You guys did an amazing job on Island Living, but you forgot to add a transform animation or visual indicator when a human becomes a mermaid after eating the mermaid kelp.
Deligracy already criticized that in her mermaid video, why isn‘t there a Transformation when turning a human into a mermaid for the first time? (At 16:10) Vampires and PlantSims have one, just seems weird that mermaids have none.
https://youtu.be/O32XdRkPtR4&t=16m10s
You could easily reuse the vampire and PlantSim transform animation and add some bubble effects and you got it
Comments
No I mean when a Sim eats the mermaid kelp and they turn from Sim into a mermaid for the FIRST TIME. It‘s great for story telling purposes since you worked hard to get the mermaid kelp to turn your Sim into a mermaid, but no transformation animation happens. They just stand there doing nothing
Also in Sims 3 we had a transformation when a normal Sim became a Mermaid after eating the kelp
Yeah, it doesn't bother me that much.
But as Deligracy said, for story tellers it‘s important since that could be a major plot point, but your Sim just stands around without any animation
When TS4 simmers act like something doesn't matter, it just encourages the devs to continue putting out packs that aren't as detailed as previous iterations. You're part of the problem.
Please don't do this anymore. Hold the fire to the devs' feet and push them to do better. I think Island Living is a good pack because people wanted more out of the previous packs and the devs listened. However, it could have been better as can be seen by the complaints already coming out. It's not to put the pack in a bad light - it's still a nice pack - but I hope the complaints encourage the devs to put more details in for the Uni and Supernatural packs (and any other packs after this).
For me, the Island Living EP gives me real hope that EAxis may be returning to making great packs once again as in previous iterations. And in turn, if we keep urging them, then TS5 will be AMAZING!
I don't view "transformations" into another occult as meaningful gameplay. It is just a pretty visual. You can be upset with that if you choose. What I want is something they have yet to do, which is make the traits of a sim actually matter. Give the sims a memory system that does not involve a select time on a moodlet. Make it harder to just earn money from hobbies. Stuff like that has more meaning to me. The game thus far has been concentrated too much on being visually pretty and less on that I deem as gameplay footage.
That's not the topic of this thread though is it? What you're talking about is has already been covered in a multiple of other threads. (And I have no idea why the devs haven't addressed those complaints.) One of the reasons why TS4 feels "empty" is because there are so many shortcuts to animations or animations being reused for so many things. So having no mermaid transformation just adds to the "emptiness" of this game.
I am a story teller.
Yes Mermaids are Supernatural, creatures, however eating kelp is simply a biological transformation.
It's... like Gillyweed, and I hate that I'm using this reference... It' like when Harry Potter eats Gillyweed to win that one Tournament in the Goblet of Fire... Ugh Harry Potter lore...
It's a subtle transformation.
Now if they used a Spell to do it Like In the little Mermaid, Ursula's Cauldron effects, or Triton's Trident, Then it might be more extravagant transformation. But Then again eating kelp to become a mermaid, I know there's not logic or lore behind it, but then Shouldn't that be a temporary Status? Like eating a Forbidden fruit to be a plant sim, you have to keep eating forbidden fruit to remain a plant sim. Wouldn't you have to keep eating kelp to remain a mermaid?
But they Said if a Human eats one sea kelp, they turn. if a Mermaid eats two back to back, they turn into a human permanently... again no logic or lore behind it.
Other than what they did, or I guess they didn't do, Maybe if the sim ate kelp and fell sick due to a sudden lack of Water, as a side effect of eating the kelp, and was really thirsty, the moment they get in water they would turn and maybe it would be this grand reveal. That's how I would do it, it definitely wouldn't be the Sims 3 swirling vortex of bubbles.
I just hope this means they splurged all the money for animations on the Realm of Magic GP.
My Mood:
You're referencing things outside of the world of The Sims. The better reference would be TS3, which DID have an animation for the transformation. It's pretty great too. So I don't understand why they didn't put it in TS4. Maybe there wasn't enough in the budget to add it in or the game engine couldn't handle much more animations that they excluded it? Either way, this is why I don't like TS4 much. And it makes me feel sad when TS4 simmers try to make excuses for it.
It's underwhelming and unrealistic that they have no reaction to something so huge. Moodlets are a big cop out.
They have two animations for mermaids in CAS, one with fish swimming and one that's a splash of water, both would suffice to be re-used for the transformation.
It also irks me that the animation from the trailer of the mermaid entering the water isn't actually how their tails appear in game. They just show up.
But I am a storyteller and do not see a transformation animation as important. I am more interested in what actual gameplay that can be done since I do not use many mods for my storytelling. Basically what is being described as missed is a "look pretty" animation, at least to me.
But we already have the animation, they just need to add it to mermaids as well.
Did you watch Deligracy‘s video? She also was thinking it was kind of weird. The Sim was just standing around doing nothing. That‘s not what happens when your Sim turns into another occult! There‘s always a transformation.
In the movie "Splash" (Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah) the hero doesn't even become a full mermaid -- he's able to breathe underwater if he's with the mermaid.
Personally I'm more interested if there'll be a cheat to trigger volcano eruptions than how Sims turn to/from merSim state, but then again that's just how I roll. (And I've got a week to get my Sim to earn the Gardening aspiration reward of fireproof -- it'll come in handy for those hot rocks...)
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
I see the kelp as mechanics to play catch-up with sims you already created but in hindsight should have been mermaids all along.
Unless I'm missing something and there really is a deep lore behind the magic kelp, and not just "oh yeah mermaids they've always been there on Sulani, that guy here is Jim he was born with the tail, you just never saw it before because he's shy."
Maybe in realm of magic you could get another scenario, buying a potion off a witch to transform, w/ animations et all.
The fact that I don't want my sims doing a sparkly animation when they become mermaids does not make my stories bad. Yes, it's a big deal, but if it were to happen at a crowded beach I don't want everybody on the lot to come and look at it and suddenly everybody knows the sim is a mermaid. Sure, they could do it at home, but again. I'm a storyteller. I script everything. It might not fit the storyline for them to do it at home. Because I disagree with something does not make my stories bad. And as you said with your post afterwards, we will take anything the guru's give us. Where did that idea come from? I am not buying My First Pet stuff and probably never will. The same is probably true for the Moschino Stuff Pack, and I will only be buying Get To Work for the aliens. Plain and simple. Oh, and why blame us that don't care about the lack of an animation if there isn't one in Realm of Magic? This has nothing to do with us.
[Removed quoted post ~Rtas]
In Sims 3 mermaids had a transform animation when a Sim turned into a mermaid after eating the kelp.
Like, for example, for me it doesn't matter there are no "functional" babies, cars, a color wheel or an open world. I'm not missing these features, I couldn't care less for them. And I'm free to express that, as well as the other simmer.
But back to topic. Becoming a mermaid is magical, so a proper transformation would be appreciated. I hope they're adding it before the pack release (kinda unlikely, though) or in a future patch.
English isn't my first language, so please excuse any mistakes.
I mean, there are two very quick, but very pretty/cool looking transformation animations for the mermaid forms within CAS already! Re-use that, devs/gurus!
(She/her)
Exactly. This is part of the reason why EA never pushes past the limit with the sims and it's because simmers are okay with the bare minimum. We gotta stop accepting and encouraging half baked effort/work from them, but then have the never to complain about why they didn't this or improve that. Sure the lack of a transformation animation isn't a huge game deal breaker but it IS lazy, cutting corners work. It's the same lazy, cutting corners work that left sims 3 riddles with bugs and glitches so bad that the modders had to come in and fix some of their mess and why sims 4 is a step back from 2 and 3 in the entire franchise/series. We had transformation animations for vamps, werewolves, and mermaids in sims 3 so there's really no excuse for there not to be a transformation in the game here.
It costs money to do that.