Let's get this straight - I never want to see a Stuff Pack like My First Pet ever again.But there is ONE thing I think it gets too much flack (aka too much criticism or bad press) on - requiring Cats&Dogs to play the whole thing.Cats&Dogs was the best thing EVER. It got people who'd never bought Expansions getting it. For some people, it was the only Expansion they cared about. Not everybody could get it, not everybody wanted animals... But if you wanted pets in your house, by the time of My First Pet you would surely have Cats&Dogs. If you want to dress kids and pets identically, some of the costumes (the bee costume and the astronaut) double with OTHER packs (Toddlers and Get To Work). The little pets are rather bland. There are people who might want their kids to have a little pet with no complications, but most wouldn't even WANT My First Pet if they didn't already have Cats&Dogs.People say, "If you don't like it, don't buy it", usually while buying it. Normally I'd give them a punch in the nose but while very low quality as a pack, it really, really is optional. A money grab that has items shamelessly stripped and recoloured from Pets, yes. A rip-off? Absolutely. Small even by Stuff Pack standards? Yup. 'Forcing' you to get Cats&Dogs? Hardly.Remember the 'Toddlers' Game Pack? It came out RIGHT after the Toddler upgrade. A lot of those things could have been in the upgrade, but people didn't complain (as much). What made it bearable was the size of the pack and people still feeling good about the free update.So, do you think MFP gets too much flack? The right amount? Or not enough? Personally I think the flack is... misdirected.

I think it would have been nice if we could treat the fish and frogs in aquariums like pets and feed and clean them. And some lizards and parrots too.

I think it gets too much flack. Yes, I agree with all the issues you mention. But from a business perspective, part of what you do is you experiment and see what works or what does not work. They just wanted to see what people are willing to pay more, or what people say no to. EA is a business wanting to make money, so they need to be constantly innovating. As someone who works in certain areas of business, I actually found is fascinating and wanted to see what their conclusions would be. It appears that it didn’t work like they want, so they have moved on to new ideas.

I gotta admit today I'm gonna play with Rabid Rodent Fever in a full house. It's my way of dealing with things, to make light of them.I personally like the hamster and have them in few sim houses. I really don't use the furniture though except some of the pet stuff (mostly beds) and the silly rugs.. but I can say that about a few packs at this point. So I use this pack as much as basically any other stuff pack and sometimes more since I can make it deviant.I think the flack it got is and was spearheaded and carried on and lobbied about mostly by people that really dislike the series and yes or course they have some points. Sometimes I think it's more about following the crowd to dislike it and agreeing because it's a popular thing to do. Thing is for me anyway the pack can be entertaining despite some of it's faults. Is it 10 bucks worth of entertainment? Again for me it was and is. I'll get hours of play today out of it just like I've already had in the past.What worries me most about this sort of not just complaints but ridicule is it might mean I'll get no birds or reptiles in future stuff packs and the sims I really want to have them.. just won't.

I never have understood the hatred for the pack. I came to it a little later but I think it's cute. I use the items quite a bit for children's bedrooms and I thought it complimented Cats and Dogs nicely. I never really felt like it forced someone to buy Cats and Dogs because I assumed that most people who were buying the stuff pack probably already had Cats and Dogs anyway <3 It does make sense though that EA were experimenting with the idea. I mean, how can they see what works and what doesn't if they don't at least try?"Hermitgirl;c-17450386" wrote:I think the flack it got is and was spearheaded and carried on and lobbied about mostly by people that really dislike the series and yes or course they have some points. Sometimes I think it's more about following the crowd to dislike it and agreeing because it's a popular thing to do.I think this is quite accurate, at least in my experience. I've been seeing this a lot and I was wondering it sometimes the disliking was becoming a popular trend :/

"telmarina;c-17450916" wrote:I've bought it when i already had cats and dogs ep. So, maybe because i can use all stuff im not upset about it. I would prefer that the aquarium table could actually hold fishes though. And that it had more pets like birds, lizards, snakes... but as it is a stuff pack, its fine for me. There are worse stuff packs imo. I didn't know there was an aquarium table in the game, had to look it up. Thank you for the tip. I always discover new stuff, which would be amazing if it wasn't so difficult to find the stuff I am looking for and that I actually know is in there.

My First Pet Pack gets too much pet flack?

23 Replies

crocobaura
Legend
6 years ago
I think it would have been nice if we could treat the fish and frogs in aquariums like pets and feed and clean them. And some lizards and parrots too.
PinkBookGirl
6 years ago
I think it gets too much flack. Yes, I agree with all the issues you mention. But from a business perspective, part of what you do is you experiment and see what works or what does not work. They just wanted to see what people are willing to pay more, or what people say no to. EA is a business wanting to make money, so they need to be constantly innovating. As someone who works in certain areas of business, I actually found is fascinating and wanted to see what their conclusions would be. It appears that it didn’t work like they want, so they have moved on to new ideas.
Hermitgirl
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
I gotta admit today I'm gonna play with Rabid Rodent Fever in a full house. It's my way of dealing with things, to make light of them.
I personally like the hamster and have them in few sim houses. I really don't use the furniture though except some of the pet stuff (mostly beds) and the silly rugs.. but I can say that about a few packs at this point. So I use this pack as much as basically any other stuff pack and sometimes more since I can make it deviant.
I think the flack it got is and was spearheaded and carried on and lobbied about mostly by people that really dislike the series and yes or course they have some points. Sometimes I think it's more about following the crowd to dislike it and agreeing because it's a popular thing to do. Thing is for me anyway the pack can be entertaining despite some of it's faults. Is it 10 bucks worth of entertainment? Again for me it was and is. I'll get hours of play today out of it just like I've already had in the past.
What worries me most about this sort of not just complaints but ridicule is it might mean I'll get no birds or reptiles in future stuff packs and the sims I really want to have them.. just won't.
texxx78
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
I've bought it when i already had cats and dogs ep. So, maybe because i can use all stuff im not upset about it. I would prefer that the aquarium table could actually hold fishes though. And that it had more pets like birds, lizards, snakes... but as it is a stuff pack, its fine for me. There are worse stuff packs imo.
MissyHissy
6 years ago
I never have understood the hatred for the pack. I came to it a little later but I think it's cute. I use the items quite a bit for children's bedrooms and I thought it complimented Cats and Dogs nicely. I never really felt like it forced someone to buy Cats and Dogs because I assumed that most people who were buying the stuff pack probably already had Cats and Dogs anyway <3
It does make sense though that EA were experimenting with the idea. I mean, how can they see what works and what doesn't if they don't at least try?

"Hermitgirl;c-17450386" wrote:

I think the flack it got is and was spearheaded and carried on and lobbied about mostly by people that really dislike the series and yes or course they have some points. Sometimes I think it's more about following the crowd to dislike it and agreeing because it's a popular thing to do.

I think this is quite accurate, at least in my experience. I've been seeing this a lot and I was wondering it sometimes the disliking was becoming a popular trend :/
crocobaura
Legend
6 years ago
"telmarina;c-17450916" wrote:
I've bought it when i already had cats and dogs ep. So, maybe because i can use all stuff im not upset about it. I would prefer that the aquarium table could actually hold fishes though. And that it had more pets like birds, lizards, snakes... but as it is a stuff pack, its fine for me. There are worse stuff packs imo.

I didn't know there was an aquarium table in the game, had to look it up. Thank you for the tip. I always discover new stuff, which would be amazing if it wasn't so difficult to find the stuff I am looking for and that I actually know is in there.
atreya33
Legend
6 years ago
I think some of the items should have been in cats and dogs. I think small pets should have been included in cats and dogs and I wish they would have kept the animal themed kids furniture as one set in one pack.

But the idea of one pack adding to another the pack is not all bad. I am not against the idea of including pet outfits or pet furniture as a little side treat in future packs. As long as the main feature can be used with only the base game, which is the case for the rodents in my first pets stuff.
texxx78
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
"crocobaura;c-17450921" wrote:
"telmarina;c-17450916" wrote:
I've bought it when i already had cats and dogs ep. So, maybe because i can use all stuff im not upset about it. I would prefer that the aquarium table could actually hold fishes though. And that it had more pets like birds, lizards, snakes... but as it is a stuff pack, its fine for me. There are worse stuff packs imo.

I didn't know there was an aquarium table in the game, had to look it up. Thank you for the tip. I always discover new stuff, which would be amazing if it wasn't so difficult to find the stuff I am looking for and that I actually know is in there.

I had that problem too. I got overwhelmed with all the pack's content, maybe because i bought almost all at once. So i've compiled a list with all the new features of all the packs i own (both gameplay and interactive objects). When im doing my stories now, i go and have a look at my list to see if something fits the story. It usually helps making me build better and more complex stories. And i feel like i finally use more content from the packs.
asimbsim
6 years ago
I understand your point. I'll start by saying that MFPS is the first pack out of ALL the sims packs - since TS1, that I haven't bought. My negativity towards MFPS isn't that I needed Cats and Dogs to buy it, I think for me, it was that after buying the previous versions of Pets in The Sims series, they have all included various animals as standard - I'm talking animals such as cats, dogs, horses, reptiles, birds, hamsters etc, all for the price of 1 pack, and they have been amazing! Now, I'm not against Cats and Dogs, I actually really love it, and the detail that has been put into them is amazing. But, my issue is really that MFPS felt like a turn into blatent minimal content for maximum profits (rather than EA's usually mildly hidden version). That we were having to pay an extra £10 for not much content, just so we could get small pets - in comparison to the previous versions in the series where they were all included in the cost of a single pets pack.

Of course, we have the option not to buy it, which I havent, but it just feels like a representation of a money making machine trying to eek out as much money as they can get for absolutely minimal content, rather than making substantial packs with lots included. I know it's all about business, and making a profit, and it's cold decision making. It just feels like MFPS and TS4 in general really, has taken a turn into making the absolute most profit possible for the least amount of content. Rather than before the focus seemed more on providing excellent and substantial game depth and quality, with a profit coming as a result of that.
Felicity1169
6 years ago
I understand why people were annoyed about the pack and I really think in the past games small pets would have been included in Cats and Dogs but I bought it months before I got C&D for the new death and I think it was worth it and didn't feel the need to get Cats and Dogs until a while after.

I still don't like the trend of everything being separated but I don't think DLC for DLC is the worst thing in the world either as long as it contains enough content and items to justify the extra amount of money. For example if they made a musician stuff pack that added bands but required Get Famous I'd think that'd be worth it for $10 than opposed to an Expansion pack for Bands on their own. Now they should have been included bands in Get Famous in the first place but an add-on makes more sense to me than making something completely new.