With Valentine’s Day just past, we’re in a romantic mood, and what better way to celebrate that at a Wedding. Thanks to the EA Creators Network, we got a sneak peek at the activities planned, although it’s worth noting that this is not the final version of the software, and things may still change.
I will freely admit that my sims normally just elope and get married straight away when the mood takes them (me), so I was intrigued at what would go into planning a wedding. It was clear from the livestream last week that they’ve taken care to ensure that not only are traditional Western style weddings represented, but Chinese and Indian traditions are also included in things like the colours and styles of clothing available and things like the tea ceremony that’s available. And if none of those suit you, well the planning system is flexible enough to allow you to create your own events!
Let’s dig into what’s added. I’ll also include details from the latest patch as well as this brings the base game in line with some of the new functions.
Overview
Take a trip down the aisle in The Sims™ 4 My Wedding
Stories Game Pack*! Make your Sim’s journey to their big
day special, then plan the perfect ceremony. From the
proposal to the reception, customize each aspect to
celebrate every Sim’s love story in a way that truly feels
unique to them. In the world of Tartosa, (almost)
anything becomes romantic.
Straight away, this pack feels jammed full with a lot of content. And while the focus is on weddings, a lot of it can be used in general play. I’m going to keep this is a general overview, but over the next few weeks, we’ll add more specific articles, particularly about game play.
We have a new world – Tartosa – which gives me French riviera vibes, although the SimGurus just said generally Mediterranean themed on the livestream. A new series of events to plan to celebrate your wedding, with a lot of new social interactions added around this. 80 new build/buy assets, and 86 new CAS assets. Add to that the new Wedding Venue lot type which was added in the patch, along with 10 base game outfit updates, a bindi, a toddler swimsuit, and french polished nails and you’ve got a LOT of new content! Oh, and did I mention music? The World music station is now available to everyone, with 4 new songs added, and the song from the trailer is in the Romance music station. The base game arches and pergola have also been given an update, too!
Gameplay and Tartosa
I’ve linked these together as several of the new interactions are only available in the new world. The game play itself deserves an article on its own!
Tartosa has 2 neighbourhoods, and totals 9 lots and 2 community areas. The views across the world are stunning, making it the perfect place for a romantic wedding, whether you want beachside, or at the waterfalls. It has 2 community lots, which are a wedding venue and a lounge, and the town square near the harbour includes a dress shop, a cake shop and a flower stall, as well as a town hall if you’d prefer a quiet wedding without all the fuss! The flower stall can be bought and placed on other lots, but the others can’t, although you can order cakes and choose your outfit via other means.
The wedding planning aspect for me is why the world is tied so strongly into the game play, as so much of it works better when you visit Tartosa for it!
Overall, the gameplay introduces 7 new plannable event types. The best way to do these is via the calendar. Not only can you check your sims’ availability, but you can set the date and time of your choosing. Planning via phone or socials is still possible, but it assumes it happening that day.
Briefly, select a date, select the type of event, choose the guests and featured sims, choose activities, and choose a time and place. If you’re planning a full wedding, you can also pick your cake and clothes here if you’d prefer.
The big thing about the even planning is how customisable the events are. They’re not goaled events, so while you can select the activities you want as a guide, there’s no pass or fail. There are a wide variety of activities to choose from, so you can customise the ceremony to suit you and your sims’ culture. Some of them, such as exchanging vows are fairly universal, while other vary. “You may kiss the bride” is common in western weddings, but is often seen as too intimate a moment for Indian weddings. Chinese weddings often feature a tea ceremony which honours the parents. Both Indian and Chinese weddings frequently make use of the colour red, while a white or ivory wedding dress is common in the west, while the groom wears a black or grey suit. These are all fairly broad generalisations, I know, there will be a million and one other customs and traditions based on your family, town or country, but the game has enough flexibility to allow you to craft something pretty close!
Create-A-Sim
The bulk of the new items here are wedding themed, but with the right colour swatches, a lot of them could work for other situations. Stand outs for me in that respect would be the pixie cut and long wavy hair under female, and the beaded dreads under males – although I can see several of my female sims in Sulani wearing that! The new make up looks very versatile, and under female/full body there’s a simple dress and a glam suit I can see a lot of my sims in!
Build/Buy Mode
Again, the focus is on objects that will make or break your big day, however a number of them would work in the right house setting, or even in a restaurant if you have the Dine Out pack. I also want to look at setting up a wedding retail venue using Get to Work!
If you need inspiration, there are 5 styled rooms – 2 indoor, 3 garden rooms – to get you started. If you prefer ready made, look at the Maxis content in your library and you’ll find 5 new Wedding Venues as well, ready to place where you want them.
In Conclusion
So far, I really like this pack. I still need to dig fully into the game play aspect, but what I’ve seen of it looks good, I just need to figure out if full on weddings are something that all my sims will have or if most of them will just run off to the town hall! The new content adds a lot to the game, not just for the wedding side, and I love how inclusive it feels.
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