP will be like. I have to be honest and say university life was not one of my favorite EPs, and I rarely had a Sim attend college or even graduate. But I was willing to give it a shot back in the day. I'm not that forgiving these days. We're looking at the probability of a small world, rabbithole classes, uneditable dorms, college students in outlandish garb invading every world, and new glitches that will take the devs months to fix. If at all. Call me crazy, but I'll pass on this kind of pack. Any changes to the base game that have anything to do with updating the romance system, whims, or traits will be in the pre-ep update so I'll save my money and happily take the freebies. Once the modding community updates all my mods, of course. It's going to take me a long time to get over the mess Island Living's pre-ep update made of my game, and how much that pack disappointed me. And now to see all the complaints coming out of the community about RoM, well, that kinda says it all. The pack didn't even have the same characters as the ones that were shown in the advertising. Except for the Morgyn character. Nor was Magic HQ the same as what was shown in the trailers. My advice is to be very cautious about expecting what we see in the reveal trailers to be anything more than a way to build hype, and compel players to preorder without waiting to see if the new pack is worth the price.

LoverSims

Personally I'm not that bothered about university, I found the sims 3 University disappointing. it was just bad in general, too spread out and lifeless but who knows maybe the smaller worlds in ts4 will make it work better

FurSimsOfficial

You know I feel more truth in your thread that any positive one that I read or even write myself. That should say enough. We know we are being let down, over and over and over again and the little voice inside of us keeps saying 'don't fall for it.. not again.. don't do it' and then we try to make ourselves happy again, cause we desperately want to play this game in all our desires and wishes. And then it hits you even harder.. ooh such a hard era we live in.. with the sims 4.. I hope it is all over soon.

The fandom knows best, always

aprilrose

Dannydanbo wrote: »

If they made a real American University experience then sims would go to Uni, take classes that will never lead to a real job, hangout in coffee shops while on their phones, amass a huge debt that they can never repay or worse, expect it to be removed because, you know, life is hard. The only reason Universities still exist is football.

Sad reality and I know it all too well. I just hope they give us some customization like with clubs and the calendar.

LiELF

I agree with a lot of your points. I feel like this version is going to be a lot tamer than previous versions, it's going to cater to the extremist American social politics of modern youth, and it's going to be positivity focused without challenges. I think they will give it a few modernized bumps, like the ability to take online courses, which will essentially be just another reason to have to watch your Sim sit on their butts at the computer. I can't imagine what benefits that education will bring to careers, except to maybe start your Sim off at a higher level and make them even easier. In a game with very little challenge to begin with, it won't make a significant difference. I don't even think they'll have on site dorms this time, and if they do, they'll be like apartments except smaller, with single rooms, and there won't really be dorm activities because they won't behave like housemates, they'll be all living completely separate lives unless you invite them.

I loved Sims 2 University so much, it was one of my favorite packs. There's no way this is going to come anywhere close to it, especially when personalities and Fears have never been improved/introduced. I'd like to think this would be a perfect opportunity for such improvements, but then, I thought the magic pack might finally be cause for a Fear patch and we still don't have anything like it.

So I'm not hyped in the least. Feeling more dread than anything, I suppose.

BabySquare

I would only buy university if sims with akready-established lives could do uni courses part time (like evening classes). If it's as it has been in the past - young adult only, living away at uni etc then I'm not interested as none of my sims do/will fit that profile.