Feedback: Updated Gardening System

"Terra;c-16579335" wrote:

"agustd;c-16578901" wrote:
I actually like the new system.

Yes, it's a lot more work than before, less money, more things to take into consideration when creating a garden - but isn't that what this game needs? Isn't that the complexity everyone misses in TS4?

Seasonal plants just make sense when seasons exist. Again, I will say, this is one of the little complex touches that make the game realistic. All I see is people complaining that 4 is too easy, things rarely make sense and generally there isn't much thought put into the features we're getting. Now that they actually re-worked a feature to function more realistically and give players some actual challenge, people are displeased...?

I didn't like the way gardening functioned before. It gave you way too much money and would make your sim rich so quickly I didn't even know what to do with all that money.

I'm tired of sloppy gameplay of TS4 and to me the gardening change is a move in the right direction. I understand it's a game, but games are about the challenge of achieving your goals. How is it fun to get your garden to be perfect in a few sim days?

I agree! Gardening felt over-powered to me before. However, I will say that it is a bit annoying when you can't complete the Gardening career task for the day, or it costs your Sim extra money to do so (for example, buying a seed packet is a requirement for the career, which my Sim only rolled after I'd bought loads of seed packets and planted a full garden to prepare her for her new career).

Since the system is new, we can hope they'll be tweaking and perfecting it in future patches. I play with aging switched off and age my sims when I feel that they're "ready" so I have plenty of time to complete all the gardening related goals and job tasks but people who play with aging, especially the shorter lifespans should be able to enjoy gardening too.

One thing I'm thankful for is that we don't have to roam the world in search of some of the rarer plants anymore. Since the world isn't open and the plants in other towns only grow when your sim is present there it was a true nightmare! Now, that is NOT the challenge I want from the game :D

Overall, I do prefer the new system. I think the evolution thing is fine. I'm surprised people thought the old system was overpowered though, lol. Also surprised that people think the new system is any more balanced.

"EuphorialQueen;d-943341" wrote:
The June 19th patch made changes to the gardening system. There are now only five stages to evolving plants from normal to perfect. And if you have the Seasons EP some plants will grow during certain seasons and be dormant during others. Sounds good ... right? Except, like me, many players are finding it difficult to get plants to evolve in a timely manner. There are also changes in the splicing system. I am sharing some of my research in this thread and welcome any feedback of your own experiences.

Edit: Please be kind when posting.

That's why in the new system they also added glass roofs so your can make a green house, if you have plants indoors (like real life) in winter and when out of season they still grow as where it usually says what season they grow in it says 'Sheltered' .

"agustd;c-16579718" wrote:
Since the system is new, we can hope they'll be tweaking and perfecting it in future patches. I play with aging switched off and age my sims when I feel that they're "ready" so I have plenty of time to complete all the gardening related goals and job tasks but people who play with aging, especially the shorter lifespans should be able to enjoy gardening too.

I do hope they tweak it a little bit, so that it's just a little bit less extreme. I don't mind that getting rare plants and evolving the plants to higher quality takes more time, but the fact that over several harvests my spliced plants didn't result in any of the grafted special combo's dissapoints me. Getting them at the first harvest/growth round (as it was mostly before the gardening overhaul if I recall it well) made it quite easy, but now it seems almost impossible, unless you resort to buying the rare seed packs (and spending all your money/gardening profits on those). Let's just say I'm glad I'm playing with aging off (and am using the the Great Soil lot trait) in the save where I have a couple living from their garden.

One thing I'm thankful for is that we don't have to roam the world in search of some of the rarer plants anymore. Since the world isn't open and the plants in other towns only grow when your sim is present there it was a true nightmare! Now, that is NOT the challenge I want from the game :D

That's true :smiley: , though I had a work-around for that: I let my Sim 'camp' for a couple of days in each neighbourhood (though I only did that in Newcrest and Magnolia Promenade, since I was playtesting the start of the Build Newcrest Challenge). I made a special room for it with a tent, the portable shower from Outdoor Retreat, the woohoo/toilet bush brom Get Together and some other camping accesories (like a cooler), and moved that one around the neighbourhoods. (It's on the gallery if you want to see it)

@Sassie That's a neat idea! I've never thought about that. A sim who's into gardening would definitely enjoy camping often :)

"Cupid;c-16579811" wrote:
Overall, I do prefer the new system. I think the evolution thing is fine. I'm surprised people thought the old system was overpowered though, lol. Also surprised that people think the new system is any more balanced.

The main thing that was - confusing -?- about the old system was not being able to remember to order of the 10 evolution stages. I had a cheat sheet so I could remember which stage was better. Especially when grafting to be a better quality plant. The simplified 5 stages is easy to remember plus you can see the progress. Just not the state of the plant.
@Sassie

I do hope they tweak it a little bit, so that it's just a little bit less extreme. I don't mind that getting rare plants and evolving the plants to higher quality takes more time, but the fact that over several harvests my spliced plants didn't result in any of the grafted special combos disappoints me. Getting them at the first harvest/growth round (as it was mostly before the gardening overhaul if I recall it well) made it quite easy, but now it seems almost impossible.

These are my points of concern - that of how long it takes to evolve and of only having a very slim chance of ever getting a rare plant by grafting.

That's true :smiley: , though I had a work-around for that: I let my Sim 'camp' for a couple of days in each neighborhood (though I only did that in Newcrest and Magnolia Promenade, since I was play-testing the start of the Build Newcrest Challenge). I made a special room for it with a tent, the portable shower from Outdoor Retreat, the woohoo/toilet bush from Get Together and some other camping accessories (like a cooler), and moved that one around the neighborhoods.

Loving this workaround :) I too have several rooms on the gallery with bare essentials for survival. I need to remember to have my Sims pack a tent, cooler and shower so they can spend time in each area.

"agustd;c-16579854" wrote:
Since the system is new, we can hope they'll be tweaking and perfecting it in future patches. I play with aging switched off and age my sims when I feel that they're "ready" so I have plenty of time to complete all the gardening related goals and job tasks but people who play with aging, especially the shorter lifespans should be able to enjoy gardening too.

Generally I play normal lifespan and use youth potions if more time is required to complete an aspiration or meet some other goals. I do see your point though.

"agustd;c-16579854" wrote:
One thing I'm thankful for is that we don't have to roam the world in search of some of the rarer plants anymore. Since the world isn't open and the plants in other towns only grow when your sim is present there it was a true nightmare! Now, that is NOT the challenge I want from the game

Unfortunately some of the rare plants cannot be found in the world. Neither seed packets nor grafting will guarantee finding that one elusive plant. Though I appreciate plants grow in certain seasons you will need to know what season to be in a certain area to harvest the ones you need.

@crinrict has compiled a list at AnswersHQ
Gardening issues since Patch 1.44.22 (Gardening Overhaul)

The evolving needs to be tweaked - if you play with aging on, it's simply not possible to achieve a 'perfect' plant in a Sim's lifetime. Moreover, unless you've planned ahead, you're never going to get the ten 'excellent' plants you need to complete the freelance botanist aspiration. (It took me six seasons to get one excellent plant.) I'd rather have my Sim spending more time tending the plants and getting results from her work. Now, gardening is more a matter of clicking on each plant to see if it needs fertilizer. Otherwise, there is nothing for my Sim to do with her plants - talking to them doesn't seem to help, and she can just harvest or sell everything with one click.

I do like the ability to buy rare seeds - I could never find the cherry trees in previous games, and since my Sims only eat the superfood salad, I needed the cherries to get the pomegranate. I also appreciate that food made with 'normal' and 'nice' quality harvestables is no longer inedible, especially since it takes years (literally) to get plants to evolve.

I'm having issues with evolving too. Some of them take forever to evolve, and others will evolve almost immediately, even though all of the plants were planted at the same time.