The trailer looks very very very American. I know Sims is developed in the US and the base game worlds are all American (more so than in the previous sims games) but this is overdoing it a bit. For me this feels like an American teen movie, not real life school. Just really not for me but happy for those who do want this content.
The school seems to be a actual location. I hope it is an alternative to the base game high school, not a replacement just like the wedding pack replaced base game weddings.
I want to know what this pack changes for the school system.
At least the pre order items look boring and make it easy to wait for a sale.
Going back to werewolves now. It is way too soon for me to cast them aside, definitely not for this pack.
Are other schools that much different? I am not trying to be a wise guy. I really want to know. I couldn't imagine it being much different. I mean you need to have classes and teachers. Maybe the cheerleading and football could be the American part, but everything else? Maybe that don't have "prom", but do other country's schools don't have any type of dance for the kids?
So far my only negative is the socially awkward trait. I will personally never use it, it is too extreme to me. I understand making it harder to socialize, but from the gameplay I have seen it makes every interaction result in negative gain, and if I am best friends with someone, I should be able to talk to them at least without failing, they are already my friend after all. Not asking for a nerf, I will just choose to not use it.
I'm pretty sure I heard if you have a high relationship with a Sim there won't be issues with interacting with them. But in my opinion this trait is exactly what this game needs a true meaningful trait that makes 1 Sim act different from another all traits should be doing this. Sadly I don't expect any new animations to be tied to this trait which is something every trait lacks.
Sims 4 went from "You Rule" to "One of the stories we want you to tell"
So far my only negative is the socially awkward trait. I will personally never use it, it is too extreme to me. I understand making it harder to socialize, but from the gameplay I have seen it makes every interaction result in negative gain, and if I am best friends with someone, I should be able to talk to them at least without failing, they are already my friend after all. Not asking for a nerf, I will just choose to not use it.
Was that all due to the trait? I watched James Turner and he didn't understand why all his socials were failing even with a friend. Personally I thought it was because he was playing with half the Sim's needs bright red and a "very uncomfortable" moodlet. Moods definitely affect the success of socials.
Now that I think about it, James was doing a lot of things wrong.
He was doing Trendi wrong. I don't know why his sim's needs were so crazy low. I would have at least earned some reward points to buy some needs potions. That would allowed him time to get the others in balance.
So far my only negative is the socially awkward trait. I will personally never use it, it is too extreme to me. I understand making it harder to socialize, but from the gameplay I have seen it makes every interaction result in negative gain, and if I am best friends with someone, I should be able to talk to them at least without failing, they are already my friend after all. Not asking for a nerf, I will just choose to not use it.
I'm pretty sure I heard if you have a high relationship with a Sim there won't be issues with interacting with them. But in my opinion this trait is exactly what this game needs a true meaningful trait that makes 1 Sim act different from another all traits should be doing this. Sadly I don't expect any new animations to be tied to this trait which is something every trait lacks.
I hope you are correct on this, but as I said, I am not asking for a nerf as I understand some folks might like this in their game, and I have the option of simply not using it.
I don't know how to feel about the socially awkward trait. It seems.. not like I experience at all, but maybe mine is a different kind? I can face to face act normal like a champ with strangers, then I'm in bed for 3 days with fatigue. Oh I spent 2 days before crying none stop out of anxiety.
With friends, it's actually a bit worse because I feel comfortable enough to not front but then they get upset when I forget 'normal' people couch all their comments in ways I find to be weird. So it's sort of the other way round than the trait?
Social Media doesn't make it any easier in this year either. Online used to be a haven but now people are so quick to take offense even when it's not meant. I get anxiety just posting on this forum these days for that reason.
Probably this whole post is awkward lol....
The trailer looks very very very American. I know Sims is developed in the US and the base game worlds are all American (more so than in the previous sims games) but this is overdoing it a bit. For me this feels like an American teen movie, not real life school. Just really not for me but happy for those who do want this content.
The school seems to be a actual location. I hope it is an alternative to the base game high school, not a replacement just like the wedding pack replaced base game weddings.
I want to know what this pack changes for the school system.
At least the pre order items look boring and make it easy to wait for a sale.
Going back to werewolves now. It is way too soon for me to cast them aside, definitely not for this pack.
Are other schools that much different? I am not trying to be a wise guy. I really want to know. I couldn't imagine it being much different. I mean you need to have classes and teachers. Maybe the cheerleading and football could be the American part, but everything else? Maybe that don't have "prom", but do other country's schools don't have any type of dance for the kids?
@tomchan0 Yes, it's different. A lot of schools don't have any dances. They also don't have cafeterias, lockers, etc.
The trailer looks very very very American. I know Sims is developed in the US and the base game worlds are all American (more so than in the previous sims games) but this is overdoing it a bit. For me this feels like an American teen movie, not real life school. Just really not for me but happy for those who do want this content.
The school seems to be a actual location. I hope it is an alternative to the base game high school, not a replacement just like the wedding pack replaced base game weddings.
I want to know what this pack changes for the school system.
At least the pre order items look boring and make it easy to wait for a sale.
Going back to werewolves now. It is way too soon for me to cast them aside, definitely not for this pack.
Are other schools that much different? I am not trying to be a wise guy. I really want to know. I couldn't imagine it being much different. I mean you need to have classes and teachers. Maybe the cheerleading and football could be the American part, but everything else? Maybe that don't have "prom", but do other country's schools don't have any type of dance for the kids?
And to add what haneul said, some schools don't even have clubs, let alone dances and in some countries there are school uniforms or at least restrictions on clothes.
The trailer looks very very very American. I know Sims is developed in the US and the base game worlds are all American (more so than in the previous sims games) but this is overdoing it a bit. For me this feels like an American teen movie, not real life school. Just really not for me but happy for those who do want this content.
The school seems to be a actual location. I hope it is an alternative to the base game high school, not a replacement just like the wedding pack replaced base game weddings.
I want to know what this pack changes for the school system.
At least the pre order items look boring and make it easy to wait for a sale.
Going back to werewolves now. It is way too soon for me to cast them aside, definitely not for this pack.
Are other schools that much different? I am not trying to be a wise guy. I really want to know. I couldn't imagine it being much different. I mean you need to have classes and teachers. Maybe the cheerleading and football could be the American part, but everything else? Maybe that don't have "prom", but do other country's schools don't have any type of dance for the kids?
Totally different in many countries. For example we usually stayed at school from 8 am to 1 pm and had lunch at home. There was no need for a cafeteria.
We had no school teams or bands. Our after school activities were not related to school. If you want to do sports or music you usually join a local sports club or a music school.
We have different kinds of school. I never was at highschool. My school was more like elemetary school. You stay together with your classmates in your classroom and only the teacher changes the classroom. There was no hanging arround between the lessons. You had to stay in classroom and were only allowed to leave it during the breaks. We had no lockers because of this. All our stuff was in the classroom. That's not unusual for many schools in my country.
I had no prom.
In many countries you have school uniforms. Not in my country but I understand why many simmers would like to have the option.
Football isn't important in most parts of the world. The top 3 sports in the world are soccer, cricket and hockey. Even baseball is more popular.
Living in europe we know that every country has different schoolsystems and we know that europe is just a small part of the world.
I wonder if you don't learn at school about how schools are like in other countries? We learned about british and american schools in our english lessons.
I wonder if you don't learn at school about how schools are like in other countries? We learned about british and american schools in our english lessons.
@Melisendre Because the US is a wealthy and huge country, US education generally doesn't include that much about other countries and tends to focus on itself. Also, Americans don't have a lot of vacation time, so many people don't have the time or (ironically) money to travel outside of the country. I think 10 days/year of vacation is typical and a lot of people probably use that time to visit family instead of for travel outside.
Honestly, most American high schools have some kind of dress code. No crop tops for example.
In America, you don't have one school system. It differs by state and county. It's more difficult to consider differences abroad when you're more focused on how your school is different from your cousin's. We mostly know other educational systems from fiction alone. Geography is not as much a focus as it should be, but is better now than in my era.
My own school was much broader even than this one since we had classes in business, construction trades, JROTC, cosmetology, etc. as well as college prep. You chose your own track with help from a guidance counselor.
I know there are also private highschools in america and schools with school uniforms. I don't know the difference, but I know there are junior highschools and middle schools. I know homeschooling is more common than my country.
The argument for the "typical" american highschool is always that it was the experience of developers. Reading about alle the different experiences of the american simmers I wonder why they didn't add some more options.
For example with DU they added the teacher career were you can teach online at home. Why didn't they add homeschooling? In my country during the last two years of covid the schools were closed for long periods and homeschooling was an important part of live.
Were is the cross pack compability? Why can't the teenager choose between between different sports? They play football in highschool and then soccer in university. That makes no sense.
I wish we got homeschooling.Again the pack is not about education it self.Its about teenagers.
I'm sure I saw somewhere that home schooling was possible with the drop out of school option and then getting the certificate via computer or something like that.
The trailer looks very very very American. I know Sims is developed in the US and the base game worlds are all American (more so than in the previous sims games) but this is overdoing it a bit. For me this feels like an American teen movie, not real life school. Just really not for me but happy for those who do want this content.
The school seems to be a actual location. I hope it is an alternative to the base game high school, not a replacement just like the wedding pack replaced base game weddings.
I want to know what this pack changes for the school system.
At least the pre order items look boring and make it easy to wait for a sale.
Going back to werewolves now. It is way too soon for me to cast them aside, definitely not for this pack.
Are other schools that much different? I am not trying to be a wise guy. I really want to know. I couldn't imagine it being much different. I mean you need to have classes and teachers. Maybe the cheerleading and football could be the American part, but everything else? Maybe that don't have "prom", but do other country's schools don't have any type of dance for the kids?
@tomchan0 Yes, it's different. A lot of schools don't have any dances. They also don't have cafeterias, lockers, etc.
They don't have cafeterias? Do the kids not eat all day?
To be fair no implementation will ever match your personal experience. For example my university graduation was a cleared out room, a table in the middle with a stack of diplomas and a guy who called students alphabetically, gave them their diploma and shock their hands. No fancy dresses, no hats you throw into the air, no band or party.
(it was a technical university, not a "true" one even though the degree was the same).
The pack seems to aim at the Hollywood High School experience you know from movies and series coupled with how middle aged men think todays teenager are. And personally I think that is an legitimate approach.
I read through the leak (which sounds credible as it seems to be an article that was released to early) I am still not convinced that the pack will give much value to me, but the low amount of classes a day would at least allow some social interaction.
The only thing I am impressed about are the negative consequences of not graduading. You can work around them but this is imo a step into the right direction.
The patch that comes alongside the DLC seems to be the real highlight and I hope the article is correct and EA implements those mechanics well (and makes them optional)
This is very true actually. It is basically impossible to match everyone's personal experience with 100% accuracy. But I guess I was just hoping that there was a little less emphasis on the influencer/Trendi stuff? That would have made it feel more generic and inclusive of multiple generations in my opinion. And I'm just worried about how intrusive this generation-specific stuff will be and if I'm going to need to rely on mods.
I definitely do like the sounds of their being negative consequences for sure and even having ways to work around not graduating well... that's realistic at least in my experience. You can get a GED which is like a diploma but it has some cons. You could probably still get into colleges or certain lines of work but not necessarily your top choice of a college or work place since they may still require a diploma.
And I am definitely looking forward to the pre-patch for sure! Finally being able to give my Sims a set/strict sexuality? YES PLEASE! I want my straight sims to be straight and my gay sims to be gay! (Looking at you Heckings, Izzy Fabulous, and Darling Walsh)
I'm gen Z (21 and graduated in 2019) and I feel that a lot with sims 4. The game dates itself by putting the current tech and trends in, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but it is when we don't have options outside of the current technology. Like an example from sims 3: every sim has a cell, but you also have the option to never use that (since sims don't really use it autonomously and you can just silence it) and buy a landline instead. We also got hoverboards in itf, which were a big thing around that time (of course they're literal hoverboards in itf but you get my point) and you don't see sims in Appaloosa Plains cruising around on them because that's super immersion breaking. Every sims game dates itself, it's just part of it being a life sim since tech and trends evolve as time goes on, but less options is never the way. Specifically thinking about promposals when writing this as I'm not sure if we have the option to just ask to prom without making a big deal of it but imo it applies to a lot of Sims 4.
Also: on the topic of career day I agree the sims team could've done more here, but I'm not too upset. Honestly that's pretty much career day in the states. You walk up to some booths and they're like here's what I do it's great and that's kinda..it. It's boring and I've never heard anyone say it helped them pick a career or anything unless you guys maybe have a better experience with it
side note @jpajari the sim in ur pfp is so pretty!
Ahh, see I'm like literally right on the cusp of Millennial and Gen Z. I'm 25 (born in 97 and graduated in 2016) so it's a sort of funky place to be in. I can relate to some of the things that are common in your generation but others seem like the complete opposite of what I experienced. And in saying all what I am I mean no disrespect, whatsoever... I'm just in a really weird spot generation-wise I suppose. And I'm just concerned about how intrusive things like the Trendi App are going to be in this pack. I'd probably experiment with it from time to time, but I want to be able to ignore it if possible.
You do make a good point about how every Sims game dates itself though. I've never played any Sims game other than TS4 so I don't really have any comparison. And since a lot of people say the occults in TS4 are more immersive and well fleshed out than in 3, I'm kind of scared to start playing three in case they don't live up to TS4 standard occults.
For the High School Pack specifically, I guess I was just hoping that THAT would have been more generic and generation spanning. Not with the clothing options necessarily but I just feel there's too much of a emphasis on the Influencer and Trendi App? As well as how large-scale the promposals are. We did have promposals when I graduated in 2016, but they were super low-key. So whether or not we're going to have different options worries me as well.
I agree about the whole Gen Z thing, it feels like when producers were trying to market to kids back in the 90's-00's. Like I get it, as you said, target demographic, but you know what helps a product feel less dated? Keeping it timeless and not marketing to a single "type" of crowd. I'm really getting "How're you doing fellow kids" vibes from the trailer.
I digress, anyway. When I went to high school (04-08) "thrifting" wasn't a thing at all, in fact, you were kind of looked down upon if you were known to shop at OP/secondhand shops, even if the items you brought were practically brand new, you were still looked down on as being "poor". It was a sucky thing to do, but yeah, it was just how things were when I was in school. And cliques were definitely still a thing, I suppose we could make our own using the "Clubs" feature, but that's pretty boring. Pronouns weren't a thing either, being NB wasn't a thing either, at least how it is today anyway.
I completely agree. If there had been less emphasis on the this whole social media/influencer/thrifting aspect of the pack, I feel the Gen Z oriented stuff wouldn't feel AS jarring? I don't know I guess I just feel with an expansion pack like this, they should have tried a little harder to keep things generic rather than focusing all the energy on one generation? Granted proms, football teams, and cheerleaders still would leave non-american Simmers out of the loop but I feel those are staples of pretty much all generations of American high school? Or a majority of them anyway.
I went to high school from (2012 to 2016) but "thrifting" during my time in my area was still pretty much exactly the same as your experience. They were as I said in my original comment, and you reiterated places you shopped at if you were "poor." And if you were middle class or could comfortably afford to buy new clothes you would shop at mid-tier mall brands (which were still a thing) or Target, Walmart, etc (if you were looking to save from money.)
I'm often very conflicted as to where I fall between being Millenial or Gen Z since I'm quite literally on the cusp (born 1997) but my high school experience seems like it was extremely similar, if not almost identical to yours despite being about... 8 years apart from our graduation years
They don't have cafeterias? Do the kids not eat all day?
Lunchboxes? We had to stay outside during breaks. Only in bad weather we were allowed to stay inside. And we were allowed to leave school during breaks and go to the grocery store or kiosk.
Usually we had no afternoon classes so we had lunch at home. You don't need a caferteria for eating snacks.
I agree about the whole Gen Z thing, it feels like when producers were trying to market to kids back in the 90's-00's. Like I get it, as you said, target demographic, but you know what helps a product feel less dated? Keeping it timeless and not marketing to a single "type" of crowd. I'm really getting "How're you doing fellow kids" vibes from the trailer.
I digress, anyway. When I went to high school (04-08) "thrifting" wasn't a thing at all, in fact, you were kind of looked down upon if you were known to shop at OP/secondhand shops, even if the items you brought were practically brand new, you were still looked down on as being "poor". It was a sucky thing to do, but yeah, it was just how things were when I was in school. And cliques were definitely still a thing, I suppose we could make our own using the "Clubs" feature, but that's pretty boring. Pronouns weren't a thing either, being NB wasn't a thing either, at least how it is today anyway.
[/quote] I completely agree. If there had been less emphasis on the this whole social media/influencer/thrifting aspect of the pack, I feel the Gen Z oriented stuff wouldn't feel AS jarring? I don't know I guess I just feel with an expansion pack like this, they should have tried a little harder to keep things generic rather than focusing all the energy on one generation? Granted proms, football teams, and cheerleaders still would leave non-american Simmers out of the loop but I feel those are staples of pretty much all generations of American high school? Or a majority of them anyway.
I went to high school from (2012 to 2016) but "thrifting" during my time in my area was still pretty much exactly the same as your experience. They were as I said in my original comment, and you reiterated places you shopped at if you were "poor." And if you were middle class or could comfortably afford to buy new clothes you would shop at mid-tier mall brands (which were still a thing) or Target, Walmart, etc (if you were looking to save from money.)
I'm often very conflicted as to where I fall between being Millenial or Gen Z since I'm quite literally on the cusp (born 1997) but my high school experience seems like it was extremely similar, if not almost identical to yours despite being about... 8 years apart from our graduation years
[/quote] @MeowchaFrappe (I screwed up the quote sorry XD)
I was born in 1992 so I kind of grew up in the era where technologies were rapidly changing, I remember just how fast I went from using my dad's old tape player to a CD Walkmen then to seeing the first IPod's and that was in the first 12 years of my life. Which isn't a very long time when you look at it from a number perspective, rather than the lens of a child's life. (Can even say the same with how fast I went from having a Gameboy Colour to having a GBAdvanced to then having a DS) Heck, I still remember the old "stranger danger" videos and talks we had in my school when I was like 8.
So yeah I do agree, that the Gen Z stuff feels really jarring because of how rapidly the world changed around me, and even you, despite being 6-8 years between us. So I'd say you probably fall more towards being a Millenial since our experiences sound fairly similar despite the age gap.
Like as I said, I do get why they're marketing to the current trends, but idk, it feels like they could have added something else, since they already added being an "influencer" in the Get Famous EP. Surely, they could have done something more generic and focused more on the schooling side of high school. Like I know I was complaining about it, but why not make the pack like an American High School teen drama movie? Why is it this weird rehash-mishmash of GF and DU? I am forever baffled, by this decision and the more I see, the less I am impressed. (Also convenient that this was announced before people really got the chance to enjoy Werewolves, but I digress.)
Anyway, I remember shopping at Target, Myer, Harris Scarfe, Best & Less and K-Mart as a kid, the first three being more middle class while K-Mart and Best & Less were on the cheaper end of the clothing spectrum. Rarely did I ever shop at Opportunity/Secconhand or even Tip Shops (so many Australian stores, sorry), Only time I remember going to tip shops is with my grandfather when he'd go looking for fixer-upper projects, you'd see some seriously cool knickknacks in those kinds of places. Never actively started "thrifting" until one of my friends got into it in 2018, and even then I could never find anything I really liked, outside a few items.
Give our Vampires back their fangs!!! Reverse the Nerf!!! Occult simmers should not be shoved aside for the "realism players"! It's time Occult lovers/players started to demand equal treatment. #JusticeForOccults
I now have heard from several early access streamer that for some reason when they tried to do good on exams and schoolwork they struggled with grades, but when they just did the minimum and never studied extra they aced everything.
Bug or just very unintuitive reward system?
I really like the idea of Sims asking Played sims to be in a relationship or be best friends. But I don’t know that the game is taking into account their sexual preferences or if the problem is with social bunny
I was watching Little simsie play and through social bunny she was able to be friends and get her romantic bar halfway with one of the townies. The townie asked her sim to be her girlfriend. She said yes. But then when she went to ask her to prom she said no because she was only attracted to men. But their romantic bar was halfway and she was her girlfriend. So that didn’t make any sense.
Also one of the sims that asked to be best friends, her sim hadn’t even met. Seen that the feature does not really work. Unless this is what they intended, which is even worse.
Also one of the sims that asked to be best friends, her sim hadn’t even met. Seen that the feature does not really work. Unless this is what they intended, which is even worse.
It looked like the game took the relationship of the currently played sim (half green) and for some reason asked a different sim to be friends based on that.
I assume she managed to raise the romantic bar by bunny messages? They seem to bypass any sexual orientation.
Whats more serious is that later in the stream that same "male only" friend with a deep negative red romance bar because of breakups asks again to go to the prom for real (not as friends).
To be honest, that looks bugged as heck.
Also one of the sims that asked to be best friends, her sim hadn’t even met. Seen that the feature does not really work. Unless this is what they intended, which is even worse.
It looked like the game took the relationship of the currently played sim (half green) and for some reason asked a different sim to be friends based on that.
I assume she managed to raise the romantic bar by bunny messages? They seem to bypass any sexual orientation.
Whats more serious is that later in the stream that same "male only" friend with a deep negative red romance bar because of breakups asks again to go to the prom for real (not as friends).
To be honest, that looks bugged as heck.
That seemed very confusing. I don't quite understand why a lot of people in the comments are brushing it off as "that's just how teens are" how are you supposed to play this game if relationships seem all over the place?
and I still can't get over that after school activities are rabbit holes... with walls of text.
Well, watching that clip DID confirm that if you turn down another sim's prom invitation (both as a date or as a friend) that the sim receives a negative "rejected" sentiment towards your sim. Which means that if you planned on skipping prom because you've already been multiple times and want a break, and your sims partner asks them to go to prom and your sim says no, it WILL negatively impact their relationship 😑... Great.
But yeah, on the whole messed up Social Bunny relationship topic... Oof is really all I have to say on that. Not sure how they overlooked such a huge aspect of both the app and the new sexuality options. Hope they fix it before release but I'm not sure if they'll be able to... Just hoping they fix it eventually because yeah that's definitely not great when coupled with the fact that non played sims have autonomy in their actions now when it comes to dating.
I just watched LilSimsie's clip. That is soo buggy. I don't know how she is laughing at it. All of this promotion of sexual preferences, and they aren't working! The Social Bunny app is way overpowered. You shouldn't be able to override someone's preferences on an app. The sentiments don't make sense either.
Also, the pop-ups in class should go away. We can see what our Sim is doing. They did not pass out on the floor.
I don't like the constant emphasis on Prom either. If we're doing pop-ups, couldn't there be one at the beginning of the week asking if we want to schedule it this weekend? Oh, well, too late for that.
Also the Sim that studied did worse on exams? The Sim that has been practicing cheer bombs while his sister accidentally shows up and does well? Cassandra Goth is a cheerleader!!!
I had just decided I could make this pack work with rotation, but I'm not buying a pack full of bugs. I will wait until I see they are fixed.
Comments
Are other schools that much different? I am not trying to be a wise guy. I really want to know. I couldn't imagine it being much different. I mean you need to have classes and teachers. Maybe the cheerleading and football could be the American part, but everything else? Maybe that don't have "prom", but do other country's schools don't have any type of dance for the kids?
Now that I think about it, James was doing a lot of things wrong.
He was doing Trendi wrong. I don't know why his sim's needs were so crazy low. I would have at least earned some reward points to buy some needs potions. That would allowed him time to get the others in balance.
I hope you are correct on this, but as I said, I am not asking for a nerf as I understand some folks might like this in their game, and I have the option of simply not using it.
With friends, it's actually a bit worse because I feel comfortable enough to not front but then they get upset when I forget 'normal' people couch all their comments in ways I find to be weird. So it's sort of the other way round than the trait?
Social Media doesn't make it any easier in this year either. Online used to be a haven but now people are so quick to take offense even when it's not meant. I get anxiety just posting on this forum these days for that reason.
Probably this whole post is awkward lol....
And? You still should be able to choose between taking notes, ask a question, sleeping.
And to add what haneul said, some schools don't even have clubs, let alone dances and in some countries there are school uniforms or at least restrictions on clothes.
Totally different in many countries. For example we usually stayed at school from 8 am to 1 pm and had lunch at home. There was no need for a cafeteria.
We had no school teams or bands. Our after school activities were not related to school. If you want to do sports or music you usually join a local sports club or a music school.
We have different kinds of school. I never was at highschool. My school was more like elemetary school. You stay together with your classmates in your classroom and only the teacher changes the classroom. There was no hanging arround between the lessons. You had to stay in classroom and were only allowed to leave it during the breaks. We had no lockers because of this. All our stuff was in the classroom. That's not unusual for many schools in my country.
I had no prom.
In many countries you have school uniforms. Not in my country but I understand why many simmers would like to have the option.
Football isn't important in most parts of the world. The top 3 sports in the world are soccer, cricket and hockey. Even baseball is more popular.
Living in europe we know that every country has different schoolsystems and we know that europe is just a small part of the world.
I wonder if you don't learn at school about how schools are like in other countries? We learned about british and american schools in our english lessons.
@Melisendre Because the US is a wealthy and huge country, US education generally doesn't include that much about other countries and tends to focus on itself. Also, Americans don't have a lot of vacation time, so many people don't have the time or (ironically) money to travel outside of the country. I think 10 days/year of vacation is typical and a lot of people probably use that time to visit family instead of for travel outside.
In America, you don't have one school system. It differs by state and county. It's more difficult to consider differences abroad when you're more focused on how your school is different from your cousin's. We mostly know other educational systems from fiction alone. Geography is not as much a focus as it should be, but is better now than in my era.
My own school was much broader even than this one since we had classes in business, construction trades, JROTC, cosmetology, etc. as well as college prep. You chose your own track with help from a guidance counselor.
The argument for the "typical" american highschool is always that it was the experience of developers. Reading about alle the different experiences of the american simmers I wonder why they didn't add some more options.
For example with DU they added the teacher career were you can teach online at home. Why didn't they add homeschooling? In my country during the last two years of covid the schools were closed for long periods and homeschooling was an important part of live.
Were is the cross pack compability? Why can't the teenager choose between between different sports? They play football in highschool and then soccer in university. That makes no sense.
They don't have cafeterias? Do the kids not eat all day?
This is very true actually. It is basically impossible to match everyone's personal experience with 100% accuracy. But I guess I was just hoping that there was a little less emphasis on the influencer/Trendi stuff? That would have made it feel more generic and inclusive of multiple generations in my opinion. And I'm just worried about how intrusive this generation-specific stuff will be and if I'm going to need to rely on mods.
I definitely do like the sounds of their being negative consequences for sure and even having ways to work around not graduating well... that's realistic at least in my experience. You can get a GED which is like a diploma but it has some cons. You could probably still get into colleges or certain lines of work but not necessarily your top choice of a college or work place since they may still require a diploma.
And I am definitely looking forward to the pre-patch for sure! Finally being able to give my Sims a set/strict sexuality? YES PLEASE! I want my straight sims to be straight and my gay sims to be gay! (Looking at you Heckings, Izzy Fabulous, and Darling Walsh)
Ahh, see I'm like literally right on the cusp of Millennial and Gen Z. I'm 25 (born in 97 and graduated in 2016) so it's a sort of funky place to be in. I can relate to some of the things that are common in your generation but others seem like the complete opposite of what I experienced. And in saying all what I am I mean no disrespect, whatsoever... I'm just in a really weird spot generation-wise I suppose. And I'm just concerned about how intrusive things like the Trendi App are going to be in this pack. I'd probably experiment with it from time to time, but I want to be able to ignore it if possible.
You do make a good point about how every Sims game dates itself though. I've never played any Sims game other than TS4 so I don't really have any comparison. And since a lot of people say the occults in TS4 are more immersive and well fleshed out than in 3, I'm kind of scared to start playing three in case they don't live up to TS4 standard occults.
For the High School Pack specifically, I guess I was just hoping that THAT would have been more generic and generation spanning. Not with the clothing options necessarily but I just feel there's too much of a emphasis on the Influencer and Trendi App? As well as how large-scale the promposals are. We did have promposals when I graduated in 2016, but they were super low-key. So whether or not we're going to have different options worries me as well.
I completely agree. If there had been less emphasis on the this whole social media/influencer/thrifting aspect of the pack, I feel the Gen Z oriented stuff wouldn't feel AS jarring? I don't know I guess I just feel with an expansion pack like this, they should have tried a little harder to keep things generic rather than focusing all the energy on one generation? Granted proms, football teams, and cheerleaders still would leave non-american Simmers out of the loop but I feel those are staples of pretty much all generations of American high school? Or a majority of them anyway.
I went to high school from (2012 to 2016) but "thrifting" during my time in my area was still pretty much exactly the same as your experience. They were as I said in my original comment, and you reiterated places you shopped at if you were "poor." And if you were middle class or could comfortably afford to buy new clothes you would shop at mid-tier mall brands (which were still a thing) or Target, Walmart, etc (if you were looking to save from money.)
I'm often very conflicted as to where I fall between being Millenial or Gen Z since I'm quite literally on the cusp (born 1997) but my high school experience seems like it was extremely similar, if not almost identical to yours despite being about... 8 years apart from our graduation years
Usually we had no afternoon classes so we had lunch at home. You don't need a caferteria for eating snacks.
[/quote] I completely agree. If there had been less emphasis on the this whole social media/influencer/thrifting aspect of the pack, I feel the Gen Z oriented stuff wouldn't feel AS jarring? I don't know I guess I just feel with an expansion pack like this, they should have tried a little harder to keep things generic rather than focusing all the energy on one generation? Granted proms, football teams, and cheerleaders still would leave non-american Simmers out of the loop but I feel those are staples of pretty much all generations of American high school? Or a majority of them anyway.
I went to high school from (2012 to 2016) but "thrifting" during my time in my area was still pretty much exactly the same as your experience. They were as I said in my original comment, and you reiterated places you shopped at if you were "poor." And if you were middle class or could comfortably afford to buy new clothes you would shop at mid-tier mall brands (which were still a thing) or Target, Walmart, etc (if you were looking to save from money.)
I'm often very conflicted as to where I fall between being Millenial or Gen Z since I'm quite literally on the cusp (born 1997) but my high school experience seems like it was extremely similar, if not almost identical to yours despite being about... 8 years apart from our graduation years
[/quote]
@MeowchaFrappe (I screwed up the quote sorry XD)
I was born in 1992 so I kind of grew up in the era where technologies were rapidly changing, I remember just how fast I went from using my dad's old tape player to a CD Walkmen then to seeing the first IPod's and that was in the first 12 years of my life. Which isn't a very long time when you look at it from a number perspective, rather than the lens of a child's life. (Can even say the same with how fast I went from having a Gameboy Colour to having a GBAdvanced to then having a DS) Heck, I still remember the old "stranger danger" videos and talks we had in my school when I was like 8.
So yeah I do agree, that the Gen Z stuff feels really jarring because of how rapidly the world changed around me, and even you, despite being 6-8 years between us. So I'd say you probably fall more towards being a Millenial since our experiences sound fairly similar despite the age gap.
Like as I said, I do get why they're marketing to the current trends, but idk, it feels like they could have added something else, since they already added being an "influencer" in the Get Famous EP. Surely, they could have done something more generic and focused more on the schooling side of high school. Like I know I was complaining about it, but why not make the pack like an American High School teen drama movie? Why is it this weird rehash-mishmash of GF and DU? I am forever baffled, by this decision and the more I see, the less I am impressed. (Also convenient that this was announced before people really got the chance to enjoy Werewolves, but I digress.)
Anyway, I remember shopping at Target, Myer, Harris Scarfe, Best & Less and K-Mart as a kid, the first three being more middle class while K-Mart and Best & Less were on the cheaper end of the clothing spectrum. Rarely did I ever shop at Opportunity/Secconhand or even Tip Shops (so many Australian stores, sorry), Only time I remember going to tip shops is with my grandfather when he'd go looking for fixer-upper projects, you'd see some seriously cool knickknacks in those kinds of places. Never actively started "thrifting" until one of my friends got into it in 2018, and even then I could never find anything I really liked, outside a few items.
Bug or just very unintuitive reward system?
I was watching Little simsie play and through social bunny she was able to be friends and get her romantic bar halfway with one of the townies. The townie asked her sim to be her girlfriend. She said yes. But then when she went to ask her to prom she said no because she was only attracted to men. But their romantic bar was halfway and she was her girlfriend. So that didn’t make any sense.
Also one of the sims that asked to be best friends, her sim hadn’t even met. Seen that the feature does not really work. Unless this is what they intended, which is even worse.
It looked like the game took the relationship of the currently played sim (half green) and for some reason asked a different sim to be friends based on that.
I assume she managed to raise the romantic bar by bunny messages? They seem to bypass any sexual orientation.
Whats more serious is that later in the stream that same "male only" friend with a deep negative red romance bar because of breakups asks again to go to the prom for real (not as friends).
To be honest, that looks bugged as heck.
Here the clip: 2nd promposal was around 13:20
That seemed very confusing. I don't quite understand why a lot of people in the comments are brushing it off as "that's just how teens are" how are you supposed to play this game if relationships seem all over the place?
and I still can't get over that after school activities are rabbit holes... with walls of text.
But yeah, on the whole messed up Social Bunny relationship topic... Oof is really all I have to say on that. Not sure how they overlooked such a huge aspect of both the app and the new sexuality options. Hope they fix it before release but I'm not sure if they'll be able to... Just hoping they fix it eventually because yeah that's definitely not great when coupled with the fact that non played sims have autonomy in their actions now when it comes to dating.
Also, the pop-ups in class should go away. We can see what our Sim is doing. They did not pass out on the floor.
I don't like the constant emphasis on Prom either. If we're doing pop-ups, couldn't there be one at the beginning of the week asking if we want to schedule it this weekend? Oh, well, too late for that.
Also the Sim that studied did worse on exams? The Sim that has been practicing cheer bombs while his sister accidentally shows up and does well? Cassandra Goth is a cheerleader!!!
I had just decided I could make this pack work with rotation, but I'm not buying a pack full of bugs. I will wait until I see they are fixed.