Something Important Is Missing in The Sims 4 Island Living Expansion (Gameplay Review)
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- An Honest Gameplay-focused Review of The Sims 4 Island Living presented by EA Game Changers. Covers the major features and activities it adds to the game, including mermaids, the island, and conservationist. I feel that the Expansion needed more time to see its potential, due to a few of its main features being weak or not very deep.
Time Stamps:
0:33 - Sulani
1:41 - Build/Buy Mode Objects
1:55 - Community Activities
3:14 - Create-a-Sim
4:12 - Beach Combing
4:40 - Snorkeling and Scuba Diving
5:34 - The Cave
6:11 - Dolphins
6:43 - Tanning and Sunburns
7:19 - New Transportation
7:49 - Open Water Swimming
8:18 - Odd Jobs
8:37 - Conservation and Sulani's Ecosystem
12:01 - Mermaids
14:22 - My Opinion
My Island Living Guides: www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/ex...
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#Sims4 #review #TheSims4IslandLiving
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Check out my Ultimate Gameplay Tips for The Sims 4: • Things You Probably Do...
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This is a problem with sims 4 i have always been complaining: the graphics and the worlds are beautiful, the objects are awesome, but there ARE NO INTERATIONS at all. And when there is, they just changed the name of the action, but the animations are always the same, with no points at all. Argh.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
THIS. Unflirty sims in the city living expansion pack look the same as flirty sims, which doesnt feel like theyre unflirty at all.
That was my biggest complaint about the game pack with hiking- soooo much space where you couldn't interact with anything. You'd go there and watch your Sim stand still since there wasn't much to do. Not to mention that though I saw some sims automatically "go on a hike" it wasn't an option if you were actually in the woods
@@merchantfan they are not making any efforts to create new animations and story telling. The updates are all about fixing things and puting their hands on what doesn't need any changes (like the design of the plumbob). I dont hate sims 4. I play it. But it is ecxatly like that: a sim stading in the middle of nowhere with no live world at all, doing nothing. Sulani is a beautiful world where you can... look for shells in the sands. If you think for a second, thats pretty much all you an do. All the other activities dont have a point at all as well. You can use a boat to fish and what else? Go around sulani like a dizzy cockroach to do nothing. It is weird how sims team has constructed this game with such lack of LIFE SIMULATION when the sims 4 is all about simulation. Couldnt they create a sport? Surfing? Real activities with DEPTH? the kava festival is other party with nothing at all... just sad. They get to create this beautiful world and dont explore it.
This is why I'm excited about the new indie simulation game, Paralives. It looks promising. Hopefully, this shakes EA up a bit.
I would have loved if they had created an underwater hidden world you could only find as either a High-Level Mermaid ( and yes that means a tier system for mermaids) or with a high enough culture rating ( yes that means a skill for Sulani culture) combined with a High relationship with a dolphin who can take you under to the hidden world. And one of those caves should lead to a shrine to these island elders (for extra spice you can't make it past the text adventure if you have a neutral or good relationship with the spirits - bad relationship could lead to physical harm for trying to enter their shrine). They honestly could have reskinned the oasis spring cave for this. Also, agree with the multiple people I have seen say that lifeguard could and should have been an active job and odd jobs absolutely could have exploited the work from home concept they have developed in 2 different models previously.
You just brainstormed these yourself, they're totally viable as gameplay mechanics. So, I really feel time is why we didn't get something better. All your ideas are fabulous and I'd take them in a heartbeat. These are improvements to existing systems even if a couple are obvious. Most importantly they work together well.
Those are such cool ideas. I swear, fans of the game actually come up with better ideas for the game than the devs do.
Too much effort. Maxis/EA prefer to rip their customers off by giving them too little content for too much money. And Sims fans love it.
@@Oozaru85 Sims fans don't have much of a choice. It's half-baked stuff like this or nothing, which is why The Sims REALLY needs a competitor.
@@Oozaru85 Any business is out to make money, it's up to us, the customers, to let them know with our pocket how we feel. Also, I think EA is more to blame than Maxis, considering how EA has pushed other studios (Bioware comes to mind) to screw up big time their franchises.
Although playing vampires isn't my thing, I think the skill tree and flaw system was well done. Why wouldn't they use a similar system for the mermaids?
Because the pack wasn't completely focused on mermaids.
@@heejinified3656 What did they focus on then? A beautiful world and ocean swimming is not enough for an expansion so they could have given us a skill tree for mermaids.
@@heejinified3656 Mermaids were hyped up, and so many people love them. Why not give them a similar system as vampires? They're occult sims too. It would've made the gameplay with them more fun.
the game pack was focused on the islands.. but there's nothing to do besides collecting trash, beach, and dance around the fire...
wait....
and it would've been easy enough to recycle the code like they did with business ownership
16:52
"Gameplay expansions should give you more to do and extend a game's life. This release - that took several months to develop - bought us days."
Fantastically apt summary of all the problems with Sims 4. The game is not sustainable if we're achieving a net loss on time spent developing for it vs. time spent playing it. Games like Team Fortress 2 for example took 9 years to develop but have given gamers a payoff of 12 years+ since the game is still going. Sims 4 on the other hand a pack that likely took the team over a year to develop can't even entertain the fans for a week. The math behind development itself is simply not adding up, and it's incredible this hasn't sent the Sims team into a panic yet. This is absolutely a cause for alarm.
Longknife Why would they panic? People are still buying the packs, desperately trying to add something to their game (and I cannot blame them).
I would also recommend getting it on sale to those who haven’t bought it yet, that’s what I did for almost all the packs I own (including base game) and that’s the only way it is worth the money imo.
Seeing how many things they recycled I'd be surprised if this pack took over 2 months to make
@@romarine5967 And that's exactly why EA sees absolutely nothing wrong with what they're doing: People wanna complain about the lack of content but then in the same breath claim they want to buy the next expansion to fill in the lack of content....... It's completely illogical thinking; even if you're buying it on sale, you're still lining EA's pockets and subliminally telling them their product is good enough to purchase.
The Sims needs competition.
They need competition of another sims like game and then they will have to step it up
I always feel like with EA and Sims 4 expansion, we’re paying full price for content that is practically designed to be rented.
Or pirated.
I feel the Sims team is basing their games on how pretty the trailer can be, this pack's trailer had animations that weren't even in game (the mermaid reveal) so it's clear they know they're missing something but they don't care, they want to make things pretty
Max Rodríguez eveyryone still buys it and seems to be ok with being ripped off
@@moviefan005 I don't agree with pirating, but in this case yes!...this is much too expensive for an add on.
@@Zakori Well 'I'm' not ok with it...I will NEVER buy another Sims expansion or add on.
Also, I'm upset about the reuse of animations all of the time. Specifically, the toddler ocean animation being the same as in the bathtub. They're not even trying anymore.
I didn't notice that! OH C'MON EA! Seriously! The ocean and the bathtub are really different (duh) and that's just dumb!
I just don't understand how everything seems 3 steps down from what was given in Sims 3.
Michael Bent I miss Sims 3 so much. I had a bunch of expansions and I can’t repair them on origin. I like the fact that I can edit the sim more in 4 but I miss everything else from sims 3 ugh
I still want the sims 3 with the sims 4 graphics. I do not need create a style, the color wheel would be nice though. I still play both games. I mainly build in 4 but I play and have fun in 3.
Michael Bent its comments like these that makes me feel like I’m somehow playing the sims wrong. I see no real difference besides the worlds were bigger. Other than that, the sims 3 offered me nothing that the sims 4 offers.
@@BabyGirlTiny Just compare this to the TS3 Island Paradise. New feature in TS3 island paradise: hotel management, explore able diving sites, house boats, swim in all oceans all worlds, various new careers, mermaids that felt like they had more depth, you can sun tan/burn just from being outside, a beautiful open world. In TS4 Island, you get mermaids, a new world. That's really it. Nothing but doing the same thing you already do but with a different backdrop. This wasn't an expansion because it didn't change or add game mechanics. It was a game or even sfufd pack but sold as expansion. Actually there are game packs that are more meaningful to game play, like Parenthood. Often in the community EA staff talk about how budget is limited... But look at similar packs in previous series and see they had many more features.
yeah, it's taken them 5 years to make us pay for things that came in the Sims 3 base game.
This is a game pack, not a full expansion pack.
Thanks for your honest review, Carl! I completely agree.
Thanks for taking the time to watch it and give me some feedback. I really do like the world, but I'd much rather like the gameplay regardless of the setting.
Another EA dig into your finances for a typical half game pack .... so not worth the price!!!
@@suzeleroy572 i want this but i dont
It isn't filled and i know if i would buy it only for the cas and world
It is an expansion pack, not a game pack. That’s what makes this so disappointing.
Watching this after I've had Island Life for awhile...I agree completely. I no longer buy the EPs when they come out, I wait until they go on sale. Not worth $40. $20 is doable! I do love the world, but I love worlds. One of my favorite things is exploring the worlds and then editing all the lots :)
Good old fashioned gameplay is the perfect way to put it. Take Sims 3 World Adventures for example... I cannot believe how much we got with that one expansion pack. THREE entire worlds with completely different build/buy thematic items as well as a wide variety of unique CAS assets to complement each world/culture. And all the new traits! We have to BEG for one or two new traits these days per pack. We also get these tiny worlds these days.... maybe.
People didn't like the tomb raiding/ dungeon crawler aspect with the quests but that was one small aspect of gameplay, which btw I thought was incredible. There were over 100 different quests, it was nuts. There were so many other things to do like go on vacation, learn new cultures, have penpals, Sim Fu, photographer, a ton of new collectibles to collect, random new stuff like the Vespa/fireworks/ fortune cookie maker, new recipes to learn and most importantly Nectar making. THE most fleshed out skill in all of the Sims game imo. Everything you did mattered- the quality of the fruits you use, the combination of fruits you choose, your sims' nectar making skill level, how long you stored the nectar and where you stored it. There were SO many different combinations it was so cool to see and a challenge to make expensive ones. I really enjoyed having my sim drink them and seeing all the really random moodlets that came up. I liked the UI for moodlets then vs now, now I don't care about moodlets at all because I don't really care for the emotions.
I also thought it was cool how everything would follow you back. If you spent time learning about a culture you could learn a new foreign song which your sims would then sometimes randomly sing back home. Or they would start getting postcards from penpals overseas. If they learned a recipe from a different country then they could now make the food back home (I miss recipes so much). It wasn't just doing random things to learn a culture to fulfill some aspiration that doesn't matter, it impacted your sims in a way that made them different from other sims that hadn't had that experience yet. Your sim now knows some inside joke from Egypt that no one else from back home knew, and they would remember gossip that they learned.
Beverly Lee I agree, word adventures and island paradise were 2 of my favourite packs in the sims 3 they both added so much unique gameplay and soo much stuff to do. I also really loved going to Egypt and going to the tombs and doing all that stuff
AND it was beautiful and big- and the open world made it so great to travel around. I still remember my one sim traveling by Vespa as the sun set behind the pyramids...
Omg yes!! I remember world adventures was my absolute favorite. You had to work very hard if you wanted to complete all the quests and have some higher skills. It actually had high stakes. Ahh now I want to download it again
@@marvel096 AND it was still something you could participate in- there were a few Sims 2 paranormal things I never got to do bc they took a million rare things.
I loved World Adventures hands down. The ONLY thing I had that was a criticism was the hostels instead of hotels. If we had hotels the we would not have the paparazzi taking photos of your sims if they had even one star of fame while they were sleeping, also people would not have been walking in and out of the rooms in China and France. For those who wanted to send their Sims more on a family vacation style of play hotels would have made better sense than the hostels. Egypts Base Camp at least made sense for the area. Besides hotels I would have added Camels and camel riding in the Egypt zone. I like adventuring BTW I did it in all three zones and played that through again on other Sims.
I really like the new CAS, Build/Buy items and Sulani (even though I play on low graphic settings). But the lack of gameplay annoys me, it's hard for me to find something to do for my sims. Even the conservationist career, which I enjoyed at first, became repetitive and, well, boring. Also, there is no new skill in this Expansion Pack - a thing worth noticing in my opinion. Every Expansion Pack adds at least one skill, except Island Living. I don't know, even diving skill with some unlockable interactions would be okay I think, better than nothing.
I play on Laptop mode 😂
@@Meow-ow6oh Me too.
Right, after conservationist you're right back to the same things you had to do before, just in a new place and it doesn't change things or add layers to it the way an expansion should (in my opinion).
Sims 4 is trying so hard to recreate the magic of the Sims Castaway Stories... And failing... Sims 3 Island Paradise, however laggy and glitchy, was really something new.
I don't even mind the glitches and lagging. I would rather have a fun lagging game than a boring fast game
@@josse13579 trust me you wont
You can play Island Paradise with a mid sized world created by Simmers with create a world or a world you create yourself. That gets around the lags and bugs
islo paradisoooo and underwater world was amazinngggg
Its missing something? Yeah, its missing fun. But, its the Sims 4, no one will notice, being un-fun is the theme of this version.
The shade of it all!
Yet with the new 'art' for the loading and theme screen. They said that they wanted new. Lol
preach. couldn't say it better
I'm glad you're being honest and not letting things slide, Carl.
Please keep doing that whatever happens. It's very important.
Thank you. It is a bit awkward being this involved with a game and criticizing it, but I think it's OK if you're constructive. Not every pack is going to be a hit with everyone. This one in particular got to me. I like exploring the game and enjoying my time with it, then sharing my findings. I realized I really don't have much to share this time.
@@CarlsSimGuides Your criticism comes from a place of love, of genuinely wanting to see the series do well and be better. That is valuable! Loving a series doesn't mean you'll always sing its praises.
At this point, are we really surprised that TS4 is going to be anything other than shallow in gameplay? It's pretty. That's it. Every expansion, every game pack, etc. feels empty when compared to what came before. It's not going to get any better until people show their disdain by not purchasing. As long as there are people who purchase their content and modders to take up their slack, this will keep happening until this game is done. And, if this works for EA (putting in less effort to make money so they can focus on making more money in other endeavors), then TS5 will be no different. After all, this company is in business to make money. Period. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves.
Thank you, well said
just because you don't like something doesn't mean nobody else is allowed to like it.... -_-
@@GothicKittyMadness No one said you can't like it, but to say it isn't a shallow game or that EA isn't a business whose sole purpose is to make money would just be kidding yourself. Like what you like, you should never feel ashamed for it, but don't expect others to have the same opinion as you, especially when (it seems) the vast majority of people see it for what it truly is.
@@GothicKittyMadness you're a child, you don't get it
@@selobee4831 you do understand that just makes you a hypocrite.....
My biggest disappointment with this pack was no freaking underwater world! I used to say Sims 4's game packs felt way more worth it because of the price point since expansions felt unfinished but since Seasons I started to think they were going back to full expansions but with this one they're going back, this doesn't feel worth 40
this isn't a expansion pack, its a game pack with the price of an EP. they couldve done so much with this pack like house boats, resorts or holiday homes, underwater worlds etc, i dont want rabbit hole caves or jobs, and although i like realistic gameplay mermaid should of been done in a similar way to vampires. this pack has an amazing world as well as the build/buy/cas items but there is very little gameplay and its disappointing.
I've said it before, this pack is so shallow IMO. Mermaids were a letdown, I was expecting the same kind of power/skill tree like we got with vampires but nope. I wish there was at least a pocket world for diving so we could actually explore underwater. Merpeople have no actual purpose since it doesn't matter how long they can or can't stay underwater. I'm sick of all the rabbit holes, even the cave you explore is a rabbit hole, unlike the pocket worlds we got in the base game. It's all just sad.
Do you know why? Because people ignored Vampires for toddlers. That's why no more skill trees, had you guys supported vampires more instead of fangirling over that lifestage, maybe we would get more with supernaturals.
@@alandunaway3000 you cant blame people for being more excited for a lifestage that we've had in the base game since sims 2, it was a huge part of growing up and it was so weird having the useless object babies just spring up into full human children. i love occults but toddlers are way more necessary for the core game, if they had been a part of the base game when it released instead of 3 entire years later this wouldnt have been a problem. it's definitely more the sims teams fault than anyone else
@@hhhhhhhng4380 No support=no Extra features, which means, we get flat occults If people dont support and instead flock over a lifestate that only takes 3 or so days in game.
@@alandunaway3000 I'm sorry, but you're dead wrong. Vampires got plenty of attention. It was one of the most successful and lauded packs in the entire TS4 series. Everyone always talks about how they wish that the rest of the packs were as thoughtful and detailed.
If you want to blame someone for our dissatisfaction, you should blame EA. They are the ones who have caused consumers, like yourself, to feel that their preferred style of play has been ignored. Your anger is misplaced.
There was a time that the company paid attention to *all* needs in a reasonable span of time. With TS4, the game is so shallow and extended in its rollout that Simmers like you are blaming other Simmers for EA's failure. Because of EA's mismanagement, they have players jockeying to have their needs met before anyone else's. However, the fault lies in EA, not other players.
@@Cynna1065 Did they really get attention? Or was it TODDLERS, that came out about the same month? See LGR's video about Vampires. All I wanted of Sims 4 was a stable game, that didn't run as slow as Pudding Sims 3. I loved City Living, which was way better and had better performance than the whole Sims 3 game. I hated Sims 3's bland, Twilight-esque Vampires. Late Night ran worse than ARK Survival Evolved, Katy Perry's Rotten Treats was simply horrible, the kind of stuff pack Colossal Order would do. Seriously, Sims 3 was the worst game in the whole franchise, ran poorly, had badly optimized towns that forced your PC to a crawl, unless you downloaded a MOD to keep things safe. Showtime was another horrible content pack, since it had another badly optimized town for the collection. Generations was halfway decent, Ambitions too. Overall, Sims 3's expansion packs are on par with Colossal Order's.
"I cannot fault the developers for problems outside their control and feel they're good people, who given more time would have made something I could have enjoyed."
I just wanted to say, thank you so much for saying this. I really can't respect any review that disrespects the developers and insults their work. It's always incredibly upsetting to see that. If you've heard any of their interviews it's very easy to understand the troubles they've experienced and realise that a lot of decisions simply aren't up to them. At the end of the day, it's EA pulling the strings and the devs are just people trying their best.
If you've seen Sim Guru Romeo on The Sims Supply's channel then you've seen how much he cares about what he's made, Strangerville being one of them, and what a kind person he is. I think it's very important to not be dishonest in reviews and to criticise in a constructive way, but disregarding the game and the team's effort is a really awful thing to do and I think that happens too often. Thank you for your review! It's videos like yours that can bring nice, civilized discussions and not disrespectful ones. I hope you have a nice day! :')
Just realized laundry day stuff is more entertaining than this.
At least it gives you nice moods after washing the clothes
omg it’s so true, sad story
Because of the challenge it brings, and negative outcome if not doing it. It has purpose. Newer packs all feels like they are not in balance. I believe if a pack should be great there needs to be balance between gameplay and visual. And also better to give us quality instead of quantity. It's so sad what is happening to the game.
Yup, I love the world in this ep, but Laundry Day Stuff adds gameplay no matter what you have installed. Those little chores and every day life things bring meaning to a life simulator in a way repeated interactions with different wording just cant.
I legitimately use laundry day stuff more than most features from island living besides mermaids bc theyre pretty
I really wish the mermaids had a tier system, and even a more active transformation system. You just eat some kelp, and BAM! Mermaid.
A moodlet called “Restless Legs” could make a sim uncomfortable, but could be soothed by ocean water or a bath. There could be a moodlet called “Itchy skin” (for scales) that does something similar. It should take a few days, like the vampire transformations.
I feel like EA is coasting along instead of seriously hearing what fans want.
*Edit*
It would have also been nice to have some lifetime aspirations attached to mermaids, as well as alignments because of their skills.
You'd have tiers had you supported vampires.
100% agree. The place is beautiful, but the gameplay is lackluster
I miss the sims 3 diving when you can see underwater and ever get killed by sharks.the sims 4 need less packs expansions and more consistent gameplay.making a lot of dlcs fast only will make the quality run down.for me island living is a beautiful place but was a waste potential on core gameplay .feel like more a game pack instead a expansion.
The thing is I'm sure a lot of them want this too, but they're working for a company that makes money and wants it fast and now. This happens a lot in companies for gaming and animation. Employees are rushed to make more but with that, less gaming detail.
You can still get killed by sharks in the sims 4
Completely agree with you about the lack of gameplay and that the strongest point of the pack is the world in itself which is gorgeous. I feel that could have been improved if the cave and diving were not rabbit holes. I also wish there were more activities to do, beach games for example or simply being able to read while on a lounge chair, how is that not a thing? ^^
Also thank you for mentioning the awful inventory system! I thought I was the only one thinking that, cannot believe so many years into the game existence they did not come up with at least a more user friendly file/sorting system...
Completely agree on the inventory system. Even a shortkey combo to halve stacks like Stardew Valley has, would be an improvement.
Everything said here is the biggest problem with this expansion pack and City Living, really. Everything stays the same and becomes very boring, very soon. But I am really disappointed that Island Living didn't have more gameplay activities (ex.1st person view scuba diving instead of a rabbit hole, competitive games with volleyball, interesting hiking trails for each lot, etc.) and even includes an unusable lot due to volcanos with no option to turn the feature off. Glad I didn't buy this.
I can’t believe I paid $40 for this! I was so excited but only paid for a few days and got bored. Same thing with strangerville :(
Get 3
Next time, just pirate EA games.
I wish they included surfing
Sunsun H Or boating
Rinse and repeat for $40. Awesome review.
Thanks. I'm considering doing more, as they can kind of double as overviews of the content each pack contains.
@Carl's The Sims Guides you should do it. Some people might find them too negative but for the rest of us they’re really constructive and helpful.
The mermaids are so disappointing :( they should have had a skill tree like vampires. It's really lame that eating kelp (which takes minimal effort to obtain) is all it takes to instantly become a mermaid with exceptional knowledge of mermaid customs and magical abilities. That makes no sense! If I randomly ate some special kelp and then grew a fish tail, I think I'd be quite bamboozled and would have absolutely no clue about special mermaid magic! Also, I am REALLY disappointed that there is no underwater world. An underwater world could have helped expand gameplay with mermaids SO much!! I could go on with my wishes/dreams for an underwater world, but there's no point now. :(
Please do more reviews of the sims 4 packs! 🙇♀️ Most of the game changers aren't this candid...😐 I'm tired of hearing about this pack's praises. The b&b objects and world is great for builders, but for players and occult enthusiasts, this pack is lacking and seemed rushed out. It is a gamepack since it doesn't really expand the entire sims4verse like an expansion pack should.
LGR does great reviews on The Sims, you should check him out.
@@boomerjamify I'm aware of LGR and always watch his reviews. But I really appreciate Carl's viewpoint as well, since he takes the time to create in depth game tutorials on his website. I like to get info from as many trusted resources as possible.😉 Thanks for the suggestion though. 👍
AnnMei Li it’s not even a game pack. Game packs like jungle adventure and strangerville have more to offer then island living. Island living is a stuff pack worth 10 dollars
had a sim with "child of the ocean" go fishing... SADNESS when they catch a fish
What irritates me the most is the snorkeling I just wish it wasn't a rabbit whole I really loved that feature in sims 3
Maxis and The Sims Studio: So let it be a game pack
EA: No
I wish I would have waited until the price went down. I should have bought get together, for the clubs.
city living is much better. The club system does not have much pay-off once you get it running.
I would of gotten Get together in a heart beat as it offers soooooo much more!
I'm with you. I wish I would've waited and watched a few gameplay videos. I wish I would've got City Living instead
I got get together for the world
i didnt enjoy the clubs much but holy heck is windemburg stuffed with households and lots. amazing.
I feel like they should go back to other packs, including this one, and improve them/make them deeper instead of pushing out shallow packs at the price of some full games.
Hi Carl, great review. Sulani is visually stunning, like you said, but the pack is very weak in game play. Overall, quite disappointing.
I was so excited when this game pack was released but after this review and reading a few comments I find it very disappointing. The same happened with strangerville 😕
I really wish they'd make aliens, mermaids and maybe even plantsims and ghosts work more like vampires- have tiers, levels, perks, disadvantages... I guess with Aliens it makes more sense for them to have all powers immediately cause you're born an alien, those powers have been with the sim their whole life. But a sim goes from just a sim to a mermaid with all of the powers just like that, and it's less immersive to me. Overall, I totally agree with your review- I was really hyped for the mermaids and a beach island, but it's just soooo shallow, it's another expansion that was done way better in The Sims 3.
In every superhero movie you have this segment where the hero's learning their powers. I think of that for this situation with Mermaids. Jumping straight to "I know how to control all this" doesn't make much sense and it takes away from us the opportunity to have some kind of gameplay loop where you're building up your Mermaid and making choices on which abilities and bonuses you'd like to have.
@@CarlsSimGuides Exactly! With vampires you have more replayability cause you can choose different powers and disadvantages for every member of your vamp family. With mermaids and aliens, you can only differentiate by them looks. Unless I guess you have a good or an evil personality, cause then they won't use some powers.
Great review, glad to see someone not embellishing this dlc. I’ll still buy it since it suits my play style, but I appreciate the honesty
I LOVE YOU!!! I really hope EA sees this video. I feel so bad that I met 3 gurus at EA Play and I didn't get to sit down and tell them meaningful things. THIS GAME IS MISSING DEPTH x4 years, meaning since the beginning.
EA has had years to see many videos about the problems with this game, do you think they haven't seen a lot already? They just don't care as long as it makes money...
True: this is a game pack with a very nice world. That's all.
Spot on review. I have been playing it for a week now and I totally agree.
Can’t believe I’ve only just found your channel! Very good informative videos. I’m very impressed. Thank you!
I have a review of Sims 4 gameplay in general with discussion of weakness in gameplay systems: ua-cam.com/video/O41yW6qlOIM/v-deo.html
Also I want to make the time stamps I made more visible - here are the sections to the video:
0:33 - Sulani
1:41 - Build/Buy Mode Objects
1:55 - Community Activities
3:14 - Create-a-Sim
4:12 - Beach Combing
4:40 - Snorkeling and Scuba Diving
5:34 - The Cave
6:11 - Dolphins
6:43 - Tanning and Sunburns
7:19 - New Transportation
7:49 - Open Water Swimming
8:18 - Odd Jobs
8:37 - Conservation and Sulani's Ecosystem
12:01 - Mermaids
14:22 - My Opinion
Mowri would be a better phonetic pronunciation of Maori
Carl never received another review copy idk why...
love you Carl, waiting on that updated fishing video
Excellent fair & honest review.
Thanks for giving your views
I wish the cave was actually something you could discover,that was a let down 😒
Yes!! A review by yours truly!! So you're saying that this pack kept on using recycled animation from before over and over again? God what a let down.... Now I get why people put Get to Work and City Living as their best packs
Get to work, city living and get together are my favourites EPs😂😂😂! Seasons and get famous are good too; cats and dogs are well done for pets lovers (not for me though)....but Island living is...well bad
I totally agree I think that they should have made this into a game pack or at least made Sulani and Mermaids into separate packs like they did with Vampires so that they both were more fleshed out in my option. Since mermaids to me gave me the same feeling as Aliens from Get To Work like they were almost an after thought. I do think that if someone really ants the game wait for it to go on sale unless you are absolutely in need of the new world.
I found this review to be very well thought-out and articulated! Really honest feedback which I appreciate, and hope that EA takes to heart. Thank you for putting this together!
My biggest problem with this pack is that it's an expansion pack. I have played through this pack and it really feels like a game pack. If it was released as a game pack I wouldn't be as critical of it. Island living could've had so much more to it like adding secret worlds and possibly more careers
So many rabbit holes in this pack, it's surprising that Sulani has flocks of chickens instead of herds of bunnies.
SimDoughnut lol a lot of chickens on the Bahamas. Least I saw some wild ones when I visited
I'm not even disappointed with TS4 anymore. Feels like in every DLC the closed world aspect of the game do more against it. I mean this one has doesn't even much things to look to, even though this is probably the most open world feeling we will get in TS4. You basically pay $40 for a new neighboorhood.
Thanks for making very helpful, clear, extensive guides and tutorials for the sims for all these years. I've been using your guides since you've been making them. Before the youtube channel. Great work.
As for the review, I completely agree. It was just really weak in gameplay content. Beautiful, really beautiful, but really, really shallow everywhere else.
Thank you for your honest, unbiased review. I can't believe it's taken me this long to discover your UA-cam, but I'm glad I did. You've earned yourself a new subscriber for your quality work sir.
I really like how you did your review. You gave us your opinion on each aspect and I think you are very objective and fair. Thank you very much. It also doubles as a mini guide for all the features. More power to you.
I can't stop thinking of salami when someone says sulani
I think tsunami
Sims 2 was awesome! Sims 3 eventually became really good. Sims 4 just sucks.
So true.
To me, the Sims 4 is like taking back your no good ex, when he shows up with roses, promising to do right. And then a few days later, you realize it's the same crap! I'm so disappointed and I don't know why I got my expectations up in the first place. The world and being able to live on the water is beautiful, but that's it. I heard the creators of Cities Skylines might be creating a "sims" like game. If they do, it's game over for me! I'm offended that I spent $40 on clear waters and waterfront building. PS: have you filtered Island Living in Buy mode? Theres barely anything there... This feels like a slap in the face 😶
You and LGR are now the kings of honest Sims 4 reviews I appciate it
EA will not get anymore money from me 😒 I don't care if they come out with the Sims Moon walking on the Moon.
I would like to have a gameplay expansion pack that will add a lot of depth to the game. I can’t even stay in game for an hour because once you’re done doing something, then okay nothing more to do. The things is this is a life simulation game, so gameplay should have been the priority not aesthetics not recolored items, just something worth my time. Sadly, I don’t think there’s any hope for Sims 4 when it comes to depth, but hey I have Sims 3 so all is well,
Fantastic review. You've put a voice to everything I've experienced playing this pack. I think all of us long-time sims fans are just feeling the dismay settling in... we want this game to be so much more than it is.
I've been reading your website since I got the sims 3 in 2009. Keep up the good work.
As much as I love this pack and how beautiful it is,I actually agree with you,unfortunately there isn’t much game play,nothing really stands out,only mermaids if you like that sort of thing,and dolphins which I do love and the new careers,the ocean stuff doesn’t even give the sims fun🤔you would think they’d have fun doing this stuff,also the lil game play it does have like suntan,sunburn,making sandcastle,swimming etc.is great but then what?,also the festival is like you said,just a place everyone (random sims) comes just like get together same thing,it’s unfortunate.so for a world pack it’s stunning,but I love game play and it’s lacking there of 😢
I love the Sulani world but I completely agree with your critique about the exp pack. It left a lot to be desired. But I try to make it work. Thank u for your honesty.
Island paradise in the sims 3 was so good, it added so much game play and I spent hours playing with the resorts and driving etc. this just doesn’t match up at all
Thank you. I loved the Sims since Sims 1 and even if I grew fond of the Sims 4 (with expansion packs and custom content), I often found myself switching to Sims 3 again. I didn't know exactly why but now I realized it was because of the actual gameplay.
In Sims 3 you have a massive amount of activities whereas in Sims 4 you often find your Sim standing around somewhere doing nothing because there is nothing to interact with. Granite falls is the best example, I picked up some berries and went back home early. Jungle adventure was better in my eyes due to exploring the jungle. The new island pack looks so beautiful but as many other packs it simply lacks activities to do. I'm still playing Sims 4 but for me it's always just a short bit of fun playing before exiting and playing something else.
Almost bought it for my birthday. I'm glad I found your review. I'll definitely wait for it to be on sale.
I really appreciated this review. Please do more of the Sims4 expansion pack reviews
I love that you did the review! I fully agree with the lack of depth in the pack.
Your site has always been an immense help to me, especially since I play the game in spurts. Your review is spot on. The only thing I might add is that while I really like the off-grid option, it's ridiculous that they don't provide alternative energy sources. Also, no fishing off the dock?!?
So interesting to hear your take, and it's also great to hear about your preferences as a player. I gave in and bought it (at full price even!) 100% for the world. I do find it interesting that it's your longest video, you even skipped features -- and you still say it's not enough. But yeah I agree with you on the mermaids, it's totally a missed opportunity to level up!
Thank you so much for such an honest review.
"Other Island peoples like the May-ori"
I'm sorry, that just made me laugh.
this is one of my favorite sims pack but I've find it disappointing because of the lack of interaction in the community party, the time cossuming when your sims is not fit and don't swim fast but ALWAYS want to chill in the boat at the other side of the ocean, the sims with red, blue or green skin don't tan! :( but yeah it is beautifull...but almost always rainy with seasons
Agree but I think they do it just as I think the Magic pack to come will be the same because everyone is hollering for new content constantly. I agree they have lost something between sims 2 and 3 because 4 at least for me gets boring and after repetitive game play I go back to something else. Although than I miss the ability of making sims look better if I play 2 or 3. Now packs are get it out people hush for a while but I hate Strangerville and keep the same save cause I don't want to replay it. But as I said about packs it was too expensive and most lack a lot. But still in Hope's I buy them all before sale.
Spot on. Sulani is a beautiful world, and that’s about it.
What you said about this review sums up my frustration with The Sims 4 as a whole. You are right, the lack of game play is apparent across all TS4 (base game and expansion/game packs). There is just nothing to do, after a few minutes of tinkering in all of the expansion packs. I appreciate your honesty in the review, because frankly this IS a big problem. And I wish more youtubers were more objective in their opinion towards the game, rather than just saying: "Oh this looks pretty". TS4 IS a beautiful game. It really is. But that's about it. Game play wise it is shallow (at best) and empty (at worse). I often find myself in long pauses and not knowing what to do when I am in my game, because there is just no reason to do things in the game. Unlike previous The Sims games, you have a reason to do things in the game, you have to make friends so you can progress in your career, you have to go back to a destination location to unlock more perks/activities/collections, you have to increase/decrease your social relations with other sims to unlock options (in TS4 your sims can still joke around and laugh with sims who are your worse enemy), etc.
Personally, I think the devs have many chances to improve game play, but honestly (and I am saying this not to just flame on the devs, but in my most honest opinion) I have lost faith in them. I don't like the emotion game play, but only because it is poorly done. The personality system they had in TS3, even the turn ons and offs in TS2, was so much better than this system we have in TS4. If the devs developed it even more, maybe I would have appreciated the emotion system more. I think the lot traits is a very good and unique system in TS4, but again, this is not capitalized by the devs. I liked the TS3 system where sims with X trait often go to certain community lots (like book lover sims was more likely to go to a library). If they did the same thing with the lot traits, it would give sims more personality as well.
I don't know the devs personally, like you do, I only based my opinion through how the state of the game is, and I will admit, I find Maxis to have become not only lazy, but superficial with TS4. To me, they seem to capitalize on how people are hyped. They show us aesthetically beautiful worlds. But after you buy the game and have played it for a few minutes, maybe a few hours, you feel like you have just been cheated by the devs. And this is what irritates me about the game. I no longer have high hopes that MAXIS will still actually be able to make The Sims 4 an actual game, like they did with TS1,2 and , because frankly, if they really cared about this game, they wouldn't have allowed it to be in this pathetic state that it is now, despite EA's greedy and non-customer oriented schemes.
I play games like The Elder Scrolls Online and League of Legends, and trust me they have repetitive content, a LOT! More than The Sims, but I happily repeat the content they have, because there is a REASON for my to do them. And I don't feel bored doing it over and over and over again. Granted that both those games are very different from The Sims format, but my point is this, if there is a reason for me to do anything in the game, I would do it a hundred times over and then do it all over again after, because I feel my character's progression. But if there is no reason for me to do them again, what's the point?
Yes, the game is beautiful, but a beautiful sunrise/sunset backdrop that I can't even do anything with can only do so far, and that is a big reason why I won't play a game-- a beautiful empty shell.
I used sulani for my sim starting with 0 money, sulani stuff only no cheats. He died. The game play for that is quite difficult,so there was a challenge. Admittedly I haven't had time to explore the pack as much as you. Living in cold climes though I love having Sulani as a place to go to. The random traits generator is wonderful, that alone has added to the game. The traditonal clothing and build/buy is very compatable with jungle adventure. Loved your review though and your posts.
Lots of Island living features are actually patched in the base game and that's make it even more lacking.
Person from the future. Getting back into The Sims after several years. Thank you.
Thanks for the review! You’ve become one of the 2 reviewers that I will definitely wait before purchasing any packs. Island Living = Anyone can be a Mermaid.
YES YES YES! I absolutely love the point you made @ 2:14 - i’m sick and tired of the sims 5 and these shallow ‘gameplay’ objects that literally bring to depth to the game experience.
Thank you for this honest review!!
Thank you for an honest review of island living I’m going to wait for a sale to buy it
They should have made a moon pool in the volcano after you clean up Sulani
hehehe H2O references
@@selobee4831 Cause I'm no ordinary girl 👧 😂
I think they will come up with more packs to expand Island Living one day. Scuba diving and cave spots definitely need to be expanded.
Why you never do reviews? It is like the king of knowledge about sims not sharing his opinion! Hahaha thanks
One more thing,I think this pack is really fun for builders,but game players,that’s me and they’re is hardly any 😒
Right? And even for occult players. They introduce a new occult and there is nothing interesting with the mermaids. At least in get to work, if our alien (really need to be improved as well by the way) join the scientific career, there is something interesting to play with. But mermaids are just there and sing lullabys.
Thank you, this is SUPER HELPFUL ♡
What I’d like to see...
- Mermaid levelling system. Maybe even do something like the fame where there’s good vs bad, different abilities whether or not you’re a good mermaid or evil mermaid. And the more you level the more you change. Like evil mermaids could have more of a shark like tail/look.
- Better human to mermaid transformation. So maybe instead of becoming a mermaid by just eating kelp maybe after you eat it your sim had unquenchable thirst and they’re always going to the fridge for water. Then maybe they have trouble walking. Like they stumble a lot sort of like how toddlers do. Then they get sick and crave salt water and then bam transformation in the ocean.
- More variety in terms of the elementals. Each area/island has its own elemental where you have to complete a task or tasks to summon. And they appear st random or have random events.I’d love a big jolly elemental or a kid elemental that appears as a “lost kid”. Or a mermaid elemental that requires you to clean the ocean. And then when you befriend all of them you can summon them all together for a special event.
- Rough Seas Lot trait: lots built on the ocean in this area are susceptible to stormy waters and small tidal waves that could ruin your house.
Good review man. Honest and straightforward
Very good and true review. Thank you for your great work in general, I couldn't play the game without your guides.
You've put into words what I've been trying to figure out myself. I've been playing since sims 1 and I always end up playing for a few days then on hiatus for months to years. I love sims but more gameplay depth is needed.. wish it could have some more elements of an MMORPG or storylines.
100% agree. I was really excited for the pack. I played it for a few days and haven’t played sims since.
If the sims 4 was open world; things like bikes, canoes and jet ski's would make more sense
It's sad they butchered a pack with so much potential. Here are a few things I think would've made the pack better (and more of an expansion) and also sorry in advance for the long comment:
- Underwater lots to explore, like in the sims 3, as opposed to rabbit holes when diving.
- A leveling up system for mermaids, similar to what they did for vampires, unlocking new powers as you level up
- Fixing the buggy conservationist career. You only get to actually do something if you work from home and often times at lower levels you'll get tasks that you unlock at higher levels of the career, which leaves you unable to do your daily task for that day. I was hoping it would be an actual profession.
- Also regarding the conservationist career, it would be nice to fight for the environment in any neighborhood your sim lives in, not just the new one. That way it would extend the gameplay beyond Sulani.
- How awesome would it be to be able to create beach resorts in these beautiful lands? Imagine taking your sims on vacation or on honeymoon there to enjoy a few days of sunbathing and kava juice.
- The career I was most looking forward to was lifeguard. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that not only is it in no way interactive, but it's only a part-time job. Like the diver career, it has so much potential that's never actually taken advantage of.
- The odd jobs are nice, but most of them are strictly related to Sulani, no matter where your sim lives. It would be nice to vary at least slightly in different neighborhoods.
Overall, this was the expansion I was looking forward to the most, as Island Paradise from TS3 was my favorite pack and I was hoping for more of that awesomeness here as well, especially considering how beautiful Sulani is. There are so many things they could've done better that could be achieved by restyling some older features they have. Generally, like you said in the review, it feels more like a game pack rather than a full expansion pack. Even with that, some game packs have more depth than this. So much potential wasted. I'm still hoping the devs will eventually start caring again about the community's wishes and would put more effort into packs a lot of people want as opposed to throwing at us a lot of half-assed content nobody asked for.
Yes it’s pleasing to the eye but for $40 I expect more gameplay too, i love this review. Yea it’s geared to story telling but need option for engaging gameplay too
Thank you for that. I’ve heard a few others that said it didn’t really live up to their expectations. I don’t have it yet, but I would still get it as I love the mermaid features & the island itself is so pretty!!
Thanks for the review. :)
I can totally respect you thoughts and totally agree on aspects. The thing that really I was dissapointed in was off the grid, I know it was an update but they deff could of incorporated it with this pack.
Its so broken and it dosnt work or makes sense. I hope they fix it as I would love an eco pack/farming.
I 100% want this pack for sulani it's so beautiful it's going to be my go to world
Sadly those were my impressions after playing on my friends computer for 3 hours or so. I didn't get to explore everything but my hype for the game died soooo quickly. It's kind of sad.