I’m hoping that my main save isn’t broken, and I have so much anxiety waiting for a chance to check on my merfolk.
I’ve been enjoying the game, but I desperately need a major update for my merfolk. When I saw merfolk, I was so hopeful for underwater activities and a lot of similar content to the sims 3 merfolk. I got so little for my mermen and mermaids with Island Living and refuse to buy a sequel because of how they didn’t deliver on the minimum I expected.
I don’t think a new game will reassure me or improve my opinion about the franchise.
If they leave the Sims 4 in its current bugged and unfinished state, how do I know they won’t do the same thing in a Sims 5?
Regardless of what anyone says, Island Living is an unfinished pack as long merfolk content remains as is. I will not. I repeat, will not, buy a Sims 5 and will be very upset with the franchise if Island Living never gets a refresh that improves merfolk gameplay before a sequel.
That’s my criticism thus far. The initial update did not break my save, but the patches that came later clearly did break my save.
For merfolk, I want to see the moon affect them more because the moon is literally one of the most important things to the ocean.
We literally wouldn’t have tides without it and marine life have behaviors that revolve around the moon. The moon and ocean are extremely interconnected.
Occult players AND realism players should want to see the moon play a bigger role in Island Living. It’s that significant to the ocean.
I want merfolk to have a power system similar to vampires and spellcasters.
There is some division between people in the mermaiding community about sirens and merfolk, but I don’t think of merfolk as equivalents to Sirens. In fact the show about mermaids called Sirens is black listed as a show I will never watch because of poor title choice that demonstrates a massive of lack of merfolk mythology research, in my opinion.
As far as I’m concerned, sirens are half-bird in mythology, not half-fish… It’s clear that the siren lullaby is the Sims playing on pop culture mythology and displays significant ignorance.
Merfolk shouldn’t be objects of romance, but without seasons and the emphasis on sirens, the merfolk from Island Living are just that, romantic objects.
The songs Sirens sing in mythology, regardless of how they look, is a song that emphasizes on one’s deepest desires… That’s what they thought of merfolk in Island Living… they are like romantic objects, or objects of desire, that sing to the listener their deepest desire to lure them into the sea for a non-lethal attempt at drowning humans… They sing SIREN lullabies… Have the mermaid’s KISS that raises romance without fail…
The only two abilities that aren’t siren related and might actually be true merfolk abilities are the Summon Ocean Threat and Aquatic Lure. Changing the Weather is gated behind the Seasons expansion pack, but that would also be a true merfolk power.
Not saying I don’t want merfolk to have siren abilities either. True Sirens and True Merfolk are closely connected, and merfolk do have the natural talent with singing and music in mythology to perfectly mimic the siren song… Just, please, please recognize that SIRENS and MERFOLK are not the same mythical creatures.
They call the gender neutral plural merFOLK occult, female exclusively merMAIDS, in CAS which is a gendered mistake that completely ignores the existence of the male exclusively merMEN.
That’s my criticism so far.
———————
What I Would Like to See
I want to see an ability system for merfolk that focuses on the innate musical and singing talent of merfolk, changing the weather, changing emotions, interactions with marine life…
I want merfolk to have an interaction with dive buoys in shallow water. Just saying snorkeling is a taboo subject is a cheap excuse for not creating a unique interaction. Please let merfolk do something with those buoys without joining the marine biologist career…
Diving into deep water shouldn’t be a rabbit hole… I want to go underwater with my merfolk.
I want my merfolk to be able to live underwater… I want underwater residential lots similar to how Spellcasters, Vampires, and Werewolves have their own Worlds with lots they can live on.
I want to see what my sims see in the beach cave…
I want more activities my merfolk can do without leaving the water. I want them to be able to do more as merfolk, mermen and mermaids. Please make it so my merfolk can choose to spend less time in their human form. And give me, the player, more to do with them in their merfolk forms.
I want merfolk children to have a merman or mermaid form.
I want time to speed up when merfolk sleep in the water.
I want more socials about merfolk.
I want merfolk to have their own bassinet.
—————
What I Enjoy
I do enjoy playing with merfolk. I love the ability to change the weather and enjoy the small details from other packs… Like a cat’s reaction to a merman or mermaid.
I love that they don’t die from dehydration.
I love how merfolk seem to always know where they can swim and routinely seek those places out.
I love when merfolk sink underwater while sleeping in the water.
I love the interactions with dolphins.
I love the socials like “ask if mermaid” and “Share Mermaid Discovery”
I love the odd job that involves looking for proof of merfolk.
I love the Island Festivals.
I love the Sea Turtles.
I love the dolphins.
I love the quirks involving Children of the Ocean and fish.
I love how merfolk can talk to fish.
I love how merfolk have face masks from the spa day refresh, and I love how the full moon decreases the rate merfolk lose hydration.
I do think they are making progress with improving merfolk gameplay.
I love playing my merfolk more than I hate anything I’m upset with… I’m sure I’ll be up all night thinking about new things I love about merfolk gameplay.
I just feel like they didn’t quite figure out occults until Vampires and Spellcasters… they should have revisited merfolk and aliens a long time ago.
