What do you think is the "surprise" in the world of ROM is?

The surprise is that it will be as dysfunctional as Island Living, oh wait, that would not be a surprise.

"darrenfroggy;c-17206695" wrote:
I'm still stuck on the stray "gods" thought I had earlier when looking at the portal.

They've not been in the games before and it would be fun to have "regular" magic but also God-like magic where Sims could become extra powered-up with magic and, say, throw lightning at neighborhoods or whatever other stuff that affects the worlds on a bigger scale.

That would honestly be insane and I would die of excitement.

Pheonix ?

Magic Town would be great, but they did state that it's something they've never done in a Sims game before. that's never been seen before in a Sims game. So, I've got absolutely nothing on what it could be. D;

I am also inclined to think it is a world within a world, more wonderful for magical types and either normal or scary for non-magical. I must admit to an overwhelming sense of dread that the reality will be nowhere near as great as any of our imagining.

"LMcGE;c-17207240" wrote:
I am also inclined to think it is a world within a world, more wonderful for magical types and either normal or scary for non-magical. I must admit to an overwhelming sense of dread that the reality will be nowhere near as great as any of our imagining.

I think that the difference between reality and our imagination is a given. We can think up anything at all that sounds awesome and the implementation of it doesn't concern us.

As much as there's a good chance that it won't be what any of us imagine, there's also the possibility that it will be something that'll leave a lot of us thinking "oh wow, that's awesome, I'd never have thought of that" :D

Agreed though, the portal makes it definitely look like it's some sort of different world in there, whether Sixam-ish or mirror world or something completely different.

"SimmerSophie96;c-17206742" wrote:
A cool concept would be that the new world is normal like the other words, and then when you step through the portal you travel to the same world but this version is magic. Kind of like Harry Potter style. I think that would be really cool, so for those who play a more realistic gameplay will still have a new world without magic to play in. ?? I don't think this will be it, but its still kind of a cool idea.

awesome idea!
building on this, maybe by going through the portal we could choose how the world would permanently look, cause if we build in the world and just have buildings matching one version they might look out of place in the other.

I hope we get a magic shop and a fantasy food outlet in the magic town. And a duelling arena.

"JoAnne65;c-17209886" wrote:

"SimmerSophie96;c-17206742" wrote:
A cool concept would be that the new world is normal like the other words, and then when you step through the portal you travel to the same world but this version is magic. Kind of like Harry Potter style. I think that would be really cool, so for those who play a more realistic gameplay will still have a new world without magic to play in. ?? I don't think this will be it, but its still kind of a cool idea.

"aurora333;c-17206865" wrote:
Maybe the world will look normal to non magic folk, but people who have magic will go though the portal and it will be the same town but it will like a mirrored world filled with magic.

I’d love that, but how would that be possible if you visit the world with a normal sim and an occult one? Could they do that? (the way the IF in Sims 3 changes from visible to invisible when you turn to a different sim) Could they do that with an entire world?

I mean, they aren't going to in this pack, but I don't see why not in another pack down the road (fairies with fairy sight or any other kind of scifi/fantasy justification - or even just Kids World that only kids can see or whatever). The mechanic already exists, and not just with IF in TS3. If you have Toddler Stuff in TS4, the toddlers can see a whole lot of make believe stuff around the playsets when the toddlers play make believe that other sims cannot see. If a parent is playing with them, they'll see some of it, but not all. While most sims don't see anything but a kid playing. I don't see why you couldn't add similar overlays that are sim-specific to more existing things in the game.

If anything, it provides an excuse to release a pack with fewer new things using the (somewhat valid, as it would be a lot of work) reasoning that you don't NEED new things (or even a new hypothetical DLC world), as all the old things are re-invented with this new pack. And since it would involve taking a look at old objects to program in all the requisite new actions and sim-specific overlays, it could also prompt just a whole lot of nice quality-of-life updates and new swatches for existing objects that would come in a free patch. Like, since we're opening those files anyway, might as well make a few quick fixes.

Not that I think this is LIKELY to happen. I just don't see any particular technical barrier preventing it. It would be down to whether they had good enough ideas and thought it was cost-effective and could sell.

What was the suprise? The floating world? or metor showers (which we have seen before).