I agree, unfortunately. All this reused emotion stuff... *shudder* why just why. This is what I was afraid of. Ugh. I hope ira possible for modders to make new spells with nice animations, somehow! Sims 4 has great promise, it looks beautiful and you can travel in any world, but the gameplay is so lacking. And animations especially. Sims 2 in comparison is so ahead of it, but I cant handle being confined to one lot for so long. I knew I shouldn't get my hopes up.
I agree, unfortunately. All this reused emotion stuff... *shudder* why just why. This is what I was afraid of. Ugh. I hope ira possible for modders to make new spells with nice animations, somehow! Sims 4 has great promise, it looks beautiful and you can travel in any world, but the gameplay is so lacking. And animations especially. Sims 2 in comparison is so ahead of it, but I cant handle being confined to one lot for so long. I knew I shouldn't get my hopes up.
@Angellulu in what way is Sims 2 so ahead of Sims 4?
wocka wocka wockaWho gave that puppy asparagus?please do not send me private messages - they creep me out 🤢🤮😱
well i love this pack, but i understand your point because myself i wanted more potion and spells in special that interfered with other expansions, like in past games, potions for get reputation, spell to control weather (like de mermaids), potions for vampirism and mermaids.
these additional things that make the package seem complete and connected with others. The only packages or the only one that updates every time we have new content is get together. with new club rules. Some have mentioned that it is not placed to not have the feeling of incomplete content and need to buy the other packages, but the sims has always been thus connecting expansions and having something new for those who have much of the products.
buts i love what i see, because this pack it's the most close of makin magic that's it's my favorite.
You hit the head on the nail with this one. I agree 100%. I also love sims and everything and I expected this but I'm super disappointed in those spells and potions. I really didn't want things that effects emotions or moods or needs or anything we have plenty of that. I know some like it but I agree with you I wanted almost all new fresh magic ideas. I feel like they missed so many opportunities.
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 with you.
I am sorry that you’re disappointed but I’m glad that I’m not the only one.
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.
It can be right for others, if they want to have gameplay choices. Like the choice between a sink and a dishwasher, going jogging or a treadmill.
Not having those options allows you to do a thing with a Sim, but forcing players into one way only to achieve that thing.
Still not arguing that new interactions would have been awesome, but that sentence as it is dismisses the importance of the reinvented ones for varied and personalised gameplay.
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.
You hit the head on the nail with this one. I agree 100%. I also love sims and everything and I expected this but I'm super disappointed in those spells and potions. I really didn't want things that effects emotions or moods or needs or anything we have plenty of that. I know some like it but I agree with you I wanted almost all new fresh magic ideas. I feel like they missed so many opportunities.
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 with you.
I am sorry that you’re disappointed but I’m glad that I’m not the only one.
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.
It can be right for others, if they want to have gameplay choices. Like the choice between a sink and a dishwasher, going jogging or a treadmill.
Not having those options allows you to do a thing with a Sim, but forcing players into one way only to achieve that thing.
Still not arguing that new interactions would have been awesome, but that sentence as it is dismisses the importance of the reinvented ones for varied and personalised gameplay.
That’s true. It’s nice to have options and I want them too. I’m fine with spellcasters being able to do things that are already in game. I just start to have a problem when most of the things they can do are already in game, which is why I wish that there were more abilities unique to them. They are meant to be their own unique life state, after all.
But I’m not going to get in a tizzy about it. I’m slightly bummed but this isn’t going to consume my life lol
You hit the head on the nail with this one. I agree 100%. I also love sims and everything and I expected this but I'm super disappointed in those spells and potions. I really didn't want things that effects emotions or moods or needs or anything we have plenty of that. I know some like it but I agree with you I wanted almost all new fresh magic ideas. I feel like they missed so many opportunities.
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 with you.
I am sorry that you’re disappointed but I’m glad that I’m not the only one.
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.
It can be right for others, if they want to have gameplay choices. Like the choice between a sink and a dishwasher, going jogging or a treadmill.
Not having those options allows you to do a thing with a Sim, but forcing players into one way only to achieve that thing.
Still not arguing that new interactions would have been awesome, but that sentence as it is dismisses the importance of the reinvented ones for varied and personalised gameplay.
That’s true. It’s nice to have options and I want them too. I’m fine with spellcasters being able to do things that are already in game. I just start to have a problem when most of the things they can do are already in game, which is why I wish that there were more abilities unique to them. They are meant to be their own unique life state, after all.
But I’m not going to get in a tizzy about it. I’m slightly bummed but this isn’t going to consume my life lol
Here's to hoping that despite the lack of completely new spells and potions, the pacck will still be awesome for gameplay and overall content in general
I was hoping for more pack connecting spells and potions too, but the way they designed the spell system with the book of spells makes it hard for them to include them. Can you imagine there being a spell under untamed allowing your sim to manipulate the weather but you could only unlock it if you owned seasons? A spell to turn a human into a pet or vise versa that could only be unlocked it you owned pets? People would riot. Not to mention they would still technically fall under the recycled from previous packs label, which seems to be the OP's main complaint.
I'm still looking forward to this pack, and don't actually have too big an issue with them reusing things from other packs. I was hoping that witches would be able to freeze and set people on fire and would have been disappointed if they hadn't included them. As it stands right now, we still don't know exactly what all of the spells and potions do, so still hoping for a couple of surprises.
Can you imagine there being a spell under untamed allowing your sim to manipulate the weather but you could only unlock it if you owned seasons? A spell to turn a human into a pet or vise versa that could only be unlocked it you owned pets? People would riot. Not to mention they would still technically fall under the recycled from previous packs label, which seems to be the OP's main complaint.
People can have pets as familiars if they have the Cats and Dogs EP so....it would not have been an issue to have a spell that turned a human into a pet or vice versa. So I don't think folks would riot about that or the weather spell. There is a small pets stuff pack that has additional items that only can be accessed if you have the Cats and Dogs EP.
Anywho, as for additional life states I just wanted the toad sim spell, because that tickled the heck out of me. I particularly enjoyed turning paparazzi into toad sims.
wocka wocka wockaWho gave that puppy asparagus?please do not send me private messages - they creep me out 🤢🤮😱
Can you imagine there being a spell under untamed allowing your sim to manipulate the weather but you could only unlock it if you owned seasons? A spell to turn a human into a pet or vise versa that could only be unlocked it you owned pets? People would riot. Not to mention they would still technically fall under the recycled from previous packs label, which seems to be the OP's main complaint.
People can have pets as familiars if they have the Cats and Dogs EP so....it would not have been an issue to have a spell that turned a human into a pet or vice versa. So I don't think folks would riot about that or the weather spell. There is a small pets stuff pack that has additional items that only can be accessed if you have the Cats and Dogs EP.
Anywho, as for additional life states I just wanted the toad sim spell, because that tickled the heck out of me. I particularly enjoyed turning paparazzi into toad sims.
The cats and dogs familiars are an addition to ones existing in RoM though, so not having C&D doesn't stop a Sim from having a familiar. It's different than if we had a space in the spellbook that wouldn't be accessible/possible to complete without another pack. MFPS was criticised heavily precisely because of that dependence.
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.[/quote]
i like all of this.
levitate things - imagine your sim being able to use their wand to levitate objects and sheesh like how ghosts do when they possess them and nearby sims would just freak out and stuff like that.
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):
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. Electrocution was already a thing and this can’t kill sims. 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 - I don’t know what this does but I have a feeling that it just makes a sim focused, in which case there is already a reward potion for that and a emotion berry from JA.
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 - I assume this gets rid of certain powers or curses? 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 - probably does the 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 - I’m not 100% sure what this does. It either pauses aging (just as vampirism already does) and stops a sim dying from being electrocuted, starving etc (as a death flower does) or it just stops a sim dying without pausing aging. Either way, it piggybacks off existing functionality.
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.
Thank you for taking the time to write this out. It was very interesting. I’m sadly not surprised. I’m disappointed that it appears that now spell casters don’t actually have many unique things to them that normal sims or even life forms can’t do in some way already.
Hmm there is some new stuff? Duplicating themselves and objects, a repair spell, a conjure food spell, turning sims into objects, creating a fully grown plant, .. I can't remember them all tbh. I mean, for some I see what you mean but there's still a nice variety of fun spells here for me personally. More is always great of course but I had high hopes for this, and so far I'm not disappointed.
@MidnightAura Um.. Since when could S4 Vampires make potions or copy an item and make eight more?
I’m talking overall. Your example is very specific. Vampires can’t make potions but there is recycling there if as the OP says broomsticks are the same as bat form. Vampires can use potions in the rewards store I think? So they don’t need to make them. Minionate and the teleportation spells as described by the OP does sound very much like features vampires already have. I agree it would have been nice to see spell casters get new things, not re using assets in the game already.
Would be cool if with a high level spellcaster, you could create custom spells, like pick whether it's a spell on yourself or on other sim/s. Some examples could be like a spell to erase some sims memories(reset relationship, skills) or make them do any action/social interaction you want.
This way you could also make spells that take into account the other dlc you own, so for example turn a sim into a pet or turn a vampire back into a normal sim.
This still wouldn't maybe necessarily add anything new to the game, but at least it'd give the player creative freedom to just make whatever spell they want for anyone (like me) who's disappointed with the spells we are getting now.
Yeah but if you don't like vampires and never looked it up and bought Magic cuz you like mages you'd never know teleport is already an ability another life state has access to.
Occultism in Sims is family-friendly and should not be watered down to cater to realism players
Hmm there is some new stuff? Duplicating themselves and objects, a repair spell, a conjure food spell, turning sims into objects, creating a fully grown plant, .. I can't remember them all tbh. I mean, for some I see what you mean but there's still a nice variety of fun spells here for me personally. More is always great of course but I had high hopes for this, and so far I'm not disappointed.
Hmm there is some new stuff? Duplicating themselves and objects, a repair spell, a conjure food spell, turning sims into objects, creating a fully grown plant, .. I can't remember them all tbh. I mean, for some I see what you mean but there's still a nice variety of fun spells here for me personally. More is always great of course but I had high hopes for this, and so far I'm not disappointed.
Hmm there is some new stuff? Duplicating themselves and objects, a repair spell, a conjure food spell, turning sims into objects, creating a fully grown plant, .. I can't remember them all tbh. I mean, for some I see what you mean but there's still a nice variety of fun spells here for me personally. More is always great of course but I had high hopes for this, and so far I'm not disappointed.
I’m not saying there isn’t some new stuff, although three of your examples are unfortunate.
As I have pointed out in my original post, duplicating oneself and objects is a recycled feature (cloning machine) as is instantly repairing objects. And the ability to conjure food instantly is in the game already too (sims with the melt master trait from completing the grilled cheese aspiration can conjure grilled cheese):
Repairio - instantly repair something. The handy reward trait from completing the nerd brain aspiration already allows you to instantly repair or upgrade an item.
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.
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.
As for your other examples (turning sims into objects and creating a fully grown plant) I admit in my original post that these are new features:
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.
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.
In fact, in my original post I go through every single one of the spells and potions and say whether or not they involve recycling. You’ll be surprised by just how many do involve recycling - even I was and I was expecting it!
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):
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. Electrocution was already a thing and this can’t kill sims. 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 - I don’t know what this does but I have a feeling that it just makes a sim focused, in which case there is already a reward potion for that and a emotion berry from JA.
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 - I assume this gets rid of certain powers or curses? 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 - probably does the 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 - I’m not 100% sure what this does. It either pauses aging (just as vampirism already does) and stops a sim dying from being electrocuted, starving etc (as a death flower does) or it just stops a sim dying without pausing aging. Either way, it piggybacks off existing functionality.
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.
Thank you for taking the time to write this out. It was very interesting. I’m sadly not surprised. I’m disappointed that it appears that now spell casters don’t actually have many unique things to them that normal sims or even life forms can’t do in some way already.
No worries. I hate to be a Debbie downer and I am usually not “that person” but I felt that the devs should know that we are aware of the amount of recycling that goes on so that it doesn’t get too out of hand.
Hmm there is some new stuff? Duplicating themselves and objects, a repair spell, a conjure food spell, turning sims into objects, creating a fully grown plant, .. I can't remember them all tbh. I mean, for some I see what you mean but there's still a nice variety of fun spells here for me personally. More is always great of course but I had high hopes for this, and so far I'm not disappointed.
I’m not saying there isn’t some new stuff, although three of your examples are unfortunate.
As I have pointed out in my original post, duplicating oneself and objects is a recycled feature (cloning machine) as is instantly repairing objects. And the ability to conjure food instantly is in the game already too (sims with the melt master trait from completing the grilled cheese aspiration can conjure grilled cheese):
Repairio - instantly repair something. The handy reward trait from completing the nerd brain aspiration already allows you to instantly repair or upgrade an item.
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.
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.
As for your other examples (turning sims into objects and creating a fully grown plant) I admit in my original post that these are new features:
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.
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.
In fact, in my original post I go through every single one of the spells and potions and say whether or not they involve recycling. You’ll be surprised by just how many do involve recycling - even I was and I was expecting it!
The thing is I've played this game for an endless amount of hours but I hate aspirations or job grinding. I've completed maybe 3-4 aspirations, I almost never get any reward traits except for always welcome and stormchaser, and I haven't reached the end of most careers. So I have to be honest that I find all of these useful. I also think conjuring up grilled cheese isn't exactly the same as what we're getting know, since I don't want to be only conjuring up grilled cheese.
Thing is, I do see your point, I just think there's a limit to what they can do without starting to create kind of similar things in this regard. You mention a spell for changing seasons for example - but there's already a machine that does that right? Is that new? I think if reward traits didn't exist their life would've been easier here they've always had somewhat magical qualities to them xD
Hmm there is some new stuff? Duplicating themselves and objects, a repair spell, a conjure food spell, turning sims into objects, creating a fully grown plant, .. I can't remember them all tbh. I mean, for some I see what you mean but there's still a nice variety of fun spells here for me personally. More is always great of course but I had high hopes for this, and so far I'm not disappointed.
I’m not saying there isn’t some new stuff, although three of your examples are unfortunate.
As I have pointed out in my original post, duplicating oneself and objects is a recycled feature (cloning machine) as is instantly repairing objects. And the ability to conjure food instantly is in the game already too (sims with the melt master trait from completing the grilled cheese aspiration can conjure grilled cheese):
Repairio - instantly repair something. The handy reward trait from completing the nerd brain aspiration already allows you to instantly repair or upgrade an item.
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.
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.
As for your other examples (turning sims into objects and creating a fully grown plant) I admit in my original post that these are new features:
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.
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.
In fact, in my original post I go through every single one of the spells and potions and say whether or not they involve recycling. You’ll be surprised by just how many do involve recycling - even I was and I was expecting it!
The thing is I've played this game for an endless amount of hours but I hate aspirations or job grinding. I've completed maybe 3-4 aspirations, I almost never get any reward traits except for always welcome and stormchaser, and I haven't reached the end of most careers. So I have to be honest that I find all of these useful. I also think conjuring up grilled cheese isn't exactly the same as what we're getting know, since I don't want to be only conjuring up grilled cheese.
Thing is, I do see your point, I just think there's a limit to what they can do without starting to create kind of similar things in this regard. You mention a spell for changing seasons for example - but there's already a machine that does that right? Is that new? I think if reward traits didn't exist their life would've been easier here they've always had somewhat magical qualities to them xD
Yes, the food conjuring spell isn’t exactly the same as the grilled cheese summoning ability in that you don’t conjure the same type of food (although I believe that with the food summoning spell you can still only summon one type of meal, at least from what the livestream showed) but that isn’t my point. We’re talking about pixels. The meals are all really the same thing but with different skins. My point is that the spell is piggybacking off a functionality which is already in the game (and which therefore they did not to spend effort recreating for this pack). They have saved money and time with this kind of recycling yet have not diverted that surplus money and time into creating more brand new content.
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.
I don’t think a season changing spell would be too bad if it’s a one off and mermaids can change the weather which would suffer the same problem but I see your point. However, there are still a lot of other brand new potential spells which they could have included but chose not to which wouldn’t have trespassed on content from other packs (I posted a brief list but a little research would turn up any number of others).
Anyhow I’m not tooo caught up on this. I still think the pack looks great and I know I will really enjoy it.
I am really excited about the brand new world and dueling, all of that is new.
I know that there is a budget for animations and I would not like to allocate anything of that from dueling or broom riding since they added fails for the later and that is fun. I don’t know how much is left after that and what could have been cut in order for something other to be developed.
I assume that they spent all their budgeted resources for objects, animations and so forth. So if we want something other than what we are getting something else would have to be axed and I haven’t seen anything so far that I would be willing to give up.
Would it be fun with more, why of course but from my personal viewpoint it is a very meaty pack with lots of gameplay. I am so so grateful that they even added portals that we can build with via cheats.
This is just my point of view, I am very happy with the pack.
Comments
@Angellulu in what way is Sims 2 so ahead of Sims 4?
these additional things that make the package seem complete and connected with others. The only packages or the only one that updates every time we have new content is get together. with new club rules. Some have mentioned that it is not placed to not have the feeling of incomplete content and need to buy the other packages, but the sims has always been thus connecting expansions and having something new for those who have much of the products.
buts i love what i see, because this pack it's the most close of makin magic that's it's my favorite.
It can be right for others, if they want to have gameplay choices. Like the choice between a sink and a dishwasher, going jogging or a treadmill.
Not having those options allows you to do a thing with a Sim, but forcing players into one way only to achieve that thing.
Still not arguing that new interactions would have been awesome, but that sentence as it is dismisses the importance of the reinvented ones for varied and personalised gameplay.
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
But I’m not going to get in a tizzy about it. I’m slightly bummed but this isn’t going to consume my life lol
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
Here's to hoping that despite the lack of completely new spells and potions, the pacck will still be awesome for gameplay and overall content in general
I'm still looking forward to this pack, and don't actually have too big an issue with them reusing things from other packs. I was hoping that witches would be able to freeze and set people on fire and would have been disappointed if they hadn't included them. As it stands right now, we still don't know exactly what all of the spells and potions do, so still hoping for a couple of surprises.
People can have pets as familiars if they have the Cats and Dogs EP so....it would not have been an issue to have a spell that turned a human into a pet or vice versa. So I don't think folks would riot about that or the weather spell. There is a small pets stuff pack that has additional items that only can be accessed if you have the Cats and Dogs EP.
Anywho, as for additional life states I just wanted the toad sim spell, because that tickled the heck out of me. I particularly enjoyed turning paparazzi into toad sims.
The cats and dogs familiars are an addition to ones existing in RoM though, so not having C&D doesn't stop a Sim from having a familiar. It's different than if we had a space in the spellbook that wouldn't be accessible/possible to complete without another pack. MFPS was criticised heavily precisely because of that dependence.
- 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.[/quote]
i like all of this.
levitate things - imagine your sim being able to use their wand to levitate objects and sheesh like how ghosts do when they possess them and nearby sims would just freak out and stuff like that.
Thank you for taking the time to write this out. It was very interesting. I’m sadly not surprised. I’m disappointed that it appears that now spell casters don’t actually have many unique things to them that normal sims or even life forms can’t do in some way already.
I’m talking overall. Your example is very specific. Vampires can’t make potions but there is recycling there if as the OP says broomsticks are the same as bat form. Vampires can use potions in the rewards store I think? So they don’t need to make them. Minionate and the teleportation spells as described by the OP does sound very much like features vampires already have. I agree it would have been nice to see spell casters get new things, not re using assets in the game already.
This way you could also make spells that take into account the other dlc you own, so for example turn a sim into a pet or turn a vampire back into a normal sim.
This still wouldn't maybe necessarily add anything new to the game, but at least it'd give the player creative freedom to just make whatever spell they want for anyone (like me) who's disappointed with the spells we are getting now.
You can turn sims into objects and clone yourself and things with Get to Work Science career: https://carls-sims-4-guide.com/careers/gettowork/scientist/?cmtx_page=5
I never got that far into the career I guess xD so for me it's probably a good thing that it's been added 😅
I’m not saying there isn’t some new stuff, although three of your examples are unfortunate.
As I have pointed out in my original post, duplicating oneself and objects is a recycled feature (cloning machine) as is instantly repairing objects. And the ability to conjure food instantly is in the game already too (sims with the melt master trait from completing the grilled cheese aspiration can conjure grilled cheese):
As for your other examples (turning sims into objects and creating a fully grown plant) I admit in my original post that these are new features:
In fact, in my original post I go through every single one of the spells and potions and say whether or not they involve recycling. You’ll be surprised by just how many do involve recycling - even I was and I was expecting it!
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*
The thing is I've played this game for an endless amount of hours but I hate aspirations or job grinding. I've completed maybe 3-4 aspirations, I almost never get any reward traits except for always welcome and stormchaser, and I haven't reached the end of most careers. So I have to be honest that I find all of these useful. I also think conjuring up grilled cheese isn't exactly the same as what we're getting know, since I don't want to be only conjuring up grilled cheese.
Thing is, I do see your point, I just think there's a limit to what they can do without starting to create kind of similar things in this regard. You mention a spell for changing seasons for example - but there's already a machine that does that right? Is that new? I think if reward traits didn't exist their life would've been easier here
Yes, the food conjuring spell isn’t exactly the same as the grilled cheese summoning ability in that you don’t conjure the same type of food (although I believe that with the food summoning spell you can still only summon one type of meal, at least from what the livestream showed) but that isn’t my point. We’re talking about pixels. The meals are all really the same thing but with different skins. My point is that the spell is piggybacking off a functionality which is already in the game (and which therefore they did not to spend effort recreating for this pack). They have saved money and time with this kind of recycling yet have not diverted that surplus money and time into creating more brand new content.
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.
I don’t think a season changing spell would be too bad if it’s a one off and mermaids can change the weather which would suffer the same problem but I see your point. However, there are still a lot of other brand new potential spells which they could have included but chose not to which wouldn’t have trespassed on content from other packs (I posted a brief list but a little research would turn up any number of others).
Anyhow I’m not tooo caught up on this. I still think the pack looks great and I know I will really enjoy it.
Vlad The Dad: A 100 Baby Challenge, Vlad as ‘matriarch’ *COMPLETE*
Breed Out The Weird *COMPLETE*
I am really excited about the brand new world and dueling, all of that is new.
I know that there is a budget for animations and I would not like to allocate anything of that from dueling or broom riding since they added fails for the later and that is fun. I don’t know how much is left after that and what could have been cut in order for something other to be developed.
I assume that they spent all their budgeted resources for objects, animations and so forth. So if we want something other than what we are getting something else would have to be axed and I haven’t seen anything so far that I would be willing to give up.
Would it be fun with more, why of course but from my personal viewpoint it is a very meaty pack with lots of gameplay. I am so so grateful that they even added portals that we can build with via cheats.
This is just my point of view, I am very happy with the pack.