"An Aesthetic does not make an Expansion Pack" is the best and most accurate description I heard for this pack... I've been feeling like that since the very beggining
@@nash3689 They also said it was to make it run better on lower end computers, but it runs badly on my higher end computer. Maybe their hobby is making excuses?
I can understand the equestrian center being rabbit holes because we had that in TS3. BUT, that was a small part of massive amounts of Pets content (INCLUDING the Horses) that you can forgive it. NOT HERE THO.
I despise the miniature sheep and goats. There is absolutely no reason they shouldn't have been normal sized (AND IN COTTAGE LIVING). The milking animation looks like a criminal act. These mini version should be the child version, the lambs and kids, of the adults we were robbed of. Seeing them fills me with unreasonable rage. I want a devil goat capable of headbutting Sims to death to guard my lot, not this animatronic designed solely to achieve a minimum cuteness score. I know pigmy goats are a thing, but even those look better suited for livestock than the pack ones, who straight up just look like standard breed juveniles.
I agree they are criminally small, seeing them next to my sim make me rage. WHY WERE THEY MADE SO TINY. Now i cant even make a cool farm with my regular sized cow, llama sheep and goat 😢
The sheep is ridiculous, but fainting goats is acceptable I guess, though I absolutely agree with the milking looking really bas and the possibilities with bigger goats that have more personality. I really believe the sims team spent the entire budget and timeline taking riding lessons, then half-assed a release, and now are whining like the lazy entitled losers they are about the well deserved criticism of their shitty work that they GOT PAID to do
@@liepa248 You can actually increase their size with the "bb.moveobjects on" There are some videos explaining how it works in case you don't use cheats, it's not the same but i guess it's something 😅
My irl cat is bigger then these goat/sheep. XD And there is no excuse to them not going with normal-sized ones because the game handles them as object, so you can scale up and down the size of the goat/sheeps.
One of the things I found most disappointing is the beds included in the expansion are considered cheap beds by the sims and they wake up with the dreaded sore back mooodlet when the beds have clear comfort stats. These are some of the cutest beds they've released, yet I won't use them because I feel bad making my sims sleep on a bed that makes them in a foul mood when they first wake up making it difficult to get them to do anything. What is the point of creating furniture if they are going to make it unusable?
maybe the idea is that ranch furniture is likely uncomfy? idk it is strange, modders will probably be able to fix this minor detail or maybe it's a bug that they'll address if you report it.
And again the solution is the mod community, i dont remember the name of the mod but search for better beds/mattres (? in curseforge. It lets you buy in game better mattres for the beds so you can use all of them. It doenst make them perfect but it gets better stats
Honestly, for me, the most disappointing thing in this pack in the community, it's empty as hell. I went into town for one whole day with one of my Sims and her horse and almost immediately got bored and went home. It is empty, nothing new, and made me want to play cottage living cause while there were people IN the lot I walked in, the town was a ghost town and what annoys me more is that there is a training course attached to the competition building and literally NOTHING happens there. It drives me nuts.
Literally. Everyone who praises the pack keeps saying it's better than cottage living because there's "more to do" and it's more fleshed out but like. No there isn't. Cottage living has a local community with local chores. You feel connected to these people. There's a new farming system and the simple living lot trait (wonderfully challenging!!). There's cows, llamas and chickens. There's the weekly fairs. Sure, the horses are detailed and took a lot of work to design and program, of that I have no doubt. But the world around it and all you can do in it do not feel more fleshed out to me. Not by a long shot
You're describing EVERY pack. I have no idea what the hell people expect. Apparently something that hasn't happened since at least 2017. It's like grandma's calling for the return of no jobs, legalized spousal abuse, and 1950s.
I wholeheartedly believe that the reason EA didn’t let the community play the game early this time is because of how much they crippled Wedding Stories by talking about how unplayable it was. They didn’t want that to happen here because they know they are handing us over priced shit. And they don’t want us spreading the word to each other about it.
It would be nicer if content creators would stop burning their integrity by trying to justify EA's actions and try to push selling these watered down packs to profit.
I decided to stop buying any more packs from EA for a while but I am still watching reviews because I find you entertaining and it's oddly cathartic hearing people bag on EA. So thank you Fakegamergirl for reviewing this pack and for reminding me how much of a blood sucking leech EA continues to be :)
I'm the same, I bought everything for Sims 1-3 but stopped myself at 4 when I heard about the shenanigans about toddlers and pools. The removal of the customizing wheel also was a hard pass for me. I saw how much they milked every lil thing in Sims 3 into different packs and expansions and knew it would only get worse. I loved the series, but the company is just creating what would have in the past constituted an expansion pack and cutting it up into 1 expansion and 3-5 small packs. I despise the milking it's doing towards the customers.
There’s no advanced lore like they did in even my wedding stories for ffs. Too many rabbit holes, the cave is pointless because it’s set to a billion, and the toddlers don’t even have cowboy hats even though they have cowboy boots. Where was an indigenous culture skill like in jungle adventure? Rocking horses for kids? Ponies for kids? Unicorns? Crops to grow (squash, different types of corns)? Effort?……..naw that’s impossible it’s EA….and just like EA Sports…..it’s not in the game.
It kills me that they couldn't do the simple addition of a variety of grapes other than just a single grape. Sims 3 came with 6 new grapes for nectar making. And it's not like it's even that hard. Change the color values tweak a few numbers for nectar making and voila you have a new grape type.
@@Sinovian Sims 3 had more advanced nectar making in a pack that had hundreds of other features (3 new beautiful worlds, tombs with interactive puzzles, martial arts, purchasable vacation lots, photography, TONS of build mode and CAS options, and also mummies). TS3 packs in general felt so rich, you could play them for weeks on end and still find something new to do. The Sims 4 is a shameless cashgrab
I do that too, the only pack I’ve ever gotten at full price was the horse ranch one, and that’s because I love horses, so I love the horse animations, but haven’t even tried the goats and sheep’s yet.
the sims 4 packs are essentially the equivalent of getting a giant, hefty tub of coke at a fast food joint only to realize that 75% is ice that dilutes your drink.
This pack only has one new gameplay feature: the nectar making thing. But that does not justify the label of “expansion pack” and absolutely is not worth the asking price. If y’all wanna play with horses, sure get it, but you’ll have to get Cottage Living as well if you want more use out of it
Them putting nectar making in this pack and not jungle adventures feels intentional tbh. We all know that nectar came with world adventures, and I hoped it was coming when that had come out. It being in this pack makes no sense actually. If it was moonshine, maybe, but nectar/wine? In a yeehaw place? No, that’s simply not believable. I’m from the Deep South. People drink beer before wine, hardly ever wine unless it’s a special occasion. They put it here to make people buy it. It was a favorite feature for many in sims 3 😒
@@EnchanterBitter it would have even made sense in My Wedding Stories as well, since Tartosa is based off of areas such as Italy and southern France, which are _huge_ for winemaking, and it would have tied in well with giving toasts and the overall romantic atmosphere.
I don't know about nectar making being new. the only thing "new" about that feature is that you can age your nectar. Feels like some gameplay feature they rehashed from Eco Lifestyle. :/
@@estelladee i mean juice fizzing was basically them redoing nectar in a way because kids can't touch the fizzy "juice" (which i have a mod to allow it because i don't see it as alcohol if it's not named "nectar" and it reminds me of a damn soda stream, also need a fucking mod to exist adding a soda stream appliance for juice fizzing because dear lord that machine is massive)
How come we have option to keep werewolf characters inside their own pack world, while we still haven't option to do the same thing to celebrities? I just don't want to see Jubitch Ward anywhere near my ranch and my baby goats...😢 Honestly, I feel ya Sarah.
i feel thats because any sim can be a celeb? like even those who arent living in del sol valley can the werewolf land though is uniquely "werewolf land" (like vampires' world) with lots of lore tying werewolves specifically to that particular world
@@ladyarmourlaprasanyone could technically be a werewolf too. It's just it wasn't complained about until things like celebrities and other supernatural creatures kept wandering out of their zones. There's a reason why "keep townies in their home world" is a mod that a lot of people get. Region locking iconic members of a world would be way more immersive.
@@Sinovian i didn't know there's a mod for that! Downloaded and installed it, and now experiencing a gameplay without annoying and unimmersive townies.
@@Sinovian It was a breathtaking experience! Now only sims exclusively to the world that I am currently in are the ones I see, not random townies from other world that break the game immersion with their own appearance alone!
10:46 This is another thing that should've been in Cottage Living.... Turning fruit into alcohol is the number one thing country people did. The forest bears fruits, those fruits get turned into wine. How much fruit you find in the Arizona and New Mexico deserts.... Maybe agave, definitely cactus.... which, I'm quite sure, are not introduced in the EP that is featuring arid\semi arid climates.
it would have even made sense in My Wedding Stories as well, since Tartosa is based off of areas such as Italy and southern France, which are _huge_ for winemaking, and it would have tied in well with giving toasts and the overall romantic atmosphere. For the atmosphere of this pack, something more akin to tequila (agave) or moonshine would have made more sense, but that would probably be too bold for The Sims 4 lmaoo
they just took everything that didn't make the cut in cottage living and slapped a country theme onto it. they didn't even have to come up with new ideas because they recycled old ones
PREACH, thank you so much! It seems to me that EA were working on horses for Cottage Living (back then probably titled something like Farm Life lol), but then the Cottage Core craze came out and whoever makes the most in Sims sales was like STONKS and shat out Cottage Living without horses, because horses obviously needed more time to animate and program. I'll absolutely buy horse ranch for the nectar making and yeehaw vibes of Chestnut Ridge, but I'm waiting for the prices on sales website to drop below 20 bucks
They had better fleshed out horses with perfectly well animated and functioning programming over a decade ago in sims 3. they didn't NEED more time, and they didn't actually put ANY effort into horses for the sims 4. Genetics are a joke, there's no gameplay, they're glitchy af, they couldn't even be bothered to add smaller sized animals like miniature horses and donkeys like how we have two dog sizes. adding wild coyotes that function basically like wild foxes would have been great. The sheep should have been full sized and there should have been free roaming cattle if they were trying to go for ranch living. These are things that could have been done with little effort since most of what they'd need is already there, just like how nectar making is a retextured knock off of eco living nectar and most of the cas and build/buy items are recolors of existing items from other packs. This entire pack was lacking in true passion or even true EFFORT, and was very obviously thrown together whenever the sims team got bored of the riding lessons that ate their entire budget and were really NOT necessary nor very useful to making the oack better. That's why they're mad. They KNOW they did a shit job and that they wasted their entire budget and timeline on riding lessons and don't want to get in trouble for it with ea, PLUS they are immature af and can't handle the criticism they deserve for this travesty even though THEY KNOW they brought this well earned backlash upon themselves with their repeated poor decision making and REFUSAL to just be fucking honest for a change. Hell, they could have insinuated ea forced them to spend all their time and money on riding lessons and that they did the best they could around rules they didn't like, but they weren't even smart enough to do that. All they could do was whine like babies and give passive-aggressive non-answers. Don't forget how console is STILL screwed up controls wise and EVERYONE involved is STLL refusing to address it AT ALL.
@@aleciacooke9236 The only reason I didn't wait was bc the pack was gifted to me. I actually haven't gotten farther than JUST NOW starting to build a ranch with new gameplay and stuff
@@dulce.sirena Well not only that but they just took the SIms 3 horse models and changed some of the animations. A lot of the animations are the same. It's ridiculous that they even considered releasing this pack for the price they did.
@@l-Zeph-l And they dared to say that the animations were Sooo hard and took Sooo long. We all know they spent the entire timeline and budget traveling and taking unnecessary riding lessons
I completely agree. This is a game pack In every way to me. It’s wild that the sims 3 had more stuff to do with horses like connected training tracks, unicorns, and at-least some more interaction to their competitions. Yet everything is so shallow in a pack specifically for horses!!! Why are we regressing gameplay!
Agree, perhaps they could have included a new activity requiring wool in this pack like Weaving! that also could have tied into the indigenous crafts, and perhaps a new recipe requiring milk in this pack or something like soapmaking idk. I do love crosspack compatibility but they could have included a particular thing for this pack. From what i've seen watching youtubers play this pack it is super fun and feels complete IF you own cottage living, and probably cats and dogs too.
@@agnescopperfield9677 yes that would have been cool, it is also sad that a saddle and that is absolutely needed and theirs no option to ride a horse without one
I would have loved to see weaving in this pack! We could’ve had rug, horse blankets, clothes, and maybe more! That would have been such a nice touch. I’m also disappointed this pack didn’t come with any wild animals. We got rabbits, foxes, and birds with CL, but nothing with this one? They didn’t include wild horses or unicorns. Why didn’t they add like eagles or prairie dogs or something? Snakes even! They could’ve given us a rattlesnake death!
Whenever I see theasking price I start reminiscing about Sims 1 and 2 expansion packs. They were FULL of stuff to do. Now I feel like an expansion pack comes in 3-4 packs
I agree completely. Sims 3 was the start of the end because they just kept cutting things into smaller and smaller pieces to resell... I bought all of Sims 1-3 but knew it would only get worse and avoided 4 entirely.
My hatred for the pack is just that they seemed to keep on stereotyping horse riding as a ranch thing. As an English rider I’m sad we couldn’t see more variety in the pack and maybe more horse care options MY HORSE HAS BEEN WEARING THE SAME HORSESHOES FOR SO LONG AND THEY JUST APPEARED WHEN THEY GREW UP. WHERE IS THE FARRIER. WHERE ARE THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO SPEND ON VET BILLS
absolutely! considered making a stable yard in Hatford on Bagley and using mods to try and get that english feel. i expected dressage and eventing, the pack is so lacklustre on the horse things. it’s also a shame you can’t make your own equestrian centre and teach people to ride on your own lot. it’d be much more fun than a god damn rabbit hole
I’ve been saying this, the base game for most of its life has been cheaper than every expansion pack and before becoming free was cheaper than every game pack, (atleast in uk)
To be honest, the pack being compatible with cottage living feels like they were part of a big pack more than they being design to be compatible from the beggining, I mean lots of packs feel like they were chopped bits from an hypothetical big pack and resold separated. An obvious example is that get famous came with some debug houses that, if you look at them have seasons fences, cats and dogs doors and seasons doors. I remember it from a James Turner (formerly known as The Sim Supply)'s video where he build a house from a background house object in del sol valley. One could say that they had the assets and repurposed to have more object variety, but it leave the players frustrated because they can't make houses that blend with the background properly.
Oh yeah I remember that LP. SHe was the house make over sim that married into is Cottage Living Bigwallet LP Hazel was her name. Fun times lol But yes the house was cats and dogs and seasons mainly. Big eye opener. 😉
Nawl but let's talk about how I wanted to fight my horse because it's stupid self didnt want to play with the ball when it's fun was like low. Like in hell types of low. Also randomly like 2 days ago i got this bug where my sims would be making nectar then they would just stop. Then i would have to keep clicking "craft nectar" back to back until it was complete. Not to mention that horses seem to not like care about walls and or fences.... You know what I forgot to add this but also I've been dealing with an issue where all my sims will just stop or my game will just "lag" so bad that I literally have to just go out to the map and then come back
Sometimes I wonder if Windenburg is such a big and wonderful world compared to all the other DLC worlds so that when they're citicised for setting 90% of the worlds in America, they can point at Windenburg like: what do you mean?? There's... Europe? and... it's BIG!!!
The first worlds were big (get together and city living) but they probably decided to cut the budget. Pack after pack the liveable area get smaller while the set dressing bigger.
@@augusto7681 yep, it's a scam and I completely agree with FGG's general criticism at the end of the video. Although... not like that was any excuse but I imagine if every world was as big as Windenburg and you wanted to populate these worlds, the performance would get significantly worse. I don't really get why tbh bc not only the worlds but the neighborhoods are seperate but somehow my game slows down significantly once I fill up the worlds with sims, which is kinda sad bc I'm still working on my savefile but there's already too many sims lol
@@Nirax3 I think if the worlds were bigger we wouldnt need to have a lot of them, maybe combine thematically similar worlds. The worlds are mainly to fill the packs that lack gameplay content.
I knew that I wasn't the only one who noticed that after cats and dogs the worlds started feeling emptier and emptier. Like yeah in size they're similar but there are way less livable lots and things to do in the newer worlds
It feels like they could have made it feel more interactive with just smaller changes. Like for example if the training objects could be put together in to a obstacle course that you could build your self and instead of a rabbit hole for competitions you were transferred to a randomly generated obstacle course. There would not have to be a lot of other sims there. Just maybe some judges in a booth and the rest could have been closed of giving the impression that the other competitors were waiting there turn behind high fencing or windows of the kind that debug houses have. They could also have made “limiting sims to their world’ an option for all worlds as a base game update. Being able to take a ride together with another sim on a horse also feels like it could not be that complicated since they already have a group system and it doesn’t require any new animations. They also could have had a function to use the milk from goats in the nectar making machine to make butter to sell for more money or for example to use in some special recipes or to add to food in order to make them better quality. And maybe you could trade the wool for some unlockable horse blankets with fun patterns? And the cave should definitely have lead to a secret unicon lair. They unicorn could just have been like the ones in cas but extra hard to befriend but if you do you get to adopt it and it has full skill in everything or gives you an extra fast training boost or something.
I wish those gigs or odd jobs were able to be played through. Not just our sims dipping for a few hours and getting paid after. If your sim has he mentor trait then you should be able to help people learn how to horseback ride. Stuff like that would be fun for me. Building relationships with other sims can make a great game play
This is a fantastic review!! 👏🏽 I could say a lot about them claiming indgious representation in a game that centers landowership and capital industialism but who has the time. 🙄
Indiginous representation but like, without pretty much anything functional that's centered around Indiginous culture. No husbandry skills, no cultural practices (that any reviews I've seen stumbled on anyway), no community lots, no social interactions, no activities, no recipes... just a couple of sims and some generically Indiginous items from what I've seen. I'd say maybe the early reviewers just didn't have long enough to find that stuff, but it seems like there's so little to do, especially that's functional, that they really wouldn't need a lot of time to find everything in the pack
It would've been cool to explore skills related to more tribal life. I don't have Sims 4 but I can imagine tons of various skills, hobbies, and requirements of a more down to earth tribal lifestyle. Crafting tools and weapons, fish rods and nets, weaving, fixing fences, grand story telling events where everyone sits and listens, and being able to braid another's hair. How cute would it be to have a mother braiding her kids' hair as the kids are talking nonstop telling a story? Or a family tanning hides to create blankets or "tarps" for weather proofing. There is just so much potential in telling a much more self sufficient and removed from modern society living than just a cottage and growing grapes. It doesn't even have to be native themed, just salt of the earth living would've been fun on its own.
The best review! Truthful, entertaining, iconic. This definitely seems like a glorified GP. Not even a new hobby such as basket weaving to make new decor, etc.. It feels like they spent most of the time trying to research & make horses, then last second thought "quick, we need extra little things to make it worth EP price" and quickly gathered up the goats/sheep and nectar, and in standard EA fashion, barely play testing anything 😭
I love how you can see how it should literally be in the same pack as cottage living in so many ways. But splitting content into multiple overpriced packs is all ea can do
YES! THE MISSING 3 CURLS! not to mention the only cc hair i can find for 3abc is alpha. all the maxis match ones i can find are either afro texture or wavy, and over 50% of my cc folder is already afro and braids 😢
The not being able to mount horses is in my game too, and they just have 2 horses, no sheep or goats, so it might not have been anything to do with Ricky. Happened with me after i adopted 2 dogs though
You really put it into perspective by sharing the cost of entire games ($50-$60) vs (a likely broken) Sims EP for $40. That IS as ridiculous as it sounds.
My first thought when you posed the initial question whether it's worth the price: in this economy NOTHING is worth 39,99. Thanks for the footage, review and especially the rant.
THINGS THEY COULD HAVE DONE WITH MINIMAL TIME AND BUDGET: at least one more size of goat; full sized sheep in more natural colors; free roaming cattle; donkeys and mini horses in create a pet that would work for children being taught to ride since we can already teach them to ride bikes; better genetics in horse breeding bc the current genetics are even worse than for cats and dogs DESPITE being the SAME EXACT THING; wild coyotes that spawn and act very similar to wild foxes, along with a new skin and voice for pet dogs which is AGAIN basically just reworking foxes; more indigenous representation like more harvestables, more than one new recipe, more cas stuff, more braids, indigenous names for places, more wall art or new paintings, etc etc; they could have included cryptid lore into the gnomes lot challenge or created s nearly identical challenge with some basic cryptid lore and mood buffs that would mostly just be rewording descriptions; a training course should have been possible so even if we build our own we can choose "run the course" or something similar to do more than one obstacle at a time; jumps should have different heights and widths and can only be jumped after reaching x level sim riding skill and horse jumping skill; events in the town like cottage living to judge goats/sheep/milk/wool/new harvestables.... THERE IS SOOO MUCH THEY COULD HAVE DONE JUST USING THE EXISTING FRAMEWORK, BUT NOOO THEY HAD TO SPEND THEIR ENTIRE TIME LIMIT GETTING RIDING LESSONS FOR THEIR OWN PLEASURE THEN BITCHING AND BEING PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE ASSHATS WHO STILL WON'T JUST FUCKING LEVEL WITH US BECAUSE THEY CAN'T HANDLE THE CRITICISM THEY DESERVE FOR THE SHITTY JOB THEY DID
I wouldn't exactly call it a scam, but according to what a modder has found in the code, it looks like the Sims Team didn't have enough time to finish the Unicorns they were going to include in the pack, so while not a scam, it's not exactly finished.
@@coollittleslugonarockyeah lol, a game pack which is like non functional without this expac (think my first pet stuff pack) and has like 90% cosmetics and 10% items with like a singular animation interaction
I love when people talk in that southern/midwestern accent. Even though i'm Jamaican born and live in NY, it reminds me of my life back on the form that i never lived. Home.
This FakeGamerGirl and Ibai Llanos (7:02) crossover made me so happy. Everytime I see a foreign RUclipsr using him as a meme I smile harder than EA when someone buy their crappy packs. Mostly because is cheaper.
I don't own it, but it reminds me of my first pet stuff. Because in order to fully experience it, you need cottage living. Imagine this pack and base game 👀
There really people just buying like one expansion? Like no one can save up their $$$ for sales? Or spend money on other things then bitch about expansion packs. Like every game.
@@Loralanthalas in my country, we have to pay taxes for buying something in dollar. Even if I get it on sale, I still have to pay 75% of it on taxes. So yes, I have to be extremely cautious when I get a pack. Maybe its not the same to you but believe me, many of us have this issue.
10/10 review. Your last point about 2 year development aka time to market is so interesting. I wonder how their sales are doing. I haven’t really bought anything since cottage living. Their product managers need to focus on baking more empathy into releases because they are breaking trust over and over to save cost. I think they’re just doing their best to sell a used car. I hope sims 5 is developed in a way that they can keep adding features and newness to the base architecture and plan refactor checkpoints to outpace obsolescence. I feel like each pack should be a combination of reused, refreshed, and brand new infrastructure, modules, animations, and objects. From what I’ve seen werewolves was a really good example of that.
It really looks like the best use for horses is cinematic RUclips shorts and music videos again. A Sim leaves her dead beat husband and it's just her and her horse. She starts a new life. Meets a wonderful lady. They have a life together making nectar. Her husband comes back and refuses to leave. The ladies take him out back and bury him. The horse is there.
As someone who has the pack too. It’s definitely not worth the price. If you take conversion rates into thought too, some pay more than the price you said so they are even more ripped off. Mine was 62 fuc….. argvhfjf but the animals are cute I guess. I also enjoy building. But I do recommend everyone who doesn’t have it to wait for a sale. Anyways love the video. You’re a fave
I would very much like to believe that the sims 4 devs do actually want to put more in the game, but with EA being in charge and them having a deadline at the end of the day their opinion doesn't matter and its all about the money at this point.
the judith ward segment was my favourite part of this video! they really need to restrict celebrities to lots with celebrity related lot traits. EDIT: the reason judith ward is EVERYWHERE, is because she is desperately trying to avoid del sol valley and her ugly ass house
So WAY before this pack came out, I made an old West town based off of the get famous west set. Complete with a train station, stores, an Inn, an apothecary, and much more. I could also do this before getting the tool mode; this was the best EA could give us. I only bought it so I could have horses in my royal challenge. so glad I found your chanel
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I use to have lilsimsie's channel on notification until I found you. I like her content, but I started feeling like her reviews were too biased to be honest when new stuff came out.
Cottage Living walked so Horse Ranch could run. I dunno..the Sims franchise went downhill after 3. There was so many fun shenanigans in 1 and 2, and the LORE in 3 was so deep and multiple stories intertwined in every new pack and neighborhood. It’s really sad to see a beloved series putter out after some creative director changes. Not to discredit all the people who worked so hard on this game, but it just feels robotic now. Also, “Chestnut Ridge” is the name of the psych hospital I did clinicals at in nursing school, lol.
I don't even feel bad for downloading a pirate version of the sims with all the stuff. Even whit everysingle one pack, kit, blablabla you get bored playing the sims, lol pd: amazing video, more fun than the rabbit holes gameplay
My first experience of this pack was attempting to make my sim milk a goat (which by the way are WAY too small and look disturbing to milk, especially since you can also bottle-feed them??), but the goat walked away as my sim approached. So my sim crouched down on the floor with his arms stretched towards the goat's new location, hitting the sickest dab, with his joints twisted unnaturally in every direction. The horses look nice. But that's it. That's all I can give this pack. They're just nice models.
I just love your absolute honesty about EA packs. Finally someone who speaks the truth about EA trying to steal our money and covering up with "that's what you wanted". I'm so sick of it.
Satchonsims also does this well. He calls out EA on their bullshit without being hateful in his “Brutally Honest Review” series and focuses on value for money
You hit the nail on the head. Sims 5 or whatever it's called is going to be a giant cash grab. So paying $40 now is a drop in the bucket when it comes to the next version of the Sims. Money and more money.
I do agree with the pricing but at this point I look at every buy now as an extension to my content because our game is now so big. I love the game play and the BB and cas so I am happy. Using my generations LP it is fitting it very nicely with my family that already exists.
If they would have did a French country “modern” farming stuff like the decor in target’s I think it would have been a lot better. But a lot of the items I can’t really use if I want to play a regular house
The fact this is an “expansion pack” is SHOCKING to me… this should’ve been included in the $50 pets pack . But I don’t expect much from sims 4 anymore. cc creators are giving us more than EA at this point I’m guilty though I do love the horse ranch world it comes with but other than that the cas items, build mode items, and genuine GAMEPLAY is lacking. I cant find myself playing for hours like I did with the sims 3-sims 2 and so on The fact that EA has to give us free patch updates here and there because they want to add things that should’ve been in the base game to begin with is just the icing on the cake
I say, the smartest marketing choice for EA is to either merge Cottage Living with Horse Ranch, or knock Horse Ranch down to a game-play pack. This way, people are more incentivized to purchase Cottage Living and get bang for their buck. If Horse Ranch was knocked down the rung, it would probably be more expensive to EA in the long-trot.
i think they should do more with their bundles tbh, like bundling together this, cottage living, seasons, and then the dumb kits like country kitchen could be fused, itd certainly make life easier for someone getting into the game and then being rightly intimidated at the sheer amount of shit to be had
![[#2024MAMA] G-DRAGON - 무제(Untitled, 2014)+POWER+HOME SWEET HOME+뱅뱅뱅+FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ox29z5Nf1Uk/mqdefault.jpg)
"An Aesthetic does not make an Expansion Pack" is the best and most accurate description I heard for this pack... I've been feeling like that since the very beggining
Especially since a lot of the things seemed like scraps or recolors from Strangerville, Cottage Living and Jungle Adventure.
Ea is actually taking the piss making us pay 40 bucks for rabbit holes
Every. Single. Expansion. Not that hard.
@googlesucks5395 EA said the reason sims 4 has a closed lot system is so we get less rabbit holes so obviously they're lying
@@nash3689 They also said it was to make it run better on lower end computers, but it runs badly on my higher end computer. Maybe their hobby is making excuses?
@@Ikwigsjoyful It's actually because the Sims 4 was built on the bones of a failed online game.
I can understand the equestrian center being rabbit holes because we had that in TS3. BUT, that was a small part of massive amounts of Pets content (INCLUDING the Horses) that you can forgive it.
NOT HERE THO.
I despise the miniature sheep and goats. There is absolutely no reason they shouldn't have been normal sized (AND IN COTTAGE LIVING). The milking animation looks like a criminal act. These mini version should be the child version, the lambs and kids, of the adults we were robbed of. Seeing them fills me with unreasonable rage. I want a devil goat capable of headbutting Sims to death to guard my lot, not this animatronic designed solely to achieve a minimum cuteness score. I know pigmy goats are a thing, but even those look better suited for livestock than the pack ones, who straight up just look like standard breed juveniles.
I agree they are criminally small, seeing them next to my sim make me rage. WHY WERE THEY MADE SO TINY. Now i cant even make a cool farm with my regular sized cow, llama sheep and goat 😢
The sheep is ridiculous, but fainting goats is acceptable I guess, though I absolutely agree with the milking looking really bas and the possibilities with bigger goats that have more personality. I really believe the sims team spent the entire budget and timeline taking riding lessons, then half-assed a release, and now are whining like the lazy entitled losers they are about the well deserved criticism of their shitty work that they GOT PAID to do
@@liepa248 You can actually increase their size with the "bb.moveobjects on"
There are some videos explaining how it works in case you don't use cheats, it's not the same but i guess it's something 😅
My irl cat is bigger then these goat/sheep. XD And there is no excuse to them not going with normal-sized ones because the game handles them as object, so you can scale up and down the size of the goat/sheeps.
Yessss! OMG I agree 100%. they look so out of place
One of the things I found most disappointing is the beds included in the expansion are considered cheap beds by the sims and they wake up with the dreaded sore back mooodlet when the beds have clear comfort stats. These are some of the cutest beds they've released, yet I won't use them because I feel bad making my sims sleep on a bed that makes them in a foul mood when they first wake up making it difficult to get them to do anything. What is the point of creating furniture if they are going to make it unusable?
maybe the idea is that ranch furniture is likely uncomfy? idk it is strange, modders will probably be able to fix this minor detail or maybe it's a bug that they'll address if you report it.
You can upgrade them with the handiness skill
You can if your sim has high handiness skill upgrade the beds to be better quality......but then i got that the bed was hard lol so can't win really
And again the solution is the mod community, i dont remember the name of the mod but search for better beds/mattres (? in curseforge. It lets you buy in game better mattres for the beds so you can use all of them. It doenst make them perfect but it gets better stats
It's because every movie portrays ranchers sleeping on hardwood and furs or straw, so every rancher is suppose to wake up with back pain.
Maple dancing her heart out while everyone else fawned over Judith is so wholesome
I never thought someone would ever describe a moment in a fakegamergirl video wholesome and I support it.
I irl lol'd!
Honestly, for me, the most disappointing thing in this pack in the community, it's empty as hell. I went into town for one whole day with one of my Sims and her horse and almost immediately got bored and went home. It is empty, nothing new, and made me want to play cottage living cause while there were people IN the lot I walked in, the town was a ghost town and what annoys me more is that there is a training course attached to the competition building and literally NOTHING happens there. It drives me nuts.
Literally. Everyone who praises the pack keeps saying it's better than cottage living because there's "more to do" and it's more fleshed out but like. No there isn't. Cottage living has a local community with local chores. You feel connected to these people. There's a new farming system and the simple living lot trait (wonderfully challenging!!). There's cows, llamas and chickens. There's the weekly fairs. Sure, the horses are detailed and took a lot of work to design and program, of that I have no doubt. But the world around it and all you can do in it do not feel more fleshed out to me. Not by a long shot
You're describing EVERY pack. I have no idea what the hell people expect. Apparently something that hasn't happened since at least 2017. It's like grandma's calling for the return of no jobs, legalized spousal abuse, and 1950s.
@@Loralanthalaswhat do you mean!
@googlesucks5395 I was with you until the grandma comment lol.
@@milssaarts8193 haha. Just another thoughtless thing people complain about just to complain
I wholeheartedly believe that the reason EA didn’t let the community play the game early this time is because of how much they crippled Wedding Stories by talking about how unplayable it was. They didn’t want that to happen here because they know they are handing us over priced shit. And they don’t want us spreading the word to each other about it.
The embargo only lifted ONE DAY before release. What's even the point?
Lilsimsies got the pack early?
Would be awesome if some content creators would collaborate to make a "less rabbit holes mod" for various packs.
I'd pay for that.
hell rabbit holes would be fine if there was any ACTUAL gameplay and townies around to interact with
It would be nicer if content creators would stop burning their integrity by trying to justify EA's actions and try to push selling these watered down packs to profit.
@@AidynNyxOfc they do because a lot of them get gifted the packs
I decided to stop buying any more packs from EA for a while but I am still watching reviews because I find you entertaining and it's oddly cathartic hearing people bag on EA. So thank you Fakegamergirl for reviewing this pack and for reminding me how much of a blood sucking leech EA continues to be :)
Check out LGR and Rekowcski if you hate EA lol☺
I haven't bought anything from them since they dropped Batuu. The last thing I got was the desert yard kit when it was free
I'm the same, I bought everything for Sims 1-3 but stopped myself at 4 when I heard about the shenanigans about toddlers and pools. The removal of the customizing wheel also was a hard pass for me. I saw how much they milked every lil thing in Sims 3 into different packs and expansions and knew it would only get worse. I loved the series, but the company is just creating what would have in the past constituted an expansion pack and cutting it up into 1 expansion and 3-5 small packs. I despise the milking it's doing towards the customers.
You my friend are a bright light in the Sims Community.
I stoped buying packs too and I hope others will too, because otherwise the Sims are doomed.
Who said you had to pay for get them ?
It’s equally as scammy as ever other sims 4 pack.
yo ho, yo ho, it's a pirate life for me
Nah get to together/city living are worth it
@@nicolethurley3953id like to throw nifty knitting into that if its ok
@@ladyarmourlapras onggg 💯 surprised ea didn’t make it a game pack tbh
@@ladyarmourlaprascottage living its the only pack that will truly give you what you want!!
There’s no advanced lore like they did in even my wedding stories for ffs. Too many rabbit holes, the cave is pointless because it’s set to a billion, and the toddlers don’t even have cowboy hats even though they have cowboy boots. Where was an indigenous culture skill like in jungle adventure? Rocking horses for kids? Ponies for kids? Unicorns? Crops to grow (squash, different types of corns)? Effort?……..naw that’s impossible it’s EA….and just like EA Sports…..it’s not in the game.
There are no rocking horses???? What the
A single youtube comment and you already came up with 2 EA packs' worth of content lol
It kills me that they couldn't do the simple addition of a variety of grapes other than just a single grape. Sims 3 came with 6 new grapes for nectar making.
And it's not like it's even that hard. Change the color values tweak a few numbers for nectar making and voila you have a new grape type.
@@Sinovian Sims 3 had more advanced nectar making in a pack that had hundreds of other features (3 new beautiful worlds, tombs with interactive puzzles, martial arts, purchasable vacation lots, photography, TONS of build mode and CAS options, and also mummies). TS3 packs in general felt so rich, you could play them for weeks on end and still find something new to do. The Sims 4 is a shameless cashgrab
@@OurLadyOfSorrows4 very true, which only makes the half assed attempt at wine in Sims 4 even worse.
Freshly debuted packs are a hassle to deal with. I dont buy them until a good while after they come out and at a.. more reasonable price.😂
That's the best thing to do honestly and usually the bugs and glitches are fixed or somewhat tolerable by the time that they are sale
Yas, I'm waiting for growing together. It's 25% off right now but I'll keep waiting
@@ugh7813Black friday & cybermonday r comin up bae 😛😛 we bouta get fed
> reasonable price
And with less bugs (hopefully) 😬
I do that too, the only pack I’ve ever gotten at full price was the horse ranch one, and that’s because I love horses, so I love the horse animations, but haven’t even tried the goats and sheep’s yet.
the sims 4 packs are essentially the equivalent of getting a giant, hefty tub of coke at a fast food joint only to realize that 75% is ice that dilutes your drink.
This pack only has one new gameplay feature: the nectar making thing. But that does not justify the label of “expansion pack” and absolutely is not worth the asking price.
If y’all wanna play with horses, sure get it, but you’ll have to get Cottage Living as well if you want more use out of it
Them putting nectar making in this pack and not jungle adventures feels intentional tbh.
We all know that nectar came with world adventures, and I hoped it was coming when that had come out.
It being in this pack makes no sense actually. If it was moonshine, maybe, but nectar/wine? In a yeehaw place?
No, that’s simply not believable.
I’m from the Deep South. People drink beer before wine, hardly ever wine unless it’s a special occasion.
They put it here to make people buy it. It was a favorite feature for many in sims 3 😒
@@EnchanterBitter it would have even made sense in My Wedding Stories as well, since Tartosa is based off of areas such as Italy and southern France, which are _huge_ for winemaking, and it would have tied in well with giving toasts and the overall romantic atmosphere.
I don't know about nectar making being new. the only thing "new" about that feature is that you can age your nectar. Feels like some gameplay feature they rehashed from Eco Lifestyle. :/
@@estelladee i mean juice fizzing was basically them redoing nectar in a way because kids can't touch the fizzy "juice" (which i have a mod to allow it because i don't see it as alcohol if it's not named "nectar" and it reminds me of a damn soda stream, also need a fucking mod to exist adding a soda stream appliance for juice fizzing because dear lord that machine is massive)
Uh, did you forget about the horses??? They actually have quite a lot of gameplay lmao.
How come we have option to keep werewolf characters inside their own pack world, while we still haven't option to do the same thing to celebrities?
I just don't want to see Jubitch Ward anywhere near my ranch and my baby goats...😢 Honestly, I feel ya Sarah.
i feel thats because any sim can be a celeb? like even those who arent living in del sol valley can
the werewolf land though is uniquely "werewolf land" (like vampires' world) with lots of lore tying werewolves specifically to that particular world
@@ladyarmourlaprasanyone could technically be a werewolf too. It's just it wasn't complained about until things like celebrities and other supernatural creatures kept wandering out of their zones. There's a reason why "keep townies in their home world" is a mod that a lot of people get. Region locking iconic members of a world would be way more immersive.
@@Sinovian i didn't know there's a mod for that! Downloaded and installed it, and now experiencing a gameplay without annoying and unimmersive townies.
@@Robin1996ify it's so wonderful isn't it 😭😆
@@Sinovian It was a breathtaking experience! Now only sims exclusively to the world that I am currently in are the ones I see, not random townies from other world that break the game immersion with their own appearance alone!
10:46 This is another thing that should've been in Cottage Living.... Turning fruit into alcohol is the number one thing country people did. The forest bears fruits, those fruits get turned into wine. How much fruit you find in the Arizona and New Mexico deserts.... Maybe agave, definitely cactus.... which, I'm quite sure, are not introduced in the EP that is featuring arid\semi arid climates.
it would have even made sense in My Wedding Stories as well, since Tartosa is based off of areas such as Italy and southern France, which are _huge_ for winemaking, and it would have tied in well with giving toasts and the overall romantic atmosphere.
For the atmosphere of this pack, something more akin to tequila (agave) or moonshine would have made more sense, but that would probably be too bold for The Sims 4 lmaoo
Don't give them this idea, they package it as a stuff pack and charge 10 bucks for it.
@@goosegas2087 more likely they'd make it into buggy a kit since i'm pretty sure stuff packs died
they just took everything that didn't make the cut in cottage living and slapped a country theme onto it. they didn't even have to come up with new ideas because they recycled old ones
@@aliceglass828 The laziness is too real.
PREACH, thank you so much! It seems to me that EA were working on horses for Cottage Living (back then probably titled something like Farm Life lol), but then the Cottage Core craze came out and whoever makes the most in Sims sales was like STONKS and shat out Cottage Living without horses, because horses obviously needed more time to animate and program. I'll absolutely buy horse ranch for the nectar making and yeehaw vibes of Chestnut Ridge, but I'm waiting for the prices on sales website to drop below 20 bucks
They had better fleshed out horses with perfectly well animated and functioning programming over a decade ago in sims 3. they didn't NEED more time, and they didn't actually put ANY effort into horses for the sims 4. Genetics are a joke, there's no gameplay, they're glitchy af, they couldn't even be bothered to add smaller sized animals like miniature horses and donkeys like how we have two dog sizes. adding wild coyotes that function basically like wild foxes would have been great. The sheep should have been full sized and there should have been free roaming cattle if they were trying to go for ranch living. These are things that could have been done with little effort since most of what they'd need is already there, just like how nectar making is a retextured knock off of eco living nectar and most of the cas and build/buy items are recolors of existing items from other packs. This entire pack was lacking in true passion or even true EFFORT, and was very obviously thrown together whenever the sims team got bored of the riding lessons that ate their entire budget and were really NOT necessary nor very useful to making the oack better. That's why they're mad. They KNOW they did a shit job and that they wasted their entire budget and timeline on riding lessons and don't want to get in trouble for it with ea, PLUS they are immature af and can't handle the criticism they deserve for this travesty even though THEY KNOW they brought this well earned backlash upon themselves with their repeated poor decision making and REFUSAL to just be fucking honest for a change. Hell, they could have insinuated ea forced them to spend all their time and money on riding lessons and that they did the best they could around rules they didn't like, but they weren't even smart enough to do that. All they could do was whine like babies and give passive-aggressive non-answers. Don't forget how console is STILL screwed up controls wise and EVERYONE involved is STLL refusing to address it AT ALL.
I wish I waited I was severely disappointed
@@aleciacooke9236 The only reason I didn't wait was bc the pack was gifted to me. I actually haven't gotten farther than JUST NOW starting to build a ranch with new gameplay and stuff
@@dulce.sirena Well not only that but they just took the SIms 3 horse models and changed some of the animations. A lot of the animations are the same. It's ridiculous that they even considered releasing this pack for the price they did.
@@l-Zeph-l And they dared to say that the animations were Sooo hard and took Sooo long. We all know they spent the entire timeline and budget traveling and taking unnecessary riding lessons
I completely agree. This is a game pack In every way to me. It’s wild that the sims 3 had more stuff to do with horses like connected training tracks, unicorns, and at-least some more interaction to their competitions. Yet everything is so shallow in a pack specifically for horses!!! Why are we regressing gameplay!
Agree, perhaps they could have included a new activity requiring wool in this pack like Weaving! that also could have tied into the indigenous crafts, and perhaps a new recipe requiring milk in this pack or something like soapmaking idk.
I do love crosspack compatibility but they could have included a particular thing for this pack. From what i've seen watching youtubers play this pack it is super fun and feels complete IF you own cottage living, and probably cats and dogs too.
We could've made the little blankets that go on the horses' backs 🙁
@@agnescopperfield9677 yes that would have been cool, it is also sad that a saddle and that is absolutely needed and theirs no option to ride a horse without one
I would have loved to see weaving in this pack! We could’ve had rug, horse blankets, clothes, and maybe more! That would have been such a nice touch.
I’m also disappointed this pack didn’t come with any wild animals. We got rabbits, foxes, and birds with CL, but nothing with this one? They didn’t include wild horses or unicorns. Why didn’t they add like eagles or prairie dogs or something? Snakes even! They could’ve given us a rattlesnake death!
@@JSwend25 not even a retextured fox to look like a coyote or bobcat smh
Whenever I see theasking price I start reminiscing about Sims 1 and 2 expansion packs. They were FULL of stuff to do. Now I feel like an expansion pack comes in 3-4 packs
I agree completely. Sims 3 was the start of the end because they just kept cutting things into smaller and smaller pieces to resell... I bought all of Sims 1-3 but knew it would only get worse and avoided 4 entirely.
My hatred for the pack is just that they seemed to keep on stereotyping horse riding as a ranch thing. As an English rider I’m sad we couldn’t see more variety in the pack and maybe more horse care options MY HORSE HAS BEEN WEARING THE SAME HORSESHOES FOR SO LONG AND THEY JUST APPEARED WHEN THEY GREW UP. WHERE IS THE FARRIER. WHERE ARE THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO SPEND ON VET BILLS
absolutely! considered making a stable yard in Hatford on Bagley and using mods to try and get that english feel. i expected dressage and eventing, the pack is so lacklustre on the horse things. it’s also a shame you can’t make your own equestrian centre and teach people to ride on your own lot. it’d be much more fun than a god damn rabbit hole
probably going to be part of a game pack just to cover that theme lmao, dlc for dlc
Simple question to answer: Is it a Sims 4 pack? If yes then it is.
real
Preach, they give us the leftovers from Cottage Living and Strangerville and ask 40 bucks for it...
And Sims 5 will probably make you pay $40 for each animal
@@existenz_1 with a 60$ pricetag on the game
@@existenz_1 SIms 5 will actually have monthly subscription fee of 40 bucks. :D
Honestly with that price you should treat it as a full game
I’ve been saying this, the base game for most of its life has been cheaper than every expansion pack and before becoming free was cheaper than every game pack, (atleast in uk)
To be honest, the pack being compatible with cottage living feels like they were part of a big pack more than they being design to be compatible from the beggining, I mean lots of packs feel like they were chopped bits from an hypothetical big pack and resold separated. An obvious example is that get famous came with some debug houses that, if you look at them have seasons fences, cats and dogs doors and seasons doors. I remember it from a James Turner (formerly known as The Sim Supply)'s video where he build a house from a background house object in del sol valley. One could say that they had the assets and repurposed to have more object variety, but it leave the players frustrated because they can't make houses that blend with the background properly.
Oh yeah I remember that LP. SHe was the house make over sim that married into is Cottage Living Bigwallet LP Hazel was her name. Fun times lol But yes the house was cats and dogs and seasons mainly. Big eye opener. 😉
Nawl but let's talk about how I wanted to fight my horse because it's stupid self didnt want to play with the ball when it's fun was like low. Like in hell types of low. Also randomly like 2 days ago i got this bug where my sims would be making nectar then they would just stop. Then i would have to keep clicking "craft nectar" back to back until it was complete. Not to mention that horses seem to not like care about walls and or fences....
You know what I forgot to add this but also I've been dealing with an issue where all my sims will just stop or my game will just "lag" so bad that I literally have to just go out to the map and then come back
Unfortunately the ball is bugged, I don't know if you tried this already but sometimes deleting and rebuying the item helps!
@@Fragmented_MaskI mean sometimes just moving it to another spot helps but it gets annoying after a while
Honestly looking at Horse Ranch, I am starting to feel like even Cottage Living didn't do ENOUGH as an expansion pack.
It definitely didn't. But this is even worse
They could have put horses in Cottage Living.
Sometimes I wonder if Windenburg is such a big and wonderful world compared to all the other DLC worlds so that when they're citicised for setting 90% of the worlds in America, they can point at Windenburg like: what do you mean?? There's... Europe? and... it's BIG!!!
The first worlds were big (get together and city living) but they probably decided to cut the budget. Pack after pack the liveable area get smaller while the set dressing bigger.
@@augusto7681 yep, it's a scam and I completely agree with FGG's general criticism at the end of the video. Although... not like that was any excuse but I imagine if every world was as big as Windenburg and you wanted to populate these worlds, the performance would get significantly worse. I don't really get why tbh bc not only the worlds but the neighborhoods are seperate but somehow my game slows down significantly once I fill up the worlds with sims, which is kinda sad bc I'm still working on my savefile but there's already too many sims lol
@@Nirax3 I think if the worlds were bigger we wouldnt need to have a lot of them, maybe combine thematically similar worlds. The worlds are mainly to fill the packs that lack gameplay content.
@@augusto7681 agreed!
I knew that I wasn't the only one who noticed that after cats and dogs the worlds started feeling emptier and emptier. Like yeah in size they're similar but there are way less livable lots and things to do in the newer worlds
It feels like they could have made it feel more interactive with just smaller changes. Like for example if the training objects could be put together in to a obstacle course that you could build your self and instead of a rabbit hole for competitions you were transferred to a randomly generated obstacle course. There would not have to be a lot of other sims there. Just maybe some judges in a booth and the rest could have been closed of giving the impression that the other competitors were waiting there turn behind high fencing or windows of the kind that debug houses have.
They could also have made “limiting sims to their world’ an option for all worlds as a base game update.
Being able to take a ride together with another sim on a horse also feels like it could not be that complicated since they already have a group system and it doesn’t require any new animations.
They also could have had a function to use the milk from goats in the nectar making machine to make butter to sell for more money or for example to use in some special recipes or to add to food in order to make them better quality.
And maybe you could trade the wool for some unlockable horse blankets with fun patterns?
And the cave should definitely have lead to a secret unicon lair. They unicorn could just have been like the ones in cas but extra hard to befriend but if you do you get to adopt it and it has full skill in everything or gives you an extra fast training boost or something.
Of course it's a rabbithole, they refused to show the Equestrian centre in the livestream 😒
I wish those gigs or odd jobs were able to be played through. Not just our sims dipping for a few hours and getting paid after. If your sim has he mentor trait then you should be able to help people learn how to horseback ride. Stuff like that would be fun for me. Building relationships with other sims can make a great game play
I feel like this was the best review on this pack, yet!
More entertaining than LGR's this round because he was just SO Done with the series that we know what's expected.
This is a fantastic review!! 👏🏽
I could say a lot about them claiming indgious representation in a game that centers landowership and capital industialism but who has the time. 🙄
Indiginous representation but like, without pretty much anything functional that's centered around Indiginous culture. No husbandry skills, no cultural practices (that any reviews I've seen stumbled on anyway), no community lots, no social interactions, no activities, no recipes... just a couple of sims and some generically Indiginous items from what I've seen.
I'd say maybe the early reviewers just didn't have long enough to find that stuff, but it seems like there's so little to do, especially that's functional, that they really wouldn't need a lot of time to find everything in the pack
It would've been cool to explore skills related to more tribal life. I don't have Sims 4 but I can imagine tons of various skills, hobbies, and requirements of a more down to earth tribal lifestyle. Crafting tools and weapons, fish rods and nets, weaving, fixing fences, grand story telling events where everyone sits and listens, and being able to braid another's hair. How cute would it be to have a mother braiding her kids' hair as the kids are talking nonstop telling a story? Or a family tanning hides to create blankets or "tarps" for weather proofing.
There is just so much potential in telling a much more self sufficient and removed from modern society living than just a cottage and growing grapes. It doesn't even have to be native themed, just salt of the earth living would've been fun on its own.
The best review! Truthful, entertaining, iconic. This definitely seems like a glorified GP. Not even a new hobby such as basket weaving to make new decor, etc.. It feels like they spent most of the time trying to research & make horses, then last second thought "quick, we need extra little things to make it worth EP price" and quickly gathered up the goats/sheep and nectar, and in standard EA fashion, barely play testing anything 😭
I love how you can see how it should literally be in the same pack as cottage living in so many ways. But splitting content into multiple overpriced packs is all ea can do
Also ive spent so much money on these packs just for it to not run on my system because this game is dogshit
We always love Maple content
I'm always here for more Maple!
YES! THE MISSING 3 CURLS! not to mention the only cc hair i can find for 3abc is alpha. all the maxis match ones i can find are either afro texture or wavy, and over 50% of my cc folder is already afro and braids 😢
Let's not forget that it's buggy as hell right now. Even with piracy I still feel scammed.
I'm gonna wait until the pack costs 50% less
The not being able to mount horses is in my game too, and they just have 2 horses, no sheep or goats, so it might not have been anything to do with Ricky. Happened with me after i adopted 2 dogs though
You really put it into perspective by sharing the cost of entire games ($50-$60) vs (a likely broken) Sims EP for $40. That IS as ridiculous as it sounds.
18 naked cowboys in the showers at Scam Ranch
They're naked cause the game bugged out and stole their clothes
:(
18 naked cowboys in ram ranch
wanting their cowboy bucks to be refunded
18 naked cowboys in ram ranch
ram ranch really sucks :(
Best comment
My first thought when you posed the initial question whether it's worth the price: in this economy NOTHING is worth 39,99. Thanks for the footage, review and especially the rant.
The editing is AMAAAAAZING Sara 🥺✨
THINGS THEY COULD HAVE DONE WITH MINIMAL TIME AND BUDGET: at least one more size of goat; full sized sheep in more natural colors; free roaming cattle; donkeys and mini horses in create a pet that would work for children being taught to ride since we can already teach them to ride bikes; better genetics in horse breeding bc the current genetics are even worse than for cats and dogs DESPITE being the SAME EXACT THING; wild coyotes that spawn and act very similar to wild foxes, along with a new skin and voice for pet dogs which is AGAIN basically just reworking foxes; more indigenous representation like more harvestables, more than one new recipe, more cas stuff, more braids, indigenous names for places, more wall art or new paintings, etc etc; they could have included cryptid lore into the gnomes lot challenge or created s nearly identical challenge with some basic cryptid lore and mood buffs that would mostly just be rewording descriptions; a training course should have been possible so even if we build our own we can choose "run the course" or something similar to do more than one obstacle at a time; jumps should have different heights and widths and can only be jumped after reaching x level sim riding skill and horse jumping skill; events in the town like cottage living to judge goats/sheep/milk/wool/new harvestables.... THERE IS SOOO MUCH THEY COULD HAVE DONE JUST USING THE EXISTING FRAMEWORK, BUT NOOO THEY HAD TO SPEND THEIR ENTIRE TIME LIMIT GETTING RIDING LESSONS FOR THEIR OWN PLEASURE THEN BITCHING AND BEING PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE ASSHATS WHO STILL WON'T JUST FUCKING LEVEL WITH US BECAUSE THEY CAN'T HANDLE THE CRITICISM THEY DESERVE FOR THE SHITTY JOB THEY DID
The beginning narration is chef's kiss ✨
not the read dead soundtrack for the title cards 😭 💕
tbh i think some things in the pack should PROB be base game
or its another copy of a pack
Never giving EA any money ever again, for any reason, but appreciate your honest review. Not many people will be as fair.
I'm new here but i already love your videos rythm and especially the dynamic intense narration 😄 Also, Maple is so so so so cuuute!!
I love how she just casually blames everything on ricky
The glitching when trying to mount is killing me.
I wouldn't exactly call it a scam, but according to what a modder has found in the code, it looks like the Sims Team didn't have enough time to finish the Unicorns they were going to include in the pack, so while not a scam, it's not exactly finished.
I feel like EA told them not to make them and save them for later to make a separate pack or something
@@lucysakamaki4080yep so they can scam for money
@@lucysakamaki4080My First Unicorn Stuff :/
Probably going to be released as an overpriced gamepack knowing EA.
@@coollittleslugonarockyeah lol, a game pack which is like non functional without this expac (think my first pet stuff pack) and has like 90% cosmetics and 10% items with like a singular animation interaction
I'd love to be able to make nectar again. But not for $40. Thank you for your honesty.
I think this is my favorite sims video of yours, the editing is just so top tier and I can feel all the vibes
I love when people talk in that southern/midwestern accent. Even though i'm Jamaican born and live in NY, it reminds me of my life back on the form that i never lived. Home.
This FakeGamerGirl and Ibai Llanos (7:02) crossover made me so happy. Everytime I see a foreign RUclipsr using him as a meme I smile harder than EA when someone buy their crappy packs. Mostly because is cheaper.
I don't own it, but it reminds me of my first pet stuff. Because in order to fully experience it, you need cottage living.
Imagine this pack and base game 👀
There really people just buying like one expansion? Like no one can save up their $$$ for sales? Or spend money on other things then bitch about expansion packs. Like every game.
@@Loralanthalas in my country, we have to pay taxes for buying something in dollar. Even if I get it on sale, I still have to pay 75% of it on taxes. So yes, I have to be extremely cautious when I get a pack.
Maybe its not the same to you but believe me, many of us have this issue.
@@LoralanthalasI'm surprised the packs aren't just pirated lol.
@@LoralanthalasI am not giving EA any of my money.
Really funny and informative review. I can see the hard work you put into the visuals and script and overall really great video. Thank you!!
10/10 review. Your last point about 2 year development aka time to market is so interesting. I wonder how their sales are doing. I haven’t really bought anything since cottage living. Their product managers need to focus on baking more empathy into releases because they are breaking trust over and over to save cost. I think they’re just doing their best to sell a used car. I hope sims 5 is developed in a way that they can keep adding features and newness to the base architecture and plan refactor checkpoints to outpace obsolescence. I feel like each pack should be a combination of reused, refreshed, and brand new infrastructure, modules, animations, and objects. From what I’ve seen werewolves was a really good example of that.
It really looks like the best use for horses is cinematic RUclips shorts and music videos again. A Sim leaves her dead beat husband and it's just her and her horse. She starts a new life. Meets a wonderful lady. They have a life together making nectar. Her husband comes back and refuses to leave. The ladies take him out back and bury him. The horse is there.
As someone who has the pack too. It’s definitely not worth the price. If you take conversion rates into thought too, some pay more than the price you said so they are even more ripped off. Mine was 62 fuc….. argvhfjf but the animals are cute I guess. I also enjoy building. But I do recommend everyone who doesn’t have it to wait for a sale. Anyways love the video. You’re a fave
No DLC should ever be the price of a Triple A game, ESPECIALLY one this lackluster. You could buy a better triple A game with that money.
@@goosegas2087 I agree and felt sick when it came to that price. I’m willing to wait for sales for future packs now. This was too much
I would very much like to believe that the sims 4 devs do actually want to put more in the game, but with EA being in charge and them having a deadline at the end of the day their opinion doesn't matter and its all about the money at this point.
the judith ward segment was my favourite part of this video! they really need to restrict celebrities to lots with celebrity related lot traits.
EDIT: the reason judith ward is EVERYWHERE, is because she is desperately trying to avoid del sol valley and her ugly ass house
It's around $60 in Canada with tax 😢 There's no way I'm buying it at an expansion pack price because it's simply not an expansion pack.
So WAY before this pack came out, I made an old West town based off of the get famous west set. Complete with a train station, stores, an Inn, an apothecary, and much more. I could also do this before getting the tool mode; this was the best EA could give us. I only bought it so I could have horses in my royal challenge. so glad I found your chanel
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I use to have lilsimsie's channel on notification until I found you. I like her content, but I started feeling like her reviews were too biased to be honest when new stuff came out.
I'm sad because of the missed opportunity for "Ricky... when I catch you Ricky..Ricky when I catch you Ricky.."
EA sure does love cutting corners and giving us HALF A GAME with all those damn rabbit holes.
I've been on the fence about buying this but this was sooo helpful omg. I didn't realize there was so many differences from the trailer
Cottage Living walked so Horse Ranch could run.
I dunno..the Sims franchise went downhill after 3. There was so many fun shenanigans in 1 and 2, and the LORE in 3 was so deep and multiple stories intertwined in every new pack and neighborhood. It’s really sad to see a beloved series putter out after some creative director changes. Not to discredit all the people who worked so hard on this game, but it just feels robotic now.
Also, “Chestnut Ridge” is the name of the psych hospital I did clinicals at in nursing school, lol.
The Sims 1 to 3 had heart. Sims 4 EA ripped out the heart and soul leaving it very simplefied with very little content.
Challenge: Take a shot for every time you hear FakeGamerGirl use the start of the house building song from RD2.
I absolutely agree with you. I couldn't wait for a sale because I was so excited about the horses and, it's fun, but not worth 40 bucks :'D
Automatic like for using the Housebuilding theme from RDR2.
I think it's basically that they either decrease the content in a pack or increase the price. Because inflation.
Gardening is like the only functional gameplay in this game it's basically a very expensive farming game with just a bunch of extra stuff that.
Oh don't worry, gardening is broken too. A lot of players have a bug where fully grown plants randomly reset back to piles of dirt :(
@@ajwest5569there's a mod that fixes this BUT it's terrible we have to be using a mod for something EA should fix.
Subscribed thanks to your honest review. Thank you!
I just love the red dead redemption 2 references, music in this video. and I think ricky was just Micah... from a rat to a mini sheep
I don't even feel bad for downloading a pirate version of the sims with all the stuff.
Even whit everysingle one pack, kit, blablabla you get bored playing the sims, lol
pd: amazing video, more fun than the rabbit holes gameplay
Thanks for your honesty on your review.
Sadly, you don't see too much honesty on theme videos anymore
Cheers
My first experience of this pack was attempting to make my sim milk a goat (which by the way are WAY too small and look disturbing to milk, especially since you can also bottle-feed them??), but the goat walked away as my sim approached. So my sim crouched down on the floor with his arms stretched towards the goat's new location, hitting the sickest dab, with his joints twisted unnaturally in every direction.
The horses look nice. But that's it. That's all I can give this pack. They're just nice models.
I just love your absolute honesty about EA packs. Finally someone who speaks the truth about EA trying to steal our money and covering up with "that's what you wanted". I'm so sick of it.
Satchonsims also does this well. He calls out EA on their bullshit without being hateful in his “Brutally Honest Review” series and focuses on value for money
If you think about it, opening up a petting zoo is like pimping out your animals.
You hit the nail on the head. Sims 5 or whatever it's called is going to be a giant cash grab. So paying $40 now is a drop in the bucket when it comes to the next version of the Sims. Money and more money.
Duh. Welcome to capitalism.
the cinematography didn't have to go that hard
😂 I thought you were going to say, “I just want to cast light on a problem that’s only going to get worse and worse: Ricky.”
Hey guys…what if..maybe…just maybe…this came with Cottage Living? But no, no. That would be insane.
I do agree with the pricing but at this point I look at every buy now as an extension to my content because our game is now so big. I love the game play and the BB and cas so I am happy. Using my generations LP it is fitting it very nicely with my family that already exists.
If they would have did a French country “modern” farming stuff like the decor in target’s I think it would have been a lot better. But a lot of the items I can’t really use if I want to play a regular house
I hope your sims are in the gallery. We need your sims in the gallery. I personally need this sim in my game.
I’m waiting for it all to go on sale 😂 no way am I paying that price and it’s almost double in Australia 🇦🇺 so nope 😂
That intro should be your resume into voice acting no cap
i instantly started feeling at home when i heard the house building theme
I 100% blame the mfs that defend EA like it's their mom's company. THEY act like we're too difficult.
The fact this is an “expansion pack” is SHOCKING to me… this should’ve been included in the $50 pets pack . But I don’t expect much from sims 4 anymore. cc creators are giving us more than EA at this point
I’m guilty though I do love the horse ranch world it comes with but other than that the cas items, build mode items, and genuine GAMEPLAY is lacking. I cant find myself playing for hours like I did with the sims 3-sims 2 and so on
The fact that EA has to give us free patch updates here and there because they want to add things that should’ve been in the base game to begin with is just the icing on the cake
Tip: if you wait until holidays and use gift cards you get and buy the packs you want on sale you can save a little money and buy way more packs.
Stardew Valley costs a fraction of the price of this "expansion" pack. Let that sink in.
I really want this pack but $40 is just too much for me so I’m definitely waiting for a sale.
i feel like i have no say in this because i 🏴☠️ed the whole entire game
I say, the smartest marketing choice for EA is to either merge Cottage Living with Horse Ranch, or knock Horse Ranch down to a game-play pack. This way, people are more incentivized to purchase Cottage Living and get bang for their buck. If Horse Ranch was knocked down the rung, it would probably be more expensive to EA in the long-trot.
i think they should do more with their bundles tbh, like bundling together this, cottage living, seasons, and then the dumb kits like country kitchen could be fused, itd certainly make life easier for someone getting into the game and then being rightly intimidated at the sheer amount of shit to be had
I love the rdr music that played on the transitions. Nice touch
Liked the whole video