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Impressed with the packs working together
simsace
Posts: 1,483 Member
I've been a vocal critic of Sims 4 for a long time(and still am). It's got a long way to go before being a well rounded game, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see packs working together.
I recently decided to get Get Together and Outdoor Retreat over the weekend during the 30% off sale and I'm pleasantly surprised that the packs will work with each other. Having Get To Work lets you run a coffee shop and have alien nights in bars, or having outdoor retreat causes the occasional bear night.
Maybe it's not some groundbreaking new feature, But it's nice to see expansions and game packs working together, something sims 3 was seriously lacking and I'm not even sure was done in sims 2 or 1. While this doesn't right all of the wrongs with sims 4 it's a nice step in the right direction, and I look forward to seeing how future expansions will work together.
I recently decided to get Get Together and Outdoor Retreat over the weekend during the 30% off sale and I'm pleasantly surprised that the packs will work with each other. Having Get To Work lets you run a coffee shop and have alien nights in bars, or having outdoor retreat causes the occasional bear night.
Maybe it's not some groundbreaking new feature, But it's nice to see expansions and game packs working together, something sims 3 was seriously lacking and I'm not even sure was done in sims 2 or 1. While this doesn't right all of the wrongs with sims 4 it's a nice step in the right direction, and I look forward to seeing how future expansions will work together.
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Comments
TS1 shouldn't be bashed at all, it was a groundbreaking game
TS3 had it partially like eg gardening, collecting & World Adventures or the jobs from the EP like nectar maker
but since TS3 is lacking any really working business functionality so it's hard to compare, unless one wants to count the Barrier to Entry System from the store's cinema venue, a similiar object was at least already in TS2 too but it was not included in GTW
TS2 lacks only in some minor parts like the University cafes which don't function fully as a business & as far i remember the hotels could be only owned but not managed, but every other part was interconnected
you could sell literally everything, you could run all sorts of restaurants, sims had to buy clothing in shops, as well as food both owned, run & managed by the active sim, your writer could have a small bookstore at the home lot, the painter could be married to a gallerist, you could have a bakery, pastry shop with a cafe & so on ...
your sim could even run a store from an apartment only ... but only with a mod
about TS4
i don't own Spa Day but i've read that you cannot own & run it as business despite having GTW, so not that interconnected
& not to be able to build a shop on the home lot which was one of the main features from OFB was very vexing to many players
also you cannot own, run & manage a cinema as far i know, so no, not that great
TS3 had a feature which was at least partially great, in some jobs were used sims which actually worked in the police career, as criminals, as firefighters,
in that respect is TS4 very lacking since the game spawnes some sims as coworkers without regard of their traits, skills or career level & they not even try to work really, this is nowhere near interconnected, quite the opposite
another thing, TS4's bartender don't get paid although they work in bars & lounges, in TS3 your sim was paid per hour & your sim could own a bar
in TS2 your sim couldn't work as a bartender as far i remember, but as a paid barista if you had University
in both iterations, TS2 & TS3 there are options to combine which i not even played, especially in TS3 because either i still don't own a pack or just because this game is so vast, like pets, farming, magicians, IP ...
so i think the things are rather complicated regarding interconnectedness of packs in all 3 iterations
edit
a thread in the TS2 forum - List of Business Possibilities <<<
You are spot on with your observations!
The Sims 4 due to its open system is very supportive when it comes to compatibility with dlc packs in general. The retail system of The Sims 2 is somewhat restrictive since you won't be able to sell all of the objects you can find in the catalog. In The Sims 4, however, you can sell whatever is listed in its buymode.
But the best example would be still Get Together's massive club-system, though. You won't find any feature like this in previous iterations.
Yes, your supernaturals example is heading in the right direction. Some 'key' features of the dlcs are complementing each other which I think is a good thing in the end. It allows more flexibility and creativity.
The themed pub nights all come from Get Together but having OR gives you the bear costume for sure and allows the player to participate in the GT Bears night. @JoAnne65 having the packs work together doesn't really enhance skilling per say, mostly it just allows more effective buffs/emotions that last longer allowing your sim to stack more emotions for longer periods of time.
Owning Spa Day, for example will allow your sim to stay in the correct mood for up to 12 hours which is easily long enough for any work day, making it easy for your sim to use the work tone 'work hard' making promotions easier to get etc etc.
The only example I can think of directly quicker skilling would be owning Get Together allows you to make a yoga club (Spa Day skill) and the buffs from certain unlocked club perks helps your sims to learn Yoga more quickly. (Or whatever other skill you choose from any other pack or the base game; painting, cooking, handiness... and so on)
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
There are some things that I don't think makes it across well though even though I want it too for instance... I love OR and I use the tents and cooler ect regularly. I love the campfire songs and gazing at the stars... very useful for inspiration. I bring the plants to my home and take advantage of the quicker growth time to splice other plants onto them.
However, there are things that make hardly any impact otherwise.. for instance I love the idea of herbalism.. but I just can't see the idea growing. It's stuck in the pack... and I could see it being useful if you wanted a witch, healer, new age holistic type later if it were broader. Same for the insects .. there is no reason for them outside those few salves, no way to reproduce them ect. They are locked in. I hope someone makes mods later that can use this process more, because I'd hate to think that it wouldn't be of more use later.
I'm holding out hope that we get more in some sort of supernatural pack will give us potions ect so I can make more use of herbalism too.
Ah, right. I took your post too literally then! lol. I like the way all the packs merge in with each other. They don't really feel separate to me, which is nice. This game in general is such a see-saw of emotions, some things are done so well and others leave me firmly in the 'hate' zone.
Bear clubs don't really 'do' anything. The bear suit makes other sims tense... and I guess they look cool. idk, I've never been into using costumes with my sims. I just don't enjoy that kind of game play.
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
I don't really see that there is such a big difference to how the packs work together in TS4 compared to TS3 except that Get Together allows for clubs of all the skills plus all the new skills that come with future packs. There really isn't anything similar to this 'club action' in TS3. I think it's the 'club feature' that really gives the feeling of cohesiveness to TS4. It's the sense of an 'old' pack (Get Together) continually being integrated with the new (future content). But either way, it does feel different to how the packs could be played together in TS3.
Maybe it is partially that all the worlds are connected too. I have all the packs for TS3 but I still tend to live in moonlight falls if I'm playing a vamp etc... just force of habit I guess.
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
It's a big part for me, I want to be able to continue with the same save game and new content should blend with the rest seemlessly. I don't want to spend a lot of time incorporating the new EP. In TS4, new packs come with new worlds that expand my world, not replace it, or at worst, I have the lots in my library and I just put them in my save, it's really effortless and I like it.
The other part would be the themes themselves. I think in TS3, they were rather all over the place and not cohesive enough, and make me feel like each EP was a new experience, and not an expansion of the base game experience, that would all work together, like in the other iterations.
In the beginning I sticked to one world as well in 3, but after a year or two I've always taken my family everywhere (for a brief adventure or actually moving to another world), so I can't say I recognize that as being a restriction myself. Island Paradise was the first EP where I felt restricted in that respect because Isla Paradiso is a world with very specific features, belonging to that EP, the only time I felt compelled to move them there. For the rest I've always thrown in everything (riding school, gipsy wagon, stages, nightclubs, whatever I need or want for my sims) into the world they live in. For me Sims 3 feels more flexible even than 4 in that respect. I love how easy it is to save sims to bins and start new, seperate saves. And traveling between neighborhoods without loading screens is quite important for me too. I love that room, the realistic feel of traveling.
It’s like that in TS3 too, you have lots from expansions in the library. In my game they’re added automatically to the town, I don’t remember whether it was added in a patch or something, or it’s because of mods (I never play the game vanilla). That definitely doesn’t add to the appearance of the world, but I usually gradually edit those lots so they fit to the world I’m currently in (in fact I usually completely rebuild them from scratch, so those pre-made lots are a placeholder; I’ve never liked pre-made lots really, I like building everything on my own).
However, it isn’t like that with respect to everything, for example you can dive only in the world that came with IP, unless you create your own with the ocean deep enough, and there isn’t a way to conveniently travel to different worlds without a mod, and it’s probably one of the reasons for why EPs for TS3 can feel separate. I use elements from various EPs in my gameplay so I don’t really notice it much.
Pond & Sea Water Overhaul (TS2)
Simblr (my TS2 CC)
MTS Profile
There isn't. Really, no difference. Do you remember in TS3 when a couple would get married? If you had WA and Generations installed, your newlyweds would wish to travel to one of those three destinations? If you had Supernatural and Seasons installed, you could get the weatherstone in your game? There were so many ways that the different packs played well with each other.
It might be a little bit too early to tell whether they do it better in Sims 4 or not. But both Get To Work and Get Together introduced mechanics to the game where it has been obvious from the beginning that theiy benefit from other dlcs significantly. I even think they were coded with this concept in mind. Maybe I am wrong ^^. Only future will tell.
It's still not working together as much as they should. And that will continue to bother me. One example: GTW and Spa Day, can't build anything with GTW and add Spa Day equipment to run that in your shop or in a mall has to be designated venue. I totally dislike the features of TS3 or TS4 making me designate anything. I like the freedom to build whatever I want wherever I want and name it anything and Sims use all those objects and my Sim use all those objects I place there. I also don't like Sims are locked out of using career objects if they drop out of that career. It's not as good as TS2 and has miles and miles to go.
cause i think it's not
Could have tied handiness skill in where upgraded fixtures are appreciated by the customers = reflected in better ratings etc... this list is endless really. Shame it wasn't done.
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.