Sims 4 life and death Casual Infothread

I'll make the first re-cap post on the first info.

Trailer:

• Crow perch. Unclear if sims can have crows for pets or if it is a festival thing.
• Crows can attack sims.
• Tarot card readings.
• Sims can die in their sleep.
•  Funeral event. It includes a funeral coffin and portrait picture of the deceased sim. Activities also include lighting candles, giving speeches etc.
• Wills and inheritance system it seems.
• Ghost cowplants?
• Soul's journey tab, it seems like sims discover their bucket list tasks. Completing bucket list tasks fills up the progress bar. There are 9 rewards (first is satisfaction points, last is rebirth). There's also locked 7th reward. My guess is that further progress requires the sim to become a ghost.
• Well of Longing and Regret: sims can toss a coin in and something happens, like a ghost coming to scare your sim. Like with Wishing Wells in Romantic Garden stuff.
• New kissing animation...
• New swimming lake, which can turn your sim into a ghost.
• New ghost scare interactions.
• Grim Reaper career. It seems to be an active career... It includes a portal of sorts... And reaping dead sims.
• Sims can take a peek at what's under Grim Reaper's hood.
• New graveyard lots. Sims can tend the graves there.
• Sims can have different gravestones now.
• Grim Reaper actually speaks here. That is so strange... Anyway, it seems like that ghostly powers can be mastered or sims can finish their unfinished business.

The first blog:

• New world: Ravenwood
  • It contains 3 neighborhoods:
    • Crow’s Crossing
      • An eerie haunted village.
      • Includes the Mysterious Merchant (selling curios and collectibles), grave makers, and Try Before You Die casket sale.
      • Includes a graveyard.
      • Two festivals can happen there: Ravenwood Family Day and Crow's Crossing Celebration of Life
      • Haunted houses and ghostly guarded wishing well.
    • Whispering Glen
      • Includes a crypt and Tarot Tome Shrine.
      • Moon Revelry festival can happen there.
      • Includes a swimmable lake. Something special happens when swimming during a full moon.
    • Mourningvale
      • Ghosts can be found there often.
      • Grim Reaper tends to wander there too.
      • Sims can swim in Baleful Bog and become a ghost or transition into rebirth.
      • Thinned Festiveil and Afterlife Anonymous meetups take place there.
• Soul's Journey
  • Helps sims to achieve rewards as they complete Wants and Aspirations.
  • The ultimate reward is the ability to be reborn as a sim with special Burning Soul trait. This unlocks past Childhood Development Skills, Traits, and Infant Milestones, and may also find special ties to sims from their past life.
  • When sims reborn, they can choose the age they come back as.
  • Bucket lists
    • Sims can acquire new goals randomly depending on their traits.
    • Sims can also use a computer or a journal to add either a random goal, a goal from a category, or a specific goal.
    • Completing the goals will get your sim powerful rewards.
  • Ghosts can also complete their Soul's Journey to get that ultimate rebirth.
• Ghost... Improvements?
  • Ghosts can linger on as playable household members (I'm guessing they can join the household immediately, as you can already ask them to join the household)
  • New interactions to wreak havoc or lend a helping hand.
  • New spectral WooHoo, done by possessing objects.
  • Playable ghost sims can be customized in CAS (Can't they already be? This needs more info!).
  • Ghost powers that can be built.
  • Fear and Goodwill essences that can make you money.
• New careers:
  • Reaper profession (active career)
    • Sims become Grimterns and work their way up to Reaper.
    • Workplace: Netherworld Department of Death and 'the field' 
    • Tasks include:
      • Reaper training with training dummy named Kenny.
      • Maintaining scythes.
      • Determine causes of death for reaped souls.
      • Higher level sims can also determine which souls they reap and which they'll return to life.
      • Souls can then be placed in the Netherworld Portal to meet the soul quota.
    • Sims who meet the soul quota can become the Employee of the Month.
  • Undertaker career (rabbit hole career)
    • Sims do things like grave digging and embalming.
    • They can also do interactions like Discussing End of Life services or Contemplating Existence.
    • They can earn rewards like Plague Masks, a Murphy Membrane Bust, or a Corpus Commendation Plaque.
    • Two branches: Mortician and Funeral Director.
• New aspiration: Ghost Historian
• New reward trait: Ghost Whisperer
• New book genre: Horror novel
• New lot trait: Hallowed Grounds.
• Three new traits:
  • Macabe
  • Chased by Death
  • Skeptic
• New skill: Thanatology
• New death: Death by Murder of Crows
• Wills:
  • Sims can create wills through the new world's Town Hall, a computer, or at the Family Day Festival.
  • Wills can be updated at any time.
  • Sims can leave heirlooms, personal notes, funeral planning requests, and designate sims to care for their pets and/or children.
  • Sims can also specify how they want their remains to be handled and the reactions of the sims reading the will.
  • If the entire household passes away, they can donate the money to a charity or another household.
• Grief:
  • Four grief types:
    • Denial
    • Holding it Together
    • Anger
    • Blues
  • The type depends on sim's traits and the relationship.
  • Grief can happen by death, ending a friendship, divorce/break up, losing a job, or having a child or pet taken away.
  • Grief takes effect after the mourning period.
  • Sims in grief can reach out for help from other sims or attend Grief Counseling.
  • Other sims can also help sims overcome their grief.
• Funerals:
  • A customizable event where you can set the dress code and color and pick activities (14 in total)
  • Activities include:
    • Giving a Eulogy
    • Lighting Candles
    • Planting something
    • Serving Food
  • Ghost of the deceased can also appear in their own funeral.
  • Memorial Displays can be set up with the portrait of the deceased sim.
• Sims can select the urn or tombstone for the sim, decorate the gravesite, or leave them a message on a special memorial statue. Urns can also be placed in Crypts.
• Another early purchase reward.

The gameplay trailer is out! For those interested, see here for the previous week's recap.

Ok! Life and Death gameplay trailer!

• A new notebook to make a Bucket List (and which can be turned into a Heirloom). You can do the following:
  • Write Goal
  • Write Goal From Category
  • Write the Perfect Goal
  • Scrap Bucket List
• Sims seem to be able to have up to 4 Bucket List goals at one time.
• Inheritance Lawyer can be found in a festival to make a will. You can do the following:
  • Ask about Funerals
  • Ask about Heirlooms
  • Ask about Wills
  • Start Will
• The trailer shows the following options on the will:
  • Heirlooms...
  • Sim Remains...
  • Simoleons
  • Leave Personal Note
    • With this one, you can choose the emotion and input a message yourself. Some emotions include:
      • Angry
      • Bored
      • Embarrassed
      • Flirty
      • Happy
      • Inspired
      • Playful
      • Sad
      • Tense
• Gravestone appearance can be changed with "Display as..." interaction. You can choose to display it as a gravestone or as an urn and there are 7 new gravestone appearances shown in the trailer.
• When a sim dies, a special message pops up giving you three options: to Become a Playable Ghost (join household immediately after death), Become a Freeroaming Ghost (I guess what system we have now), or Rebirth.
  
  • The text for those interested:
    • Begin a new chapter of Life by becoming a Ghost! Exciting Ghostly Powers await in the Afterlife. Perhaps [Sim Name] has some Unfinished Business to attend to? You can also choose to relinquish control of [Sim Last Name?] and allow him/her/them to stick around se[sic] a Freeroaming Ghost.
      Rebirth into a new life with faded memories of those you once knew. You will be taken to Manage Worlds to select a household to Rebirth your new Sim into. If you've earned the Burning Soul Trait, your soul will be able to manifest pieces of past personality traits along with certain others. If you choose to Rebirth as a younger Sim, you will have certain developmental skills immediately unlocked giving you a head start in your new journey.
• Sim can Move On To The Great Beyond. I'm guessing it's a replacement to the Return to Netherworld interaction ghosts can do on their gravestone (leave the household and be deleted from the game).
• Soul's Journey can continue beyond the locked point after the sim becomes a ghost. The goals now become Unfinished Business.
• The ghost power tree has 24 different powers to unlock: 9 in Evil Branch, 9 in Good Branch, and 6 in Neutral Branch. Two powers also have levels like some Vampire powers have (one Neutral power has 2 levels while one Good power has 3 levels).
  
  • Some powers showcased:
    • Expert Maintenance (3 level Good power): repair broken objects more easily.
    • Transcend Living Needs (2 level Neutral power): Lock certain needs, like Bladder, Hunger, and Hygiene (which has been renamed, see the next point).
    • Levitator (1 level Evil power): Scare sims by levitating them and steal their money.
• Needs for ghosts have been renamed:
  • Bladder -> Goo Waste
  • Hunger -> Ethereal Sustenance
  • Energy -> Otherworldly Slumber
  • Fun -> Spooky Diversions
  • Social -> Ethereal Bonding
  • Hygiene -> Apparition Cleansing
• Once the Soul's Journey is complete, they'll acquire Burning Soul trait, which for ghosts means that their ghostly powers won't be burned out.
• When sims are about to be reborn, you'll get a confirmation dialogue.
  • Again, the text for those interested:
    • Is your soul ready to embrace the next chapter?
      By choosing to Rebirth, you will set forth on a new journey as a new Sim, leaving your current life behind with no chance of return. You will be taken to Manage Worlds to select the household where your new life will unfold and will have the opportunity to fully customize your reborn self in Create a Sim. While funds, relationships, and achievements from this life will be lost, if you have already unlocked the coveted Burning Soul trait, you'll be able to retain one personality trait with the Recall Past Life self-interaction, along with certain others using the Peer Into Soul interaction available on mirrors. If you choose to Rebirth as a younger Sim, certain developmental skills will be immediately unlocked!
      Now the threads of fate lie before you. The choice to weave a new destiny can be made when you are ready. Will you choose to Rebirth now?
• New world is briefly shown.
  • The Reaper career location can be accessed by anyone, just like the High School.
  • 1 bar, 1 night club, 1 graveyard.
  • 14 lots in total.
• When you choose your sim to be reborn:
  • First you choose the household, you'll be asked if you like to rebirth in that household,
  • Any age, traits, and personality can be chosen. Unclear about occult status though...
  • Then your sim falls out of the sky. For infants, they gently float down. Older sims won't have that luxury however...
• You can Try for Baby with Grim Reaper now?
  • This section could also be a reference to The Sims 2, where Olive Specter had a child with the Grim Reaper.

And that's it! Very interesting I have to say. I do have some questions, mainly what's the extra question mark in the CAS in the traits panel (top left on the aspiration) and can we choose Reborn sim's occult status?

Week 1 recap. Apologies for it being late: I participated in a GameJam.

I'll try not to repeat info that was revealed in the trailer and blog, they have their own recaps. Without further ado, let's see what has been revealed!

Revealed in the listing:

• Bucket List goals that appear randomly can be accepted or rejected.
• Some Bucket List goals include:
  • Declaring a crafted masterpiece your life's work
  • WooHooing in a certain location while the relationship is at max
  • Spending a day in a specific world
• Instead of being reborn, ghosts can also Move On. I'm guessing that means that they'll just be removed from the game.
• Ghosts don't have to move on or be reborn.
• Ghost that enter Baleful Bog to be reborn will be taken to CAS. In there you can customize their age and appearance and choose which household they will join.
• Reapers' job is also to stop active hauntings.
• Ghost Historian Aspiration seeks to study the departed. Some goals include:
  • Exploring a Crypt
  • Befriending Ghosts
  • Writing down their findings
• They can also write Horror books.
• Info on the 3 new traits:
  • Macabre
    • Are happy in darkness
    • Marvel at the morbid
  • Chased by Death
    • They have 'Seize the day' attitude
    • Have higher chance of failing risky situations (which can cause deaths)
  • Skeptical
    • They do not believe in Ghosts, even if they encounter one.
• Pet crows:
  • Befriending one will have it bring gifts from time to time.
  • You can teach it to speak too.
  • Being rude may make it attack your sim, sometimes bringing more crows to cause a death.
• Tarot cards:
  • New collectable!
  • Can be found around Ravenwood or purchased in Build/Buy mode.
  • With a full deck or cards, sims can perform readings on themselves or others.
• Children and older sims can designate certain items as heirlooms, which can be passed down to other sims.
• Heirloom options include craftable items and some Build/Buy mode items.
• Hovering over one shows to which sim it belonged to.
• Ghosts have a new skill tree!
  • The skill tree splits into three tracks: Good lane (5-tier), Evil lane (5-tier), and Neutral track (4-tier)
  • The ultimate ability for the Good lane is Benevolent Blessing
  • The ultimate ability for the Evil lane is Otherworldly Curse
• Ghosts have a stamina gauge: the lower it is, the more see-though they become.
• Crypts can hold the urns of up to 20 Sims.
• In Crypts, sims can mourn, nap, WooHoo, or join the Mortician career.
• Crypts can also be explored for treasure and thrills (like Mausoleums in The Sims 3!).
• Cemetery lot type:
  • Can be created and placed in any world.
  • Ghosts can often be encountered there.
  • At night, you may encounter the grave keeper.
  • Cemeteries are a common site for grieving rituals.
• Sims that are close to death can also be reborn (I don't know how that's determined).
• Ravenwood additions:
  • From Alice's dead tree, you can get a quest from the ghost mother.
  • Edith can be encountered in the village.

Revealed by SimGuru TwitterX posts:

• Build mode objects that can be made into a heirloom have a "Heirloom Eligible" tag in the info tags under the descriptions.
• The world was mostly based on Romania.
• Outfits have some Victorian inspiration on them. It also has a lot of live and research and symbolism. SimGuruBat likes to call it 'death-shroud core'.
• Midlife Crisis from Growing Together will also feed into Soul's Journey.
• SimGuruNova wrote a lot of descriptions.

The Gameplay Trailer will be revealed in October 17th. That's the Thursday next week. Be ready then!

Pet crows?? Tarot??? Oh, I’m so here for it! 😆 

From the EA app:

Choose your life’s goals

Young Adult Sims and older will have Bucket Lists that fill up with goals. Some items you may choose, and some will appear for you to accept or reject. Possible Bucket List items include declaring a crafted masterpiece your life's work, WooHooing in an unconventional location while a relationship is at max, spending 24 in-game hours in a specific world, and more. Completing Bucket List items in life will unlock interactions, the Burning Soul trait, the ability to be Reborn, and more.

Complete your unfinished business

If a Sim dies with incomplete items on their bucket list and becomes a Ghost, those items will become their unfinished business. Completing the items will then unlock the options to either Move On or be Reborn, though you may also choose to have them remain a Ghost.

Start over

Completing their Bucket List or Unfinished Business will give a Sim the ability to be Reborn. They will be submerged in Ravenwood's Baleful Bog before you're taken into CAS. The Reborn Sim's age and appearance will both be customizable, and you can also choose which household your Reborn Sim will join and what their relationships will be (for example, you could insert the Reborn Sim into the Goth family with Bella and Mortimer as their parents).

I'm really interested to see what they do with the tarot cards.

From the EA app:

Reapers & Morticians

Start an active career as a Reaper, a member of Grim's team. Perfect for Sims with a dark sense of adventure, this job will take you to Grim's office and beyond. Visit the dead and reap souls in person, stop active hauntings, and enjoy day-to-day tasks like ushering soul orbs along their journeys and chatting with Grim (your boss). If you're looking for an equally gloomy but off-screen career, visit the Crypt to start working as a mortician.

Embrace the beyond

The Ghost Historian Aspiration is for Sims who want to study the departed. Sims with this aspiration will want to explore the Crypt, befriend Ghosts, and write down their findings. In time, they'll be able to write Horror books. There are also 3 new traits. Macabre Sims delight in the dark and marvel at the morbid. Chased By Death will give Sims a 'seize the day' attitude and tilt the odds against them in risky situations. Skeptical Sims do NOT believe in Ghosts, even when they encounter them.

Pet Crows & Tarot

A Pet Crow can be a beloved companion. Befriending your crow will make it inclined to bring you gifts, and they can even be taught to say Simlish words through Mimicry. If you provoke your crow, however, it may become upset, and its friends will punish you with a Death by Murder of Crows. There's also a new collectable, Tarot Cards, which can be found around Ravenwood (or purchased in Build/Buy). Sims with a full deck can perform readings for themselves and others.

From the EA app:

Every Sims grieves differently

Unhappy events like Deaths and Breakups will have long-term emotional effects on Sims. The 4 types of Grief are Anger, Blues, Holding It Together, and Denial, and which one a Sim experiences will depend on their traits as well as what happened and who they lost. Grieving Sims will have new interactions and a variety of ways to cope, including talking to other Sims and Counseling.

Remember in your own way

When your Sims lose a loved one, hold a custom event with the rituals you want. Gather in a location of your choosing and express grief in a variety of ways from Toasts to Eulogies to a Memorial Cannon that shoots confetti. Rituals may be somber, but upbeat celebrations of life are possible too. Besides hosting an event, you can commemorate deceased Sims with customizable Gravesites and Caskets. Choose the look of headstones & urns, and add decorations a Sim would have enjoyed to their casket.

Write wills & pass down Heirlooms

Sims aged child and up can designate certain items as Heirlooms, which can be passed down through generations. Possible Heirlooms include both craftable items and items available in Build Mode, like quilts and music boxes. Hovering over an Heirloom will always show the Sim it belonged to. Sims can create wills which will dictate which other Sims will obtain their Heirlooms, money, children, and more. Choose the emotional impact you want the Will Reading to have.