#the whole point of an EP is to expand gameplay

[gerbits]

love yourselves. don’t pay for these packs.

#no cross compatibility?? l m a o #the whole point of an EP is to expand gameplay #and they're charging $40 USD #for what

[occultpuppy]

So, some things I've been doing in my game lately to help me feel better connected/not bored have really been helping create a better connection with the world as a whole, to the point I've been heavily debating rotational gameplay! Let me tell you, I aint felt that connected to my sims in a VERY long time so I consider this an improvement!

Things that helped me feel better about my game/made it fun for me again:

No more speed 3. Stop it. What was the point of the devs making those animations if you ain't even gonna watch? Force yourself to only use speed 1 if your sim ain't asleep or at work, plus your game will run better!

Custom holidays! Update EVERY holiday and really contemplate what you want to achieve out if the holiday. I recommend the 'No Awful Holidays' mod as a fairly realistic/grateful change. Say your sim doesn't feel like celebrating or maybe doesn't like a particular holiday? This means you can also go WILD and add so many new cool holidays! Some holidays I've added; Frog Day, Mental Boost Day, Good Karma Day, Summer Break, Fall Activity Day, Conservation Day, Days specifically for each occult, etc! I'll list more holiday traditions below as well!

Speaking of which, clubs are a great way to create a solid friend group and make them really utilitarian to what skills and relationships you need to boost. Want to get ahead in your career? Coworker group outings! Family needs a park daytrip? There's a club for that! Here are a list of expanded club activities to help you make a club for just about anything!

Give your sims routines! I make it a point now to make my sim go to the bathroom, wash their hands, brush their teeth and get a shower every day. Let's at least give them a better life than depression lol

Changing their style often! Don't get me wrong, I know you worked hard to make your sim perfect the first time but how many times have you changed in your life? How many hair cut styles and colors have you tried? And MCCC is your friend. Use that copy and paste feature in the dresser section to copy your sims current makeup, hair and accessories to cross post to your other outfits and thrive! (This last part is only helpful if you don't want your sims pillow to be covered in lipstick lol)

Take so many pictures. I'm actually not much of a picture taker but I've found taking more pictures has made me feel like I was there for their memories and that's sweet lol it also makes me more invested because I can go back and realize just how much time I've dedicated to my sim. This can be good or bad :p

Playing with walls up. Look I totally used to be a half wall/walls down type but once again, why did you decorate those walls if you wasn't gonna look at em? Plus really gives you that /godmodevibe/

Save often. Crashes suck and I am a spam saver during gameplay but am the worst when it comes to building 🙃 I try to do better but it's hard sometimes and I learn the hard way lol

Go out WAY MORE!! I am a hermit in my real life and I tend to stay 'lot-locked' jut bc I hate the loading screens. Place some of those amazing community lots from the gallery down and explore! More pictures! More memories and more options for story telling; anything can happen in the public lol

That's all I got for now. I hope this helps somebody bc these changes have really amped up my experience!

#Ts4 #The sims #Sims #The sims gameplay #Sims gameplay tips #the sims 4 #ts4 gameplay #ts4 mods #optalks'

[foundinfantasy]

Sims 4: Cars (an ai EP Concept)

Yes, I still want cars in TS4. Traveling is just so bad and a bike no longer cuts it. We're a decade into this generation of Sims with no end in sight (as Project Renee, if it even happens now, was promised to run alongside TS4) and I still can't believe that while absent-mindedly playing the game and sending my sim home from visiting the local museum that they have to walk a mile before getting to a loading screen. Wild.

So I get to thinking how would cars even work, realistically, in my pixel world? How would they even be introduced? How hard is it that we still haven't had them yet? Ai, while controversial, is a good tool to replicate the EA EP model to answer some of this without getting too lost in my thoughts of features, nuance, and such.

Expansion Pack Title: The Sims 4: Road to Racing

Synopsis: Rev up your engines and hit the streets with The Sims 4: Road to Racing expansion pack! Explore a whole new dimension of gameplay as your Sims dive into the world of automotive culture. From customizing cars to cruising through the city, this expansion pack brings a thrilling new experience to your Sims' lives.

Key Features:

Car Customization Studio: Build the car of your dreams with an all-new customization studio. From paint jobs to body kits, rims, and decals, every aspect of your Sim's ride is in your hands. Express your unique style and personality by creating one-of-a-kind vehicles that turn heads wherever they go.

Street Racing Events: Strap in and get ready to race in adrenaline-pumping street racing events! Compete against other Sims in high-speed races through the city streets, dodging traffic and outrunning the cops. Win races to earn reputation points and unlock exclusive rewards, including new car parts and accessories.

Auto Garage Business: Fulfill your Sims' entrepreneurial dreams by opening their own auto garage. Manage staff, attract customers, and build a reputation as the go-to destination for car enthusiasts. Customize and repair cars for clients, expand your garage with new facilities, and watch your business grow into a thriving empire.

Car Clubs and Meetups: Join or create car clubs with like-minded Sims and organize meetups to show off your rides. Participate in car shows, cruises, and other social events where you can network with fellow enthusiasts, exchange tips and tricks, and admire each other's cars. Strengthen bonds with friends or rivals as you share your passion for all things automotive.

Experience the thrill of the open road and unleash your Sims' inner gearhead in The Sims 4: Road to Racing expansion pack. Whether they're cruising in style or burning rubber on the track, the world of cars awaits!

Thoughts? Personally, love this!

A CAS for cars - CCAS!

Competing in races! This a concept for the NSFW simmers. It would more likely have to be toned down to a PG NASCAR active career with its own lot (like the studio for Get Famous) with lot specific animations of racing on a track but I could see it.

Or, the less likely, they just make a huge track object and create a new lot-type (but while it would be fun to visit a track as the career-player as a family-player or occult-player it would be a large lot with no real purpose or gameplay (outside of buying a ticket to see a show and that would be a splurge for EA))

If they added a Junkyard and the fixer-upper car from TS2 that works with the CCAS that could also be a lucrative new business for the sims with rags-to-riches story possibility and Eco Living cross-pack play. I would love this pack more if it gave us consequences like accidents/broken legs, arms, etc to add cross-pack play with Get to Work but that's just too much like life for EA.

The last one is less of a feature and more of things we're able to do with Get Together and examples of possible interactions, preferences, milestones, and events that could be added as well, but overall a great start for a pack!

Now while I'm sold on something like this, I do think that cars are just so huge that even the ai-generated concept is too niche and features 2-4 could simply be a stuff pack or game pack at most and it's really the CCAS that's pushing it into EP level (as demonstrated by the horrific release of Horse Ranch). It also leaves out family-gameplay simmers and occult-simmers and excludes cars from any future updates once behind an EP for some odd reason only EA knows.

So easy solution, CARS WOULD BE A BASE GAME UPDATE*

~more on that later~

After loving the concept that ai gave me I went back and asked for features for occult and family players to see if it would give anything I wouldn't expect.

Mundane Family Life Features:

Family Carpool System: Introduce a new family carpool system that allows Sims to commute together to school, work, and other activities. Coordinate schedules, share rides, and bond with family members during the daily commute. Strengthen family relationships and save time on transportation logistics.

Car Maintenance and Repairs: Keep your Sims' vehicles in top condition with a new car maintenance and repair system. Schedule regular tune-ups, oil changes, and inspections to prevent breakdowns and maintain performance. Visit the local mechanic or learn to DIY with a new skill branch in mechanical expertise.

Road Trip Vacations: Embark on epic road trip vacations with the whole family! Plan scenic routes, pack essentials like snacks and games, and hit the open road in search of adventure. Explore new destinations, camp under the stars, and create lasting memories as your Sims bond on the ultimate family vacation.

Driving School and Licensing: Teach your teenage Sims the rules of the road with a new driving school feature. Enroll them in lessons, practice driving skills, and prepare for the driving test to earn their driver's license. Watch with pride as they gain independence and unlock new opportunities with their newfound freedom.

Occult Play Features:

Haunted Car Customization: Embrace the supernatural with haunted car customization options. Unlock eerie decals, ghostly paint jobs, and other spooky accessories to give your Sims' rides a paranormal twist. Explore haunted locations to discover rare materials and unlock exclusive customization options for your occult-themed vehicles.

Witch's Broomstick Integration: Harness the power of magic with a new integration feature for witches and warlocks. Customize broomsticks with enchanted enhancements, such as speed boosts, protective charms, and spellcasting abilities. Take to the skies and soar above the city streets on your trusty broomstick, bypassing traffic and reaching destinations in style.

Vampire Car Clubs: Sink your teeth into the nightlife scene with vampire car clubs. Join exclusive gatherings of vampire enthusiasts and show off your dark and mysterious rides. Compete in nocturnal races under the cover of darkness, using vampiric powers to gain an edge over your rivals. Navigate the underground world of vampire car culture and rise through the ranks to become the ultimate nocturnal racer.

Alien UFO Abductions: Encounter otherworldly experiences with alien UFO abductions. Watch as Sims are beamed up into flying saucers and taken on interstellar journeys across the cosmos. Explore alien planets, collect extraterrestrial artifacts, and uncover the secrets of the universe. Return home with newfound knowledge and experiences that are out of this world.

As expected. After seeing what ai thought would be features based on released expansion packs, I was starting to see the problem. Most of the family features would automatically (logically) be included in the base game update. Obviously driving around to get your infant to sleep or dropping your kids off at school shouldn't be locked behind DLC.

While I'd want this to just lean more into ways to commute, I could also see that being its own second update/dlc (introducing regular buses, skateboarding, and subway passes - similar it seems to how vitiligo is going to be a two part update)

Also packing up the car (having its own inventory) and driving to a lot isn't much of a feature [and some of the things they listed would just be interactions on a computer] so again, another obvious inclusion.

The second and fourth features are the only ones that could be locked behind DLC and "Road to Racing" would be great for that, fleshing out the remaining lackluster parts of the pack and really drive home a $40 price.

Unfortunately occult players get the short end here, there isn't much to add outside of the haunted car decals and maybe a hearse as a vehicle [this could also be an additional style direction the pack could lean into] More integration with Realm of Magic could be nice but instead of a broom, a magic flying car spell instead? And as far as the vampire idea goes... no, bad ai. That's a terrible feature. Alien abductions though could be cool, but could also be apart of its own alien focused update/pack (we need one; I could also see befriending your spaceship and upgrading it to have a projection of a human or animal).

So those four features (outside of CCAS) would make a fuller EP: a new career, a new hustle/business, car repair/maintenance, driving lessons, and a couple new events, traits, milestones, likes/dislikes with CAS and BB styles of retro/rockabiliy/gearhead/greaser and haunted/eerie/more goth/maybe whimsical. AND OF COURSE this pack adds six-seven new cars (including the hearse).

IMO an EP should add something to every life stage in the game and this one is currently focused on Teen+, so:

Infants & Toddlers: new themed cribs, changing tables, toddler beds, and potties. New car toys. New car seat style. [This would be a cute chance to add strollers back in... but this is EA]

Children: EA's hardest life stage to add stuff for. Maybe a car-themed cake recipe and bedroom set with that car rug. Gameplay wise: more play pretend interactions or a new school project of 'What I want to be when I grow up'. Not child-specific but that racing simulator game as an object could be fun for arcade builds.

Elders: While there's nothing keeping elders from doing everything in this pack, there actually should be. Elders should need to retake driving test to keep their license, hire a Driver [a new service], maybe add a new reward trait [Tough Metal] that allows them to continue working on cars [a very laborious and possibly deadly activity for regular elders]. For all my sims who hate to read, this is a great chance to add magazines and magazine subscriptions into the game that offer fun, skill boosts, and give random likes/dislikes based on the type you're reading. (EX. Lifestyle magazine: maybe a new favorite color. Cooking magazine: skill boost.)

MY OUT THERE ASK: A stretch for sure, but I'd also want a cars pack to come with motorcycles [but I could see them doing this as a stuff pack(even though it should only ever be a kit) so I won't spiral too hard down that rabbithole]

OH RIGHT, THE BASE GAME CAR UPDATE:

All lots would be updated to be navigable to and from [This is the first impediment to cars coming to the TS4. According to Reddit, I refuse to count them all, there's over 200+ lots and each one would have to be tweaked and tested for each car - QA team where?]

All cars (like 11-12) would get updated models and be available for customizing in CCAS and I'm talking partnership with Max20 detail-level cars. [This the 2nd impediment to a cars coming to TS4]

Car parking on home and commercial lots would have to be figured out - does it go in your inventory, is there a parking curb that needs to be placed down, an invisible marker added to worlds to park on the side of roads, off lot? [ideally, yes to all]

CCAS can only be entered via clicking the car, once you get a car.

Reintroduce School Bus and Taxi [would be cool if all services also got their vehicles back but these two are more important].

Walking if lazy, high maintenance, snob could cause sore feet buff or irritation.

Car has an inventory.

Dropping off kids and driving around to soothe infants/toddlers. [Also throwing in a BG car seat for infants and toddlers to either be upgradeable via the car or a build-buy object]

Car Woohoo.

Befriending your car [literally does nothing, just funny]

Cars would give need gains or loss depending on state, can also give career or school boost.

Cars can get dirty and need a wash (child+)

Cars can be slept in.

Cars can be searched to find spare change.

I like the nuance that Cars would also have their own needs bar similar to the cow barn and horses, that would show it needing gas

Friends can come by and ask for ride.

Car Keys obj that you get when you buy or register car that can be taken from you when drunk by bartender [if in public] or by friend [if public or private]

Cross-pack play/ideas: Eco Living [hybrid upgrade, flying car, industrial or eco footprint, find car parts] Discover Uni [pay to park on campus, also restrict car access on campus], Get Famous [car collection gives fame], For Rent [new rule to pay for having a car at RR], Seasons [car gets frosty in cold, dust off snow/leaves, can be used to warm up, trunk or treat], Cats and Dogs [used to transport to vet], My Wedding Stories ["just married" in simlish as a decal with bells on the back], Werewolves [that rampage is going to destroy this car], Realm of Magic [scruberoo spell might destroy car/car fire, magic flying car spell, repairio might break car as well or fill your tank], Dine Out [drive-in restaurant], High School Years [spirit week decals, driving lesson class credit or grade boost], Cottage Living [an option to go grocery shopping and come back with grocery bag], Horse Ranch [wild ask: carriage vehicle attachment to horses], Crystal Creations [Junkyard has metals and rare crystals], Vampires [coffin slots into the back of hearse], Paranormal [being in car on haunted lot debuffs fear, except when that car is a hearse]

Will add more if I can think of more, but yeah this would be my perfect Cars BGU to roll out before a Road to Racing EP.

*THE WORLD*

I completely forgot about this! TS4 worlds make me so angry because they're so boring and even more angry because the level of boring fluctuates. At least be consistent, and when was the last time we had harvestables in world or a new insect or even a new jungle gym?

Rant aside, every now and then I just look up fan-made concept worlds to see actual creativity and this reminded me I hadn't thought of a world for this made-up pack! I don't want to see another America based world for like 3-4 worlds down the line.

What I would like to see is a world emptier than Newcrest with the neighborhoods being vague-ideas like: city, villa, country, commercial to offer ideas to builders but not like all the set dressing we see in our last worlds. I want 14-15 lots: 5 lots with a river/ beach, 5 lots with a kids area, and 4 lots with a Junkyard "interactive shell" or Junkyard lot-type all close together. For me, the reason I don't like the newer worlds is that I can't see the other playable lots. I can't build a style across multiple lots when they're miles apart.

World name: Orion

World interaction: two new metals, a gem, a flower, and a new harvestable. Might seem random but I'd like to see figs added and of course, fig inspired dishes. Figs attract wasps and that could be a new insect they introduce [with a new fear, buffs, consequences when stung]. For the metals and gem, they can go wild here. I don't care what they're called as they've always been inventive when it came down to the metals and gems already in game. Not only could it be used in car repair or decoration but also would go great with the new Crystal Creations [as I expect them to continue adding more metals and gems now that they have a purpose] and any new flower!

(The flower led to a whole different spiral. Outside of being a florist and using flowers that way, I wish they'd do a Painting overhaul to either need to buy paints or create paints out of flowers, fruits, etc but maybe if we ever get proper clay/pottery/sculpting the overhaul could happen then as well)

*WORLD UPDATE*

At the same time, I'd love an update to the UI starter menu so that instead of a new game loading CAS it'll load the seasons selection first [if you have seasons] and then it'd take you to the world map, singular. I want all worlds connected on one map and then each new world would build upon or change the current map.... then from there you can select if you want to play a premade family or enter CAS.

#ts4 spiral #ts4 cars

[oodlyenough]

life is strange true colours review

the non spoilery part: i LOVED this game, my personal fave game this year and the first franchise entry since the original that has really resonated with or moved me.

it's a life is strange game through and through, so if you don't like slice of life episodes or bonding with NPCs, it's not gonna be for you. but if you like the franchise, or even if you liked the first game but haven't been interested in/liked the other two instalments, i recommend giving this one a chance. i think it got closer to figuring out the formula while still doing something new and interesting.

more detailed spoilers and opinions:

alex

holy shit i love alex? bisexual chad... my darling... i'm gonna be real, a lot of the trailers and promo for this game made me worried she'd be kind of a dull wallflower Soft Girl character, but she's not! she's so funny, and even parts of her characterization i initially thought were maybe a bit of a stretch ended up making sense as i learned more about her. she stole the show. i straight up forgot how much loving the protag helps enjoyment of these kinds of games lmao ... finally a reason to click on everything in the room: to hear what alex will say about it.

i thought her backstory exploration in ep 5 especially was wonderful and emotive and great. broke my heart and explained so much about her :( baby girl

plot/choices

i loved the mystery. i don't think it was quite as Mysterious as the mystery in lis1, but that was okay, i was still invested in solving it. i also got invested enough in the NPCs around the town to make all the exploration bits really fun. i loved eavesdropping on the sagas of the random NPCs like bald man and ice cream couple... just fun little touches and narratives to follow that i enjoyed.

i really appreciated this script not being afraid to shy away from some messier emotions, even if in some cases i wish we spent more time on them. for example: alex feeling a bit jealous of the other people in town that got to know gabe better than her/spend more time with him than she did. or charlotte hating ethan!!! my jaw dropped, i thought that was so good, what a messy but realistic response.

I'm not entirely sure what all the ramifications of different choices are at this point, fresh off my first play. i ended up getting only part of the council to stand with me (eleanor & duckie) while losing pike and charlotte.

i do wish we saw a bit more fallout or exploration of what taking away emotion DOES. i took charlotte's anger, and obviously it meant she didn't stand up for me in the council meeting, but where does she go from there? does she like... ever return to feeling emotions lmao... I also think we probably should've had the opportunity to do that another time, instead of just 2 isolated events -- I think Diane would've been a good candidate.

the romance

i romanced steph, ofc, but i was surprised during the game how drawn i was to ryan too -- i really liked that Drama of him being the one who cut Gabe free, as well as later the drama of him being Jed's son. UNTIL HE DIDN'T BELIEVE ME... that made me mad lmfao, i have to learn what to do to make him believe me before i play a Ryan route bc i'll kill him lmfao.

the steph/alex romance was sweet... it didn't really, like, Consume Me as a ship, but by the end of the game I was still "aww"ing at their moments in the flashforward. steph was more rounded and flawed than i thought she might be, which i really appreciated! i was worried they'd just make her perfect idealized gf, but she has a bit of a temper and is kind of tempestuous and stuff... liked it. loved her standing up for alex so fiercely and immediately at the council meeting <3 and my main reservation about her in ep 4 was that i wanted alex to stay in haven, so when she offered to stay i was thrilled LOL

one semi-complaint i had was that something i loved so much about lis1 was how max and chloe's relationship was central to the entire game and story, it wasn't some extra thing on the side, it WAS the game... whereas here, the romance routes, especially steph's, felt like sidequests. I wish they'd found a way to incorporate those relationships a bit more into the main goings-on. I also wanted to spend more time with either romance option to feel like I knew them better -- splitting the time between Steph and Ryan means that I came away feeling like I didn't get quite as much of either of them as I would've liked, vs spending almost the entire game with Chloe lol.

however, this ended up not really bothering me too much because I DID really like the core mystery and themes, the exploration of grief and Emotion, etc.

other characters

considering everyone knew going into the game that gabe was going to die, i was impressed with how they did it, and how they managed to get me attached to gabe in a mere single episode. it's a tall order to introduce a character designed to die, who your audience KNOWS is going to die, and still make them work.

i thought this supporting cast was ... maybe the strongest in the franchise? or at least, they created scenarios where i felt invested in multiple people in the town, and was genuinely trying to build decent relationships with most of them. duckie cracked me tf up, i liked eleanor and riley, even diane and jeb were good for their roles. (fuck pike. i signed ur stupid thing and left your emotions alone and you still won't do shit? ACAB!!!) the choice to stay in haven or leave was a little harder than i expected honestly, considering how quickly i let arcadia bay burn to the ground lmfao.

gameplay/etc

also i know the whole internet has been dunking on "empathy" as a super power since the game was announced, and i get that it sounds corny and looks corny in the trailers, but i thought how they did it was really cool. i wish they'd branded it "Mindreading" more than empathy tbh because a lot of the cooler elements of it are more along those lines... using her power to manipulate people, potentially taking people's emotions away and what that does to them... very interesting imo!

i really liked the memory feature!!! cool way to give us character exposition and inform the story while encouraging exploration. finally a collectible that like, expands the story, instead of chloe drawing butts on the wall and sean taking 10 years to draw something.

it's definitely the most evolved-feeling LIS game, which it should be, given it's the newest. graphics looked really nice, loved getting to see the characters actually emote, even if there are still some scenes that were a lil comically blank-faced -- usually NPCs. i actually noticed this with Jed the most, which in retrospect maybe was somewhat intentional?

i had a number of visual glitches, nothing major but a little silly, like T-posing Alex, npcs t-posing in the windows, etc. i'm sure they'll get patched out soon.

anyway... i rly liked this game, i'm excited for the steph dlc and finally feel like i have reason to be optimistic about future LIS instalments. hooray!

#life is strange #true colors #listc spoilers #lis spoilers #secrets of haven

[whatkindofnameisella]

ha. okay. i know i said i was leaving. but i have been having some thoughts i wanted to share.

i’ve been thinking a lot about what led me to a place of such intense disappointment with ep 118. i think a lot of widojests have been asking themselves the same thing - how did i stack the odds so against myself? how did i get my expectations to such a high place? and for me, at least, the more i think about it, the more i realize my mistake was in thinking of cr as a story.

i mean. no matter how you look at it, you have to admit that from a storytelling standpoint, fjorester is.... strange. a bit nonsensical. a bit tone deaf to the themes of the characters. it’s just kinda poor storytelling. in my opinion. in what world do writers create a world and storyline and characters like c2 and then pick........ uh......... that......... as their romantic plotline? in what world is the damsel’s story about learning that life and romance is not like a book and that embracing her individual identity and strength is something to be celebrated, and then her love interest the guy she met at the beginning of the story who she crushed over and was rejected and ignored by for months, only to be suddenly approached again in a romantic sense for maybe a month? a few weeks? before getting together with him? over the other figure in her life who has been consistently supplying emotional support and encouraging those elements of beauty in individuality that is not pretty or clean, stepping in when the crush wasn’t there and expecting nothing in return? i mean? in today’s landscape? objectively a dissatisfying storytelling choice.

but when you look at it from a gameplay standpoint, it becomes fun. it becomes “aw the husband and wife get to rp a romance together, how cute”. it’s the fun option you pick because screw it, you like it and it’s fun to pursue this romance, it doesn’t have to make sense, it’s a game.

there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it, either way, but one is a fun game with plot and one is a..... mediocre story at best. realistically, a dissatisfying and disappointing one.

and the issue with cr is that the line between story and game is so often blurred. and, you know what, well deserved, because it often does do both. the cast refer to what they do as storytelling pretty often. but the thing is, they’re not really creating a full story, per se. they’re creating an improvised permanent first draft. that’s not the same thing as a story. a story is revised over and over again, looked at from different perspectives, rethought and redone until the ideas are best conveyed. a first draft is the thing that has all of the clunky bits, the mistakes, the things that in revision you look back on and think “wait, with the things i’m trying to convey, that doesn’t make sense, actually. let me do that again.”

cr can’t do that. what they do is what they do. now, there is a really interesting element to that, where if there is something that’s maybe not quite right they have to build from that in order to get what they wanted from that moment. it makes it more like real life. and i think that’s interesting. but it is also endlessly frustrating - how many conversations have i wished had happened? how many dynamics do i feel like are wasted and unexplored? how many plot points are expanded or sped through in unsatisfying ways? in a dnd game those things don’t matter as much. in a story, they do.

i mean, i would be really excited to see where the story would go if i thought that those elements of having to build from dissatisfactory decisions would lead to explorations of the areas where fjord and jester clash with each other. what happens when he wants to spend the rest of his life at sea? what happens when jester stays close with artagan her whole life? what happens when jester wants to be independent and fjord’s first instinct is to protect, not support her? what happens when she wants to be treated like the adult she is and he continues to see her as unpredictable and childish and innocent? if they actually confronted those things i might actually enjoy this development. it would highlight all of the most interesting things about their character arcs and force them to develop in interesting ways.

but uh. i kinda doubt it? and that sucks. i really want to believe that confrontation of those elements could be possible, but the general consensus that ive gotten through internet osmosis seems to be that the cast are happy about this development and parts of the fandom that are also happy feel like those of us who don’t like it need to just suck it up and deal with it, because this is what we’ve got. that doesn’t really scream, “this story is a living thing that could change and is willing to explore the not good things about this relationship that could and probably would break it” to me.

and so, i guess i got invested in cr as a story, not as a game. which was bound to bring me to disappointment some day. you can’t get a perfect story from an improvised first draft. but after everything that this show has done amazingly, it’s just. so disappointing. ugh.

#what this haunting my thoughts for the past two days? not at alllllllllllllll #the disappointment runs rampant in this house #every time i think im over it i just think why and then. then i cant stop. why. WHYYYYY. #cr meta

[clare-with-no-i]

I have two questions.What are your honest thoughts on witcher second season? And have you read the books?

so far I’m iffy, anon. I’m iffy.

so, I’ve read 3, I think they’re Sword of Destiny, Time of Contempt, and Blood of Elves (??) - god help me I don’t even remember what the order is lmao it’s been so long.

I didn’t particularly enjoy Sapkowski’s writing or the pacing of any of the books, so I decided not to continue, but I still have a pretty good grounding in who’s who and what plot points we’re leading up to. I also watched some gameplay of W1 - W3 when I was bored/wanted to further prep for this season.

as for my thoughts on s2 so far:

SOME spoilers under cut

a lot of my issues come from a story-structure standpoint, as well as a characterization standpoint.

I like the fact that we’re focusing on Geralt and Ciri’s relationship, and I think that Henry Cavill and Freya Allen are both giving really stunning performances, but I’m not sure how intelligibly the overall story is being presented, and I take some issue with a good number of choices that have been made about the main characters. absolutely hated what they did with Eskel in ep2; I think all of the witchers deserve way more dimension and time to examine; I’m confused about the how they’re aging-up and aging-down Ciri seemingly at random (how often she’s referred to as a girl and a child, but then also how so much of her body language, speech, and goals are mature in a way that did not seem to develop at all in s1, not to mention the EYEBROWS!!!!!!); am more than a bit skeptical about what they’re doing with Yennefer’s arc and why it’s necessary, if she’s to slot into the role we all know she’s destined for based on game-book canon.

I also feel like the magic system is expanding in ways that are unsuited to how early this is as a season - so viewers unfamiliar with Sapkowski’s canon are supposed to buy into the Conjunction of the Spheres with what little reference to it they got in s1, and then are expected to basically completely alter that as early as midway through s2? hm. Already sacrificing some legibility to set up the later seasons, methinks.

for what it’s worth though, I am interested by how far they’ve digressed from the episodic formula they used in s1 - this isn’t a ‘one monster per ep and a Big Bad at the end of the season’ type of deal anymore (though I did enjoy that). It’s, like, this whole unraveling mystery that centers on Ciri. and it’s great to see Cavill as Geralt really pushing the fatherly relationship, even despite my affection for the [grunt] [“fuck.”] Geralt.

IDK. it’s weird because the content of the season is pretty much all that I asked for (lol see this text message I sent my friend in July)

but if I weren’t specifically in it for that reason, I’d be disappointed. also, I know everyone’s pissed at the lack of Jaskier. I get it. Joey Batey is a gift. I think they utilize him poorly sometimes but he’s still just. a gift.

I have TOO MANY THOUGHTS, anon. I’m excited to keep going. I hope this ‘deathless mother’ is worth the fuss as a villain, and that they if Yennefer the relationship with Ciri she deserves, and also that the Witchers at Khaer Morhen maybe catch a fucking break ?? jeez.

#ask #anon #not hp #witcherposting #idk what it is with those single dad shows #this and the mandalorian #they get me

[holysmotez]

Cubes of Olkarion early access first impressions

So I decided to pull the trigger and pick up Cubes (had some credit on my acct I haven't used in months, so heck with it).  For those of you who are anywhere between 'skittish' and 'on-the-fence' about VLD, like I was, I wanted to run some recon for you.  And tbh, I was actually kind of intrigued by the gameplay itself.  My logic was that at the very least, even if all the Voltron stuff made about as much sense as the show (a clusterfuck), I'd still might get an OK game out of it.  

The following is a more of a disorganized, steam of consciousness brain dump than a review, but hopefully I can help satisfy some curiosity that might be out there.

I want to reiterate that the game IS early access right now, but all 5 Paladins are available, and there are a handful of stages unlocked.  I've spent a grand total of maybe ~5ish mins on the tutorial, and ~45mins on the game itself so far.  And so far, it's a pretty clever game.  By clever I mean one that's going to kick my ass until I start getting the hang of it.  But I WANT to get the hang of it.  So that's a point in its favor from a purely gaming perspective.

But you want to know what's crazy?  All the shit you all really want to know about?  The Voltron stuff-- actually does make sense.  But not because of the show (except for the music. Ugh the VLD intro/main theme still makes my heart feel all fuzzy).

As far as I can tell, this game doesn’t give a shit about the canon past S2, and - I have to laugh here - it works great.

What do I mean?  Bear with me, because I'm going to try and explain as best as I can, but first, a little context.

There have been some fascinating post-mortems of VLD, and particularly regarding the Paladin emblems that emerged from the marketing side.  I recommend giving A few thoughts on DW/VLD Marketing by @ptw30 and Voltron: Legendary Planning Fail by @nomadicism a thorough read.  Basically, there are these emblems that came about from VLD merch and toys, but not so much from the show itself.  Their existence suggests that at one point - before or circa when creative tossed out the show bible and pulled the rug out - that these emblems were to symbolize the corresponding elements and their Paladins/Lions.  You know-- like we're shown in the show's goddamned intro.  But since the EPs et al deviated from the original bible, and the whole Lion swap thing happened, these elemental connections were de-emphasized in the show.

Here they are in the game.  And I'm not gonna lie-- seeing these kinda reassured me in my purchasing decision.

The elemental stuff seems like it's back on with Cubes, and it's such a weird thing to wrap my brain around.  Because it's Voltron canon...and it's kind of not Voltron canon?  Quantum canon? Idk. Seems appropriate for a sci-fi space robot show.

Anyway, reason I say this because all the Cubes themselves are all elemental.  There are 8 different types.  Five correspond to the Paladins, and then there is Allura, Coran, and (I think?) Haggar who are unavailable/locked characters, who round out the 8.  Based on the types of Olkarion cubes there are, I can only presume they ALSO have (had?) corresponding elements associated with them, which is kinda interesting...

This leads me to my one well, not really a gripe, but a feature that I'm curious as to how they will expand on it.  This is early access, after all.  As with many games, you are provided with an "Oh Shit" button that can turn the tide of a match if/when timed well.  While you're playing a match, there's a power bar that fills up as you play, which you can then spend so that construction and ammo charges recharge much faster for a brief time.  Based on the tutorial text, my impression was that your power-up would correspond to the character you select, but as of now it doesn't appear to be the case.  Coran (your tutor, natch) however, suggests stuff about how the Paladins deepening their connections with their Lions might unlock more?  I kinda hope that depending on which Paladin you play, that the power boost will ultimately correspond to the character's particular cube element in some way, since it would make for more interesting choices/gameplay than there are now.

Anyway, that about wraps up my initial impressions!   I'm definitely going to practice at it more, and as a bitter salty BP Shiro fan, I'm happy to say Cubes (so far) does not offend.  Or at least, this game doesn't seem to want to put anymore salt in the wound.  Granted, I have no idea what possible extra skins/outfits they might add, so I can't say whether we'll get a Kuron or Captain/Garrison duds for instance.  But again, with the element stuff, idk?  Either way, BP Shiro is there in all his glory, even if it pains me to beat his ass whenever the AI randomizer picks him.  Oops.  Um, it’s just a game?

#vld #cubes of olkarion #early access #shiro #first impressions #I hope I made some sense here #and that this was helpful #as a game it's a solid concept #good brain exercise

[rockethorse]

I know EA is nickle-and-diming the Sims community over EVERYTHING these days but one thing that stuck out to me recently as particularly egregious is the concept of the Seasons EP.

When Seasons was released as an EP for Sims 2, it really was revolutionary. The developers had tried to include basic weather functions (e.g. rain, lightning) as part of the game in the base pack, but couldn’t hammer out all the tweaks in time; so they expanded on it with more content, more weather types, temperature effects, Plantsims, NPCs (as annoying as the garden club can be), fishing, and of course, gardening/juicing/fish recipes, then released all of that as a separate expansion pack. It was IMO worth the money and remains one of the “must-have” EPs for TS2.

However.

I think, at this point in the Sims-game development lineup, EA is simply taking advantage of players’ expectations that weather and temperature effects etc. will always be an expansion and will always cost as much as an EP, because I believe weather effects should just be a core aspect of all Sims games moving forward and, if not included in base game, should be patched in later for free, like ocean swimming (TS3) or toddlers (TS4). I do not think simply “add weather to your game!” should be considered enough of a draw to warrant shelling out for an entire EP.

Gardening and fishing were both things that were introduced into TS2 in the Seasons expansion pack that have become part of the expected Sims base-game package. Both systems have been greatly built upon and improved from TS2 (and TS1 in the case of gardening) - there is no “get to dirt!” or “get to rod!” expansion pack that expects you to pay money for the privilege of harvestables or fishing. But I find it particularly frustrating that a life simulation game, which, even if they have been over-focusing on the “wacky” aspects of the game lately, is still at core about being able to replicate the real world, would put something as integral to that experience as WEATHER behind a paywall.

I'm not saying that just because something was introduced in a previous expansion pack means that it should be included in the next generation’s base game or else the devs are being lazy; that’s absurd. Every core game has to be programmed from the ground-up, even if you’re able to recycle some old assets, so it’s not like they can use TS2 weather in TS3 at all. Like, we’ve had pets since TS1, but I don’t expect pets to ever be included in a Sims basegame, because creating the pet system would be just as hard as creating the Sim system. What I’m saying is I don’t think weather effects are one of those aspects that’s too difficult to implement in base game, especially compared to when TS2 Seasons was released. It was already kind of strange that TS3 didn’t introduce weather in basegame given they’d tried so hard to ship weather with TS2. But I imagine the seamless world system made it a lot harder. When the much more streamlined TS4 was announced without any weather, it started to feel more deliberate. EA is taking advantage of the fact that it really WAS revolutionary to introduce it in TS2 and warranted it being its own expansion pack to continue to gatekeep weather effects into its own EP in future gens, even when that becomes easier and easier to implement into basegame. Basically, they’re taking advantage of people’s nostalgia for the TS2 Seasons EP and the good reputation it has/had to allow its fanbase to keep believing that Seasons EPs are SO difficult to produce that they HAVE to be an EP and are therefore worth that sweet sweet EP cash.

The other reason it works is that weather feels good to play with. It really does add another layer of interest, fun, and whimsical realism/immersion to the game. So a lot of Sims players are happy to shell out the money for a Seasons EP and get excited when one is announced because it FEELS like you’re getting a lot, because weather/seasons change the whole feel of the game. It can feel like you’re playing something totally new! But that’s a great deal for EA, because you FEEL like you’re getting a lot when you’re really not getting very much at all in terms of work/budget from them. It’s a little thing that makes a huge difference in the way a game feels, and EA successfully tricks its audience into thinking that impact on gameplay directly correlates with effort/time and therefore worth. Like, swimming, cooking, etc. are also difficult systems to implement but they are also integral to the Sims experience, and IMO, weather is the same way. (Because it’s a life simulator, but weather is DLC??)

That’s not to say that implementing weather in any Sims game is easy. Any new addition to the game takes a lot of collaborative work. I know that weather effects also require a lot of hard work to get finished by the time a base game ships, and I’m honestly not sure the way EA manages Sims game releases could support that any more - Seasons being an EP is probably just as much an excuse to rush the release of a half-finished base game as it is a way to sap more money from its players. But I also feel that the work would, in the long term, be much shorter if new Sims base games were constructed from the ground-up taking weather into consideration. Weather shouldn’t be excluded until you have to retrofit it into the existsing game core system, it should be incorporated into gameplay from the start. But again, that might delay production, so EA would never let that happen lmao. Spend more time/money on making a better game that will have greater playability/longevity and bring in more money over the long term? Why would they ever do that when they can just rush a half-finished game and make those big bucks in the short term? Lmao.

Also, “but I hate weather and I don’t want it in my game -” ideally TS5 or whatever would give you options to play without some or any weather effects. Then you can choose to play as if you didn’t have seasons at all without everyone else having to shell out EP-price for something as fundamental to the Sims game experience as gardening or fishing (or toddlers).

I don’t know what the point of writing this post was. I’m not trying to be negative about the newer Sims games or anything, and of course not the people who enjoy playing them. And I’m sure that the Seasons EPs ARE good and feel fun to play. I’m just questioning the motives behind why these mechanics are STILL, even two game gens after they were initially introduced, considered “EP-only” content and have not been incorporated into our expectations of base-game content, and the only answer I can come up with is “saving and/or gouging money”. I just feel like they know a significant portion of their playerbase aren’t familiar with other game titles and how DLC/paid content is released for them, so they don’t know that they should expect/demand better and basically just buy whatever EA sells them. Ka-ching for EA.

I guess I’m just old man angry at cloud because I miss the Maxis days, where EPs were “here’s everything we were psyched to try and get you before but didn’t have the time/budget/literal CD-ROM space to give it to you, so we really crammed it with as much content as we could manage to finish in time so that you really get the most for your money”, and not “here’s the bare minimum amount of content that we felt we could charge you full EP price for without inciting a riot”. But what else is new?

Basically EA is just cashing in on the idea that people will pay for an expansion pack now because it has been an expansion pack in the past, whether or not the content in that expansion pack still requires the same amount of effort/work/budget that originally required it to be an EP in the first place.

#this is just ridiculously long don't even read it #I forgot half of what I said even #I've just been watching a lot of Sims youtubers lately and they're all mostly focused on TS4 #and it's interesting hearing them talk about TS3 as 'their' Sims game #like the one they grew up with and moved on from #because for me that would be TS1 and then I guess TS2 but I still play TS2 #and hearing the way they talk about current EPs and just feeling kind of... bitter? on their behalf #because they're so impressed by the content that they get in EPs and I'm like. but this is barely even a quarter #of the new content you're SUPPOSED to get #but you don't KNOW that because you've just grown up with this expectation #and that's what EA is counting on lol