Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.
Should I get Eco Living
doogerie
Posts: 765 Member
So I was not going to get Eco Living but lately I have been thinking perhaps I should. I was upset with IP and DU so I am asking the community should I get Eco Living for a content +gameplay boost or would I just be wasting my money? I mean there are a couple of cool features but what does it add (really) to the Sims 4?
0
Comments
I would wait until the next patch to see what they fix about it.
I really dislike 5 of the neighborhood action plans and how they are so disruptive to my game play.
On top of that they can happen in other neighborhoods and ruin community lots that you visit. I simply stopped playing the game while I wait to see what they do about it. I have lost interest in finding mods to fix every little thing wrong with the game.
On the up side, my current sim was on a date to complete the Soulmate Aspiration, and I got see Gregory Landgrab and some random evil townie that appears wherever I go break into a brawl. He and his date are low on energy, probably just want to sleep after a pleasant evening and they just sit their watching. Dylan's date, Serene, just stared blankly while Dylan watched more closely.
The best part was that Gregory Landgrab spawned on the lot as a Fan of my sim. I'm hoping to use the celebrity career hopper trait to complete an aspiration. I wonder what triggered the fight. The evil genius guy kinda comes across as a stalker because he's a townie that appears everywhere my sims go. Serene said hi because she was new in town. The relationship bar reached zero a long time ago.
Fortunately, it seems the Self Sufficiency NAP only causes the NPCs to either help out with your gardening (Or straight up harvest all your crops, leaving you with nothing) or using your fishing traps. Either way, it appears that the NAPs are staying in the designated Neighborhood. However, the NPCs that are my neighbors behave according to the NAP of the neighborhood they are in. I have not seen them act according to NAPs from neighborhoods outside the neighborhood they come from. Sulani frequently has neighbors visit with extra food, so they visit often enough for me to see how much they are affected.
You can use mods to get rid of the annoying NAPs and bugs but I still don't think it is worth it.
Legacy Photomode
Even some possible choices are annoying, like ladders. They break so much pathing for me. Be it a choice or a bug, doing dishes and laundry with only ladders in the house is a nightmare. The thing that bugs me the most that is a bug right now is my doors don't stay locked.
I do really like the new skills, the idea behind the N.A.P.s and eco footprint, and the new build/buy and CAS items. Off the grid is now a really nice way to play for me. Still, it is up to you. How much punishment can you handle and how much do you like these playstyles?
Then theres the free love one so all townies in that neighbourhood are constantly flirting with each other and getting romantic , I seriously do not want my families hitting on every random townie and every other of my families every time i send them on a date .
A bug i have got now is when i tell my sims to clean up after a meal they collect all the plates then go put them down somewhere instead of in a dishwasher or washing them . The constantly wanting a drink of water bug is also back ,
I'm seriously thinking of removing everything regarding the NAPs. Most of them are meaningless and plain annoying. I feel a bit cut off, as it was one of the main selling points for the pack. I like most other content, though. And the voting feature could have been fun if done better. I may make up my own NAPs, giving residents some benefits/disadvantages manually. It should be possible having NAPs without extreme behaviors.
I'm delighted to say that there is an updated version of the Civic Policy Tweaks mod that has resolved all of my NAP issues! My Sim just took an entire shower for the first time!
https://simvasion.wordpress.com/portfolio/nap-autonomy-fixes/
So now, my answer is YES you should buy this pack!
It seems these bugs from the expansion packs usually require starting a new save. I haven't had a patch mesh well with existing saves. I play on the console, specifically the PS4. I'll try to hold out for the next patch before resetting the save again. Loading all the lots I make takes too long.
My Plumbob is GREEN today
I feel confident in saying even if it goes on sale, it isn't worth buying unless it was at the cost of a stuff pack.
The new build/buy and some of the CAS items are quality, but everything else is so average....Average is a *nice* way to describe it. I'm quite *ars-ed that it was as costly as it was and I've put in 15 hours of actual gameplay with a solid "meh" in the pit of my stomach.
Also never leave reviews but I used every last character count when I filled out the EA survey last week.
The biggest issues I can think of are sims stopping what they are doing to do a NAP related task (I've had this happen in the middle of dates, events, and the mother leaving her child in the tub.), public lots becoming broken because items required for the lot get stolen (sharing is caring), and NAPs that aren't in effect in the neighborhood should not affect sims in that neighborhood (Future Cubes and Performing Arts were not NAPs I voted on, but they plagued my household while they were at home.). I think that parenting tasks and just the simple act of building and maintaining a relationship are hurt when sims spontaneously stop doing something to focus on a NAP.
My only work around has been to do everything in my power to control access to the things that I don't want them to do. When I lock a computer to keep them from programming or lock a door to a room with instruments in it, I can almost play normally. The only thorn in my side are the items spawning in their inventory. I can't keep them away from the stuff they are carrying. And, they spawn new future cubes every single time they use them. It seriously breaks any difficulty with income. I've seriously considered locking the parents in the room with their toddlers so they don't abandon them to do something else. I really don't want my twins to get taken away because they are starving or not getting enough attention.
My biggest saving grace is that I'm playing with a sim that already has so many traits and maxed skills that I can almost get away with free services and a long list of similar traits until this blows over. It might seem like a surprise, but the maid and gardening service still works. So whatever is going on has a lot to do with the NPCs that wander the neighborhoods and visit public lots. Service NPCs (Bartenders, Gardeners, Massage Therapists, Maids, and any NPC in a working role). are still working as they should. My toddlers seem more capable of taking care of themselves than the parents taking care of them. So, the different sim age groups might be affected differently. It might have a lot to do with what a sim can and can't do. Children and Toddlers might not be affected as much because they can't engage in the activities related to NAPs.
The NAPs are voted on one at a time or repealed each week. Repealing Sharing is Caring did appear to work and the NAP that replaced it also appeared to affect my sims. It seems that once your Sim takes the role of a NPC in a neighborhood, the changes made to that neighborhood will continue to affect that sim. I figured this out when I tried to play as a different household in a different neighborhood to change the NAPs.
I know this isn't the place for reporting bugs, but for those who are thinking about buying the pack, this is one of the oddities that I encountered. The good news is that her "neighbor" status went away on its own, but I think it could be connected to how she's dropping interactions with her kid to do NAP related activities. The husband does the NAP stuff too, but between the two of them, the mother is the one doing stuff more often then not. My sims tend to queue up playing instruments when their fun need is low, but I don't think any of my sims have a trait that would make programming or building a rocket ship fun. After trying to reset my sims, I did not notice any heavy future cube usage.
In short, the patch did not remove my sims tendency to drop interactions with their child to do NAP related tasks, but I did notice less of the invasive NAP activities that were not in effect inside the neighborhood they live in. It's almost as if some part of the hidden traits they get from NAPs are fading on their own. Regardless, these are things I encountered in a brand new save after reloading my household saved to the gallery.
Oh, the Sharing is Caring NAP isn't that fun because you're sims trying to look for their next mate at the bar when someone steals the jukebox! argh!
Twitch jovi_jov
Twitter BarbieSimmy
Origin SimsBarbie