That confuses me too. Where they trying to make it not seem one is too less ? Either there should be one of the two or one that covers both. What if I wished my Sim to love anything and everything about tropical live: lol, two slots wasted!

I hope mermaids have some water related abilities as well, I wanna live my H2O dream. But, of course, the most important aspect is diving underwater, if there are no underwater lots, this is going to be very unfortunate.

I didn't even think about which features could be used in other worlds, so thinking about it now is worrisome tbh. Ocean swimming, sail boat, watercrafts, diving, cleaning up litter are probably limited to the new world. Mermaids might work in other worlds, but I don't know how they would summon dolphins in non-ocean water. Sunburn definitely should work in other places, but maybe it's tied to only lounge chairs. Hmm...


Disappointed by the lack of traits and aspirations - That pack seemed perfect for things like Loves/Hates Water traits or a mermaid aspiration. (edit: Child Of The Ocean is probably the mermaid aspiration I think)
Three neighbourhoods and the same amount of lots as Strangerville is also disappointing.

I also read there's a new lot trait called "Volcanic Activity", so maybe you actually need that trait to have the meteor things falling down on your house.
And here are some really, really blurry and barely visible map leaks. It looks really small tbh with only three lots per neighbourhood?

Unless you send your mermaid to that world, there wouldn't be much to do their thing if swimming was restricted to the world. The gameplay of this pack almost if not all, is exclusive to this world.

To be fair, this was a problem with the last Island Paradise too. Dive lots, Houseboats and Mermaids were pretty much all exclusive to that area, with Sunlit Tides probably being the only other one you could adjust to make those work. (at the risk of bugs) Really it's less a criticism of the EP itself and more a criticism of the concept as a whole. The past locational packs - Outdoor Retreat, City Living and Strangerville - haven't been well received either, so dunno why this got priority over more versatile ideas like a hobbies pack or university or anything else that every sim can utilize.

Honestly, the only locational pack I've ever liked was probably the vacation packs from 1 and 2, but both of those integrated features that expanded beyond the location. In Sims 2 for example, the vacation spots had great opportunities for skill boosts and going there was the only way to unlock Bigfoot as a lifestate.

There appear to be 9 lots, 5 of which are beach lots. There are also 3 fairly large lots and one that just sits on the beach.

Since there are glass bottom floors, I can only imagine the modern beach front houses players will make when paired with Spa Day.

Also... we finally got octagon roofing... where are the Bora-Bora-Esque beach bungalows?



Much of Island Paradise’s content could be used elsewhere. However, it just made very little sense to.

House Boats: Viable in any town with beach property to place a dock (limited by travel).

Watercrafts: Can all be use elsewhere with enough water. There are great pictures of someone boating around Midnight Hallow.

Diving/Snorkeling: Viable in an any ocean.

Underwater Lots: A lot of worlds lack ocean depth, so it’s a bit tough. It’s doable in Bridgeport if you want Sims diving for trash!

Resorts: While they can be used anywhere, they’re all intended to be tropical themed (which is stupid). They can even be set up in vacation worlds, but there might be some mild bugginess.

However, in this pack, it all feels fixed to Sulani. I wouldn’t be surprised if you couldn’t build a sand castle anywhere else. I’m also shocked this isn’t a vacation world.

Yknow when I think about it, that's honestly a feature I think Sims 4 is missing: "The Hero's Journey."

In literature, the hero's journey is a concept where the hero goes on an adventure, faces some challenge and succeeds, and then comes home changed in some way or form. For the Sims, I think it's more about expanding who your Sim is as a character. I feel Vampires, Parenthood, Get Famous or even the Scientist career of GTW succeed at this because they offer new personality details that change your Sim for better or worse or change the way the Sim functions and plays. Packs such as City Living, Spa Day or Jungle Adventure just completely fail at this, functioning merely as distractions that don't change your Sim longterm whatsoever.

I feel like that's something important to look out for here: does your Sim have any long-term, permanent benefits for cleaning the island for example, or are all of the benefits bound directly to the island itself? Whether or not this exists would make a big difference.

Yup. Though, you could at least incorporate those stuff there, but then again houseboats and mermaids always ended up being redundant (in other worlds) due to the lack significance of traveling above water.

With the lack of sandbox through TS4, the downfalls really put much a toll, with the consequences of TS4 absent sandbox "vision" design really stripping away the possibilities of this pack inclusive-flexibility usage to other worlds even more. Oh well, it is what it is, and I digress since this is whole another issue (absent CAW). I really can't say much about the other packs, as I haven't played those and therefor don't have much of a perspective apart from imaging.

Leaked Island Living gameplay at Eaplay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE4odjplS0w

LMAO where does the mermaids keep their phones? 😂 In their fin pocket?

I only watched the official trailer as no time for the full let's play video, but I am confused by one thing. Why is cleaning up a beach such a prominent activity for this world? I mean, scuba diving is fun, the ability of getting a tan may be a nice feature if it doesn't screw up every custom skin, and the watercraft look good. No actual housing or build stuff in the trailer, so I'll reserve judgement pending the longer play video. But, who goes to an island world to spend their time cleaning up the beach?? That has to be the most bizarre "feature" I could imagine.

This is probably the first time I've seen a case where loading screens between lots is superior to TS3's open world. The dreaded routing fails when traveling by boat were so annoying in TS3. It was even worse as the boat travel option infected other TS3 worlds. I remember demolishing a lot in Roaring Heights because your sim would leave their fast car, walk to the beach on the edge of the lot, to get a boat, and get stuck in an endless route failure trying to reach the same shore they were trying to depart from despite a nice, shiny new bridge they could have just driven across.

I'm not as upset that this may be a standalone world, providing you can inhabit it which I assume I'll see in the other video, because I really didn't mind that in City Living. I know I'm in a minority on City Living, but I still have sims live there on occasion. Maybe it's because I've always lived in a large city, but I do like apartment living. Other than the neighbors asking for food or to brainstorm something stupid. But where I live you'd just call the cops, which unfortunately you can't in TS4.

Totally unrelated to the island thing, but why did they build an entire detective active career when there are no cops in the worlds to actually, like, arrest someone?

Same pocket that can hold 5 musical instruments, science lab equipment, a tablet and now a laptop. But it's still not as big as the TS3 pockets that could hold a whole car.

So.... who's the advertised influencer for this EP will be (for previous one was Baby Ariel)? That gay/bisexual youtuber guy (sorry, i don't follow and remember his name) from the stream? Somebody else? Or no one?

Would be cool If they carried a magic counch shell every time or just when transformed.

Saw this image and immediately thought of the Sims:

Thanks. At 11:24, you can really see how much big area mermaid could swim around from point A to B (took quite a lot of seconds even when on speed 3).

Dolphin interactions shown with mermaid:
- Ask to be squirted
- Feed it.
- Name it (appears after bonding/meeting)
- Splash with it
- Talk to it.
- Request tricks (also appears after bonding/meeting).

Youtuber proclaimed "you can be friends with it".

I'll put on my tinfoil hat and say they added it because the #TrashTag challenge has been so popular in the last months

I think it's so sad and funny how Maxis thinks adding these bonus features, like the beach cleaning, is fleshing out the pack. No devs, you trying to make something that should be a bonus feature in to the main feature and hailing it as THE best thing ever, when it's just a quirky addition to an otherwise pretty empty pack. I actually love the idea, but on top of a more fleshed out life state, career and resort and hotel management features. Maxis need to ask themselves WHY their packs always feels like something is missing. And no, it's not like they need to put everything in one pack, but you have to actually add something substantial. We still don't have fricken cars. Pathetic.

There are many things I like about this pack, but honestly, I don't understand WHY they can't add more. Is developing games really THAT expensive? Many game developers are not having these issues, so it can't be 'the times'. Just... Le Sigh.

They might have not of thought of any else new thrown it. Aside that, polluted oceans is a nowadays global issue in the real world, so it kinda felt relevant to throw in it. I do , worry it can end up being superficial, If they don't thrown any reward or ways sims can profit in it (like monetary, craft new objects or unlock cas accesories, or gain some kind of beneficial respect/award from the environmental community (that also gives gameplay ADVANTAGE) ).

A quick list of things I saw for builders (since we get brushed over):

- Thatched Roofing & Thatch Awnings
- Stilted Foundations
- Glass Floors
- Mooring Post
- Dock To Sea Ladder
- Ceiling Fan
- Building Above Water

Also, of note:
- Walls with corner designs that aren’t broken (maybe they fixed the others are well).

The kids looked pretty underwhelmed.

Speaking of underwater societies, could you imagine If it were a thing? Atlantis would probably have to be tied heavily with magic-theme pack, but just allowing to build houses UNDERWATER would been the best next best test from IP'S missed opportunities (maybe not many asked for it, but would be fun). It would obviously cater for mermaids, but who wouldn't want them to live in that immersive experience? It's lame enough that mermaids couldn't sleep in caves, which is what confined them to a on-land lot.

Now I do wonder, could you actually built a residential lot in an underwater lot in Island Paradise? Since there are terrain tools for building a waterbed and buy debug to place down a water buoy.

That's true for the casual gamer, but with CAW, you could technically integrate many of those features into other worlds as well- and even casual gamers can download custom worlds with IP's features. It's like Island Paradise's world was a suggestion of what was possible, IMO.

Example: Enekjaer, with its own dive lots and houseboats:


The fact that this is another world-restricted pack is just sad, as it means that the core gameplay isn't really being expanded on outside of this world- this pack feels closer to a GP like Jungle Adventure rather than an EP.

Fundamentally it also seems like a lot of TS4's features are hard-coded into the game, making them less flexible and less so like a kit of parts as they were in TS2&3 (i.e. water plane meshes in this world vs adaptable water, scripted off-lot festivals vs seasonal lot markers, scripted spawners vs spawn markers).

The only really hard-coded things I remember in TS3 are the world ambient sounds, vacation quests, the vacation world cultures, and that one gym from University that has the open atrium into the basement. Missing opportunities, but really more pet peeves than limitations.

feel free to disagree, but the Island pack just doesn't feel like an EP to me so far? - not the first TS4 EP to 'feel' that way to me, though.

Have they added any brand new feature that was not in the TS3 island pack?

as for the Moschino stuff. I am pretty bummed by this trend (with TS2 H&M and TS3 Diesel) of big fashion/corporate/whatever stuff packs, especially with all the non-Simlish letters. I admit though that those two old SP brought some nice clothes/furniture. I understand that they have to put the non-Simlish text to promote the brand, but still, I don't like it.

I think the conservationist career is new? That and the odd jobs that presumably build off the freelancer career.