LGR Nifty Knitting Review

(IMO) I don't think the amount of packs are the problem. Sure, there are 17 stuff packs compared to 9 expansion packs, and 8 game packs. (soon to be 9 GPs as well). But I don't think overall our getting new content for the game is what has everyone in a debate about game quality.

I think its more about (a) what content is being offered, and (b) how its being offered. Then that in itself is being compared to what the game is still lacking.

An example argument would be the "Cats and Dogs" GP, and the "My First Pet Stuff". I absolutely wanted the stuff in both packs. And... I bought both packs because of that reason. However, that doesn't mean that I don't feel (to some degree) cheated and taken advantage of by EA. EA could have very well put the content of both packs into 1 pack. (IMO) My first pet stuff should have been part of Cats and Dogs. But it wasn't. So that means I ended up paying darn near the equivalant of an expansion pack price tag for the content instead. GP price tag + SP price tag = almost EP price tag.

At the end of the day, if i'm going to be paying EP equivalent prices, i'm going to fairly expect EP equivalent packs. That wasn't the case.

When TS4 first released, and I learned there would be stuff packs. My first thought was, these packs would help oversee what the game is lacking. Give us stuff packs to fill in the holes and gaps. Maybe even offer a few themes such as a victorian furniture theme set, or a theme of goth clothing. But instead, stuff packs ended up being mini game packs. Now on the surface that sounds like an asset. Having 2 types of game packs. The larger GP and the smaller SP. But instead it turned out to be used to manipulate us into paying a higher price for the content.

As with the Cats and Dogs GP... EA created the GP and then sidelined some of the GPs content to make a SP out of it. Did the SP have enough stuff to justify the price? Sure, absolutely. Was it a good stuff pack adding some great things to the game. Again, I think it was. Should the pack of existed in the first place? NO. A flat out, without question NO.

Its not about Nifty Knitting having, or not having, enough content to justify the price. Its more so about the idea that Nifty Knitting was likely part of, or could/should have been part of, a GP..... which was maybe sidelined to create a stuff pack. Its about us now paying for individual ideas... instead of a pack of ideas.

The sim world we live in now we get a GP for cats and dogs. A SP for rodents. A pack for Vampires, A pack for Witches, a pack for mermaids. That's 3 different packs we had to buy just to get vampires, witches, and mermaids. 2 more packs just to get cats, dogs, and rodents.

That's the problem. That's the bigger picture. If the packs get sliced up any more, we'll all be one step closer to the sim 3 store. We're a long way from buying 1 item at a time for a ridiculous price, but, I can't help but notice that the sim packs are getting smaller, and smaller, as they are being divided up into individual categories.

We don't get arts and crafts anymore. We get 1 pack for knitting. Maybe in the future, we'll get 1 more pack for ice sculpting. And who knows, maybe after that, we'll get 1 more pack for something else. That's the way it works now, slice and dice.

ETA:
(correction)
Upon checking, the Cats and Dogs pack was an EP, not a GP as I first suggested. To me, that kinda makes its worse.

What other game allows you to have 70 or so families in a Save, in-game with all 200 plus Sims meeting one another and being able to rotate from one family to another? That's what I am currently playing with some ease. It's made for people like me who like to create communities, not just one Sim's story, though that can be done as well. The game needs imagination to play and lots of players don't seem to have it these days.

This game is getting very complicated, tying up one thing to another and I can understand why they are proceeding so slowly in Stuff and Game Packs. What other game can do what Maxis have to do?

"Simburian;c-17597427" wrote:
What other game allows you to have 70 or so families in a Save, in-game with all 200 plus Sims meeting one another and being able to rotate from one family to another? That's what I am currently playing with some ease. It's made for people like me who like to create communities, not just one Sim's story, though that can be done as well. The game needs imagination to play and lots of players don't seem to have it these days.

This game is getting very complicated, tying up one thing to another and I can understand why they are proceeding so slowly in Stuff and Game Packs. What other game can do what Maxis have to do?

I'm sorry, but I don't see the relevance of your argument.

The topic isn't about what the game can do, or whether it has competition. Its about... what are we getting in respect to price tags, (while also discussing at times) vs earlier sims iterations.

Who here on this thread is questioning, or debating the game giving us the ability to build a house, or manage a family?

Yes, the game can do a lot. Fair enough. How is that relevant to the existance of My first pet stuff vs cats and dogs. And if all the content of both packs could have been added to the game, wouldn't it have been a fair argument as well to just add it all with 1 pack, rather than 2?

"Simburian;c-17597395" wrote:
Me. I prefer Carl's reviews as he actually plays the game and produces guides to help us. He hasn't provided a review for this pack (yet)? but I've found his videos very fair on others and he reports the bad as well as the good.

He has, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWTcIIBXBs

"SimmerGeorge;c-17597128" wrote:

I am of course dissapointed I had to get a whole 10$ pack to get butlers for my famous sims. I am dissapointed I have to buy a whole pack for ice creams I want for seasons. I am dissapointed I have to buy MFPS to have small pets instead of having them in the Cats and Dogs expansion pack. And this time around I am also very dissapointed there hasn't been a hobbies EP or GP yet so If I want a hobby I have to get this 10$ pack.

I feel the same way currently about stuff packs. I was able to avoid them in ts3 because i dont care for cas and b&b items and they did not have any gameplay content, but it is hard to do here since they include that one gameplay item/feature that i sometimes want. I know people prefer them this way but i dont, and i dont think one opinion is wrong while the other is right, it is just my prefrence to keep gameplay content in game packs and expansions. sims 3 store had some premuim content where they only sold it with a world or a venue and i hated that! I feel it is worse in ts3 because the store made it clear it did not have to go that route since it also had the option to sell them seperatly and even displayed the price and all but it would tell you that it is currently unavailble, it is still unavailable to this day so it could be safe to assume that it might never be lol. It could be said that the premuim content and features in ts4 stuff packs could not fit in the other two types of packs because they had to make room for other things, i somewhat understand that but i still currently hold to my opinion regarding this.

With that being said, i think nifty knitting is actually one of the best stuff packs compared to some of the older ones because it feels to me like it has more, and i dont regret buying it because i feel i will get enough use of it to make it worth my money, just like i dont regret some of my purchases from ts3 store, which i know people hate, but they enchanced my game in one way or another to make them worth getting for me, though i got most of them during sales. See, what seems not to be worth it to you is the opposite to someone else so sometimes there is little point in trying to convince satisfied buyers they are wasting their money or whatever, which i am not saying you are doing, but i saw others trying to do. I think lots of these comments are coming from a good place and with well intent but people gotta be mindful about how they are addressing others and also be careful about their wording.

Reviews like this make me really appreciate the fact that he's not a GC. I think his head would explode from all the snark he would have to hold back.

I was already going to get it at some point since only Metal and Plopsy have my attention, but you can bet your butt Im not using my wallet for such a dull pack. Sales and giftcards will be taking care of that. I still say knitting could have easily been part of a bigger pack, but if someone finds it worth $10, well good for them. I'll just be over here getting it for free. Even with Metal music and Plopsy, Im not even inclined to spend $5 on it.

"SimmerGeorge;c-17597128" wrote:

"SimTrippy;c-17597124" wrote:

"SimmerGeorge;c-17597105" wrote:
Well comparing one thing to something worse is another way of trying to defend it. Saying oh yeah the Sims 4 has so much DLC bit people who play flight simulators pay 80$ for an airplane. Sure there are worse and more greedy games and companies but that does not make the Sims 4 any better.
If I broke my left foot it doesn't mean I wouldn't be sad just because someone else broke both feet...

Also I think some of you don't understand where LGR is coming from. His problem is not just that this pack was not well done. It's the whole concept of having 10$ packs with content that could be part of an EP. A good example is the fact that I have seasons but I have no ice creams because ice creams came with freaking cool kitchen stuff which was supposed to offer kitchen stuff but instead came with ice creams.

Again just because things are more "fleshed-out" which many times they are not with the exception of vampires (which was more in depth) doesn't mean it is good to split everything apart in smaller DLC to make it more "in-depth". More in depth vampires? Okay maybe, but more in depth knitting? ????? Like I said previously are we going to get more in depth pooping in a 10$ pack as well?

Also another problem that he has is with the number of stuff packs. 17 stuff packs compared to the 9EPs and 8GPs means they are spending a lot of time and money in those tiny stuff packs than in other more gameplay changing DLC and also than in game updates which are super important since there are things missing for 6 years now but nope it's knitting guys.

And even if we knew that the voting only produces gameplay elements that are small and narrow it again doesn't make it any better.

For those reasons I think his judgement of the pack is totally justified and I don't think he just didn't give it time. I think he judged the pack less on the little details and more on the big picture and that is something I respect because there are way to many reviewers like "oh you can attach the two desks, this pack is so awesome".

We have so much fewer SPs these last two years than we had before, and many more EPs and GPs. Just like people asked. And the quality of them has improved as a result.

But more importantly, you kind of take people's arguments out of context.

This may come as a shock to you, but some people do actually find enjoyment with this game. Not because they have nothing different or better to play but because after playing other things (great games like TLoU, RDR2, God of War, AC, ......) we always find our way back to the sims. There is no game in my library that I have played more, despite having a nice catalog of games I really enjoy as well. And at the end of the day, that is what matters to me and what I base my purchasing decisions on, not what SimmerGeorge forcefully tries to argue for hours on end, not what LGR things, not what James Turner thinks. No amount of discussion will change that process because it's been working great for me. So hey, there must be something there that is enjoyable. Else I wouldn't do it.

@SimTrippy Girl I ain't trying to change anyone's mind here. I'm just defending LGR's position in this whole thing when people say his review isn't useful. That's all. I didn't say you play no other games. I play other games too, welcome to gaming.
Also finding enjoyment in the game doesn't mean I'm gonna like everything that comes out of it or I'm never going to be critical of it. I am of course dissapointed I had to get a whole 10$ pack to get butlers for my famous sims. I am dissapointed I have to buy a whole pack for ice creams I want for seasons. I am dissapointed I have to buy MFPS to have small pets instead of having them in the Cats and Dogs expansion pack. And this time around I am also very dissapointed there hasn't been a hobbies EP or GP yet so If I want a hobby I have to get this 10$ pack.

Also, you think we are getting less Stuff packs than EPs and GPs? Let's check the facts. Since August 2019 (so one year ago) we got 2 EPs, 1 GP but guess what whole 3SPs. Also if the quality of EPs and GPs increased is another topic, because again to some it didn't.

I am not trying to change your mind about this, if you love this stuff pack go ahead, do your thing. I am only saying sometimes, some Simmers don't look at the whole picture of what they are buying but rather the one small detail and I just wanted to maybe make some people aware of that, as LGR also does. If you are aware of those things and don't care, well that's something you should be at peace with.

*Note: I have NEVER said LGR's reviews are not useful. I don't even believe they are not useful. I think they ARE very useful, just not for me.

As stated earlier. I have youtubers I enjoy too, Carl being my favourite, but I don't find ANY useful because there are not any that share my opinion the majority of the time, so I judge packs on my own without being influenced by any of them.

On the other hand if someone agrees with a youtuber 95% or more of the time, and they are wondering whether to buy a pack or not, then yes! There review would be extremely useful to that person because you can think to yourself, "Hey, this person says these things are/aren't good and the pack is/isn't worth it and since 9x out of 10 in the past I've agreed with them it would be really smart to consider their point before spending my money." Especially if you don't have a lot of said money to throw around.

And while I personally don't like LGR's reviews or find him genuine, it has NOTHING to do with how useful they are to someone who agrees with him most of the time. He and ALL people who review anything are useful.

"Ellupelluellu;c-17597445" wrote:

"Simburian;c-17597395" wrote:
Me. I prefer Carl's reviews as he actually plays the game and produces guides to help us. He hasn't provided a review for this pack (yet)? but I've found his videos very fair on others and he reports the bad as well as the good.

He has, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWTcIIBXBs

Thank you so much. He's so upbeat with his videos, whether praising or damning. Worth watching. :) <3

"muzickmage;c-17597437" wrote:

"Simburian;c-17597427" wrote:
What other game allows you to have 70 or so families in a Save, in-game with all 200 plus Sims meeting one another and being able to rotate from one family to another? That's what I am currently playing with some ease. It's made for people like me who like to create communities, not just one Sim's story, though that can be done as well. The game needs imagination to play and lots of players don't seem to have it these days.

This game is getting very complicated, tying up one thing to another and I can understand why they are proceeding so slowly in Stuff and Game Packs. What other game can do what Maxis have to do?

I'm sorry, but I don't see the relevance of your argument.

The topic isn't about what the game can do, or whether it has competition. Its about... what are we getting in respect to price tags, (while also discussing at times) vs earlier sims iterations.

Who here on this thread is questioning, or debating the game giving us the ability to build a house, or manage a family?

Yes, the game can do a lot. Fair enough. How is that relevant to the existance of My first pet stuff vs cats and dogs. And if all the content of both packs could have been added to the game, wouldn't it have been a fair argument as well to just add it all with 1 pack, rather than 2?

It's all too relevant. What's "My first pet stuff" got to do with it? I bought that too and it added useful gameplay. I don't believe anyone here knows what goes into the making of this game and the complexities of it. How do you know the expense that comes with one stuff pack or even one interaction on it? Small packs anybody can add to the base game for a bit more play and they are cheap in my opinion.

Large expansion packs only, would come in at about USA $80+ or UK £60+ pounds by my reckoning. These days I pay £70+ for a basic pair of shoes.

I've got nearly 6,000 hours of gameplay out of Sims 4 for my money. How many hours does a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 give you before you give up or get tired of it and on to the next game?

"SimmerGeorge;c-17597105" wrote:

Also I think some of you don't understand where LGR is coming from. His problem is not just that this pack was not well done. It's the whole concept of having 10$ packs with content that could be part of an EP. A good example is the fact that I have seasons but I have no ice creams because ice creams came with freaking cool kitchen stuff which was supposed to offer kitchen stuff but instead came with ice creams.

And then there's "My First Pet Stuff" where they went "Hey, this should've been in Sims 4 Cats and Dogs.....Meh, we can get an extra $10 out of those people this way."