World Adventures: First Impressions

[Metropolis Man]

Nice job creating the new WA section, Carl. I noticed it right away and threw a few obvious topics here.

[Carl]

I've been pretty busy lately, but the few hours I've had to play thus far have led me to feel really good about buying this expansion. That is, even though I was kind of obligated

I was excited about Martial Arts, so sent my Sim to Shang Simla the first day after I made him. It was exciting to go to the new area, and while I fumbled around a bit I managed to get through the dungeon there, and complete a couple of quests. Unfortunately, only on my second trip did I earn enough points to get the Visa level upgrade. It feels exciting to gain that level, because the three days you're in a destination feels way too short.

Short, especially when I was also trying to learn Sim Fu. My third adventure was a 5 day stay and I did a chain of quests. I love the new adventure journal. It's cool to track my visa level and shoot for level 3.

I'm really happy with how it feels like most any skill you have from home can come into use in the travel locations. I needed charisma and fishing for two of my quests. Gaining lifetime wish points is also really exciting with all the new options. It's cool to know I can have a lot more time to spend adventuring with hardly hungry and steel bladder, and needs like energy and fun can now be helped, to boot!

I'm going to do some ranked tournament matches soon with him. It's really refreshing to have all these new things to explore.

[Metropolis Man]

I'm having fun with my Gallo brothers that I created this morning to test out the new Nectar making skill and write an eventual walkthrough. They have identical traits — Green Thumb, Loves the Outdoors, Over-Emotional, Ambitious, and then Ernest got Natural Cook while Julio got the Handy trait.

Ernest has made a couple rounds of Goopy Carbonara and for some reason nothing has spoiled in the fridge yet. I don't know why.

Pam mentioned not having to water anything with the new patch and it's true. Really bizarre. A nice time-saver but a bit unrealistic. Maybe the watering comes in at a later growth stage since the brothers just planted their first seeds.

[Honeymooners]

Metro I am really looking forward to your walk through on nectar making.  I tried to start it but I got a little overwhelmed with all the other new stuff.  I think it would be really cool to do a legacy with nectarmakers.  Just to see how old your nectar can get kwim?

[Metropolis Man]

Metro I am really looking forward to your walk through on nectar making.

Things are slow going for the Gallo brothers. They still haven't made it to France yet and I'm in the middle of week 2. But, both of them have almost mastered gardening and by the time they do eventually learn nectar making in France, they'll have some perfect grapes to use for their first round. I wonder how much nectar made from perfect life fruit will sell for?

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EDIT: Oh, my lord. I've made some incredible blunders in my first nectar-making journey. Time for a redo. Nectar is all about aging, so I need to get the brothers right over to France ASAP next time around. Carl, with Thanksgiving coming up I probably will not be able to get the walkthrough to you until the week after Thanksgiving. Hope that's okay.

[Honeymooners]

I looked into it and there are other types of grapes in France and you have to mix them with different kinds of fruit to get different outcomesl.  I might actually buy the Prima guide to keep it all straight.

[bshag]

I sent my Christopher Steel to France to learn nectary and he took right to it.  He harvested some different kinds of grapes in a vineyard next to the nectary then went diving in a pool in the basement and came up with a very old vintaged "nectar" (cough, ahem). 

After going home, I used the basement tool, which is awesome btw, and he now has his own nectary going on.  He bought books on nectar making while in France also.  The process of making the nectar is hilarious.  He also is now growing his own grapes, 3 different kinds and on next visit he'll be harvesting more.

I am really loving this game, even though the start was rough.  It seems though patch 1.7 fixed the save error problem, unfortunately not soon enough to keep from losing my precious Brooke and her whole family.  Ah well, I've started over many times in sims 1 and 2 so this isn't any different I guess. 

[Metropolis Man]

I sent my Christopher Steel to France to learn nectary and he took right to it.  He harvested some different kinds of grapes in a vineyard next to the nectary...

What a great idea. I would have never thought of doing that.

After going home, I used the basement tool, which is awesome btw, and he now has his own nectary going on.  He bought books on nectar making while in France also.  The process of making the nectar is hilarious.

It is. How about that train whistle?  Crazy. I'm really curious about all of the factors that affect value — basement, ingredients, time, type of storage unit, etc.

[PJSim]

I really, really love this EP so far. So many different things to do.

I love how everything blends together. You will get adventures/opportunities that require you to go somewhere else; many of the "old" skills are very useful in the new locations; you can bring home new veggies to plant in your garden.

I'm playing a house with a traveling Sim and a stay-at-home gardening and cooking Sim, he's bringing home lots of things she can use.

[Pam]

I'm playing a multi-Sim household, too.  They take turns traveling.  Right now, three of them are in China doing various things.  One fishes, another collects gems, and the third is working on Martial Arts.  They bring home something new every time, too.  I just built a separate nectar cellar/relic museum on the lot on Sunset Valley.  The lower level has the nectar making machine and nectar racks and the ground level has many display cases with statues and gemstones.  It's pretty cool.

[Metropolis Man]

This isn't really a World Adventures comment, but the whole food spoiling bug seems to have surfaced after that expansion. Or maybe it's just the buggy patch. Anyway, I did an interesting test that you can repeat for yourself to clearly show that the food spoiling is a bug and not intentional on EA's part:

* Make a meal
* Have your Sim grab a plate, but cancel the cue so he doesn't eat it and leaves it untouched on the table.
* Put the leftovers in the fridge, but leave the single plate on the dining table.
* They'll spoil at the exact same time

Lesson Learned: Refrigerators have no function at all! 

[PJSim]

Oh this is definitely not intentional, you can also tell by how random it is.

I can usually fix the problem by buying a new fridge as long as it's a different model from what they had before. But if they go traveling the fridge no longer works when they return. Same thing when I exit the game; when I enter a saved game the fridge is often broken again.

[kat]

I just wanted to say....I am SUPER EXCITED as I have JUST bought World Adventures!! Courtesy of my christmas bonus :-)
i can't wait to load it on and play it, but unfortunately will have to wait, as we are on holiday at the moment.
Just wanted to share my excitement with you all - look forward to playing the new challenges!

[Tweetybird100]

Well, I did have a few gameplay glitches at first and I'm currently having some minor graphic issues, but aside from that, the expansion pack deserves two thumbs and two big toes up!   EA really improved on the vanilla game and well done to them now for trying out such a great new idea!  

[Shakros]

My favorite thing about the WA EP is that you can travel whenever you want for as long as you want and when you go home not one minute has passed! (excluding the minutes taken to initiate the travel and return from traveling, of course)