Alright guys, Just a bit of a moan to be frankly honest. I don't mean to be such a pessimistic however I've been playing the Sims since the first release of the original game back in the early 00s so please be a bit understanding why I am so underwhelmed with the future expansion packs.

But cmon, how is Island Paradise really going to expand our game? houseboats seem cool and all, but can you actually imagine all your sims in town being based on a houseboat? I like the hotel thing however I think that should have been for world adventures instead of throwing this expansion pack together. I'm sorry but I can not understand why EA have decided to give us this when they could have expanded the game in other elements rather than give us this plus the "Future" EP

I mean, how many of us would send every single sim to the future? it just seems limited to one story line?I'm so underwhelmed its unbelievable and this is coming from someone that bought Katy Perry and showtime god damn it!

Please tell me or convince me what may be good about this expansion pack because so far I think its KA KA.

Am I being a moan? I'm sorry, I'm British and moaning is what we do.

the whole future thing is just plain......<insert needed word here>.....as for houseboats i think it depends on each persons tastes

they arent even boats just floating concrete squares.

well it could be worse not sure how but it could be

There will be boats, the speed boat was already posted. There are other means of water transportation too. Live broadcast April 16.

well the one thing i am looking forward to is scuba diving i almost always make outdoors type sims

that boat is the same as the car except its on water, then its stuck up the sims ahem, when not travelling x hardly a boat is it?

Island Paradise is more of a pack for builders than players (which is a much needed change of pace). It expands upon the open world concept of the game, taking the players from the land to the sea. It's not a core expansion to Sims live, but more an expansion to their lives and to the game than Showtime. Open for business did next to nothing for Sims everyday lives, but it added cool places to go, things to do, activities to engage in and a lot of Simmers enjoyed it because of what it added to the game.

And you are right - it's not a EP for every town. Houseboats are find in towns with a lot of "wet" real estate - Sunset Valley, Twinbrook, Bridgeport, Egypt, Starlight Shores (not we have homes off the cliff with a trail leading down to docks - didn't think about that did you?), and most of the store worlds have places for houseboats - all that empty coast line. We also have row boats, which can be used in towns with smaller bodies of water.

It's an EP for those Sims that like the outdoors and for Sims who want to get away. It adds a lot to the game (though, not strictly core) and it's an, overall, new concept. At least they're doing something else with the ocean rather than just leaving it alone. I'm happy with it.

Resorts will be great for the vacation worlds, or home worlds if there's enough room.

The future EP, we just have to wait and see what it offers...

Oh Electria.

That is game mechanics. We really don't know how things will work now, but I did read something about docks and marinas too. So hopefully that will come with the EP. Otherwise, we will have the transportation stuck up the...ahem...inventory.

I'm actually quite excited about Island Paradise. I'd buy it just for the ability to run hotels and the all-in-one bathroom, everything else is gravy. The time travel pack would be great if it went back in time. I have zero interest in the future...there's already too much modern/futuristic stuff in the game for my tastes. The devs will have to come up with some pretty interesting features to get me to buy that pack. It's the first ever, (in all 3 series) expansion pack that I just have no interest in, at all.


That propeller would be a real bitch. *snerk*

Moan away my girl If you accept that not every EP will be to everyone's liking then you're good to go. As with Sims 2, I didn't buy every EP because I needed to have the set, I bought the EP's I wanted because it made sense to my game and my game play. Same thing for Sims 3. Maybe someday I'll buy the rest of the EP's I don't have for both games just to say I got the set but not install it.

Personally, I'm looking forward to Island Paradise. Not because I want all my sims to live on houseboats but because I want SOME of my sims to live on them in the different worlds we play in now. Face it, if you live in a town/city like Seattle, Vancouver, Amsterdam... or wherever there's a waterway (Cambridge, UK canal boat homes come to mind) there's bound to be people living on the water. That's what I'd like to see in my game. Hopefully some wonderful world builder will build an Amsterdam style world so I can have my sims living the dream

As for Future Travel EP.. or whatever they end up calling it... nope, no interested at all. As usual with not buying EP's, I'll be pissing and moaning about how I miss out on certain things like harvestables, new interactions and some build/buy items but in the end, I know I can live with it. Now, if they're going to launch a Farm EP with OFB, I'd be all over that!!

I'm very excited about Island Paradise. It's about time we got boats/underwater. This future EP on the other hand....well it sounds like complete bullshit. But who knows? Maybe they'll shock us with something amazing when the trailer's released

You do raise an interesting point that I do not believe we have an answer for. How will living on, or near, water translate to other worlds than just IP? How can we plop down marinas, piers, or even lots, on edges of water in worlds that are not designed for routing at those locations? Yes, you can send a sim there to fish, but good luck placing a lot anywhere outside of using CAW to hack the EA world. I'll be interested in how that gets addressed (if it does) before release.

An open post to Graham. Will these things, in particular, living on boats, translate to other EA worlds like SV, SS, LP, (even ST, although I can't play it due to routing issues galore already) that do have some nice shorelines?

Hey eskie, bet not one of those questions get in the live chat. I want to know that too.

Edited to add: I tend to want other features in an EP, not the main features. I will buy an EP if the features are useful for my game play. I don't know anything about the Future pack, but I do hope it have something useful in it, right now I could care less about it.

the future EP sounds like a steaming pile of turds but that's just my opinion

Yes, you are being a moan. That's your prerogative. However, as others have pointed out, not every EP is going to appeal to everybody.

Many, many people wanted Sims to be able to swim in the ocean-- myself included. But without beach activities it turned out to be an pointless, boring experience. If nothing else, I believe this pack will give Sims more of an actual beach experience-- that will translate to any world with a beach, that's worth it in my book. The boats, mermaid, pool bar, ladders are all just gravy, and delicious gravy at that.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the hell they were thinking with that future pack. But who knows, maybe it'll have other awesome features that take away from the crappy time traveling. Kinda like how University sucked but everything that came with it was cool.

mmmmm gravy

but the whole ocean swimming thing was a let down i was hoping for more but i cant complain because my sims can finally get to the random island i made in sunset valley

Hmm, yep. That's a boat alright!

Maybe we'll get beach volleyball. Now that would be a cool addition. That, a grill, a fire pit, and a keg, all you need is a surfboard and you've got a remake of Gidget.

I love the idea of boats, especially sail boats and rowboats! I disagree that OFB did nothing for our sims. I had a relatively self-sufficient world with very few sims in EA jobs and enjoyed it immensely. Having sims who could run home businesses, including a massage therapist, art gallery, antique shop, added to my sims' lives as well as to my neighborhood. Restaurants not so much unless I played the family who ran them but I did enjoy having a place for my sims to go on a date...where they could cuddle and play footsie, etc.

I guess it all depends on how you play the game.

The only reason I am getting IP is the new occult.

THE MERMAID. THAT IS THE ONLY REASON

Well, I'm far more interested in those two EPs than in Showtime or Supernatural (I haven't even bought them). At least they will be something new, more or less, and not the same old EPs that I played 5 years ago in TS2 or TS1.

More beach activities like beach volleyball would be great. I would rather remake this, though: TOP GUN!!

I'm actually excited about Island Paradise, but I like outdoorsy sims. The Future EP sounds like an interesting idea, but it has limited audience appeal.