I'll never hate you, Satch. Your brutal honesty is truly appreciated. Thanks for all your hard work. Edit: just wanted to add that in my game the Horse Ranch world does have snow... lots and lots of snow.
I love growing together. But i also absolutely agree with your comments. Being honest all the packs can be described as poorly executed or not going far enough
I just started playing TS4 this weekend, after firmly sticking to TS3 for the longest time 😂 and I got parenthood bc it’s a little cheaper than growing together - but I’m honestly still so mad that these 2 packs weren’t just one if that makes sense? I watch Plumbella and English Simmer a lot as well as Sach so even when I hadn’t played 4 yet I had a decent idea of which packs I’d want, and these 2 just compliment each other so well but they want you to pay SOOOOO much to have the features and gameplay from both packs 😤 Sims 3 generations was the real queen lol
@@SideCharacter12303 absolutely agree with your comments. Alot of the packs should have been released as one, EA were just thinking of their pockets. I love Plumbella too she reminds me of my auntie lol
@@mumplaysthesims8396 honestly Plumbella sharing her special interests and being her authentic self on YT and finding success doing it makes me so happy. She’s so unapologetically autistic and when I say that I’m saying it with the utmost love bc I’m also autistic 😂🩷
I'm in love with City Living!! Mind you, I don't have many packs, other than kits. The flea market is my favorite, plus the other events are very engaging. I also like the challenges of each apartment.
In the horse ranch world does snow. I'm playing a challenge there and it gets wild. It's also extremely windy and stormy. I think Not all the worlds should snow. If they create a Sims 4 world having Buenos Aires city, It shouldn't snow, as it doesn't here. Gets cold, but not snowy. If it snows it's like a whole weird event. For me that's OK.
“The gardening overhaul that came with Seasons doesn’t work very well because gardening is broken in the Sims 4…” I’ve got news for you - it’s not broken in Sims 4, it’s broken in Seasons. Same way MWS breaks weddings. Take Seasons out and while gardening is not perfect - this is Sims 4 after all - it’s completely functional. It’s Seasons that breaks it. 😂
unfortunately idk if that's true because i don't have seasons and gardening is broken for me💔 i think the update they did before seasons was released is what broke it
Satch said "I don't like/care that much anymore" so many times, but isn't it normal though? To get tired of things that you've seen a hundred of times?
Possible could be referring to the thing called “replay value”. Compare Open to Business running a store/venue Get To Work retail system. Try to get the idea why one is played many times when its dynamic that you wont get sick from repeating.
Satch always puts what I'm feeling into words. I will lose interest and not understand fully until I watch a video and go, oh yea that makes sense. You have to put in so much work to make it interesting
Need it: (get to work + mods), cottage living, for rent (very broken, hates gameplay, but multiple households per lot is worth it), Like it: get to work, city living, Ok: Get together, seasons, (get famous + mods), discover uni, Bad: cats & dogs, get famous, eco lifestyle, Horrendous: island living; snowy escape, highschool years, growing together (he doesn't regret getting it, just basic), horse ranch,
Cats and Dogs is TERRIBLE. Not being "Pets" is already irritating, I would love smaller pets too, but they dont even have dog houses? Wtf is that about?? The build/buy mode nautical theme is fine, but everything else is terrible. And I hate how we cant even see the pets needs. Is that just me? I cant see their needs or how old they are or personality and skills. Sims 2 Pets was lacking too (in sims1 you could have iguanas, turtles, different kinds of birds), but they had so much more depth and they even had memories and could have jobs. And you could feed the fish and clean their tanks, now they are just decorations, as if fish are not living creatures. Fish deserve rights too
Pets in Sims 1 and 3 are handled better and their need bars can be seen. Most simmers thought it was realistic to make them autonomous without control, but I strongly disagree with their stances. It’s considered lazy and tragic.
@@The0320Angela You can see the needs bar of pets in Sims 2, you just can't control them. Sims 3 was the only sims game that let you control them. In Sims 2 you could train them up for careers. I find I never train pets in Sims 4 beyond stopping them from doing annoying things (like being aggressive to neighbors or eating human food) but I never use any of the pet training "stuff" they loaded cats and dogs with, like why...for what. There's no pet competitions (except for horses in a tottally seperate pack) and no pet jobs. Like if I breed dogs or cats in Sims 4, it's not just that there needs are invisible . There family trees are also literally in existence just like there needs bars (cause they are sims) but force hidden by the UI. Like. Why???
get to work is my favorite. i love the detective career sm! and i love the aliens. i do wish they'd do a refresh though! sometimes the careers are buggy and i wish the aliens were expanded similarly to other occults.
Get to Work live careers need a refresh. The Doctor/Medical need it the most, then, the detective one. Cats & Dogs with a mod that allows them to appear everywhere is good to make the world more lively and realistic. Then, there is another mod that allows you to actually select and control them. MUST HAVE mods is you have the pack. Get together. If you complete the International Celebrity aspiration and get the Unforgettable trait, any book, application, game and music that you publish will continus paying for MUCH longer. Island Living : Pro : Gorgeous world, the volcanic activity lot challenge and nice build items. Con : EVERYTHING else. Discover University DEMANDS that you play on long life span if you intent on getting a degree. High School Years attending classes is actually a rabbit hole activity badly disguised as an active activity. Yes, it's on my permanent DO NOT BUY list. Growing Together tree house : 9 times out of 10 your Sims can't even use it.
I'm usually a Sims 4 apologist, but I agree with your critiques. The only pack I disagreed with was Eco Lifestyle. I'm surprised it's not in the bottom tier. While I love the gameplay (besides Maxis should have put a neighbourhood clean-up system akin to Island Living) and build/buy, NAPs were poorly implemented and broke the gameplay. Also, there is no way to turn off NAPs completely unless you prevent townies from voting, which ruins the point of NAPs.
I will defend Discover University till I die! I get that the university experience is challenging and there is a learning curve into how the grades system but once you get the hang of it it really is a fun pack! I love the challenge that university adds to gameplay, especially doing a 4 unit/subject coursework requires a lot of work! It actually feels like a GAME. Then you have all the university experiences on offer - the club events, the social parties and the e-sports and soccer games. Then there are the clubs and societies themselves which add another layer of gameplay, which if you join can add another layer of difficulty in juggling coursework and socialibility. It feels REAL, it takes me back to my own uni days, and the CAS is really good too. I would say if you want to add a layer of difficulty to your gameplay and actually want a challenge of trying to juggle work, studies and a social life, then in terms of gameplay I will put Discover University in the NEED tier. I will die on that hill!
I agree with most of these! I don't regret getting Snowy Escape because I LOVE the build items (as a Japanese person they're perfect and make the homes I build really feel like home). However, there's not a whole lot of activities you get, and the hiking feature is literally just walking, like Satch said. Get Famous was fun, but it got SO annoying being followed everywhere, having Sims stalk you at your house, etc... Discover University was also frustrating at times. My Sim got put on probation despite going to all lectures and doing all hw/assignments. I'm looking into getting Cottage Living and City Living OR For Rent next. Based on this video, I'm thinking Cottage Living first!
I partially agree with your list. I am not getting For Rent even if it was free because of the bugs. Growing Together seems like a waste of money, and I never play infants - I age up babies to toddlers. I want Cottage Living but don't want to give EA any more money.
I know this will never happen but I wish EA would let us exchange packs. I happily exchange several expansions for the newest stuff packs and a few kits. I love how honest you are since you’re helping save my money, I was considering buying the horse pack for the mini goats and wine making (to compliment cottage living), but since I don’t enjoy cats and dogs I’m going to skip it.
For rent doesn't deserve to be on the top category when it can still cause corrupted saves (according to simmers on the official forum). Growing together on the other hand deserves a better score. It does feel like a base game update but it adds a lot of small details (family reunion, relatives staying over, mid life crisis, milestones, social compatibility...) that form a nice addition if you put everything together. Locking changing tables behind a paywall seems odd. I hope they patch that into base game one day. Personally I also really like island living and snowy escape. I love visiting the different worlds but there is little to do. These two packs combined would have been a great vacation pack.
with clubs: I never WANT to go out and do things because when you leave and come home, time has passed so you've missed hours of doing stuff with the rest of the family. Like I can see why its helpful for like kids making friends. But as adults they're basically only good for raising your own sims' skills lol (and using the Cooking group to make your family free food to last a few weeks). Like parties as a whole barely work, and get togethers are basically just small parties, which also kinda sorta don't work.
My absolute favourite: Cottage Living. Packs that are important for MY gameplay and which I like: Seasons (essential, should be base game), City Living, Get together, Eco lifestyle, growing together (should be base game too) I don't care: Snowy escape, cats and dogs, Highschool Years (like the idea, don't like how it came out) Bad: Discover University Horrendous: Horse Ranch, For Rent, Island Living
I’m so happy you did a review like this!! I just got back into PC Sims gaming and I’m looking forward to buying the right packs and not jumping into the rabbit hole of buying everything. This helped a lot.
Personally City Living is one my favorite packs and the first I bought. For Rent may give you the ability to own an apartment building and rent out but it's buggy as hell. City Living I don't encounter any bugs and has fun festivals.
@@kpoppy9635 Even with For Rent existing and even if it worked perfectly, City Living has the only real downtown metropolitan big city in the game. You can't really have a penthouse with a penthouse view without city living since you are gonna be limited in For Rent even if it works. You can make a 4 story tall building, but it will never feel like the high rises in city living.
I think TS4 is just an aesthetic game, meant to look pretty, so it just does the basic "sims" things since they used their time and money on making things pretty. It lacks the soul the previous games had. People say TS3 is ugly bit its a 10000% times better than TS4 will ever be 😅
I really still feel get together is underrated BUT it is better with mc command mod because you can up the number of club members - I have it at 20 for 'youth party goers' when my sims go to a nightclub it looks like one. Also you can increase the number of clubs the sims can be in. Clubs are so helpful for so many things - getting family members together that live across households without the restraints of an 'event'. Also good for careers like yoga instructor. It's even cross pack compatible. Of course some of the packs have failures like no horse-riding together but that's a failure on horse ranch's behalf.
I appreciate the "unpopular" opinions because as a fan of the Sims since the first one, this honest pack information is invaluable as I'm looking to expand my base game. I honestly picked your video first because it was the shortest, but it also looked like it was going to be the most honest and I'm glad I clicked on it. Being a fan this long, (and more of a builder fan than player lol) we know that some packs are just not worth it (like Pets or University) and hearing your reviews makes it evident that they haven't worked very hard in making this more open world like they should've, simply rinse and repeating things from older Sims games (and sometimes not even matching the older product!). So thank you for taking the time to create this ranking system. Also you may have convinced me to look into Sims 4 mods lol...
19:55 YAY OMG!!!! I LOVE FOR RENT!! It makes other packs quiver in fear oml. Having multiple people in a house without needing them to be in the same family can happen! It's so awesome!
About Cats and Dogs - i noticed my animals will hurry to greet my sim when they return home, and prefer to sleep near my sim even if they have a bed available. While others, such as a pet with the aloof trait, do not.
Honestly I really don't like seasons, I got it because it was on offer and I thought I liked it and other UA-camrs all had seasons and I had some fun with the flower arrangements and holidays but after a while I find myself never putting in new holidays or using any of the CAS and b/b that came with the pack. As well as that the storms and blizzards lag my game so much it is unbearable and makes live mode hard to play.
in my opinion ,my only disagreement is high school years, it adds a better way of playing as a teen where you dont just go in a rabbit hole for school. plus, high school years has some of the best build/buy items. there is a mod to remove exams/prom every week aswel. this is not hate btw!!i love this channel 😭❤
At least with teens going to school in rabbit holes there are pop ups that are way more interesting than watching them doing nothing. Although I agree with build buy and cas items being beautiful
Personally I agree with Satch. I don't think I've ever seen anything as pathetic as the cheerleading meet up and I went to school one day and realised I'd never bother again. I liked the idea of it, the execution was just horrendous. The other issue as a UK player is how American the experience is. It would have been nice to have options to customise the school experience eg. school uniforms, class timetable, exam frequency. Custom afterschool clubs rather than just the US classics. Also not putting in private schools/homeschooling was just lazy.
I own 3 expansion packs so far (Get Together, Discover University, High School Years), but there aren't that many out of the others that tickle my fancy. Seasons for sure, maybe Get to Work, maybe City and Cottage Living, but outside of those there isn't a whole lot left on the expansion pack side of things that draw my interest. Maybe I'll start saving up for a few kits or wait for the large sales on game packs (as large as it'll get for game packs at least) than buy some of these expansion packs.
for me Snowy Escape and Island Living are just vacation worlds from previous Sims games and should stay as such. They shouldn't be made into separate expansion packs witch such little gameplay
I really want another family pack that is more focused on young families with toddlers and babies! Like maybe some more romantic interactions, maybe waterparks, and an update to birth! I want my sims husband to be there with them doing breathing exercises and comforting them as they give birth. I really want that heartwarming and romantic aspect of giving birth in the sims 4!!
I haven't played HSY because I heard that the game won't populate your HS with townies from your current neighborhood. It just sends random generated townies and the pre-gen ones you get from the trailer. That sounds totally immersion breaking and turned me off from getting the pack. I'm not downloading a mod just to choose my classmates. TS4 is terrible at getting little things like this right. It's just always something with each of these packs.
No it can send sims you made but it's at random. Sometimes it sends generated ones or townies. And it changes day to day (so a sim might show up one day but not the next.)
What’s frustrating about the sims team is that when they do have good ideas they can never excite it proplety if anything….the good ideas always have a catch. For rent would of been the best packet released had it worked and not glitch and create so many bugs. As for Cats and Dogs I’ve never used them once. The sims 4 really implemented pets so poorly. Truthfully the sims for is a life simulator lacking well life. There is hardly any gameplay and most packs have so little to offer that not only is it not worth buying but it’s not even worth playing.
i know people are critical of your opinions, but THANK YOU FOR BEING THIS HONEST. even if sometimes you’re a bit dramatic (sorry king) and i don’t agree with this tier list, this honesty is what the fandom needs.
The only reason I think seasons and growing together are a "need it" is because they should have been in the base game already. The base game is boring AF. I don't remember 1 and 2 being this boring at base game (never played 3). But no, seasons and growing together themselves are just too slim.
Dont get me wrong, I dont have nor do I intend to *ever get* Seasons, but Ive seen snow in most of those worlds on youtube. Notably San Sequoia and Horse world
I bought High School Years when it was half off, just so I could have my sims finish High School early (I do really like a lot of the build/buy stuff though). Then, if I have siblings all going to high school, I can have my heir of the legacy challenge graduate early and go to University from home. I send the heir to the high school with their siblings and have the heir work on university tasks at the high school. It's a lot more fun for me, but stupid because I had to buy two packs and play them not as intended for it to make sense.
idgaf about horses but horse ranch has phenomenal build buy and that’s the only thing redeeming it for me. i feel like there was serious lack of rustic shabby decor that’s not super cottagecore-y (cottage living) or completely broken down (werewolves), and i use the build buy for almost every build i make (i hate modern builds lol). honestly one of the best build buys out of all the eps for me.
I’ve found with For Rent if you switch between a tenant and landlord, the landlord does get paid but the features like tennants picketing for better conditions is terrible. No matter what I try it always says my landlord has ignored the protests.
I mean are there any expansions that are almost perfect. I mean every pack needs more. Get to Work, should implement more carrers and they should add the feature that you can work als Barkeeper and chasier. Get together should have more cool features more aktivitys. Cityliving should be combined with for rent. Nothing more to say. Maybe they should add the possibility to make public spaces in appartments. Cats and Dogs should be playable charakters and should come with horesranch. Seasons could add more seasonal aktivitys. University should have aktive university life. Island living should have hotels and a aktive liveguard carrear. Snowy esacape... this would be the latest point to add hotels. Eco livestyle, is just anoying careing about the environment. Highschool years, should have also a middle school, definitly just have prom and exams every half year and i think it could be nice if they would make social bunny more individual with own posts to write yes and thrifting could be animated better. Growing together should include parenthood. Horeseranc as i said should come with cats and dogs. As well as for rent should have come with cityliving. All in all they should have made bigger worlds instead of making 1000 super small worlds.
As much as For Rent intrigued me with all the features you mentioned I just refuse to reward EA for foolishness like I’m not gonna buy a clearly broken pack which guts me 😭😭
After watching the whole video, I can get the point that it's not about how bad these packs themselves are, it's about how bad they are AS EXPANSION PACKS. Sure they all got some nice things here and there, but when it comes to ranking them as expansion packs, those things can't save them, I think.🤔
Most of the mid or below packs have pretty good worlds and sometimes to me that alone is worth it. Then again this is coming from someone who doesn’t have strangerville cuz I don’t want to deal with possessed sims. Also get to work note, don’t do the detective career if you use a lot of cc the career breaks. I got it for the mod that allows you to go with kids and teens to school but it hasn’t been updated in a while and it basically broke my game 😢.
7:43 i came here for an honest opinion there is not hate to you but i respect your opinions but i want my wedding storys and i have a few packs you hate but i love so we aren’t gonna agree the same but i still love your videos
6:32 I think it's only logical for the Sims Team to not code winter season in Tomarang (for For Rent). Tomarang is based on Southeast Asia where there's no snow.
Honestly none of these packs are worth their asking prices that’s why I buy them off of instant gaming or cdkeys where I get them 60-65% off so I won’t feel too much regret 😅 I just got growing together and cottage living for $30 together and don’t feel too bad. Saved myself $10 even on sale as most packs end up going only 50% off most sales.
Releasing horse-based gameplay without even an animation for competitions is criminal. And from EA? For $40? I could pick up a *finished* game for little aspiring horse girls with hilarious dialogue, visible competitions, and a huge world (with cute outfits and character customization) for like $12. I want winemaking sold separately for $10 like Crystal Creations
I almost always at least partly disagree with your rankings and yet there is no hate. I can just tell where we have diverging play styles. I COMPLETELY disagree on City Living. You must never play with penthouses or big two level apartments, some of which rival starter homes on other maps in size and scale. You seem to operate under the idea the appeal of City Living is starter cheap apartments when it’s not. City Living is the only map of its type that has a true big city backdrop built in and the only one that gives you the ability to have a penthouse suite overlooking a big city…if that’s the vibe for your Sim. No apartment I can build on any other map is gonna have that same vibe. So even with For Rent’s tools, there’s still something special about living in San Myshuno vs an apartment anywhere else, EA made or otherwise. And if you really want to you can live in a house in San Myshuno and never move out of the big city. Is it perfect, no, but if all you have is base game suburbia…San Myshuno hits different. Could it be better, for sure. But are you gonna get better in Sims 4, not really. As for Seasons….Winter literally sucks in Sims 4. Snow is like pretty for a day and during Christmas but between blizzards and rain my gameplay experience has been WORSE with Seasons, not better. For High School and University I really could care less about ever going to class with my Sim, but it would have been nice to have after-school and club/group activities related to University/High School be live/active. Its sad those weren’t implemented better. Like interactable football practice or even chess club would have been great. The rabbit holes are on the wrong things in both those packs.
im just getting back into the Sims and playing island living a LOT and there's almost nothing to do. the most annoying thing is how the world is honestly comparable to vampires/werewolves and yet the mermaids are literally nothing more than a sim with a fish tail, whereas vampires/werewolves/spellcasters have so much they can do. same goes for aliens tbh although get to work had enough content already to justify it.
I dont agree with you but mostly because I always play with mods so I dont know how vanilla game is 😂 I still enjoy hearing your opinion. Your vids are always entertaining.
You are absolutely 💯 right, I have stopped funding this game since the release of 4 rent. It's sas because I loved the previous sims especially 3. I might buy a pack or exp pack about occult but, for now I am done.
Im late to comment but do it anyways. Youre so fun and i actually enjoy that your list would contrast my list in some ways lol. But thats opinion! Youre so right with cats and dogs though - i dont understand how people actually really like the pack. The lack of animals and meaningful interactions with the pets were so disappointing for me. For Rent i would put into horrendous. So disappointing. The only cool thing is that you can build apartments, but its glitched. Because of loading screens in between visiting the apartments on your lot, to me , it doesnt feel like they are living on the same lot. I barely visit my neighbors. And because of the bad AI you also mentioned, I barely see them in the community space either. I have a lot with a pool, swing, bar, grill, toy box etc and a big family living next door and i never see them! Only the dad, hes mixing drinks every night lol.
Yes they are very very expensive. I got fired from my job and impulse bought all the packs I didn’t have including kits. The only stuff I don’t have are clothing kits, bust the dust, and journey to batuu 😀
Idk...I need holidays. I don't care that much about the weather but I need holidays and things to make it not seem like my sim is just living the same day over and over again.
@@kpoppy9635 Honestly I was happy with City Living Festivals breaking things up. The holidays were like "yay" on the first round. But now I find they sometimes inconveniently occur at the worse times. I still have fun with the City Living Festivals. Add in just scheduling events on the calendar, you can still have things to break things up without Seasons official "holidays". And the calendar is now basegame.
Isn't that just the general pattern of The Sims 4, "poorly implemented"? I love the ideas of a lot of the packs, but they are never as good as they COULD be. I wish we knew what happens behind closed doors, but most of us can come to a general conclusion as to why so many things are stripped down. Once again, Satch making me defend Island Living. 😅 It's one EP I'll give a pass for because it really does have so many hidden gems like off-the-grid living, perfect environment for rags to riches, microbiology career, fishing and gardening boosts, etc. Aside from doing mermaids dirty, Island Living is a pretty great pack, not to mention one of the most beautiful worlds in the game and I'm not even a beach girlie. 🌴
im sorry i don't really get it. for every single thing you say "it's not really gameplay, you just watch your sims do things" but.. itsn't it was it's supposed to be? in every game you tell your sims to cook and you just watch them cook. you tell them to paint and you watch them paint. you tell them to swim and watch them swim. that's it. did you expect some kind of RPG all of a sudden?
The world that doesn’t have snow as an option i usually assume it’s because they made it tropical. In real life I’m located in the Caribbeans and it doesn’t snow here. It only rains. I love the season because it helps me experience those different conditions
I'll never hate you, Satch. Your brutal honesty is truly appreciated. Thanks for all your hard work.
Edit: just wanted to add that in my game the Horse Ranch world does have snow... lots and lots of snow.
Realistically there wouldn’t be that much snow in the horse ranch world if it is indeed based in the western parts of the US
I love growing together. But i also absolutely agree with your comments. Being honest all the packs can be described as poorly executed or not going far enough
I just started playing TS4 this weekend, after firmly sticking to TS3 for the longest time 😂 and I got parenthood bc it’s a little cheaper than growing together - but I’m honestly still so mad that these 2 packs weren’t just one if that makes sense? I watch Plumbella and English Simmer a lot as well as Sach so even when I hadn’t played 4 yet I had a decent idea of which packs I’d want, and these 2 just compliment each other so well but they want you to pay SOOOOO much to have the features and gameplay from both packs 😤
Sims 3 generations was the real queen lol
As a family rotational player, I have such a love/hate relationship with Growing Together.
@@SideCharacter12303 absolutely agree with your comments. Alot of the packs should have been released as one, EA were just thinking of their pockets. I love Plumbella too she reminds me of my auntie lol
@@TheDawnofVanlife yes me too. Particularly as infants have been basically abandoned
@@mumplaysthesims8396 honestly Plumbella sharing her special interests and being her authentic self on YT and finding success doing it makes me so happy. She’s so unapologetically autistic and when I say that I’m saying it with the utmost love bc I’m also autistic 😂🩷
the fact that almost always the pack trailers feel more exciting/interesting than pack itself says it all
Yeah because they use cheats
12:40 shockingly for rent and college living work really well together. Way more fun to have them living off campus in a big multi unit building
13:25 yeah that sounds like Portland Oregon, the town that Evergreen Harbor (keep evergreen kooky!) is loosely based on
lmao i hated college living, its hella difficult to manage
discover university? 😭
Satch always making sure to remind us he is a top never bottom period😂
It would be fun to have more extreme weather like tornadoes and hurricanes in seasons.
yes! i never even thought of this
YES!!! I've always wanted this
I'm in love with City Living!! Mind you, I don't have many packs, other than kits. The flea market is my favorite, plus the other events are very engaging. I also like the challenges of each apartment.
City Living is awesome. Its a special kind of vibe and really has the only festivals in the game worth attending.
The City Living festivals single-handedly made me fall in love with the sims 4. My most painful relationship to date lol
I use city living all the time
In the horse ranch world does snow. I'm playing a challenge there and it gets wild. It's also extremely windy and stormy. I think Not all the worlds should snow. If they create a Sims 4 world having Buenos Aires city, It shouldn't snow, as it doesn't here. Gets cold, but not snowy. If it snows it's like a whole weird event. For me that's OK.
I think the horse ranch world is really pretty when it snows.
I was gonna say...lol
“The gardening overhaul that came with Seasons doesn’t work very well because gardening is broken in the Sims 4…” I’ve got news for you - it’s not broken in Sims 4, it’s broken in Seasons. Same way MWS breaks weddings. Take Seasons out and while gardening is not perfect - this is Sims 4 after all - it’s completely functional. It’s Seasons that breaks it. 😂
unfortunately idk if that's true because i don't have seasons and gardening is broken for me💔 i think the update they did before seasons was released is what broke it
@@greatfairyof Guess I’m just lucky then. My gardening is, and mostly always has been, just fine.
Satch said "I don't like/care that much anymore" so many times, but isn't it normal though? To get tired of things that you've seen a hundred of times?
Possible could be referring to the thing called “replay value”. Compare Open to Business running a store/venue Get To Work retail system. Try to get the idea why one is played many times when its dynamic that you wont get sick from repeating.
Satch always puts what I'm feeling into words. I will lose interest and not understand fully until I watch a video and go, oh yea that makes sense. You have to put in so much work to make it interesting
Need it: (get to work + mods), cottage living, for rent (very broken, hates gameplay, but multiple households per lot is worth it),
Like it: get to work, city living,
Ok: Get together, seasons, (get famous + mods), discover uni,
Bad: cats & dogs, get famous, eco lifestyle,
Horrendous: island living; snowy escape, highschool years, growing together (he doesn't regret getting it, just basic), horse ranch,
Love you!
Cats and Dogs is TERRIBLE. Not being "Pets" is already irritating, I would love smaller pets too, but they dont even have dog houses? Wtf is that about?? The build/buy mode nautical theme is fine, but everything else is terrible. And I hate how we cant even see the pets needs. Is that just me? I cant see their needs or how old they are or personality and skills. Sims 2 Pets was lacking too (in sims1 you could have iguanas, turtles, different kinds of birds), but they had so much more depth and they even had memories and could have jobs. And you could feed the fish and clean their tanks, now they are just decorations, as if fish are not living creatures. Fish deserve rights too
Pets in Sims 1 and 3 are handled better and their need bars can be seen. Most simmers thought it was realistic to make them autonomous without control, but I strongly disagree with their stances. It’s considered lazy and tragic.
@@The0320Angela You can see the needs bar of pets in Sims 2, you just can't control them. Sims 3 was the only sims game that let you control them. In Sims 2 you could train them up for careers. I find I never train pets in Sims 4 beyond stopping them from doing annoying things (like being aggressive to neighbors or eating human food) but I never use any of the pet training "stuff" they loaded cats and dogs with, like why...for what. There's no pet competitions (except for horses in a tottally seperate pack) and no pet jobs. Like if I breed dogs or cats in Sims 4, it's not just that there needs are invisible . There family trees are also literally in existence just like there needs bars (cause they are sims) but force hidden by the UI. Like. Why???
You can definitely be a famous artist, musician, guitarist in get famous. You’re just too focused on the negative
get to work is my favorite. i love the detective career sm! and i love the aliens. i do wish they'd do a refresh though! sometimes the careers are buggy and i wish the aliens were expanded similarly to other occults.
Get to Work live careers need a refresh. The Doctor/Medical need it the most, then, the detective one.
Cats & Dogs with a mod that allows them to appear everywhere is good to make the world more lively and realistic. Then, there is another mod that allows you to actually select and control them. MUST HAVE mods is you have the pack.
Get together. If you complete the International Celebrity aspiration and get the Unforgettable trait, any book, application, game and music that you publish will continus paying for MUCH longer.
Island Living : Pro : Gorgeous world, the volcanic activity lot challenge and nice build items. Con : EVERYTHING else.
Discover University DEMANDS that you play on long life span if you intent on getting a degree.
High School Years attending classes is actually a rabbit hole activity badly disguised as an active activity. Yes, it's on my permanent DO NOT BUY list.
Growing Together tree house : 9 times out of 10 your Sims can't even use it.
I'm usually a Sims 4 apologist, but I agree with your critiques. The only pack I disagreed with was Eco Lifestyle. I'm surprised it's not in the bottom tier. While I love the gameplay (besides Maxis should have put a neighbourhood clean-up system akin to Island Living) and build/buy, NAPs were poorly implemented and broke the gameplay. Also, there is no way to turn off NAPs completely unless you prevent townies from voting, which ruins the point of NAPs.
I will defend Discover University till I die! I get that the university experience is challenging and there is a learning curve into how the grades system but once you get the hang of it it really is a fun pack! I love the challenge that university adds to gameplay, especially doing a 4 unit/subject coursework requires a lot of work! It actually feels like a GAME. Then you have all the university experiences on offer - the club events, the social parties and the e-sports and soccer games. Then there are the clubs and societies themselves which add another layer of gameplay, which if you join can add another layer of difficulty in juggling coursework and socialibility. It feels REAL, it takes me back to my own uni days, and the CAS is really good too.
I would say if you want to add a layer of difficulty to your gameplay and actually want a challenge of trying to juggle work, studies and a social life, then in terms of gameplay I will put Discover University in the NEED tier. I will die on that hill!
I agree with most of these! I don't regret getting Snowy Escape because I LOVE the build items (as a Japanese person they're perfect and make the homes I build really feel like home). However, there's not a whole lot of activities you get, and the hiking feature is literally just walking, like Satch said.
Get Famous was fun, but it got SO annoying being followed everywhere, having Sims stalk you at your house, etc... Discover University was also frustrating at times. My Sim got put on probation despite going to all lectures and doing all hw/assignments.
I'm looking into getting Cottage Living and City Living OR For Rent next. Based on this video, I'm thinking Cottage Living first!
I partially agree with your list. I am not getting For Rent even if it was free because of the bugs. Growing Together seems like a waste of money, and I never play infants - I age up babies to toddlers. I want Cottage Living but don't want to give EA any more money.
right! as soon as i figure out how to 🏴☠️ it’s over
@@tirzxhi got all these packs for free lol its very easy on pc only takes a couple of minutes really
I know this will never happen but I wish EA would let us exchange packs. I happily exchange several expansions for the newest stuff packs and a few kits.
I love how honest you are since you’re helping save my money, I was considering buying the horse pack for the mini goats and wine making (to compliment cottage living), but since I don’t enjoy cats and dogs I’m going to skip it.
I’ve been waiting for someone to do one of these recently 😅
For rent doesn't deserve to be on the top category when it can still cause corrupted saves (according to simmers on the official forum). Growing together on the other hand deserves a better score. It does feel like a base game update but it adds a lot of small details (family reunion, relatives staying over, mid life crisis, milestones, social compatibility...) that form a nice addition if you put everything together. Locking changing tables behind a paywall seems odd. I hope they patch that into base game one day. Personally I also really like island living and snowy escape. I love visiting the different worlds but there is little to do. These two packs combined would have been a great vacation pack.
yeah, i’d rather have a safe save file than have the ability to put multiple sims from different families in the same house. it’s just not worth it.
Satch uploaded a video 57 seconds ago...I've never been this early
DAYUNMM
Same
with clubs: I never WANT to go out and do things because when you leave and come home, time has passed so you've missed hours of doing stuff with the rest of the family. Like I can see why its helpful for like kids making friends. But as adults they're basically only good for raising your own sims' skills lol (and using the Cooking group to make your family free food to last a few weeks).
Like parties as a whole barely work, and get togethers are basically just small parties, which also kinda sorta don't work.
I wish I had found your channel before I went on a spree buying Sims packs. I never even play it anymore. 😢 I'm grateful for your honesty.
I finally got cottage living. Absolutely love it
My absolute favourite: Cottage Living.
Packs that are important for MY gameplay and which I like: Seasons (essential, should be base game), City Living, Get together, Eco lifestyle, growing together (should be base game too)
I don't care: Snowy escape, cats and dogs, Highschool Years (like the idea, don't like how it came out)
Bad: Discover University
Horrendous: Horse Ranch, For Rent, Island Living
Why don't you like the university one
why Eco lifestyle ?
@@Floblacks because of the build mode and the community lots. I quite like them.
"A lot of the newer worlds are suspiciously hot."
Wow EA is making super realistic content for once!
I’m so happy you did a review like this!! I just got back into PC Sims gaming and I’m looking forward to buying the right packs and not jumping into the rabbit hole of buying everything. This helped a lot.
Personally City Living is one my favorite packs and the first I bought. For Rent may give you the ability to own an apartment building and rent out but it's buggy as hell. City Living I don't encounter any bugs and has fun festivals.
@@kpoppy9635 Even with For Rent existing and even if it worked perfectly, City Living has the only real downtown metropolitan big city in the game. You can't really have a penthouse with a penthouse view without city living since you are gonna be limited in For Rent even if it works. You can make a 4 story tall building, but it will never feel like the high rises in city living.
@@kpoppy9635i second this opinion, city living is a slay
I think TS4 is just an aesthetic game, meant to look pretty, so it just does the basic "sims" things since they used their time and money on making things pretty. It lacks the soul the previous games had. People say TS3 is ugly bit its a 10000% times better than TS4 will ever be 😅
+1000
nah i dont think any packs are
worth it until EA
fixes there app.
but we dont hate u totally agree
I really still feel get together is underrated BUT it is better with mc command mod because you can up the number of club members - I have it at 20 for 'youth party goers' when my sims go to a nightclub it looks like one. Also you can increase the number of clubs the sims can be in. Clubs are so helpful for so many things - getting family members together that live across households without the restraints of an 'event'. Also good for careers like yoga instructor. It's even cross pack compatible. Of course some of the packs have failures like no horse-riding together but that's a failure on horse ranch's behalf.
Fun fact I only brought growing together for the changing table to later find out I could have just gotten a mod for a base game-changing table
I've been playing sims since the first grade, I'm nearing 30 now. This is probably the best ranking I've seen in a while. Thanks dude x
Well..... I'm glad Cottage Living is the only pack I bought... And I bought it on sale. There are still features in CL that are broken, though.
I appreciate the "unpopular" opinions because as a fan of the Sims since the first one, this honest pack information is invaluable as I'm looking to expand my base game. I honestly picked your video first because it was the shortest, but it also looked like it was going to be the most honest and I'm glad I clicked on it.
Being a fan this long, (and more of a builder fan than player lol) we know that some packs are just not worth it (like Pets or University) and hearing your reviews makes it evident that they haven't worked very hard in making this more open world like they should've, simply rinse and repeating things from older Sims games (and sometimes not even matching the older product!). So thank you for taking the time to create this ranking system. Also you may have convinced me to look into Sims 4 mods lol...
19:55 YAY OMG!!!! I LOVE FOR RENT!! It makes other packs quiver in fear oml. Having multiple people in a house without needing them to be in the same family can happen! It's so awesome!
About Cats and Dogs - i noticed my animals will hurry to greet my sim when they return home, and prefer to sleep near my sim even if they have a bed available. While others, such as a pet with the aloof trait, do not.
Honestly I really don't like seasons, I got it because it was on offer and I thought I liked it and other UA-camrs all had seasons and I had some fun with the flower arrangements and holidays but after a while I find myself never putting in new holidays or using any of the CAS and b/b that came with the pack. As well as that the storms and blizzards lag my game so much it is unbearable and makes live mode hard to play.
satch, as always, is spitting nothing but facts
in my opinion ,my only disagreement is high school years, it adds a better way of playing as a teen where you dont just go in a rabbit hole for school. plus, high school years has some of the best build/buy items. there is a mod to remove exams/prom every week aswel. this is not hate btw!!i love this channel 😭❤
At least with teens going to school in rabbit holes there are pop ups that are way more interesting than watching them doing nothing. Although I agree with build buy and cas items being beautiful
Personally I agree with Satch. I don't think I've ever seen anything as pathetic as the cheerleading meet up and I went to school one day and realised I'd never bother again. I liked the idea of it, the execution was just horrendous. The other issue as a UK player is how American the experience is. It would have been nice to have options to customise the school experience eg. school uniforms, class timetable, exam frequency. Custom afterschool clubs rather than just the US classics. Also not putting in private schools/homeschooling was just lazy.
I own 3 expansion packs so far (Get Together, Discover University, High School Years), but there aren't that many out of the others that tickle my fancy. Seasons for sure, maybe Get to Work, maybe City and Cottage Living, but outside of those there isn't a whole lot left on the expansion pack side of things that draw my interest. Maybe I'll start saving up for a few kits or wait for the large sales on game packs (as large as it'll get for game packs at least) than buy some of these expansion packs.
for me Snowy Escape and Island Living are just vacation worlds from previous Sims games and should stay as such. They shouldn't be made into separate expansion packs witch such little gameplay
I really want another family pack that is more focused on young families with toddlers and babies! Like maybe some more romantic interactions, maybe waterparks, and an update to birth! I want my sims husband to be there with them doing breathing exercises and comforting them as they give birth. I really want that heartwarming and romantic aspect of giving birth in the sims 4!!
I haven't played HSY because I heard that the game won't populate your HS with townies from your current neighborhood. It just sends random generated townies and the pre-gen ones you get from the trailer. That sounds totally immersion breaking and turned me off from getting the pack. I'm not downloading a mod just to choose my classmates. TS4 is terrible at getting little things like this right. It's just always something with each of these packs.
No it can send sims you made but it's at random. Sometimes it sends generated ones or townies. And it changes day to day (so a sim might show up one day but not the next.)
What’s frustrating about the sims team is that when they do have good ideas they can never excite it proplety if anything….the good ideas always have a catch. For rent would of been the best packet released had it worked and not glitch and create so many bugs.
As for Cats and Dogs I’ve never used them once. The sims 4 really implemented pets so poorly.
Truthfully the sims for is a life simulator lacking well life.
There is hardly any gameplay and most packs have so little to offer that not only is it not worth buying but it’s not even worth playing.
I am absolutely devastated because I bought Cats and Dogs for the vet career and it hasn’t worked for me for the past five months now 😔
i know people are critical of your opinions, but THANK YOU FOR BEING THIS HONEST. even if sometimes you’re a bit dramatic (sorry king) and i don’t agree with this tier list, this honesty is what the fandom needs.
The only reason I think seasons and growing together are a "need it" is because they should have been in the base game already. The base game is boring AF. I don't remember 1 and 2 being this boring at base game (never played 3). But no, seasons and growing together themselves are just too slim.
I use mods that allow you to control every sim (cats, dogs and horses included) whether or not they are in the active household.
I love your honesty❤😊 cos I do agree with almost every rating.
What mods do you reccomend for playing with Get to Work and Discover University?
In real life not all place have snow.... There are lots of places/countries in the world where it never snows...
i dont hate, i love you dear.❤
I genuinely love the honesty. You have saved my wallet.
Dont get me wrong, I dont have nor do I intend to *ever get* Seasons, but Ive seen snow in most of those worlds on youtube. Notably San Sequoia and Horse world
I bought High School Years when it was half off, just so I could have my sims finish High School early (I do really like a lot of the build/buy stuff though). Then, if I have siblings all going to high school, I can have my heir of the legacy challenge graduate early and go to University from home. I send the heir to the high school with their siblings and have the heir work on university tasks at the high school. It's a lot more fun for me, but stupid because I had to buy two packs and play them not as intended for it to make sense.
idgaf about horses but horse ranch has phenomenal build buy and that’s the only thing redeeming it for me. i feel like there was serious lack of rustic shabby decor that’s not super cottagecore-y (cottage living) or completely broken down (werewolves), and i use the build buy for almost every build i make (i hate modern builds lol). honestly one of the best build buys out of all the eps for me.
City Living is honestly my favourite pack!
I use these videos to fall asleep. I’m off 😴
lool
I love how honest you are😂
I’ve found with For Rent if you switch between a tenant and landlord, the landlord does get paid but the features like tennants picketing for better conditions is terrible. No matter what I try it always says my landlord has ignored the protests.
I mean are there any expansions that are almost perfect. I mean every pack needs more.
Get to Work, should implement more carrers and they should add the feature that you can work als Barkeeper and chasier.
Get together should have more cool features more aktivitys.
Cityliving should be combined with for rent. Nothing more to say. Maybe they should add the possibility to make public spaces in appartments.
Cats and Dogs should be playable charakters and should come with horesranch.
Seasons could add more seasonal aktivitys.
University should have aktive university life.
Island living should have hotels and a aktive liveguard carrear.
Snowy esacape... this would be the latest point to add hotels.
Eco livestyle, is just anoying careing about the environment.
Highschool years, should have also a middle school, definitly just have prom and exams every half year and i think it could be nice if they would make social bunny more individual with own posts to write yes and thrifting could be animated better.
Growing together should include parenthood.
Horeseranc as i said should come with cats and dogs.
As well as for rent should have come with cityliving.
All in all they should have made bigger worlds instead of making 1000 super small worlds.
i think get famous is some of the most fun ive had on sims 4
As much as For Rent intrigued me with all the features you mentioned I just refuse to reward EA for foolishness like I’m not gonna buy a clearly broken pack which guts me 😭😭
After watching the whole video, I can get the point that it's not about how bad these packs themselves are, it's about how bad they are AS EXPANSION PACKS.
Sure they all got some nice things here and there, but when it comes to ranking them as expansion packs, those things can't save them, I think.🤔
Most of the mid or below packs have pretty good worlds and sometimes to me that alone is worth it. Then again this is coming from someone who doesn’t have strangerville cuz I don’t want to deal with possessed sims.
Also get to work note, don’t do the detective career if you use a lot of cc the career breaks. I got it for the mod that allows you to go with kids and teens to school but it hasn’t been updated in a while and it basically broke my game 😢.
I don't have strangerville either. I heard it's mission is something that you can only really enjoy once and then you never play it again lol
7:43 i came here for an honest opinion there is not hate to you but i respect your opinions but i want my wedding storys and i have a few packs you hate but i love so we aren’t gonna agree the same but i still love your videos
Hey Satch, I thought I would let you know that there is snow during the winter in Chestnut Ridge (Horse Ranch Expansion).
all the sims 4 packs didnt go far enought they all feel empty.
6:32 I think it's only logical for the Sims Team to not code winter season in Tomarang (for For Rent). Tomarang is based on Southeast Asia where there's no snow.
Satch I love you but you already ranked all packs a few months ago 😂
I’m pretty sure that it snows in San sequoia in my game unless I’m just losing it but I think it does
Honestly none of these packs are worth their asking prices that’s why I buy them off of instant gaming or cdkeys where I get them 60-65% off so I won’t feel too much regret 😅 I just got growing together and cottage living for $30 together and don’t feel too bad. Saved myself $10 even on sale as most packs end up going only 50% off most sales.
I actually GASPED when you dumped on 'Growing Together'. I use it everyday for my game.
Releasing horse-based gameplay without even an animation for competitions is criminal. And from EA? For $40? I could pick up a *finished* game for little aspiring horse girls with hilarious dialogue, visible competitions, and a huge world (with cute outfits and character customization) for like $12. I want winemaking sold separately for $10 like Crystal Creations
I almost always at least partly disagree with your rankings and yet there is no hate. I can just tell where we have diverging play styles. I COMPLETELY disagree on City Living. You must never play with penthouses or big two level apartments, some of which rival starter homes on other maps in size and scale. You seem to operate under the idea the appeal of City Living is starter cheap apartments when it’s not. City Living is the only map of its type that has a true big city backdrop built in and the only one that gives you the ability to have a penthouse suite overlooking a big city…if that’s the vibe for your Sim. No apartment I can build on any other map is gonna have that same vibe. So even with For Rent’s tools, there’s still something special about living in San Myshuno vs an apartment anywhere else, EA made or otherwise. And if you really want to you can live in a house in San Myshuno and never move out of the big city. Is it perfect, no, but if all you have is base game suburbia…San Myshuno hits different. Could it be better, for sure. But are you gonna get better in Sims 4, not really.
As for Seasons….Winter literally sucks in Sims 4. Snow is like pretty for a day and during Christmas but between blizzards and rain my gameplay experience has been WORSE with Seasons, not better.
For High School and University I really could care less about ever going to class with my Sim, but it would have been nice to have after-school and club/group activities related to University/High School be live/active. Its sad those weren’t implemented better. Like interactable football practice or even chess club would have been great. The rabbit holes are on the wrong things in both those packs.
Honestly, I only have some packs because they're a requirement for some of my favorite mods.
im just getting back into the Sims and playing island living a LOT and there's almost nothing to do. the most annoying thing is how the world is honestly comparable to vampires/werewolves and yet the mermaids are literally nothing more than a sim with a fish tail, whereas vampires/werewolves/spellcasters have so much they can do. same goes for aliens tbh although get to work had enough content already to justify it.
I dont agree with you but mostly because I always play with mods so I dont know how vanilla game is 😂 I still enjoy hearing your opinion. Your vids are always entertaining.
In Tartosa there is no seasons at all! It’s inspired by Italy and Italy has seasons and some snow too!
Maybe it's the southern end of Italy?
Which is where i am from, we still have seasons, not snow, but the trees would still change colour etc
@@southernsun9890 yes I understand. But the Sims really has gone down hill with Sims 4. Low expectations.
You are absolutely 💯 right, I have stopped funding this game since the release of 4 rent. It's sas because I loved the previous sims especially 3. I might buy a pack or exp pack about occult but, for now I am done.
@@southernsun9890 Fully agree. I have actually returned to Sims 3 after not playing it since 2015.
Im late to comment but do it anyways. Youre so fun and i actually enjoy that your list would contrast my list in some ways lol. But thats opinion! Youre so right with cats and dogs though - i dont understand how people actually really like the pack. The lack of animals and meaningful interactions with the pets were so disappointing for me. For Rent i would put into horrendous. So disappointing. The only cool thing is that you can build apartments, but its glitched. Because of loading screens in between visiting the apartments on your lot, to me , it doesnt feel like they are living on the same lot. I barely visit my neighbors. And because of the bad AI you also mentioned, I barely see them in the community space either. I have a lot with a pool, swing, bar, grill, toy box etc and a big family living next door and i never see them! Only the dad, hes mixing drinks every night lol.
I disagree with most of what you said however I totally agree with horse ranch, why did they even make that pack???
Yes they are very very expensive. I got fired from my job and impulse bought all the packs I didn’t have including kits. The only stuff I don’t have are clothing kits, bust the dust, and journey to batuu 😀
You don't need seasons honestly, never brought it and don't plan to
Good choice, I waivered and purchased it and I regret it. Game was better without seasons.
I'm so here for all the Seasons dislike.
Idk...I need holidays.
I don't care that much about the weather but I need holidays and things to make it not seem like my sim is just living the same day over and over again.
@@kpoppy9635 Honestly I was happy with City Living Festivals breaking things up. The holidays were like "yay" on the first round. But now I find they sometimes inconveniently occur at the worse times. I still have fun with the City Living Festivals. Add in just scheduling events on the calendar, you can still have things to break things up without Seasons official "holidays". And the calendar is now basegame.
@@kpoppy9635right. I hated that it feels like my sims are living the same day over and over again. I'm happy with seasons
they wont make me hate you cause i agree most of your opinions!!!!
Isn't that just the general pattern of The Sims 4, "poorly implemented"? I love the ideas of a lot of the packs, but they are never as good as they COULD be. I wish we knew what happens behind closed doors, but most of us can come to a general conclusion as to why so many things are stripped down.
Once again, Satch making me defend Island Living. 😅 It's one EP I'll give a pass for because it really does have so many hidden gems like off-the-grid living, perfect environment for rags to riches, microbiology career, fishing and gardening boosts, etc. Aside from doing mermaids dirty, Island Living is a pretty great pack, not to mention one of the most beautiful worlds in the game and I'm not even a beach girlie. 🌴
I sometimes forgot Satch isn't a bottom and need to remind myself of it constantly.
Can you share the mods you use for discover university?
Thank you for considering us console players 😄🙏
Once they’re 10 years old, EA should integrate packs into the base game. That way they can use the features to develop new, more interesting gameplay.
im sorry i don't really get it. for every single thing you say "it's not really gameplay, you just watch your sims do things" but.. itsn't it was it's supposed to be? in every game you tell your sims to cook and you just watch them cook. you tell them to paint and you watch them paint. you tell them to swim and watch them swim. that's it. did you expect some kind of RPG all of a sudden?
Honestly thinking of uninstalling Get Famous, tbh. Judith Ward showing up to my homeless Sim's yardsale literally every day is just UGH.
I feel like I'm thinking in your accent because I've been binging your videos since being sick.
Ever since cottage living, the packs have become very buggy but it's alright cause I still love the game
The world that doesn’t have snow as an option i usually assume it’s because they made it tropical. In real life I’m located in the Caribbeans and it doesn’t snow here. It only rains. I love the season because it helps me experience those different conditions
Can you please make a video with mods that makes the University gameplay more fun?
what mods would you recommend to help get famous work?
One weird quirk of Get Famous that annoys me is that children have a hard time meeting older relatives, such as grandparents, who are famous.
Chestnut ridge does snow though