Forum Discussion

Omri147's avatar
Omri147
New Spectator
5 years ago

Recently caught up on some pack content after not playing for awhile

Hi, so I haven't actually playing the game for awhile but I've been creating Sims for a long time so I did get many of the packs for the CAS stuff.

Lately I decided that I want to take a break from creating Sims and actually play the game for once, cause there are a lot of packs I haven't tried out the content of yet.

So the packs I caught up on are Jungle Adventure, Strangerville, Realm of Magic, Discover University and Eco Lifestyle (the latter I bought only cause of the sale).

There's a big issue that I found in the majority of these packs: Lack of replayability.

Most of these packs I'll probably never use again cause that's really it, which is a real shame.

Here's a breakdown on my thoughts of each of these packs:

Jungle Adventure: Was exciting at first, then I realized there's only one 'tomb' to explore, the rest are just scenery and nothing else. Would not go there again.
Strangerville: The missions to uncover the story are well... boring. You just go and talk to scientists and military personnel most of the time (not a spoiler, it's just a thing you have to do),
Spoiler
the final battle is kinda fun though, but that's about it.

Realm of Magic: May be the only one of these packs I'd replay at some point, actually had some fun getting my Sims to be a powerful spellcaster.
Discover University: The most repetitive pack I've ever played, I've played two terms and it got me too bored to continue, and I doubt I'll ever try again.
Eco Lifestyle: I haven't actively played it, but wow the N.A.P.s are annoying... The random utility shut downs, the free love kissing and flirting with literally everyone, and most of all, sharing is caring, when my Sim was in university and got her laptop stolen and bunch of other necessities around the dorms, really made me want to stop playing.

Maybe I missed something in any of these lacks that could be meaningful?

It seems like the game engine really limits the ways that packs can add to the game in a meaningful way, though packs that did better in my opinion are Cats & Dogs, Seasons, Vampires and Parenthood, I wish we'd have more like them.

Sorry if I was a bit all over the place. In conclusion, the more recent packs have been more linear and I wish we'd go back to packs that affect general gameplay (in a way that's not just annoying, unlike Eco Lifestyle's N.A.P.s) and add meaningful gameplay.
feedback
  • LaBlue0314's avatar
    LaBlue0314
    Rising Scout
    5 years ago
    One of the biggest things Real of Magic is missing comes back to the Spellcasters. If you create a powerful Spellcaster who knows everything, or even most of it, and for whatever reason, you want to put that sim into another game save by saving them to your library. Then if you place that sim into a new game save they will be starting all over again, meaning they won't keep what they have already learned. Much like when you try to save a lot with things that have been upgraded but find those things not upgraded, such as the Rocket.
  • Omri147's avatar
    Omri147
    New Spectator
    5 years ago
    "LaBlue0314;c-17583506" wrote:
    One of the biggest things Real of Magic is missing comes back to the Spellcasters. If you create a powerful Spellcaster who knows everything, or even most of it, and for whatever reason, you want to put that sim into another game save by saving them to your library. Then if you place that sim into a new game save they will be starting all over again, meaning they won't keep what they have already learned. Much like when you try to save a lot with things that have been upgraded but find those things not upgraded, such as the Rocket.


    Oh that's a bummer, so you are basically forced to start over even if you don't want to. It's like they are begging us to use mods...
  • Bluebell23456's avatar
    Bluebell23456
    5 years ago
    I'll give you Strangerville and Jungle Adventures. I have not really found myself wanting to defeat the plant again and I find it fairly inconvenient to take vacations this round (vacation day system), but I would consider Eco Lifestyle, University, and Realm of Magic fairly replayable.

    Eco Lifestyle adds something to every world we can manipulate or ignore, bugs aside. Plus it really rounds out my off the grid play and I just enjoy the BB and CAS additions.

    University can admittedly be a pain to play through, but I would consider it a fairly essential stage for some stories. You also do not have to move into the new world and dorm to use it. Send your Sims to classes from home if you do not really want to be that hands on. It can be like a high school extension.

    Realm of Magic, though not as well done as Vampires, has some very similar replayability. You just have to use the life state. I do love the BB and CAS, but Glimmerbrook and the Magic Realm leave something to be desired. Also, the life state itself lacks ways to make unique casters beyond aesthetic decorations. So, maybe not the best pack, though certainly not the worst, but it is probably one of the easiest to replay (add an occult in CAS).
  • logionX's avatar
    logionX
    Seasoned Hotshot
    5 years ago
    The lack of long-term gameplay have been an issue for a while for the sims4. I felt that Jungle Adventure did a pretty god job with that, with the ruins requiring skill from your sim to progress. And I also liked that some areas are closed off so you can't explore everything at once and there are also different ruins everytime you visit.

    With Strangerville I am probably one of the few who actually liked that the aspirations was trying to follow a narrative, but the fetch quests was not fun. I also did not like that the sims reacted so little to people getting infected. Introducing a fear emotion would have been really good here.

    Realm of Magic has a lot of spells and potions for you to learn, there is not much depth in discovering those spells though but the potions does require a bit of work to make them.

    I thought Discover University had some long term gameplay, and I liked that it was challenging, however I discovered that the best way to play discover university is unfortunately to ignore everything and just focus on studying, which makes it very boring and also makes everything around you very annoying with everyone just trying to waste your time.

    Eco Lifestyle... I am trying to stay motivated to make Evergreen Harbor completely green, but everything is so buggy and repetitive that I am quickly losing my interest to play it.



  • Omri147's avatar
    Omri147
    New Spectator
    5 years ago
    "Calico45;c-17583512" wrote:
    I'll give you Strangerville and Jungle Adventures. I have not really found myself wanting to defeat the plant again and I find it fairly inconvenient to take vacations this round (vacation day system), but I would consider Eco Lifestyle, University, and Realm of Magic fairly replayable.

    Eco Lifestyle adds something to every world we can manipulate or ignore, bugs aside. Plus it really rounds out my off the grid play and I just enjoy the BB and CAS additions.

    University can admittedly be a pain to play through, but I would consider it a fairly essential stage for some stories. You also do not have to move into the new world and dorm to use it. Send your Sims to classes from home if you do not really want to be that hands on. It can be like a high school extension.

    Realm of Magic, though not as well done as Vampires, has some very similar replayability. You just have to use the life state. I do love the BB and CAS, but Glimmerbrook and the Magic Realm leave something to be desired. Also, the life state itself lacks ways to make unique casters beyond aesthetic decorations. So, maybe not the best pack, though certainly not the worst, but it is probably one of the easiest to replay (add an occult in CAS).

    I feel like Eco Lifestyle could have so much potential, but what it does add is either really annoying or barely noticeable. If it didn't happen so often and stacked up it would have been better.


    I guess I could attend university from my Sims' home lot, at least it's an option. I'll try doing so for their last term.

    One good thing about spellcasters is that it's easy to become one even if your Sims isn't. The curses were a pain BUT they added some challenge.
  • Omri147's avatar
    Omri147
    New Spectator
    5 years ago
    "logion;c-17583523" wrote:
    The lack of long-term gameplay have been an issue for a while for the sims4. I felt that Jungle Adventure did a pretty god job with that, with the ruins requiring skill from your sim to progress. And I also liked that some areas are closed off so you can't explore everything at once and there are also different ruins everytime you visit.

    With Strangerville I am probably one of the few who actually liked that the aspirations was trying to follow a narrative, but the fetch quests was not fun. I also did not like that the sims reacted so little to people getting infected. Introducing a fear emotion would have been really good here.

    Realm of Magic has a lot of spells and potions for you to learn, there is not much depth in discovering those spells though but the potions does require a bit of work to make them.

    I thought Discover University had some long term gameplay, and I liked that it was challenging, however I discovered that the best way to play discover university is unfortunately to ignore everything and just focus on studying, which makes it very boring and also makes everything around you very annoying with everyone just trying to waste your time.

    Eco Lifestyle... I am trying to stay motivated to make Evergreen Harbor completely green, but everything is so buggy and repetitive that I am quickly losing my interest to play it.




    Yeah it was nice that you couldn't finish everything in JA in one vacation, but it was still something I probably won't do again, cause the tomb part wasn't too exciting and the rest is just scenery and nothing else (though again, it's a Sims 4 thing).

    The Strangerville aspiration did make it easy to know what you actually need to do so I agree on that.

    It was actually challenging to get ingredients for potions, especially the one that clears curses. My Sim didn't sleep for a week (she couldn't) trying to find a citrine. So that's something I liked.

    I did only focus on studying in university (my Sim took 4 classes), but finding out I have to do it twice more was really offputting (especially with sharing is caring still in action).

    I still haven't tried the going green part, but with the annoying N.A.P.s I'm not looking forward to it.
  • LaBlue0314's avatar
    LaBlue0314
    Rising Scout
    5 years ago
    "Omri147 wrote:

    I still haven't tried the going green part, but with the annoying N.A.P.s I'm not looking forward to it.


    I had to actually stop playing the going green part of the NAP (I've actually stopped them all) because the green part caused my game to have such a horrible lag and white screen thing going on. Without it my game still plays as it should.
  • Omri147's avatar
    Omri147
    New Spectator
    5 years ago
    I'm actually kinda not wanting to continue playing my Sim in University which is... not what I thought I'd feel...
  • LaBlue0314's avatar
    LaBlue0314
    Rising Scout
    5 years ago
    "Omri147;c-17583723" wrote:
    I'm actually kinda not wanting to continue playing my Sim in University which is... not what I thought I'd feel...


    I know exactly what you mean. I have played University in both Sims 2 and 3 and fully enjoyed playing it. But when it comes to Sims 4 it feels like I'm griding my sim, especially after the first week.
  • Omri147's avatar
    Omri147
    New Spectator
    5 years ago
    "SimmerGeorge;c-17585185" wrote:
    Yeah Jungle adventure is one of those packs I will never buy because of the way the tombs work. Those puzzles solve themselves and the chance cards are a snooze fest. The idea is recycled and uninspiring and I loved World adventures btw.
    Exploring is fun while it lasts (like with many Sims packs) but once that's over then Aufwiedersehen!

    Eco lifestyle has replayability but looks really repetitive especially since the Eco footprint in other worlds is almost impossible to notice while playing.

    Strangerville I'm not gonna comment (but I will say another recycled concept)

    RoM is fine though the spells are unfortunately not inspired at all, they bring no new gameplay really but the rest of the pack is nice

    Discover university was one I was super excited about and it kinda delivered but then again it didn't last long. Nothing really invites me back to university. No cool parties, no unique roommates that feel like college students (they come off as any other sim really), no cool activities, not a lot of fun venues to hang out in, studying different subjects doesn't really feel different and many times I forget what my sims study. Yeah fun the first time but not inviting for a second round.

    I guess Jungle Adventure isn't too bad if you just consider it an exotic vacation place. There's still not much stuff to do there that you can't already do somewhere else.

    So far Eco Lifestyle did not give me a good impression, especially with the game breaking 'Sharing is Caring', might just use it for the CAS stuff, world and maker items.

    Yeah University is straight -up boring to me. Unless there's something special I missed, I don't think I'll ever replay it, might go up as my least favorite EP (at least CAS items are nice, a few of them are some of my favorites).

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