It disappointed me the most. It isn't really that it has the least content (there are some things I really like, such as the world), but I feel the focus wasn't where is should be. I have enumerated my reasoning in many threads, put ultimately while CAP is amazing pets feel like lifeless, moving decor that take up a family slot. They aren't fun enough to play for me and pets expansions are my favorite in every other entry. My game does not feel complete without them, and that itch never got really scratched for me.
No pet skills, no info panels, limited personality, no control (neither did 1 and 2, but I still loved and preferred them more so I could have been happy without this), kids cannot bathe, kids cannot walk, cats don't have tricks, cats don't get bathes (and quite frankly they do occasionally need them IRL), no dedicated pet slots, no pet jobs, no small pets in pack and very few added in other places, pet illness cannot be turned off or treated at home with medicine, veterinary bugs (I have gone so many times to get my pet treated and it glitches out and I have to retry multiple times), etc.
Also, it was so insignificant to their actions that I genuinely believed pets had no relationships with each other until someone told me there were files for it. I believe (s)he was a modder.
In comparison, Sims 3 Pets was all I ever wanted and brought me back to Sims 3 when I had given that series up (way too early and easily just because of the differences from 2 and the art style, but that mistake was corrected). So yeah, I could have never understood my disappointment until I got it. It more or less echoed 4's launch and hit harder. Looks great with underwhelming gameplay and no updates to the core you want addressed. (This has been changing for the BG, but since when have the old packs gotten a facelift in 4?)
I agree with this 100%. Cats & Dogs might as well be called the "Everything wrong with TS4" EP because it's the textbook example of at least one of the game's major flaws: All show and no substance. A million different ways to make pets look cute in CAS, a million different sicknesses that can befall them to give you a reason to play with the new vet feature, but can you actually do a million different things with the pets in gameplay? Nope, much less with cats. I'm more of a cat person in real life, yet when my sims get a pet, it's almost always a dog because at least you can do something with them other than feeding and petting.
That said, while Cats & Dogs is definitely the pack that disappointed me the most (because I was really looking forward to it), it's not my least favourite. That would be City Living, which commits yet another major sin: Instead of introducing gameplay elements that enhance your sims’ lives no matter where they live, as a proper EP should, this one focuses too much on its world. Be it the careers if you play them actively, the new aspiration or the festivals, and of course the apartments – everything requires you to live in or at least frequently visit San Myshuno, you can’t even create your own festivals or build your own apartments outside of it, so all that leaves for the rest of the sim world is the (very colourful) CAS and BB items. Technically, I don’t really have a problem with that as long as I like the world, which is why Island Living and Snowy Escape rank higher on my list, but I’m just not into big cities, so San Myshuno, while impressive and unique among this game’s worlds, unfortunately falls flat for me. City Living is also the pack that introduced Asian names for everyone, whether they look the part or not, without also having any proper Asian culture aside from the food. (I think this has been toned down in the meantime, but I'm not sure if the fix came from the developers or a mod I'm using.)
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Nope, nope nope nope. I will never have that in my game anymore. I'm not a builder and I refuse to download all the community lots over and over again when they will all be robbed down to non functional useless places.
Also I'm not a fan of living in trashy environment. In my country people are quite neat and I'm not used to seeing garbage everywhere, I'm not a fan.
It's hard for me to pick one pack because every of them has some weaknesses and strengths.
Get to Work - poor retail system, useless Magnolia Promenade, lack of rabbit hole careers.
Get Together - probably one of the best made EP, but there could be some more interactions and DJ career
City Living - apartments are awesome (but some of them is weird and too huge) but there is no much gameplay.
Cats & Dogs - pets and beautiful world, but no more, even vet career without buying a vet clinic (same system as in dine out or Get to work).
Get Famous - nice celebity system and actor caree, but it is all. Del Sol Valley is dramatically bad world.
Island Living - beautiful world and some unique activities, but honestly no clear gameplay, no hotels, no interesting features
Snowy Escape - very creative pack, but a lot of activities are estrictively linked to the world.
Seasons - just seasons... but with some nice features. Unfortunately no world, but this EP influence to the rest worlds.
Discover University - I like the idea but I do not like the world and the dorm system here. I think they could make this expansion better.
Eco Lifestyle - honestly this is a really good expansion pack, but the theme is very controversial.
In general I prrobably will choose Get Famous because of wasted potential.
Like some other people in this thread I'm most disappointed with Cats and Dogs. I always felt that focusing so much on sickenesses wasn't the right move and it partly ruins the experience of having pets for me. On top of that you can't even teach your dog to pee in a certain spot, but they do their thing at the porch usually... I also with we had some kind of panels for pets that show their character, the tricks they know etc, (similar to TS2). Breeding isn't fun because there's not enough alteration in the pet coat, nose, eye colour and you get puppies/kittens that are exact copies.
Other EPs that I don't enjoy much are Get to Work, Eco Lifestyle and University. Get to work is a bad combo of things and it feels half baked, Eco Lifestyle has great ideas, but the meters don't seems to work right, University is grindy and tricky in rotational play. Now all the complaining done, I'd like to add that I still enjoy all of the packs.
Snowy Escape. I probably feel more negative about it because I was pretty excited for it and it was on my wishlist for ages, but flat out it's just boring. There isn't really anything interesting to do in that pack other than building and I haven't really touched anything in it since the first 2 weeks.
Second would be Discover University, but not because it's bad it's just a Strangerville-play-once-then-never-again pack. I sent my sim to university once and it was fun to play through and it is probably the best university pack, but I'm not gonna repeat the same gameplay over and over again. I haven't sent a sim to university again since and I don't really have any desire to. Outside of university gameplay nothing in this pack is really useful at all, the only things I use from it is the roommate system and the shower. If it wasn't for the roommate system which I use a lot, this would be the one pack that I could refund and wouldn't miss a thing.
Third would be Get Together, only because I don't really see the point of it as a pack. Clubs and dance clubs could've very easily just been in the base game and other than that it's just a world pack
Edit: Forgot about it but from what I've seen the upcoming pack is my new least favorite, haven't seen the whole thing yet but it's the first expansion I've felt physically zero excitement for and have no desire to buy.
I went with get famous because it’s my least favorite. Only because I rarely play with fame. I don’t think it’s the worst expansion. I had a lot of playing as an actress and really enjoyed it.
If I had gone with the expansion pack that disappointed me the most. It might be Island Living or snowy escape.
I actually love Island living. But a few things keep it from being a favorite. One of them was already fixed with the snowy escape patch. Not having rentals available with this pack was my biggest gripe with the pack upon release. A few other things that keep it the top of my list. Not being able to use the boat with other sims. A new water activity, something is missing.
Snowy escape is also one I like. But everything is tied to the world. Had we at least gotten a half pipe that was placeable in other worlds that would have helped.
Almost forgot Get to Work. I wish that we could set the cash register to have sims line up and pay. Also wish they had shopping bags. I play the doctor career a lot and I wish your co-workers actually did things. Also that your sim could go to the hospital when sick.
The reason is quite simple: I didn't like its main features (NAP, eco footprint) right from the start but I wanted the small features and the build and buy stuff. That's why I got the pack with a discount. So far I'm fine with it.
I'm going to go with university for now, because it is the worst to try to fit into rotational play. I haven't played it to its full potential yet, so it might move up on the list in the long term, but no matter how much I may come to like its features it is still the pack that makes me work the hardest to fit it into my favorite way to play.
Get Famous is my least used, so I’d probably go with that. I really like the acting career but I rarely play with celebrities and Del Sol Valley is so disappointing. I like how the world looks but I hate that it’s so small. If it wasn’t I’d probably have sims live there more often.
I would have to say Eco Lifestyle. Aside from the Build/Buy and CAS, I don't use much of that pack. The NAPs are annoying. I mainly keep them turned off.
I also don't use a lot from Get Famous, mostly just the CAS & Build/Buy. I rarely have celebrities and actors even less.
I'm in a small minority, but I stand by this opinion...
City Living missed A LOT of opportunities! The political career, the lack of a singing career (despite bringing back the singing skill), their terrible attempt at apartments, the festivals being extremely boring, the world having very limited space to build, the park being a forced lot type that can't be changed, etc.
My issue with the political career is that they could've done so much more with it! It's a semi-active career, but all you can do is get votes and give speeches. They could've made it more realistic by allowing Sims to choose a political party (like the Llama Party, Plumbob Party, etc). Also, I hate how a politician's spouse can easily feel disgusted or turned off by their political views... it's cringe worthy. Obviously, people in real life can have difference in politics, but generally speaking, a spouse would be supportive if their partner's political ambitions.
The lack of a singing career also makes absolutely NO sense! Why add a singing skill in the first place? Also, City Living and Get Famous could've easily been made as a combined expansion pack because of this alone. The celebrity system could've been brought back with the political, singing, and acting careers... all in ONE pack!
The apartments... WHY can't we build our own!? The fact that they're exclusive to San Myshuno (and then later added in Eco Lifestyle, which ultimately defeats the main selling point of City Living) is ridiculous! Even in Sims 2, though you needed cheats to do so, you could build your own apartments! You could even select certain ones from a big catalog to place in your game... but, in Sims 4, you're restricted to whatever San Myshuno gives you! This was highly disappointing.
The festivals serve no actual purpose (other than getting money from the tech competitions, which easily becomes pointless once your Sims reach a certain point in the game, or getting the multiple types of bubbles in the game). They become boring and repetitive very quickly. Every festival is only worth visiting ONCE... if even that.
Also, I was disappointed with how the bubble blower was implemented into this pack... it's annoying to have in your house and for your Sim to approach it just to have a "what IS it!?" moodlet... I just miss in Sims 3 when the bubbles each had their own flavors, instead of the weird experimental highs this one has.
Also, as a bonus, I absolutely HATE the keyboard in this pack! When I first saw that it was making a return, I was very excited! However, I was disappointed after realizing the keyboard makes weird sci-fi sounds, instead of just regular piano tones (like in real life). Yes, I understand keyboards are often use to create synthesized music, but the game could've at least given us an option to change the tones... this was also a peeve I had in Sims 2: Freetime when the keyboard was introduced into the game.
Overall, City Living, even with Eco Lifestyle as an expansion pack, is my absolute least favorite of them all! I remember thinking Eco Lifestyle would easily take the #1 spot as worst expansion pack, but it's actually decent after giving it a chance. Meanwhile, City Living, in my opinion, has little to no redeeming qualities. I regret spending $40 on this pack.
Looking at them, I use every one and enjoy them all..:but I use cats and dogs the least. I wouldn’t say it was the worst. It’s really good but taxing as I have enough to do with my sim family. It might be different if I could control them
For me it’s eco lifestyle as there is pretty much no gameplay and the main features from the pack the naps and the footprint are so bugged I have them turned off. Apart from the bb items I hardly use it. For me the only good feature I use is the community space lot as it is the only lot I can have that will generate vendors for food stalls so I get quite creative with these lots.
I voted Eco Living. There are so many awesome Build/Buy items and I would have loved candle-making and the aurora borealis, but I didn't buy it because I knew the majority of the features presented wouldn't interest me.
Edit: Also, I think it's funny that this has so many votes because the community voted for it, thinking it would be what Cottage Living is. I love Discover University, though, so I guess I should hop on over to the Popular Unpopular Opinions thread lol!
I actually like Del Sol Valley but I find the neighborhood for the starter homes a bit too small. I do appreciate all the work that has been put in the pack but the castings get a bit dull after some time.
Discover University. I have it but I never really played it (yet) - I got it on discount so it's ok, it's just not the playstyle I'm interested in at the moment.
Discover University - All work with no play and not fit for rotational players (and dorm life is a mess) is nooooot fun. Otherwise I like it enough. I enjoy robotics and some of the CAS and am happy its here but I miss Sims 2's. I will say, skill classes were a fantastic addition though.
City Living - I like apartments but I hate how much NPC sims constantly eat at the food stalls. I rotate play so every time I play in San Myshuno my other sims pick up a ton of weight. Having no singing career was bizarre and while I'm not a builder apartment building was incredibly limited.
Island Living - Beautiful location, beautiful CAS; but absolutely NOTHING to do. Mermaids are gorgeous but barely are any different from regular sims.
Cats & Dogs - The pets are cute but I just...have barely touched them. They take up a household sim slot and I can't even control them? Considering how glitchy the game is and not being able to intercept in case of emergency; the idea of taking a pet on stresses me out. Haven't done the vet career, either. Never been super crazy over pets from past iterations, but I feel like the gameplay design choices this time were a miss.
Get Famous - Decent pack all around, but world was too small.
Discover University is fine for the first few times, but after that it's just CAS/BB that I use mainly, which considering a large chunk of the EP was the uni experience that's not so great.
"Not All Who Wander Are Lost"-Tolkien
Origin ID: simaddict1990
Comments
I agree with this 100%. Cats & Dogs might as well be called the "Everything wrong with TS4" EP because it's the textbook example of at least one of the game's major flaws: All show and no substance. A million different ways to make pets look cute in CAS, a million different sicknesses that can befall them to give you a reason to play with the new vet feature, but can you actually do a million different things with the pets in gameplay? Nope, much less with cats. I'm more of a cat person in real life, yet when my sims get a pet, it's almost always a dog because at least you can do something with them other than feeding and petting.
That said, while Cats & Dogs is definitely the pack that disappointed me the most (because I was really looking forward to it), it's not my least favourite. That would be City Living, which commits yet another major sin: Instead of introducing gameplay elements that enhance your sims’ lives no matter where they live, as a proper EP should, this one focuses too much on its world. Be it the careers if you play them actively, the new aspiration or the festivals, and of course the apartments – everything requires you to live in or at least frequently visit San Myshuno, you can’t even create your own festivals or build your own apartments outside of it, so all that leaves for the rest of the sim world is the (very colourful) CAS and BB items. Technically, I don’t really have a problem with that as long as I like the world, which is why Island Living and Snowy Escape rank higher on my list, but I’m just not into big cities, so San Myshuno, while impressive and unique among this game’s worlds, unfortunately falls flat for me. City Living is also the pack that introduced Asian names for everyone, whether they look the part or not, without also having any proper Asian culture aside from the food. (I think this has been toned down in the meantime, but I'm not sure if the fix came from the developers or a mod I'm using.)
Something wicked this way comes!
I don't use MCCC.
Nope, nope nope nope. I will never have that in my game anymore. I'm not a builder and I refuse to download all the community lots over and over again when they will all be robbed down to non functional useless places.
Also I'm not a fan of living in trashy environment. In my country people are quite neat and I'm not used to seeing garbage everywhere, I'm not a fan.
Get to Work - poor retail system, useless Magnolia Promenade, lack of rabbit hole careers.
Get Together - probably one of the best made EP, but there could be some more interactions and DJ career
City Living - apartments are awesome (but some of them is weird and too huge) but there is no much gameplay.
Cats & Dogs - pets and beautiful world, but no more, even vet career without buying a vet clinic (same system as in dine out or Get to work).
Get Famous - nice celebity system and actor caree, but it is all. Del Sol Valley is dramatically bad world.
Island Living - beautiful world and some unique activities, but honestly no clear gameplay, no hotels, no interesting features
Snowy Escape - very creative pack, but a lot of activities are estrictively linked to the world.
Seasons - just seasons... but with some nice features. Unfortunately no world, but this EP influence to the rest worlds.
Discover University - I like the idea but I do not like the world and the dorm system here. I think they could make this expansion better.
Eco Lifestyle - honestly this is a really good expansion pack, but the theme is very controversial.
In general I prrobably will choose Get Famous because of wasted potential.
Other EPs that I don't enjoy much are Get to Work, Eco Lifestyle and University. Get to work is a bad combo of things and it feels half baked, Eco Lifestyle has great ideas, but the meters don't seems to work right, University is grindy and tricky in rotational play. Now all the complaining done, I'd like to add that I still enjoy all of the packs.
Updated with Werewolf Diaries (1)
Mind you, compared to Pets in TS3, I don't think Cats and Dogs is particularly well done in TS4 either.
Second would be Discover University, but not because it's bad it's just a Strangerville-play-once-then-never-again pack. I sent my sim to university once and it was fun to play through and it is probably the best university pack, but I'm not gonna repeat the same gameplay over and over again. I haven't sent a sim to university again since and I don't really have any desire to. Outside of university gameplay nothing in this pack is really useful at all, the only things I use from it is the roommate system and the shower. If it wasn't for the roommate system which I use a lot, this would be the one pack that I could refund and wouldn't miss a thing.
Third would be Get Together, only because I don't really see the point of it as a pack. Clubs and dance clubs could've very easily just been in the base game and other than that it's just a world pack
Edit: Forgot about it but from what I've seen the upcoming pack is my new least favorite, haven't seen the whole thing yet but it's the first expansion I've felt physically zero excitement for and have no desire to buy.
If I had gone with the expansion pack that disappointed me the most. It might be Island Living or snowy escape.
I actually love Island living. But a few things keep it from being a favorite. One of them was already fixed with the snowy escape patch. Not having rentals available with this pack was my biggest gripe with the pack upon release. A few other things that keep it the top of my list. Not being able to use the boat with other sims. A new water activity, something is missing.
Snowy escape is also one I like. But everything is tied to the world. Had we at least gotten a half pipe that was placeable in other worlds that would have helped.
Almost forgot Get to Work. I wish that we could set the cash register to have sims line up and pay. Also wish they had shopping bags. I play the doctor career a lot and I wish your co-workers actually did things. Also that your sim could go to the hospital when sick.
The reason is quite simple: I didn't like its main features (NAP, eco footprint) right from the start but I wanted the small features and the build and buy stuff. That's why I got the pack with a discount. So far I'm fine with it.
Origin-ID: Tasha1709
Disney's Moana: Island
Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Castle and Sims
Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Cottage
https://www.theplumtreeapp.com/public/616a83a072616b1d18fb3268
I also don't use a lot from Get Famous, mostly just the CAS & Build/Buy. I rarely have celebrities and actors even less.
City Living missed A LOT of opportunities! The political career, the lack of a singing career (despite bringing back the singing skill), their terrible attempt at apartments, the festivals being extremely boring, the world having very limited space to build, the park being a forced lot type that can't be changed, etc.
My issue with the political career is that they could've done so much more with it! It's a semi-active career, but all you can do is get votes and give speeches. They could've made it more realistic by allowing Sims to choose a political party (like the Llama Party, Plumbob Party, etc). Also, I hate how a politician's spouse can easily feel disgusted or turned off by their political views... it's cringe worthy. Obviously, people in real life can have difference in politics, but generally speaking, a spouse would be supportive if their partner's political ambitions.
The lack of a singing career also makes absolutely NO sense! Why add a singing skill in the first place? Also, City Living and Get Famous could've easily been made as a combined expansion pack because of this alone. The celebrity system could've been brought back with the political, singing, and acting careers... all in ONE pack!
The apartments... WHY can't we build our own!? The fact that they're exclusive to San Myshuno (and then later added in Eco Lifestyle, which ultimately defeats the main selling point of City Living) is ridiculous! Even in Sims 2, though you needed cheats to do so, you could build your own apartments! You could even select certain ones from a big catalog to place in your game... but, in Sims 4, you're restricted to whatever San Myshuno gives you! This was highly disappointing.
The festivals serve no actual purpose (other than getting money from the tech competitions, which easily becomes pointless once your Sims reach a certain point in the game, or getting the multiple types of bubbles in the game). They become boring and repetitive very quickly. Every festival is only worth visiting ONCE... if even that.
Also, I was disappointed with how the bubble blower was implemented into this pack... it's annoying to have in your house and for your Sim to approach it just to have a "what IS it!?" moodlet... I just miss in Sims 3 when the bubbles each had their own flavors, instead of the weird experimental highs this one has.
Also, as a bonus, I absolutely HATE the keyboard in this pack! When I first saw that it was making a return, I was very excited! However, I was disappointed after realizing the keyboard makes weird sci-fi sounds, instead of just regular piano tones (like in real life). Yes, I understand keyboards are often use to create synthesized music, but the game could've at least given us an option to change the tones... this was also a peeve I had in Sims 2: Freetime when the keyboard was introduced into the game.
Overall, City Living, even with Eco Lifestyle as an expansion pack, is my absolute least favorite of them all! I remember thinking Eco Lifestyle would easily take the #1 spot as worst expansion pack, but it's actually decent after giving it a chance. Meanwhile, City Living, in my opinion, has little to no redeeming qualities. I regret spending $40 on this pack.
Sims 1: Hot Date
Sims 2: Seasons
Sims 2: Happy Holiday Stuff
Sims 3: Seasons
Sims 3: 70's, 80's, & 90's Stuff
Sims 4: Seasons
Sims 4: Paranormal Stuff
Sims 4: Strangerville Game Pack
Edit: Also, I think it's funny that this has so many votes because the community voted for it, thinking it would be what Cottage Living is. I love Discover University, though, so I guess I should hop on over to the Popular Unpopular Opinions thread lol!
Simmin' since 2000
I've never been a fan of University gameplay (in 2 and 3 as well) But I always end up buying them because I love the CAS and BB.
Discover University - All work with no play and not fit for rotational players (and dorm life is a mess) is nooooot fun. Otherwise I like it enough. I enjoy robotics and some of the CAS and am happy its here but I miss Sims 2's. I will say, skill classes were a fantastic addition though.
City Living - I like apartments but I hate how much NPC sims constantly eat at the food stalls. I rotate play so every time I play in San Myshuno my other sims pick up a ton of weight. Having no singing career was bizarre and while I'm not a builder apartment building was incredibly limited.
Island Living - Beautiful location, beautiful CAS; but absolutely NOTHING to do. Mermaids are gorgeous but barely are any different from regular sims.
Cats & Dogs - The pets are cute but I just...have barely touched them. They take up a household sim slot and I can't even control them? Considering how glitchy the game is and not being able to intercept in case of emergency; the idea of taking a pet on stresses me out. Haven't done the vet career, either. Never been super crazy over pets from past iterations, but I feel like the gameplay design choices this time were a miss.
Get Famous - Decent pack all around, but world was too small.
Origin ID: simaddict1990