The blatant recycling from Outdoor Retreat in this pack is bothering me. Firstly they put tents in (which were previously exclusive to OR) and then there's a neighborhood which is basically a replica of outdoor retreat...
Batuu:
It just feels like this pack is "how can we recycle existing assets to make something with minimal effort!". This neighborhood literally has the exact style of granite falls, the waterfalls, the rocks surrounding the area, the paths weaving through the world, the camping, etc etc. If you got rid of the random space things this would literally be granite falls.
Firstly, why are there so many picnic tables in a military outpost?
Secondly, that’s not even what the resistance base neighbourhood should look like. It should’ve been based on the ancient ruins in which they actually set up their base canonically, which look nothing like granite falls but more like something from Tomb Raider.
Personally I'm still not convinced about the "aliens." I'd love to be proven wrong, but... Even if the masks are animated (which is a really cool touch, don't get me wrong), I fear there might still be too much immersion breaking going on.
What I mean is... Sure you can wear the masks and pretend your Sim is an alien -- or, more accurately, 3/4 an alien. Sure the other Sims will "treat them like they're aliens" (whatever that means). But what happens when they go to take a shower and the mask pops off? They're only an alien sometimes? What about if I want to send my "alien" to Sulani for a swim? I'd hate to see how they'd look in a swimsuit, considering the "hat" only applies to certain parts of the body.
Again, I'd love to be proven wrong, but... Idk. We'll just hafta see, I guess! 🤷
(Edit...typo...urgh...)
Can we use a regular sixam alien and dress them up with the Star Wars stuff? Is that possible?
Ayy, back at it again with more of my trademark long-winded complaining! 😜
So I'm watching James Turner's playthrough of the pack, and... Well, I'm going to be going into a little detail on the missions, so I'll put them in the spoiler tag just in case anyone who still wants to play happens by~
Spoiler Alert: It's just Sims talking. It's... So far, it's literally just Sims walking...and talking. I have been desperately trying to watch videos to try and give this pack a fair shake. Believe it or not, I want to like it. I want to be excited about it, but man... It's so boring! And that's not the fault of James Turner (at least not for me; I absolutely love his videos), because in my opinion he's entertaining. I love watching his Rags to Riches challenges especially -- so much drama and chaos!
But this...I just keep...accidentally tuning it out and getting distracted by other stuff. Then I have to rewind and start over and...then...I tune it out again, so on and so on. And then, whenever it sounds like something exciting is happening, I look over and...it's text. Just text and a beautifully illustrated picture. Or! I'll hear an excited "Ooh, look at that!" And...it's an inanimate object you can scan...or a pile of scrap you can rummage through... Or, better yet, a supply crate you can "open." And by "open," I mean that your Sim walks up to it, stands in front of it, and then voila, you've got new stuff in your inventory! They couldn't even animate them opening the supply crates? Really?
So far he is playing on the side of the First Order, and the most "gameplay" I've seen is when you arrest people. And you know what all that entails? You fight the Sim (base game slap-fight style), and then you both walk to a spaceship that the "criminal" dissolves into. So far the most unique animation I've seen is when Kylo Ren gets mad at you -- he whips out his lightsaber and force-chokes you (meaning that he chokes you with The Force™, not...literally choking you lol). That's pretty funny, actually! But...I can imagine it getting real repetitive real fast.
As excited as James is about this pack, I do genuinely feel bad when I hear his disappointment with certain things. There was a moment when he saw a room that looked really cool, and he was so pumped, and then... "Can I do anything in here? No...? Okay..." Like...man, that's a shame. I genuinely hate that for him. But o' course, I don't want to put words in his mouth or anything! He definitely seems much more excited than disappointed, so that's good~
But yeah... The "gameplay" is confusing to me... 'Cause whenever I think of Star Wars, the first thing I think of is definitely those iconic scenes when they...just stood around and talked to each other. 👌
Wow! There is absolutely nothing redeeming about this game pack!
That, and the fact that the new "aliens" aren't even full-body costumes...
I won't be buying this. Not now or even when it's on sale. I'll enter giveaways, just to complete the collection, but other than that I don't see what use this pack could be for me. Like, I've never seen a single Star Wars movie. This isn't even like previous supernatural packs. With them, you could make your own story. Realm of Magic made allusions to other franchises, but I could still play out a story of my own choosing. This doesn't do that. It's a very specific franchise aimed at a very specific audience and it isolates other Sims fans. Even Strangerville added more to the game, because at least once the story was done, there was an actual world you could play in.
Recycling content and the same animations from another pack is a complete scam/rip off and shouldnt even be justified in the sims community. People need to stop giving ea excuses, they're multi billion dollar company and all they can do is give you is star wars advertisement pack with reused animations? I'm not fan either but if I was I wouldnt buy it either.
I don't like how EA recycles content either, but I don't think it's true for this particular example, nor was the Twitter OP saying that either.
I think it's the opposite. It's similar, because it's the same alien type and it's sword fighting, but it's not recycled.
That Sim's Lekku (tentacles) are not the same as the ones from JTB. Also, are they suppose to eliminate a race of aliens from the pack because they were given up for free in a patch?
Neither are the sword fight animations.
I am looking at the light saber fight from the game play trailer. It's not the same.
A sudden trip to a Galaxy Far Away to help a factions in conflict?
I still agree that this pack is a bad idea for most simmers and not the best implementation for The Sims 4.
It's strangely ironic to me that intent of this pack is such a bad fit for the game, but a perfect fit for how I intend to use it.
I won't be doing that at all.
For my sims, it's a theme park where sims get to play in the world of their favorite movie.
That fits with a life simulator because it's what people do. True it's a fiction from our world and not a made up one from The Sims, but I get to enjoy one of my favorite franchises along with my sims. The world isn't real, the aliens and humans are actors, any fakery only supports my scenario. It will be my teens and early, life-stage young adults who are sci-fi fans, enjoy cosplay, want to be in acting, or want to be stylists who will indulge in a journey to Batuu. So, the Journey to Batuu is part of a bigger story for my sims.
So that's how I am making it fit.
I do see how this is useless, or not useful for sandbox, for other simmers.
But it is a game pack and therefore niche, in this case extremely niche, and will not have broad appeal.
EA is probably counting on Disney licensing, a small number of fans from The Sims 4, and fair number of Star Wars fans who will buy into the Sims and hopefully all the packs from the TS4 library to make this profitable.
However there is one thing that really bugs me. It's all the dang rabbit holes in the scoundrels area. I thought no rabbit holes was a key feature for The Sims 4. This is immersion killing even though I am treating Galaxy's Edge as an interactive set. I want to tour those buildings and interact with them, not a user interface. Prop buildings are fine for the ones that my sims aren't interacting with in this scenario, but the others take away from the pack.
So to sum up, when I first heard of this, I thought, this is a bad idea.
But when I learned more, I saw how it would be a good fit for plans I have with a fair amount of my sims.
But that's just me and a unique scenario I have going. Other simmers have their reasons.
The timing is bad, because there are more important things TS4 needs.
I could have easily enjoyed this pack later, but my current game play is hurting from the lack of other things like seeing cars drive by while my sims are in the no-transportation underclass. Or sim personalities being underdeveloped, or the lack of police and burglars, hotels/BnB, etc.
Honestly, the implementation of NAPs with Eco-Lifestyle made me put up the game. If I were on the other side of this JTB debate,
I might have uninstalled the game by now. But I have a plan, so I continue.
Can we use a regular sixam alien and dress them up with the Star Wars stuff? Is that possible?
Assuming we've unlocked them (the JtB hats)...I hope so? Would certainly be a nice touch to dress an alien sim as a Star Wars alien! Unfortunately new players would have to additionally buy GtW to do this 😓
Wow! There is absolutely nothing redeeming about this game pack!
It does look that way. Like I've said, I like a couple of the items and the CAS, so I'd be okay with paying Stuff Pack price. But (in my opinion) this Game Pack has no gameplay to be found 🤷♀️ Not to mention the "world" makes me sad because it looks so plummin' pretty, and I just wish there was more to actually do in it.
Oh and while I'm here! Even though I typed up my own take on James Turner's LP (thus far), I highly encourage others to watch and form their own opinion~ Something that looks "boring" to me may look like lots of fun to someone else -- you may wind up feeling vastly different after watching him and others play the pack. Don't take my word for it!~
Ayy, back at it again with more of my trademark long-winded complaining! 😜
So I'm watching James Turner's playthrough of the pack, and... Well, I'm going to be going into a little detail on the missions, so I'll put them in the spoiler tag just in case anyone who still wants to play happens by~
Spoiler Alert: It's just Sims talking. It's... So far, it's literally just Sims walking...and talking. I have been desperately trying to watch videos to try and give this pack a fair shake. Believe it or not, I want to like it. I want to be excited about it, but man... It's so boring! And that's not the fault of James Turner (at least not for me; I absolutely love his videos), because in my opinion he's entertaining. I love watching his Rags to Riches challenges especially -- so much drama and chaos!
But this...I just keep...accidentally tuning it out and getting distracted by other stuff. Then I have to rewind and start over and...then...I tune it out again, so on and so on. And then, whenever it sounds like something exciting is happening, I look over and...it's text. Just text and a beautifully illustrated picture. Or! I'll hear an excited "Ooh, look at that!" And...it's an inanimate object you can scan...or a pile of scrap you can rummage through... Or, better yet, a supply crate you can "open." And by "open," I mean that your Sim walks up to it, stands in front of it, and then voila, you've got new stuff in your inventory! They couldn't even animate them opening the supply crates? Really?
So far he is playing on the side of the First Order, and the most "gameplay" I've seen is when you arrest people. And you know what all that entails? You fight the Sim (base game slap-fight style), and then you both walk to a spaceship that the "criminal" dissolves into. So far the most unique animation I've seen is when Kylo Ren gets mad at you -- he whips out his lightsaber and force-chokes you (meaning that he chokes you with The Force™, not...literally choking you lol). That's pretty funny, actually! But...I can imagine it getting real repetitive real fast.
As excited as James is about this pack, I do genuinely feel bad when I hear his disappointment with certain things. There was a moment when he saw a room that looked really cool, and he was so pumped, and then... "Can I do anything in here? No...? Okay..." Like...man, that's a shame. I genuinely hate that for him. But o' course, I don't want to put words in his mouth or anything! He definitely seems much more excited than disappointed, so that's good~
But yeah... The "gameplay" is confusing to me... 'Cause whenever I think of Star Wars, the first thing I think of is definitely those iconic scenes when they...just stood around and talked to each other. 👌
That being said, the more I see the lovely Trash Renrut stomping around in her immaculately-modeled Storm Trooper outfit in a stunning world which I know is almost totally empty, I just... Man... I'm still interested in elements of this pack. The droids look like fun, and I love a good lightsaber as much as the next guy. But for me, those two items are not worth $20. Maybe $5-$10. But I just will not pay full price for an empty world, incomplete alien skins, and pop-up text boxes.
Also watching this "gameplay" makes me question the reason our Sims can't romance Kylo or Rey. Like... Yeah, they look real busy...just...standin' there waitin' for your Sim to talk to 'em... 😬 Just admit you guys are Reylo shippers! No one'll judge ya -- it's canon!
I feel this exact same way. I was ready to get it next week, but after seeing the gameplay in the videos I might wait if I'm only going to play the missions once through to see what's up and then use it mainly for building (though it does have a pretty big BB catalogue). I might get it sooner if lockdown gets too boring, because I already have a few build ideas in mind and some stories to set in them. I still love the idea of it, I wish it were more fleshed out or at least easier to customize.
Ayy, back at it again with more of my trademark long-winded complaining! 😜
So I'm watching James Turner's playthrough of the pack, and... Well, I'm going to be going into a little detail on the missions, so I'll put them in the spoiler tag just in case anyone who still wants to play happens by~
Spoiler Alert: It's just Sims talking. It's... So far, it's literally just Sims walking...and talking. I have been desperately trying to watch videos to try and give this pack a fair shake. Believe it or not, I want to like it. I want to be excited about it, but man... It's so boring! And that's not the fault of James Turner (at least not for me; I absolutely love his videos), because in my opinion he's entertaining. I love watching his Rags to Riches challenges especially -- so much drama and chaos!
But this...I just keep...accidentally tuning it out and getting distracted by other stuff. Then I have to rewind and start over and...then...I tune it out again, so on and so on. And then, whenever it sounds like something exciting is happening, I look over and...it's text. Just text and a beautifully illustrated picture. Or! I'll hear an excited "Ooh, look at that!" And...it's an inanimate object you can scan...or a pile of scrap you can rummage through... Or, better yet, a supply crate you can "open." And by "open," I mean that your Sim walks up to it, stands in front of it, and then voila, you've got new stuff in your inventory! They couldn't even animate them opening the supply crates? Really?
So far he is playing on the side of the First Order, and the most "gameplay" I've seen is when you arrest people. And you know what all that entails? You fight the Sim (base game slap-fight style), and then you both walk to a spaceship that the "criminal" dissolves into. So far the most unique animation I've seen is when Kylo Ren gets mad at you -- he whips out his lightsaber and force-chokes you (meaning that he chokes you with The Force™, not...literally choking you lol). That's pretty funny, actually! But...I can imagine it getting real repetitive real fast.
As excited as James is about this pack, I do genuinely feel bad when I hear his disappointment with certain things. There was a moment when he saw a room that looked really cool, and he was so pumped, and then... "Can I do anything in here? No...? Okay..." Like...man, that's a shame. I genuinely hate that for him. But o' course, I don't want to put words in his mouth or anything! He definitely seems much more excited than disappointed, so that's good~
But yeah... The "gameplay" is confusing to me... 'Cause whenever I think of Star Wars, the first thing I think of is definitely those iconic scenes when they...just stood around and talked to each other. 👌
That being said, the more I see the lovely Trash Renrut stomping around in her immaculately-modeled Storm Trooper outfit in a stunning world which I know is almost totally empty, I just... Man... I'm still interested in elements of this pack. The droids look like fun, and I love a good lightsaber as much as the next guy. But for me, those two items are not worth $20. Maybe $5-$10. But I just will not pay full price for an empty world, incomplete alien skins, and pop-up text boxes.
Also watching this "gameplay" makes me question the reason our Sims can't romance Kylo or Rey. Like... Yeah, they look real busy...just...standin' there waitin' for your Sim to talk to 'em... 😬 Just admit you guys are Reylo shippers! No one'll judge ya -- it's canon!
I feel this exact same way. I was ready to get it next week, but after seeing the gameplay in the videos I might wait if I'm only going to play the missions once through to see what's up and then use it mainly for building (though it does have a pretty big BB catalogue). I might get it sooner if lockdown gets too boring, because I already have a few build ideas in mind and some stories to set in them. I still love the idea of it, I wish it were more fleshed out or at least easier to customize.
Couldn't have said it better myself! I too have stories in mind for this pack, but only one of them directly involves the missions on offer. The rest would just need it for set dressing or the items like droids and/or lightsabers. Certain parts of this pack appeal to me, but not enough to get it at full price. If there was a little more substance beyond aesthetics, I think I'd be all for it tbh 👍
That bein' said, I hope you'll post the stuff you create if you do wind up getting this pack! I'd love to see what you come up with 🤩
I am going to make a comparison to another that was not published by ea and is very successful fortnite.
In the time i took ea/maxis to create eco lifestyle that was filled with bugs fortnite had 2 major updates that are around 5GB each the first one added something that we all want in sims 4 cars and there was only 1 bug that I can remember and the second added superheroes which obviously ment super powers and they changed parts of the map all combined probably the size of an ea/maxis world
And here I was considering buying the pack on a sale...looks like it's time for the modders to step up and fix what shouldn't need fixing in the first place. ffs... -_-
Give our Vampires back their fangs!!! Reverse the Nerf!!! Occult simmers should not be shoved aside for the "realism players"! It's time Occult lovers/players started to demand equal treatment. #JusticeForOccults
So I have watched a bunch of videos and re-watched the trailers and I can't see anything that is new in terms of game play? All of the animations are re-used, the light-saber fight it from get famous the chest opening is from jungle adventure. Am I missing something? Is anything truly new?
So I have watched a bunch of videos and re-watched the trailers and I can't see anything that is new in terms of game play? All of the animations are re-used, the light-saber fight it from get famous the chest opening is from jungle adventure. Am I missing something? Is anything truly new?
Unless I’ve missed something, no It’s all reused animations but that’s what happens when EA is a small indie company with limited resources and a low budget- Wait, never mind that’s not true at all, There’s absolutely no excuse for the laziness.
So I have watched a bunch of videos and re-watched the trailers and I can't see anything that is new in terms of game play? All of the animations are re-used, the light-saber fight it from get famous the chest opening is from jungle adventure. Am I missing something? Is anything truly new?
Unless I’ve missed something, no It’s all reused animations but that’s what happens when EA is a small indie company with limited resources and a low budget- Wait, never mind that’s not true at all, There’s absolutely no excuse for the laziness.
So I have watched a bunch of videos and re-watched the trailers and I can't see anything that is new in terms of game play? All of the animations are re-used, the light-saber fight it from get famous the chest opening is from jungle adventure. Am I missing something? Is anything truly new?
There are some new things, the light saber animations are new, the soldiers have a unique walkstyle, they even gave Rey a unique voice etc.
But as Carl said in his review, it gets old, really fast, because there is nothing to do on Batuu except doing missions, so you will just do these missions over and over.
So I have watched a bunch of videos and re-watched the trailers and I can't see anything that is new in terms of game play? All of the animations are re-used, the light-saber fight it from get famous the chest opening is from jungle adventure. Am I missing something? Is anything truly new?
There are some new things, the light saber animations are new, the soldiers have a unique walkstyle, they even gave Rey a unique voice etc.
But as Carl said in his review, it gets old, really fast, because there is nothing to do on Batuu except doing missions, so you will just do these missions over and over.
I’m watching his review now, he mentioned the game made him frustrated and sent him on “a downward spiral and mood.” I wanted this pack to fail, but I’m feeling bad now that’s it’s making people feel so bad. He’s not the first one to say that this pack didn’t make them happy or have fun.
ETA: Carl’s review sounds like he’s going to throw his PC out a window and I don’t blame that man one tiny bit.
Comments
Firstly, why are there so many picnic tables in a military outpost?
Secondly, that’s not even what the resistance base neighbourhood should look like. It should’ve been based on the ancient ruins in which they actually set up their base canonically, which look nothing like granite falls but more like something from Tomb Raider.
Me too. He makes even complicated building tricks look easy!
Can we use a regular sixam alien and dress them up with the Star Wars stuff? Is that possible?
Wow! There is absolutely nothing redeeming about this game pack!
Definitely glad I've never held interest in Star Wars.
I don't like how EA recycles content either, but I don't think it's true for this particular example, nor was the Twitter OP saying that either.
I think it's the opposite. It's similar, because it's the same alien type and it's sword fighting, but it's not recycled.
That Sim's Lekku (tentacles) are not the same as the ones from JTB. Also, are they suppose to eliminate a race of aliens from the pack because they were given up for free in a patch?
Neither are the sword fight animations.
I am looking at the light saber fight from the game play trailer. It's not the same.
A sudden trip to a Galaxy Far Away to help a factions in conflict?
I still agree that this pack is a bad idea for most simmers and not the best implementation for The Sims 4.
It's strangely ironic to me that intent of this pack is such a bad fit for the game, but a perfect fit for how I intend to use it.
I won't be doing that at all.
For my sims, it's a theme park where sims get to play in the world of their favorite movie.
That fits with a life simulator because it's what people do. True it's a fiction from our world and not a made up one from The Sims, but I get to enjoy one of my favorite franchises along with my sims. The world isn't real, the aliens and humans are actors, any fakery only supports my scenario. It will be my teens and early, life-stage young adults who are sci-fi fans, enjoy cosplay, want to be in acting, or want to be stylists who will indulge in a journey to Batuu. So, the Journey to Batuu is part of a bigger story for my sims.
So that's how I am making it fit.
I do see how this is useless, or not useful for sandbox, for other simmers.
But it is a game pack and therefore niche, in this case extremely niche, and will not have broad appeal.
EA is probably counting on Disney licensing, a small number of fans from The Sims 4, and fair number of Star Wars fans who will buy into the Sims and hopefully all the packs from the TS4 library to make this profitable.
However there is one thing that really bugs me. It's all the dang rabbit holes in the scoundrels area. I thought no rabbit holes was a key feature for The Sims 4. This is immersion killing even though I am treating Galaxy's Edge as an interactive set. I want to tour those buildings and interact with them, not a user interface. Prop buildings are fine for the ones that my sims aren't interacting with in this scenario, but the others take away from the pack.
So to sum up, when I first heard of this, I thought, this is a bad idea.
But when I learned more, I saw how it would be a good fit for plans I have with a fair amount of my sims.
But that's just me and a unique scenario I have going. Other simmers have their reasons.
The timing is bad, because there are more important things TS4 needs.
I could have easily enjoyed this pack later, but my current game play is hurting from the lack of other things like seeing cars drive by while my sims are in the no-transportation underclass. Or sim personalities being underdeveloped, or the lack of police and burglars, hotels/BnB, etc.
Honestly, the implementation of NAPs with Eco-Lifestyle made me put up the game. If I were on the other side of this JTB debate,
I might have uninstalled the game by now.
I also wrote a dissertation.
It does look that way. Like I've said, I like a couple of the items and the CAS, so I'd be okay with paying Stuff Pack price. But (in my opinion) this Game Pack has no gameplay to be found 🤷♀️ Not to mention the "world" makes me sad because it looks so plummin' pretty, and I just wish there was more to actually do in it.
Oh and while I'm here! Even though I typed up my own take on James Turner's LP (thus far), I highly encourage others to watch and form their own opinion~ Something that looks "boring" to me may look like lots of fun to someone else -- you may wind up feeling vastly different after watching him and others play the pack. Don't take my word for it!~
I feel this exact same way. I was ready to get it next week, but after seeing the gameplay in the videos I might wait if I'm only going to play the missions once through to see what's up and then use it mainly for building (though it does have a pretty big BB catalogue). I might get it sooner if lockdown gets too boring, because I already have a few build ideas in mind and some stories to set in them. I still love the idea of it, I wish it were more fleshed out or at least easier to customize.
That bein' said, I hope you'll post the stuff you create if you do wind up getting this pack! I'd love to see what you come up with 🤩
In the time i took ea/maxis to create eco lifestyle that was filled with bugs fortnite had 2 major updates that are around 5GB each the first one added something that we all want in sims 4 cars and there was only 1 bug that I can remember and the second added superheroes which obviously ment super powers and they changed parts of the map all combined probably the size of an ea/maxis world
It happened.
I knew it!!!! I knew this was going to happen!! Oh my goooood.
It has begun
Shoutout to all who called it. Free townies wearing lazy alien masks for all of you!
And here I was considering buying the pack on a sale...looks like it's time for the modders to step up and fix what shouldn't need fixing in the first place. ffs... -_-
Unless I’ve missed something, no It’s all reused animations but that’s what happens when EA is a small indie company with limited resources and a low budget- Wait, never mind that’s not true at all, There’s absolutely no excuse for the laziness.
Silly EA, pretending to be poor.
There are some new things, the light saber animations are new, the soldiers have a unique walkstyle, they even gave Rey a unique voice etc.
But as Carl said in his review, it gets old, really fast, because there is nothing to do on Batuu except doing missions, so you will just do these missions over and over.
I’m watching his review now, he mentioned the game made him frustrated and sent him on “a downward spiral and mood.” I wanted this pack to fail, but I’m feeling bad now that’s it’s making people feel so bad. He’s not the first one to say that this pack didn’t make them happy or have fun.
ETA: Carl’s review sounds like he’s going to throw his PC out a window and I don’t blame that man one tiny bit.
This is a disaster.