I really need to know...
OFB is my favorite EP and I want to purchase GTW, but I'm not sure how limited it is compared to OFB (mainly the retail side of it).
I know we don't have cash registers and shopping bags in GTW (which sucks). And I've watched Let's Play videos of GTW. I've seen issues with the employees, them socializing too much instead of working (has this been fixed yet?). I would like to know if this ruins the overall gameplay for owning a business? I think I know a lot of the negatives about GTW, but I guess now I'm looking for what is good about the EP.
I also wonder if our Sims can shop at the retail stores they don't own?
One more question: Is it better than "Savvy Seller's Collection" premium content from TS3 Store? I didn't like it at all.
PLEASE FIX TEENS IN TS4! I NEED YOUNGER TEENS NOT YA TEENS! (^_^)Please add Music Bands with lead singers! Please add vehicles and garages! Vehicles have always been part of The Sims.
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No, DO only makes new lots which are restaurant lots and GTW just adds retail lots. You cannot put a restaurant on a retail lot and expect it to work like intended, if that's what you're guessing.
DO only lets your sim be the manager of the restaurant but won't be able to be their own chef or waiter, etc.
The only 'special' thing is that some of the baked goods from GTW will appear on the menu for the DO restaurants.
Well, is there anything good about GTW?
In all honesty (my opinion), GTW is the worst EP out of the three. I think they're trying to make the new packs better and better.
Hmmph, I don't really know. I like the baking skill and there's a lot of baked goods that you can do.
You have to remember that GTW also has the second part which is the active jobs, so of course the retail aspect of it is not going to be superb.
Well, what sort of story/inspiration that you are thinking of, so maybe I can tell you if it will work or not.
@DeKay I give up trying to play TS4 the way I want. I'll just play it the way they want me to play it... I'll just make a Stepford family.There aren't many options with TS4, so I'll just go with the flow I guess.
I give up. I really do lol. Maybe youre right, maybe the packs will get better, but I'm done wondering. It is either that I play TS4 or I don't.
OFB and NL's restaurants is a treasure, thats for sure.
Aw well, okay then. You'll find something to do eventually. Sometimes you also have to just play it way out of the box but you just gotta use a bit more of your imagination. Like, I've gotten my sim to match make a couple and plan their wedding, etc and these are all things that were not directly in the game.
Yep. I'm also glad that the newer packs are becoming more and more in depth. Vampires look very promising. I'm kinda sad that I am not so into playing as vampire sims. But I think there's a lot of detail put in that pack. The new world looks really awesome too.
I like Open For Business, don't get me wrong, but I find OFB gets frustrating due to poor routing.
Sims will leave angrily for no reason, because something gets in their way. Starting a business is hard, because early Cashiers take too long, and Customers leave. You have to end up in debt before Customers start liking the service. It's kind of flawed.
That said OFB is superior, but it has programming issues that I find frustrating. Running a restaurant suffers the same issues.
Get To Work isn't as fleshed out, but it is less frustrating to play
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There are some issues as stated with trying to run a retail (clothing or other) business, however a bakery or just food shop in general is fun. I have one save that I play from time to time still, where she goes in at night cooks a few 'specials' and sells them off during the day, she has no employees just her and it's quite fun. I have both a bakery display and the fridge that customers can purchase directly from. She also has a garden out back and her own apt above the shop. Sometimes I'll push her for a few days and stock the shop so she can just , sell, sell, sell for a few days too depends on my mood. I created a cop from the same save and he stops in for her breakfast croissants before his shifts when I play him, and a romance is starting to bloom.
Other good things about GTW are the baking skill and the photo skill, I use taking pics in every single save now. I love having a sim designated to snapping candid and posed pics of the family for the walls.
The baking skill is enjoyable. I tend to combine it with GT to make baking clubs for my elders. I also use the photo skill a lot. I actually don't know what I would do without it. I like having pictures of my family on the wall. Even though it's a small detail, I find that it helps a lot with making my families feel alive.
At the end of the day, if you are apprehensive then maybe you should wait for a sale on it.
origin ID: maureenponderosa
Overall in my playing experience it's just a very under-utilized pack compared to say, GT. That being said, the active careers did add an element that I found very welcome. I also think that as they add more and more content it's starting to feel more rounded out for me and I think that things are improving.
I happen to enjoy the baking and photography skills as well. I'm still glad that I own GTW, but I do it see as being a little bit on the weaker side.
A) the careers are all right, though yes, you'll grow tired of them
Aliens
C) B&B and CAS (it's got a lot of little things like clothes on racks I like to put in my homes next to the door lol)
D) giving birth at the hospital (always do that)
E) chemistry table (even though I still want the one from TS1 back or the alchemist table from TS3)
But yeah overall it's not great. Retail works though but it's nowhere near as good as OFB
GTW & DO together are a limited & smaller replacement of OFB
it's sufficient, but overall less fun, about 3/4 of OFB
some parts are missing, not vital parts but it causes frictions when you play retail & restaurants
restaurants
there are pros & cons, few things made better & several things made not so well, some very limited or even bugged
when put all together, i think DO's ok, not great but acceptable as gameplay expansion
retail
sims are not programmed to be dedicated to be a shop owner, managing a shop feels rather as a hobby, a side game than a profession
i played few months ago retail in TS2 too & it still is more fun
but in general
if you somewhat like TS4 for what it has, if the overall gameplay is not too limiting for you & you can play it for some time, if you even find some real fun with some parts
& if you would like OFB extensions of your gameplay, then you should get both packs, they are not horrible, just not as well done as OFB
as i wrote, DO & GTW are around 3/4th of OFB
you shoud consider to look for reduced prices, then you will be probably satisfied enough to enjoy both
edit
& YES
retail in TS4 is definately way better than what TS3 had as business options
it's very near what TS2 has
TS3's shops was a joke, i still hate it
it's probably also better done than in TS3 & still not satisfying enough
i don't own CL as several other packs also not
for me it's the sims themselves, not so much the additions that are the breaking point of TS4
would there be a patch which revamps the personalities of sims to more lively, responding, aware sims, i would get CL immediately & give TS4 a second chance
if there would be a patch which revamps the aspirations, the careers & jobs to playing a more meaningful part in sims' lives, i would start to defend this game
if on top of that, would culling be made optional only, i would say, that TS4 is not a perfect but meantime a worthy successor
edit
about the employees socialising too much
it's more a problem of how sims behave in general in TS4, how their traits are not working, how the music & the phones are interfering with their weirdly programmed fun need, it's more of a base game code problems than how the packs themselves work
would the sims be improved as living in their world & living their traits, their aspirations, all packs would profit from it
it wouldn't change of course that employees are NPCs & not sims & that there is no really functioning story progression running in the background, i would prefer all sims being sims but that's another story
And GTW. It was a total letdown. It is not at all useful to me for what I wanted to do with it. BUT...it really depends on how you use OFB. If you plan on running a small boutique or bakery with a single family, then it would probably work just fine. However, if you plan on trying to run shops owned by several different families, then no. Won't work.
That isn't to say that I can't use the GATE system to accomplish certain things in my game. Somone above said there is no grocery store. Wrong. I built one and it is completely functional. It contains all fruits, fish, recipes, and bakery items in the game. I've made many different stores...Electronics, furniture, clothes, bakeries, woodworking, camping supplies. Whatever comes to mind. The only difference is that I give the control to the townies. But I do love that my own families can shop in these stores whenever they please. Oh...The one thing I do own is a photo studio. Only because I like taking family portraits and it's easy to do in a studio. It has limitations...That I completely blow away with some imagination.
So the pack is fun initially but there isn't much replayability.