Seasons or Discover University?
I've been looking into adding a new expansion pack (I already own Get Together, Cats and Dogs, Get to Work, and City Living), especially with the Black Friday deals so good right now. So far, Seasons ...
Forum Discussion
I haven't played with University yet since I bought it on sale mostly for the build/buy, especially the shower. I can see it adding some depth when I play families, uni/college being seen as a rite of passage and a phase in life to go crazy and experiment, but it isn't really useful to me when I start a game with a single sim. That's just my playstyle.
Seasons, like someone else commented, is more a background element than a gameplay element. The most important for me is that it helps establish a sense of passage of time. In a season-less world with every day being the same and no calender, the world is frozen. Your sims age up, yes, but it doesn't feel like they get older. You one day look at their age and see "2 days before aging up," then panic that they don't even have a romantic partner yet but wanted to get married by adulthood. With seasons, every Winterfest, Leisure Day and Love Day spent alone is a constant reminder of the time passing that your sim hasn't yet achieved what they want to. You feel the "years" you've spent in a sim's life by how many season cycles you've completed, and if you haven't yet achieved their goals you feel the pressure sinking in to get them done. When they finally HAVE achieved their goals (ex. having a family), those festive holidays, pool days in the heat and cozy shut-in days when it's pouring outside feel much more rewarding, bc you are reminded of the days you spent alone and the work you did to get where you are now, happy and fuzzy.
Seasons is a tool to me, not a gameplay pack. It provides challenges, ex. making the History challenge more difficult or forcing me to plan my days around the weather in normal saves. I especially love that each world has its own climate, giving my decision to live somewhere more weight bc if my sim is an outdoorsy person who thrives on sunshine, rainy Brindleton Bay won't be a good choice (unless I want to purposefully make them unhappy as a narrative, or a motivator to move later on).
Weather and seasons bring atmosphere, providing passive backdrops or actively being taken advantage of. There's a certain feeling I get from having my sims sit in their armchair with a coffee and book/newspaper while the windows are all foggy from the cold outside, passively making me enjoy the experience more. Planning a wedding around a season actively brings atmosphere and purpose - if my sim wants a Spring wedding full of life, it gives me a lot to do in planning, building and choreographing the ceremony, especially if it's still winter and my sim wants everything to be hand-made in advance. If my sim hates Love Day and I decide to take advantage of that, it brings active gameplay of seasonal bitterness - singles parties, anti-love home decor, getting juiced and crying while watching bad romantic TV etc. The possibilities are endless, and it largely depends on your creativity.
Seasons enhances the game for me. If you're looking for hard gameplay, there is some (botany, flower arranging, skating etc), but most of the enjoyment comes from what you make of it.
Seasons, like someone else commented, is more a background element than a gameplay element. The most important for me is that it helps establish a sense of passage of time. In a season-less world with every day being the same and no calender, the world is frozen. Your sims age up, yes, but it doesn't feel like they get older. You one day look at their age and see "2 days before aging up," then panic that they don't even have a romantic partner yet but wanted to get married by adulthood. With seasons, every Winterfest, Leisure Day and Love Day spent alone is a constant reminder of the time passing that your sim hasn't yet achieved what they want to. You feel the "years" you've spent in a sim's life by how many season cycles you've completed, and if you haven't yet achieved their goals you feel the pressure sinking in to get them done. When they finally HAVE achieved their goals (ex. having a family), those festive holidays, pool days in the heat and cozy shut-in days when it's pouring outside feel much more rewarding, bc you are reminded of the days you spent alone and the work you did to get where you are now, happy and fuzzy.
Seasons is a tool to me, not a gameplay pack. It provides challenges, ex. making the History challenge more difficult or forcing me to plan my days around the weather in normal saves. I especially love that each world has its own climate, giving my decision to live somewhere more weight bc if my sim is an outdoorsy person who thrives on sunshine, rainy Brindleton Bay won't be a good choice (unless I want to purposefully make them unhappy as a narrative, or a motivator to move later on).
Weather and seasons bring atmosphere, providing passive backdrops or actively being taken advantage of. There's a certain feeling I get from having my sims sit in their armchair with a coffee and book/newspaper while the windows are all foggy from the cold outside, passively making me enjoy the experience more. Planning a wedding around a season actively brings atmosphere and purpose - if my sim wants a Spring wedding full of life, it gives me a lot to do in planning, building and choreographing the ceremony, especially if it's still winter and my sim wants everything to be hand-made in advance. If my sim hates Love Day and I decide to take advantage of that, it brings active gameplay of seasonal bitterness - singles parties, anti-love home decor, getting juiced and crying while watching bad romantic TV etc. The possibilities are endless, and it largely depends on your creativity.
Seasons enhances the game for me. If you're looking for hard gameplay, there is some (botany, flower arranging, skating etc), but most of the enjoyment comes from what you make of it.
