In this case I strongly disagree. I just watched Gryphi's BB overview and think this is the most spectacular and versatile BB of any pack so far. You can use it from Asian to Oriental to Realm of Magic (those coloured glass windows) to 1920s Berlin (those floor tiles). I can't wait to build with this.
Feels too lackluster for a expansion pack... I mean growing together is a GP and has a world and more gameplay than this EP. I was thinking to buy it but after this stream im going to buy the harry potter legacy. Same price and a full game.. This one I will get on sale
Growing together is also an EP and Sims for rent also has a world
The livestream didn't seem to do this pack any favors in terms of selling it, mostly because it feels like not much gameplay was revealed. (kind of spoiler below but also not really, just warning in case you don't want to know more about the gameplay)
I finally watched some content creators who reviewed it & who went way more in depth and i kind of learned the key things that i wanted to know from this pack:
1. Most of the gameplay is from being a landlord or tenant
2. the world is pretty empty and filled with rabbit holes lol
3. the kettle is actually a 3-in-1 which i actually like. (the fact that it makes hot cocoa too got me excited so theres at least one plus )
4. The water seems quite usable so hoping that means sims can use jet skis and boats on it
5. Back to the rabbithole: there are too many!! I really was hoping for a trail like San Sequoia & Komorebi offer
6. There is currently a glitch where landlords dont receive rent, so hoping that is fixed by release since its "not final software"
7. Apparently the roof decor pieces that are meant to go with the actual roof swatches don't match, so theres that lol
8. The "secrets" your sims find out while snooping are more like random facts or random secrets about town lore or jokes
I really wish too that we could add things more specifically to our game.
Many players' computers are already at their limit and they have to decide which pack to add or skip.
I often wish I could add the worlds and build/buy but not the gameplay ^^'
The NAP from Eco Living ruin a lot of my ingame fun and Seasons ruined my gardening fun.
Let alone all the bugs coming with gameplay.
Tartosa is one of my favourite worlds but I never use weddings.
> @Coconut27 said: > The livestream didn't seem to do this pack any favors in terms of selling it, mostly because it feels like not much gameplay was revealed. (kind of spoiler below but also not really, just warning in case you don't want to know more about the gameplay) > > I finally watched some content creators who reviewed it & who went way more in depth and i kind of learned the key things that i wanted to know from this pack: > 1. Most of the gameplay is from being a landlord or tenant > 2. the world is pretty empty and filled with rabbit holes lol > 3. the kettle is actually a 3-in-1 which i actually like. (the fact that it makes hot cocoa too got me excited so theres at least one plus :D) > 4. The water seems quite usable so hoping that means sims can use jet skis and boats on it > 5. Back to the rabbithole: there are too many!! I really was hoping for a trail like San Sequoia & Komorebi offer > 6. There is currently a glitch where landlords dont receive rent, so hoping that is fixed by release since its "not final software" > 7. Apparently the roof decor pieces that are meant to go with the actual roof swatches don't match, so theres that lol > 8. The "secrets" your sims find out while snooping are more like random facts or random secrets about town lore or jokes
Well the stream was presented by designers, so they had no interests in showing the indepth parts of gameplay. They want to show the pretty things they blatantly reused
...8. The "secrets" your sims find out while snooping are more like random facts or random secrets about town lore or jokes
Yeah, jokes - while watching the "break in" part of the live stream, I also wondered what kind of secrets can be found there. My sims are selfmade or at least heavily customized so I'm pretty sure there is nothing secretive to find out. I was worried that it would come down to the fact that the game core asigns random "secrets" to that sim in question. Just like: "Your sim, who is happily married for ages, has a secret crush on Don Lothario".
Bonxie: Great Skua, stercorarius skua. Meet me on Fair Isle.
> @Lenny_Ogg said: > I really wish too that we could add things more specifically to our game. > Many players' computers are already at their limit and they have to decide which pack to add or skip. > I often wish I could add the worlds and build/buy but not the gameplay ^^' > The NAP from Eco Living ruin a lot of my ingame fun and Seasons ruined my gardening fun. > Let alone all the bugs coming with gameplay. > Tartosa is one of my favourite worlds but I never use weddings.
You want to go back to the sims 3 store way of doing things? And there's a point where holding yourself back because of potato computers forever won't ever result in any ambition from the devs because " well the weaker computers can't handle it". If everything would be a toggle you'd go back to the old days of INI file tweaking where you spend 2 hours turning off and on features and settings. Like the bust the dust toggle but for every single option
Yeah from what I heard, they are all random except for like one for the grim reaper? that's the only sim-specific one if I'm not mistaken.
Also- another thing I want to add that simply irks me to my core (besides the beautiful boats, because I could yell about that for hours ) is offering objects we have in game in new lovely meshes but they are only as non-functional debug items. Bikes: I learned that we get some really nice ones but they're non-functional and set dressing. I get if they want to tie a feature to a pack, since you get bikes from like DU and CL. But if that's the case, why not only enable the functionality if you have the necessary pack(s) to make it cross-compatible?? I genuinely don't understand some of their choices.
Yeah from what I heard, they are all random except for like one for the grim reaper? that's the only sim-specific one if I'm not mistaken.
Also- another thing I want to add that simply irks me to my core (besides the beautiful boats, because I could yell about that for hours ) is offering objects we have in game in new lovely meshes but they are only as non-functional debug items. Bikes: I learned that we get some really nice ones but they're non-functional and set dressing. I get if they want to tie a feature to a pack, since you get bikes from like DU and CL. But if that's the case, why not only enable the functionality if you have the necessary pack(s) to make it cross-compatible?? I genuinely don't understand some of their choices.
Guess you remember the Cinema rabbithole in San Sequoia (if you own Growing Toghether). Everything you need for a functional, playable cinema is already available in the game: screens, seats, counters, vending machines, you name it - even if you don't own GrT itself. All you have to do is just altering something existing (ex. one of the large screens) to link the rabbit hole story telling function. There is no need to create anything new. So why did they choose to design that cinema as a rabbit hole?
Post edited by Bonxie on
Bonxie: Great Skua, stercorarius skua. Meet me on Fair Isle.
I was so excited for this pack and was going to buy it on release. But the more I hear, the more deflated I feel.
1. There are so many build items, and they look great, but the Sims team had to put them all on a lot in Newcrest to show them off because Tomarang doesn't have any lots bigger than 40 x 30. It only has one 40 x 30 lot. In an "expansion" pack that is all about multiple residences on one lot, and having a "vibrant community". Good luck achieving that on a 20 x 15 lot.
2. The neighbouring rentals aren't blacked out, they just look like an ugly empty room additional to your own space. I want it to feel like I have active neighbours, not just an empty space. At least have it blacked out so I can imagine that something is happening in that space, not just visible nothingness.
3. The sanctuary and temple are rabbitholes. Of course they are. We all know the Sims team would never be bothered to create a basic lot that would be more immersive than a shell and some popup windows. They really couldn't have made a lot like the Botanical Gardens, added two animatronic tigers and an animatronic elephant, some debug decor, and attach popups to the animatronics? Lazy, boring, empty gameplay.
4. The row houses on the waterfront are shells, not lots. There are no lots on the island. Of course, the prettiest parts of the game are entirely useless set dressing.
5. The fish market is a shell. On another cool spot that would have made excellent building space.
6. The cave is a great big pile of nothing, like all the others.
7. No mold zombies, but I never expected a new life state in an expansion pack - that sort of effort hasn't gone into the Sims for over a decade.
8. The aspirations are traits.
9. The botanical gardens are linked to an aspiration - so does that mean you can't delete it and make it a residential space?
10. 9 lots in an expansion pack. Come on.
11. The tuk-tuks are non-functional.
I wish I could tell the Sims team that a Gameplay Trailer means you spend time showing off gameplay. That means you can't waste time on CAS, Build/Buy items that are non-functional, or lot overviews. You should be spending time on actually playing the game. If you have to pad out a gameplay trailer with items, and constantly mention "this is non-functional" and "this is a shell", then there is no gameplay. If there is no gameplay in your game, you have a problem. Challenge for the Sims team for the next pack: create a 20 minute long gameplay trailer with just gameplay.
I'll be waiting until I can bundle this pack with the others that aren't worth full price.
They did show of gameplay, But it's the kind of gameplay that (alledgedly) the majority of sims players want now: playing dress up and build. They make the game for the people who will delete every npc in any new world and who will meticulously craft every npc themselves so they look like perfect little creatures with the perfect set of traits
I was so excited for this pack and was going to buy it on release. But the more I hear, the more deflated I feel.
I wish I could tell the Sims team that a Gameplay Trailer means you spend time showing off gameplay. That means you can't waste time on CAS, Build/Buy items that are non-functional, or lot overviews. You should be spending time on actually playing the game. If you have to pad out a gameplay trailer with items, and constantly mention "this is non-functional" and "this is a shell", then there is no gameplay. If there is no gameplay in your game, you have a problem. Challenge for the Sims team for the next pack: create a 20 minute long gameplay trailer with just gameplay.
Part of the gameplay in the sims4 is creating sims, building lots, playing around and progressing with them with relationships, have social events etc.
But what EA/Maxis don't seem to get is that rabbit holes ignore all that and don't use any of those game mechanics, I can't design, have relationships or customize a RABBIT HOLE. And the lots are also so small and you want to kinda place down build/buy items that fit around the neighborhood, what am I going to place down in that small 30x30 "botanical garden" park that feels like it has been placed on a small town square? Meanwhile, the actual temple which is placed in a great spot is just a rabbit hole. Same with the fish market and some other places in the second neighborhood.
*urgh, please try to make use of the existing mechanics that are already there and at least add more lots to your worlds EA/Maxis. Please.
Feels too lackluster for a expansion pack... I mean growing together is a GP and has a world and more gameplay than this EP. I was thinking to buy it but after this stream im going to buy the harry potter legacy. Same price and a full game.. This one I will get on sale
I think Growing Together is expansion pack worthy and it's more the gamepack.Sadly I'd the most meanest pack for this year.
I would have hoped that the livestream gave me some excitement, but I'm not sure. There are a bunch of disappointing things...
I never expected to get "real" animated tigers at the sanctuary. But besides the adopt/donate gameplay there could have been so much more without the need to create tigers. Make some pretty trails around their enclosure which give some "OMG I saw a tiger" moodlets, put some information boards to learn about conservation, have a photo spot where your Sim can get a picture of a tiger in the enclosure...
Same for the "botanical garden" which I find super disappointing. Why aren't there any pretty paths between lush flowers (in the world outside the weird national park lot)? I would have like some new Tomarang specific plants and planter boxes around the garden where they grow. That would have been my minimum requirement to justify to call it a botanical garden. Also some nice chillout area in the world.
It also feels like a betrayal that these places have been advertised as features. And although their names are no longer capitalized in the blog posts I'm pretty sure they were when the post came out initially.
Also I think the "funny" secrets are kind of lame. I would have liked them to be tied to the Sims personality, like finding a secret about a family-oriented Sim who wrote in their diary about how much they have been 🐸🐸🐸🐸 off by their family at the last family meeting. I understand that that would have been a lot more work (continuing into the future when there are more traits) but it would make this feature a lot better.
And I understand why it might not have been possible to work with Simmers to create the builds for this pack it nonetheless felt quite weird to see some more "classic EA" builds again...
The remark about "tuning autonomy" is a little unsettling. Although I would very much like my Sims to be a little more flexible with using objects (especially on community lots, let's hope for the best), I'm not sure if Sims that grill even more are a good idea...
It also worries me a lot to hear that several people weren't able to collect rent from their tenants (🐸🐸🐸🐸) and had some serious lagging when placing wallpapers. Plumbella also reported that buying new furniture as a tenant increased her rent, which absolutely makes no sense at all.
Personally, I have to much high quality CC in my game that I just don’t need things I won’t use cluttering up the library. Now, searching and filters do help a lot. I bought the vampire expansion for a few of the BB objects but don’t play the majority and do not play with vampires (or any ocult sims really).
In this case I strongly disagree. I just watched Gryphi's BB overview and think this is the most spectacular and versatile BB of any pack so far. You can use it from Asian to Oriental to Realm of Magic (those coloured glass windows) to 1920s Berlin (those floor tiles). I can't wait to build with this.
I haven’t done my own exploration (obviously, the game isn’t out yet) but I’m just saying this from what I’ve seen. I was much more inspired by Snowy Escape and the world, though that world feels more open and full.
I personally didnt care much for the build/buy either. There's like a couple objects that will have a place in my more grungy builds, but besides that I honestly wasn't wowed. I was more focused with how apartments functioned anyway, so Im fine with it.
I thought a botanical garden is supposed to be a large collection of plants for study or conservation. That botanical garden with stiff green hedges and shrubs is so disappointing. Especially for a tropical world, I would have expected exotic plants, palms and ferns, and orchids. It might have been better off being done like a walkable trail, similar to the bamboo forest in Snowy Escape. They had the right idea for the front leading up to the tiger sanctuary rabbit hole, too bad the same concept wasn't used for the actual botanical garden.
More options to personalize my sims more would be really appreciated. That's why I also don't like the Social Bunny feature as it's very teen-like, only encompasses base game and High School Years, and most of the posts from other sims are like "Whew... What a rough pillow fight it was!"
Here are some features that I think would have made this feel a bit more like an expansion pack.
Apart from the lots that we already have we could also have been allowed to build apartment blocks right next to the night market in the first neighborhood and right next to the river or the ocean in the second neighborhood.
We could have been allowed to customize the lot at the top and also have a customizable fish market with fishing spots and piers so you could take a boat which have a function so you can catch fish on the ocean and then you can come back and sell them at the fish market.
The tuk tuk could have been an actual vehicle for 3 sims so you could easily bring a couple of sims together easily around the neighborhoods so they can easily get to the beach or fishing spots or hunt for minerals or maybe find plants that are unique to the world.
Boats could have allowed us to travel around and go fishing or swimming in different parts of the neighborhood.
Maybe the tiger sanctuary could have been customizable too.
I think there would have been no reason to make rabbithole lots into actual lots while those are rabbitholes
it would have just added loading screen to go into rabbithole making it double annoying
but if we didn't have rabbitholes but actual temple and actual animal sanctuary then yes
I do however think there should have been lots in these places,
even while we suffer from rabbithole disease
I mean 6 lots / neighborhood should be possible too?
and I think this way the lot to shell ratio would have seemed more reasonable
I do however think there should have been lots in these places,
even while we suffer from rabbithole disease
I mean 6 lots / neighborhood should be possible too?
We have 24 lots with free access and 3 special lots in Windenburg. Technically no problem. The potato PC excuse doesn't apply in this case.
Bonxie: Great Skua, stercorarius skua. Meet me on Fair Isle.
Another huge disappointment for me is the night market. I remember counting multiple times like "oh wow ok so theres 10 tents, there will be alot to buy!" Jokes on me. I should've known better than only like 4-5 out of the 10 are not set dressing lol.
The botanical garden would also have been the perfect opportunity to add 3 or 4 new harvestables that would suit the tropical world. As it is, I am assuming that we will once again get no new harvestables, and I didn't even spot any of the old ones out in the world anywhere.
It never fails to astonish me that they would give us an amazing new lot trait like Simple Living, and then make it so difficult in every subsequent pack for sims to go out and actually be self-sufficient in finding ingredients to use.
I was so excited for this pack and was going to buy it on release. But the more I hear, the more deflated I feel.
I wish I could tell the Sims team that a Gameplay Trailer means you spend time showing off gameplay. That means you can't waste time on CAS, Build/Buy items that are non-functional, or lot overviews. You should be spending time on actually playing the game. If you have to pad out a gameplay trailer with items, and constantly mention "this is non-functional" and "this is a shell", then there is no gameplay. If there is no gameplay in your game, you have a problem. Challenge for the Sims team for the next pack: create a 20 minute long gameplay trailer with just gameplay.
Part of the gameplay in the sims4 is creating sims, building lots, playing around and progressing with them with relationships, have social events etc.
But what EA/Maxis don't seem to get is that rabbit holes ignore all that and don't use any of those game mechanics, I can't design, have relationships or customize a RABBIT HOLE. And the lots are also so small and you want to kinda place down build/buy items that fit around the neighborhood, what am I going to place down in that small 30x30 "botanical garden" park that feels like it has been placed on a small town square? Meanwhile, the actual temple which is placed in a great spot is just a rabbit hole. Same with the fish market and some other places in the second neighborhood.
*urgh, please try to make use of the existing mechanics that are already there and at least add more lots to your worlds EA/Maxis. Please.
Agreed! And one of the main issues I have with these rabbit holes is that they're not even replaceable the way the Sims 3 ones are. At least in Sims 3, you can bulldoze it and build something playable on that space. But they filled this tiny town with rabbit holes and gave us hardly any lots to utilize. And I could live with the rabbit holes if there were also a fair share of actual playable things to do and new community lot types and customizable options, like there used to be in EPs. But this text adventure domination in a simulation video game is nonsense.
I also want to say that the traits and aspirations are looking pretty shallow and/or pack-specific, which is such a letdown. Who aspires to be a good tenant? Aspirations are supposed to be long term personal goals, not pack segment tutorials. I can barely tell the difference between the aspirations and traits in this pack. Maybe two of them seem worth using. Generous is totally a repeat of Good, with the charity behavior, except it seems, again, more pack specific to the "sanctuary". Whatever happened to the assurance of trying to improve Sim personalities? That should never be a one and done thing, it's an ongoing process; seriously, have any of the devs actually played a Sims game?
Then there's the "breaking and entering". I don't even know what that was that I saw. So... a Sim goes to someone's house, has an animation for "breaking" the door, walks in and snoops around for a random, generic pop-up that has nothing to do with the actual traits or experiences of that Sim? And what happens if your Sim goes past the timer, I assume they get "caught"? What does that do, though? Anything? No police are called, that's for sure. There are no consequences! Do they not know why people want burglars back so badly? Because they're unpredictable. Because they're a challenge. Because you never know if they're going to hit your house or not, or if you'll catch them in time, or if the police will get there. It's because it's a gamble. There are so few real gambles in this game because everything has to always be safe and nicey-nice. That's not life! I just cannot relate to anything in this game, it's so frakking soft and pretends that nothing bad ever happens to anyone ever, and if it does, no one should acknowledge it, pretend to laugh it off, we should always pretend that we all get handed happiness forever and ever because to feel anything else is to be "negative" and censored.
Why does it feel like the design of this game is always pushing towards younger and younger simplicity and babying? We're not five. This is supposed to be a T rated game. Teens understand that decisions have consequences. Why is this always treated like taboo? It's like, Sims 4 is the only life simulation game that doesn't really simulate. How the mighty have fallen. No wonder so many players complain of boredom and need advice on how to enjoy the game.
I try not to be this harsh, I really do, but it's 9 years later, hundreds of dollars, sometimes over a thousand spent by each player, and the EP quality is cutting corners on a fast, downward spiral, giving us skimped repeat themes that should have been completed as part of previous content to begin with. There's still a bunch of features and themes that haven't even been addressed yet but we're revisiting old ones because no one had the foresight to know that players might want a lot of the standard gameplay from previous editions of this game? Man, a couple years ago, I thought Sims 4 was heading in a great direction. It seemed like a lot of real attention and care and long overdue detail was finally being addressed. What happened? I'm just about fed up with big, corporate game companies. They care nothing for their own games except how much money they bring in.
Comments
Growing together is also an EP and Sims for rent also has a world
I finally watched some content creators who reviewed it & who went way more in depth and i kind of learned the key things that i wanted to know from this pack:
1. Most of the gameplay is from being a landlord or tenant
2. the world is pretty empty and filled with rabbit holes lol
3. the kettle is actually a 3-in-1 which i actually like. (the fact that it makes hot cocoa too got me excited so theres at least one plus
4. The water seems quite usable so hoping that means sims can use jet skis and boats on it
5. Back to the rabbithole: there are too many!! I really was hoping for a trail like San Sequoia & Komorebi offer
6. There is currently a glitch where landlords dont receive rent, so hoping that is fixed by release since its "not final software"
7. Apparently the roof decor pieces that are meant to go with the actual roof swatches don't match, so theres that lol
8. The "secrets" your sims find out while snooping are more like random facts or random secrets about town lore or jokes
I really wish too that we could add things more specifically to our game.
Many players' computers are already at their limit and they have to decide which pack to add or skip.
I often wish I could add the worlds and build/buy but not the gameplay ^^'
The NAP from Eco Living ruin a lot of my ingame fun and Seasons ruined my gardening fun.
Let alone all the bugs coming with gameplay.
Tartosa is one of my favourite worlds but I never use weddings.
🎁 Best of Buydebug ☃️ Short trips to the Oggiverse - Short Clips 🎬 My Builds: Houses 🏘 Rooms 🛋 SciFi 👾 creatively edited Screenshots 🎨
> The livestream didn't seem to do this pack any favors in terms of selling it, mostly because it feels like not much gameplay was revealed. (kind of spoiler below but also not really, just warning in case you don't want to know more about the gameplay)
>
> I finally watched some content creators who reviewed it & who went way more in depth and i kind of learned the key things that i wanted to know from this pack:
> 1. Most of the gameplay is from being a landlord or tenant
> 2. the world is pretty empty and filled with rabbit holes lol
> 3. the kettle is actually a 3-in-1 which i actually like. (the fact that it makes hot cocoa too got me excited so theres at least one plus :D)
> 4. The water seems quite usable so hoping that means sims can use jet skis and boats on it
> 5. Back to the rabbithole: there are too many!! I really was hoping for a trail like San Sequoia & Komorebi offer
> 6. There is currently a glitch where landlords dont receive rent, so hoping that is fixed by release since its "not final software"
> 7. Apparently the roof decor pieces that are meant to go with the actual roof swatches don't match, so theres that lol
> 8. The "secrets" your sims find out while snooping are more like random facts or random secrets about town lore or jokes
Well the stream was presented by designers, so they had no interests in showing the indepth parts of gameplay. They want to show the pretty things they blatantly reused
Yeah, jokes - while watching the "break in" part of the live stream, I also wondered what kind of secrets can be found there. My sims are selfmade or at least heavily customized so I'm pretty sure there is nothing secretive to find out. I was worried that it would come down to the fact that the game core asigns random "secrets" to that sim in question. Just like: "Your sim, who is happily married for ages, has a secret crush on Don Lothario".
> I really wish too that we could add things more specifically to our game.
> Many players' computers are already at their limit and they have to decide which pack to add or skip.
> I often wish I could add the worlds and build/buy but not the gameplay ^^'
> The NAP from Eco Living ruin a lot of my ingame fun and Seasons ruined my gardening fun.
> Let alone all the bugs coming with gameplay.
> Tartosa is one of my favourite worlds but I never use weddings.
You want to go back to the sims 3 store way of doing things? And there's a point where holding yourself back because of potato computers forever won't ever result in any ambition from the devs because " well the weaker computers can't handle it". If everything would be a toggle you'd go back to the old days of INI file tweaking where you spend 2 hours turning off and on features and settings. Like the bust the dust toggle but for every single option
Also- another thing I want to add that simply irks me to my core (besides the beautiful boats, because I could yell about that for hours
Guess you remember the Cinema rabbithole in San Sequoia (if you own Growing Toghether). Everything you need for a functional, playable cinema is already available in the game: screens, seats, counters, vending machines, you name it - even if you don't own GrT itself. All you have to do is just altering something existing (ex. one of the large screens) to link the rabbit hole story telling function. There is no need to create anything new. So why did they choose to design that cinema as a rabbit hole?
1. There are so many build items, and they look great, but the Sims team had to put them all on a lot in Newcrest to show them off because Tomarang doesn't have any lots bigger than 40 x 30. It only has one 40 x 30 lot. In an "expansion" pack that is all about multiple residences on one lot, and having a "vibrant community". Good luck achieving that on a 20 x 15 lot.
2. The neighbouring rentals aren't blacked out, they just look like an ugly empty room additional to your own space. I want it to feel like I have active neighbours, not just an empty space. At least have it blacked out so I can imagine that something is happening in that space, not just visible nothingness.
3. The sanctuary and temple are rabbitholes. Of course they are. We all know the Sims team would never be bothered to create a basic lot that would be more immersive than a shell and some popup windows. They really couldn't have made a lot like the Botanical Gardens, added two animatronic tigers and an animatronic elephant, some debug decor, and attach popups to the animatronics? Lazy, boring, empty gameplay.
4. The row houses on the waterfront are shells, not lots. There are no lots on the island. Of course, the prettiest parts of the game are entirely useless set dressing.
5. The fish market is a shell. On another cool spot that would have made excellent building space.
6. The cave is a great big pile of nothing, like all the others.
7. No mold zombies, but I never expected a new life state in an expansion pack - that sort of effort hasn't gone into the Sims for over a decade.
8. The aspirations are traits.
9. The botanical gardens are linked to an aspiration - so does that mean you can't delete it and make it a residential space?
10. 9 lots in an expansion pack. Come on.
11. The tuk-tuks are non-functional.
I wish I could tell the Sims team that a Gameplay Trailer means you spend time showing off gameplay. That means you can't waste time on CAS, Build/Buy items that are non-functional, or lot overviews. You should be spending time on actually playing the game. If you have to pad out a gameplay trailer with items, and constantly mention "this is non-functional" and "this is a shell", then there is no gameplay. If there is no gameplay in your game, you have a problem. Challenge for the Sims team for the next pack: create a 20 minute long gameplay trailer with just gameplay.
I'll be waiting until I can bundle this pack with the others that aren't worth full price.
Part of the gameplay in the sims4 is creating sims, building lots, playing around and progressing with them with relationships, have social events etc.
But what EA/Maxis don't seem to get is that rabbit holes ignore all that and don't use any of those game mechanics, I can't design, have relationships or customize a RABBIT HOLE. And the lots are also so small and you want to kinda place down build/buy items that fit around the neighborhood, what am I going to place down in that small 30x30 "botanical garden" park that feels like it has been placed on a small town square? Meanwhile, the actual temple which is placed in a great spot is just a rabbit hole. Same with the fish market and some other places in the second neighborhood.
*urgh, please try to make use of the existing mechanics that are already there and at least add more lots to your worlds EA/Maxis. Please.
I think Growing Together is expansion pack worthy and it's more the gamepack.Sadly I'd the most meanest pack for this year.
I never expected to get "real" animated tigers at the sanctuary. But besides the adopt/donate gameplay there could have been so much more without the need to create tigers. Make some pretty trails around their enclosure which give some "OMG I saw a tiger" moodlets, put some information boards to learn about conservation, have a photo spot where your Sim can get a picture of a tiger in the enclosure...
Same for the "botanical garden" which I find super disappointing. Why aren't there any pretty paths between lush flowers (in the world outside the weird national park lot)? I would have like some new Tomarang specific plants and planter boxes around the garden where they grow. That would have been my minimum requirement to justify to call it a botanical garden. Also some nice chillout area in the world.
It also feels like a betrayal that these places have been advertised as features. And although their names are no longer capitalized in the blog posts I'm pretty sure they were when the post came out initially.
Also I think the "funny" secrets are kind of lame. I would have liked them to be tied to the Sims personality, like finding a secret about a family-oriented Sim who wrote in their diary about how much they have been 🐸🐸🐸🐸 off by their family at the last family meeting. I understand that that would have been a lot more work (continuing into the future when there are more traits) but it would make this feature a lot better.
And I understand why it might not have been possible to work with Simmers to create the builds for this pack it nonetheless felt quite weird to see some more "classic EA" builds again...
The remark about "tuning autonomy" is a little unsettling. Although I would very much like my Sims to be a little more flexible with using objects (especially on community lots, let's hope for the best), I'm not sure if Sims that grill even more are a good idea...
It also worries me a lot to hear that several people weren't able to collect rent from their tenants (🐸🐸🐸🐸) and had some serious lagging when placing wallpapers. Plumbella also reported that buying new furniture as a tenant increased her rent, which absolutely makes no sense at all.
My first attempt at creating a Sims comic: The Parker-Goth Legacy.
I haven’t done my own exploration (obviously, the game isn’t out yet) but I’m just saying this from what I’ve seen. I was much more inspired by Snowy Escape and the world, though that world feels more open and full.
Maybe it will change, doing more watching today
In the Ideas Corner, I have written how great it would be for Sim Bios to return and along with it, have some secret bios other sims could discover. I create so many sims and with some I have backstories thought about, plus I liked The Sims 2 handheld secret system where you could discover sims' secrets when you socialize with them enough times. I expect these funny ones more for game-generated townies rather than on sims I've created.
More options to personalize my sims more would be really appreciated. That's why I also don't like the Social Bunny feature as it's very teen-like, only encompasses base game and High School Years, and most of the posts from other sims are like "Whew... What a rough pillow fight it was!"
it would have just added loading screen to go into rabbithole making it double annoying
but if we didn't have rabbitholes but actual temple and actual animal sanctuary then yes
I do however think there should have been lots in these places,
even while we suffer from rabbithole disease
I mean 6 lots / neighborhood should be possible too?
and I think this way the lot to shell ratio would have seemed more reasonable
🏡 Gallery 📖 Stories 🌍 World Project 🥔 MOD/CC Free
We have 24 lots with free access and 3 special lots in Windenburg. Technically no problem. The potato PC excuse doesn't apply in this case.
It never fails to astonish me that they would give us an amazing new lot trait like Simple Living, and then make it so difficult in every subsequent pack for sims to go out and actually be self-sufficient in finding ingredients to use.
Agreed! And one of the main issues I have with these rabbit holes is that they're not even replaceable the way the Sims 3 ones are. At least in Sims 3, you can bulldoze it and build something playable on that space. But they filled this tiny town with rabbit holes and gave us hardly any lots to utilize. And I could live with the rabbit holes if there were also a fair share of actual playable things to do and new community lot types and customizable options, like there used to be in EPs. But this text adventure domination in a simulation video game is nonsense.
I also want to say that the traits and aspirations are looking pretty shallow and/or pack-specific, which is such a letdown. Who aspires to be a good tenant? Aspirations are supposed to be long term personal goals, not pack segment tutorials. I can barely tell the difference between the aspirations and traits in this pack. Maybe two of them seem worth using. Generous is totally a repeat of Good, with the charity behavior, except it seems, again, more pack specific to the "sanctuary". Whatever happened to the assurance of trying to improve Sim personalities? That should never be a one and done thing, it's an ongoing process; seriously, have any of the devs actually played a Sims game?
Then there's the "breaking and entering". I don't even know what that was that I saw. So... a Sim goes to someone's house, has an animation for "breaking" the door, walks in and snoops around for a random, generic pop-up that has nothing to do with the actual traits or experiences of that Sim? And what happens if your Sim goes past the timer, I assume they get "caught"? What does that do, though? Anything? No police are called, that's for sure. There are no consequences! Do they not know why people want burglars back so badly? Because they're unpredictable. Because they're a challenge. Because you never know if they're going to hit your house or not, or if you'll catch them in time, or if the police will get there. It's because it's a gamble. There are so few real gambles in this game because everything has to always be safe and nicey-nice. That's not life! I just cannot relate to anything in this game, it's so frakking soft and pretends that nothing bad ever happens to anyone ever, and if it does, no one should acknowledge it, pretend to laugh it off, we should always pretend that we all get handed happiness forever and ever because to feel anything else is to be "negative" and censored.
Why does it feel like the design of this game is always pushing towards younger and younger simplicity and babying? We're not five. This is supposed to be a T rated game. Teens understand that decisions have consequences. Why is this always treated like taboo? It's like, Sims 4 is the only life simulation game that doesn't really simulate. How the mighty have fallen. No wonder so many players complain of boredom and need advice on how to enjoy the game.
I try not to be this harsh, I really do, but it's 9 years later, hundreds of dollars, sometimes over a thousand spent by each player, and the EP quality is cutting corners on a fast, downward spiral, giving us skimped repeat themes that should have been completed as part of previous content to begin with. There's still a bunch of features and themes that haven't even been addressed yet but we're revisiting old ones because no one had the foresight to know that players might want a lot of the standard gameplay from previous editions of this game? Man, a couple years ago, I thought Sims 4 was heading in a great direction. It seemed like a lot of real attention and care and long overdue detail was finally being addressed. What happened? I'm just about fed up with big, corporate game companies. They care nothing for their own games except how much money they bring in.