CONFIRMED: Expansion Pack Announcement NEXT WEEK! ?

[carlfatal]

53 minutes ago, ChocoBetty said:

So, I can't imagine I'm the only one who is like "I'll wait until it is 50% off". (The reason why I'm still waiting for "Nifty Knitting" and "Eco Lifestyle".)

No, you´re certainly not...

But I have to admit, that I bought Eco on mmoga for 12 Euros a few weeks ago, and I had to get my hands on Nifty Knitting, when it was in the sale last week for 25 percent. Although I was and am very unhappy with the original gameplay in Sims 4, this is the first part of the series, that could make me buying stuff packs for more than 5 Euros, cause I recently began to love the strange buildmode. If it comes to objects, that provide some nice "hippie feel" to me, I really can´t withstand...

And well, with all the mods, I am using, it´s also pretty much nice gameplay now. Yeah, I even abandoned Sims 3, what I never thought to do any time soon.

 

But I´ll stay with my politics to buy anything only, if I am able to patch the game. For me Sims 4 must be playable first, and that it is only cause of the mods. So my creds alwas go out to those people, who provide us the possibility to have the game, that we want, and not the one, EAxis wants us to buy.

[ChocoBetty]

2 hours ago, carlfatal said:

But I have to admit, that I bought Eco on mmoga for 12 Euros a few weeks ago, and I had to get my hands on Nifty Knitting, when it was in the sale last week for 25 percent.

Just did a quick Ecosia search (I like to plant trees while searching for something) on mmoga and it seems to offer a lot of good deals. So far I relied on the Origin downloads. Unfortunatly I won't be able to get it for 12 Euro.  But still cheaper than on Origin. I found it somewhere for a discount but then they added the sales tax later on. Not used to that concept apart from when I was on vacation in the US.

I've now seen the trailer and it looked great. But don't they always look great? I thought "ski lifts" and "trains" and my next thought was "Who asked for that?" - although the ski lifts could be just a decoration element. But sims exited a train...

[DarkAudit]

The short version is "The Sims go to Hokkaido." Japanese expansion with ski resort and onsen.

[Adolfnut]

8 minutes ago, DarkAudit said:

The short version is "The Sims go to Hokkaido." Japanese expansion with ski resort and onsen.

true, the cultural stuff is what surprised me. Atleast look like a good expansion.

[DarkAudit]

7 minutes ago, Adolfnut said:

true, the cultural stuff is what surprised me. Atleast look like a good expansion.

I see a new way to die... succumbing to the siren song of the kotatsu.

 

[snowdog04]

5 hours ago, carlfatal said:

But I´ll stay with my politics to buy anything only, if I am able to patch the game. For me Sims 4 must be playable first, and that it is only cause of the mods

The important mods are almost always ready before the actual DLC release.  Really the only exception to that seems to have been when Island Living caught Turbodriver as he went on a long vacation.

[Adolfnut]

2 hours ago, DarkAudit said:

I see a new way to die... succumbing to the siren song of the kotatsu.

 

lol?

[justinlee]

sims 4 snowy escape

 

new youtube video released 7 hours ago

[DarkAudit]

Who's gonna be first with a "sneak a BJ under the kotatsu" animation?

 

[Guest]

Spoiler

 

 

Now, I'm definitely not getting this EP. How is EA gonna do S.Korea like that?! Fucking bastards!

[carlfatal]

1 hour ago, Valtharia said:

Now, I'm definitely not getting this EP. How is EA gonna do S.Korea like that?! Fucking bastards!

I don´t know... I see the background but it´s simply not possible to act strictly aware of every historic injustice, especially if you act as a big company, that is focused on profit but not human rights movement.

EAxis never did act historically correct, I only need to look to a place like Windenburg, that is some kind of a Disney-like fantasy of "Good Old Europe", what can also be counted as an Eurocentric idiotism (and only contents of British and German culture in particular). And to think of EAxis as a studio, that starts a studium of East Asian history before releasing an addon is simply unrealistic. They didn´t know anything about Japanese culture, Korean culture, or even Chinese culture at all, they use US-American and European stereotypes of, what is then some kind of mix and match of different East Asian cultures.

 

That is not of any beauty, so to say but it is human and in every way intelligible, as it did not intend to harm anyone. Like I said about Windenburg, when it came out: That is an US-American fantasy, and in no way realistic or respectful towards the many real European cultures, that once existed. And what the devs now show about Japanese culture in this addon is not Japanese but a sterotype of, what people think would be Japanese. And I am sure, that EAxis has some workers with a background, that could be called "East Asian" in a sterotyped way.

 

To be honest, we all have mostly no cultural backgrounds than capitalism and the included alienation of this kind of economic system. This world did make us into people, that have more in common, than we differ from one another. We buy the same cars, live with the same equipment in similar living spaces, use the same socíal media, work in the same jobs, wherever we live. And to count on "this is my personal history, and you did not think of the injustice, the Japanese imperium did nearly 100 years ago to "my" country" is simply silly, as we all know, how the western world even today acts towards Africa and the Southern Americas in a whole. This kind of neocolonialism is much more important, as it is still happening, and it destroys land and people in two continents, and I even did not mention the situation in Middle Asia here.

 

Yes, Japan did as a state and society horrible things to all people in East Asia, but do we ever think about that, if we hear Japanese music of do some Karate? Do we always consider every single aspect of long lost culture, that we all only know and use as a ware, that we buy for money? Who can say, that he studied the background behind the common "esoteric" fandom towards Feng Shui?

 

Like I said, I am not a friend of EAxis, but there is no reason to call their work in any way racist or otherwise misanthropic. The only thing I see, that one can critizise, is, what we all do, at any place at any time: acting without any sense towards cultural backgrounds. This has a reason, and I mentioned it above.

 

And well, I am not going to buy this new addon at relaese but my reason is much more simple, than my thoughts above: I wait for a sale, cause I act like a person, that is aware of a market situation. And I don´t pay more, than I need, especially not for a product, that is not worth the price, we all have to pay for it, cause this price is in no way bound to a real worth: We pay for the ability to use a product, that EA will lend to us, and this is written into their EULA.

 

So we should not try to act like the innocent, that we never were and never will be.

[snowdog04]

These are JAPANESE people, in JAPAN, where Shinto shrines are still very much a thing.  Even if Koreans don't like them.

The design on the robes- seriously?  PART of the Rising Sun flag, and not even the right color?  So a blue and white striped awning is an American flag?

What culture COULD we portray, that has never behaved badly in its history?

[carlfatal]

@snowdog04, the rising sun was the symbol of the Japanese emperor. I can understand, that Korean people critizise the use of this symbol. But I am sure, that the devs of the Sims didn´t know that. And the use of it in the Sims 4 is in no way meant in an offensive way. And cause of this I can´t understand this kinda shitstorm against EAxis.

 

But I hope, that the devs will remove this sign. It only shows, that they don´t know anything about the cultures, they use, and that there is a lack of respect in general.

[Scorpio]

The worship of shrines, or any other worship, might even offend other religious people/cultures too.

Look how the missing skin tones for other races had so many ppl offended.

It wasn't intentional either but at least they finally fixed it. 

 

Being older I knew about the Rising Sun flag but not the Shrine Worship and many Americans today don't even know much about our own history or culture.

But it's good to hear feedback from S.Koreans about these things as they know their own history far better than us.

EA just didn't know but I would expect them to correct it now that some have called attention to it.

 

It would take much more than this to keep me from buying it.

 

What's the old saying 'You can't please all the people all the time'.  

[TurbojetsEngine]

Ehh, as an Asian but not Japanese, this looks okay so far...? I would love to hear about how the Japanese people thinks though.

 

Orientalism usually has a nice aesthetics, and it is mostly only harmful when we fetishize it and mix it up with the real world. We are just only human beings. Not much difference between us all.

 

(Okay, it does worry me about how the gallery may fill up with American fantasy of how the Far East should be. I mean, ultimately, yeah the Sims is a game that let people act out their fantasies so it's not that of a big deal. But gosh i really hope that there will be more Asian, or even better, Japanese creators sharing the realistic builds.)

 

(And I would highly doubt EA to be a responsible company that respects the eastern cultures and consults the relevant ethnic groups. Look at the skin color discourse. =_= )

[Oops19]

I'll play Steep again.

 

Sims should be able to worship everything and when a critical mass of 'followers' is reached it, the sim or the animal should turn into a 'god'. Limiting this to shrines with likely no in-game effect is lame EA style. As a game it may contain more 'fantasy' elements.

 

Anyhow some research would never harm.

[snowdog04]

3 hours ago, Oops19 said:

I'll play Steep again.

 

Sims should be able to worship everything and when a critical mass of 'followers' is reached it, the sim or the animal should turn into a 'god'. Limiting this to shrines with likely no in-game effect is lame EA style. As a game it may contain more 'fantasy' elements.

 

Anyhow some research would never harm.

A Cult of the Cowplant, how funny would that be?  With an initiation ritual of getting eaten and spit out...

[Oops19]

I see my sims already worshiping a petunia, growing by the power of believe to a small Strangerville plant and finally with 100+ believers to the mother plant.

The inquisition will take care of all disbelievers and the crusaders will spread the Strangerville religion to other sim worlds. Healing the SV illness will finally require an exorcism instead of EA medicine.

The Cowplant occult will be featured in another world, very similar to SV.

[Guest]

I haven't bought any of the packs this year and up until this year I had bought everything. However, this pack does look like fun...a new world with all these new activities is a breath of fresh air...no politics, no corporate advertising, just fun. The fact you can both live in the new world and holiday there, is certainly a step in the right direction.

 

[Guest]

Spoiler

 

They actually fixed very quickly. I'm quite surprised. I'll buy it, I guess. That is after I see the results of the pack and see if it's even worth getting.

[carlfatal]

@Valtharia,

the devs always tried to stay neutral in terms of cultural or religious things. It´s no wonder, that they reacted so fast. But they know about the different East Asian cultures as much as the most people do, who don´t live there, simply nearly nothing. And so this happened.

Nonetheless I´ll wait for a sale, before I´ll buy this or any other pack. I am not willing to pay the full price for the crap, that Sims 4 is in general. I love to build with this game, and I have my fun playing with my dollies but this is only cause of the mods, I use. And there are a lot of them. So my priority is clear...

 

 

 

[2cool4u_1]

I agree with @carlfatal. I don't think the devs did anything wrong. It's part of Japanese culture. It's Japan (or at least the sim version of it). Sims SHOULD bow. I understand that this was forced on South Korea, which I in no way agree with. I also understand that making Koreans play with bowing sims is like forcing them all over again, so they should have the option to turn it off. However, as I said, this pack has nothing to do with Korea. It's Japan. We shouldn't remove the Christmas Tree from Winterfest because it offends Jewish players. We should include the menorah, and let players choose, which is what the devs did. I feel they should actually include more religions. Removing part of Shintoism because it offends Koreans is wrong IMO, but players should get the ability to remove it themselves, if they want to. Shintoism is not the only religion that has ever been forced on people, but it doesn't mean people should not be able to have their religion represented properly because of it.

[carlfatal]

@2cool4u_1,

I don´t think, that the "Christmas Tree" is a symbol of the Christian Religion, it is much older. And I never heard, that any Jew or Muslime felt offended by this tree, cause it is only a symbol for the midwinter change. And meanwhile it is used by believers of all religions for that.

I am happy, that in the Sims is no religious symbol at all, there is enough stress around religions on this planet, and I don´t want to see them included in this game, that is completely based on stereotypes. It would never be possible to handle this themes with enough respect towards the different religions, that exist. And I only need to mention the many, many Christian churches, that would fight for their right to be the right one then, and the one, that should be represented first...

 

Who wants to play with religious themes in the Sims, can do this by using CC, and that is absolutely fine with me. But I never would pay for or a tora, or a bible, or a koran. And so I don´t want to pay for a shinto shrine either. Respect for religious feelings means, not to turn them into wares at all.

And I am not religious at all.

[Khlas]

It was fast because removing assets from the game is easy. What is funny is, it can be an offense to the japanese culture now that they removed it. I personally do not care at all, what I see is the fact they are removing gameplay features from an already empty game. But YoUtUbErS and InFlUeNcErS have always the last word with this fukin game.

[ChocoBetty]

I agree with @carlfatal and would even go so far and call stuff that came with "Seasons" as more on the "tradition" side than the "religious" side. But I also think it's a fine line and it's not easy to handle.