I think Eco-Living is another unfortunate example of a pack where Maxis comes so extremely close to conceptualizing an awesome expansion pack, but stops way too soon and settles for a more limited theme and experience.
What are the problems with this pack? Unfortunately, this pack suffers the same issue many before it do where nearly all gameplay content is confined to one world. It seems to be in the same vein as Strangerville where you follow a linear chain of actions to change the world, and that's that. There is no room for control, player creativity, or freedom which has always been a staple of The Sims. Our only option here is to take this polluted world and turn it into a happy, clean town. What if we have evil Sims, for instance though? Are they really supposed to be joining the cleanup effort?
I think this pack would have been a massive success and far better received if, instead of just focusing on ecology, it focused on our Sims getting to make many different kinds of changes, good or bad, in ALL worlds. The emphasis should have been on a greater amount of control and influence our Sims have in changing their worlds around them. We've even seen things like this in past surveys, such as one suggesting the ability for our Sims to become mayor of their town.
And an expansion focusing on change could have been taken in many different directions other than just ecology of every world:
- How about crime? Imagine having the option to control crime as a citizen, police officer, or for the extreme Sim twist on things, as a full-blown evil supervillain/superhero.
- What about economy? Keep your world as a homey, small town with a heart or sell out to the corporations for big bucks?
- What about expanded government features? Becoming mayor and setting new policies, taxes, curfews, laws, etc.
All of those ideas present players multiple different directions to take things in and loads of replayability to discover how taking each path would reflect the world around them. A pack tackling all of those different areas as one expansion pack, instead of just ecology, would truly feel like an expansion, with a wider scope in design, yet still focusing on the one centralized theme of Sims influencing change in every world around them.
Years ago, I recall getting so excited reading The Sims 2: Double Deluxe's back when I first purchased it. EA wrote, "Fulfill their goals and they will live a long, successful life. Happily-ever-after or shocking twist at the end? It's all in your hands." Freedom was presented to me to either drive my Sims to happiness and success or despair and failure. Unfortunately, this pack does not put any freedom in my hands, and dictates exactly how my gameplay will go. This is just not The Sims to me.
Comments
2: The game's usually about the escapades of individual Sims right now. You're thinking of something that would change the entire focus of the game. I'm certain there are games that can do that.
3: You're talking about the politician career, but at the same time it looks like you can make petitions and influence the community in this Eco-pack, even if it seems to focus on pollution (we don't know the full story). However if you want to do this you should probably play regular SimCity.
Not that we don't need crime in the game. Vampires break in already. But a guy breaking in and stealing your stuff is... frustrating, y'know? As for programming it, that's a lot of time to spend on something that you're actually trying to PREVENT from happening.
It would be wonderful if they could go back to live to SimCity.
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The Sims 4 General DiscussionEco Lifestyle Pack is about sustainability and NOT police control or capitalism!
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Agree 200 times! We need something less happy and perfect that is ts4 sims life.
The pack shows a good start, but then it just ends in making a magic gun that solves all problems, I would have wanted to see the player having to make some hard decisions to improve the environment. Maybe that will still be in this pack with you having to make decisions to improve the town but I doubt it.
Some things that I would have wanted to see:
A mayor career, the decisions you make in the city will affect how friendly it is to the environment. You can make decisions of what the city should invest in, some decisions generate more money, but hurts the environment more, some hurts the environment less but does not give as much benefits or money.
There are sims that you have to talk to and convince if you want to make decisions, some give the city more money. If you for example choose to go all eco-friendly directly then you will get less money from the sims that are responsible for your industries.
Keeping a good balance is key and you can in the end get a clean and nice town but that will take time.
Examples of decisions you could make:
Just some ideas that I had in the back of my mind.
About the politics and government, i think it is there in the pack. It's just that we'll be able to play it as the people instead of the mayor.
I feel like maybe I'm missing something here but...what does any of that list have to do with Eco Lifestyle? Maybe it's just me but I really don't see a connection between any of the things listed and Eco Lifestyle. But like I said, maybe I'm missing something with this post? 🌱
Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear enough in my post.
A big component of this pack is change. If you scroll up the forums and view the announcement, it says:
"Play to change in The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle Expansion Pack!"
Yet, the only form of change we see in it is taking a new world, one which is heavily polluted, and reforming it into an eco-friendly town. There is no option to do anything else with the world, or any existing worlds. It's also very linear, appealing to only certain Sims of certain personalities. What if I have a klepto, evil Sim? What new gameplay would he get that would make sense for his personality type?
Previously, in The Sims, a whole expansion pack would typically affect all worlds and its design wouldn't be so narrowly thought out. Maxis should have really focused this pack all around our Sims getting to change each and every world around them in numerous ways, for good OR bad, like the ones I suggested.
I genuinely think the pack would have been well-received if it did that.
Except that the Community lot that Sims vote to decide what it is each week has been confirmed to be usable in any world. What, exactly, that means I still don't know (and I wish had been clearer in the trailer) but there is more than just "Clean up Evergreen Harbor" Is it "more" enough? I don't think we have enough information to make that call.
I play since sims 1. LOTS of EPs only show full potential in one world. In lots of iteration that's the case. However, something that I think people do not acknowledge enough, but what's HUGE for a rotational player like me is you can visit and play in all worlds without a new save!
That means I can use all EPs in one save, which is great.
Anyways, that bring said I do think to make this EP worthy they need to:
1. Have the possibility that ALL worlds pollute. *not automatically
2. Have a regression, if you slack off.
Otherwise it should have been a GP
From my understanding, the world starts at a default state, and then it's up to the player to make it polluted or green. So there's two paths to go down, and it seems like many different actions come into play that influence the state of the world. As for content outside of the world, it seems that the only world exclusive feature is the cleanliness feature, everything else seems to be available outside of the world, new lots, new objects that influence how green a household is, new activities. Compared to a pack like Island Living where most of the game play is locked behind the world (many objects and even features like the Odd Jobs are heavily tied to the functionality of the world and its open waters) Eco Lifestyle doesn't seem to be as restrictive.
Based off the expansion pack descriptions, it sounds like the majority of its functionality is primarily reserved only for Evergreen Harbor though.
"Play to change and make a difference in the new world of Evergreen Harbor."
"Be the change you want to see in Evergreen Harbor. Start a clean-water project with fellow collaborators, or build wind turbines to power the community."
They are really going out of their way to be specific in mentioning Evergreen Harbor. There is zero mention of any other world, or the opportunity for us to impact other worlds in any form. If we could use this lot anywhere, it's fairly obvious there is going to be way less options in worlds other than Evergreen Harbor, otherwise they definitely would have specified so.
And it still doesn't really address how much freedom we lack with this pack. It focuses on one small theme, ecology, and presents players with primarily only one option, to clean up a dirty, new world. This doesn't really appeal to everyone, or every Sim's personality for that matter.
A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear
Time enjoyed is never time wasted
It seems the world starts off fairly polluted. If it came to us "default", looking like every other world we have now, there would be little to no gameplay. The only option is to actively clean it up or just do nothing, ignore it entirely, to make it look even worse.
"If players choose not to take action, they may see the bounds of nature retreat as junk accumulates on property and air pollution levels rise."
The majority of the gameplay is reserved to Evergreen Harbor. If we don't play the world, all we're left with is eco-friendly objects and small side features which really won't feel like a full expansion.
Yes, anything I post on the forums is my opinion. Sorry you don't agree with myself or the many others who feel this expansion pack is a bit of a disappointment. There are plenty of other threads to go to discuss the pack in a more positive light.
What about the 'beating around the bush' part?
A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear
Time enjoyed is never time wasted
I always agree with your posts, @Sk8rblaze Every single one. Much respect 🤙🏼
I dont know what you mean by this. Beating around the bush means not getting to the point or avoiding a topic. Do you mean beating a dead horse?
Personality,depth,humor,consequences,lore,customization.
I completely agree. I think it is too soon. We basically know the general theme, very little details. I will try to keep an open mind until we know more.
Thanks, English is not my native language and sometimes I get the sayings mixed up. Yeah, that's what I meant
A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear
Time enjoyed is never time wasted
Thank you. Only want the best for the game.
Definitely learn the meaning of things before you use them in writing. Saves lots of arguments!
Very true, but really, my main point is that they've stopped too soon by settling on the theme of change within the environment. The pack could have been an expansion surrounding Sims changing their worlds in numerous ways, environment being only one of those ways, and probably would have been well-received with a larger focus.
A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear
Time enjoyed is never time wasted
But the point of the pack is change in the environment, as in the climate. I mean, I get what you're saying about other forms of change and all of that. But when the pack is very obviously geared towards change of the climate, I really don't see how that could expand to all the other features you said.
I think those ideas are interesting and would definitely be fascinating to run with; I think they'd be fun concepts to work with. I just don't quite see how, or why, they could fit under the umbrella of Eco Lifestyle.