I watched the trailer again. And together with the first impression of recycled features, I realised exactly what made me go from hyped (for the theme) to bummed. It is the (yet again) hip trendy young adult focus. The pack is basically hipster gentrification and what I wanted from a pack with such a theme was the exact opposite. Here, many moths ago, I explained what would be my ideal pack:
A "farming" pack would be a completely new EP for the series.
It would provide different activities and hobbies and a different way of playing the game. It could/should focus more on families and legacies and not only on YA. It will bring an alternative lifestyle to the ubiquitous yuppie/hip young adult that we have so far. It could introduce things like home schooling, real off the grid lifestyle, things to do with all the family members, elders siting on their porch on a rocking chair, new landscapes and large lots, many crops, animals, etc
There was this board that @SimGuruGrahamposted when the community was voting and "deciding" on a stuff pack:
and I basically want EVERYTHING on that list that isn't in the game yet.
All this if well done, of course.
It is my most wanted theme at the moment and it has been for many many years but I am still sceptical as to how it will look and what will be really included if they do it.
EDIT: somewhere else in another thread that I can't find, I also mentioned how cool it would be to maybe mix both concepts. So a side of the new world could be more futuristic and eco-modern, and the other side a lot more rural and off the grid.
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I see a lot of thing that I like, such as new piercings, earrings and tattoos, the cardboard dollhouse, new bikes, ladders, juicebottles. At this point not enough exitement for an expansionpack tbh but I'll buy it anyway...
I hope there will be a possibility to switch the change in pollution/enviroment on and off (if you don't feel like cleening up, or you want it to stay the way it is), as there should be with Sulani and Strangerville as well.
Someone also mentioned the possibility to get really sick from all the pollution. I hope that will be in the game! That people will get illnesses and infections from the dirt everywhere. And not for 3 hours like other sim-illnesses, but like 2 or 3 days (and more medicines than just one bottle for everything) Eating fruit and drinking the fruitjuices will increase the chance of getting sick.
Still exited for other features and stuff we don't know about yet.
This is worse than I could have ever imagined. That trailer was like a child's perception environmentalism. When the trailer first started, it looked like an apocalypse was going down. I get that this is a game so everything needs to be over exaggerated, but my gosh. You would think a meteor wiped out civilization. I could go though every disgusting aspect of that trailer, but there is no point.
The trailer and blog confirmed my worst fears. No farming, no self sufficiency. This whole pack is revolving around 'changing the world' by picking up trash, which I guess is true is sims terms since there areas are called 'worlds' even though they're more like small towns. But this looks like IL 2.0 with a bit of Stranerville thrown in, only instead of trash being relegated to one island, its now this entire place that is automatically covered in trash and your mission is to fix it. Lame.
Yeah, no thanks. My sims have better things to do than live inside of dumpsters and act as the world's garbageman. And again, we just had this with Island Living. We had the tiny homes. We had the off the grid lot trait. Just how much more eco stuff does this game need?
I see a lot of thing that I like, such as new piercings, earrings and tattoos, the cardboard dollhouse, new bikes, ladders, juicebottles. At this point not enough exitement for an expansionpack tbh but I'll buy it anyway...
I hope there will be a possibility to switch the change in pollution/enviroment on and off (if you don't feel like cleening up, or you want it to stay the way it is), as there should be with Sulani and Strangerville as well.
Someone also mentioned the possibility to get really sick from all the pollution. I hope that will be in the game! That people will get illnesses and infections from the dirt everywhere. And not for 3 hours like other sim-illnesses, but like 2 or 3 days (and more medicines than just one bottle for everything) Eating fruit and drinking the fruitjuices will increase the chance of getting sick.
Still exited for other features and stuff we don't know about yet.
If piercings, earrings and tattoos, the cardboard dollhouse, new bikes, ladders, juicebottles are the reason you buy an ep is kind of foolish. Think about how all of those things could have simply been added into the original sims 4 game or how they could have added those things within an update. EA will continue to screw us over in order to make an extra buck.
If piercings, earrings and tattoos, the cardboard dollhouse, new bikes, ladders, juicebottles are the reason you buy an ep is kind of foolish. Think about how all of those things could have simply been added into the original sims 4 game or how they could have added those things within an update. EA will continue to screw us over in order to make an extra buck.
Not really realistic to assume they would put all of those things in for free. That would sort of negate the whole point of DLC. Which, of course, you can just be against DLC out of principle, but that is the way the Sims has been always.
If piercings, earrings and tattoos, the cardboard dollhouse, new bikes, ladders, juicebottles are the reason you buy an ep is kind of foolish. Think about how all of those things could have simply been added into the original sims 4 game or how they could have added those things within an update. EA will continue to screw us over in order to make an extra buck.
If those things will bring the a simmer extra joy in their game, then it's not a foolish reason to buy a pack. The poster can buy the pack if they want to; they don't need to be told it's foolish just because someone doesn't agree with their reasons.
Tell me everythime you want to use that world in another game, you will have to clean it up. How funny is that.
Yes, and it will get old real quick as I see it. I feel like I am no longer the ruler and EA/Maxis is the ruler as creativity in the Sims series has taken an hit as I cannot alter all I can see. For me the pack is not to buy at full price but to get at an very low price which I will get.
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Ugh. Why is it that the Game Packs they've made have been far more interesting than any of these later expansions? It's like whatever teams they put on expansions must be completely separate from the ones on the game packs, and are lazy and completely lack imagination. This expansion and Island Life seem so weak, I doubt I will ever get either.
If you're going to make an EXPANSION, it should expand the game. This looks like all the environmental stuff will only apply if you live in that one town, just as all the Island Life stuff only applies if you live on Sulani. That's the reason I never bought IL, and I doubt I'll ever buy this one.
That and the fact that nothing in it looks at ALL appealing to me. Grunge, pollution, construction cranes, swarms of flies... no, not appealing. Those aren't things that I've ever wanted to add to my game. "Oh, someone give me some pollution in my game! Yes, that's what I've always been waiting for!" Really?
The only thing that might be interesting is the candle making, and there's already a very elaborate mod out there that does the same thing, with dozens of candles you can make, each of which gives unique buffs. Is this candle making going to be as good as that? I doubt it.
This new town may be great for the Rags to Riches if we just leave it the way it comes. I think maybe it will be fun playing it. I have not Played that challenge yet but I may once I get this pack.
Maybe the developers should concentrate on fixing all the game's problems first. What's the likelihood this pack will add several new problems to the game?
:| I've been a fan of The Sims since the very beginning (The Sims on PC) and this pack seems to be lackluster at best. This expansion pack seems very lazy and not well thought out. What exactly is causing the pollution when they don't even have cars??? Their worlds should literally be the cleanest worlds ever, they don't have anything within the game that would truly cause any pollution.
A better way of approaching this pack could have been to; Add vehicles, school buses, motorcycles, and to add the element of something we never had the addition of public transportation would be great. Overtime letting the worlds become filled with pollution and having to work together to rally for electric cars, more bike lanes, and promote the use of public transport would've been a better more efficient way of doing an Eco Living expansion pack. Keeping the other features of this pack the same would work well with the main thing being the addition of transportation of a multitude of forms.
Just my two cents about the situation, this pack as it stands so far doesn't seem to be a full expansion pack and leans more towards a game pack. Expansion packs are supposed to actually expand the gameplay overall and this just adds an additional element that seems to fit better as a Game Pack at best.
I'm liking some of the stuff that I see. More-so just the content, not so much the gameplay. It just isn't really my interest in this game and I feel like I'll grow bored of it rather quickly.
I agree with a lot of people who have been saying that it's Island Living meets Strangerville in a way. More Island Living with the aspect of having to clean the world up, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but to me, it's a recycled feature and one that I still haven't actually completed in my own game because I got bored of it.
It just hasn't fit my storylines and isn't how I want to play. If anything, I will hope I can use cheats in this new world to clean things up, but I've also considered just leaving the world dark and groddy because it'll be nice to have a change in scenery; a world that isn't all bright and perfect like much of the others.
This isn't all to say that I don't like the look of anything in the pack. Again, I'm intrigued by the content we will be getting. After watching the trailer a few times, some of the things I've noticed are:
- New piercings (hoops) for the eyebrows and nose, and plugs for the lobes which I am personally super excited for.
- The very known and pointed out ladders.
- My girlfriend pointed out new types of bikes that are hopefully functional and not just props; we think there's potential for them to be motorized.
- Some of the new Build/Buy looks nice to me, although I'm not totally on board with it all or the CAS yet.
Overall, I am looking forward to seeing more about this pack. I do feel like it seems more like a gamepack than an expansion, so I hope they have a lot more features to reveal.
ETA: Just read that ladders are actually going to be a base game patch, so I guess that knocks that one out. But everything I said still stands.
I don't even want ladders bad enough to get this. Sulani touched on the whole eco living. Does every company have to make some sort of socially aware statement? That's what this stunt feels like.
I don't feel there's enough interesting game play for an entire pack. What I really miss is being able to choose a world, alter the terrain and create a town from the ground up. Sims 2 was still the best IMO. A farming pack with additional gardening skills and farm animals to take care of/raise and sell, with horses to ride like Sims 3 would have been a good addition with a whole rural world.
The town looks interesting, and I like the auroras, but I'm not paying just for CGI auroras. Can't believe they got an entire EP out of this. If I bought it (which is unlikely) I'd just end up using cheats to clear it up like I did in Sulani.
EA, this is NOT an expansion pack. You also already gave us this concept, the career, and all of these features in Island Living. To a lesser extent, you also gave us the remainder of this pack with Tiny Living, base game updates, and Laundry Day. Even the neighborhood feels very Glimmerbrook with the bioluminescence from Sulani, but in the sky as an aurora borealis (like from TS3's Aurora Skies neighborhood). This whole EP feels like an unintegrated mess.
A dirty gritty town with borealis in the sky lol. So weird.
I will wait to see some game play before I make my final decision. It does look interesting and I can think of a few ideas for how I can use this in my game.
It'd be interesting to see if some of the gameplay features go beyond the new world. Could I trash Oasis Springs if I wanted?
I didn't think about that. That's a good question. I was disappointed when I found out I couldn't move things from Strangerville to Oasis Springs. The really tiny worlds like Strangerville bother me...a lot.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
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EDIT: somewhere else in another thread that I can't find, I also mentioned how cool it would be to maybe mix both concepts. So a side of the new world could be more futuristic and eco-modern, and the other side a lot more rural and off the grid.
All my creations are CC free.
I hope there will be a possibility to switch the change in pollution/enviroment on and off (if you don't feel like cleening up, or you want it to stay the way it is), as there should be with Sulani and Strangerville as well.
Someone also mentioned the possibility to get really sick from all the pollution. I hope that will be in the game! That people will get illnesses and infections from the dirt everywhere. And not for 3 hours like other sim-illnesses, but like 2 or 3 days (and more medicines than just one bottle for everything) Eating fruit and drinking the fruitjuices will increase the chance of getting sick.
Still exited for other features and stuff we don't know about yet.
You put all of my thoughts into appropriate words
If piercings, earrings and tattoos, the cardboard dollhouse, new bikes, ladders, juicebottles are the reason you buy an ep is kind of foolish. Think about how all of those things could have simply been added into the original sims 4 game or how they could have added those things within an update. EA will continue to screw us over in order to make an extra buck.
Not really realistic to assume they would put all of those things in for free. That would sort of negate the whole point of DLC. Which, of course, you can just be against DLC out of principle, but that is the way the Sims has been always.
If those things will bring the a simmer extra joy in their game, then it's not a foolish reason to buy a pack. The poster can buy the pack if they want to; they don't need to be told it's foolish just because someone doesn't agree with their reasons.
Yes, and it will get old real quick as I see it. I feel like I am no longer the ruler and EA/Maxis is the ruler as creativity in the Sims series has taken an hit as I cannot alter all I can see. For me the pack is not to buy at full price but to get at an very low price which I will get.
If you're going to make an EXPANSION, it should expand the game. This looks like all the environmental stuff will only apply if you live in that one town, just as all the Island Life stuff only applies if you live on Sulani. That's the reason I never bought IL, and I doubt I'll ever buy this one.
That and the fact that nothing in it looks at ALL appealing to me. Grunge, pollution, construction cranes, swarms of flies... no, not appealing. Those aren't things that I've ever wanted to add to my game. "Oh, someone give me some pollution in my game! Yes, that's what I've always been waiting for!"
The only thing that might be interesting is the candle making, and there's already a very elaborate mod out there that does the same thing, with dozens of candles you can make, each of which gives unique buffs. Is this candle making going to be as good as that? I doubt it.
The only kind of garden I can grow is a virtual one.
Dragons - must haz dragons!
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Lol, it literally comes with bugs
A better way of approaching this pack could have been to; Add vehicles, school buses, motorcycles, and to add the element of something we never had the addition of public transportation would be great. Overtime letting the worlds become filled with pollution and having to work together to rally for electric cars, more bike lanes, and promote the use of public transport would've been a better more efficient way of doing an Eco Living expansion pack. Keeping the other features of this pack the same would work well with the main thing being the addition of transportation of a multitude of forms.
Just my two cents about the situation, this pack as it stands so far doesn't seem to be a full expansion pack and leans more towards a game pack. Expansion packs are supposed to actually expand the gameplay overall and this just adds an additional element that seems to fit better as a Game Pack at best.
I agree with a lot of people who have been saying that it's Island Living meets Strangerville in a way. More Island Living with the aspect of having to clean the world up, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but to me, it's a recycled feature and one that I still haven't actually completed in my own game because I got bored of it.
It just hasn't fit my storylines and isn't how I want to play. If anything, I will hope I can use cheats in this new world to clean things up, but I've also considered just leaving the world dark and groddy because it'll be nice to have a change in scenery; a world that isn't all bright and perfect like much of the others.
This isn't all to say that I don't like the look of anything in the pack. Again, I'm intrigued by the content we will be getting. After watching the trailer a few times, some of the things I've noticed are:
- New piercings (hoops) for the eyebrows and nose, and plugs for the lobes which I am personally super excited for.
- The very known and pointed out ladders.
- My girlfriend pointed out new types of bikes that are hopefully functional and not just props; we think there's potential for them to be motorized.
- Some of the new Build/Buy looks nice to me, although I'm not totally on board with it all or the CAS yet.
Overall, I am looking forward to seeing more about this pack. I do feel like it seems more like a gamepack than an expansion, so I hope they have a lot more features to reveal.
ETA: Just read that ladders are actually going to be a base game patch, so I guess that knocks that one out. But everything I said still stands.
I don't feel there's enough interesting game play for an entire pack. What I really miss is being able to choose a world, alter the terrain and create a town from the ground up. Sims 2 was still the best IMO. A farming pack with additional gardening skills and farm animals to take care of/raise and sell, with horses to ride like Sims 3 would have been a good addition with a whole rural world.
A dirty gritty town with borealis in the sky lol. So weird.
They just repeatedly keep missing the mark with pretty much every sims 4 expansion.
Not that any of it matters as long as all sims act the same no matter what traits you give them. They need to fix that first.
I didn't think about that. That's a good question. I was disappointed when I found out I couldn't move things from Strangerville to Oasis Springs. The really tiny worlds like Strangerville bother me...a lot.