The latest The Sims Stuff pack – The Sims 4 Crystal Creations Stuff Pack released this week, and thanks to the EA Creators Network, we got a chance to dive in and have a look.
I’ll be honest, right from the start, I think this has to be one of my favourite packs that they’ve released recently. The aesthetics of the CAS and Build/Buy assets, the crystal making hobby, and the amount of cross pack compatibility all adds up to something that will definitely be getting a lot of use in my game.
CAS/Wearables
Most of the CAS assets are keyed for teens through to elder, although there are also hairs and stud earrings for children. In total, there are 27 unique items.
For the head, there are three hairs keyed as both masculine and feminine – an up do and a short cut that comes in two different colour styles, and under jewellery, a pair of earrings and a necklace keyed for both.
For the body, there are a blouse, four full body outfits and a skirt for women, and four shirts and a pair of trousers for men. On body accessories, there are two rings keyed for both, tights for women, a different pair of boots for each gender and a pair of shoes for women.
One thing that stood out for me is that there’s very little cross over between genders – a lot of packs recently have had maybe some tops or trousers for example keyed for both – that’s not the case here. Of course you can still swap as suits you – and some of the male tops look sharp when paired with more feminine pieces!
The other wearable pieces are those that you can create on the Gemology table – I’m not even going to count those, but there are a number of styles of earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings, each of which can be customised by selecting your metal and gemstone elements. You cannot unlock these in CAS, you can only get them in-game. More about those later, though.
Build/Buy
Alongside the Gemology table and the Mystical Moonlight Charging Grid, the Build/Buy assets mainly focus on surfaces and deco that fit the theme, along with two bookcases and a couple of chairs.
The styling of these suits my tastes – and that of a lot of my Sims! – and they come in a wide range of colours. There is one styled room to show these off, that comes in three colour schemes.
One item that cannot be bought is the crystal tree – once you reach level 3 in the Gemology skill, you can carve crystal seeds which can be planted to grow Crystal Trees that can be harvested for gemstones. My sim’s first harvest netted me a sapphire, two alabasters and a quartz.
Anyone who has seen my reviews before knows that for me, a big thing is how well the pack works with existing game content – and in my opinion, they’ve hit it out of the park with this one, particularly if you like the Realm of Magic and Paranormal packs!
Which brings me onto…
Activities & Skills
The main activity in this pack is creating cut stones crystal jewellery on the Gemology table, which can then be worn, displayed or sold. The skill itself is a 10 level skill that can be developed by working on the table, or reading the three skill books that are available. As your skill develops, you unlock more styles of jewellery and cuts of stones.
When you use the table you have the option of cutting stones, custom designing jewellery or random design – for the first two, the cost depend on the options selected; for the latter it’s a flat fee of §300 – so it could get you a bargain, or you could pay over the odds – the choice, as they say, is yours!
Most stones or metals can be bought via the worktable, but some of the rarer ones need to be collected or found in the usual way. And gems from ALL packs are available to use if you have the pack installed.
The stones and jewellery will also give buffs if you charge them in the moonlight, and these will vary from mood boosters up to immortality. The moonstone, which is new in this pack, has a range of effects across different occult Sims, too. Stones from the Jungle Adventures pack also impact events in Selvadorada.
We’ll put together a more detailed article on the Gemology skill in the near future.
Items created can be worn by sims, displayed in your room or sold – either by the menu, Plopsy or at a flea market table – just don’t forget to clear your table before the flea market closes!
Overall, I’m enjoying this pack, it’s ticking all the boxes for what appeals to me and I can see a lot of potential for various aspects of it in my Sims’s lives!
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