I disagree as people have different opinions on what they would like as much as you would you want in an game and desiring something is not always signs of entitlement unless you are alluding to how one expresses themselves and I do not see that only generalization. Also some do not settle for less and having to pay more and just want their money worth.
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I think so, they are making some nice features with each pack, like the sunburn mechanic with IL for example, I thought that was impressive.
But they are also making very simple features that feels very limited, like deep diving, the lifeguard career etc. Too many rabbit holes with just text.
It doesn't feel like they are any major development going on anymore for the sims4. If they can solve it by just making a rabbit hole, they will do it.
or charge you EP price for an GP product.
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For me is an mixed bag take CL for one soon as the word apts was mentioned most people thought including me that I would exactly get to develop apts from scratch and it turns out we could not and to make things worse no apts in the other neighborhoods and creavity that one thought we would have with this game is very limited. Every EP or GP was limited in one way or the other. The only pack that I did like was Get Together. Another thing Neighborhoods are now an paid commodity meaning the freebi period is over and the last neighborhood was given back in 2015 if I remember and that for me is another blow to creativity, no editable neighborhoods or creation tools as of yet. It all adds up over time EA/Maxis makes strides but then turn to an creep when it comes to innovation.
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The Sims 4 its been always like this since the beginning but this year its been definitively one of the worst years in The Sims history!
You never lie for it is so true for me, some get peps when an new pack comes out, I think about the shortcuts taken.
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I think development too a step down with the release of Sims 4... Every new pack released has been watered down packs we've seen from Sims 3. I mean take The Sims 2&3 Pets vs The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs. The titles alone indicate less content.
We got an entire pack dedicated to bowling and another entirely devoted to laundry... Both basic things that were added into packs of past Sims games. Bowling would have fit perfectly with Get Together and laundry with Parenthood.
The Sims 4 focuses on shallow gameplay and they need to add more depth.
No - after playing all the Sims series games over the last 20 years this game seems to create the same excitement and anticipation with each new ep all the previous ones did - just that folks now a days tire of things a lot quicker than they use to. I think its the fact todays players are much harder to please long term than past players were and if a game is not wowing them 24/7 they find fault with it to easy especially when something in a new pack is different than previous versions. People compare the games as if they are all part of just the same game - and are more inclined to see what they think is missing than what it contains.
Society in general today are not the same kind of people they were 15-20 years ago and seem much harder to please than in the past over almost anything. They are much more attuned to the world in general than they used to be thanks to world wide internet - and I'd say a lot smarter overall in wanting more bang for their buck in todays world. Years ago people took what they got and found it acceptable - todays world wants better and more as they are better aware and smarter than people 20 years ago were.
I was agreeing so hard with this. I could not have said it better. I really feel that's what the problem is.
I think development too a step down with the release of Sims 4... Every new pack released has been watered down packs we've seen from Sims 3. I mean take The Sims 2&3 Pets vs The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs. The titles alone indicate less content.
We got an entire pack dedicated to bowling and another entirely devoted to laundry... Both basic things that were added into packs of past Sims games. Bowling would have fit perfectly with Get Together and laundry with Parenthood.
The Sims 4 focuses on shallow gameplay and they need to add more depth.
I agree that EA is more and more nickel and dime-ing Simmers to death with the way that they slice and dice up content into separate packs. On balance, TS3 was probably the most expensive of the games if you used the store, but TS4 is definitely getting up there to rival TS3 for cost.
That being said, I don’t believe we have less content or gameplay in TS4 than we have had in previous iterations of the series (after 5 years). If you did a comparison of TS4 packs you would find the same amount of objects and CAS as in the packs of previous games, for instance.
Similar content is also delivered very differently now, and often expanded. Maybe laundry would have been better with Parenthood, I don’t know, but I thought that pack, its new traits and family gameplay, was well done and I also like that laundry is tied into the sims’ emotions and lifestyle, and not a half-baked object as part of another pack (which it could have been). It was also voted on by Simmers as part of a new collaborative process and was the majority pick (not for me — I wanted Off the grid living), so we just had to accept it in an SP.
Lots of things are just done differently now than in the past games. I was talking to a Simmer recently who was complaining about TS4 seasons and pointing out that it was missing cute and quirky things like the ability of sims to catch fireflies in a bottle from TS2’s original Seasons. True, but we got insects, animated in the world, and the ability to catch them with OR. With them came the whole new skill of Herbalism with a reward trait and associated gameplay. We also got tents, campfires, coolers and camping in OR — (some of these elements didn’t originally come along until Bon Voyage in TS2).
Some things that were merely useable objects or location-based activities in previous games are now more developed in TS4. Yes bowling has its own pack, but with previous games it was an object-related activity that would just give fun and social, but it didn’t last long (at least in TS3) before sims would wander off to do something else. In Sims 4 it is a new skill and playing a game affects emotions. In addition, the developers patched in the ability of sims to socialize while waiting their turn, and GT’s club system allows bowling leagues and sustained bowling (of which I have several in my game) so now it is fun and worthwhile. A sim can go to a lot and a dedicated league will be there bowling away. It is more immersive as an activity than ever.
The same could be said of restaurants (a date activity in TS2 and lackluster rabbit holes and a broken store set in TS3), which now have their own pack and tons of gameplay. They are favourite date sites for my sims and also fun to own and run (I also like running the Bakeries from GTW). Spas, formerly a rabbithole in TS3, are opened up in Spa Day and now have yoga classes, meditation, the Wellness skill, saunas and massages (which in Bon Voyage were mostly associated with vacations).
Sometimes I feel that comparing the packs of TS4 to earlier versions is a little like comparing apples and oranges because the content is often changed or delivered very differently now. As I said, I do agree that the game has gotten more expensive, but I really don’t understand the complaint that I often read around here that there is little or less gameplay in TS4. The comparisons are endless, but often feel (to me) incomplete.
I also think that we have had a lot more free stuff and free improvements to the base game in TS4, which is somehow always forgotten. TS1 only gave out free objects (a few); TS3 was a little better because it gave out a free world— Riverview— and some store sets and clothes associated with holidays during its lifetime.
In contrast to every other Sims game, TS4 has kept adding to the basegame. Yes, some elements (like toddlers, pools and ghosts, the terrain tools, basements etc) should always have been included— but when they were finally added they were very well done.
As well, TS4 has had challenges, like the Plant sim and Growfruit ones, added collections like Easter eggs and the Day of the Dead, added many objects and CAS associated with holidays, added new recipes, new careers (Freelancer and Style Influencer), 1st person camera (great for swimming and snorkeling in Sulani), gender customization and Pride stuff, and best of all —Lot traits (like OTG), which come with new fun ways to play. They have also used patches to improve existing skills like gardening and fishing till they are among the best in the series.
Arguably if you are buying just the basegame now, on sale or not, you are getting much more content and a much better game, than if you bought it at an earlier point in the game’s roll out. And previous basegames were not improved this much during their lifetimes. It’s not just because the original game was lacking; some of these improvements have been responsive to players’ demands (toddlers and terrain tools).
Explain? Just look at the votes as well as the majority of the forum threads. I have been here since the beginning and seen it all: The changes in the game and especially in the community.
Developers need to learn that you can't fool a community like The Simmers. We look for details, we make this game a part of our life and we definitely remember!
I can't say since we still have more packs coming.
I am excited for a magic based pack and I hope University is coming this year.
How these turn out will cerainly give me an opinion.
2019 is not off to a great start for me though.
I never bothered to finish Strangerville despite having a great scenario going.
I simply got tired of the scripted game play.
Island Living is pretty, but not having any vacationing options hurts it for me.
I really don't want my sims to live there. I want my sims living outside Sulani to enjoy it and expand there vacation options.
I have no problem with sims living there, that's not how I am going to play it, unless I have sims that are going to retire there.
Mermaids are also a bit disappointing since they don't have the depth of vampires.
I have been enjoying Island Living despite this.
I have a San Myshuno sim that bought a retail lot in Sulani and turned it into a vacation home.
He met and fell in love with a mermaid and they have been adventuring in Selvadorada together.
They now just bought a home on the island off Windenburg. The next step is to expand their vacation house in Sulani to make room for the children they are going to have. Family vacations in Sulani is next.
"Downturn" implies that it used to be better. People have been complaining since the beginning, possibly in part because we've got a good place to complain. For a lot of players, especially those who'd been with the series a while, Sims 4 at its start was barely playable. I still don't like it as much as previous versions and will mourn the loss of the color wheel forever, but I'll also stand by Sims 4 as improved since it came out.
The packs may be mediocre in a lot of ways, but we get semi-regular overhauls and new systems to work with. Aside from the obvious pools, toddlers, and terrain tools, they've given us things like gender settings. I don't like the number of copy/paste items in different swatches, but I'm willing to forgive continuing faults because they've built up from something that subjectively sucked.
I only own a fraction of the paid content so I may be biased, but improvements to the base game are improvements to the game as a whole, and they're still working on the base game. Again, there are a lot of faults with the content we're getting, but there have always been faults.
At the beginning - end of last year, I actually would have said S4 was starting to look up. We'd just gotten some good ep/gps on the gameplay side of things:
Seasons - which added some variety and surprise into the gameplay thanks to the weather and events.
Get Famous - which added an admittedly repetitive but still fun acting career, self-made sim items such as drones, and the (albeit buggy) celeb perk section.
Jungle Adventure - although not so re-playable, added the archaeology skill, the selvadoradan cultural skill, items such as shower in a bottle and more.
Vampires and Parenthood, although developed earlier, continually provided good and interesting gameplay too.
Unfortunately, the packs this year have been not so great.
Strangerville had such awesome potential - a military career, spying devices, alien military secrets... it could have been really rpg and fun to play, but it was let down by the sims themselves, as even if you had two opposing sims (such as a conspiracy theorist and a military sim), there would be no conflict. They could become friends or besties, even though the conspiracy theorist sim was doing some kinda illegal stuff, and the military sim is part of an ethically/morally dodgy operation. You also couldn't really change the outcome of the quest either.
Island Living was watered down, and there was very little gameplay; some of what was there was even copied from other packs. Despite the popularity and acclaim of Vampires, the sims team decided not to make mersims that different from ordinary sims, which in some ways made IL even more disappointing after we knew what the team was capable of.
I was happy about with off-grid living. Despite the bugs, it added some challenge and variety to gameplay, and was absolutely free. I also liked the door swatches (though think beds, windows and counters needed to be recoloured as well) and CAS stories, which I hope will make sims react differently, though I worry it is only used as a means to select their traits, job and money.
Could definitely have done without the rebrand though. I get migraines (from lack of sleep and bright sunlight), so I really feel for the people who got them from the blue loading screen. In some areas, the rebrand wasn't as bad as it looked at first- I like the new dynamic bg cover (a bit ageist though, ugh), and the beginning screen, but think the blues of the packs are too similar. Especially hate how they made some pack meshes base game, as SP's don't have a lot of items to begin with.
With IL, Strangerville, rebrand, and making pack meshes bg, 2019 has not been my favourite for S4, to the point of where I am unsure if I will buy any more packs this year, no matter how well-done the magic gp is (and I've been looking forward to it). I feel a lot of the base game still needs to be fixed, but will reserve judgement until after the anniversary patch comes out. Hopefully the sims team will show us that they've been listening to at least some of our concerns.
I said yes, though I believe it began earlier than 2019. What I see is a 'game' that focuses on looking pretty while ignoring what makes a game a game, gameplay. TS2 is so far ahead in that department that it's had to believe the same company did it and TS4.
I have to agree. After reading an article about Anthem yesterday by Jason Schreier (referenced by @happyopi), and how EA looks at metacritic scores, I looked up the scores for the Sims games.
For the base games on PC, the metacritic scores were:
The Sims - 92
The Sims 2 - 90
The Sims 3 - 86
The Sims 4 - 70
I know they're free updates, but we've gotten a ton of awesome and freeeee stuff in 2019. Sure, I may be more excited about Freelancer Careers, 1,000 free debug objects, CAS story mode, than I am about Sulani in general. But I think the fact that we're getting so much awesome free stuff is just a hint at all the other amazing things EA will give us within the next few years. Like, if we're getting so many cool things for free, just IMAGINE what the Sims 4 will charge us for! Especially since they're hinting that they're not going anywhere anytime soon.
I say no because I was never interested in the Sims until Sims 4. Yet, I don't think in my opinion if you say yes to the question it has anything to do with entitlement or selfishness. Simmers just have varing degrees of interest, wants, and expectations. Things I don't want in my game I don't buy. Island Living is a win for me because I love the beach aspect; could care less about a mermaid and don't plan to play with them--just me. Different strokes for different folks. Are there some things to improve--of course--and there always will be. Happing Simming.
No downturn happened long before that with the clapping at Gamescon. If anything the Sims 4 started to make a comeback when toddlers were released. Sales got a lot better after that.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
I wouldn’t say 2019 is lacking specifically. The quality of the packs being released hasn’t really changed, they’ve always felt lacking and under developed in areas. There seems to have been some big issues behind the scenes this year yeah, but you could list off things in every pack that needs improvement as well as the base game itself. CL was my first taste of real disappointment, with the very limited apartment building and no elevators.
But, if you are a fan of the Sims 4, or at least follow its life cycle, you know by now what you are getting for your money. I knew buying IL that it would be lacking in something(s), that it would prob only focus on a handful of new gameplay features, as this is typical for every other pack thus far.
I actually think they’ve been really trying to keep the community alive as much as possible all considering. Like looking back over previous years, they’ve stayed pretty on trend with their release of DLC, yet everyone got so mad this year for some reason, for lack of content? There’s been multiple occasions of free content dropped, objects and gameplay changes, the 300+ swatches just on doors (is a good thing btw! Why are people complaining about this? I mean Obviously it’s a starting point, and they are gonna move across the rest of the catalogue, but they made sure to get doors right, which is a really good start). People moaning again they don’t want this free stuff, yet say how greedy the company is and doesn’t care about its fan base etc.. there’s been a few hiccups along the way for sure, but like seriously, pull up another game that has 5+ years of patches and free updates regularly being added to the game? And they are still going. You wanna see what real cooperate greedy games look like? Take a look at Fifa or F1. It’s the fan base that has become greedy, expecting more than what has always been delivered.
I will say maybe we were kept in the dark a little too much, but then there’s clearly issues behind the scenes, I’m guessing deadlines? Which then made them uncertain of what they were actually gonna be releasing and when, this year. Maybe IL was a GP, and the real EP isn’t finished yet, maybe that’s why the major update got pushed back too? Or maybe this is their grand design, we don’t know. I would prefer the quarterly teasers to come back as they seemed to generate the most buzz.
As for Moschino? They do a brand collab every Sims, and it sounds like it’s gonna be a pretty beefy stuff pack tbf, just coz you don’t personally like Moschino, it’s a pretty appropriate collab for a fashion photographer themed pack. Like it’s the first one to come out since MFP, which effectively killed the stuff pack for EA! Do you think they didn’t tread carefully and plan this pack well and thoroughly? I bet you’ll be surprised with it.
I know they're free updates, but we've gotten a ton of awesome and freeeee stuff in 2019. Sure, I may be more excited about Freelancer Careers, 1,000 free debug objects, CAS story mode, than I am about Sulani in general. But I think the fact that we're getting so much awesome free stuff is just a hint at all the other amazing things EA will give us within the next few years. Like, if we're getting so many cool things for free, just IMAGINE what the Sims 4 will charge us for! Especially since they're hinting that they're not going anywhere anytime soon.
The Freelancer careers are much more fun then the normal rabbit hole careers (and the activism career for me really), I wish we had even more options for them. I guess photographer from Moschino could be a freelancer career.... I think @SimGuruGraham did an amazing job with them.
you feel its a full pack, fine, you will never convince me it is so.
you are just posting your own opinion about pack, which is fine, I just disagree with them fully.
how do you know about my game what I do in it to make the lack creativity or imagination statement about me, or anybody else?
I have already agreed that perks,fame like acting is in depth , just not the rest of the pack!!!
it seems like you are trying to force your own opinions about the game to me, this is not an augment, just agree to disagree
happy simming
I find it rude to brand a simmer lack of creativity, imagination, because of a difference of opinion.
you will understand why I will no longer have a discussion with you on this matter.
I don't appreciate being labeled.
Rest of the gamepack is basically the world it self, which traditionally does not add much to gameplay.
'I find it rude to brand a simmer lack of creativity, imagination, because of a difference of opinion.' I was not trying to be disrespectful, but attempting to state your option as a fact is not contributing to a discussion, which I pointed out, albeit poorly, I will addmit. If you find it rude, then so be it.
Have a nice day.
we were talking about expansion packs!
What packs do I feel are worth the price,
get to work
three fully in depth active careers
retail and the ability to sell anything in the whole game and its perks
aliens
photography
bakery's and the skill and all the recipes
I also like parts of
seasons
cats&dogs
get together
least favorite
city living
get famous
island living
if you want to start talking about facts its a fact that get to work provides more than get famous as an expansion pack
based on the facts that get famous offers only
acting
and fame for other careers
12 lots
for this reason I say FACT!
and call get famous a gloried game pack.
I think development too a step down with the release of Sims 4... Every new pack released has been watered down packs we've seen from Sims 3. I mean take The Sims 2&3 Pets vs The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs. The titles alone indicate less content.
We got an entire pack dedicated to bowling and another entirely devoted to laundry... Both basic things that were added into packs of past Sims games. Bowling would have fit perfectly with Get Together and laundry with Parenthood.
The Sims 4 focuses on shallow gameplay and they need to add more depth.
I think so, they are making some nice features with each pack, like the sunburn mechanic with IL for example, I thought that was impressive.
But they are also making very simple features that feels very limited, like deep diving, the lifeguard career etc. Too many rabbit holes with just text.
It doesn't feel like they are any major development going on anymore for the sims4. If they can solve it by just making a rabbit hole, they will do it.
Right now, EA has total Monopoly over this game series. There are no other games out there like The Sims, so EA going to keep doing what they want to and as long as we keep buy it, nothing going to change. Until some game (companies) comes along that is equal to or similar to The Sims then EA may start to step up...
“absolute power corrupts absolutely“
Comments
I disagree as people have different opinions on what they would like as much as you would you want in an game and desiring something is not always signs of entitlement unless you are alluding to how one expresses themselves and I do not see that only generalization. Also some do not settle for less and having to pay more and just want their money worth.
or charge you EP price for an GP product.
You never lie for it is so true for me, some get peps when an new pack comes out, I think about the shortcuts taken.
We got an entire pack dedicated to bowling and another entirely devoted to laundry... Both basic things that were added into packs of past Sims games. Bowling would have fit perfectly with Get Together and laundry with Parenthood.
The Sims 4 focuses on shallow gameplay and they need to add more depth.
I was agreeing so hard with this. I could not have said it better. I really feel that's what the problem is.
I agree that EA is more and more nickel and dime-ing Simmers to death with the way that they slice and dice up content into separate packs. On balance, TS3 was probably the most expensive of the games if you used the store, but TS4 is definitely getting up there to rival TS3 for cost.
That being said, I don’t believe we have less content or gameplay in TS4 than we have had in previous iterations of the series (after 5 years). If you did a comparison of TS4 packs you would find the same amount of objects and CAS as in the packs of previous games, for instance.
Similar content is also delivered very differently now, and often expanded. Maybe laundry would have been better with Parenthood, I don’t know, but I thought that pack, its new traits and family gameplay, was well done and I also like that laundry is tied into the sims’ emotions and lifestyle, and not a half-baked object as part of another pack (which it could have been). It was also voted on by Simmers as part of a new collaborative process and was the majority pick (not for me — I wanted Off the grid living), so we just had to accept it in an SP.
Lots of things are just done differently now than in the past games. I was talking to a Simmer recently who was complaining about TS4 seasons and pointing out that it was missing cute and quirky things like the ability of sims to catch fireflies in a bottle from TS2’s original Seasons. True, but we got insects, animated in the world, and the ability to catch them with OR. With them came the whole new skill of Herbalism with a reward trait and associated gameplay. We also got tents, campfires, coolers and camping in OR — (some of these elements didn’t originally come along until Bon Voyage in TS2).
Some things that were merely useable objects or location-based activities in previous games are now more developed in TS4. Yes bowling has its own pack, but with previous games it was an object-related activity that would just give fun and social, but it didn’t last long (at least in TS3) before sims would wander off to do something else. In Sims 4 it is a new skill and playing a game affects emotions. In addition, the developers patched in the ability of sims to socialize while waiting their turn, and GT’s club system allows bowling leagues and sustained bowling (of which I have several in my game) so now it is fun and worthwhile. A sim can go to a lot and a dedicated league will be there bowling away. It is more immersive as an activity than ever.
The same could be said of restaurants (a date activity in TS2 and lackluster rabbit holes and a broken store set in TS3), which now have their own pack and tons of gameplay. They are favourite date sites for my sims and also fun to own and run (I also like running the Bakeries from GTW). Spas, formerly a rabbithole in TS3, are opened up in Spa Day and now have yoga classes, meditation, the Wellness skill, saunas and massages (which in Bon Voyage were mostly associated with vacations).
Sometimes I feel that comparing the packs of TS4 to earlier versions is a little like comparing apples and oranges because the content is often changed or delivered very differently now. As I said, I do agree that the game has gotten more expensive, but I really don’t understand the complaint that I often read around here that there is little or less gameplay in TS4. The comparisons are endless, but often feel (to me) incomplete.
I also think that we have had a lot more free stuff and free improvements to the base game in TS4, which is somehow always forgotten. TS1 only gave out free objects (a few); TS3 was a little better because it gave out a free world— Riverview— and some store sets and clothes associated with holidays during its lifetime.
In contrast to every other Sims game, TS4 has kept adding to the basegame. Yes, some elements (like toddlers, pools and ghosts, the terrain tools, basements etc) should always have been included— but when they were finally added they were very well done.
As well, TS4 has had challenges, like the Plant sim and Growfruit ones, added collections like Easter eggs and the Day of the Dead, added many objects and CAS associated with holidays, added new recipes, new careers (Freelancer and Style Influencer), 1st person camera (great for swimming and snorkeling in Sulani), gender customization and Pride stuff, and best of all —Lot traits (like OTG), which come with new fun ways to play. They have also used patches to improve existing skills like gardening and fishing till they are among the best in the series.
Arguably if you are buying just the basegame now, on sale or not, you are getting much more content and a much better game, than if you bought it at an earlier point in the game’s roll out. And previous basegames were not improved this much during their lifetimes. It’s not just because the original game was lacking; some of these improvements have been responsive to players’ demands (toddlers and terrain tools).
Developers need to learn that you can't fool a community like The Simmers. We look for details, we make this game a part of our life and we definitely remember!
I am excited for a magic based pack and I hope University is coming this year.
How these turn out will cerainly give me an opinion.
2019 is not off to a great start for me though.
I never bothered to finish Strangerville despite having a great scenario going.
I simply got tired of the scripted game play.
Island Living is pretty, but not having any vacationing options hurts it for me.
I really don't want my sims to live there. I want my sims living outside Sulani to enjoy it and expand there vacation options.
I have no problem with sims living there, that's not how I am going to play it, unless I have sims that are going to retire there.
Mermaids are also a bit disappointing since they don't have the depth of vampires.
I have been enjoying Island Living despite this.
I have a San Myshuno sim that bought a retail lot in Sulani and turned it into a vacation home.
He met and fell in love with a mermaid and they have been adventuring in Selvadorada together.
They now just bought a home on the island off Windenburg. The next step is to expand their vacation house in Sulani to make room for the children they are going to have. Family vacations in Sulani is next.
The packs may be mediocre in a lot of ways, but we get semi-regular overhauls and new systems to work with. Aside from the obvious pools, toddlers, and terrain tools, they've given us things like gender settings. I don't like the number of copy/paste items in different swatches, but I'm willing to forgive continuing faults because they've built up from something that subjectively sucked.
I only own a fraction of the paid content so I may be biased, but improvements to the base game are improvements to the game as a whole, and they're still working on the base game. Again, there are a lot of faults with the content we're getting, but there have always been faults.
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Seasons - which added some variety and surprise into the gameplay thanks to the weather and events.
Get Famous - which added an admittedly repetitive but still fun acting career, self-made sim items such as drones, and the (albeit buggy) celeb perk section.
Jungle Adventure - although not so re-playable, added the archaeology skill, the selvadoradan cultural skill, items such as shower in a bottle and more.
Vampires and Parenthood, although developed earlier, continually provided good and interesting gameplay too.
Unfortunately, the packs this year have been not so great.
Strangerville had such awesome potential - a military career, spying devices, alien military secrets... it could have been really rpg and fun to play, but it was let down by the sims themselves, as even if you had two opposing sims (such as a conspiracy theorist and a military sim), there would be no conflict. They could become friends or besties, even though the conspiracy theorist sim was doing some kinda illegal stuff, and the military sim is part of an ethically/morally dodgy operation. You also couldn't really change the outcome of the quest either.
Island Living was watered down, and there was very little gameplay; some of what was there was even copied from other packs. Despite the popularity and acclaim of Vampires, the sims team decided not to make mersims that different from ordinary sims, which in some ways made IL even more disappointing after we knew what the team was capable of.
I was happy about with off-grid living. Despite the bugs, it added some challenge and variety to gameplay, and was absolutely free. I also liked the door swatches (though think beds, windows and counters needed to be recoloured as well) and CAS stories, which I hope will make sims react differently, though I worry it is only used as a means to select their traits, job and money.
Could definitely have done without the rebrand though. I get migraines (from lack of sleep and bright sunlight), so I really feel for the people who got them from the blue loading screen. In some areas, the rebrand wasn't as bad as it looked at first- I like the new dynamic bg cover (a bit ageist though, ugh), and the beginning screen, but think the blues of the packs are too similar. Especially hate how they made some pack meshes base game, as SP's don't have a lot of items to begin with.
With IL, Strangerville, rebrand, and making pack meshes bg, 2019 has not been my favourite for S4, to the point of where I am unsure if I will buy any more packs this year, no matter how well-done the magic gp is (and I've been looking forward to it). I feel a lot of the base game still needs to be fixed, but will reserve judgement until after the anniversary patch comes out. Hopefully the sims team will show us that they've been listening to at least some of our concerns.
I have to agree. After reading an article about Anthem yesterday by Jason Schreier (referenced by @happyopi), and how EA looks at metacritic scores, I looked up the scores for the Sims games.
For the base games on PC, the metacritic scores were:
The Sims - 92
The Sims 2 - 90
The Sims 3 - 86
The Sims 4 - 70
Sims Medieval got a 77 score.
I say no because I was never interested in the Sims until Sims 4. Yet, I don't think in my opinion if you say yes to the question it has anything to do with entitlement or selfishness. Simmers just have varing degrees of interest, wants, and expectations. Things I don't want in my game I don't buy. Island Living is a win for me because I love the beach aspect; could care less about a mermaid and don't plan to play with them--just me. Different strokes for different folks. Are there some things to improve--of course--and there always will be. Happing Simming.
But, if you are a fan of the Sims 4, or at least follow its life cycle, you know by now what you are getting for your money. I knew buying IL that it would be lacking in something(s), that it would prob only focus on a handful of new gameplay features, as this is typical for every other pack thus far.
I actually think they’ve been really trying to keep the community alive as much as possible all considering. Like looking back over previous years, they’ve stayed pretty on trend with their release of DLC, yet everyone got so mad this year for some reason, for lack of content? There’s been multiple occasions of free content dropped, objects and gameplay changes, the 300+ swatches just on doors (is a good thing btw! Why are people complaining about this? I mean Obviously it’s a starting point, and they are gonna move across the rest of the catalogue, but they made sure to get doors right, which is a really good start). People moaning again they don’t want this free stuff, yet say how greedy the company is and doesn’t care about its fan base etc.. there’s been a few hiccups along the way for sure, but like seriously, pull up another game that has 5+ years of patches and free updates regularly being added to the game? And they are still going. You wanna see what real cooperate greedy games look like? Take a look at Fifa or F1. It’s the fan base that has become greedy, expecting more than what has always been delivered.
I will say maybe we were kept in the dark a little too much, but then there’s clearly issues behind the scenes, I’m guessing deadlines? Which then made them uncertain of what they were actually gonna be releasing and when, this year. Maybe IL was a GP, and the real EP isn’t finished yet, maybe that’s why the major update got pushed back too? Or maybe this is their grand design, we don’t know. I would prefer the quarterly teasers to come back as they seemed to generate the most buzz.
As for Moschino? They do a brand collab every Sims, and it sounds like it’s gonna be a pretty beefy stuff pack tbf, just coz you don’t personally like Moschino, it’s a pretty appropriate collab for a fashion photographer themed pack. Like it’s the first one to come out since MFP, which effectively killed the stuff pack for EA! Do you think they didn’t tread carefully and plan this pack well and thoroughly? I bet you’ll be surprised with it.
The Freelancer careers are much more fun then the normal rabbit hole careers (and the activism career for me really), I wish we had even more options for them. I guess photographer from Moschino could be a freelancer career.... I think @SimGuruGraham did an amazing job with them.
we were talking about expansion packs!
What packs do I feel are worth the price,
get to work
three fully in depth active careers
retail and the ability to sell anything in the whole game and its perks
aliens
photography
bakery's and the skill and all the recipes
I also like parts of
seasons
cats&dogs
get together
least favorite
city living
get famous
island living
if you want to start talking about facts its a fact that get to work provides more than get famous as an expansion pack
based on the facts that get famous offers only
acting
and fame for other careers
12 lots
for this reason I say FACT!
and call get famous a gloried game pack.
agreed
bad games can sell well
I agree.
strangerville and island living
agreed
“absolute power corrupts absolutely“