The world is much better quality than many we have had in any past GP's. I'm including the vamp pack just because of the size.. although it's a great world. The world in this GP even rivals some EP's.
The vines from the toilets, sinks and showers ... are a nice touch for me, as are the spores, the sounds.. and the way the world changes during the story. It get's creepier. The plants are interesting in their animations and *poofs*.
The textures on the clothing are very well done. The hair is getting better and better from pack to pack including this one.. and way better than base game hairs.
The sparring machine has wonderful animations and is well done. The sparring animations are wonderful on their own also although I don't like that they are bound to the military career or having a machine on the lot.
The military career is open ended enough so that you can send your sim to work or set up your own work from home this works very well with for story telling. You could have a club/group of military sims that you work with if you want too to play out your military based stories. The medal case with the ability to add in the medals is a really good work related object as you can see their progress.. and have a visible and more personal reward.
The branches of the military career also can serve different purposes depending on how you want to play you sim you can go basic military or go men in black route.. this helps me immensely for my sims and what I want them to be or how I see them.
The listening device and bug use is interesting and can be used in different ways for different story lines... especially blackmail.
There are also a lot of nice built in drop downs that I can tell the devs put effort into. Things like what you read in the comments from placing bugs or the storylines of the residents there that you access if talking to them. You don't have to see all of this stuff to complete the story but it's there to stumble across or ignore depending on how you play.
The plant object and possession/infection can also be used in many different ways and separately from the story if you want.. and it's funny/creepy. There are some things I wish they'd added to this as I've tested it out pretty well by now but it's been useful to me for my stories for sure. I could write quite a bit here actually on what the possessed can engage in and how this and the process of infecting can be useful for telling stories in game.
Most objects that I've seen are of the same quality or better as in the past.
The build items .. especially the doors and windows are wonderful. Although they really should have had some more swatches for those dirty floors. It has many niche objects for those that like that such as the mad scientist do-dads. As someone that hates to find and download cc ... mostly because I end up focusing on that and not the game I want as much of this sort of stuff in my game that is official as possible. So this "clutter" in build buy is right up my alley. Oh and the juke box is great and looks great ... it's another favorite for me, almost up there with the stereo that came with GF.
The new radio station and music fills a niche (and is up there with my 4 favorites now)
The aspiration is not any different really than most other aspirations. They all get repetitive. Kiss 10 sims. Introduce yourself to 10 sims. Get 25 collectibles. Have a gazillion romantic interactions with one sim. To me it's actually more interesting than socializing with your child 10 times.
There is a story that I know the OP has an issue with but you can stop it at anytime and live in that world as is. You can tackle it from different angles .. I have anyway.. you can complete it and leave it or start it all over again or set the world as you want later. My only complaint is that you couldn't finish it by becoming an anti-hero, befriend the mother and complete the aspiration as a bad guy. It's not low quality it's just a story. It's can be short enough for those that want to be done with it can be done with it .. and can be extended for those that don't want to be done with it (like me). I kind of hope someone makes a mod or second aspiration for this.
The mother is useful for story telling later as a means to have eternal youth, make money (not all that much but it can be useful for some story types), the career boost also works. You can also even put her in other areas using a cheat. I plan on doing that later personally to make a cult for the mother on Windenburg Island.
I could say more about the mother but I haven't actually fought her myself only befriended her... the fight looks fun and exciting to me but I'm pretty sure it will be better when I actually do it.. it's always better in game than watching it on a video for me anyway.
I actually see sandbox all over this pack. I'm assuming it's because it's themes I enjoy playing with but.. it's what I've been doing since I got the pack.
Totally, totally, totally DIS-A-GREE on your point about the world. There is absolutely nothing that says great quality about the strange world. Nothing. It’s larger than the vampire one, I guess, but it has WAAAY too much dead space and it has ENTIRELY too much decoration. Selvadora is higher quality than strangerville IMHO, because it’s decorated with things that make sense and not a plethora of fake homes/buildings that are fake, have no gameplay, but are still directly in your play space.
For myself, the dressed up worlds wind up being the lowest quality. Although I’m not surprised that people like the visual effects. San Myshuno, garbage, the LA world from GF, small and also garbage. The strange town, while I do think it could have had a nice aesthetic is garbage due to how poorly designed the actual world is and how it features more decoration and props than gameplay. Fail. At least for myself.
The story mode is irrelevant to me, I did not finish it and probably won’t. It’s not nearly as “structured” as you would think but that doesn’t mean it’s enjoyable. It really wasn’t for myself, and the pack is still truly not something I have found useful or much fun. The strange behavior is fun when you first see it, but it would have been better (for me) if they were more creative and didn’t tie it to some predetermined narrative. Strangerville, after putting in some effort to play, still seems like the low quality cash grab I felt it was when it released. It doesn’t contain nearly enough “stuff” and tries to compensate for that by advertising the story mode which is basically just a glorified aspiration. All in all, the pack gets a 4/10 from me.
They're testing the waters with Events, but the idea that it might go through worries me greatly.
I mean, if this is the kind of order they're getting from the big guys, they don't have much choice, and if they want to give it a try, hey, why not? But this price for an event? You're kidding right?
Prepping a list of mods to add after Infants are placed into the game. Because real life isn't 'nice'.
They're testing the waters with Events, but the idea that it might go through worries me greatly.
I mean, if this is the kind of order they're getting from the big guys, they don't have much choice, and if they want to give it a try, hey, why not? But this price for an event? You're kidding right?
Exactly especially if there is no other alternate ends as regardless of how many times one play through there is the same ending and that becomes an bore very quickly for me, if they somehow are able to shake it up multiple times I may be interested. However looking at the SIms the way it is developed I do not think it will be accepted by many as they are moving away from the formula again that made the Sims what it is today and for me the development of Sims 4 is not and will not be an remarkable creation of perfection.
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I haven't read everyone's replies. But I do like having puzzles to solve in my game, like sims 3 and the tombs. I never did complete them before sims4 came out. It would be good if more puzzles could be added, but with the option of turning them on and off as we want. what do you call it rpg?? what I don't want is more clothes, I don't use all the ones I have. I would like more puzzles.
I’m not being funny but this is the most dramatic reaction possible to this pack. RPG??! Have you played an RPG game? This is still the sims people, there is still a beautiful new town to play in, new objects (not all niche objects in the slightest), the “storytelling” is minimal and is only short as obviously they were testing the waters with that concept, and just adds a bit of lore to the town really. Let’s take a moment to look back at the history of the franchise. You’ll see there has always been a quirky side, and this pack is simply letting that quirky side go full reign for once.
The ratio of “realistic life sim” vs the “quirkier stuff” expansion packs, game packs and stuff packs, is farrrrr in favour of one over the other in the Sims 4. So stop worrying, for a lot of the fandom they have been missing the weirder stuff. Clearly there is a divide in the fandom of those wanting the game totally “realistic” vs those who want something a bit more off the wall/ exciting. It’s just a shame that this is the reaction from some, so extreme. Bashing the franchise because it has stepped out of your definition for the sims. If you don’t want this pack, don’t buy it. Surely that’s the point of all these packs? Customise the game how you want?
In terms of releasing university, this is still a business for the franchise. At the end of the day they have to keep interest in the franchise and keep the money rolling in. Of course they wouldnt release ALL the fan favourite packs at once. Before famous, they released pets and seasons, 2 other fan favourites, so calm down people. We all know university is gonna drop soon, probably next with the amount of outrage, that and babies lol... so stop with all this “just give us what we want” attitude, as if they don’t listen to the fan base at all.
There was outcry for pools they added pools. There was outcry for laundry, they added laundry. There was outcry for toddlers, they added toddlers. There was outcry for terrain tools, they added terrain tools. There was outcry for diversity, they are continuously adding diversity. They are clearly listening to what you’re asking for, and delivering when and where they can. Granted this stuff should have been in from day 1, but that is another issue for the Sims 4. They obviously made the base game heavily relying on the fact people would buy DLC, hence it feeling so empty. Problem is it was simply too empty, severely underbaked on release and they’ve had to play catch up ever since - whilst also delivering something new and fresh for the franchise. Honestly it’s a shame there hasn’t been more niche packs up until now. My memories of the franchise across pc and console has always been of how fun and quirky it can be. I mean it’s never been a true life simulation to begin with, let’s be real...
There are far bigger things to worry about for the future of the franchise than the threat of it turning into an RPG. Like the fact most of the dev team moved over to the mobile app. So now we haven’t had patches in a hot minute and everyone is stuck with a bug riddled game. Does this also mean a slow down in the production of the new content? Or with the financial potential in mobile gaming nowadays, will they give up on the sims on pc/console altogether? Especially with the rocky reception of the sims 4 across its lifetime, the fact they’ve had to have a full time bug-fixing team up until recently (so what 3/4 years?), will there even be a sims 5? Theres been no secret of drama between EA and Maxis and they already gave up on simcity on pc in favour of the app.
You need to stop feeling so personally attacked when they bring out a pack you haven’t demanded. I can’t tell you the amount of packs or features i didn’t think I would enjoy, until I tried them. Even the dreaded laundry pack (which I was mad about, how did the exciting potential of an eco pack turn into laundry???), I boycotted for ages until I eventually stuck washing machines in and who knew. They somehow add to the gameplay and now I always have washing machines and love the laundry pack. Be a little open minded, the fan base is big and divers. Not every piece of dlc will be catered directly to you. Just saying.
@Cinebar So are you going to disagree with Twallan, who has actually looked at the code through and through to create his mod suite? You can read his comments HERE.
He knows what he's talking about and he explicitly says: "If you had played those sims in the past, they will now be marked as "Protected", which will stop the "Random Death" story action from firing against them. Being "Protected" also stops that family from emigrating."
It's not an OPINION you can disagree with. It's a fact that EA Story Progression (as of August 6, 2009) marks household and Sims you played with as PROTECTED and that prevents them from random deaths, events and emigration (moving out of town). Some minor changes will still occur, like earning money, getting promotions/skills and changing relationships.
I do agree that Story Progression was pretty hit and miss as it doesn't take into account Sims' individual wishes and personalities but what the town needs as a whole in terms of demographics. AwesomeMod and NRaas SP are much better implementations of SP and more flexible for rotational play. However, the protected status in EA's SP does work as intended preventing major changes in your played households.
ETA: I decided to check the code myself to see how the protected flag functions.
As you can see here, it checks protected status before every STORY ACTION method.
Each CLASS has a check to determine whether it's a MAJOR ACTION. If the story action is considered a major action AND the Sim or household has the protection flag (which was stored in the MiniSimDescription method), then the check returns true and the action won't take effect. Some major actions are: merge households, move in with partner, split household, move out household, move to larger/smaller household, emigrate household, kill Sim, kill Elder Sim, Add/Remove (any occult) to household, etc.
Sims are marked as protected when: you select them (they have a plumbBob), move in a household from the library, or switch to another household from Edit Town mode:
I'm getting the idea that you're not much of a rotational player because you wouldn't need to go searching into all of this modder's code to understand how rotational play has been ruined in the Sims 3. I'm not being snarky, I'm just wondering if you played Sims 2 at all for comparison. I think that people who started with Sims 3 don't really know what rotational play has been like.
It doesn't matter if the Sims 3 marks those Sims as protected, because it's only for what it considers major events. The game is still determining what it can and can't change, aside from those things. I still don't have full control. If I leave a Sim in a household, single, at a certain level of their career, I expect to return to that household in a few Sim days and have them be the way I left them, like it was in Sims 2, and like it (generally) is in Sims 4. (I do have some special complaints for Sims 4's version as well, but at least I can play it.) I don't want the game to decide they got promoted and became rich, or popular, or started dating someone random, or whatever. That still takes the control away from the player.
The truth is, Sims 3 was never designed for rotational play in the first place. When the game released, it was single household only and so bare bones, I came to the forums for the very first time to look up what others were saying about it because I truly thought I was missing something. There were a ton of threads with the same exact complaints I had, so it was a hard pill to swallow when I realized that, yep, my entire play style had been abandoned. I imagine that the reason they shoehorned it in eventually was because the rotational player base was so upset. I mean, you can still tell that the game isn't properly built for it. Look at what happens when you try to switch households, you have to give up your current household's wishes, promises, descendents, and all that, so it's not without consequences. This is not proper rotational play.
Now, I've done my share of research, but I haven't actually been able to experiment much with rotational play in Sims 3 because I initially abandoned the game shortly after base release and only tried it out once in a while after that to see if my opinion would change, but it didn't. But I picked up some packs that were on sale for $5 a few months ago and decided to try it out again. I played a single Sim for a couple of sessions to get readjusted before deciding to make another Sim household. But as soon as I tried to change, sure enough, it gave me that warning that I'd have to take these losses in my current household in order to switch, so I closed the game in frustration. At some point, I'm going to just go in and take the loss and try it anyway for experimentation purposes to see exactly how it affects my gameplay, but as of now, I still cannot play that game. It's just too poorly designed.
Thank you for explaining it so I didn't have to, you said it so much better. I think some don't remember there was no off button for story progression when the game was first released and yes, I had all the above you mentioned and rotational play had been abandoned.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
@ddd994 I would have no problem with them going 'full quirky', as you say, if they actually did it well and executed it well. I'm not feeling personally attacked, however it sounds like you were by my post? No need, I'm sure you can handle me having a different opinion - I don't have any magical opinion powers that forces you to think like I do.
To me, the pack doesn't seem 'quirky' as much as it just seems lazy and incomplete. Even if the concept of story elements isn't my thing in this particular game, I could get behind it and appreciate it if it was actually well done, but IMO it's not.
I agree that there are a lot of things to 'worry' about in regards to this game, but this pack is by far the most worrying, since it shows the devs don't have enough resources or even imagination to get what the Sims is all about.
I don't think my reaction and thoughts are 'extreme' at all, I think they are warranted and very much needed. If we don't tell the devs what we think the game is about and what they are doing 'wrong', then how can we expect them to make the game we want to play? Just doing my part.
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
@Aine ... Well it is kinda extreme. Comparing the Strangerville pack to an RPG, and acting as though it is a betrayal to the series is a bit much, obviously you are entitled to your own opinion. Look at the other comments here, there’s plenty of similar reactions. Have your opinion but I’m just saying like calm down, Strangerville is not the end of the sims as we know it, which is what a lot of these Strangerville bashing threads are implying.
I agree the resources have been reprioritised within the development team, but I think it’s a little insulting to call them unimaginative. If they have limited resources then they are limited to what they can make, because of powers above them. But let’s be real, [i]nearly all the packs have seemed to lack something[/i], it’s nothing new if that’s your main issue with Strangerville...?
And this “we’re just telling the devs what we want so they make the game we want to play”, it just sounds completely entitled to me. There’s better ways about giving feedback, then bashing the dev team. Its just disappointing to see the way people are going about their feedback. It’s giving me angry mob with pitchforks lol
I agree with @ddd994. Creative endeavors (and designing a game is a creative endeavor) should not be all about just catering to what the audience wants. There's a balance between being aware of the market and just jumping to follow the commands of the crowd. If I tried to write a novel based only on current market trends and only edited based on what others wanted it to be about, it would be a mediocre novel at best. There would be no voice.
@Aine You say "we" need to tell the devs what we think the game is about and what they're doing wrong. But "we" are a very large group with diverse opinions.
I personally think the dev team should throw realism out the window, forget about university, cars, or faming EPs, and focus just on supernatural stuff from now on. I think at least one more game pack should have a kind of story-like element to it the way Strangerville did, because I really enjoyed it.
The dev team can't cater to everyone. So they need to make calls on what they will work on, and I don't think it should always be about which group was shouting the loudest. What direction the Sims takes is ultimately in the hands of the people who create it. When I like what they do, I buy it. When I don't, I spend my time and money elsewhere.
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
@ddd994 LMAO I'm completely calm, and how is sharing my opinion and my passion for the Sims 'entitled'? I'm giving constructive criticism, although you might think it's harsh, it's the truth for me, I'm not even exaggerating or 'bashing', I'm just telling what I see and it comes from a place of wanting something better, and knowing they can do better, oh so much better, than they currently are.
EA is definitely betraying the Sims series as it is now. The way I see this going, we won't have much left of the franchise after EA is done with it - and it's not the first time EA has done this to a game franchise. There's a lot I enjoy about Sims 4, and I still play it, even though I don't see myself buying or enjoying this particular pack (except maybe the objects).
Btw, you need to read the rest of my posts in this thread, because you're assuming things about my stance that's just plain wrong. I always say that the devs don't have enough resources or enough time - but mostly someone, who knows who exactly, is making really bad decisions regarding the game right now, and I'm calling it out. You can tell me to 'calm down' all you want, but if that means shutting up, then no, I won't do that - why do you even care what I think - just enjoy it if you like the pack and the game and move on. I am not forcing you to read my opinions or agreeing with them.
Don't dare say I haven't given feedback - I've done that this entire thread, plus threads in the feedback section, even have my own ideas for packs. So just make it clear - aren't you the one being rude here? Seriously? Just go read the entire thread, then come back to me.
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
@katrinasforest When I say 'we' I mean you and everyone else - I'm definitely not assuming everyone wants the same things. We should all give feedback and say what we want from the game - Sims is great because it's possible to please most if not all players - that's one my main points! The idea that you can't cater to everyone with this game is ridiculous - previous games pretty much did - Sims 2 definitely did and it's 15 years old! Also the devs have said they have more people working on the game now than they had on Sims 2 - so explain to me how it's this bad if they do?
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
@Aine Some things are contradictory, though. For example, the level of difficulty of Sims' everyday life. Or how easy it is to earn money. It's definitely harder in Sims 2 to keep your Sims alive, employed, and happy. Relationships are also more difficult to build up and maintain. Sometimes I'm in the mood for that, but other times, it gets in the way of my storytelling. But these are things the developers had to make a call on one way or another. It's hard to say if Sims 2 pleased "most people," because presumably the people it didn't please have long since walked away from the franchise and are not here voicing their opinions.
I think you can please a larger group of people by making the game more customizable to their tastes, and that's exactly what the various packs do. We can use our purchasing power to voice what we do and do not like.
I totally understand that Strangerville isn't everyone's cup of tea. Some people will flat-out hate it. But I'm glad they made it. And at no point would it have occurred to me to ask, "Can we please have a story-based town with a giant plant alien that possesses people?"
While I do have my own personal wishlist for things I want in the game, and I agree there's nothing wrong with voicing wishlists, what I also want from the game is more fun and crazy ideas from the developers that I never would have thought of. Give me that thing I never knew I wanted but now must have.
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
I think some are missing the point here. The idea of Strangerville is not the issue for many of us. I would love to see fun, quirky, unexpected things in the game. But they should be done well. This pack could have been amazing. The entire story can be played in 3 hours. How is that OK? The quality of the packs just keep getting worse.
I do not blame the devs. I think they are doing their best with the very limited resources they are being given. There is a video on Youtube by Deligracy called "I pitched my game idea to the Sims producers". It opened my eyes a little about how this process works. It is supposed to be a funny joke but it shows how flawed the development is right now. The packs are giving us the bare minimum that they can get away with. Until EA opens the budget this will continue to happen. As long as people keep supporting this practice it will continue to happen.
I am worried about the future of this franchise. I also do not have any faith at this time that Sims 5 will be any better.
@michelei I dunno. I mean, if I do things right, I can have a Sim become a 5-star celebrity in 3 hours. (If they're a child of two five-star celebrities, I could probably do it in less than an hour.) It doesn't mean Get Famous is over and there's nothing left to do.
I'm enjoying my post-Strangerville plot. My Sims just got all plant-obsessed now.
They revived the Mother Plant and made friends with her and now visit her regularly to ask for gifts. I have strangeness permanently set to medium. When the family kid ages into a teen, they're going to have a party where he partakes of the bizarre fruit. There's a holiday around the Mother plant as well in which Sims must garden and do water activities. The fact that their needs all get filled at 1am is a good motivation for them to keep this going for a while until some rebel decides to fight it.
I also have a ton of build ideas with the new items I'm excited to try. For me, the pack was more than worth it.
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
No, no, no ... you cannot use "we" and say one game catered to all needs then bring out the great Sims 2 god of a game and wave it around like it really did those things.
Sims 2 didn't cater to me like this game does @Aine I have many, many for instances since my rose colored glasses have come off. That game made me play by the sims needs first and foremost and then by that wants and needs wheel/aspiration. If I didn't then my sim would be babbling on the floor with a doctor standing over them... Something I raced against the clock to avoid after it happened once. I didn't want it to happen. Sure it was funny the first time but you had to play a certain way or it would happen. I didn't like to cheat in that game because if I did... there didn't seem much to do once you had it all... at least to me and I'd be off hunting mods or cc instead of playing. I did mod in some cheats to make needs better and I would mod in want or need "locks" so that maybe I could complete some ridiculous goals that were set by the wheel. These things in particular boxed my gameplay in... and I never even realized it until fairly recently.... because I play much more freely now. My gameplay is much better suited to playing sandbox and telling the stories I want to tell now with this game. Sure I still need some packs to do all that I want but I have no doubt they are coming.
@katrinasforest I do consider Get Famous over. I know this is not a popular opinion. I played through it one time and I enjoyed making my sim a celebrity. Then I disabled the pack. The celebrities are too disruptive to the rest of my game and the pack does not have enough substance for me keep putting up with all that disruption. If I had the option of shutting off celebrities than I would have kept the pack in my game. I did enjoy the clothes and the build/buy items but in the end it was not enough to keep the pack.
@michelei That's fair. I mostly like the celebrity perks. And I lot of my stories revolve around either redeeming an evil character or corrupting a good one, which the reputation wheel is a nice, tangible measure of. But since none of my Sims have been into acting lately, a lot of the Get Famous stuff gets ignored. Value-wise, I'm getting more for my money out of Strangerville than Get Famous. I don't regret buying it, but I kind of wish I had waited for a sale.
I do want to have a family live in Del Sol Valley eventually. I feel like there's another story to be told there, and I just haven't figured out what it is yet. ^_^
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
@katrinasforest@Hermitgirl It's interesting that you both don't enjoy the way Sims 2 was harder - for me it was never that hard tbh. I did use certain mods to even out some needs, but those was never really about making it easier, but more about making it organic and logical, and more about giving myself the freedom to do other stuff. Take for instance the Sims 2 toddlers - the constant need for them to sleep was pretty grindy, but I used a modded pillow for the toddlers to take naps on, and voilá, they were much more pleasant to play. To me, it was little things like that that needed tuning, not the actual need to manage the sims themselves.
I never mind having to tell the sims what to do, as long as I have the means to fix it and I have the control. The depth of the gameplay is what matters to me. I know that it's not the same for everyone, but to me, Sims 2 is the ultimate Sims game, bar CAS and the fact that it's not 64 bit. It's also a bit unstable and easily corrupts, otherwise it's pretty flawless. Not to say I don't enjoy certain things about Sims 4 that isn't in previous games - like Sims 4 toddlers and CAS for instance. But overall, Sims 2 wins for me. I understand everyone plays the game differently. But that's why I love that Sims can be modded. The problem with Sims 4 for instance is that there isn't enough of a foundation to mod in everything the way I want. I can't mod in wants/fears and memories for instance. But once they're in the game, they can be tweaked by modders. That's why the absence of core features is a problem for me, not that they aren't perfect. I have mods for almost every aspect of Sims 4 in my game. I think that says a lot about how much I am willing to put up with to get my Sims fix. Still not even close to my experience with Sims 2 though.
One of my main issues with a pack like Strangerville is that there are core features still missing in Sims 4, which makes the pack a lot more empty to me than if those features were in the game. I don't think I'd mind as much to get a pack like this, if we had wants/fears and memories in the game. I probably would have loved playing the story if sims could actually be scared of doing the story and the infected.
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
@Aine , the thing is it seems you are coming down on the gamepack Strangerville as kinda the whipping boy for the Sims 4 series.
I boggle a bit at saying this pack isn’t quality, or that it doesn’t have sand box tools.
For background of my own preferences (which I have stated before), I am a mainly Sims 2 player who has made my own mods on sims 2 (alien abduction mods, PT mods, memory mods, and a good bit of CC, oh and a career or two). I didn’t join sims 4 until not only toddlers were added, but when the gendered stuff was unlocked (as half my time is sims 2 was modding for gender conversions or hunting gender conversions). I have 4 seperate mod folders for my sims 2 game depending on the world, with my medieval mod folder having +35k packages in it.
So I understand where you are coming from, but I approached this game with rose colored glasses firmly crushed under my heel from Sims 3 (as originally a Mac player... whooooo boy) and skeptical from the bad start of sims 4. I also find all sims games absurdly easy. Sims 2 legacy gen 1 is already in mansion with everyone on the way to receiving their LTW before elderhood. Sims 4 has my second gen making me sweat with ways to spend money to the point of me donating daily.
This is all to say that I’ve accepted what Sims 4 is and I highly doubt any huge changes to gameplay are going to be made in its last 2 years (assuming). People would be better off contributing to talk of Sims 5 with some features, talking realistically with them not alienating all the people who are dedicated Sims 4 players who do like the play style, unless they are talking about items or other less ‘changing the entire code’ things.
But as I stated previously, Sims 4 Strangerville has some really cool tools. Frankly, any lack of ‘flexibility’ (which, such as the Bone Phone which could be used in a lot of ways anywhere) has more to do with it being a game pack (costing as much as a stiff pack did way back when), and I absolutely would judge it more harshly had it been a expansion.
The thing is they were trying to keep the spirit of the Sims with the story element- by making it a skeleton a simmer can add meat and story too. Frankly, as a simmer who has posted multiple stories over the years and have had several (sadly failed due to computer combustion ) legacy stories I kept up on boolprop, I would’ve been ticked off had they added more narrative to the Strangerville story. THAT would’ve felt like a betrayal of the sims franchise to me. I like to have my own narrative. This is why I adore Strangerville- because it’s the first pack that has sims with actual backstories that you can delve into and build on like the sims 2 had. (I mean, some other previous sims 4 families did as well, but it was a lot rarer as opposed to every sim in the town).
The thing is with supernatural items by nature they are gonna be a lot more limited. Incense or a massage table can be places anywhere. The Bone Phone or Cowplant really has limited uses in the sense of what it does and the situations you can use it in (as opposed to ‘story behind it’ you can make up which is what I was referncing above.)
This has gotten a bit rambly but it comes down to the fact that I really see this as actually the most well rounded game pack of the Sims 4- and I say this as someone who would suggest Parenthood as the first game pack purchase due to the way it changes family play (I love vampires but the world with limited lots and focus on vampire sims without other elements like vampire slayers or etc makes it less well rounded for me). It has a career, story element, items that can be used in other weird stories or for a variety of unusual sim character types, and the biggest gamepack world yet. To say it is poor quality is ignoring these aspects. Now, one can certainly argue the effort should’ve been put elsewhere due to preference, but... yeah.
Strangerville is the gamepack that gave me the most nostialgia for Sims 2, even with its drastically ‘new’ elements.
And frankly, Sims 2 (as much as I love it) has a lot of slapdash elements; the hobbies, the main thrust of the last expansion, are headache inducing with how they work (I’m still, years later, trying to figure out the point to the zone and why it is so easy to gain and lose enthuisiasm). All careers were rabbit holes where you only needed to skill and gain friends to progress (to call the military career slapdash next to sims 2 careers tbh confuses me.). Sims 2 is so easy to mod because it’s so bare bones in a lot of ways. Like I wish as many Sims 4 careers had all the outside-of-work options the military career gave.
I certainly have my complaints about sims 4, and even about Strangerville. But to say Sims 2 is/was perfect and what should always be compared against really uh... ignores some very real flaws of that series. Like oh lord the dream date system was so easy to exploit. And once again, saying this as someone who would choose Sims 2 if I had to pick a sims game to play forever and ignore the others (as long as allowing mods).
Anyway. Gotten rambly again but the point of all this is to say that I really think using Strangerville as the ‘example’ for Sims 4 is misplaced and weakens the overall argument, many points of which I sympathize with.
@RobinGreenthumb I find it equally as mind boggling what you're saying. Btw I didn't mean to say Sims 2 was perfect - but what it did do was pretty flawless, especially compared to Sims 4. My actual perfect Sims game would take the best features of all the games, including CAS and toddlers from Sims 4 - and even then I'd improve them. Please don't put words in my mouth that I haven't said. If you wondering about something, ask me before you assume things.
I don't see how anyone can say Sims 2 was 'bare bones'. That's insane to me. With things like memories, wants/fears, many more meaningful animations and interactions, attractions system, detailed animations for mundane things like picking up utensils for cooking and opening drawers for changing clothes etc. And things like cars, that worked so well even if we didn't have an open world, because of the great animations and features.
It's just a fact that this pack doesn't have any sand box tools worth the name - I've been talking about and explaining what sand box tools are according to me in previous posts in this thread, so I won't go into it again, but there are literally no new sand box tools. There are story elements, and objects that can be used for stories, but those are not sand box tools - not the way I see it.
I disagree, I think this pack is the perfect example for what Sims 4 does wrong, and where the development is lacking. I think Sims 2 has a lot of room for improvement - but it's the best Sims game overall that's available to us IMO.
I loved things like the date system in Sims 2 exactly because you could exploit it - it's the perfect example of what a sandbox tool should be. I wish we had similar systems for the events in Sims 4 actually - I've made suggestions about the event system in other posts, saying that ít should be more like the date system in Sims 2. So it's weird seeing you say that it wasn't good - it was great, especially if you controlled both sims, then you could really make a great story by either accommodating each sims want or go against it and choose a fear. Not to say that there aren't things that could be improved, but it's leaps and bounds better than anything we have now in Sims 4.
The careers in Sims 4 really doesn't give me what they could tbh - I'm continuously disappointed in how they work. Yes, certain aspects of it is better than Sims 2, but overall Sims 2 was still better as a game - I loved that we could take cars, or even helicopters(!) to work, it really helped with the immersion.
I never said there wasn't things I enjoy in Sims 4 either - I clearly have stated that again and again. Those things doesn't make up for what is missing for me in Sims 4 - I just can't get past that.
I still enjoy playing Sims 4, but this pack is the first pack I don't feel tempted to buy right away, so that says a lot to me.
I get that people want different things from the game, but for me Sims 2 is the best executed game, despite its flaws. It's okay to disagree with me, but please don't make assumptions and jump to conclusions and make straw man arguments about what I'm saying - it's annoying, especially since I've been posting trying to nuance my views for an entire thread.
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
@Aine Sims 2 isn't hard in that it's difficult to play. But it takes a lot more effort and attention to keep Sims happy. Again, sometimes I'm in the mood for this, but when you say "sandbox," I think of Sims 2 as less so in some respects (I say "some" since it is moreso in others). My Sims 2 gameplay is more directed by what the game says my Sims want/need right now.
I understand what you mean by "sandbox" from reading your earlier posts in this thread. I think for me, it comes down to the question, "how much are the goals decided by me as opposed to decided by the game"? I can see how Strangerville can initially feel like it's very much directing your goals, but I think it sidesteps that by the fact that you can befriend the Mother plant and help her infect the town if you want to go that route. You can also ignore her completely. You don't lose points or face any negative consequences for doing so. (I agree Sims 4 has less larger world tools, and I can see how that might take away from the sandbox feel in some respects.)
The "attractions" system in Sims 2 was a nice idea, but it bothered me that you couldn't opt out of it. My default character has no interest in romantic relationships. I could design her to be "shy" in Sims 2, but that's really not accurate. The Unflirty trait in Sims 4 suited her perfectly.
As to wants and fears... Whims are essentially wants. It's true fears don't really exist in Sims 4, but then again, we also have specific negative emotions associated with negative events, which rather than subtract points, affect how your Sim interacts with things. I like that better, personally.
I feel like I'm talking more about Sims 2 versus Sims 4 than Strangerville, so I'll bow out and let the conversation get back on topic. ^_^;;
Watch me mash together Sims and Pokémon to tell a story about battling glitches in Penny Saves Paldea. Updated every other Thursday.
@Aine Sims 2 isn't hard in that it's difficult to play. But it takes a lot more effort and attention to keep Sims happy. Again, sometimes I'm in the mood for this, but when you say "sandbox," I think of Sims 2 as less so in some respects (I say "some" since it is moreso in others). My Sims 2 gameplay is more directed by what the game says my Sims want/need right now.
I understand what you mean by "sandbox" from reading your earlier posts in this thread. I think for me, it comes down to the question, "how much are the goals decided by me as opposed to decided by the game"? I can see how Strangerville can initially feel like it's very much directing your goals, but I think it sidesteps that by the fact that you can befriend the Mother plant and help her infect the town if you want to go that route. You can also ignore her completely. You don't lose points or face any negative consequences for doing so. (I agree Sims 4 has less larger world tools, and I can see how that might take away from the sandbox feel in some respects.)
The "attractions" system in Sims 2 was a nice idea, but it bothered me that you couldn't opt out of it. My default character has no interest in romantic relationships. I could design her to be "shy" in Sims 2, but that's really not accurate. The Unflirty trait in Sims 4 suited her perfectly.
As to wants and fears... Whims are essentially wants. It's true fears don't really exist in Sims 4, but then again, we also have specific negative emotions associated with negative events, which rather than subtract points, affect how your Sim interacts with things. I like that better, personally.
I feel like I'm talking more about Sims 2 versus Sims 4 than Strangerville, so I'll bow out and let the conversation get back on topic. ^_^;;
Now I'm worried about them adding in an attractions system later... shoot. I didn't think about any sims that I wouldn't want to be attracted to anyone. Hopefully if they do that they will add in something that is the equivalent to not being attracted to anyone at all if they do this.
I also agree with what you say here about Sims 2. Some people found it to be more sandbox and I found it to be more directing for me. I did also love that game by the way... I am not putting it down. It was a different game. I've just had my gameplay expanded by this one since I have many more tools at my disposal now to play my way. I tell (and play out) many more and varied stories with this game than with any of the past games. Maybe I don't understand what sandbox means but since I feel able to do that now so it feels much more sandbox to me because of that.
The jobs.... I really disliked only having the option for rabbithole jobs. Now in this game it's not all samey-samey so I can send them in, sometimes go with them (active) or do at home work. Of course you have to meet some criteria now and then but it's not that invasive.
I really think the OP isn't so much disliking Strangerville as the whole of many aspects of the game in general and this is the last straw. They keep bringing up the past as what should happen going forward... so I don't feel it's going off topic to do so either.
@katrinasforest I understand what you're saying - it's clear we like different things, and that's as it should be - there no wrong or right way to love the sims or play the sims. I like gameplay where there are actual consequences and things I as a player has to work around - I want to work for it, I don't like the aspect of the current Sims 4 where there are no consequences that is meaningful, or any real danger. The danger that do exist I don't like, like the emotional deaths - it's just too weird for me. As for Sims 2 attraction, you have to work to get sims the attraction lightning bolts - I always wanted 3 lightning bolts for my sims that was getting together, and even they were a perfect match, I had to work at getting them there. I loved that I always had to work on things to create my stories, and that I could fail, that things could happen that wasn't in my plan - it just makes it more immersive and interesting. Sims 4 in comparison is bland and boring to me, although there are things that I do enjoy. Again, I get that you play differently, but that's not what I look for in a sims game - I would love for a sims game to accommodate both our play styles - and that can only happen if both styles are available as a foundation, and we get more controls and switches in settings.
@Hermitgirl If they do the attraction system anywhere close to Sims 2, then that won't be a problem, you had to work on getting those atttaction lightning bolts, and it was your choice to act on any attraction, you could even change the attraction traits that defined it, so no worries. But sure, I wouldn't mind them adding an opt out, the same as the fame system, although I can't relate to not wanting some actual consequences and personalities for your sims. If a sim would be attracted to other sims, it's still your choice to act on it. That's the way it was in sims 2, and hopefully that's what will happen in Sims 4 if they add it.
As for not liking Strangerville - it's the first pack I'm not tempted to buy right away, so it's definitely about the pack, not the game - I still play Sims 4 and I intend to buy any other packs that comes along, as long as they aren't as bad as Strangerville.
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
@Aine Sims 2 isn't hard in that it's difficult to play. But it takes a lot more effort and attention to keep Sims happy. Again, sometimes I'm in the mood for this, but when you say "sandbox," I think of Sims 2 as less so in some respects (I say "some" since it is moreso in others). My Sims 2 gameplay is more directed by what the game says my Sims want/need right now.
I understand what you mean by "sandbox" from reading your earlier posts in this thread. I think for me, it comes down to the question, "how much are the goals decided by me as opposed to decided by the game"? I can see how Strangerville can initially feel like it's very much directing your goals, but I think it sidesteps that by the fact that you can befriend the Mother plant and help her infect the town if you want to go that route. You can also ignore her completely. You don't lose points or face any negative consequences for doing so. (I agree Sims 4 has less larger world tools, and I can see how that might take away from the sandbox feel in some respects.)
The "attractions" system in Sims 2 was a nice idea, but it bothered me that you couldn't opt out of it. My default character has no interest in romantic relationships. I could design her to be "shy" in Sims 2, but that's really not accurate. The Unflirty trait in Sims 4 suited her perfectly.
As to wants and fears... Whims are essentially wants. It's true fears don't really exist in Sims 4, but then again, we also have specific negative emotions associated with negative events, which rather than subtract points, affect how your Sim interacts with things. I like that better, personally.
I feel like I'm talking more about Sims 2 versus Sims 4 than Strangerville, so I'll bow out and let the conversation get back on topic. ^_^;;
Now I'm worried about them adding in an attractions system later... shoot. I didn't think about any sims that I wouldn't want to be attracted to anyone. Hopefully if they do that they will add in something that is the equivalent to not being attracted to anyone at all if they do this.
I also agree with what you say here about Sims 2. Some people found it to be more sandbox and I found it to be more directing for me. I did also love that game by the way... I am not putting it down. It was a different game. I've just had my gameplay expanded by this one since I have many more tools at my disposal now to play my way. I tell (and play out) many more and varied stories with this game than with any of the past games. Maybe I don't understand what sandbox means but since I feel able to do that now so it feels much more sandbox to me because of that.
The jobs.... I really disliked only having the option for rabbithole jobs. Now in this game it's not all samey-samey so I can send them in, sometimes go with them (active) or do at home work. Of course you have to meet some criteria now and then but it's not that invasive.
I really think the OP isn't so much disliking Strangerville as the whole of many aspects of the game in general and this is the last straw. They keep bringing up the past as what should happen going forward... so I don't feel it's going off topic to do so either.
No one had to fear the attraction system in TS2 if they didn't want their Sim attracted to anyone at all. You simply didn't have your Sim flirt with anyone, then you would never know what type of Sim your Sim would like. They remained neutral without any flirting on their own. This game is just the opposite, these Sims flirt even if you didn't command it, and even if you didn't choose which Sims. If a flirty mood is in the air they wind up with Sims that might not have been your choice. If one rotates away from the household you come back and they are involved with Sims you as the player, haven't even met. Sorry, but TS4 plays the game for the player more than TS2 ever did. TS2 didn't make you fill wants, just like you don't have to actually fill whims in TS4. TS2 is the true sandbox here, and motives are the forumla of the Sims, and I prefer the original formula of The Sims compared to moodlet and buff systems in TS3 and TS4. But to each their own, And in all the years I played one hood it never imploded or corrutped like my TS4 game did about ten times.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
@Cinebar Yes! Thanks for helping me explain, I love the attraction system in sims 2 - you had the choice to act on it or not, and if the sims were compatible, then it was easier, but it was still possible if they weren't compatible, it was just more work, and you couldn't get the 3 lightning bolts - although I usually changed the attraction traits for the sims I wanted to be together, so I got the 3 bolts.
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
Comments
Totally, totally, totally DIS-A-GREE on your point about the world. There is absolutely nothing that says great quality about the strange world. Nothing. It’s larger than the vampire one, I guess, but it has WAAAY too much dead space and it has ENTIRELY too much decoration. Selvadora is higher quality than strangerville IMHO, because it’s decorated with things that make sense and not a plethora of fake homes/buildings that are fake, have no gameplay, but are still directly in your play space.
For myself, the dressed up worlds wind up being the lowest quality. Although I’m not surprised that people like the visual effects. San Myshuno, garbage, the LA world from GF, small and also garbage. The strange town, while I do think it could have had a nice aesthetic is garbage due to how poorly designed the actual world is and how it features more decoration and props than gameplay. Fail. At least for myself.
The story mode is irrelevant to me, I did not finish it and probably won’t. It’s not nearly as “structured” as you would think but that doesn’t mean it’s enjoyable. It really wasn’t for myself, and the pack is still truly not something I have found useful or much fun. The strange behavior is fun when you first see it, but it would have been better (for me) if they were more creative and didn’t tie it to some predetermined narrative. Strangerville, after putting in some effort to play, still seems like the low quality cash grab I felt it was when it released. It doesn’t contain nearly enough “stuff” and tries to compensate for that by advertising the story mode which is basically just a glorified aspiration. All in all, the pack gets a 4/10 from me.
I mean, if this is the kind of order they're getting from the big guys, they don't have much choice, and if they want to give it a try, hey, why not? But this price for an event? You're kidding right?
Exactly especially if there is no other alternate ends as regardless of how many times one play through there is the same ending and that becomes an bore very quickly for me, if they somehow are able to shake it up multiple times I may be interested. However looking at the SIms the way it is developed I do not think it will be accepted by many as they are moving away from the formula again that made the Sims what it is today and for me the development of Sims 4 is not and will not be an remarkable creation of perfection.
The ratio of “realistic life sim” vs the “quirkier stuff” expansion packs, game packs and stuff packs, is farrrrr in favour of one over the other in the Sims 4. So stop worrying, for a lot of the fandom they have been missing the weirder stuff. Clearly there is a divide in the fandom of those wanting the game totally “realistic” vs those who want something a bit more off the wall/ exciting. It’s just a shame that this is the reaction from some, so extreme. Bashing the franchise because it has stepped out of your definition for the sims. If you don’t want this pack, don’t buy it. Surely that’s the point of all these packs? Customise the game how you want?
In terms of releasing university, this is still a business for the franchise. At the end of the day they have to keep interest in the franchise and keep the money rolling in. Of course they wouldnt release ALL the fan favourite packs at once. Before famous, they released pets and seasons, 2 other fan favourites, so calm down people. We all know university is gonna drop soon, probably next with the amount of outrage, that and babies lol... so stop with all this “just give us what we want” attitude, as if they don’t listen to the fan base at all.
There was outcry for pools they added pools. There was outcry for laundry, they added laundry. There was outcry for toddlers, they added toddlers. There was outcry for terrain tools, they added terrain tools. There was outcry for diversity, they are continuously adding diversity. They are clearly listening to what you’re asking for, and delivering when and where they can. Granted this stuff should have been in from day 1, but that is another issue for the Sims 4. They obviously made the base game heavily relying on the fact people would buy DLC, hence it feeling so empty. Problem is it was simply too empty, severely underbaked on release and they’ve had to play catch up ever since - whilst also delivering something new and fresh for the franchise. Honestly it’s a shame there hasn’t been more niche packs up until now. My memories of the franchise across pc and console has always been of how fun and quirky it can be. I mean it’s never been a true life simulation to begin with, let’s be real...
There are far bigger things to worry about for the future of the franchise than the threat of it turning into an RPG. Like the fact most of the dev team moved over to the mobile app. So now we haven’t had patches in a hot minute and everyone is stuck with a bug riddled game. Does this also mean a slow down in the production of the new content? Or with the financial potential in mobile gaming nowadays, will they give up on the sims on pc/console altogether? Especially with the rocky reception of the sims 4 across its lifetime, the fact they’ve had to have a full time bug-fixing team up until recently (so what 3/4 years?), will there even be a sims 5? Theres been no secret of drama between EA and Maxis and they already gave up on simcity on pc in favour of the app.
You need to stop feeling so personally attacked when they bring out a pack you haven’t demanded. I can’t tell you the amount of packs or features i didn’t think I would enjoy, until I tried them. Even the dreaded laundry pack (which I was mad about, how did the exciting potential of an eco pack turn into laundry???), I boycotted for ages until I eventually stuck washing machines in and who knew. They somehow add to the gameplay and now I always have washing machines and love the laundry pack. Be a little open minded, the fan base is big and divers. Not every piece of dlc will be catered directly to you. Just saying.
Thank you for explaining it so I didn't have to, you said it so much better. I think some don't remember there was no off button for story progression when the game was first released and yes, I had all the above you mentioned and rotational play had been abandoned.
To me, the pack doesn't seem 'quirky' as much as it just seems lazy and incomplete. Even if the concept of story elements isn't my thing in this particular game, I could get behind it and appreciate it if it was actually well done, but IMO it's not.
I agree that there are a lot of things to 'worry' about in regards to this game, but this pack is by far the most worrying, since it shows the devs don't have enough resources or even imagination to get what the Sims is all about.
I don't think my reaction and thoughts are 'extreme' at all, I think they are warranted and very much needed. If we don't tell the devs what we think the game is about and what they are doing 'wrong', then how can we expect them to make the game we want to play? Just doing my part.
I agree the resources have been reprioritised within the development team, but I think it’s a little insulting to call them unimaginative. If they have limited resources then they are limited to what they can make, because of powers above them. But let’s be real, [i]nearly all the packs have seemed to lack something[/i], it’s nothing new if that’s your main issue with Strangerville...?
And this “we’re just telling the devs what we want so they make the game we want to play”, it just sounds completely entitled to me. There’s better ways about giving feedback, then bashing the dev team. Its just disappointing to see the way people are going about their feedback. It’s giving me angry mob with pitchforks lol
@Aine You say "we" need to tell the devs what we think the game is about and what they're doing wrong. But "we" are a very large group with diverse opinions.
I personally think the dev team should throw realism out the window, forget about university, cars, or faming EPs, and focus just on supernatural stuff from now on. I think at least one more game pack should have a kind of story-like element to it the way Strangerville did, because I really enjoyed it.
The dev team can't cater to everyone. So they need to make calls on what they will work on, and I don't think it should always be about which group was shouting the loudest. What direction the Sims takes is ultimately in the hands of the people who create it. When I like what they do, I buy it. When I don't, I spend my time and money elsewhere.
EA is definitely betraying the Sims series as it is now. The way I see this going, we won't have much left of the franchise after EA is done with it - and it's not the first time EA has done this to a game franchise. There's a lot I enjoy about Sims 4, and I still play it, even though I don't see myself buying or enjoying this particular pack (except maybe the objects).
Btw, you need to read the rest of my posts in this thread, because you're assuming things about my stance that's just plain wrong. I always say that the devs don't have enough resources or enough time - but mostly someone, who knows who exactly, is making really bad decisions regarding the game right now, and I'm calling it out. You can tell me to 'calm down' all you want, but if that means shutting up, then no, I won't do that - why do you even care what I think - just enjoy it if you like the pack and the game and move on. I am not forcing you to read my opinions or agreeing with them.
Don't dare say I haven't given feedback - I've done that this entire thread, plus threads in the feedback section, even have my own ideas for packs. So just make it clear - aren't you the one being rude here? Seriously? Just go read the entire thread, then come back to me.
I think you can please a larger group of people by making the game more customizable to their tastes, and that's exactly what the various packs do. We can use our purchasing power to voice what we do and do not like.
I totally understand that Strangerville isn't everyone's cup of tea. Some people will flat-out hate it. But I'm glad they made it. And at no point would it have occurred to me to ask, "Can we please have a story-based town with a giant plant alien that possesses people?"
While I do have my own personal wishlist for things I want in the game, and I agree there's nothing wrong with voicing wishlists, what I also want from the game is more fun and crazy ideas from the developers that I never would have thought of. Give me that thing I never knew I wanted but now must have.
I do not blame the devs. I think they are doing their best with the very limited resources they are being given. There is a video on Youtube by Deligracy called "I pitched my game idea to the Sims producers". It opened my eyes a little about how this process works. It is supposed to be a funny joke but it shows how flawed the development is right now. The packs are giving us the bare minimum that they can get away with. Until EA opens the budget this will continue to happen. As long as people keep supporting this practice it will continue to happen.
I am worried about the future of this franchise. I also do not have any faith at this time that Sims 5 will be any better.
I'm enjoying my post-Strangerville plot. My Sims just got all plant-obsessed now.
I also have a ton of build ideas with the new items I'm excited to try. For me, the pack was more than worth it.
Sims 2 didn't cater to me like this game does @Aine I have many, many for instances since my rose colored glasses have come off. That game made me play by the sims needs first and foremost and then by that wants and needs wheel/aspiration. If I didn't then my sim would be babbling on the floor with a doctor standing over them... Something I raced against the clock to avoid after it happened once. I didn't want it to happen. Sure it was funny the first time but you had to play a certain way or it would happen. I didn't like to cheat in that game because if I did... there didn't seem much to do once you had it all... at least to me and I'd be off hunting mods or cc instead of playing. I did mod in some cheats to make needs better and I would mod in want or need "locks" so that maybe I could complete some ridiculous goals that were set by the wheel. These things in particular boxed my gameplay in... and I never even realized it until fairly recently.... because I play much more freely now. My gameplay is much better suited to playing sandbox and telling the stories I want to tell now with this game. Sure I still need some packs to do all that I want but I have no doubt they are coming.
I do want to have a family live in Del Sol Valley eventually. I feel like there's another story to be told there, and I just haven't figured out what it is yet. ^_^
I never mind having to tell the sims what to do, as long as I have the means to fix it and I have the control. The depth of the gameplay is what matters to me. I know that it's not the same for everyone, but to me, Sims 2 is the ultimate Sims game, bar CAS and the fact that it's not 64 bit. It's also a bit unstable and easily corrupts, otherwise it's pretty flawless. Not to say I don't enjoy certain things about Sims 4 that isn't in previous games - like Sims 4 toddlers and CAS for instance. But overall, Sims 2 wins for me. I understand everyone plays the game differently. But that's why I love that Sims can be modded. The problem with Sims 4 for instance is that there isn't enough of a foundation to mod in everything the way I want. I can't mod in wants/fears and memories for instance. But once they're in the game, they can be tweaked by modders. That's why the absence of core features is a problem for me, not that they aren't perfect. I have mods for almost every aspect of Sims 4 in my game. I think that says a lot about how much I am willing to put up with to get my Sims fix. Still not even close to my experience with Sims 2 though.
One of my main issues with a pack like Strangerville is that there are core features still missing in Sims 4, which makes the pack a lot more empty to me than if those features were in the game. I don't think I'd mind as much to get a pack like this, if we had wants/fears and memories in the game. I probably would have loved playing the story if sims could actually be scared of doing the story and the infected.
I boggle a bit at saying this pack isn’t quality, or that it doesn’t have sand box tools.
For background of my own preferences (which I have stated before), I am a mainly Sims 2 player who has made my own mods on sims 2 (alien abduction mods, PT mods, memory mods, and a good bit of CC, oh and a career or two). I didn’t join sims 4 until not only toddlers were added, but when the gendered stuff was unlocked (as half my time is sims 2 was modding for gender conversions or hunting gender conversions). I have 4 seperate mod folders for my sims 2 game depending on the world, with my medieval mod folder having +35k packages in it.
So I understand where you are coming from, but I approached this game with rose colored glasses firmly crushed under my heel from Sims 3 (as originally a Mac player... whooooo boy) and skeptical from the bad start of sims 4. I also find all sims games absurdly easy. Sims 2 legacy gen 1 is already in mansion with everyone on the way to receiving their LTW before elderhood. Sims 4 has my second gen making me sweat with ways to spend money to the point of me donating daily.
This is all to say that I’ve accepted what Sims 4 is and I highly doubt any huge changes to gameplay are going to be made in its last 2 years (assuming). People would be better off contributing to talk of Sims 5 with some features, talking realistically with them not alienating all the people who are dedicated Sims 4 players who do like the play style, unless they are talking about items or other less ‘changing the entire code’ things.
But as I stated previously, Sims 4 Strangerville has some really cool tools. Frankly, any lack of ‘flexibility’ (which, such as the Bone Phone which could be used in a lot of ways anywhere) has more to do with it being a game pack (costing as much as a stiff pack did way back when), and I absolutely would judge it more harshly had it been a expansion.
The thing is they were trying to keep the spirit of the Sims with the story element- by making it a skeleton a simmer can add meat and story too. Frankly, as a simmer who has posted multiple stories over the years and have had several (sadly failed due to computer combustion ) legacy stories I kept up on boolprop, I would’ve been ticked off had they added more narrative to the Strangerville story. THAT would’ve felt like a betrayal of the sims franchise to me. I like to have my own narrative. This is why I adore Strangerville- because it’s the first pack that has sims with actual backstories that you can delve into and build on like the sims 2 had. (I mean, some other previous sims 4 families did as well, but it was a lot rarer as opposed to every sim in the town).
The thing is with supernatural items by nature they are gonna be a lot more limited. Incense or a massage table can be places anywhere. The Bone Phone or Cowplant really has limited uses in the sense of what it does and the situations you can use it in (as opposed to ‘story behind it’ you can make up which is what I was referncing above.)
This has gotten a bit rambly but it comes down to the fact that I really see this as actually the most well rounded game pack of the Sims 4- and I say this as someone who would suggest Parenthood as the first game pack purchase due to the way it changes family play (I love vampires but the world with limited lots and focus on vampire sims without other elements like vampire slayers or etc makes it less well rounded for me). It has a career, story element, items that can be used in other weird stories or for a variety of unusual sim character types, and the biggest gamepack world yet. To say it is poor quality is ignoring these aspects. Now, one can certainly argue the effort should’ve been put elsewhere due to preference, but... yeah.
Strangerville is the gamepack that gave me the most nostialgia for Sims 2, even with its drastically ‘new’ elements.
And frankly, Sims 2 (as much as I love it) has a lot of slapdash elements; the hobbies, the main thrust of the last expansion, are headache inducing with how they work (I’m still, years later, trying to figure out the point to the zone and why it is so easy to gain and lose enthuisiasm). All careers were rabbit holes where you only needed to skill and gain friends to progress (to call the military career slapdash next to sims 2 careers tbh confuses me.). Sims 2 is so easy to mod because it’s so bare bones in a lot of ways. Like I wish as many Sims 4 careers had all the outside-of-work options the military career gave.
I certainly have my complaints about sims 4, and even about Strangerville. But to say Sims 2 is/was perfect and what should always be compared against really uh... ignores some very real flaws of that series. Like oh lord the dream date system was so easy to exploit. And once again, saying this as someone who would choose Sims 2 if I had to pick a sims game to play forever and ignore the others (as long as allowing mods).
Anyway. Gotten rambly again but the point of all this is to say that I really think using Strangerville as the ‘example’ for Sims 4 is misplaced and weakens the overall argument, many points of which I sympathize with.
I don't see how anyone can say Sims 2 was 'bare bones'. That's insane to me. With things like memories, wants/fears, many more meaningful animations and interactions, attractions system, detailed animations for mundane things like picking up utensils for cooking and opening drawers for changing clothes etc. And things like cars, that worked so well even if we didn't have an open world, because of the great animations and features.
It's just a fact that this pack doesn't have any sand box tools worth the name - I've been talking about and explaining what sand box tools are according to me in previous posts in this thread, so I won't go into it again, but there are literally no new sand box tools. There are story elements, and objects that can be used for stories, but those are not sand box tools - not the way I see it.
I disagree, I think this pack is the perfect example for what Sims 4 does wrong, and where the development is lacking. I think Sims 2 has a lot of room for improvement - but it's the best Sims game overall that's available to us IMO.
I loved things like the date system in Sims 2 exactly because you could exploit it - it's the perfect example of what a sandbox tool should be. I wish we had similar systems for the events in Sims 4 actually - I've made suggestions about the event system in other posts, saying that ít should be more like the date system in Sims 2. So it's weird seeing you say that it wasn't good - it was great, especially if you controlled both sims, then you could really make a great story by either accommodating each sims want or go against it and choose a fear. Not to say that there aren't things that could be improved, but it's leaps and bounds better than anything we have now in Sims 4.
The careers in Sims 4 really doesn't give me what they could tbh - I'm continuously disappointed in how they work. Yes, certain aspects of it is better than Sims 2, but overall Sims 2 was still better as a game - I loved that we could take cars, or even helicopters(!) to work, it really helped with the immersion.
I never said there wasn't things I enjoy in Sims 4 either - I clearly have stated that again and again. Those things doesn't make up for what is missing for me in Sims 4 - I just can't get past that.
I still enjoy playing Sims 4, but this pack is the first pack I don't feel tempted to buy right away, so that says a lot to me.
I get that people want different things from the game, but for me Sims 2 is the best executed game, despite its flaws. It's okay to disagree with me, but please don't make assumptions and jump to conclusions and make straw man arguments about what I'm saying - it's annoying, especially since I've been posting trying to nuance my views for an entire thread.
I understand what you mean by "sandbox" from reading your earlier posts in this thread. I think for me, it comes down to the question, "how much are the goals decided by me as opposed to decided by the game"? I can see how Strangerville can initially feel like it's very much directing your goals, but I think it sidesteps that by the fact that you can befriend the Mother plant and help her infect the town if you want to go that route. You can also ignore her completely. You don't lose points or face any negative consequences for doing so. (I agree Sims 4 has less larger world tools, and I can see how that might take away from the sandbox feel in some respects.)
The "attractions" system in Sims 2 was a nice idea, but it bothered me that you couldn't opt out of it. My default character has no interest in romantic relationships. I could design her to be "shy" in Sims 2, but that's really not accurate. The Unflirty trait in Sims 4 suited her perfectly.
As to wants and fears... Whims are essentially wants. It's true fears don't really exist in Sims 4, but then again, we also have specific negative emotions associated with negative events, which rather than subtract points, affect how your Sim interacts with things. I like that better, personally.
I feel like I'm talking more about Sims 2 versus Sims 4 than Strangerville, so I'll bow out and let the conversation get back on topic. ^_^;;
Now I'm worried about them adding in an attractions system later... shoot. I didn't think about any sims that I wouldn't want to be attracted to anyone. Hopefully if they do that they will add in something that is the equivalent to not being attracted to anyone at all if they do this.
I also agree with what you say here about Sims 2. Some people found it to be more sandbox and I found it to be more directing for me. I did also love that game by the way... I am not putting it down. It was a different game. I've just had my gameplay expanded by this one since I have many more tools at my disposal now to play my way. I tell (and play out) many more and varied stories with this game than with any of the past games. Maybe I don't understand what sandbox means but since I feel able to do that now so it feels much more sandbox to me because of that.
The jobs.... I really disliked only having the option for rabbithole jobs. Now in this game it's not all samey-samey so I can send them in, sometimes go with them (active) or do at home work. Of course you have to meet some criteria now and then but it's not that invasive.
I really think the OP isn't so much disliking Strangerville as the whole of many aspects of the game in general and this is the last straw. They keep bringing up the past as what should happen going forward... so I don't feel it's going off topic to do so either.
@Hermitgirl If they do the attraction system anywhere close to Sims 2, then that won't be a problem, you had to work on getting those atttaction lightning bolts, and it was your choice to act on any attraction, you could even change the attraction traits that defined it, so no worries. But sure, I wouldn't mind them adding an opt out, the same as the fame system, although I can't relate to not wanting some actual consequences and personalities for your sims. If a sim would be attracted to other sims, it's still your choice to act on it. That's the way it was in sims 2, and hopefully that's what will happen in Sims 4 if they add it.
As for not liking Strangerville - it's the first pack I'm not tempted to buy right away, so it's definitely about the pack, not the game - I still play Sims 4 and I intend to buy any other packs that comes along, as long as they aren't as bad as Strangerville.
No one had to fear the attraction system in TS2 if they didn't want their Sim attracted to anyone at all. You simply didn't have your Sim flirt with anyone, then you would never know what type of Sim your Sim would like. They remained neutral without any flirting on their own. This game is just the opposite, these Sims flirt even if you didn't command it, and even if you didn't choose which Sims. If a flirty mood is in the air they wind up with Sims that might not have been your choice. If one rotates away from the household you come back and they are involved with Sims you as the player, haven't even met. Sorry, but TS4 plays the game for the player more than TS2 ever did. TS2 didn't make you fill wants, just like you don't have to actually fill whims in TS4. TS2 is the true sandbox here, and motives are the forumla of the Sims, and I prefer the original formula of The Sims compared to moodlet and buff systems in TS3 and TS4. But to each their own, And in all the years I played one hood it never imploded or corrutped like my TS4 game did about ten times.