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My First Pet Pack gets too much pet flack?

Let's get this straight - I never want to see a Stuff Pack like My First Pet ever again.

But there is ONE thing I think it gets too much flack (aka too much criticism or bad press) on - requiring Cats&Dogs to play the whole thing.

Cats&Dogs was the best thing EVER. It got people who'd never bought Expansions getting it. For some people, it was the only Expansion they cared about. Not everybody could get it, not everybody wanted animals... But if you wanted pets in your house, by the time of My First Pet you would surely have Cats&Dogs. If you want to dress kids and pets identically, some of the costumes (the bee costume and the astronaut) double with OTHER packs (Toddlers and Get To Work). The little pets are rather bland. There are people who might want their kids to have a little pet with no complications, but most wouldn't even WANT My First Pet if they didn't already have Cats&Dogs.

People say, "If you don't like it, don't buy it", usually while buying it. Normally I'd give them a punch in the nose but while very low quality as a pack, it really, really is optional. A money grab that has items shamelessly stripped and recoloured from Pets, yes. A rip-off? Absolutely. Small even by Stuff Pack standards? Yup. 'Forcing' you to get Cats&Dogs? Hardly.

Remember the 'Toddlers' Game Pack? It came out RIGHT after the Toddler upgrade. A lot of those things could have been in the upgrade, but people didn't complain (as much). What made it bearable was the size of the pack and people still feeling good about the free update.

So, do you think MFP gets too much flack? The right amount? Or not enough? Personally I think the flack is... misdirected.
Prepping a list of mods to add after Infants are placed into the game. Because real life isn't 'nice'.

Comments

  • crocobauracrocobaura Posts: 7,342 Member
    I think it would have been nice if we could treat the fish and frogs in aquariums like pets and feed and clean them. And some lizards and parrots too.
  • ThePinkBookGirlThePinkBookGirl Posts: 437 Member
    I think it gets too much flack. Yes, I agree with all the issues you mention. But from a business perspective, part of what you do is you experiment and see what works or what does not work. They just wanted to see what people are willing to pay more, or what people say no to. EA is a business wanting to make money, so they need to be constantly innovating. As someone who works in certain areas of business, I actually found is fascinating and wanted to see what their conclusions would be. It appears that it didn’t work like they want, so they have moved on to new ideas.
  • HermitgirlHermitgirl Posts: 8,825 Member
    I gotta admit today I'm gonna play with Rabid Rodent Fever in a full house. It's my way of dealing with things, to make light of them.
    I personally like the hamster and have them in few sim houses. I really don't use the furniture though except some of the pet stuff (mostly beds) and the silly rugs.. but I can say that about a few packs at this point. So I use this pack as much as basically any other stuff pack and sometimes more since I can make it deviant.
    I think the flack it got is and was spearheaded and carried on and lobbied about mostly by people that really dislike the series and yes or course they have some points. Sometimes I think it's more about following the crowd to dislike it and agreeing because it's a popular thing to do. Thing is for me anyway the pack can be entertaining despite some of it's faults. Is it 10 bucks worth of entertainment? Again for me it was and is. I'll get hours of play today out of it just like I've already had in the past.
    What worries me most about this sort of not just complaints but ridicule is it might mean I'll get no birds or reptiles in future stuff packs and the sims I really want to have them.. just won't.
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  • texxx78texxx78 Posts: 5,657 Member
    I've bought it when i already had cats and dogs ep. So, maybe because i can use all stuff im not upset about it. I would prefer that the aquarium table could actually hold fishes though. And that it had more pets like birds, lizards, snakes... but as it is a stuff pack, its fine for me. There are worse stuff packs imo.
  • MissyHissyMissyHissy Posts: 2,022 Member
    I never have understood the hatred for the pack. I came to it a little later but I think it's cute. I use the items quite a bit for children's bedrooms and I thought it complimented Cats and Dogs nicely. I never really felt like it forced someone to buy Cats and Dogs because I assumed that most people who were buying the stuff pack probably already had Cats and Dogs anyway <3
    It does make sense though that EA were experimenting with the idea. I mean, how can they see what works and what doesn't if they don't at least try?
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I think the flack it got is and was spearheaded and carried on and lobbied about mostly by people that really dislike the series and yes or course they have some points. Sometimes I think it's more about following the crowd to dislike it and agreeing because it's a popular thing to do.

    I think this is quite accurate, at least in my experience. I've been seeing this a lot and I was wondering it sometimes the disliking was becoming a popular trend :/
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  • crocobauracrocobaura Posts: 7,342 Member
    telmarina wrote: »
    I've bought it when i already had cats and dogs ep. So, maybe because i can use all stuff im not upset about it. I would prefer that the aquarium table could actually hold fishes though. And that it had more pets like birds, lizards, snakes... but as it is a stuff pack, its fine for me. There are worse stuff packs imo.

    I didn't know there was an aquarium table in the game, had to look it up. Thank you for the tip. I always discover new stuff, which would be amazing if it wasn't so difficult to find the stuff I am looking for and that I actually know is in there.
  • Atreya33Atreya33 Posts: 4,403 Member
    I think some of the items should have been in cats and dogs. I think small pets should have been included in cats and dogs and I wish they would have kept the animal themed kids furniture as one set in one pack.

    But the idea of one pack adding to another the pack is not all bad. I am not against the idea of including pet outfits or pet furniture as a little side treat in future packs. As long as the main feature can be used with only the base game, which is the case for the rodents in my first pets stuff.
  • texxx78texxx78 Posts: 5,657 Member
    crocobaura wrote: »
    telmarina wrote: »
    I've bought it when i already had cats and dogs ep. So, maybe because i can use all stuff im not upset about it. I would prefer that the aquarium table could actually hold fishes though. And that it had more pets like birds, lizards, snakes... but as it is a stuff pack, its fine for me. There are worse stuff packs imo.

    I didn't know there was an aquarium table in the game, had to look it up. Thank you for the tip. I always discover new stuff, which would be amazing if it wasn't so difficult to find the stuff I am looking for and that I actually know is in there.

    I had that problem too. I got overwhelmed with all the pack's content, maybe because i bought almost all at once. So i've compiled a list with all the new features of all the packs i own (both gameplay and interactive objects). When im doing my stories now, i go and have a look at my list to see if something fits the story. It usually helps making me build better and more complex stories. And i feel like i finally use more content from the packs.
  • asimbsimasimbsim Posts: 476 Member
    I understand your point. I'll start by saying that MFPS is the first pack out of ALL the sims packs - since TS1, that I haven't bought. My negativity towards MFPS isn't that I needed Cats and Dogs to buy it, I think for me, it was that after buying the previous versions of Pets in The Sims series, they have all included various animals as standard - I'm talking animals such as cats, dogs, horses, reptiles, birds, hamsters etc, all for the price of 1 pack, and they have been amazing! Now, I'm not against Cats and Dogs, I actually really love it, and the detail that has been put into them is amazing. But, my issue is really that MFPS felt like a turn into blatent minimal content for maximum profits (rather than EA's usually mildly hidden version). That we were having to pay an extra £10 for not much content, just so we could get small pets - in comparison to the previous versions in the series where they were all included in the cost of a single pets pack.

    Of course, we have the option not to buy it, which I havent, but it just feels like a representation of a money making machine trying to eek out as much money as they can get for absolutely minimal content, rather than making substantial packs with lots included. I know it's all about business, and making a profit, and it's cold decision making. It just feels like MFPS and TS4 in general really, has taken a turn into making the absolute most profit possible for the least amount of content. Rather than before the focus seemed more on providing excellent and substantial game depth and quality, with a profit coming as a result of that.
  • Felicity1169Felicity1169 Posts: 592 Member
    I understand why people were annoyed about the pack and I really think in the past games small pets would have been included in Cats and Dogs but I bought it months before I got C&D for the new death and I think it was worth it and didn't feel the need to get Cats and Dogs until a while after.

    I still don't like the trend of everything being separated but I don't think DLC for DLC is the worst thing in the world either as long as it contains enough content and items to justify the extra amount of money. For example if they made a musician stuff pack that added bands but required Get Famous I'd think that'd be worth it for $10 than opposed to an Expansion pack for Bands on their own. Now they should have been included bands in Get Famous in the first place but an add-on makes more sense to me than making something completely new.
  • ListentoToppDoggListentoToppDogg Posts: 2,103 Member
    Loanet wrote: »
    Remember the 'Toddlers' Game Pack?

    There's no toddlers Game Pack. I'm guessing you're referring to the Toddler Stuff Pack. Anyway, I disagree with a lot of your post, but I do feel that MFPS is nowhere near close to the worst stuff pack and that a lot of the hate it gets is unwarranted. But I don't think many complaints were about being "forced" to get C&D to get MFPS. Just that it should have been free for C&D owners, over a separate pack.
  • _ILikeCheese_o_o_ILikeCheese_o_o Posts: 9 New Member
    My issue my the my first pet pack was that it felt like a EA purposely cut content out of Cats&Dogs to sell separately as its own pack. The biggest offender being the small pets, which were included in the Pets expansions for Sims 2 and 3.

    A big issue with a lot of 4's packs is that they appear to be Sims 3 packs chopped up into multiple parts and sold separately as different packs. The biggest example would be how City Living, Vampires, and Get Famous are essentially the Sims 3 Nightlife sliced into 3 separate packs.
  • LoanetLoanet Posts: 4,079 Member
    edited April 2020
    A big issue with a lot of 4's packs is that they appear to be Sims 3 packs chopped up into multiple parts and sold separately as different packs. The biggest example would be how City Living, Vampires, and Get Famous are essentially the Sims 3 Nightlife sliced into 3 separate packs.

    Theoretically, yes, but because they were chopped up they are all more developed - City Living has its really nice festivals and is a good way to make money from the ground up, and if you don't like vampires, now you just don't have to buy the pack.
    Prepping a list of mods to add after Infants are placed into the game. Because real life isn't 'nice'.
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    edited April 2020
    I think it would've gotten way less flack if two things happened: it wasn't released as close to C&D as it was and if the furniture didn't look like it was meant to be in C&D. And I think because it was both released too early and because the furniture was what it was, it very much felt like a cash grab rather than an addition to the EP.

    I do think it gets way more flack than it really deserves though. No one *has to* but it, it's only a SP and it's not only been on sale but people can enter giveaways for it if they're not willing to buy it. I agree with those who said it sometimes feels like a bandwagon thing and admitting you like it inevitably gets "ugh" kind of responses.
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  • MissyHissyMissyHissy Posts: 2,022 Member
    A big issue with a lot of 4's packs is that they appear to be Sims 3 packs chopped up into multiple parts and sold separately as different packs. The biggest example would be how City Living, Vampires, and Get Famous are essentially the Sims 3 Nightlife sliced into 3 separate packs.

    I'll be honest: I prefer this way of doing things. I know that's not a popular opinion but there you go! :D
    In Sims 3 (and even in Sims 2, if I'm really honest), there would often be some smaller things within an EP that I wanted - not necessarily the whole pack. Now for example, for ages my Sims 3 games verged on the realistic side. I didn't play vampires and it was ages before I bought Supernatural. However, I really liked Bridgeport and the bars, clubs, lounges, the film career and the bands, to name a handful of features. The vampires felt like an afterthought; something that didn't really 'fit' the theme, not for me anyway. Nightlife was the same in Sims 2. I understand why they were put in those packs but I still didn't feel it fitted.

    The way it's done in Sims 4 feels more...tailored. I can pick and choose more easily. So if a pack comes out with a theme I'm not interested in, I just won't get it. I won't feel like I have to pay EP prices for maybe a handful of features when the rest is stuff I really don't want. So I feel that City Living, Get Famous and Vampires were all separate themes that, while they may have working in Sims 3 Late Night (and Showtime), they do work better, in my opinion, as separate packs. So if somebody wants the city experience without the fame and vampires, they don't have to compromise and buy one pack with all three features.
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  • DaepheneDaephene Posts: 1,760 Member
    I think having the little pets in a separate pack from the cats and dogs was fine in concept. As far as the gameplay elements go, they're about as good as most of the other stuff packs. I appreciate the variety of small mammals available too.

    Their mistake was in adding content for cats and dogs to the stuff pack, as well as furniture that coordinated with C&D objects. That does make it feel like C&D's sequel. They should have just focused on the small animal theme, and kept the cats' and dogs' stuff in the pack named after them. There would still be people who wanted all their pets in one pack, but the arguments wouldn't be as strong. Also it would have made it so you could buy MFPS separately from C&D and not missed out on any content you paid for.
  • vincentvega8899vincentvega8899 Posts: 103 Member
    edited April 2020
    I would love for it to be sold separate. I have all packs and not this one. I refuse to repurchase cats and dogs as a bundle with my first pet. Don’t trust it.
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    I would love for it to be sold separate. I have all packs and not this one. I refuse to repurchase cats and dogs as a bundle with my first pet. Don’t trust it.

    On PC and PS4, it's sold separately. On XB1, when you buy the bundle and already have C&D, you're discounted the EP price from the bundle.
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  • DijktafoneDijktafone Posts: 775 Member
    As long as it doesn't become a trend.
  • SimAlexandriaSimAlexandria Posts: 4,845 Member
    I don't care about playing with pets, big or little. I like them in real life but not in Sims games.

    That being said, both packs are excellent and among my favourites, for other reasons. Cats & Dogs I LOVE the build/buy and cas and the vet career is one of my favs in the game and so is the world.

    MFP has amazing cas/build stuff as well that I use on a very regular basis making it one of my fav packs and the odd time I do give my sims a small pet I love that they can study it and it counts as homework and the extra postcard collection from the pack. Since I never play with cats or dogs in my households I've never even touched the features of this pack that require cats and dogs to use and it's still a fantastic pack, so yeah I'd say it gets way too much flack.
  • SimsLovinLycanSimsLovinLycan Posts: 1,910 Member
    edited April 2020
    Nah, I think this pack gets the appropriate amount of flack. They stripped out a feature that's always been in pet-themed expansions (small pets) to sell as additional DLC, while leaving the main pet-themed pack stripped down to only cats and dogs when it had actually been expanded in the previous installment to include horses (and unicorns) on top of the mainstays of cats, dogs, and small pets. Everything about how "My First Pet Stuff" and "Cats and Dogs" were handled shows blatant executive meddling from higher-ups who were more interested in profits than product quality, which is something players had already been angry about with TS4's relatively feature-sparse EP's and the overabundance of SP's in the preceding years. This pack gets the flack it gets because it's the culmination of everything players had been annoyed with in TS4 up until that point...and requiring a pack which increased the game's minimum specs didn't exactly help matters either (TS4 was marketed as being laptop and low-end desktop friendly, after all, and C&D left a lot of those players--particularly younger players who had cheap/broke parents, purchased all their packs with holiday and birthday money, and didn't have the purchasing power to buy a new machine or upgrade their existing one--out in the cold).

    So, yeah, putting it into the context of everything surrounding the release of "My First Pet Stuff," it gets just the right amount of flack for what it is, what it did, and what it symbolizes to the playerbase.
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  • marcel21marcel21 Posts: 12,341 Member
    edited April 2020
    my pets seemed like a cash grab on content pulled from cats&dogs


    the pets clothing

    the bedroom/study content in yellow

    half of it already in cat&dogs

    the caged animals

    Origin ID MichaelUKingdon


  • julienrob2004julienrob2004 Posts: 4,166 Member
    I think most of the flak it received is because being honest it should all have been in Pets . not two seperate packs

    I bought it but think since then my sims have had one hamster and nothing since
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