Parenthood - First Impressions

[MrsFlynn]

I wanted to create a thread for us to post our first impressions of this pack. These first impression posts help members and readers of the forum learn more about the pack and help decide if they want to buy the pack.



What's your thoughts on this pack?!

[Sannara]

After 30 minutes of gameplay:

So far my orphaned teen is well on her way to earning the "responsible" trait (if she were to age up right now, she'd get the trait, but she still has a week to go), and has slight progress on the manners and emotional control skills.

I'm enjoying this so far.

[Kaesa]

So far I've been enjoying it!  I really like that there are new ways to learn child skills (through school projects) and watching my Sim and her son work on a medieval diorama was adorable.  I also kind of felt like it was super easy for my child and teenage Sims to be perfectly well-behaved, and now it's more of a challenge, which is more fun storytelling-wise for me.

Journals are cool too -- now when the kids come home from school with negative moodlets I have them write in their journals and I think it lowers the duration of the moodlets + gives them a little positive moodlet.  (Plus I just really like that my rebellious goth girl now has a place to vent about the unfairness of life.)

I'm less a fan of curfews, though.  The household I'm playing has three kids -- an older teen who's pretty responsible, has been a straight-A student with a regular babysitting job, and has published a few books; a younger teen who's more impulsive and wants to go hang out with vampires; and the slightly unexpected baby of the family, who just had his toddler --> child birthday.  I thought it might be interesting for storytelling purposes to give each child different curfews, but not only is that not possible, nor is it possible to set curfews that aren't 7, 9, or 11 pm, but it also means that my oldest teen gets dinged for being "irresponsible" for doing her babysitting job, and also invited a lecture/punishment for it.  I feel like for curfews to make any sense they need to have custom times, apply differently to different kids, and/or make an exception for jobs.

Jury's still out on mood swings and phases -- I haven't had any kids go through a phase yet, and only experienced one mood swing.  It was a little startling -- my best-behaved teen was suddenly ENRAGED and then had to go to work like that, after having just enough time to write an angry journal entry.  Her angry walk was hilariously glitched, though.

Also, I think there's a lot of imbalance in the value system?  It's really really easy to gain Responsibility points but the others are a lot harder, so for some reason the kids in my household are slightly in the red re: Empathy and I don't know why.  (It might be their much-loathed noisy neighbor from when they were younger and living in the city?  He used to break into the apartment and vent to everyone after being told off for being too loud.)

[MarianT]

Welcome to the forum, @Kaesa!

I've only scratched the surface with this in the couple of hours that I've played, and that's a good thing. Something I read on the official forum was that if you give a child the "good" trait, for example, when aging up from child to teen, you'll get a big jump in the empathy value. I think if you look at Carl's article on Character Values, you can find out which traits provide which boosts.

Other than trait influences, it looks like gains are in very small increments, which I like. It's going to take a lot of interactions to get to any single trait, but if you start from a toddler, you'll have time to get all 5 traits, I think.

Overall, I think the pack makes teens and children more unpredictable. I've had one teen get a mood swing, and I loved the thumbs-down that she gave to her adult sister's suggestion. Two of my children have made messes, and one asked about eating dirt. I do wish the child mess was different from the toddler's -- more like toys scattered around rather than spilled paint. But the child did stop when his mother asked him to.

I would say that this pack is a must-buy for anyone planning to do the Ten-Gen Townie Dynasty or any type of game in which you control only one Sim. My parent is now able to put children in bed (very similar to tucking in a toddler, quite sweet), and has reached the parenting level where she can influence a child to do homework.

I like the furniture that comes with the pack, the couches especially and the new shower. CAS is okay, but nothing I got excited about. I haven't tried the school projects yet or the volunteer work, but I'm looking forward to those. The real value is in the interactions. There's a big difference between my making a teen mop the bathroom floor and my Sim making her do it, even if I'm the one choosing the action for my Sim. And I'm looking forward to the random phases and pop-up questions.

On the whole, I'd say that if you want more chaos in your Sim's families and you really enjoyed what was done with toddlers, then this is the pack to get.

[scoed]

Got the GP today and played it for a few hours, and lets just say while it is too early to put a definitive grade on it given the limited game time and I haven't raised a toddler to adulthood yet, I am not impressed. Again it is way too early to give a fair grade, and I admit I may be missing key areas in my assessment. As I play more I will come back and regrade, but my first impressions are not positive. For instance the trait gains are so small as to be basically unnoticeable. The best way I found to level is it litterally have the child do negitive behaviors and have a parent correct them. Poor game play. Again once I raise a toddler all the way to adulthood I will know more.

[scoed]

Got the GP today and played it for a few hours, and lets just say while it is too early to put a definitive grade on it given the limited game time and I haven't raised a toddler to adulthood yet, I am not impressed. Again it is way too early to give a fair grade, and I admit I may be missing key areas in my assessment. As I play more I will come back and regrade, but my first impressions are not positive. For instance the trait gains are so small as to be basically unnoticeable. The best way I found to level is it litterally have the child do negitive behaviors and have a parent correct them. Poor game play. Again once I raise a toddler all the way to adulthood I will know more.

Well I am going to revise my take on this GP. Apparently my sim child sim was bugged, as after I reset her to fix another issue her trait bar started moving in a noticeable fashion. I wish the child wasn't obsessed with making a mess, but now I can get real progression towards the traits it is much more enjoyable. It isn't as good Vampires, but it is a solid add. Well as long as your child sims aren't bugged, anyway.

[Playalot]

Let me preference my first impressions with the fact that family play, as such, is not really my way of playing. I am a completionist and like to play strategically. All my children complete every aspiration before aging and are A students, my teens all are A students and complete quite a few adult aspirations and max skills before aging and so on. I micro manage like mad and my sims always are set to full autonomy.

Now having said that... I'm not really enjoying this pack at all. I feel like it has just added to the grind without giving my sims much reward. I was really pleased to read @MarianT  thoughts as it gave me a new perspective on the game play this pack has. To quote you Marion;

"There's a big difference between my making a teen mop the bathroom floor and my Sim making her do it"

I loved reading this as my take is the opposite, why bother grinding a skill to have a sim tell my teen to mop the floor when I can just direct him to do it with one click of my mouse.

And that really is the basis of my dislike of the game play mechanics of this pack. I'm not into that kind of play and never have been with The Sims. I think that I can probably work in maxing the Character Values to my Runaway Teen challenge which is neat as I do love making things hard for my sims.

I do like the build items, the new kitchen sink and counters and the coffee table are really nice. I haven't actually looked at CAS yet but from the bits and pieces I've seen around the interwebs I think that it's probably pretty good too. I guess it's probably fleshed out playing families to a reasonable level now and I think that if this is your play style then you'll really enjoy these added game play features.

For me, it's a 'meh'. I could have easily done without it. *(Ouch! On rereading that sounds a bit hard... Lemme slink off back to playing with my vamps!)

[divanina]

I like it so far. I mean, it's good enough that I finally made an account to post. 

I'm finding better spontaneous interactions between siblings and parent/child. My child-aged sims have begun to spontaneously clean and set the table. They also sometimes ask to be tucked in, which I find sweet, and the parents will spontaneously tuck them in, even if the children have already gone to bed. Making a sack lunch is a nice little trick to give sims a boost during their day. Send them off to work or school and, if they eat it, they get a happy moodlet that makes for a better day.

As for the parenting skill, having a baby or toddler builds it quickly. Parents gain for taking care of the kid.

So far, so good, in my opinion. I will have them volunteer someplace tonight and see how that goes.

[scoed]

I like it so far. I mean, it's good enough that I finally made an account to post. 

I'm finding better spontaneous interactions between siblings and parent/child. My child-aged sims have begun to spontaneously clean and set the table. They also sometimes ask to be tucked in, which I find sweet, and the parents will spontaneously tuck them in, even if the children have already gone to bed. Making a sack lunch is a nice little trick to give sims a boost during their day. Send them off to work or school and, if they eat it, they get a happy moodlet that makes for a better day.

As for the parenting skill, having a baby or toddler builds it quickly. Parents gain for taking care of the kid.

So far, so good, in my opinion. I will have them volunteer someplace tonight and see how that goes.

Welcome to the forum.

[deenahax]

I really like this pack! As others have said, it adds a bit of spontaneity to family play. I have 2 kids (one started as toddler). Maybe it's just the traits I'm playing with but calm discipline does absolutely nothing but makes the kids give you sass. I usually use firm with my toddler and that got her attention. I've only yelled once - and I felt terrible! But, the toddler never made a mess again...so I guess it worked. As in real life it depends on the kid which makes me appreciate the detail put into this game.

The older kid is kind of a loaner who likes to journal and play chess - so he's been pretty easy going. My toddler has now aged up so I'll see how the sibling dynamics play out.

[divanina]

I really like this pack! As others have said, it adds a bit of spontaneity to family play. I have 2 kids (one started as toddler). Maybe it's just the traits I'm playing with but calm discipline does absolutely nothing but makes the kids give you sass. I usually use firm with my toddler and that got her attention. I've only yelled once - and I felt terrible! But, the toddler never made a mess again...so I guess it worked. As in real life it depends on the kid which makes me appreciate the detail put into this game.

The older kid is kind of a loaner who likes to journal and play chess - so he's been pretty easy going. My toddler has now aged up so I'll see how the sibling dynamics play out.

You might be right about the traits. My twins were angelic toddlers and calm discipline works well. The toddler is fussy and Dad just had to resort to yelling at her about throwing food on the floor. She hasn't done it since, though she did bite him.

[coolsim9999999]

Parenthood is an awesome GP so far!  I love the new socials, objects and character values.  I had fun building my first "parenthood" house, and the parents and children are gaining skill steadily, which is so cool .

In my opinion, the only con is that when a chance card appears, the child loses some of their character value progress and gains progress on another of their character values.  I wish there were a way for them to retain progress in all areas for choosing to do the right thing in a situation.

Edit: Tonight, I started to play with my main family, the Sullivans.  The children are just as well behaved, and so are their friends.  The parents in their family are even better parents now than before, so, I'm super excited about this pack !

[scoed]

Parenthood is an awesome GP so far!  I love the new socials, objects and character values.  I had fun building my first "parenthood" house, and the parents and children are gaining skill steadily, which is so cool .

In my opinion, the only con is that when a chance card appears, the child loses some of their character value progress and gains progress on another of their character values.  I wish there were a way for them to retain progress in all areas for choosing to do the right thing in a situation.

I actually like that there isn't a clear "right" choice. In life one is often presented a choice that has conflicting morals. Life is often a choice between greys instead of clear black ans white. I like they somewhat put that in the game.

[Ynde]

I love the build/buy content in this pack. The gameplay is enjoyable, but I'm also finding it a bit frustrating. I've not gotten beyond toddlers (I usually play with a long lifespan, and right now I actually have aging turned off), so that may have something to do with it.

It seems very difficult to make much progress on character values with toddlers. After a couple of sessions of "teach to say sorry" didn't move the bar in the slightest, I tried resetting my toddler, but still nothing. Manners and responsibility have both come up a bit, but I cannot get that conflict resolution bar to budge. I'll have to see if things go better once I age the toddlers up to children.

[HelenP]

In just a couple of interactions with children it's possible to see movement in the bars.  I bought a journals for them and could see a change in the empathy bar with just one 'write in journal' action.