and I still can't get over that after school activities are rabbit holes... with walls of text.
Oh gosh, one of the biggest disappointments to be honest. Some fleshed out after school activities would have been a fair compromise for the shallow school gameplay or vice-versa. But instead the main features of this pack remain at surface level.
Speaking of the prom.
Its just a normal goaled party with lots of chicken to eat. The only special thing happening is the prom king/queen voting which seems random (the socially awkward teen that hardly anyone knows and even less people like wins?). https://youtu.be/J_X64ac3GSM
Speaking of the prom.
Its just a normal goaled party with lots of chicken to eat. The only special thing happening is the prom king/queen voting which seems random (the socially awkward teen that hardly anyone knows and even less people like wins?). https://youtu.be/J_X64ac3GSM
Glitch.
The bucket of pigs blood failed to tip over from the ceiling rafters.
Carrie moment failure.
Speaking of the prom.
Its just a normal goaled party with lots of chicken to eat. The only special thing happening is the prom king/queen voting which seems random (the socially awkward teen that hardly anyone knows and even less people like wins?).
The whole prom was such a poor event. Only a handfull of teenager in the auditorium and nothing exciting happened. If this is how proms are like I'm not longer sad that I didn't have one.
I just watched LilSimsie's clip. That is soo buggy. I don't know how she is laughing at it. All of this promotion of sexual preferences, and they aren't working! The Social Bunny app is way overpowered. You shouldn't be able to override someone's preferences on an app. The sentiments don't make sense either.
Also, the pop-ups in class should go away. We can see what our Sim is doing. They did not pass out on the floor.
I agree on lilsimsie's clip, everyone just being lol teens, it's just buggy. I can see why she went with it for the video, better to laugh than cry and all that, but I wish people wouldn't try and say it's a feature when it's clearly a bug.
Also it's really bad for sims who have there orientations set to go against them. Like does nobody see how this could be problematic at all?
The pop-ups in class are so bizarre too. If you watch James Turner's video, one of them was describing the teen in health class (when it was art) and saying the teen was doing different things than you could see. It didn't match up and was so bizarre. I'd rather have nothing than incorrect pop-ups.
I wonder if anybody reads all these annoying popups? The game changers videos are only basegame and HY. Having all the other packs it will be even more popups. I read them once or twice but after a while I skip every popup. It's always the same. They don't have enough gameplay so they create popups and rabbitholes instead.
I wonder if anybody reads all these annoying popups? The game changers videos are only basegame and HY. Having all the other packs it will be even more popups. I read them once or twice but after a while I skip every popup. It's always the same. They don't have enough gameplay so they create popups and rabbitholes instead.
I really detest pop ups in a game like this. They annoy the heck out of me and I have no patience to read them so I just blindly click on them.
IMO pop ups have no place in a sims game in 2022. Reminds me more of this old fantasy game I used to play way back in the 80s which was full of story text you had to read because back then they could only do gameplay basics. We're not in the 80s any more are we?
I wonder if anybody reads all these annoying popups? The game changers videos are only basegame and HY. Having all the other packs it will be even more popups. I read them once or twice but after a while I skip every popup. It's always the same. They don't have enough gameplay so they create popups and rabbitholes instead.
Yeah, after watching a few of the early early release play throughs, it seems like this pack has more than ever and like they're an entire novel. Maybe Werewolves is a bit like that too. If it takes me more than 10 seconds to read the thing, that's too much information.
My username has been my internet handle for over 20 years since I was 16 and refers to when I had a crush on a very tall boy. I intend absolutely no violence toward beautiful giraffes.
I wonder if anybody reads all these annoying popups? The game changers videos are only basegame and HY. Having all the other packs it will be even more popups. I read them once or twice but after a while I skip every popup. It's always the same. They don't have enough gameplay so they create popups and rabbitholes instead.
I really detest pop ups in a game like this. They annoy the heck out of me and I have no patience to read them so I just blindly click on them.
IMO pop ups have no place in a sims game in 2022. Reminds me more of this old fantasy game I used to play way back in the 80s which was full of story text you had to read because back then they could only do gameplay basics. We're not in the 80s any more are we?
Completely agree, popups should rarely, or never be used in my opinion, they don't belong in a modern game. They were not that common in the beginning of the sims4 but now they seem to be everywhere and they show up as replacements for things that we could have seen if this pack would have gotten more development.
I wish we could see these things happening instead of reading about them.
I wonder if anybody reads all these annoying popups? The game changers videos are only basegame and HY. Having all the other packs it will be even more popups. I read them once or twice but after a while I skip every popup. It's always the same. They don't have enough gameplay so they create popups and rabbitholes instead.
I really detest pop ups in a game like this. They annoy the heck out of me and I have no patience to read them so I just blindly click on them.
IMO pop ups have no place in a sims game in 2022. Reminds me more of this old fantasy game I used to play way back in the 80s which was full of story text you had to read because back then they could only do gameplay basics. We're not in the 80s any more are we?
I completely agree. The only exception I would make is that I kind of like the popups that include excerpts for the novels they added in Werewolves. But I think that's different, because they give you text to read... as you are reading a book. It makes it more immersive rather than less immersive. But in every other situation, giving us a block of text to read instead of showing us what's happening is not great.
The more I see of this new pack, the more I am concerned. Like TS4 is all just set dressing for someone's virtual dollhouse, which that's a fine way to play the game if that's your style. But for me, it just leaves everything so empty and hollow. Like how many pack themes do they need to retread, like ones from past games I can understand. But recent packs? I don't need three packs in a row that have an environmental message or an influencer career/option. Already had that, can we get something new, please?
Give our Vampires back their fangs!!! Reverse the Nerf!!! Occult simmers should not be shoved aside for the "realism players"! It's time Occult lovers/players started to demand equal treatment. #JusticeForOccults
I wonder if anybody reads all these annoying popups? The game changers videos are only basegame and HY. Having all the other packs it will be even more popups. I read them once or twice but after a while I skip every popup. It's always the same. They don't have enough gameplay so they create popups and rabbitholes instead.
I really detest pop ups in a game like this. They annoy the heck out of me and I have no patience to read them so I just blindly click on them.
IMO pop ups have no place in a sims game in 2022. Reminds me more of this old fantasy game I used to play way back in the 80s which was full of story text you had to read because back then they could only do gameplay basics. We're not in the 80s any more are we?
Completely agree, popups should rarely, or never be used in my opinion, they don't belong in a modern game. They were not that common in the beginning of the sims4 but now they seem to be everywhere and they show up as replacements for things that we could have seen if this pack would have gotten more development.
I wish we could see these things happening instead of reading about them.
Like some pop-ups I can understand, like massive dialogue dumps, like the missions from TS3 WA. But other than that, I agree, I want to see what my sim is doing or have an active role in it not read about it. If I wanted to do that, I'd read a choose-your-own-adventure book.
Give our Vampires back their fangs!!! Reverse the Nerf!!! Occult simmers should not be shoved aside for the "realism players"! It's time Occult lovers/players started to demand equal treatment. #JusticeForOccults
I wonder if anybody reads all these annoying popups? The game changers videos are only basegame and HY. Having all the other packs it will be even more popups. I read them once or twice but after a while I skip every popup. It's always the same. They don't have enough gameplay so they create popups and rabbitholes instead.
I read them and enjoy them. I know a bunch of people who do actually.
I don't like how the sims are already constantly on the phone and feel will be worse with the social bunny system. At least allow teachers and parents to take their children/teens' phones away! What better punishment for bad grades or rude behavior? Grounded but still having phone isn't much of a consequence.
I do agree about the pop-ups. Some of them I can understand. Like I know some people get annoyed by the Parenthood ones where the child/teen asks for advice. And while I think they happen just a little too often (whenever my parent sim won't do the task I've given them the first thing I check is to see which child has a question), I do like them and the pop-ups in the scenario make sense. It's just a sim asking for advice so it's not like it's just describing an action to me.
That's where I have my problem with the pop-ups, and it feels like we're getting more of those kinds lately. Where it just describes something happening that I would rather actually see my sims act out. Like the one about fainting in health class. Earlier sims games didn't have this problem, and they were better for it. The whole point of a life sim game is to, you know, see life being simulated. Kinda defeats the purpose when I'm just reading about what my sim supposedly did while I just watch them stand there, usually with that uncomfortable smile on their face.
This new pack specifically seems to have a lot of these kinds of pop-ups and it's really disappointing. Maybe if they didn't focus on giving us fashion and influencing and streaming for the 2nd 3rd 4th time we could've had more of a focus on the new things this pack was supposed to add. I'm still disappointed that football/cheerleading practice is just a rabbit hole, the sports festivals are empty and boring, and there's no in class actions the way there already was pre-pack 😕
I wish we could see a budget breakdown or something. The team seems so adverse to creating new animations, which is what the game needs to feel and act more alive. But is it a budget concern? Is it a staffing issue (thinking of MWS team balance here)? Is it a coding problem? TS2 was filled with so many detailed animations that honestly were probably more detailed than they needed to be (sims playing an ACTUAL full game of chess??), but those animations were what gave the game life! What's especially weird about this pack to me is that it seems they put a lot of effort into the cheerleading animations. Great! But then practice and the competition are rabbit holes, so you only see them during the festival or practicing on your own...
I just want less pop-ups and more animation 😭 I want to SEE don't TELL me. Pop-ups have a time and place and I'm afraid the team is starting to get a little too comfortable with using them.
I do agree about the pop-ups. Some of them I can understand. Like I know some people get annoyed by the Parenthood ones where the child/teen asks for advice. And while I think they happen just a little too often (whenever my parent sim won't do the task I've given them the first thing I check is to see which child has a question), I do like them and the pop-ups in the scenario make sense. It's just a sim asking for advice so it's not like it's just describing an action to me.
That's where I have my problem with the pop-ups, and it feels like we're getting more of those kinds lately. Where it just describes something happening that I would rather actually see my sims act out. Like the one about fainting in health class. Earlier sims games didn't have this problem, and they were better for it. The whole point of a life sim game is to, you know, see life being simulated. Kinda defeats the purpose when I'm just reading about what my sim supposedly did while I just watch them stand there, usually with that uncomfortable smile on their face.
This new pack specifically seems to have a lot of these kinds of pop-ups and it's really disappointing. Maybe if they didn't focus on giving us fashion and influencing and streaming for the 2nd 3rd 4th time we could've had more of a focus on the new things this pack was supposed to add. I'm still disappointed that football/cheerleading practice is just a rabbit hole, the sports festivals are empty and boring, and there's no in class actions the way there already was pre-pack 😕
I wish we could see a budget breakdown or something. The team seems so adverse to creating new animations, which is what the game needs to feel and act more alive. But is it a budget concern? Is it a staffing issue (thinking of MWS team balance here)? Is it a coding problem? TS2 was filled with so many detailed animations that honestly were probably more detailed than they needed to be (sims playing an ACTUAL full game of chess??), but those animations were what gave the game life! What's especially weird about this pack to me is that it seems they put a lot of effort into the cheerleading animations. Great! But then practice and the competition are rabbit holes, so you only see them during the festival or practicing on your own...
I just want less pop-ups and more animation 😭 I want to SEE don't TELL me. Pop-ups have a time and place and I'm afraid the team is starting to get a little too comfortable with using them.
I would really like to know too, I wish we had some animators and game developers visiting the forum here who could share how difficult it would be to actually animate and add these events to the game. Now I understand that they can't do an actual football event with players, cheerleaders etc. but for smaller events like the one you mentioned where the sim is pretending to faint, that sounds totally possible to do in the sims4. We already have a faint animation so it sounds like they could have added this as an animated event.
I can only assume that it is a budget issue where they are only able to develop gameplay events for some things in the pack because not enough people are available or are assigned to work on it or they don't have enough time.
I appreciate what EA/Maxis are creating but it does feel that they need to have a more flexible budget which allows for things that are more difficult to do in the sims4 engine so they don't have to use rabbit holes and text messages.
I hate that after school activities are rabbit holes with popups. It's the worst type of gameplay, they had it in the werewolf pack too with tunnel exploration. It's so repetitive, boring and not fun. I want to play the game not read it.
No worries about messing up the quote, it happens.
I had a Winnie-The-Pooh cassette tape when I was about 2 to 3 years old so my memories of them are pretty vague and it was only the Winnie-The-Pooh songs but I still recall using one. CDs are what I and my family used throughout most of my childhood, until I started using an MP3 player at 12 later upgrading to the IPod Touch when it was in its 4th generation I believe? So although you'd remember the advancement of technology more so than me, I definitely did experience some shift of it.
Never had a GameboyAdvanced myself, but I got the original DS (as in not the DSLite or newer versions) not too long after it came out and played Nitendogs on it all the time. That was really my first gaming system and gaming experience. Or at least the first I can remember. We also had Dial-Up for internet until I was about 9 and I very much remember not being able to use the internet and phone at the same time.
I have always wondered where I fell between the two generations but did feel I leaned more millenial due to my experiences. But thank you for the input as well.
HSY definitely does feel like a sort of mash-up of GF and DU and I do wish they would have focused on a more generic high school experience versus this whole influencer/social media culture. For example, I would have much rather seen them introduce additional sports as opposed to the "influencer" career, and things like dress codes/uniforms. They already introduced a way to set a uniform in Dine Out and a dress code for a wedding in MWS, so why not a high school pack where it would actually make sense to have these things. I mean when I was in school a good 80% to 90% of what the teens in the trailer were wearing would have never been allowed. And I'm not sure if Australia is one of them, but I know a lot of schools especially outside of America have their students wearing uniforms. Despite the pack surely still being Americanized to a degree, I feel having the option to set a specific uniform would have helped this pack feel a little more inclusive and generic.
I wanted to be excited about this pack since I almost never play teens for the reason that they were basically younger young adults who spent all their time in a rabbit hole school, but the focus on all of the influencer/social media/thrifting stuff makes me a lot less excited and definitely not very impressed. I may get the pack eventually, but it's definitely going to either be on sale or by chancing my luck in giveaways.
Oh yes, we had K-Mart here too and I remember shopping there quite frequently myself. I just forgot about them since K-Marts where I live are no longer a thing. I live in a small rural town in the US and honestly the only things you can really find in thrift/second hand stores like 90% of the time are things that old ladies (like easily 75+ years old) would wear and they have a weird smell too.
I'm excited for this pack, but I do have a few complaints about it. It bothers me that the kids just sit there during class. They can't sleep or anything. Do any of them actually take notes or anything? I was really hoping that they'd do something in the classes. You could literally have a teacher lecturing at the front and allow the other sims to paint or do a lab experiment based on the type of class they're attending. We have yoga instructors who do an action and the other sims copy it. It wasn't possible for the teacher to do something up front that the teens copy? I guess that is too complicated? It would've also been nice if teaching could be an active career now. I'm guessing it's not. Pretty much every class seems to have the same teacher for some reason.
My second complaint is the football field. From what I can tell, it's mostly useless. Sure, the cheer mat is out there at times. You can toss a football back and forth, but can sims actually run around the track? Someone was running around the track in the trailer, but I've not seen it happen in any game play videos. It would be cool if there was more to do out there. You can't even attend a game or anything, so it's a lot of wasted space. The after school clubs are too limited, and I wish we could create our own.
Finally, the carnival is the most disappointing. First of all the haunted house is MASSIVE. Why?! It doesn't have any interesting animations. It is nowhere near as interesting as the ones in Sims 1 or Sims 3 from what I can tell. Not a single thing on that pier is worth having besides the ice cream place and photo booth. They even forgot to place a bathroom there, so your sims will either have to go home or wet themselves. It looks pretty, but I hate rabbit holes. Instead of the rabbit hole pier, I wish they would've given as school carnival things to do. They could've given us a balloon dart game (we already have the dart throwing animation), a ring toss game (we already have the horseshoe throwing animation), and the fishbowl ping pong game (we already have the juice pong animation). Would it have been too hard to animate one of those games where you shoot water into the clowns mouth until the balloon pops? I'm just thinking of things that would've been more interesting to look at than the outside of a building.
The Sims 4 will always have the same issues. They give us some of the things we ask for, but it is never executed as well as we hope.
Upset that the amusement park /carnival items are all rabbit holes
losing hope we get non rabbit hole ones ever now *sighs*
I didn't want carnival just to go eat stuff and vanish into nothingness
The carnival is a rabbit hole what is even the point in adding it
Feels like they did a lot and did it all the wrong way.
Made a teenage pack, but didn't actually fix teens.
Made a school but we can't create our own schools.
Made a football field but you can't play or attend games.
Made a prom dance but animations are recycled.
Made a carnival but it's a rabbit hole.
Put a cemetery in town but it's tiny and you can't place gravestones there.
I'm not feeling the 'text adventures' either. It's not very life-simulation-y, is it?
That's the problem of adding too many 'features' to one theme but not fleshing out either of them.
Comments
Its just a normal goaled party with lots of chicken to eat. The only special thing happening is the prom king/queen voting which seems random (the socially awkward teen that hardly anyone knows and even less people like wins?).
Glitch.
The bucket of pigs blood failed to tip over from the ceiling rafters.
Carrie moment failure.
The whole prom was such a poor event. Only a handfull of teenager in the auditorium and nothing exciting happened. If this is how proms are like I'm not longer sad that I didn't have one.
I agree on lilsimsie's clip, everyone just being lol teens, it's just buggy. I can see why she went with it for the video, better to laugh than cry and all that, but I wish people wouldn't try and say it's a feature when it's clearly a bug.
Also it's really bad for sims who have there orientations set to go against them. Like does nobody see how this could be problematic at all?
The pop-ups in class are so bizarre too. If you watch James Turner's video, one of them was describing the teen in health class (when it was art) and saying the teen was doing different things than you could see. It didn't match up and was so bizarre. I'd rather have nothing than incorrect pop-ups.
You can choose whether or not your sim creates a profile, so it’s an opt-in feature.
IMO pop ups have no place in a sims game in 2022. Reminds me more of this old fantasy game I used to play way back in the 80s which was full of story text you had to read because back then they could only do gameplay basics. We're not in the 80s any more are we?
Yeah, after watching a few of the early early release play throughs, it seems like this pack has more than ever and like they're an entire novel. Maybe Werewolves is a bit like that too. If it takes me more than 10 seconds to read the thing, that's too much information.
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
Completely agree, popups should rarely, or never be used in my opinion, they don't belong in a modern game. They were not that common in the beginning of the sims4 but now they seem to be everywhere and they show up as replacements for things that we could have seen if this pack would have gotten more development.
I wish we could see these things happening instead of reading about them.
I completely agree. The only exception I would make is that I kind of like the popups that include excerpts for the novels they added in Werewolves. But I think that's different, because they give you text to read... as you are reading a book. It makes it more immersive rather than less immersive. But in every other situation, giving us a block of text to read instead of showing us what's happening is not great.
Like some pop-ups I can understand, like massive dialogue dumps, like the missions from TS3 WA. But other than that, I agree, I want to see what my sim is doing or have an active role in it not read about it. If I wanted to do that, I'd read a choose-your-own-adventure book.
I read them and enjoy them. I know a bunch of people who do actually.
That's where I have my problem with the pop-ups, and it feels like we're getting more of those kinds lately. Where it just describes something happening that I would rather actually see my sims act out. Like the one about fainting in health class. Earlier sims games didn't have this problem, and they were better for it. The whole point of a life sim game is to, you know, see life being simulated. Kinda defeats the purpose when I'm just reading about what my sim supposedly did while I just watch them stand there, usually with that uncomfortable smile on their face.
This new pack specifically seems to have a lot of these kinds of pop-ups and it's really disappointing. Maybe if they didn't focus on giving us fashion and influencing and streaming for the 2nd 3rd 4th time we could've had more of a focus on the new things this pack was supposed to add. I'm still disappointed that football/cheerleading practice is just a rabbit hole, the sports festivals are empty and boring, and there's no in class actions the way there already was pre-pack 😕
I wish we could see a budget breakdown or something. The team seems so adverse to creating new animations, which is what the game needs to feel and act more alive. But is it a budget concern? Is it a staffing issue (thinking of MWS team balance here)? Is it a coding problem? TS2 was filled with so many detailed animations that honestly were probably more detailed than they needed to be (sims playing an ACTUAL full game of chess??), but those animations were what gave the game life! What's especially weird about this pack to me is that it seems they put a lot of effort into the cheerleading animations. Great! But then practice and the competition are rabbit holes, so you only see them during the festival or practicing on your own...
I just want less pop-ups and more animation 😭 I want to SEE don't TELL me. Pop-ups have a time and place and I'm afraid the team is starting to get a little too comfortable with using them.
I would really like to know too, I wish we had some animators and game developers visiting the forum here who could share how difficult it would be to actually animate and add these events to the game. Now I understand that they can't do an actual football event with players, cheerleaders etc. but for smaller events like the one you mentioned where the sim is pretending to faint, that sounds totally possible to do in the sims4. We already have a faint animation so it sounds like they could have added this as an animated event.
I can only assume that it is a budget issue where they are only able to develop gameplay events for some things in the pack because not enough people are available or are assigned to work on it or they don't have enough time.
I appreciate what EA/Maxis are creating but it does feel that they need to have a more flexible budget which allows for things that are more difficult to do in the sims4 engine so they don't have to use rabbit holes and text messages.
No worries about messing up the quote, it happens.
I had a Winnie-The-Pooh cassette tape when I was about 2 to 3 years old so my memories of them are pretty vague and it was only the Winnie-The-Pooh songs but I still recall using one. CDs are what I and my family used throughout most of my childhood, until I started using an MP3 player at 12 later upgrading to the IPod Touch when it was in its 4th generation I believe? So although you'd remember the advancement of technology more so than me, I definitely did experience some shift of it.
Never had a GameboyAdvanced myself, but I got the original DS (as in not the DSLite or newer versions) not too long after it came out and played Nitendogs on it all the time. That was really my first gaming system and gaming experience. Or at least the first I can remember. We also had Dial-Up for internet until I was about 9 and I very much remember not being able to use the internet and phone at the same time.
I have always wondered where I fell between the two generations but did feel I leaned more millenial due to my experiences. But thank you for the input as well.
HSY definitely does feel like a sort of mash-up of GF and DU and I do wish they would have focused on a more generic high school experience versus this whole influencer/social media culture. For example, I would have much rather seen them introduce additional sports as opposed to the "influencer" career, and things like dress codes/uniforms. They already introduced a way to set a uniform in Dine Out and a dress code for a wedding in MWS, so why not a high school pack where it would actually make sense to have these things. I mean when I was in school a good 80% to 90% of what the teens in the trailer were wearing would have never been allowed.
I wanted to be excited about this pack since I almost never play teens for the reason that they were basically younger young adults who spent all their time in a rabbit hole school, but the focus on all of the influencer/social media/thrifting stuff makes me a lot less excited and definitely not very impressed. I may get the pack eventually, but it's definitely going to either be on sale or by chancing my luck in giveaways.
Oh yes, we had K-Mart here too and I remember shopping there quite frequently myself. I just forgot about them since K-Marts where I live are no longer a thing. I live in a small rural town in the US and honestly the only things you can really find in thrift/second hand stores like 90% of the time are things that old ladies (like easily 75+ years old) would wear and they have a weird smell too.
My second complaint is the football field. From what I can tell, it's mostly useless. Sure, the cheer mat is out there at times. You can toss a football back and forth, but can sims actually run around the track? Someone was running around the track in the trailer, but I've not seen it happen in any game play videos. It would be cool if there was more to do out there. You can't even attend a game or anything, so it's a lot of wasted space. The after school clubs are too limited, and I wish we could create our own.
Finally, the carnival is the most disappointing. First of all the haunted house is MASSIVE. Why?! It doesn't have any interesting animations. It is nowhere near as interesting as the ones in Sims 1 or Sims 3 from what I can tell. Not a single thing on that pier is worth having besides the ice cream place and photo booth. They even forgot to place a bathroom there, so your sims will either have to go home or wet themselves. It looks pretty, but I hate rabbit holes. Instead of the rabbit hole pier, I wish they would've given as school carnival things to do. They could've given us a balloon dart game (we already have the dart throwing animation), a ring toss game (we already have the horseshoe throwing animation), and the fishbowl ping pong game (we already have the juice pong animation). Would it have been too hard to animate one of those games where you shoot water into the clowns mouth until the balloon pops? I'm just thinking of things that would've been more interesting to look at than the outside of a building.
The Sims 4 will always have the same issues. They give us some of the things we ask for, but it is never executed as well as we hope.
This is so sad.
Made a teenage pack, but didn't actually fix teens.
Made a school but we can't create our own schools.
Made a football field but you can't play or attend games.
Made a prom dance but animations are recycled.
Made a carnival but it's a rabbit hole.
Put a cemetery in town but it's tiny and you can't place gravestones there.
That's the problem of adding too many 'features' to one theme but not fleshing out either of them.