The Aging of TS4, Are You Still Playing Older Packs?

I guess the answer is yes and no. For example I never play retail (or rarely) never woo-hoo never go to university,never use a lot of kit CAS, never play careers, never use apartments and other things. But I never did those things even when the pack was new. And I knew before I brought it that I wasn't going to use it much if ever. It has absolutely nothing to do with the age of content and everything to do with my playstyle.
I play very specific stories (usually apocalyptic) and so I use bits and pieces of content from every pack and it all comes together.

I already know I won't have a bunch of weddings with the new pack and I'm not fooling myself into thinking I will lol. I will however, use bits and pieces of what it comes with to add to stories of my own.
That's why I'm a bit disappointed how focused it is on weddings, but I can see why others will love it.
I think the content ages fantastically because the ways you can use the content and different stories you can tell with it never ages. I still enjoy every pack I brought as if it was day one.

I'm not the kind who gets bored of something and move onto the next hottest thing. When I find someone or something I love nothing can break me away from it. There are lots of things (including sims) that I've been doing over and over for years and I still very much enjoy it. New stuff is always fun too but the old never really gets old for me.

Are you still really playing the game in it's entirety? YES

For instance if you have all or almost everything for TS4 how has the game aged in your opinion? By that I mean, are you still playing 'Play Features' from all the previous packs? YES

Examples:

Are you still making Sims run a business in most saves?
YES. i only have one main save and a couple of saves specifically for scenarios.

Are you still making Sims in every or several households get a pet? YES.

Are you still taking your Sims to the big park in Willow Creek? (basegame) YES

Are you still making Sims get a fame career? Especially the actor career and not just freelance fame in other careers, etc.? YES

Are you still sending Sims to Strangerville and playing the scenario? Again? NO

Are you still making Sims get jobs in the Science career? Are you still playing aliens? Meeting, marrying, playing as an alien? Still visiting the world and or using a rocket ship with this pack and or even still using it from the base game aspirations? Or have you decided it's old news? YES

Are you still playing a Doctor or Detective? YES

Are you still playing Vampires? Meeting, marrying, playing as a vampire or filling towns with townie vamps? YES

Do you still make a Sim run a vet office? YES

Are you still visiting OR as vacation world with many different Sims? YES

Are you still making Sims woohoo in bushes? :p (gameplay feature) YES

Are you still making Sims play with the Critter thing for kids?
YES. Love the voidcritters.

Do you still play with the backyard splash thingy or do most Sims not like that in the backyard anymore? YES

Do you still have those formal parties you paid for in the extra DLC back when the game was new? (Forgot that party pack name, lol)
YES. I love throwing parties.

Do you still play Eco Living and all those NAPS? Or still make Sims forget modern life and live off the grid? YES

Are you still making your Sims knit their fingers off? YES

Do your Sims still live in all the apartment types in the CL EP? Or did those bugs and rats and other type lot trait things finally get old?
YES. I have one sim in an apartment.

Do you still make your Sims attend most festivals in CL? YES, occasionally.

Do you still make Sims go on dates when another Sim calls your Sim?
I never did this.

Are you still making Sims attend the Raves in WB?
I never did this.

Are you still making Sims be mermaids or mere people? YES

Do you still make Sims do all the things in the island pack? Or just visit from time to time and play another way?

Not sure what you include in "all the things."

Are you still making Sims visit the Japan mountains in the snowy pack? Do you still make a Sim climb? YES

Are you still making Sims learn magic? YES

There are over forty packs I would be here all day, but you get the point. Are you still using on a daily routine all the packs' features and or have you long since or from time to time forgotten all the older packs and don't have time or interest in most of the older content anymore?

I don't use all the pack features on a daily basis.
That would be impossible. But I do incorporate a lot of older gameplay in my current gameplay. So much so that's it's hard to tell what features came with which pack.

Well to put it shortly:

I'm scheming to use lot of these things in specific households and stories but I am preoccupied with other households and things for now and it isn't the time yet

there is few things ive never used yet but I am excited to explore once i get around to it

theres some things i use if sims live in specific world like for example city living festivals

theres some things i don't use because its irritating like the raves but i will maybe start using them with my newly built lots and maybe if i can use the new couple dancing the raves and nightclubs will finally start being worth going to

theres some things i literally use constantly like vampires
no save without many many vampires

theres some things i use very rarely cause its just not my thing like running business as its too much work too little fun and my sims don't tend to be so into working life

and overall it all just depends if i have suitable household and story at the moment to play with it

I'd like to play everything but day only has so many hours

I don’t think of gameplay features in terms of how old they are or to which pack they belong, but rather in terms of relevance. Is this feature relevant to the story: Yes/ no?

For me it’s not important if a pack was released 8 years ago or 8 days ago. The use of a pack specific feature entirely depends on my Sims’s narrative.
For example, none of my sims owned a restaurant as long as I have Dine Out installed. But they do visit the restaurant. Perhaps in another story one of them will actually own a little bistro. If that’s what their character does.
My game is a story world, so whatever is added hopefully blends in with the rest of the content. I stir it like a tasty soup, add a bit of seasoning, add a bit of this, add a bit of that and if it tastes right, I suppose that’s a job well done which makes for an enjoyable gaming / story session.

I know I don't have to answer the questions, but I always find that interesting.
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Are you still making Sims run a business in most saves? Sometimes, but usually not.

Are you still making Sims in every or several households get a pet? Most of the times.

Are you still taking your Sims to the big park in Willow Creek? (basegame) Or did you bulldoze that years ago? I do.

Are you still making Sims get a fame career? Especially the actor career and not just freelance fame in other careers, etc.? Yes

Are you still sending Sims to Strangerville and playing the scenario? Again? Yes and no. I let them go to Strangerville but just to browse the library, and to talk with Sims. When I feel like doing the scenario again, I will definitely go back.

Are you still making Sims get jobs in the Science career? Are you still playing aliens? Meeting, marrying, playing as an alien? Still visiting the world and or using a rocket ship with this pack and or even still using it from the base game aspirations? Or have you decided it's old news? To be honest, I've never tried this.

Are you still playing a Doctor or Detective? Doctor sometimes, Detective not so much.

Are you still playing Vampires? Meeting, marrying, playing as a vampire or filling towns with townie vamps? Yes, in fact, I have a whole Vampire family.

Do you still make a Sim run a vet office? Not always, sometimes.

Are you still visiting OR as vacation world with many different Sims? Yes

Are you still making Sims woohoo in bushes? :p (gameplay feature) Nope.

Are you still making Sims play with the Critter thing for kids? Nope.

Do you still play with the backyard splash thingy or do most Sims not like that in the backyard anymore? Nope.

Do you still have those formal parties you paid for in the extra DLC back when the game was new? (Forgot that party pack name, lol) Nah.

Do you still play Eco Living and all those NAPS? Or still make Sims forget modern life and live off the grid? I like some of them, but most just annoy me. I don't really play off the grid, but have one family that does, just to keep it interesting.

Are you still making your Sims knit their fingers off? Sometimes.

Do your Sims still live in all the apartment types in the CL EP? Or did those bugs and rats and other type lot trait things finally get old? I don't play in Apartments a lot.

Do you still make your Sims attend most festivals in CL? I usually go when I feel like it.

Do you still make Sims go on dates when another Sim calls your Sim? Dependant on the situation.

Are you still making Sims attend the Raves in WB? No.

Are you still making Sims be mermaids or mere people? Yes.

Do you still make Sims do all the things in the island pack? Or just visit from time to time and play another way? Usually just visit.

Are you still making Sims visit the Japan mountains in the snowy pack? Do you still make a Sim climb? Not really.

Are you still making Sims learn magic? Yes.

I would say I use all packs and combine the features from different packs to create a story

"CAPTAIN_NXR7;c-18059747" wrote:
I don’t think of gameplay features in terms of how old they are or to which pack they belong, but rather in terms of relevance. Is this feature relevant to the story: Yes/ no?

For me it’s not important if a pack was released 8 years ago or 8 days ago. The use of a pack specific feature entirely depends on my Sims’s narrative.

Exactly. Thank you for saying this so clearly. :smile:

I don't play "with the packs" as packs. I create stories. I create characters. I use whatever features are useful to me at the moment for the specific sim I am playing with right now.

I have 15 different saves that I rotate between. Some of those saves have many different households I play with. Different sims have different lives.

I play a lot with aliens, vampires, magic, and mermaids. I even have an alien who does magic (had to use a cheat to make it work, but he's one of my favorite sims).

I have multiple scientist sims (the spellcaster alien is one of them), and one detective (who is a vampire). I have two actor sims (one of them is an alien). I have one sim who is getting famous (he is also a spellcaster).

I have two sims solving the Strangerville mystery. I have a lot of sims who knit (including the magic-wielding scientist alien sim.)

I have 4 sims living in Mount Komorebi, one of whom is an actor, and one who is getting ready to go on the mountain expedition. All of them ski, snowboard, and rock climb.

I have two sims living in Sulani. One of them is a merman who is a musician. The other is a conservationist.

I have three sims who are attending university. One of them is a vampire. One is engaged to a vampire.

I have lots of sims living in the San Myshuno apartments. So many, in fact, that I'd have to go check my games and count them to give you a number. I often send sims to the festivals if it fits in the story.

I send my sims on vacation frequently. I even use the Seasons calendar custom holiday system to remind me when to send them on vacation (using the "travel" tradition). Granite Falls is probably my most common vacation spot. But I also use the rental lot type to send sims to other places for vacations.

I make a lot of restaurants and frequently have my sims eat out with their friends, family, or partners. I use the "experimental cuisine" as home-cooking for my aliens.

To me, everything in all the packs are potential toys/tools/plot ideas for me to use when I see a way to use them for the stories I create about the sims I play with. I don't ever just "play a pack" and then move on. What gets used in a specific household depends on who they are.

Sandbox player here, so it depends a lot on what kind of setting I want to play in. Naturally my Oregon trail sims knitted a lot and were unconcerned with voting for NAPs or visiting Batuu, but that was more in indicator for what themes I was into those months and not what gameplay aged better.

Here's my list, you'll want to look at the "fewer" and "more often" entries to get an idea what gameplay has longterm appeal for me and what aged poorly:

Playing more often than when the pack was new:

Still visiting the world and or using a rocket ship with this pack and even still using it from the base game aspirations?
Are you still playing a Doctor or Detective?
Do you still play Eco Living and all those NAPS?
Are you still making Sims be mermaids or mere people?
Are you still making Sims learn magic?

Playing with the same frequency as before:


Playing less often than when pack was new:

Are you still making Sims get a fame career? Especially the actor career and not just freelance fame in other careers, etc.?
Are you still sending Sims to Strangerville and playing the scenario? Again? (“Thanks”, Covid, but I think I got it over and can resume playing with spores again.)
Are you still visiting OR as vacation world with many different Sims?
Are you still making Sims play with the Critter thing for kids?
Do your Sims still live in all the apartment types in the CL EP?
Do you still make your Sims attend most festivals in CL?
Do you still make a Sim climb?

Yes to most of the things in the list, no to some of them...and even "I've never even done it the first time yet" to several of them (despite owning all the packs).

I'm just going to outline the "haven't done yet" and "no" ones for the sake of brevity. Everything else was yes.
Though I will call out to this one, that was a yes. "Are you still making Sims run a business in most saves?"

This is an unequivocal yes. Retail businesses are a key thing in my games. I make my sims go to a grocery store to stock their refrigerators, and I've also recently gotten a sim into the upgrade business, which sells upgraded (handiness) appliances, stereos, etc...because I found out the upgrades stick when you sell them.

Things I haven't yet done even once:
I haven't yet played a Vet, Doctor, Detective or Scientist in my game, for example. I do have a Scientist in the wings who is a teen right now though, so I'm getting around to it. I'll do them all eventually.

I also haven't yet played a mermaid, alien, vampire or plant sim. Eventually I will.

And I haven't yet done the Strangerville story. I bought the pack for the world, not the story. I will do it one time eventually though.

Now for the "no" answers, which in part are no answers because the questions were worded in a way where No answers were actually being sought, rather than a way that truly makes sense:

No, I don't get a cat or dog in every household...that's a ridiculous way to word the question. Most of us don't buy a pack to do something in every household.

No I don't have my sims go to every festival. Same thing..ridiculous way to word the question. I never had my sims go to every festival, not even the day the pack came out.

And no, I'm not still taking my Sims to the big park in Willow Creek...I did bulldoze it a long time ago. But I replaced it with a better park. And it's still one of my most frequent family outing venues, just the renovated version. The park in Willow Creek and the park in Oasis Spring, renovated, are my two favorite hangouts to go with families with kids, unless there are festivals going on in Mt. Komorebi or Sulani at the time the family wants to hang out.

And though yes, I still have sims do "fame things" I haven't played an Actor Sim since shortly after the pack came out. I didn't particularly enjoy it. Most of my famous sims are musicians or artists. I also turn the fame on for a few other career paths, but most of my households leave it off.

Ultimately, whether I answered yes, no or "say what" to a question in the list, I enjoy having all the packs and I enjoy the gameplay they add, just not necessarily all of the gameplay they add all of the time. I have options, and I like having options.

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