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Island Living is a Great Disappointment (Sort of a Rant)

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  • babajaynebabajayne Posts: 1,866 Member
    Cinebar wrote: »
    babajayne wrote: »
    DyingLight wrote: »
    The sims 4 IL is quality content. The devs worked so hard in order to give us this EP and we should be grateful, because the sims is a very old game and EA is the only company interested in keeping it alive. I love the sims 4 and I hope I can get IL soon because the sims is one of my favorite games.

    The problem with people nowadays: they see all the content on videos, so when they get their hands on the game it's easy for them to say "I've seen it all."

    That's why I haven't seen any videos of IL yet (just EA's trailer), so when I finally get the game, it's going to be full of surprises for me. <3
    Well, you don’t have it yet so you wouldn’t know.

    I shared the same optimism before. The “spoiler” videos I watched didn’t have much besides showing the bb items and showing a mermaid swim around. I’ve been playing it all weekend, taking it slow exploring what was new. I’m really bummed that there isn’t much beyond objects and scenery.

    I wish I didn’t agree with the OP, and up until recently I might not have necessarily felt the same way. I understand certain decisions were made to make this game more playable. It seems the pendulum has swung too far back to simplicity. And now we have a ton of new bugs and I’m feeling disenchanted.

    This is why I'm not sure TS4 deserves another two or three years. It reminds me of my last year of school, where no one is working as hard, and all the classes teachers aren't really pressing students and or assigning major things to get done before the end of school, but sitting around and yaking, feet up on desks, telling glory day stories, kids or teens goofing off, all just waiting for it to be over. Half effort put into the last essay, and since it is the last, most get a high grade, just because it's the last, though may not be deserving etc. Lots of fairwell parties going on during class hours, and lots of cleaning out lockers, desks and really distracted with other stuff while the last days of school wind down. Those in charge looking forward to summer and the school year finally over. That is what TS4 has been since about two years ago. It was never very impressive but since they would keep making it, sure they can, but it's like the last days of school with hardly any effort at all.
    I could not agree more. That’s exactly how it seems.
  • JestTruJestTru Posts: 1,761 Member
    I don't have Island Living yet. In fact it is the first EP pack in all the Sims series that haven't either pre-ordered or bought on the day of release. So as far as depth of the pack I can't really comment on other than it doesn't seem any different than any other pack given in S4. You get the pack and are bored with it in just a week or two.

    I do completely agree with you on the fact that I was expecting more from this pack. I am super disappointed, like many sim players, that there is no underwater lot for diving and mermaids. It would've made sense to have at least one underwater lot or even a hidden grotto lot for the mermaids. I think that was a missed opportunity on their part.

    I still want to get this pack and try it out. It does look amazing and I would like my sims to be able to swim in the ocean and do some of those beach activities. I'm into family play and I think this pack will enhance that. But I do hope that we get more beach/pool activities in the future. Like volleyball, slides, surfing, open water for other world's...
    WbUrFQm.png
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    DyingLight wrote: »
    The sims 4 IL is quality content. The devs worked so hard in order to give us this EP and we should be grateful, because the sims is a very old game and EA is the only company interested in keeping it alive. I love the sims 4 and I hope I can get IL soon because the sims is one of my favorite games.

    The problem with people nowadays: they see all the content on videos, so when they get their hands on the game it's easy for them to say "I've seen it all."

    That's why I haven't seen any videos of IL yet (just EA's trailer), so when I finally get the game, it's going to be full of surprises for me. <3

    I disagree. One poster in a thread was complaining because they had already completed the new careers to level ten within one or two days of getting this pack. I think their thread was dated June 22nd. So, one day? They were upset there were no more increases for those careers like they patched in for other careers after reaching level 10. I'm not a fan of mindless tasks for any of TS4 careers however, if that was what they liked about TS4 then they noticed the oversight of IL not even being included with that patched in extra levels or skills or whatever it is that was left out. So, yes for them they had seen everything, they have already completed why they played it. So, even in it's linear form part of gameplay it fell short there, too. When you would think getting to level ten and beyond would take more than an afternoon.

    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • ZussageZussage Posts: 141 Member
    edited June 2019
    Eh, I love it. I'm sympathetic though to anyone who doesn't. I'm just not sure what it's being compared to. TS3 Island Paradise was my favourite, and that thing was basically unplayable. You had to mod the heck out of it, delete a bunch of stuff like house boats and hotels, several families... and then maybe you could play without crashing. I did love diving but that also was eventually explored through. I've explored every dive spot to death, the mermaids had so few interactions. The hunger bar for the kids was messed up.

    Eventually all of the content in every pack will be "explored through". To me, the beauty of the sims is how you can play the same career on the same world but with a different personality and sim, and you have a whole different game, or vice versa. It's about recombining. I just don't think it's possible to make a pack with content that "never ends". The replayability of it is based on something else.

    TS3 definitely feels more "full" at this point, but it's also had a full run of expansions. TS4 is still going, and is just gonna keep adding more. It's also why I didn't buy it at launch, but only got into it a few months ago. That's always how I've done sims, I don't buy the latest until it has a lot of expansions under its belt. When sims 5 rolls around, I'll do the same thing. It's always gonna feel like a bare-bones game in the beginning when compared to years of expansions. I'm also one of the rare few that like the world system on TS4 better than the open world in TS3. It's just way more playable for me. I don't miss TS3 now and just uninstalled it on my computer. Even with less expansion packs, TS4 is at a place where it outshines TS3 for me. There are definitely things here and there that I'd like to see. I wish we had house boats for example, and controllable pets, but I also find the list of "pros" for me personally with TS4 vastly outweighs the cons and few things that I miss from TS3. And, again, even those things I miss I know would eventually be "old hat" anyway. Dive spots will be explored through, house boats will just sit on the water.

    But everyone plays their own way! For those of you disappointed, I'm sorry. I hope that you can find other games to enjoy and not waste anymore money on things in TS4 that will disappoint you. Here's hoping that when The Sims 5 eventually comes out, it better suits all of our needs.
  • nerdfashionnerdfashion Posts: 5,947 Member
    What do you mean by "Are mermaids suicidal?" because of their sleeping on the water animation?
    funny-gifs20.gif

  • GramcrackersGramcrackers Posts: 1,162 Member
    CK213 I love your idea! I was disappointed also that I couldn't take my Sims to the Island for a vacation.
  • AineAine Posts: 3,043 Member
    edited June 2019
    @CK213 I would love that too, that's why I used 'bare minimum' when I didn't include it. :D Tbh there are SO much they could do with a theme like this, and I think they should be ashamed how they bungled it. An absolute dud of a pack. The only ones that brought it for this pack was the designers, they've really outdone themselves because the island and all the design is really pretty. I just wish they had even more to do, like an underwater secret cave - maybe even an under water city! A secret place where the mermaids live that you unlock by completing certain steps. Add to that the unlocking of vacation lots, so you can have them ANYWHERE, on the Island or anywhere else, AND the ability to live in previous vacation worlds, AND being able to own vacation lots, and you've got my attention. Add hotel management and being able to WORK there, now THAT would be an expansion worthy of the name - it's what we would have gotten in a Sims 2 expansion. :p
    Allons-y!

    ---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
    ---> Burglary Stuff Pack Idea - Burglars, alarm systems, and diamonds to steal!<---
  • CK213CK213 Posts: 20,525 Member
    CK213 I love your idea! I was disappointed also that I couldn't take my Sims to the Island for a vacation.

    The world, the ocean sounds, the Island music, and that bambo chime going...
    So nice.
    06-25-19_1-32-16nbspPM.png

    On his next return from San Myshuno, I am going to give this house a decent living/dinging room.
    His book royalties are starting to ramp up and he will spend more time enjoying the island than writing.
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  • catloverplayercatloverplayer Posts: 93,362 Member
    Lazy Gamers review is coming out Friday. We ll see what he thinks.
  • catloverplayercatloverplayer Posts: 93,362 Member
    Aine wrote: »
    The bare minimum that EA could have done to make this pack at least feel somewhat complete:
    - Swimming in all worlds
    - less reused animations, like the toddlers in the ocean
    - finished the lounge chair object so we can do more with it than just drink like a zombie (aside from sunbathing)
    - completed the mermaid life state - transformation animations, under water living (at least some sort of under water activity for mermaids, like sleeping and eating)
    - added the secret cave as an actual lot you can unlock
    - made the careers non rabbit hole
    - fix the mermaid evil interactions so they actually DO something, and NOT lie about it when you don't fix it (I'm so irate about that)

    Did I forget something, there is SO much missing and incomplete in this pack, I don't even know anymore...

    The first one their working on hince all the wading you can do in other worlds now since the patch.
  • doublenoodlesdoublenoodles Posts: 89 Member
    I only bought the pack for the build items and hair. I love the new hairstyles, I never buy a sim pack for gameplay because I know it will be a disappointment. I really wanted university, I hope they won't mess that up.
  • IcewolfIcewolf Posts: 709 Member
    I like Island Living, but I do agree with you. The expansion pack is very bare bones, probably the most bare boned of them all. I also had that feeling of not knowing what to do on Sulani, because there isn't much to do.

    And don't get me started on the mermaids. They were the ones I looked forward to the most. They have this expansion pack but still chooses not to make mermaids fully fleshed out. It makes no sense to me. They're pretty and all. But I don't just wanna swim around and look pretty... :/
  • ZussageZussage Posts: 141 Member
    babajayne wrote: »
    Zussage wrote: »
    Eventually all of the content in every pack will be "explored through". To me, the beauty of the sims is how you can play the same career on the same world but with a different personality and sim, and you have a whole different game, or vice versa. It's about recombining. I just don't think it's possible to make a pack with content that "never ends". The replayability of it is based on something else.
    With TS2 and TS3 expansions, there were spoilers everywhere online and I wanted to find these surprises myself. I would play an expansion for months, even years before really delving into the details people would share online, and I always came away with several new things to try.

    With TS4 expansions, I come to the forums to find out what I am missing and the answer is: little to nothing.

    That's a totally valid experience and you're totally right. Subjectively for me though, that just hasn't been my experience. I find the amount of content comparable. I also find that as a player, as I have become more savvy, things move faster and become easier for me (regardless of if it's in TS3 or TS4).

    I would definitely say that TS3 does have more content on the surface, but for the way I play it didn't really matter. I couldn't play with the best graphics, Couldn't play without heavy mods. The game crashed all the time, I had to nerf it just to be able to play it. So I couldn't use things that I loved. Not so with TS4, I can play everything fully, on the same computer. I just get more out of it. I love the build mode better, the graphics, CAS. I think the game needs more skills, traits and aspirations but that just keeps growing with each pack anyway.

    Let's take one thing for me as an example: Diving and open water. Loved it I'm TS3, I loved making mermaids and going down. It was cool! But then, Island Paradide seriously glitched my game. I couldn't play with resorts, had to install a bunch of mods, delete a bunch of stuff... and even though it was cool diving, I couldn't even play with the graphics on full. I wasn't getting the full experience of that underwater world. Even open water interactions were few: I could snorkel and splash sims. That's about it. Underwater I could view items, harvest kelp, and catch fish. The talking animations were all the same. It basically became a "where's Waldo" point and click for catching fish. Trying to travel anywhere, it took forever to walk, swim, taxi or boat in the open world. Worse for mermaids as they automatically swim. On houseboats, my child sims couldn't swim at night because once they are off the house boat, they're "past curfew" and get caught by police, even while diving :/

    In TS4, there is no following diving, it's a rabbit hole. But, graphics wise, the ocean swimming itself is gorgeous! Its not just blue on blue. My mermaids have so many more interactions in the water, they can even kiss sims!!! Yes, these interactions will likely get boring after awhile, but so will anything. These are still more, and gameplay wise for me, much more usable for everyday storytelling. Even the way they swim is more interactive then it was watching mermaids dive in TS3. We don't have the open world, but the loading and traveling is so much easier for me this way. I LOVE it. I'm not spending forever watching my sim swim through an endless ocean, or getting a dozen routing glitches. Its ten times more useable than TS3 was for me.

    Would it be cool if they had interactive diving? For sure. No doubt. But do I still think the content given, for what I paid, was reasonable? Certainly. I also knew going in that wouldn't be featured. I had enough information on hand about what was in it for me to determine if the price was worth it for me. I also wouldn't want diving back if it caused as much problems for my system as TS3 did. And I guess this is where I ended up when I personally determined the value of this expansion and TS4. Of course I want everything: we all do. If I could have everything perfectly functioning and magically working for 40 bucks or less of course I would. But eventually I know they can't do it all. They are going to have to draw lines somewhere, for one reason or another. And some cuts will certainly be for financial reasons and what they can get away with. That's just what businesses do. But taking all the information at hand, comparing to the previous similar title, considering how I play and what I'm most likely to use, it came out as an overall winner for me.

    I hope I'm making sense. I also don't mean to sound like my opinion is superior or the only right one. I think everyone is right because it's all about how YOU play personally. So for you, it's a let down and not as good as TS3. And you're right.
  • keekee53keekee53 Posts: 4,328 Member
    I really think they should have went with their original plan and made this expansion 64 bit only. I keep wondering if part of the limitations are because it is still compatible with 32 bit. It might also be the reason for all the hiccups in the Lania St. Taz region.
  • FelicityFelicity Posts: 4,979 Member
    Aine wrote: »
    The bare minimum that EA could have done to make this pack at least feel somewhat complete:
    - Swimming in all worlds
    - less reused animations, like the toddlers in the ocean
    - finished the lounge chair object so we can do more with it than just drink like a zombie (aside from sunbathing)
    - completed the mermaid life state - transformation animations, under water living (at least some sort of under water activity for mermaids, like sleeping and eating)
    - added the secret cave as an actual lot you can unlock
    - made the careers non rabbit hole
    - fix the mermaid evil interactions so they actually DO something, and NOT lie about it when you don't fix it (I'm so irate about that)

    Did I forget something, there is SO much missing and incomplete in this pack, I don't even know anymore...

    The first one their working on hince all the wading you can do in other worlds now since the patch.

    I assumed the wading was so you could trap fish in all the worlds. I wonder if they'll ever get swimming working.
  • babajaynebabajayne Posts: 1,866 Member
    edited June 2019
    @Zussage
    Even as a diehard Sims fan since the original, I missed the last few TS3 expansions (I met my now-husband and this game just felt less important for a while :) )
    I never had Island Paradise, so I’m unable to compare. My yardstick is World Adventures, if anything. Wow did that pack in a lot of gameplay.

    I don’t even care about the rabbit holes or being able to go under water. I love how the neighborhoods work in TS4; I don’t even care that the world isn’t fully open because I just choose to live in the neighborhoods that have fun things to do in the common areas and I think that works great.

    What I would have liked to see is more activities. Volleyball would have been an obvious beach activity. Frisbee would be cool. Different levels of tanning, not just tanned, burnt and not tan. Peeling after burning. Waterslides! Just the 6 ft tall ones would suffice, but a full-on waterpark type of slide would be awesome, too. I think smoothies would be fun to make, combining different fruits like we used to do with nectar making, and get different effects. I had a smoothie every day while on honeymoon in Aruba, it fits. Obviously a hotel experience is not what I was expecting going into it, but to not include any way to officially vacation on the islands? I think it really missed the mark.

    I appreciate all the respect you’ve given me and I hope I am being just as respectful. I still love this game but now I am curious about TS3 Island Paradise because it sounds a lot better than this. I’m not worried about my specs.

    But what I really wish is that they would not underdeliver on a game series that used to be so much better overall.
  • ElainaFrostElainaFrost Posts: 9 New Member
    Thank you for this thread posting. I was gonna show it to a friend who is mermaid obsessed to get her to maybe try Sims 4 (she hasn't before since they took out the CAS customization features from Sims 3) but now I'm not going to. I don't want her to waste her hard earned money on something that seems great but isn't really.

    Myself I bought Sims 4 (city living, ambitions, seasons generations) before getting Sims 3 (although I had played older versions before at friends' houses and had Sims 2 rented for my ps2) and I gotta say I was disappointed. I was excited to try the new Sims after the videos I watched but playing it just got "meh" waaayyy to fast.

    I stopped playing it about a year ago and recently got Sims 3 (seasons, generations, late night, university, and supernatural) and I am loving the game I'm playing on that; even if I got bored of University and stopped doing Late Night just to use Supernatural to get my occult fix.

    Sims 3 has so many better features than Sims 4 it's just plain sad! Sims 4 is supposed to be the upgrade but all I've seen playing it is downgrade after downgrade. Just after reading your thread post i thought "oh man it would've been so much better if Sims 3 had the mermaids!" and I have a feeling it would've. It's like from the very start of Sims 4 the game creators have been in "meh" mode for most of the stuff coming out. Sure it looks and seems cool and fun but you find out very quickly it's lacking a lot of things that made it's predecessor really cool and fun.
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