I agree with a lot of this but Spas have become very useable with Sulani for example. You can practically live there with a few additions like a bed and better kitchen and bar on the deck, and Dine Out has improved a lot with Patches and my Sims had a very enjoyable lunch there lately in my game and in my own restaurant.
Most packs are improved by packs coming later on which enhance their use, I've found myself.
I think going forward we probably need to adjust our expectations of what exactly a particular pack is. Paranormal SP was unlike any previous stuff pack and now DHD doesn't fit into the concept of what we've come to expect from a game pack. Like @AmeliaTodd said maybe the price of design and production will determine what a pack is. It'll be interesting to see what comes with the expansion pack releasing this summer.
Yeah I truly understand how people who are not liking this pack are feeling, especially since they went and used certain words like "gameplay" and "stuff" and even if the packs were explained to have different meaning initially, it's very obvious that people would go and interpret just by the naming because the naming evokes concrete things. But underneath everything revolves around the budget.
Kinda OT: One thing is that constantly make me worried when such mishaps are happening and I see many grabbing their pitchforks is that they will get less and less bold with introducing new things and mechanics to the game, something i wouldn't want to happen. This game pack has its charm for me, it creates some (even if it's minimal) "reactability" and communication with NPC, gives some purpose to NPC. I constantly have to look up their names on wiki, that's how little they mean to meso far, so if this pack improves on that, it's a good addition to have. And as I said before I welcome building being streamlined into gameplay, it was a good decision.
Bottom line is creating all this was not on the stuff pack budget even if we take Paranormal as the golden standard.
I agree with a lot of this but Spas have become very useable with Sulani for example. You can practically live there with a few additions like a bed and better kitchen and bar on the deck, and Dine Out has improved a lot with Patches and my Sims had a very enjoyable lunch there lately in my game and in my own restaurant.
Most packs are improved by packs coming later on which enhance their use, I've found myself.
I noticed that too! There were gameplay I really had no interest in or though of as useful ones until another pack would come and change that.
Okay, let me put it this way - Does this hold up to a Game Pack? ANY Game Pack?
It feels sort of like 2 stuff packs jammed together.
I can't believe DHD is a pack of the same development budget, size, and cost (to the player) as packs like Strangerville, Realm of Magic, Vampires and Journey to Baatuu. DHD has no new world, and almost no new animations.
I wonder if bunkbeds were originally designed for this pack, and then released early for free for positive PR and to avoid complaints about EA being greedy. It would explain why the animation is the same as the "crawl onto a sectional sofa" animation, and why they were released without full functionality (in terms of object placement beneath the bed).
It is not a game pack. It is a stuff pack. The company just bumped it up to make more money IMO. They know most people purchase when it is on sale, so they want to ensure they get the full SP revenue for this pack.
There are a lot of nice build items in the pack. I like the additional features, two of which were pushed to base game for free (bunk bed slots and likes & dislikes). I really wish they would've made more male CAS items, especially since this is a builder pack, there was a great opportunity for more shoes, hats, outfits that were related to building as well as nice outfits for the reveal party.
I'm not going to purchase it, unless it was like $5 or less or someone gifted it to me. But I can see where folks can have some fun with the pack even though the career is not all that was advertised, at least from Carl's review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pNcl2-xHIo
wocka wocka wockaWho gave that puppy asparagus?please do not send me private messages - they creep me out 🤢🤮😱
Okay, let me put it this way - Does this hold up to a Game Pack? ANY Game Pack?
Pick a Game Pack at random. Vampires. Dine Out. Jungle Adventure. Three radically different packs. Dream Home Decorator doesn't stand up to their content. Its gameplay is based around two things - the Build Mode and the new Likes and Dislikes system, which is BASE GAME - Sims seem to base their appreciaton on whether they Like the items in the room, or Dislike them.
To be worthwhile, Dream Home Decorator really needed a new world.
(Disclaimer: I'm really fine with people wanting more out of this pack, also I like all the below packs for various reasons)
Ok, just for the argument sake:
Outdoor retreat has a whole world locked under vacation mechanic, went there for vacation once, aside from my sim getting hit twice by a lighting, nothing interesting happened, never used the gameplay again the way it is meant to be used. Can't even use the world it came with unless I'm on vacation.
Spa day has four or five intractable objects and a new lot type, sure it's reusable but also not the peak of gameplay.
Jungle Adventure stands slightly better than Outdoor retreat due to amount of stuff it comes with and a more outlandish quest, always if you like to play in a vacation world.
Strangerville got massively criticized for having the player to repeat same thing over and over again with new save (and that quest plus one fairly standard career is the only gameplay it has.)
Vampires have a new life state with very underdeveloped rpg leveling system as it's only gameplay (let's not even go into the miserable state it went after the nerfing), the only reason it stands solidly on its own is because vampires have a strong lore outside of the game and most players are familiar with it, plus it gave some bb variety. Strip it of that and how many vampires will you have fun leveling over and over again and how many garlic wreaths are you going to make (in a world where vampires don't even visit you anymore)?
RoM fairs better than Vampires in some sense because there is an additional secret world to it and NPCs that take active roles in your day to day life (not nerfed unlike vampires)
Journey to Batuu, too ambitious for its budget, and a bit weird choice (again locked as vacation world). From and rpg point of view very poor gameplay design.
Dine out only holds out if you like to build and visit restaurants (since people are saying that this pack is only good if you like to build, and it's a completely valid argument, but it can be said for many other things as well.)
Out of all of them, the Parenhood is the only one with good balance, so you see there are problems with everything if one is willing to go there.
So yes, it does hold to previous packs. Could it be more? Sure, like everything else.
You are bringing the like and dislike system, which is something I wanted to address for a while. There is no such thing as free base updates, Likes and Dislikes were getting developed to be included into this pack, same with bunk beds (we clearly got an early access) the side effect of it was that we got free updates. Same things happened with scared moodlet, Paranormal pack wouldn't be the same if sims would just get tense. So while it doesn't work exactly in direct correlation I imagine, some of budget do go to the free updates (the people at Maxis don't work for free, the money has to come and be allocated in some way)
You left out all of the other components these packs provided like the new traits, new aspirations, new lot traits, new lot types, new skills, new harvestables/collectibles, etc. that these packs introduced on top of what you did point out. These additions matter in this entire conversation because it shows the standard that the previous GPs have set.
DHD doesn’t include anything new aside from a career and the B/B and CAS. That’s why it’s most comparable to DO which also has just the new lot type plus new career of restaurant owner plus it’s B/B and CAS. But with that being said, between owning a restaurant and decorating a home, only one of those was new to the game.
No I am not buying this pack since it far to little gp to be interesting for me, maybe, maybe on sale. But I also has a fear regarding the game play that is in this pack, I play rotaionally jumping from one household to the other. Many of my Sims are supposed to have some sort of relationship, best friends, former lovers, friends parents etc. Sims have a limited memory for those who they know, going around and chatting with Sims will I guess replace all thier friends, enemies and other important relationships with Sims who want their house renovated.
The Paranormal SP wasn't even the first stuff pack to introduce a new career. Moschino SP anyone? I actually forgot about it since I didn't buy it, but we've had 2 stuff packs now that have introduced careers.
The ONLY thing I can see that, in the eyes of the developers, would push this into counting as a game pack, is the amount of new assets. Which, according to this thread, isn't even as much as we've gotten with other game packs! But the team has said multiple times in the past that the reason we do not often see new full kitchens/cabinets is because of how resource-intensive they are to create. So I feel pretty safe in assuming that the reason they felt this pack qualified as a game pack over a stuff pack, is because we got not one but TWO new kitchens, two modular sofas, and modular shelving...
Which... I think is unacceptable tbh. Yes, I understand that these types of items take a whole lot of resources. But to have that justify this pack as a game pack?? 😬😬 It's gonna be a yikes from me... They couldn't even make them look different. Everything in this pack has a mid-century modern look to it. In a pack about interior design? I feel like there should've been a lot more variety in style.
Even just including a Vampires GP sized world I think would've been enough to justify game pack price. They could've filled it with homes that needed renovating! And lots of people are running out of room in their saves. But we couldn't even get that much...
Have you guys watched the "Big" reveal yet? I saw it in a stream and it's basically a social event where you show the clients the new stuff. All it involves is the clients closing their eyes, using an animation that looks like an amateur mod made it, and then open their eyes and do this weird facial expression while you are watching a slideshow of the before and after pictures.
That's it, just a reaction from the sims and a slideshow that looks like a windows slideshow.
Now keep in mind this is one of the 3 "main gameplay features" of the pack. I'm almost certain this pack has less animations than the Paranormal stuff pack. Not to mention the amount of bugs found by the Game Changers already before the world played it.
Okay, let me put it this way - Does this hold up to a Game Pack? ANY Game Pack?
Pick a Game Pack at random. Vampires. Dine Out. Jungle Adventure. Three radically different packs. Dream Home Decorator doesn't stand up to their content. Its gameplay is based around two things - the Build Mode and the new Likes and Dislikes system, which is BASE GAME - Sims seem to base their appreciaton on whether they Like the items in the room, or Dislike them.
To be worthwhile, Dream Home Decorator really needed a new world.
(Disclaimer: I'm really fine with people wanting more out of this pack, also I like all the below packs for various reasons)
Ok, just for the argument sake:
Outdoor retreat has a whole world locked under vacation mechanic, went there for vacation once, aside from my sim getting hit twice by a lighting, nothing interesting happened, never used the gameplay again the way it is meant to be used. Can't even use the world it came with unless I'm on vacation.
Spa day has four or five intractable objects and a new lot type, sure it's reusable but also not the peak of gameplay.
Jungle Adventure stands slightly better than Outdoor retreat due to amount of stuff it comes with and a more outlandish quest, always if you like to play in a vacation world.
Strangerville got massively criticized for having the player to repeat same thing over and over again with new save (and that quest plus one fairly standard career is the only gameplay it has.)
Vampires have a new life state with very underdeveloped rpg leveling system as it's only gameplay (let's not even go into the miserable state it went after the nerfing), the only reason it stands solidly on its own is because vampires have a strong lore outside of the game and most players are familiar with it, plus it gave some bb variety. Strip it of that and how many vampires will you have fun leveling over and over again and how many garlic wreaths are you going to make (in a world where vampires don't even visit you anymore)?
RoM fairs better than Vampires in some sense because there is an additional secret world to it and NPCs that take active roles in your day to day life (not nerfed unlike vampires)
Journey to Batuu, too ambitious for its budget, and a bit weird choice (again locked as vacation world). From and rpg point of view very poor gameplay design.
Dine out only holds out if you like to build and visit restaurants (since people are saying that this pack is only good if you like to build, and it's a completely valid argument, but it can be said for many other things as well.)
Out of all of them, the Parenhood is the only one with good balance, so you see there are problems with everything if one is willing to go there.
So yes, it does hold to previous packs. Could it be more? Sure, like everything else.
You are bringing the like and dislike system, which is something I wanted to address for a while. There is no such thing as free base updates, Likes and Dislikes were getting developed to be included into this pack, same with bunk beds (we clearly got an early access) the side effect of it was that we got free updates. Same things happened with scared moodlet, Paranormal pack wouldn't be the same if sims would just get tense. So while it doesn't work exactly in direct correlation I imagine, some of budget do go to the free updates (the people at Maxis don't work for free, the money has to come and be allocated in some way)
You left out all of the other components these packs provided like the new traits, new aspirations, new lot traits, new lot types, new skills, new harvestables/collectibles, etc. that these packs introduced on top of what you did point out. These additions matter in this entire conversation because it shows the standard that the previous GPs have set.
DHD doesn’t include anything new aside from a career and the B/B and CAS. That’s why it’s most comparable to DO which also has just the new lot type plus new career of restaurant owner plus it’s B/B and CAS. But with that being said, between owning a restaurant and decorating a home, only one of those was new to the game.
I was talking about the major features of the gameplay of those packs. The collectibles locked behind of a vacation world isn't all that, couple new dishes again isn't peak of gameplay. Couple extra fishes and a glowing tree doesn't really make the gameplay.
In reality if you start to compare each one of them to each other without any bias you will see quite a bit of variety in this standard you are talking about, some have more of this, other have more of that, they did however created a pattern that build an expectation and by reactions that I keep seeing over these past 3 years I have the impression that these expectations were never met, so it's kinda amusing right now to me to see people bringing previous packs as the greatest achievement in sims.
But the point isn't about that. The budget allocated to DHD ended up bigger than the one of a stuff pack, that's the issue here. Even if the gameplay existed before, I'm sure it didn't took couple button clicks to make it work in the live mode. The gameplay is far more complex than what we have seen from stuff level budget packs. It's not the same to have program couple intractable objects, throw in couple collectables (while using an already existing systems), a lot type and build a career that requires more complex interactions from NPC. There is a reason why Dine Out is so bare bones. It had similar complexity. Also as I've said, it looks like quite a bit budget went into developing the like dislike system (even though the majority of it is offered for free, can you imagine the reaction if it wasn't?), another share of budget went to bunk beds and another to the sectionals (and also that clipping system which again is now base game but the main requirement for DHD functionality) in addition to developing all that BB (only JA can match it and not by much because if you add all the sectional pieces and the two kitchen it amount to 177 pieces vs 184 JA has).
There are issues with this game pack, there is an issue with sims4 marketing, but I don't really see how this pack could ever be in the stuff pack range.
Okay, let me put it this way - Does this hold up to a Game Pack? ANY Game Pack?
Pick a Game Pack at random. Vampires. Dine Out. Jungle Adventure. Three radically different packs. Dream Home Decorator doesn't stand up to their content. Its gameplay is based around two things - the Build Mode and the new Likes and Dislikes system, which is BASE GAME - Sims seem to base their appreciaton on whether they Like the items in the room, or Dislike them.
To be worthwhile, Dream Home Decorator really needed a new world.
(Disclaimer: I'm really fine with people wanting more out of this pack, also I like all the below packs for various reasons)
Ok, just for the argument sake:
Outdoor retreat has a whole world locked under vacation mechanic, went there for vacation once, aside from my sim getting hit twice by a lighting, nothing interesting happened, never used the gameplay again the way it is meant to be used. Can't even use the world it came with unless I'm on vacation.
Spa day has four or five intractable objects and a new lot type, sure it's reusable but also not the peak of gameplay.
Jungle Adventure stands slightly better than Outdoor retreat due to amount of stuff it comes with and a more outlandish quest, always if you like to play in a vacation world.
Strangerville got massively criticized for having the player to repeat same thing over and over again with new save (and that quest plus one fairly standard career is the only gameplay it has.)
Vampires have a new life state with very underdeveloped rpg leveling system as it's only gameplay (let's not even go into the miserable state it went after the nerfing), the only reason it stands solidly on its own is because vampires have a strong lore outside of the game and most players are familiar with it, plus it gave some bb variety. Strip it of that and how many vampires will you have fun leveling over and over again and how many garlic wreaths are you going to make (in a world where vampires don't even visit you anymore)?
RoM fairs better than Vampires in some sense because there is an additional secret world to it and NPCs that take active roles in your day to day life (not nerfed unlike vampires)
Journey to Batuu, too ambitious for its budget, and a bit weird choice (again locked as vacation world). From and rpg point of view very poor gameplay design.
Dine out only holds out if you like to build and visit restaurants (since people are saying that this pack is only good if you like to build, and it's a completely valid argument, but it can be said for many other things as well.)
Out of all of them, the Parenhood is the only one with good balance, so you see there are problems with everything if one is willing to go there.
So yes, it does hold to previous packs. Could it be more? Sure, like everything else.
You are bringing the like and dislike system, which is something I wanted to address for a while. There is no such thing as free base updates, Likes and Dislikes were getting developed to be included into this pack, same with bunk beds (we clearly got an early access) the side effect of it was that we got free updates. Same things happened with scared moodlet, Paranormal pack wouldn't be the same if sims would just get tense. So while it doesn't work exactly in direct correlation I imagine, some of budget do go to the free updates (the people at Maxis don't work for free, the money has to come and be allocated in some way)
You left out all of the other components these packs provided like the new traits, new aspirations, new lot traits, new lot types, new skills, new harvestables/collectibles, etc. that these packs introduced on top of what you did point out. These additions matter in this entire conversation because it shows the standard that the previous GPs have set.
DHD doesn’t include anything new aside from a career and the B/B and CAS. That’s why it’s most comparable to DO which also has just the new lot type plus new career of restaurant owner plus it’s B/B and CAS. But with that being said, between owning a restaurant and decorating a home, only one of those was new to the game.
I was talking about the major features of the gameplay of those packs. The collectibles locked behind of a vacation world isn't all that, couple new dishes again isn't peak of gameplay. Couple extra fishes and a glowing tree doesn't really make the gameplay.
In reality if you start to compare each one of them to each other without any bias you will see quite a bit of variety in this standard you are talking about, some have more of this, other have more of that, they did however created a pattern that build an expectation and by reactions that I keep seeing over these past 3 years I have the impression that these expectations were never met, so it's kinda amusing right now to me to see people bringing previous packs as the greatest achievement in sims.
But the point isn't about that. The budget allocated to DHD ended up bigger than the one of a stuff pack, that's the issue here. Even if the gameplay existed before, I'm sure it didn't took couple button clicks to make it work in the live mode. The gameplay is far more complex than what we have seen from stuff level budget packs. It's not the same to have program couple intractable objects, throw in couple collectables (while using an already existing systems), a lot type and build a career that requires more complex interactions from NPC. There is a reason why Dine Out is so bare bones. It had similar complexity. Also as I've said, it looks like quite a bit budget went into developing the like dislike system (even though the majority of it is offered for free, can you imagine the reaction if it wasn't?), another share of budget went to bunk beds and another to the sectionals (and also that clipping system which again is now base game but the main requirement for DHD functionality) in addition to developing all that BB (only JA can match it and not by much because if you add all the sectional pieces and the two kitchen it amount to 177 pieces vs 184 JA has).
There are issues with this game pack, there is an issue with sims4 marketing, but I don't really see how this pack could ever be in the stuff pack range.
My point is that the other packs offer these new mechanics or life states on top of all of these extras. All of these extras help to expand gameplay beyond just the face value of the pack because they are sandbox tools.
The reality is that I have compared the packs against one another without bias and have come to understand the commonalities they share and all of their own differences. To bring up previous packs is not to try to present them as the height of achievement, but to bring logic and reasoning into a discussion where people assume it’s all personal bias.
I am not arguing that DHD is better as a Stuff Pack, because I’ve also looked at the contents of SPs and concluded that this goes beyond the scope of a SP. I am saying as a GP, its sandbox value is weak.
And again, the fact that DHD, a Build pack, still has less B/B than JA, an adventure pack, is not a convincing argument to me. But it is what it is.
I'm already afraid of the upcoming expansion pack... i will just say this: please review it a hundred times before releasing. We can wait.
That'd be nice but more realistically on the livestream:
"Introducing the Sims 4 farming! Look at these adorable chick- oh no where are their heads?! Why are the cows bright red with question marks all over them?? Let's send my sim to sit on a horse instead - oh no my sim can't reach it! Ahem lets turn our attention to the barn! How cute. Look at this pretty sink"
Okay, let me put it this way - Does this hold up to a Game Pack? ANY Game Pack?
Pick a Game Pack at random. Vampires. Dine Out. Jungle Adventure. Three radically different packs. Dream Home Decorator doesn't stand up to their content. Its gameplay is based around two things - the Build Mode and the new Likes and Dislikes system, which is BASE GAME - Sims seem to base their appreciaton on whether they Like the items in the room, or Dislike them.
To be worthwhile, Dream Home Decorator really needed a new world.
(Disclaimer: I'm really fine with people wanting more out of this pack, also I like all the below packs for various reasons)
Ok, just for the argument sake:
Outdoor retreat has a whole world locked under vacation mechanic, went there for vacation once, aside from my sim getting hit twice by a lighting, nothing interesting happened, never used the gameplay again the way it is meant to be used. Can't even use the world it came with unless I'm on vacation.
Spa day has four or five intractable objects and a new lot type, sure it's reusable but also not the peak of gameplay.
Jungle Adventure stands slightly better than Outdoor retreat due to amount of stuff it comes with and a more outlandish quest, always if you like to play in a vacation world.
Strangerville got massively criticized for having the player to repeat same thing over and over again with new save (and that quest plus one fairly standard career is the only gameplay it has.)
Vampires have a new life state with very underdeveloped rpg leveling system as it's only gameplay (let's not even go into the miserable state it went after the nerfing), the only reason it stands solidly on its own is because vampires have a strong lore outside of the game and most players are familiar with it, plus it gave some bb variety. Strip it of that and how many vampires will you have fun leveling over and over again and how many garlic wreaths are you going to make (in a world where vampires don't even visit you anymore)?
RoM fairs better than Vampires in some sense because there is an additional secret world to it and NPCs that take active roles in your day to day life (not nerfed unlike vampires)
Journey to Batuu, too ambitious for its budget, and a bit weird choice (again locked as vacation world). From and rpg point of view very poor gameplay design.
Dine out only holds out if you like to build and visit restaurants (since people are saying that this pack is only good if you like to build, and it's a completely valid argument, but it can be said for many other things as well.)
Out of all of them, the Parenhood is the only one with good balance, so you see there are problems with everything if one is willing to go there.
So yes, it does hold to previous packs. Could it be more? Sure, like everything else.
You are bringing the like and dislike system, which is something I wanted to address for a while. There is no such thing as free base updates, Likes and Dislikes were getting developed to be included into this pack, same with bunk beds (we clearly got an early access) the side effect of it was that we got free updates. Same things happened with scared moodlet, Paranormal pack wouldn't be the same if sims would just get tense. So while it doesn't work exactly in direct correlation I imagine, some of budget do go to the free updates (the people at Maxis don't work for free, the money has to come and be allocated in some way)
You left out all of the other components these packs provided like the new traits, new aspirations, new lot traits, new lot types, new skills, new harvestables/collectibles, etc. that these packs introduced on top of what you did point out. These additions matter in this entire conversation because it shows the standard that the previous GPs have set.
DHD doesn’t include anything new aside from a career and the B/B and CAS. That’s why it’s most comparable to DO which also has just the new lot type plus new career of restaurant owner plus it’s B/B and CAS. But with that being said, between owning a restaurant and decorating a home, only one of those was new to the game.
I was talking about the major features of the gameplay of those packs. The collectibles locked behind of a vacation world isn't all that, couple new dishes again isn't peak of gameplay. Couple extra fishes and a glowing tree doesn't really make the gameplay.
In reality if you start to compare each one of them to each other without any bias you will see quite a bit of variety in this standard you are talking about, some have more of this, other have more of that, they did however created a pattern that build an expectation and by reactions that I keep seeing over these past 3 years I have the impression that these expectations were never met, so it's kinda amusing right now to me to see people bringing previous packs as the greatest achievement in sims.
But the point isn't about that. The budget allocated to DHD ended up bigger than the one of a stuff pack, that's the issue here. Even if the gameplay existed before, I'm sure it didn't took couple button clicks to make it work in the live mode. The gameplay is far more complex than what we have seen from stuff level budget packs. It's not the same to have program couple intractable objects, throw in couple collectables (while using an already existing systems), a lot type and build a career that requires more complex interactions from NPC. There is a reason why Dine Out is so bare bones. It had similar complexity. Also as I've said, it looks like quite a bit budget went into developing the like dislike system (even though the majority of it is offered for free, can you imagine the reaction if it wasn't?), another share of budget went to bunk beds and another to the sectionals (and also that clipping system which again is now base game but the main requirement for DHD functionality) in addition to developing all that BB (only JA can match it and not by much because if you add all the sectional pieces and the two kitchen it amount to 177 pieces vs 184 JA has).
There are issues with this game pack, there is an issue with sims4 marketing, but I don't really see how this pack could ever be in the stuff pack range.
My point is that the other packs offer these new mechanics or life states on top of all of these extras. All of these extras help to expand gameplay beyond just the face value of the pack because they are sandbox tools.
The reality is that I have compared the packs against one another without bias and have come to understand the commonalities they share and all of their own differences. To bring up previous packs is not to try to present them as the height of achievement, but to bring logic and reasoning into a discussion where people assume it’s all personal bias.
I am not arguing that DHD is better as a Stuff Pack, because I’ve also looked at the contents of SPs and concluded that this goes beyond the scope of a SP. I am saying as a GP, its sandbox value is weak.
And again, the fact that DHD, a Build pack, still has less B/B than JA, an adventure pack, is not a convincing argument to me. But it is what it is.
The height of achievement was more in line of the general reactions I'm seeing in these past days.
While your point is to say that the other packs offer these new mechanics or life states on top of all of these extras, what I'm saying is that a) in many cases it's not new mechanics, system developed for Vampires was used for Mages for example b) is often very simple (see Spa Day) c) don't have much replayability to the point of being considered annoyance (Strangerville) d) even if include a wold, it's a world locked behind the vacation wall which is not the same as freely available one for game purposes (all the vacation worlds packs). JA gameplay isn't very complex, reuses mechanics from Outdoor retreat and other existing mechanics, so it balances it by adding many items and collectables and tries to make its theme interesting. (it's not a badly made pack) DHD uses its resources elsewhere, the one big issue is that it uses its resources in a way a user may not appreciate them and this is a serious issue from development point of view. My point has always been that DHD doesn't fit the scope of a Stuff pack (to which we both agree, right?) and since they opted to the neat little boxes and gimmicks the next thing was the game pack category (because its complexity in development fits there even if the user might not appreciate it in the end result) You went and call it build pack exactly because it doesn't fit the neat little boxes that the marketing strategy created. We all love our nice little neat boxes until we don't.
And yes as a build pack i feel that it should have a lot more build and buy items (fridge, toddler stuff, even baby stuff even though the baby is an object) and better animations ( although I do appreciate the mini oven animations that seems to be new) and they also really should have fixed the stairs bug for this pack, if not for this pack then when? There are issues, but I do see why it's in the category that it is.
It is not a game pack. It is a stuff pack. The company just bumped it up to make more money IMO. They know most people purchase when it is on sale, so they want to ensure they get the full SP revenue for this pack.
There are a lot of nice build items in the pack. I like the additional features, two of which were pushed to base game for free (bunk bed slots and likes & dislikes). I really wish they would've made more male CAS items, especially since this is a builder pack, there was a great opportunity for more shoes, hats, outfits that were related to building as well as nice outfits for the reveal party.
I'm not going to purchase it, unless it was like $5 or less or someone gifted it to me. But I can see where folks can have some fun with the pack even though the career is not all that was advertised, at least from Carl's review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pNcl2-xHIo
I agree as they threw in one career to make it barely an GP in which they could have done one or two things 1) make an GTW EP #2 with more careers than one or 2) incorporate it with GTW somehow for it looks to work perfectly with GTW. EA/Maxis choose poor timing to sell this pack or it was not well thought out or it was for an quick money grab as most will support them regardless of what they thought and that is my opinion. When I heard about this I quickly thought poor planning and timing.
Omen by HP Intel®️ Core™️ i9- 12900K W/ RGB Liquid Cooler 32GB Nvidia RTX 3080 10Gb ASUS Ultra-Wide 34" Curved Monitor. Omen By HP Intel® Core™ i7-12800HX 32 GB Nvidia 3070 Ti 8 GB 17.3 Screen
I just went to order the Game pack, and I am getting not 1 but 2 Prices on it, one for 19.99 US, but when I click on checkout they want Me to pay 39.98 for it, I am so not going to pay overprice for this game pack, so which is it, 19.99 Us or 39.98 Us?
I'm definitely not happy with what they consider a "Game Pack" now.
I used to really enjoy Game Packs because they guaranteed interesting gameplay, like with Parenthood or Dine Out. Now, it's all stuff and no gameplay- not what I would consider worth $20. And add to that, filled with bugs!
I really am worried about them changing the definitions of the different pack types. What's next? The next Expansion Pack may only have 1 new world and absolutely NO gameplay.
And I can guarantee these new packs won't be worth what their making us pay...
Okay, let me put it this way - Does this hold up to a Game Pack? ANY Game Pack?
Pick a Game Pack at random. Vampires. Dine Out. Jungle Adventure. Three radically different packs. Dream Home Decorator doesn't stand up to their content. Its gameplay is based around two things - the Build Mode and the new Likes and Dislikes system, which is BASE GAME - Sims seem to base their appreciaton on whether they Like the items in the room, or Dislike them.
To be worthwhile, Dream Home Decorator really needed a new world.
(Disclaimer: I'm really fine with people wanting more out of this pack, also I like all the below packs for various reasons)
Ok, just for the argument sake:
Outdoor retreat has a whole world locked under vacation mechanic, went there for vacation once, aside from my sim getting hit twice by a lighting, nothing interesting happened, never used the gameplay again the way it is meant to be used. Can't even use the world it came with unless I'm on vacation.
Spa day has four or five intractable objects and a new lot type, sure it's reusable but also not the peak of gameplay.
Jungle Adventure stands slightly better than Outdoor retreat due to amount of stuff it comes with and a more outlandish quest, always if you like to play in a vacation world.
Strangerville got massively criticized for having the player to repeat same thing over and over again with new save (and that quest plus one fairly standard career is the only gameplay it has.)
Vampires have a new life state with very underdeveloped rpg leveling system as it's only gameplay (let's not even go into the miserable state it went after the nerfing), the only reason it stands solidly on its own is because vampires have a strong lore outside of the game and most players are familiar with it, plus it gave some bb variety. Strip it of that and how many vampires will you have fun leveling over and over again and how many garlic wreaths are you going to make (in a world where vampires don't even visit you anymore)?
RoM fairs better than Vampires in some sense because there is an additional secret world to it and NPCs that take active roles in your day to day life (not nerfed unlike vampires)
Journey to Batuu, too ambitious for its budget, and a bit weird choice (again locked as vacation world). From and rpg point of view very poor gameplay design.
Dine out only holds out if you like to build and visit restaurants (since people are saying that this pack is only good if you like to build, and it's a completely valid argument, but it can be said for many other things as well.)
Out of all of them, the Parenhood is the only one with good balance, so you see there are problems with everything if one is willing to go there.
So yes, it does hold to previous packs. Could it be more? Sure, like everything else.
You are bringing the like and dislike system, which is something I wanted to address for a while. There is no such thing as free base updates, Likes and Dislikes were getting developed to be included into this pack, same with bunk beds (we clearly got an early access) the side effect of it was that we got free updates. Same things happened with scared moodlet, Paranormal pack wouldn't be the same if sims would just get tense. So while it doesn't work exactly in direct correlation I imagine, some of budget do go to the free updates (the people at Maxis don't work for free, the money has to come and be allocated in some way)
You sold the packs pretty short, let me fix that for you.
Outdoor retreat:
New world
Vacation system
New collectables
New skill
New aspiration
New reward trait
3 new npcs, bear, hermit and ranger.
Spa day:
New Lot type
New skill
Two new npcs, massager and yoga instructor.
New death
Lots of new gameplay objects, massage chair, incense, yoga, meditation stool, sauna etc all effect gameplay.
Jungle adventure:
New world
Vacation system
New death
New skill
New collectibles
New aspiration
New life state (skeletons)
New npcs.
I could keep going, buts it's pretty clear by now my point, that you undersold these packs and what they offer to sell you point.
Now let's do dream home:
New career
One new like category, furniture style.
Buy mode items (every gamepack comes with this, this isn't unique)
I really am worried about them changing the definitions of the different pack types. What's next? The next Expansion Pack may only have 1 new world and absolutely NO gameplay.
They already did that and it's called Island Living jk jk
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
Okay, let me put it this way - Does this hold up to a Game Pack? ANY Game Pack?
Pick a Game Pack at random. Vampires. Dine Out. Jungle Adventure. Three radically different packs. Dream Home Decorator doesn't stand up to their content. Its gameplay is based around two things - the Build Mode and the new Likes and Dislikes system, which is BASE GAME - Sims seem to base their appreciaton on whether they Like the items in the room, or Dislike them.
To be worthwhile, Dream Home Decorator really needed a new world.
(Disclaimer: I'm really fine with people wanting more out of this pack, also I like all the below packs for various reasons)
Ok, just for the argument sake:
Outdoor retreat has a whole world locked under vacation mechanic, went there for vacation once, aside from my sim getting hit twice by a lighting, nothing interesting happened, never used the gameplay again the way it is meant to be used. Can't even use the world it came with unless I'm on vacation.
Spa day has four or five intractable objects and a new lot type, sure it's reusable but also not the peak of gameplay.
Jungle Adventure stands slightly better than Outdoor retreat due to amount of stuff it comes with and a more outlandish quest, always if you like to play in a vacation world.
Strangerville got massively criticized for having the player to repeat same thing over and over again with new save (and that quest plus one fairly standard career is the only gameplay it has.)
Vampires have a new life state with very underdeveloped rpg leveling system as it's only gameplay (let's not even go into the miserable state it went after the nerfing), the only reason it stands solidly on its own is because vampires have a strong lore outside of the game and most players are familiar with it, plus it gave some bb variety. Strip it of that and how many vampires will you have fun leveling over and over again and how many garlic wreaths are you going to make (in a world where vampires don't even visit you anymore)?
RoM fairs better than Vampires in some sense because there is an additional secret world to it and NPCs that take active roles in your day to day life (not nerfed unlike vampires)
Journey to Batuu, too ambitious for its budget, and a bit weird choice (again locked as vacation world). From and rpg point of view very poor gameplay design.
Dine out only holds out if you like to build and visit restaurants (since people are saying that this pack is only good if you like to build, and it's a completely valid argument, but it can be said for many other things as well.)
Out of all of them, the Parenhood is the only one with good balance, so you see there are problems with everything if one is willing to go there.
So yes, it does hold to previous packs. Could it be more? Sure, like everything else.
You are bringing the like and dislike system, which is something I wanted to address for a while. There is no such thing as free base updates, Likes and Dislikes were getting developed to be included into this pack, same with bunk beds (we clearly got an early access) the side effect of it was that we got free updates. Same things happened with scared moodlet, Paranormal pack wouldn't be the same if sims would just get tense. So while it doesn't work exactly in direct correlation I imagine, some of budget do go to the free updates (the people at Maxis don't work for free, the money has to come and be allocated in some way)
You left out all of the other components these packs provided like the new traits, new aspirations, new lot traits, new lot types, new skills, new harvestables/collectibles, etc. that these packs introduced on top of what you did point out. These additions matter in this entire conversation because it shows the standard that the previous GPs have set.
DHD doesn’t include anything new aside from a career and the B/B and CAS. That’s why it’s most comparable to DO which also has just the new lot type plus new career of restaurant owner plus it’s B/B and CAS. But with that being said, between owning a restaurant and decorating a home, only one of those was new to the game.
I was talking about the major features of the gameplay of those packs. The collectibles locked behind of a vacation world isn't all that, couple new dishes again isn't peak of gameplay. Couple extra fishes and a glowing tree doesn't really make the gameplay.
In reality if you start to compare each one of them to each other without any bias you will see quite a bit of variety in this standard you are talking about, some have more of this, other have more of that, they did however created a pattern that build an expectation and by reactions that I keep seeing over these past 3 years I have the impression that these expectations were never met, so it's kinda amusing right now to me to see people bringing previous packs as the greatest achievement in sims.
But the point isn't about that. The budget allocated to DHD ended up bigger than the one of a stuff pack, that's the issue here. Even if the gameplay existed before, I'm sure it didn't took couple button clicks to make it work in the live mode. The gameplay is far more complex than what we have seen from stuff level budget packs. It's not the same to have program couple intractable objects, throw in couple collectables (while using an already existing systems), a lot type and build a career that requires more complex interactions from NPC. There is a reason why Dine Out is so bare bones. It had similar complexity. Also as I've said, it looks like quite a bit budget went into developing the like dislike system (even though the majority of it is offered for free, can you imagine the reaction if it wasn't?), another share of budget went to bunk beds and another to the sectionals (and also that clipping system which again is now base game but the main requirement for DHD functionality) in addition to developing all that BB (only JA can match it and not by much because if you add all the sectional pieces and the two kitchen it amount to 177 pieces vs 184 JA has).
There are issues with this game pack, there is an issue with sims4 marketing, but I don't really see how this pack could ever be in the stuff pack range.
My point is that the other packs offer these new mechanics or life states on top of all of these extras. All of these extras help to expand gameplay beyond just the face value of the pack because they are sandbox tools.
The reality is that I have compared the packs against one another without bias and have come to understand the commonalities they share and all of their own differences. To bring up previous packs is not to try to present them as the height of achievement, but to bring logic and reasoning into a discussion where people assume it’s all personal bias.
I am not arguing that DHD is better as a Stuff Pack, because I’ve also looked at the contents of SPs and concluded that this goes beyond the scope of a SP. I am saying as a GP, its sandbox value is weak.
And again, the fact that DHD, a Build pack, still has less B/B than JA, an adventure pack, is not a convincing argument to me. But it is what it is.
The height of achievement was more in line of the general reactions I'm seeing in these past days.
While your point is to say that the other packs offer these new mechanics or life states on top of all of these extras, what I'm saying is that a) in many cases it's not new mechanics, system developed for Vampires was used for Mages for example b) is often very simple (see Spa Day) c) don't have much replayability to the point of being considered annoyance (Strangerville) d) even if include a wold, it's a world locked behind the vacation wall which is not the same as freely available one for game purposes (all the vacation worlds packs). JA gameplay isn't very complex, reuses mechanics from Outdoor retreat and other existing mechanics, so it balances it by adding many items and collectables and tries to make its theme interesting. (it's not a badly made pack) DHD uses its resources elsewhere, the one big issue is that it uses its resources in a way a user may not appreciate them and this is a serious issue from development point of view. My point has always been that DHD doesn't fit the scope of a Stuff pack (to which we both agree, right?) and since they opted to the neat little boxes and gimmicks the next thing was the game pack category (because its complexity in development fits there even if the user might not appreciate it in the end result) You went and call it build pack exactly because it doesn't fit the neat little boxes that the marketing strategy created. We all love our nice little neat boxes until we don't.
And yes as a build pack i feel that it should have a lot more build and buy items (fridge, toddler stuff, even baby stuff even though the baby is an object) and better animations ( although I do appreciate the mini oven animations that seems to be new) and they also really should have fixed the stairs bug for this pack, if not for this pack then when? There are issues, but I do see why it's in the category that it is.
That post makes no sense. "The world doesn't count because I have to vacation there." It's a world. It's a vacation world.
Replayability is subjective, but strangerville still came with a whole world and new traits.
I'm tired of people calling the spellcaster system the same as vampires. It's similar but in the end completely different.
Vampires may only purchase a power in the tier they are currently at, in any order and purchase any power. However, for every few powers they must pick a weakness.
Spellcasters do not need to purchase powers via the perks system. They learn powers by dueling, training by themselves or with sages, reading tomes etc. The perk system only offers perks like faster brewing, lower spell charges.
The spellcaster perk system is also a talent TREE, and the vampire is not.
For those of you unfamiliar with gaming, a talent tree requires that you pick talents on the lower branches before you get the higher ones. You HAVE to go in a general certain order, there's less freedom. You can branch out different directions but there's still a certain order.
Even the get famous one is slightly different.
But even if the systems are the same, they DO different things. They can't just reuse the vampire power system over and over, that is NOT how video game designing works. Each talent tree has to be made from scratch and coded in. They may save on some assets and reuse minimal coding, but every single perk you can purchase requires it's own coding.
I'm definitely not happy with what they consider a "Game Pack" now.
I used to really enjoy Game Packs because they guaranteed interesting gameplay, like with Parenthood or Dine Out. Now, it's all stuff and no gameplay- not what I would consider worth $20. And add to that, filled with bugs!
I really am worried about them changing the definitions of the different pack types. What's next? The next Expansion Pack may only have 1 new world and absolutely NO gameplay.
And I can guarantee these new packs won't be worth what their making us pay...
This.
By the way, Dream Home Decorator is neither the size of two Stuff Packs nor the size of a GP. It might be the size of 4 kits, but kits are prized higher because they are small and I'm already not fond of that.
Redefining packs in order to be able to no longer focus on Gameplay? No. Just no. At least I'm out at that point.
Now now EA, don't be stinking up our lovely lavender bath with your shopping fart. - My TS4 mods - Gallery ID: 83bienchen
Comments
Most packs are improved by packs coming later on which enhance their use, I've found myself.
Yeah I truly understand how people who are not liking this pack are feeling, especially since they went and used certain words like "gameplay" and "stuff" and even if the packs were explained to have different meaning initially, it's very obvious that people would go and interpret just by the naming because the naming evokes concrete things. But underneath everything revolves around the budget.
Kinda OT: One thing is that constantly make me worried when such mishaps are happening and I see many grabbing their pitchforks is that they will get less and less bold with introducing new things and mechanics to the game, something i wouldn't want to happen. This game pack has its charm for me, it creates some (even if it's minimal) "reactability" and communication with NPC, gives some purpose to NPC. I constantly have to look up their names on wiki, that's how little they mean to meso far, so if this pack improves on that, it's a good addition to have. And as I said before I welcome building being streamlined into gameplay, it was a good decision.
Bottom line is creating all this was not on the stuff pack budget even if we take Paranormal as the golden standard.
I noticed that too! There were gameplay I really had no interest in or though of as useful ones until another pack would come and change that.
It feels sort of like 2 stuff packs jammed together.
I can't believe DHD is a pack of the same development budget, size, and cost (to the player) as packs like Strangerville, Realm of Magic, Vampires and Journey to Baatuu. DHD has no new world, and almost no new animations.
I wonder if bunkbeds were originally designed for this pack, and then released early for free for positive PR and to avoid complaints about EA being greedy. It would explain why the animation is the same as the "crawl onto a sectional sofa" animation, and why they were released without full functionality (in terms of object placement beneath the bed).
There are a lot of nice build items in the pack. I like the additional features, two of which were pushed to base game for free (bunk bed slots and likes & dislikes). I really wish they would've made more male CAS items, especially since this is a builder pack, there was a great opportunity for more shoes, hats, outfits that were related to building as well as nice outfits for the reveal party.
I'm not going to purchase it, unless it was like $5 or less or someone gifted it to me. But I can see where folks can have some fun with the pack even though the career is not all that was advertised, at least from Carl's review -
You left out all of the other components these packs provided like the new traits, new aspirations, new lot traits, new lot types, new skills, new harvestables/collectibles, etc. that these packs introduced on top of what you did point out. These additions matter in this entire conversation because it shows the standard that the previous GPs have set.
DHD doesn’t include anything new aside from a career and the B/B and CAS. That’s why it’s most comparable to DO which also has just the new lot type plus new career of restaurant owner plus it’s B/B and CAS. But with that being said, between owning a restaurant and decorating a home, only one of those was new to the game.
The ONLY thing I can see that, in the eyes of the developers, would push this into counting as a game pack, is the amount of new assets. Which, according to this thread, isn't even as much as we've gotten with other game packs! But the team has said multiple times in the past that the reason we do not often see new full kitchens/cabinets is because of how resource-intensive they are to create. So I feel pretty safe in assuming that the reason they felt this pack qualified as a game pack over a stuff pack, is because we got not one but TWO new kitchens, two modular sofas, and modular shelving...
Which... I think is unacceptable tbh. Yes, I understand that these types of items take a whole lot of resources. But to have that justify this pack as a game pack?? 😬😬 It's gonna be a yikes from me... They couldn't even make them look different. Everything in this pack has a mid-century modern look to it. In a pack about interior design? I feel like there should've been a lot more variety in style.
Even just including a Vampires GP sized world I think would've been enough to justify game pack price. They could've filled it with homes that needed renovating! And lots of people are running out of room in their saves. But we couldn't even get that much...
That's it, just a reaction from the sims and a slideshow that looks like a windows slideshow.
Now keep in mind this is one of the 3 "main gameplay features" of the pack. I'm almost certain this pack has less animations than the Paranormal stuff pack. Not to mention the amount of bugs found by the Game Changers already before the world played it.
I was talking about the major features of the gameplay of those packs. The collectibles locked behind of a vacation world isn't all that, couple new dishes again isn't peak of gameplay. Couple extra fishes and a glowing tree doesn't really make the gameplay.
In reality if you start to compare each one of them to each other without any bias you will see quite a bit of variety in this standard you are talking about, some have more of this, other have more of that, they did however created a pattern that build an expectation and by reactions that I keep seeing over these past 3 years I have the impression that these expectations were never met, so it's kinda amusing right now to me to see people bringing previous packs as the greatest achievement in sims.
But the point isn't about that. The budget allocated to DHD ended up bigger than the one of a stuff pack, that's the issue here. Even if the gameplay existed before, I'm sure it didn't took couple button clicks to make it work in the live mode. The gameplay is far more complex than what we have seen from stuff level budget packs. It's not the same to have program couple intractable objects, throw in couple collectables (while using an already existing systems), a lot type and build a career that requires more complex interactions from NPC. There is a reason why Dine Out is so bare bones. It had similar complexity. Also as I've said, it looks like quite a bit budget went into developing the like dislike system (even though the majority of it is offered for free, can you imagine the reaction if it wasn't?), another share of budget went to bunk beds and another to the sectionals (and also that clipping system which again is now base game but the main requirement for DHD functionality) in addition to developing all that BB (only JA can match it and not by much because if you add all the sectional pieces and the two kitchen it amount to 177 pieces vs 184 JA has).
There are issues with this game pack, there is an issue with sims4 marketing, but I don't really see how this pack could ever be in the stuff pack range.
My point is that the other packs offer these new mechanics or life states on top of all of these extras. All of these extras help to expand gameplay beyond just the face value of the pack because they are sandbox tools.
The reality is that I have compared the packs against one another without bias and have come to understand the commonalities they share and all of their own differences. To bring up previous packs is not to try to present them as the height of achievement, but to bring logic and reasoning into a discussion where people assume it’s all personal bias.
I am not arguing that DHD is better as a Stuff Pack, because I’ve also looked at the contents of SPs and concluded that this goes beyond the scope of a SP. I am saying as a GP, its sandbox value is weak.
And again, the fact that DHD, a Build pack, still has less B/B than JA, an adventure pack, is not a convincing argument to me. But it is what it is.
That'd be nice but more realistically on the livestream:
"Introducing the Sims 4 farming! Look at these adorable chick- oh no where are their heads?! Why are the cows bright red with question marks all over them?? Let's send my sim to sit on a horse instead - oh no my sim can't reach it! Ahem lets turn our attention to the barn! How cute. Look at this pretty sink"
The height of achievement was more in line of the general reactions I'm seeing in these past days.
While your point is to say that the other packs offer these new mechanics or life states on top of all of these extras, what I'm saying is that a) in many cases it's not new mechanics, system developed for Vampires was used for Mages for example b) is often very simple (see Spa Day) c) don't have much replayability to the point of being considered annoyance (Strangerville) d) even if include a wold, it's a world locked behind the vacation wall which is not the same as freely available one for game purposes (all the vacation worlds packs). JA gameplay isn't very complex, reuses mechanics from Outdoor retreat and other existing mechanics, so it balances it by adding many items and collectables and tries to make its theme interesting. (it's not a badly made pack) DHD uses its resources elsewhere, the one big issue is that it uses its resources in a way a user may not appreciate them and this is a serious issue from development point of view. My point has always been that DHD doesn't fit the scope of a Stuff pack (to which we both agree, right?) and since they opted to the neat little boxes and gimmicks the next thing was the game pack category (because its complexity in development fits there even if the user might not appreciate it in the end result) You went and call it build pack exactly because it doesn't fit the neat little boxes that the marketing strategy created. We all love our nice little neat boxes until we don't.
And yes as a build pack i feel that it should have a lot more build and buy items (fridge, toddler stuff, even baby stuff even though the baby is an object) and better animations ( although I do appreciate the mini oven animations that seems to be new) and they also really should have fixed the stairs bug for this pack, if not for this pack then when? There are issues, but I do see why it's in the category that it is.
I agree as they threw in one career to make it barely an GP in which they could have done one or two things 1) make an GTW EP #2 with more careers than one or 2) incorporate it with GTW somehow for it looks to work perfectly with GTW. EA/Maxis choose poor timing to sell this pack or it was not well thought out or it was for an quick money grab as most will support them regardless of what they thought and that is my opinion. When I heard about this I quickly thought poor planning and timing.
I used to really enjoy Game Packs because they guaranteed interesting gameplay, like with Parenthood or Dine Out. Now, it's all stuff and no gameplay- not what I would consider worth $20. And add to that, filled with bugs!
I really am worried about them changing the definitions of the different pack types. What's next? The next Expansion Pack may only have 1 new world and absolutely NO gameplay.
And I can guarantee these new packs won't be worth what their making us pay...
I'm afraid too. I can't imagine how little content it will have. EA/ Maxis seems to be at the height of it's penny pinching.
Repose en paix mamie tu va me manquer :
1923-2016 mamie
The sales Tax should only be a little over 2 dollars not 20 more.
You sold the packs pretty short, let me fix that for you.
Outdoor retreat:
New world
Vacation system
New collectables
New skill
New aspiration
New reward trait
3 new npcs, bear, hermit and ranger.
Spa day:
New Lot type
New skill
Two new npcs, massager and yoga instructor.
New death
Lots of new gameplay objects, massage chair, incense, yoga, meditation stool, sauna etc all effect gameplay.
Jungle adventure:
New world
Vacation system
New death
New skill
New collectibles
New aspiration
New life state (skeletons)
New npcs.
I could keep going, buts it's pretty clear by now my point, that you undersold these packs and what they offer to sell you point.
Now let's do dream home:
New career
One new like category, furniture style.
Buy mode items (every gamepack comes with this, this isn't unique)
Hmm...
Also,
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
That post makes no sense. "The world doesn't count because I have to vacation there." It's a world. It's a vacation world.
Replayability is subjective, but strangerville still came with a whole world and new traits.
I'm tired of people calling the spellcaster system the same as vampires. It's similar but in the end completely different.
Vampires may only purchase a power in the tier they are currently at, in any order and purchase any power. However, for every few powers they must pick a weakness.
Spellcasters do not need to purchase powers via the perks system. They learn powers by dueling, training by themselves or with sages, reading tomes etc. The perk system only offers perks like faster brewing, lower spell charges.
The spellcaster perk system is also a talent TREE, and the vampire is not.
For those of you unfamiliar with gaming, a talent tree requires that you pick talents on the lower branches before you get the higher ones. You HAVE to go in a general certain order, there's less freedom. You can branch out different directions but there's still a certain order.
Even the get famous one is slightly different.
But even if the systems are the same, they DO different things. They can't just reuse the vampire power system over and over, that is NOT how video game designing works. Each talent tree has to be made from scratch and coded in. They may save on some assets and reuse minimal coding, but every single perk you can purchase requires it's own coding.
This.
By the way, Dream Home Decorator is neither the size of two Stuff Packs nor the size of a GP. It might be the size of 4 kits, but kits are prized higher because they are small and I'm already not fond of that.
Redefining packs in order to be able to no longer focus on Gameplay? No. Just no. At least I'm out at that point.