Feedback on Island Living
I want to start this with saying that I haven't purchased the pack yet, so my perspective is only from seeing trailers and watching LPs and reviews on YouTube. With that said, I am getting the impress...
Forum Discussion
> @bunny-gypsy said:
> Playing more of it, I do feel the packs are not as fleshed out in content, though I still love mermaids.
>
> For me, I would loved seeing the following:
>
> -Seeing Sims swim underwater (I forgot how awesome it was to see my mermaids swimming from all angles and from below!)
> -Underwater lots (I'm starting to miss this!)
> -Babies/toddlers/children having mermaid features (even if it's just scales)
> -Houseboats (man, I really miss this one so bad!)
> -Actual lifeguard career and other careers or jobs that are not rabbitholes
> -Mermaid transformation (ala Sims 3)
> -Mermaids' drowning power not nerfed and is actually dangerous
> -Seeing an actual Kraken (ala Sims 3)
> -Adults playing with toddlers in the water (ala Sims 3)
> -Maybe a bit more activities or games like beach ball or something
>
> I'm glad I got the pack at a reduced price elsewhere. It does feel more gamepack-y, especially if one is to play this world by itself and not travel to other worlds or have other packs to flesh it out. Still, I do not regret buying it (at that reduced price). ^_^
>
> While I do love the pack and feel more engaged with the mermaids in this iteration, I do feel something is missing. I can't quite put my finger on all of the elements, but I remembered there was a bit more content in Sims 3 regarding this theme excluding the mermaids. (Maybe it's also having a bigger ocean and swimming underwater or just having a bigger world overall.)
This. So much this. I would also like to add a suggestion of ideas that I saw somewhere else, in Carl's youtube channel's comment section, by someone nicknamed Elaine:
"I would have loved if they had created an underwater hidden world you could only find as either a High-Level Mermaid ( and yes that means a tier system for mermaids) or with a high enough culture rating ( yes that means a skill for Sulani culture) combined with a High relationship with a dolphin who can take you under to the hidden world. And one of those caves should lead to a shrine to these island elders (for extra spice you can't make it past the text adventure if you have a neutral or good relationship with the spirits - bad relationship could lead to physical harm for trying to enter their shrine). They honestly could have reskinned the oasis spring cave for this. Also, agree with the multiple people I have seen say that lifeguard could and should have been an active job and odd jobs absolutely could have exploited the work from home concept they have developed in 2 different models previously."
That is what I wanted to see. That and your suggestion about actual underwater and ocean gameplay and deeper occult features for mermaids to set them further apart from other Sims.
What is missing is GAMEPLAY. An expansion pack should offer more depth than a simple gamepack. Even Strangerville offered more gameplay, and it was just a Game Pack. The ideas are there. They just need to fully flesh them out, adding truly robust gameplay and immersive environment. But until they do, this "expansion pack" just feels like the watered down version of its Sims 3 counterpart.
This barely qualifies as a Game Pack, and I feel cheated and duped to have bought such a weak game pack at the price of an expansion.
> Playing more of it, I do feel the packs are not as fleshed out in content, though I still love mermaids.
>
> For me, I would loved seeing the following:
>
> -Seeing Sims swim underwater (I forgot how awesome it was to see my mermaids swimming from all angles and from below!)
> -Underwater lots (I'm starting to miss this!)
> -Babies/toddlers/children having mermaid features (even if it's just scales)
> -Houseboats (man, I really miss this one so bad!)
> -Actual lifeguard career and other careers or jobs that are not rabbitholes
> -Mermaid transformation (ala Sims 3)
> -Mermaids' drowning power not nerfed and is actually dangerous
> -Seeing an actual Kraken (ala Sims 3)
> -Adults playing with toddlers in the water (ala Sims 3)
> -Maybe a bit more activities or games like beach ball or something
>
> I'm glad I got the pack at a reduced price elsewhere. It does feel more gamepack-y, especially if one is to play this world by itself and not travel to other worlds or have other packs to flesh it out. Still, I do not regret buying it (at that reduced price). ^_^
>
> While I do love the pack and feel more engaged with the mermaids in this iteration, I do feel something is missing. I can't quite put my finger on all of the elements, but I remembered there was a bit more content in Sims 3 regarding this theme excluding the mermaids. (Maybe it's also having a bigger ocean and swimming underwater or just having a bigger world overall.)
This. So much this. I would also like to add a suggestion of ideas that I saw somewhere else, in Carl's youtube channel's comment section, by someone nicknamed Elaine:
"I would have loved if they had created an underwater hidden world you could only find as either a High-Level Mermaid ( and yes that means a tier system for mermaids) or with a high enough culture rating ( yes that means a skill for Sulani culture) combined with a High relationship with a dolphin who can take you under to the hidden world. And one of those caves should lead to a shrine to these island elders (for extra spice you can't make it past the text adventure if you have a neutral or good relationship with the spirits - bad relationship could lead to physical harm for trying to enter their shrine). They honestly could have reskinned the oasis spring cave for this. Also, agree with the multiple people I have seen say that lifeguard could and should have been an active job and odd jobs absolutely could have exploited the work from home concept they have developed in 2 different models previously."
That is what I wanted to see. That and your suggestion about actual underwater and ocean gameplay and deeper occult features for mermaids to set them further apart from other Sims.
What is missing is GAMEPLAY. An expansion pack should offer more depth than a simple gamepack. Even Strangerville offered more gameplay, and it was just a Game Pack. The ideas are there. They just need to fully flesh them out, adding truly robust gameplay and immersive environment. But until they do, this "expansion pack" just feels like the watered down version of its Sims 3 counterpart.
This barely qualifies as a Game Pack, and I feel cheated and duped to have bought such a weak game pack at the price of an expansion.
