Snowy Escape: Shockingly Disappointing
I'm not happy to be writing any of this, and I'm certainly not happy to be feeling this way. I've been excited for this pack since its announcement, and I want more than anything for it to succeed. Alas, it seems a rather large let down. Before I go any further, I will say that it is possible that some of these experiences may be bugs or isolated to my game. That being said, here are issues that have arisen after less than an hour of gameplay.
1: The home screen graphic is still the Eco Lifestyle render. Why? Is this a bug, or is this just extremely sloppy oversight?
2: Clubs. @EA why do you keep adding club interactions, acting like you actually still care about clubs, and yet fail to repair the core issues/bugs that have since rendered the club system nearly useless? Clubs are a fantastic feature, but they have become almost unusable. You've again added various new actions (snowboarding, skiing, hiking, rock climbing, sledding) and yet even when these are set as club actions, no members do them autonomously. They never leave the boundaries of the lot. AND, the icon for the sledding activity is a cube with a question mark (not a sled of any kind). Again, sloppy oversight. Clubs are probably my favorite feature of the Sims 4 as a whole. I (used to) get giddy when they would add new actions and club requirements (Servo requirement still nowhere to be seen though) . However, increasingly the new actions added are not programmed well, and/or they just outright don't work. Adding insult to injury, since the latest update, non-household clubs no longer seem to auto gather when I visit community lots. I'm truly at a loss.
3: Community lots in the ski area appear to spawn no Sims. This is presumably because they're all out skiing and snowboarding. I get the importance of making the slopes active, and you've done well with that. BUT, the onsen and any other community lot in that neighborhood should not be a GHOST TOWN. I went to the onsen and it's more dead than a Sims 3 nightclub. Not an exaggeration. Not one other sim came in during my 12 in-game hours spent there. Update: I returned again while not on a vacation and there were other Sims spawning on the lot. This may have been a one-time quirk.
4: This next one is a personal qualm, but why can't we place/hang snowboards and skis on the wall? This seems like a missed opportunity. Who stores/decorates with skis and snowboards by placing them on the ground? I am a life long snowboarder. This irks me. In real life it can damage the board and is a massive tripping/slipping/fall hazard. Obviously, neither of those are issues in a video game, but storing them on the ground also just looks wrong. I'd like to hang them up in my teen sims room. The ski coat rack is cute and all, but not quite the right vibe for all situations.
5: The snowboard rack item is only décor, not a storage object....why?
The list goes on, but I am tired. I am tired that after 6 years of being the kind of person that would defend TS4 from posts like these, I once again stayed up until midnight for a pack that I was so eager for, only to be let down more than ever before. And now, I am the one writing this kind of post.
Not to mention, this all occurred while having to restart my game twice because of a game crashing bug brought on by Tuesday's patch.
For the last six years I have been a hold out as far as extreme criticism for the Sims 4 goes, but I can't ignore it anymore. This is just sad. I paid forty bucks to have excitement turned directly into frustration, and I am not happy about it in the slightest. I could not have imagined being this disappointed. Do better Sims Team.
1: The home screen graphic is still the Eco Lifestyle render. Why? Is this a bug, or is this just extremely sloppy oversight?
2: Clubs. @EA why do you keep adding club interactions, acting like you actually still care about clubs, and yet fail to repair the core issues/bugs that have since rendered the club system nearly useless? Clubs are a fantastic feature, but they have become almost unusable. You've again added various new actions (snowboarding, skiing, hiking, rock climbing, sledding) and yet even when these are set as club actions, no members do them autonomously. They never leave the boundaries of the lot. AND, the icon for the sledding activity is a cube with a question mark (not a sled of any kind). Again, sloppy oversight. Clubs are probably my favorite feature of the Sims 4 as a whole. I (used to) get giddy when they would add new actions and club requirements (Servo requirement still nowhere to be seen though) . However, increasingly the new actions added are not programmed well, and/or they just outright don't work. Adding insult to injury, since the latest update, non-household clubs no longer seem to auto gather when I visit community lots. I'm truly at a loss.
3: Community lots in the ski area appear to spawn no Sims. This is presumably because they're all out skiing and snowboarding. I get the importance of making the slopes active, and you've done well with that. BUT, the onsen and any other community lot in that neighborhood should not be a GHOST TOWN. I went to the onsen and it's more dead than a Sims 3 nightclub. Not an exaggeration. Not one other sim came in during my 12 in-game hours spent there. Update: I returned again while not on a vacation and there were other Sims spawning on the lot. This may have been a one-time quirk.
4: This next one is a personal qualm, but why can't we place/hang snowboards and skis on the wall? This seems like a missed opportunity. Who stores/decorates with skis and snowboards by placing them on the ground? I am a life long snowboarder. This irks me. In real life it can damage the board and is a massive tripping/slipping/fall hazard. Obviously, neither of those are issues in a video game, but storing them on the ground also just looks wrong. I'd like to hang them up in my teen sims room. The ski coat rack is cute and all, but not quite the right vibe for all situations.
5: The snowboard rack item is only décor, not a storage object....why?
The list goes on, but I am tired. I am tired that after 6 years of being the kind of person that would defend TS4 from posts like these, I once again stayed up until midnight for a pack that I was so eager for, only to be let down more than ever before. And now, I am the one writing this kind of post.
Not to mention, this all occurred while having to restart my game twice because of a game crashing bug brought on by Tuesday's patch.
For the last six years I have been a hold out as far as extreme criticism for the Sims 4 goes, but I can't ignore it anymore. This is just sad. I paid forty bucks to have excitement turned directly into frustration, and I am not happy about it in the slightest. I could not have imagined being this disappointed. Do better Sims Team.
