Building apartments

Drats. I was hoping I could make a "fancy" apartment complex like the ones they are building in the real world now a days that have the basic amenities like a gym, club house, pool, park, etc.

"pkboo;15620722" wrote:
Drats. I was hoping I could make a "fancy" apartment complex like the ones they are building in the real world now a days that have the basic amenities like a gym, club house, pool, park, etc.

You aren't alone. Apartments in this game are pretty superficial, and at the end of the day they're nothing more than separate lots surrounded by decoration. There's no specialized, or unique gameplay that's came from the way they were built.

I would have preferred multi-household apartment complexes that could be created from scratch in any world, but Maxis apparently didn't see any appeal or value to that kind of versatility. Probably why their game suffers from so many complaints.

hopefully if enough people complain they will eventually do a patch for it like they did for toddlers

"pkboo;15621943" wrote:
hopefully if enough people complain they will eventually do a patch for it like they did for toddlers

I think the fundamental nature of how they did apartments means that that wouldn't happen: the apartment shell is basically neighbourhood terrain. (It just doesn't say "terrain" when we look at it.) The alternative would have probably been either breaking all our existing households (when now multiple households could live on a lot - I'm not sure how this works, but a SimGuru statement in the Simulation Tech thread indicated that it would be a consequence) or having only one household per apartment building again like in Sims 3. Sims 2 had a whole different tech setup that someone explained for apartments which were also limited; I believe that's also in the Simulation Tech thread. (I love that thread.) So pretty much, they had to pick one limitation or another. I doubt anyone is 100% happy with the result - most of us are ultimately #TeamAllTheThings.

"pkboo;15621943" wrote:
hopefully if enough people complain they will eventually do a patch for it like they did for toddlers

Doubtful. They worked pretty hard to downplay criticism against them. So far no feature from a DLC has been expanded in a free patch, so I doubt that apartments will ever be expanded in that way. Could I see them charging players a second time for apartments? Yeah, yeah I can.

Yeah, I hate the limitation and I avoid CL because it is too limiting as far as layout and building. Sad that a modern game can't best a feature put out by older iterations Imho. The traits for a building to me is an distraction to keep most from seeing the limitation and the traits are limited to the city and can't be used in other neighborhoods so you must move your family to the city to get such features.

"pkboo;15620722" wrote:
Drats. I was hoping I could make a "fancy" apartment complex like the ones they are building in the real world now a days that have the basic amenities like a gym, club house, pool, park, etc.

For that you need Sims2.

"SylvanGlad3;15626035" wrote:

"Goldmoldar;15625296" wrote:
Yeah, I hate the limitation and I avoid CL because it is too limiting as far as layout and building. Sad that a modern game can't best a feature put out by older iterations Imho. The traits for a building to me is an distraction to keep most from seeing the limitation and the traits are limited to the city and can't be used in other neighborhoods so you must move your family to the city to get such features.

You can add traits to lots outside the city, though.

I stand corrected on the trait part and it is nice but to me the game is still limited when it comes to building apts outside of CL or using any tools to edit the neighborhoods or lots sizes and where you want to put them.

The point of apartments is to experience the limitations that they provide, and thus deal with those challenges as you progress your sim.
Honestly using the reason that you can't do everything with apartments that you can with houses as your only excuse to not use City Living is a bit on the lame and spoiled side.
If you don't like being limited with building, that's fine. But there is a lot more to City Living than just that. There is even a house lot in San Myshuno and multiple penthouse apartment lots that do give you more flexibility. I turned one penthouse lot into a spa&gym lot that looks rather fantastic for its location.
Not every expansion pack is for everyone. The same goes with the other packs. I am never going to get the Kids Stuff pack as it doesn't tickle my fancy.
I love City Living. The apartments give a new perspective on the game, and the weekly fair events are fun to visit, and even watch from the apartment.

"Samsonguy9000;15630747" wrote:
The point of apartments is to experience the limitations that they provide, and thus deal with those challenges as you progress your sim.
Honestly using the reason that you can't do everything with apartments that you can with houses as your only excuse to not use City Living is a bit on the lame and spoiled side.
If you don't like being limited with building, that's fine. But there is a lot more to City Living than just that. There is even a house lot in San Myshuno and multiple penthouse apartment lots that do give you more flexibility. I turned one penthouse lot into a spa&gym lot that looks rather fantastic for its location.
Not every expansion pack is for everyone. The same goes with the other packs. I am never going to get the Kids Stuff pack as it doesn't tickle my fancy.
I love City Living. The apartments give a new perspective on the game, and the weekly fair events are fun to visit, and even watch from the apartment.

Previous games allowed players to build their own apartments whenever they wanted. The ones in Sims 4 did not gain any exclusive gameplay for being restrictive, nor does restricting them do anything beyond limit how the player can use them. There's no obstacles, they didn't design them as a way to challenge players, obviously. They were made the way they were because it's clearly easier for the development team to toss some decoration around a tiny lot and call it an apartment versus expanding build mode and creating a fully functional lot type for apartments that the player could utilize. That's the difference here. These things were at no point taken seriously, they concerned themselves way too much with the aesthetics of the world that they ignored expanding the actual game.

Theres plenty of reasons for people to not like CL - checkout the 'why does everyone hate City Living' thread, there's quite a few people in there that make a compelling argument for why the EP disappointed them. You are in no position to make judgements about that, especially if you think it's lazy and spoiled that I expect substance with my purchase. Something you don't find from fake backdrops and locked apartment lots.