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Top 10 Reasons Why StrangerVille is the Worst GP yet [SPOILERS]
Naus
Posts: 405 Member
TOP 10 REASONS WHY STRANGERVILLE IS THE WORST GAME PACK YET
1- Story is very linear and can be finished in less than 2 hours. It has little replay value.
2- Predictable and cliched plot. It can be summed up in three well-known tropes: Abandoned Laboratory, Town with a Dark Secret and Zombie Apocalypse. Think of Resident Evil+Silent Hill (but without bringing anything new to the table).
3- Repetitive and grindy tasks. Scanning terrain and picking up spores over and over and over isn't fun. Half of the tasks require that your Sim talk to other Sims. You can find out everything you need to do by hovering your mouse over the aspiration goals.
4- The highest level of infection doesn't do much besides adding some graphical effects, vines from plumbing, spores in the air, more purple plants and possessed Sims. Where's the chaos, fire, dead Sims, sense of impending doom?
[Spoil. TS Castaway Stories] Comparatively, towards the end of The Sims Castaway Stories (a fairly linear story), it literally starts raining fire, there's a volcanic eruption and dead Sims (RIP Bart Pittman).
5- Poorly designed tasks. Loading screens break the action constantly. The way The Sims Stories and Urbz managed to minimize this issue was by having a lot of actions in the same area before moving to a different area.
6- Unlike The Sims Stories games, there isn't any final decision. The way to finish the story is to kill the Mother.
[Spoil. TS Life Stories] In contrast, in Vincent's story (TSLS) you have to decide whether to let the love of your life die or give up your wealth. Same with Castaway Stories.
7- Lazy animations: instead of vaccinating Sims, you throw a liquid at them.
8- Out of 71 buy mode objects, 40 are decorative. Most content in the pack is story related and found in buydebug. Only ONE chair.
9- Laptops are re-skinned desktop PCs, made live draggable. In contrast, The Sims 3's laptop was a base game object, which didn't require a surface to be used, could be used from the inventory directly and had unique animations (closing, carrying under the arm).
10- StrangerVille is a fairly small world (for TS4 standards), though it's bigger than other GP worlds (the bar was set really low). Walkable areas a fairly small too. Premade lots in StrangerVille are of a questionable quality. A Sims 4 base game was reused with minor modifications and the mansions in Shady Acres are barely furnished.
1- Story is very linear and can be finished in less than 2 hours. It has little replay value.
2- Predictable and cliched plot. It can be summed up in three well-known tropes: Abandoned Laboratory, Town with a Dark Secret and Zombie Apocalypse. Think of Resident Evil+Silent Hill (but without bringing anything new to the table).
3- Repetitive and grindy tasks. Scanning terrain and picking up spores over and over and over isn't fun. Half of the tasks require that your Sim talk to other Sims. You can find out everything you need to do by hovering your mouse over the aspiration goals.
4- The highest level of infection doesn't do much besides adding some graphical effects, vines from plumbing, spores in the air, more purple plants and possessed Sims. Where's the chaos, fire, dead Sims, sense of impending doom?
[Spoil. TS Castaway Stories] Comparatively, towards the end of The Sims Castaway Stories (a fairly linear story), it literally starts raining fire, there's a volcanic eruption and dead Sims (RIP Bart Pittman).
5- Poorly designed tasks. Loading screens break the action constantly. The way The Sims Stories and Urbz managed to minimize this issue was by having a lot of actions in the same area before moving to a different area.
6- Unlike The Sims Stories games, there isn't any final decision. The way to finish the story is to kill the Mother.
[Spoil. TS Life Stories] In contrast, in Vincent's story (TSLS) you have to decide whether to let the love of your life die or give up your wealth. Same with Castaway Stories.
7- Lazy animations: instead of vaccinating Sims, you throw a liquid at them.
8- Out of 71 buy mode objects, 40 are decorative. Most content in the pack is story related and found in buydebug. Only ONE chair.
9- Laptops are re-skinned desktop PCs, made live draggable. In contrast, The Sims 3's laptop was a base game object, which didn't require a surface to be used, could be used from the inventory directly and had unique animations (closing, carrying under the arm).
10- StrangerVille is a fairly small world (for TS4 standards), though it's bigger than other GP worlds (the bar was set really low). Walkable areas a fairly small too. Premade lots in StrangerVille are of a questionable quality. A Sims 4 base game was reused with minor modifications and the mansions in Shady Acres are barely furnished.
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Comments
Pros
- We get a New world that’s beautiful and big for a gamepack.
- The story and theme are different and are things we haven’t seen before.
- We get laptops.
- The build/buy victorian items are great
- The militant career is back. You can be a soldier or a “Men in Black”.
- We get a new trait “paranoid”.
Cons
- Not everyone will like the story.
- The only way to eat rid of the infection is to play the story.
- The boss fight at the end isn’t something that feels like the sims.
- Only one fishing location and no new fish. It would be nice to have access to the river.
- The new plants are not in the build mode.
- The laptops can’t close.
Course I've only been playing with the "two hour" story for more than 40 hours. I needed a break and some rest.
The chair thing though... I'll get behind that. Should have been more chairs. My sim loves it. He has a thing about chairs.
You do you OP, you do you.
I prefer The Sims (main series) to remain as a sandbox life simulator with no linear story mode whatsoever. The only stories should be the backstories of premade Sims, which I can adjust and/or delete said Sims altogether. Single player RPGs, and even the spin-off Sims games handled story modes far better.
I'm not at all opposed to a scenarios/improved TS3 opportunities system, where there are quest-like elements, player control/interaction/input (the game not literally spoonfeeding me directions for one, singular route to take the story in), and meaningful rewards. But TS4: Strangerville is an entirely different genre from what The Sims has always been, and just not fun to me, as a long-time player of the series.
Right now, the game needs new systems that promote replayability. I want to have so many directions to take my Sim's life in that it would take dozens upon dozens of generations to do everything, and even still, no two Sim's lives would be entirely the same. That's the kind of feeling I got in The Sims 2 and especially The Sims 3, with so much content in that game (but too much unstability on my end to explore it all). A linear story that holds your hand, gives you no creativity or interaction, and has the lore and predictability of Mickey Mouse Club House is simply not it.
For a GP. Game Packs have set the bar so low that an 11-lot world is considered BIG. Beautiful is subjective, I personally don't find it beautiful at all, there's just too much set dressing and very small walkable areas. But like I said, it's completely subjective.
We've seen story-driven games before as spin-offs. Those game executed the story and gameplay much better than StrangerVille.
We get live draggable reskinned PCs. There are CC computers with more interactions than the ones included in this pack.
I mostly agree. They're pretty cool, especially the doors and windows.
Military career has always been a base game career, now you have to pay extra to have it. It doesn't add too many new interactions to justify paying extra for it. Sims 2 and Sims 3 have a "Salute" interaction. Sims 2 also has an obstacle course object with more unique animations that anything in this pack.
Like 98% of the traits in The Sims 4 doesn't do anything special. Compare it to the Neurotic trait in The Sims 3 that has dozens of interactions and attributes.
Spoilers y’all.
1: Only if by ‘story’ you mean the aspiration. There are 2 ways to end the infection (kill the Mother or befriend her), you can also kill then mother than bring her back, have either an infected or non-infected sim befriend her, and there are several ways to get a keycard or the military scanner. So, while it has its linear points, it does actually allow for some variety to allow more sandbox players to tell the story they want with that set up.
Also because there are multiple ways to end the infection, I know me and others find a decent bit of replay value in it for what amounts to 10 bucks of worth of the pack (story is main feature, yeah, but that gives the world about 25%, career 15%, and all the remaining doodads the rest).
2: cliche isn’t bad. Tropes are not the enemy. Tropes are tropes for a reason, ‘specially considering the two things you quoted are classics. And it brings sim sensibility and weird humor to the table. And allows players to craft their own narrative in it.
Heck, considering this was the FIRST storyline ever released in the main Sims game, uh. They probably wanted to make it as bare bones as possible? Because frankly if I suddenly had a RPG style story in my game I would’ve been annoyed. It still felt like I was playing the sims, which is good to a lot of players. They needed a flexible skeleton which players could do whatever they wanted to with (as far as tech and time allowed).
3: The scanner did get a bit grindy, less so when I realized the lab was where it was at. But of course you are talking to other sims? It’s an investigation? And see point 1 for ‘the aspiration seriously isn’t the whole story’. Like that was the “intro to pack and town” aspiration.
Also reminder kids do play this game. So having easy instructions means a lot for them. Not everything is about us adults who’ve been playing RPGs forever.
4: once again, sand box. If the story killed off sims without player input... oh dang. Uh. People would RIOT. As such players can decide what happens to who. And that was about 20 special effects you listed and frankly the cloud of doom and spores and weird lighting set the mood GREAT considering this was a plant invasion.
This isn’t a story game like castaway, it’s a story-based pack designed to integrate as seamlessly as possible with the main game.
5: this personally wasn’t a issue for me, but then again we have established our play styles are polar opposites.
6: Once again, see #1. That’s only for the aspiration.
7: ok I PERSONALLY thought that was hilarious but point. I do like they added military animations, sparring, and the whole infected animation tho. Those were not lazy.
8: How does this compare to other game packs? Because we could debate all day about less items vs a bigger liveable world, or what deserved more time. The amount we got seems reasonable with everything else in the pack. But Your Mileage May Vary on this one.
9: I totally get the criticisms of the laptop, but by the same token I really think the best game to compare 4 to is 2 in regards to what the game is actually even capable of. Which then gets into the thorny debate of which we shall never escape. (I do hope they make it more moble tho).
10: as you said, huge for a GP. Which is the comparison we should be making, otherwise this point would’ve Plummed the Vampire Pack to the grave. I mean, this world is as big as Del Sol Valley, and (personal preference here) far more detailed and gorgeous. The lots are about the usual maxis standard tbh. This is why I remodel everything.
I don't want to be confrontational, but most of your post reads like a bunch of excuses for everything without actually providing valid counterpoints for most of my statements.
For example, tropes aren't inherently a bad thing but when they aren't handled correctly as a setup for an interesting plot, they become clichés. In the case of StrangerVille, the fact it uses well known tropes, without adding anything new, a plot twist, or even a more postmodernist take to its tropes is what makes it an example of poor storytelling.
I agree The Sims (main games) should focus on the sandbox aspect and letting us tell our own stories. I don't mind background stories like in The Sims 2 or mysteries like TS3's Don's appearance in Riverview or who is Lolita Goth. But a step-a-step MMO-esque story mode doesn't belong in a main Sims game.
I think scenarios like in TS2 and opportunities in TS3 worked really well. I really opportunities because I can ignore them if I want. They are just icing on the sandbox cake, not the cake itself. StrangerVille is definitely a first for a main Sims game. My problem isn't necesarily the fact that it exist (though it worries me for the future of the series), but the fact that it was so lazily executed, both in terms of plot/narrative and gameplay.
TS2/3 were definitely the peak when it comes to complex sandbox systems, especially memories/aspirations in TS2 and story progression/traits in TS3. TS4 added emotions, which is VERY poorly designed system in my opinion. All Sims end up being happy 50% of the time, moodlets are pointless (might as well be colored squares), and traits don't do anything other than change default emotions and add bonuses to skill building. TS4 still lacks most complex systems previous games had.
Also, the story is as cliched as the player makes it.
Excuses, excuses, excuses. First of all, as I explained in a separate thread it shouldn't be a vaccine. Vaccines don't work the way developers think they work. Second, there's almost no way to administer a vaccine through the dermis. You have to get to the subcutaneous tissue. The closest we've got to dermal vaccionation is through microneedles, but pores wouldn't be capable of absorbing a vaccine. To put it simply, throwing a glass of whatever at a person wouldn't do a 🐸🐸🐸🐸 thing (other than get them wet).
Whatever explanation you think they gave (I read every popup text and aspiration goals, I wasn't given any), it doesn't make sense from a scientific point of view. Unless you think science is a matter of opinion.
I could understand one saying the game is as cliched as the player makes it, but this is one, singular story that remains exactly the same in every player’s game. I don’t think players can be blamed for a poorly written story by EA...
Hmm... For me this sounds so strange. Why would the sims medicine work the same way as it does for us, pets with glowing noses is a common occurrence at the vet for them? And why do you assume that developers do not understand how vaccines work in our world? This is a fictional game.
Personally I did wonder why it was thrown and not given by at shot but I do not tie that to understanding of real life medicine, just seems a bit odd to me.
@MVWdeZT I totally missed why it was thrown even when I was running round there for hours. If you feel like it I would love to know why
You know The Sims is suppose to be a life simulation right? All things considered. In GTW sims already give a form of injected shots so why didn't they use a similar animation with the same object? It's not consistent at all and it's jarring to see a vaccine as throwing a drink to your face.
Also about the splash thing.. it can be good for stories as you play .. if the possessed are more of a zombie like creature it give us more options to work with.. not less.
Especially if you use it for more than just the aspiration story line which I do and plan to do.
I thought that there would be shots and would love to know why it was thrown. If MVWdeZT figured it out that would be fun to know. For me it is just a little bit strange to assume that the developers would not understand how vaccines work in our world. That it has to be done one way or it would not be valid from a scientific point of view. That bit just strikes me as odd. We have a set of steps that we can take to return ghosts to their living form and so forth, but a vaccine administered in a less preferred way and then the developers do not understand real life science.
I personally thought that it was a bit odd that it was thrown. But I do not directly assume that understanding of real world science is the reason. Also, I do not like how Naus replied to MVWdeZT when the poster pointed out that there apparently is a reason for the vaccine to be thrown rather than give as a shot. MVWdeZT simply points out that there seems to be some hidden tidbit of lore for why it looks like it does.
Naus then replies:
"Whatever explanation you think they gave (I read every popup text and aspiration goals, I wasn't given any), it doesn't make sense from a scientific point of view. Unless you think science is a matter of opinion."
Whatever explanation you think they gave. I don't know what happens but if there is something then the developers of the game placed it there. It is their world. They can do whatever they want. Then finishing off with "Unless you think science is a matter of opinion" as if MVWdeZT had walzed in happily announcing that the real world is flat and that gravity is a joke. It just feels like such a unnecessary way to speak to people on our forum.
Why not just say "The animation with the vaccine being thrown looks really odd to me". I could get behind that. I dislike it when you make the argument that someone is less understanding, that a person does not understand things. In that case then I really would like to see what you base that on.
It has been established in previous Sims games (Ambitions, Get to Work) that vaccines are administered through the subcutaneous route with a needle or special device. Any explanation they could give now will CONTRADICT what has been previously established (canon).
At the end of the day, it's just a bunch of excuses apologists or developers make up for lazy animations. It's ridiculous to pretend there's some deep lore behind throwing vaccines like drinks when it's pretty clear it was the result of laziness.
Ahem......
Wright has stated that The Sims was actually meant as a satire of U.S. consumer culture.[4] Wright took ideas from the 1977 architecture and urban design book A Pattern Language, American psychologist Abraham Maslow's 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation and his hierarchy of needs, and Charles Hampden-Turner's Maps of the Mind to develop a model for the game's artificial intelligence (from wiki)
And all the way back to sims 1 (especially there) and in Sims 2, there was very quirky things that are NOT a part of real life.
As satire/parody it does what it is supposed to do and that is exaggerate the normal to the ridiculous.
Excuse you?
I agree that Get to Work has shown that one way to give a sim a vaccine is by giving that sim a shot.
I do not know of any information that shows that the ONLY way of administering vaccines to a sim is by giving that sim a shot. What is the evidence for every other way of vaccination being excluded in this fictional universe? It could be something I missed so I am always interested in learning more. I haven't finished the doctor-career and I like to collect little bits of trivia.
Hmm... as for the lore concerning vaccine being thrown being stupid, I will wait with the verdict on that until I know what that lore is. If you know do share, I am curious.
I can't help but notice that you use a lot of academic words so I might as well do it too. Perhaps I am biased in this case since I used to work as a material tester following ASTM-standards. That would be the "American Society for Testing and Materials". Proving that you have followed that standard to the letter and that your results are not only correct but also that others can achieve the same results as you of they have the materials, the equipment and the standards was for a while my thing. But then my field is materials and not medicine. When you in your earlier posts connected your criticism of the developers and MVWdeZT to the understanding of science in our world it got my attention and I disliked it. For me anything in this game concerning testing is so far far removed from anything in the "real world" that it just feels...well like fantasy. Or perhaps a game.
I expected them to use the animation of a sim getting a shot. The animation for a sim getting a fluid substance thrown in their face is more amusing so that is a bonus.
If you haven't finish the story, make sure you don't mind reading this spoiler.
That's yet another nonsensical part. A vaccine could never be used that way. Sims just throw glasses of "vaccines" at the plant and they have an instantaneous harmful effect. Vaccines were made earlier in the game to HEAL / free people from Mother's control, so it doesn't make sense that later on they can be used to hurt Mother herself? You're literally throwing at Mother her OWN PATHOGENS! It's a massive plot hole and it's never explained. What kind of deus-ex-vaccines are these? They work exactly how the plot needs them to work at any given moment. They have no consistency or underlying rules.
Honestly, the more I think about the plot in StrangerVille, the angrier I feel THIS is what passes now as an acceptable plot.
@Melpomena But of course
So let's worry about the authenticity of administering a vaccine to a huge malevolent plant. Should they have required an alcohol swab first?