Sims 4 seasons vs. Sims 3 seasons
What were the differences? Which pack did you believe was better?
Forum Discussion
Although I'm not a fan of The Sims 4 as a whole, I have to give this one to The Sims 4. Sure, I have my complaints, but I've had complaints with every Seasons pack so far. I really do feel that for what is lacking, what they added really makes up for it, and that's why I'll say that TS4 Seasons is even better than TS3 Seasons.
The Holiday system was expanded upon here and made customizable. Sure we could use more traditions, but this is very much the evolution of a TS3 Seasons feature that I'd expect out of a sequel, and it's done quite well. Plus, I think the holidays here have quite a bit more charm than in The Sims 3. For example, there was no Santa/Father Winter in TS3 at all (an oddity for this franchise, the only entry that didn't). My biggest complaint here? Features like fireworks and pumpkin carving are not included in the base game or Seasons - they were put in other packs. So if you don't have them, you have to miss out on these features that are downright essential to various holidays. TS3 has one up on TS4 there since those features were included with Seasons, as they should be.
The Seasonal aesthetic details were really taken up a notch here, too, and this is really important to me because the changing visuals really help keep the game feeling alive. In previous The Sims Seasons EPs the only plants that changed with the seasons were trees. They left the shrubs, bushes, grasses the same for all four seasons - a major drawback, if you ask me. Here, they finally went all-out, turning grasses brown for the autumn and winter, having flowerless shrubs/bushes/etc for the winter, etc., and it is SUCH a massive improvement over TS3 where you awkwardly see green bushes with flowers on them underneath the snow. Another major aesthetic improvement is the changing of the terrain grass over the seasons. I just love this so much and have been wanting it forever and it really makes late autumn and winter look very distinct (coupled with the adjustments to the plants) even without snow.
I love the winter aesthetic IRL. Where I live we don't get much snow (at least not anymore), so during the winter that's mostly what I see (pretty much entirely nowadays, snow is extremely rare now). Seeing winters with green grass terrain and flowering bushes/shrubs in The Sims 3 just really ruined it for me.
Other improvements include blowing snow and rain, I love that. I love the thunderstorms and how the wind shakes the trees in a much more violent, realistic nature than ever in The Sims 3. The rain puddles also form a bit more realistically.
The downsides? Fog is really downplayed, although cloudy days look very pretty. The rain have any visible splashes on the ground nor does it drip off the roofs - but this is The Sims 4, and honestly, I'm so much more impressed with everything that I mentioned above than The Sims 3's rain effects. I'll take changing terrain and changing non-tree plants over rain dripping off the roof any day. Also the lack of snow depth is a bit odd, but again, at least Winter is aesthetically unique this time. If the developers had to choose between these features, I'm glad they picked what they did.
Also a downside that has plagued all of The Sims Seasons games and continues to plague The Sims 4 - Why don't we get blooming trees for Spring and why are the cherry blossoms eternally blooming? Spring could really use that boost in aesthetics, and seeing cherry blossoms blooming during the summer and even the fall in this game's case is not right.
Overall, The Sims 4 Seasons is amazing for me. I did not expect The Sims 4 to be where they would finally fix some of these issues I've had for a long time. I expected TS4 Seasons to play it safe like Cats and Dogs and pretty much just be par for the course. Instead they put a lot of detail into it. This pack is amazing.It's too good for The Sims 4!
The Holiday system was expanded upon here and made customizable. Sure we could use more traditions, but this is very much the evolution of a TS3 Seasons feature that I'd expect out of a sequel, and it's done quite well. Plus, I think the holidays here have quite a bit more charm than in The Sims 3. For example, there was no Santa/Father Winter in TS3 at all (an oddity for this franchise, the only entry that didn't). My biggest complaint here? Features like fireworks and pumpkin carving are not included in the base game or Seasons - they were put in other packs. So if you don't have them, you have to miss out on these features that are downright essential to various holidays. TS3 has one up on TS4 there since those features were included with Seasons, as they should be.
The Seasonal aesthetic details were really taken up a notch here, too, and this is really important to me because the changing visuals really help keep the game feeling alive. In previous The Sims Seasons EPs the only plants that changed with the seasons were trees. They left the shrubs, bushes, grasses the same for all four seasons - a major drawback, if you ask me. Here, they finally went all-out, turning grasses brown for the autumn and winter, having flowerless shrubs/bushes/etc for the winter, etc., and it is SUCH a massive improvement over TS3 where you awkwardly see green bushes with flowers on them underneath the snow. Another major aesthetic improvement is the changing of the terrain grass over the seasons. I just love this so much and have been wanting it forever and it really makes late autumn and winter look very distinct (coupled with the adjustments to the plants) even without snow.
I love the winter aesthetic IRL. Where I live we don't get much snow (at least not anymore), so during the winter that's mostly what I see (pretty much entirely nowadays, snow is extremely rare now). Seeing winters with green grass terrain and flowering bushes/shrubs in The Sims 3 just really ruined it for me.
Other improvements include blowing snow and rain, I love that. I love the thunderstorms and how the wind shakes the trees in a much more violent, realistic nature than ever in The Sims 3. The rain puddles also form a bit more realistically.
The downsides? Fog is really downplayed, although cloudy days look very pretty. The rain have any visible splashes on the ground nor does it drip off the roofs - but this is The Sims 4, and honestly, I'm so much more impressed with everything that I mentioned above than The Sims 3's rain effects. I'll take changing terrain and changing non-tree plants over rain dripping off the roof any day. Also the lack of snow depth is a bit odd, but again, at least Winter is aesthetically unique this time. If the developers had to choose between these features, I'm glad they picked what they did.
Also a downside that has plagued all of The Sims Seasons games and continues to plague The Sims 4 - Why don't we get blooming trees for Spring and why are the cherry blossoms eternally blooming? Spring could really use that boost in aesthetics, and seeing cherry blossoms blooming during the summer and even the fall in this game's case is not right.
Overall, The Sims 4 Seasons is amazing for me. I did not expect The Sims 4 to be where they would finally fix some of these issues I've had for a long time. I expected TS4 Seasons to play it safe like Cats and Dogs and pretty much just be par for the course. Instead they put a lot of detail into it. This pack is amazing.
