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StrangerVille - My honest review

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  • DannydanboDannydanbo Posts: 18,057 Member
    Dannydanbo wrote: »
    Thanks for posting all this information. I'm sorry you didn't like the way the mystery unfolded but I don't see any other way for it to happen. To me, solving a mystery is done by going here and there and everywhere, asking questions and making observations and collecting clues. How would you have set up this mystery?

    I play other RPGs and some specific missions bore me there too like the long never ending story in The Witcher 3 where you have to find and talk to a seemingly endless amount of people to find your poet friend.
    I wish I could come up with an answer as to how I would set up the mystery myself but I am not a videogame designer and lack the knowledge and imagination to do so. All I can say is what I already said unfortunately. I tried to put it in the most constructive way possible but I don't have a solution for it really.

    I would love a Who Done It Murder Mystery to solve in the game where every so often my "detective" sim gets a notification that a murder has happened at various places and my sim must go and collect clues and evidence and question sims, similar to the police career but with my private detective instead.
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    Dannydanbo wrote: »
    Dannydanbo wrote: »
    Thanks for posting all this information. I'm sorry you didn't like the way the mystery unfolded but I don't see any other way for it to happen. To me, solving a mystery is done by going here and there and everywhere, asking questions and making observations and collecting clues. How would you have set up this mystery?

    I play other RPGs and some specific missions bore me there too like the long never ending story in The Witcher 3 where you have to find and talk to a seemingly endless amount of people to find your poet friend.
    I wish I could come up with an answer as to how I would set up the mystery myself but I am not a videogame designer and lack the knowledge and imagination to do so. All I can say is what I already said unfortunately. I tried to put it in the most constructive way possible but I don't have a solution for it really.

    I would love a Who Done It Murder Mystery to solve in the game where every so often my "detective" sim gets a notification that a murder has happened at various places and my sim must go and collect clues and evidence and question sims, similar to the police career but with my private detective instead.

    There are better ways to build an adventure game than giving you another doctor career (GTW) check list to follow. I knew this from the start with my ESP, this is how it would be handled. And if we want this series to become mor of type game play then I would have thought GTW would be flying off the shelves.
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • BeardedgeekBeardedgeek Posts: 5,520 Member
    I will still get this but honestly 50% of the reason is so I can download content from the gallery without getting the "items replaced" dialogue and 45% is for buy mode stuff. 5% for the actual content.
    Origin ID: A_Bearded_Geek
  • HannaEBHannaEB Posts: 37 Member
    Thank you for the thoughtful review. TBH, it's the build/buy catalog and the world that are earning my money. I kind of suspected the story would only be good for one play through. Although my sim plans to make the most of it. When she has time. She just had twins and will be starting a new job.
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,704 Member
    Derella wrote: »
    How important is the military career to the mystery story?

    Short answer: not important at all, it is completely independent.
    Answer with spoilers:
    There are a couple of perks that slightly help on the way to solving the story but only if you are on level 5 or more of the career and everything is totally achievable without it. There are military NPCs that you need to interact with to get further into solving the mystery but it is nothing related to the actual "playable" career

    Thanks for your review.
    What are those perks?
  • catloverplayercatloverplayer Posts: 93,362 Member
    I was one of the lucky simmers that got early access thanks to the EA Game Changer program.



    I really wanted to like this Game Pack since I found the idea behind it very refreshing and fun. It looks like the devs had a blast conceiving and creating this pack and their Twitter campaign for it was super fun to follow. There are many cool things in the pack but unfortunately it does not completely work for me gameplay wise.


    CAS is overall really good. Plenty of versatile items mixed with a cowboy/girl aesthetic with on point textures. Most items come with beautiful colour swatches and combine really well with clothes from other packs (specially Jungle Adventure and Outdoor Retreat). The haistyles are fantastic and I can see myself using them a lot. Kids get only 2 items and toddlers get none but for a GP I think it's quite a good amount of CAS items overall.

    I'm very confused about the laptops, you can drag them into your sim's inventory but you can't use it unless it's placed on a table/desk. Not sure if this is a bug or a mistake or just not supposed to happen but I was under the impression that a laptop would be usable directly from your inventory, like a tablet.

    Build/Buy mode has some of the most beautiful doors and windows we have received so far and a good amount of grungy looking items that are always welcomed. Many items are also perfect for industrial builds and modern houses. The colour swatches are great apart from one of the floors that comes with NO swatches at all (???). Some of the Build items fit really well in worlds like Brindleton Bay and Willow Creek and I love when this happens.

    The new world is stunning, specially the neighbourhood on the top of the rocky mountains. It is however tied to the storyline and
    won't be really normal until you have a sim defeat the mother
    . I love the fact that we get a very decent size world for a Game Pack with really nice lots. The trailer park lot is cool but at the same time a bit frustrating. Seeing all those decor trailers around your fake looking trailer is a shame, I wish the pack would have come with some usable trailers (no need for them to move, just be functional for our sims to live inside and for us to customise the interior like we can do with apartments). But it is nonetheless a nice vibe to have the lot in the middle of a trailer park.
    The plants in this new world are so so beautiful but for some reason none of them are available in the catalogue for us to use. No new rocks nor plants despite the world being full of them is a bit odd and a shame. But I have hope, you guys!
    @AlbaWaterhouse To be honest, I'm not completely sure why those objects weren't included in the build catalog. I do know that world objects are built to different specs than on-lot objects, so there may be some restrictions our Art team was bound to when creating those assets. I'll be looking into it.

    I can't make any promises about future patches at this time, but I'll be looking into what's feasible and making sure to avoid this kind of thing as much as possible moving forward.


    Gameplay is the biggest focus of this pack and also my biggest problem with it.

    Right off the bat, and for context of what I like in my game: my least favourite pack (not counting MFP) so far has been Get to Work because the careers and retail felt extremely restrictive and against the sandbox gameplay that I love about The Sims.

    The atmosphere of the StrangerVille town and the idea of the mystery are great. However, the RPG style gamplay is not. While playing the new aspiration I did not have fun trying to solve the mysterious story even though the story itself was fun in theory.
    Again, the story itself is quite creative and refreshing and the idea of having such a town is really cool but the execution makes it feel really repetitive and I had the feeling all I was doing was going from one loading screen to another loading screen for hours.
    The tasks in order to defeat the mother are very fun in paper but very tedious in reality. Go to the bar, talk to townies, go to the library, talk to other townies, go to the lab, go back to the library, talk some more to townies, go back to the lab, go talk/vaccinate townies again, travel back to the lab, go back to the bar...you get the idea.

    I feel like the gameplay is very self-contained and restrictive because of the RPG style its trying. The pack doesn't add anything to the rest of the game gameplay wise apart from the military career. The idea of having packs that are more detached and don't blend with the rest of the game is not a bad idea per se and I am happy that the devs are exploring options but such a script and story would have worked way better in an open world game, I'm afraid it does not work that well in TS4.

    Overall, I am happy it exists and I love that the sims team is trying new things. I would still buy it if I wouldn't have it already because of CAS and BB and because the world is really beautiful
    Plus, once you defeat the mother you get then to choose what level of "strangenest" you want for the town if you decide to reawake her which is a nice touch XhaC4c0.png

    I am sure many simmers will enjoy playing the story but I am unfortunately not one of them.

    When on community lots try placing laptops on picnic tables.
  • BeardedgeekBeardedgeek Posts: 5,520 Member
    I will still get this but honestly 50% of the reason is so I can download content from the gallery without getting the "items replaced" dialogue and 45% is for buy mode stuff. 5% for the actual content.
    Origin ID: A_Bearded_Geek
  • AlbaWaterhouseAlbaWaterhouse Posts: 3,953 Member
    Derella wrote: »
    How important is the military career to the mystery story?

    Short answer: not important at all, it is completely independent.
    Answer with spoilers:
    There are a couple of perks that slightly help on the way to solving the story but only if you are on level 5 or more of the career and everything is totally achievable without it. There are military NPCs that you need to interact with to get further into solving the mystery but it is nothing related to the actual "playable" career

    Thanks for your review.
    What are those perks?
    If you are level 5 you can get the card to open the doors at the secret lab directly or at least that's what some townies said when I was trying to get that card. I'm sure there's something else but I can't remember right now.
    Origin ID is: AlbaWaterhouse
    All my creations are CC free.
  • bixtersbixters Posts: 2,299 Member
    Thanks for the balanced review! I was initially hyped to play this, since I've been playing a lot of Fallout lately, and it reminded me of that. I normally love RPGs like Skyrim and Fallout. However, it appears that the RPG elements aren't done very well in Strangerville. They seem very restricted and not open ended, more like the check-lists from GTW. I love the atmosphere and mood of the pack, but the story sounds kinda meh. Same reasons I didn't bother buying Jungle Adventure, too repetitive and restrictive, despite having a beautiful world :/

    I think I'll just watch some Youtuber's Let's Plays instead.
  • lar0jalar0ja Posts: 49 Member
    edited February 2019
    I actually think a story-focused pack could jive really well with the Sims, but not this. Since the mystery is the focus of the pack, I was hoping for either a couple possible endings or a few paths to the same ending. Like, your sim's choices would determine the tone of the mystery. Actions would have consequences. Maybe in one save your sim could take the guns blazing approach and in another she could take a more covert, science-y strategy. Seems like that's not the case.

    If that's not possible, just blast quantity. I'm one of the oddballs who really adored TS3 World Adventures, because even though the tombs were always the same, there were just SO MANY quests and tombs to explore. Jungle Adventure didn't do it for me at all because it was just the one world with a handful of locations to explore and the puzzles weren't actual puzzles. Since this is just the one linear storyline with repetitive GTW-style tasks, it doesn't seem like there would be much replay value. I'm disappointed, but I can't say I'm surprised.

    Does anyone know if any of the tasks require thought? Is there a puzzle-solving element, or is the story automatically progressed as you follow the checklist?
  • lar0jalar0ja Posts: 49 Member
    edited February 2019
    Overall, I am happy it exists and I love that the sims team is trying new things.

    My favorite part of your review! I don't know if this pack is for me (maybe when it's on sale?), but I can't fault the Sims team for being inventive. Big kudos to them for having the guts to try something totally new. <3
  • DrakosDrakos Posts: 451 Member
    Thanks for the review. I dont at all mind a little RPG mixed in my sandbox.
  • AlbaWaterhouseAlbaWaterhouse Posts: 3,953 Member
    lar0ja wrote: »
    I actually think a story-focused pack could jive really well with the Sims, but not this. Since the mystery is the focus of the pack, I was hoping for either a couple possible endings or a few paths to the same ending. Like, your sim's choices would determine the tone of the mystery. Actions would have consequences. Maybe in one save your sim could take the guns blazing approach and in another she could take a more covert, science-y strategy. Seems like that's not the case.

    If that's not possible, just blast quantity. I'm one of the oddballs who really adored TS3 World Adventures, because even though the tombs were always the same, there were just SO MANY quests and tombs to explore. Jungle Adventure didn't do it for me at all because it was just the one world with a handful of locations to explore and the puzzles weren't actual puzzles. Since this is just the one linear storyline with repetitive GTW-style tasks, it doesn't seem like there would be much replay value. I'm disappointed, but I can't say I'm surprised.

    Does anyone know if any of the tasks require thought? Is there a puzzle-solving element, or is the story automatically progressed as you follow the checklist?

    Unfortunately, there are no puzzles, the story progresses as you follow the aspiration checklist.
    Origin ID is: AlbaWaterhouse
    All my creations are CC free.
  • MidnightAuraMidnightAura Posts: 5,809 Member
    Can sims that are infected spread the infection?
    Is there new Skills?
  • Atreya33Atreya33 Posts: 4,406 Member
    Atreya33 wrote: »
    Thank you for the review. Kind of confirms what I expected what I read so far. A bit strange to mix rpg with the sims.

    Well I remember the extreme disappointment that was Sims 3 Medieval...

    While I'm not sure about rpg in the regular sims franchise, I don't mind it in a spin off. Sims medieval was one of my favorites. Besides sims medieval had a lot of quests not just one story to play through.
  • hevkerhevker Posts: 84 Member
    I feel like this pack is a bit like JA for. I'm sort of into it but if it has low replay value then do I really want to spend my money? I never caved and bought JA. However I think SV can tempt me with a new world and new career. Personally, I wish that this wasn't a story based pack but they could have still made this pack fit with the rest of the game.
  • AlbaWaterhouseAlbaWaterhouse Posts: 3,953 Member
    Can sims that are infected spread the infection?
    Is there new Skills?
    It is not infectious, Sims can't spread it.
    There are no new skills
    Origin ID is: AlbaWaterhouse
    All my creations are CC free.
  • doedeardoedear Posts: 303 Member
    I knew it, these sort of gameplay mechanics are not fit for a sandbox game. What makes it worse for me is that there are not a lot of worthwhile objects that can be used outside of Strangerville, and that the laptop is basically a reskinned PC, :neutral: .
  • BeardedgeekBeardedgeek Posts: 5,520 Member
    Atreya33 wrote: »
    Atreya33 wrote: »
    Thank you for the review. Kind of confirms what I expected what I read so far. A bit strange to mix rpg with the sims.

    Well I remember the extreme disappointment that was Sims 3 Medieval...

    While I'm not sure about rpg in the regular sims franchise, I don't mind it in a spin off. Sims medieval was one of my favorites. Besides sims medieval had a lot of quests not just one story to play through.

    My expectation was well... Sims in medieval times. Instead it was a locked perspective (migh just as well have been 2D) fetch-quest game. Everything except designing the sims was booooooooooooooooooooooooring.

    I DO miss weaknesses though. I really wish you had to have a mandatory weakness for every adult in this game.
    Origin ID: A_Bearded_Geek
  • sixdeadqueenssixdeadqueens Posts: 225 Member
    Ohhh! Those stained glass doors and windows are beautiful!! So happy to see those!
  • MidnightAuraMidnightAura Posts: 5,809 Member
    Can sims that are infected spread the infection?
    Is there new Skills?
    It is not infectious, Sims can't spread it.
    There are no new skills

    Thank you!
  • sixdeadqueenssixdeadqueens Posts: 225 Member
    Took me awhile to read the review (I have a wild two year old) but thanks for sharing it! I skipped the spoiler notices, but the rest was a great read!
  • AnmirlaAnmirla Posts: 3,835 Member
    One of the early reviewers on Twitch said that the martial arts dummy builds charisma when you select "Practice ordering about" (I think is how it's worded), but another reviewer said it builds fitness. Can you confirm which one it is please?
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  • DerellaDerella Posts: 765 Member
    Short answer: not important at all, it is completely independent.
    Answer with spoilers:
    There are a couple of perks that slightly help on the way to solving the story but only if you are on level 5 or more of the career and everything is totally achievable without it. There are military NPCs that you need to interact with to get further into solving the mystery but it is nothing related to the actual "playable" career
    Oh perfect! I think I'll make my first Strangerville Sim a reporter then :smile:
  • hadklaxhadklax Posts: 467 Member
    Thanks for your little review. I'll be picking it up tomorrow basically the second it's released as I always do (and I'm already looking at how to escape work early! Haha). However, I fear even before playing it, Im going to end agreeing with your gameplay comments. It's not what The Sims is about and too restrictive. It could end up feeling isolated from the rest of the game and you can't control the world unless you complete or immerse yourself in the mystery.
    I'm looking forward to it, honestly. But, I'm cautious. I hope I love it and I also love a new world and CAS objects so bring it on. (Let's be honest, I'll be counting the seconds until it's released lol)
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