"jackjack_k;c-16360030" wrote:
The copying and pasting in The Sims 1 - 3 didn't bother me though. Only if they made you pay for it more than once.
The Sims 4 so far hasn't made me pay for the same content twice, if they have re-used objects like Food Carts or the WooHoo bush, it hasn't affected the amount of new gameplay animated objects we've got. It's always been a bonus extra, that's factored into the actual price. I'm not buying a Game Pack, with the same 6 gameplay objects we've had before.
I believe that it did affect the amount of new game play and animation in that, for a pack called Jungle Adventure, it didn't provide much of the adventure part. Those things weren't recycled as a sort of...sacrifice...in order to give us an Indiana Jones type of adventure. They were recycled in order to provide an amazingly beautiful world and the creatures within it. However, that is not game play. It's great, but unless my Sims can live in that world, that's not the feature that will draw me back time and again.
The thing that would have brought me back is the tomb raiding. The teasers and the live streams all seemed to be leading up to that one most important feature. Yet, tomb raiding turned out to be incredibly dull. So dull, in fact, that, halfway through the live stream that was supposed to be dedicated to tomb raiding, the gurus had to fall back on that old standby of demonstrating CAS and build/buy items. The game play portion lasted roughly only
thirty minutes in real time. That included the Guru speeding up the game because, watching the Sims write, or dig, or socialize with a statue is dead boring. (I also must point out that neither Sim reacted worth a fig to that statue that suddenly started glowing and talking!)
JA has no puzzles to solve, no keys to find, no secret rooms to discover. In order to get past an obstacle, we players aren't required to use our own brain power. We need only sit through a multiple choice quiz. A quiz which the game will ultimately answer for us, if our Sim's skill is high enough. Which happens to be an exact copy of the Vet career. ::sigh::
Things were recycled in order to give us that? It's sad when getting to the tomb is more eventful than the tomb itself.
I know that we're not supposed to compare TS4 with the older games. However, since I don't know how else to best illustrate my point, I'm comparing:
In World adventures, I took my Sim into a tomb. IIRC, mid-way through, I realized that there was a secret room full of treasure. I could see it. It was there, taunting me. I got to the end of the tomb, yet, I still hadn't gotten her into that room. Being a completionist, my Sim was
not leaving until I had gotten her in there. I had her pore over every inch of that tomb trying to find the way. Eventually, I solved the puzzle and my Sim was able to grab all of that precious loot.
By the time that she finally crawled out of that tomb (days later, mind you), my Sim was nearly out of food and smelled like a sick rhino. However, I, the player, felt wonderful. I finished that tomb with a genuine sense of accomplishment
and with treasure that was well-earned through my own devices. It wasn't weighted multiple-choice questions or sheer luck. It was me.
I solved the mystery and the journey was amazing!
That is the kind of adventure that I was expecting from JA. That was the kind of adventure that they teased us with. Regardless, it wasn't what we got. For me, it wasn't worth recycling so much in order to achieve so little game play in return.
That is when I have a problem with recycling.
