Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.
Early Access - My honest first impressions
AlbaWaterhouse
Posts: 3,953 Member
This review was made possible by EA Game Changers, thank you EA for allowing me early access
Full disclaimer: I have only played the pack for like 6 hours so far
MY HONEST FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I wasn’t this excited for a TS4 pack since Seasons. When seasons released, I liked many things about it but was also critical of some aspects, specially gameplay related. After Seasons came Get Famous (my very first early access pack), and then Strangerville (which I wrote an honest review here)
Neither one of those 2 packs suited my gameplay style, so I was eager to finally get my hands on Island Living since it theoretically ticks almost all the boxes for me. Did it live up to my expectations?
Let’s travel to Sulani and see.
THE WORLD:
We have kind of gotten used to smaller worlds and the last EP had a very disappointing one. This world comes with 14 lots, more than the last EP but still not enough for a player like me.
The world is gorgeous, it is lush and full of details. The sunsets and sunrises are on par with the ones you can see from the island in Windenburg, just stunning!
It is a shame that we can’t see underwater because from the surface it looks like it would be breathtaking.
I haven’t had the time yet to experience the locals nor the festivals because I spent most of my time on the other islands but I'll comment on it as soon as I can, tomorrow I have the day off and I'll be playing the whole day so if you have any questions, shoot away!
Full disclaimer: I have only played the pack for like 6 hours so far
MY HONEST FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I wasn’t this excited for a TS4 pack since Seasons. When seasons released, I liked many things about it but was also critical of some aspects, specially gameplay related. After Seasons came Get Famous (my very first early access pack), and then Strangerville (which I wrote an honest review here)
Neither one of those 2 packs suited my gameplay style, so I was eager to finally get my hands on Island Living since it theoretically ticks almost all the boxes for me. Did it live up to my expectations?
Let’s travel to Sulani and see.
THE WORLD:
We have kind of gotten used to smaller worlds and the last EP had a very disappointing one. This world comes with 14 lots, more than the last EP but still not enough for a player like me.
The world is gorgeous, it is lush and full of details. The sunsets and sunrises are on par with the ones you can see from the island in Windenburg, just stunning!
It is a shame that we can’t see underwater because from the surface it looks like it would be breathtaking.
I haven’t had the time yet to experience the locals nor the festivals because I spent most of my time on the other islands but I'll comment on it as soon as I can, tomorrow I have the day off and I'll be playing the whole day so if you have any questions, shoot away!
Origin ID is: AlbaWaterhouse
All my creations are CC free.
All my creations are CC free.
13
Comments
The hairstyles are great, and I am really getting used to this! They have been consistently good since Seasons, a year ago. I still wished we would have gotten at least a new hairstyle for toddlers and a hairstyle with a more subtle flower crown for all the life stages.
The feminine clothing items are exactly what I wanted from such a pack, beautiful patterns and shapes, flowy, summery, colourful.
The masculine items are as usual more lacklustre but very well done all the same, I know I’m going to overuse some of the items here. It’s a shame we didn’t get more “full outfits” for men, the only one being the diving one.
Kids and toddlers didn’t really get much as usual although kids got a bit more than I expected and toddlers look so cute on theirnew outfits! They should have also added the leaves bracelets that teens+ have for both toddlers and kids.
My main issue with CAS though, is that barely any tops match properly with any bottoms (patterns or otherwise).
Here, some very gorgeous outfits that do match:
Mermaid CAS is nice, I love the patterns and shiny scales! It is great that they added “mermaid faces” that you can choose from.
BUILD/BUY:
I didn't have the chance to build too much but I am planning big things! The items are unbelievably detailed. There are 2 distinct styles, one more chilled and unpolished and one more high-end. Both extremely pretty.
As we knew by now, pools can't be built at sea level, howhever, they can look really great on the second floor.
My only issue with BB is very minor and is that yet again, they forgot to add (ironically) island counters that match the new kitchen counters
All my creations are CC free.
Let’s start with Mermaids:
Right off the bat I’d like to say that I’m terrified and attracted to mermaids simultaneously. They are the mythological creature that scares me and fascinates me the most. So, when I decided to play with and evil mermaid last night, I was very scared of it but also couldn’t stop looking at her swimming around in the night. Which means they did a great job. The way they move is exactly how you'd imagine mermaids would swim if they existed.
As far as how developed the lifestate is compared to Vampires or Aliens, I would say is something in between but unfortunately closer to aliens than to vampires. There aren't many special interactions but the ones that are there are pretty fun. They don't have anything close to what vampires have (powers, weaknesses, etc) and that is a shame but I know that it's not possible to bring such a fleshed out lifestate in a pack that has a thousand other things going on.
They can sleep on the water and I thought that was really cool
Normal gameplay:
The part-time jobs added in the patch plus the new ones coming with the EP are a great way to enjoy the island and have a more chilled experience. There are also the odd jobs which are one time opportunities (rabit hole).
I didn't have time yet to properly play the conservationist career but so far, for those concern about the island being litered, I haven't seen much debris around.
It is a shame that toddlers can splash around in the sea with an adult but you can totally create the illusion by grabing the toddler and walking into the water with them
They can however build sand sculptures alone or with an adult and also play in the sand.
I can tell there's much more to the island because I feel that after 6 hours I am only scratching the surface.
Here some more pictures
Blowing the conch
Yoga at the beach
@catloverplayer I know you'll like this one
Sunbathing
And more:
Also, very important!
I learned that there are 2 types of buoys (am I spelling that right?)
The colour matters: red for diving and diving supplies, green for snorkel.
All my creations are CC free.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
I thought one of the Game Changers said they were working to get the matching island counters in before release? That's a shame 🤔
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
That's great news! It seems like they didn't make it on time but there are still technically 2 days left, fingers crossed. Otherwise, it will come in next month's patch I guess.
All my creations are CC free.
All my creations are CC free.
Oh I'm sorry for the confusion, the fridge is from Jungle Adventure and the stove from Parenthood. I just added then to the pic to give more context and to show how well they fit together.
All my creations are CC free.
I would normally agree, but in this case, some of the hairstyles work very well for both feminine and masculine sims, the long curly hairstyle with tons of volume fit better for men I find, and the one with the flower crown looks very appropriate for island males, the flowers are way too big for most female faces.
But yes, overall we need more male attention.
All my creations are CC free.
First of all, that sims can use those massive ladders that go into the sea, I was under the impression they were just decor.
Unfortunately they don't work outside the water (they are basically gigant pool ladders).
And, here is the awesome discovery I just made: the Get Together jumping platforms work to jump straight into the sea!
Here in movement:
(sorry for the plum quality, I'm not an expert Youtuber
All my creations are CC free.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
All my creations are CC free.
I'm glad it doesn't require much. Other lot types are too restrictive for me.
Are there any game options for Island Living? I am hoping for options to control pollution on the beach and mermaids spawning.
Here is a great guide with all the new cheats.
You can make your beach pristine by cheating (although as I said before I haven't really seen a lot of rubbish around so far).
Here is a great guide that explains the island system better than I ever could.
As for the control of mermaids, I'm afraid there's no way to control the population. But as far as I can see, it work more or less like aliens in that if you don't play them and delete the existing ones, they rarely appear.
All my creations are CC free.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the glass floor can be enlarged without a problem.
This is the original size of the piece:
And here it is enlarged
Otherwise it would look like this:
Also great but the fact that it can easily be scaled up means more options, and that's what I'm all about.
All my creations are CC free.
I'm so happy to have been wrong!
All my creations are CC free.
I remember seeing bananas introduced in TS3 Showtime, and when I saw the banana tree, my thought as a tropical native was "this ain't it chief"
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
I also like wandering the hills.