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What's Your Approach To New Packs?
simgirl1010
Posts: 35,805 Member
Do you immediately jump in and complete all the new content, essentially playing the pack, or do you incorporate the new game play features into an existing save.
What's Your Approach To New Packs? 163 votes
Play the pack
12%
20 votes
Incorporate into existing gameplay
79%
129 votes
Other
8%
14 votes
0
Comments
My gameplay is about following Sim households that I play through generations and I still haven't included a vampire or an alien sim into any of the households I've played in TS4, nor have I done anything to investigate what's going on in Strangerville yet, despite buying that pack as soon as it came out.
Based on how long it takes me to 'get around' to things I think I'm good for at least 10 more years of play just in what packs have already been released.
I know a lot of people are clamouring for more game and expansion packs after 6 months of nothing but kits, but I've been simming since TS1 and, just mho, TS4 already has more gameplay elements than any of the previous games in the franchise ever did (individual player opinions on quantity over quality will vary regarding that though).
That said, I also would like to see more gameplay packs myself....just because "more to do" is good, even if it takes me forever to get to it.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
As an everything and the kitchen sink type player, I don't restrict myself at all. Sometimes I have a family or save suitable, sometimes not, but I check out all the new stuff until I've had my fill with all my other pack elements present.
I like to discover everything on my own when a new pack/kit is released as well, so I only watch the official trailers, never any game changers or let's plays or anything at all. I also do not look at any pre-pack leaks of the CAS or BB preview pics that people like to post because again, I like to see everything in person and be surprised.
If a kit/pack doesn't interest me from the official trailers, then it's a no brainer and I have no need to research it further.
The only kits/packs I have not bought are JtB (which I had zero interest in that theme, I'm not a sci-fi player or Star Wars fanatic, nor do I play "fantasy" gameplay and none of the CAS/BB stuff were remotely my style and the Modern Menswear kits I knew was not ever something I'd use either, so those 2 I skipped). I have found something I can/will use in every kit/pack I've bought.
As I unlock more things in the pack, I start building more, and create more sims, look on the gallery what other simmers have created and try to create more sims myself.
If I find the pack interesting enough, I start to try and do different things with the pack, but this is more difficult to do if I feel that the pack is more isolated, don't offer enough new things, don't work well with other packs or if I have already done very similar things already. I often end up creating a "hero" sim household and once that household is maxed out, I struggle to create new ones to play if the experience is too similar to what I have already played.
Do I like this feature? Nope, won't go there in a kept save.
I have a test save (well, had, I'll need to make a new one) where I make a new household and play focusing on the pack features for about a week or two sims time.
Then I go back to my regular save and incorporate it all in. It also lets me find bugs so that I can be aware of them before they mess up my regular save.
If the theme suits my existing gameplay I will incorporate it into the story, although often times a new pack inspires me to create a fresh save for a new story with new characters.
Sometimes a new world suits an existing story much better, in that case I’d transfer the main households from an older world to the new neighborhood and pretend they always lived there.
What I never do is play all the content of that pack until it’s “finished”. I don’t even know how to enjoy that. I haven’t explored many of the features of packs that I own.
Some of the games that I play seem extremely fast paced, (to me 🐌) and I like that The Sims can offer a bit of contrast to the usual mayhem. Although I’m an adventure player, I tend to take my time to appreciate every detail of older and newer packs.
but i do tend to go through cas b/b world/lots and new premades first to just see everything once and hopefully remember it when i feel like making use of it
and then probably end up building something/s or redress some sims
aaand then probably i have wasted some long time so i play the next day or so
🏡 Gallery 📖 Stories 🌍 World Project 🥔 MOD/CC Free
I continue my save file, and usually will make a new family to start testing the pack out, but also try to see what the pack has to offer.
I may update the looks of my previous Sims if I like the new hairstyles, and I will also give them a new wardrobe overall.
I got my packs around the same time, and use them all at the same time. I have different families more dedicated to each pack, but I am still far from exploring every single feature of each pack. I only started the Sims in late 2018, and only recently got some packs, so I have a lot to play of the game, and a lot to explore.
CoL was the only exception because of the bloating save file bug. I didn't want to ruin my save for good, but I missed it all the time and haven't touched my CoL save since I fixed the bug and could return to my beloved save.
I’m still exploring many of the past packs as well, so the incorporation depends on my sims.
I sometimes create a new family for the pack (within the same save, but in a different household in the various worlds, as I am a rotational player), but for other packs, I sometimes mix a few of the new pack’s features into the family household that I have currently rotated into.
To incorporate a new pack for a family depends on the current sim’s personality and backstory, and where their lives are heading to at the moment.
(She/her)
I've been playing since TS1 as well, and I find it very surprising that you feel this way, as I respectfully have to completely disagree. (I was already well into adulthood when I started playing TS1, so my memories are not colored by childhood nostalgia or anything like that.)
Now, I think it would be fair to say that TS4 runs more smoothly than TS3, but there's no way on earth that I would say it has more gameplay elements. It's probably fair to say it has more gameplay elements than TS1, but that seems like a pretty low bar to clear considering the decades that have passed then... it would be a pretty sad state of affairs if it hadn't advanced at all in that time. I think it's actually pretty comparable to TS2; some things are better, some things are worse, but it's roughly the same level, which is not impressive considering how long ago TS2 released. It seems pretty clear that TS3 was a giant leap forward, and they weren't really prepared for it, so they took a big step backwards with TS4 at release. The team does seem to be trying to incrementally move the ball forward post-release; I applaud the continuing effort, and some of the content has been great, but I don't see how anyone could do a pack by pack comparison of 3 to 4 and think that we're getting more now. The vast majority of elements are shallower.
CAW? No. Color wheel? No. The ability to add lots to neighborhoods? No. Underwater swimming and swimming in every world? No. Smaller and fewer worlds? Yes. Fewer occults. Fewer pets, and less ability to control the ones we do. I could go on and on, but I think we all know what the most commonly requested missing items are at this point. I do think we'll get some of them in the end, but a lot of what we had in the past, we will never get in TS4. There's plenty I do like about this game, but I just don't see how anyone could think it's a richer experience than TS3 or even TS2.
Then I incorporate them in my main save over time.
Some things, like new hobbies/games, I can incorporate immediately. Other things, like careers/traits/aspirations/lifestyles I might have to wait until a sim ages up or joins a household through other means.
Sims 3, in particular, has far less "gameplay" in a single game, in my opinion, because, they designed it such that you only have access to one world and the vacation destinations within a single game. I'm aware that there's a mod to remove that restriction, but mods aren't part of the discussion.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
I don't deliberately explore the pack. I just use aspects of it as I find a use for them. If I want to know how a feature works before incorporating it into one of my stories, I read a tutorial.
However, imho, I do feel Sims 3 packs (and Sims 2) had more stuff to do in general, though. Like, there were more interactions and systems within. Sims 1, 2, and 3 had magic stuff that are not in the Sims 4, as well.
However, there are some elements of Sims 4 that I do prefer, like the vampires system and toddlers, and some of the Parenthood elements, etc. I love how much easier it is to do some things, too. I love the little things that got added like cooking together, clubs, etc. There were some things that were brought back, eventually, in Sims 4, and I loved that, too. Or, Sims 4 may have sort of brought some similar stuff back. (Sims 4 did not bring back sewing, but they brought in knitting and cross-stitching, for example.)
I do miss underwater exploration, seeing the kraken and sharks (and summoning said kraken), taking the toddlers and babies everywhere (my strollers, where are they? *cries*), baby/toddler swings, washing babies in the sinks, home businesses, attraction system, hotels, fairies (or more occults), and some other things that are still missing from Sims 4.
I still love Sims 4 very much, but I also loved the past Sims games as well, and I do feel Sims 4 is still missing some stuff from the past.
Anyway, this is getting a bit off-topic for the thread.
To get back on-topic: I very much enjoy putting in some new pack gameplay into my Sims 4 families in the same save file, but I use elements for different families because it depends on their personalities and their life-stories.
(She/her)
Then I usually play for some time in a dedicated test save. Once I know the basics of how things work, it just finds its way into existing saves (unless I decide a feature is too annoying and I prefer to turn it off). I generally don't play the entire pack in my test save, it becomes too much of a grind to just complete all the new stuff.
For example, I have not yet sent a single student to university in my main save despite owning the pack for over a year, because I got it after the third generation was partly YA already, so I decided to save it for the 4th generation. But I have sims who own ping pong tables and I use the CAS items. And while my sims eat out all the time, I am waiting for a current teen to age up before owning a restaurant. It took me about a rl year to get through the Strangerville story.
So kinda like @Stormkeep said, it will take me a long time to finish the content I already own. I want werewolves and a few other things, but I have plenty to do while I wait for them.