Late Night vs. Seasons

KaytayRoall

So, there is currently a sale on Origins for all Sims 3 EPs and SPs. I'm thinking of taking the opportunity to pick up one of the expansions I don't own yet. I'm faced with choosing between Late Night and Seasons and am looking for opinions to help make my decision.

Late Night appeals to me because of the additional musical instruments and band gameplay. But that is balanced with the fact that I rarely play sims that do a lot of socializing, so the celebrity system sounds like a major annoyance.

Seasons seems to have more to offer from a building perspective and also in terms of story-telling, but I've also heard that it isn't a very exciting expansion.

These are the only two expansions I don't own yet. My favorites so far are Ambitions, Supernatural, Pets and World Adventures (in about that order), to give you an idea of what I like to play. My least favorite is probably Generations, although I use University Life and Showtime pretty minimally, so maybe one of those would better be described as my least favorite.

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts!

heartslily

If you like music and celebrities I would say go for late night personally Bridgeport is one of my favorite towns for me its so easy to get out and do things like go to bars and dance clubs.Its for small families, singles and couples.
Seasons I'm not impressed I just honestly got it for weather.
I would say late night.

rosemow

Hello Both EPS have great features in them! Seasons brings a lot of added experiences for sims each day with the different types of weather and seasons. Sims can enjoy doing different activities depending on what season it is. They can also have fun visiting the festival lots that are suited to each season. The sims world looks very nice and pretty covered in snow in Winter or full of orange coloured Autumn leaves. The spring flowers that appear on Spring are pretty. There are different types of parties that sims can throw or attend depending on the season, and a special day for each season. The weather makes the sim days feel very realistic.
Late Night is great in that sims can play the different musical instruments and perform in bands. There is also the different bars and club venues that sims can visit. It also has Bridgeport world and apartments.
Either or both EPs would be great to buy!

KarinL

The celebrity system can be annoying, but for most people the annoying part is actually that celebrity seems to 'rub off' with very little socialising, so you end up with a town filled with celebrities in no time... I tend to turn it off in Options anyway, because it doesn't appeal to me at all. I don't like having to run around after celebs to get my points up, but I also don't like the reverse - my Sim becoming famous just because she talked to somebody with a bit of fame...

I really love the musical instruments, and the additional gameplay - especially the bars with a bartender, which make my town's small pubs look a lot more realistic. I love Bridgeport, with the food trucks and the highrises with apartments. It just has a very special atmosphere that no other EA town has. (And there are a lot of cities with highrises available on the Exchange that are really, really nice to play!!)

Seasons is great for the Festivals, but for me the leaves are annoying, and so is the trick-or-treating (which is seriously borked in my game). And it annoys me that it rains so much, that my Sims can't garden from late autumn to early spring.
The snow is gorgeous, though, and I love the ice skating and other winter activities.

MiyuEmi

While I prefer Seasons for it's added realism to the gameplay, Late Night also has many unique gameplay situations. I would wait until you find them on sale and try to buy them both. If you can only afford one I, personally, would get Season, unless you're on a lower end of the recommended system requirements, then I would get Late Night.

TreyNutz

I'm not sure about the building aspects of these EPs. I bought them together along with the base game a year ago and I'm not much of a builder.

Late Night: Bridgeport is infamously laggy. Even with ellacharmed's route fix version on MTS I get notices courtesy of NRaas Error Trap (or maybe that's Overwatch) of unroutable sims several times a day. I eventually found the celebrity system to be annoying and have turned that off in my game. I also didn't like how many clubs had bouncers and restrictions to getting in unless you were a celebrity. And on top of that if the club isn't a hotspot that night there's no one there. I'm now using Bridgeport as a vacation spot (w/ NRaas Traveler) and deleted all the barrier ropes to the clubs so the world is more enjoyable for me.

The musical instruments are great, and sims jamming together is nice. But bands are tough. See this post by a SimGuru, in response to a petition to make band gigs "work." There's now a mod at MTS that allows your band to audition for gigs - I'd personally go that route the next time I try a band.

I do use the hot tubs a lot, in University and even on home lots. It's a quick way to increase fun and social. I also love the mixology skill. It's fun to watch and many of the drinks are useful. I generally do like the clubs and place one or two in every world I play (but without the barrier ropes/bouncers).

Seasons: Lots of weather. Sometimes I turn off rain & hail just to get a clear day. Also freezing temperatures will impact fishing and outdoor gardening for much of the year (it can freeze in fall and spring). You can modify all this though with NRaas Tempest. Snow days and holidays can mean not much school for kids during the winter, but you can change the length of the seasons so holidays are not so frequent.

But the outdoor activities, especially in the winter, are great. The festivals usually include lots to do (depends on the lot and the world) and is usually a good place to meet sims in the neighborhood. I also like playing the alien sims. In the winter, with the town covered in snow and holiday lights hanging from every roof your world can look beautiful.

In the end I like Seasons better than Late Night. For me too many of the big Late Night features (the celebrity system and the related exclusive clubs with barrier ropes and bouncers) ended up being negatives for me, so overall I'm "meh" on Late Night. That being said, I'm not sure which of the two I'd choose if I couldn't have both. Maybe Late Night just because I put the professional bars (which enable the mixology drinks and bar food) on many community lots (like all over University) and use the hot tubs so much. And I do like to have my sim family play all the instruments and jam together at home on occasion. But on the other hand I've never played TS3 without Seasons and I can't imagine playing such a static game. The changing seasons definitely give the game a dynamic feel of progressing years.

Tough choice, IMO.

HausOfSuper

Seasons, of course. bcause of aliens

Nory_05

Why not both?

I like playing both of them, but in the beginning I really hated the celebrity system. It was like an epidemic, eventually all sim became somewhat a celeb. Now this can be turned off, so all is good :)
The pubs and bars are really cool and I like Bridgeport as well, although I haven't played on that map for quite a long time.

Seasons is just super cool. I love Autumn the most. The whole atmosphere of this expansion is awesome. Love the rain, love the golden sunsets. The snow is amazing too. When the windows get foggy all i want to do is snuggle under a blanket like my sim :)

KaytayRoall

Thanks for all the info, everyone! I didn't know that the celebrity system could be disabled, so that is a major point in Late Night's favor. But you've all made Seasons sound so tempting, too! This is definitely going to be a tough choice (unless I cave and buy both, since they -are- on sale), but I appreciate you taking the time to tell me your thoughts and opinions.

KarinL

Just cave!! Get them both, you know you want to!!

ProMarshmallow

Omg this is like the hardest decision I was ever faced with. I was in the same situation but I bought them both. They are both amazing. I mean becoming a celeb and being in a band and Bridgeport! It's amazing! But then there's also Seasons. It's such a tough decision. In seasons I love the fairs and illnesses and how much gameplay it adds. I think... Mmmm... Seasons that's what I think. Cause I love it.

Bleubell

I love Seasons because it adds more realism to the game. It is my favorite expansion pack and after getting it, I couldn't imagine not playing with it. Late Night on the other hand isn't that much of a loss compared to Seasons when playing because all it adds are nightclubs, celebrities, so forth which don't affect all of my families. My favorite parts about Late Night are the instruments and the professional bars/mixologists.

Depending on which concept you like better, get that one, but if I were you I would just get both as they are priced at pretty much 50% off.

Nesoiancitizen

I like Late Night as the addition of bars and clubs was nice, and (most of) the new clothing items are great, but celebrities and paparazzi get annoying. Vampires are not that interesting either, unless you like Supernatural elements.
I prefer Seasons, since like @Bleubell‌ said it adds more realism. And the holidays and festivals are great. I have the whole family attend each season festival. But on the downside you get aliens. They are okay at first but it can be annoying when they try and kidnap your Sim when you don't want them to and you have to build walls around your Sim as that's the only way to stop them from 'investigating the mysterious anomaly'. Alien children, however, are quite fun to play with.

creamcee

Adding season in my game has caused more error 12 code to pop up more than before. Although Im not entirely blaming the seasons but well, you got my point. If you ask me about their features? I guess L.N wins, hands down. Having celebrities in town and a more realistic-modern looking town is a lot more enjoyable to have than just the seasons (rain, sun and etc). But I think that both of them are worth a grab XD

KaytayRoall

The sale is over and in the end, I ended up buying them both (after all, at 50% off, I got both of them for the price of one, right?), but haven't installed either yet. Just wanted to thank everyone for their input and opinions! Happy simming to you all!

Sigzy05

In my opinion, I prefer Late Night. Even though it could be better (like all TS3 EPs) I think it has way more stuff for you to do then Seasons. It has a lot, celebrity system and the beloved..paparazzi xD, you can make your own band and it comes with 3 or 4 new musical instruments, you have launges, bars, clubs, vampires tons os cool and modern styled objects including hot tubs, it just adds quite a lot. Also penthouses

I see TS3 seasons as a more esthetic thing, it adds the whole weather thing and holidays which is great but in terms of activities and skills, not much at all just tedious festivals...

It's up to you though and what theme you like most if you can only choose one

savagemama

I love the celebrity feature and use it in all towns. I turn off Vampires. I love having bars around town. And it comes with some cool clothing, but overall I would choose Seasons over Late Night.