Island Living; is it lacking?

I do have to agree that it is the rabbit holes that make this EP feel somewhat lacking for me.

I don't care that they didn't include house boats or resorts, but the fact that there are so many rabbit holes makes me feel like I'm being left out of certain island experiences. The biggest being scuba diving.

Also, as someone else mentioned, I wish mermaids felt more distinct from humans by having their own underwater woo-hoo, special urns, and the ability to eat raw fish; not to mention more unique interactions with people and other mermaids.

One other thing that bothers me is that both of the new traits are only useful if you are living in Sulani, and I think they would have been better as reward traits for completing an aspiration (also wish there was a mermaid aspiration). I wish the laid back trait that came with the beach bum aspiration was a regular trait, as I could see myself using that one more outside Sulani.

And, if I'm really being picky, I wish the treasure collection wasn't so easy to complete. It would be nice if you could only find the rarest treasures by diving, searching the cave, or by digging in the sand of isolated beaches (like the ones on the back side of the natural island).

Other than that, I really do love this expansion. CAS and BB are amazing, the world is stunning, mermaids are fun to make in CAS, I finally have my tropical island to play castaway and amazon challenges, and there are a lot of fun little things I'm glad they decided to add (waterfall woo-hoo, the clothing optional trait, dolphins, bioluminescent water, a seashell collection, etc).

So while I do feel slightly disappointed, I honestly never expected to even get an island expansion pack (especially one that leaned towards more natural living rather than tourism), so I'm just happy I now have this option in my game.

TBH I think if it had been released as a gamepack, people wouldn't be so disappointed in it. Flaws would still be there (limited gameplay, shallow mermaids, rabbit hole careers, rabbit hole scuba diving, no rental option, etc), but at least in terms of amount of content you receive, it would feel far more appropriate for the price.

"BlueR0se;c-17144156" wrote:
TBH I think if it had been released as a gamepack, people wouldn't be so disappointed in it. Flaws would still be there (limited gameplay, shallow mermaids, rabbit hole careers, rabbit hole scuba diving, no rental option, etc), but at least in terms of amount of content you receive, it would feel far more appropriate for the price.

I agree.

In reply to CommaSplice: I didn't realize that video review was by Carl. I love his guides and use them all the time, but I didn't know he did reviews. I do respect him and yet I still feel like he plays totally differently than I do. In fact, he says in the review, "There are some of us who play Sims 4 kind of like a tycoon game sim or an RPG hybrid, who like levelling up, getting abilities and combining bonuses to make really powerful combos." That is totally fine if he likes to play in that way, but it seems much more linear and goal-oriented than how I do it, or than the sort of thing I have ever expected from a sims game, which I usually play in a much more open-ended way, sandbox-style. I don't think either way is better or worse myself, but he clearly implied that his way of doing it is somehow "deeper" than other ways (unless I misunderstood him). And maybe it is, what do I know?

All I have been doing since the pack dropped is playing with an off-the-grid family who are supporting themselves entirely by fishing, beachcombing and selling stuff. Carl said in the review that he found collections and storing more stuff bothersome and tedious (he doesn't seem to acknowledge the useful storage chests), but I found the opposite: collecting stuff is great for selling items at the flea market or on your sim's own lot, using the JA table, and gaining incremental amounts of money to sustain poor sims. I have barely done anything in the pack in terms of conservation or mermaids, but have been having a blast with this survival-style living. I noticed that without a ton of objects (computers, stereos and tvs) the sims seem to interact with each other more, play in the sand and build sand sculptures autonomously, amuse themselves by autonomously singing or telling each other stories, and it is fun to watch. All this is just to say that there seems to me to be plenty of gameplay with generous sims coming over bringing Extra Food just in time to feed my hungry sims (who only had minnows in their inventory), elemental spirits giving boosts in skill to my derelict sims as they are wood carving basic objects, and all the new fishes and fishing improvements making this skill feel more real and fleshed out than ever before.

Anyway, I guess I am not surprised he was disappointed with IL if he is "hard core," but I am happy to say I am not, and I have barely done much with this pack. For me it feels like there is new gameplay, and I also find the aesthetics to be a really important part of this pack -- points to him since he does acknowledge how beautiful and well executed they are. I feel peaceful just playing IL, frankly.

"simfriend1968;c-17143836" wrote:

"drake_mccarty;c-17143657" wrote:

"simfriend1968;c-17143528" wrote:

"Jadesimmer;c-17143490" wrote:
If you have ever played sims3 Island Paradise before, Island Living cannot call it as expansion pack!

Island Paradise for many (including me) was a buggy, laggy, almost unplayable pack, even with mods. The world was not even as nice as Sunlit Tides. Sulani, in contrast, is gorgeous, immersive and fun to explore, with an ocean that sims can actually interact with, changing sea life, a new culture with related traits and an aspiration, a place where Sims can live a very different lifestyle than they can anywhere else.

Unless I’m mistaken sims can basically do the same things with the ocean in this Ex Pack that they could in Sims 3, unless there’s something I’m missing? They can swim, snorkel, use watercraft, float, .... am I missing something? You could do these things in any Sims 3 world though, not just the EP world.

I didn’t think this EP changed the game very much at all, but that’s just my experience with it. I found my Sims living the same life here that they would in any other world, it’s not that different you can swim in the ocean and that’s about it.

I think Ocean swimming has been improved in several ways over what it was in Sims 3. I was just playing Island Paradise the weekend before the latest pack came out so it is fresh in my mind. In TS3, the ocean was an empty blue swath of sameness as far as the eye could see, while in TS4, the water is clear and you can actually see well some animated fish of different varieties from the pack swimming around at random, as well as seeing dolphins, sea turtles, jellyfish, the occasional shark, water birds and sea gulls etc. These all look very nice, 3D and proportionate, through the first person camera, too. You can also interact with dolphins, whose animations are lovely -- so apart from the absence of the dive lot (which for me is not a big deal), it feels like a much more dynamic experience to swim in the ocean than it was in TS3.

TS3 sims could actually do very little in the ocean, too; they took ages to wade out, they could swim (very slowly using that weird breast stroke) and snorkel (with gear); that was about it. Unlike in TS4, they could not swim around, only swim here, they could not drown (at least I never had a sim drown in the ocean no matter how low their energy dropped), or pee in the ocean. All they could do with other sims in the water was to splash them; they couldn't really talk to each other or do anything else while actually immersed.

Now in TS4, with other sims, they can talk, kiss, splash, skinny dip alone or together, swim here, swim around alone, or swim around together, or back float. As their fitness improves, their swimming speed increases and they use different strokes (really nice animations there). Parents with high fitness can coach their kids at swimming (I love that: it is one of my favourite new things to do in water). They also get a few different new moodlets from swimming -- sims can get a cramp, a sudden chill, swim through something yucky, or feel at peace in the sea.

Since this pack was released, I now prefer swimming in TS4 to TS3; I think they have developed and improved the ability in some fun and realistic ways. (I just hope they eventually add it to a few of the other worlds -- that would icing on the cake).

Actually sims 3 sims in addition to swimming around in the ocean and snorkelling can scuba dive at dive lots (properly! Not a rabbit hole) can use boats, they can windsurf and sail and toddlers play in the ocean too. They also run the risk of being attacked by sharks which is more likely than in sims 4, not to mention the kraken. They can do this in all worlds and can fish anywhere.
The water in sims 4 is nice but once you see one FX fish your sim can’t interact with, you have seen them all. For me there are way too many moodlets that imply something has happened when actually nothing has. I don’t care if my sims pee in the ocean, an autonomous action (which it has been for me) isn’t game play I would consider.

"Princess_07x;c-17143503" wrote:
Island Living looks beautiful, the game play is OK not that much to do and I really wanted to go underwater as it shows in the trailer! for me it just reminds me of a giant swimming pool with a few added features :(

Yay, I was expected we can dive underwater as shown on main menu too :(

I actually really liked the ability to scuba dive in dive lots in sims 3 too; I think they should have added it here. I only didn’t mention it before because the poster to whom I was replying had mentioned swimming, not diving. I also didn’t mention boats for the same reason and because I have only used the canoe for fishing, so my experience of them in TS4 is limited. To me, IP was more about vacationing and leisure activities, which is fine, but the emphasis in IL is just different.

However I have played with swimming in both games extensively and I feel confident in saying that I have found swimming much more satisfying and developed in TS4. Not only do sims have the full range of socials with each other in water, unlike in TS3, but (as I already mentioned) they can swim together, coach swimming, skinny dip and back float — these are all new as is the ability for dogs to swim in ocean water (a first for the series) and for sims to be tugged away by currents, which I forgot to mention before. (The ability to have sims peeing in water I mentioned only because it wasn’t at all possible in TS3 — sims just used to have bladder failure which used to annoy me considering how slowly they swam and how long it took them to come ashore).

In my game I have also seen a couple sharks, too, which have passed close by and scared away dolphins, so they do exist. They are beautifully animated. I haven’t had a sim attacked yet by a shark but only because they’ve all been immediately so scared that they autonomously swam for shore (an action I haven’t canceled but I know it is possible to do so). I do admit that TS3 had more varieties of shark (I think there were 4 types) while all I have seen in TS4 is the great white. It looks pretty good though.

As for the FX fish, I never get tired of them; it is much preferable to see them, in all their variety, than a blue expanse of nothing. I only wish sims could photograph them in water with a waterproof camera. That’s an ability I wish they’d add to swimming.

And finally the animations and levelling up of swimming is much better in TS4. It just looks better and is more fun to do, in my experience.

I'm enjoying it but yes, it is lacking. I agree with what Cupid said earlier: "There's always some feature that really doesn't need to be there, taking away from features that would have been better." I have to agree that, this time, the mermaids are it.

The world of Sulani is very pretty but gameplay took a big hit when someone decided to use rabbit holes for things like snorkeling, diving, new careers, and exploring. I also think that Sulani should have had its own cultural theme, something like Selvadorada.

I do like the build and buy items, as well as many of the CAS items.

My Sim, living on Key Point, got the call from Vlad welcoming him to the neighborhood. I was surprised to see Vlad swimming up to his lot about an hour later. Oh man, I had forgotten that Vlad wears a speedo on that svelte frame of his. :o

I just posted a reply in another post about how significantly lacking I think this EP is! Lol, the coincidence is just funny to me.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pretty world, nice additions. But, do I feel like it’s an EP? No, I honestly do not, if anything I feel taken advantage of because I love when EP come out because it means that the game will be significantly expanded. I don’t feel that way about this EP at all :neutral:

They need (among many things) to at least add swimming to every other world, improve the way the lots work, make them be able to be vacation homes, add the capability to create resorts in Sulani, like. I am just wondering why that was not included in the first place. The fact that what was included are rabbit holes anyway, is like, I feel like you’re just taking advantage of us simmers if you think that is acceptable as something that is supposed to be expanding gameplay.

For me, it offers everything that I wanted out of the pack. However, I can see why others are a bit disappointed. For example, the lack of resorts etc.