So, EA have "announced" two new things - a bowling stuff pack, and the long awaited vampire game pack.



Not much to see, though, as it's only a teaser. Discuss away, I guess? Talk about your day, your pets, dinner, I don't know.

God, I hope that game pack isn't specifically vampire themed. But on the upside, the return of vampires that turn into bats!

Well it looks like we're finally getting graveyards. Pretty ridiculous they weren't in the base game.

Knowing EA it will most probably be just Graveyard decor lol



I'm hoping it is specifically vampire themed. So those who don't want it can skip them altogether without complaining 'they are forcing the vampires on us when we just want that one cute table over there'.

I'll be honest, I'm 100% disappointed. Bowling Stuff, EA? Really?

Awfully brazen to release two game play packs right after City Life with content that, in the previous generations, were included in their respective urban themed expansion packs.

I recall a ton of complaints about people feeling forced to play supernaturals, when they wanted the urban expansion for other reasons. This just proves the developers have been paying attention to forums. Granted, people look for things to complain about, and there is no pleasing everybody.

No it doesn't. It proves that EA releases half finished, shallow content. City Life was devoid of an actual city life, and now minor things that could have been included, like a bowling alley and a supernatural type, are separately released with their own price tag. And nobody is "forced to play supernaturals", nobody is "forced" to do anything in this game.

i will agree that nobody is forced to do anything, but people still talked like that on the forums, that is something beyond my personal control Whether a person has a negative or positive reaction To it is their choice as well. Looks like you prefer to react negatively

Me pointing out that EA's business practices for The Sims 4's is just releasing half-baked content packs and gauging money from the remnants of a once loyal fanbase isn't "preferring to react negatively". Only thing missing from your post is ending it with a smug "namaste".

and both will only be able to be used on ONE special lot

Vampire Bowling Alley sounds like a really awful 80's slasher horror film we'd all secretly watch on Netflix.

No one forces any one of us to buy any EP or SP ((LOL)). Some of us will be pleased and others will not be no matter what is or is not included. I am very much appreciating what City Life has added to the game and look forward to the bowling addition. OK, so it is really my elder Sims who are insisting that I provide them with bowling stuff in order to fulfill their dream of starting up competitive bowling leagues :-) Not so sure about adding Vampires to my game, so, kinda glad it's not a Bowling Vampires combo pack!!

First time I heard about the teaser, I thought it was Sims bowling vampires for some reason. I'm like, that would be a pretty sadistic pack. But then I came back to Sims 4 happy valley fantasy and realized it was two packs, not one. I really hope both packs are beefed up a bit than just those themes, but expectations are nothing more than reality. I am happy that finally after over a year, there is a supernatural again. I couldn't care less if others don't like them. I like the darker aspects of the Sims and life being not so perfect and for that, supernaturals tell more in-depth stories. There is only so much Barbie dream house stories I can handle. I'm not a kid anymore and have grown up from Barbies a long time ago. I got into the Sims to grow up from Barbies, not return to it. Anyways, happy about the vampires. Bowling it has been done before, but hopefully they finally bring glow bowling into the game to make it different.

While I personally will not be playing Sims 4 as I am not interested in it. I am disappointment to see what Electronic Arts has done to the series. Nightlife introduced both the undead vampires and bowling together for the Sims 2 and EA should have done something similar if not more for this latest version of the Sims. But EA has so much interest in their sport games that we get the left overs.

I, and many others, do actually play the Sims 4 (and have since it was introduced). My thinking on this is that Sims4 is not Sims2 or 3. Much of its charm for me is that it IS a different game in the series. So, I don't expect Sims4 EP or SPs to be clones or near clones of those created for other Sims games. I want 4 to be different (and it is). When I wish for Sims2 or 3 content and gameplay I open 2 or 3. I also play the Fallout series (and other games). As with The Sims I personally find it more interesting that each new game in a series: while it may build on and refer to earlier versions; be distinctly different and not overly repetitious.

Also, I never really know how I will feel about any game until I've invested a good amount of time actually playing, exploring and discovering. (This is why I appreciate game demos and free trials!)

They had to give a complete blank white background so we couldn't see the brilliant new upcoming terrain tools (I like to hope).

It is increasingly clear now that the one who is most happy about me not jumping onto the Sims 4 train is my bank account. This game is becoming rather expensive if one wants to have a half-way decent amount of things to do.

They just can't get their priorities in the right order, otherwise all this sounds just so unoriginal, I hope they at least supply us some room to place the Bowling Alley, I had to demolish a lot I wanted keep to make full use of Spa Day.

Once upon a time Supernaturals were a little bonus that was added to EPs with the option to be ignored easily by anyone who didn't fancy them. Don't want vampires? Don't socialite with the counts/countesses. Don't want Werewolves? Don't play with the wolf with those glowey-glowey eyes. Don't want ghosts to wake their living relatives? Move their tombstones to a community lot.

Even Sims 3 gave you the options to disable the supernaturals. Except for Ghosts, for some reason. At one point in Sims 3 (can't remember which, I played it at a friend's place, because I don't own anyExpansions to Sims 3) every family member turned into a ghost in the family tree and deceased grandmas stopped by at night to take care of their crying grandchildren. What?

Now Sims 4, as I have heard from others (again I don't own Expansions to Sims 4), doesn't give you the option to disable Aliens and they spawn in rather large numbers. Ghost can be released to the neither world irrc, but does that prevent them from turning into ghosts in the family tree? <- Please someone who still plays answer that.
It's the lack of an option to ignore supernaturals if they so choose that people complain about, not the existence of supernaturals at all.

Though right now there's the very valid complain of getting vampires rather than toddlers, the option to create/modify neighborhoods, worthwhile gameplay etc.



That IS an awful 80s vampire movie we'd all secretly watch on Netflix; Fright Night Part 2 (1988): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgfWMd0jlOg

You can literally count the vertices of that bat...

Just for the sake of comparison, a bat in TS2:



TS2 is a game from 2004 (and Nightlife from 2005)... Let that one sink in for a minute. A model from a game released 11 years ago has more polygons/ better textures than a game released in 2014 (with this GP released in 2017). IT'S BEYOND RIDICULOUS. It's absurd. I just can't get over it.

As I've said before vampires without the fear/terrified emotion is potentially pointless - if they are not scary to other sims they are basically quirky looking sims with odd sleeping habits.

I'm inclined to believe that if they haven't added new emotions at this point (2+ years after release), it might not be possible. Besides, emotions are totally pointless / broken the way they're implemented. Before adding new emotions, they should fix the whole system. Positive emotions overpower negative ones all the time, and you get a ridiculous amount of happiness just for being in a room with nice decor.

It's not the first time EA have tried to slide in content that would have made sense in a previous pack, but they parted the few to make some extra money.

Let's start with outdoor retreat - since the release of Bob Voyage, spas have now become equated with vacationing. It makes the most amount of sense, since both are so leisure focused. The idea caried forth with Sunlit Tides, which wasn't a vacation destination, but could be and was treated like one. Even the hotels from Island Paradise has (rabbit hole) spa amenities.

The idea just works - like accidents in Hitman Games. It. Works. As such, you carry it forward. Flash forward, we get a vacation game pack, with location, rather than three. Months later, Spa Day is released. The two pair together very well, in fact. You mad as well turn a lot on Granite Falls into a spa.

Get To Work dropped right after Outdoor Retreat, we a retail system. TS2 offered a pretty steep variety of businesses to run, and here were are in TS2 with... one. Dine Out, late as hell, released a little over a year later, being a compliment to the Retail system. Makes you wonder they the two were put together in the first place. Let's not even discuss not being able to run a spa or hotel. Let's ignore all of that completely.

Get Together - everyone's favorite, which is devoid of anything to actually do together. Upon released, the game was shown as a dating pack, though we now know that to be false. It's a pack about nothing.

I jest (mostly), but a distinct lack of content to do together was surprisingly absent. What we got later post release was... stuff to do together. Romantic Garden and Movie Hangout. Ironically, both contained club rules.

Lastly, City Living. Every. Single. Piece. Of. Content. Released. Post. Launch. Contained. Something. From. An. Urban. Expansion. Pack.

Butlers, Vampires, Bowling. Preciously extras, now get their own packs. It all feels so piecemeal... nothing feels full, just quarter off for profit.

That's because the emotions were planned as a gameplay feature not as a personal experience for the sims like they would have been in TS2. We're meant to "play" the emotions, manipulate them in order to score points with our sims. So they don't have to have realistic implementation, just give us something to do setting them up.