Cats and dogs is kind of worse then I expected.

"jackjack_k;c-16151339" wrote:


The Sims 3 for PC was super lazy. They gave us control, because they skipped giving them personalities. They skipped giving Pets unique quirks. They skipped giving them animations. We got only a handful of animations that didn't come from The Urbz, or The Sims 2 Pet games. 90% of the animations were recycled, with 50% less gameplay.

The only good thing about The Sims 3 Pets were the horses. Because...surprise...the Maxis team said they had to study horses to get their animations and personalities right. The dogs and cats in The Sims 3 pretty much just stood there waiting for me to tell to so something. I rather have them go off and do their own thing.

"@Feet46;c-16151367" wrote:

"jackjack_k;c-16151339" wrote:


The Sims 3 for PC was super lazy. They gave us control, because they skipped giving them personalities. They skipped giving Pets unique quirks. They skipped giving them animations. We got only a handful of animations that didn't come from The Urbz, or The Sims 2 Pet games. 90% of the animations were recycled, with 50% less gameplay.

The only good thing about The Sims 3 Pets were the horses. Because...surprise...the Maxis team said they had to study horses to get their animations and personalities right. The dogs and cats in The Sims 3 pretty much just stood there waiting for me to tell to so something. I rather have them go off and do their own thing.

Exactly. And Horses in The Sims 3 were very average anyway. They didn't look professionally animated.
Still fun, but they clearly didn't have the tech to do them correctly.

"Sk8rblaze;c-16150930" wrote:
I like how they hide the needs and we cannot control them. It adds some challenge, and makes me have to really pay attention to them.

What I don’t like is how we can’t see any information whatsoever. I like being able to see their age and skill progress.

I also agree with that. Suprisingly, I'm fine with not seeing needs. I haven't played yet, but from what I've seen in others' videos, pets' needs aren't so hard to read. They will bring you a bowl, stand in front of the door etc. However, it'd be good to see SOME information, especially if you play more than one household/save. I mean, even in real life you may know (less or more) how skilled is your dog, but you usually don't know that about your friend's dog. My point is, it's easier to track progress of one pet every day in real life, than multiple in the game.

"Pixelsimmer;c-16151211" wrote:

"muzickmage;c-16150889" wrote:

"Pixelsimmer;c-16150757" wrote:

"muzickmage;c-16150299" wrote:
Well, ok. I just spent the last 10 hours checking out the Cats and Dogs EP (my eyes are now a bit buggy... lol). And so far this is my opinion.....

Adding a dog or a cat to your family is the equivalent to having Cassandra Goth spend the weekend.... with the exception that you don't have to put a leash on Cassandra and walk her to the bathroom. (However, she'll still need a cat box in the form of a toilet)

The dog(s), and cat(s) are NPC's.... just like Cassandra. But with both (pets vs Cassandra) you can interact, and do things with.... such as play games. With the dog you can play ball. With the cat you can play laser tag. And with Cassandra, you can play video games.

Sometimes Cassandra may leave and go back to her home. Sometimes, the cat will run away. Maybe the cat goes to Cassandra's (don't know).

The dogs and cats can communicate with you if you ask them what's wrong. Plus their animations can be tell-tale signs of what they would like. Cassandra can knock on your front door to tell you she wants to visit, and she can call you on the phone and invite you to her house, or a party.

You can have relationships with your pets (become friends). You can mess around with Cassandra on the couch.

Maybe it's just me but, Cassandra seems to be much more fun than those cats and dogs.

That's such an oversimplification. But anyway how exactly were cats and dogs different from having Cassandra Goth over in TS2 or TS3? (with the exception that in TS3 you actually cheated to add her to the family and they became another controllable sim?)

You consider it "over simplifying", I call it a fair comparison. And what exactly are you saying. Because of how things were in TS2 and TS3, that we shouldn't expect things to improve? The fact that you can even ask that very question .... "how is it different than TS2, or TS3? ... suggests that there is problem.

It SHOULD be different than TS2 and TS3. Its TS4. There should be improvements. There should be growth.

When I can offer a fair comparison of an NPC in the game to the cats and dogs (when considering gameplay)... that's a problem. When Cassandra Goth from the base game, and a dog from the Cats and Dogs EP seem to be using the exact same UI for gameplay.... when we can put both Cassandra and a dog side by side and see the amazing copy/paste gameplay options.... that's an issue.

ETA:
Grab yourself a dog, and invite Cassandra Goth over for the weekend. When the weekend is over see for yourself the uncanny comparison between the 2 NPC's (Cassandra and dog). Sure, they'll do different things such as the dog will play ball with you and Cassandra will play video games. I don't think Cassandra plays ball, and I doubt the dog will play a video game. But the basics of it all is pretty much the same. They are NPC's whom you interact with, and will do things with you.... each having their own animations. Cassandra however has much more options.

What I'm saying is that you don't have a problem with this TS4 EP in particular. And your point is unfair because you make it look like it's a TS4 specific problem when you still haven't been able to tell how the experience in TS2 or TS3 was any different from "having Cassandra over". My guess is that you just don't like pets expansions rather than the way they're handled in this iteration (which was the point of the thread).

And it's an oversimplification because of course Cassandra "does things" and the dog "does things". But it's different things, it has different effects on my sim and it provides a more depth and immersive gameplay experience for me. And I'm sorry you haven't been able to experience it but I can tell you that dogs behave in a much more realistic manner than NPCs and do the most hilarious things. I'm a dog owner in real life and it really resembles the experience (of course nos I think of it perhaps I should have invited a friend over instead).

You could use your argument for almost everything in the game (and not just TS4 but also previous versions), which proves it's absurd:

- bowling/ playing pool is just an animation and it's no different from playing darts. Why would you want bowling or a pool table? Have your sim play darts with friends because it's no different.

- vampires are no different from human sims, of course a sim and a vampire do some things different, but "The basics are just the same. They're sims who do things and interact with other sims in similar ways." And of course now we have vampires why would you want werewolves? They are pretty much the same as vampires anyway with only some different interactions but the basics are the same. Just play a vampire and pretend is an alien (the same way you can invite over Cassandra and pretend it's a dog?).


And not only that your argument is such an oversimplification that it could also be used for having a dog in real life. I guess it's also the same as moving in with a roommate isn't it? The basics are the same: it's someone who hangs around your house and it's not you. Let's see if it works with your exact words:

"with the exception that you don't have to put a leash on your roomie and walk her to the bathroom. (However, she'll still need a cat box in the form of a toilet)

But with both (pets vs roomie) you can interact, and do things with.... such as play games. With the dog you can play ball. With the cat you can play laser tag. And with tour roomie, you can play video games.

Sometimes your roomie may leave and go back to her home. Sometimes, the cat will run away. Maybe the cat goes to your roomie (don't know).

The dogs and cats can communicate with you if you ask them what's wrong. Plus their animations can be tell-tale signs of what they would like. Your roomie can knock on your door to tell you she wants to visit, and she can call you on the phone and invite you to her house, or a party"

First of all, in a game where we have the existance of talking toilets, teleportation, vampires, alien abductions, and even ideas like male pregnancy - comparing the sims 4 gameplay (in any way) to real life adventures - will most likely just set you up for a failing argument. So in your defense, i'm going to ignore your arguments concerning sims 4 vs real life.

Second, you don't have to play the game for very long to realize that there are major differences between vampire sims, and human sims. Just the vampire abilities alone greatly separate them into a very noticable class of their own. They also have a different type of lifestyle that is somewhat dominant, and difficult to ignore.... such as not going out during the day in vampire form, and "specific food" needed to sustain life existance. I'm pretty sure human sims won't go up in flames if they walk down a street mid afternoon, and i'm also pretty sure they won't die if they don't get their daily fix of red meat.

Now compare the added, and majorly noticable differences the Vampire GP brought to the sims 4 game at $20 to the differences the Cats and Dogs EP brought to the game at $40. Keep in mind that the Vampire GP came with build mode/CAS objects.... and a new world as well.

That leaves the argument (or debate) that the price tag for the C&D EP being double that of the Vampire GP is justified because we were also provided with a vet clinic, and a color wheel/paint mode to achieve the addition of pet characters that are pretty much just Cassandra Goth with fur and a wet nose.

When considering the Vampires GP... its quite easy to build a new stories around these characters. Simply because Vampires are standalone in the sense of being different. Vampires have "gameplay" of their own.....

... Thats the difference between the Vampires GP, and the Cats and Dogs EP. The cats and dogs don't have gameplay of their own. They may have a few cute animations, but that's it. As someone pointed out already, we can't even train they for talent shows.

When adopting a pet isn't much different than simply inviting Cassandra Goth over for the weekend.... maybe we could have saved $40 and just adopted Cassandra instead. We'll definately get more gameplay out of her. We can even build skills for her.

"jackjack_k;c-16151339" wrote:


In my opinion, it goes:

The Sims 2: Pets (console, but is a sandbox like PC) > The Sims 3: Pets (console, but is a sandbox like PC) > The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs > The Sims Pets Stories > The Sims 2: Pets > The Sims 3: Pets > The Sims: Unleashed.

The Sims 3 for PC was super lazy. They gave us control, because they skipped giving them personalities. They skipped giving Pets unique quirks. They skipped giving them animations. We got only a handful of animations that didn't come from The Urbz, or The Sims 2 Pet games. 90% of the animations were recycled, with 50% less gameplay.

In Cats & Dogs, if my Pet is hungry they will bark at their owner. They will bring the dog bowl to them. They will wait near their food bowl.
Sims 3 Pets? Just a thought bubble with a food icon & red needs. Occasional idle animations.

The Sims 2: Pets for console is the best, because there's so much for Cats & Dogs. And there are so many animations for them, and they have incredible personalities. It's so fun just watching them. You can see their stats but they also interact with their owner like in Cats & Dogs.

The Sims 3 Pets for console is so much better. Rather than cheap out and do less with more, the focus was entirely on Cats & Dogs. And the result is amazing. Heaps of exclusive animations over the PC team. Pets have jobs, active careers the whole thing. They don't really interact with their owners like in Cats & Dogs, but there's a lot for them.

Pet Stories is like the Sims 2 Pets, but again has way more stuff from what I feel. Things like exclusive accessories and objects, but also activities and agility courses. The Pets are from Urbz, though.

Sims 2 Pets is like Pet Stories, but with less. Also, borrows too heavily from The Urbz Pets.

& Unleashed is cute but simple.



Cats & Dogs is the first Pets came we've had since The Urbz, that didn't recycle Cats & Dogs from a previous pack. And it really makes the AI of previous Pets show their age. However, the AI and Animation aren't as good as The Sims 2: Pets for console. That team spent a huge budget on those Pets, and they are the best to date.

This is an interesting post.

As someone who has never owned a console, I find it interesting that, according to your posts, the consoles had more to offer in general than the PC counterpart. This is something that also seems to have been borne out in comparison to the PC and the Sims Freeplay for mobiles.

In general, PCs have so much more processing power (that gap is closing, however), yet EA hasn't taken advantage of that. The amount of different interactions in Freeplay is staggering in comparison to the any version of the PC games, for example.

I wish I knew why that is.

I absolutely love this pack. I was very apprehensive about how this would work but I am loving it. In regards to not seeing their needs, we don't see the needs of babies either, but we still take care of them, RIGHT? You try a couple of things until you get it right, except for the dirty diaper, LOL. After you build your parenting skills, then you can see what is wrong and the bubble will pop up. The same thing happens with dogs/cats. Pets were overwhelming for me in Sims 3 so I am thankfully to see this improvement. I also didn't think I would enjoy the Vet Clinic but I like it a lot better than owning a restaurant.

In regards to bugs, please understand this is part of software development. In a perfect world, a team will release a product and everything will go great, but that often doesn't happen. This is why we have iterations (Yes I do this on a daily basis. :) Hopefully there will be a patch soon to fix the issues we are facing. That being said, the only annoying issue I've ran into was the modifyrelationship cheat not working. I have mods, but it seems to be a universal issue and nothing to do with the CC.

"Pamtastic72;c-16148942" wrote:
To be fair, I think a lot of people are having these issues due to mods & cc. My game is stripped down to vanilla, I reset my S4 folder & deleted all cache files and I'm mot having these issues despite my computer being below the new specs for the pack. I miss my mods but for now I'm perfectly content to just explore and enjoy the new content.

Some yes, but def not most. I do NOT use mods and am experiencing most of the bugs on this forum, its REALLY bad. Also, EA doesn't use mods and you can see these same bugs in their livestream.......this pack is COMPLETELY unfinished, no excuse.....none.

not wowed but it's not terrible either. i'm enjoying this pack better than i did TS3 pets. and its primarily for the ability to join owner and pet in activities such as walking, jogging. i haven't played the vet or taken my pet to the vet so i can't speak to that play yet. i'm a player that incorporates a new pack into my current story. I've given some families some cats and dogs but ive yet to see the world of BB yet for myself as there hasn't been a need to go there. eventually i'll pop over and change some things, as i want to use it as a vacation spot for my sims that will not be living there and i plan to play B&B, i simply have to add them into the rotation.

there's been some really cute things, nothing major yet. i gave the neighbor to my main sims a cat. just so happens the neighbor is my main sim's sister. now that the puppy is an adult dog i'm dying to see what happens when the cat and dog meet hehehe. will there be any chasing.

i have to say playing with the puppy was enjoyable enough. constantly taking it out so it wouldn't mess inside was worth it because i received a message saying "the puppy has learned to use the bathroom outside". my toddlers, especially little Willy, wouldn't leave the darn puppy alone. constantly imitating it, cuddling. and it hasn't changed since Mouse aged up to adult. every time i turn around Will is imitating, petting, hugging the dog. Mateo not so much and that's because Willy is always playing with him.

I love the cross pack inclusion (except i'm not sure SM was really thought of) in that my child sim gains responsibility by filling the water bowl. children cannot walk the dog on lease so the trailer definitely used creative and artistic license to give the illusion that the girl child is walking the dog. what i suspect is that she's calling the dog or something. either that or i'm missing how a child sim can walk the dog.

ok i'm off to my next save where i can play with the cat some more and see what they can do

I have to admit the only reason that I got cats and dogs was because I knew at some point the CC would want would depend on me having it. I d did not like it in sims 2, sims 3 and really don't like it in sims 4. They are a lot more work in this game and I just don't want to have to put it in. So...when do we get seasons?

"CalebFillion;c-16152064" wrote:
I have to admit the only reason that I got cats and dogs was because I knew at some point the CC would want would depend on me having it. I d did not like it in sims 2, sims 3 and really don't like it in sims 4. They are a lot more work in this game and I just don't want to have to put it in. So...when do we get seasons?

Wow, I'm speechless. You bought a pack you're not interested in because you think your CC will depend on it? This is a... bad decision.

My actual mods and CC never needed me to have a specific pack to work, only specific patch updates.
Sometimes you might find a house on the gallery that requires you to have Cats & Dogs, but how can that be an actual reason to buy a pack you don't enjoy at all? I'm really speechless :neutral: