Now that I have played it for a while I have a few thoughts:
1) Way to many Bugs
2) The way the Eco Footprint works or doesn’t work I should say. I wish you could just click on the map and select what neighborhoods you want to be green or industrial and if your active Sims live in one of those areas they have to make their footprint green or industrial or suffer neighbor shunning and taxes. Also you can live in a neutral environment and rally Your neighbors to make it a green or industrial footprint.
3) The Freegan trait: My husband’s cousin an roommates are freegans and they have jobs in the environment field and other mainstream jobs, they “prefer” to not buy things if they can and if they do it’s used items. They also don’t hate making money but prefer to save part of their income for Emergencies and donate the rest to charities.
4) Fireplaces, fire pits and BBQs give industrial footprints now even though they have been a main staple for many sims homes.
5) Houses tend look more like cookie cutter houses because of the few wallpapers and floors that give you a green footprint.
6) I love the CAS and Build/Buy items.
7) N.A.P.s are way too weird and pointless.
8) Community Centers are a good idea but would like more variations on the types of activities you can do. Like a cooking center or a science center.
9) I don’t regret buying it but wish it was better planned out.
What are your thoughts?
10
Comments
The NAPs are so invasive to gameplay that I had to turn them off, although I'm now left with a sim who can't do a single action without cancelling it to stretch, for literally the rest of his sim life (even tho it's repealed and turned off!).
The Eco footprint thing just seems like a non-thing. I haven't actively tried to change the eco footprint yet, but all of my lots have been neutral. My current lot is a massive mansion filled with all the electronics imaginable, and it has a neutral eco footprint and about $600 bills - I was expecting some change And I deleted the bar in the industrial neighbourhood in the new world ready for my next gen sim to move adn live there when they're old enough, which has changed that whole neighbourhood neutral - so I'll never even get to play it industrial unless I replace the bar or actively try to change it back (which wasnt part of my plan, and prevents the whole regenerating a neighbourhood actual gameplay feature )
Oh, and my sims all have a constant Uncomfortable Moodlet because of the poor decor (apparently there is something wrong with plain white walls), which is sooo annoying -I want my sims to have plain white walls! Fair enough have a decor moodlet for paintings or plants or something, but to do it for the wallpaper and flooring is really annoying!!!
I think overall it's disappointing. I was really unconvinced when it was first announced. I became a convert after the livestream and learning more about the pack and actually felt quite excited about it, but now I've tried to play it, with the invasion of NAPs and non-existent eco thing, and the introduction of bugs which are driving me crazy, it's just a stuff pack with some great CAS and Build content
I had NPC voting turned off from Day 1 because I’m a control freak.
I did find however that you can still get the positive and negative moodlets if the Eco Footprint is off by cheating the footprint you desire. I don’t know why it works but it does. You can do this in any neighborhood you visit as well.
I've been able to work around most issues, but a pack shouldn't launch like this. I'm sure they will address some of our complaints and fix the bugs in future patches, but... that does little to help our games now. I rarely buy any TS4 DLC at launch, and I don't regret this one, but I can certainly see how some people do. I should be able to use all the selling features at launch, without issues, not turning them all off.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/924539/features-that-needs-depth-and-ways-to-improve
2, Eco Appliances N.A.P seems bugged. My sims always fail the inspection even though all their appliances are all upgraded.
3, I love the idea of improving the eco footprint but currently it seems pointless as it always just drifts back to neutral.
4, The pack has way to many bugs. My sims will no longer opt to eat left overs. They always choose to cook new food or eat quick meals.
Those are my main gripes with the pack right now.
Have a bake sale!
Now that's an idea! and it's still a family business.
I noticed this too but I wasn't sure if I was seeing it all right or something! I thought different sized lots would have different costs. What's the point of having the tiniest of lots then if not to save money?
I think it's a shame that the balcony of one apartment cannot be used.
Another, much bigger problem that gets on my nerves, is that some plants won't grow properly. Some simply remain as earth and others change back after harvesting.
Something else ... It's incredibly annoying to turn San Myshuno green. Did anyone do it at all? Is that even possible?
Then i had a sim living in the big mansion in Windenburg's island paying 300 base and around 500 total.
Completelly opposite experiences and such a small difference on their bills...
Same here! I was playing the Goth household and before the bills were 10,000 simoleons. Now there only 300. Huh?
I finally uninstalled my game and origin completely, set up a new administrator account just for the Sims 4 and reinstalled my entire game and Origin into the new account on my PC. I used a string in advanced settings to disable the Eco Lifestyle and when I added my sims back in (one by one) and my houses and stuff (also one by one), I have been able to play daily for over a week without any issues. The only mods I use are the TMEX T.O.O.L and the Amobae Shelf, which I've been using forever. I have tried to reactivate the pack a couple of times to see if the problem is still there and all this crazy behavior begins immediately. I'm so sad. Anyone happen to have a solution for this particular issue?
My Plumbob is GREEN today
Have you tried disabling NPC N.A.P voting and the Eco Footprint?
If the execution was good I would have bought the pack by now.
@TS1299 I was wondering if the pandemic affected this release, regarding the bugs. Form the perspective of hiring contractors to identify and smash bugs - maybe that wasn't done. Working from home should not have impacted that as that is a non issue, but getting hardware to contractors and getting them behind the firewall could be impacted by the pandemic
I have felt for a while that Maxis QA Team seems to have some problems discovering bugs that make it to the final release, at least from my perspective as a player... Covid19 most likely made it worse.
They seem to have hired some new people though so hopefully that will help.
In case you haven't seen these mods yet, I am using:
Simvasion's updated (second version) Civic Policy Tweaks mod. This solved all the wacko NAP issues for me!
I installed Scarlet's No Eco Footprint Decay mod. I don't know if it's working yet, because I haven't really tried changing my worlds' eco footprints yet.
A mod called MSNoRoughhousing. This stops random fighting. It works perfectly! I haven't yet tested to see whether I still need this mod now that I have the Civic Policy Tweaks 2.0 mod.
I like most BB and new activities like fabricating, candles and juice etc. Also happy with my game focusing more on community aspects and not only single households.
I hope the Eco focus will be toned down a bit in the future. Even if the theme is fresh and important, I still want to play lots of families that are NOT concerned. EA seems to forget that we have tons of content, and that not all sims will jump onto the Eco wagon. There could be more cross pack features, especially regarding the NAPs system.
Also hope they update off-the-grid again aswell, it's very lacklustre still. I want to see a total of how much power/water I have, and what items use it and how much they use or how much you require to use it (ie you need 10l of water to have a shower, then you go out and gather water to get those 10l and then your sims can shower). I want that kind of build-up and working towards it rather than just getting a message saying you've reached a power/water surplus. Also if you don't pay the bills on an off the grid lot they take away your power and water... on a lot that doesn't have power and water...