Life and Death Negative thread
This is the place to put your thoughts and concern of the new expansion pack.
Forum Discussion
This will be the first expansion I do not buy. After a world wide pandemic killed so many and caused world wide mourning on an epic scale, I think this dark side expansion is macabre. New death types and new ways to mourn? A funeral party? An afterlife of more chores to complete, that were never finished during life? A "reward" of having to be born back into the game to do it all over again? Grim as a "nice guy" you want to emulate and then become?
So the sims franchise's answer to what lies ahead is ... nothing but chores and the ability to recycle if you work hard enough. Lots of ghosts, but no angels. An eerie half life location where you wait to recycle, but no heaven.
One thing I have (previously) admired about the sims franchise is their ability to balance the light and dark side so people could choose to play either one or a combo of both. But this is decidedly glorifying ONLY the dark side, timed to Halloween. With no light side option.
I had hoped for angel wings and harps, at a minimum. I had hoped for a "heavenly" realm to play in where dead sims got a new body to enjoy a new immortal afterlife with their dead loved ones. They could have at least given us that along with all the other stuff they wanted to promote. A bit of a nod to the light side for those of us who wanted to play that option. Instead we got TWO dark side locations along with one half life waiting zone. But no light side location.
This expansion is more than a disappointment. It is the death of the sims as I once knew it. They chose to go dark.
I feel like there's no way the idea of a "Sims heaven place" didn't arise at some point during development but either they couldn't do it because of time/money reasons or, and I think this is very valid, you can't come up with a fictional "'resting place"/heaven without going into religious territory. They got such a huge backlash back when Snowy Escape released because of a "bowing" gesture, I'm sure they want to distance themselves as much as possible from any possible religion related scandal.
But I do agree, the whole theme of the pack is so GLOOMY and realistic I'm actually surprised it doesn't have the usual Sims goofiness twist to it. The Sims 2 death by old age animation with the two dancing vahines is still the best way to die lmao, dying in bed reminds me too much of my grandfather who passed away like two months ago, it's not even funny.
Yeah, I think the religious aspect of heaven is the reason they didn’t include it or angels. I’m glad there are funerals now though, wills and cemeteries. I never expected religion in the game, But it is something we can bring to our own game if we want to. And I personally like the idea that sims can die in bed of old age. It just seems more respectful of death to me. What I wonder is what happens if your sim dies somewhere else but your house, and how does that work with rotational play?
Well a good thing is the ghost tree has three branches.
Good
Neutral four branch
And evil.You also have an option to move on.
Yah they could have option to send ghost to a perment resting place that is like heaven.
But who knows maybe we get angels in the future.
The funeral part of the trailer gives me a huge "My Wedding Stories" reskin vibes, and the blog post mentions Haunted Houses, I just hope they're not borrowing too much from the Paranormal SP and selling it as new content.
Pleaseeeeee don't autonomously do push ups next to a coffin during funerals
Also, I hope this EP comes with a reworked Simology panel. There are too many submenus in there it's such a hassle if you have all EPs, it keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Sorry! You know the pushups ain't going away!!! LOL. 😫
They will be doing pushups at the funeral and the wake...😔🙃
As long as the dead sim isn't doing push-ups in the coffin! 😄
Totally agreed on the Simology panel needing a major overhaul. Like you, I have all the EPs, packs, and kits, so at this point if I need to consult that panel, I pause the game in order to scroll through to find what I'm looking for and then read it. Yeesh!
Introducing age filters to ghost traits was a mistake. Here's an Answers HQ report on it (I'll give more info on the third page).
Basically, as you have seen in CAS, children have only two ghost types available:
- Death by Fire
- Death by Drowning
One problem however. These are the ways children can die:
- Fire
- Drowning
- Meteorite
- Steam
- Pufferfish
- Freezing
- Overheating
So, what happens when children die by causes other than Fire and Drowning?
Well, they do the death animation, Grim Reaper comes, everyone mourns, pleading is available... But after reaping, you get the usual question: do you want to make the new ghost playable or freeroaming. I chose playable and got... an alive child. Reacting to becoming a ghost, sad to have died...
What happened here is that due to the newly added age filters, the child couldn't become a ghost. And the game just... ran the usual death functions and then that was it. The child was still alive and not a ghost.This causes other problems, like adult ghost pets being alive again suddenly (there's even a pre-made adult dog called Captain Whitaker in every game, so guess who's alive now) and Sulani Elementals taking a while to show up and always being an elder (new elementals are generated with a Death by Old Age trait, so what happens is that new ones are generated, failed to be made into a ghost, and don't pass the filter).
And CAS death traits sometimes don't match too. Teens have emotional deaths available in CAS, but they cannot die by emotions.
So yeah, it would have been easier and less save breaking to keep all the ghost traits available to all ages.
Occult filter is fine, this won't prevent ghost trait from being added. Age filter however does.Ah, very well. I have posted this to Answers HQ.
But knowing my luck, I doubt it will be noticed for a long time... I still have some bugs I like to remind everyone every time a new Laundry List comes out.
I can't say what I want to say.
Happy simming! ☺
I just want ZOMBIES!
And Fairies..
An EP dedicated to Fairies is what we need. I don't want nothing else interfering with a Fairies EP.
It needs to be solid and the fairies need to be the best we have seen in the sims. That's just my opinion.🙂
I want good and bad Fairies as well. Playable Elves and Gnomes would be amazing...
Yes to the zombies lol 🧟♂️🧟♀️🧟
I am a long time Sims fan, but I am not a fan of Life and Death. Just watching the trailer made me incredibly sad. It gave me major bad feelings watching the loss of her dad (just lost mine); the dispute over the will (lived that too), and honestly those were the worst days of my life. At the end of a rough day, I am not looking to relive my worst of days over and over. I don't really see any way to present these situations that would make them acceptable and enjoyable. I also don't understand the need to add fortune telling and paranormal things into all the content lately. Not to mention having an intimate relationship with a ghost. I hope this is not the direction EA continues heading because I am not going to keep subjecting myself to things that make me unhappy or uneasy or that I don't agree with. We just experienced a devastating hurricane with the potential for a lot more loss of life. The timing on this and making death and loss a game is not good. That said, for me, being dark and sad is never a fit. I do want to say I have loved being a Sim fan for many years. I make time for it almost every day and appreciate the effort you all put into creating content for everyone. I hope you rethink this one. It could cause some parents to pause and encourage their kids to go to a different game. Thank you also for the forum where we can all have some input.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I can definitely see where this pack would not be for everyone, and particularly in your situation, at this moment. But I do think that for some other simmers, who are at a different stage in their grieving process, it could potentially be healing. Simmers often use aspects of the game to roleplay or work through issues in their real lives when it is uncomfortable or painful at a given point to do so, or when they are not comfortable expressing certain emotions, outside of the game. So I don't think they need to rethink the pack, but just as they have done in the past, continue to balance different themes and types of packs for different players.
I think this is well-worded. I've been through much of the same things (lost my mom when I was 9 and my dad when I was 19), however with 40 years old closer than 35 now, I'm definitely at a different stage of the process. I'm also not usually one for supernatural things, and yet I find this pack to be well-done, IF it's in your style. There's no way I would be playing that content fresh with grief, and it's for that same reason that I currently don't play a family with pets-- I lost one recently and the grief of losing her is still too fresh for me. So is it for everyone? Absolutely not. But if they continue to, as you eloquently worded it, balance different themes and types of packs, then this is just another thing they've added to optionally add. The modular nature of the game and the packs one chooses to own/install is one of the beautiful things about it.
There's a lot about it that bothers me. I've already been pretty upset with EA with whatever change they made that ended up with every Sim I played losing a good friend very quickly. I literally had a household w/3 Sims and they each lost a good friend over the course of 2-3 days. I want it to be a rare event and mainly be concerned w/older Sims dying...that is MY way of wanting to play the game...and I'm angry enough at that and EA taking away my right to play it my way (only option is to turn off death altogether but that isn't feasible).
I have no intention of buying this pack. Ever. It's likely there are some who will embrace it but I'm guessing it's a low percentage...enough that a mod or something could have given these results.
I'm also not doing the Reaper Rewards because I don't ever play with the Reaper and I hate that EA is trying to force me to in order to get items I should get the same as anyone else who plays the game daily, and has done so for 24 years.
I wish that your input (and mine) had value in this conversation, and that they'd talked to the community before making such a grotesque misstep. Of all of the things we could have had, and EA/Sims 4 has eeked out tons of money thru splitting up what was combined in previous versions, I'm just disturbed that they though this was a good idea - not just once, but twice (Reaper Rewards).
You'll feel better about things in time. I lost my Dad in 2020 amongst several friends from that illness that was going around then and I don't have any negative feelings whatsoever about this pack. I bought it the moment it was allowed for presale.
As for the direction that EA is taking with this pack. I've got to tell you I've played the Sims since Sims 1. This has always been the direction. This is just an enhancement not a derivation. In Sims 2 Olive Spector had a kid with the Grim Reaper and that is Nervous Subject. Sims 3 allowed you to try and romance a ghost and they had a whole career in Supernatural with the Fortune Teller. My only complaint is that Fortune Teller wasn't a career in this pack and that they didn't add tasseography too.
I'm still annoyed that the new bathroom furniture doesn't include a toilet
In my opinion, every EP should have enough build AND buy to make a home (a starter home if anything). At least have the essentials be present. A bathroom set but no toilet is wild.
I wish they would make nice collections for interiors like kitchens living areas and bathrooms with each EP as well. This used to be a recurring theme in previous games. Nothing matches and that's why I flip to cc for build buy objects.
It would be nice to have swatches for all floors and walls in the game that match along with complete room sets that match.
They should have included one, because I don't think we have one with same swatches in the other packs.
Agreed. There's a bath and a shower, so I'd rather have gone without one of those and had a toilet instead. Or the full set would be even better. It doesn't make sense to leave it out.
Upcoming Bug Alert!
And here I thought this was the only bug with werewolves...
So, as cross-pack functions, all the Bucket List goals of the DLC packs are available in the tuning files. So, I had a look at some. And I found one concerning one. It's "I want to go on a wolfy adventure!", which has you befriend, fight, or WooHoo a werewolf in Moonwood Mill. One problem though. Here's the code:
As you can see, the game checks if sim has done one of these three things...
- With a Werewolf
- In... Glimmerbrook?
Yeah, as you can see, region_Residential_Magic is a codename for Glimmerbrook, while Moonwood Mill's codename is region_Residential_WolfTown.
What does that mean?
That means that if you fight, become best friends with, or WooHoo a werewolf in Moonwood Mill, this Bucket List goal won't complete. You can complete this goal however, but in Glimmerbrook.
Let's compare it with "I want to have a vampric adventure!" goal:
Yep, region_Residential_VampireWorld is Forgotten Hollow alright. So this goal should complete as intended.
I'll have to see if it's in the game when the expansion pack releases.
Good catch!
Good news! The bug isn't in the game in the final game! Awesome!
Please disregard my good news. I was just lucky.
Bad news! This exact problem has been reported here on Answer HQ. Just as I feared: it doesn't complete in Moonwood Mill, but it will complete in Glimmerbrook.
Please disregard my good news. It's up to luck whether it works in Moonwood Mill or if it's necessary to travel to Glimmerbrook.
Lore negative points (New game) :
- Nyon Specter isn't the son of Grim Reaper (Not in the family tree and Grimborn trait is missing despite the birthmark)
- Nyon and Olive Specter never met Grim Reaper
- The previous husband ghosts of Olive are missing.
The level of detail is less deep as The Sims 2 used to be.
That is such a strange oversight.They should had a relation ship bar and be grim born.
I think having some non playable male ghost on the lot.
The previous husbands and lovers of Olive are missing in the family tree, but their gravesites are there near the crypt. (Some of the tarot cards can be found there.)
Now I am curious that if he didn't have Grimborn trait, why there is a birthmark I can't find a way to remove (I removed the tattoo and face detail, or did I miss something?).
I don't know if it's because the old save file already has existing Grim. But from the YouTuber playtests, no Grimborn trait too. I think that it's a bug. If it can't fix the existing save if Nyon is added to the save, I may play with a new save and wait for confirmation about Nyon.
SO HUGE NEGATIVE FOR THIS PACK
It turns out that when you reap souls, they're culled from the game. Which means they stop appearing in the game. I figured it wasn't a big deal, since ghosts could come back and wander Ravenwood whenever. No harm, no foul. Yeah, it makes sense from a continuity stand-point, but would they really cull my sim like that without telling me?
Anyway, my sim reaped his grandpa's soul and he got culled. On top of that, it completely broke the family tree. Now he can't see any of his relatives from that side of the family, because the link is broken. He doesn't even have an icon. Now I have to get rid of an entire days' worth of time to reload an old file - if the game will even let me go back that far.
EDIT: I was able to reload an old save and get him back in the nick of time. I thought there was supposed to be a way for ghost to rekindle marriages when they're brought back? Guess there isn't.
I seriously hate culling in this game. I even got a mod to stop it. Why can't they at least let sims' details stay in the family tree, even when they're gone?
Yep. I rotationally play and one of my families has a mother and the storyline is what her son will do to bring her back from death. Well fast forward, playing new pack, new family and one of my assignments was to go collect a bunch of ghosts that were causing chaos. One of the ghosts was this families mother. I luckily saved, collected her soul, released it into the portal. Then left without saving and went into the other family and yep..... she was gone. I was able to quit without saving and bring her back. She's still completely broken from her urn but I'm wondering if that happened with the new pack, she was an unplayable ghost and I always just had her son call her from the urn but now I can't do that at all. Sooo yay she exists but boo because I still am unsure how her son is supposed to call her forth now.
If you didn't tell about this culling, I would believe as you said that the ghosts should still be in the world before going to the netherworld (culling). Maybe this culling is designed to deal with "random sims generated to the dead role", not for existing sims.
I'm relieved that at least you have a backup to reverse the progress but also feel bad about losing a lot of time.
I hate the culling without warning too. The game secretly culls my sims in other households and hidden households. If I didn't check the "other household" window regularly (to delete unwanted random sims), it may be too late to reverse back. Fortunately, there is a mod that can stop it.
I hope modders can make the mod to stop the culling of reaping activity too. So, you can reap the soul of relatives or friends without losing them forever.
coloncocon It culls Sims without you, too?! This is wild, and a very strong "no" for me for this pack. I wouldn't check Other Households nearly enough. I already stress over Neighbourhood Stories ("off" isn't always effective?!) and Aging.
Big yikes: I just confirmed this in my own game. Who on earth thought this was good programming? I love this pack overall, but THIS--forcing us to cull our Sims without our permission or even giving us a warning in order to perform an active career--is not even a LITTLE bit okay. Please re-visit this, EA.
The only negative is that the world is too sunny .I wish for more cloudy world
I hope the world gets dark and gloomy during the winter and fall seasons.
And fog
