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What does Parenthood actually change?
Onverser
Posts: 3,364 Member
I've been looking at Parenthood as it's the only Game Pack I don't have (excl JTB) and I really don't get it, I'm just confused what it actually adds?
You can do school projects and kids will make a mess with paints sometimes... What exactly else is there? There isn't even bunk beds for some reason? It goes on about improving personalities and relationships in the trailer but from what I've heard personalities are still bad even with all the packs, so I'm just confused what this pack actually adds other than a few very minor things? How do you use it in your game/what do you get from it to make it worth buying?
You can do school projects and kids will make a mess with paints sometimes... What exactly else is there? There isn't even bunk beds for some reason? It goes on about improving personalities and relationships in the trailer but from what I've heard personalities are still bad even with all the packs, so I'm just confused what this pack actually adds other than a few very minor things? How do you use it in your game/what do you get from it to make it worth buying?
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Toddlers to teens can have tantrums to mood swings. Children and teens going through certain phases at that as one of my child sims was going through a mean phase and would just constantly fuss and get into arguments with their sibling (sibling rivalry are a thing) or their parents, thus they'd usually get punished by either via time out or grounded one. Can also coach them through their moods in either talking them through it or getting them to channel it else where (like going for a jog to clear their head).
I did notice differences in the way younger sims act with the value system in place when they go a certain way (Getting bad grades adds to the way to being irresponsible for example). It really focuses more on parenting in which things can affect these sims, especially when coaxing them in certain directions be it good or bad. Here's a link to Carl's Sim guide all about the value system in parenthood and might give you some insight on the benefits of them.
https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/gamepacks/parenthood/values.php
And one for the parenting skill
https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/skills/parenthood/parenting/
:V Really overall good for people that are family players for sure.
Overall point of the pack is how parenting actually can be impactful on the sim when they get to be a young adult (because the added traits does affect the sim). It was definitely a lot more interesting in raising a young sim to see how they turn out with your help.
You can practically raise kids without directly controlling them, since you can influence them to take care of their needs, do their homework, do chores, cook and the like as well too.
It changes autonomy as their character values increases and/or decreases and also after they get the CV related traits. I noticed recently that some Sims with manners are setting the table constantly and responsible Sims do their homework and performe well at school. You will get phases that will add some moodlets and also change a little bit of autonomy. There's a lot of interactions that can lead to funny scenarios (e.g. I had Alex Goth and Mortimer eating breakfast and the context menu suggested me to "Argue about house rules" which made Alex and Mort argue repeatedly to a point that I thought the interaction bugged. Bottom line: both received an angry moodlet regarding stalemate discussion). Also parenting interactions between parents and their kids can lead to some funny situations too, mainly if you use its interactions to increase parenting skill (like scream to your kid to do homework when they are enraged by some crazy teen phase).
I don't think I have managed to fully engage with some of its features though, because the parenting skill limits you too much. Like, I never reach high enough parenting to give time outs and things like that.
Because I play rotationally I don't stop long enough with each household to really focus a lot on parenting. That's probably why this pack is not in my top 5, but there are certain things that I use often, and it feels there is more to do for toddlers, children and teens.
Oh gosh I had to mod that out 😆😆 it was a never ending train of questions from a household of teens. They would line up
Toddlers, children and teens have 5 character values which can become either a positive or negative trait when they age into young adults. These traits do impact their personalities. Responsible Sims will work hard at work and you may get a pop up asking you how they should spend their lunchbreak (go to the gym or work through the break), or what to do about an intern (assign them to coffee duty or give them an easy work task). Good mannered Sims can do a polite greeting (which gives a huge boost to the relationship) and will often set the table. My teenage Sim's manners are in range to receive the good manners trait and she's often setting the table whereas her siblings don't (their manners are not in range for good manners).
You can choose what kind of parents your Sims will be. You can decide to ignor bad behaviour, calmly repremand it, yell at your children, and even ground them. When you ground them you decide what privillage to take from them (no computer, no going out, no friends over, etc.)
Children and teens may ask an adult Sim for advice. This will result in a chance card where you decide how to respond. The school may also ring the parent (actually any playable adult in the house) and inform them of something that's happened with that child at school. You decide what the parent responds with. All chance card will raise 1 character value and lower another. As you progress through the parenting skill you get more options and can see how each option will impact the character values (high parenting skill for this one).
Teens will experience mood swings which are buffs of 50. They may become extremely sad, angry or embarrassed. This will make them enraged or mortified, but they will not die since teenagers no longer die from emotional deaths (however mods that give teens adult sim abilities may not protect your teen from this). They can wind down with classical music, go for a jog, or write in a journal to calm down.
Teens and children will go through phases that last a few sim days. A sim going through a mean streak phase will autonomously be mean to other Sims and a sim going through the loud phase will make a lot of noise.
When the Sim ages to young adult their relationshios with their relatives will have some unique descriptions. Mine all get along so I've only seen daddy's girl, Mummy's girl, World's Best Grandma, etc.
I tend to play with families. I play through the generations so this pack has added a lot for me. I really like the character values system and the associated traits, and the chance cards that impact these character values. What they do as children and how their parents raise them impacts how the child sim will turn out.
https://youtube.com/channel/UCaj9o4hycNSPy8U1Ip0OCFA/videos
As was pointed out in the response above yours, Teenagers don't die emotional deaths with Parenthood installed. So teenagers won't die from a pimple (that and breakouts are Tense, not Embarrassed...)
As for the ask advice - yes, every option raises something and lowers something else. It's a balance for what traits do you value for your kids (some traits are easier to raise than others, so I choose those.)
I mean, if you don't want to play with the pack, that's fine and your choice. I'm just pointing out where your critiques are either inaccurate or unbalanced.
Personally, I'm glad I got Parenthood. I like trying to work on my Sim kids' Empathy while not letting their Manners drop too low. I like the changes in kids behaviors as they work through their phases. I like having their parents try to help them through those moods. And I like that when they age up with the Responsible trait, their daily task is automatically done.
Do I have some annoyances with the pop-ups? Yes, especially when the school calls someone who isn't the actual parent. (Seriously, his Brother-in-law isn't the person to be calling when the teenager is in trouble.) But it's rarely to the point where it gets in the way of my fun.
Updated with Werewolf Diaries (1)
I mostly find it annoying with the children, because of the messes and the advice popups. And I don't find it adds a lot to my experience of playing the child stage, other than having the option of working towards the character values as an added goal for the child.
There's a whole discipline system that can help with the character values, but you don't really see the results until they get the bar all the way in the green. Getting the negative character values is a chore and there's no direct way the parents can influence a child towards the negative that I've seen. I would rather there was a failure state to discipline, like being too strict or too lenient would reinforce the bad behavior rather than stop it.
And every single park being a mess is...yeah. Especially you Hare Square! Least favorite park because of that.
I do feel like if I played with aging off, or even a long lifespan, I'd likely get far more out of this pack as far as the character values are concerned.
Agreed there, the skill unlocks are timed poorly. The 'find out what's wrong' and 'super efficient baby care' at the very last levels are only useful when a sim becomes a grandparent, because reaching level 10 usually takes until teen years, if you even manage to max it out (hard with just one kid, doable with two). For that reason, I've never managed to complete that one aspiration because I've never managed to enter the 'full parent mode' it speaks about.
I have my lifespan modded to somewhere between normal and long (I think it's roughly normal x1,75 - x2 based on stage, to match the ratios of natural death at age 80), and maxing 3 values goes well. 4 or 5 is a bit harder and requires both targetted effort and a bit of luck on the random events.
I also like wandering the hills.
If you make your sims study or research parenting and/or have 3-6 kids, they can get to level 10 parenting pretty quickly. It's easiest if they put in some basic work before they're parents.
I agree that getting all character value traits takes a little effort, but it's do-able on a normal lifespan if you have a sim regularly do the interactions that prompt them such as "help fix relationship", writing in the journal, and playing with the doctor toy as a child. I just don't think it's always worth bothering with.
People here have already mentioned a whole lot about the pack, but something else that really comes in handy for me are bagged meals. They keep for up to 10 hours unrefrigerated. So usually I either make them the day before or in the morning, and just send everyone off to school/work with one. This way I don't have to worry about making time for everyone to eat breakfast. Plus they get a little happy moodlet when they eat it something about "made with love" or whatever. It's cute and handy and they'll eat it automatically. And you can bag any meal, it doesn't have to be one of the sack lunches.
All in all I really love parenthood. I think it's my favorite game pack. It just adds so much more to the sims themselves I don't think I could play without it.
As an adult, due to her neg traits, she cannot keep a job. It seems like she doesn't put any effort and her progress kept diminishing until she got fired. And I've tried 3 times to get her back her criminal job. She was on level 8 because of her degree and she was leveled up in the skills needed but she kept getting fired. 😂
I think this was nice that her negative character values actually do have some consequences.
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I like playing as the parents and order the children around. If siblings age up hating each other they get a secret trait which makes them tense in each other's presence. However I believe the negative traits have been nerfed over time.
Responsibility and Manners are easy to crank up but the others are much harder (chance card answers are key).
I really enjoyed when one of my toddlers broke her brother's school project a couple of times and how the brother reacted to it with either anger or sadness. Later I made him tease and trick his little sister
I like to give diaries to some of my sims and the bagged meals are fun. My sims often take a doggy bag from a restaurant if they can't eat everything.
I think Parenthood is an okay pack and I'm still exploring it, for example I don't have many sims with character values yet.