For me, they're a little lacking. Don't get me wrong, I love how cute some of them are and I really like the fact they made something for everyone and every Sim. However... I was expecting a little more than a glorified death flower. :( The only things I can do with my familiars on my Spellcaster is dismiss them or rename them, I can only have one at a time (which is ok, but imagine having a dragon, bunnerfly and leaf bat at the same time?!) and as far as I know, they only do 3 things total: Save your sim from death (this I haven't tested as I dismissed my familiar before my Sim died of magical overload), boost exp gain rate on your spellcaster (not 100% sure about this), and "talk" via notifications that you may or may not miss in the middle of the game.I kinda wanted to be able to pet them and feed them (which I understand wouldn't work for all of them), have them do more than just be like the streaming drone following your Sim around. As a Sims 1 player who loved the dragons in that game, I was really excited when I learned dragons would be an option. I spent like 3 days in-game waiting for the dragon to come up, and while it's a perfect dragon for Sims 4's art style, it could've been so much more than it is.However, this is just what I've experienced, and I'm curious what your opinions are on the subject, especially as I haven't found any threads about them!

Their cute and this is a GP everyone keeps wanting bigger features. But JA didn't have that much either...

I don't necessarily disagree. I wish the little fellas could do more also, but I do use them when my sim is getting overcharged or just to "catch them all". I've never been a big stuffed animal lover though so I have a feeling they might start only being useful to my gameplay when I feel they are needed. I do however... love, love that you can make your pet a familiar and summon them.. and dismiss them. That they get sparkles when you do. I'm not sure yet how effective they are.. I have gone to duel and my sims pet ran over to the duel area which made me feel better about it. I kept going though and eventually she was a bit farther away. I haven't seen how effective real pets are yet, but I intend to find out.. if I can stop getting cursed instead of dying. Having that option has made me want to have pets more often, usually I only play them in my shorter term rotational houses.. I get a taste then move on.

I like them because kids can have them, so at least a witch kid can have some magic around. I wish we could at least talk to them.

I'm disappointed too. I wish there was some interactions we could do with the familiars.

Although I wish there was more to do with them they are so cool and cute I’m not super disappointed in them. I think it’s really cool unique feature even if they don’t do a ton. The team who designed them deserves massive praise they look really good.

Opinions of Familiars? | EA Forums

WolfNate
6 years ago
Their cute and this is a GP everyone keeps wanting bigger features. But JA didn't have that much either...
Hermitgirl
New Spectator
6 years ago
I don't necessarily disagree. I wish the little fellas could do more also, but I do use them when my sim is getting overcharged or just to "catch them all". I've never been a big stuffed animal lover though so I have a feeling they might start only being useful to my gameplay when I feel they are needed.

I do however... love, love that you can make your pet a familiar and summon them.. and dismiss them. That they get sparkles when you do. I'm not sure yet how effective they are.. I have gone to duel and my sims pet ran over to the duel area which made me feel better about it. I kept going though and eventually she was a bit farther away. I haven't seen how effective real pets are yet, but I intend to find out.. if I can stop getting cursed instead of dying.
Having that option has made me want to have pets more often, usually I only play them in my shorter term rotational houses.. I get a taste then move on.
flaviavp
6 years ago
I like them because kids can have them, so at least a witch kid can have some magic around. I wish we could at least talk to them.
mandyssims93
6 years ago
I'm disappointed too. I wish there was some interactions we could do with the familiars.
akl1226
New Spectator
6 years ago
Although I wish there was more to do with them they are so cool and cute I’m not super disappointed in them. I think it’s really cool unique feature even if they don’t do a ton. The team who designed them deserves massive praise they look really good.
MissIcewolf
Seasoned Rookie
6 years ago
I wasn't really expecting much since the gurus did say you could neither pet them or feed them and they practically acted like the drones. BUT, I still wish you could. They are your familiars for goodness sake! It's kinda weird that your sims doesn't even acknowledge them. I would at least be able to talk to them and get your social meter up. Hearing their cute noises while talking would be cute. At least they talk to us sometimes... :|
logionX
Seasoned Vanguard
6 years ago
When I saw the trailers and listened to the devs I thought that they were gonna act like some sort of protection from other spellcasters who could cast spells on you. While they do protect you from death from for example overcharge the spellcasters does not seem to cast spells on you randomly.

I kinda hoped that they would act as a shield all the time and make you be careful about dueling and interacting with other spellcasters so that there was a sense of danger with walking around in the magic realm which would also prevent you from leveling up too quickly.

Doesn't sound impossible to do with mods actually, if casting spells are the same as any action, maybe you could add so they cast spells on each other autonomously.
InuMiroLover
6 years ago
I was hoping I could talk to them to fulfill social need. Pretty disappointed that I cant do that.
OEII1001
6 years ago
The only opinions my familiars have are the ones I give them.
Airakale
New Spectator
6 years ago
I am still mad over the fact that we got bunnerfly and phoenix familiars even before we got pet rabbit and bird.

Just kidding, but seriously I really hope that it doesn’t exclude us from getting a proper pet dragon and phoenix in future packs, like, idk, in a back to the medieval EP?