Lucky Palms vs StrangerVille (World Comparison)

@LiELF Whereas I present empirical information to support my claims, all you do is user your personal preferences as supporting evidence.

"the graphic textures are frequently mismatched and godawful."

That's factually incorrect. The Sims 3 has a consistent standard of mask size (250 pixels per square grid). What means is that a pattern (which can be 256 or 512 pixels) will be repeated 1 time per square grid. The Sims 3 doesn't really have textures. Objects have presets (pre-selected styles) but you can change them into whatever you want. I don't even know what you're talking about when you claim textures are mismatched. Textures are created dynamically in-game and it's up to you to select the patterns and colors you want. It cannot be mismatched unless you mismatch textures on purpose.

"As far as costs, I have presented what prices are showing for me."

And I have presented what prices are showing for me. They're equally as valid. Lucky Palms SE is cheaper than StrangerVille for me. The Gold Edition is only $4.5 US dollars more expensive. I already own Lucky Palms and I'm very satisfied with my purchase. It's one of the worlds I use the most, I love the way it looks, I love the amount of space I have to add community lots from other EPs, and I love the new gameplay added with the Gold Edition. The Casino has infinitely more value (in my opinion, of course) than StrangerVille's 2-hour linear storyline, 3 gameplay objects and a career (that has always been part of the base game, BTW) with 5 new interactions.

"Both Sims 2 and Sims 3 offered a bunch of superficial items and objects for $20."

No. Both Sims 2 and 3 offered a bunch of HIGH QUALITY items for $20. I could start breaking down the number of FUNCTIONAL items you get in each pack, which is less subjective than saying I prefer one or the other, but I let an image speak for itself. This is what you get in BB mode in the first Stuff Pack for each game:



It's not just about the quantity of items. You're also getting more functional objects, like beds; which, if you know anything about rigging and animations, you must know how difficult is to animate bed sheets. And both games, TS2 and 3, gives you more options when it comes to customizing furniture. Beddings in TS2, for example, all share the same textures, so you don't have to struggle to find the bed sheets you want unlike TS4, which has swatches combining both bed frames and bedding.

"one of the things that Sims 4 did right was change what we get for our $20 and reduce the cost of Stuff Packs to half the price"

You're paying what you're getting: lower price, for lower quality items. Do I have to keep bringing up the poor quality of meshes in The Sims 4? The fact that TS2's meshes have a higher polycount. A game released ten years before has higher quality meshes; let that sink in for a second.

"Game Packs, however, are a huge improvement for the customer. I don't see how that can be argued or denied, I really don't. We get a whole lot more now - we get a variety of things ranging from gameplay, CAS, build/buy, new ventures, worlds... and yes, we get experimental developments like StrangerVille. Game packs are meant to be optional, like Stuff Packs."

Except that they include content that had previously been part of expansions but you have to pay EXTRA money now.
- Spa day and dine out include features from The Sims 2 Open for Business and Bon Voyage. Meditation was a base game skill. Owning a restaurant is better in The Sims 2 OFB. You can even work as a chef, which Dine Out doesn't give you the option to do.
- Outdoor Retreat added a single destination to vacation, whereas Bon Voyage added three for $30 USD ($40 taking inflation into account).
- Jungle Adventures added a single location with a single adventure (only thing that changes is layout) for $20. World Adventures added THREE locations with dozens of quests and almost 40 tombs as well as the option to create your own through powerful triggers.
- Parenthood adds a tiny bit amount of gameplay compared to Generations for half the price (besides, Generation also adds an insane amount of gameplay objects like spiral stairs, bunk beds, sleeping bags, playground equipment, tree houses, etc, etc, etc).
- And I won't even talk about StrangerVille. I think everyone already knows what I think about that pack.
- Vampires is probably the only Game Pack that actually EXPANDED a feature from previous games and I think it was justified as its own separate pack. So out of 7 Game Packs, only one feels like it was worth to be released as a separate pack.

Stuff Packs, as I said many times, they mostly include gameplay items that would've been included in EPs in the past like buffet tables (base game), bowling alleys (Nightlife, UL), butlers (Superstar, Apartment Life, Late Night), slip 'n' slide (Generations), laundry (Ambitions), etc. And they barely add any new gameplay to justify these features being their own pack.

"You pick and choose what you want or will use in your game. Isn't that partly what the Sims is about?"

Except I didn't have to pick and choose in the past. Buying EPs would give me all the gameplay Stuff Packs and Game Packs have now. The only exceptions, as I said, are Vampires and Kids Room. The first actually expands a feature enough to be worth being its own pack; the second one has new gameplay (never featured in the series) and it actually has a good amount of replayability.

"You don't like Sims 4 because you prefer the things that Sims 3 offered."

I prefer the way Expansion Packs actually expanded the game in Sims 1, Sims 2 and Sims 3. EPs feel like they barely add anything new now. Why? Because a lot of content is being sold as separate packs.


@Pegasys
"the lots in StrangerVille were specifically designed to go with the story."

Oh, yeah... right. That's the excuse they're using now. Not even James Turner, aka The SimSupply, believed that excuse if you watch his reaction to the empty houses with SimGuruRomeo. I guess next time a game-breaking bug occurs they can use the old meme: "it's not a bug; it's a feature."

"As far as the number of faces in the objects, the Sims team is purposely keeping them lower to cut down on lag."

The same way they got rid of open world, create-a-style or a color wheel, story progression, complex simology like in 2, limit the amount of lots, etc. all to cut down lag???? What kind of game needs to do so many sacrifices to cut down? We're talking about a FACT and it's that objects in TS2 and 3, games released 10 and 5 years before TS4, have a higher polycount and their 2014 sequel.

@DeservedCr...I mean, @Naus, you're going on and on trying to be "objective" and "empirical" about the comparisons between the packs, while dismissing the things we're trying to counter with. For example I mentioned the Gallery - which is a HUGE improvement - and basically makes it so it doesn't even matter what the prebuilt lots are - I can easily replace them with one of literally thousands of extremely well-built lots at any time.

In any case, rather than discuss point-by-point as it's rather pointless as you know what you like, and I know what I like, I will leave with this: in the end it is all subjective. I don't care how many polys, or specific objects came with previous packs. I prefer the visual style of Sims 4. And I prefer the sims in Sims 4. No amount of extra lots or textures or price-points will change that. And because of that I welcomed StrangerVille.

If we are starting to juxtapose sims 2, sims 3 doesn't come close either. None of the store restaurant/bakery content for sims 3 compare to the sims 2 OFB; so even bringing that up as a slight against 4 is disingenuous, you couldn't even work in the sims 3 restaurants.

Watch the animations you posted, watch the difference between the sims 2 and the sims 3 for cooking - the sims from 3 just pull a bowl, cookware and utensils out of thin air; the sims from sims 2 opens the cupboards/draws and retrieves bowls, cooking utensils, cookware. The sims 3 cracks eggs onto a cutting board? The sims 3 money is taken from wallet if you don't have the ingredients, sims 2 you have to shop for your food.

Watch the animations of a sim in the sims 2 getting into a car vs the sims 3 getting into a car and ask how they managed to simplify them to such a degree, if they reused the same animations anyway. In the sims 2 they open the door, get in and close door, back out and drive away - in the sims 3 they magically appear in their car on the road.

The sims 2 had hair physics, a game from 2004, has moving hair that 2 newer games, working with better software and still couldn't manage. Those little touches - sims 2 children crying if they see their parents fighting which the parents could then console, you can dance with your children on your feet, cuddle on the couch; the interactions between sims, in sims 2 is much more complex and nuanced.

Fears, wants, personality, chemistry all replaced with moodlets in the sims 3, which only added to their robotic demeanor and lack of unique personalities. Sims in 2 were actually impacted by their personality traits and their memories, if a sim grew up bad it would affect their life; if people had opposite personalities "playful/serious" or "grumpy/nice" it was incredibly hard to make them friends. Sims 2 personality system would impact how a sim approached everything, down to showering. Sims 3 you gave them 5 traits which made most sims act interchangeably (unless it was something like evil) and they barely react to their experiences.

The sims 3 left out so many amazing aspects from the sims 2 that made the sims what it is, it barely qualifies for me. Comparing sims 3 to sims 2 is like comparing a turd to a pearl, sims 3 isn't in the same league.

@Eloka

I agree with some things you pointed out in the first part (restaurant/business system, animations, etc). The Sims 3 definitely simplified a lot of things and Store sets weren't as good as fully fledged EP features in 2. I'm still upset we never got a proper retail system (though retail in 4 isn't much better than the Savvy Seller collection).

However, I strongly disagree about personalities. Sims in 3 have more unique personalities, as traits give them more well definied behaviors (there are only 10 possible behaviors in 2 + combos, only determined by personality points below 3 and above 7). Wishes in 3 are better than wants. They are over 3000 unique wishes in 3 vs less than 500 in 2. Moodlets also give more personality to Sims, as they add temporary behaviors or complement actions happening on screen (as I explained before).

Chemistry is also much better in 3. In 2 chemistry/attraction only took three things into account: zodiac signs, aspiration and turn ons/offs. In 3, there are over a dozen of factors taken into account for attraction: skills (and bonus per level), careers (and career level), traits, occult types, celebrity status per level, zodiac signs, life time rewards, and EVEN some moodlets like: "Fresh Clothing, Minty Breath, Nice Nails, Smooth Skin, Squeaky Clean, Very Fresh Clothing, Eye Candy, Stylin', Stylin' Permanent, Suntanned." Whereas other moodlets actually decrease the level of attraction: "Garlic Breath, Grungy, Singed, Singed Electricity, Smelly, Sunburnt, Spray Tan Bad, Spray Tan Discolored, Spray Tan Uneven." There's no comparison. The Sims 2's chemistry system was extremely basic. *

The only two things TS2 did better when it comes to simology are: interests and memories. Memories in particular I believe were very poorly implemented in 3, though TS2's memory system was far from perfect (like having a memory for burning food or seeing roaches, super mundane things). I wish TS3 had actually improved on TS2's memory system like they did with chemistry.

You can say whatever you want about personalities, but the code doesn't lie. TS3's traits, moodlets, wishers and attraction system are factually superior than TS2 personality points, wants and chemistry.

* ETA: You can retune TS3 attraction system to do exactly what you want. You don't want zodiac signs to be taken into account, just set the kMatchingSignsBonus value to 0 in the ITUN file for attraction. TS2's chemistry system is VERY difficult to change and customize (partially hard coded). In fact, no one has been able to ADD new turn ons/off, only replace existing ones.

Deleted (double post)

As I said before folks the thread was started to compare Lucky Palms vs Strangerville, if you're wanting to discuss the merits of each Sims game and compare them that's fine but you'll need to make a new thread. Keep this on topic please.

You can't stop people from enjoying StrangerVille, buddy. Get over it and go play in Lucky Palms

"LiELF;c-16995025" wrote:

"Naus;c-16994723" wrote:

"Beardedgeek;c-16994694" wrote:
Different scope of expansion. Different price point. Etc.

Different scope of expansion??? Both are smaller additions than Expansion Packs but larger than Stuff Packs.

Price points are pretty similar.
Lucky Palms costs US$ 17.12 for Standard Edition or US$24 for the Gold Edition.
But it costs less the bigger the bundle you buy. The 24360 bundle for US$ 106.99 makes it so 1 SimPoints = US$ 0.0043. With this bundle Lucky Palm costs $10 the Standard Edition and $14 the Gold Edition.

I'm not sure where you are getting these price points. Maybe I'm missing something, but right now, when I look it up, if I want to buy Lucky Palms this very moment, just the standard version, I have to spend a minimum of $30 (USD). The cost of Sim Points right now in Origin are:

$10 for 1000 Points
$20 for 2040 Points
$40 for 5000 Points

...And beyond that, it gets really crazy with the costs. And here is the actual point cost listed with Lucky Palms in the store:

Standard: 2450
Gold: 3524

So when I look at this, I have to pay at least $30 for standard edition, and a whopping $40, the cost of an expansion pack, for the gold edition, which only includes a few paltry extra items. (See @Ceres_Meiriona 's post for the scant things you get with this world for both price points.)

No way is it worth this. No way. The Sims 3's store and point system is just one of the several crude choices that were made for Sims 3 that made me turn away from it right after base game release because it was such an insulting, obscene way to clean out players' pockets. Looking at this again just reinforces that. If ever there was an example of EA blatantly making a capitalistic lunge to sell out the Sims franchise, this is it.

StrangerVille, at $20, which is what the company charged during Sims 3's reign for a Stuff Pack, is by far the better deal.

THIS. Sims 3's STUFF packs were 20 dollars AND didn't even include gameplay items. (Except High End Loft Stuff which had an electric guitar and aquarium.) I stand my ground--in every regard--Sims 4's price points and value are beyond superior to me!!

"alan650111;c-16997408" wrote:
THIS. Sims 3's STUFF packs were 20 dollars AND didn't even include gameplay items. (Except High End Loft Stuff which had an electric guitar and aquarium.) I stand my ground--in every regard--Sims 4's price points and value are beyond superior to me!!

You can stand your ground all you want but it doesn't make you any less wrong. Sims 4 Stuff Packs include gameplay that would've been included in an EP in 3.

• Luxury Party added a buffet table. It's a base game object in TS2 and 3.
  
• Perfect Patio added hot tubs. It's a base game object in TS2 and it was reintroduced in TS3 Late Night EP.
  
• Cool Kitchen added an ice cream machine. A machine was included with TS3 Seasons.
  
• Spooky Stuff added pumpkin carvin. It was included in TS3 Seasons.
  
• Romantic Garden added a wishing well. It was included in TS2 Seasons. The big fountain is a TS3 BG object.
  
• Backyard Stuff added a slip 'n slide. It was part of TS3 Generations EP.
  
• Vintage Glamour added vanity tables and a butler. Vanity Tables were included in TS2 University, and butlers in TS2 Apartment Life and TS3 Late Night.
  
• Bowling Night added bowling lanes. This object was included in TS2 Nightlife and TS3 University Life.
  
• Laundry Day added laundry equipment. It was included in TS3 Ambitions (except the washtub).
  
• My First Pet added rodents. Rodents were part of TS2 and 3 Pets.
  

You aren't getting anything new for that price, you're getting objects that would've been included in a GP and now they're exclusive to a SP. In TS3, for example, you could get laundry or hot tubs in a variety of packs. If you want them in TS4, you must buy the specific packs that include that gameplay.

What you are getting is really low quality content, tons of deco and non-functional stuff, with a limited amount of swatches (in contrast to the unlimited customization of TS3) and a very low polycount for 2014 standards (TS2 and 3's assets have higher polycounts).

It's okay if you want to believe SPs in 4 are a better deal than in previous games, but I firmly believe you're getting less QUALITY content even if prices are half of what they were.

I won't be responding to any more posts about things that aren't related to the topic at hand: StrangerVille vs Lucky Palms. I don't want my thread to be closed for people who insist on derailing it with factless comparisons.

I think it's quite a fair comparison considering how Sims 3 vampires and Sims 4 vampires are always being compared despite one quite literally being the focus of the pack while the other not so much. So if we can compare those than this is just as fair. No apples or oranges nonsense.

I personally don't care for desert worlds so that sums up how I feel about both aesthetically. That aside, I've always had a love-hate relationship with Sims 4 worlds. Some of them can be gorgeous and immersive - but that immersion stops when I have to start moving my sims to new worlds. I prefer to play in one world and I can't do that unless I stick to one or two families and that's just not how I enjoy playing The Sims. Because of this, I'll always appreciate the freedom and control that comes with Sims 3 worlds. In my current Sims 3 game I'm able to have my (7) families I'm rotating between with room for many generations to come and room for commercial venues, parks, and whatever else I want to have. This is my way of playing so something like that is important to me.

Despite me not liking desert worlds, I'd definitely say Lucky Palms works in my favor as far as allowing me to play the game the way I want to play. Strangerville is a neat little world, and I could possibly get some storytelling and screenshots out of it but I could never play in it because of how small the world is and my style of play.