Haven't done one of these since Discover University, but here it is: my "your _NEW Pack_ rating" thread
Always love doing these & very curious to know how you guys feel about Snowy Escape! I'll add my rating later on below after I've played it (and, for that matter, have it, still waiting for the key lol).
Please remember, though, as always: this is supposed to be a
helpful thread for those who are still on the fence about buying this pack. Feel free to voice your opinions, but don't go attacking others for theirs. And try to be a little objective - i.e. wait until you've actually played the pack, and remember that while the crashes many of us are experiencing right now are annoying, you should rate
the pack, not the patch.
So, without further ado: on a scale from 1 to 10 - 1 being "I wish I could return this atrocity" and 10 being "Simtastic, best pack ever" - how would YOU rate Snowy Escape?
Comments
That's how it's intended, same for me! Looking forward to your rating!
I hate that I'm constantly seeing sims from the other worlds everywhere. It ruins the immersion of island an authentic Japanese world for me.
My sims seem to be sad a lot during their vacation from either being bad at winter sports or sharing sadness with other sims. I want them to be happy and enjoy their vacation.
I wish the world of Mt. Komorebi came with a restaurant instead of a lounge.
My game keeps crashing since installing the pack. It was fine before. I hope this will be fixed soon. It makes me feel a bit tense while playing.
I do like what is offered in the pack, YET I feel like were definitely some things that were missed opportunities and things they could have explored. I know some complain about the snowy sports that should have been in Seasons, but unless there was a dedicated world for it like this can't see them having it unless there was like some huge obnoxious item to put on a lot (only thing that'd be like that is maybe a half pint for snowboarding? Would have liked to see that.) Gives me more of a reason to get my sims out of the house to be going on vacation and doing things. I really appreciate life stages from toddler and up able to participate in activities in this pack. Usually that gets overlooked, but this time around it really feels a like your sims can have a good family vacation when sledding with one another.
The festivals are about like the ones in City living, yet so far less bugged. They've been enjoyable with a lot of sims populating the area when something is going on there. Though without any event going on there it's pretty boring in the small part of town as there's only a food stand and vending machine, wish they would have put a bit more stuff to do there as it feels a bare. Very happy they brought vending machines finally to the game. Always missed them and added to community lots. Everything is just rather cozy in this new town.
Would have liked to see another culture skill much like Salvadorada. Futons, I REALLY wish they had made some. With the Kotasu table, just feels like it would have been perfect to give even a more authentic look for a Japanese home. The build/buy is very lovely has just the perfect items to make for any authentic, rustic japanese home or a little rental getaway. Combined with City Living there's so many various possibilities.
With the combination of Sentiments & Lifestyles I was surprised with how big a difference was made as Sims feels a lot less robotic and samey. It's really expanded more on them which to me help to define more personality with them which I has been missing a lot in the game. Think this had me more interested than anything as sims just seem to act a lot more accordingly with whatever relationship they have with other sims and having a particular lifestyle they go by as it's a way of having more traits. Not to mention them having them having a preference for eating utensils is really nice considering we get a LOT of recipes in this pack.
Haven't had the chance to explore rock climbing as that's next on the to do list~
The music is just lovely. Besides S-pop, there's japanese folklore music which is very soothing to listen to. Nice to listen to especially when your sim gets to hang out at the onsen. Hope there's in ground hot tubs in the future with how this functioned so nicely. I turned the lounge into a Kareoke bar and sims are having even more fun there.
Good pack to have though feel like it falls shorts between a game pack and expansion, much like Sulani but a step up from that. Definitely a lot more interesting than Star Wars and less linear. Probably more of a 7 once I play the rock climbing.
Hey Trippy, I don't know if you saw this post. They are addressing the crashing issues that came in the patch. They need save files, so that might be something you can help them with. I expect we'll get another patch real soon.
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/983645/crashing-with-the-november-10-update
Edit to say: apparently it's an audio issue? Disabling sound is supposed to make it stop crashing... but also means no sound until they fix it.
Love the pack. Love Japanese theming and enjoying the building/furniture stuff.
Reason why not a 10?? My sim is constantly sad cause she keeps falling off the snowboard. We are currently going to university and doing the footie stuff so I don't have a lot of time. It's a shame that she keeps going to uni/football in a sad mood.
Other reason... Obviously, my sim now lives in a snowy climate. It's always cold. There isn't really enough clothing options for cold weather. The majority of tops are either cropped or t-shirts.
I would love the option of layering clothes... so my sim could have on a festival t-shirt with an open jacket on top. Something like that.
On the whole, a really good pack though.
Hey yes I did see that, thanks for sharing! Currently waiting for my 100st game repair to finish, then I'll try playing with and without sound. If it continues to crash without sound, I'll probably give up til after the patch. Too much of a hassle Thanks again!
I can't find a treadmill that says it increases rock climbing skill. The only wallpaper that has a new look to it is the tile. The price is costly for bb so I gave it a 1.
Are you sure they meant the treadmill and not the rock climbing machine from Fitness Stuff?
I have to watch the videos with subtitles and the subtitles said treadmill. I can't remember which video it was.
I'm also pretty upset with having to make a new sim and she was 1/3 into aging up when I started playing the game. I had to add magic to her for the potion that resets her age to the start of young adult. Plus I'm having to grind her skills because the patch broke my builder sim's level 10 knitting skill by making it so she can't knit anything.
I have to give her the level 10 skills that my builder sim had which was, gardening, cooking, handy, programing, fitness, and logic. I'm not giving her knitting until I can do the aspiration. She has to have the gardening aspiration so she can put out fires. It took 9 hours to download the patch and 6 hours to download the EP. I've only got level 10 in cooking, handy, and gardening skills and still working on getting the gardening aspiration. Since the patch I have been grinding my sim and not been able to play the game play. So the pack gets a 1, it would have been higher if I got to play the game play.
The critique that I have for it is similar to my critique for Jungle adventure. I feel like we get a whitewashed version of what households actually look like in those cultures. I can definitely say that about the Hispanic households in the game, because I'm Hispanic. I can't say I'm an expert in Japanese households but I've travelled a lot in Japan and have consumed a lot of Japanese media. Still, my opinion on this is just impressions. I appreciate that they had Simmers build for the pack but I am under the impression they built Japanese inspired western homes instead of just Japanese homes, it would have been so cool if they had given that chance to Japanese Simmers instead. (I understand I can rebuild everything or get stuff from the Gallery, but in my opinion it is a statement to have those builds come with the game and it is that statement what makes me cringe). I could be totally wrong about this, but it's how I feel.
On that same note, it would have been cool to have a culture skill like in Jungle adventure. Have the option for foreign sims to learn that some things that in their worlds are normal can be rude in Mt. Komorebi (at least that's something I loved to learn as a Hispanic visiting Japan).
Some things I LOVE is that there's lots of things for kids to do, I appreciate the addition of uniforms (purely for sentimental reasons - although I understand they can be bad irl), I always like it when they add new music and food. Love all the new activities and the addition of lifestyles. Love details like the polite introduction, eating utensils preference and the option to choose "footwear" for the house.
This is definitely very high up in my expansion pack tear list! I'm very excited I can finally have more realistic scenery for when I pull some story-inspiration from my favourite anime
Blueprints for Japanese homes could also have been used as a starting point. They aren't hard to find online.
Treadmills do not increase rock climbing skill; that would be ridiculous. The rock climbing wall increases it.