I strongly disagree. Shallow is what you make it. Not like Sims was super deep or had great game play either; but people told stories that gave the game depth. The point of the game is to create sims and stories how you want it or otherwise it would be an RPG.
Shallow is the Sims in this game having no personalities. In the past I did not have to imagine what made my sims unique, the game displayed that based on how I created them. Sims 4 is only good at showing expression through emotions, and for every sim they experience those emotions the exact same way. This in turn means that every sim behaves the same way, they are drawn to the same things, and by design they are always nice and happy. The last part is probably the biggest flaw with this game.
It wasn’t my imagination that added depth to the characters in the previous games, it was the game doing what it was supposed to be doing: simulating virtual lives. You’re right the basic premise of the game is creating sims and telling stories but the game has to have some input.
The fact EA went with a whirlwind announcement-to-release marketing plan should have told me something. I guess I wasn't listening very hard, or I would have passed on preordering. Common sense cautioned me, but I was too caught up in the hype to be cautious. The people associated with creating content for Sims4 are caught between us, the fans of the series, and the corporation that signs their paychecks. There isn't much room for creativity when one is forced to follow the mighty dollar, rather than their creative spirit. EA made this abundantly clear when Sims4 was released. The Sims franchise has been all about the money since Sims3. The fact the franchise makes millions every year and we are seeing less quality and more fluff, isn't very difficult to understand. EA has been using profits from the Sims franchise to develop content for their other titles. Which means there is less money put into the development of new content for Sims4. When I say 'new' content, I mean content that is different from anything we have seen in the past. Not a rehashing of old ideas that are given a face lift then passed off as groundbreaking. Multitasking was a groundbreaking idea that was poorly executed, giving me the feeling it was rushed through the development stage and not tested fully before being included in the base game. Which is what we are seeing in every new pack for Sims4. The bugs we see in every patch, update and pack are the result of poor quality control. If a bug happens during the development phase, it is ignored because we have an entire community of people that creates mods thus relieving EA of the responsibility to fix the issues before releasing any new pack. EA knows this, using it against us time after time. And there is no excuse for it other than trying to save a buck or two.
They took the idea of a tropical world complete with mermaids and swimmable oceans, then tried to do something new with it. Which, in my opinion, has failed. The conservation angle was a truly great idea but they didn't take the time to make it more complex. They took the idea from StrangerVille, gave it a quick face lift, thinking we would accept it , then marketed that idea as one of the 'new' features of Island Living. It's a very short-lived feature at best. There is no lasting gameplay in this feature. It's just a little fluff on top of a lot of new bugs. When I learned this was the case, my hopes for the pack plummeted. But this was not disclosed until after the pack was released. Well played, EA. Lesson learned, and I won't fall for it again, you can count on that. I won't be preordering again. I'll wait until the pack is released then see if it is worthy enough to buy at full price rather than waiting for it to go on sale. Even though Island Living came with a larger world and a lot of assets, it feels like a game pack. It's StrangerVille after going under the knife of a plastic surgeon. It's gorgeous, but underneath all that beauty, Island Living is shallow and does not pack much of a punch.
The list of features we wanted for this kind of pack was glanced at, but many of those features were ignored. Which is a shame since many of those would have added so much lasting gameplay. Such as the ability to own resorts/hotels or to own a second home. Adding rabbit holes as a solution to the problem of creating immersive gameplay, is just lazy. When I learned we would not be able to watch our Sims deep sea diving, it was not a shock. Shortcuts have become the normal way of things in Sims4. But I can't help but feel a bit sad and angry about it. The toddler update and Seasons gave me hope for Sims4. And I had high hopes for Island Living. I couldn't wait to dive into the conservationist career. But the career is just another way to make everything look prettier while earning a lot of Simoleans. I can well imagine how the mermaid lovers are feeling right now knowing there is no underwater world for their lovely merfolk. Again, EA chose to take a shorter route rather than release something that would have been greeted with open arms and delight. EA gutted the whole idea behind having mermaids in the game. I don't blame the mermaid fans for being upset.
Sulani's future in my game is very clear after just a few days of playing. It will become a place to take my Sims for a short break or a honeymoon. I don't see myself playing a rotational save in this world for some reason. Communing with the island spirits doesn't give us any insight into the culture of the world, just more buffs. The conservation of the ecosystem isn't impacted by our Sims in any way once the island has been restored. There is no new dance to learn. There are no underwater lots to interact with. Two Sims can't travel together on a sailboat or an aquazip. The pack just feels as if they recycled a lot of features from past packs and shoved them into a new world after adding a few new features that didn't require much effort to implement. This expansion has met my expectations of failure rather than any notions I might have had about it being a great expansion. I'm kicking myself for being so quick to preorder it. I should have waited for mods to be updated, a bug fix patch from EA, and a closer look at the actual gameplay before hitting that 'pay now' button.
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.
People don’t have to be grateful towards an expansion that costs $40. That is the same price as many complete games in cases. They also shouldn’t feel gratitude if they have every piece of sims 4 dlc, effectively spending over $500 and that figure is still rising. Gratitude shouldn’t come into it. EA is the only company keeping sims alive because they own the rights to the sims. They aren’t going to sell their cash cow to another publisher.
The problem with sims 4 content these days: It’s not substantial enough to maintain interest in the long term. After a few hours in the new pack a player has seen all the “new” gameplay because there is very little. And I have not saw one person say otherwise.
I also agree about the recycling of animations. While this has always been a huge thing in the sims 4, I think this could be the worst pack yet for it. Ditto objects. Looking at you bonfire and bonfire dance that came with Get together. There are so many recycled animations from previous packs, only thing different is a different name on the list you choose from. Giving an animation another name doesn’t make it new.
Even the dolphin animations recycle. Pet dolphin is the same as as rub dolphins belly.
I understand that water is a difficult thing to do in game- (My Husband is a game dev) and I’m sure I read the former CM saying water was a challenge but it honestly looks like we paid $40 to swim in the ocean.
That's is incorrect. They are two different animations.
I thought you couldn't fire dance in IL without GT? I have GT installed so I can't test this....
Well when I did the interactions, they were the exact same.
I’m not sure about fire dancing. The fire dance sure looks the exact same as the get together one. Guess Windenburg has culture too.
I have enjoyed the pack and still have some more stuff to do/see despite playing quite a lot since IL came out but I do agree with you on a lot of points. I was irked by the fact the toddler pool play animation was basically the bath animation rehashed when Seasons came out and I am amazed they've just rehashed it again for the sea...why would a toddler play with a rubber duckie in the sea and paddling pool - that doesn't make sense to me so yes at least change the toy. Lounging having no multitasking at all seems really rushed and bizarre/done on the cheap (not even to chat or read a book or listen to music) - and again I dislike how the pool/sea floaties are clearly chair shaped on purpose in order to rehash the lounge animation they use in the lounge chairs.
I wish that there was the option to vacation in Sulani rather than having to either live there or come up with workarounds such as owning a business there to use as a base to visit - I wish rental options were available everywhere to be honest, it seems silly that I can vacation in the Jungle Adventures world but not in Sulani where all the beaches/vacation worthy type game play is.
If you're not against mods there is one out there that switches Sulani to a vacation world. I'm using that. The only thing I'm wondering about now is, since I have it as a vacation world will the island get polluted? Will sea turtles lay eggs, etc.? But other than that, my sims can rent the beach houses and just vacay.
I'm liking the island pretty well. With the addition of the things there is to do for them. But alas......
it's like the rest of the game and one of my biggest complaints of this iteration is that the sims never seem to be able to do anything "together". They can't go for a moonlight walk on the sands holding hands. They can't ride the boat together. They still can't dance together. There's no real affection between them either.
I'm sure that's why there's no beach volleyball or anything like that simply because the game doesn't allow for multiple sims playing "together". And that's why bowling, and basketball both feel like an individual activity as well. Everything they do "together" even with the GET TOGETHER club system is all individual things.
"Wanna have a catch, Dad?" Nope. Not in sims 4. And that's the saddest part of the game to me. So I don't ever foresee anything like frisbee, or even catch, or volleyball, or anything that involves more than one sim at a time.
But I am still holding out some form of hope that this will somehow change, but it's waning with each new piece of DLC.
Yeah. I really hope they listen, and try to fix this. Even the small action of cuddling in bed and spooning each other like in Sims 2 goes a long way. Make your sims feel more "real". Kids not being able to play together (chase, cops n robbers, hop scotch, etc.) It's the little things.
Sadly, I agree with you a 100%, but I've felt this way about every expansion pack that's come out they have no longevity. Nor the game itself even with owning every single game pack stuff pack & expansion I can't play it more than 5 minutes without mods or cc it'd be unplayable. As far as island living i played it for a day & a half already had made 4 different households to play with did everything & was done with it. Oh yeah the new bugs are awesome & so is the recycled animation's that they been doing since the 1st DLC & I mean that with the upmost sarcasm. You mentioned the recycled toddler animation playing in the water with the ruber ducky 😂😂😂 i wish you saw my face when I saw that!
I payed (aussie) gamepack price for it so I'm happy-ish. I definitely agree it isn't worth more, and absolutely agree there is a lot missing.
What is weird though, is that when I am swimming and switch to first person view (hello, migraine), all the coral and fish are 3D. At first, because we couldn't dive down, I thought they were like 2D and the devs were trying to disguise it, but that's not the case. I don't get why our sims can't go underneath the water then, and why we can't move the camera underwater either. This is especially annoying for mermaids who, like other commenters said, should be able to live underwater.
That said, this is a nice world for photography, BB and CAS. I am at least happy with these aspects - as a cc-free builder (and mostly cc-free player), I get a lot of use out of these items.
Comparing IL to the other packs, I am still finding new things to do in both City Living (just discovered the fruit/veg stall so I can fake grocery shop), seasons and pets, whereas I have tried everything in IL. GTW (got for aliens, disapointed, their CAS still isn't like Vamps) and Get Together (clubs is only saving feature) I could do without more than IL though.
I've seen quite a few people say this recently, but I personally really love this pack. It's definitely my favorite after Seasons. I don't agree about the lack of gameplay. I actually feel like this pack adds more gameplay then most TS4 packs. I've really been enjoying it so far and there are still so many things I didn't do.
To all the people who are dissapointed: good for you for voicing that disappointment. Things won't change if you don't speak up.
But please, take it a step further. You need to stop buying the games, your dollar is what EA cares about most. Don't buy on release, make sure you know everything before going in. Get really picky and selective. So many people who I've read that have been constantly disappointed have more expansions than me and I love the game!
So continue to speak up, but also think about your dollar.
Very well said!
And I agree with everything OP has said. I'm not buying this pack, in fact I've given up on TS4 completely. I'm still interested to read about its development though (with a futile hope that things will get better). TS1, TS2 & TS3 were a huge hobby of mine. It saddens me to see the state of TS4!
If you love/like this EP don't let those above put you off enjoying it in your own way. Please don't let this thread turn into the old, old Sims 3, Sims 2 is better. It is so, so boring. I've played all of them and they all disappoint or don't match up to my expectations in different ways. Sims 5 would be the same.
Roll on 64bit.
And if you get what you think are bugs refer them to @SimGuruNick or @SimGuruArvin they might get them sorted sooner than posting here.
My ranting is not intended to convince anyone to not buy Island Living. I am simply relating some of my experiences, and my feelings about the pack in general. I am sure there are many Simmers that love this pack and enjoy playing it, and I am happy they are having that experience. As soon as more of my mods are updated, and I am able to play without bugs getting in the way, I will give the pack another try. With an open mind, of course. Frustration is not good, and I have been frustrated with EA for quite a while. Years, to be truthful. Please don't take my rant as anything other than me pointing out what I feel is missing from this expansion. It is my personal opinion; it is not intended to make anyone feel badly about having a good time with Island Living. I am enjoying build mode with all the new B/B items because I like to look at all the new scenery while I am building something. Sulani really is a pretty world, so I have to play it. Maybe all that sand and sun and surf will help me find my zen. Its been missing for a couple of days. I learned something new about the conservationist career a couple hours ago that has me a bit more excited about Island Living. And someone has made CC island counters that match the counters that came in the pack. So all is not lost, I guess. Things will get better. But even when everything is calm again, I won't be preordering any new packs in the near future. Nope. I will do more research before I buy anything new.
I am so glad for this post. When I finally got around to playing (70 hour/week workweeks are killer) again, I saw there was a new EP. Then, I saw the "promotional" video. That's supposed to reflect the absolute best about the game, right? I'm like, 'wha? an EXPANSION pack? Not a stuff pack or game pack? This isn't enough for an EP.' I was hoping there was something I was missing, some kind of "hidden" game content. So, I did a little searching and found nothing. My biggest disappointment is that there are no working houseboats. THAT alone would've made this an EP. And Island Paradise had so much more in addition to that.
I am so glad for this post. When I finally got around to playing (70 hour/week workweeks are killer) again, I saw there was a new EP. Then, I saw the "promotional" video. That's supposed to reflect the absolute best about the game, right? I'm like, 'wha? an EXPANSION pack? Not a stuff pack or game pack? This isn't enough for an EP.' I was hoping there was something I was missing, some kind of "hidden" game content. So, I did a little searching and found nothing. My biggest disappointment is that there are no working houseboats. THAT alone would've made this an EP. And Island Paradise had so much more in addition to that.
Yet another way S3 is still superior.
Yes, I would stay with Sims 3 if I were you. Sims 4 doesn't look like your type of game.
My honest opinion, if these EPs were priced at $30 instead of $40 and delivered the same exact content, I believe there'd be less fuss coming from the community. Only 1 EP I bought at full price. Everything else was half off (Im getting IL when its on sale). And playing through those expansions, more times than not I was glad I didn't pay full price.
I am so glad for this post. When I finally got around to playing (70 hour/week workweeks are killer) again, I saw there was a new EP. Then, I saw the "promotional" video. That's supposed to reflect the absolute best about the game, right? I'm like, 'wha? an EXPANSION pack? Not a stuff pack or game pack? This isn't enough for an EP.' I was hoping there was something I was missing, some kind of "hidden" game content. So, I did a little searching and found nothing. My biggest disappointment is that there are no working houseboats. THAT alone would've made this an EP. And Island Paradise had so much more in addition to that.
Yet another way S3 is still superior.
Yes, I would stay with Sims 3 if I were you. Sims 4 doesn't look like your type of game.
Most of the people that critique the sims 4 like this actually like the game we just think it could be better. LGR I think said it perfectly in his video: Do I HATE The Sims?
We want something we love to be the best it can possibly be. The Sims 4 is a fine game on its own but we think it could be better than what they have been giving us.
I like the sims 4. And I have defended it against hate plenty of times. But the moment I had a genuine criticism of the lack of content, on this forum, i got a lot of attitude . i got a lot of attitude and smart aleck comments for criticizing Island Living before it came out. Because I could see how shallow it is, and now that its out, lots of people are disappointed and now there is less attitude going around at people for saying something.
"Let Our Hearts And Hands Be Streched Out In Compassion Toward Others."
Sadly, 4 has been frustrating and a huge disappointment for me from day 1.
I kept trying to be optimistic and hopeful that the game would improve, but after disappointment, after disappointment, I finally stopped buying 4 "content" after Cats and Dogs.
Seeing this thread reminds me of how I was really looking forward to the GF pack. It was also getting a lot of the usual pre-release hype. Luckily, I resisted the urge to buy right away and waited for input from fellow simmers on their experience with the pack. As usual, buggy gameplay. Very few lots, none of them with beachfront property. A lot of the space taken up with glitzy views, but little space that you can actually visit or build on. So I passed on getting the pack.
Everything done in 4 appears rushed and, as a result, poorly done. Sims have identical "personalities" regardless of their traits resulting in none of them being unique individuals. For me, it's like trying to become immersed in a world full of identical robots. It just doesn't work for me.
I haven't played since December 2018 and it appears I'm still not missing much in my opinion. It's really sad to me that the game I have really loved for many years has come to this.
I also agree about the recycling of animations. While this has always been a huge thing in the sims 4, I think this could be the worst pack yet for it. Ditto objects. Looking at you bonfire and bonfire dance that came with Get together. There are so many recycled animations from previous packs, only thing different is a different name on the list you choose from. Giving an animation another name doesn’t make it new.
Even the dolphin animations recycle. Pet dolphin is the same as as rub dolphins belly.
I understand that water is a difficult thing to do in game- (My Husband is a game dev) and I’m sure I read the former CM saying water was a challenge but it honestly looks like we paid $40 to swim in the ocean.
That's is incorrect. They are two different animations.
I thought you couldn't fire dance in IL without GT? I have GT installed so I can't test this....
Well when I did the interactions, they were the exact same.
I’m not sure about fire dancing. The fire dance sure looks the exact same as the get together one. Guess Windenburg has culture too.
I was initially really pumped for this pack, the world looked beautiful, swimming in the ocean, mermaids!! I was planning on buying it on the day it released, which was last Friday.
But then, after watching some youtube Let's Plays, I realized how empty and shallow the whole pack was. Yes, there are jet-skis, dolphins, swimming and beaches, and the world itself is gorgeous. But after that, what GAMEPLAY is there? The conservation career looks OK for certain types of players, but the other two careers are just rabbit holes. Mermaids initially looked interesting, but after reading about them, they look pretty "meh," a huge step down from Vampires, about as lackluster as Aliens. The new traits are boring. "Child of the Island" is too specific and only has to do with this pack and not on the overall game, "Child of the Ocean" is kind of pointless since you can only swim in the ocean in Sulani.
Where is the breaking new feature that's going to change the way I play the game? Get Together had clubs, Get Famous had the Fame and Reputation system, Get to Work had active careers, even City Living had lot traits. Even in the Sims 3 Island Paradise, you could manage and run your own hotel, along with a myriad of other things. What does Island Living have? Nothing but a pretty world.
And I can imagine after a couple of hours watching your sims sunbathe on the beach, it would get pretty boring..
So, I'm happy I didn't buy this, and I'll be waiting for a pretty steep sale when I do!
I got this game on sale through CD Keys for $9 off which was kinda nice. I was cautious about the expansion because the announcement was rushed with only 2 weeks of hype. Then we got all the Q&A, early access info, and live-streams from Simgurus a couple days beforehand. Nonetheless, I bought it and I’ve enjoyed it. I’m not on the hype train that everything Ts4 has created is amazing. I have been an avid sim player since The Sims 2, but I see potential with this expansion. I wasn’t super thrilled about the level of content this time around. I also ran out of things to do after 2 sim days in-game.
As we’ve seen with the Sims 4 since launch, they’re doing something different with this line of the series. They’re treating it more like a service by providing huge free updates and doing almost monthly or every other month patches with new content ranging from clothing to careers to toddlers. I’m keeping that in mind. When they patch this game (which hopefully addresses some of the bugs), I wouldn’t be shocked if they don’t patch in something new that compliments this patch.
I would hold off on full judgment until the game is patched.
I am one of many simmers who wait for a 50%-off sale before buying TS4 packs (any kind of TS4 pack), because EA is charging about twice as much as I think they're worth. I can get $5 worth of pleasure out of a stuff pack, but not $10-worth, & so on & so forth. (I ask myself, 'would I be willing to give up coffee/chocolate for X number of weeks to get this?'--with X being how many weeks I'd have to give up; the answer's always an emphatic NO! until we get down to half-price, at which point it gets to 'mayyyyyyybe....' If I ever actually have to sacrifice coffee or chocolate to get a TS4 pack, as opposed to it being a hypothetical question, I might never buy another pack. I'll probably choose coffee or chocolate. )
Target usually, but not always, has a half-off sale for TS4 expansion packs about a month after initial release, & there are often 50%-off sales around Xmas/New Year's. Lately EA has a 40%-50%-off sale on stuff packs once a year, near summertime.
....if they could somehow take the Sims 3 and give it bug fixes, graphics of the Sims 4...
Ahhhhhhh! If only! TS3 gameplay with TS4 graphics, & only a reasonable (as opposed to the existing UNreasonable) number/severity of bugs. Oh, my. I wish TS4 had been more like that, because I really prefer the TS4 artwork to TS3's (hated how shiny & plastic my sims looked). My TS3 game was always terribly buggy, but TS4 has become almost as bad, & I'm always fighting the invisible action-queue someone else mentioned. So much of my time is wasted by the game's expletive-deleted invisible queue. Who is playing this game, me or the programmers? I shouldn't have to fight my sims all the time to get them to do what I've queued up for them to do, yeesh!
i'm probably going to hell for writing this up but whatever.
alright, i've had enough. island living is getting really old and boring faster than i expected. gameplay starts off good, new build items look great and the world is excellent. but again, shallow gameplay, bad decisions, repetitive tasks, poor design and executions, and overdone with rehashed content and animations. first in game day was spend mostly on seeing the new things and exploring all neighborhoods and my sims spent their first night at a bar. then second day, it’s just swimming in the ocean, tanning and getting sunburned, making sand sculptures and combing for seashells. on the third day, my sims did all of water the activities and it was cool at first but slowly getting boring. i created another household to try the new careers and god, it was disappointing to have two of my favorite careers be played as rabbit holes. the dolphins felt like the hamsters from my first pet disaster, they’re repetitive and lacking interactions. the new festivals and elementals are a nice touch but it’s just not my alley. i played the game for like a couple of hours straight and feel like i’ve already seen 95% of the content so i’d be like, is that it? this honestly feels like a game for me.
so, here’s the tea, a lot of the brand-new features weren’t even that good either. the new conservationist career which can dynamically change the island cosmetics feels something like we can already do from that stranger things parody game pack. new lot traits are infested with bugs and issues and in need to be fixed soon. diving and life guard career are just rabbit holes which means no treasure-hunting, underwater diving, shark encounters and no underwater lots for our mermaids to live in. the volcano is just another decorative chunk in the neighborhood just like everything else in the game (god, they hyped that thing like hell in the stream). odd jobs are like the watered-down version of kawaiistacie’s slice of life mod. lounge chairs have poor designs and multitasking which is sorely disappointing.
i feel like this is an embarrassing version of sims 3 island paradise, i know ip was all about resorts and stuffs and il focuses more in living on the island itself which is kind of fair, i guess, but the tea is, island paradise was poorly optimized but still is a far more superior than island living.
and wow, talk about marketing deception. simgurus and game changers were hyping this up like [Removed, please don't circumvent the filter ~Rtas] hell... most of them tried to make the simplest thing sound overcomplicated when it actually isn’t. the lounge chair which we have apparently waited for five years for ea to figure out, are just another lazy and low-quality work from maxis. only god knows why ea didn’t bother to put multitasking at that object. and just fours after the embargo lifted and when the ea propaganda (gamechangers) started uploading their captures of the new pack, i feel like we already covered the majority of the pack and nothing more to discover nor explore.
i’ve mentioned this in other threads before but am i the only who noticed how this pack is oversaturated with reused animations and mechanics stolen from other packs? most of them are from get together, the “ladder” is just the diving platform done with new a paintjob and woodwork and a few tweaks. the fire pit which had its mechanics and animations very similar from EP02 tho, im okay with that but the beach combing animation looks like i’ve seen it for a hundred times before. can they come up with something else? like having to lie down or duck to dig for seashells instead of bending them sims’ back and the swings? isn’t that supposed to be ep05 exclusive and just let our generous modders and cc creators create new versions of it. some may say, ‘the more the merrier’, i guess, but not for me, beach please (you see what i did there). and the hammocks and firewalk pit, they’re not existent. as for the toddler playing in the ocean, it’s the same animation from the tub and kiddie pool and they didn’t even bother to replace the rubber duckie with a seashell or something else. and oh yeah, the ceiling fan just finally had a fix more than half a year after it came out. a fix which i already have done, thanks to the modders, just a week after the caribbean patch back in 2018.
now, let’s talk about the mermaids. i’m glad that we finally have a new playable occult. but there’s still some bones i need to pick about them mermaids. there’s no underwater lot as their natural habitat. they can’t swim underwater, i mean like under the water. i don’t like how they’d need to gasp for air every time they swim. and how they sleep on the surface really annoys me. aren’t mermaids supposed to sleep on the seabed like how dolphins do, are they suicidal or something? the absence of underwater gameplay made me sob and choke myself like i’m so done for this.
now, this might be unrelated or i might be getting a little too personal here but i found it very annoying when people make a ‘small’ list of all stuffs in the new expansion on some threads and comment sections. then they’d just write 7-10 new features like wow, is that it for a $50 game? but i still find it happy when some people are fine and happy to settle on maxis’ low-quality products and that ain’t my business anymore. but back in the day, i used to visit simsvip for their guides of ts3 eps and discover a lot of things i haven’t tried yet. and i just found out that hilarious plastic surgery feature was a thing from ts3 pets. and yet in ts4 cats and dogs, we didn’t even get proper doghouses and more pets. how can it be that a 10-year-old game is far more mature and intelligent than the modern one? this isn’t clearly an improvement in all honesty and a great insult to my consumer intelligence.
im aware that the team usually try to do new stuffs in new expansions and im fine with that. but, they just can’t achieve a proper expansion even if they do that. they have billions of moneys to pass the complexities and challenges. they’re not some kind of an indie game company or something, heck even most indie game developers can create and develop the best games of the year and offer more gameplay experience. a great example is cities skylines, published by interactive paradox and developed by colossal order. like here’s the tea, they made that game after simcity failed, like thank god that poor quality product flopped, and they offer more full and better expansions that actually expands the gameplay eg. new mechanics, new system and management, and brand-new stuffs and they’re like only 10-15 dollars each. if these were made by ea, they’d put it for a price of $20 or more, half the content, shady pre-order perks, more tradeoffs and limitations, and just more casual EA things. i can still remember that simcity expansion called cities of tomorrows and only offered a few buildings and one new resource to gather. now compare that to cities skylines. the new era of ea games flops and disappoints. avoid at all cost! and as for island living, I’ll probably bot gonna play this game again until the next year or so, same thing i did with jungle adventures. but it’s kind one of those games where you gotta play for like 5 minutes at a time. yeah.
It pains me to say, I agree with everything you expressed to the t. I really thought that Strangerville was the worst expansion pack ever done but once again they managed to top themselves.
Comments
Shallow is the Sims in this game having no personalities. In the past I did not have to imagine what made my sims unique, the game displayed that based on how I created them. Sims 4 is only good at showing expression through emotions, and for every sim they experience those emotions the exact same way. This in turn means that every sim behaves the same way, they are drawn to the same things, and by design they are always nice and happy. The last part is probably the biggest flaw with this game.
It wasn’t my imagination that added depth to the characters in the previous games, it was the game doing what it was supposed to be doing: simulating virtual lives. You’re right the basic premise of the game is creating sims and telling stories but the game has to have some input.
They took the idea of a tropical world complete with mermaids and swimmable oceans, then tried to do something new with it. Which, in my opinion, has failed. The conservation angle was a truly great idea but they didn't take the time to make it more complex. They took the idea from StrangerVille, gave it a quick face lift, thinking we would accept it , then marketed that idea as one of the 'new' features of Island Living. It's a very short-lived feature at best. There is no lasting gameplay in this feature. It's just a little fluff on top of a lot of new bugs. When I learned this was the case, my hopes for the pack plummeted. But this was not disclosed until after the pack was released. Well played, EA. Lesson learned, and I won't fall for it again, you can count on that. I won't be preordering again. I'll wait until the pack is released then see if it is worthy enough to buy at full price rather than waiting for it to go on sale. Even though Island Living came with a larger world and a lot of assets, it feels like a game pack. It's StrangerVille after going under the knife of a plastic surgeon. It's gorgeous, but underneath all that beauty, Island Living is shallow and does not pack much of a punch.
The list of features we wanted for this kind of pack was glanced at, but many of those features were ignored. Which is a shame since many of those would have added so much lasting gameplay. Such as the ability to own resorts/hotels or to own a second home. Adding rabbit holes as a solution to the problem of creating immersive gameplay, is just lazy. When I learned we would not be able to watch our Sims deep sea diving, it was not a shock. Shortcuts have become the normal way of things in Sims4. But I can't help but feel a bit sad and angry about it. The toddler update and Seasons gave me hope for Sims4. And I had high hopes for Island Living. I couldn't wait to dive into the conservationist career. But the career is just another way to make everything look prettier while earning a lot of Simoleans. I can well imagine how the mermaid lovers are feeling right now knowing there is no underwater world for their lovely merfolk. Again, EA chose to take a shorter route rather than release something that would have been greeted with open arms and delight. EA gutted the whole idea behind having mermaids in the game. I don't blame the mermaid fans for being upset.
Sulani's future in my game is very clear after just a few days of playing. It will become a place to take my Sims for a short break or a honeymoon. I don't see myself playing a rotational save in this world for some reason. Communing with the island spirits doesn't give us any insight into the culture of the world, just more buffs. The conservation of the ecosystem isn't impacted by our Sims in any way once the island has been restored. There is no new dance to learn. There are no underwater lots to interact with. Two Sims can't travel together on a sailboat or an aquazip. The pack just feels as if they recycled a lot of features from past packs and shoved them into a new world after adding a few new features that didn't require much effort to implement. This expansion has met my expectations of failure rather than any notions I might have had about it being a great expansion. I'm kicking myself for being so quick to preorder it. I should have waited for mods to be updated, a bug fix patch from EA, and a closer look at the actual gameplay before hitting that 'pay now' button.
People don’t have to be grateful towards an expansion that costs $40. That is the same price as many complete games in cases. They also shouldn’t feel gratitude if they have every piece of sims 4 dlc, effectively spending over $500 and that figure is still rising. Gratitude shouldn’t come into it. EA is the only company keeping sims alive because they own the rights to the sims. They aren’t going to sell their cash cow to another publisher.
The problem with sims 4 content these days: It’s not substantial enough to maintain interest in the long term. After a few hours in the new pack a player has seen all the “new” gameplay because there is very little. And I have not saw one person say otherwise.
I hope you enjoy Island living.
Well when I did the interactions, they were the exact same.
I’m not sure about fire dancing. The fire dance sure looks the exact same as the get together one. Guess Windenburg has culture too.
If you're not against mods there is one out there that switches Sulani to a vacation world. I'm using that. The only thing I'm wondering about now is, since I have it as a vacation world will the island get polluted? Will sea turtles lay eggs, etc.? But other than that, my sims can rent the beach houses and just vacay.
Yeah.
What is weird though, is that when I am swimming and switch to first person view (hello, migraine), all the coral and fish are 3D. At first, because we couldn't dive down, I thought they were like 2D and the devs were trying to disguise it, but that's not the case. I don't get why our sims can't go underneath the water then, and why we can't move the camera underwater either. This is especially annoying for mermaids who, like other commenters said, should be able to live underwater.
That said, this is a nice world for photography, BB and CAS. I am at least happy with these aspects - as a cc-free builder (and mostly cc-free player), I get a lot of use out of these items.
Comparing IL to the other packs, I am still finding new things to do in both City Living (just discovered the fruit/veg stall so I can fake grocery shop), seasons and pets, whereas I have tried everything in IL. GTW (got for aliens, disapointed, their CAS still isn't like Vamps) and Get Together (clubs is only saving feature) I could do without more than IL though.
Very well said!
And I agree with everything OP has said. I'm not buying this pack, in fact I've given up on TS4 completely. I'm still interested to read about its development though (with a futile hope that things will get better). TS1, TS2 & TS3 were a huge hobby of mine. It saddens me to see the state of TS4!
Roll on 64bit.
And if you get what you think are bugs refer them to @SimGuruNick or @SimGuruArvin they might get them sorted sooner than posting here.
Yet another way S3 is still superior.
Chain Reaction Legacy|After the End|Alicekai'd
Yes, I would stay with Sims 3 if I were you. Sims 4 doesn't look like your type of game.
Most of the people that critique the sims 4 like this actually like the game we just think it could be better. LGR I think said it perfectly in his video: Do I HATE The Sims?
We want something we love to be the best it can possibly be. The Sims 4 is a fine game on its own but we think it could be better than what they have been giving us.
I kept trying to be optimistic and hopeful that the game would improve, but after disappointment, after disappointment, I finally stopped buying 4 "content" after Cats and Dogs.
Seeing this thread reminds me of how I was really looking forward to the GF pack. It was also getting a lot of the usual pre-release hype. Luckily, I resisted the urge to buy right away and waited for input from fellow simmers on their experience with the pack. As usual, buggy gameplay. Very few lots, none of them with beachfront property. A lot of the space taken up with glitzy views, but little space that you can actually visit or build on. So I passed on getting the pack.
Everything done in 4 appears rushed and, as a result, poorly done. Sims have identical "personalities" regardless of their traits resulting in none of them being unique individuals. For me, it's like trying to become immersed in a world full of identical robots. It just doesn't work for me.
I haven't played since December 2018 and it appears I'm still not missing much in my opinion. It's really sad to me that the game I have really loved for many years has come to this.
They aren't though.
But then, after watching some youtube Let's Plays, I realized how empty and shallow the whole pack was. Yes, there are jet-skis, dolphins, swimming and beaches, and the world itself is gorgeous. But after that, what GAMEPLAY is there? The conservation career looks OK for certain types of players, but the other two careers are just rabbit holes. Mermaids initially looked interesting, but after reading about them, they look pretty "meh," a huge step down from Vampires, about as lackluster as Aliens. The new traits are boring. "Child of the Island" is too specific and only has to do with this pack and not on the overall game, "Child of the Ocean" is kind of pointless since you can only swim in the ocean in Sulani.
Where is the breaking new feature that's going to change the way I play the game? Get Together had clubs, Get Famous had the Fame and Reputation system, Get to Work had active careers, even City Living had lot traits. Even in the Sims 3 Island Paradise, you could manage and run your own hotel, along with a myriad of other things. What does Island Living have? Nothing but a pretty world.
And I can imagine after a couple of hours watching your sims sunbathe on the beach, it would get pretty boring..
So, I'm happy I didn't buy this, and I'll be waiting for a pretty steep sale when I do!
As we’ve seen with the Sims 4 since launch, they’re doing something different with this line of the series. They’re treating it more like a service by providing huge free updates and doing almost monthly or every other month patches with new content ranging from clothing to careers to toddlers. I’m keeping that in mind. When they patch this game (which hopefully addresses some of the bugs), I wouldn’t be shocked if they don’t patch in something new that compliments this patch.
I would hold off on full judgment until the game is patched.
Target usually, but not always, has a half-off sale for TS4 expansion packs about a month after initial release, & there are often 50%-off sales around Xmas/New Year's. Lately EA has a 40%-50%-off sale on stuff packs once a year, near summertime.
Ahhhhhhh! If only! TS3 gameplay with TS4 graphics, & only a reasonable (as opposed to the existing UNreasonable) number/severity of bugs. Oh, my. I wish TS4 had been more like that, because I really prefer the TS4 artwork to TS3's (hated how shiny & plastic my sims looked). My TS3 game was always terribly buggy, but TS4 has become almost as bad, & I'm always fighting the invisible action-queue someone else mentioned. So much of my time is wasted by the game's expletive-deleted invisible queue. Who is playing this game, me or the programmers? I shouldn't have to fight my sims all the time to get them to do what I've queued up for them to do, yeesh!
It pains me to say, I agree with everything you expressed to the t. I really thought that Strangerville was the worst expansion pack ever done but once again they managed to top themselves.