Developers, You really did it this time. «12345...Next Go

Wndblwz

Omgawd even though I've already defeated the Mother, I LOVED IT. I've been playing The Sims since the franchise began and haven't enjoyed a pack as much since Makin' Magic (my favorite). The Strangerville storyline is fun. It never felt monotonous. I'm looking forward to going back in the game and playing a different strategy with another Sim. Well done.

LaBlue0314

Same here. I would love to see a little more added like this, not the same type of stuff, though.

SaturnSublime

Yes I would 100% love more content like Strangerville! Content like this would have made Vampires (which I already loved) phenomenal!

Simburian

Meresti wrote: »

Yes I would 100% love more content like Strangerville! Content like this would have made Vampires (which I already loved) phenomenal!

Now that's a good idea. I expect they didn't have the time to do a storyline then, or maybe got a newer employee with bright ideas who gave them the impetus to try.

I haven't started the game proper in StrangerVille yet so am thinking of bringing in Vlad and family to see if they can defeat the Mother. Got to find a use for them as I don't allow them in my homes!

OEII1001

I hope that they do this sort of thing in the future as well. It doesn't have to be, and probably shouldn't be, the same sort of world-in-crisis scenario. Imagine moving to Oasis Springs and being caught up in Johnny Zest's attempt to reconcile with his family, and through a series of objectives having the opportunity to either help with that reconciliation or aid Malcolm in pushing Johnny out of the will for good. Each result would yield consequences in-game. You can help Malcolm with the result being that Johnny and a good portion of the town hate you. You can help Johnny with the results such that everyone thinks you are great, but you've made a powerful enemy who will eventually come of age and then proceed to make your life miserable.

Your sim is now part of the story, and you can use that story to catapult your sandbox play. In the specific scenario, you can even set up a fantastic second act villain. Or you can be the villain. So, yes, I would like to see worlds in future packs and future sequels come with stories.

Idontrcall

OEII1001 wrote: »

I hope that they do this sort of thing in the future as well. It doesn't have to be, and probably shouldn't be, the same sort of world-in-crisis scenario. Imagine moving to Oasis Springs and being caught up in Johnny Zest's attempt to reconcile with his family, and through a series of objectives having the opportunity to either help with that reconciliation or aid Malcolm in pushing Johnny out of the will for good. Each result would yield consequences in-game. You can help Malcolm with the result being that Johnny and a good portion of the town hate you. You can help Johnny with the results such that everyone thinks you are great, but you've made a powerful enemy who will eventually come of age and then proceed to make your life miserable.

Your sim is now part of the story, and you can use that story to catapult your sandbox play. In the specific scenario, you can even set up a fantastic second act villain. Or you can be the villain. So, yes, I would like to see worlds in future packs and future sequels come with stories.

I think this sounds pretty good. It reminds me a little of the stories from Sims 2 when you start the game, but more complex and detailed.

I have not gotten Strangerville yet, but it interests me a lot. I just have to wait a bit.

Goldmoldar

The program is intriguing but for me it is not worth the price EA/Maxis is selling it at even if I would be paying for an additional neighborhood as this is now the pattern.

NorthDakotaGamer

I actually am not thankful. To me, they just DESTROYED the sandbox game I love by introducing a "story-driven" element pack. But that is strictly my opinion and I have been let down ever since after City Living was released. I keep hope that I will actually like and be happy with new content we are given, but now I just look at everything with a very critical viewpoint.

drake_mccarty

Hard to tell your own stories when there’s a literal story mode dictating what you must do. That’s anti-sandbox and against the nature of The Sims. I hope we don’t see anymore packs of this nature, but given how this pack allowed Maxis to sell barely any content for the full price of a game pack I’m sure this will be their new favorite format. Easier for them since they can just script all of the interactions to the story, and then use the story as the main selling feature even though we all knew this was no 3 hour story.

marcel21

I like the look of the content and the town, the career might be fun.

AriaMad2

I unfortunately only got to play for a couple of hours tonight since it was getting late, but there wasn’t 5 minutes where I didn’t find something new and giggle in excitement or joy! I’m absolutely loving this pack so far and it may end up being my new favourite!

Cinebar

I hope someone makes a poll to ask those who like this if they would trade in (discontinue) life simulator/open-ended/sandbox GP packs or EPs for more of scripted story play. And if they want TS5 to work like that, too.

Cinebar

AriaMad2 wrote: »

I unfortunately only got to play for a couple of hours tonight since it was getting late, but there wasn’t 5 minutes where I didn’t find something new and giggle in excitement or joy! I’m absolutely loving this pack so far and it may end up being my new favourite!

Was it the quirkiness you liked or the scripted play, you know there is a huge difference and wondering what people are really enjoying. Did you like following tasks? or was it they put some humor back into the game?

Horrorgirl6

Cinebar wrote: »

AriaMad2 wrote: »

I unfortunately only got to play for a couple of hours tonight since it was getting late, but there wasn’t 5 minutes where I didn’t find something new and giggle in excitement or joy! I’m absolutely loving this pack so far and it may end up being my new favourite!

Was it the quirkiness you liked or the scripted play, you know there is a huge difference and wondering what people are really enjoying. Did you like following tasks? or was it they put some humor back into the game?

Why people are so critical of others enjoying it.This pack was not meant for everyone.Im okay if some sims packs are story base.Why still most are not.Not everything has to be black or white here.

Kelleygirl

I played strangerville about four hours last night and have to say I enjoyed it immensely. I'm taking my time delving in to the mystery, just letting my sim enjoy the beautiful scenery while she slowly discovers the town is more than meets the eye. So far it hasn't felt scripted in the least.

Freygea

I love love love this pack! I hope they make more like this one. I do, however, hope they add an option in settings to turn off the story for those that want the pack but not the story. I loved the story and felt it was very flexible.

I most definitely will be buying any additional packs that are similar to this one.

Hermitgirl

This is by far my favorite GP so far. Part of it is the themes and objects/possibilities but I agree with the OP I hope they revisit this again. I'm still setting up between playing spurts to live out in Strangeville with my favorite sims but have all sorts of ideas on the backburner for it.

Sara1010P

Cinebar wrote: »

I hope someone makes a poll to ask those who like this if they would trade in (discontinue) life simulator/open-ended/sandbox GP packs or EPs for more of scripted story play. And if they want TS5 to work like that, too.

Trade in no, but I have no problem with the game including both. I enjoy both. I loved Sims 2, I also loved Castaways. I like that they have created a game pack that has scripted events like this for the main game instead of making it a stand alone game apart from the main game. Just my personal preference though.

filipomel

Sara1010P wrote: »

Cinebar wrote: »

I hope someone makes a poll to ask those who like this if they would trade in (discontinue) life simulator/open-ended/sandbox GP packs or EPs for more of scripted story play. And if they want TS5 to work like that, too.

Trade in no, but I have no problem with the game including both. I enjoy both. I loved Sims 2, I also loved Castaways. I like that they have created a game pack that has scripted events like this for the main game instead of making it a stand alone game apart from the main game. Just my personal preference though.

I was going to say the same thing, I'm glad that instead of being a stand alone game it was a game pack for the main game, in the end people who wanted some story driven Sims experience now have it, and people who didn't have the option of getting a new world and items. it's a win win for anybody craving new content or for someone who wanted a story to follow.

I agree with the OP, I had an immense amount of fun playing this pack, only complaint from my end is that the story was on the shorter side of things, but now that the story is over I have a beautiful new world to play in, I love the vibe of the world and it may possibly be one of my favourites.

LadyKyn

Played the game for about an hour and a half last night and been playing for three today.

It's different. Mores so than any sims pack I've seen before. A good kind of different. As I do like some of the usual staples for the sims (Seasons, etc) I kinda grew weary of the same rehashed things while just adding new objects and etc. It can get a bit stale, so this in itself is actually pretty refreshing to me as I've never seen an epidemic with sims.

'This is gonna destroy the series.' I just don't agree with. A town with lore with an story to actually engage in? Didn't feel like it was breaking sandbox style play in anyway to me. What's wrong with sandbox AND some story elements? My sims can still go to work, go out, get married and still go about their day to day lives here in Strangerville with the occasional weirdness if I wasn't continuing the mystery. Made sis that 'broke down' in strangerville while passing through and currently stuck there until they raise some funds. None had a job and had one decided to join the military career since the base was close by. I can still make my own backstories. Still got use out of the items that came with the pack.

Not saying I want to see these with every given pack, but I definitely wouldn't mind seeing it applied to another one eventually and keeping things pretty open ended at the same time. I appreciate this new approach.

Thought I'd be pretty 'meh' when I saw another desert theme world, but the feel of it was completely different, especially when you hear the sounds at night time. I actually really liked the overall look of it.

I've always been pretty so-so with supernatural's as they don't really fit into my gameplay and I'll play them about once, but I was surprised I really enjoyed is.

bshag4lv

So far, I'm loving this pack. I too was a little worried about its "fit" into my games but the one thing I loved the most is EA doesn't try to ram the storyline down your throat. No, there isn't a lot to do in Strangeville if you aren't doing the story but you still have all the other neighborhoods. It fits beautifully into my game, love love the military career so far and love the sparring bot! Shades of SimFu! We have LAPTOPS! Woot! This is going to be a lot of fun!

Hermitgirl

I love that bot and with a high level fitness skill it's so fun to watch. I haven't even tried sparring yet lol..

shandra2183

Loving it. I love how you can set your own pace and all the different elements that's with it. I loved the sims life stories, castaway and medieval. Wouldn't mind if they did a couple more like this. I enjoy how they worked the storyline into a sandbox game.

Vulori

I love how the little side story makes Strangerville feel distinctive. Honestly, I didn't find the weirdness too obvious before I started it. Yeah, there's still the odd plants here and there, and you see some possessed sims walking around, but it wasn't shoved in my face either. It only really starts ramping up as you progress through the investigation. I feel like they did a good job of scripting it but still leaving me wiggle room in determining how I went about investigating and finishing it. And when I do it again, I can try a different way than I did this time.

For me, I prefer it this way. I miss how in Sims 2 the premades and the neighborhoods felt like they had their own story and it made it easier for me to play in. My imagination works best when I have a framework to work with; I know that isn't true for everyone, but it is for me. I wouldn't mind if they did another pack similar to this one. I don't advocate making this the only way they do things, but I don't think it'll be a bad thing if they do something similar down the line.

mika

Although I still want Witches and University, I love Strangeville and how even after solving the mystery it has remnants of the events. It feels like a world with its own lore and I missed that about the Sims

boykinater18

I agree completely. I’m loving this game pack. Specifically the world. It’s very nicely done. Like a few have said, I don’t want every pack like this, but I’d enjoy it once in a while.