The one that can absolutely die in a fire -- and this will be unpopular -- is Cottage Living. As a second choice, maybe Cats & Dogs. While Brindleton Bay is pretty, and I've had long saves there, I don't touch the pets and vet stuff.
Oh I can write a 10,000 word scholarly essay on everything wrong with Cottage Living as a videogame. It works as a prop for stories, but nothing else. Once I had kept the cows and chickens for a few sim weeks, I had this moment of realization (when a rabbit died) that none of this was leading anywhere. There was no point to it, no greater goal, no unlockable item or trait or anything. There's no major skill, no new career, just another take on a skill that had always been there. The fridge was already overflowing with eggs, so what was the motivation to keep going? There were more obstacles to upgrading a chicken coop than a rocket, and once upgraded it wasn't clear that there was any point to keeping chickens anway. The errands system must be the worst game system in TS4. And the skybox is far too dark in Henford. Not only does the farming lead nowhere, it's a lot of effort to achieve nothing. Altogether, Cottage Living stands alone as the bottom of the barrel. It fails badly as a structured videogame, but its popular because it is idylic set dressing and most players of this game don't play the game. So its shortcomings don't matter.
by contrast, High School Years is top tier. It gives me so much. Get Famous is brilliant too. I have no problem with Batuu at all. It's a well designed pack. Considering the amount of assests that had to be built just for Batuu, and that it has progression (and lightsabers are still the best cardio workout), I think it's remarkable. I don't use it all the time, but as game design it's good.
