High School Years - First Impressions

[scoed]

This is the post to put your first impressions of High School Years.

Ok, Having tried this pack out quit a bit now I will say my first thoughts is mixed. This pack fills a need. We were desperate for something to make teens different than adults in my opinion. This pack does that. But it is far from perfect. The High School game play is repetitive. It got old fast. But it isn't all bad love the aspirations, 4 new woohoo locations is a lot as is 2 new deaths. It is a wacky humorous pack. Nothing like my high school years. The world is fun. Love the pier. All in all a sold "B" effort. It isn't as good as Werewolves but it adds a lot and I think I am going to get my money's worth.

Speaking of werewolves, funny thing happened when playing one in prom. I forgot to check on my rage status. Abbie turned right there in front of everyone. Teens ran every were. Poor Abbie was quickly hated by everyone. It was so funny. The whole thing was ruined. Who said school dances are boring. LOL.

One last thing being an influencer does not build fame. Lots of cross pack compatibility is missing. Also I noticed a few bugs. I am not sure what was patch related and what was pack related.

[MarianT]

The biggest bug is from the patch. Do not set your aging on long (or possibly short). Normal only. Even if you have aging off, make sure the setting is normal. I expect this to be fixed next week.

There are some general disappointments: The school lot can be placed only in Copperdale (although apparently there's a mod to fix that.) Your teen doesn't have any options in class except to take notes (much like my high school experience where talking during class was an instant detention). After-school activities are rabbit-holes. Get together clubs can't meet at the school or auditorium. You can't see Sims in the ferris wheel.

Personal disappointments: The only Sims who show up at the Pier are the vendors. The pier is not a lot but a public space. If you want more Sims around, you'll have to take a group with you. The ThriftTea place is not teen-only. Plenty of Sims do show up there, however.
The "science fair" is either a chess match or something to do with computers, and your Sim has to schedule it. Cheerleading is not a separate skill but improves fitness.

All of that said, I'm loving it. Teens are not my favorite age, and in fact, I didn't have any teens on hand in any of my games because I usually age them up to YA as soon as possible. So I played Sofia Bjergson. She looks great in the new clothing; more important, she looks like a teenager. High school is mainly a 7-hour period when your teen can meet others, except for 2 hour-long classes. But previously, it was really hard to have a teen make friends, especially if they were in an activity or working a part-time job. I like Social Bunny a lot more than I expected to. I plan to keep it for teens only, or perhaps YAs at university. The posts are cute, and can be friendly, flirty, mean, or a joke. Sofia's schoolmates are from Windenburg and other Sim worlds. She has a crush on Malcolm Landgraab (not my choice). She went to the pier with Jeb Harris, and they rode on the ferris wheel and went through the Haunted House, which had a cute pop-up. You can send anyone to the pier (although they have to access it from one of the other lots in the neighborhood), but I think I'll keep it for teens. Sofia also went to the Thrift store with Noah (one of the premades who came with the pack), and put together an outfit for Trendi. I think Trendi will be a good side hustle for Sims in the Style career. Sofia hasn't earned an Entrepreneur skill yet, but another Sim in the same game has, by selling her cross-stitching.

I haven't tried prom or graduation yet. Cheerleading is hilarious when the Sim is first starting out. Definite thumbs-up for Social Bunny (which I didn't expect to like at all).

If you're a family player, this pack, along with Parenthood and the stuff packs for children and toddlers, is a must-have. Also, more than any other pack besides Seasons, this one seemed comparable to the TS3 expansions.

[Cisi_Arashi]

Well I came back and found two new packs already, werewolves and this. I'm going to buy a laptop to play Sims 4 before I buy this as my current computer cannot handle the memory load. (I could buy it but I want to save my money for the double bundle of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet when they come out in three months. I am paying $120 for that bundle so I have to decide where the money from my check goes.)

Still, interesting expansion to the Teen Life State. We'll see where it goes.

[MarianT]

These are not first impressions, but things I experienced over 6 Sim weeks of play with a household of 6 teens. I sent 2 of them to school each day (a different 2).

Personally, I think the high school is designed well. My Sims had just enough time to take a shower downstairs in the morning if they needed. The boys', girls', and unisex bathrooms are color-coded -- red for boys, green for girls, and gray for unisex. They mostly socialized between classes, but there was time at lunch to paint a picture or play a game of chess. A possible bug is that your Sims can't go to class if the whiteboard has been pranked; they have to wait until it's been cleaned off. Another possible bug is that your Sims with the goal-oriented aspiration will want to clean the whiteboard, and I'm not sure that's possible.

Prom was great. Kudos all round to the developers. Your Sims don't actually have to ask anyone or be asked to go; at 7 pm, you get a pop-up asking who to send to prom. Only teens are eligible. If you want a Sim to be either royalty or jester, have the Sim's date vote.

The after-school activities are generally a disappointment. Occasionally you get a pop-up, but Scouts and Drama Club are more satisfying in that regard. Scouts and Drama Club do not count toward the goal-oriented aspiration. Your Sims will get banners when they reach level 2, and a trophy at level 3. They also get a trait -- Chess Master, Cheer Champ, etc. I sent Sims to the Football and cheerleading activities only once.

Graduation was so-so. It does exist, if you don't take early graduation for your Sims. My Sim was valedictorian, which might be why he didn't show up in cap-and-gown. He was the last to get a diploma from the principal. 3 students in cap-and-gown did get diplomas. They take forever to go up to the stage, though, and start wandering around the room as soon as the valediction finishes. Even though my Sim was in street clothes, he threw a cap up in the air at the end.

Social Bunny was fun at first, but tiresome after a while. My Sim who was going for Admired Icon, never did complete the aspiration. She was supposed to have 250 followers on Social Bunny. She had over 2000, at least 250 whom she gained after reaching level 3, but the aspiration never completed. If you don't want your Sims to get mean texts from their parents, don't add their parents as friends.

Crushes are great if you like surprises.

The Pier is fun, but I don't know whether it's good for dates. The problem is that you have to send your Sims somewhere else for the date -- to the park usually. So they go on a ride, you queue up a second ride, but they have to walk back to the park after the first ride before they talk to each other again. The pop-ups for the haunted house and tunnel of love are cute; I don't know if there's one for the ferris wheel.

Finally, if you put your Sims on the Gallery after they go to high school, it will be as if high school never existed. They'll have the character traits and lifestyles they earned, but the traits like Cheer Champ and Valedictorian won't be there.

All in all, I got my money's worth, but there are disappointments and annoyances.