Realm of Magic - First Impressions

[MrsFlynn]

What's your first impression of the Realm of Magic Game Pack?

Please keep on topic of first impression of the pack. If you have questions regarding this pack, please create a New Topic so we can better help with questions.

[scoed]

Over all I like the pack but has issues.

First some strengths

Both worlds look great. Whomever designed them deserves a hearty thumbs up. Especially Realm of Magic. It is really magical feeling and full of whimsy. Love it.

Casters are deep. They are fun. Zipping annoying sims makes me smile, and is great fun. Love the fun they bring. I love new life lifestates and this pack brings that.

I like the CAS and build/buy items. They are so cool. After all there are portals.

Some megitves

The builds are horrible. Stairs to a wall? Just why? The beauty of the world is not reflected in the homes. Small errors like stairs that go to a doorless wall. Small stuff but makes everything feel half done.

Developing your spell caster is too easy. It took me two sim days to learn every spell and potion and become a top ranked spell caster. No cheats, just using potions for needs, and exploring magic, dueling, learning from sages, searching the bookshelves, and the like. No curses, no deaths, nothing. This pack lacks challenge.

[sdhoey]

I forget to add a door or a toilet to my builds a lot of times. I just went in and added a door to the stairs. No biggie to me.

As for the spellcasters, I am only on Thursday, week one. Anthony is only level 4/7 Mischief Magic and Alchemy 3/15. he only knows 4 spells in Mischief Magic and 3 potions.

[MarianT]

I would not rate this as highly as the Vampires or Jungle Adventures Game Pack, but it's still a good pack. I really like CAS and Build/Buy for this, and if we didn't get spiral staircases, the ability to manipulate stairs is a good substitute.

It probably is easy to level up in spellcrafting and alchemy. I can understand Carl's frustration in reviewing the pack. But for my purposes, the ease is helpful. I don't intend to play one Sim straight through the Spellcaster aspirations. Instead, it's something for the characters in my story to dip into.

Do I wish the initiation was a little more difficult? Yes. Not as hard as the Strangerville challenge, but I would have liked a little more than collecting 7 easy-to-find motes. Do I wish my Sim could have more interaction with her familiar? Yes. I'll probably use my imagination and give one of my characters a chatty familiar.

I'm actually not disappointed in the spells, potions, and curses. I expected them to meet needs and create emotions, because those are the main things that can be manipulated in TS4. I'm looking forward to using Morphiate and seeing how some of the curses turn out.

All in all, I think I'll get more use out of this than I've gotten out of Vampires. I have to say, though, that I'm really glad I have Spooky Stuff so that my Spellcasters will have appropriate headgear for broom riding.

[mousef]

I love most of the new CAS parts. But...
The occult eyes are broken
My favorite full body outfit has a coat with moon clasps and leggings. The leggings texture overlaps boots and looks hideous.
The game crashed because I hit the "play" button while my sim was doing the silly animation. Can't wait for the "stand still in CAS" mod to be updated, I hate the ** animations.
Not a great start. Should have checked the bug reports beforehand, I guess

Not happy about every townie that comes into the magic realm becoming a spellcaster and wearing a ridiculous outfit. Not sure if it's intentional, regardless I already got a mod to fix it, but if it's a bug the testing is reeeeally sloppy.

The magic realm itself is absolutely gorgeous. I could just stare at that world for hours .
Glimmerbrook has a really nice feel to it, but (this is a pet peeve of mine) many of the lots have bits of flooring in front of them that can't be edited. Could look nice if we got matching floors or terrain paint, but we don't, so it looks disjointed and bothers me forever.

The build/buy items are amazing, which makes the hideous buildings that came with the pack even more absurd.
There is a bed missing in the Charm household that is supposed to be a joke after the missing toilet incident (because bad quality control is funny!)
Not sure if the missing door is also an attempt to be cute or bona fide incompetence.

Spellcasting is fun! I like that we can cheese it and progress real fast, but taking it slow is also possible.
I'm also happy that a witch who is "cured" can get the Rite of Ascension again and return to the previous rank. I'll probably flip flop between being spellcaster/vampire/mermaid with my favorite sims.
The magical bloodline is an interesting mechanic.
Practical magic and alchemy are as good as I had hoped.

The portals have awesome possibilities. Cinderellimouse (no relation) on twitter suggests scaling them down once and placing them in a 3x3 room with a door to make a working elevator. I'll be using this A LOT.

If/when the bugs are fixed, this will probably become one of my favorite packs. For now it's a bit frustrating though.

[GlazeyLady]

Overall, I like the new worlds, although I wish they were bigger.  I love the look.  I'm not having a problem with how fast they can do it because I'm not spamming.  But I am frustrated that my sim is Best Friends Forever with Simeon Silversweater, but every time she asks him to teach her Practical Magic, he says they need to get to know each other better first.  This worked the first time she asked, when they had just become friends, but every time since then, he won't do it.

[furbyqueen]

I bought the pack solely for the build/buy. Those rugs and windows!! The gameplay was a secondary thing.

As everyone has said, the builds...oh god. The starter home is ugly and the bar is boring. I'm not really a builder as much as I am a decorator so its whatever.

Gameplay....holy crap. I think I had all the spells and potions in less than 2 hours. The potion aspiration is almost as easy as the Island Living one. And the death by overcharge is boring since a second level perk prevents it. Also why would your powers decrease if you're on a roll? I also thought a lot of it was just tacky. Growing up in a city known for witches and witchy things, a lot of it felt cringey. Like wow, two minutes and I learn a spell, ten minutes and I'm now an acolyte.

CAS was 50-50. More textured hair, finally!! But the clothes were either hobo looking, extravagant, or 00s scene kid in Hot Topic.

As much as people hate Island Living, it has way more gameplay and CAS stuff is useable off the island. This? I don't think I'll be using most of the items outside of witchy stuff.

[Ynde]

I'm having fun with this pack, although I've done a quick run through most things already. I want to take it more slowly and dig around to make sure I'm finding all the collectibles and play around with some of the spells and potions I haven't used yet. Also, I want to try this inherited trait, so my original sims need to have some kids.

It really does make life easy to be a spellcaster. My teen twins visited the magic realm for a weekend and were ready to move out and take care of themselves while still keeping easily on top of scouting, school, an extensive garden, jobs, etc. Life is simple when you can drink potions for all your needs and copypasto the Ultimate Vampire Tome for 800 a pop whenever funds get low.

I LOVE the build/buy stuff. It's not going to work everywhere, but it provides some fun, totally new styles that allow me to create things I couldn't before. I'm not as in to CAS, but there's some nice stuff there, as well.

I think this pack is best suited for a story-driven play style, while I tend to be a bit goal-oriented. That's true of most of the Sims 4, though. On the whole I think it's probably worth $20.

[Deklitch]

I love both the mundane town, even if not the the name, and the realm of magic.

I love the animations.

There didn't seem to be any new lot traits which disappointed me.

Clothing options for me are ok as are building options.

I like the house I can afford from the beginning, seemed everyone in town hated my character, he was born with the magic in him so maybe that was it ... or maybe it was because of interacting with the people that came with the welcome wagon he turned to his purchased cauldron and practised his brewing abilities.

He had a stone in his possession (a glimmerstone, I think it was) which allowed him to transport to the magic realm. I then created a sim who wasn't a spellcaster and put him in a different world, and he didn't have a glimmerstone, so I'll be interested in discovering the parameters around getting that.

I'm not terribly far into it.

[sdhoey]

I love both the mundane town, even if not the the name, and the realm of magic.

I love the animations.

There didn't seem to be any new lot traits which disappointed me.

Clothing options for me are ok as are building options.

I like the house I can afford from the beginning, seemed everyone in town hated my character, he was born with the magic in him so maybe that was it ... or maybe it was because of interacting with the people that came with the welcome wagon he turned to his purchased cauldron and practised his brewing abilities.

He had a stone in his possession (a glimmerstone, I think it was) which allowed him to transport to the magic realm. I then created a sim who wasn't a spellcaster and put him in a different world, and he didn't have a glimmerstone, so I'll be interested in discovering the parameters around getting that.

I'm not terribly far into it.

Dek, your sim gets the glimmerstone when they become a spellcaster.

[Joria]

Haven't done much with this, (no game play), since my focus is on my latest, and most fun, dynasty.  But.......as a builder I couldn't resist going and having a lot.  Oh dear heavens what ever were they thinking!!  Everything in the builds is wrong in my opinion, plus disjointed and fairly ugly.  Why?  When they have such awesome windows and such.  Those hideous roofs!  Did any builder notice the roof on the "big house", (sorry, have a hard time remembering names), didn't quite cover everything or match?  The door to nowhere needed fixing since it annoyed me so much.  Oh, and one other annoyance.  WHY oh why are the floor levels either so tall or just plain messed up.  It's ugly.  And the huge foundation!?  Why?  Ok, so didn't game play because I just HAD to fix the smallest house.  The stair to nowhere needed to be connected to the building in the first place and THEN you can add a door.  I added one to the, don't get me started on this, the kitchen.  The first thing a homeowner would do is renovate that kitchen!  Plus, for me, all the darkened doom and gloom colors had to go.  How about those not quite right asymmetrical windows?  Change that pronto.  And the big window over the fire place?  Who does that?  I think the round window in the smaller home was just stuck there so they could use it but it totally does not go with the house so was replaced by one, (ones?  don't remember.  I used a lot more windows), that went and, by the way, lightened up the interior.  Still wanted to keep it a bit on the dark side but not the dingy dark that was used.  Downstairs floor comes in lovely, warm tones, not the dingy greyish one used.   The "sort of " lounge/living room with the fireplace became a formal dining room.  The downstairs bedroom became a much smaller bath room and the overly large, waste of space bath room became the teen bedroom.  The large space where you entered became a tv place and where the dining room was became a little cozy spot for reading.  It now flows nicely, is a much better height in all levels to fit the style of house and motivated me to move upstairs.  The small "office" became a bedroom and the open space with that lovely rug became an office/library.  Why did they do 4x4 bathrooms?  Do they not realize you can actually put a shower, sink and jon in a 2x3 or 2x4?  And what's with not matching the colors of the foundation to something closer to the house or stairs?  I haven't even started the bar.  That will be a massive make over. 
   So, having said all that I don't understand why they would build such a beautiful, intricate world and put such slip shod builds in it, because that is what it is to me.  Sloppy work that really doesn't take that much to fix.  I love the world, only been on the one so far, but loving it.  I see a lot of potential in it and, I do love renovating their builds, always have.  What they give you in building things and cas made buying this more than worth it, if for no other reason than giving me a rant to rant about that I can fix.  Lol.  I'm looking forward to including it in one of my dynasties and actually playing it, once I've fixed it that is.  Bottom line....first impression, lovely world, broken builds, definitely a good buy.

[Rainbow Dash]

It's no secret that I love Occults and supernatural gameplay, however because of that I have high expectations so here's my honest review.

Pros:

Stepping through the portal into the Realm Of Magic is truly breathtaking, it really feels like being in another dimension, like a magical wonderland, love it!

Being a Spellcaster is great fun, spells and potions give all sorts of ways to mess with Sims, I must say I definitely enjoyed wrecking havoc on the magic realm, lol.

The potential for things to go wrong is something I'm absolutely loving, spells that backfire, potions that blow up in your face, it's wonderful! I loved watching my Spellcaster fail, it's hilarious to see her dangling from her broom upside down or turn herself into a fruit bowl (Yes, that really happened), lol. Finally some real consequences and things that can go wrong, I feel this is so badly needed and I've been waiting for this.

The Spellcaster duels, I loved these, always exciting to watch, never quite knowing who is going to win and it's always a great feeling when you knock one of the Sage's on their butts, lol. Being able to duel for rewards is pretty cool too, you can win some pretty neat stuff.

I like the different ways to customize your Spellcaster with so many styles of wands, brooms and familiars to choose from and the choice of different magical schools to follow is a nice touch.

CAS is really nice, I like the variety of styles, some really nice hairstyles and the male section is actually pretty decent for a change. Most of the items in Build and Buy mode are gorgeous but I feel like these would only fit a certain style. I do like the magical decor like the floating crystal and glowing orb lamps, I just wish we had a little more of these.

Cons:

Why is every townie and their mother a Spellcaster?! So freakin annoying and it breaks the immersion for me, townies don't just  turn into Vampires or Mermaids but now suddenly everyone is Harry Potter?! As much as I love Occults, I don't want my game overrun with them.

Gaining levels in spellcasting and obtaining spells and potions is just way too easy, where's the challenge? I don't think the Sages should be handing out spells willy nilly, it's kind of ridiculous to be handed a high level spell when you're starting out. The experience gain needs to be slower too.

I knew that we would get a bunch of spells to fix needs, cause a certain emotion and everything else we can already do a million different ways so that was no surprise. We did get a few original spells which are a lot of fun to play with but there's not enough of them. I'm also pretty annoyed they made two things previously only available in the Science Career as spells.

Being able to pick and choose perks is nice but I feel too many of them are simply designed to make your Spellcaster more powerful with less drawbacks. That takes some of the fun out of it for me, I wish there was a way to take some flaws or some perks that do more than just make your Spellcaster overpowered.

Lastly, I wish we had some spells that do more than cause mischief, don't get me wrong I love those, it's fun being able to turn an annoying townie into a gnome, but it would have been great to have some curses to throw around, lol.

Overall Opinion

Yes this pack is flawed and it needs improvement, gameplay needs to be more challenging, there should be more variety in spells and townies need to stay the heck out of the Magical Realm. But at the end of the day I LOVE this pack, it's a really fun way to spice up my games, cause some drama and do something a little different. I can think of MANY different ways to play this, stories to tell, evil schemes to put into action, the possibilities are endless, oh the fun I will have with this pack, watch out Simverse, I can do magic now!

Is it worth the asking price, yes I think so, there's a lot here for a gamepack and Spellcasters are surprisingly in depth and are a riot to play with. I love the humour and pure silliness, the misfortunes my Sim inflicted on herself and unsuspecting others due to failures and other unexpected turns of events had me in such fits of laughter I had to stop playing at one point. Will it top Vampires as my favourite gamepack? I haven't decided that yet. All I know is that I haven't had this much fun with the Sims 4 in a long time and I'm only just getting started!

[Franki]

Finally playing Magic... I'm a little disappointed.

The homes are a nightmare to navigate and feel cramped. Te ones already there I agree with others, they are just random an unfinished.

The spellcasters, well it took my two sims about a sim week to get to the top , with one getting 2 curses and the other no curses.. felt a little too easy.

I do like the items and the sages.

I don't know, maybe it's just me but I feel like more could have been added to flesh out the pack and make it more interesting... Yes it's worth the asking price, just would have liked a little more.