Thanks to EA for allowing me early accessI was not particularly excited when this EP was leaked and after it was officially announced and I saw the listed features I was even less excited. EPs for TS4 tend to always come with huge compromises for the player and I thought this would be no exception. At some point after the trailers and the livestream I even thought it might feel emptier than Island Living (which should have been a GP in my and many others opinion).But even with all that, I still came to the pack with an open mind once it was installed. Like with every pack that comes for TS4, I really, trully, want to like it. CASBy now, you have already seen al the CAS in videos and blog posts. CAS has been consistently good for the last couple of years, they make beautiful assets by now and you can tell they got the hang out of it. DU is no exception, CAS is almost perfect. Most of the clothes look so comfy and wearable, textures are great in most cases and the clothes feel "alive". The style is very fitting to the pack and I love to have more basic and simple items in my game for my laidback sims.Kids and toddlers don't get anything which is an unfortunate trend, I would have appreciated at least a t-shirt with the university logos. Also maybe a couple more full outfits for masculine sims would have been nice. I love the new tattoos although some of them are almost inintelligible. Piercings are a good addition to the game and fit in the pack BUT the eyebrow ones are really chunky and don't look good or realistic at all. I really like the nose piercings though. I wonder why they didn't add lip ones and hoops.Here are some of my favourite hairstyles and outfitshttps://i.imgur.com/5aFMSoR.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/BWV9ITA.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/WmtgsKr.jpgMore here:Spoiler (Highlight to read)https://i.imgur.com/ticuwW5.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/CbQCiXG.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/J8oNOuO.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/kiQPp8H.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/ticuwW5.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/CbQCiXG.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/J8oNOuO.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/kiQPp8H.jpg

Build/BuyUnlike Gameplay, Build and Buy mode has been blowing me away for the last couple of years however, this time around it feels short. I like the items that come with the pack, specially the more basic looking stuff. I know I will use them a lot but I can't really say that I am impressed with this pack's BB assets. It's not a bad catalogue but it feels underwhelming when compared with other recent packs. There are some new little items that I love. You can make really cute looking dorms:https://i.imgur.com/XGnpsu0.pngside note: at the moment, the new lamps can't be placed organically on the new desk you see in the picture without the move objects cheats. The gurus are aware and will hopefully fix this soon)I really like that they made dorms as a lot type so we are able to customize them and build them however and wherever we want, that is great! The cooking restriction is very weird and might be the way around they found to some fire hazzard issue. I don't mind really that you "can't" edit the build once you have an active sim living there because it is simply achieved with the cheat bb.enablefreebuildBritechester - The world -Britechester is small and filled with fx and building shells. Aesthetically it feels like a mixture between Winderburg and Willow Creek, it's pretty but very samey and uninspired. https://i.imgur.com/hnyNt2X.pngThe nicest looking neighbourhood is the one where Britechester University is located but everything is set dressing. https://i.imgur.com/k9Zb83r.pngI wish there were more lots to build and less fake unusuable stuff. Here two screenshots, in red the only buildable lot aroundhttps://i.imgur.com/qIYztg0.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/MOjH2yI.png

GameplayI have not had the chance to play for very long until now so this is just scratching the surface.University enrollement I love that you can get rejected and that you can't get into the distinguished degrees easily. I was afraid it would be just like Realm of Magic where you simply travel through the portal and ask a sage to become a spellcaster and that's it, done deal!https://i.imgur.com/OGpIn8G.png(I wish no every sim would get this moodlet though. It could be for ambitious sims only for example)What I don't love is that you can't apply to a specific course or university directly, the application is a general one. Once you get accepted I don't know how you get out of it :D I wanted one of my sims to study computer science in Foxbury and thought that by having level 3 of programming and videogames it should be fine, but it wasn't. That's totally fine, I like a challenge. The problem is that I then was forced to enroll her in another course because I couldn't unapply or cancel. I did so hoping that once she would be enrolled in a different degree I could make her drop out or decide to stop her studies. But I don't know how to do it and now she is stuck. I feel so silly, maybe there is a very easy/obvious way to do it but I can't find it. The UI for university looks messy and is not very intuitive, I wish they would have added it to the Seasons' calendar for Seasons owners and that they would have maybe made a simplified version of said calendar for the people that don't own Seasons. https://i.imgur.com/JCtv78w.pngI have not had the change yet to advance much on any degree so I really can't comment on how this is unfortunately. It feels fuller and more fun than the livestream conveyed, that's for sure. You get homework an dneed to write papers, you also get special objects depending on your degree. You can choose how many classes you take per semester if you wish to make your stay longer you just need to take less classes. I wish we would have 3 lengh settings to choose from though like we do with seasons.Spoiler (Highlight to read)https://i.imgur.com/lJgp97d.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/MHcxzEw.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/lJgp97d.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/MHcxzEw.pngBIKEShttps://i.imgur.com/BlCyi0I.jpgreally pretty surroundings, but it's all fx...Now, this is a sore spot for me. In my opinion, bikes should not have been a part of this EP. Why did they decided to add bikes to the game via a university pack? I really don't understand it. You shouldn't add bikes to the game for Teens+ only, it is just not right. Bikes should have come in a pack about family life or hobbies for example. Parents would teach kids to ride a bike, toddlers would get tricycles and so on. Like this, what they are doing is using resources from a university pack into giving us only half of the bikes. Then I assume further down the line they'll give us the other half. It just doesn't sit right with me at all.Roommates and dormsI love that you can get roommates in your residential lot and that you get to pick them. It is a shame you can't pick the roommies in dorms but that's life I guess. Dorms feel actually really alive and there's always something going on. Some roommates will decide to invite other sims overhttps://i.imgur.com/GV2pi7s.jpgAnd if you lock your sim's dorm room (can't recommend this enough, seriously! and once you are at it, lock your computers too!), roommies will generally hang out in the common areas and be social or do their own stuffhttps://i.imgur.com/CEtBamz.jpgI added a cafeteria to my dorm build because I didn't want my sims to live off microwaved food and the subsequent bad moodlet. What I didn't know is that some roomies bring fancy food like roasted chicken, lobster thermidor, etc very very often. I think it's hilarious but also a very over the top. After only one sim day this is all the extra fancy food that was brought.https://i.imgur.com/JauTD4d.jpgSo, no need for a cafeteria really! :D A little nit picky thing: I wish the instant noodles wouldn't look like the nice ones from City Livinghttps://i.imgur.com/cSFFhk1.jpgPing PongThe ball looks like a disk when you watch your sims play and it doesn't raise the fitness skill nor the relationship of the players between each other (at least I couldn't see). Ping pong only raises your sim's fun slightly. But I like to have it in game, I really do.https://i.imgur.com/Hw7feuz.jpgSoccerSoccer is not really soccer but juggling a ball. Nice addition but don't call it soccer. The rabbit hole for games doesn't help either.https://i.imgur.com/BVt51FD.jpgLaundry in dorms is possible. I have my active sim do it without any issues. I haven't seen any roommate use it but I didn't play in the dorm long enough.Rotational playI am a rotational player and was really concerned about how university would work. Unfortunately, time doesn't stop for anyone and if you have different households with sims enrolled in university. I have 2 households at the moment to test how I could do it. In a dorm I added 3 sims I wanted to send to uni from different households, and then I have a residential lot with 2 other students. For starters I have stopped aging for everyone since I don't want my sims to spend almost all their Young Adult life in university. I haven't had enough time to see the full effect of jumping from one household to another but so far the days go by and they don't go to class or it counts as basic assistance. I am pretty sure they will fail if you don't have them do their homeworks but I can't confirm. I hope between all of us rotational players we find a way around it. ConclusionSo far these are just my first impressions and gameplay wise I feel like I have a lot to explore, which is a good thing because I didn't feel that way after 5 real life hours of Island Living. I am going out of town for 4 days now and won't be able to play on the weekend, I actually can't wait to explore the EP more, again, a really good sign! I am definitely more positive than I was before getting my hands on it. I am sorry I can't give a more detailed gameplay review but I have only played for a few hours, real life gets in the way sometimes.Thanks for reading!

Looking forward to read your gameplay reviews. I would like to know how it works for the rotational play. I'm kinda worried if it's going to affect my rotation.

Thank you for your review. I will check again for the gameplay part of the review.I always prefer written reviews to videos.

Thank you for the review. I always look forward to them. I much prefer a written review to a video to. I’m cautiously optimistic for this pack.

Discover University - Early Access - My first honest impressions

AlbaWaterhouse
6 years ago
Build/Buy

Unlike Gameplay, Build and Buy mode has been blowing me away for the last couple of years however, this time around it feels short.
I like the items that come with the pack, specially the more basic looking stuff. I know I will use them a lot but I can't really say that I am impressed with this pack's BB assets. It's not a bad catalogue but it feels underwhelming when compared with other recent packs.

There are some new little items that I love. You can make really cute looking dorms:

https://i.imgur.com/XGnpsu0.png
side note: at the moment, the new lamps can't be placed organically on the new desk you see in the picture without the move objects cheats. The gurus are aware and will hopefully fix this soon)

I really like that they made dorms as a lot type so we are able to customize them and build them however and wherever we want, that is great!
The cooking restriction is very weird and might be the way around they found to some fire hazzard issue.
I don't mind really that you "can't" edit the build once you have an active sim living there because it is simply achieved with the cheat bb.enablefreebuild

Britechester - The world -

Britechester is small and filled with fx and building shells. Aesthetically it feels like a mixture between Winderburg and Willow Creek, it's pretty but very samey and uninspired.

https://i.imgur.com/hnyNt2X.png

The nicest looking neighbourhood is the one where Britechester University is located but everything is set dressing.

https://i.imgur.com/k9Zb83r.png

I wish there were more lots to build and less fake unusuable stuff.

Here two screenshots, in red the only buildable lot around

https://i.imgur.com/qIYztg0.png
https://i.imgur.com/MOjH2yI.png
AlbaWaterhouse
6 years ago
Gameplay

I have not had the chance to play for very long until now so this is just scratching the surface.

University enrollement

I love that you can get rejected and that you can't get into the distinguished degrees easily. I was afraid it would be just like Realm of Magic where you simply travel through the portal and ask a sage to become a spellcaster and that's it, done deal!

https://i.imgur.com/OGpIn8G.png
(I wish no every sim would get this moodlet though. It could be for ambitious sims only for example)

What I don't love is that you can't apply to a specific course or university directly, the application is a general one.

Once you get accepted I don't know how you get out of it :D
I wanted one of my sims to study computer science in Foxbury and thought that by having level 3 of programming and videogames it should be fine, but it wasn't. That's totally fine, I like a challenge. The problem is that I then was forced to enroll her in another course because I couldn't unapply or cancel. I did so hoping that once she would be enrolled in a different degree I could make her drop out or decide to stop her studies. But I don't know how to do it and now she is stuck. I feel so silly, maybe there is a very easy/obvious way to do it but I can't find it.

The UI for university looks messy and is not very intuitive, I wish they would have added it to the Seasons' calendar for Seasons owners and that they would have maybe made a simplified version of said calendar for the people that don't own Seasons.

https://i.imgur.com/JCtv78w.png

I have not had the change yet to advance much on any degree so I really can't comment on how this is unfortunately. It feels fuller and more fun than the livestream conveyed, that's for sure.
You get homework an dneed to write papers, you also get special objects depending on your degree. You can choose how many classes you take per semester if you wish to make your stay longer you just need to take less classes. I wish we would have 3 lengh settings to choose from though like we do with seasons.

Spoiler

https://i.imgur.com/lJgp97d.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MHcxzEw.png

BIKES

https://i.imgur.com/BlCyi0I.jpg
really pretty surroundings, but it's all fx...

Now, this is a sore spot for me.
In my opinion, bikes should not have been a part of this EP. Why did they decided to add bikes to the game via a university pack? I really don't understand it. You shouldn't add bikes to the game for Teens+ only, it is just not right. Bikes should have come in a pack about family life or hobbies for example. Parents would teach kids to ride a bike, toddlers would get tricycles and so on. Like this, what they are doing is using resources from a university pack into giving us only half of the bikes. Then I assume further down the line they'll give us the other half. It just doesn't sit right with me at all.

Roommates and dorms

I love that you can get roommates in your residential lot and that you get to pick them. It is a shame you can't pick the roommies in dorms but that's life I guess.

Dorms feel actually really alive and there's always something going on. Some roommates will decide to invite other sims over

https://i.imgur.com/GV2pi7s.jpg

And if you lock your sim's dorm room (can't recommend this enough, seriously! and once you are at it, lock your computers too!), roommies will generally hang out in the common areas and be social or do their own stuff

https://i.imgur.com/CEtBamz.jpg

I added a cafeteria to my dorm build because I didn't want my sims to live off microwaved food and the subsequent bad moodlet. What I didn't know is that some roomies bring fancy food like roasted chicken, lobster thermidor, etc very very often. I think it's hilarious but also a very over the top. After only one sim day this is all the extra fancy food that was brought.

https://i.imgur.com/JauTD4d.jpg
So, no need for a cafeteria really! :D

A little nit picky thing: I wish the instant noodles wouldn't look like the nice ones from City Living
https://i.imgur.com/cSFFhk1.jpg

Ping Pong

The ball looks like a disk when you watch your sims play and it doesn't raise the fitness skill nor the relationship of the players between each other (at least I couldn't see). Ping pong only raises your sim's fun slightly. But I like to have it in game, I really do.
https://i.imgur.com/Hw7feuz.jpg

Soccer

Soccer is not really soccer but juggling a ball. Nice addition but don't call it soccer. The rabbit hole for games doesn't help either.
https://i.imgur.com/BVt51FD.jpg

Laundry in dorms is possible. I have my active sim do it without any issues. I haven't seen any roommate use it but I didn't play in the dorm long enough.

Rotational play

I am a rotational player and was really concerned about how university would work.
Unfortunately, time doesn't stop for anyone and if you have different households with sims enrolled in university. I have 2 households at the moment to test how I could do it. In a dorm I added 3 sims I wanted to send to uni from different households, and then I have a residential lot with 2 other students.
For starters I have stopped aging for everyone since I don't want my sims to spend almost all their Young Adult life in university.
I haven't had enough time to see the full effect of jumping from one household to another but so far the days go by and they don't go to class or it counts as basic assistance. I am pretty sure they will fail if you don't have them do their homeworks but I can't confirm.
I hope between all of us rotational players we find a way around it.

Conclusion

So far these are just my first impressions and gameplay wise I feel like I have a lot to explore, which is a good thing because I didn't feel that way after 5 real life hours of Island Living. I am going out of town for 4 days now and won't be able to play on the weekend, I actually can't wait to explore the EP more, again, a really good sign!
I am definitely more positive than I was before getting my hands on it. I am sorry I can't give a more detailed gameplay review but I have only played for a few hours, real life gets in the way sometimes.

Thanks for reading!
x4m1r4
6 years ago
Looking forward to read your gameplay reviews. I would like to know how it works for the rotational play. I'm kinda worried if it's going to affect my rotation.
atreya33
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
Thank you for your review. I will check again for the gameplay part of the review.
I always prefer written reviews to videos.
MidnightAura86
New Spectator
6 years ago
Thank you for the review. I always look forward to them. I much prefer a written review to a video to. I’m cautiously optimistic for this pack.
alan650
New Spectator
6 years ago
"xamira99;c-17312500" wrote:
Looking forward to read your gameplay reviews. I would like to know how it works for the rotational play. I'm kinda worried if it's going to affect my rotation.

Very good point! I wonder how that works too! If I have 2 different households with college students and go and play another one for a week, is my other sim going to magically be frozen at same state as he/she was when I left? I am very curious how that works.
desertflower198
6 years ago
Thank you for your honest review, look forward to the game tomorrow!
Babykittyjade
Rising Observer
6 years ago
You just added to my excitement. Nice review! ?
Cerimonster
6 years ago
Thank you for sharing your review! This isn't a theme I'm very excited about, so I haven't ordered it yet. It's only the second EP that I haven't placed on pre-ordered. It was nice to read a review from a simmer who is coming at this pack from the same perspective that I am. This was very helpful, thank you!
LiELF
Seasoned Veteran
6 years ago
Thanks for reviewing! :)

I'm also a rotational player and this has been my concern as well. I'm planning to experiment this weekend to see what happens when having students in dorms at both Universities at the same time. I know it's not going to play out the same as Sims 2, but I'm hoping to find a good flow for Sims 4 once I'm used to it.

Enjoy your time away! :)