Crin's little review (Pictures Added)

crinrict · June 2016

Hi Guys,

I was lucky enough to be able to get an early access code and played the game this weekend.

I would like to give you a little overview of what happened.

I tried on two different games, one was my existing game with MC Command Center installed (cause I can't play that one without the mod) and a completely new game on fresh user files with no mods.

First I wanna say that I really like the pack. It's well done and works well most of the time. I missed being able to go to a restaurant at all a lot and like it especially when going out with friends or on a date.

So here's my random list of things I noticed

Really love how they adjusted the goals for going on a date.
You can also hold birthday parties. Unsure about weddings as I had no engaged Sims. I didn't really try either but with the option to pull out a cake (which doesn't work on 1x1 tables with center decoration), it should work well.
Sims really stick to their tables when eating and do return to their tables (exceptions happened but more on my existing/modded game then the new unmodded one)
They do engage with the Sims at the neighbor table way to much. I think it's fine that they do, especially if they come in and see someone they know but that should be it. A few words, then go to your table, not talk to them (happened on both games)
The staff really does their jobs well. I did have an occasional issue where they would just put the food on the floor but that happened only on the old game. Not sure if it's my save or the mod or both.
Going out with an angry Sim can be very difficult .. same if they are tired .. hard to manage. Works well when both are in a good mood.
I could not get the feed a bite to show up --> This what I got as answer to my inquiry on twitter:
https://twitter.com/SimGuruMegs/status/740286384879996928
I built two restaurants and had lots of fun doing so (not usually a builder). I'll be uploading them to the gallery tomorrow
In one of my restaurants I build a DJ Booth, a bar and a coffee bar. They are not manned automatically if you open your restaurant but you can hire them.
The bar was manned when I visited the restaurant with another family. I hadn't built the coffee bar at that point, so I don't know if that would also be manned. The DJ booth didn't.
I built one restaurant with an inside and an outside area. Worked very well. The host seated people at all tables.
I had a few occasions where it took rather long for the guests to be seated but that was mostly they're own fault as they were just standing around, looking at my aquarium.
On the old game I had lots of issues with Sims getting up to drink and then not continuing their food when sitting back down. They often just put the glass on the floor.
When you close your restaurant when not all guests are done, I often found left over food still on the table the next day and the waiter does not clean food that's not spoiled or empty plates.
I love love love the ability to close the podium and not letting more Sims in and still keep the restaurant open till everyone has eaten. I wish I had that for my store. I feel so bad, throwing everyone out when closing.
I saw a few small bugs like the stove still having a blue light when closing the lot or the birthday cake on the 1x1 table that gives a routing issue. The insta-upgrade is also missing from those warmer lights for outside and interacting with your guest as a host doesn't up the social needs.
I wish there was an option to ask certain guests to leave. I had two sets of guests that never got their food and hence didn't leave until they were down to 1 star. For those there should be either an option to send them home or to re-order.
The waiters are very keen on keeping your tables clean. I wished they would wait till everyone is done with eating and not come get the glass.
Pay attention to your employees moods. My high-level chef was very angry .. I didn't realize until all the food he cooked was bad .. guests complaining. Well, he got so angry at me that he dropped dead right there in my restaurant.
This is the worst issue in my eyes: http://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2016/06/restaurant-employees-and-culling/ .. that's why I made a post already.
I had single Sims come to my restaurant and share a table. I think that's a good option if both are alone or if they are friends/family. Not so keen joining a random stranger or if the group already occupying the table is almost dine with eating. This did only happen with NPCs, not with my active family.
I find it a bit odd that I can scavenge the dropped food for parts and get common and plumbing parts from it.
I would have wished I could help out leading people to their table or serving the dishes. I don't need to put my Sim in that career or anything but help out with the task like I can with cleaning up would have been nice. I do believe it has something to do on how the task are assigned to the staff and it might mess things up easily so I'd rather have a well working staff.
The pool of employees I had were always freshly generated NPCs. I would have loved to be able to get my neighbors like I can for retail. Just the same way, nothing more, nothing less.
The Simstagram and food pictures are very unspectacular.
You can eat at your own restaurant while it's open. Money is deducted from your household fund and added to your restaurant fund .. kinda funny .. I even got a warning for not paying at my own restaurant.
If you visit the restaurant you own with another Sim you don't necessarily get the staff you hired.
Going out with other NPC Sims is not always an easy job as you can't control what they are doing ..
Kids and adults can use the draw mats which I think is a really nice touch. I just wished they would use it more often. Also the waiter just placed the food on it which was a bit odd.
At one time I got a message that there was something on the table I need to remove first (when I was a guest). I guess that's for when you have a book out or something. There wasn't anything on my table though and because of it, the food never came.

In conclusion - even if there are more negative points (it's my job to point out bugs/inconsistencies) - I think the pack is a job well done and I can only recommend getting it. It's a game pack .. it costs $20 .. you're getting a lot of value for that. Yes, there is no new world and yes there is no active careers and you can't hire your family to work at the restaurant but you can both go to eat there and own it, events got updated to fit the venue and .. as said .. it's a game pack.

Let me know if you have any questions and I try to answer them .. I might add some things to the list too .. if I remember them .. so keep checking back if you're interested.

EDIT: I've uploaded my two restaurants to the gallery.

One is called Buggy's Little Place, the other The Monkey Frog (don't ask). My Origin-ID is crinrict (yeah, no surprise there)

elanorbreton · June 2016

Nice review, crin, and very useful to know about the employee culling.

Lol at the plumbing parts!

Is there anything you can do to improve employees moods if they turn up for work unhappy in some way?

crinrict · June 2016

You can praise them or give them a raise like in retail .. that lifts their moods .. was too late for my angry chef

elanorbreton · June 2016

Ah! Thanks. I've not tried out retail yet so did not know.

Poor chef! *pictures Grimmy sitting down waiting for a meal and not realising there is no other chef to cook it*

crinrict · June 2016

I'm going to add some pics tomorrow. Don't really have access to them atm.

Nicwebb82 · June 2016

I'm sorry I laughed at your chef dropping dead

NZsimm3r · June 2016

Thanks for the tip about moving employees into houses.

to avoid culling.

crinrict · June 2016

No worries. I laughed so hard when it happened.

SimGuruNinja · June 2016

Thank you Crin. We are going to keep a close eye on any bug reports and commonly occurring issues the pack introduced.
I'm really pleased that you're enjoying it overall.

I've been a nervous wreck leading up to today. I always look forward to Launch Day and feel equal parts excitement & nervousness.
It's like our 1st day at a new school and we want to make a good impression on y'all. lol.

crinrict · June 2016

Thanks @SimGuruNinja for commenting.

I need some more play time on a new save .. I think my old one is doomed .. it probably has too many issues by now .. time to start over.

agent_bev · June 2016

SimGuruNinja wrote: »

Thank you Crin. We are going to keep a close eye on any bug reports and commonly occurring issues the pack introduced.
I'm really pleased that you're enjoying it overall.

I've been a nervous wreck leading up to today. I always look forward to Launch Day and feel equal parts excitement & nervousness.
It's like our 1st day at a new school and we want to make a good impression on y'all. lol.

@SimGuruNinja There are definitely bugs but this was obviously made with a lot of love. I think it was a super creative pack and even though there are features that people wanted that aren't in the game, it's quite obvious there are no shortcuts taken here and that's the most important part!

Wakder · June 2016

Can sims propose at dinner?

crinrict · June 2016

I think it was confirmed that you can propose at restaurants the old way but there's no 'new' proposal type. I haven't tried.

ReginalBooBella · June 2016

SimGuruNinja wrote: »

Thank you Crin. We are going to keep a close eye on any bug reports and commonly occurring issues the pack introduced.
I'm really pleased that you're enjoying it overall.

I've been a nervous wreck leading up to today. I always look forward to Launch Day and feel equal parts excitement & nervousness.
It's like our 1st day at a new school and we want to make a good impression on y'all. lol.

Is Sims 5 in the works right now? Will it be announced at E3 2016 next week?

We need a fresh start to a once glorious franchise. I hope sims 5 will have a better base game so you have a strong foundation capable of adding relatively complex gameplay without running into too many bugs (just like how sims 2 had complex gameplay).

Wakder · June 2016

crinrict wrote: »

I think it was confirmed that you can propose at restaurants the old way but there's no 'new' proposal type. I haven't tried.

Thanks for responding!

Simanite · June 2016

Thanks for taking the time to post this, I'll look out for any of the issues/bugs discussed while I'm playing too.

poeticnebula · June 2016

@crinrict I can't thank you enough for all that you do for all of us!

simgirl1010 · June 2016

@crinrict, thanks so much for your review. Very helpful. I still haven't loaded the game yet because I like to know all I can before going in. Thanks again.

mcrudd · June 2016

Thank you @crinrict really appreciate the time you took to write up your review. I was also hoping to employ sims in my neighbourhood, I even took an hour and a half placing 16 skilled sims in the neighbourhood..... but lol obviously cheating is not allowed.

ceejay402 · June 2016

Great stuff crin and very happy to hear you were one that got an advance copy

Gleesticky · June 2016

Thank you for taking time to review

Nicwebb82 · June 2016

@SimGuruNinja the only issue I've had so far is that customers keep walking into the kitchen area and getting stuff out of the fridge. This is on an Npc ran rests restaurant. Do we need to lock those doors in build mode even if we don't want to own them?

SimGuruNinja · June 2016

Nicwebb82 wrote: »

@SimGuruNinja the only issue I've had so far is that customers keep walking into the kitchen area and getting stuff out of the fridge. This is on an Npc ran rests restaurant. Do we need to lock those doors in build mode even if we don't want to own them?

Yeah - lock the doors to everyone but employees.

MVWdeZT · June 2016

Do you even need a refrigerator? I've found that the chef station is enough. And the waiter station seems to work as a dishwasher.

NZsimm3r · June 2016

MVWdeZT wrote: »

Do you even need a refrigerator? I've found that the chef station is enough. And the waiter station seems to work as a dishwasher.

I didn't even think to place a fridge actually! lol my lot worked fine without one anyway.

ST7_MTNMAN · June 2016

crinrict wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I was lucky enough to be able to get an early access code and played the game this weekend.

I would like to give you a little overview of what happened.

I tried on two different games, one was my existing game with MC Command Center installed (cause I can't play that one without the mod) and a completely new game on fresh user files with no mods.

First I wanna say that I really like the pack. It's well done and works well most of the time. I missed being able to go to a restaurant at all a lot and like it especially when going out with friends or on a date.

So here's my random list of things I noticed
Really love how they adjusted the goals for going on a date.

You can also hold birthday parties. Unsure about weddings as I had no engaged Sims. I didn't really try either but with the option to pull out a cake (which doesn't work on 1x1 tables with center decoration), it should work well.

Sims really stick to their tables when eating and do return to their tables (exceptions happened but more on my existing/modded game then the new unmodded one)

They do engage with the Sims at the neighbor table way to much. I think it's fine that they do, especially if they come in and see someone they know but that should be it. A few words, then go to your table, not talk to them (happened on both games)

The staff really does their jobs well. I did have an occasional issue where they would just put the food on the floor but that happened only on the old game. Not sure if it's my save or the mod or both.

Going out with an angry Sim can be very difficult .. same if they are tired .. hard to manage. Works well when both are in a good mood.

I could not get the feed a bite to show up --> This what I got as answer to my inquiry on twitter:
https://twitter.com/SimGuruMegs/status/740286384879996928

I built two restaurants and had lots of fun doing so (not usually a builder). I'll be uploading them to the gallery tomorrow

In one of my restaurants I build a DJ Booth, a bar and a coffee bar. They are not manned automatically if you open your restaurant but you can hire them.

The bar was manned when I visited the restaurant with another family. I hadn't built the coffee bar at that point, so I don't know if that would also be manned. The DJ booth didn't.

I built one restaurant with an inside and an outside area. Worked very well. The host seated people at all tables.

I had a few occasions where it took rather long for the guests to be seated but that was mostly they're own fault as they were just standing around, looking at my aquarium.

On the old game I had lots of issues with Sims getting up to drink and then not continuing their food when sitting back down. They often just put the glass on the floor.

When you close your restaurant when not all guests are done, I often found left over food still on the table the next day and the waiter does not clean food that's not spoiled or empty plates.

I love love love the ability to close the podium and not letting more Sims in and still keep the restaurant open till everyone has eaten. I wish I had that for my store. I feel so bad, throwing everyone out when closing.

I saw a few small bugs like the stove still having a blue light when closing the lot or the birthday cake on the 1x1 table that gives a routing issue. The insta-upgrade is also missing from those warmer lights for outside and interacting with your guest as a host doesn't up the social needs.

I wish there was an option to ask certain guests to leave. I had two sets of guests that never got their food and hence didn't leave until they were down to 1 star. For those there should be either an option to send them home or to re-order.

The waiters are very keen on keeping your tables clean. I wished they would wait till everyone is done with eating and not come get the glass.

Pay attention to your employees moods. My high-level chef was very angry .. I didn't realize until all the food he cooked was bad .. guests complaining. Well, he got so angry at me that he dropped dead right there in my restaurant.

This is the worst issue in my eyes: http://sims4.crinrict.com/en/2016/06/restaurant-employees-and-culling/ .. that's why I made a post already.

I had single Sims come to my restaurant and share a table. I think that's a good option if both are alone or if they are friends/family. Not so keen joining a random stranger or if the group already occupying the table is almost dine with eating. This did only happen with NPCs, not with my active family.

I find it a bit odd that I can scavenge the dropped food for parts and get common and plumbing parts from it.

I would have wished I could help out leading people to their table or serving the dishes. I don't need to put my Sim in that career or anything but help out with the task like I can with cleaning up would have been nice. I do believe it has something to do on how the task are assigned to the staff and it might mess things up easily so I'd rather have a well working staff.

The pool of employees I had were always freshly generated NPCs. I would have loved to be able to get my neighbors like I can for retail. Just the same way, nothing more, nothing less.

The Simstagram and food pictures are very unspectacular.

You can eat at your own restaurant while it's open. Money is deducted from your household fund and added to your restaurant fund .. kinda funny .. I even got a warning for not paying at my own restaurant.

If you visit the restaurant you own with another Sim you don't necessarily get the staff you hired.

Going out with other NPC Sims is not always an easy job as you can't control what they are doing ..

Kids and adults can use the draw mats which I think is a really nice touch. I just wished they would use it more often. Also the waiter just placed the food on it which was a bit odd.

At one time I got a message that there was something on the table I need to remove first (when I was a guest). I guess that's for when you have a book out or something. There wasn't anything on my table though and because of it, the food never came.

In conclusion - even if there are more negative points (it's my job to point out bugs/inconsistencies) - I think the pack is a job well done and I can only recommend getting it. It's a game pack .. it costs $20 .. you're getting a lot of value for that. Yes, there is no new world and yes there is no active careers and you can't hire your family to work at the restaurant but you can both go to eat there and own it, events got updated to fit the venue and .. as said .. it's a game pack.

Let me know if you have any questions and I try to answer them .. I might add some things to the list too .. if I remember them .. so keep checking back if you're interested.

I had the same thing happen to me, I comped them a dessert and then they left and the rating was a 2 when i gave it to them but a 3 when they left. So I decided to either get a bad rating or lose a couple bucks and get a nuetral rating. Again you don't have to comp the whole meal but simply the dessert or drinks are also an option. I did the dessert option so not sure if the drink alone wouldv'e been enough? Great review enjoyed the read!

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Crin's little review (Pictures Added)

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