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Island Living Appreciation
MissyHissy
Posts: 2,022 Member
So I see lots of people are disappointed with the new pack. I'm one of the (apparent) minority who love it as it is, so as I haven't seen a thread like this yet, I thought I'd start one.
I love the focus on conservation. This feels like a beautiful way to put a message across and I really like the idea of the island transforming the more you clean it up. The increase in wildlife is beautiful as the island gets more beautiful and the other day I had my first turtle hatching event!
I really think this is a lovely touch. So small but very effective. I've been a big fan of the random wildlife in the game right from the start (ducks, pigeons, seagulls etc) so to see all the extra marine life is something I really adore. The attention to detail like that really makes a difference for me. The addition of dolphins is something I'm delighted about. I've always loved since I was little so allowing my sims to interact with them is lovely.
The new conservation career is lovely. I've often wanted my sims to be able to do more for their community and the volunteering from an earlier pack (Parenthood, I think?) was a lovely start. This feels like a sensible continuation of that and I really love that.
I also like the close-knit feel on Sulani. The festivals and events in the town centre are a nice touch. Low key but traditional.
So what else are you guys enjoying about the pack? What are the things you love the most?
I love the focus on conservation. This feels like a beautiful way to put a message across and I really like the idea of the island transforming the more you clean it up. The increase in wildlife is beautiful as the island gets more beautiful and the other day I had my first turtle hatching event!
I really think this is a lovely touch. So small but very effective. I've been a big fan of the random wildlife in the game right from the start (ducks, pigeons, seagulls etc) so to see all the extra marine life is something I really adore. The attention to detail like that really makes a difference for me. The addition of dolphins is something I'm delighted about. I've always loved since I was little so allowing my sims to interact with them is lovely.
The new conservation career is lovely. I've often wanted my sims to be able to do more for their community and the volunteering from an earlier pack (Parenthood, I think?) was a lovely start. This feels like a sensible continuation of that and I really love that.
I also like the close-knit feel on Sulani. The festivals and events in the town centre are a nice touch. Low key but traditional.
So what else are you guys enjoying about the pack? What are the things you love the most?
*All my mods can be found on The Daily Plumbob*
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Comments
My favorite part is the beaches and water lots. My sims can finally do the same stuff I enjoy when I'm at the beach and more.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
I haven't bought the game yet (probably will wait till a sale tbh), but I'm excited to see what the conservation career has in store as this is my real life profession (I've a degree in environmental science, major in environmental sustainability and conservation). So keen to see what it's all about
But unhappy players spend more time on forums than happy players because happy players are busy playing.
That's true for every game.
I may not be 100% happy with the EP, but I'm still very much enjoying it. Not sure if I'll get to see those cute little turtles on the beach, since I changed Sulani into a vacation destination. I noticed after doing that, that I no longer have lifeguards.
I love having suntans and sunburn back. Though I haven't had any sims burn yet. The water jets are fun, so is snorkeling - just wish it wasn't attached to the buoy. Haven't tried out the two new careers, but I like the part time ones. I've had a few sims do those. But found out your sim won't go to work on holidays. Mine was celebrating Founders Day, and even after I tried to send him to the part time gig, it wouldn't let him go.
Visually the world is breathtaking. I'm enjoying it!
If you're not averse to small tuning mods, LittleMsSam has a mod that lets you snorkel everywhere
https://littlemssam.tumblr.com/post/185820649273/snorkel-everywhere-island-living-this-mods-lets
@Reavyn - I think you'll like it. The island looks beautiful after it's been cleaned up. It's a lovely touch
@Beardedgeek - Good to know I'm not in a minority ~ it seemed like everybody was bitterly complaining about every pack coming out, which seems a shame since I do know a lot of people who do enjoy and appreciate what we have got. It's lovely to know.
@GoldenBuffy - You might still get them, I'm not certain. The messages I got as the island was beginning to improve mentioned the conservation efforts but I don't know whether it was just because my sim had been cleaning the island or whether it was because he was in that career or both. I'll have to experiment. So if your sims clean up the island, you might still get it to 'pristine' and get the turtles hatching. You never know!
@loubyloulou - I'm always impressed how quickly simmers manage to tweak features like this!
My sim is having a blast so far and she is broke living on an island by a volcano lol. I also love how versatile it is. I can easily have sims live here but could have some travel or camp as well. It’s really very fun so far. It’s not my favorite pack and I do wish we had a bit more to do but right now it’s top 3.
Also just so you know you aren’t likely in the minority those that enjoy the new game are too busy playing to be on here lol and a lot of sims players aren’t on here anyway. It’s a small portion of us hardcore fans that hang out here.
My "nit-pickiness" has more to do with the overall game mechanics themselves and the lack of personality and uniqueness of the sims we create. And also the inability for them to do things together.
I think some people are playing too fast, just grinding the career and cleaning up the island and all the other new activities. I’m playing two households right now, one is a family of 6 and none are conservationists. They’re locals and each have their own things going on. Some fish, some are working on diving, some are working on new aspiration, one just got married, all are working on new skills, one is dating a mermaid and still doesn’t know, etc. Because there are so many, it takes awhile to “finish” any of their goals. I still haven’t experienced everything that’s new! The other household I’m playing is a single sim who is a conservationist. Because I’m playing on a rotation she’s moving through the career slowly and doing a lot of different things too. I don’t want to clean up the island too quickly.
I thought the same with Strangerville, it seemed so many people just rushed the whole scenario and then were upset it was too quick and there wasn’t enough gameplay. I’m thinking just slow down! Create a sim with an interesting story and work through the packs new features while still taking care of their needs, earning money, making relationships, all the normal sim stuff, lol. Just my thoughts, anyway 😁
I agree with this. I also understand everyone plays differently and want to do everything in one day. booooo lol I love taking my time with my sims and enjoy things at a slower pace. I still need to explore more of San Salvdorada, "meet" Mother from Strangeville and a bunch of other stuff.
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Seriously though, right now I don't want to play in any other world again. The first thing I did was to have my sim declare her hatred of snow, which I echo very much.
Nice job by the environment team and the creators of the objects, clothing and hair.
I am using it mainly for my sims in other worlds to enjoy and expand on their options of things to do.
It's a destination world for me and I am glad for the other packs that allow me to play it the way I want.
Nah...theres a lot of underwhelmed people over on reddit too. This pack is just for looks and new pretty clothing and cute furniture. Little gameplay was added @Beardedgeek
Ah yes, unless you count all the gameplay you don't care about and therefore pretend isn't there since you want a carbon copy of all the older games.
And btw, you did not disprove my point: Complainers will always believe they are the majority, because they have the time to complain and only sees other complainers. Be it Mass Effect 3, Fallout 4, Skyrim, Sims 4 or any other game.
There are only two games since the invention of the Internet Forum where I truly believe the complainers ARE a majority: Sim City, and Fallout 76.
I like it as well. I can understand some of the criticisms, and I do think they left stuff out / reused stuff they just shouldn't have BUT ... I am having a blast with this pack.
I love that together with off the grid I can finally play truly tribal sims. #TribalLiving #IslandLiving
I think the reason that there's lots of complaints is multifold:
1) There is no ceiling on good content. There will always be something any game could have done better, something else they could have added. There is no such thing as absolute perfection, and even more impossible is absolute perfection for absolutely everyone. The more people play any game, especially multiple iterations, the more they want to hit that ceiling, but it doesn't exist. This couples with the fact that limitations exist (including maintaining a teen rating to be buyable by a whole demographic!). You have hardware of CPU's, bug glitche...the more you add the harder it is to make run smoothly, the more it costs them to make and the more they have to charge us. It's not an excuse to put out bad content, but it's a reality. They are a business that exists to make money and they have to balance all of this. Games should actually cost more than what they charge, that's why DLC has become such a big thing.
2) Game fatigue. Sometimes, you're really just bored with a style of game, especially if you typically only play a few. It's likely that they aren't just disappointed, they're just bored of a life simulation game and need to take break and broden their gaming repertoire. They look back at previous iterations with rose-coloured glasses because when they were playing it back then, it was still newer and exciting on the whole. If they had TS3 content released now, they would likely be just as tired of it. Yes, games have to be innovative and introduce new things, but you also can't re-invent the wheel. A first-person shooter is a first-person shooter. An MMO is an MMO. A life simulator is a life simulator. There's only so much that can be done to make it "new", and if you've been playing it for four+ years, you're likely a little fatigued weather you realize it or not.
3) Player Skill improvement. The more you play a game, the better you get at it. You are naturally going to be a better player than you were one expansion pack ago, two ago, a whole iteration ago... you will accomplish things faster, you will understand basic mechanics better. In terms of the sims, you are better at completing aspirations, of finding secrets, of exploring maps... they can't scale a game to the difficulty of the oldest players. They need to be able to introduce new buyers and players. There is also a cap to how difficult/different they can make it. The great thing about the sims though, is that it lends itself well to challenges, there are lots of user mods. A common complaint is that some modders do stuff as fast as the employees, but the game is supposed to run this way. Its supposed to be customizable and allow you to run multiple stories and scenarios. It allows for these mods precisely because as you become a better player, you're just going to do things faster and exhaust content quicker.
4) Growing gaming culture. Gaming culture has exploded for the last decade. People make a living now off of playing games, we have entire communities in forums. We have better technology and more acceptance. As gaming culture has grown so has gamer identity. There are way more types of games, and people have started to better identify and find their particular gamer tastes. We already know it in the sims: people who play almost exclusively for building or CAS, or challenges, occult players, storytellers, realistic players.... Because there are so many ways to play, and it's only growing, its harder to hit and satisfy every type of player. You just can't do it. So yes, many people will be disappointed and they have a right to be. Their personal tastes aren't being met. But some peoples are. Neither of us is right or wrong.
I dont begrudge people who are upset, I get it. We all have play styles and individual tastes and have a right to share them. I do think though, as players, we also need to evaluate it. Is part of my dissatisfaction game fatigue? Am I getting better at the game? If I am this dissatisfied, why am I still buying these expansions on release? Why am I still playing? Should I look at mods, or do a challenge to push myself out of my comfort zone, or take a break? Or should I stop supporting and giving my dollar to better force EA to pay attention to my needs? Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk XD
For example I loved Kingdom Hearts as a teen and was so excited for KH3. I really didn’t like it, though. I realized that maybe I was just being nostalgic and that maybe it’s just not my cup of tea anymore. Doesn’t make it a bad game, I just didn’t enjoy it. Not the case with every sims player of course, I’m not trying to speak for everyone who is disappointed.
Back on topic, of course there are things I wish were different with Island Living. There’s some missed opportunities and as you said, there can always be more. It could always be better. But I still love it for what it is. It makes me excited for the direction TS4 is going, the worlds are getting better and better with a real sense of community and culture and I just love it 😁
I absolutely LOVE the CAS items. I bundled it with vampires and I have a half vampire family in forgotten hollow (the youngest is gonna be a rebel and become a mermaid) and like, my goth vampires are all in Island Living clothes XD. The jewellery, the rompers... the black and red stuff still suit the vampires in my opinion. I may never use any other clothing again!
And the culture and vibrancy is so true. They may not be open world like TS3, but Sulani is so unique, with it's own quirks, culture and people. It does make me excited, as I find each new world has it's own tone, and makes it so much more rich and immersive for story telling because the setting basically becomes it's own character. They really out-did it with Sulani, it's one of the best constructed worlds thus far.