Eco LifeStyle - First Impressions

[Carl]

Hey everyone. I put out a Review of Eco Lifestyle that expresses how I feel. I went in and felt like there was no direction, gameplay's the same just kind of tacked on. Strange decisions are littered throughout. Locking smog vacuum and meat wall as career rewards (for ONE BRANCH) and them being necessary features to round things out. They aren't even available easily with cheating. The bugs health declines so rapidly from day 2 that it's not possible to keep more than 1, and you have to watch the hug a bug animation over and over.

I'm extremely frustrated with the gameplay. I feel like at some point they need to be putting more work into these, playtesting them, and putting out more features for a $40 price tag. I know it's blunt, but it's just frustrating to feel like players are buying the same things over and over again. Bikes, the child's creativity table, the new boxes are university basically, the insect boxes could be bee boxes, the market place items, the selling table. It's all in there as a feature but it's not new in any way. I want EPs to have all new content. I don't mind when putting something cross-pack is necessary for functionality but you can't fill out a pack that way or the people who buy everything will feel short changed.

[MarianT]

What I love about this pack is that it caters to the player who has a long-range game going. I've completed nearly 12 Sim years (my seasons are 28 days long) with this save, and am getting close to Generation 4 for my 10 Sim families.

After 2 Sim weeks, my neighborhoods are all pretty neutral, but I think the Spice District in San Myshuno is going to go Industrial eventually. All my families should be living with 2 N.A.P.s active, and I'm curious to find out what they are. I did some math and made the discovery that there are over 3800 different combinations of N.A.P.s possible in most of the worlds, over 5000 in Evergreen Harbor. It's possible that some of the N.A.P.s would be incompatible, but even so, that's a lot of neighborhood traits.

Right now, I'm a little disappointed in the bills -- it looks like taxes for everyone are at $300. Also, it should be easier to make a neighborhood go industrial. But neither of these things is greatly important to me, and it's possible that there will be changes. I think the N.A.P.s are going to make the biggest difference, and probably some will have a bigger effect than others.

The random phone calls look like fun, too. My Sim got a call from Bess asking for a 1000 simoleon investment. He gave it. She called back just as he was leaving for a class, so I didn't get to see that call. The 3rd time when she asked for another 1000 simoleons, he complained that she hadn't come through with his payment, so she gave him several thousand simoleons. I suppose eventually these will get to be like the invitations that came with City Living, but for now they add something.

I can see that if you take this expansion pack as a game, this one seems to not have much replay value once you're made Port Promise green. But if you plan to incorporate it into an ongoing game, there's a lot to work with.

[ratchie]

Things I do not like
The fact that you can sell dumpster finds via household inventory for full price is silly especially when items are burned out.
I don't really understand the bill system my Bill's were 46 simoleons is that good or bad have I saved the sim planet yet.
8 hours tending a table and someone bought my candle for 30 simoleons with the initial outlay of 550 for my table and the two hours my sim stood looking at a candle filling a mould I'm making a huge loss might as well go work for the man.
The eco upgrade nap I'm trying to upgrade with eco upgrade parts game you wanna give me a minute.
The fact that a lot of the features feel like they should have been added to other packs to complete them is very annoying.

Things I do like.
New traits might not be the traits everyone wants but at least there is some new ones.
Dumpster diving as a rags to riches player I love the homeless eating out of the bin dumpster diving thing.
Cas is pretty good I love the dungarees/overalls for pregnant sims not the intention maybe but i like.
Getting random fruits and plants out of the dumpster is helping me complete my collection so that's a bonus.
Despite what I said about the eco upgrade nap I do look forward to exploring what each one does I'm currently pushing for juiced community in the hope that it will increase my juice sales.
I can actually live off the grid and with the help of lot traits and other game features have a sim that is reasonably happy. Underground spring lot trait for the win.
I am actually enjoying playing right now a lot more than with university or realm of magic so that's a plus.

Rachel

[callycat]

I was surprised by the candles. With dyes and plants you can get an 8 hour moodlet just from a quick sniff of the candle.

[Nindigo]

My first impression is that it's all a bit overwhelming. I will take my time and learn bit by bit.

My experience so far is:

- bugs are needy little creatures if you want them to be at a 'growing' and 'well fed' state all the time - especially after collecting from them
- eco-upgraded household objects need to be kept an eye on which (to me) becomes tedious fairly quickly
- a lot of things needs attention and tending when playing eco-friendly; it quickly became too much for me, had to scale down and pick what I wanted to focus on
- there are some bugs that make things a little confusing such as the fizzy juice station - it isn't 100% reliable

I like the overall concept though and looked forward to the release. And I look forward to get to know it better.

[Franki]

I've finally had a decent play through, I'm mixed about it..

Things I like:
Solar Panels
Wind Turbines
Rain Water Collecting
CAS Outfits and Hairstyles
The lot traits (not using them but new lot traits I'm not against)
The new career and aspiration thingy
The idea of a green or non green neighbourhood (I do mean idea)
The New Neighbourhood (it's got a great layout and pretty scenery)

Things I don't like:
The neediness of the voting system
The dead bugs on day 2 of having them
The bugs setting my sims on fire shortly before both my sim and the bugs die..
The bills (I actually liked paying 53,000 simoleons every time for such a big lot, cause my sims have around 9 or 10 million amassed over the generations)
The short time span in which you bore of the eco function and turn it off
The constant need for eco parts for every little thing that the inspector tells you needs to be an eco model
The eco-inspector, I know I may be alone but it just feels like I'm being punished for not having the right things.

I've turned off the eco part of the game, because it just annoys me far too much and is way too needy.. honestly not worth the purchase price, I love some of the stuff in the pack, but to me it doesn't equal the amount spent on the pack in the first place. If i had to boil it down to pure numbers, I'd give it a 4/10, it's okay not exactly awesome replay-ability dependant on how you decide to play.

[reggikko]

I agree with everything @MarianT says below. It doesn't bother me that my Sims won't become rich with the new crafts. For me, the fun is in the process of collecting the parts and ingredients and making the items. I just started a Build a City challenge file, so I'm aiming for long-term play, as well, and this pack adds a TON of things to do that fit my gameplay style. I love the build/buy items too. In fact, this may turn out to be my favorite EP. Yes, the bugs are too needy, but LittleMissSam has a mod that fixes it. Hopefully, the devs will tweak the tuning on it eventually. I started a Rags to Riches challenge within the main challenge and I had a blast with that Sim today. He cannot sell anything into the ether, so he did a lot of dumpster diving, keeping what was fixable and recycling the rest. He can only craft or find furniture and has to sell items at the Marketplace lot. I found it refreshing that there's competition from other sellers, so my Sim only sold all of his items once, but he still made money and he made a table lamp, end table, and bookcase from his recyclables.

My Sims pay pretty aggressive property taxes and I deliberately keep them all from getting super rich, so lower actual bills, while mildly annoying, isn't that big of a deal. I'll just up their taxes. I am looking forward to the Knitting pack because I think Plopsy + craftables from this EP will work beautifully together.

I know not everyone is going to like everything, but for me, Eco Lifestyle is money well spent.

What I love about this pack is that it caters to the player who has a long-range game going. I've completed nearly 12 Sim years (my seasons are 28 days long) with this save, and am getting close to Generation 4 for my 10 Sim families.

After 2 Sim weeks, my neighborhoods are all pretty neutral, but I think the Spice District in San Myshuno is going to go Industrial eventually. All my families should be living with 2 N.A.P.s active, and I'm curious to find out what they are. I did some math and made the discovery that there are over 3800 different combinations of N.A.P.s possible in most of the worlds, over 5000 in Evergreen Harbor. It's possible that some of the N.A.P.s would be incompatible, but even so, that's a lot of neighborhood traits.

Right now, I'm a little disappointed in the bills -- it looks like taxes for everyone are at $300. Also, it should be easier to make a neighborhood go industrial. But neither of these things is greatly important to me, and it's possible that there will be changes. I think the N.A.P.s are going to make the biggest difference, and probably some will have a bigger effect than others.

The random phone calls look like fun, too. My Sim got a call from Bess asking for a 1000 simoleon investment. He gave it. She called back just as he was leaving for a class, so I didn't get to see that call. The 3rd time when she asked for another 1000 simoleons, he complained that she hadn't come through with his payment, so she gave him several thousand simoleons. I suppose eventually these will get to be like the invitations that came with City Living, but for now they add something.

I can see that if you take this expansion pack as a game, this one seems to not have much replay value once you're made Port Promise green. But if you plan to incorporate it into an ongoing game, there's a lot to work with.