Can't in good faith even buy this pack because it feels more like a game pack than anything. Would love to have nectar making, but how can I when the dang GARDENING bug STILL exists. How can anyone enjoy it if you always have your plants constantly resetting to it's first stage?
There needs to be a few more things in this pack for it to be passable for a EP for me and not just horses and yee-haw aesthetics.
-More items/gameplay for children
(Toddler rocking horse, Some stuffed horse toys for kids to play with, Riding lessons for kids or making it a afterschool activity or club, Riding horse toy with a stick for them to pretend to ride horses, Game of bandits much like cops and robbers)
-Mechanical Riding Bull
-New crops (Would have liked to see corn introduced here and maybe wheat as well)
-Haystack Woohoo (like why isn't there any in this pack???))
-Square dancing (Would have liked to see more dances with sims dancing with one another in couples and not just line dancing or dancing near one another.)
-Dance Night/Line dance competition
-Pool table/Poker Table
I do love the build/buy but not $40 worth for me for that and CAS. Has about the same aesthetics to Strangerville when I look at CAS and Build/buy
We cannot knit things for our horses which is sad because horses have this blanket that even looks like it's knitted.
CAS is pretty lacking... We don't really have that many accessories like I would expect, for examples, feathers for the horses hair or braids. That would be so beautiful specially because it's so iconic in horses movies.
Dogs don't really interact with horses, maybe it's only my dog but I was expecting more interactions since both are considered pets.
Riding is a bit buggy, I had to reset my Sim a couple of times after interacting with the horse.
Animations are recycled. Horse lover trait has the same animation in cas that the dog lover trait which I found to be hilarious and depressing at the same time. Some interactions with the horse mimic some interactions with cows from cottage living, again both, hilarious and sad.
I don't know if it's my game, but I have the new lot trait but still grass isn't growing on its own. Maybe I'm missing something.
I'm having fun with the pack overall, but I do have a big imagination which is needed in the Sims.
I'm really upset that the barrel racing has 2 barrels not 3. What they have in the game is not barrel racing, and is frankly insulting to all of us who compete/used to compete for that to be passed off as barrel racing. The sport has a long history and tradition, why the heckins was it so badly bungled?! They went to a ranch to watch horses play with balls but couldn't take the time to actually research the sport?! If you couldn't get it to work properly just say so, don't pass off something that it isn't.
When I saw the Horse Ranch barrel setup in the YouTube game play video, I was thinking it was looking a bit simplistic, and a bit boring. I was also surprised that you can't really create an equestrian course like you could in TS3 Pets. Can you set up multiple course objects and just make a series of action command?
Can't in good faith even buy this pack because it feels more like a game pack than anything. Would love to have nectar making, but how can I when the dang GARDENING bug STILL exists. How can anyone enjoy it if you always have your plants constantly resetting to it's first stage?
There needs to be a few more things in this pack for it to be passable for a EP for me and not just horses and yee-haw aesthetics.
-More items/gameplay for children
(Toddler rocking horse, Some stuffed horse toys for kids to play with, Riding lessons for kids or making it a afterschool activity or club, Riding horse toy with a stick for them to pretend to ride horses, Game of bandits much like cops and robbers)
-Mechanical Riding Bull
-New crops (Would have liked to see corn introduced here and maybe wheat as well)
-Haystack Woohoo (like why isn't there any in this pack???))
-Square dancing (Would have liked to see more dances with sims dancing with one another in couples and not just line dancing or dancing near one another.)
-Dance Night/Line dance competition
I’ll be honest, I was kind of shocked when I saw the gardening bug in an ‘early’ access video. People had been saying it was a bug that came after Seasons. I personally hadn’t had it until very recently, but I know others have had it for quite awhile. But this video was of a simmer with only base game and horse ranch. It was one of those where they have a separate copy of the game, not one integrated with their regular copy. So I was very surprised and concerned. Like this bug is that deep in the game?
I can’t get over them choosing to take out the photography friendship thing, but the plants you grow continue to revert. And if they’re not reverting, growing them has become far more difficult because other issues keep popping up. To the point that you might as well just cheat your garden every time or just not have one. I used to love gardening in the sims 4, and every new harvestable excited me. Now I barely use it.
Check out my posts in the Ideas corner, and see the Simsverse living inside my head.
- Eventing center, arguably a very large part of the game and should be one of the center focuses of the pack, is merely a rabbit hole. All the promotional materials depict what appear to be events happening in real time at the eventing center. - The jumping and barrels are ONLY for practicing and you cannot set up, for example, a track of jumps that a rider can follow a path on. You can only go back and forth on the same jump, so we can't even emulate our own events if we wanted to. - Mane and tails cannot be changed per outfit -- meaning you need to go through two loading screens in order to braid or unbraid your horses hair. This one especially bothers me, because it seems to function like the Sim's hair, but then instead acts like a body part. - Minimal sliders on the body, far less than the cats and dogs - Minimal amount of tack - Children have no riding gear in spite of being able to ride - Unable to lead a horse on a leash (in spite of leashing mechanics existing for dogs) - Cannot Neuter or Spay horses, in spite of that being a Major aspect of keeping horses and geldings are functionally a third sex with different personalities to mares or stallions - No new horse related lot traits, in spite of there being multiple for cats and dogs
I’ll be honest, I was kind of shocked when I saw the gardening bug in an ‘early’ access video. People had been saying it was a bug that came after Seasons. I personally hadn’t had it until very recently, but I know others have had it for quite awhile. But this video was of a simmer with only base game and horse ranch. It was one of those where they have a separate copy of the game, not one integrated with their regular copy. So I was very surprised and concerned. Like this bug is that deep in the game?
I can’t get over them choosing to take out the photography friendship thing, but the plants you grow continue to revert. And if they’re not reverting, growing them has become far more difficult because other issues keep popping up. To the point that you might as well just cheat your garden every time or just not have one. I used to love gardening in the sims 4, and every new harvestable excited me. Now I barely use it.
I've had this bug for a good long time. Can't enjoy gardening at all. A plant can be ready to harvest and be it randomly or triggered by my sim fertilizing a plant it just BOOM first stage of planting ALL over again. So, gardening isn't even fun or useful, especially when you have to shift click plants to put them at their stage of blooming.
Feel like I'm the only one happy about that photography friendship thing being fixed. Was a pain for my sim who was a professional photographer and having all these relationships with sims and constantly getting calls.
But yeah Gardening just isn't that fun anymore due to the bug. I might have two or three on a lot for certain sims, but I don't bother with any big ones. Makes one sims big farm so very useless because of al the time using to shift click and cheat. Cottage Living is just a nightmare now to even attempt to play with sims with big gardens or farms.
Nectar Making certainly won't be fun since I can't even grow my own fruit without trouble.
The only reason I can garden is because of a mod workaround fix by LittleMsSam. However, I still have a problem with harvestables ending up in my household inventory.
Modders save this game for me, seriously. I started using mods in the first place for the bug fixes.
The Horse Ranch bug reports are really rolling into AHQ now. There are at least a couple that would be stopping me from buying it… if I’d been considering it.
Disappointed that we don't have more of the larger lots in Chestnut Ridge. Difficult to have a ranch that can accommodate horses and other farm animals, gardens and field of prairie grass for grazing with the small lots. Horse beds are 4x4 which wouldn't be a problem for barns if able to build them large enough to have room for beds and the feeding troughs, but will be limited with the smaller lots. Sigh
We cannot knit things for our horses which is sad because horses have this blanket that even looks like it's knitted.
This is something I wasnt even sad about until I thought...'hey, in Cottage Living you can make your chickens and llamas little jumpers and hats. No little jumpers and hats for mini sheep and goats!?'
How cute would that have been?LOL
Ever since I watched Plumbella's video I've been thinking about what cool things they could've added. Cops and robbers? A mechanical bull? A play horse? A tiny rocking chair for kids/toddlers? Even, as many simmers have said, a horse camp afterschool activity for teens/kids. I mean that would've been wonderful, and all it'd be is some pop ups. There's so many missed opportunities, and the more I think about what this pack could've been, the more disappointed I am in what it is.
And then there's the competition center. I think I've talked about that already, but I was expecting more...Pizzazz? I think that's the problem with the pack all around, it's all horse, no Wow!, ya know? I mean, when I learned there were no fire/quirky tricks with the build/buy horse training equipment [like the barrels? not sure what their technical name would be], I was like, ugh, really?
There's no quirky, sims fun, and there's no gameplay outside of horses and nectar. Even gameplay that is excessively horse centered, obnoxiously, over the top, Sims golden era, horse themed madness, would've been awesome. Let horses kill people, let sims woohoo in hay bushes, let there be a matching horse onsie for every age. Give kids a big horse blarfy. Make a carpet that's covered in horses. Maybe a special, weird, npc horse that does strange things, like have magic poop or something idk. Obviously, I don't need [or want, really] all of this, or most of it, but anything would've been nice. [Anything, like, idk, a unicorn that did things maybe.]
If we're getting a pack that's just Horses, why didn't they go dramatic with the horses?
Sidenote, a genuine, not rhetorical question to end my rant over a pack that's already out and not going to change, can dogs from Cats&Dogs herd the sheep? Asking for my corgi.
Near the equestrian center is a food stall which is permanently closed. I've now spent two seasons in Chestnut Ridge and the stall never opened at all.
I turned the town's bar into a restaurant and the new nectar recipes and native foods can not be added to the menu.
I think there’s no option to to purchase bottled nectar somewhere, is there?
I'm experiencing lots of glitches with sims and horses freezing mid-interaction. Oftentimes my sim can not eat or prepare food on lots in Chestnut Ridge. He'll just stare at the food indefinitely and I have to reload my save file to fix it.
Has anyone tried gardening after the recent patch? It's 1000 % better now.
That's good news.
Whenever I buy the pack, I really am going to do my nectar maker's rags-to-riches/Bachelor challenge.
My sim is going to need to grow his own ingredients.
Ever since I watched Plumbella's video I've been thinking about what cool things they could've added. Cops and robbers? A mechanical bull? A play horse? A tiny rocking chair for kids/toddlers? Even, as many simmers have said, a horse camp afterschool activity for teens/kids. I mean that would've been wonderful, and all it'd be is some pop ups. There's so many missed opportunities, and the more I think about what this pack could've been, the more disappointed I am in what it is.
And then there's the competition center. I think I've talked about that already, but I was expecting more...Pizzazz? I think that's the problem with the pack all around, it's all horse, no Wow!, ya know? I mean, when I learned there were no fire/quirky tricks with the build/buy horse training equipment [like the barrels? not sure what their technical name would be], I was like, ugh, really?
There's no quirky, sims fun, and there's no gameplay outside of horses and nectar. Even gameplay that is excessively horse centered, obnoxiously, over the top, Sims golden era, horse themed madness, would've been awesome. Let horses kill people, let sims woohoo in hay bushes, let there be a matching horse onsie for every age. Give kids a big horse blarfy. Make a carpet that's covered in horses. Maybe a special, weird, npc horse that does strange things, like have magic poop or something idk. Obviously, I don't need [or want, really] all of this, or most of it, but anything would've been nice. [Anything, like, idk, a unicorn that did things maybe.]
If we're getting a pack that's just Horses, why didn't they go dramatic with the horses?
Sidenote, a genuine, not rhetorical question to end my rant over a pack that's already out and not going to change, can dogs from Cats&Dogs herd the sheep? Asking for my corgi.
All of that would've been wonderful. Especially the onsie. Matching family fits. Start your horse kid dreams young. I'll tell you what, I was disappointed when another commentor mentioned finding out no club activities were added. You just know I was going to make an actual Saddle Club. Peak early 00s tv right there. But even the one you mentioned as an after-school type activity would've been good. Bc then the kids could raise their skills, and make friends. Especially those who don't live in world.
But yeah I agree if they were going to make a horse expansion pack they needed to make it so freaking horse crazy that no one could complain there's a lack of gameplay. And at best they could say that several people let their inner horse kid out far too much. And that it was likely the ones who never got to ride one and always wanted to. That pack, and all the shenanigans that would ensue, would be worth it.
Like they already have it so that horses can get into your home, or any building on the first floor as long as they can get in the door . Burglar horse, kleptomaniac horse? The midnight ranger who clops in under the cover of night, and all that is left is a crescent 🌙 print on the ground (bc he's so nimble the full hoofprint doesn't show). Or maybe that horse is immortal and the sire of all horses with similar traits, and of you have one with similar traits it'll go around taking things from places, and homes. And then you'll randomly have stuff in your family inventory. Like when kids steal stuff from school, or really big stuff.
Like they could've made this really cool. I'm trying to make sure my mods work before opening things up. But honestly ever since right after pre-ordering my excitement for this went waaaayyyy down. Which is a shame bc it was a gift. Right now that's the only reason I'm going to give it a chance. Tbh the lack of content crushed my saddle club dreams. I mean we have horses. But that's like it.
I'm not particularly swayed by the mini animals bc it creeps me out that you bottle feed them but then milk and shear them bc they are adults. That's weird. They can also eat hay so why are you bottle feeding them? Is this for roleplay of them as babies? But then why milk and shear them? Idk I don't get it, it's so bizarre and discomfiting.
And nectar is nice I guess. But like. I keep feeling like we've gotten the same amount of content in game packs. I keep thinking about vampires as an example. And just like we got a new set up for occults, growth, new aspiration with tiers, a (very) small world, build and buy, harvestables, new bassinet, stuff for multiple age ranges, etc. Then I look at this and I'm like how is Vlad doing a better job of showing what you should include, or a more in depth job, in a game pack?
We didn't even get new horse types for the various occults. Oh we got some paint swatches and a fake horn. But like Grimm can't have a horse? A skeleton horse? A pale horse? Vlad can't have one with odd teeth? Spellcasters can't have pegasi or unicorns/binicorns? Mermaids can't have water horses? There's only like 1 cross pack compatability thing that was confirmed in the pack. And that's just to collect your milk or wool from those mini animals.
Idk this was a massive disappointment. And I'm not sure how people are so happy with it. I get wanting horses. I don't get being ok with only getting that for this kind of price. I think my thinking may have changed bc for awhile the sims was the main game I played, bc I started gaming much later in life than many simmers. So I got used to paying a bunch of money for these games, and got caught up in completionism. Never really thinking the price point was that odd bc it was what it was, and the amount you were getting from each offering was generally the same.
But as I tried other games, I realized $40 is the price of a fully realized console game. The price to pay to be a backer for a game that's not even out yet, and get yourself a ton of rewards and the finished game upon completion. Possibly 2 copies depending on when you signed up. $40 can get you a game, it's yearly pass, and either a discounted game or go towards another cheaper game that costs the same as a sims 4 game pack.
And the premise of expansions when they came out was that they were basically new games, the base was the base, and every addition didn't just expand, it was introducing another game's worth of content in. The game packs were smaller and bridged a smaller gap, but still brought content providing experiences that while continue to affect your game but not as many. And stuff packs focused on certain aspects of sim life. Knowing that, this pack just kind of annoys me bc it's not game changing, it's not another new game's worth of content. I know someone mentioned that they apparently told simmers that's it's based on how much is used to make the pack, what it gets labeled now. But for me that just reaffirms that they can give you something they never would've called an expansion before and call it that now, and you have to deal. But to be fair they weren't doing great with expansions in recent years anyway. GrwT was better than most recently.
Check out my posts in the Ideas corner, and see the Simsverse living inside my head.
@LSM36 Yes, exactly! A kleptomaniac horse? That would've been brilliant! And your point about the vampire pack [a skeleton horse? I'd be obsessed] and prices is exactly how I feel as well. It's 40 dollars. 40. For horses. And there's not much outside of horses, even horse themed things and chaos! I mean, the world's nice, but I don't think having a bigger world [with lots that are quite small] is worth an extra 10 bucks.
I get that horses are expensive and hard to make, and there's some leeway we should give them because of it, but I don't think it's this much leeway. I'm fine with horses having their own pack- I've expected it- but Vampires is a game pack, Werewolves is a game pack, and Realm of Magic is a game pack. All of them focus on one lifestatey-thing. But Horses? Just horses is an expansion pack? -sigh-
And EA is a huge company, millions of people play the sims, and they're charging the price of an entire game for a plain horse pack. The horses look nice [though I'm disappointed with the way their genetics work], and I truly hope everyone who buys it has a wonderful time, I just think they deserve more bang for their buck.
One more thing I just thought of, wasn't there coding in Cats&Dogs for horses? So hasn't this pack been in development/progress for years now? And not even a horse blarfy? I'm really salty about this horse blarfy thing tbh.
And, actually! One more thing! They should've named it Horsing Around! It'd have been so funny!
There are so many good ideas in this thread that it’s actually making me sad about all the missed opportunities! Well, maybe the modders will be able to make some of these things happen, although it’s not quite the same. (And useless if you’re on console.)
Sidenote, a genuine, not rhetorical question to end my rant over a pack that's already out and not going to change, can dogs from Cats&Dogs herd the sheep? Asking for my corgi.
I haven't played a lot but so far my dog ignores all mini sheep, only going near them if she's following a sim.
Sidenote, a genuine, not rhetorical question to end my rant over a pack that's already out and not going to change, can dogs from Cats&Dogs herd the sheep? Asking for my corgi.
I haven't played a lot but so far my dog ignores all mini sheep, only going near them if she's following a sim.
-HORSES IN THE CITY- You don't have a big yard for a horse, or just don't want your Horse right next to your Door, or like me... my sims live in an apartment and just can't have a barn on the last floor of a skyscraper. The sad thing is, that I searched in vain for a useable barn, which isn't on my property and is still working. (meaning my horse stays there, it still gets its own box and so on) Did you guys find a solution for this kind of problem, sims 4 didn't got to solve?? My resent solution is: I bought the salon next to the equestrian center as a restaurant.. like a barn coffee. Then I got my horses and gave them there own box.. as they were already there... just that you could not use them, bc they weren't on your property.(The salon comes as a park) Now I can live in the City and have horses.. BUT: BIG NEGATIV ASPECT: They don't stay at this place. They follow to the apartment and then stay on the street infant of the apartment. ARGH. Another Idea I just had was to just put my horses in another family that owns a ranch and just come to there place, when I want to ride my horses.. BUT: Big negative aspect: In this case you can't see the progress of their skills anymore. At least I couldn't. Maybe you?. It's definitely a Problem for me, because I don't want to move my family to a new ranch because it would shake up the story. -> So, if you already found something about this, or have a solution for this problem, please leave a comment on this, because it would really help me.
Comments
There needs to be a few more things in this pack for it to be passable for a EP for me and not just horses and yee-haw aesthetics.
-More items/gameplay for children
(Toddler rocking horse, Some stuffed horse toys for kids to play with, Riding lessons for kids or making it a afterschool activity or club, Riding horse toy with a stick for them to pretend to ride horses, Game of bandits much like cops and robbers)
-Mechanical Riding Bull
-New crops (Would have liked to see corn introduced here and maybe wheat as well)
-Haystack Woohoo (like why isn't there any in this pack???))
-Square dancing (Would have liked to see more dances with sims dancing with one another in couples and not just line dancing or dancing near one another.)
-Dance Night/Line dance competition
-Pool table/Poker Table
I do love the build/buy but not $40 worth for me for that and CAS. Has about the same aesthetics to Strangerville when I look at CAS and Build/buy
We cannot knit things for our horses which is sad because horses have this blanket that even looks like it's knitted.
CAS is pretty lacking... We don't really have that many accessories like I would expect, for examples, feathers for the horses hair or braids. That would be so beautiful specially because it's so iconic in horses movies.
Dogs don't really interact with horses, maybe it's only my dog but I was expecting more interactions since both are considered pets.
Riding is a bit buggy, I had to reset my Sim a couple of times after interacting with the horse.
Animations are recycled. Horse lover trait has the same animation in cas that the dog lover trait which I found to be hilarious and depressing at the same time. Some interactions with the horse mimic some interactions with cows from cottage living, again both, hilarious and sad.
I don't know if it's my game, but I have the new lot trait but still grass isn't growing on its own. Maybe I'm missing something.
I'm having fun with the pack overall, but I do have a big imagination which is needed in the Sims.
This certainly looks more exciting.
When I saw the Horse Ranch barrel setup in the YouTube game play video, I was thinking it was looking a bit simplistic, and a bit boring. I was also surprised that you can't really create an equestrian course like you could in TS3 Pets. Can you set up multiple course objects and just make a series of action command?
I’ll be honest, I was kind of shocked when I saw the gardening bug in an ‘early’ access video. People had been saying it was a bug that came after Seasons. I personally hadn’t had it until very recently, but I know others have had it for quite awhile. But this video was of a simmer with only base game and horse ranch. It was one of those where they have a separate copy of the game, not one integrated with their regular copy. So I was very surprised and concerned. Like this bug is that deep in the game?
I can’t get over them choosing to take out the photography friendship thing, but the plants you grow continue to revert. And if they’re not reverting, growing them has become far more difficult because other issues keep popping up. To the point that you might as well just cheat your garden every time or just not have one. I used to love gardening in the sims 4, and every new harvestable excited me. Now I barely use it.
- Eventing center, arguably a very large part of the game and should be one of the center focuses of the pack, is merely a rabbit hole. All the promotional materials depict what appear to be events happening in real time at the eventing center.
- The jumping and barrels are ONLY for practicing and you cannot set up, for example, a track of jumps that a rider can follow a path on. You can only go back and forth on the same jump, so we can't even emulate our own events if we wanted to.
- Mane and tails cannot be changed per outfit -- meaning you need to go through two loading screens in order to braid or unbraid your horses hair. This one especially bothers me, because it seems to function like the Sim's hair, but then instead acts like a body part.
- Minimal sliders on the body, far less than the cats and dogs
- Minimal amount of tack
- Children have no riding gear in spite of being able to ride
- Unable to lead a horse on a leash (in spite of leashing mechanics existing for dogs)
- Cannot Neuter or Spay horses, in spite of that being a Major aspect of keeping horses and geldings are functionally a third sex with different personalities to mares or stallions
- No new horse related lot traits, in spite of there being multiple for cats and dogs
I've had this bug for a good long time. Can't enjoy gardening at all. A plant can be ready to harvest and be it randomly or triggered by my sim fertilizing a plant it just BOOM first stage of planting ALL over again. So, gardening isn't even fun or useful, especially when you have to shift click plants to put them at their stage of blooming.
Feel like I'm the only one happy about that photography friendship thing being fixed. Was a pain for my sim who was a professional photographer and having all these relationships with sims and constantly getting calls.
But yeah Gardening just isn't that fun anymore due to the bug. I might have two or three on a lot for certain sims, but I don't bother with any big ones. Makes one sims big farm so very useless because of al the time using to shift click and cheat. Cottage Living is just a nightmare now to even attempt to play with sims with big gardens or farms.
Nectar Making certainly won't be fun since I can't even grow my own fruit without trouble.
Modders save this game for me, seriously. I started using mods in the first place for the bug fixes.
The Horse Ranch bug reports are really rolling into AHQ now. There are at least a couple that would be stopping me from buying it… if I’d been considering it.
Dude, yes, they're adding the three sisters chili dish and not taking the golden opportunity to give us corn!?
This is something I wasnt even sad about until I thought...'hey, in Cottage Living you can make your chickens and llamas little jumpers and hats. No little jumpers and hats for mini sheep and goats!?'
How cute would that have been?LOL
And then there's the competition center. I think I've talked about that already, but I was expecting more...Pizzazz? I think that's the problem with the pack all around, it's all horse, no Wow!, ya know? I mean, when I learned there were no fire/quirky tricks with the build/buy horse training equipment [like the barrels? not sure what their technical name would be], I was like, ugh, really?
There's no quirky, sims fun, and there's no gameplay outside of horses and nectar. Even gameplay that is excessively horse centered, obnoxiously, over the top, Sims golden era, horse themed madness, would've been awesome. Let horses kill people, let sims woohoo in hay bushes, let there be a matching horse onsie for every age. Give kids a big horse blarfy. Make a carpet that's covered in horses. Maybe a special, weird, npc horse that does strange things, like have magic poop or something idk. Obviously, I don't need [or want, really] all of this, or most of it, but anything would've been nice. [Anything, like, idk, a unicorn that did things maybe.]
If we're getting a pack that's just Horses, why didn't they go dramatic with the horses?
Sidenote, a genuine, not rhetorical question to end my rant over a pack that's already out and not going to change, can dogs from Cats&Dogs herd the sheep? Asking for my corgi.
I turned the town's bar into a restaurant and the new nectar recipes and native foods can not be added to the menu.
I think there’s no option to to purchase bottled nectar somewhere, is there?
I'm experiencing lots of glitches with sims and horses freezing mid-interaction. Oftentimes my sim can not eat or prepare food on lots in Chestnut Ridge. He'll just stare at the food indefinitely and I have to reload my save file to fix it.
That's good news.
Whenever I buy the pack, I really am going to do my nectar maker's rags-to-riches/Bachelor challenge.
My sim is going to need to grow his own ingredients.
All of that would've been wonderful. Especially the onsie. Matching family fits. Start your horse kid dreams young. I'll tell you what, I was disappointed when another commentor mentioned finding out no club activities were added. You just know I was going to make an actual Saddle Club. Peak early 00s tv right there. But even the one you mentioned as an after-school type activity would've been good. Bc then the kids could raise their skills, and make friends. Especially those who don't live in world.
But yeah I agree if they were going to make a horse expansion pack they needed to make it so freaking horse crazy that no one could complain there's a lack of gameplay. And at best they could say that several people let their inner horse kid out far too much. And that it was likely the ones who never got to ride one and always wanted to. That pack, and all the shenanigans that would ensue, would be worth it.
Like they already have it so that horses can get into your home, or any building on the first floor as long as they can get in the door . Burglar horse, kleptomaniac horse? The midnight ranger who clops in under the cover of night, and all that is left is a crescent 🌙 print on the ground (bc he's so nimble the full hoofprint doesn't show). Or maybe that horse is immortal and the sire of all horses with similar traits, and of you have one with similar traits it'll go around taking things from places, and homes. And then you'll randomly have stuff in your family inventory. Like when kids steal stuff from school, or really big stuff.
Like they could've made this really cool. I'm trying to make sure my mods work before opening things up. But honestly ever since right after pre-ordering my excitement for this went waaaayyyy down. Which is a shame bc it was a gift. Right now that's the only reason I'm going to give it a chance. Tbh the lack of content crushed my saddle club dreams. I mean we have horses. But that's like it.
I'm not particularly swayed by the mini animals bc it creeps me out that you bottle feed them but then milk and shear them bc they are adults. That's weird. They can also eat hay so why are you bottle feeding them? Is this for roleplay of them as babies? But then why milk and shear them? Idk I don't get it, it's so bizarre and discomfiting.
And nectar is nice I guess. But like. I keep feeling like we've gotten the same amount of content in game packs. I keep thinking about vampires as an example. And just like we got a new set up for occults, growth, new aspiration with tiers, a (very) small world, build and buy, harvestables, new bassinet, stuff for multiple age ranges, etc. Then I look at this and I'm like how is Vlad doing a better job of showing what you should include, or a more in depth job, in a game pack?
We didn't even get new horse types for the various occults. Oh we got some paint swatches and a fake horn. But like Grimm can't have a horse? A skeleton horse? A pale horse? Vlad can't have one with odd teeth? Spellcasters can't have pegasi or unicorns/binicorns? Mermaids can't have water horses? There's only like 1 cross pack compatability thing that was confirmed in the pack. And that's just to collect your milk or wool from those mini animals.
Idk this was a massive disappointment. And I'm not sure how people are so happy with it. I get wanting horses. I don't get being ok with only getting that for this kind of price. I think my thinking may have changed bc for awhile the sims was the main game I played, bc I started gaming much later in life than many simmers. So I got used to paying a bunch of money for these games, and got caught up in completionism. Never really thinking the price point was that odd bc it was what it was, and the amount you were getting from each offering was generally the same.
But as I tried other games, I realized $40 is the price of a fully realized console game. The price to pay to be a backer for a game that's not even out yet, and get yourself a ton of rewards and the finished game upon completion. Possibly 2 copies depending on when you signed up. $40 can get you a game, it's yearly pass, and either a discounted game or go towards another cheaper game that costs the same as a sims 4 game pack.
And the premise of expansions when they came out was that they were basically new games, the base was the base, and every addition didn't just expand, it was introducing another game's worth of content in. The game packs were smaller and bridged a smaller gap, but still brought content providing experiences that while continue to affect your game but not as many. And stuff packs focused on certain aspects of sim life. Knowing that, this pack just kind of annoys me bc it's not game changing, it's not another new game's worth of content. I know someone mentioned that they apparently told simmers that's it's based on how much is used to make the pack, what it gets labeled now. But for me that just reaffirms that they can give you something they never would've called an expansion before and call it that now, and you have to deal. But to be fair they weren't doing great with expansions in recent years anyway. GrwT was better than most recently.
I get that horses are expensive and hard to make, and there's some leeway we should give them because of it, but I don't think it's this much leeway. I'm fine with horses having their own pack- I've expected it- but Vampires is a game pack, Werewolves is a game pack, and Realm of Magic is a game pack. All of them focus on one lifestatey-thing. But Horses? Just horses is an expansion pack? -sigh-
And EA is a huge company, millions of people play the sims, and they're charging the price of an entire game for a plain horse pack. The horses look nice [though I'm disappointed with the way their genetics work], and I truly hope everyone who buys it has a wonderful time, I just think they deserve more bang for their buck.
One more thing I just thought of, wasn't there coding in Cats&Dogs for horses? So hasn't this pack been in development/progress for years now? And not even a horse blarfy? I'm really salty about this horse blarfy thing tbh.
And, actually! One more thing! They should've named it Horsing Around! It'd have been so funny!
Ok, I'll stop now because I can keep going lol
I haven't played a lot but so far my dog ignores all mini sheep, only going near them if she's following a sim.
Aw, that's sad. Not surprising, but sad.
I fully expect a unicorn mod or two to come out any minute now!
Epic, I'll keep my eye out for one!