#sims 4 is being so glitchy. again

[simtasticanimal]

never saw this cake topper before lmao

#sims 4 is being so glitchy. again #sims 4 #cake #cat

[simstryingtheirbestok]

For the interested, an explanation about the gameplay behind Velma and Devon is below the cut.

As I think I've hinted previously, these two don't seem to be autonomously inclined towards one another, at all.

They never have been. Velma gets the little floaty hearts with, I would estimate, 4 out of 5 male Sims she meets (including, to my great disgust, Violet's asshole husband). Moreover, most male Sims get the little floaty hearts with her--that percentage is even higher, like around 90%.

When she first met Devon, I was a little disappointed to find that he was both in that 20% of guys Velma doesn't find attractive, and in that 10% who don't get excited by Velma.

But hey--they're both writers and bookworms, right? And they have compatible signs! And Velma's track record with guys is--well, we've all seen it. She bagged three guys on Love Day, only one of whom with she had any significant prior relationship.

So, yeah. I had faith that my highly sex-positive legacy heir was up to this challenge!

After a month of gameplay, though, I think the verdict is in: That faith was misplaced. In trying to get these two together, I keep running into the same problems over and over again:

Devon runs a little on the glitchy side. That's one of the reasons I moved everyone to Aurora Skies: I was hoping that might sort out whatever's wrong with him, but it didn't. The last time he was over to visit Velma in Aurora Skies, he kept vanishing. The game would show him on the lot, but I combed literally every tile of that lot and, nope! I don't know whether this is that thing where they glitch into the underground or what, but I kept having to reset him, then invite him over again (or summon him via Master Controller).

It would be one thing if I thought he were gay or male-preferencing bi, but in fact Devon is very, very enthusiastic about other, non-Velma ladies. Here we see him engaged in conversation at Velma's, fresh from breakfast at the bistro with some other gal (one of the Vinters, I think) and thus still in his tux:

But he isn't talking to Velma.

(Velma fired her at once.)

3. One of those non-Velma ladies Devon is very, very into is her sister, Vivienne. I'm not worried about that busting up Vivienne and David--those two have clearly mated for life, and who knows, maybe they're polyamorous--but it obviously has the potential to be a huge problem between Devon and Velma. I've posted a couple of examples of this previously, but the problem is, those aren't all the examples. Basically, if Devon is on a lot where Vivienne is, especially (but not necessarily!) if David isn't there, he's going for it--every time. They are both Hopeless Romantics, so maybe that's it. Or maybe it's that country-western singer hairdo Vivienne's got. Who knows?

4. As I've mentioned previously, based on her autonomous interactions with him, Velma seems to see Devon as a friend and only a friend. If I don't drive her social choices, it's all "Complain About Status Quo" (she picked up the Rebellious trait in Elmira City, which 🥴 I'm a mite tired of after Yuri), "Describe Radical Idea," "Condescend the Mainstream," and all her other Avant Garde bullshit. (That trait is definitely a mixed bag for me. It's a hoot when she's critiquing the houseplants, but it's not the greatest for starting conversations, nor for romancing Sims she plainly doesn't want to romance. Oh, and if I don't keep a close watch on her, it inclines her to accuse Sims of being sellouts. That's what happened here.)

5. Yuri and Tahiya.

--wait, what?! Let me explain:

I dropped in on these two recently to grab the pics of Yuri on the phone with Velma that were used in this post. On switching households to theirs, this is how I found them, down in their basement gymnasium:

Just a-flirtin' and a-complimentin' and at some point flowers were exchanged--a real pair of elder lovebirds.

Now, I know not everyone was pleased with my breaking up him and Enya, but do you see why I did it? This, Yuri and Tahiya's whole dynamic, was a large part of why. (Okay, yes, Enya's Smustle obsession also played a role, but mainly it was this.) His jackass dating profile notwithstanding, Yuri adores Tahiya, and I couldn't say no to that.

THAT is what I want for Velma. I want to load up her house two generations from now, and find that she and whichever decrepit guy she is with are still making shmoopy faces at each other.

And she just isn't going to get that with Devon.

Oh! she'll have Devon's baby. That's what I promised, and in fact that's already underway... but Devon isn't who I'm ultimately pairing her up with, if in fact I ever pair her up with anyone.

She has commitment issues, remember? 😉

#ts3 #ts3 legacy #sims 3 #sims 3 legacy #the sims 3 legacy #planetary legacy #generation mercury #velma jeffrey #devon miller #some maid whose name i forget #tahiya padrino #yuri padrino

[rosewood-writes-and-reviews]

My predictions for gaming in 2024:

The microtransactions are not going away, in fact I think at best, it will remain the same, or at worst, one of the video game companies pulls an EA to make you get a DLC for a DLC. Unless that happened in 2023 and I just haven’t heard of that until now.

Capcom will announce a new project for at least one of their big cash cows (Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Ace Attorney, Devil May Cry, or something else) only for that project’s release date to come out in 2025 or later.

More games will be announced despite the game’s release date being set in 2025 or later.

Capcom will make the rare video game company move by listening to its fanbase. (I see this being the least likely of the predictions here, but considering that Capcom has given the ladies a chance in Resident Evil Death Island and before that, made DMC5 years after DMC fans expressed their hate towards DMC: Devil May Cry, and fans have done a survey on what Capcom’s next game should be, I will take this into consideration, but my expectations will still be low.)

EA will put yet another DLC in the Sims 4 that either should’ve been in the game to begin with or is just cosmetics.

More buggy and glitchy messes for games will either win or be nominated for game of the year somehow.

Another scam which will be similar to The Day Before situation all over again.

Another voice actor with an ego will try to boycott a game while the staff of the project are under NDA contracts.

2024 will be Princess Peach’s year with her upcoming game.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 2023 will have a new celebrity operator.

Weird controversies will come out of one of the new games.

More leaks of upcoming and/or hyped up games.

Detective Pikachu 2 will be the same with slightly different game mechanics.

Nintendo will pull a Sony with their Online Membership and boost up their Online Membership price. (I would hope this wouldn’t be the case, but it might happen considering that Nintendo is an example of success can make someone lazy and greedy)

Fans demanding better quality games that aren’t glitchy unfinished messes.

2024 will be the year for indie developers.

Konami, the same company who made Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill will put trigger warnings in Silent Hill 2 Remake. They’re already planning to put trigger warnings on MGS3 Remake, so I see them doing the same to Silent Hill 2.

Which leads me to my next point: trigger warnings are now expected and demanded by people who don’t have to engage with any of the games that have specific themes. The ESRB rating’s system is there for a reason. Read it from top to bottom. Read it top to bottom 10 times even, I do not care, it is so sad that it needs to be said that the developers and creators of games do not condone any of the dark content in their games. But people made out of sugar glass who don’t have to play the games will demand it anyway and it will further change the gaming atmosphere in a negative way.

#gaming #video games #gaming 2023 #happy new year

[nerdypanda2424]

Rant Incoming….

Soooo the Sims 4 Infant update… as everyone probably knows by now… everything that made the new infants game changing and different was completely stripped from the update and locked behind a 60$ CAD Paywall… this has to be the first time EA got so shady you are actually REQUIRED to buy an expansion pack in order to have functional babies, because let’s be honest here, you are REQUIRED to buy this pack for the infants to have gameplay… bad enough they for some strange reason locked the changing tables behind a paywall, especially strange that the base game matching sets are apart of the pack not the update but new matching crib/toddler bed is part of the update not the pack? Whatever when has EA ever made logical choices.

On to the really shady sh*t… EA’s dishonesty and greed is just getting worse and worse. For months now they have been selling us on this update, then selling us on this expansion. Making it seem like the infant update was a separate game changing thing, and the expansion being a generations pack. At no point we’re they honest when showing off the infants, all the gameplay for them is locked behind the paywall. In all reality what we got was smaller needier toddlers already able to do everything a toddler can do basically. I actually thought my game was broken when I went to check the infant update when it launched.. only to find out nope… I HAVE to buy the pack to get gameplay for the new infants. I was okay with EA doing what EA does and locking the changing table to growing together despite it making zero f*cking sense. But to lock everything about the infants that made them infants is just next level. You would think EA would have learned their lesson after getting demolished by City Skylines… especially now when two very promising life sims are coming soon… but alas NOPE. Why would they?

Then we have growing together… I’m not going to lie, I am enjoying it, I am. But I’m also a family type player, I’ve been utterly sick and tired of sims 4 being a millennial simulation without any of the drama and chaos… but here’s the reality. This pack is not a generations pack and it absolutely SUCKS. Kids got what? A tree house? A extremely glitchy bike that modders already made and without the glitches 😂 a new lot type which again they sold it as this new and game changing thing, where there would be classes on different days etc. Reality is, this lot is just a generic lot type where sims just show up and use different things on different days… something modders have already managed to do… this is a MASSIVE game company with lots of money and resources yet they constantly do the bare minimum… there’s absolutely zero excuse especially when modders do more with so little help or financial resources to do so. Pandasama’s childbirth mod is a prime example. If you ever played with that mod, you know how phenomenal it is, the animations, the gameplay, it’s so seamless you feel like it’s part of the vanilla game. Anyways… so for a game pack about growing together, family etc, where is the gameplay for teens? Elders? Adults? Children? Toddlers? There barely is any… people will argue that oh well teens gameplay was all in Highschool… ok? But that was teen and teen only gameplay, even cross compatibility for parenthood was lacking. Not to mention that absolute nonsense of not being allowed to build high schools outside of copperdale, which was utter nonsense, they could have easily made it so if we wanted a functional highschool in another neighbourhood it had to also have the auditorium in the same neighborhood inorder to work. Or if that was too much “work” coding wise for them they could have made copperdale the size of windeberg at least… because these tiny worlds are a joke at this point. It’s also immersion breaking. I can’t have all my families in copperdale, and it’s weird AF for teens from willow creek or oasis etc to be traveling all the way to copperdale it just does make sense and is immersion breaking. Frankly I love the world of copperdale but that’s because I live in Canada and that world is the closet representation of Canada’s environment. I wish we could have gotten that world in windeberg size. These tiny worlds leave no room for community lots and families. The new growing together world is an even bigger slap in the face… not only is this world tiny, it’s all set dressing, what a waste of time imo. For a bustling port city, its dead. No lots once again, which why? Wouldn’t it be less work to just put empty lots everywhere rather than set dressing? If someone’s game lags because of too many detailed lots while using crap computer well that’s on them? If that’s the reason for lack of lots? We accepted no open world or open neighborhood so why take away lots too? It would have been amazing to have bunch of small lots everywhere so we could really build a bustling city/suburb filled with so many families. Many of us play legacy style. My current family, I would have wished to have majority of the adult children and their families move to the new world but then there’s zero room for other families to have interesting gameplay, relationships etc, let alone community lots too. I hate having to travel between worlds constantly. When I play, only time I want to travel is if my sims are going on vacation. Otherwise it’s immersion breaking. Maybe it seems like not a big deal for most, but for me it really bothers me. The worst part about this new world is how stripped it is, we are use to having the set dressing not be usable, no rabbit holes etc, that sucks enough but whatever, this time they went a step further and legitimately stripped it of swimming spots, fishing spots on a world SURROUNDED by the water… and I don’t know if this is my game being glitchy or if this was another thing that was stripped. There’s no collectables? I haven’t seen a single rock, plant, frog, nothing… 1/2

#the sims 4 #sims 4 #sims blog #sims4 #sims 4 gameplay #sims 4 maxis match #the sims custom content #sims 4 cc #sims 4 growing together #ts4 growing together

[moudschegiebchn]

Best woohoo spot in all of the sims games.

Lengthy rambling about ts4 aspirations vs. ts3 lifetime wishes (and a lot of other stuff) under the cut:

today sunday i also realised just how lazy ts4's tutorial like aspirations made me but I have to go a bit into this: with ts4 you sort of climb a ladder to receive the goal of some extra trait, yay right?! (ugh) Along this journey you're directed to do exciting stuff like "eat a coconut" or "play with your child x times", depending and varying of course on which aspiration you choose. But they tell you exactly what to do. Every step of the way. But in ts3 the only description I have is "[…]set sail, brave the high seas, and dive the deepest oceans.[…]" and that's it. The ultimate goal for Silvie's Lifetime wish is to own all uncharted islands. Yesterday I was sitting there, rather frustrated because it felt like I'm not making that much progress and she's only 10 days away from aging into an adult. (normal lifespan) This morning it hit me: it's because there's nothing there laying every little step out for me. I have to actually explore the game to find out how I'll be able to get to one of these island let alone own one. Or have a look at the lessons which are actually useful in this game! I've never looked at the ts4 lessons because i didn't need to. AND it's called Lifetime wish for a reason. Because it's huge. Your Sim might not reach it. In order to do so you have to put in effort. Of course that may change if you've played a lot of the game. But that frustration last night is on me, not the game. I'm always so annoyed with aspirations in ts4 because I feel they're so easy. Most of them get done just by simply playing anyways. The only time I struggled was in the LEPacy with Criseldis but otherwise? Nah. But that's exactly what I'm missing with Sims 4: exploring. Even with Expansion Packs it often feels like i have pretty much seen everything after playing for 1 - 2 days. That might not be true but that's how I feel. It never feels like there's a reason or like there's much to do, you know? I know this is partly my fault but not all of it.

on that note: no easy-peasy lifetime wish changing! it costs 10.000 reward points to do so. personally i like that more because you actually have to think about the wish you're giving your sim

mermaid kelp costs 25.000 in ts4 you get that for lousy 500

uncommon shells don't lie around all over the place and i have yet to find a rare one

the first non-glitchy mermaid underwater!!

routing is sometimes weird but overall okay so far

letting the camera follow your sims while driving somewhere or going by boat is lagging SO MUCH so it's kinda pointless doing it although that's the appeal of the open world hfsdkl ._.

i know a lot of people miss the open world but i'm not one of them. it takes so damn long to go anywhere! please give me teleportation and loading screens back

i think what could work as a compromise is having an option to let sims directly teleport from one place to the next if you choose directly from worldview but if you do it by first clicking on the vehicle of choice you actually get to see them driving there? though idk if that's even possible

maybe you could mix the latter option with the only partly open neighbourhoods from ts4? that you get to see them drive similar to ts2 but instead of them disappearing after two seconds because that's where the lot ends they drive until they reach the point sims couldn't go any further due to restrictions. does this make sense?

not a fan of this hole "oh you reached a new cooking level! you can buy more recipes at the bookstore!" nope, not at all

the non-working mod for the pause frame was not the culprit why underwater caves don't work again but i managed to work around it, wheee

i know i'm nine years late but it makes me SO angry that they never fixed the caves!

despite being an active sim of mine Matteo is just kind of there. he has to fend for himself and so far managed to not starve himself to death. way to go Matteo!

people needing help 10 minutes before Silvie's shift ends - the audacity!

diving skill level 6 and she's still only able to scuba dive at two spots, none of them is the mermaid grotto

I NEED TO KNOW WHAT THAT IS BUT I REFUSE TO CHEAT MY WAY UP

it'll probably be disappointing and not what i'm expecting (a secret mermaid liar where i have the option to somehow turn my sim into a mermaid or alternatively find a cute male mermaid and start the baby making)

#moudints3 #ts3 island paradise #in case you're wondering i'm writing notes down while playing as to not forget everything ^^

[lightdeficient]

PROBLEMS with TS4: Realm of Magic

So this was the pack for The Sims 4 so far that I’ve been the most excited about. I am gonna say it again but I prepared a savefile dedicated to witches with over 400 sims that have unique backstories, are fleshed out with traits, careers, relationships, clubs, skills, custom builds, and heck even phone cases! I was so sure they were gonna NAIL this pack like they did with Vampires, and although many parts of the Vampire Pack were a bit ‘excessive’ in my opinion, that’s a great problem to have because it’s usually the other way around.

So with TS4: Realm of Magic we get the new world Glimmerbrook, which looks very similar to Granite Falls (TS4: Outdoor Retreat), but is a bit more magical and has its unique quirks. I like this world a lot and I think it’s drop-dead gorgeous and was hoping they would recycle some Granite Falls assets for this pack since it takes a lot of their budget to create a new world with new plants and objects, and I would rather have that part of the budget go to spellcasting, which is what the pack is actually about. Glimmerbrook is awesome, with the exception of their non-functional messed up houses that are missing doors and have weird missing textures that if you’re anything like me, you will need to fix to be able to play in, which is annoying when you have to do that for every new save you start. We should just be able to throw ourselves into the game and not have to fix things before we get to the fun stuff... Not everyone likes renovating houses for hours like Lilsimsie, and even she’s mad, so.

Then we also get the magical realm, which looks really cool and has a fascinating story behind it, but to be honest I don’t know if I’ll use it that much because it kinda kills the story behind it when you see regular old townies walking around in the realm and using magic like they’re part of that secret world, like no. Just no. This renders that world essentially useless for me and a lot of other players.

The Create-A-Sim items are kinda lackluster, but the ones we do get look awesome and I like that they tackle different styles of spellcasters with their gothic, preppy, shady and hermit kind of clothes. I have so much CC I don’t necessarily yearn for more CAS content, but it is fun to get new meshes to see what CC creators will do with them! I’ll take it!

The Build items look phenomenal and I just want to praise EA for giving us a brand new style of content and also A FULL SET of objects (Except missing cupboards for the new kitchen, damn this is getting old), but it does kind of become less versatile when some objects have magical effects attached to them, like the desk for example. It’s cute and all, I get it, but I might want to use that desk in a normal house and now that house will have a complete set except for the desk because it’s too magical for the story I’m telling with them. I wish they just removed the magical effect completely or at least made two versions. Or I just use another desk, it’s not too big of a deal.

Now to the Gameplay... HERE WE GO RANT TIME

Okay so, first of all, I think the spells and potions we get are pretty lame as they don’t really add anything new to the game. They don’t add any new gameplay features or mechanics like if you remember Genies from TS3, they had an ability to control sims which temporarily added them to your household with a cool effect where you could literally have full control over them like your own sims and make them behave pretty much however you want. Why didn’t they add any mechanics like this? They basically only recycled vampire powers, made base game cheats into spells, or stole the SimRay ‘Freeze’ interaction from TS4: Get To Work, and they don’t add basically any new animations aside from the ones the spellcaster uses, which is also like two, one for casting on others and one for casting on self, so it looks super repetitive when they cast spells frequently. And to rub salt in the wound, we don’t even get any new spells when we have other packs like TS4: Seasons, which is such a missed opportunity on making weather spells, or vampire and witch fights with TS4: Vampires? Why do these start feeling more and more like independent games instead of packs meant to EXPAND our game? 

Also, spellcasting is just so glitchy, I mean the spellcaster doesn’t even face the target of their spell, so it just kind of breaks that feeling of “Oh my sim is doing this!” and feels more like a “My sim is doing.. something? OH the sink is fixed!” you know? And when they’re really close to the sim they’re casting on their animation will clip through them like, oh the quality... And I’m not gonna lie, I was kind of hoping for less whimsical and magical glitter effects in this pack than we had in previous games because I view magic as a hidden force and not as glitter flying everywhere, but damn this pack has like NO EFFECTS, when you cast ‘Strangeify’ on a sim, they literally BOOP (Shoutout to Romeo) into their green and witchy face. I get it’s not easy to do a transition, but come on, add a smoke effect to cover up that hard transition AT LEAST? And just the utter lack of reaction from the person being cast on totally breaks it even more. They just stand there like completely unaware their face was just messed up, or when you make two sims fight or kiss, they just walk there and do it immediately with so little notice like it’s a cheat, and it’s even hard to even find the sims that are being cast on because it just looks so ordinary. Isn’t this a magic pack? We could get the “vampire mesmerize effect” at least to show that the sims are commanded?

Even if spellcasting weren’t glitchy, it’s still way too overpowered in my opinion. Sure we have curses to mess things up for us, but you can just make a Curse Cleansing potion, Copypasto it infinite times and never have any problems. I also wish that there was a potion for setting your sims age back by just one day instead of “BECOME IMMORTAL” or “FREEZE AGE”. It would give us reason to keep making potions and trying to keep our sim alive, giving us actual gameplay and story. 

The Familiars, in my opinion, are just so silly. You know how Kids Room Stuff added Voidcritters which are the sims equivalent of Pokémon? Well now you can have them as a witch familiar, so apparently, spellcasters are actually Pokémon trainers? Why would you even put those things in here like they are not supposed to exist? And we only got a Raven as our only normal familiar. I will probably only use those ravens and I wish they could sit on your shoulder or something like in previous games but no, they just flap around endlessly behind you like some seagull on the beach facing a strong wind. I know technically we only got one Voidcritter but the other ones are just weird too. I can understand some phoenix, fairy, dragon or Sixam owl being in the game but the rest are literally Pokémons.

Final breath is normal sims that drink potions can’t get cursed... Why?! This would have been a perfect way to mess up sims lives?! And now normal sims can only get positive things from drinking potions? That’s so lame and so overpowered.

I am beyond disappointed in the game pack and this has been a horrible year for the sims with Strangerville and um, Island Living, which both lacked in depth and gameplay. Unfortunately, not even a fraction of this will be fixed by EA, so I pray that some talented modder fixes this game pack because let’s face it, modders continue to do it better. I adore this franchise and can’t help but sit here and rant about this mess, and don’t think I’m bashing EA or anything but damn they need to step up their game because they’re throwing dirt on their whole fanbase.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

#rant #rant af #I don't know what else to say #had my expectations high and they fell down and squashed me #ts4 realm of magic

[sheplaysthegames]

20 Questions for Simmers

1.) Favorite Sims Game

While I have played and loved every version of The Sims, I think my absolute favorite was The Sims 2. It was the one I couldn’t put down! The little details and humor are what really stand out when I look back, and I don’t remember having any real problems with it either since the game itself was pretty solidly developed and bugs tended to be squashed quickly. Overall, I was never bored playing The Sims 2 and I still occasionally boot it up just to reminisce.

2.) Yourself in 3 Traits

Ambitious, dog lover, neat

3.) CC or No CC

I play with a small amount of CC. Everything I download is Maxis-match, and I pull pieces out whenever we get new official content that I can use instead.

4.) Preferred Part of the Game

I really like each part of the game and try to spend my time evenly among them. Lately I’ve been building and messing around in CAS more than actually playing though. Oops!

5.) Favorite Expansion Pack

In The Sims, my favorite EP was Makin’ Magic. I was so young when I played that I thought I was incredibly clever for figuring out the pattern to the spells in the dueling arena so that I’d win every time. And I had a lot of fun creating one of each type of potion and then trying them out on the poor, unsuspecting townies!

In The Sims 2, my favorite EP was Bon Voyage. I spent so much time completing every single vacation memento! Some of them were really hard to figure out too, so finishing the collection was really rewarding to me. All three of the destinations were equally fun to explore with their local dances, gestures, foods, and massages. I could really feel the difference between visiting Takemizu Village, Twikki Island, and Three Lakes.

In The Sims 3, my favorite EP was Ambitions. The firefighter career and the new inventing skill were the real highlights to me. I spent weeks creating a Simbot without cheating, and firefighting was a really exciting change from the standard rabbithole careers. Another neat feature was the ability to sculpt statues of Sims. Never-melting ice sculptures looked great in mansions, and of course stone sculptures made great monuments to ‘famous’ Sims in town.

In The Sims 4, my favorite EP (so far) is Seasons. The weather effects are beautiful, the raincoats and rainboots and umbrellas are adorable, kiddie pools are the greatest item ever created, and temperature is just such a vital addition that it's finally starting to feel like a full game for me! Seasons and weather in general also function differently in each world, which is perfect. I didn’t want snow in Oasis Springs, and Brindleton Bay desperately needed fog and rain to feel complete.

6.) Favorite Game Pack

In The Sims 4, my favorite GP (so far) is Vampires. I never really liked this life state before, but this time around they’re fantastic! The abilities help differentiate each vampire from one another, and I love that they don’t have to ask permission nicely before biting a Sim. The sticker cracks and spider webs are also something I’d been wanting to help make places seem less perfect. Overall, the life state seems so detailed and sets a much higher bar for future life states. I don’t even mind paying for each individually if they’re this well-done.

7.) Favorite Stuff Pack

In The Sims 2, my favorite SP was H&M Fashion. Honestly, I just really loved all the new clothing that kept my Sims from constantly matching each other. And building a clothing store with all the cool retail items that came with it was a lot of fun too!

In The Sims 3, my favorite SP was Town Life. The rabbitholes were more modern and added some variety since most of the others were the same building with slightly different colors. I had a lot of fun remodeling my more modern worlds with them.

In The Sims 4, my favorite SP (so far) is Laundry Day. I’m a sucker for realism elements so adding another menial chore for my Sims makes me happy. The laundry system is surprisingly complex, the furniture filled in a lacking farmhouse style I felt was missing from the game, and stackable machines look perfect in apartments. The clothing and hairstyles were also very well-done and I have to actively try not to overuse them on all my Sims.

8.) Least Favorite Expansion Pack

In The Sims, my least favorite EP was House Party. It felt like the smallest addition we were given, and parties weren’t enough for me to explore more than a handful of times before I got bored. As soon as the next EP came out, I moved on to the new content and I don’t think I ever threw another party again.

In The Sims 2, my least favorite EP was Nightlife. It wasn’t bad at all, it was just the one I used the least. My personal gameplay style at the time was incredibly family-oriented and you just don’t take your kids to clubs. I only ever went to the new Downtown subhood for first dates and a few marriage proposals since the date interactions were pretty cute.

In The Sims 3, my least favorite EP was Showtime. I don’t think I ever really played with anything from it. The ‘optional’ online connection where you would send your Sims to someone else’s game to perform really made me mad since some of the items you paid for were locked away behind it and I had no desire to participate. And the whole in-game news feed and achievement system were horrible and really caused problems. The venues were also super glitchy so even when I did give the new active careers a go, trying to complete a performance was almost impossible. Overall, the whole thing felt like more trouble than it was worth.

In The Sims 4, my least favorite EP (so far) is Get to Work. I think my expectations were just too high going into it. The active careers are okay, but none of them make me actually want to follow my Sims to work past the first few days because they get highly repetitive and there’s no real risk associated with them. The retail system also seems a bit lacking. There are very few retail items to use when building a store, although I do have to mention that the clothing mannequins are pretty cool. And actually running it is too easy since you can just instantly restock the items even if they’re unique things that you’ve made your Sims create.

9.) Least Favorite Game Pack

In The Sims 4, my least favorite GP (so far) is Spa Day. It’s not nearly as immersive as the others. There isn’t much to do outside of getting a massage or doing yoga, and both are kind of boring to do repeatedly over and over. It doesn’t expand on the gameplay nearly enough to be categorized as a GP in my opinion; I’d demote it to SP.

10.) Least Favorite Stuff Pack

In The Sims 2, my least favorite SP was Glamour Life. It added the least versatile stuff. Most of my Sims weren’t swimming in cash, so the items, particularly the clothing, were rarely used since they’d look and feel out of place. 

In The Sims 3, my least favorite SP was Katy Perry’s Sweet Treats. I didn’t even buy it and I have no idea why anyone did. The objects were all horrible and cheesy. There was literally nothing good about it. At all. Ever.

In The Sims 4, my least favorite SP (so far) is My First Pet. No matter how many times they deny it, it’s a massive money grab. The furniture set literally completes what they left incomplete in Cats & Dogs! The clothing is for the most part just recolors of what we already have! And to top it all off, there’s just one new critter. They claim four, but it’s the same thing with a different skin overlay. I am perfectly fine with some items in a pack being dependent on owning previous packs so that they can continue to expand on past content. But to release this immediately after the associated EP and for it to pretty much be the rest of the items that we were missing from said EP...certainly seems like they withheld content just to wring an extra $10 from their players. Especially since it wasn’t even mentioned in their quarterly teaser. Haven’t bought it, and will not until it’s on sale.

11.) Custom or EA / Maxis Sims

EA / Maxis Sims are the best! I adore the premades and their unique, weird stories. My favorite thing to do is make them over and put an interesting spin on their storylines while still keeping them recognizable.

12.) Households or Single Sims

Definitely households. I prefer organized chaos with lots of things going on at once! There just isn’t enough to do when there’s only one Sim.

13.)  Free Will On or Off

Free will is always firmly set to off in my game. I’m a dictator when it comes to my Sims and I make no apologies for that.

14.)  Favorite Life Stage

Toddlers. They’re just so darn cute! The expanded skill building this time around is really cool since they actually learn in discernible stages instead of all at once, and I’m still not over their ability to go up and down stairs all on their own. The little mess-makers also have some of the cutest interactions with other Sims and their environment.

15.)  Favorite Life State

Aliens. The first time I ever had a Sim abducted was in The Sims 2, and it terrified me because I had no idea what was going on and didn’t know if he was ever going to come back. Then he was finally returned and popped out an alien baby! It was just so surprising and ever since I’ve had a particular fondness for extraterrestrials.

16.) Favorite Skill

Cooking is probably my favorite skill to build. Something about getting to see what those difficult dishes look like is just fun to me. Since The Sims 4 actually includes 3 separate skills for cooking, gourmet, and baking skills I’ve been having a blast discovering all the new recipes!

17.) Ever Completed a Legacy

Only once, way back in The Sims 2. It lasted a grand total of 16 generations before I wound up making the move to The Sims 3. I’ve tried numerous times since then, but The Sims 3 was too buggy to play a single file that long and The Sims 4 is still missing a couple of key features that I’d like to have before trying again.

18.) Longest Simming Session

When I had more free time (and was significantly younger), I happily confess to wasting away a full weekend playing The Sims 2. These days I’m lucky to get a couple hours a week here and there. Ah the joys of growing up!

19.) Personal Sims Wishlist

There are a few things I’m still really missing for The Sims 4. I’m hoping universities and witches are making a comeback soon as they’re crucial to my planned storylines. Fairies, werewolves, and a beach vacation world would also be wonderful to have but they’re less important to me.

20.) Unpopular Opinion

I don’t miss the open world system from The Sims 3 at all. I’m perfectly happy trading it for every world to be connected. Every save file is a megahood and I find that preferable to a single, completely open world. I also think that it makes the game more stable for everyone, especially lower-end computers. The loading screens are worth it!

#about me #SheRambles

[weebdoesasims]

So the Sims 4 fireplaces are the most glitchy thing I have ever had to deal with and the most annoying part of being in the stone age. I needed them to make some food and the seat caught fire. So I tried again and it happened yet again. And I just barely realized On’Ga had decided to remain on fire and her father Unga had to save her from passing away. Honestly I wish there was a way to never have fires from that fire place.

#sims 4 #sims 4 history challenge #sims 4 prehistoric #History Challenge Gen 1

[therealdragonnerdagain]

So I been logged outta tumblr for two months -- two blissful months -- and now that Mass Effect Andromeda is out, I'm back with a big fat

I TOLD YOU SO.

Yeah, because I'm that petty.

Remember last year when I said Dragon Age Inquisition sucked and that Andromeda would just be more of the same?

And by more of the same I mean:

1) Huge empty zones which in turn cause infinite load screens 2) Glitchy animations 3) Boring Fetch quests/ filler crap with zero real sidequests 4) Shitty dialogue and conversations thanks to voiced protagonist 5) pointless and tedious crafting 6) shitty combat with zero tactics -- yes, even on Nightmare

I also predicted that the romances would suck for SisRyder because female players always get fucked up romances, but since I haven't actually played the game (or read anything about that) I can't comment.

But yeah. I'm not surprised that Andromeda is just more of the same MMOPRG bullshit that Inquistion was -- even after Bioware lied and said that it wasn't.

I'm also not surprised that there was a controversy about a transcharacter. It's because Bioware doesn't give a shit about really representing marignalized people YEAH I SAID IT. Their games are so fucking racist and sexist, even while they pretend to give a shit about being "inclusive," they're supporting imperialism and facism and Maniest Destiny (which pretty much sums up Inquistion).

They only really care about truly representing gay people, and it's not because they care about non-straights, it's just because the gay people who work for them (David Gaider) pushed for a change.

So no. I'm not surprised that they just keep fucking up. After all, they are the dick-sucking slaves of the bitch goddess that is EA, Destroyer of Video Games.

I have quietly watched EA destroy just about every franchise I ever loved over the years. The Sims, Mass Effect, Dragon Age . . . It's over. Those game developers are dead. They don't make the kind of games I want to play anymore.

Now they make vacuous, empty games for the mainstream, while using minorities as a tool to excuse thier shittiness, and I'm just fucking sick of it.

As a minority, I am fucking sick of it.

After blowing over a hundred dollars on Inquisition -- a racist, religiously fascist game that mocks its female players -- I am pissed, tired, and disgusted with Bioware. After the ME3 ending, Inquisition was just icing on the bitter cake. Now Andromeda is just more evidence to me that they don't give a shit.

I hope their company crashes and fucking burns. But that won't happen any time soon, since there are plenty of dumbfucks out there perfectly willing to pay for their shitty games. They are welcome to them.

Anyway, I'm done bitching. I didn't come back here to be active again, just to say "I told you so" and point and laugh at all the Bioware fans who harassed me over the years for having a fucking opinion that they were in no way forced to read.

I hope Bioware crashes and burns and I hope all its shitty fans cry when that happens. Yes, I hate every last one of you for harrassing me and making my time here miserable all for your petty cliques, jealousy, and blind devotion to a game compnay that doesn't give a fuck about you.

Now it's confirmed: Bioware deleted the BSN to silence us, because they knew their game was shit.

I'm done. I hate tumblr, I hate Bioware's fans, and I wish I'd never discovered Dragon Age Origins and gotten sucked on the Bioware train. I wish I'd played any other game.

Since I'm signing out forever (again, lol) I won't be answering people's messages or attacks on me. I really don't give a fuck what you think or what you have to say.

To see why I hate Bioware and its fans, here are some fun tags for you:

#burn the fandoms #bioware critical #loghain critical (perfect example of fans attacking me over nothing) #dalish rant #mage rant #solas rant

#thane rant

#mass effect rant

Goodbye.

p.s. Self-publishing has been awesome. Fuck traditional publishing.

#bioware critical #mass effect andromeda #fucking leave me alone

[tumblunni]

GODDAMMIT I CANT PICK A MARRIAGE

Rune Factory 4 why do you persist in having TOO MANY GOOD CHARACTERS I’ve narrowed it down to two but now i keep changing my damn mind again! I’ve decided I’m gonna see the marriages for the three characters I liked on different save files, but who should I marry first and go with for real on this save file?? i’ve run out of patience for waiting to pick a batchelor as the VERY LAST THING i do before I turn off the game, I need to do it now! I need to do it before I start this final bonus dungeon thing to rescue [spoilery dead character] from the afterlife. I WANT TO SHOW THEM MY CHILD WHEN THEY RETURN. And this game is SO LONG and cos of how semi random the skill levelling is, I dont think I’d have the patience to complete the same 20 so hours three times to complete all the savefiles, and it’d be really frustrating if I couldnt max out all the same skills on them :P SO YEAH GAHHH Need to FINALLY DECIDE between leon and dylas!

PROS N CONZ

Dylas:

* Has the most romantic chemistry in my opinion, and also my favourite main character after Arthur. (Tho I ended up not really feeling that ship so even tho hhe’s my fave batchelor he’s not the one I wanted to marry??) * is really fucking awkward adorable which is MY FAVE kind of ship! * also his romance route is primarily about cheesy romance rather than like.. lots of lusty flirty sexual attraction type stuff that I’m not really capable of understanding. * HAs a load of great character development and seems like he’d be the most happy to be with you. * is the coolest of the monster people, even if im still salty he doesnt look more like his monster form. They coulda just given him a unicorn horn and it would have brought the whole design together! * Marrying him would make me feel less salty sad that there’s no way to get him and doug to hook up when they are CLEARLY CANONICALLY BISEXUAL GEEZ * A minor con is that this would mean I have to play the rest of the game with the postgame cheat mode gay marriage thing switched on. Which could get a bit annoying since its just a character model swap and its a bit glitchy sometimes, but I like both genders of protagonist equally much anyway. i just feel slightly guilty thinking im somehow being disloyal to the one I picked at the beginning, but then again i literally only picked the girl because you cant romance dylas unless you’re the girl and GAHHH I was so happy to know you could cheat and have cheat mode gay marriage so IMMA GONNA DO IT * seriously its an option so i cant NOT take it * make up for lack of doug x dylas route by doing dylas x male protag * also dylas was the one I wanted to pick since before i knew anything about the game, he was my fave based on design alone and then his personality in his first scene was amazing and aaaa * also dylas’s romance route is REALLY TERRIBLE which is maybe a pro and maybe a con?? like.. i wanna marry him cos he had no plot and i wanna make it up to him, but i also DONT wanna marry him cos his route wasnt my favourite plot and aaaa why does my brain not make sense * also a pro: PORCOLINE * i get to officially marry into the restaurant fam! * i have literally got porcoline in my party right now while im holding the engagement ring, he needs to be there to see me pop the question! i just love this dad so much, i have to marry one of his kids * also I can pretend that arthur is still my friend and he isnt mad that i picked his brother over him and we can all be the best family ever

Leon:

* has the best and saddest romance route backstory thing that makes me feel so guilty if I dont marry him * is also my favourite design! like, dylas is the best monster but leon has the best human form design, i have no lil niggling complaints about how he looks like a wolf for no damn reason. * is the only bara character * ended up being surprisingly cute and genuine about his love and i actually really like the archetype of the flirty fake-playboy type guy who isnt the jerky playboy archetype but instead secretly adorable and shy when he falls in love for real! And its even better cos he’s a snarky overconfident trickster guy so its EVEN MORE CUTE when he drops his big facade and lets himself admit his emotions! * BUT admiteddly I still feel rather uncomfortable doing overly flirty innuendoy dating sims because I’m way too asexual to relate. I’ve had a few moments with leon where its just like... killed the moment kinda, and made me feel bad that im not the intended audience. This game makes me care about the characters so i feel just as awkward as when I’ve accidentally ‘led people on’ in real life in high school and had to super anxiously let them down. I just feel awkward even though I know that the character in-universe that I’m playing at probably isnt asexual, im still like ‘noooo i dont wanna trick him into a sexless marriage he wouldnt be happy aaaa’ * but also aaa he has the most chemistry with the female main character I think, he’s like the only one I think looks like a cuter couple with her, while I wanna ship dylas with the male mc. i just really liked a fanart I saw of them described as ‘fox and bunny’! thats totally it, her hairstyle just matches so well with an animal ears dude, and their colours have a good appeal together and stuff~ * Also i have more headcanons about what it would be like when they had kids and stuff! so thats a big appeal because getting to see the kid characters is the big reason i wanna marry a charrie * ALSO, its kinda... uhh... to put it lightly... well, Leon is literally the only dark skinned man in the entire world. SERIOUSLY. Rune Factory rarely ever has more than one character of a different race, and I just feel like if you’re gonna be so limited in your options I wanna pick that option like... maybe if they see they’re the popular ones then they’ll realise theyre making a dumb decision and add more racial diversity in future games?? or at least npcs?? seriously??? He’s not just the only dark skinned batchelor but THE ONLY CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. At least rune factory oceans had the whole dark elf race. (Tho that was weird that there’s apparantly no black humans in this world...)

GAHHH I DUNNO I JUST WANNA MAKE THESE DUMB BOYS HAPPY I wish i could have like a best friend option to select or something can I give a consolation prize... IM SORRY LEON OR DYLAS and IM SORRY ARTHUR and IM SORRY PORCOLINE IF I DONT MARRY YOUR SON

#why am i so bad at decisions #this game is designed to hit my anxieties #bunni plays rf4

[nonhoration]

Decided to try and keep the games reviews going into 2017

For added fun I decided to post the first ones at night when no one is around to read them!

Delicious: Emily's Christmas Carol Genre: Time Management Rating: 8/10 Review: This is pretty much every 'Delicious' game if you've ever played one but with a Christmas theme. Every problem is minor and solved quickly and the story isn't very deep but the game overall is pretty charming. There are some pretty ludicrously difficult achievements if you're into that kind of thing.

Reus Genre: God Game Rating: 9/10 Review: I started playing this because I saw a post @monsterkissed made about it and it sounded pretty neat. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far. The 30 minute eras are perfect for when I want to play a bite sized game. The animations and characters are really cute and it's fun to get to use the new creatures and buildings that you get as you progress.

Mahjong Huntress Genre: Mahjong Rating: 6/10 Review: This game is a bit glitchy and sometimes unnecessarily difficult (as far as I can tell, some levels are designed to require powerups to complete) but the art style is really pretty and I'm liking the story so far. The match-3 minigame is fun. I don't think I'll ever end up playing all the challenge boards though.

Stardew Valley Genre: Life Sim Rating: 9/10 Review: I can't believe how long it's taken me to actually get around to playing this! It's so chill and fun and there are so many things to do! A few aspects are a bit irritating (sometimes I feel like fatigue accumulates too fast, some new things aren't explained super well, relationship decay is the fucking worst) but overall I'm really loving it, and I think it's something I'll come back to for a long time.

Lara Croft GO Genre: Puzzle Rating: 9/10 Review: In terms of being a puzzle game it doesn't really do anything new or innovative but it's really fun and feels empowering and it's everything I loved about the old Tomb Raider games that's been lacking in the reboot stuff.

A Tale of Caos: Overture Genre: Point & Click Adventure Rating: 8/10 Review: I liked this a lot. Nice bright pixel art style, interesting story, fun characters, good humour. The minigames were kind of irritating but the worst one was skippable after a few attempts. Looking forward to the next game in the series.

Thing-in-Itself Genre: Art Installation Rating: 7/10 Review: The explanation of the concept was done in a really neat way but the protagonist was kind of unlikable and in a lot of ways the overarching plot is just "hets make bad decisions: the game" so I don't think I'd play it again.

Lily's Day Off Genre: VN Rating: 4/10 Review: The story wasn't nearly as interesting as it seemed to think it was, and the creepy costumes you could put on the heroine and the absolutely bizarre implied incest kind of ruined it for me. The music was nice though.

Paranormal Teens Genre: VN Rating: 1/10 Review: This game was fucking awful. Weird racism, overbearing and bizarre Christian themes, not what I was expecting at all.

Relive Genre: Adventure, CPR Simulator Rating: 8/10 Review: This was a pretty neat idea, putting a CPR lesson inside a sci-fi adventure game. The game did get a little bogged down in fetch quests at some points and parts of the story didn't really hit quite as hard as I think the dev team intended them to, but it was still a neat project and a good effort. The game is free and I'd recommend to check it out.

Don't Chat With Strangers Genre: Death Toybox Rating: 4/10 Review: I liked the art style and some of the deaths were cool but the minigames weren't fun and it was just too simple and short to really recommend. I'm also not really sure what the story was intended to be about (did he hit her with his car? Was that just an opening animation? Why is burying her an okay thing to do? Pachelbel's Canon, really?) despite playing it multiple times.

Ladykiller in a Bind Genre: VN Rating: 6/10 Review: This is a really difficult game to review, because I really really liked some parts of it but there were other parts that I HATED. There is some really neat stuff done with the VN mechanics in general in the game, including a "real time" dialogue system where you get options to interject that slowly fade away as you progress in the conversation and they wouldn't make sense anymore, as well as indications right on the dialogue selection of what the mechanical results of any choice will be (in terms of tone as well as votes/suspicion or ending a route early). I'm glad for the steam edition that the option to skip sex scenes was added, because there was some stuff going on in a few scenes (though not as many as I'd suspected there might be going in) that was Not For Me and even if I didn't take it it was nice to know that the option to disengage with the scene if I felt uncomfortable was available. Pretty much every route and character used the word "slut" too much for me. There was some cloudiness around consent (particularly on the Stalker's route but also in a few other places) that I think is meant to be excused by the fact that it's kink and fictional but might make some people uncomfortable. The story is patently ridiculous and even the "explanations" upon subsequent playthroughs don't make it any less silly. Most of the characters were really interesting if not likable (though there were a few that I really liked - the Nerd was a top fave) though a few were pretty flat stereotypes and didn't really seem to have enough content to justify their presence. I know I have to talk about That Scene since I'm reviewing this game too so I have to say: the m/f rape scene in the Ladykiller route was sickening even knowing that it had been changed to be skippable or avoidable completely. I felt awful reading it and I can't imagine what people must have felt like being blindsided by it in the original edition. It's been patched out now (the awful but significantly less so scene with the Boy is still included though) but it should never have been in a game advertised as "Six nights worth of explicit, consensual, kinky lesbian sex" in the first place.

Queen at Arms Genre: VN Rating: 8/10 Review: I really liked this one. The tactics parts were neat and I really liked that on most routes you could play a nonbinary protagonist if you wanted to (though they'd have some negative experiences with misgendering if you do). The game definitely felt big, with a lot of content and choices.

#long post #rape content warning for the ladykiller in a bind review