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Obtaining the Display Case and Sugar Skulls without cheats

WinMacSims3WinMacSims3 Posts: 1,610 Member
Edit: There's a way to still get the Sugar Skulls and the Display Case despite the Challenge being over.

It seems the Sims 4 has started introducing permanently missable items such as the Eggs, Growfruit, and Pots and now with Sugar Skulls, the "Honor the Dead", and the Sugar Skull Display Case. This means if the Challenge ends, getting those items will not be possible without cheating or modding but I suppose the Gallery could be used. Much like the Challenge Pots, the Sugar Skull Display Case is a locked item so that will be a problem if the option to call Jasmine is no longer available which is required to unlock the object. Even if you could get the Sugar Skull Display Case, the Sugar Skulls will no longer be possible to obtain so you can't unlock the interaction.

Yes I know you can use cheats or mods but there are Simmers (such as myself) who want to get things without cheats. I always play my games without using any cheats or mods.

This isn't the first time The Sims included permanently missable items, other games have them too:
  • In The Sims 2, allowing a Social Worker to remove your children will permanently remove the ability to Adopt once the Sim gets the Memory.
  • Also in TS2, Elders can only have part-time jobs so they can only have 3 levels max. That means you Sims have to be an Adult to get a Full-time job before aging to an Elder. However, this can be lost should the Sim get Fired or retires.
  • The Sims 2 University only allows Teenagers to go to University so should the Sim age to an Adult, that Sim can't go to University preventing the Sim from obtaining the extra Wants, lock 2 Wants/Fears, and access to the University careers. Also, Adults created through CAS also do not get the University benefits.
  • The Urbz: Sims in the City allows you to sell or remove objects and wallpaper. The problem is that there are some objects (such as Vending Machines) or wallpaper that can't be purchased so if you sell them (or remove the wallpaper if you don't have enough space), they're gone for that file since you can't purchase them.
  • The Urbz on GBA/DS has a goal requiring you to recycle 100 piles of Trash which don't respawn. The problem is selling them only registers if you have unlocked the goals so should you sell them before Roxanna Moxie gives you the goals, you can't complete it thus locking you out of the Artsies' Clubhouse, getting 10 points for the Artsies, as well as the ability to join the Artsies. What's worse is Roxanna tends to give you this later in the game which can cause frustrations when you later find out the trash doesn't spawn anymore.
  • A minor note is that after you get a certain amount of Rep, Urbz will change their shirt to match your district's shirt.
  • The Sims 2 DS has a problem that after the game is progressed to where Ava moves in, Honest Jackson no longer appears thus making his Secret permanently missable if the player didn't unlock his Secret before Frankie is replaced by Ava.
  • The Sims 3 has some items that are no longer available. Also thanks to a bug in the Windows/Mac version with Into the Future being installed, most Skill Opportunities can also become this due to a programming error with two of the Advanced Technology Opportunities.
  • The Sims 3 and The Sims 3 Pets on PS3/Xbox 360 made a change where removing a Sim from your Household deletes them from the game which can be a problem if you married or moved in an EA made Sim such as Malcolm Landgrabb or Rebecca Goth. In addition, enabling Cheats/Creation Mode prevents unlocking Trophies/Achievements and completing Challenges for that save file.

What I like about The Sims 4 is that EA tried to avoid including permanently missable items that The Sims 3 and The Sims FreePlay suffered from since TS4 didn't include time limits that blocked unlocks like FreePlay did. It seems that the Challenges in The Sims 4 are getting similar to FreePlay's Timed Events as both have a time limit and the item is unobtainable once the time limit expires. The Sims FreePlay is very notorious for having permanently missable items due to the time limits in the Quests, Hobbies, and Events, see I dislike Time Limits in The Sims FreePlay. The Sims 3 has mainly items that are no longer obtainable from the Store such as the Dr. Pepper items, Origin exclusive items, and the Limited Edition items along with the fact that two TS3 games (Showtime's Collector's Edition and Katy Perry's Sweet Treats) are no longer being sold although you can still get them used but good luck trying to find a code for the former that unlocks the CE content (I doubt the codes will even work).

The problem with these "Challenge" and time limited items is that there are players who want to get everything in the game seeing The Sims games have a lot of collectibles and unlockables, not to mention that 100% completion is one of the challenges of any player in the game. For example, The Sims 2 has Career Rewards, The Sims 3 had Careers, Skills, Lifetime Rewards, Collectibles, and Skill Challenges with the PS3/Xbox 360 version including Achievements and Challenges (not to be confused with the Skill Challenges on PC/Mac), and The Sims 4 included Skills, Careers, Object unlocks, Aspirations, Reward Traits, Collectibles, and lastly Achievements.

It seems that The Sims 4 is no longer a game where everything is obtainable since there are some (mentioned above) that are no longer obtainable.
Origin ID: GothicSimmer, YouTube: GothicSimmer
Post edited by WinMacSims3 on

Comments

  • rosemowrosemow Posts: 163,521 Member
    Hello
    Perhaps you could design a store now whilst the challenge is still on that sells the items that are obtained through the challenge . After setting the items for sale, you can then sell the store. Once the challenge is completed, your sims can then visit the store and buy the items.
    There may also be stores that simmers have already uploaded that contain the challenge items, ready for sims to buy at the store.
  • ChloeDeCookieChloeDeCookie Posts: 2,467 Member
    I have Katy Perry's sweet treats but it says my code doesn't work but I have used it before on my old computer with the same account
    To all you beautiful people out there, have a lovely day.
  • PolyrhythmPolyrhythm Posts: 2,789 Member
    As long as it's in buydebug, I wouldn't call it permanently missable. Even if you consider it cheating the items are still there in-game and obtainable (and afaik the challenge items haven't been removed).
    :*:,:*:*:*::*:,:*:*:*::
    v5Yd2X5.png
  • rosemowrosemow Posts: 163,521 Member
    I have Katy Perry's sweet treats but it says my code doesn't work but I have used it before on my old computer with the same account

    Hello
    The Katy Perry Sweet Treats stuff pack should be in your games library/origin account if you registered it using the same account that you use now. If it isn't there, it would be best to be in touch with EA Help
    https://help.ea.com/
  • ChloeDeCookieChloeDeCookie Posts: 2,467 Member
    @rosemow some of the packs didnt register when I moved onto a new computer such as the high tech stuff which I will redownload from the disc. I dont understand why it didnt register tho, I dont mind too much cox its only a stuff pack but ill contact ea help soon
    To all you beautiful people out there, have a lovely day.
  • rosemowrosemow Posts: 163,521 Member
    @rosemow some of the packs didnt register when I moved onto a new computer such as the high tech stuff which I will redownload from the disc. I dont understand why it didnt register tho, I dont mind too much cox its only a stuff pack but ill contact ea help soon

    It would be best to be touch with EA Help. Because you still have the codes for the packs, you can tell the Help Staff the codes and they can then work through so that the packs appear when you are logging into your origin account on the new computer.
  • Sid1701D9Sid1701D9 Posts: 4,718 Member
    I would not say that the items are permanently missable, because that requires a content state of not being able to get it at any cost past the time line. The challenges are seasonal and it is more often than not more likely to find the same challenges active around the holidays. In all do respect that is better than the permanently missable items you get from limited time features MMORG missions. I believe the surgar skull and day of the dead challenge was always meant for fall, and the #Trick or #Treat was a test for the internal system we got to participate in. The Egg hunt will return around Easter and the surgar skull will return around fall. So it is highly unlikely any permanently missable unlockable items that I know of.
    Sid1701d-"I love my life, live my life and live to play, laugh and have fun."

    "Love will Fight, Love will Win and Love will Survive."
  • Inna MinnitInna Minnit Posts: 2,008 Member
    The Easter Egg challenge has run two years in a row now. There's no reason to assume the other challenges are a one time only choice.
  • Forest_NinjaForest_Ninja Posts: 1,181 Member
    The Easter Egg challenge has run two years in a row now. There's no reason to assume the other challenges are a one time only choice.

    There's also no reason for yearly challenges since we don't care for their "live service," or for the product to continue on it's current path for more than another year.
    "Video gaming began as an engineer's hobby and a means of creative expression for those of higher technical inclination. It is expected that those who are capable of higher engineering-related achievements will see value, in electronic entertainment products, where others see failure." -Sasquatch
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    Yes I know you can use cheats or mods but there are Simmers (such as myself) who want to get things without cheats. I always play my games without using any cheats or mods.
    Growfruit can be bought in Granite Falls if you have OR (still not sure if this is by design or a bug, but it works for me everytime).
    As for the other missables I suggest a simple rule: If the effort you have to put into obtaining them is on par or higher than that of the original challenge, then you have earned the item in question fairly. Instead of raising growfruit to perfection, for example, you could require your sims to do the same with an UFO fruit or dragonfruit (which they have to aquire first) to unlock the growfruit challenge planter box.

    I guess it's less of a problem for sandbox players who do not need the validation of having "earned" or "unlocked" an item. When I set my stage for a new save, then I have no qualms about unlocking whatever I need and mentally (on scratch paper or in a text file) locking what features/items I don't my sims to have access to yet.
  • Sid1701D9Sid1701D9 Posts: 4,718 Member
    edited October 2016
    Growfruit added to the shop in OR was by design to allow access to the growfruit after the challenged ends. Also after the challenge the ferterlizer properties went up to the effects of supper fertilizer.
    Sid1701d-"I love my life, live my life and live to play, laugh and have fun."

    "Love will Fight, Love will Win and Love will Survive."
  • mannannamannanna Posts: 466 Member
    Hmmm....are you all saying you don't have growfruit trees growing in your neighborhood anymore?
    I am fully patched and I do...
  • rosemowrosemow Posts: 163,521 Member
    mannanna wrote: »
    Hmmm....are you all saying you don't have growfruit trees growing in your neighborhood anymore?
    I am fully patched and I do...

    Hello
    Growfruits are still growing in simmers games. They amount of grow fruit trees growing in games have been reduced though from the amount that was spawning when the challenge was currently taking place.
  • WinMacSims3WinMacSims3 Posts: 1,610 Member
    Even if you could get the Growfruit, you can't unlock the pots since Jasmine (and the option to give to her) needs to be present, the same could apply to the Sugar Skull Display Case where the option to Call Jasmine needs to be available. However, you can enter Free Build Mode, place the two Challenge Pots and/or the Sugar Skull Display Case, and then save a Room, or in Get to Work you could place the items on sale and buy it as another Household. The Eggs and possibly the Sugar Skulls will require using the Gallery or a saved Room to obtain them but the sale method could also work.
    Origin ID: GothicSimmer, YouTube: GothicSimmer
  • WinMacSims3WinMacSims3 Posts: 1,610 Member
    The Challenge is over so obtaining the Sugar Skulls or the Display Case isn't possible. Since the Display Case is a locked item in Build Mode, you can't purchase it and it's impossible to unlock it since you can no longer talk to Jasmine to unlock it. I suppose a mod could be used to re-enable talking to Jasmine that will allow the Household to unlock the object and possibly allow obtaining the Sugar Skulls. There are some ways to get the Display Case without cheating or using mods:
    • Use Free Build Mode to place the object and then save the room.
    • Place a Room or Lot (either created by yourself or downloaded from the Gallery) that includes the Display Case.
    • For Get to Work Players, selling and buying it through the Retail Store could work.
    Please note that the Display Case will remain locked so you'll need to place a room to "purchase" another Display Case.

    Other than using the Gallery or possibly GTW's Retail Store, I do not know if there's a way to obtain the Sugar Skulls without using cheats or mods. I have uploaded a room in the Gallery containing the Display Case and the 9 Skulls for the interaction to obtain the final Skull. However, you do have to manually drag the item to the Inventory for the Skulls since the Collection only registers when the item is placed in the Inventory.
    Origin ID: GothicSimmer, YouTube: GothicSimmer
  • Leny1000Leny1000 Posts: 7 New Member
    Is there an answer to this? Has thee event run last year? I really wouldn't mind completing that set, and I know there are work arounds for other challenges like the plantsim challenge.
  • brunarodrigues2019brunarodrigues2019 Posts: 2 New Member
    Can I do get the sugar skulls, without cheats, in the sims 4?
    I got only one in the secret items tent in Selvadorada.
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