The fact EA went with a whirlwind announcement-to-release marketing plan should have told me something. I guess I wasn't listening very hard, or I would have passed on preordering. Common sense cautioned me, but I was too caught up in the hype to be cautious. The people associated with creating content for Sims4 are caught between us, the fans of the series, and the corporation that signs their paychecks. There isn't much room for creativity when one is forced to follow the mighty dollar, rather than their creative spirit. EA made this abundantly clear when Sims4 was released. The Sims franchise has been all about the money since Sims3. The fact the franchise makes millions every year and we are seeing less quality and more fluff, isn't very difficult to understand. EA has been using profits from the Sims franchise to develop content for their other titles. Which means there is less money put into the development of new content for Sims4. When I say 'new' content, I mean content that is different from anything we have seen in the past. Not a rehashing of old ideas that are given a face lift then passed off as groundbreaking. Multitasking was a groundbreaking idea that was poorly executed, giving me the feeling it was rushed through the development stage and not tested fully before being included in the base game. Which is what we are seeing in every new pack for Sims4. The bugs we see in every patch, update and pack are the result of poor quality control. If a bug happens during the development phase, it is ignored because we have an entire community of people that creates mods thus relieving EA of the responsibility to fix the issues before releasing any new pack. EA knows this, using it against us time after time. And there is no excuse for it other than trying to save a buck or two.
They took the idea of a tropical world complete with mermaids and swimmable oceans, then tried to do something new with it. Which, in my opinion, has failed. The conservation angle was a truly great idea but they didn't take the time to make it more complex. They took the idea from StrangerVille, gave it a quick face lift, thinking we would accept it , then marketed that idea as one of the 'new' features of Island Living. It's a very short-lived feature at best. There is no lasting gameplay in this feature. It's just a little fluff on top of a lot of new bugs. When I learned this was the case, my hopes for the pack plummeted. But this was not disclosed until after the pack was released. Well played, EA. Lesson learned, and I won't fall for it again, you can count on that. I won't be preordering again. I'll wait until the pack is released then see if it is worthy enough to buy at full price rather than waiting for it to go on sale. Even though Island Living came with a larger world and a lot of assets, it feels like a game pack. It's StrangerVille after going under the knife of a plastic surgeon. It's gorgeous, but underneath all that beauty, Island Living is shallow and does not pack much of a punch.
The list of features we wanted for this kind of pack was glanced at, but many of those features were ignored. Which is a shame since many of those would have added so much lasting gameplay. Such as the ability to own resorts/hotels or to own a second home. Adding rabbit holes as a solution to the problem of creating immersive gameplay, is just lazy. When I learned we would not be able to watch our Sims deep sea diving, it was not a shock. Shortcuts have become the normal way of things in Sims4. But I can't help but feel a bit sad and angry about it. The toddler update and Seasons gave me hope for Sims4. And I had high hopes for Island Living. I couldn't wait to dive into the conservationist career. But the career is just another way to make everything look prettier while earning a lot of Simoleans. I can well imagine how the mermaid lovers are feeling right now knowing there is no underwater world for their lovely merfolk. Again, EA chose to take a shorter route rather than release something that would have been greeted with open arms and delight. EA gutted the whole idea behind having mermaids in the game. I don't blame the mermaid fans for being upset.
Sulani's future in my game is very clear after just a few days of playing. It will become a place to take my Sims for a short break or a honeymoon. I don't see myself playing a rotational save in this world for some reason. Communing with the island spirits doesn't give us any insight into the culture of the world, just more buffs. The conservation of the ecosystem isn't impacted by our Sims in any way once the island has been restored. There is no new dance to learn. There are no underwater lots to interact with. Two Sims can't travel together on a sailboat or an aquazip. The pack just feels as if they recycled a lot of features from past packs and shoved them into a new world after adding a few new features that didn't require much effort to implement. This expansion has met my expectations of failure rather than any notions I might have had about it being a great expansion. I'm kicking myself for being so quick to preorder it. I should have waited for mods to be updated, a bug fix patch from EA, and a closer look at the actual gameplay before hitting that 'pay now' button. :/
