I am so happy that there's going to be a Star Wars pack. However, I am surprised that non of the old glitches won't get fixed & still no Generation. I love cool fun themes but the necessaries should have been a priority 1st.
Since apartment dwellers still barge into Sims' apartments, (a known bug still yet) and we all know SV 'zombies' are sometimes seen in the other worlds, who actually believes we won't see SWs characters in the other worlds? I know they have said that wouldn't happen, but do we really believe it. After all, they also told people the worlds wouldn't be flooded with vampires....but there were hundreds of complaints about players seeing too many vamps in their worlds though they were not playing any. And or the zombies and or other Sims busting into apartments uninvited etc. It might be funny to see a Sim in a stormtropper outfit come into a CL apartment, but after awhile I'm going to bet some demand it be removed. I have popcorn. Because ROM also had it's problems with Nancy Landgrabb or Bella or anyone in the 'magic' worlds...as if we can believe that was perfectly 'normal' to see them there. I give it about a week before I can start eating all that popcorn. Or wait, maybe they just go missing like the 'agents' fake Sims inside jails in GTW. Which rarely have any inmates inside those jails after the next pack was released. Maybe fake NPCs such as a stormtropper or other NPC just don't show up anymore like inmates don't in GTW's jail cells.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I'm sure EA/Maxis can make almost any pack theme they want to make. However, if a big company like Disney says "Let's do a crossover to promote this or that" it will involve many long, boring meetings to iron out exactly what can and cannot be included and how it will be included and when it will be released. Companies are very peculiar and careful about how their property is handled by other companies.
I don't hate it, it's just for a different kind of player than me.
I do think that it will bring a cash influx into the game. Hopefully we'll see that in other areas.
At this point, they might want to spin-off the realism and supernatural content. They could continue to have shared content as well but there could be two tracks for releasing the content.
At this point, they might want to spin-off the realism and supernatural content. They could continue to have shared content as well but there could be two tracks for releasing the content.
They kind of already do have two tracks.
The mundane track is expansion packs and stuff packs:
EPs: Eco Lifestyle, Discover University, Island Living, Get Famous, Seasons, Cats and Dogs, City Living, Get Together, Get To Work. Not devoid of any supernatural content, but primarily focused on mundane stuff, despite adding aliens, mermaids, and robots (i.e. the supernatural types with the least development outside of maybe ghosts, which are basegame).
SPs: Nifty Knitting, Tiny Living, Moschino, My First Pet, Laundry Day, Toddler, Fitness, Bowling Night, Vintage Glamour, Backyard, Kids' Room, Romantic Garden, Movie Hangout, Spooky Stuff, Cool Kitchen, Perfect Patio, Luxury Party. Almost 100% mundane. Spooky stuff is maybe a little less, but it's Halloween stuff, not actual monsters.
The game packs are really the only place where the supernatural or story-based play gets any focus:
Journey to Batuu, Realm of Magic, Strangerville, Jungle Adventure, Parenthood, Vampires, Dine Out, Spa Day, Outdoor Retreat. Out of nine packs, four are completely mundane. Three have some sort of quest-based adventures, and two add new supernatural types and very small neighborhoods.
So out of like 35 packs, there are 5 that are solely devoted to either occult sims or quest-based play, so like 85% of the DLC is already mundane.
And Journey to Batuu was never going to be the "Spiral Staircase, Cars, Bunk Beds, and Freed Babies" Game Pack. All of the changes to actual gameplay and build mode have been patches that everyone gets, not game pack exclusives. Ladders are basegame. Pools and basements are basegame. Bunk beds will be too. If they ever make babies that aren't objects, that'll also be in a patch, not DLC.
Journey to Batuu isn't taking away resources from basegame improvements any more than any DLC pack does. This isn't a case where, oh, they could have put bunk beds into the game if they'd made a farming pack, but instead they made a Star Wars pack, so they couldn't do bunk beds.
But is is a case where Journey to Batuu is one of a literal handful--five!--of packs that aren't entirely or almost entirely about mundane play and therefore the sky is falling and everyone is claiming the game is ruined forever.
I think most simmers just wanted something else for the game right now. Personally, I love Star Wars. I am interested to see how they incorporated it into the game. However, I will wait a bit to get the pack but that's because I no longer buy on release.
I don't hate it, but I feel left out. I know nothing about Star Wars. This brings in another fandom that I just don't understand. I'm really happy for those who have wanted this, and I hope it's not too specific on any Star Wars lore in the actual gameplay that I don't understand.
Having a game pack that is so heavily branded with a single franchise can be alienating for a lot of fans. I'm not a Star Wars fan, I watched the movies and think baby Yoda is cute but I couldn't tell you anything about the lore. I wouldn't buy a pack for something I don't really care about.
Real life franchises breaks immersion a bit. The Sims is supposed to be an alternative universe. It feels weird seeing real life brands, there was similar backlash for Katie Perry and Moschino stuff packs. This pack feels even stranger because it's not just items it's an entire story line. The free branded content for Star Wars for example was fine because a costume or item didn't impact gameplay and was a nice nod to the franchise if people really wanted it but could be ignored if you didn't.
The third is even though I agree laundry and knitting are boring, there were so many other themes people wanted for years including werewolves and better non-Star Wars aliens.
A better way to do this was either a stand alone Sims/Star Wars spin off game or making a space themed game pack with references to Star Wars without being solely Star Wars themed. A good example would be how Realm of Magic and Strangerville have references to Harry Potter and Stranger Things respectively while still being their own thing. (And yes I know EA has the rights to Star Wars and not the other two franchises but that doesn't change the fact it feels strange to see a full Star Wars pack)
Because the pack feels like they are testing the water or experimenting, and isn't it a little too late for that? the game is half decade years old.
Hm... I do not think this pack would have been better received before Seasons or University. Since all the big Expansions are out of the way, now is the time to experiment. Or that is how I see it
I agree with SilentKitty. Now that all the "mandatory" packs are out, it's time to explore with different kinds of packs.
To those of you who have not seen Star Wars' movies but like science fiction, you might watch the first 2 trilogies, made by George Lucas, a pioneer of the series when he introduced it in 1976, I know because I went to the first showing and have seen the 5 movies following. The more recent Star Wars brand movies were not produced by Mr. Lucas, therefore has no interest to me. But my suggestion is to watch the first movie and you will know a little what this pack is about.
In my house, dog hair sticks to everything but the dog.
vanilla game dark skintones are still all pixellated and don't work with half of the makeup options, but sure, we definitely needed an obvious $20 advertisement for another franchise that already has a billion other games out with fully-developed canon lore that doesn't clash with this series'
Idk why people are making it an occult v. realism thing and pretending like only realism players are annoyed and they should be thankful for their 30/35 packs or whatever. The majority of the packs were half-baked with little depth...why would this be a cause to be falling over oneself in appreciation, no matter how it is you play?
Even though this is a sci-fi pack, I’d feel frustrated if I was an occult player. Six years no dragons, fairies, werewolves....just a Disney commercial.
Arguably, I like the pack, even from someone whose Star Wars experience is "Welp, this is about as good as I can get in terms of what's on". It'll add a lot from the sounds of things, and seems properly fleshed-out.
But, this is why I think it was a poor choice for a new game.
Fans have been asking for many things; but Star Wars was never on that list, even though Sci-Fi was.
Another game whose main schtick is a linear storyline with no replayability, and messes up repurposing of buildings and lots key to the storyline. Strangerville gets a lot of hate for this reason. I don't like the pack, but I love the households and the Southwestern USA themed world.
The whole theme and universe is so out of place in that in The Sims.
What is upsetting me is that we still have major features broken from previous packs like eco lifestyle & instead of getting basic fixes we just get more repetitive content that will probably bring its own game breaking bugs that will be ignored and so fourth. For me its not the pack itself that Im upset with (even if its not something im interested in) its that for 6 years players have been holding into hope that some day we will get basic updates and features that can add actual depth to the game, rather than recycled content that doesn’t truly add anything new. I think the pack is just a reminder that we are still not getting any added depth or real improvement, even something as simple as being able to add more relationships in CAS or having sims actually react to things like cheating. After 6 years of begging for basic features we continually receive content that is just not cutting it and leaves players wondering if we are being listening to at all.
I wish they would communicate on the survey put out earlier in the year for what content players wanted. It was a very exciting thing at the time because it suggested we would FINALLY being seeing some added depth but it feels as though nothing came of it. They know now that this is something the community desperately wants and is passionate for but will it ever lead to anything? After 6 years having hope is getting extremely difficult
I do not think it's a hate against the pack. It's a huge distaste towards company attitude to fans. The pack was just the last straw breaking camel's back. Nobody likes to be slapped in the face and that's how it feels right now. There's a strong consensus among fanbase about what core game is missing (I do not mean cars, farming and even babies - I mean personality/reactions gameplay improvement). To understand it reading the forums feedback alone is enough. But the company also arrange numerous surveys making them look every time like it's such a big deal and... They gave players no follow up. Communication is the thing which works only both-ways. And they always play radio silence aside from bad jokes in patch notes and "it's so awesome" statements despite how many irritated comments follows to this. That's annoying to say the least.
I'm pretty sure this pack wouldn't be so badly received if players had a general insight into game direction and road-map. If there was a statement like "the most popular requests for game-improvement were..., we think this could be implemented that and that way..., we will be working on this..., some of fans requests we won't implement 'cause it's not in line with our game vision. And our game vision is... Meanwhile we want to experiment with some story-telling mechanics so expect this..." In this case even those who do not like the pack would have clear expectation and just "won't buy it" as so may Maxis defenders usually advise.
At this point I think Maxis should take a look at the example of FF14. How it was a big failure in the beginning, how devs acknowledged this, apologized, worked towards its improvement and made the game one of the biggest and popular MMOs right now. Imo currents Sims PR strategy based on silence, speculation and hype is one of the worst things which could happen to this franchise. After the situation with SW GP I hope they will reconsider, discuss the problem and make a statement. 'cause at this point EA tweets like "all sims fans are so excited to play..." looks ridiculous and do not improve the situation.
My issue at first was that there would be nothing from this pack that could be used in any other world. It's all VERY Star Warsy. Heavy, heavy theme. I'm mainly a builder and there aren't anything that will make it into my builds unless we can now create round buildings (which I highly doubt). But, I am trying to find the silver lining and think around the heavy Star Wars theme and just enjoy a new pack. We'll see.
Here are the questions, if we all love 'The Sims' and the life simulator experience, then why does Maxis want to change a life simulator into gameplay that is story driven and linear? They keep doing this, why is that? Because so many no longer love the life simulator? and want them to change the series into story driven packs? Or they have so many new type of players who don't even care about the integrity of a life simulator and don't mind story driven packs and storylines? or is it because it's what type of games they like to play? Or it's where the most of their experience really comes from and not life simulators? and they have run out of energy and love for a life simulator and can't think of how to build one.
Which ever answer it is, a story driven pack knocks out the chance for a different pack to be built because it took time and money from a budget, and so the life simulator is again put on a back burner. For the third time. Sorry, kids, we are too broke to improve personalities and or build up interactions to be more meaningful, or overhaul our flawed emotional system, but hey, we can afford to build Star Wars' story driven packs! We know you wanted an attraction system but you will like this story driven pack where you might play it just once much better than some old attraction system that would expand the entire game. Yes, though it's a life simulator, and attraction system is part of life in all of us, and should be in our Sims, we think you will like a story driven pack with replay value of zero much better.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I’m with you OP. I am actually really excited about this for the novelty value. There has never been a franchised sims pack like this before.
I would love if it was possible to be a Jedi but I am keeping my expectations low.
I am really excited for this...mainly because I want Kylo & Rey in my game. There I said it.
Personally I wasn’t a big fan of knifty knitting, strangerville or Moschino but that’s me. Eco living also isn’t a big hit in my books...but I do like the idea behind it.
The reason I think it's getting hate is there a lot better ideas out there for game packs and expansions then Star wars. Plus I see why there doing this is to promote their theme park.
I think to some players, it just seems as if they are already ignoring the very basic need for corrections/additions to the base game itself. Fix the foundation first. Then, to come out with a pack that doesn't really fit the game style and will stand out like a sore thumb, is just a slap in the face. If the base game had been renovated first, I don't think many would have give SW a second thought other than the usual "it's not what I want". I think the HATE is more about timing than theme for some (not all).
I think to some players, it just seems as if they are already ignoring the very basic need for corrections/additions to the base game itself. Fix the foundation first. Then, to come out with a pack that doesn't really fit the game style and will stand out like a sore thumb, is just a slap in the face. If the base game had been renovated first, I don't think many would have give SW a second thought other than the usual "it's not what I want". I think the HATE is more about timing than theme for some (not all).
That's what I think is the root of the problem for most players. If the bugs were fixed and everything was more fleshed out players would be less passionate about an "out there" pack. Would some people still be complaining? ABSOLUTELY! Because it doesn't fit in with their normal, everyday, RL Life Sim. But I don't think there would have been nearly as much anger about it, just your normal player base who complains when we get an occult pack or those occultists complaining when we get a normal pack.
And I truly believe that the game pack leak was 100% intentional because people would immediately be able to guess/speculate what the next pack would be. I'm sure they did it to either hype those SW people up and get rumors going that may reach "real" SW fans or give the haters time to cool down and accept it before the reveal.
Whether you like Star Wars or not, for long-time sim fans, this pack confirms many of our worst suspicions:
that this company is completely willing to sell out to whatever trends they see on the market; this time, they become a vehicle for Disney advertising
that the company is very happy in totally ignoring the flaws in the base game, and instead of using packs to FIX those flaws, they add extraneous and unrelated material that no one asked for
that the company is more interested in trying to generate new money and players (new and YOUNGER) than pleasing long-time fans
that they don't like coming up with original content
This isn't even to mention the limits of this actual pack. The life simulation game in TS4 is broken, in ways that have been thoroughly documented. This pack does nothing to fix those problems and adds content from a popular franchise, trying to layer it into the sims, which was supposed to be its own world. If you like Star Wars, likely you have other outlets for your Star Wars love. If you don't care about it, then what on Earth are you going to do with this pack?
You know the sad irony of this Game Pack? It's being released on the anniversary that Star Trek first came to air! 8 September 1966. Oi! Rivalry aside between these two franchises, you can't miss the irony.
Comments
I do think that it will bring a cash influx into the game. Hopefully we'll see that in other areas.
At this point, they might want to spin-off the realism and supernatural content. They could continue to have shared content as well but there could be two tracks for releasing the content.
They kind of already do have two tracks.
The mundane track is expansion packs and stuff packs:
EPs: Eco Lifestyle, Discover University, Island Living, Get Famous, Seasons, Cats and Dogs, City Living, Get Together, Get To Work. Not devoid of any supernatural content, but primarily focused on mundane stuff, despite adding aliens, mermaids, and robots (i.e. the supernatural types with the least development outside of maybe ghosts, which are basegame).
SPs: Nifty Knitting, Tiny Living, Moschino, My First Pet, Laundry Day, Toddler, Fitness, Bowling Night, Vintage Glamour, Backyard, Kids' Room, Romantic Garden, Movie Hangout, Spooky Stuff, Cool Kitchen, Perfect Patio, Luxury Party. Almost 100% mundane. Spooky stuff is maybe a little less, but it's Halloween stuff, not actual monsters.
The game packs are really the only place where the supernatural or story-based play gets any focus:
Journey to Batuu, Realm of Magic, Strangerville, Jungle Adventure, Parenthood, Vampires, Dine Out, Spa Day, Outdoor Retreat. Out of nine packs, four are completely mundane. Three have some sort of quest-based adventures, and two add new supernatural types and very small neighborhoods.
So out of like 35 packs, there are 5 that are solely devoted to either occult sims or quest-based play, so like 85% of the DLC is already mundane.
And Journey to Batuu was never going to be the "Spiral Staircase, Cars, Bunk Beds, and Freed Babies" Game Pack. All of the changes to actual gameplay and build mode have been patches that everyone gets, not game pack exclusives. Ladders are basegame. Pools and basements are basegame. Bunk beds will be too. If they ever make babies that aren't objects, that'll also be in a patch, not DLC.
Journey to Batuu isn't taking away resources from basegame improvements any more than any DLC pack does. This isn't a case where, oh, they could have put bunk beds into the game if they'd made a farming pack, but instead they made a Star Wars pack, so they couldn't do bunk beds.
But is is a case where Journey to Batuu is one of a literal handful--five!--of packs that aren't entirely or almost entirely about mundane play and therefore the sky is falling and everyone is claiming the game is ruined forever.
Having a game pack that is so heavily branded with a single franchise can be alienating for a lot of fans. I'm not a Star Wars fan, I watched the movies and think baby Yoda is cute but I couldn't tell you anything about the lore. I wouldn't buy a pack for something I don't really care about.
Real life franchises breaks immersion a bit. The Sims is supposed to be an alternative universe. It feels weird seeing real life brands, there was similar backlash for Katie Perry and Moschino stuff packs. This pack feels even stranger because it's not just items it's an entire story line. The free branded content for Star Wars for example was fine because a costume or item didn't impact gameplay and was a nice nod to the franchise if people really wanted it but could be ignored if you didn't.
The third is even though I agree laundry and knitting are boring, there were so many other themes people wanted for years including werewolves and better non-Star Wars aliens.
A better way to do this was either a stand alone Sims/Star Wars spin off game or making a space themed game pack with references to Star Wars without being solely Star Wars themed. A good example would be how Realm of Magic and Strangerville have references to Harry Potter and Stranger Things respectively while still being their own thing. (And yes I know EA has the rights to Star Wars and not the other two franchises but that doesn't change the fact it feels strange to see a full Star Wars pack)
Hm... I do not think this pack would have been better received before Seasons or University. Since all the big Expansions are out of the way, now is the time to experiment. Or that is how I see it
To those of you who have not seen Star Wars' movies but like science fiction, you might watch the first 2 trilogies, made by George Lucas, a pioneer of the series when he introduced it in 1976, I know because I went to the first showing and have seen the 5 movies following. The more recent Star Wars brand movies were not produced by Mr. Lucas, therefore has no interest to me. But my suggestion is to watch the first movie and you will know a little what this pack is about.
Even though this is a sci-fi pack, I’d feel frustrated if I was an occult player. Six years no dragons, fairies, werewolves....just a Disney commercial.
But, this is why I think it was a poor choice for a new game.
Fans have been asking for many things; but Star Wars was never on that list, even though Sci-Fi was.
Another game whose main schtick is a linear storyline with no replayability, and messes up repurposing of buildings and lots key to the storyline. Strangerville gets a lot of hate for this reason. I don't like the pack, but I love the households and the Southwestern USA themed world.
The whole theme and universe is so out of place in that in The Sims.
I wish they would communicate on the survey put out earlier in the year for what content players wanted. It was a very exciting thing at the time because it suggested we would FINALLY being seeing some added depth but it feels as though nothing came of it. They know now that this is something the community desperately wants and is passionate for but will it ever lead to anything? After 6 years having hope is getting extremely difficult
I'm pretty sure this pack wouldn't be so badly received if players had a general insight into game direction and road-map. If there was a statement like "the most popular requests for game-improvement were..., we think this could be implemented that and that way..., we will be working on this..., some of fans requests we won't implement 'cause it's not in line with our game vision. And our game vision is... Meanwhile we want to experiment with some story-telling mechanics so expect this..." In this case even those who do not like the pack would have clear expectation and just "won't buy it" as so may Maxis defenders usually advise.
At this point I think Maxis should take a look at the example of FF14. How it was a big failure in the beginning, how devs acknowledged this, apologized, worked towards its improvement and made the game one of the biggest and popular MMOs right now. Imo currents Sims PR strategy based on silence, speculation and hype is one of the worst things which could happen to this franchise. After the situation with SW GP I hope they will reconsider, discuss the problem and make a statement. 'cause at this point EA tweets like "all sims fans are so excited to play..." looks ridiculous and do not improve the situation.
Which ever answer it is, a story driven pack knocks out the chance for a different pack to be built because it took time and money from a budget, and so the life simulator is again put on a back burner. For the third time. Sorry, kids, we are too broke to improve personalities and or build up interactions to be more meaningful, or overhaul our flawed emotional system, but hey, we can afford to build Star Wars' story driven packs! We know you wanted an attraction system but you will like this story driven pack where you might play it just once much better than some old attraction system that would expand the entire game. Yes, though it's a life simulator, and attraction system is part of life in all of us, and should be in our Sims, we think you will like a story driven pack with replay value of zero much better.
I would love if it was possible to be a Jedi but I am keeping my expectations low.
I am really excited for this...mainly because I want Kylo & Rey in my game. There I said it.
Personally I wasn’t a big fan of knifty knitting, strangerville or Moschino but that’s me. Eco living also isn’t a big hit in my books...but I do like the idea behind it.
That's what I think is the root of the problem for most players. If the bugs were fixed and everything was more fleshed out players would be less passionate about an "out there" pack. Would some people still be complaining? ABSOLUTELY! Because it doesn't fit in with their normal, everyday, RL Life Sim. But I don't think there would have been nearly as much anger about it, just your normal player base who complains when we get an occult pack or those occultists complaining when we get a normal pack.
And I truly believe that the game pack leak was 100% intentional because people would immediately be able to guess/speculate what the next pack would be. I'm sure they did it to either hype those SW people up and get rumors going that may reach "real" SW fans or give the haters time to cool down and accept it before the reveal.
This isn't even to mention the limits of this actual pack. The life simulation game in TS4 is broken, in ways that have been thoroughly documented. This pack does nothing to fix those problems and adds content from a popular franchise, trying to layer it into the sims, which was supposed to be its own world. If you like Star Wars, likely you have other outlets for your Star Wars love. If you don't care about it, then what on Earth are you going to do with this pack?
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