Your Snowy Escape Rating!
Haven't done one of these since Discover University, but here it is: my "your _NEW Pack_ rating" thread :) Always love doing these & very curious to know how you guys feel about Snowy Escape! I'll add...
Forum Discussion
I bought the EP for the winter sports, therefore any shortcomings regarding the japanese content do not affect my rating (I read there are several and I'd have liked a futon matress/bed, but it would only have been a bonus.).
Skiing, sledding and snowboarding meet my expectations. I love seeing my sims get gradually better or just play around if they are only there for the weekend. I spend most of my time watching my sims do these activities and watch my screenshot folder explode.
I love that the EP doesn't require Seasons, but still includes snowpal building and snowball fights, and that we get weather in the snow neighborhood. I also love CAS.
I haven't delved into the new career yet, but if what I read about harder promotions and unpaid work overtime is true and not a bug, then this is exactly what I need. My corporate drones that are currently in Business and Tech Guru will soon get to know the real world.
Hiking is surprisingly relaxing, albeit glitchy. After wildlife attacks or when I make them stop to collect a spirit my sims cancel the hike. Since I can make them take awalk without being officially hiking this isn't too bad. I make them bring stereos, soccer balls, juice kegs, coolers, graphics tablets, tents and (cc) potty bushes for prolonged expeditions.
This is where the 8 points come from.
Festivals are utterly boring. Sims can eat, buy clothes an dance with the mascot. Unlike with hikes I do not feel like bringing my own stuff here to spice it up.
This is what cost the ninths point. It's really bad, considering that they did okay with festivals in City Living and that with the Seasons holidays they proved that user-customized events are possible. If the devs didn't feel like fleshing out festivals, they should have let us do it.
Mountain Climbing is a so-so. The mountain in different weather conditions is amazing, no doubt, as is the act of climbing iself. But if I take a game-controlled sim along for an expedition that sim always succeeds at the tasks regardless of skill level, what is immersion breaking. Sims will also become sad and embarassed if they do not make it up all the way. I could see that maybe for an ambitious sim, but not for a level 4 couple that was so proud to have made it halfway up and had a romantic day at the plateau. The game shouldn't make them feel bad for their "failure".
I dislike that rock climbing raises both climbing and fitness skill. A master climber shouldn't be able to outswim a dedicated swimmer. I had hoped that the new skill would alleviate exactly that problem, but apparently it didn't.
The onsen is nice, but the new showers are finnicky. Adult sims cannot shower with teens and children and teens cannot shower with children, even though everyone wears swimwear. Unwilling to suffer wait times I changed the showers to closed cabins, but as a result my sims now register as not having showered (probably because they change back into winter wear when exiting the shower cabin). I've yet to find a way to make this work smoothly. I expect to run into this problem often, since I like sending families that are friends with each other and teen/YA groups vacationing. Hardly anyone is blood-related, so the wait times accumulate. It would be good to have door locks for "YA and older" or ones that keep out both teens AND children instead of just one age group.
I like that sims can automatically take off their shoes now. Wear slippers indoors is useless if there is no way to define what style of slipper the house owners provide for their guests. I do not want my sims to wear random indoor slippers.
These three gripes cost the tenth point, because they are neglible and the features still fun.
Skiing, sledding and snowboarding meet my expectations. I love seeing my sims get gradually better or just play around if they are only there for the weekend. I spend most of my time watching my sims do these activities and watch my screenshot folder explode.
I love that the EP doesn't require Seasons, but still includes snowpal building and snowball fights, and that we get weather in the snow neighborhood. I also love CAS.
I haven't delved into the new career yet, but if what I read about harder promotions and unpaid work overtime is true and not a bug, then this is exactly what I need. My corporate drones that are currently in Business and Tech Guru will soon get to know the real world.
Hiking is surprisingly relaxing, albeit glitchy. After wildlife attacks or when I make them stop to collect a spirit my sims cancel the hike. Since I can make them take awalk without being officially hiking this isn't too bad. I make them bring stereos, soccer balls, juice kegs, coolers, graphics tablets, tents and (cc) potty bushes for prolonged expeditions.
This is where the 8 points come from.
Festivals are utterly boring. Sims can eat, buy clothes an dance with the mascot. Unlike with hikes I do not feel like bringing my own stuff here to spice it up.
This is what cost the ninths point. It's really bad, considering that they did okay with festivals in City Living and that with the Seasons holidays they proved that user-customized events are possible. If the devs didn't feel like fleshing out festivals, they should have let us do it.
Mountain Climbing is a so-so. The mountain in different weather conditions is amazing, no doubt, as is the act of climbing iself. But if I take a game-controlled sim along for an expedition that sim always succeeds at the tasks regardless of skill level, what is immersion breaking. Sims will also become sad and embarassed if they do not make it up all the way. I could see that maybe for an ambitious sim, but not for a level 4 couple that was so proud to have made it halfway up and had a romantic day at the plateau. The game shouldn't make them feel bad for their "failure".
I dislike that rock climbing raises both climbing and fitness skill. A master climber shouldn't be able to outswim a dedicated swimmer. I had hoped that the new skill would alleviate exactly that problem, but apparently it didn't.
The onsen is nice, but the new showers are finnicky. Adult sims cannot shower with teens and children and teens cannot shower with children, even though everyone wears swimwear. Unwilling to suffer wait times I changed the showers to closed cabins, but as a result my sims now register as not having showered (probably because they change back into winter wear when exiting the shower cabin). I've yet to find a way to make this work smoothly. I expect to run into this problem often, since I like sending families that are friends with each other and teen/YA groups vacationing. Hardly anyone is blood-related, so the wait times accumulate. It would be good to have door locks for "YA and older" or ones that keep out both teens AND children instead of just one age group.
I like that sims can automatically take off their shoes now. Wear slippers indoors is useless if there is no way to define what style of slipper the house owners provide for their guests. I do not want my sims to wear random indoor slippers.
These three gripes cost the tenth point, because they are neglible and the features still fun.
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