User blog:Angel Emfrbl/Why I ued to like the Sims... And why I now like Minecraft...

I LOVED the Sims, it was a game I could sandbox my heart away, kill the family off or controll them each generation and generally create drama, love or... That... Other stuff...

At the end of the Sim2, I had ALL expansion packs and I look at the upcoming Sims 3 and said "sod that" and I've never looked back. Listen EA, I really like the Sim series, I like a world in which I can control their destiny, but corporate greedy don't mix well with me. you can get away with thi once in the Sims2 and I'll let you off; repeating your expansion pack system for Sms 3 wa NOT fair on the consumer. What I expected was at the end of Sims 2, and the reason I didn't buy Sims 3, was for all the elements to be in the basic gameplay of Sims 3. Except maybe pets and the magic stuff, since you can make a happy family with out that kind of thing. HOWEVER, weather and things like that should be in the basic stuff.

I also don't mind the christmas specials, nor the special clothing line ones like KIA kitchen, because honestly, if you want to go down that wroute, so long as there is plenty of content I'll buy it and the odd one is nice here and there.

So the Sim3 was basically Sims2 with better graphics, thats all it amounted to and thats my big issue. I don't mind buy these extras expansions so long as they add some of the stuff that was in the previous generation to the core game that I expected. Heck I'll take the weather with only 2 coats and you can sell me the fashion pack for that later on, so long as its THERE in the base game I'm fine with it. did buy the Sims3 Medievil to see if it would tempt me, but after playing through once and finding it dull as they come I passed it onto my motehr so she could knock her socks off.

Generally Sim2 was okay in my books to repeat what it did with the original sims, you can get away with it because an awful lot was added to no.2 that wasn't possible in the orignal game. I liked that and accepted it and with all the new additions to no.2 I wasn't bothered. no.3 just fells like they said "okay we did it twice; lets do it again and get their money".

So onto Minecraft. I like minecraft. Its an understatement, I like it a lot. Its gives free updates and its a world I can craft to my whim. I don't care what anyone says, I like it the way it is and I just downloaded the Technic mod at the weekend... And... Erm... Y-e-a-h... Apart from Sunday when I was out all day, the mod is why I suddenly stopped editing. All of a sudden I was hooked on Minecraft again. O_o

Technic feels liek a expansion should always be, even though its not offical it still feels liek a proper full fledged working system. This is how I expect every excpansion to be, it lifts gameplay in new ways and yet I can still play it like it was just the vanilla minecraft if I wanted. If I ignore all the fancy gadgets, with the exception of the downside of no NPCs to trade with, and new animals wondering everywhere, as well as trees (all of which again you can just ignore) I hold it high as an example of the thing I expect. Technic is made up of several mods, if each was an expansion pack then each would represent what I expect from say the Sims 3.

What expansions would I expect for Sims 3?


 * Vanilla Sims has the weather, and all the base-game play elements that I expect to make the plaer concentrat on making a family... Or breaking it... To make them feel "alive". Does the family own their own home, or are they renting an appartment.  This kind of thing...
 * Expansion 1; Pets. This in my books should now be their first expansion pack, adding mans bestfriend or the ladies companion expands gameplay elements that create new possiblities.
 * Expansion 2; this pack would be a expansion pack bent on adding all the extra memories to a Sims like college years. Basically, this focuses on giving the player a chance to become up close and personnel with 1 or two sims and make you feel more attached.  This makes you take the game more seriously.
 * Expansion 3: this pack focuses on creating new ways you can making the family have money. Setting their own business up, becoming an artist or adding new jobs... Just a general way of making money easier or creating new ways to make the family click into place easier.
 * Expansion 4; Holidays + Season. Wrap them into 1 package so you can say something liek the family spend christmas aboard.
 * Expansion 5; fantasy, the first of a series of themes, this one is built SULY on adding spells that can make your family exist without having to rely on a few of the other expansion packs, or mess around with the other families without them knowing. Basically, my idea of this pack would be just to give the player something fun to do and liven up the game play without resulting to the traditional themes.
 * Expsion 6; one last theme pack, designed to add something to the gameplay that was NOT in past generations, to make this generation stand out more then the past and leave everyone saying "yeah I hope this turns up again for Sims 4".

And thats all I'd do.

For eachone, I expect 1 bumper pack to boast the expansion pack, but this would not be released from the word "go" otherwise I'd ask, as a consumer, why it wasn't in the expansion tobegin with. And even then... I knda expect only 10 expansion packs at the most, I mean there are 40 Voclaoids and yet I'd only buy 10 at the most. One your sked to buy too much of anything you've got to ask yourself why their trying to make you buy anything. Okay, a Vocaloid is your partner for life, but each one adds a different thing to the table and some don't work the same as others. But the Sims? After I bought all the Sims2 stuff I realised that I had all this content, but, the game still felt incomplete. I was sending my kids off to college, not bothering with freakish morphs like plant people or vampires (too lazy), but there was 60% of the gameplay element I felt was redundant. Who needs a theme bedroom? Half the time the beds are less quality then the beds you already have, and if your taking the game seriously, why would you swapp a 12 bed for a 6 point one just to make it match the theme of the room?

And that, my friend, is the issue I have with the sims... And why I'm stuck on Minecraft addiction. So long as minecraft lets me build tall skyscrapers and supports the ability to mod the gameplay like Technic so I can experience something completely different, I'm stuck to this game and its all I'm playing.

You want me to buy Sims 4 EA? Stop making it so dam obivous your just trying to make your consumers and set up each expansion pack so they feel like their bring in huge amounts of different gameplay elements, instead of just a few tweaks and some bug fixes and a new t-shirt per pack... If your going to put new clothes in, I expect no less then 40 items per pack and the styles to have large contrasting styles. Not just 3 t-shirts in 3 different colours. Good grief, you let us custmise the furtniture, just give me the item and I'll select which design goes on it. =_=