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High School Years - yes or no?

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  • ChadSims2ChadSims2 Posts: 5,090 Member
    CK213 wrote: »
    My favorite is a mod that allows me to decided what other teens show up at high school instead of generic townies.

    The way the game chooses which other students show up at Copperdale High with your played sim is actually an interesting design decision, BUT it could have been explained a lot better to make it less confusing to players. It took me a fair bit of time to figure out how this works, and I'm someone who will not use mods or custom content of any kind. (It lets me quickly get past the inevitable "try uninstalling your mods" response when I discuss game problems.)

    When choosing which sims to bring onto the lot with your played sim, in large part the game looks for other sims which your active one holds strong sentiments and relationships with. What clued me in on this was the experience of a played sim named Cassie, and the fact that her ex-boyfriend and current boyfriend nearly always show up to school with her. Griffin (the ex, who turned out to be Mean and Evil, and was quickly dumped) seems to hold some strong and virtually permanent sentiments towards her as a result of being dumped. Stephen, her boyfriend, very consistently holds different very positive sentiments toward her. That got me curious, and I started looking at which other students were showing up more or less constantly, and it turned out all of them hold one or more sentiments toward her. Those she doesn't interact with much seem to get frequently rotated in and out of attendance.

    Basically, the game is trying to populate the campus with both your best friends and worst enemies, and then just adds in some random teenagers from different households to fill out the rest, as background characters.

    There are a couple other factors involved as well, but this seems to be the strongest influence.
    How it works is the game will always pick a Sim with the mean trait we must have a school bully after that it will look for a Sim in each of the 4 High School clubs then I think it's played or Sims with a relationship with yours. I play with 40 High School students but I was still having an issue with a new ugly townie spawning each day until I made my mean teen I never really played go to High School for a day and fixed that issue.

    Hopefully the OP enjoys it not saying the pack is perfect but for me it's a game changer seeing as my most played Sims are my teens but as every other pack its lacking depth especially with the new clubs and active classrooms but still a must have for me.
    Sims 4 went from "You Rule" to "One of the stories we want you to tell"
  • Coconut27Coconut27 Posts: 858 Member
    edited May 2023
    Yeah it depends on what experiences you are hoping to get from it. If you want it for the prom/graduation events I would say its not worth it. Like mentioned, grad event is broken and sims cant even attend, the sims team has yet to fix it. Prom goes by too quick and there's not much to do- also all of these events happen EVERY WEEK, so if you play on long life span it gets extremely annoying getting invited to prom every sim week. The actual high school experience was so blandly made because there is nothing to do except sit in class, eat lunch, or go to your locker. The pack as a concept was awesome, the execution was not the best.

    The only things i really enjoy is the getting to meet more teens at the high school lot, the CAS/BB items, and getting boba. The thrifting part basically seemed like one of the main focuses of that pack, and I believe (allegedly) it is because that pack was a collab with the online thift-store DePop.

    **side note: I think it is extremely annoying for them to collab with brands for packs that focus on new gameplay. I think collabs should absolutely be restricted to Kits and Stuff packs (even tho who knows if stuff packs exist anymore.)
  • SheriSim57SheriSim57 Posts: 6,934 Member
    edited May 2023
    I have never had any problems with HSY school or Auditorium. I did keep the same high school though. I did add some rooms with more activities and things though. But I left the 2 classrooms in the same place. I love that you can change and add things to the high school, and the Auditorium. I wish they would add that feature to get to work work places. I think there are a lot of good build/buy items. I love some of the beds and things. HSY is not as complicated as Discover University was, and I can still do rotational play without any problems. HSY has some bigger lots than DU too. I didn’t like so many 20x15 lots in DU. I also don’t like that you can’t change the dorms around with sims in them in DU.

    I too like the boba tea, but I really don’t like how they implemented Trendi and the thrift store. Why not let us decide what outfits should be in the thrift store? Sorry to say the ones they made were horrendous and you can’t even see what you are buying. And Trendi would have been fine if you could actually have a picture of the outfits you made and put up for sale, and if you had access to all your CAS items in all packs rather than just a few items in HSY. It seems like they didn’t have enough time to do the Trendi and Thrift store right, it needs to be revamped badly. If you play rotationally it is very hard to remember what each Trendi outfit you make looks like.
    Post edited by SheriSim57 on
  • BoergeAarg61BoergeAarg61 Posts: 949 Member
    edited May 2023
    From my point of view, it doesn't add much positive to the game. In essence, it just allow you to go to school with your teenage sims.
    The teenage sims often spend 15 sim days or so at high school. From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. they are only in class for two hours, and the school day starts with a two hours break.
    Post edited by BoergeAarg61 on
  • JestTruJestTru Posts: 1,761 Member
    As far as gameplay it gets a bit boring after a while playing at the school itself. So I just send my teens off most the time.

    I honestly only got it for the Build/Buy and the pier area in the world. But I do love the Boba tea thrift store. I waited and bought it on sale. I haven't really ran into many issues but that might be because I send my sims to school rather than follow them.
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  • AlanSimsAlanSims Posts: 711 Member
    I wish I had waited for this to be on sale to get it, not pay full price RIP.
  • BoergeAarg61BoergeAarg61 Posts: 949 Member
    AlanSims wrote: »
    I wish I had waited for this to be on sale to get it, not pay full price RIP.

    It seems to be on Publishers Sale until May 28, 2023.
  • SolomuttSolomutt Posts: 49 Member
    I thought about getting it, but I have a hard enough time managing homework with teen sims. They either end up having 0 to no friends because of homework/family time or being lackluster students. I'll have to research the pack to see if it might be something I could use.
  • JALJAL Posts: 999 Member
    Solomutt wrote: »
    I thought about getting it, but I have a hard enough time managing homework with teen sims. They either end up having 0 to no friends because of homework/family time or being lackluster students. I'll have to research the pack to see if it might be something I could use.

    After getting it my teens entirely laid off doing homework, they're all A-students. As long as you do some of the tasks they give you during the day you will "impress the teachers and learn a lot". Send students alone every Friday when there are tests (they're apparently very buggy though worked the one time I went with my sim), and you're all set. No need for homework or school projects. In addition, you will meet a lot of teens at school so making friends is actually easier.

    Graduation is buggy though. For me no principal showed up so no diploma or photo.
    Moreover, I advise that the cart button must be destroyed!
  • SmellincoffeeSmellincoffee Posts: 961 Member
    My favorite part of the expansion pack is the ability of Sims to graduate early and not have to bother with school anymore.
  • SolomuttSolomutt Posts: 49 Member
    My favorite part of the expansion pack is the ability of Sims to graduate early and not have to bother with school anymore.

    If they graduate early can the enter university early? Does doing well in this expansion make university easier?
  • JALJAL Posts: 999 Member
    Solomutt wrote: »
    If they graduate early can the enter university early? Does doing well in this expansion make university easier?

    Yes they can, and while I don't know if it's easier per say (not really) they do have a lot more skills in general which I believe counts towards their grades. In the family I play I had three teens, two of which were twins. One of them graduated early has has been going to uni from home with straight As, the other one graduated valedictorian (from just going to class and never doing any homework, which was actually a bit annoying since it clashes with her personality). Graduation event failed miserably though.
    Moreover, I advise that the cart button must be destroyed!
  • lylam817lylam817 Posts: 3 New Member
    To be honest with you, I think High School Years is an okay pack. And it is not one of my favorites, because after playing it for a while you kind of start to get bored of it :/ .
    But, there are some good things that I personally like about it. You can create your own styles and post them on Trendi. You can also make posts on Social Bunny from your phone. It is easier to find sims to date in school. And it comes with new traits.
  • fujicakes1fujicakes1 Posts: 1,281 Member
    I got hsy for the clothes, and I do love a bunch of the clothes. And the world is neat, it has thrift tea or whatever. BUT it does introduce female body hair that you have to manually disable with each sim, and I don't super like playing with teens anyway, so that was a bit of an annoyance. I'm still glad that I got the clothes though!
    All my daily trances, and all my nightly dreams, are where thy grey eye glances, and where thy footstep gleams.
    I dance to the beat of my own drum, no matter how measured or far away.
    I do love a road. You can always be wondering what is at the end of it.
  • SharoniaSharonia Posts: 4,853 Member
    It's the worst expansion pack for me. Gameplay wise it's fairly barren and what bit of gameplay there is, it mostly functions quite poorly. The CAS, World and B&B are all nice though.
  • PenguinFoopPenguinFoop Posts: 1,580 Member
    edited June 2023
    I too was hesitant about it but the body hair is what really sold me. I like the idea of going through body changes. It adds some depth to the struggle that teens face. Speaking of face, acne, am I right? Anyway, so following them to school, interacting in their daily academia and molding them are fun.

    A negative is all the prom! In my opinion, prom should be held way less frequently! Prom every weekend??? That takes away the significance of it. Of course, doing prom without seasons could be difficult if it wasn't just a Saturday thing because there would be no season to associate with. And you can't have high-school without prom.

    Other than that, I really do enjoy this pack.

    Remember, there will always be those that regret buying something. It's called Buyer's Remorse and it is a real thing. So my suggestion is listen to the why, not just the what. And, always wait when a new pack drops. There will always be bugs in the new pack since most often corporate wants them dropped quickly to get the return on investment, players are no longer just players, we've become unpaid (and worse we pay for) testers. So you have a 1k people (just a number example) buy the game, play the game, find the problems and in a perfect world, you then fix the game. The problem is, the rushed sale leads to more and more bugs not being caught before release.

    And the devs are caught in the middle. Corporate says hurry up and release then players say hurry up and fix and devs get overly stressed. It's not a Sims thing, it's a gaming industry thing. Corporate-funded games cannot possibly be fun to work on. Sorry, ranting now.

    But yeah, HSY is a fun pack.
  • fujicakes1fujicakes1 Posts: 1,281 Member
    Speaking of face, acne, am I right? .

    I also disabled acne lol. I think it's funny (not a bad funny, just funny because we have different perspectives) that you want the teens to go through real life struggles - the teen years were terrible for me irl, even decades later I cannot bear to relive those years. :# My issues had a lot to do with early-onset mental illnesses, which a lot of kids did not have to experience, though. But still, I don't need any reminders... :D
    All my daily trances, and all my nightly dreams, are where thy grey eye glances, and where thy footstep gleams.
    I dance to the beat of my own drum, no matter how measured or far away.
    I do love a road. You can always be wondering what is at the end of it.
  • PenguinFoopPenguinFoop Posts: 1,580 Member
    edited June 2023
    fujicakes1 wrote: »
    Speaking of face, acne, am I right? .

    I also disabled acne lol. I think it's funny (not a bad funny, just funny because we have different perspectives) that you want the teens to go through real life struggles - the teen years were terrible for me irl, even decades later I cannot bear to relive those years. :# My issues had a lot to do with early-onset mental illnesses, which a lot of kids did not have to experience, though. But still, I don't need any reminders... :D

    Yeah, my HS experience was bad too which led to a crippling anxiety disorder with acute panic debilitating dysfunction so I know somewhat where you're coming from. But I don't think this is the time or place for me to go into it. So suffice it to say that HSY is a welcome change from what my experience was and that's why I enjoy all of the aspects of it... except prom every freaking weekend and Heaven forbid you decide to skip one time because your bf/gf will hold a grudge!

    "Malcolm, it was one prom and three weekends ago! Let it go already! Sheesh! And let me remind you that you didn't invite me to it either!" 😠 😡 😤 😣

    Anyway, sorry for the interruption.
  • fujicakes1fujicakes1 Posts: 1,281 Member
    @PenguinFoop No sorry needed from you, I'm sorry for bringing that up - I didn't think about it sounding serious until I just re-read it. :# Oops!! So sorry. I thought it would be funny because I am super sleep deprived lol.

    All my daily trances, and all my nightly dreams, are where thy grey eye glances, and where thy footstep gleams.
    I dance to the beat of my own drum, no matter how measured or far away.
    I do love a road. You can always be wondering what is at the end of it.
  • PenguinFoopPenguinFoop Posts: 1,580 Member
    fujicakes1 wrote: »
    @PenguinFoop No sorry needed from you, I'm sorry for bringing that up - I didn't think about it sounding serious until I just re-read it. :# Oops!! So sorry. I thought it would be funny because I am super sleep deprived lol.

    Ah yeah, fatigue loves to play with the mind. Lol
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