Chestnut Ridge World Discussion

"arleta;c-18288699" wrote:
It is really annoying how people are happy that the world looks pretty. I’m sorry but that is nonsense. That is all this game has going for it. It’s like a vapid pretty shell. The best world that was created recently was for the werewolf pack (they added some world related things. Don’t get me wrong it’s not great but it’s something)and then they went back into the bare minimum effort. San sequoia is such a trash world. I find it ugly and pointless. I don’t care if it was us, Europe or Asia. I care about gameplay and what it has to offer. Looking at something isn’t much in terms of gameplay. There is absolutely no life in it. It’s a shell of a world. There is nothing to do in it. Nothing is interactive (the movie theater would be nice if that neighborhood was more fun). It’s not worth walking around it or visiting. There is nothing exciting about almost all of these Sims 4 worlds. Scroll with your camera. You are done. No gameplay added. I wish they put 10% of the effort from Sims 3 world building. These worlds in Sims 4 feel like a plastic version of the real thing. They are pretty but this is a game. Add something to actually do in them. Here is why I like snowy escape. The pack is ok but the world has some interaction to it. You can interact with the slopes, climbing walls. Hiking is great to actually have a group stay together. It was fun exploring it and it’s still wasn’t a fraction of what sims 3 did. But, it was a start. It doesn’t have to be full open world but stop making these lifeless shells. Look at the content in this pack. They put no effort into it. It’s like they used the entire budget on horses and went here are some horses choke on them. As for the rest take content from previous packs slightly move a hair or shirt length and pretend it’s new. And people just eat it up. You have cc creators coming up with new content all the time. Better more interesting content. Just pay one of them to do content for your pack. You have the budget. It probably would be cheaper. I feel they can just get away with this boring minimum because people’s expectations are very low at this point. Wedding stories doesn’t even work and they didn’t even bother to fix it while simultaneously still selling it at full price. So far I am not impressed with this pack. The buy content leaked and it’s terrible. It lack’s imagination. Hair and clothes are just rehashed content from other packs. The world looks pretty but nothing in the trailer indicated it will be anything but a mock-up. It’s like a sitcom set. So what it’s pretty. And people are so excited. Why? So you can look at it. Its a game. Isn’t the point to play in it? These worlds have no playability. You scaled the open world and butchered content. Add something interactive or surprising or interesting. Something that would make me want to click on things and discover things in the world. You know play a game. Not just look at colors like a mindless bird. They just slap on new lifeless content and rehashed content parading as new in a lifeless world. So far I see the entire effort going into creating horses and focused on animation for that. So far I see another shallow pack. Just another lair that sits on other lairs that has no cross interactivity with other packs and a world that is just there to look pretty. I actually love the idea of American West.and I don’t care if it’s another USA world or Asian inspired or what ever. I want it to be more interesting. But I haven’t seen anything in the trailer that suggests that this world is anything but pretty and lacking in depth. Remember when you could collect things in the world but they never bothered to put those collections into gameplay. Like collect some shells and do nothing with them. It’s like slap this addition that leads to nothing at all. Now they don’t even bother making collections at all. So far not impressed.

I haven’t explored San Sequoia much yet, but I think I read that off the warf you can see whales and the sea monster Emily sometimes. If that is true, I think that is kind of cool. I just moved a family over there to check it out. I have also seen a couple people mention that there are a few plants around San Sequoia too that can be harvested. There is also a lake you can fish at, another lake that you can swim in, besides the walking trails. I would have liked a non rabbit hole theatre….. I still hope for one sometime. But I am happy we got a world. Seasons didn’t even come with a world. And with San Sequoia we got a lot of game play with family dynamics and likes and dislikes

"arleta;c-18288720" wrote:

"Katofhyrule12;c-18287906" wrote:

"Simmerville;c-18287764" wrote:
Expecting a glowing Judith Ward to show up on every corner to break the western feel... :neutral: With some luck she will be joined by Nancy Landgraab.

I wish I could turn her off as easily as werewolves.

I wouldn’t mind werewolves so much if they changed back into human form. It seems that all my werewolves are stuck in wolf form never to return to their human alter version. My enrage wolves just never release rage and EA is pretending it’s not a problem.

Has this been mentioned on AHQ?

"simgirl1010;c-18288705" wrote:
Another day and we'll get to see the world in the Livestream! I'm really excited to see all of Chestnut Ridge.

"simgirl1010;c-18288705" wrote:
Another day and we'll get to see the world in the Livestream! I'm really excited to see all of Chestnut Ridge.

I hope they show some swimmable locations and the cave.

"SheriSim57;c-18288835" wrote:

"arleta;c-18288699" wrote:
It is really annoying how people are happy that the world looks pretty. I’m sorry but that is nonsense. That is all this game has going for it. It’s like a vapid pretty shell. The best world that was created recently was for the werewolf pack (they added some world related things. Don’t get me wrong it’s not great but it’s something)and then they went back into the bare minimum effort. San sequoia is such a trash world. I find it ugly and pointless. I don’t care if it was us, Europe or Asia. I care about gameplay and what it has to offer. Looking at something isn’t much in terms of gameplay. There is absolutely no life in it. It’s a shell of a world. There is nothing to do in it. Nothing is interactive (the movie theater would be nice if that neighborhood was more fun). It’s not worth walking around it or visiting. There is nothing exciting about almost all of these Sims 4 worlds. Scroll with your camera. You are done. No gameplay added. I wish they put 10% of the effort from Sims 3 world building. These worlds in Sims 4 feel like a plastic version of the real thing. They are pretty but this is a game. Add something to actually do in them. Here is why I like snowy escape. The pack is ok but the world has some interaction to it. You can interact with the slopes, climbing walls. Hiking is great to actually have a group stay together. It was fun exploring it and it’s still wasn’t a fraction of what sims 3 did. But, it was a start. It doesn’t have to be full open world but stop making these lifeless shells. Look at the content in this pack. They put no effort into it. It’s like they used the entire budget on horses and went here are some horses choke on them. As for the rest take content from previous packs slightly move a hair or shirt length and pretend it’s new. And people just eat it up. You have cc creators coming up with new content all the time. Better more interesting content. Just pay one of them to do content for your pack. You have the budget. It probably would be cheaper. I feel they can just get away with this boring minimum because people’s expectations are very low at this point. Wedding stories doesn’t even work and they didn’t even bother to fix it while simultaneously still selling it at full price. So far I am not impressed with this pack. The buy content leaked and it’s terrible. It lack’s imagination. Hair and clothes are just rehashed content from other packs. The world looks pretty but nothing in the trailer indicated it will be anything but a mock-up. It’s like a sitcom set. So what it’s pretty. And people are so excited. Why? So you can look at it. Its a game. Isn’t the point to play in it? These worlds have no playability. You scaled the open world and butchered content. Add something interactive or surprising or interesting. Something that would make me want to click on things and discover things in the world. You know play a game. Not just look at colors like a mindless bird. They just slap on new lifeless content and rehashed content parading as new in a lifeless world. So far I see the entire effort going into creating horses and focused on animation for that. So far I see another shallow pack. Just another lair that sits on other lairs that has no cross interactivity with other packs and a world that is just there to look pretty. I actually love the idea of American West.and I don’t care if it’s another USA world or Asian inspired or what ever. I want it to be more interesting. But I haven’t seen anything in the trailer that suggests that this world is anything but pretty and lacking in depth. Remember when you could collect things in the world but they never bothered to put those collections into gameplay. Like collect some shells and do nothing with them. It’s like slap this addition that leads to nothing at all. Now they don’t even bother making collections at all. So far not impressed.

I haven’t explored San Sequoia much yet, but I think I read that off the warf you can see whales and the sea monster Emily sometimes. If that is true, I think that is kind of cool. I just moved a family over there to check it out. I have also seen a couple people mention that there are a few plants around San Sequoia too that can be harvested. There is also a lake you can fish at, another lake that you can swim in, besides the walking trails. I would have liked a non rabbit hole theatre….. I still hope for one sometime. But I am happy we got a world. Seasons didn’t even come with a world. And with San Sequoia we got a lot of game play with family dynamics and likes and dislikes

Yes Emily is in SS. SS also has many sharks and even an alligator.

San Sequoia gets a lot of hate but I actually love playing in this world. I've replaced the majority of the lots with community lots each full of things to do. My world never feels dead.
I'm excited for chestnut Ridge and I love how beautiful it is. Hopefully we get some large lots in the world.

@arleta, a great many people have said something similar, so you are not alone in your feelings and we all get that. However, other people have a different outlook. Would you be interested in seeing this upcoming world through my eyes? I will give you that opportunity if you care to know: I played horses in Sims 3 in every new game I made. Riding around the world on a horse relaxed me, helped me appreciate each world's unique look and feel, and connected me to the game in a very special way. I really miss it in Sims 4. So getting that back is a monumental thing for me. I won't choke on horses. I will enjoy every single moment.

I will share another way of looking at "boring" worlds -- they are a clean slate to populate with really interesting lots of your own creation. For instance, I turned Oasis Springs into a sci fi world my sims can live in rather than just visit. I made my own unique theme lots, populated the world with sci fi sims, put the characters I wanted from Oasis Springs into totally new surroundings, and made story lines for them about how they ended up in a sci fi world.

In short, I had a great time in a world that would otherwise have held little interest for me. I made my own fun. Imagination can do that for you. Challenge yourself to provide your own entertainment, if this game is not entertaining enough on its own, using the game as a springboard to fun right out of your own imagination.

I see each new pack or kit as a catalyst with new bits and pieces to add to the plethora of things I already have in my game. Each one adds a bit of richness to the experience. Some are more useful to me than others, but ALL of them add something new. To me, that is exciting. (The only kits I have left behind are some CAS things that have no place in my worlds, and the vacuum kit, because I hate vacuuming.)

Besides the horses, this expansion is going to add so much that I have been wanting and missing in my game. I am really excited.

For instance, I made my own sheep in Sims 3, but they were really dogs and acted like them. To have real sheep, even mini sheep, will be so wonderful. I also have a zoo lot with goat-dogs and donkey-dogs, along with desert foxes, desert type cats, and so forth. The mini goats will go great in that zoo. And I am going to see if I can get a horse to look donkey-like. If I cannot make it happen, I am sure some really talented person will, and then I can download their creation from the gallery. My zoo lot is going to be much better.

For me, every new item in build mode means much more interesting lots. I will have fun building new, and redoing old, with all the new content. I am looking forward to that.

Every penny of the cost of a new expansion will go the distance in my game. Well worth it to me. I have eagerly pre-ordered.

@amjoie beautiful perspective! And that to me is what the sims is all about. We sort of provide our own entertainment just as you said, regardless of which sims game it is. It's all in how you look at it and how you use the content provided.❤
I'm happy you will finally be getting REAL goats and sheep to add to your animal collection.

@amjoie, I'll admit I was also low-key wondering what all the fuss is about the scenery. I appreciate a nice Sulani sunset of course, but my sims mainly hop from lot to lot; I hardly bother wandering around the worlds much because they seem boring. But that's a really enlightening explanation. It kind of makes me want to put my sim on her woefully neglected bike and actually go exploring. Thanks!

Just bumping this discussion to make it easier to find, since I know it's going to explode in a couple of hours. :)

I hope we can take sims hiking in Chestnut Ridge.

I like the map. It looks like we have some big lots but also small ones (which doesn’t really make sense to me because for a Ranch EP, I’d expect nothing under 40x30, but ok).

I counted 13 lots, which is not a lot, but I could be wrong.