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

56 Replies

atreya33
Legend
6 years ago

"PrincipleOfEntropy;c-17250450" wrote:
"nerdfashion;c-17248869" wrote:
People just expect way too much from a Game Pack...

I'd say the problem is that people expect too little.

In the original game dragons were far more involved. You had to earn coins in Magic Town to be able to buy a nest and an egg, and the only way to earn coins was through feats of magic. Once you had your egg how you interacted with it determined the colour of the dragon you'd get - either a red, yellow or purple dragon would hatch. Red had the worst temperament whilst purple was well mannered. Dragons would wander the house, play with other dragons, cats or dogs, and they could eat your garden. Dragons had Hunger, Fun and Energy needs.

You could pet them, cuddle them and groom them to keep them happy, but they also required unique food and toys to stay well. Said food and toys were only available in Magic Town for the unique currency, so you had to keep practicing magic to earn more to buy more. You had to make an effort if you wanted a dragon. An unhappy dragon would burn your house down and set Sims on fire (and fire in the original game was lethal).

When you groomed your dragon it would potentially drop tears or scales, both of which were rare and powerful ingredients in spells. Turning Sims into toads was dangerous because dragons saw them as a meal. Don't like your neighbour? Turn them into a toad and feed them to your dragon.

That's all from a pack released in 2003. You'd expect more from a pack in 2019, surely?

After reading this I want to play sims 1 again, just tottake a look at the magic town and the pet dragons. To bad I can't get it to run on my pc anymore. I would have preferred one full pet familiar over a 11 drone like one's.

"simfriend1968;c-17251082" wrote:
Ok, I loved Makin’ Magic in TS1 (my absolute favourite magic pack of all time still), and I loved the dragons in particular. (TS3 dragons, a store item, just didn’t compare). However, they were a pet and behaved like a pet (in both their good and annoying aspects). At no time did the Sim gurus ever promise a new type of pet. The first description of the familiars (in an early tweet) was that they were drone-like, and early on the gurus also said they were interchangeable. So the gurus tried not to raise expectations. A new pet would have been nice but it is also nice to have a magical creature protect your sims from death while looking magic and not like a drone robot.

You are right when you point out we knew from the beginning they were drone like. I never expected them to be more. But I would have definitely preferred it if our sims could interact with them a bit more.
comicsforever
6 years ago
I've not given up hope for more dragons later on they said just because fairies were Familiars that it didn't mean there wouldn't be any other fairies later on so the same could be said for dragons
KiloD2
6 years ago
The only reason I'm disappointed in them is that I misunderstood the original posts that said we would be able to send them to forage for ingredients, not realizing that *only* applied to cats and dogs...
FluffyButt0303
6 years ago

Weeeeell you can if you set your cat or dog as your familiar. I like that there is that integration between packs.

True. I actually made my IRL cat (Salem) my familiar. It doesn't work as well as the orb familiars because the cat would always be napping or rubbing against my Sim's legs or complaining that she's hungry during a duel. Well, at least that is realistic.
Krajsman
6 years ago
"FluffyButt0392;c-17252242" wrote:
Weeeeell you can if you set your cat or dog as your familiar. I like that there is that integration between packs.

True. I actually made my IRL cat (Salem) my familiar. It doesn't work as well as the orb familiars because the cat would always be napping or rubbing against my Sim's legs or complaining that she's hungry during a duel. Well, at least that is realistic.

I made my sims cats the familiar of one of them, only half the time, she's spending her time with my other sim, instead of the one she's a familiar too.
SilentK008
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
"PrincipleOfEntropy;c-17250450" wrote:
"nerdfashion;c-17248869" wrote:
People just expect way too much from a Game Pack...

I'd say the problem is that people expect too little.

In the original game dragons were far more involved. You had to earn coins in Magic Town to be able to buy a nest and an egg, and the only way to earn coins was through feats of magic. Once you had your egg how you interacted with it determined the colour of the dragon you'd get - either a red, yellow or purple dragon would hatch. Red had the worst temperament whilst purple was well mannered. Dragons would wander the house, play with other dragons, cats or dogs, and they could eat your garden. Dragons had Hunger, Fun and Energy needs.

You could pet them, cuddle them and groom them to keep them happy, but they also required unique food and toys to stay well. Said food and toys were only available in Magic Town for the unique currency, so you had to keep practicing magic to earn more to buy more. You had to make an effort if you wanted a dragon. An unhappy dragon would burn your house down and set Sims on fire (and fire in the original game was lethal).

When you groomed your dragon it would potentially drop tears or scales, both of which were rare and powerful ingredients in spells. Turning Sims into toads was dangerous because dragons saw them as a meal. Don't like your neighbour? Turn them into a toad and feed them to your dragon.

That's all from a pack released in 2003. You'd expect more from a pack in 2019, surely?

OHh.... turn an irritating sim into a toad and feed them to your dragon :o <--- that's my awed face. I would really want that.

I can feed a sim to my cowplant if I lock them in a basement and don't leave the lot for a long loong time. Think they have to be eaten twice. The dragon sounds faster and much more fun.

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