Are Game Packs Dead?

With the sentiment here, the upcoming roadmap would be a great time to announce a future occult/fantasy based game pack. Bit of a stretch, but here's hoping that Grim Reaper career that appeared in a survey comes to light.

I really really hope not. Sims 4 game packs are the only thing left that still gives us whimsical fun and fantasical adventures.

The Sims has always been "weird" and "innovative" and I hope it continues to be as such, otherwise the game will lose its original unique charm. It's that kooky fun and weirdness that set it apart from all other life simulation games, past and present, for these 20+ years.

Take that away and all you'll have left is a dolly dress-up game. And as much fun as dolly dress-up games can be sometimes (not admitting anything here *cough*), I think it's safe to say that none of us want to see The Sims end up as just another one of those generic boring life simulation games.... eat, put on lipstick, flirt with neighbour, stare at cell phone, sleep. *yawns loudly*

/yodaspeak
"Dull and drab, oober realism makes."
/endyodaspeak

:neutral:

I can’t imagine that they’d be dead, at least not until fairies are released. Nearly every occult has had their own pack, so either game packs are dead and we’re not getting fairies (unlikely since everyone has been clamoring for them), or there will at least be one more game pack for fairies.

The only way I see fairies not being a game pack, is if they tack them onto a random expansion, like mermaids and aliens, or if they make an expansion with a random assortment of occults, like fairies, zombies, etc.

And also, I just hope they’re not dead. I love game packs because they’re often very direct with what you get and offer a decent amount of gameplay for their price. Honestly, I’d say aside from Wedding Stories, all the game packs have been a success and worth the money.

"Eleri;c-18311815" wrote:

"GrumpyGlowfish;c-18311689" wrote:
Oh, GPs still exist. They're just called EPs now (Growing Together, Horse Ranch).

@GrumpyGlowfish I don't agree that Growing Together is a GP. I think it's actually one of the most complex EPs we've ever had. I have a pet theory that people who think Growing Together is GP-level never played infants without it and assume that most of the infant-related game play that Growing Together added was part of the base game update. You can correct me if I'm wrong.
They had to add the infant life stage to base game, because they had promised not to release anymore DLC of DLC. If infants weren't in base game, they couldn't add additional content for them to other DLC. At the same time, base game infants are an extremely shallow feature. They don't develop skills or abilities, there are not many interactions adults can have with them other than attending to their basic needs. Aside from the crib and a few decorative items, there aren't many items specifically for them, although they can use toddler toys.
Now there's a lot of other content that comes with Growing Together, but if a person mistakenly thinks that most of the infant game play was patched into base game, it'll make that EP seem lighter weight than it really is.

Alright, let me correct you then, even if it will lead me a little bit off topic. I'm only going to speak for myself, of course, everybody else is entitled to their own opinion.

I do in fact play infants without Growing Together because I absolutely refuse to buy that pack until it’s at least 50% off. Not because it’s bad or anything, I'll get to my reasons in a second, but first of all, I think it’s the epitome of rudeness and greed on EA's part to release a feature like infants that is completely useless and, as you said, shallow without paid DLC. I don’t own the Toddler stuff pack either, but I don’t need to because that life stage is fully functional without it. Infants, not so much. Without Growing Together, all the stuff it comes with for them, and especially the milestone system, they're just smaller toddlers who can’t even learn skills.

And that leads me to the reason I don’t want to spend money on this pack. I was actually being generous when I called it a GP pretending to be an EP. In reality, I think many of its features should have come as base game updates. No, I'm not one of those people who want everything for free, but things like a compatibility system, having guests staying over for a while, and probably the only semblance of a memory system we're ever going to get in this game really shouldn’t be hidden behind a paywall. Just like infants, those are things future packs could have expanded on. You might argue that at least it also comes with a new world, but even that world looks like base game Willow Creek 2.0 and offers nothing that you can’t have or do elsewhere.

So in my mind, if I strip Growing Together of all the features that should have been free, what remains? A boring world and a midlife crisis feature. And that thought disappoints and frustrates me so much that I can’t bring myself to buy it, even though I could really use a lot of its content.

I'd say game packs are alive and well we just sometimes call them expansions now if they toss in wine making. Expansions use to mean a broad theme in which a subject is fleshed out in multiple aspects while game packs meant a smaller dedicated theme like a single occult or a horse.

"RapidRabidRabbit;c-18311870" wrote:
I can’t imagine that they’d be dead, at least not until fairies are released. Nearly every occult has had their own pack, so either game packs are dead and we’re not getting fairies (unlikely since everyone has been clamoring for them), or there will at least be one more game pack for fairies.

The only way I see fairies not being a game pack, is if they tack them onto a random expansion, like mermaids and aliens, or if they make an expansion with a random assortment of occults, like fairies, zombies, etc.

And also, I just hope they’re not dead. I love game packs because they’re often very direct with what you get and offer a decent amount of gameplay for their price. Honestly, I’d say aside from Wedding Stories, all the game packs have been a success and worth the money.

The occults have more functions when they're coming from a GP. Vampires, spellcasters and werewolves are coming from GP so they are having their skill tree.
The occults included in EPs are not having skill trees.
If fairies is going to include in an EP, I'll cry :'(

"Eleri;c-18311815" wrote:

"GrumpyGlowfish;c-18311689" wrote:
Oh, GPs still exist. They're just called EPs now (Growing Together, Horse Ranch).

@GrumpyGlowfish I don't agree that Growing Together is a GP. I think it's actually one of the most complex EPs we've ever had. I have a pet theory that people who think Growing Together is GP-level never played infants without it and assume that most of the infant-related game play that Growing Together added was part of the base game update. You can correct me if I'm wrong.
They had to add the infant life stage to base game, because they had promised not to release anymore DLC of DLC. If infants weren't in base game, they couldn't add additional content for them to other DLC. At the same time, base game infants are an extremely shallow feature. They don't develop skills or abilities, there are not many interactions adults can have with them other than attending to their basic needs. Aside from the crib and a few decorative items, there aren't many items specifically for them, although they can use toddler toys.
Now there's a lot of other content that comes with Growing Together, but if a person mistakenly thinks that most of the infant game play was patched into base game, it'll make that EP seem lighter weight than it really is. Getting back to the main topic, I'm not, at this point, concerned that proper EPs are going away, I just think they'll alternate them with gamespansion packs, instead of alternating them with Game Packs.

"cyncie;c-18311735" wrote:
if they’re planning to continue TS4 alongside Renee, GPS and Stuff Packs might actually become more common than EPS because of the development requirements.

@cyncie I can definitely see this happening down the road if they stick with the GP series. On the other hand, if they take GP-level topics, pad them with a few fluff features and release them as an EP, that might reduce the concern about development requirements. Let's take Fairies as example. Suppose we have fairies + a rejiggering of the Romantic Garden wishing well + a ballet skill (cause Sugar Plum Fairy). Voila! An EP!

OK. I am positive GPs will return. BTW Maxis never even implied that SPs were dead, either, so I do not understand this hysteria about no GPs this year at all. I wish I wouldn't need to convince everyone here all the time about this game, it should be Maxis' responsibility. I will ask from a reliable source if the GPs will return as soon as possible, so I may let everyone know here. <3

EDIT: according to my very reliable source, Game Packs are NOT dead. So expect more coming probably in 2024.

"LJK;c-18311839" wrote:
With the sentiment here, the upcoming roadmap would be a great time to announce a future occult/fantasy based game pack. Bit of a stretch, but here's hoping that Grim Reaper career that appeared in a survey comes to light.

They already revealed the roadmap for the rest of the year, hopefully Grim Reaper GP is coming early 2024 :)

"Horrorgirl6;c-18311645" wrote:
Can we stop saying horse ranch was game pack? I mean it was not 40.00 dollars,but definatly had more stuff than a game pack.

Thank you for saying this! Also Growing Together had way more content than a GP, too.

"ULIBABA66;c-18311920" wrote:

"Horrorgirl6;c-18311645" wrote:
Can we stop saying horse ranch was game pack? I mean it was not 40.00 dollars,but definatly had more stuff than a game pack.

Thank you for saying this! Also Growing Together had way more content than a GP, too.

Yeah there was also a lot of content.I don't think milestones or compabilaty needed to be in base game.