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Realm of Magic recycling features from other packs (& base game)
MaggieMarley
Posts: 5,299 Member
Full disclosure: I love the Sims 4 , I am really looking forward to ROM and will buy it the day it releases. I know that I will really enjoy the pack and I appreciate the effort that has gone into it. It may even end up being my favourite GP. But I feel that, as amazing as it looks, ROM could have been even better.
I wasn’t sure if I should post this on the forums for fear of backlash against me but I think it needs to be said. What I am about to say is not said in anger. I love TS4 as I’ve said and I just want to give feedback that might make the game better. I am also not looking for an argument but I am happy to listen to others’ views on this. It would be great to hear other people’s perspectives, even (and perhaps especially), if they disagree with my own. I’m completely open to changing my opinion on this and indeed, I would love to be convinced that I’m making a mountain out of a molehill because, as I’ve said, I do think that this is a great pack.
So here it is: I am a bit disappointed that most of the spells and potions just recycle features that we already have in the game. I did predict that this would be so but still I had hoped to be proved wrong.
In fact, here I am predicting this with uncanny accuracy back in August 2018 (bold added for emphasis):
With that said, I will now go through all the spells and potions from ROM and point out any recycling.
Spells:
Despairio - Makes a sim sad. Sims with the mastermind reward trait from the public enemy aspiration can already make sims instantly sad.
Deliriate - makes a sim dazed I think. I could have just given them too much kava.
Furio - convince two sims to argue and fight. Being able to make two sims argue/fight is new (although the vampire command power allows you to make a sim be mean to another sim which could result in a fight) but fighting and arguing are both in the game already - this point equally applies to any spell which influences emotions.
Infatuate - not 100% sure what this one does but it sounds as though it either makes the other sim flirty in which case it does the same as the beguiling reward trait or the vampire alluring visage power of the flirty or the flirty potion from the rewards store or the flutter berry from jungle adventure. Alternatively, it gives your sim a slight romantic relationship gain with another sim (and so works the same as the flirty introduction or enchanting introduction). Or it may instantly give your sim a significantly good romantic relationship level with the other sim (in which case it does the same as the romantic besties intro from GF)
Burgliate - A spell to steal things. Which kleptos can already do. But it’s cool that you can still steal things even if you are caught.
Morphiate - turns a sim into an object. I’ll let the fact that it seems only to turn sims into objects which are already in the game pass because this is cool. But it would have been nice if we could turn sims into frogs or other animals or even other sims.
Strangeify - makes a sim repulsive to others. Not sure exactly what this one does but if it only influences the emotions of others we have various things in game which can do that already.
Inferniate - allows you to set a sim (or object I think) on fire. Looks as though they recycled the fire Ray from one of the GF acting gigs here. Oh and you can’t kill a sim this way. Again, recycles an animation already in game since sims burning is in the base game.
ZipZap - electrocutes a sim. This can’t kill sims so it’s very similar to the mischief hand buzzer animation. It’s not quite the same thing but one of the relics from JA allows you to mark a sim for death by electrocution.
Necrocall - allows you to summon ghosts. The book of life from the best selling author aspiration already allows you to call a ghost.
Chillio - freezes a sim and can put out fires. This does the exact same thing as the freeze ray that you can make in the scientist career.
Minionize- allows you to control another sim. I think this one just lets you make another sim do things for you. I don’t know what things exactly but we can already use the SimRay from GTW to command another sim to change clothes, sit, eat, clean, sleep, panic. And the vampire command power allows you to make another sim to clean, repair, sit, workout or be mean to another sim. I bet the spell will only allow us to do the things which the SimRay and vampire power already enable us to do.
DeDeathify - resurrects a dead sim. We already have lots of ways to do this: ambrosia, book of life, wishing well. So again, they’re recycling a functionality that is already available.
DeCursify - Gets rid of a curse. This works in the same way as the celebrity cleanse which gets rid of celebrity quirks. Curses and the spell which removes them work using the celebrity quirks system which is already in the game - so again, not made from scratch.
Repairio - instantly repair something. The handy reward trait from completing the nerd brain aspiration already allows you to instantly repair or upgrade an item.
Scruberoo - Instantly clean someone or something. I believe this is new and it’s kind of cool although the waterfall in a bottle from JA allows you to clean a sim pretty much instantly. And there is the speed cleaner reward trait which lets you clean much faster.
Delicioso - enables you to summon food out of thin air. This clearly uses the same system which, in the base game, allows sims with the ‘melt master’ reward trait from completing the grilled cheese aspiration to summon grilled cheese out of thin air.
Floralorial - keeps your plants healthy and weed free. This seems new and would be helpful too.
Transportalate- teleportation. Well anyone can do this with testing cheats enabled. But besides that, sims can already teleport with high enough wellness skill from spa day and teleportation (mist form) is a vampire power.
Copypasto- seems to do the same thing as the cloning machine from GTW. It may do a little more though as you seem to be able to duplicate plants (which I don’t think that the cloning machine can do) and it can make more than one copy at a time.
Herbio - creates a fully grown plant. This is new (although there is a cheat which allows you to grow a plant to maturity instantly) and seems useful.
And then the potions:
Potion of good fortune - You’ll find helpful items while doing everyday activities. This is new but I bet those “helpful items” are already in game.
Potion of plentiful needs - fills a sim’s needs. The needs fixer serum from GTW will do this. And we can already achieve the same effect by cheats or by using a selection of rewards potions from the rewards store (instant fun, instant hygiene, sleep replacement, moodlet solver). Plus you can of course do this with cheats.
Potion of nausea - makes a sim feel sick. You could just feed them some spoilt food though.
Potion of the nimble mind - Increases skill speed gain like the potions you can get in the mail with get famous. One outcome of the Wishing Well will also do this for you, there are various lot traits which speed up skill gain of certain skills and having a skeletal helper from JA around speeds up skill gain.
Potion of the magical aura - makes your sim sparkle. GF gave us sparkling sims (celebrities) already.
Potion of the alluring aura - makes those around the drinker more receptive to romantic conversation. Soooo like the vampire alluring visage power, then?
Potion of emotional stability - removes negative moodlets. Like the moodlet solver potion from the rewards store.
Potion of perk purging - allows a spellcaster to choose different perks. Probably works in the same way as the vampire reconfiguration potion or celebrity cleanse.
Potion of forced friendship - I’m guessing that this gives you instant friendship with a person. In other words, it works in the same way as the incredibly friendly reward trait, polite introduction from Parenthood, or instant besties intro from GF.
Potion of masterful insults - Not sure what this does. Makes a sim instantly disliked? That’s nothing that a rude introduction wouldn’t do.
Potion of rejuvenation - Resets a sim’s age bar to the start of the current life stage but does not freeze aging i.e. Does the exact same thing as the potion of youth from the rewards store or the age-away potion from GTW.
Potion of curse cleansing - does the same thing as the DeCursify spell. That means they are recycling functionality even within the same pack in an attempt to make it seem like there is more new content than there is. It also means that the same points apply as were pertinent to the DeCursity spell: This works in the same way as the celebrity cleanse which gets rid of celebrity quirks. Curses and the spell which removes them work using the celebrity quirks system which is already in the game - so again, not made from scratch.
Potion of immortality - Stops a sim dying of old age only (but not from other means). Does not freeze aging. Does much the same as a death flower or the Reaper’s Friend serum from GTW.
Potion of the transcendent charmer - I don’t know what this does. Perhaps it’s a love potion which makes a sim instantly have a romantic relation with you. In that case it may or may not do the same as the infatuate spell and the same effect could also be achieved by a flirty introduction, enchanting introduction or romantic besties introduction (GF) depending on how much it fills up the romantic relationship bar.
Potion of prompt resurrection: Does the same thing as the DeDeathify spell so here is some more intra pack recycling. And of course it also does the same thing as ambrosia, the book of life or the wishing well
Oh and don’t get me started on the fact that broomsticks work in the same way as the bat form for vampires.
Of course, it’s great that being a spellcaster will allow us to do all these things without jumping through the hoops that you would usually have to jump through to do them. And yes, of course you would expect at least some spells and potions to enable you to more easily do certain things which already exist in everyday life.
They are great spells/potions. I’m not disputing that. And I’m not disputing that they should be in the pack. But what I am saying is that, given that the majority of these spells/potions recycle things that were already in game, they did not take so much time/effort/money to make as would have been needed to make a spell/potion which had a brand new effect. So, having saved all that time and money it would have been nice if they had used it to come up with some such brand new spells and potions.
There are a lot of spells and potions and it’s easy to think that means there is a lot of new content. But really, there’s not because of all the recycling.
Packs are meant to give us genuinely new content, rather than dressing features from the base game or other packs up and making us pay for it again under a different name.
Since I own all the packs I could technically already create a sim who is capable of doing most of the things which spellcasters will be able to achieve with their spells and potions (albeit with a bit of effort). That can’t be right.
Anyway let’s please keep this civil. I’m not attacking anyone here. As I’ve said, I’m open to hearing other people’s views and to changing mine. I’m the first to admit that I don’t know how difficult it is to make a video game. Perhaps it was very difficult even to make spells and potions that recycle existing features so that we are lucky to even have that and have no right to complain. And if that’s the case, then I stand corrected.
I wasn’t sure if I should post this on the forums for fear of backlash against me but I think it needs to be said. What I am about to say is not said in anger. I love TS4 as I’ve said and I just want to give feedback that might make the game better. I am also not looking for an argument but I am happy to listen to others’ views on this. It would be great to hear other people’s perspectives, even (and perhaps especially), if they disagree with my own. I’m completely open to changing my opinion on this and indeed, I would love to be convinced that I’m making a mountain out of a molehill because, as I’ve said, I do think that this is a great pack.
So here it is: I am a bit disappointed that most of the spells and potions just recycle features that we already have in the game. I did predict that this would be so but still I had hoped to be proved wrong.
In fact, here I am predicting this with uncanny accuracy back in August 2018 (bold added for emphasis):
MaggieMarley wrote: »I of course do want more occults, particularly mermaids and also werewolves. I see that witches are very popular and think they will probably be the next to enter the game. I would love witches if they are well implemented with new powers and such. But, what I kind of worry about with witches is that the game designers won’t give them any new powers - they will just recycle features which are already in the game. I suspect the vast majority of their spells will consist of doing things which either aliens or vampires can do, or can be purchased from the rewards store, or can be done by a scientist. Maybe they will be able to cast a spell to read others’ personality (aliens and vampires), or to teleport (vampires), to freeze other sims (scientist: freeze ray), to make a love potion (vampires alluring power or rewards store beguiling trait), to make a sim young again (rewards store potion of youth), make a potion or cast a spell to fix a sim’s needs (rewards store: moodlet solver) to cast hallucinations on other sims (vampires) or maybe they will be able to make potions which do the same as the scientist career’s serums. The point is, while I would love to be proved wrong, I suspect that the majority of the powers that witches will have are in the game already.
With that said, I will now go through all the spells and potions from ROM and point out any recycling.
Spells:
Despairio - Makes a sim sad. Sims with the mastermind reward trait from the public enemy aspiration can already make sims instantly sad.
Deliriate - makes a sim dazed I think. I could have just given them too much kava.
Furio - convince two sims to argue and fight. Being able to make two sims argue/fight is new (although the vampire command power allows you to make a sim be mean to another sim which could result in a fight) but fighting and arguing are both in the game already - this point equally applies to any spell which influences emotions.
Infatuate - not 100% sure what this one does but it sounds as though it either makes the other sim flirty in which case it does the same as the beguiling reward trait or the vampire alluring visage power of the flirty or the flirty potion from the rewards store or the flutter berry from jungle adventure. Alternatively, it gives your sim a slight romantic relationship gain with another sim (and so works the same as the flirty introduction or enchanting introduction). Or it may instantly give your sim a significantly good romantic relationship level with the other sim (in which case it does the same as the romantic besties intro from GF)
Burgliate - A spell to steal things. Which kleptos can already do. But it’s cool that you can still steal things even if you are caught.
Morphiate - turns a sim into an object. I’ll let the fact that it seems only to turn sims into objects which are already in the game pass because this is cool. But it would have been nice if we could turn sims into frogs or other animals or even other sims.
Strangeify - makes a sim repulsive to others. Not sure exactly what this one does but if it only influences the emotions of others we have various things in game which can do that already.
Inferniate - allows you to set a sim (or object I think) on fire. Looks as though they recycled the fire Ray from one of the GF acting gigs here. Oh and you can’t kill a sim this way. Again, recycles an animation already in game since sims burning is in the base game.
ZipZap - electrocutes a sim. This can’t kill sims so it’s very similar to the mischief hand buzzer animation. It’s not quite the same thing but one of the relics from JA allows you to mark a sim for death by electrocution.
Necrocall - allows you to summon ghosts. The book of life from the best selling author aspiration already allows you to call a ghost.
Chillio - freezes a sim and can put out fires. This does the exact same thing as the freeze ray that you can make in the scientist career.
Minionize- allows you to control another sim. I think this one just lets you make another sim do things for you. I don’t know what things exactly but we can already use the SimRay from GTW to command another sim to change clothes, sit, eat, clean, sleep, panic. And the vampire command power allows you to make another sim to clean, repair, sit, workout or be mean to another sim. I bet the spell will only allow us to do the things which the SimRay and vampire power already enable us to do.
DeDeathify - resurrects a dead sim. We already have lots of ways to do this: ambrosia, book of life, wishing well. So again, they’re recycling a functionality that is already available.
DeCursify - Gets rid of a curse. This works in the same way as the celebrity cleanse which gets rid of celebrity quirks. Curses and the spell which removes them work using the celebrity quirks system which is already in the game - so again, not made from scratch.
Repairio - instantly repair something. The handy reward trait from completing the nerd brain aspiration already allows you to instantly repair or upgrade an item.
Scruberoo - Instantly clean someone or something. I believe this is new and it’s kind of cool although the waterfall in a bottle from JA allows you to clean a sim pretty much instantly. And there is the speed cleaner reward trait which lets you clean much faster.
Delicioso - enables you to summon food out of thin air. This clearly uses the same system which, in the base game, allows sims with the ‘melt master’ reward trait from completing the grilled cheese aspiration to summon grilled cheese out of thin air.
Floralorial - keeps your plants healthy and weed free. This seems new and would be helpful too.
Transportalate- teleportation. Well anyone can do this with testing cheats enabled. But besides that, sims can already teleport with high enough wellness skill from spa day and teleportation (mist form) is a vampire power.
Copypasto- seems to do the same thing as the cloning machine from GTW. It may do a little more though as you seem to be able to duplicate plants (which I don’t think that the cloning machine can do) and it can make more than one copy at a time.
Herbio - creates a fully grown plant. This is new (although there is a cheat which allows you to grow a plant to maturity instantly) and seems useful.
And then the potions:
Potion of good fortune - You’ll find helpful items while doing everyday activities. This is new but I bet those “helpful items” are already in game.
Potion of plentiful needs - fills a sim’s needs. The needs fixer serum from GTW will do this. And we can already achieve the same effect by cheats or by using a selection of rewards potions from the rewards store (instant fun, instant hygiene, sleep replacement, moodlet solver). Plus you can of course do this with cheats.
Potion of nausea - makes a sim feel sick. You could just feed them some spoilt food though.
Potion of the nimble mind - Increases skill speed gain like the potions you can get in the mail with get famous. One outcome of the Wishing Well will also do this for you, there are various lot traits which speed up skill gain of certain skills and having a skeletal helper from JA around speeds up skill gain.
Potion of the magical aura - makes your sim sparkle. GF gave us sparkling sims (celebrities) already.
Potion of the alluring aura - makes those around the drinker more receptive to romantic conversation. Soooo like the vampire alluring visage power, then?
Potion of emotional stability - removes negative moodlets. Like the moodlet solver potion from the rewards store.
Potion of perk purging - allows a spellcaster to choose different perks. Probably works in the same way as the vampire reconfiguration potion or celebrity cleanse.
Potion of forced friendship - I’m guessing that this gives you instant friendship with a person. In other words, it works in the same way as the incredibly friendly reward trait, polite introduction from Parenthood, or instant besties intro from GF.
Potion of masterful insults - Not sure what this does. Makes a sim instantly disliked? That’s nothing that a rude introduction wouldn’t do.
Potion of rejuvenation - Resets a sim’s age bar to the start of the current life stage but does not freeze aging i.e. Does the exact same thing as the potion of youth from the rewards store or the age-away potion from GTW.
Potion of curse cleansing - does the same thing as the DeCursify spell. That means they are recycling functionality even within the same pack in an attempt to make it seem like there is more new content than there is. It also means that the same points apply as were pertinent to the DeCursity spell: This works in the same way as the celebrity cleanse which gets rid of celebrity quirks. Curses and the spell which removes them work using the celebrity quirks system which is already in the game - so again, not made from scratch.
Potion of immortality - Stops a sim dying of old age only (but not from other means). Does not freeze aging. Does much the same as a death flower or the Reaper’s Friend serum from GTW.
Potion of the transcendent charmer - I don’t know what this does. Perhaps it’s a love potion which makes a sim instantly have a romantic relation with you. In that case it may or may not do the same as the infatuate spell and the same effect could also be achieved by a flirty introduction, enchanting introduction or romantic besties introduction (GF) depending on how much it fills up the romantic relationship bar.
Potion of prompt resurrection: Does the same thing as the DeDeathify spell so here is some more intra pack recycling. And of course it also does the same thing as ambrosia, the book of life or the wishing well
Oh and don’t get me started on the fact that broomsticks work in the same way as the bat form for vampires.
Of course, it’s great that being a spellcaster will allow us to do all these things without jumping through the hoops that you would usually have to jump through to do them. And yes, of course you would expect at least some spells and potions to enable you to more easily do certain things which already exist in everyday life.
They are great spells/potions. I’m not disputing that. And I’m not disputing that they should be in the pack. But what I am saying is that, given that the majority of these spells/potions recycle things that were already in game, they did not take so much time/effort/money to make as would have been needed to make a spell/potion which had a brand new effect. So, having saved all that time and money it would have been nice if they had used it to come up with some such brand new spells and potions.
There are a lot of spells and potions and it’s easy to think that means there is a lot of new content. But really, there’s not because of all the recycling.
Packs are meant to give us genuinely new content, rather than dressing features from the base game or other packs up and making us pay for it again under a different name.
Since I own all the packs I could technically already create a sim who is capable of doing most of the things which spellcasters will be able to achieve with their spells and potions (albeit with a bit of effort). That can’t be right.
Anyway let’s please keep this civil. I’m not attacking anyone here. As I’ve said, I’m open to hearing other people’s views and to changing mine. I’m the first to admit that I don’t know how difficult it is to make a video game. Perhaps it was very difficult even to make spells and potions that recycle existing features so that we are lucky to even have that and have no right to complain. And if that’s the case, then I stand corrected.
Post edited by MaggieMarley on
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Comments
and mood fiddling never excited me as its way too easy already i dont need another potion for it
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Honestly, I was expecting this. In fact, here I am predicting this with uncanny accuracy back in August 2018 (bold added for emphasis):
And it’s not that I’m not happy with this. But I would have liked more spells that do genuinely new things in addition to the others that recycle existing features. Perhaps, for example:
- A spell that pauses time and freezes all the sims except your sim. Your sim can freeze time and mess with other sims before unfreezing time.
- A telekinesis spell
- Invisibility potion
- Accio (a spell to summon objects to your sim which would fly through the air to your sim from wherever they were)
- polyjuice potion
- proper broomsticks
- Change season
- turn objects into animals or vice versa
- levitate things
- Proper broomsticks which you can actually fly around (I.e. which don’t just work like the vampire bat form) and maybe even a sport like Quiddich
- predict the future
- spell which turns objects touched to gold (Midas touch)
- glamour
- Ability to fly without a broom (maybe even grow wings)
- Spell to change the size of objects or sims to minuscule (think fairy size) or huge
I could go on but I won’t.
There’s so many ideas for spells/potions out there which would have brought something new to the game. Just doing some research on popular fiction and folklore about magic brings up a lot.
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
It would be nice to have only completely original things (but then, I'd guess that coming up with those isn't easy) that can be done with magic, but I also like having a variety of ways to achieve the same goal.
Examples:
Instant Repair. As you said, it's already in-game via an aspiration. But with RoM, a Sim will be able to achieve that ability without needing to complete that aspiration.
Potion of the magical aura: sure, the glow for famous Sims is already in GF. But not everyone has that EP and if they do, the glow only applies under specific conditions and not everyone wants their Sims to follow the fame direction.
ZipZap: yeah, electrocution exists in-game, but does the ability to electrocute Sims on purpose? (no, I don't mean can a player set up a Sim to be electrocuted, I mean can one Sim electrocute another)
I don't think it stops being new or innovative or good just because it uses existing parts of the game and builds on them. It's still new in terms of the how things are done. As you said, being a spellcaster will allow a Sim to do things without jumping through hoops elsewhere. I see this as a good thing.
Now, if every single potion and spell was a copy of something in one specific part of the game, be it base game or one of the packs, then I'd be on the same "what's with the recycling" boat. The ones that are similar (still with new ways though, as I mentioned) are from multiple places across packs though (which for me means I don't need to rush into Spa Day or Vampires to be able to teleport, for example). There's a lot of new stuff in the pack, from what I saw - new worlds, new interactions, the familiars, the Sages, etc. For me, not everything has to be a complete departure from everything else already existing in the game.
Well... you already know how I feel about this and I don't need to repeat my thoughts here, so yeah.
All of these would have definitely been good additions. *heavy sigh*
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I agree. But I still think that it’s a little unfair that for those of us that have the other packs we end up paying for the same content twice.
Yes, that’s why I said:
I agree. I am not saying that I don't think there should be any spells/potions in the pack which reuse existing features. Not at all. I just think that if they are going to give us a lot of things which do recycle existing features, they should also try to give us more spells/potions with brand new effects than they actually have. As I said here:
As for ZipZap: As I mentioned, there’s the JA relic which lets you mark another sim for death by electrocution. Given the transitivity of causation, you could say that your sim has caused that other sim to be electrocuted.
Well...
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
*awaits crucifixion at the hands of a mob of angry simmers*
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
The question is, where is the line drawn that makes a pack "worth it" for the price that it is, given the variety of circumstances: what packs someone already has (which influences the "I can do this in a different way already"), what one expects from this pack (a different way of doing similar things, different things to do, etc), content other than the spells and potions (how do new interactions or gameplay weigh against new build/buy or new CAS).
The fact that someone came up with a list of possibilities doesn't mean it's easy to do so for everyone, especially when they're weighed against "how can this be done". Some of those would have been nice to have, I'm not arguing that. Of course, we also don't know how easy it would be to implement them either.
It really is a matter of perspective and what you value in any given pack's content. Even with some of the actions/effects existing in the game already, for me having new ways to do them (as I said, as long as it's not just, ahem, copypasta with a recolor, which it doesn't seem to be so far) it's valuable content for me.
No I don’t think the angry mob has come for me yet
I hope you don’t think I was arguing with you. I do value your perspective and I was actually trying to show that I share your perspective on most of the points that you raised. For example, I agree that not everything has to be brand new and that, even if content is recycled, being a spellcaster will make those features easier to access. Currently, if you wanted all of these features, you’d have to go to a lot of effort: becoming a vampire, being a scientist, accumulating reward traits, completing certain aspirations etc. It’s nice to have it “all in one place” as it were.
But I do still think that the fact they recycled so much did probably save them a lot of time, money and effort. And I think it’s a shame that that didn’t go into bringing us a greater amount of brand new content in addition to what is actually in the pack.
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
Defninitely being able to have that combination of things in one place is going to be nice. Being able to do a play with magic without the need to complement it via other parts, or without the use of either cheats or rewards for those things (yo, some challenges have definitely been made easier) is absolutely welcome. And some of the new things are also helpful.
Unfortunately, a lot of the resource division is always going to seem like the decisions are made the wrong way for some. Maybe some weren't the best ones (not just for this pack, obviously) and there are bound to be people on all levels of the satisfaction scale. Where the team maybe skimped on brand new content, it left them space for other things within the pack. I'm of course looking at it from the point of them having a specific budget, money and time-wise, and wondering whether it was a case of "we saved money and time" or "how many things can we reimagine to have more content with the same resources".
Sounds like you want Harry Potter.
What did you expect? What else can they do. Yes vampires have most form, but I have to have a vampire for that. Yes I can learn the wellness skill, but what if my sim isn’t a wellness sim, and no cheats do not count because that’s cheating lol.
I think they did well with the spells the only one I have a critique about is they turn into random objects and not a frog.
The potions could’ve been better I’ll give you that. But you’re missing the point. Magic is supposed to make everyday things easier, which these spells do. I’d rather not have to find a book of life or cool and wait for food to rot when I can just cast a spell or throw a potion.
—T
As I said, I did expect this (although I hoped for more!) but I do think that the fact they recycled so much did probably save them a lot of time, money and effort. And it’s a shame that that didn’t go into bringing us a greater amount of brand new content in addition to what is actually in the pack.
Like I said, my problem isn’t so much that there is recycled content but that they didn’t use the time and money saved from recycling so much content to give us more brand new content in addition.
And I also said that I realise magic is meant to make everyday life easier so I’m glad that they have included the spells and potions that they have. But a lot of other (and more impressive) things fall under magic too which I’d have liked to have seen included.
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
Yeah I’m not ready to board the “this is plum” train yet either.
You’re right. Whereas perhaps new gameplay has been sacrificed we have got a beautiful new world and it’s cool that the realm is floating. There seems to be a lot of great BB too. There’s a lot to love about this pack.
Sigh. Maybe there would have been more spells/potions if it had been an EP...
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
I think what makes the spellcasters so powerful is that they will have all these spells at their fingertips, it's not only about not needing to complete certain aspiration but that the same sim will have access to things that at least in my gameplay are really, really rare abilities. In my huge rotation I have one sim with wellness teleportation skill, one sim with the nerd brain aspiration completed and no sim with public enemy aspiration completed. Maybe magic wont be so new for people who play "super sims" but for others these powers will likely offer new opportunities.
Updated with Werewolf Diaries (1)
Glad I’m not the only one to think this. I also love occult’s so I am excited for this. It may even turn out to be my favourite TS4 pack. But I do feel like it could have been more which bugs me a bit.
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
I agree that, even if content is recycled, being a spellcaster will make those features easier to access. Currently, if you wanted all of these features, you’d have to go to a lot of effort: becoming a vampire, being a scientist, accumulating reward traits, completing certain aspirations etc. It’s nice to have it “all in one place” as it were. And that does make spellcasters a great asset.
But I do still think that the fact they recycled so much did probably save them a lot of time, money and effort. And I think it’s a shame that that didn’t go into bringing us a greater amount of brand new content in addition to what is actually in the pack.
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
Maybe it would. But then maybe if it were an EP, the focus wouldn't be this strong on magic as people would expect (or the team would, not wrongly, assume so) an EP to cover more than one lifestate and one world and one way of doing things. Plus, it would be double the price, in the end. Even the devs said that the game packs allow them to dive deeper into a theme when it's in a GP than they ever could in an EP. In a way, it's a no-win situation maybe.
With the part about what's been sacrificed in gameplay vs what we are getting, I think about it this way: they had time and resources allocated for gameplay and the decision was: do we make 5 new spells that are completely new in all ways, or do we make 2 brand new ones and 10 that are a variation of existing things. It's not necessarily gameplay vs CAS vs BB vs world. Of course, the allocation of resources and whether it's right or wrong is up for debate, one where the sides heavily depend on personal preferences.
I was looking forward to this because I played the witches in Sims 3 primarily to turn sims into toads, to automatically clean the house and repair things and for alchemy - making potions. But with Herbalism and GTW Science career many of the things spellcasters do, I already have in the game, with the exception of turning a sim into a toad! And there is no Bonehilda, who incidentally was super great to have when you owned resorts because she would leave the home lot, travel to the resort and fix things.
So two items from Sims 3 that I love that did not come over to Sims 4 - Resorts and Bonehilda. Two life states didn't come over - toad sims and Plant sims (yeah I know plant sims are in the game, but they are an after thought and not worth playing.) I loved plant sims in sims 2, especially how they gave birth. And I loved the toddler plant sims in Sims 3. I was really looking forward to an expansion of this life state as it was one of the favorite ones I played.
I do like how the dueling in Sims 4 is beefed up from Sims 3, but this game pack doesn't make me want to rush out and purchase it like Strangerville did. I absolutely love that game pack as it includes some bizarre weather, weird behaving sims and the mother of all mother plants. Plus if you love gardening Strangerville is the best place to have a farm - just don't solve the mystery and you will have a great farm, because the Mother is all about keeping plants alive.
So, I won't purchase the GP now, but I may get it for Christmas.
Really bummed that nothing truly new was added, especially new life states like toad sims.
But the story behind how the world was split and how the three factions work to keep it together is cool. Interested in seeing the stories simmers make with this GP.
I don't think so, because Island Living is an EP and they left so much out from Sims 3. I personally think it should've been better than Sims 3. Though I do like the volcano, the island spirits (not sure the impact it will have on my game yet), and the conservation career, which are new.
The ROM spellcaster world is pretty, though a bit on the dark side, would've like to see some sun too, maybe when the sun rose it was multiple suns with tons of prisms in the sky.
I'm a lil on the weary side because I thought JA would've been on par and better than World Adventures and it is a beautiful world, but the adventures leave alot to be desired. I need to see simmers play this world to get a bit more excited about it.
Also, would've preferred a motel in Glimmerbrook instead of another bar, so it could be a vacation spot for sims.
For comparison here is what witches did in Sims 3: https://carls-sims-3-guide.com/supernatural/witches.php?cmtx_page=2
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I know they put a lot of work into it and I don't know what time and budget they are working with. Maybe they cut corners on purpose or maybe they did the best they could. I'll never know so I won't complain. But I am disappointed
I just realised how to summarise the essence of what is bothering me about ROM in one sentence:
Since I own all the packs I could technically already create a sim who is capable of doing most of the things which spellcasters will be able to achieve with their spells and potions (albeit with a bit of effort) and that can’t be right.
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*