I thought I'd contribute here, as I've been watching videos/reading reviews/listening to news about the game. Full disclaimer - I did not buy the EP, but would like to provide some reasons as to why I chose not to. I chose not to buy the EP because:
1. Festivals - while a good idea in concept, I can see them becoming very repetitive. They seem to mainly employ base game content, which isn't that interesting to me. They remind me of the ones in TS3 Seasons, where similarly I found them mundane after awhile.
2. Although I'm not a builder, not being able to edit apartments/common areas is disappointing, and from what I've seen the way the camera works/background drops are makes the apartment feel more isolated than a house would. No cars/transport is a bummer too
3. I'm not super impressed with the new content/gameplay, some of it is nice (ie. bubble blower/basketball) but not enough to draw me in;
4. I feel that the base game mechanics are much more important to me, such as family play/cars/etc, and I feel that a lot in the EP is set dressing (such as festivals recycling a lot of base game content, apartments not really changing gameplay that much) rather than providing new ways to play. I would've liked to see a club system/celebrity system (superior to the TS2/TS3 ones) or some more intricate gameplay such as additional challenges to living in apartments, apartment exclusive things to do, stuff you could do only in the city that would be more dimensional than festivals, etc.
What I did like is:
1. Lot traits - seem interesting and a much needed challenge to the game, at least concerning negative traits
2. The apartment gameplay that is there, especially in the "lower income" apartments - noisy neighbors, roaches, etc
3. Some of the CAS items/Build items looked pretty nice.
I thought I'd contribute here, as I've been watching videos/reading reviews/listening to news about the game. Full disclaimer - I did not buy the EP, but would like to provide some reasons as to why I chose not to. I chose not to buy the EP because:
1. Festivals - while a good idea in concept, I can see them becoming very repetitive. They seem to mainly employ base game content, which isn't that interesting to me. They remind me of the ones in TS3 Seasons, where similarly I found them mundane after awhile.
2. Although I'm not a builder, not being able to edit apartments/common areas is disappointing, and from what I've seen the way the camera works/background drops are makes the apartment feel more isolated than a house would. No cars/transport is a bummer too
3. I'm not super impressed with the new content/gameplay, some of it is nice (ie. bubble blower/basketball) but not enough to draw me in;
4. I feel that the base game mechanics are much more important to me, such as family play/cars/etc, and I feel that a lot in the EP is set dressing (such as festivals recycling a lot of base game content, apartments not really changing gameplay that much) rather than providing new ways to play. I would've liked to see a club system/celebrity system (superior to the TS2/TS3 ones) or some more intricate gameplay such as additional challenges to living in apartments, apartment exclusive things to do, stuff you could do only in the city that would be more dimensional than festivals, etc.
What I did like is:
1. Lot traits - seem interesting and a much needed challenge to the game, at least concerning negative traits
2. The apartment gameplay that is there, especially in the "lower income" apartments - noisy neighbors, roaches, etc
3. Some of the CAS items/Build items looked pretty nice.
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
I thought I'd contribute here, as I've been watching videos/reading reviews/listening to news about the game. Full disclaimer - I did not buy the EP, but would like to provide some reasons as to why I chose not to. I chose not to buy the EP because:
1. Festivals - while a good idea in concept, I can see them becoming very repetitive. They seem to mainly employ base game content, which isn't that interesting to me. They remind me of the ones in TS3 Seasons, where similarly I found them mundane after awhile.
2. Although I'm not a builder, not being able to edit apartments/common areas is disappointing, and from what I've seen the way the camera works/background drops are makes the apartment feel more isolated than a house would. No cars/transport is a bummer too
3. I'm not super impressed with the new content/gameplay, some of it is nice (ie. bubble blower/basketball) but not enough to draw me in;
4. I feel that the base game mechanics are much more important to me, such as family play/cars/etc, and I feel that a lot in the EP is set dressing (such as festivals recycling a lot of base game content, apartments not really changing gameplay that much) rather than providing new ways to play. I would've liked to see a club system/celebrity system (superior to the TS2/TS3 ones) or some more intricate gameplay such as additional challenges to living in apartments, apartment exclusive things to do, stuff you could do only in the city that would be more dimensional than festivals, etc.
What I did like is:
1. Lot traits - seem interesting and a much needed challenge to the game, at least concerning negative traits
2. The apartment gameplay that is there, especially in the "lower income" apartments - noisy neighbors, roaches, etc
3. Some of the CAS items/Build items looked pretty nice.
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
Interesting. Are there any other parts of the expansion that have differed from your impressions from media now that you have played it?
Small lots everything is small no surprise there, the only thing that impress me was the details in the back. Where's the street clothes at? I'm glad of the cultural but where's the street clothes?
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
Thanks for your feedback! It's interesting to hear another perspective
Is it not a fact that the neighborhoods provided in City Living are largely just circles of four buildings around a festival plaza, that Sims can rarely be seen roaming on the sidewalk and all gravitate towards the festival grounds, resulting in a rather dull, repetitive and uninspired "variety" between the neighborhoods, whereas a town like Windenburg has rather unique neighborhood layouts and designs each and every time? Is it not a fact that those same city neighborhoods lack variety in terms of collectibles or side-attractions such as children's playgrounds or places to play chess or grill? Can I not deduce from those facts that I would find the new neighborhoods woefully bland?
Is it not a fact that a very large amount of City Living features do nothing but add moodlets, such as the rats and roaches, the earthquakes and romance guru, the foods and the haggling fail? Can I not deduce from this fact that if I'm already fed up with the constant moodlet reliance from the devs in the base game, then I'll likely hate this part of City Living as well?
Is it not a fact that the majority of festivals employ basegame content, and thus have nothing new on offer? Can I not deduce that if I get bored watching my sim play video games now, I'd get bored watching him do it at Geekcon?
Is it not a fact that the festival rewards are often a lousy T-shirt? Is it not a fact that T-shirts offer no gameplay, and therefore I can surmise that they are unlikely to provide me with much entertainment?
Is it not a fact that neighbors and people given keys visit you with greater frequency at apartments? If I already rarely answer my door for neighbors in the base game and consider them an annoyance, can I not surmise that this feature would provide me little enjoyment?
We as onlookers can utilize factual criticism and turn that into constructive criticism. The two are often one-in-the-same, partners in crime.
I thought I'd contribute here, as I've been watching videos/reading reviews/listening to news about the game. Full disclaimer - I did not buy the EP, but would like to provide some reasons as to why I chose not to. I chose not to buy the EP because:
1. Festivals - while a good idea in concept, I can see them becoming very repetitive. They seem to mainly employ base game content, which isn't that interesting to me. They remind me of the ones in TS3 Seasons, where similarly I found them mundane after awhile.
2. Although I'm not a builder, not being able to edit apartments/common areas is disappointing, and from what I've seen the way the camera works/background drops are makes the apartment feel more isolated than a house would. No cars/transport is a bummer too
3. I'm not super impressed with the new content/gameplay, some of it is nice (ie. bubble blower/basketball) but not enough to draw me in;
4. I feel that the base game mechanics are much more important to me, such as family play/cars/etc, and I feel that a lot in the EP is set dressing (such as festivals recycling a lot of base game content, apartments not really changing gameplay that much) rather than providing new ways to play. I would've liked to see a club system/celebrity system (superior to the TS2/TS3 ones) or some more intricate gameplay such as additional challenges to living in apartments, apartment exclusive things to do, stuff you could do only in the city that would be more dimensional than festivals, etc.
What I did like is:
1. Lot traits - seem interesting and a much needed challenge to the game, at least concerning negative traits
2. The apartment gameplay that is there, especially in the "lower income" apartments - noisy neighbors, roaches, etc
3. Some of the CAS items/Build items looked pretty nice.
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
Interesting. Are there any other parts of the expansion that have differed from your impressions from media now that you have played it?
Abso-freaking-lutely. I honestly thought GTW would always be my favorite (baking for life) and I didn't expect myself to get much out of this EP. I went in with very low expectations but I buy everything that comes out for TS4 because I'm something of a completionist in that regard.
From the reviews I read, videos I had watched, and any gameplay I had seen, it all looked terribly underwhelming. I was expecting to be moderately pleased with the build/buy stuff and 'meh' about the CAS items but I expected nothing from gameplay.
I feel actual depth from this EP, and I had actually enjoyed going out and doing things with my sims. Going to the food stalls and trying out the foods was neat, but discovering that I was learning recipes from that?! Awesome. Learning that my sim is actually developing a -tolerance- for spicy food, and will get better with chopsticks the more she uses them?! What! I had no idea these little things would be such an awesome experience for me and for my sim.
I have truly enjoyed the hours I have spent in CL so far, and I'm getting pumped over little things! I haven't even touched apartments yet as I want to let myself enjoy all of the elements at a nice pace rather than rush into everything.
I think everyone is going to have a different perspective on the game, and a lot of people focus heavily on what isn't there, but I think if people take the time to appreciate what is there, they might be surprised! I'm having an awesome time in the city!
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
I feel actual depth from this EP, and I had actually enjoyed going out and doing things with my sims. Going to the food stalls and trying out the foods was neat, but discovering that I was learning recipes from that?! Awesome. Learning that my sim is actually developing a -tolerance- for spicy food, and will get better with chopsticks the more she uses them?! What! I had no idea these little things would be such an awesome experience for me and for my sim.
I have truly enjoyed the hours I have spent in CL so far, and I'm getting pumped over little things! I haven't even touched apartments yet as I want to let myself enjoy all of the elements at a nice pace rather than rush into everything.
I didn't know about the spicy food tolerance and the chopsticks, I think that is pretty interesting Those are the kinds of things I like to see.
I thought I'd contribute here, as I've been watching videos/reading reviews/listening to news about the game. Full disclaimer - I did not buy the EP, but would like to provide some reasons as to why I chose not to. I chose not to buy the EP because:
1. Festivals - while a good idea in concept, I can see them becoming very repetitive. They seem to mainly employ base game content, which isn't that interesting to me. They remind me of the ones in TS3 Seasons, where similarly I found them mundane after awhile.
2. Although I'm not a builder, not being able to edit apartments/common areas is disappointing, and from what I've seen the way the camera works/background drops are makes the apartment feel more isolated than a house would. No cars/transport is a bummer too
3. I'm not super impressed with the new content/gameplay, some of it is nice (ie. bubble blower/basketball) but not enough to draw me in;
4. I feel that the base game mechanics are much more important to me, such as family play/cars/etc, and I feel that a lot in the EP is set dressing (such as festivals recycling a lot of base game content, apartments not really changing gameplay that much) rather than providing new ways to play. I would've liked to see a club system/celebrity system (superior to the TS2/TS3 ones) or some more intricate gameplay such as additional challenges to living in apartments, apartment exclusive things to do, stuff you could do only in the city that would be more dimensional than festivals, etc.
What I did like is:
1. Lot traits - seem interesting and a much needed challenge to the game, at least concerning negative traits
2. The apartment gameplay that is there, especially in the "lower income" apartments - noisy neighbors, roaches, etc
3. Some of the CAS items/Build items looked pretty nice.
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
Interesting. Are there any other parts of the expansion that have differed from your impressions from media now that you have played it?
Abso-freaking-lutely. I honestly thought GTW would always be my favorite (baking for life) and I didn't expect myself to get much out of this EP. I went in with very low expectations but I buy everything that comes out for TS4 because I'm something of a completionist in that regard.
From the reviews I read, videos I had watched, and any gameplay I had seen, it all looked terribly underwhelming. I was expecting to be moderately pleased with the build/buy stuff and 'meh' about the CAS items but I expected nothing from gameplay.
I feel actual depth from this EP, and I had actually enjoyed going out and doing things with my sims. Going to the food stalls and trying out the foods was neat, but discovering that I was learning recipes from that?! Awesome. Learning that my sim is actually developing a -tolerance- for spicy food, and will get better with chopsticks the more she uses them?! What! I had no idea these little things would be such an awesome experience for me and for my sim.
I have truly enjoyed the hours I have spent in CL so far, and I'm getting pumped over little things! I haven't even touched apartments yet as I want to let myself enjoy all of the elements at a nice pace rather than rush into everything.
I think everyone is going to have a different perspective on the game, and a lot of people focus heavily on what isn't there, but I think if people take the time to appreciate what is there, they might be surprised! I'm having an awesome time in the city!
So, chopsticks and heat tolerance for food are hidden skills? Very neat.
Have you done much with the traits, and if so, is the Cursed trait as deadly as people are saying in other threads? One guy reported seven sims dropping over dead during a play session.
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
the reason why it feels less repetitive than TS3 festivals is another reason why I don't exactly like them a lot. They only stay around for less than a day. That limits the interaction you can do with them and prolongs the enjoyment. Though going the less than a day route I would have preferred more small events
I feel actual depth from this EP, and I had actually enjoyed going out and doing things with my sims. Going to the food stalls and trying out the foods was neat, but discovering that I was learning recipes from that?! Awesome. Learning that my sim is actually developing a -tolerance- for spicy food, and will get better with chopsticks the more she uses them?! What! I had no idea these little things would be such an awesome experience for me and for my sim.
I have truly enjoyed the hours I have spent in CL so far, and I'm getting pumped over little things! I haven't even touched apartments yet as I want to let myself enjoy all of the elements at a nice pace rather than rush into everything.
I didn't know about the spicy food tolerance and the chopsticks, I think that is pretty interesting Those are the kinds of things I like to see.
I was so excited about that! Those are the little details that I LOVE seeing in an EP, and I feel like it gives my sims more personality, too!
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
I think a few people need to re-read the OP's edited topic.
This place is always fun on a lonely night.
Me, I don't have it and I won't buy it since it - to me- it limits the part of the game I've enjoyed the most.
And.... I know I don't need to read the whole book to know I don't like the theme/genre, the blurp on the back will do. :P
I thought I'd contribute here, as I've been watching videos/reading reviews/listening to news about the game. Full disclaimer - I did not buy the EP, but would like to provide some reasons as to why I chose not to. I chose not to buy the EP because:
1. Festivals - while a good idea in concept, I can see them becoming very repetitive. They seem to mainly employ base game content, which isn't that interesting to me. They remind me of the ones in TS3 Seasons, where similarly I found them mundane after awhile.
2. Although I'm not a builder, not being able to edit apartments/common areas is disappointing, and from what I've seen the way the camera works/background drops are makes the apartment feel more isolated than a house would. No cars/transport is a bummer too
3. I'm not super impressed with the new content/gameplay, some of it is nice (ie. bubble blower/basketball) but not enough to draw me in;
4. I feel that the base game mechanics are much more important to me, such as family play/cars/etc, and I feel that a lot in the EP is set dressing (such as festivals recycling a lot of base game content, apartments not really changing gameplay that much) rather than providing new ways to play. I would've liked to see a club system/celebrity system (superior to the TS2/TS3 ones) or some more intricate gameplay such as additional challenges to living in apartments, apartment exclusive things to do, stuff you could do only in the city that would be more dimensional than festivals, etc.
What I did like is:
1. Lot traits - seem interesting and a much needed challenge to the game, at least concerning negative traits
2. The apartment gameplay that is there, especially in the "lower income" apartments - noisy neighbors, roaches, etc
3. Some of the CAS items/Build items looked pretty nice.
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
Interesting. Are there any other parts of the expansion that have differed from your impressions from media now that you have played it?
Abso-freaking-lutely. I honestly thought GTW would always be my favorite (baking for life) and I didn't expect myself to get much out of this EP. I went in with very low expectations but I buy everything that comes out for TS4 because I'm something of a completionist in that regard.
From the reviews I read, videos I had watched, and any gameplay I had seen, it all looked terribly underwhelming. I was expecting to be moderately pleased with the build/buy stuff and 'meh' about the CAS items but I expected nothing from gameplay.
I feel actual depth from this EP, and I had actually enjoyed going out and doing things with my sims. Going to the food stalls and trying out the foods was neat, but discovering that I was learning recipes from that?! Awesome. Learning that my sim is actually developing a -tolerance- for spicy food, and will get better with chopsticks the more she uses them?! What! I had no idea these little things would be such an awesome experience for me and for my sim.
I have truly enjoyed the hours I have spent in CL so far, and I'm getting pumped over little things! I haven't even touched apartments yet as I want to let myself enjoy all of the elements at a nice pace rather than rush into everything.
I think everyone is going to have a different perspective on the game, and a lot of people focus heavily on what isn't there, but I think if people take the time to appreciate what is there, they might be surprised! I'm having an awesome time in the city!
So, chopsticks and heat tolerance for food are hidden skills? Very neat.
Have you done much with the traits, and if so, is the Cursed trait as deadly as people are saying in other threads? One guy reported seven sims dropping over dead during a play session.
I have not done much with traits, but I plan to mess around with that a LOT tomorrow. I wanted to start a sim in one of the crappier apartments and see how it went! Today I mostly just went to a boat load of festivals and worked on the Food Critic career, as well as some decorating and changing my sims clothes.. all of the time.. heh.
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
the reason why it feels less repetitive than TS3 festivals is another reason why I don't exactly like them a lot. They only stay around for less than a day. That limits the interaction you can do with them and prolongs the enjoyment. Though going the less than a day route I would have preferred more small events
It is less than a day, but it is a lot of festivals. I get notifications for them every few days, and I feel like they are just long enough to get what I want out of them, but not so long that I feel like I'm bored and I want to leave by the end, heh. It keeps me coming back for more! It's kind of like a lot of little events scattered throughout the weeks. Though, I can imagine it being more troublesome if you are juggling a bunch of sims.. I think it depends on your playstyle!
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
I thought I'd contribute here, as I've been watching videos/reading reviews/listening to news about the game. Full disclaimer - I did not buy the EP, but would like to provide some reasons as to why I chose not to. I chose not to buy the EP because:
1. Festivals - while a good idea in concept, I can see them becoming very repetitive. They seem to mainly employ base game content, which isn't that interesting to me. They remind me of the ones in TS3 Seasons, where similarly I found them mundane after awhile.
2. Although I'm not a builder, not being able to edit apartments/common areas is disappointing, and from what I've seen the way the camera works/background drops are makes the apartment feel more isolated than a house would. No cars/transport is a bummer too
3. I'm not super impressed with the new content/gameplay, some of it is nice (ie. bubble blower/basketball) but not enough to draw me in;
4. I feel that the base game mechanics are much more important to me, such as family play/cars/etc, and I feel that a lot in the EP is set dressing (such as festivals recycling a lot of base game content, apartments not really changing gameplay that much) rather than providing new ways to play. I would've liked to see a club system/celebrity system (superior to the TS2/TS3 ones) or some more intricate gameplay such as additional challenges to living in apartments, apartment exclusive things to do, stuff you could do only in the city that would be more dimensional than festivals, etc.
What I did like is:
1. Lot traits - seem interesting and a much needed challenge to the game, at least concerning negative traits
2. The apartment gameplay that is there, especially in the "lower income" apartments - noisy neighbors, roaches, etc
3. Some of the CAS items/Build items looked pretty nice.
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
Interesting. Are there any other parts of the expansion that have differed from your impressions from media now that you have played it?
Abso-freaking-lutely. I honestly thought GTW would always be my favorite (baking for life) and I didn't expect myself to get much out of this EP. I went in with very low expectations but I buy everything that comes out for TS4 because I'm something of a completionist in that regard.
From the reviews I read, videos I had watched, and any gameplay I had seen, it all looked terribly underwhelming. I was expecting to be moderately pleased with the build/buy stuff and 'meh' about the CAS items but I expected nothing from gameplay.
I feel actual depth from this EP, and I had actually enjoyed going out and doing things with my sims. Going to the food stalls and trying out the foods was neat, but discovering that I was learning recipes from that?! Awesome. Learning that my sim is actually developing a -tolerance- for spicy food, and will get better with chopsticks the more she uses them?! What! I had no idea these little things would be such an awesome experience for me and for my sim.
I have truly enjoyed the hours I have spent in CL so far, and I'm getting pumped over little things! I haven't even touched apartments yet as I want to let myself enjoy all of the elements at a nice pace rather than rush into everything.
I think everyone is going to have a different perspective on the game, and a lot of people focus heavily on what isn't there, but I think if people take the time to appreciate what is there, they might be surprised! I'm having an awesome time in the city!
So, chopsticks and heat tolerance for food are hidden skills? Very neat.
Have you done much with the traits, and if so, is the Cursed trait as deadly as people are saying in other threads? One guy reported seven sims dropping over dead during a play session.
I have not done much with traits, but I plan to mess around with that a LOT tomorrow. I wanted to start a sim in one of the crappier apartments and see how it went! Today I mostly just went to a boat load of festivals and worked on the Food Critic career, as well as some decorating and changing my sims clothes.. all of the time.. heh.
Do please keep us posted. And have some insightfuls from me. Your posts have been quite illuminating. Thank you for them.
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
the reason why it feels less repetitive than TS3 festivals is another reason why I don't exactly like them a lot. They only stay around for less than a day. That limits the interaction you can do with them and prolongs the enjoyment. Though going the less than a day route I would have preferred more small events
I never even enjoyed the Sims 3 ones. At the end of the day, a Festival is just a way to fill the fun and food meters, but I can do that at home.
The best way to actually make a festival seem worthwhile is to provide something like a ticket system in Sims 3, then give meaningful rewards as prizes. Take the infamous talking toilet, for example. As it stands, we all hate it because of it's symbolism. If the talking toilet were a prize that people could only win by successfully winning both the hackathon and video game challenge at geekcon, though? Now it's bragging rights, now it's got a trophy aspect to it and it's something to be proud of since not every sim can have it.
That's just the talking toilet, too. They could come up with much better rewards, whether it be some of the new snowglobes requiring festival participation, or truly worthwhile rewards like a max quality fridge or even a new-ish concept like a self-teleporter that allows your sim to instantly teleport anywhere (in the neighborhood) with a quick click of a remote animation.
Instead all we got are those lousy T-shirts. Honestly, who would even wear those as their standard outfit?
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
the reason why it feels less repetitive than TS3 festivals is another reason why I don't exactly like them a lot. They only stay around for less than a day. That limits the interaction you can do with them and prolongs the enjoyment. Though going the less than a day route I would have preferred more small events
I never even enjoyed the Sims 3 ones. At the end of the day, a Festival is just a way to fill the fun and food meters, but I can do that at home.
The best way to actually make a festival seem worthwhile is to provide something like a ticket system in Sims 3, then give meaningful rewards as prizes. Take the infamous talking toilet, for example. As it stands, we all hate it because of it's symbolism. If the talking toilet were a prize that people could only win by successfully winning both the hackathon and video game challenge at geekcon, though? Now it's bragging rights, now it's got a trophy aspect to it and it's something to be proud of since not every sim can have it.
That's just the talking toilet, too. They could come up with much better rewards, whether it be some of the new snowglobes requiring festival participation, or truly worthwhile rewards like a max quality fridge or even a new-ish concept like a self-teleporter that allows your sim to instantly teleport anywhere (in the neighborhood) with a quick click of a remote animation.
Instead all we got are those lousy T-shirts. Honestly, who would even wear those as their standard outfit?
Zoe does! One of her five every day outfits is the one she got from completing the spicy challenge at one of the events! She had to build up her tolerance for spicy food to get it. How cool is that?!
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
the reason why it feels less repetitive than TS3 festivals is another reason why I don't exactly like them a lot. They only stay around for less than a day. That limits the interaction you can do with them and prolongs the enjoyment. Though going the less than a day route I would have preferred more small events
I never even enjoyed the Sims 3 ones. At the end of the day, a Festival is just a way to fill the fun and food meters, but I can do that at home.
The best way to actually make a festival seem worthwhile is to provide something like a ticket system in Sims 3, then give meaningful rewards as prizes. Take the infamous talking toilet, for example. As it stands, we all hate it because of it's symbolism. If the talking toilet were a prize that people could only win by successfully winning both the hackathon and video game challenge at geekcon, though? Now it's bragging rights, now it's got a trophy aspect to it and it's something to be proud of since not every sim can have it.
That's just the talking toilet, too. They could come up with much better rewards, whether it be some of the new snowglobes requiring festival participation, or truly worthwhile rewards like a max quality fridge or even a new-ish concept like a self-teleporter that allows your sim to instantly teleport anywhere (in the neighborhood) with a quick click of a remote animation.
Instead all we got are those lousy T-shirts. Honestly, who would even wear those as their standard outfit?
Zoe does! One of her five every day outfits is the one she got from completing the spicy challenge at one of the events! She had to build up her tolerance for spicy food to get it. How cool is that?!
Wouldn't it be COOLER if the reward for completing such a task wasn't a freaking T-shirt and instead a max-quality fridge that prevents food from spoiling while sporting a nice unique look?
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
the reason why it feels less repetitive than TS3 festivals is another reason why I don't exactly like them a lot. They only stay around for less than a day. That limits the interaction you can do with them and prolongs the enjoyment. Though going the less than a day route I would have preferred more small events
I never even enjoyed the Sims 3 ones. At the end of the day, a Festival is just a way to fill the fun and food meters, but I can do that at home.
The best way to actually make a festival seem worthwhile is to provide something like a ticket system in Sims 3, then give meaningful rewards as prizes. Take the infamous talking toilet, for example. As it stands, we all hate it because of it's symbolism. If the talking toilet were a prize that people could only win by successfully winning both the hackathon and video game challenge at geekcon, though? Now it's bragging rights, now it's got a trophy aspect to it and it's something to be proud of since not every sim can have it.
That's just the talking toilet, too. They could come up with much better rewards, whether it be some of the new snowglobes requiring festival participation, or truly worthwhile rewards like a max quality fridge or even a new-ish concept like a self-teleporter that allows your sim to instantly teleport anywhere (in the neighborhood) with a quick click of a remote animation.
Instead all we got are those lousy T-shirts. Honestly, who would even wear those as their standard outfit?
Zoe does! One of her five every day outfits is the one she got from completing the spicy challenge at one of the events! She had to build up her tolerance for spicy food to get it. How cool is that?!
Wouldn't it be COOLER if the reward for completing such a task wasn't a freaking T-shirt and instead a max-quality fridge that prevents food from spoiling while sporting a nice unique look?
Maybe, but I try to appreciate what I have, rather than focus on the things that I don't
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
the reason why it feels less repetitive than TS3 festivals is another reason why I don't exactly like them a lot. They only stay around for less than a day. That limits the interaction you can do with them and prolongs the enjoyment. Though going the less than a day route I would have preferred more small events
I never even enjoyed the Sims 3 ones. At the end of the day, a Festival is just a way to fill the fun and food meters, but I can do that at home.
The best way to actually make a festival seem worthwhile is to provide something like a ticket system in Sims 3, then give meaningful rewards as prizes. Take the infamous talking toilet, for example. As it stands, we all hate it because of it's symbolism. If the talking toilet were a prize that people could only win by successfully winning both the hackathon and video game challenge at geekcon, though? Now it's bragging rights, now it's got a trophy aspect to it and it's something to be proud of since not every sim can have it.
That's just the talking toilet, too. They could come up with much better rewards, whether it be some of the new snowglobes requiring festival participation, or truly worthwhile rewards like a max quality fridge or even a new-ish concept like a self-teleporter that allows your sim to instantly teleport anywhere (in the neighborhood) with a quick click of a remote animation.
Instead all we got are those lousy T-shirts. Honestly, who would even wear those as their standard outfit?
Zoe does! One of her five every day outfits is the one she got from completing the spicy challenge at one of the events! She had to build up her tolerance for spicy food to get it. How cool is that?!
Wouldn't it be COOLER if the reward for completing such a task wasn't a freaking T-shirt and instead a max-quality fridge that prevents food from spoiling while sporting a nice unique look?
Maybe, but I try to appreciate what I have, rather than focus on the things that I don't
That's fine and all, but I'm a fan of criticism because criticism is a chance for improvement. There's nothing wrong with letting the devs know you think something could have MORE potential, and I sincerely doubt they take such feedback personally, either. Heck, part of the development process is that they themselves go in a room and spitball ideas back and forth to see which sounds best. I'm just spitballing ideas too.
Besides, even if you like the T-shirt? EVERY Festival gives a T-shirt. You cannot wear more than one T-shirt at once, so even if you're a huge fan of all of them, it's "wasted potential" in the sense your sim cannot really appreciate them all simultaneously. One T-shirt would suffice while the other rewards are free to be something new and different.
For an EP, there is surprisingly nothing that is mechanically changing for the game. A lot of content... very little depth. Something in this pack should of had a heavier focus to make the overall game more interesting mechanically.
I didn't expect there to be too much depth to basketball, but it would have been nice if the EP made the effort to make "sports" a bigger thing. Perhaps form teams. Play a mini-game to determine performance during the actual game (Which gets easier as fitness improves). Track records, tournaments, and prizes. A big task, no doubt, but something that would have made basketball (or any future sport) worth the effort.
Graffiti is just painting -- but sometimes with others. I would have found the activity more worthwhile if there were consequences to the vandalism. Perhaps you earn a reputation that makes other sims more wary of their interactions with you. Or maybe other artists hate or respect you more. There could have even been a turf-war mini game involving tagging different neighborhoods. There's a lot of graffiti culture related things that the Sims could have made fun use of. I really wanted graffiti to be more fun than it is.
Politician is unfortunately shallow. Would have loved for the career to allow your sim to make decisions that would have affected the city in many different ways. Perhaps the prices of items and merch goes up/down. Perhaps there are more/less street markets. More/less street performers. Maybe as your sim becomes a more popular candidate, posters and banners start appearing around the neighborhoods with your sims' face on them. Or perhaps other sims are actively lobbying for your cause without you. Could have benefited from a turf-war mini game system like graffiti, where turf is determined by voters and campaigning.
Unfortunately the whole pack -- the festivals, the careers, the apartments, the activities -- all suffer from this lack of depth mechanically. A lot of basic animations with "waiting for results", and not much to control, manage, or interact with.
While I still like the pack and enjoy all the new content... I feel it's about that time in development where we receive a little less content in exchange for either:
For what it's worth, considering I DO have the EP and can speak from experience, nothing that is said by those who didn't buy it is untrue. And their input is just as important because if they were not enticed to buy the EP the devs probably want to know why. Well, presumably anyways lol.
The appeal of living in an apartment is a short-lived and superficial aspect. That's not really an issue because it's always been true in all games, but the issue is that other than the apartment and festivals (which once you've done once...that's it...no need to do them again) there isn't any substance. The careers are OK, but the lack of gameplay is the same crux that Get Together had. GTW had its own issues, but it at least had tons to do. Active careers, at least two new skills that provided tons of gameplay, the ability to run a store, aliens...
What in the world is going on with the dev team? Why are we getting extremely half-baked EPs? I have a lot of complaints with TS4 base game, but I do personally believe the game can be salvaged. I just don't have any inclination if it will be or not.
For what it's worth, considering I DO have the EP and can speak from experience, nothing that is said by those who didn't buy it is untrue. And their input is just as important because if they were not enticed to buy the EP the devs probably want to know why. Well, presumably anyways lol.
The appeal of living in an apartment is a short-lived and superficial aspect. That's not really an issue because it's always been true in all games, but the issue is that other than the apartment and festivals (which once you've done once...that's it...no need to do them again) there isn't any substance. The careers are OK, but the lack of gameplay is the same crux that Get Together had. GTW had its own issues, but it at least had tons to do. Active careers, at least two new skills that provided tons of gameplay, the ability to run a store, aliens...
What in the world is going on with the dev team? Why are we getting extremely half-baked EPs? I have a lot of complaints with TS4 base game, but I do personally believe the game can be salvaged. I just don't have any inclination if it will be or not.
that is exactly how i feel. like i feel like this expasion pack lacks the heart that pervious games had i mean even get to work showed promise but this expasion pack just feels shallow and as though there is no depth to it which sucks.
Back on topic. I would love to have apartments in other worlds.
That is one disappointment for me with the expansion that I hope is corrected in the future. I loved the row house style apartments from the Sims 2, and also being able to add apartments in other zones would add variety. Not a dealbreaker, but it seems a missed opportunity.
Comments
1. Festivals - while a good idea in concept, I can see them becoming very repetitive. They seem to mainly employ base game content, which isn't that interesting to me. They remind me of the ones in TS3 Seasons, where similarly I found them mundane after awhile.
2. Although I'm not a builder, not being able to edit apartments/common areas is disappointing, and from what I've seen the way the camera works/background drops are makes the apartment feel more isolated than a house would. No cars/transport is a bummer too
3. I'm not super impressed with the new content/gameplay, some of it is nice (ie. bubble blower/basketball) but not enough to draw me in;
4. I feel that the base game mechanics are much more important to me, such as family play/cars/etc, and I feel that a lot in the EP is set dressing (such as festivals recycling a lot of base game content, apartments not really changing gameplay that much) rather than providing new ways to play. I would've liked to see a club system/celebrity system (superior to the TS2/TS3 ones) or some more intricate gameplay such as additional challenges to living in apartments, apartment exclusive things to do, stuff you could do only in the city that would be more dimensional than festivals, etc.
What I did like is:
1. Lot traits - seem interesting and a much needed challenge to the game, at least concerning negative traits
2. The apartment gameplay that is there, especially in the "lower income" apartments - noisy neighbors, roaches, etc
3. Some of the CAS items/Build items looked pretty nice.
You know, I actually thought the same thing about festivals when I first saw them in previews and reviews and such. I honestly never thought I would have any interest in doing them past the first visit.
I ended up finding them incredibly charming when I started to play with them myself. I really enjoyed seeing Zoe go through all the little events, get the swag, set off fireworks, and learn the recipes from the food stalls. I like to poke around for boxes while I'm there to get snowglobes, too!
It's funny, looking at the previews and the reviews and such, I never thought I'd like such a cheesy feature, but 14 hours into playing and I find myself still going to every festival when they pop up. I'm even taking vacation days to miss work and go to the festival. They feel alive, and that is something I felt was missing before. I -never- took vacation days for anything before, but I totally dig the little festivals!
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
Interesting. Are there any other parts of the expansion that have differed from your impressions from media now that you have played it?
Thanks for your feedback! It's interesting to hear another perspective
Is it not a fact that the neighborhoods provided in City Living are largely just circles of four buildings around a festival plaza, that Sims can rarely be seen roaming on the sidewalk and all gravitate towards the festival grounds, resulting in a rather dull, repetitive and uninspired "variety" between the neighborhoods, whereas a town like Windenburg has rather unique neighborhood layouts and designs each and every time? Is it not a fact that those same city neighborhoods lack variety in terms of collectibles or side-attractions such as children's playgrounds or places to play chess or grill? Can I not deduce from those facts that I would find the new neighborhoods woefully bland?
Is it not a fact that a very large amount of City Living features do nothing but add moodlets, such as the rats and roaches, the earthquakes and romance guru, the foods and the haggling fail? Can I not deduce from this fact that if I'm already fed up with the constant moodlet reliance from the devs in the base game, then I'll likely hate this part of City Living as well?
Is it not a fact that the majority of festivals employ basegame content, and thus have nothing new on offer? Can I not deduce that if I get bored watching my sim play video games now, I'd get bored watching him do it at Geekcon?
Is it not a fact that the festival rewards are often a lousy T-shirt? Is it not a fact that T-shirts offer no gameplay, and therefore I can surmise that they are unlikely to provide me with much entertainment?
Is it not a fact that neighbors and people given keys visit you with greater frequency at apartments? If I already rarely answer my door for neighbors in the base game and consider them an annoyance, can I not surmise that this feature would provide me little enjoyment?
We as onlookers can utilize factual criticism and turn that into constructive criticism. The two are often one-in-the-same, partners in crime.
Abso-freaking-lutely. I honestly thought GTW would always be my favorite (baking for life) and I didn't expect myself to get much out of this EP. I went in with very low expectations but I buy everything that comes out for TS4 because I'm something of a completionist in that regard.
From the reviews I read, videos I had watched, and any gameplay I had seen, it all looked terribly underwhelming. I was expecting to be moderately pleased with the build/buy stuff and 'meh' about the CAS items but I expected nothing from gameplay.
I feel actual depth from this EP, and I had actually enjoyed going out and doing things with my sims. Going to the food stalls and trying out the foods was neat, but discovering that I was learning recipes from that?! Awesome. Learning that my sim is actually developing a -tolerance- for spicy food, and will get better with chopsticks the more she uses them?! What! I had no idea these little things would be such an awesome experience for me and for my sim.
I have truly enjoyed the hours I have spent in CL so far, and I'm getting pumped over little things! I haven't even touched apartments yet as I want to let myself enjoy all of the elements at a nice pace rather than rush into everything.
I think everyone is going to have a different perspective on the game, and a lot of people focus heavily on what isn't there, but I think if people take the time to appreciate what is there, they might be surprised! I'm having an awesome time in the city!
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
I didn't know about the spicy food tolerance and the chopsticks, I think that is pretty interesting
So, chopsticks and heat tolerance for food are hidden skills? Very neat.
Have you done much with the traits, and if so, is the Cursed trait as deadly as people are saying in other threads? One guy reported seven sims dropping over dead during a play session.
the reason why it feels less repetitive than TS3 festivals is another reason why I don't exactly like them a lot. They only stay around for less than a day. That limits the interaction you can do with them and prolongs the enjoyment. Though going the less than a day route I would have preferred more small events
I was so excited about that! Those are the little details that I LOVE seeing in an EP, and I feel like it gives my sims more personality, too!
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
This place is always fun on a lonely night.
Me, I don't have it and I won't buy it since it - to me- it limits the part of the game I've enjoyed the most.
And.... I know I don't need to read the whole book to know I don't like the theme/genre, the blurp on the back will do. :P
I have not done much with traits, but I plan to mess around with that a LOT tomorrow. I wanted to start a sim in one of the crappier apartments and see how it went! Today I mostly just went to a boat load of festivals and worked on the Food Critic career, as well as some decorating and changing my sims clothes.. all of the time.. heh.
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
It is less than a day, but it is a lot of festivals. I get notifications for them every few days, and I feel like they are just long enough to get what I want out of them, but not so long that I feel like I'm bored and I want to leave by the end, heh. It keeps me coming back for more! It's kind of like a lot of little events scattered throughout the weeks. Though, I can imagine it being more troublesome if you are juggling a bunch of sims.. I think it depends on your playstyle!
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
Do please keep us posted. And have some insightfuls from me. Your posts have been quite illuminating. Thank you for them.
I never even enjoyed the Sims 3 ones. At the end of the day, a Festival is just a way to fill the fun and food meters, but I can do that at home.
The best way to actually make a festival seem worthwhile is to provide something like a ticket system in Sims 3, then give meaningful rewards as prizes. Take the infamous talking toilet, for example. As it stands, we all hate it because of it's symbolism. If the talking toilet were a prize that people could only win by successfully winning both the hackathon and video game challenge at geekcon, though? Now it's bragging rights, now it's got a trophy aspect to it and it's something to be proud of since not every sim can have it.
That's just the talking toilet, too. They could come up with much better rewards, whether it be some of the new snowglobes requiring festival participation, or truly worthwhile rewards like a max quality fridge or even a new-ish concept like a self-teleporter that allows your sim to instantly teleport anywhere (in the neighborhood) with a quick click of a remote animation.
Instead all we got are those lousy T-shirts. Honestly, who would even wear those as their standard outfit?
Zoe does! One of her five every day outfits is the one she got from completing the spicy challenge at one of the events! She had to build up her tolerance for spicy food to get it. How cool is that?!
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
Wouldn't it be COOLER if the reward for completing such a task wasn't a freaking T-shirt and instead a max-quality fridge that prevents food from spoiling while sporting a nice unique look?
Maybe, but I try to appreciate what I have, rather than focus on the things that I don't
American in Canada. Spoon rest enthusiast.
Origin ID: texeganjane
How to fix miscellaneous bugs in your Sims 4 game, here!
That's fine and all, but I'm a fan of criticism because criticism is a chance for improvement. There's nothing wrong with letting the devs know you think something could have MORE potential, and I sincerely doubt they take such feedback personally, either. Heck, part of the development process is that they themselves go in a room and spitball ideas back and forth to see which sounds best. I'm just spitballing ideas too.
Besides, even if you like the T-shirt? EVERY Festival gives a T-shirt. You cannot wear more than one T-shirt at once, so even if you're a huge fan of all of them, it's "wasted potential" in the sense your sim cannot really appreciate them all simultaneously. One T-shirt would suffice while the other rewards are free to be something new and different.
I played CL
I like CL
But I do have criticisms...
For an EP, there is surprisingly nothing that is mechanically changing for the game. A lot of content... very little depth. Something in this pack should of had a heavier focus to make the overall game more interesting mechanically.
I didn't expect there to be too much depth to basketball, but it would have been nice if the EP made the effort to make "sports" a bigger thing. Perhaps form teams. Play a mini-game to determine performance during the actual game (Which gets easier as fitness improves). Track records, tournaments, and prizes. A big task, no doubt, but something that would have made basketball (or any future sport) worth the effort.
Graffiti is just painting -- but sometimes with others. I would have found the activity more worthwhile if there were consequences to the vandalism. Perhaps you earn a reputation that makes other sims more wary of their interactions with you. Or maybe other artists hate or respect you more. There could have even been a turf-war mini game involving tagging different neighborhoods. There's a lot of graffiti culture related things that the Sims could have made fun use of. I really wanted graffiti to be more fun than it is.
Politician is unfortunately shallow. Would have loved for the career to allow your sim to make decisions that would have affected the city in many different ways. Perhaps the prices of items and merch goes up/down. Perhaps there are more/less street markets. More/less street performers. Maybe as your sim becomes a more popular candidate, posters and banners start appearing around the neighborhoods with your sims' face on them. Or perhaps other sims are actively lobbying for your cause without you. Could have benefited from a turf-war mini game system like graffiti, where turf is determined by voters and campaigning.
Unfortunately the whole pack -- the festivals, the careers, the apartments, the activities -- all suffer from this lack of depth mechanically. A lot of basic animations with "waiting for results", and not much to control, manage, or interact with.
While I still like the pack and enjoy all the new content... I feel it's about that time in development where we receive a little less content in exchange for either:
For what it's worth, considering I DO have the EP and can speak from experience, nothing that is said by those who didn't buy it is untrue. And their input is just as important because if they were not enticed to buy the EP the devs probably want to know why. Well, presumably anyways lol.
The appeal of living in an apartment is a short-lived and superficial aspect. That's not really an issue because it's always been true in all games, but the issue is that other than the apartment and festivals (which once you've done once...that's it...no need to do them again) there isn't any substance. The careers are OK, but the lack of gameplay is the same crux that Get Together had. GTW had its own issues, but it at least had tons to do. Active careers, at least two new skills that provided tons of gameplay, the ability to run a store, aliens...
What in the world is going on with the dev team? Why are we getting extremely half-baked EPs? I have a lot of complaints with TS4 base game, but I do personally believe the game can be salvaged. I just don't have any inclination if it will be or not.
that is exactly how i feel. like i feel like this expasion pack lacks the heart that pervious games had i mean even get to work showed promise but this expasion pack just feels shallow and as though there is no depth to it which sucks.
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That is one disappointment for me with the expansion that I hope is corrected in the future. I loved the row house style apartments from the Sims 2, and also being able to add apartments in other zones would add variety. Not a dealbreaker, but it seems a missed opportunity.