Would you buy a “Shopping Mall” GamePack?

"Dannydanbo;c-16596345" wrote:


The emboldened text is not assumptions, it is, however, based on my own experience and how retail works in this game.

I tried building a huge department store with three levels and setting many things for sale. The slowness of the checkout process along with the large store size and distance clerks needed to travel, it simply didn't work. The retail system is set up for shops, not departments stores or malls.

As for loading screens, in this version, a loading screen is needed to go from one lot to another. That's just a fact and not going to change in this version. It doesn't matter what we could or couldn't do in S2 and S3, this is S4 and completely different. If, after four years that's not apparent, then it never will be.

All this is mute because, as I said, retail in not the game barn burner they would have hoped it would be, so I don't see them recreating it to please the very few that use it.

Again, all assumptions. There are multi-story houses and venues in the game that do not require loading screens. A shopping mall needn't be any different.

You're basing your assumptions on the way that things function today. It is not a certainty that, that is how they will function tomorrow.

As I've already mentioned, the way that retail works now is slow by design. Store owners are forced to shmooze with customers and then ring them out with a tablet. The community has been asking for this to be changed and to re-introduce registers where Sims can queue up and be checked out that way. There can be registers on each floor or in each department. The Sims need only go to the one that's closest. (ETA: ) Better yet, why not have specialty registers like they did in TS3? That would ensure that customers of a particular type of store will use the register in that store.

As for lag, that all depends on a person's computer. If a large, content-heavy lot lags for someone, they shouldn't use it -- choose something smaller. However, if someone else can make use of it and enjoy it, why limit them with the lowest common denominator?

Finally, wasn't it one of the gurus who said that nothing was really impossible? If they want to create shopping malls, they will.

"drake_mccarty;c-16596540" wrote:


...In general the game needs some multipurpose lots. A lot type where you can merge the functions of 2-4 different lot types. This would benefit retail by adding in a better format for mall making.

Exactly this. Shopping malls are basically multi-function lots. I used to make them in TS2 and TS3. There were retail spots, but there were also other activities such as bowling and restaurants -- just like a real mall, actually.

I look forward to something like that for the simple benefit that multi-function lots will free up more space for other things.