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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 9th Jun 2018 at 5:18 AM
Default Makin' Magic
What did you enjoy about it so much?

P.S. Sorry for my bad english.
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Test Subject
#2 Old 9th Jun 2018 at 7:38 AM
perhaps, besides being highly qualified as a game (I somehow think the same aspect should be doubtful as for sims2, 4 even 3, they surely are amazing tools to build an imaginary world or to shoot films with, but are they really great games?), makin' magic attracts me by providing a pre-Harry Potter magical world. I mean, HP has been my whole teenhood, but outside HP there are (or at least used to be) old-fashioned magical world with gypsy wagons, tales about clever (instead of powerful)wizards and all other stuffs. Even if 99% of the features are already contained by HP, but with different ways of packing things up you get different, well, atmospheres of the magical world. There are other atmospheres besides HP, and makin' magic has one for sure.

(as a comparison, SuperNatural has an obviously post-twilight atmosphere......I mean no offense but HP movie fans look at Twilight fans in the very same way HP book fans look on movie fans.)

btw, it might be true that the original Maxis used to have a somehow old-fashioned taste? They named their main street Elm Street (and almost all lots are avoiding that on their address, which is funny), and the cheat code "rosebud". Also the studio town surely do not resemble real-world Hollywood in 2003 (it looks like something around Marilyn Monroe's time) and the Magic town seems to be right from a 1930 novel...
Lab Assistant
#3 Old 9th Jun 2018 at 9:31 AM Last edited by ed95 : 9th Jun 2018 at 2:56 PM.
Agreed! While clearly influenced by HP-mania, Maxis went in another direction entirely, more like the esoteric craze of, you said it, the 30's. Equally, Downtown looks like a 50's-60's mall strip, more than something from the early 2000's. Very very spot on.

What I like the most about MM is all the atmosphere they put in Magic Town lots; and also, everything the expansion includes (rollercoasters, carnival, stage shows...) it's so funny! But what I like the most of all is the ingredient collecting factor: you have to churn butter to make it, to spray bees to have honey... that's very immersive, and always a fun thing to do.
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retired moderator
#4 Old 9th Jun 2018 at 10:48 AM
Quote: Originally posted by SneakyWingPhoenix
What did you enjoy about it so much?

http://simscommunity.info/wp-conten...0/flamingo2.gif
and
http://simscommunity.info/wp-conten...5/10/gnome3.gif
:lovestruc
Instructor
#5 Old 9th Jun 2018 at 9:15 PM
The first time I ever loaded the Magic Town map, the fog went rolling across the river and the most captivating music I have ever heard started playing. My loyalty was forever won. To this day, despite all the wonderful expansions for TS2 and TS3, I always maintain that TS1's Makin' Magic beats them all.
It was, game-wise, my first true love.

A fool and his money are soon parted. ~ Thomas Tusser
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 10th Jun 2018 at 3:19 AM
Something that, until then,didn't happen in the previous EPs: the possibility of building a custom, haunted residential lot somewhere next to the expansion's community lots (THAT if we don't mention Unleashed, of course, as the "new location", in it, is basically SimVille... in steroids!) and this time with other money other than the §'s.

Personally speaking, it is a mix of challenging, exciting and exhausting, the task of discovering new magic spells and winning golden coins whilst trying to keep the Sim in the closest-to-green mood, specially when the timezone of their home freezes whenever we go outside, which might RUIN the biological clock and the mood of our Sims, but, well... once you nail the best ways of managing the things they like to do for the sake of the productivity and success, Makin' Magic has a great replay value!! It effectively make us THIRSTY for discovering what each one of the locked spells does. They're like an enhanced version of the 'potion table'
Instructor
#7 Old 10th Jun 2018 at 6:02 AM
Quote: Originally posted by LUCPIX
Makin' Magic has a great replay value!! It effectively make us THIRSTY for discovering what each one of the locked spells does.


Agreed. I loved having to learn the spells, collecting the weird ingredients, and yes, even the toadstool race vendor quest! There was also the nearly feverish expectation I had when I thought might just see a newly earned growth or ability crystal in the yard.
Ah, I remember when I found my first-ever magic crystal--so thrilled! The moment was made sweeter by the fact that it was the fuchsia-coloured teleportation crystal. Pure epicness....

A fool and his money are soon parted. ~ Thomas Tusser
Lab Assistant
#8 Old 10th Jun 2018 at 7:24 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Dixieland
Agreed. I loved having to learn the spells, collecting the weird ingredients, and yes, even the toadstool race vendor quest! There was also the nearly feverish expectation I had when I thought might just see a newly earned growth or ability crystal in the yard.
Ah, I remember when I found my first-ever magic crystal--so thrilled! The moment was made sweeter by the fact that it was the fuchsia-coloured teleportation crystal. Pure epicness....


@Dixieland Competing/Trading with Ms Mara is fab as well as the panic of watching our Sim delaying more than necessary to turn 90º and run/walk to the next toadstool chair etc! Didn't you think bloody disturbing that magic smoke which makes people to fall asleep in the middle of the silver grassy land??
Forum Resident
#9 Old 11th Jun 2018 at 12:54 AM
Believe it or not, I mostly bought the EP for minigolf and some of the crafts -- wine/nectar. I had an idea for a downtown lot that was like an eighties video arcade in the front, and then behind that a minigolf park. I got it at the wrong time, though -- I was just starting to get distracted by The Sims 2, so I've never played it much. Recently I bought a copy of Complete collection and have been trying to figure out MM. So far what I've realized is THE SIMS 1 IS INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING. I didn't realize how EASY TS2/TS3 are in comparison.
Top Secret Researcher
#10 Old 11th Jun 2018 at 8:10 AM
I got it completely working in widescreen, without any UI errors some time ago. For some reason needs drop slower? Idk, but now I can manage sims easier. Maybe its just the fact that now my eye feels better looking at the screen and that more of tge game is on my screen so I manage sims easier. However, MM is simply amazing. All of the sims 1 packs are amazing actually. Hot Date comes so close to sims 2 Nightlife but is still so different and fresh. Unleashed is sooo much more than just pets and gardening and Vacation is for some reason simply way more fun than Bon Voyage. As much as I love the feeling of personally connecting with your sims in Sims 2, Sims 1 has that arcadey parody feel that no other game really can match. And dang, Making Magic really enhanced that arcade feel with the atmosphere it created. Somehow, in terms of feelings it gives me and in terms of comparison with ts2, sims 1 reminds me of GTA Vice City while Sims 2 is San Andreas. Thr newer game feels more open and sandboxy, but it has lost a lot of the charm of the original
Field Researcher
#11 Old 18th Jun 2018 at 3:59 PM
The music is easily my favourite thing about the expansion pack. As in, it's in my top 5 of favourite soundtracks* and I never get tired of hearing it. It's a joy to start up the game and hear the loading music.
But it was also the excellent theming, creating 3 distinct areas that are different from each other but still overlap, the work-at-home possibilities it added (new gardening and crafting mostly), lots of new NPCs with personalities (remember when different locations or objects gave you different NPCs?) and the magic system was pretty good, yeah some ingredients were annoying to get and some spells and charms were more useful than others, but it was diverse and achievable and fun. The theming deserves another mention - gothy spooky horror, old-timey carnivals and fairy meadows? Lots of new plants that give us a sense of seasons, two different rollercoasters, lots of new food stands (pretty useless without a mod to make food more filling, but still), old-fashioned kitchen stuff, walls with dilapidated versions (have you seen that some wallpapers look a bit different on a diagonal wall?), three different magic merchants, different carnival games, new food, a new pet? Yes please! The Sims went out with a bang.

*The others are Myst III: Exile, Baten Kaitos: Lost Wings and the Eternal Ocean, The Sims base game music and Ace Attorney Investigations, in case you were wondering. Closely followed by Final Fantasy IX, Okami and Bravely Default.
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#12 Old 14th Jul 2018 at 8:21 AM
I extracted the whole MM soundtrack and placed it in the custom music channel of my TS3 game. That way I can still remember the time when I missed deadlines or showed up at work without a single minute of sleep the night before.
Mad Poster
#13 Old 14th Jul 2018 at 11:37 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Don Babilon
I extracted the whole MM soundtrack and placed it in the custom music channel of my TS3 game. That way I can still remember the time when I missed deadlines or showed up at work without a single minute of sleep the night before.
Wait...you, in real life, or your Sims, in their Sim lives?

Addicted to The Sims since 2000.
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#14 Old 15th Jul 2018 at 5:00 PM
Me, IRL, of course. My Sims were better looked after.
Scholar
#15 Old 16th Jul 2018 at 12:42 AM Last edited by DezzyBoo : 18th Jul 2018 at 1:50 AM.
One track in particular is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. If you go into your game files it's the buy5 one. Just. I could listen to that all day. I took all of MM's music and put it into My Sims 2. Reprogramed my Jam Bands station to be MM only. Perfect for my magic shops. MM was truly when I fell in love with the Sims. That and Old Town. I mean I love all of it but I mostly just collect the spells.

I've yet to unlock every spell, darn it! Some of those quests are hard to complete.

"Oh look, my grandchild is now an elder. They grow up so fast. Gee, I wonder when I'll finally graduate college." Sims 2
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#16 Old 16th Jul 2018 at 9:18 AM
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#17 Old 31st Oct 2019 at 9:35 PM Last edited by SneakyWingPhoenix : 31st Oct 2019 at 9:46 PM.

Now I can see why. TS1 did it (magic) right! Half of the end of the representation of TS1 bit, you start noticing quite interesting, creative and comical consequences, effects and fun spells.

P.S. Sorry for my bad english.
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