I haven't played Sims 4 in a while because I mostly only play with 1 family and it can get boring. I wanted to get University (On Sale) because it's one of my favorite Sims packs. I have this Sims Fantasy where two siblings go to the same university and while one sim is in their dorm studying and enjoying the nice winter season through his window, the other is hanging out with their friends in the community area sharing stories and hot cocoa with everyone. I know that University brought a lot of things to the Sims but I'm afraid it's just going to be a pack you play with once and never use again. I don't want to just play with it for a few hours and then regret buying it. I know that it has features that can be used outside of University, but I was wondering how it has held up all this time. Do you still use University? If so, do you recommend it?

I play legacies so University is always worth it to me. If my next heir is going into a career that would traditionally require a degree, then I send them to Uni in my game. Also, if I'm playing around in a side save file, I usually start out as a college student before they find love and start a life. It's also one of the few packs that adds a new occult to the game (robots). So for me this isn't a "just play it once" type of pack, but other people with different play styles might not care for it.

I really love the University pack. You can either choose to live at home or on campus, I believe, and you would definitely be able to have multiple Sims at once. Especially if you don't mind it taking longer to get a degree, because you can choose between 1 and 4 classes at a time for each separately! It's quite different from the other university packs in the way it plays with the whole education system, I love it

There are issues to putting two sims at uni at the same time, as you can only play one if they live in a dorm. As you say, playing from home is a lot like sending your kids to school, although not all day, you send them to classes then you study at home, in a library or in the university commons. The same applies when you live in a dorm, but then you have to "run to class" and wait outside the right building before lesson to get on time. The things I like with university is the dorm living, studying at the commons, throwing keg-parties (though I have a mod making sims less likely to ignore the keg), and going to university activities and spending time getting to know my dorm mates. I rarely take more than three classes at once, as I like my sim to have a life as well as studying. I also like to have adults who want to progress in their careers study on the side of their job from home - it's quite a challenge. The things I wish were different are the studies themselves. You have three ways to finish a course (a final exam, a term paper or a presentation) and animations and actions looks the same regardless of your education. You can buy expensive books to study, but there is absolutely no need to do so as homework is enough to always get an A if you do the final project to an outstanding degree. If you go to uni a lot it gets repetitive after a while (all studies are the same). I wish there were more different task - like build a robot if your studying robotics, or paint a picture if you study art. Something to make each education feel unique and different from the others. I also wish it were possible to send several sims and still have them live on campus. I would also love for more university themed aspirations and skills, as well as skills to matter more in grades. All in all, I am glad I have the pack, but there are definite improvements that could be made to it. Oh and finally a tip, BEFORE your sim enroll, make sure you edit the dorms with the things you want there to be as you can't do that later. A thermostat is necessary if you have seasons, and I also like to put a dining table there so you can "call to meal" with all the food that your roomies bring in. That will greatly help with the socialisation of your sim.

"Dayvon64;c-18028733" wrote:"JAL;c-18028703" wrote:There are issues to putting two sims at uni at the same time, as you can only play one if they live in a dorm. As you say, playing from home is a lot like sending your kids to school, although not all day, you send them to classes then you study at home, in a library or in the university commons. The same applies when you live in a dorm, but then you have to "run to class" and wait outside the right building before lesson to get on time. The things I like with university is the dorm living, studying at the commons, throwing keg-parties (though I have a mod making sims less likely to ignore the keg), and going to university activities and spending time getting to know my dorm mates. I rarely take more than three classes at once, as I like my sim to have a life as well as studying. I also like to have adults who want to progress in their careers study on the side of their job from home - it's quite a challenge. The things I wish were different are the studies themselves. You have three ways to finish a course (a final exam, a term paper or a presentation) and animations and actions looks the same regardless of your education. You can buy expensive books to study, but there is absolutely no need to do so as homework is enough to always get an A if you do the final project to an outstanding degree. If you go to uni a lot it gets repetitive after a while (all studies are the same). I wish there were more different task - like build a robot if your studying robotics, or paint a picture if you study art. Something to make each education feel unique and different from the others. I also wish it were possible to send several sims and still have them live on campus. I would also love for more university themed aspirations and skills, as well as skills to matter more in grades. All in all, I am glad I have the pack, but there are definite improvements that could be made to it. Oh and finally a tip, BEFORE your sim enroll, make sure you edit the dorms with the things you want there to be as you can't do that later. A thermostat is necessary if you have seasons, and I also like to put a dining table there so you can "call to meal" with all the food that your roomies bring in. That will greatly help with the socialisation of your sim. This answers a lot of my questions with a lot of great detail thank you! How is University outside of well, University? I don't expect much from the roommates feature, but is it nice? Also, is there much difference between the different schools? I'd imagine they are essentially the same thing but with a different coat of paint, but does it at least feel different?How is University outside of well, University? I haven't played much with the roommate feature but have found other things in the EP that I like. Such as the 3 careers with work from home options, especially the fact that we finally got an education career. The robotics station allows you to build servos if you want to. I also enjoy the world that comes with the pack, including ponds your sims can swim. You can also live in the britechester world on a residential lot if you don't play a student. I find bikes useful as well.As for the two universities : they basically function the same way but have different looks. The only differences are the versions of the degrees and the student organisations. Every degree has one normal version and a distinguished version that allows you to start even a little higher in the associated careers. Half of the distinguished careers are at britechester University, the other half at foxbury. So every degree has one normal version in one university and the distinguished one in the other. You need to apply and get accepted before you can take the distinguished degrees. The other difference between the two of them is the student organisations you can join. Each uni has their own three organisations. The secret organisation is the only one that can be joined from both universities.

I frequently play multiple sims at university in the same household and it's never a problem.

University Still Worth It? | EA Forums

logionX
Seasoned Vanguard
3 years ago
University was one of those packs that I enjoyed playing the first time for a while. But it hasn't aged well now.

I feel that you need to kinda make your own fun a lot with it because just playing it normally, going to class and going back to the dorms and doing all your homework and taking care of your needs while your roommates are failing at everything becomes very repetitive unless you try to do other stuff as well, but then university takes very long to complete so it doesn't play very well with rotational play or aging turned on.

I also feel that it's a pack that is limited a lot by the game's limitations. Playing University with multiple sims offer more of a challenge and is more fun but then it becomes very frustrating because you will have to travel with both sims all the time to make sure that they are going to class. Unless you are using mods you can't edit the dorms and have to visit the cafeteria sometime.

I had a hard time doing stuff with the organizations as well because it takes too long to visit them when they spawn outside.

So I had fun playing it, I got a lot of nice sims from that pack, the CAS items are very good, robotics offer a lot, but also takes very long because you have to keep crafting items all the time and they keep shocking you, unless you use mods. The careers are pretty good and the research and debate skill is very useful.

The world is not great, the town have very few lots and once I figured out how to get A+ I keep getting it every time so it has not aged well now. I'm hoping that future packs could make it more fun but Maxis keep making just kits which does nothing to improve this pack.
elliandre
3 years ago
I haven't played it in a while but working towards that degree never gets old. This is a pack I feel I need to play differently to appreciate though, like maybe take only 1 course in a semester so I'm not studying all the time and can actually join the clubs and hang out. I still don't know what the secret society thing is all about. I love the keg and game tables and clothes that came with this pack too.
Moonlydelusion
3 years ago
I think it's pretty worthing. It adds a new world where you can live anyways. The bikes, I use them for most of my sims, students or not, although it gets buggy sometimes but nothing out of this world.
I really enjoyed moving to campus and doing homework and projects. I did remodel the dorms with cheats and that was pretty entertaining as well, giving it the vibe I wanted, but the original decoration was pretty disappointing at first. I like how the pack adds a little bit more of realism to careers, and it's something I enjoy as well with other families. I don't think getting University it's something you regret after, but it does gets a little boring with time, but it's still pretty enjoyable.
Final grade/result:
Nice.
It's not outstanding, but it passes the term. ?
Beardedgeek72
New Spectator
3 years ago
"logion;c-18029226" wrote:
University was one of those packs that I enjoyed playing the first time for a while. But it hasn't aged well now.

I feel that you need to kinda make your own fun a lot with it because just playing it normally, going to class and going back to the dorms and doing all your homework

So... it's like the Sims.
It is not more grindy or frustrating than than being a toddler, or going to school as a kid, or going to school as a teen, or having a job as an adult.
Beardedgeek72
New Spectator
3 years ago
What I do find after playing it a lot is that the "get a graduation" ambition is what makes it grindy. If you don't care for upping your debate skill to 8 or whatever you have so much more free time per semester and you'll still get A+ in all classes.
GalacticGal
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
"logion;c-18029226" wrote:
University was one of those packs that I enjoyed playing the first time for a while. But it hasn't aged well now.

I feel that you need to kinda make your own fun a lot with it because just playing it normally, going to class and going back to the dorms and doing all your homework and taking care of your needs while your roommates are failing at everything becomes very repetitive unless you try to do other stuff as well, but then university takes very long to complete so it doesn't play very well with rotational play or aging turned on.

I also feel that it's a pack that is limited a lot by the game's limitations. Playing University with multiple sims offer more of a challenge and is more fun but then it becomes very frustrating because you will have to travel with both sims all the time to make sure that they are going to class. Unless you are using mods you can't edit the dorms and have to visit the cafeteria sometime.

I had a hard time doing stuff with the organizations as well because it takes too long to visit them when they spawn outside.

So I had fun playing it, I got a lot of nice sims from that pack, the CAS items are very good, robotics offer a lot, but also takes very long because you have to keep crafting items all the time and they keep shocking you, unless you use mods. The careers are pretty good and the research and debate skill is very useful.

The world is not great, the town have very few lots and once I figured out how to get A+ I keep getting it every time so it has not aged well now. I'm hoping that future packs could make it more fun but Maxis keep making just kits which does nothing to improve this pack.

I would suggest two things. A. don't take kids through Uni back-to-back IE enter new students directly after a batch has just graduated. Allow yourself a cooling off period. And B. don't be a helicopter player. Allow some or all of your Sims to slack off a bit. Once in awhile don't have them take notes. Better still, if they were up all night working on projects or daily homework, have them fall asleep in class. This should lend itself to a more favorable gameplay, if you're tired of straight A+ grades across the board. Just sayin'.
SimsBarbie
New Spectator
3 years ago

All the sims that are ready for Uni, I place them in a household, make sure they are all enrolled with scholarships. Once I send one to the dorms, which switches gameplay to the dorms, I then immediately go back for each sim to send to same dorm so I can play them all at the same time. Or if I'm not mistaking, you can "add to family" each of your enrolled sims after you send your first sim to the dorms. Also some how I was playing 8 sims in my dorms but they also had one other roommate I couldn't control. I gave him a bed. It was fun. I was able to use the cheat to edit the dorm to add fun things for them to do. I play the the enrolled sims until they graduate then go back to rotation.
JaggidEdje
3 years ago
"GalacticGal;c-18043147" wrote:

I use MCCC, too, Where do I set the enablefreebuild on cheat to be at the ready? Please, and thank you, in advance.

You can turn it on with MCCC by accessing the MC Command Center function at a computer and selecting "MC Command Center"->"Notification/Console/Menu Settings"->"Console Command Settings"->"Build Buy Settings"-"FreeBuild Enabled"->"Enabled"

Or you can just type it into the console yourself by hitting Ctl-Shift-C and typing "bb.enablefreebuild"
It's a stock game cheat code so it works without using any mods.

Don't use it on residential home lots unless you want to be able to build for free and also be unable to access household inventory. I leave it enabled in MCCC by default once I'm done with most home renovations because I end up tweaking community lots far more than the home lot at that point, but otherwise it's best to only turn it on when needed.
nikkiheathcote9
3 years ago
I think the sims 4 has done University great, I love the fact that my sims don't have to stuck in the uni world to complete University, they can also live at home and live life as normal, the rabbit holes don't bother I like having a little break from my sims sometimes, which to me has gave it more playability
Beatreject12
3 years ago
I typically will have my non - heir sims (so, the spares, any other young people involved with my legacy family) go to University. Heirs don't go to uni mostly because it feels like a cheat--you skill up so quickly with those classes, it really makes careers etc very simple.

However, I rarely have them attend school on campus. For one, I attended school off campus and it's the reality for a lot of people. Secondly, to me Britechester is basically Oxford and I play pretty realistically, so at-home uni attendance allows me to pretend my sims in Willow Creek or Oasis Springs are attending stateside schools. Also--on campus gameplay is fun but it just takes so stinkin' long to graduate I prefer them to get along with their lives and learn from home.

There are some exceptions, especially if I'm playing in "Europe" (Britechester, Windenburg, HoB), have a sim with a travel bug, or want to have my sim meet some cute YA sims. But I've also set the "university student hangout" trait on a few things across my worlds (nightclubs, a few cafes, some bars that also have hostels), so there are other ways to meet students.

I also always toggle lifespan from normal to long while my sim is in UNI so they don't drain their entire lifespan studying. The only exception to this is when a sim decides to return to school as an adult or something like that.

These little adjustments have made University fun for me, so for me it is worth it. I also find their BB mode stuff some of the most integral to my own personal buildings and I love the little decorative objects you can keep in your inventory--I wish there were more items like that.