The Sims 3 Seasons: Announcement Thread

[jestina]

Aliens should have been part of Supernatural. They are stretching things out again....trying to nickel and dime people. I hope they can be turned off anyways.

[thesimslover828]

Aliens should have been part of Supernatural. They are stretching things out again....trying to nickel and dime people. I hope they can be turned off anyways.

The Supernaturals are magical beings, it really wouldn't really fit with magic. Even if they where there would still be a creature for the Seasons EP, every EP has creatures.

[Wiry]

Seasons will keep my sims even more indoorsy than before 

[Miss Estella]

I wonder how seasons will affect pets. I know they said small dogs and cats would dig through snow to get places in the winter season, but I have a lot of ranch games where my sims are outside with their horses. Will they be able to live comfortably outside? I know in real life they do quite well in the colder seasons. And can my herd dogs stay outside or do I have to kennel them?

Oh, I can't wait for Seasons to answer these questions. This EP will certainly bring a even more realistic approach to sims like never before!

[Ricalynn]

For anyone who didn't get to see it yet, there was a blog on the weatherstone by SimGuruAlan.  [link]


 
The Sims 3 Seasons – ‘The Weather Stone’

For the first time ever we have created an object that ties two expansion packs together! Players who have The Sims 3 Supernatural and The Sims 3 Season installed will get a mystical Weather Stone that allows werewolves, fairies, vampires and witches to summon their own mystical weather.

The Weather Stone will appear in new and saved games and will rise up from beneath the ground on a community lot in any of The Sims 3 worlds, except for the vacation cities from The Sims 3 World Adventure. You can easily find the Weather Stone in your world by searching for the Map Tag in Map View.

The Weather Stone can only be activated by one of the four different supernatural characters that appear in The Sims 3 Supernatural. Each one will summon their own unique weather effects which will have a variety of differing outcomes ranging from special benefits to complete and utter chaos. These effects vary based on the supernatural character that activates it. Without further delay here they are!

Vampires
Vampires will be able to summon a cold Eclipsing Fog that puts other Sims under their spell. Sims who are generally unwilling to be turned, or used as a snack, can’t help but fall under the effects of the Eclipsing Fog and allow vampires to turn or drink them.

Fairies
Fairies are more adept with nature and have their own ability to summon a Reviving Sprinkle. The Reviving Sprinkle turns rain into flowers. Plants will be magically watered and fertilized, killing off weeds and making them disappear. The fairy magic doesn’t end there! At the end of a Reviving Sprinkle, a beautiful rainbow will appear across the sky.

Werewolves
The ferociousness of werewolves allows them to summon their own mystical powers through the Weather Stone. The Hunter’s Storm snows down collectibles onto the ground and increases their chances of finding rare items.

Witches
Witches will be able to call forth a Bewitching Rain that showers the world with green precipitation. This will make all Sims start to act a bit crazy. Sims who are under the rain will get a boost to their mood and have an uncontrollable urge to dance. Talk about an easy way to get everyone to participate in a rain dance!
 


The Weather Stone may only be used once per day but the supernatural summons are not always guaranteed to succeed.  An individual or group of the same supernatural may join in during the summoning to increase the odds of having a successful weather effect take place. But be warned, there is a chance that the Weather Stone may backfire and strike the supernatural(s) with a shocking jolt of lightning!

[Louise56]

Thank you Rica, that look so awesome. Fairies are my favorite, I can't wait to try this with a fairy.

SimGuru Graham will be on twitter on thursday. I find it at simsvip, here is a linlk.

http://simsvip.com/2012/10/16/simgurugrahams-seasons-twitter-session/

[Ricalynn]

New information about festival lots - Originally they had said it might be possible to choose the lots that festivals are going to happen. 

That has now changed!   SimGuruGraham said on the official forums:  link

I just wanted people to know there’s no need to panic and rush out to save existing lots. Any lot that we’re replacing with a festival lot will have the original version of the lot also available in the edit town lot bin.
 
That being said, if you’ve customized the lot that we intend to replace with a festival I would recommend saving that lot in advance should you want to continue using it somewhere. Further, the game will ask you if you want to replace any customized lot; it won’t automatically overwrite one of your lots.

 

Sunset Valley = Central Park
Twinbrook = Town Center
Bridgeport = Bridgeport Acres
Appaloosa Plains = The Lexington (home)
Starlight Shores = Verde Park
Moonlight Falls = Eerie Park
Riverview = “All the Rave” Warehouse
Barnacle Bay = Crowe’s Nest Campgrounds
Hidden Springs = Beryl Lane Picnic Spot
Lunar Lakes = Memories of Riverview
Lucky Palms = Civic Center
Sunlit Tides = Starfish Sands Playground

Appaloosa Plains is the only one where a residential lot will be chosen because the other parks available are not large enough.

[RaiaDraconis]

As excited as I am about having seasons, I have to admit that having aliens is a major turn-off. From what I'm seeing on the official forums it would appear that there won't be an option to turn them off like we can with vampires and werewolves. I don't want to have a random sim of mine abducted and impregnated with an alien child...it's just not my play style.

[MaryMarsh]

Amen.

While I get it that the Sims franchise has been playful and usually ascedes to the desires of fantasy loving players, I yearn deeply for a more life-like playing experience. I want farms, I want shopkeeping. I DO NOT want more fantasy baloney.

But like every other EP -- and I own them all -- I play those game aspects I like and pretty much ignore the others. Being hit by a meteorite is an absurd notion; I can absolutely bank on it that one of my Sims, in any given game, will be hit by one. So, the first thing I do now is grow deathflowers from Buydebug. Zombies are a minor annoyance, but I fence them out or just ignore them. Just as certainly, aliens will be a minor annoyance. As of now, I figure I'll just force-age any resulting baby out of the game.

Sims 3 is a wonderful game. It offers us an open world (sandbox) experience, albeit a small one, where we can do virtually anything we want. We can do quests/opportunities, or choose not to do them at all. We can switch careers to our hearts' content, or never do a career at all. I've had enormously wealthy sims, and others that virtually lived on the street, slept in pup tents, and played exclusively for tips. What I do find egregious is the developers' tendancy to force unrealistic, preposterous game components -- with no initial opt out -- on players desiring a more realistic gaming experience. To me, this is the Sims Achilles heel.

[SimFreeek]

Fairies + The Weather Stone sounds like a really broken gardener. I wonder if werewolves will get more interesting stuffs. So far werewolf doesnt seem very fanciful or fun as a supernatural character.

[jestina]

I guess they're too lazy to edit the worlds so they can put in a new community building...so we'll end up with a destroyed SV unless we save the park space ourselves. They should not even bother messing with existing worlds if they are just going to do a sloppy copy and paste...such as they've done with the paste ep's.

[Pam]

I guess they're too lazy to edit the worlds so they can put in a new community building...so we'll end up with a destroyed SV unless we save the park space ourselves. They should not even bother messing with existing worlds if they are just going to do a sloppy copy and paste...such as they've done with the paste ep's.

We don't allow EA bashing on this Forum, so please be a bit more careful with what you say.

[Katie123urgreat]

As excited as I am about having seasons, I have to admit that having aliens is a major turn-off. From what I'm seeing on the official forums it would appear that there won't be an option to turn them off like we can with vampires and werewolves. I don't want to have a random sim of mine abducted and impregnated with an alien child...it's just not my play style.

I totally agree with that. I really want to have Seasons, even thought I'm pretty sure I'll only get it at Christmas, but ever since I heard about aliens I have been a little skeptical. I don't want my sims to be abducted. It's pretty upsetting that there is now way to turn them off.
I'm upset that they chose "All the Rave" Warehouse for Riverview. I know that RV doesn't have any large park lots, but that means that the festival in Riverview won't be as enjoyable in any other town since it will be indoors. I guess I'm just going to have to create my own lot and copy one from another town.

[Chuckles_82]

I was a little bit skeptical about Supernatural, but I do like it very much. I find fairies more game-fixing than game-breaking. All those wishes to grow particular plants are now worth promising, because it won't take weeks to grow things. Werewolves did seem a little lazy though - they're like people/dogs. Something new would have been nice.

Seasons will definitely add realism to the game, despite aliens being included. And I just love that we'll finally be able to swim in the water! Something Sims builders have been doing using CC since Sims 2 (invisible floor tiles and some tricky building).

I too would LOVE to see farming; and businesses again, although the self-employed option is similar to that. Farming would really complete the Sims for me.

[pallyndrome]

I totally agree with that. I really want to have Seasons, even thought I'm pretty sure I'll only get it at Christmas, but ever since I heard about aliens I have been a little skeptical. I don't want my sims to be abducted. It's pretty upsetting that there is now way to turn them off.
I'm upset that they chose "All the Rave" Warehouse for Riverview. I know that RV doesn't have any large park lots, but that means that the festival in Riverview won't be as enjoyable in any other town since it will be indoors. I guess I'm just going to have to create my own lot and copy one from another town.

Have they listed which lots will have festivals on them in the various neighbourhoods? I thought we could choose?