I general I'm really excited for this pack. And I think that the things I'm a little worried about not showing up in the livestream, like family tree fixes/recognizing family, may show up in the pack or bg and were part of the things that didn't make the livestream cut bc of time.
But one thing I am kind of disappointed by, that was shown in the livestream, was that they showed they didn't bother to fix the best friends thing and instead reinforced it with their friendship bracelets only being able to be given to one Sim at a time.
It's bizarre. The SimGuru in the sloth suit said that it was because "you know, you can only have one best friend." And I just thought, why wouldn't you have fixed that with this pack. You are changing relationships, and deepening every lifestage. But you really still think people, and thus sims, can only have 1 best friend? Even just speaking in terms of gameplay that reduces the types of stories you can tell.
You can't have a group of people who are all best friends or even all close friends. At best you can have individuals who are close friends. A few of them can be bffs with eachother, and then put them in a group to hang out. That's it. You have to do so many separate gameplay elements.
And if one of those close friends asks to be your BFF and you already have one, you can't say yes without losing the previous one. And your only other option is "No way!" Which lowers your friendship.
Now they're adding friendship bracelets. And making it so that if you give one friend a bracelet and not the other, they'll be jealous. But they literally won't let you give all your friends bracelets. Idk what kinds of childhoods they had, but growing up for me exchanging friendship bracelets was a sign of being friends. Usually close ones. But by no means was it exclusive.
The only jealousy might be that some kids ended up with an arm full bc they were popular and well liked.
If you had a bff you might exchange a necklace or a bracelet with that on it. If you had 2 and they weren't bffs you would wear both. If you had 2(+) and you All were bffs you would have something matching. It wasn't that hard. And the friendships were real.
Sometimes it was actually making lanyards for eachother's backpacks but I digress.
I have always found this dynamic so weird. Like ok you push monogamy a lot. But seriously you're pushing 1 best friend so hard that you can only make a single friendship bracelet and it causes a bunch of angst? At least until it falls off, and you start it all over again with a new one. What was the point of that?
Also bffs can change over time. Especially as you age. This honestly could have been something, a system that starts in childhood, for this pack. Especially since it looks like that's when the bracelets start. They could've made it so that as you're making your first friends you are experiencing the highs and lows of this. Maybe the bff you had from childhood, that you maybe knew from infanthood bc your parents were friends, fell out with you in high school. Now you're making new friends and the ones you make in high school are actually forever. And it's more than one.
And those are milestones. 1st BFF. BFF breakup 💔. New friendship after loss of a friend. True bffs . Idk.
Just that little scene they did, showing us the friendship bracelet kit, them exchanging it all cute, and then going her actual close friend will be so hurt, and also we're gonna ask for it back now. And you can also only ever give out one at a time. It was like so weird. It's like how you can't be snow bros with multiple ppl. Just because the label is the same doesn't mean the relationship feels the exact same. You're all different people. The way you relate will be different, the reasons you are friends will be different. You're perfectly capable of being friends, and sustaining deep relationships with multiple people. So of course you can have multiple bffs. 🙄
Omg yaas I'm like did the gurus grow up with only one best friend I had tons of best friends growing up and not only that I had like five friendship bracelets same with my other friends so their saying you can have only one bff is just dumb I'm sorry its dumb. Like he never heard of the babysitter club? The sisterhood of the traveling pants and etc. they were all a best friend group.
Also yes the pop ups will be insane not only if you have parenthood pop up with the kids, you get does this sim likes to paint pop up, pop ups from school and work, now adding more pop ups. No more pop ups please.
I absolutely can not wait to play this expansion! It looks great so far, but there are a few things that I am sad that didn't make it into the game.
Strollers or trikes for toddlers. Everyone can now go on a walk except for toddlers. I wish they would have included strollers at least for toddlers. Feels like an oversight.
Skateboards for kids and teens. This pack would have been great for another way to get around the neighborhood and would have added something extra for teens and kids.
Kids playing together. There is still no tag, cops and robbers, mary mac, hide and seek, or any other game I saw where kids can play together outside.
Trampoline. This would have been a nice addition. It's not really needed but I miss it from the sims 3.
outside play house for kids and toddlers
Play kitchen for kids and toddlers.
Walking canes for elders
Retirement center
Funerals
I hope some of these things will make it into other packs down the road but I can see others never making a comeback now that we have growing together.
Check out my gallery for house builds! Username: aejp24
I general I'm really excited for this pack. And I think that the things I'm a little worried about not showing up in the livestream, like family tree fixes/recognizing family, may show up in the pack or bg and were part of the things that didn't make the livestream cut bc of time.
But one thing I am kind of disappointed by, that was shown in the livestream, was that they showed they didn't bother to fix the best friends thing and instead reinforced it with their friendship bracelets only being able to be given to one Sim at a time.
It's bizarre. The SimGuru in the sloth suit said that it was because "you know, you can only have one best friend." And I just thought, why wouldn't you have fixed that with this pack. You are changing relationships, and deepening every lifestage. But you really still think people, and thus sims, can only have 1 best friend? Even just speaking in terms of gameplay that reduces the types of stories you can tell.
You can't have a group of people who are all best friends or even all close friends. At best you can have individuals who are close friends. A few of them can be bffs with eachother, and then put them in a group to hang out. That's it. You have to do so many separate gameplay elements.
And if one of those close friends asks to be your BFF and you already have one, you can't say yes without losing the previous one. And your only other option is "No way!" Which lowers your friendship.
Now they're adding friendship bracelets. And making it so that if you give one friend a bracelet and not the other, they'll be jealous. But they literally won't let you give all your friends bracelets. Idk what kinds of childhoods they had, but growing up for me exchanging friendship bracelets was a sign of being friends. Usually close ones. But by no means was it exclusive.
The only jealousy might be that some kids ended up with an arm full bc they were popular and well liked.
If you had a bff you might exchange a necklace or a bracelet with that on it. If you had 2 and they weren't bffs you would wear both. If you had 2(+) and you All were bffs you would have something matching. It wasn't that hard. And the friendships were real.
Sometimes it was actually making lanyards for eachother's backpacks but I digress.
I have always found this dynamic so weird. Like ok you push monogamy a lot. But seriously you're pushing 1 best friend so hard that you can only make a single friendship bracelet and it causes a bunch of angst? At least until it falls off, and you start it all over again with a new one. What was the point of that?
Also bffs can change over time. Especially as you age. This honestly could have been something, a system that starts in childhood, for this pack. Especially since it looks like that's when the bracelets start. They could've made it so that as you're making your first friends you are experiencing the highs and lows of this. Maybe the bff you had from childhood, that you maybe knew from infanthood bc your parents were friends, fell out with you in high school. Now you're making new friends and the ones you make in high school are actually forever. And it's more than one.
And those are milestones. 1st BFF. BFF breakup 💔. New friendship after loss of a friend. True bffs . Idk.
Just that little scene they did, showing us the friendship bracelet kit, them exchanging it all cute, and then going her actual close friend will be so hurt, and also we're gonna ask for it back now. And you can also only ever give out one at a time. It was like so weird. It's like how you can't be snow bros with multiple ppl. Just because the label is the same doesn't mean the relationship feels the exact same. You're all different people. The way you relate will be different, the reasons you are friends will be different. You're perfectly capable of being friends, and sustaining deep relationships with multiple people. So of course you can have multiple bffs. 🙄
I really disliked that your sims can only have 1 BFF.. AGAIN. They always go around saying "create your story" but restrict us to such a limited amount of things. Also, I felt like family integration isn't as indept as they claimed bc that little boy who would've gotten jealous if he saw Cara give her GRANDMA a bracelet but not him. I think the jealousy should come into affect if the bracelet is given to another friend and not him. Imo
It is a shame if friendship bracelets are limited to one sim. My real life daughter has made them and usually she makes two or three of them to give to her best friends, plural. We already have an exclusive only-one-best-friend mechanic in the game. There was no need to restrict the friendship bracelets to only one friend.
I absolutely can not wait to play this expansion! It looks great so far, but there are a few things that I am sad that didn't make it into the game.
Strollers or trikes for toddlers. Everyone can now go on a walk except for toddlers. I wish they would have included strollers at least for toddlers. Feels like an oversight.
Skateboards for kids and teens. This pack would have been great for another way to get around the neighborhood and would have added something extra for teens and kids.
Kids playing together. There is still no tag, cops and robbers, mary mac, hide and seek, or any other game I saw where kids can play together outside.
Trampoline. This would have been a nice addition. It's not really needed but I miss it from the sims 3.
outside play house for kids and toddlers
Play kitchen for kids and toddlers.
Walking canes for elders
Retirement center
Funerals
I hope some of these things will make it into other packs down the road but I can see others never making a comeback now that we have growing together.
Gawd yes Strollers. Your comment made me think about it more. And we saw it in the livestream too. No matter how good a toddler's motor skill, they are slow AF bc they are toddlers. You have to rush and get them from the cold, the heat, and the wet. Which is fine in some aspects, you're parents. But we're all about to embark on generational saves.
It looks like you can pick up a child to hug while an infant is in a carrier, but can you carry an infant and a toddler at the same time? And those carriers are bulky. Lovely for outdoors, but definitely not the easiest ones for indoors use. Not like the (I forget the actual names) fabric wrap ones a lot of parents use. I could see those working and allowing a sim to carry an infant around and pick up their toddler who is still outside.
What about trying to load on a lot, like a festival? Strollers would be so good. I know we aren't open world. But a stroller for toddlers, a double stroller for toddlers and infants, a double for two toddlers, (I don't think there are actually double strollers for infants irl just bigger toddlers and mixed ages but I might be wrong) a stroller just for infants, and one that converts. That would be so cool.
Heck maybe they could've made one that is essentially the bassinet on wheels, bc the strollers for newborns have those large covers over them and everything. They could've recognized that stroller as a 2nd bassinet and newborns, while still bound to it, could be allowed to be placed into that. And have a failsafe to return to the og bassinet.
But for toddlers a stroller would make things so much easier. Even if you're using a carrier on your back for the infant, and a basic stroller for your toddler; you won't have to worry about where your kid is when you load. Bc they'll be with you. Not across the street. Not playing in the toilet at the karaoke bar. Not still outside when you get back home bc they are too tired to waddle inside, and the parent sims have already gone to bed.
In the livestream they all loaded to that community lot, the toddler took forever to get there and just walked around. And then the infant ended up crawling/doing the worm on the floor by the kid area. Probably bc they were summoned and not actually set up in the carrier, at least for the infant (at least I hope), but strollers would make it all easier. Even if the world isn't open.
Check out my posts in the Ideas corner, and see the Simsverse living inside my head.
I don't mind that in-game best friends are restricted to 1, while in RL kids can have many. I'm pretty sure there are many simmers who was happy if they did get just 1 best friend even in RL. I'm fine with TS not being a popularity contest. 1 BFF is good. Taste the BEST word - it means it's best. How can multiple sim friends be BEST? They can't, at least not at the same time.
Most things are downscaled in TS4. In a game were a wedding with 6 guests is seen as very successful, and where a global superstar attracts 4 fans during a meet and greet event, I can certainly live with just 1 BF
I don't mind that in-game best friends are restricted to 1, while in RL kids can have many. I'm pretty sure there are many simmers who was happy if they did get just 1 best friend even in RL. I'm fine with TS not being a popularity contest. 1 BFF is good. Taste the BEST word - it means it's best. How can multiple sim friends be BEST? They can't, at least not at the same time.
Most things are downscaled in TS4. In a game were a wedding with 6 guests is seen as very successful, and where a global superstar attracts 4 fans during a meet and greet event, I can certainly live with just 1 BF
Best doesn't necessarily mean 1, neither does favorite, which I feel applies in this situation. Best is what suits you most, the highest level, most enjoyed.
(Or in dictionary definition: adj-of the most excellent, effective, or desirable type or quality, n-that which is the most excellent, outstanding, or desirable.)
Best is a tier.
Favorite is very similar. It's consistent high enjoyment, brings happiness, very much preferred. (Dictionary: adj-preferred before all others of the same kind, n- a person or thing that is especially popular or particularly well liked by someone.)
Favorite is state evoked by a person or thing, felt by the person expressing it.
Sure some people only have 1 best friend that's fine. The issue is when one group tries to stifle the options of others bc of their experiences.
Like it's a game. The option to have more than one best friend doesn't mean you can't alternatively only have 1. It's not an either or situation, it's a here's a range of options choose what suits you situation.
If you have only ever had 1 best friend, that's fine. If you didn't have a best friend that's also fine. If you are someone who did not get, did not give friendship bracelets ok. If you only gave one ok. Or if you were one of the many who did get, give, and/or make bracelets and give them to your friends (plural); you might find it odd that this very normal concept is being linked to something so singular in action.
It's like if someone asks you what your favorite book is. Some people have 1 book in particular and can name it. Others like several books, and will say that they don't have 1 particular book they like over the others. However, they have this group of books, by various authors, that are their favorites. Others still, will have a favorite genre(s) that they like most or best and those are their favorites. But even the way they like them, why, and how depends on the execution of the stories/writing.
As Julie Andrews sang "these are a few of my favorite things."
It's not a popularity contest to have the ability to have multiple bffs in a game or to be able to give out multiple friendship bracelets. Ironically the fact that they made it so you can only give out 1 bracelet bc you can only have 1 bff, but you don't have to give the bracelet to your BFF, And the friends who don't get it will be jealous, is much more of a popularity contest.
All this to say, the current way it works is rather ridiculous. I don't think the game would break if you had more than one best friend. If you can have several close friends, why can you have several best friends? Why can't they all be best friends together? Or even just recognize that sometimes your best friend is also best friends with someone else, that you aren't close to. But you also have friends that they arent close to. It happens. It could reflect it really easily.
Best friend could've even opened a 3rd relationship bar that is only open to them. Especially since you have like what 2 or 3 aspirations that literally require you to have a bff, and 1 of then requires to you be married to them. Which means if you had the other one, you have to dump your bff as your bff if they aren't someone you want to/can marry.
If they actually recognized it as a relationship instead of just a little thing on your simology panel you could level up in that. You could have more than one. You could be different types depending on the kinds of sims you are.
Which is why I said before this pack could've really been a great time to do something about it. By extending the way sims have relationships they could've really did more with this. Heck snow bros might actually mean something if they did this.
And being married to your BFF for that Soulmate aspiration might net different results depending on what kind of bff you are. If you were friends from childhood, teen years, if you've known each other all your lives because your parents knew eachother, if you met at college; or if you fell in love as ya/adults and had a real connection beyond romantic love and average amounts of platonic love to be really bffs but not necessarily each others only bffs/friends.
It honestly seems like they just didn't think about that, bc to them best means 1. So why change it now?
Check out my posts in the Ideas corner, and see the Simsverse living inside my head.
After 2 hours of livestream, I didn't see a big difference with the current game.
Difficult family dynamic and Bad Social Compatibility change nothing, the behavior remains the same.
100%... i think sentiments tried to achieve that but i don't really know if it actually suceeded or not in game, i can never tell on screen if my sims are upset with each other or just playing the dancing chairs for no reason. I'm not sure how lacks of compatibility will be displayed and it worries me. Interface looks clean and neat like usual but the actualy on screen situation is never really very convincing lmao. I guess thats why they didn't show good or bad compatibility and spend majority of live stream telling what things does instead of showing them in action
I don't mind that in-game best friends are restricted to 1, while in RL kids can have many. I'm pretty sure there are many simmers who was happy if they did get just 1 best friend even in RL. I'm fine with TS not being a popularity contest. 1 BFF is good. Taste the BEST word - it means it's best. How can multiple sim friends be BEST? They can't, at least not at the same time.
Most things are downscaled in TS4. In a game were a wedding with 6 guests is seen as very successful, and where a global superstar attracts 4 fans during a meet and greet event, I can certainly live with just 1 BF
Agreed! Best means best, I'm happy with just one.
However having multiple BFFs is canon to the sims universe. So can't blame those who want more.
What I'm not happy with is the constant demand of new sims to become BFFs. It's either you say yes, and lose your previous BFF, or you hurt them; just like the love call, where, if you don't do as they ask, the only other option is to hurt them.
I really hope they'll eventually look into that...
I don't mind that in-game best friends are restricted to 1, while in RL kids can have many. I'm pretty sure there are many simmers who was happy if they did get just 1 best friend even in RL. I'm fine with TS not being a popularity contest. 1 BFF is good. Taste the BEST word - it means it's best. How can multiple sim friends be BEST? They can't, at least not at the same time.
Most things are downscaled in TS4. In a game were a wedding with 6 guests is seen as very successful, and where a global superstar attracts 4 fans during a meet and greet event, I can certainly live with just 1 BF
It is funny to see how you put the only 1 friend thing into perspective. You have a point when it comes to BFF. I still wish that the friendship bracelets had taken a different approach. The BFF already is an exclusive friend, why repeat the system? If sims really get upset if your sim gifts a second one to someone else, I won't be using this feature much. I will just continue to create a small best friends club and have my sim be friends with a few sims .
I don't mind that in-game best friends are restricted to 1, while in RL kids can have many. I'm pretty sure there are many simmers who was happy if they did get just 1 best friend even in RL. I'm fine with TS not being a popularity contest. 1 BFF is good. Taste the BEST word - it means it's best. How can multiple sim friends be BEST? They can't, at least not at the same time.
Most things are downscaled in TS4. In a game were a wedding with 6 guests is seen as very successful, and where a global superstar attracts 4 fans during a meet and greet event, I can certainly live with just 1 BF
It is funny to see how you put the only 1 friend thing into perspective. You have a point when it comes to BFF. I still wish that the friendship bracelets had taken a different approach. The BFF already is an exclusive friend, why repeat the system? If sims really get upset if your sim gifts a second one to someone else, I won't be using this feature much. I will just continue to create a small best friends club and have my sim be friends with a few sims .
Did they confirm that the bracelets can only be given to only one friend? They're friendship bracelets not BFF bracelets. Anyway, hope sims can gift them anyway, like a regular gift, I saw they had several in their inventory, surely they cannot be all for just one sim. I was thinking of maybe selling them on Plopsy or something.
The only negative things I see right now is the small size of the world ( 12 lots ), but I could say that of many of the worlds we have in the sims4. And, no apartments in this EP. I love them putting in some apartments. I wish we had apartments in every world.
I'm guessing you can only give one friendship bracelet because your Sim would run out of room to wear them all. I wish they could have allowed up to three instead.
I'm guessing you can only give one friendship bracelet because your Sim would run out of room to wear them all. I wish they could have allowed up to three instead.
watching the livestream, I don't remember them saying anything about the number of friendship bracelets being limited (but I could be wrong). I DO remember them saying that if your Sim gives a friendship bracelet to friend A while friend B is nearby, friend B could get jealous and it could negatively impact your Sim and friend B's relationship.
idk specifics on whether it would impact some of the new social dynamics or produce a new Sentiment, but in my opinion it wouldn't make sense for it to change Social Compatibility (which is based on more integral parts of Sims' personalities like traits, Likes/Dislikes, etc.) unless your Sim or friend B also got a new trait/like/dislike through Self Discovery (a distinct game mechanic) *at the same exact time as* friend A receiving the bracelet from your Sim.
This pack looks very impressive, where I'm still very much upset is pretty much all of the new gameplay seems very similar to what was originally advertised when the Sims 4 first launched. I really don't like that we were marketed a game back in 2014, being told we would get sims with the biggest, brightest, smartest and most expressive personalities ever, with deep meaningful gameplay, and now we are finally getting that almost 9 years later but in the form of a pack. I still very much think that most of the new features in this pack should be a base game addition to fulfil the vision of what we were originally promised back in 2014.
This pack is less an expansion pack and more a paid for update.
I don't think a world was needed for this EP, imo. Family is everywhere, and not just a concentrated spot. I think that's why sims 3 generations didn't come with a world. I think instead of a world, they could've added more features and activities to do.
ALSO why no mention of new traits, careers, aspirations, etc for teens-elders tho? Are we not getting any 🤔.
Also also. I didnt hear mention of playing activities regarding kids like tag, hide and seek, etc. All I saw was peek-a-boo. Idk if that counts, though lol.
I absolutely can not wait to play this expansion! It looks great so far, but there are a few things that I am sad that didn't make it into the game.
Strollers or trikes for toddlers. Everyone can now go on a walk except for toddlers. I wish they would have included strollers at least for toddlers. Feels like an oversight.
Skateboards for kids and teens. This pack would have been great for another way to get around the neighborhood and would have added something extra for teens and kids.
Kids playing together. There is still no tag, cops and robbers, mary mac, hide and seek, or any other game I saw where kids can play together outside.
Trampoline. This would have been a nice addition. It's not really needed but I miss it from the sims 3.
outside play house for kids and toddlers
Play kitchen for kids and toddlers.
Walking canes for elders
Retirement center
Funerals
I hope some of these things will make it into other packs down the road but I can see others never making a comeback now that we have growing together.
A retirement and funeral home should've SO been added considering the forcus of this pack. But, then I remembered they also didn't put in a daycare career.
I also think tricycles for toddlers would've been cute.
Another nice feature could be to "cut ties" with family/certain sims or elope. And the option to teach toddlers "stranger danger". So no talking to just any sim so easily for them.
Taste the BEST word - it means it's best. How can multiple sim friends be BEST? They can't, at least not at the same time.
"Best" just means highest, most excellent, nothing higher/better. If two students both get a perfect score on an exam, is one of them better than the other? Or did they both get the "best" score in the class?
Just saw were Paradox announced their new life simulation game so who knows maybe some friendly competition will help this game out some ..
I just saw that too! Rod Humble is revealing his new life sim this month, I'm so curious! Can't remember the name though.
But yeah, EA is finally getting some competition between that and Paralives. I hope this means we'll be getting more quality gameplay from here on.
Whoever does Occults, romance, personality exploration and humorous failure possibilities and consequences the best will be the one I gravitate to. Solid AI and world editing are a must as well.
I don't think a world was needed for this EP, imo. Family is everywhere, and not just a concentrated spot. I think that's why sims 3 generations didn't come with a world. I think instead of a world, they could've added more features and activities to do.
ALSO why no mention of new traits, careers, aspirations, etc for teens-elders tho? Are we not getting any 🤔.
Also also. I didnt hear mention of playing activities regarding kids like tag, hide and seek, etc. All I saw was peek-a-boo. Idk if that counts, though lol.
I agree. Seasons had no world and was one of the best EP's ever for the sims 4. I think in this case the time and money used for the world could have been used for additional features. A day care career, a toddler tricycle, walking canes, just to name a few. Like you say: family can be everywhere.
The world looks nice, the team certainly has a routine for making pretty worlds. But it doesn't stand out enough amongst all the other worlds (personal opinion). With all the fixed scenery between lots we can only play in the dev's world, not make it our own.
But I’m somewhat disappointed in the world. I just feel like it needed at least two more lots and maybe townhouses/row houses. I don’t know if it’s possible to not be disappointed in the world’s moving forward.
I feel like there should be more than 4 midlife crisis. It’s just gonna get repetitive.
The midlife crises task list updates every time you complete a task, similarly to party/active career tasks. This likely adds an element of randomness, but within the theme of the crisis type. Hopefully there is cross pack compatibility here so things like Rock Climbing or vacationing in Granite Falls would have a chance appear in the task list for "Desire for Adventure" crisis theme.
I am a bit concerned with the job rivalry and being laid off due to reorganisation. I think those are interesting features for some of my sims. But for other households I just want them to do their job without these obstacles. Did they mention if there is a way to turn this off in the options? I only watched a recap of the livestream so I don't know every detail that was mentioned.
Comments
Omg yaas I'm like did the gurus grow up with only one best friend I had tons of best friends growing up and not only that I had like five friendship bracelets same with my other friends so their saying you can have only one bff is just dumb I'm sorry its dumb. Like he never heard of the babysitter club? The sisterhood of the traveling pants and etc. they were all a best friend group.
I hope some of these things will make it into other packs down the road but I can see others never making a comeback now that we have growing together.
I really disliked that your sims can only have 1 BFF.. AGAIN. They always go around saying "create your story" but restrict us to such a limited amount of things. Also, I felt like family integration isn't as indept as they claimed bc that little boy who would've gotten jealous if he saw Cara give her GRANDMA a bracelet but not him. I think the jealousy should come into affect if the bracelet is given to another friend and not him. Imo
Gawd yes Strollers. Your comment made me think about it more. And we saw it in the livestream too. No matter how good a toddler's motor skill, they are slow AF bc they are toddlers. You have to rush and get them from the cold, the heat, and the wet. Which is fine in some aspects, you're parents. But we're all about to embark on generational saves.
It looks like you can pick up a child to hug while an infant is in a carrier, but can you carry an infant and a toddler at the same time? And those carriers are bulky. Lovely for outdoors, but definitely not the easiest ones for indoors use. Not like the (I forget the actual names) fabric wrap ones a lot of parents use. I could see those working and allowing a sim to carry an infant around and pick up their toddler who is still outside.
What about trying to load on a lot, like a festival? Strollers would be so good. I know we aren't open world. But a stroller for toddlers, a double stroller for toddlers and infants, a double for two toddlers, (I don't think there are actually double strollers for infants irl just bigger toddlers and mixed ages but I might be wrong) a stroller just for infants, and one that converts. That would be so cool.
Heck maybe they could've made one that is essentially the bassinet on wheels, bc the strollers for newborns have those large covers over them and everything. They could've recognized that stroller as a 2nd bassinet and newborns, while still bound to it, could be allowed to be placed into that. And have a failsafe to return to the og bassinet.
But for toddlers a stroller would make things so much easier. Even if you're using a carrier on your back for the infant, and a basic stroller for your toddler; you won't have to worry about where your kid is when you load. Bc they'll be with you. Not across the street. Not playing in the toilet at the karaoke bar. Not still outside when you get back home bc they are too tired to waddle inside, and the parent sims have already gone to bed.
In the livestream they all loaded to that community lot, the toddler took forever to get there and just walked around. And then the infant ended up crawling/doing the worm on the floor by the kid area. Probably bc they were summoned and not actually set up in the carrier, at least for the infant (at least I hope), but strollers would make it all easier. Even if the world isn't open.
Most things are downscaled in TS4. In a game were a wedding with 6 guests is seen as very successful, and where a global superstar attracts 4 fans during a meet and greet event, I can certainly live with just 1 BF
Best doesn't necessarily mean 1, neither does favorite, which I feel applies in this situation. Best is what suits you most, the highest level, most enjoyed.
(Or in dictionary definition: adj-of the most excellent, effective, or desirable type or quality, n-that which is the most excellent, outstanding, or desirable.)
Best is a tier.
Favorite is very similar. It's consistent high enjoyment, brings happiness, very much preferred. (Dictionary: adj-preferred before all others of the same kind, n- a person or thing that is especially popular or particularly well liked by someone.)
Favorite is state evoked by a person or thing, felt by the person expressing it.
Sure some people only have 1 best friend that's fine. The issue is when one group tries to stifle the options of others bc of their experiences.
Like it's a game. The option to have more than one best friend doesn't mean you can't alternatively only have 1. It's not an either or situation, it's a here's a range of options choose what suits you situation.
If you have only ever had 1 best friend, that's fine. If you didn't have a best friend that's also fine. If you are someone who did not get, did not give friendship bracelets ok. If you only gave one ok. Or if you were one of the many who did get, give, and/or make bracelets and give them to your friends (plural); you might find it odd that this very normal concept is being linked to something so singular in action.
It's like if someone asks you what your favorite book is. Some people have 1 book in particular and can name it. Others like several books, and will say that they don't have 1 particular book they like over the others. However, they have this group of books, by various authors, that are their favorites. Others still, will have a favorite genre(s) that they like most or best and those are their favorites. But even the way they like them, why, and how depends on the execution of the stories/writing.
As Julie Andrews sang "these are a few of my favorite things."
It's not a popularity contest to have the ability to have multiple bffs in a game or to be able to give out multiple friendship bracelets. Ironically the fact that they made it so you can only give out 1 bracelet bc you can only have 1 bff, but you don't have to give the bracelet to your BFF, And the friends who don't get it will be jealous, is much more of a popularity contest.
All this to say, the current way it works is rather ridiculous. I don't think the game would break if you had more than one best friend. If you can have several close friends, why can you have several best friends? Why can't they all be best friends together? Or even just recognize that sometimes your best friend is also best friends with someone else, that you aren't close to. But you also have friends that they arent close to. It happens. It could reflect it really easily.
Best friend could've even opened a 3rd relationship bar that is only open to them. Especially since you have like what 2 or 3 aspirations that literally require you to have a bff, and 1 of then requires to you be married to them. Which means if you had the other one, you have to dump your bff as your bff if they aren't someone you want to/can marry.
If they actually recognized it as a relationship instead of just a little thing on your simology panel you could level up in that. You could have more than one. You could be different types depending on the kinds of sims you are.
Which is why I said before this pack could've really been a great time to do something about it. By extending the way sims have relationships they could've really did more with this. Heck snow bros might actually mean something if they did this.
And being married to your BFF for that Soulmate aspiration might net different results depending on what kind of bff you are. If you were friends from childhood, teen years, if you've known each other all your lives because your parents knew eachother, if you met at college; or if you fell in love as ya/adults and had a real connection beyond romantic love and average amounts of platonic love to be really bffs but not necessarily each others only bffs/friends.
It honestly seems like they just didn't think about that, bc to them best means 1. So why change it now?
100%... i think sentiments tried to achieve that but i don't really know if it actually suceeded or not in game, i can never tell on screen if my sims are upset with each other or just playing the dancing chairs for no reason. I'm not sure how lacks of compatibility will be displayed and it worries me. Interface looks clean and neat like usual but the actualy on screen situation is never really very convincing lmao. I guess thats why they didn't show good or bad compatibility and spend majority of live stream telling what things does instead of showing them in action
Agreed! Best means best, I'm happy with just one.
However having multiple BFFs is canon to the sims universe. So can't blame those who want more.
What I'm not happy with is the constant demand of new sims to become BFFs. It's either you say yes, and lose your previous BFF, or you hurt them; just like the love call, where, if you don't do as they ask, the only other option is to hurt them.
I really hope they'll eventually look into that...
It is funny to see how you put the only 1 friend thing into perspective. You have a point when it comes to BFF. I still wish that the friendship bracelets had taken a different approach. The BFF already is an exclusive friend, why repeat the system? If sims really get upset if your sim gifts a second one to someone else, I won't be using this feature much. I will just continue to create a small best friends club and have my sim be friends with a few sims .
Did they confirm that the bracelets can only be given to only one friend? They're friendship bracelets not BFF bracelets. Anyway, hope sims can gift them anyway, like a regular gift, I saw they had several in their inventory, surely they cannot be all for just one sim. I was thinking of maybe selling them on Plopsy or something.
Other than that so far the EP looks great!
watching the livestream, I don't remember them saying anything about the number of friendship bracelets being limited (but I could be wrong). I DO remember them saying that if your Sim gives a friendship bracelet to friend A while friend B is nearby, friend B could get jealous and it could negatively impact your Sim and friend B's relationship.
idk specifics on whether it would impact some of the new social dynamics or produce a new Sentiment, but in my opinion it wouldn't make sense for it to change Social Compatibility (which is based on more integral parts of Sims' personalities like traits, Likes/Dislikes, etc.) unless your Sim or friend B also got a new trait/like/dislike through Self Discovery (a distinct game mechanic) *at the same exact time as* friend A receiving the bracelet from your Sim.
This pack is less an expansion pack and more a paid for update.
ALSO why no mention of new traits, careers, aspirations, etc for teens-elders tho? Are we not getting any 🤔.
Also also. I didnt hear mention of playing activities regarding kids like tag, hide and seek, etc. All I saw was peek-a-boo. Idk if that counts, though lol.
A retirement and funeral home should've SO been added considering the forcus of this pack. But, then I remembered they also didn't put in a daycare career.
I also think tricycles for toddlers would've been cute.
Another nice feature could be to "cut ties" with family/certain sims or elope. And the option to teach toddlers "stranger danger". So no talking to just any sim so easily for them.
"Best" just means highest, most excellent, nothing higher/better. If two students both get a perfect score on an exam, is one of them better than the other? Or did they both get the "best" score in the class?
I just saw that too! Rod Humble is revealing his new life sim this month, I'm so curious! Can't remember the name though.
But yeah, EA is finally getting some competition between that and Paralives. I hope this means we'll be getting more quality gameplay from here on.
Whoever does Occults, romance, personality exploration and humorous failure possibilities and consequences the best will be the one I gravitate to. Solid AI and world editing are a must as well.
I agree. Seasons had no world and was one of the best EP's ever for the sims 4. I think in this case the time and money used for the world could have been used for additional features. A day care career, a toddler tricycle, walking canes, just to name a few. Like you say: family can be everywhere.
The world looks nice, the team certainly has a routine for making pretty worlds. But it doesn't stand out enough amongst all the other worlds (personal opinion). With all the fixed scenery between lots we can only play in the dev's world, not make it our own.
The midlife crises task list updates every time you complete a task, similarly to party/active career tasks. This likely adds an element of randomness, but within the theme of the crisis type. Hopefully there is cross pack compatibility here so things like Rock Climbing or vacationing in Granite Falls would have a chance appear in the task list for "Desire for Adventure" crisis theme.