#ALL of these moodlets were taken straight from the game!

[duusheen]

The next morning, Hope met Sterling at the small park next to her apartment, and they talked a little more about Hope’s past. Maybe it was Sterling’s words or the love in his eyes as he spoke, but she started to remember some things from her past! More importantly, Hope remembered this knight in sterling armor who had been her biggest support in the past 🥺💖

[wildlyminiaturesandwich]

🏠 Tiny Living Stuff Pack Review 🏠

Thank you to the EA Game Changer Program for providing me with the opportunity to play with Tiny Living Stuff early!

I didn’t have a lot of time to play around with this pack because I had some real life obligations during the early access time frame and the embargo time was once again at a ridiculous hour of the morning for me (don’t get me started on that mess), but here’s what I did learn about the new Tiny Living Stuff Pack.

I feel like I need to say straight away that this is my favourite stuff pack so far. The reason I feel the need to say that is because when I sat down to go through the notes I’d made during early access and type up this review, the more I got into it, the more it started to sound... aggressively ranty 😬

I was going to try to tone it down a bit, but honestly there are already so many reviews out there that gloss over the glaring bugs that I figured I might as well just leave it. It’s my honest opinion of the pack, and what’s the point of doing a review if I’m not giving my honest opinion, no matter how ranty? lol

I’m gonna put this under a cut, because spoilers.

— What I loved —

🏠 Create-a-Sim:

I’ve been saying for a long time we need more comfy casual clothing for our sims and with this pack we finally got some! LOOK AT THOSE JAMMIES!

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting any CAS items with this pack, but we got some amazing clothing that I will no doubt use on literally every sim I make lol

The hairs are good too, and more options are always appreciated, however I honestly feel like we already have different variations of most of them.

The best part about the hairs is that every single one of them has been made available for kids and toddlers! Apparently one of the gurus found a quick and cost effective way to convert hairs, so hopefully we’ll see this happen more and more with each future pack!

🏠  Buy Mode:

The Buy Mode objects are 100% the star of this pack for me. I don’t think there is a single thing in the buy catalogue of this pack that I didn’t absolutely adore! Some of the objects have issues — and I’ll get into that in a bit — but overall I love, love, LOVE the general concept of everything.

[click for larger]

The objects in this pack were based off the Scandinavian concept of Hygge and I really think they hit the nail on the head! Everything feels so cozy and comfy, with a little hint of Ikea to the furniture and I just... I can’t even really put into words how much I love it all. I honestly can’t remember a single previous pack (expansion, game or stuff) where I have loved every item in the buy catalogue, there’s usually always something that’s like “Meh” or “I don’t like this at all” to me, but the objects in this pack are 10/10.

I also love that they combined so many things. Like the murphy bed with the couch on the front (though I do wish we were also given that couch as a separate couch as well) and the TV unit that’s also a bookcase AND a stereo. And I really appreciate that they went back and redid some of the old book ends to make them functional bookcases. 

— What I didn’t love —

🏠 Create-A-Sim:

I say it with every pack and I’m going to continue to say it even if no one is listening...

WHERE ARE THE KIDS, TODDLERS AND ELDERS CAS ITEMS!?

I know the kids and toddlers got some hairs but that doesn’t make up for the serious lack of CAS content that every age range besides young adults has and it’s getting really hard to make unique sims when there isn’t enough content to choose from.

🏠 Build Mode:

For a pack dedicated to Tiny Living, I was really disappointed to see literally only one door in the build catalogue. ONE. I was expecting some small windows, maybe some sliding doors, but nope; just one door. Hell I would have even been happy to have less CAS stuff in exchange for some build stuff!

I get why they haven’t added bunk beds and spiral stairs yet, those are a lot of work and I’m ok with waiting until they perfect them BUT this would have been the perfect pack to add ladders. We already have ladders in game that are fully animated (pool and island living ladders) it really wouldn’t take that much work to make ladders work between floors. I HATE the idea of having to put stairs outside in tiny builds and ladders are the ultimate in space saving “technology"; I feel like the team really dropped the ball on that one.

🏠 Murphy Beds:

Listen, I love the concept of the murphy beds and the design of them looks really cool but I can’t see myself using them at all as they are currently.

I was almost immediately disappointed with them when I realised they were remote controlled. I know that it makes it easier for the Sims Team so they don’t have to work so hard to animate them, but I really wanted sims to pull them down by hand. The reason I wanted murphy beds in the game was because they would fit better with small apartments and homes of sims who don’t have a lot of money, and to me a remote controlled murphy bed sounds incredibly expensive. 

Oh but don’t worry, because apparently the remote control is invisible?

Now, the version of the game that the Gurus were using for the stream didn’t have invisible remotes BUT they use a dev build of the game that isn’t the same as ours, and many other Game Changers are also saying its invisible for them too, so I dunno what happened but that’s just one of the things that needs to be fixed.

The other issue, which is the biggest deal breaker for me, is that the damn things constantly break! And I do mean CONSTANTLY. You know how when you buy a cheap stereo or sink it’ll last a few days/uses before it breaks? Yeh, not the case for the murphy beds. They break instantly, and they break often.

I was REALLY looking forward to murphy beds being added to the game and I thought if there’s one thing I need to do above all else with this pack, it’s test out those glorious murphy beds! Well... I managed to play for roughly three sim days and here’s what happened during that time:

Bed 1 (never used before) got stuck on first use and squashed Sim 1

Bed 1 got stuck on second attempt and killed Sim 1

Bed 1 got stuck on third attempt and squashed Sim 2

Bought brand new bed

Bed 2 pulled down without issue for Sim 2

Bed 2 broke at 11pm while Sim 2 was sleeping and squashed Sim 2

Sim 2 refused to sleep for 3 hours out of fear while Sim 3 was able to sleep in broken, sparking bed for that time without issue because they weren’t in it when it squashed Sim 2

Sim 2 repaired bed while Sim 3 continued to sleep

After 3 hours Sim 2 went back to sleep and Bed 2 broke again almost immediately

Bought brand new bed. Again.

Bed 3 got stuck on first attempt and squashed Sim 2

Bed 3 got stuck on second attempt and squashed Sim 3

Bed 3 pulled down without issue on third attempt for Sim 3

Sims 2 and 3 slept for another 2 hours before Bed 3 started sparking again but didn’t squash them

Woke Sim 2 up to repair bed and immediately sent Sim 2 back to bed (the fear moodlet only happens if they get squashed but the bed can break without squashing them apparently?)

Bed 3 broke again 3.5 hours later and squashed both Sim 2 and 3

I rage quit.

For the so-called “Hero” object of this pack, this is just unacceptable. The percentage for breakage REALLY needs to be turned down because in my opinion they’re not usable as they are.

And even if it weren’t for all the bugs, I probably still wouldn’t use them in tiny homes because I don’t think they’re space saving at all. They take up exactly the same amount of space as normal beds do; 6 tiles. You can’t put anything in front of them or around them if you want them to be functional on both sides, and you can’t even put dangling lights above them because I guess, realistically, the bed would hit them on the way down?

It’s especially annoying with the murphy bed that has the couch attached. It would have been really nice to add a small coffee table or ottoman in front of it but you can’t because then your sims won’t be able to use the bed. I really wish they had have made at least the little round coffee table and the ottoman from this pack inventory-able. Sims could have them out during the day, and throw them in their inventory when they need to use the bed at night, then place them back down in the morning when they wake up.

I think it’s this aspect — not being able to put things around/in front of the murphy beds — that actually annoys the most; the bugs will probably be fixed eventually but I can’t see this ever changing. I spent most of the three days we had for early access trying to work out how to fit a murphy bed into a 32 tile micro home without having it just sitting in the middle of an empty room and let me tell you, it’s not worth the frustration.

— The Verdict —

🏠 7/10 Would go Tiny again

As I said, this is my favourite stuff pack so far and I will get a lot of use out of the CAS and Buy stuff, but because of all the things I mentioned above I can’t give it a 10/10.

I do love the content of this pack, but right now I’m getting kind of fed up with the issues that keep happening with every pack lately. It’s all stuff that should have been caught by QA testing, stuff that is glaringly obvious to the average player, and stuff that would have only taken two minutes of gameplay to find out was a problem. I don’t know who tests these packs, but whoever it is needs to step up their game in a big way.

Overall I really do love the pack, but some major aspects fell a little flat for me. And the fact that that’s not at all a surprise, and that this feeling of “I like it, but...” has become the norm with new packs is really quite sad.

If you have questions about Tiny Living Stuff, feel free to drop an ask in my box, anon will be on right up until the release 😊

[tardytothepardy]

Ooh it’s another Ivey legacy update.

I didn’t know I could do that anymore. Fascinating. 

I tried to play way more than I usually do, to speed things along. It worked (I don’t see how it wouldn’t), so now it is a week before Kris’s birthday. After his birthday, it’s Tiffany’s, then Dorothy’s, then Sans and Papyrus’s. But first we need to get through Talk Like a Pirate Day. What a nefarious holiday. 

In my last post I announced that Dorothy had exited her bear suit phase, but in this time she has entered a new phase: she’s a picky eater now. I don’t really know how that’s going to work, but I imagine it’s going to be annoying. I think the rest of the kids have gotten out of their phases, which is nice. Phases are cool and everything, but it’s kinda odd seeing Papyrus yell at someone for no reason. Not cool Pap. 

Grim has also made more progress on his aspiration, mainly that they finished their app, so now they have to spend a bunch of time on the computer. 100 hours, to be specific. Fortunately they’ve already logged over 80 hours, so now they just needs to be on the computer for the next whole day, and they will have completed the aspiration. Because you know they have that kind of free time. Definitely. 

Sans has also completed his aspiration, if I didn’t mention it before. Dorothy is making some huge headway in her aspiration, and Nick is steadily gaining too. I feel like I said at one point that I wouldn’t make their aspirations a priority, but I like completing things. You can bet that when I played The Sims 2, my Sim’s plumbobs were always either gold or platinum. Because I just really like doing that. 

As far as Tiffany goes, I’m having her go out and talk to people, which is weird, but it’s what she wants to do. I’m almost making it a personal goal for her to finish her aspiration before she ages up, so that maybe she can do something else? I’m not sure what. Maybe the Painter Extraordinaire one? Seeing as it doesn’t list anything about the career itself, and it’s just about painting and emotions and wow, it should be nice. Straight forward, maybe?

I realized with her being level 8 of 10 in her career before adulthood is a bit weird. I mean, since she was made in the story mode, she was at level 3 in the beginning. It’s only a little bit of a boost, but I just can’t let her settle. The number of times that she comes home with that “Can I Have a Feckin Vacation Already?!” moodlet is kinda sad, especially when I know that I’m never going to give her a vacation day. I probably should. She deserves it, but it’s so weird seeing her home. In her days off, I have her exercise.

(also yes that thing behind her is the little area i made for grim for their flower arranging. they’re at level three right now, so progress)

It just seems like something to do. I can’t just have her paint all day. And the garden that used to be hers is now taken care of fully by either Grim or Patchy (mainly Grim), so she doesn’t really have that anymore. I guess her only avenue of something outside of work to do is meeting new people. Today she met a mustached man and her neighbors, who are WD Gaster’s previous owner, and a grand master vampire who had twins named Jameson and Jasmin. (The game is cruel.)

But that’s hard. Except it kinda isn’t. With how high her charisma is now, she can give a cheerful greeting, chat a little bit, and then take a selfie with whoever she’s talking to, and then bam a new friend. I am currently at 17/20. So just 3 more people need to be pestered. 

Damn, this is gonna hit hard when all these people start dying. Maybe. There has been at least one person that she was friends with (wayyyy in the beginning) that has since died, and I don’t think she’s noticed. So maybe it’ll be fine? I hope it’ll be fine. Otherwise there’s probably gonna be a block of time when everyone’s dying and Tiffany’s just miserable. She already has the gloomy trait, and that’s not going to help at all. 

Oh gosh now I’m thinking of everyone dying. That’s so far off. Like, even if I played the Ivey family everyday for like 2 hours, that would still be months away, in real time. Wack. 

At any rate, now I am now working on the children’s grades, but mainly Dorothy’s and Nick’s. Because it’s required for their aspiration. Sans I believe is already an A student, and I think that currently Papyrus is a B student, but I had him do a school project anyway. To be fair-- it was a solar system one. I am partial to spacy things. But no other school projects will be completed unless I am horrifically bored. I hope it won’t come to that though. 

As far as Kris goes, he’s either maxed out all of his skills, or he’s super close. I think he might still have to complete his thinking skill, but I almost certainly will complete that by the next week. For the time being, Kris decided to pour something all over the grass behind the house. It’s actually been a while since I’ve caught any of the kids spilling paint, which might mean that they can learn? Though I did find some paint in Sans and Papyrus’s room when they invited friends from school. It was probably the other kids, but still. 

At any rate, I had Grim express their disappointment (which 100% is what my dad used to do all the time and it was that thing where you’re like “please just yell at me this is so terrible), and Kris melted with shame. You can just tell.