Still not playing, but I do have a ridiculous back-log of pictures.
I would like to update this thread so I can catch up on the progress of my sims.
So I will be doing that, perhaps starting the week's end.
It's just starting to get good too. The first batch of sims have graduated Uni and the first sims are starting to pair up.
I probably won't start playing again until the next GP and EP arrive, or at least be tempted to play.
I have not bought any of the Kit packs.
I am glad I didn't. Bust the Dust looks like a mess.
Tell us something while telling us as little as possible.
Well I guess bands are coming?
We already have some nature content with Outdoor Retreat camping, and a bit of protecting the environment with Eco Lifestyle and Island Living.
I feel like we can already bond with nature. If it's farming, then they really don't want us to know what it actually is.
I'll tell you this though. If "nature" and "charming" means fairies, I will be bringing my little Goth fairy over from The Sims 3 and play out her story again in TS4 for nostalgia.
Anyway, I will be waiting for July for it all to be done.
I will be busy with updating this thread and playing the Mass Effect series remaster plus Mass Effect Andromeda.
That will be an EPIC bit of gaming.
Omg, I hope you're right, the architecture career was one of my most favorite in Sims 3, until it glitched out. I wonder what Sims 4 version would be like.
In my house, dog hair sticks to everything but the dog.
Omg, I hope you're right, the architecture career was one of my most favorite in Sims 3, until it glitched out. I wonder what Sims 4 version would be like.
I knew going in that this was a lightweight Game Pack.
However, I did like the idea of a pack that encouraged Builders to play and Players to build.
The sectional furniture system is cool and I like giving my sims likes and dislikes.
But this pack is not strong in the area of getting Builders to Play.
I went into this pack with the idea of the growth and development of my sim as an Interior Decorator.
There is not enough focus on your sim's game play as I had thought there would be.
I will post two of my test sim's gigs and then I will follow up with my opinion of this pack.
My sim's first gig and she had Partihaus as a client.
I don't know where Marcus was. It made me nervous to not have his input
Most of my useful information came from EVA. The only style inputs I got was they didn't like Boho and Patio.
They need our help.
Eva said she liked orange, but on further questioning, I found out she also liked pink.
So pink and orange it is.
Basically, Peach.
Now it's time for the reveal.
Ta-dah!
Check it out.
I think they like it.
Marcus likes it.
Marcus loves it!
And Eva is gushing.
I think Monique knocked this one out of the park.
The Second Gig
"Okay...
Sulanese clients who hate Island themed furniture,
but don't have enough of a budget for me to replaced their entire Island themed house...
I smell a trap."
My sim has had her second gig, but her first fail.
Who knew I would enjoy failure?
I settled on the bedroom because the structure of the house is odd with the lower levels being open to the outdoors.
I thought the bedroom would be safest.
They wanted Suburban Contemporary.
I guess that would be exotic to exotic people:
I had no idea what anyone's favorite color was. I know they hated orange.
So I went with blue.
Time for the reveal.
And they went right past the bedroom and into the bathroom,
which was totally Island Themed.
They hated it.
"But looks at this Suburban Contemporary piece...
Video Games! You like video games, check out this new came console."
I believe it was that bathroom, but maybe someone also dislikes blue.
Never mind the fact that someone was actually wearing orange and blue.
"But I didn't have the budget to do the bathroom too."
I think she was conned.
They got free service out of her.
But I also found it funny.
[Update]
I went to visit the Ngata household and found that one sim loved Suburban Contemporary, while the other disliked it.
I don't think I like this not having enough information to go on.
There is a lot that I like about this pack, but I have to say I am disappointed in the lack of game play depth for your sim.
There is not any skill based growth and development.
It's just performing gigs and the player getting information and making choices. Your sim doesn't factor into it much.
I thought Charisma, Photography, and an art skill would be what boosts performance. If it does, the game is putting it in the background.
Your sim is just a visual proxy, on-site for your building activities as a builder, not a player.
This pack should have had a new skill, like Design Theory and Practice.
Something that would encompass history of design, color theory, materials, composition, structure and form etc.
Get Famous actors have their acting skill that they can practice in a mirror, on a microphone, or with other sims.
Stylists have a style-board and are required to level up in certain skills, that help in their performance.
I thought the designer career would be similar to the stylist because of this desk and style board.
But they are just a picture and desk and have nothing to do with design other than visual immersion.
They are just for show. It really is a builders pack, thinly disguised as game play, repurposed from existing systems.
This is a wonderful Stuff Pack.
It's an underwhelming Game Pack. The focus is narrow, as it should be, but the depth is shallow as far a role playing your sim in this career.
It's especially aggravating since other career features that would have given it more depth already exists in the game.
I still like the pack, but it misses the mark for me.
I will get my enjoyment out of it, but I certainly overpaid for what I got. What would this game need for me to be happy with it?
Not a lot. That desk and style board being functional for starters, and skills determining performance.
I would also like my sims Charisma, Photography and Interior Design skill levels being useful for drumming up new clients and getting repeat business. This would allow me to target households I would like to have as clients. I want the game to be more about the sims and less about the number of gigs performed. A career aspiration would be nice, as well one for sims wanting to improve their living spaces.
And the ability to send your sim out on a rabbit hole client visit.
I will have to be more creative to get the game play immersion I need. My sim will run a Home Decor business (Get To Work) that provides interior design services (DHD). She will have a media arm of her business where she has a Simtube channel and does live streams from client homes (Get Famous), if that's possible. I haven't tried it yet. She is also an artist and will sell her art at her business and on Plopsy.
I believe just performing gigs will get boring, despite providing build challenges.
It's not something I will want to do everyday for my sim. That's why I have the Home Decor business. She can take Gigs as she pleases for alternative income and I can role play her having a design studio in her business.
This pack was just what I feared, shallow and without depth. I watched Carl's review right after I bought the pack...great. I do love all the b/b items that comes with it which in my mind, is a stuff pack.
Unfortunately I loved the Sims 3 architecture career, which was great and this doesn't come into the same 40 acres. Shame.
This is the 3rd pack that EA/Maxis has stumbled, imo. Paranormal is not what I thought it would be, Bust the Dust was a fiver thrown into the street and now this. UGH!
I still will use the buy stuff but the career is a dud in my eyes.
In my house, dog hair sticks to everything but the dog.
This pack was just what I feared, shallow and without depth. I watched Carl's review right after I bought the pack...great. I do love all the b/b items that comes with it which in my mind, is a stuff pack.
Unfortunately I loved the Sims 3 architecture career, which was great and this doesn't come into the same 40 acres. Shame.
This is the 3rd pack that EA/Maxis has stumbled, imo. Paranormal is not what I thought it would be, Bust the Dust was a fiver thrown into the street and now this. UGH!
I still will use the buy stuff but the career is a dud in my eyes.
This is how a lot of people feel, which is a shame because then they essentially wasted 10 out of the $20 they spent.
Hello.
I have Cottage Living, but haven't seriously played it. I just went in to look at things.
It may be a while before I actually use this pack, because my sims will probably only use it after graduating from Uni.
I do plan to give some of my favorite made-over dormies a places to live in the world, so a new world will be helpful.
I did go in a make one Lot a rental home.
So I might get some use out of it a little sooner.
I had to do some editing though. I really dislike these type of bricks in TS4. Also, that room added on to the lower level looked like it was simply tacked on to the house and the lot itself looked a bit incomplete.
So I did a little renovation work.
I would love to make my own series of cottages using my Ravenloft series from TS3, but I would need a round turret roof.
Otherwise I will probably just stick with the given homes.
I haven't seen the other animals yet, but I was impressed with the chickens.
The country side looks nice.
But I am getting the "Set Dressing" feel as the place just seems to look nice without any other reasons for being out there.
I wanted to check out Mrs. Crumplebottom, so I sent the two sims I used to test out Paranormal Stuff.
Classic Crumplebottom.
Only she's swinging that purse a little slow and without much force.
EA always seems timid in everything they do.
These two were in a flirty mood, so there was a series of Cumplebottom attacks.
It was funny.
But I'm still not feeling the urge to play TS4.
Probably because I am so behind in documenting my game play. Playing more will just put me further behind and I might just give up on this thread.
Hey CK, I love all the animals in CL and I think the devs did a good job especially on the cross-stitching...love the cross-stitch. But again the little glitches here and there can ruin immersion. All said, I really like this pack but things like borked gardening, inability to enter produce in the fair, little things add up.
I've been thinking of taking a break myself, *gasp* as there's some reading I need to catch up on. Hope to see ya around!
In my house, dog hair sticks to everything but the dog.
This thread has become more about the latest packs than it is about me enjoying playing my sims.
Let's get back to it.
The first sims of my large group of sims are in University and are rotating back through my University Prep school as they take turns attending Uni terms. The prep school will eventually have more of these student photos. Melonie, Olivia, and Yuki are currently back from Britechester. They will take some time to bond with family and enjoy some vacation time. I will then Send Meadow, Zane, and Cassandra to Uni for their terms.
Melonie was the first to return home for a family visit.
It was funny seeing their old bedrooms.
I need to go back and make them over.
Her sister isn't a toddler anymore and doesn't need that toddler bed.
She has to have something for little sis'.
That was nice, but I need to play through all my households. They need some progression.
Melonie was so happy I sent her dad a happy text.
He of course texted back that he would like to go out. He wanted to go ice skating.
Olivia was next.
I imagine her mom to be ecstatic considering all the times she visited Olivia at Smuggsworth and Britechester.
Her mom is all alone now, with no other children or husband.
I don't believe I ever thought about that before.
It's really sad.
I finally feel like my game is progressing.
Eventually Olivia will have her own daughter.
Probably after The Sims 5 comes out.
Moving on.
The Behr sisters won the lottery and planted this modern home in vintage Windenburg.
I tried to keep their bedrooms the same as they were in their old house.
They had a catch up chat before having dinner.
Eventually Candy tired out.
I should have these two take a vacation together before they take on spouses.
Actually, I already have, but that was and Island Living pack test.
Hey CK, I love all the animals in CL and I think the devs did a good job especially on the cross-stitching...love the cross-stitch. But again the little glitches here and there can ruin immersion. All said, I really like this pack but things like borked gardening, inability to enter produce in the fair, little things add up.
I've been thinking of taking a break myself, *gasp* as there's some reading I need to catch up on. Hope to see ya around!
I have to decide which of my sims are going to take on a country living lifestyle.
With so many going to Uni, I am really not sure. Probably someone will change their mind about what they want to do with their life and prefer Cottage Living.
Audio books have become a thing with me lately.
I discovered how much more enjoyable they make my job. The hours fly by.
I have an Amazon Kindle and is very easy to read effortlessly now. I would love audio books but I am nearly deaf so that's a no.
My "break" probably won't be for very long. I just can't seem to get into play at the moment.
It's going to be an update weekend.
I need to catch up to where I actually am in the game. It's shocking to me that these pictures are from November of last year.
So, where are we?
Melonie, Olivia, and Yuki have finished their first couple of terms at Uni. They are the first of my group of sims to attend Uni.
They returned to Smuggsworth prep and then went home to visit their families.
Meadow, Cassandra Goth, Zane are next for Uni.
They are still teens at the moment and it is time for them to age up to young adults.
These pictures are before I put in the shorter teens mod.
I am so use to shorter teens now that seeing Meadow as a teen feels really odd:
She just looks like an emaciated young adult.
I'm keeping my mod.
Rotating back to Smuggsworth usually means a vacation.
Plus it's your birthday, so doubly good.
I will be covering familiar territory as I have already posted about the Snowy Escape EP.
I had used my sims to explore that pack and had posted on the Pack forums first before bringing them here.
So you will be seeing some of that again in the context of me playing out my story scenario.
I did not send Cassandra and Zane with them, for reasons that I cannot recall.
Most likely I figured four sims would be more enjoyable than sending six.
Arrive at night is night.
I don't have to send them out right away.
Melonie and Olivia have to share a bed.
These two are my favorite sims by the way.
This version of Komorebi has been established with all my edits for community lots and additional townies.
I see one of the new townies in the background.
They are going to start their day with some hiking.
Sims walking together and chatting with each other, such a simple thing to find enjoyable.
Evidence that my sims are on vacation and are enjoying each other's company.
How many times before I get bored of it and no longer make them hike?
It may be a while, since this is primarily a vacation destination for my sims. I only have one family living here and there daughter will most likely move to another town or city.
I had them stop by the Bar they passed on their way to the hiking trail.
For a refresher and to meet some locals.
Here is one of the Young Adults I added to Komorebi.
Yuki, you loner.
Those muscles are probably all tight from their hike by now. They could probably use some loosening.
I placed a Spa in Komorebi, just to add more things for my visiting sims to do.
I will probably create a Spa specifically to fit in with Komorebi.
This one is just a quick solution.
Of course she is here.
There next stop was the Karaoke bar.
I added some clubs to Komorebi so my local young adults will gather at certain community lots.
I like them having friends in distant places.
Once out of Uni they will probably have them visit their homes to catch up.
They returned to their rental home to get some sleep.
They had a quick breakfast.
And then it was time to hit the slopes.
What? Yuki fell?
They visited the onsen after skiing most of the day.
And then it was time for one of my favorite locations to visit, the restaurant.
I just love the dinning experience and this room is so cozy and private.
I believe Olivia had a great time.
It was time to use the Karaoke bar as it was intended.
Thankfully the visitors actually watched.
Things may be out of order here. Clothing is not consistent.
My sims spent several days in Komorebi.
Can sims meditate while sitting on a sofa?
Melonie is going to be a career comedian.
I believe she has her first fan.
This is really long, so I'd better end it here.
I really enjoyed their visit to Komorebi. It was time to return to the school.
I am glad Smuggsworth Preparatory school has the budget to send their students on vacations.
Thank you, Future Cube bug. Selling all those devices that flooded inventories added quite a bit of cash.
I love the update! The pictures are great, as usual. By looking at your pictures, you'd think it would be easy to take 4 sims (nevermind 6!) to Komorebi to have a great vacation. Believe me, it's a lot harder than it looks, lol. I tried taking a family of 4 adults, 2 adults and 2 grown kids and it was a disaster!
I wanted to say, the first time my first sim explored the park in HoB, you know who came strolling through the meadow in her evening wear, lmbo!
In my house, dog hair sticks to everything but the dog.
I needed to break away from My Smuggsworth/Uni sims to progress other sims.
The latest changes may cause some confusion, if anyone even remembers these sims. It has been a while.
I reinvented the Chen Family. They are now the Kimura Family:
Ling Chen is now Nami Kimura.
Snowy Escaped inspired this change.
Ling was originally created as a child of a Japanese mother and a Chinese father.
Now they are full Japanese and a long way from Brindleton Bay.
They seemed the best choice for having sims living in Komorebi.
Nami's mother is now Yua Kimura. Her father is Ren Kimura.
I set about establishing her life in Komorebi.
I intended for her to have a strong interest in science, but now that we have the home decorator career, she will be more interested in art.
I can still have her parents pushing her towards science.
Too bad we can't choose school uniforms.
That one is so drab.
She's going to need a good friend.
Miki Akiyama will do.
And I had her go for all of her scouting badges, so she could earn that Scouting Aptitude trait.
Now that I had them established, it was time to move on to other sims.
I rotated over to the Peregrine house.
I was surprise to find that Hecate was hanging out at Smuggsworth Prep.
I was curious to see what she was doing and perhaps being inspired with some new game play ideas.
On the computer, of course.
Go home, cat girl.
I believe I am finally decided on what I will do with the cat girls and University.
They are supposed to be in hiding, from a world that may not respond well to them.
Miss Peregrine is their protector.
They could get away with it as children, but now that they are maturing, their cat genetics are really starting to show.
They will keep to the safety of this island.
But... I believe I will have the fact of missing out on University,make them want to reveal themselves to the world later as young adults.
They will be tired of hiding. They will probably become entertainers and use their cat genetics as a novelty.
The house will become empty as the children grow up and leave.
Bastet has taken Meadow's room.
They were best friends, it makes sense.
Hecate gets Zane's rooms.
Ceridwen keeps the big room, but they all will hangout there to watch TV.
I am not here for the cat girl's however.
I am here for these two: Cedric and Gamma.
Time for teens.
I must have been drowsy when I took these pictures.
I am missing key shots for this birthday celebration, like Gamma blowing out her candles.
Like Meadow and Bastet, these two have always been close friends.
How about those new alien powers?
I set her alien look.
There was supposed to be a story-line where Gamma never let Cedric see her alien form.
I never played it out, but will just pretend it happened.
They will move to Smuggsworth once Olivia, Melonie, and Yuki have graduated.
I have too many sims.
I feel like I didn't play these two enough.
The same goes for Nami.
Game-play has been mostly about skills and character values.
Not short enough.
That's better.
This is where the Shorter Teens mod came into play.
It makes her look younger too, somehow, not just shorter.
This Japanese family hugs.
"Where is my hug?"
I know she isn't going to get much time in Komorebi.
As soon as there are openings in Smuggsworth, she's out of here.
This is about it for home life.
And this is a custom dorm for Foxbury bound students.
Nami, Cedric, and Gamma will be living here, since they will be going after tech degrees.
Well, not in Nami's case. Here parents want her to attend Foxbury in case she changes her minds and becomes a scientist.
I don't believe I have much support for creative students.
I will have to fix that.
Back at Smuggsworth, Yuki gets a visit from her sister, Candy.
Candy seems taken aback by all the splotches covering her sister's body:
She's walking around untreated.
She demands to see the administrator. Where is he?
The school is prepared for this. A simple fix.
It's time for the second group to rotate to Uni for their two terms.
Acceptance and scholarships achieved.
Wyvern Hall.
Let's see if we can have fun this rotation.
A fresh set of dormies to tweak or makeover.
Already with the food.
Put it away.
Magnus Hull, a total makeover.
And a potential love interest for Meadow, this term.
And now that they are out of Smuggsworth, I believe Cassandra will start working on Zane, or is it the other way around.
This distinguished looking, edited gentleman is Zayden Olvera.
And I am wondering how to hook him up with Kallie McCarty.
A hug? Okay.
Not okay, according to Meadow.
Bella?
I love family visits.
This is making me nostalgic about Bella dropping off Alexander at Uni in TS2.
Cassandra needs a makeover.
Those pigtails and knee-hi socks had to go--so mature now.
Cassandra is also trying to get Zayden a love interest.
Why not Briceida as well?
It looks like Zayden is taking the bait, according to the pop up.
You two flirts.
Watch out, Meadow is about to go on the prowl.
Magnus will be a ball of yarn in her paws.
The sentiments are rising.
I should be thinking about taking this to the next level.
However, Zane is suddenly more interesting now that Cassandra has him in her sights.
Meadow seems to be seeing him with new eyes. He's often on her mind.
And she flirts.
And now she wants his baby?
Okay. I can't ignore this. (Not really going to have a baby, but I will be exploring her feelings about him.)
Briceida Cuevas, where are you going dressed like that in the dead of winter?
???
Ohhh!
It looks like they started and finished without her.
Poor thing.
Nope, he's done. You can go back to the dorm.
Something tells me she is going to be one of the more entertaining dormies.
Olivia drops by for a visit!
I'm sure she's full of helpful college life advice.
Welcome back, Brie'.
Warm up.
Have something to eat.
There is plenty of food to go around.
There is actually some academic work going on around here, but who wants to see that?
We are still trying to hook up Zayden.
I believe we are progressing.
Yes, Kallie is interested.
A handshake, okay.
What do you mean, "She doesn't sound that interesting?"
No, we are definitely not progressing here.
So much for that.
Hey buddy, it could be that you actually can't afford to be so choosy.
Time has passed and my sims need a break from all the academic work I refused to cover here.
I am sending them to the student commons to have some fun.
Thank you, Get Together clubs.
Zayaden and Brecieda decide to hang out outside.
I believe the game has assigned Zayden the role of being the dorm's practical joker.
Brecieda did not like that at all.
Your hearing is a very precious thing. You don't joke around with something so priceless.
Such blatant disregard needs to be punished.
"What for" has been shown.
Cassandra comes out to help repair this rift.
We are trying to pair these two.
Some apologies need to happen.
Briceida isn't having it.
Sorry Cassandra, no need to feel embarrassed.
Zayden is hopeless.
Things are icey there, but the heat is rising here with Meadow and Magnus.
No woohoo, just a flaming make-out session.
And Cassandra being all flirty in Zane's room.
The one with the double bed.
Unfortunately, the game has assigned roles to Magnus.
He's a crybaby...
...and a slob.
Those are personality quirks that I believe would be a turn-off for Meadow.
Which means that her attention might naturally turn to Zane.
Love triangles... a quadrilateral?
This has been my most interesting turn at University so far.
I believe Meadow and Zane had a weekend during their Uni term to return home and visit the orphanage.
It has been four real years since they first arrived at the Peregrine house.
That blows my mind.
Miss Peregrine was working on her computer.
I don't remember giving her that Britechester T-shirt.
Considering the pants and shoes, the game must have given it to her.
What a funny coincidence.
Ceridwen.
I wish I had played them more. There is much more to their stories that I have covered here.
I do have a lot of sims though.
It's nice to reunite everyone.
You get a little bit of the feels.
Gamma is feeling something, she is glowing with that alien aura.
I have the Chemistry and Attraction mods in, for my University sims, but it seems to be in full effect here as I switched over to the Peregrine household. Bastet is just angry because someone pulled a prank on her.
There are a lot of flirty emotions firing off here for some reason.
And I am reading some concern from Gamma.
I might as well as give her some reassurance.
They have gone through that, "Hey, we aren't actually related," phase.
Well, yeah, since she isn't human and from another planet.
Back at the Britechestor dorm, we have a visitor.
And she only required a wardrobe change and a little makeup.
Krystal Figueroa, and She is quite the stunning sim.
She had me wondering if the 3-way relationships around here were going to get even more complicated.
Buy she had very obvious eyes for Zayden.
So I had Zane recommend she introduce herself to him.
I believe Zayden finally has a match.
That was until Zane walked over and interjected himself.
And there goes Zayden.
Magnus has become an emotional burden.
You're not looking strong there, fella.
The Chemistry Mod comes with a persuasion skill. I can't remember if Meadow is using it now.
He's even turning down closet make-out time to deal with his emotions.
Zane had to talk him out of the wardrobe closet.
Perhaps I will find someone for Magnus after University.
Olivia is back for another visit.
And it turns out Zane is highly attracted to her.
Uni is where most of my sims will discover their future partners.
Everything is on the table.
Brecieda tries to revenge-prank Zaydan.
I believe it was a fail, but Zaydan is in no mood to laugh at her.
Krystal is still interested in him, so all is not lost.
Zane is only becoming more attractive to Meadow.
She can continue to test the waters with both of them, as long as she keep things out of sight.
Like remote areas of the campus perhaps.
This is a kind of romantic spot.
It is as long as she keeps reminding herself:
"We only grew up in an orphanage.
We are not related.
He's not my brother.
This isn't weird at all."
Things should go fine as long as Zane doesn't do anything stupid.
Like this, for example.
"Really, Zane?"
"Whaaaaaat?"
"Ohhh boy."
Hoshi finds this behavior totally unacceptable.
Kallie gets a better viewpoint to watch Meadow smooth over this drama.
Comments
Still not playing, but I do have a ridiculous back-log of pictures.
I would like to update this thread so I can catch up on the progress of my sims.
So I will be doing that, perhaps starting the week's end.
It's just starting to get good too. The first batch of sims have graduated Uni and the first sims are starting to pair up.
I probably won't start playing again until the next GP and EP arrive, or at least be tempted to play.
I have not bought any of the Kit packs.
I am glad I didn't. Bust the Dust looks like a mess.
Tell us something while telling us as little as possible.
Well I guess bands are coming?
We already have some nature content with Outdoor Retreat camping, and a bit of protecting the environment with Eco Lifestyle and Island Living.
I feel like we can already bond with nature. If it's farming, then they really don't want us to know what it actually is.
I'll tell you this though. If "nature" and "charming" means fairies, I will be bringing my little Goth fairy over from The Sims 3 and play out her story again in TS4 for nostalgia.
Anyway, I will be waiting for July for it all to be done.
I will be busy with updating this thread and playing the Mass Effect series remaster plus Mass Effect Andromeda.
That will be an EPIC bit of gaming.
Have fun and see you soon!
Looks like the Design Career is coming back.
I hope we are also able to do exterior work.
https://youtu.be/8CvGI0HoFP8
I knew going in that this was a lightweight Game Pack.
However, I did like the idea of a pack that encouraged Builders to play and Players to build.
The sectional furniture system is cool and I like giving my sims likes and dislikes.
But this pack is not strong in the area of getting Builders to Play.
I went into this pack with the idea of the growth and development of my sim as an Interior Decorator.
There is not enough focus on your sim's game play as I had thought there would be.
I will post two of my test sim's gigs and then I will follow up with my opinion of this pack.
My sim's first gig and she had Partihaus as a client.
I don't know where Marcus was. It made me nervous to not have his input
Most of my useful information came from EVA. The only style inputs I got was they didn't like Boho and Patio.
They need our help.
Eva said she liked orange, but on further questioning, I found out she also liked pink.
So pink and orange it is.
Basically, Peach.
Now it's time for the reveal.
Ta-dah!
Check it out.
I think they like it.
Marcus likes it.
Marcus loves it!
And Eva is gushing.
I think Monique knocked this one out of the park.
The Second Gig
"Okay...
Sulanese clients who hate Island themed furniture,
but don't have enough of a budget for me to replaced their entire Island themed house...
I smell a trap."
My sim has had her second gig, but her first fail.
Who knew I would enjoy failure?
I settled on the bedroom because the structure of the house is odd with the lower levels being open to the outdoors.
I thought the bedroom would be safest.
They wanted Suburban Contemporary.
I guess that would be exotic to exotic people:
I had no idea what anyone's favorite color was. I know they hated orange.
So I went with blue.
Time for the reveal.
And they went right past the bedroom and into the bathroom,
which was totally Island Themed.
They hated it.
"But looks at this Suburban Contemporary piece...
Video Games! You like video games, check out this new came console."
I believe it was that bathroom, but maybe someone also dislikes blue.
Never mind the fact that someone was actually wearing orange and blue.
"But I didn't have the budget to do the bathroom too."
I think she was conned.
They got free service out of her.
But I also found it funny.
[Update]
I went to visit the Ngata household and found that one sim loved Suburban Contemporary, while the other disliked it.
I don't think I like this not having enough information to go on.
There is a lot that I like about this pack, but I have to say I am disappointed in the lack of game play depth for your sim.
There is not any skill based growth and development.
It's just performing gigs and the player getting information and making choices. Your sim doesn't factor into it much.
I thought Charisma, Photography, and an art skill would be what boosts performance. If it does, the game is putting it in the background.
Your sim is just a visual proxy, on-site for your building activities as a builder, not a player.
This pack should have had a new skill, like Design Theory and Practice.
Something that would encompass history of design, color theory, materials, composition, structure and form etc.
Get Famous actors have their acting skill that they can practice in a mirror, on a microphone, or with other sims.
Stylists have a style-board and are required to level up in certain skills, that help in their performance.
I thought the designer career would be similar to the stylist because of this desk and style board.
But they are just a picture and desk and have nothing to do with design other than visual immersion.
They are just for show. It really is a builders pack, thinly disguised as game play, repurposed from existing systems.
This is a wonderful Stuff Pack.
It's an underwhelming Game Pack. The focus is narrow, as it should be, but the depth is shallow as far a role playing your sim in this career.
It's especially aggravating since other career features that would have given it more depth already exists in the game.
I still like the pack, but it misses the mark for me.
I will get my enjoyment out of it, but I certainly overpaid for what I got.
What would this game need for me to be happy with it?
Not a lot. That desk and style board being functional for starters, and skills determining performance.
I would also like my sims Charisma, Photography and Interior Design skill levels being useful for drumming up new clients and getting repeat business. This would allow me to target households I would like to have as clients. I want the game to be more about the sims and less about the number of gigs performed. A career aspiration would be nice, as well one for sims wanting to improve their living spaces.
And the ability to send your sim out on a rabbit hole client visit.
I will have to be more creative to get the game play immersion I need. My sim will run a Home Decor business (Get To Work) that provides interior design services (DHD). She will have a media arm of her business where she has a Simtube channel and does live streams from client homes (Get Famous), if that's possible. I haven't tried it yet. She is also an artist and will sell her art at her business and on Plopsy.
I believe just performing gigs will get boring, despite providing build challenges.
It's not something I will want to do everyday for my sim. That's why I have the Home Decor business. She can take Gigs as she pleases for alternative income and I can role play her having a design studio in her business.
Unfortunately I loved the Sims 3 architecture career, which was great and this doesn't come into the same 40 acres. Shame.
This is the 3rd pack that EA/Maxis has stumbled, imo. Paranormal is not what I thought it would be, Bust the Dust was a fiver thrown into the street and now this. UGH!
I still will use the buy stuff but the career is a dud in my eyes.
It can be fixed, but it will be a few posts a day kind of affair.
[Looks like they fixed it. Never mind.}
I have Cottage Living, but haven't seriously played it. I just went in to look at things.
It may be a while before I actually use this pack, because my sims will probably only use it after graduating from Uni.
I do plan to give some of my favorite made-over dormies a places to live in the world, so a new world will be helpful.
I did go in a make one Lot a rental home.
So I might get some use out of it a little sooner.
I had to do some editing though. I really dislike these type of bricks in TS4. Also, that room added on to the lower level looked like it was simply tacked on to the house and the lot itself looked a bit incomplete.
So I did a little renovation work.
I would love to make my own series of cottages using my Ravenloft series from TS3, but I would need a round turret roof.
Otherwise I will probably just stick with the given homes.
I haven't seen the other animals yet, but I was impressed with the chickens.
The country side looks nice.
But I am getting the "Set Dressing" feel as the place just seems to look nice without any other reasons for being out there.
I wanted to check out Mrs. Crumplebottom, so I sent the two sims I used to test out Paranormal Stuff.
Classic Crumplebottom.
Only she's swinging that purse a little slow and without much force.
EA always seems timid in everything they do.
These two were in a flirty mood, so there was a series of Cumplebottom attacks.
It was funny.
But I'm still not feeling the urge to play TS4.
Probably because I am so behind in documenting my game play. Playing more will just put me further behind and I might just give up on this thread.
I've been thinking of taking a break myself, *gasp* as there's some reading I need to catch up on. Hope to see ya around!
This thread has become more about the latest packs than it is about me enjoying playing my sims.
Let's get back to it.
The first sims of my large group of sims are in University and are rotating back through my University Prep school as they take turns attending Uni terms. The prep school will eventually have more of these student photos. Melonie, Olivia, and Yuki are currently back from Britechester. They will take some time to bond with family and enjoy some vacation time. I will then Send Meadow, Zane, and Cassandra to Uni for their terms.
Melonie was the first to return home for a family visit.
It was funny seeing their old bedrooms.
I need to go back and make them over.
Her sister isn't a toddler anymore and doesn't need that toddler bed.
She has to have something for little sis'.
That was nice, but I need to play through all my households. They need some progression.
Melonie was so happy I sent her dad a happy text.
He of course texted back that he would like to go out. He wanted to go ice skating.
Olivia was next.
I imagine her mom to be ecstatic considering all the times she visited Olivia at Smuggsworth and Britechester.
Her mom is all alone now, with no other children or husband.
I don't believe I ever thought about that before.
It's really sad.
I finally feel like my game is progressing.
Eventually Olivia will have her own daughter.
Probably after The Sims 5 comes out.
Moving on.
The Behr sisters won the lottery and planted this modern home in vintage Windenburg.
I tried to keep their bedrooms the same as they were in their old house.
They had a catch up chat before having dinner.
Eventually Candy tired out.
I should have these two take a vacation together before they take on spouses.
Actually, I already have, but that was and Island Living pack test.
I have to decide which of my sims are going to take on a country living lifestyle.
With so many going to Uni, I am really not sure. Probably someone will change their mind about what they want to do with their life and prefer Cottage Living.
Audio books have become a thing with me lately.
I discovered how much more enjoyable they make my job. The hours fly by.
I have an Amazon Kindle and is very easy to read effortlessly now. I would love audio books but I am nearly deaf so that's a no.
My "break" probably won't be for very long. I just can't seem to get into play at the moment.
It's going to be an update weekend.
I need to catch up to where I actually am in the game. It's shocking to me that these pictures are from November of last year.
So, where are we?
Melonie, Olivia, and Yuki have finished their first couple of terms at Uni. They are the first of my group of sims to attend Uni.
They returned to Smuggsworth prep and then went home to visit their families.
Meadow, Cassandra Goth, Zane are next for Uni.
They are still teens at the moment and it is time for them to age up to young adults.
These pictures are before I put in the shorter teens mod.
I am so use to shorter teens now that seeing Meadow as a teen feels really odd:
She just looks like an emaciated young adult.
I'm keeping my mod.
Rotating back to Smuggsworth usually means a vacation.
Plus it's your birthday, so doubly good.
I will be covering familiar territory as I have already posted about the Snowy Escape EP.
I had used my sims to explore that pack and had posted on the Pack forums first before bringing them here.
So you will be seeing some of that again in the context of me playing out my story scenario.
I did not send Cassandra and Zane with them, for reasons that I cannot recall.
Most likely I figured four sims would be more enjoyable than sending six.
Arrive at night is night.
I don't have to send them out right away.
Melonie and Olivia have to share a bed.
These two are my favorite sims by the way.
This version of Komorebi has been established with all my edits for community lots and additional townies.
I see one of the new townies in the background.
They are going to start their day with some hiking.
Sims walking together and chatting with each other, such a simple thing to find enjoyable.
Evidence that my sims are on vacation and are enjoying each other's company.
How many times before I get bored of it and no longer make them hike?
It may be a while, since this is primarily a vacation destination for my sims. I only have one family living here and there daughter will most likely move to another town or city.
I had them stop by the Bar they passed on their way to the hiking trail.
For a refresher and to meet some locals.
Here is one of the Young Adults I added to Komorebi.
Yuki, you loner.
Those muscles are probably all tight from their hike by now. They could probably use some loosening.
I placed a Spa in Komorebi, just to add more things for my visiting sims to do.
I will probably create a Spa specifically to fit in with Komorebi.
This one is just a quick solution.
Of course she is here.
There next stop was the Karaoke bar.
I added some clubs to Komorebi so my local young adults will gather at certain community lots.
I like them having friends in distant places.
Once out of Uni they will probably have them visit their homes to catch up.
They returned to their rental home to get some sleep.
They had a quick breakfast.
And then it was time to hit the slopes.
What? Yuki fell?
They visited the onsen after skiing most of the day.
And then it was time for one of my favorite locations to visit, the restaurant.
I just love the dinning experience and this room is so cozy and private.
I believe Olivia had a great time.
It was time to use the Karaoke bar as it was intended.
Thankfully the visitors actually watched.
Things may be out of order here. Clothing is not consistent.
My sims spent several days in Komorebi.
Can sims meditate while sitting on a sofa?
Melonie is going to be a career comedian.
I believe she has her first fan.
This is really long, so I'd better end it here.
I really enjoyed their visit to Komorebi. It was time to return to the school.
I am glad Smuggsworth Preparatory school has the budget to send their students on vacations.
Thank you, Future Cube bug. Selling all those devices that flooded inventories added quite a bit of cash.
I wanted to say, the first time my first sim explored the park in HoB, you know who came strolling through the meadow in her evening wear, lmbo!
I needed to break away from My Smuggsworth/Uni sims to progress other sims.
The latest changes may cause some confusion, if anyone even remembers these sims. It has been a while.
I reinvented the Chen Family. They are now the Kimura Family:
Ling Chen is now Nami Kimura.
Snowy Escaped inspired this change.
Ling was originally created as a child of a Japanese mother and a Chinese father.
Now they are full Japanese and a long way from Brindleton Bay.
They seemed the best choice for having sims living in Komorebi.
Nami's mother is now Yua Kimura. Her father is Ren Kimura.
I set about establishing her life in Komorebi.
I intended for her to have a strong interest in science, but now that we have the home decorator career, she will be more interested in art.
I can still have her parents pushing her towards science.
Too bad we can't choose school uniforms.
That one is so drab.
She's going to need a good friend.
Miki Akiyama will do.
And I had her go for all of her scouting badges, so she could earn that Scouting Aptitude trait.
Now that I had them established, it was time to move on to other sims.
I rotated over to the Peregrine house.
I was surprise to find that Hecate was hanging out at Smuggsworth Prep.
I was curious to see what she was doing and perhaps being inspired with some new game play ideas.
On the computer, of course.
Go home, cat girl.
I believe I am finally decided on what I will do with the cat girls and University.
They are supposed to be in hiding, from a world that may not respond well to them.
Miss Peregrine is their protector.
They could get away with it as children, but now that they are maturing, their cat genetics are really starting to show.
They will keep to the safety of this island.
But... I believe I will have the fact of missing out on University,make them want to reveal themselves to the world later as young adults.
They will be tired of hiding. They will probably become entertainers and use their cat genetics as a novelty.
The house will become empty as the children grow up and leave.
Bastet has taken Meadow's room.
They were best friends, it makes sense.
Hecate gets Zane's rooms.
Ceridwen keeps the big room, but they all will hangout there to watch TV.
I am not here for the cat girl's however.
I am here for these two: Cedric and Gamma.
Time for teens.
I must have been drowsy when I took these pictures.
I am missing key shots for this birthday celebration, like Gamma blowing out her candles.
Like Meadow and Bastet, these two have always been close friends.
How about those new alien powers?
I set her alien look.
There was supposed to be a story-line where Gamma never let Cedric see her alien form.
I never played it out, but will just pretend it happened.
They will move to Smuggsworth once Olivia, Melonie, and Yuki have graduated.
I have too many sims.
I feel like I didn't play these two enough.
The same goes for Nami.
Game-play has been mostly about skills and character values.
Not short enough.
That's better.
This is where the Shorter Teens mod came into play.
It makes her look younger too, somehow, not just shorter.
This Japanese family hugs.
"Where is my hug?"
I know she isn't going to get much time in Komorebi.
As soon as there are openings in Smuggsworth, she's out of here.
This is about it for home life.
And this is a custom dorm for Foxbury bound students.
Nami, Cedric, and Gamma will be living here, since they will be going after tech degrees.
Well, not in Nami's case. Here parents want her to attend Foxbury in case she changes her minds and becomes a scientist.
I don't believe I have much support for creative students.
I will have to fix that.
Back at Smuggsworth, Yuki gets a visit from her sister, Candy.
Candy seems taken aback by all the splotches covering her sister's body:
She's walking around untreated.
She demands to see the administrator. Where is he?
The school is prepared for this. A simple fix.
It's time for the second group to rotate to Uni for their two terms.
Acceptance and scholarships achieved.
Wyvern Hall.
Let's see if we can have fun this rotation.
A fresh set of dormies to tweak or makeover.
Already with the food.
Put it away.
Magnus Hull, a total makeover.
And a potential love interest for Meadow, this term.
And now that they are out of Smuggsworth, I believe Cassandra will start working on Zane, or is it the other way around.
This distinguished looking, edited gentleman is Zayden Olvera.
And I am wondering how to hook him up with Kallie McCarty.
A hug? Okay.
Not okay, according to Meadow.
Bella?
I love family visits.
This is making me nostalgic about Bella dropping off Alexander at Uni in TS2.
Cassandra needs a makeover.
Those pigtails and knee-hi socks had to go--so mature now.
Cassandra is also trying to get Zayden a love interest.
Why not Briceida as well?
It looks like Zayden is taking the bait, according to the pop up.
You two flirts.
Watch out, Meadow is about to go on the prowl.
Magnus will be a ball of yarn in her paws.
The sentiments are rising.
I should be thinking about taking this to the next level.
However, Zane is suddenly more interesting now that Cassandra has him in her sights.
Meadow seems to be seeing him with new eyes. He's often on her mind.
And she flirts.
And now she wants his baby?
Okay. I can't ignore this. (Not really going to have a baby, but I will be exploring her feelings about him.)
It's going to be interesting how everyone shakes out. You are legendary for taking on 4 sims, in college, with dorm mates...good luck!
Briceida Cuevas, where are you going dressed like that in the dead of winter?
???
Ohhh!
It looks like they started and finished without her.
Poor thing.
Nope, he's done. You can go back to the dorm.
Something tells me she is going to be one of the more entertaining dormies.
Olivia drops by for a visit!
I'm sure she's full of helpful college life advice.
Welcome back, Brie'.
Warm up.
Have something to eat.
There is plenty of food to go around.
There is actually some academic work going on around here, but who wants to see that?
We are still trying to hook up Zayden.
I believe we are progressing.
Yes, Kallie is interested.
A handshake, okay.
What do you mean, "She doesn't sound that interesting?"
No, we are definitely not progressing here.
So much for that.
Hey buddy, it could be that you actually can't afford to be so choosy.
Time has passed and my sims need a break from all the academic work I refused to cover here.
I am sending them to the student commons to have some fun.
Thank you, Get Together clubs.
Zayaden and Brecieda decide to hang out outside.
I believe the game has assigned Zayden the role of being the dorm's practical joker.
Brecieda did not like that at all.
Your hearing is a very precious thing. You don't joke around with something so priceless.
Such blatant disregard needs to be punished.
"What for" has been shown.
Cassandra comes out to help repair this rift.
We are trying to pair these two.
Some apologies need to happen.
Briceida isn't having it.
Sorry Cassandra, no need to feel embarrassed.
Zayden is hopeless.
Things are icey there, but the heat is rising here with Meadow and Magnus.
No woohoo, just a flaming make-out session.
And Cassandra being all flirty in Zane's room.
The one with the double bed.
Unfortunately, the game has assigned roles to Magnus.
He's a crybaby...
...and a slob.
Those are personality quirks that I believe would be a turn-off for Meadow.
Which means that her attention might naturally turn to Zane.
Love triangles... a quadrilateral?
This has been my most interesting turn at University so far.
Indeed!
I believe Meadow and Zane had a weekend during their Uni term to return home and visit the orphanage.
It has been four real years since they first arrived at the Peregrine house.
That blows my mind.
Miss Peregrine was working on her computer.
I don't remember giving her that Britechester T-shirt.
Considering the pants and shoes, the game must have given it to her.
What a funny coincidence.
Ceridwen.
I wish I had played them more. There is much more to their stories that I have covered here.
I do have a lot of sims though.
It's nice to reunite everyone.
You get a little bit of the feels.
Gamma is feeling something, she is glowing with that alien aura.
I have the Chemistry and Attraction mods in, for my University sims, but it seems to be in full effect here as I switched over to the Peregrine household. Bastet is just angry because someone pulled a prank on her.
There are a lot of flirty emotions firing off here for some reason.
And I am reading some concern from Gamma.
I might as well as give her some reassurance.
They have gone through that, "Hey, we aren't actually related," phase.
Well, yeah, since she isn't human and from another planet.
Back at the Britechestor dorm, we have a visitor.
And she only required a wardrobe change and a little makeup.
Krystal Figueroa, and She is quite the stunning sim.
She had me wondering if the 3-way relationships around here were going to get even more complicated.
Buy she had very obvious eyes for Zayden.
So I had Zane recommend she introduce herself to him.
I believe Zayden finally has a match.
That was until Zane walked over and interjected himself.
And there goes Zayden.
Magnus has become an emotional burden.
You're not looking strong there, fella.
The Chemistry Mod comes with a persuasion skill. I can't remember if Meadow is using it now.
He's even turning down closet make-out time to deal with his emotions.
Zane had to talk him out of the wardrobe closet.
Perhaps I will find someone for Magnus after University.
Olivia is back for another visit.
And it turns out Zane is highly attracted to her.
Uni is where most of my sims will discover their future partners.
Everything is on the table.
Brecieda tries to revenge-prank Zaydan.
I believe it was a fail, but Zaydan is in no mood to laugh at her.
Krystal is still interested in him, so all is not lost.
Zane is only becoming more attractive to Meadow.
She can continue to test the waters with both of them, as long as she keep things out of sight.
Like remote areas of the campus perhaps.
This is a kind of romantic spot.
It is as long as she keeps reminding herself:
"We only grew up in an orphanage.
We are not related.
He's not my brother.
This isn't weird at all."
Things should go fine as long as Zane doesn't do anything stupid.
Like this, for example.
"Really, Zane?"
"Whaaaaaat?"
"Ohhh boy."
Hoshi finds this behavior totally unacceptable.
Kallie gets a better viewpoint to watch Meadow smooth over this drama.