Why does everyone hate city living?

City Living was my favorite pack up until Seasons came out.

City Living is in my opinion the worst EP Maxis ever dished out.

The EP is built onto remais of things that were meant to be in Get Together but weren't finished in time. Plus it literally doesn't add a single thing to my gameplay. I could disable it on Origin and nothing would change. This pack is nothing but set dressing, scripted actions and a few gameplay objects, there's no new system at play here. Only one new venue which is karaoke and that's it. The lot traits that it adds, some of them shouldn't be lot traits (I wish I could have cockroaches like in other games in any lot by having trash on the floor), and most doesn't add any new animations or actual gameplay. Literally this pack is only useful because it has an NPC produce stand.

Also this pack truly annoys me. Because there's things in it that could have been given a better use if put in proper themes. Like the singing skill in a bands pack, or eating with chopsticks in an Asian vacation pack. And the fact that there was no roomate system to help with the bills; plus apartments that are really floating lots with specific shapes and world building around them, just truly annoys me. I'd rather have the shells like in TS3 Late Night, god do they seem like heaven now.

Funilly enough, everyone was really happy when they gave us the airplane shell in Strangerville. How the standards have shifted.

As someone who loves big cities, this city does not feel like a city to me. It feels like a shiny blue utopian annoyance. There's no griddyness and concrete.

Hey folks, while this thread is over 2 years old it seems to be generating some good discussion, I'm going to leave this open but will review it regularly. If it stays active I'll leave it open if it tapers off I'll close it off to avoid future necros

I don't know why people hate it, but everyone has their reasons and preferences. I may dislike something, but I try to still find the positive side about it. For me it is one of my favorite expansion packs. I love the careers, that came along with this pack, an option to live in an apartment etc. But I don't also love everything about it. Like festivals, they were fun for once, but it is always the same thing - too repetitive. Apartments - way too limited options, would be fun to have options to add more of them into my gameplay. But other than that I really love it.

I wouldn't say I hate it. I bought it and I like some of the cas and use it. However for my gameplay Style I really don't use it much at all. I would say that while I like the pack, it is by far my least favorite pack of the expansions and I felt it should have been more of a game pack because it didn't really add that much.

I love it! It would be nice if the apartments could be joined together to give you an even bigger space, PLUS getting rid of the annoying neighbors.

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PACKS...

It makes me sad that people didn't like it :'(

Apartments are a cheap way for starter sims to begin since rent is very low and you can save tons of simoleans quickly. I move out apartment neighbors so they don't bother my sims, and love the food stalls, basketball courts, karaoke, spray painting, gaming pads, singing skill, and bubble blowers. There is something like 30 playable lots (if you count apartments as lots), and the objects that come with this pack is amazing. I like the festivals too, as it gives me an excuse to leave my lot (I am trying to have my sims travel more) and get to my goals more quickly such as an increased gaming skill from Geekcon, or a first date ending in engagement at the Romance Festival.

And OMG the food critic; I frequently have my sims enter the food critic career and have them go around to my restaurants from Dine Out. I thoroughly enjoy how the two packs come together so nicely. There are tons of recipes in City Living (at least 27) which has a nice variety of cuisines for my sims to learn and can easily flesh out restaurant menus.

I don't mind all the exotic names. Imagine how strange English names sound to some languages, and you can easily change their names in CAS. I usually makeover townies anyways, so it's not really a problem if I don't like it. Most times I keep it the same though because it adds unique last names.

It is one of my least favourite expasion packs gameplay wise but I love the Build/Buy items and some CAS items are amazing. I used to love the Spice festival for all my culinary sims but since seasons it is a mess.
I rarely play with sims in apartments because they feel extremely restrictive but I make sure I have museums, arts centres, and restaurants in San Myshuno for all my sims to visit.
I also love the careers that came with it, specially the concept of them. Having semi-active careers is the best of both worlds in my opinion.

I don't dislike City Living at all. Lots of benefits as other posters above can attest. The only downsides to me are 1) Lack of ethnic diversity as other have mentioned. 2) Massive lag I experienced while living on the big penthouse lot (older computer here). My original apartment was three stories with rooftop lounge/dance floor and swimming pool -- a bit too ambitious. Once I wiped it all out and stuck with a more modest layout the lag improved. 3) My sims would take forever to sleep through the night because the clock would slow down to a crawl even on high speed. I assumed this was because there were always other sims wandering around the streets below.