Re: Lifestyle Feedback Redux

I love Cottage Living and Cats and Dogs, too. In the starter save I'm setting up (with my favorite households past as townies) SO MANY of them have pets.  If people ask me for must-have packs, I always say Seasons, Cats and Dogs, and Parenthood.

(Yes, I'm an occult player. We're family-oriented occults around here! Even Vlad has kids in my save!)

I love the Strangerville tie-in! I think Strangerville is an underrated pack and love it. Of course, I'm also very fond of Texas and New Mexico (my sister lives in NM). But I love the storyline, and I love the small town west Texas/Four Corners vibe.  Anxious Lifestyle + Paranoid + Strangerville...  :D

And homebody/party animal, yeah, my Sims are homebodies. They do join clubs, but whenever they get those "do you want to hang out tonight?" calls and say yes everyone stands around playing games on their phones because they're fuddy-duddies who have work and school in the morning.  😉

I do know that y'all have Family-Oriented and Hates Children. I just worried that the behavior one would have to engage in to EARN a "hates children" type lifestyle might be too much of a downer? Then again, Mean Sims can "crush dreams" so... maybe I'm just too sentimental, lol. I mean, I made evil Vlad a good parent.  😉  (He can have layers!)

Hmm. Animal themed.  Hmm.  I suppose if your Sims only interact with animals they could earn the Crazy Animal Sim lifestyle, which helps them gain relationships with animals faster (including those birds, rabbits, and wild foxes). What's the opposite of that, though? Allergic?  😉 Running around talking about how unhygienic it is to let animals into your house? 

@xochiquetzl_xkvn , it takes a big person to admit that they might have been wrong on something! While you were certainly right about some Lifestyles being annoying, I'm glad you are now enjoying some of them!  😀

Also, my must have packs (not counting Stuff Packs and Kits) are also Cats & Dogs, Seasons, and Cottage Living!  (I also really love City Living)  My favorite SP is Nifty Knitting, but I knit and crochet in real life (as well as cross-stitch, so I was happy that was included in CotL!)
And almost all  of my Supernatural Sims are also in large families, unless I'm testing something, or doing a Rags to Riches challenge with them, but even then they eventually end up with a family! 

That said, because I test a lot of things , either when we get a new pack, or for some problem on AHQ, I often just have single Sims because if I don't need a family or pets for the test I'm doing, then it is easier to test with just one Sim .  And while packs like Cottage Living are better tested with a family, some packs like Dream Home Decorator, it is easier to test and experiment with just a single Sim. 

Which, @EA_Solaire , means that one of the Lifestyles that I end up having most often is Single & Loving it, which might be fine while testing something, but If I really like that Sim and want them to have a family once the testing is over, it makes it very frustrating! Normally I'm a family player!!! I just sometimes need to strip down my normal gameplay in order to experiment with certain packs or to test something out quickly for AHQ! 😅

After that, with all the testing, my two most often generated Lifestyles are Outdoorsy (because I love gardening and collecting in the game), and Close-Knit!  😀

And I'm all for animal based Lifestyles!!! 🥰🥳

I found I was waaay too impatient for Lifestyles. I tried it for one day and then promptly blew a gasket at my Sim. I couldn't deal with the negative moodlets. I found it too rigid. So with Single and Loving it she got really depressed because someone flirted with her. I can't remember the name of the Lifestyle about being a homebody but she lived next to the slopes and everytime she went skiing or snowboarding she got depressed because she wasn't at home even though she was right next to her house.

If it's improved I might give it another go. I just can't stand it when I see that little blue line appear that means the dreaded sadness moodlet.

It was quite a while ago that I tried it, I think I added Snowy Escape pretty soon after it's release so it was back then. Might be worth another look.

@simsplayer818 , yes, the Lifestyles do seem to be overly sensitive, at least some of them.😓  Even homebodies like to get out every now and then! 😅  I think if you are a homebody and away from your home, you shouldn't feel stressed or depressed until 24 Sim hours are spent away from home.  

Maybe they could be more customisable? With a lifestyle as a heading and then options for us to add exactly what that would mean for our Sim and for us to decide to what degree the Sim would be affected and positive long lasting effects as strong as the negative ones (with less negative ones!)

When I first tried it I couldn't switch it off fast enough!

I keep looking for new ways to challenge my Sims and set my own unwritten rules for them. I think about what they would do and what line they won't cross. I like the Sims that are adventurers but there's a perfect example of where the game trips me up. I get a stuck homesick moodlet when I extend hols or even when they arrive home they stay homesick for 4 hours! My favourite Sims just need a tent and a campfire. If I could create my own Lifestyle I'd have a Sim just as happy in the jungle or Granite Falls but also happy when they land home. Just not completely stopped in their tracks by a sadness moodlet doing either! I'd maybe add a career in there too to inspire them as it usually leads to travel writing or archaeology or a retail lot to sell their collection.

I also love the crafters that make things for retail lots. I've got whole furniture stores of handmade furniture. I've got others with knitted items and loads of flower shops, preserve shops, gift shops but I don't usually open them until I've finished with that Sim. It's for future Sims that aren't crafters. I like to keep them busy. So I'd maybe have rewards from Lifestyles like the celebrity perk that allows them to pull an all nighter or craft quicker and better items, or even unique items for Sims with that Lifestyle.

I like animal loving Sims but again I don't want them to get wiped out by the "missing furry friends" thing. I'd maybe create an animal rescuing Sim with special connections that allow them to connect more easily and heal sick animals. It can be hard to actually speak to some strays as they freeze or trudge off sadly. But if that lifestyle made that Sim some kind of Dr Dolittle?

@simsplayer818 , you have a good example of how I think a lot of people expected Lifesyles to work.... the Sims that love being home and get homesick when they are away from home, should not still be homesick for 4 hours once they return home! 🤨 🙄 I don't know of any homebody that isn't immediately happy to return home in real life! 😀

Also, I love your idea of a Lifestyle that makes animals (both pets and wild animals) be more accepting of you! 🥰 They probably can't use the name Doolittle for the Lifestyle, but it would have been a perfect name for it! 🤣

I always see these features as an interesting way to add more gameplay and I'm all for that. Like lifestyles and neighbourhood stories and new aspirations which I'm always excited to see. But then in practice, I invariably find that they bring with them a ton of negative moodlets that end up actually hampering gameplay.

You want a challenged and busy Sim with an interest that drives them, but instead you get a woeful Sim dragging their feet and orange and blue lines at the bottom left corner, uh oh.

So I'd like to see lifestyles spur them on and focus them rather than be an unhealthy obsession I guess!

Playing on console and cheat free as I am, I'm kind of stuck without being able to mitigate the negative effects. I try all kinds of rewards, potions, remedies, emotion berries to keep them motivated and cheerful but I can't help thinking my goodness I'm virtually medicating pixels, oh and now I'm yelling at pixels, and now I've thrown my controller down in a huff!

@simsplayer818 , yes, it can be hard for players to say exactly what they want out of a game or feature, and even if they manage to do so, that doesn't mean that it will be understood in the way it is intended (kind of like the game of "telephone" or "gossip"! 😅) . And even if players' intents are understood perfectly, that doesn't mean developers can give us exactly what we wish for.  And that is assuming that every player wants the exact thing , which we know isn't true, so developers have to make a decision and it is likely that those who wanted something else will be disappointed! 😓  I do not envy developers !  

The problem with moodlets can be that even if you remedy the situation you are stuck with the moodlet in many cases, such as the homebody who returns home and still feels homesick! 🙃🤦‍♀️😂

Yes! It does seem that many of these lifestyles do seem to lead Sims into unhealthy obsessions if their criteria aren't' met all the time. Family oriented Sims should just seek out family members more often, not be super depressed if their children go to school or spouse goes to work. That isn't reasonable behavior for adults.  That is what a toddler does!  And while the Sims 2 had some of this, it was always really presented in a hilarious manner.  You always had the fail-safe mechanism of the Social Bunny or the Psychiatrist who would pop down from your ceiling and help your Sim to function again! 🤣  (Then again, I'm biased since TS2 is my favorite Sims game! 😳🥰)

I do feel for you playing on console.😭  While I don't use Mods/CC, that is entirely my choice, so I only have myself to blame, and if I change my mind I can just download some Mods and CC in the future.  It is nice to have that safety net!  Hopefully Sony and Microsoft will allow y'all to use Mods/CC one day! 🤞

"and now I've thrown my controller down in a huff!" That sounds like my experience playing TS3 ! 😬 I would bang my mouse and more often bang my fists on my desk! I would be infuriated with the game, so much so that my husband didn't understand why I kept playing it!  
I hope you can hang in and find some magic combo of foods, paintings with mood affects, potions, rewards, etc.! 🤞 And hopefully you will be able to use Mods one day! 🍀