Since playing with the GwT pack in my game, i’ve gotten more into going to high school with my teen sim and as i play i’ve gotten more background on the functionalities of the HSY pack. I do kind of love the concept of it and i’ve actually been going with them to school everyday after i addded a mod to allow more HS students (makes school more lively) and now I have more thoughts on it.
1. I do enjoy the different classes they take each day BUT i wish there had been different “ask question about…” interaction with the teacher for each class subject.
2. wish there was a “study for exams together” option for teen sims who are friends so they can study during free time.
3. Career day is ok…but even just one extra little thing like “take career pamphlet” from each table with a tiny written pop up describing the job while the sim “reads” the pamphlet would’ve done and i’d have been happy.
4. The sports. they are so so boring. the animations for cheer are really cool, but that’s all it is. just some cheer moves. no pep rallies on the football field. They could’ve had that during cheer day and have a cheerleader sim “start pep rally” or something where they cheer and others near them on the field join in on watching and shouting/clapping along with excitement. Football is just tossing a ball. pointless. I wish there had been more to it, either on the field or a rabbit hole building for sims to “attend football game” and then they get like a “school spirit” moodlet and we learn if the team wins or loses. that’s it. just SOMETHING else.
5. I don’t understand at all why they can’t have a PT job AND be in an after school club. My sims influencer job is from 5:30-7:30am.
6. The pier. it is always deserted. it is the most unlively part of ANY world in the game i’ve ever encountered. Also idk if it’s a mod conflict or a known glitch (i’ll have to look into it) but my sim can only ride the rides alone, there’s a routing issue that won’t allow them to ride with someone else.
these are all my current thoughts after playing more in depth. it had so much potential to be a reallyyyy fun and game-changing pack for the teen life stage. This pack is the one i’m most upset about because i love playing as teens in the sims games. they are grown up enough to do more things yet don’t have to deal with adult life yet.
The rides in the amusement park should have been activities and objects that you could find in build mode and place in other worlds.
You should be able to build your own school.
Teens height should have been toned down.
We could have gotten at leat two different heights and body presets to simulate teens and pre teens.
I honestly don't care about having a whole process of growing hair, etc. (body hair should be base game anyways, >skin details). I feel like that's wasted energy and money, they should have put it into fixing more basic features.
In my opinion High-schools should be more like the University, you have classes that are rabbit holes but you can actually attend them and walk between buildings. And the rest, the fun things, like soccer games, clubs, etc should be real events inside different locations in the high-school campus.
when you say build your own school do you mean able to build it anywhere? because you can rebuild the school on the lot.
Something I’m finding more now than I did when I actually played through high school is the crush system and asking to be best friends and go to prom etc is just set too high. Maybe it changed but it’s not working well. In just a few hours...
- guy with low friendship asked to be my friends BFF. She declines, is creeped out and he is hurt.
- A day or two later, he asks her to prom, she says no, he is still hurt.
- Five minutes later she apologises then she has a crush on him.
- I try to get her over her crush and it takes me 3 attempts.
- Starts some friendly socials with a female sim
- Female sim asks her to prom as friends, my says no and is creeped out and this sim is hurt.
- Female sim starts kissing my sims neck.
I guess they put this in the base game probably so maybe not HSY specific, but I just feel they went way over the top with this kinda stuff. I do like that it happens but it should be logical based on playstyle.
yeah the crush system is a bit too powerful, my sim got three crushes on their close friends within the same week. i do not enjoy that for story telling haha, can get a bit annoying to deal with when you're trying to do other stuff.
The rides in the amusement park should have been activities and objects that you could find in build mode and place in other worlds.
You should be able to build your own school.
Teens height should have been toned down.
We could have gotten at leat two different heights and body presets to simulate teens and pre teens.
I honestly don't care about having a whole process of growing hair, etc. (body hair should be base game anyways, >skin details). I feel like that's wasted energy and money, they should have put it into fixing more basic features.
In my opinion High-schools should be more like the University, you have classes that are rabbit holes but you can actually attend them and walk between buildings. And the rest, the fun things, like soccer games, clubs, etc should be real events inside different locations in the high-school campus.
A few clarifications:
-The amusement rides can be placed in other worlds, you can find them in build mode using the live edit objects cheat (the ice cream stand is trickier, the easiest method is to download from the gallery)
-Making teens shorter would mean having to redo every single animation from every single pack to fit the new height, which is likely out of the sim’s team budget (there are mods that reduce height, but the animations are all janky)
-Body hair is base game, there are extra options with HSY
I agree I wish we could build schools in other worlds. I get that the festival events are tied to the school neighbourhood, but personally I would rather forgo those and put schools anywhere.
The rides in the amusement park should have been activities and objects that you could find in build mode and place in other worlds.
You should be able to build your own school.
Teens height should have been toned down.
We could have gotten at leat two different heights and body presets to simulate teens and pre teens.
I honestly don't care about having a whole process of growing hair, etc. (body hair should be base game anyways, >skin details). I feel like that's wasted energy and money, they should have put it into fixing more basic features.
In my opinion High-schools should be more like the University, you have classes that are rabbit holes but you can actually attend them and walk between buildings. And the rest, the fun things, like soccer games, clubs, etc should be real events inside different locations in the high-school campus.
I agree I wish we could build schools in other worlds. I get that the festival events are tied to the school neighbourhood, but personally I would rather forgo those and put schools anywhere.
I think the lot itself is an issue too. It’s a huge lot and there’s a lot of decorations off the lot as well. Not only are we tied to one specific world but I’d say we’re tied to having a big USA style high school. Which wasn’t the experience for many of us. Schools are more diverse than universities. My school was a very small two story building that would take up a fraction of this lot.
I decided just to not send my country living sim there because I couldn’t believe it was in the same country. Which isn’t a problem sims usually has. I could kinda ignore the cheerleading etc, but cant ignore the big football field and the big yellow bus and the huge car park. You can’t make a realistic British or Japanese school experience in Copperdale really.
Since playing with the GwT pack in my game, i’ve gotten more into going to high school with my teen sim and as i play i’ve gotten more background on the functionalities of the HSY pack. I do kind of love the concept of it and i’ve actually been going with them to school everyday after i addded a mod to allow more HS students (makes school more lively) and now I have more thoughts on it.
1. I do enjoy the different classes they take each day BUT i wish there had been different “ask question about…” interaction with the teacher for each class subject.
2. wish there was a “study for exams together” option for teen sims who are friends so they can study during free time.
3. Career day is ok…but even just one extra little thing like “take career pamphlet” from each table with a tiny written pop up describing the job while the sim “reads” the pamphlet would’ve done and i’d have been happy.
4. The sports. they are so so boring. the animations for cheer are really cool, but that’s all it is. just some cheer moves. no pep rallies on the football field. They could’ve had that during cheer day and have a cheerleader sim “start pep rally” or something where they cheer and others near them on the field join in on watching and shouting/clapping along with excitement. Football is just tossing a ball. pointless. I wish there had been more to it, either on the field or a rabbit hole building for sims to “attend football game” and then they get like a “school spirit” moodlet and we learn if the team wins or loses. that’s it. just SOMETHING else.
5. I don’t understand at all why they can’t have a PT job AND be in an after school club. My sims influencer job is from 5:30-7:30am.
6. The pier. it is always deserted. it is the most unlively part of ANY world in the game i’ve ever encountered. Also idk if it’s a mod conflict or a known glitch (i’ll have to look into it) but my sim can only ride the rides alone, there’s a routing issue that won’t allow them to ride with someone else.
these are all my current thoughts after playing more in depth. it had so much potential to be a reallyyyy fun and game-changing pack for the teen life stage. This pack is the one i’m most upset about because i love playing as teens in the sims games. they are grown up enough to do more things yet don’t have to deal with adult life yet.
i agree that the pier is very unlively. I actually have enough sims show up at high school, but I wish some would actually show up at the pier. I like the idea that sims can toss the football back and forth, but it would have been nice to be able to see an animated football game. I might have liked Trendi if there was a way to view the outfits before buying them, and when I have sims make them, I can’t remember what the outfit looked like unless it is tried on. I do wish we could have build schools in other worlds, and I wish we could choose which teens attended the school.
I think without mods i usually got like 12(?) students plus my sim but with mods I get about 16-18 students plus my sim and now the 2nd classroom actually gets used!
But yeah i really wish ppl showed up at the pier. It’s honestly the most boring thing about the pack to me solely because of both this and the routing issue i mentioned. also some carnival games would’ve been nice.
The rides in the amusement park should have been activities and objects that you could find in build mode and place in other worlds.
You should be able to build your own school.
Teens height should have been toned down.
We could have gotten at leat two different heights and body presets to simulate teens and pre teens.
I honestly don't care about having a whole process of growing hair, etc. (body hair should be base game anyways, >skin details). I feel like that's wasted energy and money, they should have put it into fixing more basic features.
In my opinion High-schools should be more like the University, you have classes that are rabbit holes but you can actually attend them and walk between buildings. And the rest, the fun things, like soccer games, clubs, etc should be real events inside different locations in the high-school campus.
I agree I wish we could build schools in other worlds. I get that the festival events are tied to the school neighbourhood, but personally I would rather forgo those and put schools anywhere.
I think the lot itself is an issue too. It’s a huge lot and there’s a lot of decorations off the lot as well. Not only are we tied to one specific world but I’d say we’re tied to having a big USA style high school. Which wasn’t the experience for many of us. Schools are more diverse than universities. My school was a very small two story building that would take up a fraction of this lot.
I decided just to not send my country living sim there because I couldn’t believe it was in the same country. Which isn’t a problem sims usually has. I could kinda ignore the cheerleading etc, but cant ignore the big football field and the big yellow bus and the huge car park. You can’t make a realistic British or Japanese school experience in Copperdale really.
Yeah I agree with this, I’m disappointed they made the school so narrowly focused to the US. Even as an Australian (which is very similar to the US in many respects) I found it surprisingly unrelatable.
I kind of wish they had made active schools in previous sims games- this pack felt very much like a first attempt, in a way that university really didn’t (I really like the way university works in TS4, IMHO much better balanced and more flexible than previous versions).
Since playing with the GwT pack in my game, i’ve gotten more into going to high school with my teen sim and as i play i’ve gotten more background on the functionalities of the HSY pack. I do kind of love the concept of it and i’ve actually been going with them to school everyday after i addded a mod to allow more HS students (makes school more lively) and now I have more thoughts on it.
1. I do enjoy the different classes they take each day BUT i wish there had been different “ask question about…” interaction with the teacher for each class subject.
2. wish there was a “study for exams together” option for teen sims who are friends so they can study during free time.
3. Career day is ok…but even just one extra little thing like “take career pamphlet” from each table with a tiny written pop up describing the job while the sim “reads” the pamphlet would’ve done and i’d have been happy.
4. The sports. they are so so boring. the animations for cheer are really cool, but that’s all it is. just some cheer moves. no pep rallies on the football field. They could’ve had that during cheer day and have a cheerleader sim “start pep rally” or something where they cheer and others near them on the field join in on watching and shouting/clapping along with excitement. Football is just tossing a ball. pointless. I wish there had been more to it, either on the field or a rabbit hole building for sims to “attend football game” and then they get like a “school spirit” moodlet and we learn if the team wins or loses. that’s it. just SOMETHING else.
5. I don’t understand at all why they can’t have a PT job AND be in an after school club. My sims influencer job is from 5:30-7:30am.
6. The pier. it is always deserted. it is the most unlively part of ANY world in the game i’ve ever encountered. Also idk if it’s a mod conflict or a known glitch (i’ll have to look into it) but my sim can only ride the rides alone, there’s a routing issue that won’t allow them to ride with someone else.
these are all my current thoughts after playing more in depth. it had so much potential to be a reallyyyy fun and game-changing pack for the teen life stage. This pack is the one i’m most upset about because i love playing as teens in the sims games. they are grown up enough to do more things yet don’t have to deal with adult life yet.
Agreed. though with sports, it would be hard to program a whole sports game event...
Classes are indeed such a missed opportunity. You either attend it and nicely take notes or skip it and try to avoid the principal patrolling the school or otherwise you'll get detention. And then there are also chance cards that are more interesting than classes itself.
If I'd were to design the classes, I'd do like so:
Class tones: learning hard, normal, goofing off, trying to talk to sims, not paying attention, sleeping etc. So that they affect the performance and fun need. Plus goofing off, sleeping, and constantly trying to talk with classmates could lead to detention.
Interactions during class: Trying to talk to classmates, asking questions, quickly checking the phone etc.
Sometimes there are group assignments, which sees students working together on one project during the lesson.
Ability for good students to give lessons themselves (I gave an English lesson once in middle school).
Sometimes students get out laptops for a class to study (especially in Computer Science). If a class is assigned to a room with computers on the desks (let's say it has to be enough for all the students), the students will use the computers during the lesson.
Agreed about part-time jobs. You can either have them early in the morning or at weekends. So additional times would be great.
What is funny is that the same issue was in The Sims 3: teens in after-school activities could only take up part-time job in the Mausoleum due to it being the only job not to go against the time of after-school activities.
The rides in the amusement park should have been activities and objects that you could find in build mode and place in other worlds.
You should be able to build your own school.
Teens height should have been toned down.
We could have gotten at leat two different heights and body presets to simulate teens and pre teens.
I honestly don't care about having a whole process of growing hair, etc. (body hair should be base game anyways, >skin details). I feel like that's wasted energy and money, they should have put it into fixing more basic features.
In my opinion High-schools should be more like the University, you have classes that are rabbit holes but you can actually attend them and walk between buildings. And the rest, the fun things, like soccer games, clubs, etc should be real events inside different locations in the high-school campus.
I agree I wish we could build schools in other worlds. I get that the festival events are tied to the school neighbourhood, but personally I would rather forgo those and put schools anywhere.
I think the lot itself is an issue too. It’s a huge lot and there’s a lot of decorations off the lot as well. Not only are we tied to one specific world but I’d say we’re tied to having a big USA style high school. Which wasn’t the experience for many of us. Schools are more diverse than universities. My school was a very small two story building that would take up a fraction of this lot.
I decided just to not send my country living sim there because I couldn’t believe it was in the same country. Which isn’t a problem sims usually has. I could kinda ignore the cheerleading etc, but cant ignore the big football field and the big yellow bus and the huge car park. You can’t make a realistic British or Japanese school experience in Copperdale really.
Yeah I agree with this, I’m disappointed they made the school so narrowly focused to the US. Even as an Australian (which is very similar to the US in many respects) I found it surprisingly unrelatable.
I kind of wish they had made active schools in previous sims games- this pack felt very much like a first attempt, in a way that university really didn’t (I really like the way university works in TS4, IMHO much better balanced and more flexible than previous versions).
Agreed. Though my high school was voluntary (thus little to no bullies in my school), some international element could be there too.
My high school though took the "preparation for university" approach. That meant the following:
Sometimes we had to study independently. Sometimes the teacher was sick and we were given materials and told to study. Plus there were three days in the whole school year where we studied independently at home (or whereever else besides the school).
Elective classes. Plus the requirement to take enough classes to graduate.
Actually free cafeteria food. Though I always opted to go home during lunch to eat there.
A research/practical project that had to be done during high school years (otherwise you couldn't graduate).
Guest lectures.
"Detention" wasn't forced and wasn't there for punishment and to take away some time. Rather, it was voluntary and there to redo a test, whether it was because you were absent or got a bad result (or just wanted to boost your ego by getting a better result).
Though I do understand the approach: I don't exactly know how high schools operate elsewhere myself, so I can only rely on my experience and some snippets of others' experience to build my own in-game high school system.
Yeah the classrooms were definitely missed opportunities! for the sports, yeah an actual event for football i assumed an entire actual game is way too much so i’m fine with rabbit hole haha. just want them to have something. Like this pack was very Americanized, so i don’t get why they didn’t think to do a homecoming game event in a rabbithole.
The rides in the amusement park should have been activities and objects that you could find in build mode and place in other worlds.
You should be able to build your own school.
Teens height should have been toned down.
We could have gotten at leat two different heights and body presets to simulate teens and pre teens.
I honestly don't care about having a whole process of growing hair, etc. (body hair should be base game anyways, >skin details). I feel like that's wasted energy and money, they should have put it into fixing more basic features.
In my opinion High-schools should be more like the University, you have classes that are rabbit holes but you can actually attend them and walk between buildings. And the rest, the fun things, like soccer games, clubs, etc should be real events inside different locations in the high-school campus.
I agree I wish we could build schools in other worlds. I get that the festival events are tied to the school neighbourhood, but personally I would rather forgo those and put schools anywhere.
I think the lot itself is an issue too. It’s a huge lot and there’s a lot of decorations off the lot as well. Not only are we tied to one specific world but I’d say we’re tied to having a big USA style high school. Which wasn’t the experience for many of us. Schools are more diverse than universities. My school was a very small two story building that would take up a fraction of this lot.
I decided just to not send my country living sim there because I couldn’t believe it was in the same country. Which isn’t a problem sims usually has. I could kinda ignore the cheerleading etc, but cant ignore the big football field and the big yellow bus and the huge car park. You can’t make a realistic British or Japanese school experience in Copperdale really.
Yeah I agree with this, I’m disappointed they made the school so narrowly focused to the US. Even as an Australian (which is very similar to the US in many respects) I found it surprisingly unrelatable.
I kind of wish they had made active schools in previous sims games- this pack felt very much like a first attempt, in a way that university really didn’t (I really like the way university works in TS4, IMHO much better balanced and more flexible than previous versions).
I guess that’s true! Their first time doing the pack. Hopefully they don’t skip the idea in future sims games because I do think it’s a great setting for sims.
I feel like they were focused on gender patch and other UI stuff, a world, the teen lifestage as a whole, the partnership with the boba/thrift thing and with all of that the actual school experience didn’t get the same level of focus that university did.
Would like to see more customisable (non US) schools which you could build in different worlds, and more school staples like gym class, inter school competitions, assemblies, cliques, band camp, paper aeroplanes etc. And an active teaching career!
The errand system from the cottage living could make some fun school drama too. Really feel like pack would be better with more of this and less of boba tea which will probably be out of fashion next year if not already 😁.
and less of boba tea which will probably be out of fashion next year if not already 😁.
Ah, they have done things that used to be in fashion before, like Gangnam Style in The Sims 3 University Life. Unlike that, I like boba tea more.
But that reminds me of another issue this pack has: the fact that children can't use the photo booth, play with football, buy boba tea (they can drink it, but the straw part is missing animation for them, causing them to temporarily stretch out) etc. And in previous games, they could use photo booths and play catch with footballs.
I also used to add pillow fights to the list, but Growing Together solved that one...
Though they can ride the rides in the pier (Love Tunnel excluded), the chance cards coming from them may give adult skills to them (which is no longer an issue due to child skill update).
and less of boba tea which will probably be out of fashion next year if not already 😁.
Ah, they have done things that used to be in fashion before, like Gangnam Style in The Sims 3 University Life. Unlike that, I like boba tea more.
But that reminds me of another issue this pack has: the fact that children can't use the photo booth, play with football, buy boba tea (they can drink it, but the straw part is missing animation for them, causing them to temporarily stretch out) etc. And in previous games, they could use photo booths and play catch with footballs.
I also used to add pillow fights to the list, but Growing Together solved that one...
Though they can ride the rides in the pier (Love Tunnel excluded), the chance cards coming from them may give adult skills to them (which is no longer an issue due to child skill update).
it’s most likely because that’s an entirely new animation to code and for some reason the sims 4 animation team seems to get the least budget of all the departments. That’s why imo it’s the reason kids didn’t get bikes too and it took this long for them to finally get them. teens are the exact same size as YA-Elder so it’s the same animation and they’re done. it’s quite annoying having to pay for two separate packs to get animations for kids too. For example: pillow fights finally for kids but ONLY with sleeping bags when teen-elder got the animation first on beds with HSY.
Wouldn't it be cool if our sims had at least as many options for active class attendance as they do for rabbit hole school attendance?
Like, at least: Study hard, Make friends, Sleep in class, and each would have its own basic animation.
That would have made it more useful.
If I wanted to build relationships with students in the class room I could have them pass notes, signal other sims by pantomiming or whatever, or mouthed out messages. If I wanted my sim to be rested so they can spend time after class in the Bobatea shop with their friends, I could have them nap in class. If these activities lowered their grades I could have them make up for it on other days by studying harder.
Fortunately the classes are short, but I still feel the free time between classes aren't long enough to do the things I like to make them do.
I still don't understand why cheer, football, computer science and chess club are strictly rabbit hole activities. These EASILY could've made an option for them act as the active career system from GTW, where sims must doing certain things. cheer as a group with their team on the mat outside, throw football, play chess etc., interact with teammates with team specific interactions such as "discuss strategies" and "talk about X club". It would've made the HSY pack seem so much more in depth and made the clubs interactive like how the the organizations are in DU.
Even sadder is the fact that the developers know what it takes to make a great amusement area. They did so with TS3. There is so much to do at a TS3 amusement park. Unfortunately, the TS4 framework is unable to create a similar experience. Or, there is no drive to go the extra mile with TS4. Either way, the TS4 experience is underwhelming.
Also, it's not as if that can be changed in the future. The pier doesn't exist on a lot, so it cannot be easily modified. For example, if a functional carousel, roller coaster, or carnival games arrived in a future pack, they still couldn't be used to liven up the pier.
It makes no sense how the concept was so anticipated, yet, implemented so poorly.
So... the jogging route from Lasuli Point involves your sim going here...
He then wades back out, jogs through his house from back to the front and then is finished. Every single time I send him. And, oh yes, he does look at his phone whilst he jogs. Cos, ya know, five minutes without checking for messages would be way too long.
Even sadder is the fact that the developers know what it takes to make a great amusement area. They did so with TS3. There is so much to do at a TS3 amusement park. Unfortunately, the TS4 framework is unable to create a similar experience. Or, there is no drive to go the extra mile with TS4. Either way, the TS4 experience is underwhelming.
Also, it's not as if that can be changed in the future. The pier doesn't exist on a lot, so it cannot be easily modified. For example, if a functional carousel, roller coaster, or carnival games arrived in a future pack, they still couldn't be used to liven up the pier.
It makes no sense how the concept was so anticipated, yet, implemented so poorly.
So... the jogging route from Lasuli Point involves your sim going here...
He then wades back out, jogs through his house from back to the front and then is finished. Every single time I send him. And, oh yes, he does look at his phone whilst he jogs. Cos, ya know, five minutes without checking for messages would be way too long.
I actually really love Copperdale (it's one of my favorite worlds to live in. Others are Newcrest, Brindleton Bay, Willow Creek, and Evergreen Harbor) but the routing issues with the Lake are BAD. And dangerous. If I do choose to play it, I have my sims set up in LaSuli point usually, in a starter bungalow, and the amount of times I've almost lost a sim to freezing due them running into the water has made me not want to live there anymore. It's a huge bummer.
I know i've talked about some of this before in this thread when I first got this pack, but wow, as I play TS4 again, am I just reliving disappointment over again. I will forever say that the collab to make the trendi app/thrift stuff ruined the cool gameplay opportunities that this pack could've had. We easily could've just gotten a boba tea lot without the thrifting and i'd have been fine (I literally NEVER use the thrifting). Instead that budget and time could've went towards literally reusing systems they've already used.
Why the after school clubs are rabbitholes is still a mystery to me. We have literally all of the necessary tools there. Chess tables, computer labs, the cheer mats on the field, the football set up. I will never understand why the didn't go down the DU route and make them active like debate club, etc.. And the track field...to this day the advertising faking a sim running on it irks me. It probably could've been its own object that works, such as the skating rinks, and have a pre-determined routing path. So many missed opportunities. It just really upsets me because this could've been a great pack, possibly one of TS4's best.
I want to love this pack because this game desperately needed teen gameplay to make them more fun, but it really did fall short in the gameplay department for me. It's sucks cause I'm trying to do a generations gameplay to try and have more fun in the game. I really want to enjoy TS4 as a whole, I am trying, but sometimes it falls short because the lack of gameplay/pack integration the packs offer and I get bored, which has never happened with the pervious games for me, so it saddens me a little lol.
This pack is on my list, I'm just waiting for 38% to change to 50% But, reading this thread confuses me as many posts are rather old, and I have no ide whether all flaws are still there, or if they were fixed directly or indirectly, or by workarounds. Could someone pls enlighten me on whether the pack is as bad technically as it used to be?
Re too little to do at the funfair, I plan to turn the park into a more active part of it all. We need some arriving point anyway, so why not add what the park is missing there. Like a working café, fun activities (horseshoe, dart and more), if built in a dedicated way it might look more mun than those activities actually are, lol.
Comments
1. I do enjoy the different classes they take each day BUT i wish there had been different “ask question about…” interaction with the teacher for each class subject.
2. wish there was a “study for exams together” option for teen sims who are friends so they can study during free time.
3. Career day is ok…but even just one extra little thing like “take career pamphlet” from each table with a tiny written pop up describing the job while the sim “reads” the pamphlet would’ve done and i’d have been happy.
4. The sports. they are so so boring. the animations for cheer are really cool, but that’s all it is. just some cheer moves. no pep rallies on the football field. They could’ve had that during cheer day and have a cheerleader sim “start pep rally” or something where they cheer and others near them on the field join in on watching and shouting/clapping along with excitement. Football is just tossing a ball. pointless. I wish there had been more to it, either on the field or a rabbit hole building for sims to “attend football game” and then they get like a “school spirit” moodlet and we learn if the team wins or loses. that’s it. just SOMETHING else.
5. I don’t understand at all why they can’t have a PT job AND be in an after school club. My sims influencer job is from 5:30-7:30am.
6. The pier. it is always deserted. it is the most unlively part of ANY world in the game i’ve ever encountered. Also idk if it’s a mod conflict or a known glitch (i’ll have to look into it) but my sim can only ride the rides alone, there’s a routing issue that won’t allow them to ride with someone else.
these are all my current thoughts after playing more in depth. it had so much potential to be a reallyyyy fun and game-changing pack for the teen life stage. This pack is the one i’m most upset about because i love playing as teens in the sims games. they are grown up enough to do more things yet don’t have to deal with adult life yet.
when you say build your own school do you mean able to build it anywhere? because you can rebuild the school on the lot.
- guy with low friendship asked to be my friends BFF. She declines, is creeped out and he is hurt.
- A day or two later, he asks her to prom, she says no, he is still hurt.
- Five minutes later she apologises then she has a crush on him.
- I try to get her over her crush and it takes me 3 attempts.
- Starts some friendly socials with a female sim
- Female sim asks her to prom as friends, my says no and is creeped out and this sim is hurt.
- Female sim starts kissing my sims neck.
I guess they put this in the base game probably so maybe not HSY specific, but I just feel they went way over the top with this kinda stuff. I do like that it happens but it should be logical based on playstyle.
A few clarifications:
-The amusement rides can be placed in other worlds, you can find them in build mode using the live edit objects cheat (the ice cream stand is trickier, the easiest method is to download from the gallery)
-Making teens shorter would mean having to redo every single animation from every single pack to fit the new height, which is likely out of the sim’s team budget (there are mods that reduce height, but the animations are all janky)
-Body hair is base game, there are extra options with HSY
I agree I wish we could build schools in other worlds. I get that the festival events are tied to the school neighbourhood, but personally I would rather forgo those and put schools anywhere.
I think the lot itself is an issue too. It’s a huge lot and there’s a lot of decorations off the lot as well. Not only are we tied to one specific world but I’d say we’re tied to having a big USA style high school. Which wasn’t the experience for many of us. Schools are more diverse than universities. My school was a very small two story building that would take up a fraction of this lot.
I decided just to not send my country living sim there because I couldn’t believe it was in the same country. Which isn’t a problem sims usually has. I could kinda ignore the cheerleading etc, but cant ignore the big football field and the big yellow bus and the huge car park. You can’t make a realistic British or Japanese school experience in Copperdale really.
i agree that the pier is very unlively. I actually have enough sims show up at high school, but I wish some would actually show up at the pier. I like the idea that sims can toss the football back and forth, but it would have been nice to be able to see an animated football game. I might have liked Trendi if there was a way to view the outfits before buying them, and when I have sims make them, I can’t remember what the outfit looked like unless it is tried on. I do wish we could have build schools in other worlds, and I wish we could choose which teens attended the school.
But yeah i really wish ppl showed up at the pier. It’s honestly the most boring thing about the pack to me solely because of both this and the routing issue i mentioned. also some carnival games would’ve been nice.
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The Sims 4 General DiscussionYeah I agree with this, I’m disappointed they made the school so narrowly focused to the US. Even as an Australian (which is very similar to the US in many respects) I found it surprisingly unrelatable.
I kind of wish they had made active schools in previous sims games- this pack felt very much like a first attempt, in a way that university really didn’t (I really like the way university works in TS4, IMHO much better balanced and more flexible than previous versions).
Agreed. though with sports, it would be hard to program a whole sports game event...
Classes are indeed such a missed opportunity. You either attend it and nicely take notes or skip it and try to avoid the principal patrolling the school or otherwise you'll get detention. And then there are also chance cards that are more interesting than classes itself.
If I'd were to design the classes, I'd do like so:
Agreed about part-time jobs. You can either have them early in the morning or at weekends. So additional times would be great.
What is funny is that the same issue was in The Sims 3: teens in after-school activities could only take up part-time job in the Mausoleum due to it being the only job not to go against the time of after-school activities.
Agreed. Though my high school was voluntary (thus little to no bullies in my school), some international element could be there too.
My high school though took the "preparation for university" approach. That meant the following:
- Sometimes we had to study independently. Sometimes the teacher was sick and we were given materials and told to study. Plus there were three days in the whole school year where we studied independently at home (or whereever else besides the school).
- Elective classes. Plus the requirement to take enough classes to graduate.
- Actually free cafeteria food. Though I always opted to go home during lunch to eat there.
- A research/practical project that had to be done during high school years (otherwise you couldn't graduate).
- Guest lectures.
- "Detention" wasn't forced and wasn't there for punishment and to take away some time. Rather, it was voluntary and there to redo a test, whether it was because you were absent or got a bad result (or just wanted to boost your ego by getting a better result).
Though I do understand the approach: I don't exactly know how high schools operate elsewhere myself, so I can only rely on my experience and some snippets of others' experience to build my own in-game high school system.I guess that’s true! Their first time doing the pack. Hopefully they don’t skip the idea in future sims games because I do think it’s a great setting for sims.
I feel like they were focused on gender patch and other UI stuff, a world, the teen lifestage as a whole, the partnership with the boba/thrift thing and with all of that the actual school experience didn’t get the same level of focus that university did.
Would like to see more customisable (non US) schools which you could build in different worlds, and more school staples like gym class, inter school competitions, assemblies, cliques, band camp, paper aeroplanes etc. And an active teaching career!
The errand system from the cottage living could make some fun school drama too. Really feel like pack would be better with more of this and less of boba tea which will probably be out of fashion next year if not already 😁.
Ah, they have done things that used to be in fashion before, like Gangnam Style in The Sims 3 University Life. Unlike that, I like boba tea more.
But that reminds me of another issue this pack has: the fact that children can't use the photo booth, play with football, buy boba tea (they can drink it, but the straw part is missing animation for them, causing them to temporarily stretch out) etc. And in previous games, they could use photo booths and play catch with footballs.
I also used to add pillow fights to the list, but Growing Together solved that one...
Though they can ride the rides in the pier (Love Tunnel excluded), the chance cards coming from them may give adult skills to them (which is no longer an issue due to child skill update).
Like, at least: Study hard, Make friends, Sleep in class, and each would have its own basic animation.
That would have made it more useful.
If I wanted to build relationships with students in the class room I could have them pass notes, signal other sims by pantomiming or whatever, or mouthed out messages. If I wanted my sim to be rested so they can spend time after class in the Bobatea shop with their friends, I could have them nap in class. If these activities lowered their grades I could have them make up for it on other days by studying harder.
Fortunately the classes are short, but I still feel the free time between classes aren't long enough to do the things I like to make them do.
It misses the ability to go with roommates, friends and significant other to the high school.
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The Sims 4 General DiscussionAlso, it's not as if that can be changed in the future. The pier doesn't exist on a lot, so it cannot be easily modified. For example, if a functional carousel, roller coaster, or carnival games arrived in a future pack, they still couldn't be used to liven up the pier.
It makes no sense how the concept was so anticipated, yet, implemented so poorly.
He then wades back out, jogs through his house from back to the front and then is finished. Every single time I send him. And, oh yes, he does look at his phone whilst he jogs. Cos, ya know, five minutes without checking for messages would be way too long.
This!!
I actually really love Copperdale (it's one of my favorite worlds to live in. Others are Newcrest, Brindleton Bay, Willow Creek, and Evergreen Harbor) but the routing issues with the Lake are BAD. And dangerous. If I do choose to play it, I have my sims set up in LaSuli point usually, in a starter bungalow, and the amount of times I've almost lost a sim to freezing due them running into the water has made me not want to live there anymore. It's a huge bummer.
Why the after school clubs are rabbitholes is still a mystery to me. We have literally all of the necessary tools there. Chess tables, computer labs, the cheer mats on the field, the football set up. I will never understand why the didn't go down the DU route and make them active like debate club, etc.. And the track field...to this day the advertising faking a sim running on it irks me. It probably could've been its own object that works, such as the skating rinks, and have a pre-determined routing path. So many missed opportunities. It just really upsets me because this could've been a great pack, possibly one of TS4's best.
I want to love this pack because this game desperately needed teen gameplay to make them more fun, but it really did fall short in the gameplay department for me. It's sucks cause I'm trying to do a generations gameplay to try and have more fun in the game. I really want to enjoy TS4 as a whole, I am trying, but sometimes it falls short because the lack of gameplay/pack integration the packs offer and I get bored, which has never happened with the pervious games for me, so it saddens me a little lol.
Re too little to do at the funfair, I plan to turn the park into a more active part of it all. We need some arriving point anyway, so why not add what the park is missing there. Like a working café, fun activities (horseshoe, dart and more), if built in a dedicated way it might look more mun than those activities actually are, lol.
Anyone?