Why are Spellcasters not as well liked as Vampires/Werewolves?
Hi, for most Sim gameplay, I prefer Sims 2/3, but one thing that I love about the Sims 4 is the more expanded occult gameplay. But I was thinking, I see a lot of love for Vampires and Werewolves, but not so much for Spellcasters. And I was curious why that is, what did Realm of Magic do that wasn't as interesting as Vampires or Werewolves? Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
1. morphiate turns sim to random object you can't choose what object and they also seem able to escape this all on their own without you know having to be turned back human which is frustrating
2. same about chillio its just less dependable freeze ray
3. you can only inferniate 1-3 times then game blocks you and also sim who set the fire puts it out themselves autonomously as if it was not their intention
4. no witch hat, no cloak no pointy shoe
sighs isn't that just the basics of looking witching
5. no interesting magical objects sure theres like cauldrons but what else are you supposed to fill that magic hq with
6. can't live in magic realm just always sad when u can't live in magical place in magic pack
7. no integration like say having spells to cure other occults or changing weather or whatever like sure you can be techy witch n do those things in other packs but also you know magic?
8. kids are not involved in any way even though have you ever seen movie where theres magic and kids don't magic just asking
sure its issue with vampires and werewolves n such too but i feel kids are less common theme with those so its tiny bit more understandable
9. lack of unique animations / show magic style flair to the spells
its bit of a issue with all packs in ts4 that theres not much new animations but with magic mainly being redo of the scientist career and zap zap it takes away from the magical feeling of the pack
10. curses are fun but why our spellcaster sims cannot curse other sims you know directly while we at it?
but also its just that since its lifestate instead of skill you have to abandon all other occult characteristics to do magic which just tbh does not feel worth it when theres barely anything unique to lifestate itself
"Garfieldwxg55;d-1003397" wrote: Hi, for most Sim gameplay, I prefer Sims 2/3, but one thing that I love about the Sims 4 is the more expanded occult gameplay. But I was thinking, I see a lot of love for Vampires and Werewolves, but not so much for Spellcasters. And I was curious why that is, what did Realm of Magic do that wasn't as interesting as Vampires or Werewolves? Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
I greatly enjoy spellcasters and they are my favourite occult. But this is mainly a thematical preference. When it comes to gameplay spellcasters have one huge disadvantage : they are overpowered. - It is way easier to become a spellcaster and it happens instantly without a waiting period like the other two in depth occults. - Vampires have weaknesses which are there constantly confronted with. Werewolves have temperaments that increase rage several times a day. Both vampires and werewolves get more weaknesses/temperaments as they level up. Spellcasters only have curses which only happen occasionally and can be easily removed with multiple methods. If you level them up you can even avoid curses altogether with the right perks. - On top of that the extremely powerful potion of plentiful needs is very cheap to make. - And then there is the copy pasto spell which allows you to duplicate things at will, including the potion you are handed out for free when you learn a recipe. The spell can also be used as a money cheat if you duplicate expensive items. - you can play a spellcaster and ignore their magical nature. Apart from the UI they behave like normal sims. For werewolves and vampires it is impossible to ignore their occult nature in the everyday gameplay.
In short spellcasters are imbalanced and lack any form of challenge.
They are my favourites none the less, closely followed by werewolves. But I impose rules on myself to make spellcasters more challenging.
1. Copypasto is only allowed for potion ingredients which can't be grown. Definitely not as a money maker 2. my spellcasters are not allowed to unlock all the perks. I let them specialise in one branch of magic and only for that branch they can get the perk for spells to be always successful. They can only unlock one of the linear perk lines above level 2 so they don't become overpowered. 3. I use a mod to lessen the effect of the potion of plentiful needs and make it require more ingredients.
For me, they have so much potential. So much cross-pack compatibility could be there. They could be really powerful. But... I'll take a look at the previous games. The Sims Makin' Magic and The Sims 2 Apartment Life had a lot of unique spells. Some spells even gained some functions when you had DLC (You can cause rain or make the sun shine and butterflies appear with Seasons). I'll share some interesting spells from the previous games.
Turning sims into toads (which could end badly in The Sims 1 if you had a dragon)
Make an object to temporarily come alive (well, The Sims 4 has too much gnome statues to make a gnome NPC)
Banishing someone (either make them disappear or create a hole under them to fall into)
Turning a pet into a sim
Using a spell to temporarily look like a monster
Making a clone that goes to work/school for you!
Imaginary friends
Easier magician tricks
Spells that make socializing easier or harder
Summoning a sim (I'd like to see a relationship drop when summoned at the wrong time)
A spells that removes other spells
Makes a sim act weird to other sims (act like a chicken for example)
Summon bees to attack sims
Resurrecting dead sims as a zombie
Freezing time (it even has its own section in game tips!)
Haunting curse (which kills the caster if it backfires)
Pestilence Curse
Ability to turn an object into something else
Rain that makes non-witches dance uncontrollably
The Sims 2 evil spells really were evil. Erasing memories, breaking up marriages... But the first two games had one requirement: spells require ingredients. In The Sims 2, you could just make it in cauldrons, but in The Sims 1, you really had to go out of your way to find them. The Sims 3 just had magical energy that went down. When it was in half, spells began to backfire. Witches can't cast spells without any of that energy. Yet, none of the games also doesn't force your sim to cast spells. Witches were the most noticeable in The Sims 2 (special idle animations, using brooms). In fact, in The Sims 1, if your sim casts a spell in front of non-magical sims, they'll get fined. I get a feeling that The Sims 4 is trying to re-create that secret magic theme, just without strict consequences.
But my ideas for spellcaster improvements are like so:
I agree, more magical outfits. Like that classical witch outfit. The one in Spooky Stuff is more of a Halloween costume after all!
More consequences when sims witness your spellcaster casting spells. A relationship decrease when casting harmful spells, a relationship increase when casting beneficial spells. Reputation changes. Special spellcaster traits for those who cast a lot in public. For example (in spoilers):
Magician - Cast a lot of performative spells in front of sims. Sims expect your spellcaster to entertain them.
Evil Spellcaster - Cast a lot of harmful spells and your sim finds less company around them. In addition, some sims may even run away from them or stronger and braver sims may even challenge them to a fight.
Good Spellcaster - Cast a lot of beneficial spells and your sim has easier time building relationships. Some sims will go out of their way to find them to get help.
Medium-like Spellcaster - Summon a lot of ghosts and your sim will get more mourners talking to them.
Wise Spellcaster - Help sims and give a lot of advice and sims will ask a lot of advice from them, thus learning skills faster.
More interactions with other occults and to help them or stop them.
I absolutely love vampires and werewolves, but I don't feel that spellcasters are properly balanced. Things are too easy for them. I also find their spells a bit boring, they could be a lot more fun.
What the others said. Many of the spells are either basic cheats, or reskinned content from other packs. But there are some other things I'd like to call out.
Potions are a mess. They're not worth the price it costs to make them, or worth the effort it takes to get their ingredients. It's not worth selling them. Only a couple of potions are useful, and Plentiful Needs is way too easy to make and unlock, for something that's so powerful.
Familiars are also useless. They're glorified drones that sometimes give you generic pop-up messages. You can't interact with them besides choosing to summon or disperse them. They save you from death by magical overload, but magical overload is something you have to actively go out of your way to achieve, and it's even harder to die by it.
Brooms basically teleport you. You can't ride around and have fun with them, which gives them less immersion and gameplay potential. Duels are similar, in that there's not a lot of interactivity or variation.
They're also almost completely unnoticeable if you're not playing with them. At least werewolves can wolf out sometimes, and vampires fear sunlight. Witches might ride brooms if you give them one, but other than that, they don't cast spells or do anything magical autonomously. And if you try to have that via the club system, they just cast Inferniate and burn all your stuff. So it becomes a detriment to try and work with them.
They also have no secondary form, which is a major appeal for vampires and werewolves. You can greatly customize them. Not that you could do much with spellcasters though, since they have very little CASsets that fit the spellcaster theme. The only witch hat we got was in a completely different pack.
On top of that, what makes them different from other sims? Vampires and werewolves require you to change up your gameplay style to accommodate them. Mermaids benefit from living in worlds with swimmable waters. Spellcasters are normal sims that can sometimes use cheats if you feel like it. And I get that witches are generally portrayed as enhanced humans, so there's less room for deviation from normal sims. But there's little incentive to play them outside of that way.
I love playing spellcasters, but they're pretty basic. I have to imagine a lot of my stories and gameplay because RoM didn't give us enough to work with. Meanwhile, werewolves and vampires have unique looks, unique items, and unique gameplay.
@Gordy Ah yes, brooms. While they were bikes in The Sims 3, you could literally go to a Broom Arena and do broom stunts.
And I agree about CAS assets too. I get that they were going for the spellcaster customizability thus avoiding the classic witch and warlock look, what if I want to make a classic witch/warlock?
I don't know about all that. I love my spellcasters.
I have no vampires or werewolves in my save, I don't even use their worlds because I hate them for various reasons. I hate the way they act outside their worlds. I hate how animal like the werewolves are, they eat pet poop! Why?!?!? It's what I hated the most about TS3 werewolves, how they acted like dogs. I also can't stand how they look like furries. Yeah, I'm not feeling that at all. Vampires are also annoying to me. I DO like the content that came with vampires so I don't regret purchasing that one. Oh man, do I ever regret purchasing werewolves!
My spellcaster is the child of spellcasters, all the way up to her great grandmother. It's a matriarch that marries humans. The women are all spellcasters, except her mother who went rogue and married a male spellcaster....lol. She's got the ancient bloodline and she's what I consider my wicked "bad....butt". She's constantly being challenged to a dual and never loses, she even beats the sages.
Reading through some of the comments, it's really how you play them. I'm very happy with my spellcasters and I'm considering turning Forgotten Hollow and Moonwood Mills into worlds for different "branches" of spellcasters so I'll finally use those worlds. FH could be where the practitioners of the dark arts live while MM will be for the green "spellcasters". I could even use Henford (another world I ignore) for kitchen "spellcasters". Green/kitchen spellcasters are pretty similar but I'll figure something out lol.
I will say that I miss turning sims into frogs. Sometimes I'd turn the entire town into frogs just to amuse myself, I do find much joy and fun in freezing sims that annoy me and then laughing at their blue skins. I also have my sim going to the magic realm constantly so I can watch the club I set up that meets there catch everything on fire because they're not very good at spells. Also, have you seen the cute animation for child spellcasters in CAS? The "oops? what did I do?" It's one of my favorites.
As far as lack of CAS? I combine the vampire stuff into the realm of magic when I'm dressing my spellcasters, I'll probably draw in the stuff from werewolves and the country world, too.
I actually thought spellcasters were the most popular, but perhaps not? I love occults, including spellcasters, but I must admit they are not my favourite. Realm of Magic was such a disappointment for me because I was hoping for something more like Makin' Magic. I particularly wanted a magic skill or at least an alchemy skill so other occults could make use of it (I am still hoping for hybrids for this reason) and I wish child and toddler sims had some magical abilities.
I also think vampires (and possibly werewolves too, but I haven't played them yet) have more depth than spellcasters. Their powers and weaknesses and optional dark form gives them more versatility and personality. Being a vampire is a big part of their identity, for better or worse. They can be the most powerful sim ever or more challenging to play if you prefer. There are some things I would like to change or add about them, but they are not far from perfect. I have always loved vampires though so I am biased.
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