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The Festivals are boring
Zeldaboy180
Posts: 5,997 Member
I'll be the first to post about it, the festivals are incredibly boring. I'm loving this pack so far, but I haven't gone to a single festival since I won the needed prize for my aspiration. I actually like the City Living festivals, most of them anyway. The Sulani/San Myshuno festivals are kind of meh compared to city living, but at least there's actually activities to do and unique collectibles you can only get at those festivals.
You can't say the same for the cottage living fairs. All it is is submit entry and wait 8 hours for the world's slowest judge to make up her mind. There is nothing else you can do. The shops sell the same stuff they always sell, no unique merchandise or shirts. There isn't even a unique reward besides the Ribbons you get. There is quite literally nothing unique to do in a festival after you submitted your entry besides bribe the judge or wait.
Speaking of bribing the judges, I'm convinced that the results are complete random chance and has nothing to do with quality like it says. My sim's max happiness/max relationship rainbow cow lost to a normal cow with low attention. My friend's cow came in third place in the competition when there were only TWO competing cows. You can't convince me it's not just random chance.
Combining all of this, it just makes for a boring fair that I find myself skipping every week now that I have my aspiration.
I usually don't skip a lot of the city living festivals. The Flea Market is a good chance to find rare collectibles, The spice festival has a lot of unique collectibles and is generally a fun time, not to mention rare garden plants can be found. The Humor and hijinx festival is a great way to improve comedy/mischief skills and is great for a rags to riches challenge with the cash bonus if you win, and I've lost it a couple times or drawn so it's not always an easy guaranteed win. The romance festival just has an all around great atmosphere.
It's just sad that these festivals feel so lackluster. They didn't even have to do much. Make the prize a chance at an animal upgrade part since they seem to be so rare for me. Or earn valuable treats. Make the stalls sell unique rare items. Have music playing and activities for children. Even a pie eating contest would have been great.
You can't say the same for the cottage living fairs. All it is is submit entry and wait 8 hours for the world's slowest judge to make up her mind. There is nothing else you can do. The shops sell the same stuff they always sell, no unique merchandise or shirts. There isn't even a unique reward besides the Ribbons you get. There is quite literally nothing unique to do in a festival after you submitted your entry besides bribe the judge or wait.
Speaking of bribing the judges, I'm convinced that the results are complete random chance and has nothing to do with quality like it says. My sim's max happiness/max relationship rainbow cow lost to a normal cow with low attention. My friend's cow came in third place in the competition when there were only TWO competing cows. You can't convince me it's not just random chance.
Combining all of this, it just makes for a boring fair that I find myself skipping every week now that I have my aspiration.
I usually don't skip a lot of the city living festivals. The Flea Market is a good chance to find rare collectibles, The spice festival has a lot of unique collectibles and is generally a fun time, not to mention rare garden plants can be found. The Humor and hijinx festival is a great way to improve comedy/mischief skills and is great for a rags to riches challenge with the cash bonus if you win, and I've lost it a couple times or drawn so it's not always an easy guaranteed win. The romance festival just has an all around great atmosphere.
It's just sad that these festivals feel so lackluster. They didn't even have to do much. Make the prize a chance at an animal upgrade part since they seem to be so rare for me. Or earn valuable treats. Make the stalls sell unique rare items. Have music playing and activities for children. Even a pie eating contest would have been great.
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You're far from the first. Just the first to start a thread about it.
I have yet to attend my first fair.
ETA. I do want to collect all the ribbons though so I plan on attending for that.
The Sims 4 Cottage Living comes with one new official collection (and a few “unofficial” collections). The new collection listed in the collections panel is Finchwich Fair Ribbons. There are a total of 34 ribbons to earn from competing in the Finchwick Fair but the game recognizes a complete collection when all 9 first place ribbons have been acquired even if your Sims do not have the rest of the ribbons.
I couldn't agree more. I would just have been happy if there had been a food stall, like the one from Britechester, selling unique English foods (fish and chips, bangers and mash or those new fast foods from DU like Mushy Peas, Fish Hand Pie, Chip Butty and Sausage Roll). Actually, they wouldn't even have needed to have a food stand. Instead, they could have had something like the Sulani town potluck with all the locals bringing a dish relevant to the fair.
For the pie and vegetable judging context, have sims bring a variety of pies or vegetable dishes. For the chicken and egg competition, have chicken and egg dishes available, and for the milk and cow competition, have milk-made dishes, ice cream if you have Cool Kitchen etc, or dishes made from beef (meat pies etc). At least if there was food available, sims would seem more social and relaxed, sitting around and eating instead of standing and chatting in a tight bunch in front of the competing entries.
I do agree that if they really wanted the fair to be fun though the developers should have included a greater variety of rare prizes and unique collectibles (ones that you could only get at the fair). They should also have introduced a unique fun group activity that a few sims could do together to build fun, social and relationship points. I like your idea of the pie eating contest (which was fun in the Sims 3). They could also have added a lawn bowling or ring toss object (something like the horseshoe game from OL), or if they really wanted something more elaborate and quintessentially English, a small version of the game of croquet.
And I will always think it a missed opportunity that in an English world they didn't reintroduce social tea drinking as a group activity with a tea set object allowing for various interactions (such as they had in the Brunch at the Old Mill Set). Then at each fair there could have been a table or two with tea sets on them that sims could sit at together, drinking tea, chatting, eating little sandwiches or sweets, and it would really improve the atmosphere of the whole event. As it is there is no real reason to go to the fair at all if your sim isn't competing; if there were some unique or special foods and activities it would at least be more of a motivation to visit the fair.
At fairs I think the stall give discounts, so if your sims are counting their simoleons it would be a good occasion for storing up. At least the grocery stall pays more if you sell to her during the fair. Not exciting activities, but an excuse to visit the fair.
But other than that and obviously the competitions there isnt anything going on.
Which I think would be ok if the made the competitions a bit more interesting cause those are the main (and only) attractions.
It wouldve been cool if you could present your entry, maybe downtalk the other entries and if there was some kind of celebration going along with announcing the winners instead of just a pop up.
They couldve added a microphone and have the mayor actually physically announce the placements, like at award shows in GF.
It would have been nice if, fair ribbons aside, there had been other exclusive collectibles that could be acquired at the Finchwik fair, like commemorative teacups or teapots, or antique spoons (that you could display in a spoon rack) or any other type of décor in line with cottagecore style. It could have been something you can purchase from a vendor or maybe even find (like the snowglobes in the boxes in San Myshuno)
Food contest with actual strong competitors, and fair judges.
Fun activities for kids and families to join.
Fun games such as apple bobbing, knock over the milk bottles, cotton candy, jam tasting, food tables with pies and recipes to try out and learn how to bake at home!
Music and a new cute choreo in town for kids and adults to learn and dance, in traditional dresses and boots.
💕 Just some ideas of the many, many things that could have been done. Dah-ah! Festivals are not supposed to be boring!
I love the pack, but the fairs are easily the weakest part.
Prehaps a modder will fix this and add more stuff to it.
Yesterday, I even did a Refresh game folder just to see if somehow that was a problem. Bad news no outcome to the festival. I decided enough was enough. I would throw out that game save, (after making certain to upload each family and their lot) so that I can start a brand new game save in the brand new game folder. Why haven't I started yet? Good question.
As for the other points the OP made, I have been to County Fairs in the past. There's plenty of eating and things to see, such as farm animals that are being judged. Can't describe how in awe I was at seeing a Bull for the first time in my life, in person, so to speak. He was HUGE, all slumped into the corner of his pen as he was. Just huge. I've seen elephants, too at the zoo, but the size of this Bull took me by surprise. Eating contests and other fair-type games should be going on so that the kiddies have something to do. There is no reason at all as to why this fair isn't very entertaining. It's a misfire, in my estimation. I guess I'm guilty of getting far too excited about this EP.
To the point where I'm now considering going back to my Main Save with my Celebrity Sim.
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I don't understand why Maxis makes these festivals but they don't put anything there for the players to do, from what I have seen there are just notifications where random sims comment on the entries, and sometimes someone gives you a gift. But other than that, nothing. All that you can do is just go to the pub and wait.
This is a game Maxis, we are supposed to play it. Sitting and waiting for a random chance to win a prize and reading notifications is not fun or interesting.
Put down a stage, have people play music, have people dance to the music not just a lonely speaker hanging slight off to the left, have activities, have real competitions, not just a randomizer, put the festival on an actual lot so that sims will stay there when they spawn.
Make use of what the sims4 is good at, the sims4 is great for smaller areas, relationships, autonomy, having a lot of objects on the lot to simulate a lively area, even a lot of your animations are really good.
What the sims4 is not good at are too large areas with no objects on them on not the actual lot and no autonomy so sims just end up dancing or just standing around doing nothing, and don't resort to just notifications to create some sort of activity.
1) they're broken, but no one knows enough about how they're supposed to work to actually make a bug report
2) your "placement" is actually based on some sort of point system and has nothing to do with the other entries because you never learn how other entries did.
(Also possible is some combination of the two.)
At first I though the fair contests to be fairly straightforward:
- the first time my Sims participated each of them (it's a family of 3) entered an oversized vegetable. The only other entry was by an NPC. My sims won 1st, 2nd, 3rd place respectively; similarly in a contest for "regular" harvestables, they all participated and won a prize each (1st, 2nd, participation), the first prize going to the family member who had submitted the rarest harvestable (the 2 NPCs submitted spinach and another common plant respectively).
- at the llama fair, my family participated with their only llama, which was of a rare colour and wearing the llamacorn set; the other submission was a regular beige llama. My llama won the first prize.
At that point I felt I had pretty much understood the mechanics - the best the submission, the best the prize, right?
Instead, after those early successes everything went downhill.
the next time they participated in a contest it was one for chickens. They each submitted a chicken (two hens and a rooster) - they were regular chickens, but dressed very nice. The other chickens were just as regular and not even wearing a dapper outfit. None of my Sims won anything in that context, which seemed strange to me, since out of 5 contestants 3 of them were my family, I had expected them to bring home at least a 3rd place. But none of them got even a participation ribbon.
After that, they participated again in a contest for harvestables (regular ones). Only one member of the family submitted an entry - a perfect rare fruit. She only got a participation ribbon (and yes, the fruit was from her own orchard).
So I'm kind of confused. I'll have to run more tests. Maybe the result is supposed to be random? (Or the judge really wants to be bribed?
One thing I noticed is that after entries are submitted, if you examine them with one of your Sim, a pop up will inform you of what your Sim thinks about that submission (whether it is a good specimen or not). I've noticed that the opinion has very little correspondence with the contest results. Sometimes the Sim will compliment an entry saying it is the best and sure to win, but it won't.
SIMS 3:
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/863178/the-sims-3-50-foals-challenge#latest
Maybe it's because sows, cows, and plows are no novelty for me from having enough familiarity to breed contempt, in childhood, that a hay-strewn, manure-scented day under the baking sun while waiting to find out whose hog was fattest, doesn't thrill me.
Apologies to the people who make country and county fairs happen, and those who compete in them, for my lack of appreciation or understanding.
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I was just thinking maybe bring something to do in your sims inventory. Yard sale table is an excellent idea. Thank you.
I know they say don't believe everything you watch on TV but when I watch random British sitcoms, the festivals seem to only include music, maybe a live band, or someone ramblin' on the mic. Food to eat and people mingling. Then perhaps when a prize for something. But it's mostly a social event? I say it's nice for your sims to get out to chat with others....I mean because my sims are so busy with farm life they don't have time to socialize that much. lol
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Dancing to the speaker while the judge walks around is pretty boring. It is my only negative for the pack outside some game breaking bugs I have experienced and still trying to get working.
All I seem to do is moan but for such a big part of the pack these festivals are a travesty. There is literally nothing to do but stand around talking for hours, that's it. Not a single activity.
I live in a fairly rural area where agricultural shows are held. There are trade stands, fun fairs, hotdogs, candyfloss. Cooking demonstrations and displays in the main ring. Kids races and obstacle courses. Agility for dogs.
They didn't use a single one of these.
And yes, the fairs are very very boring, with nothing to do. They had a great opportunity to add some fun activities here, but didn't. And WE can't add any either, since the fair area isn't buildable. Had to put in a foosball and card table at the pub, and my sims bring with them easels and guitars, just so I can avoid just standing there. Because without some activity, all they're going to do is dance to music and order drinks.
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Yes I miss the hot dog and watermelon eating contest,the haunted house tour and the kissing booths that TS3 festivals had. They need to bring all this stuff back to a new festival in TS4.
It seems to happen if the entries are not good.