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The Sims 4 StrangerVille - A mystery only Sims can solve

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  • DannydanboDannydanbo Posts: 18,057 Member
    Zasz wrote: »
    Dannydanbo wrote: »
    If you browse Sim Gurus On Twitter in General Discussion, most of your questions might be answered.
    Are you saying that there is no actual information about this on the forums or the store? I have to go to twitter to learn about the features?

    No. I'm saying go to General Discussion and check out Sim Gurus On Twitter made by simgirl1010. She has collected all the guru tweets there for players like me that don't use twitter.
  • LillianTheLlamaLillianTheLlama Posts: 7 New Member
    > @loubyloulou said:
    > Out next week?! I was not expecting that...

    When next week? I don't know where to follow people,also will it be on sale for the first few days? I'm broke😂
  • AmaraRenaAmaraRena Posts: 6,533 Member
    Goldmoldar wrote: »
    I wonder since we have to wait for any additional neighborhoods, are we ever going to get anymore free neighborhoods that has substance w/o paying for them? How long ago did we get an free neighborhood wow it must have been eons ago. :)

    Not quite an eon ago. :) Newcrest was released in June 2015. A new world for the 5th anniversary in September would be nice.

    The option to create our own worlds would be even nicer.
  • kateoverendkateoverend Posts: 7,985 Member
    An alien invasion?/ Oh I hope so! ☆*・゜゚・*\(^O^)/*・゜゚・*☆ *Oᕼ JOY*

    I'm uber excited about this pack.. It takes me back to my Sims 2 days playing StrangeTown on my Nintendo DS. It was so much fun, with weird, quirky characters ⋋( ՞ਊ ՞)⋌ *ᕮXᑕITᕮᗪ*
    rnKEhBT.png
  • AmaraRenaAmaraRena Posts: 6,533 Member
    Aine wrote: »
    Since there doesn't seem to be any customization available, and no new sandbox tools, I'm not sure what the point is. This isn't the sims to me, I can play hundreds of games with a linear story, I play the sims to make my own stories, not the ones the dev team thinks is fun. I want sandbox tools to create my own worlds and stories and this is clearly not it. I'm confused how the dev team seems to be so disconnected from what the sims is. Sure it might be fun to play once, but then what? When you already know the mystery, there is no reason to do it again.

    This, plus the long absence of vampires and other supernaturals, is, I think, what has kept me from getting into the Sims 4 like I did in Sims 3. I think it's a better GAME overall but it's still missing so much that endeared Sims 3 to me so much. My color wheel and the open world foremost among them.
  • DannydanboDannydanbo Posts: 18,057 Member
    An alien invasion?/ Oh I hope so! ☆*・゜゚・*\(^O^)/*・゜゚・*☆ *Oᕼ JOY*

    I'm uber excited about this pack.. It takes me back to my Sims 2 days playing StrangeTown on my Nintendo DS. It was so much fun, with weird, quirky characters ⋋( ՞ਊ ՞)⋌ *ᕮXᑕITᕮᗪ*

    While there is a mystery to solve, they have stated that this is not about aliens (because we already have them) or zombies.
  • Louise_WordsworthLouise_Wordsworth Posts: 33 Member
    Can we pre-order this pack? Not seeing it in my main menu screen when I open the Sims (which is where I normally purchase content from).
  • loubyloulouloubyloulou Posts: 4,466 Member
    > @loubyloulou said:
    > Out next week?! I was not expecting that...

    When next week? I don't know where to follow people,also will it be on sale for the first few days? I'm broke😂

    Tuesday 26th February. I don't imagine it will be on sale immediately though.
  • loubyloulouloubyloulou Posts: 4,466 Member
    Can we pre-order this pack? Not seeing it in my main menu screen when I open the Sims (which is where I normally purchase content from).

    You can only pre-order Expansion Packs, not Game Packs.
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,708 Member
    Jfreeman09 wrote: »
    Will the military career have two branches?

    I believe some of the pack files showed two branches.
  • GoldmoldarGoldmoldar Posts: 11,966 Member
    edited February 2019
    AmaraRena wrote: »
    Goldmoldar wrote: »
    I wonder since we have to wait for any additional neighborhoods, are we ever going to get anymore free neighborhoods that has substance w/o paying for them? How long ago did we get an free neighborhood wow it must have been eons ago. :)

    Not quite an eon ago. :) Newcrest was released in June 2015. A new world for the 5th anniversary in September would be nice.

    The option to create our own worlds would be even nicer.

    Heck if they said the patch would allow me to make my own neighborhood I would pay full price for that pack on Tues. :) But it won't and also the mystery is solved anyway and now it is an paid neighborhood for me so $8.99 when that sale comes about and I will be patient. :)
    Post edited by Goldmoldar on
    Omen by HP Intel®️ Core™️ i9- 12900K W/ RGB Liquid Cooler 32GB Nvidia RTX 3080 10Gb ASUS Ultra-Wide 34" Curved Monitor. Omen By HP Intel® Core™ i7-12800HX 32 GB Nvidia 3070 Ti 8 GB 17.3 Screen
  • soko37soko37 Posts: 593 Member
    mirta000 wrote: »
    Called it. They're defiling my memory of Strangetown. Sigh.

    Not really. You have the option of not purchasing. :)

    As if not purchasing it deletes disappointment. The human brain doesn't work that way. This quote is overused and invalid.
  • DannydanboDannydanbo Posts: 18,057 Member
    edited February 2019
    I haven't seen these posted anywhere, so I thought I'd post them for anyone who hasn't seen them yet. Found them on the Sims Community site.

    I love the look of this dessert town.
    I'm hoping the Secret Agent is one branch of the military career.
    More lab stuff for my builds.
    I love all the new stuff in this picture, the clock, the new jukebox and the truck front hanging on the wall, just to name a few.

    47129536512_0178c769c0_b.jpg

    33306169798_d895bce562_b.jpg

    47129535702_684ca72a78_b.jpg

    47181369171_670fb826f7_b.jpg
  • emereemere Posts: 1,755 Member

    <3<3<3 Finally!!! A non "reality" pack and something "new"... I played for YEARS Strangetown (Rarezas) at Sims 2, actually I only played that world :# I want it now!! (even if the new patch DID NOT fixed my vampires, meh).
  • soko37soko37 Posts: 593 Member
    For me, these quest focused packs, make it feel like it's ME playing the game instead of me playing THROUGH my sims. That's the huge difference of playing a video game vs a life simulation.

    If packs like this continue, then sims are dead. I worry with how excited everyone is that they will make more packs that center gameplay on me rather than my sims. Not purchasing it doesn't resolve any feelings or issues on the matter, so please, enough "dont like it dont buy it" people. That's such a canned response.
  • SimGuruHoutsSimGuruHouts Posts: 73 SimGuru
    Zasz wrote: »
    I find the lack of informations disturbing.
    What can we actually expect? Is it a vacation world or regular world? expansion or a game pack

    Sorry you haven't been able to find this information, we should've made it easier to find! Here you go:
    • StrangerVille a game pack that comes out on Feb 26th for the standard game pack price ($20 in the US, different prices for other regions).
    • It's a regular world with 11 editable lots and 1 special lot.
    • There's a Military career that has two branches and plays like the Gardening career (rabbit hole with "at-home" stuff you can do actively too). You can play the career with Sims in any world, not just StrangerVille.
    • If you don't like the story and/or don't want weird stuff in your world, you can either not engage with the story (things don't get really weird until you start participating in the story) or complete the story and choose how you want the world to be. If you do engage with the story, all the strange stuff will stay in StrangerVille (it won't spread to any other worlds).

    I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have more questions and I'll do my best to answer them (though I'm not usually on the forums too much over the weekend). :)
  • SimGuruHoutsSimGuruHouts Posts: 73 SimGuru
    soko37 wrote: »
    For me, these quest focused packs, make it feel like it's ME playing the game instead of me playing THROUGH my sims. That's the huge difference of playing a video game vs a life simulation.

    One of our goals with this pack was to get the story to feel like it was part of the simulation and not some weird thing we shoehorned in. I'm sure the judgement of how well we accomplished this will vary from person to person, so I'm eager to get peoples' feedback.

    I think I know what you mean about feeling like it's YOU playing the game instead of playing THROUGH your Sims, but if you could elaborate on it, I'd appreciate it. What types of things really make you feel like you're playing through your Sims in a life simulation versus playing a game as a player? No worries if you don't want to respond, I don't want to put you on the spot. :)
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,708 Member
    edited February 2019
    Dannydanbo wrote: »
    I haven't seen these posted anywhere, so I thought I'd post them for anyone who hasn't seen them yet. Found them on the Sims Community site.

    I love the look of this dessert town.
    I'm hoping the Secret Agent is one branch of the military career.
    More lab stuff for my builds.
    I love all the new stuff in this picture, the clock, the new jukebox and the truck front hanging on the wall, just to name a few.
    47129536512_0178c769c0_b.jpg

    33306169798_d895bce562_b.jpg

    47129535702_684ca72a78_b.jpg

    47181369171_670fb826f7_b.jpg


    I love the western vibe of the town. Gives a totally different feel from Oasis Springs.
  • alfardialfardi Posts: 116 Member
    Another one-time thing pack like Jungle Adventure I suppose. Zero replayability after finishing the story. Not really my thing, I'll just wait for huge sale then.

    Still waiting for more realistic sandbox stuff which others call 'boring': burglars (+police, service police, not GTW ones), firemen, university, cars, etc.

    Kudos to developers tho, appreciate the hard work.
  • fullspiralfullspiral Posts: 14,717 Member
    soko37 wrote: »
    For me, these quest focused packs, make it feel like it's ME playing the game instead of me playing THROUGH my sims. That's the huge difference of playing a video game vs a life simulation.

    One of our goals with this pack was to get the story to feel like it was part of the simulation and not some weird thing we shoehorned in. I'm sure the judgement of how well we accomplished this will vary from person to person, so I'm eager to get peoples' feedback.

    I think I know what you mean about feeling like it's YOU playing the game instead of playing THROUGH your Sims, but if you could elaborate on it, I'd appreciate it. What types of things really make you feel like you're playing through your Sims in a life simulation versus playing a game as a player? No worries if you don't want to respond, I don't want to put you on the spot. :)

    If I may....I know I'm not the one you quoted, but I'd like to take the opportunity to explain the difference as I see it. In Sims 2, you had all those hidden interests that you didn't get to pick. ( politics, etc) And those influenced how sims interacted and got along (or not). Along with that, there was preferences, attractions, and a slew of other things that made each sim quite unique to play.

    The moodlet system that came in with 3 changed all that and was a far cry from how the sims felt dynamically when playing them. If Sims 3 were robotic, it wasn't just because of how they looked and moved, it was because of the moodlets and the absence of the depth of development of the sims themselves. Now Sims 4, even though the sims are more "animated" physically, they are still "robotic" and Stepford wife-ish in terms of how they all play the same no matter what traits they have.

    The difference is using the sims to play something out, or investing in the sim's lives. And I think that's the difference from 1/2 and 3/4.
  • AineAine Posts: 3,043 Member
    edited February 2019
    soko37 wrote: »
    For me, these quest focused packs, make it feel like it's ME playing the game instead of me playing THROUGH my sims. That's the huge difference of playing a video game vs a life simulation.

    One of our goals with this pack was to get the story to feel like it was part of the simulation and not some weird thing we shoehorned in. I'm sure the judgement of how well we accomplished this will vary from person to person, so I'm eager to get peoples' feedback.

    I think I know what you mean about feeling like it's YOU playing the game instead of playing THROUGH your Sims, but if you could elaborate on it, I'd appreciate it. What types of things really make you feel like you're playing through your Sims in a life simulation versus playing a game as a player? No worries if you don't want to respond, I don't want to put you on the spot. :)
    @SimGuruHouts LOL are you serious? This stuff is basic knowledge for a Sims dev. I'm not trying to be mean, but the sims were initially about simulation and sandbox tools that let the player make their own stories. There already are hundreds of linear story telling games where you solve 'mysteries' - once and done. The sims was always about the creativity of the players and creating worlds and events within the limits of the sandbox. If you shrink the sandbox and limit the tools, then you get less and less creativity and less and less immersion to the point where you might aswell play another game that does storytelling better. The sims just need a strong foundation of depth of AI and interface with the game, and tools to create worlds and stories, and you're good to go. The 'extra' flashiness can be added if you still have stuff to do after all that. The core of the game is not 'go here do this', it's 'do this or this or this or this 20 different ways, or not'. I'm baffled with this question. I get that you're trying to engage and understand, but having a linear 'story' is not a simulation. If you had 20 different version of the story, or if aspects of it, or the entire thing, was customizable, then that would be a simulation. Again I respect your hard work, but I'm flabbergasted at this question/reply.
    Allons-y!

    ---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
    ---> Burglary Stuff Pack Idea - Burglars, alarm systems, and diamonds to steal!<---
  • kalaksedkalaksed Posts: 2,643 Member
    @Dannydanbo one of the two branches for the military is 'covert operations', so i suppose you could technically wedge the mib outfits into that header, but i don't think that's the case (plus, i really want to use them for a branch of my secret agents... got enough bond-types, i'd love to have a set of mib-types, too). they're likely townies used purely for the story, though i'm expecting we'll have a way to unlock the outfits for our own use

    as for the screenshots, a few people have linked the full website before (and i used a link to the third, lab, image in a thread talking about how i wanted stuff in there for both my alien villain's and alien scientist's labs, but didn't want to actually post the image itself in case it was too spoilery for some people)

    i'm with you on all the decor (and clothing) we can see there, so much i'm already plotting for various builds/sims. and i'm extremely happy to see the new types of cacti and other desert plants as well as the recolors of the existing ones (some may think it's silly, but i've actually really wanted versions of the barrel cactus and pot cactus that have flowers in colors other than white. as well as a blooming agave or yucca, and we're finally getting one or the other of those)

    (also, don't hate me but i want to point out 'desert' is the biome you keep meaning while 'dessert' is sweets typically eaten after a big meal. so i keep picturing a landscape made of cakes whenever you talk about 'dessert town')
  • DannydanboDannydanbo Posts: 18,057 Member
    kalaksed wrote: »
    @Dannydanbo one of the two branches for the military is 'covert operations', so i suppose you could technically wedge the mib outfits into that header, but i don't think that's the case (plus, i really want to use them for a branch of my secret agents... got enough bond-types, i'd love to have a set of mib-types, too). they're likely townies used purely for the story, though i'm expecting we'll have a way to unlock the outfits for our own use

    as for the screenshots, a few people have linked the full website before (and i used a link to the third, lab, image in a thread talking about how i wanted stuff in there for both my alien villain's and alien scientist's labs, but didn't want to actually post the image itself in case it was too spoilery for some people)

    i'm with you on all the decor (and clothing) we can see there, so much i'm already plotting for various builds/sims. and i'm extremely happy to see the new types of cacti and other desert plants as well as the recolors of the existing ones (some may think it's silly, but i've actually really wanted versions of the barrel cactus and pot cactus that have flowers in colors other than white. as well as a blooming agave or yucca, and we're finally getting one or the other of those)

    (also, don't hate me but i want to point out 'desert' is the biome you keep meaning while 'dessert' is sweets typically eaten after a big meal. so i keep picturing a landscape made of cakes whenever you talk about 'dessert town')

    I thought about the screenshots spoiling things but three are in (somewhat) the trailer, the exception is the bar/hangout/watering hole.

    I'm always excited for new build/buy stuff and plants. I glad we have new cacti coming in this pack.

    As for the sweet mistake of dessert/desert, no worries. :D At the time I was typing this, I was talking to my sister who had baked a lot of desserts for a lunch at church Sunday and I guess I was just dreaming about sweets. Plus they did a dessert town with Katy Perry Sweet Treats. :D
  • kalaksedkalaksed Posts: 2,643 Member
    from guru houts in another thread:

    a420688a09686be6d9ed0f19d967df92.png

    so, multi-sim households can work together to complete the story, each one focusing on specific aspects if you like, but they might need to swap artifacts between each other occasionally to get the triggers on the sim you want them on
  • AceOfKnavesAceOfKnaves Posts: 173 Member
    To be honest, I'm more happy about the Military career (been wanting that for a while) and that it may resemble my favorite neighborhood,
    Strangetown. So much for remodeling Oasis, lol. That said, the 'mystery' aspect of the pack I don't care about too much, I'm simply glad it's optional.

    I still feel 3 got it right in terms of the whole sandbox issue, mind you, 2 could be linear as well, but if you hadn't followed a premade story (i.e the Smith/Grunt feud could be resolved, Life Stories, etc.) it didn't take away from the creativity/wackiness of the world. 3 Allowed even more freedom by providing an outline for players to fill in the blanks, imo. Yes, while the long expressed opinion of being able to create our own worlds would be nice, perhaps it's just on the back burner for now. Who the heck knows. Not to be rude here, but I won't be taking it personally any time soon. I'm sure someone somewhere will take that the wrong way though, then again, it is what it is. Eh... Back on topic. Frankly, I'm more partial to more build items and new life states, even better if the mystery led up to one...


    But anyway.


    My question is, can we still edit premades/houses in this world without messing up the 'mystery'? If this is been asked, my apologies.
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