As you all know, the occult has always been among top interests as well as a long running tradition of the Sims series. Yet it seems that the more life states are added to the current Sims 3, the "wronger" they look to me. Don't get me wrong, I love all superhuman beings , but the way EA threw them in the game, along with the treatment each one gets sucks all the charm out of them.

The event that triggered this whole crashing down is the Supenatural expansion pack. Face it, this pack ruined almost every expectations I had for it. WHY THE HECK CAN YOU SELECT SUPERNATURAL TYPE IN CAS? To become a lifestates in past games and expansions, one has to work for it, be it befriending an NPC of that lifestate, finding relics, or building things,etc... Lifestates are fun because they are elusive and mystical. With Supernatural, click and "BAM" you're a vampire/werewolf/witch/ghost/whatchamacallit, and with that, gone all the enticement of becoming a "supernatural".

Besides, this expansion is not so expansive, because half of the lifestates introduced are already in past add-ons. It's like a bad re-release with some half-baked new features. Yet the lamest thing in Supernatural has to be the zombie. IT'S NOT AN EFFING LIFESTATE ANYMORE, and worse, it's NOT AN EFFING ZOMBIE. I mean, zombie has usually been a least favorite creature even in the original the Sims and its sequel, but it's still something, it's still part of the game. This zombie, I don't even know what it is. For God's sake, they eat plants, they turn back into humans after a while, they are ridiculous- a super lame way of EA saying to us that they own PopCap- the company that made Plants vs Zombies, in case you haven't already known. PopCap games are known to be original with quirky ideas and humour. This isn't funny or original. It's tasteless, it's annoying, it's...EA

"Supernatural" EP aside, why is the plantsim not in the Seasons while the alien is? Seasons->Trees->Plantsim, that's the common logic, right? . Nevertheless, I really love the alien, but what I don't get is why the alien's supernatural state is "human" in CAS. Ea has proven able to make cross expansion feature such as the Weather Tiki, so why can't they implement it? I mean, they went with the whole supernaturals in CAS thing, which just proves that they are pretty thoughtless releasing Supernatural before adding every other lifestates as they see fit. IMO, Supernatural should've come last, that could have been a good way to wrap up the series.

Opinions, guys and girls? :p

I like being able to create supernaturals in CAS. I don't always want to play the story of regular Sim being turned into a lifestate, I may want to play a fairy who was always a fairy. It's also helpful for creating the popultion of a town. I may want a vampire or werewolf in the neighborhood that I'm not going to play. So, I don't want to have to play them long enough to grind alchemy until they can turn themselves just so my Sims can have supe neighbors.

I agreed with most of that. But I like how Supernaturals are available in CAS now. And instead of putting Plantsims in Seasons, they should have just scraped the plantsim idea altogether. They weren't enjoyable or useful in the Sims 2 and they sure as hell aren't now -____-

Plus, because of plantsims, I've been forced to witness one of the most disturbing things I've seen in a Sims game that wasn't a glitch:

plantsims are the coolest lifestate after vampires, if only they had the sunlight need like in sims 2 !

I don't understand why many of you like fairies, they really suck , they are normal sims with hideous wings which aren't even retractable. I get very easy annoyed by those wings.

Maybe I'm missing something. Can somebody please explain to me what the appeal is to Plantsims?

Remember: this is a "teen" rated game....unfortunately.

I tried SN for about a week and then threw it away. I couldn't even find anyone who wanted it--I would have just given to them. I like realism too much in my game and zombies and witches and fairies and WTF ever else that came with that EP....BLAH! It is just BS all the way. Sixty bucks down the drain. A lot of you will disagree with me, but whatever. If you like all that BS then fine. To each his own.

I think being able to create a supernatural sim is kind of refreshing, and makes more sense in some cases (as calisims mentioned, making a fairy that's always been a fairy, or being able to populate a town with supernaturals without throwing potions). I remember in TS2 having to spend what felt like half my sim's life just to make her a freaking witch, and that playstyle isn't suited for everyone. Also, you don't *have* to make your sim a witch/werewolf/whatever in CAS if you don't want to--grinding alchemy is an option instead if you like the challenge. Witches also came last in both TS1 and TS2, and I was actually happy that Supernatural wasn't the last expansion since I have enjoyed playing witches since Makin' Magic.

I was disappointed by zombies as well. I wasn't expecting flesh-eating monsters, but they're pretty pointless. I also found it annoying that plantsims weren't in Seasons, even though I like aliens--I don't think we should try looking for logic in an EA game, though. I haven't even played a plant sim yet, because I don't like the cut of their jib--they aren't as cute as in TS2.

(As a side note, I'm always so surprised by how belligerent fans can be about matters of opinion. I have life states I like [witches and aliens] and ones I dislike [vampires] and those I think are useless [sorry, ghosts]. I wouldn't venture to slam anyone else for liking something about the game.)

I play a mostly "realistic" game. I turn supernaturals off completely with Twallan's mods, and I never play Moonlight Falls.

But I like having a single, unique supernatural in each of my towns:
Zombies exist only in Twinbrook. They're created by a witch with the Zombie Master LTW who lives in the swamp at the edge of town.
There's a wealthy socialite vampire in Bridgeport. He owns every commercial property in town.
There's a robot crimelord in Lucky Palms. He eats every car he can get his hands on, hacks all the blackjack tables and slot machines in the casino, and has a microwave harem.
There's a ghost fairy who lives below a hill in the woods in Hidden Springs. I wish I could hide her wings and give her some of the powers that PlantSims have to complete her as an uber-creepy naiad.

I don't have any unicorns or werewolves, and Sunlit Tides will be the only world of mine where mermaids exist. I wish I could mod Aliens out of my game completely; they leave their fancy cars parked everywhere around all of my towns.

Lol I feel like I'm the only one here who embraces the Supernatural. Maybe it's my inner anime/Harry Potter/Animorph fan talking but I think Supernatural was one of the best expansions for TS3. I could have done without the zombies though. Even if they were more threatening and attacked more than just my garden, I still probably wouldn't like them. I'd have felt the same about werewolves but now that I've found a mod that makes them deadly, I'm enjoying them quite a bit now XD.

Vampires are kinda take it or leave it for me. I enjoy the super speed but I've never really used them for more than Storytelling. I liked fairies because they felt like better versions of the TS2 Plantsims (too bad EA went and gave us Plantsims anyway). Mummies: I never played as them. World Adventures is definitely the expansion I've used the least. Same for Simbots. Genies are actually pretty useful when you wanna keep a clean house. And I like how they let you control neighbors without adding them to your active family.

Then there's witches. They were my favorite lifestate in TS2 and now they're even better. There isn't a single thing about TS3 witches that I dislike. And they seem to be the only townies that actually think. Example: Just for the evil-lulz (And because my town was getting a little overpopulated), I started multiple fires on a festival lot at the same time. While all the non-magical sims stood in front of the fire and screamed at it until they burned to death, there were three witches who happened to be there and they autonomously banded together to put out all the fires with the ice spell. I was annoyed at how they kept putting out the fires mere seconds after I started them, but I couldn't help but be just a little proud :P

I don't know where you live, but if you paid $60 for SN, it was over-marked. Must have been from Origin on a "glitchy" day.

I actually like what SN brought to the game. While most of the supernaturals are not very much fun on re-playability, witches do well in other worlds. And alchemy is what the chemistry set should have been. MF is, IMO, quite pretty, with lots of room for expansion. If you don't like the stock population, just kill them off and restock with non-SN characters. It looks great with Seasons. The Zombies are, IMO, a total fail. Even when modded to be more "zombieish" they still don't capture the popular concept of a zombie. I've never seen or read of a zombie who breaks off an attack to take a phone call or walk into a bar to watch TV. It just ruins immersion for me.

Plantsims could have been better suited for Seasons, although the "scientific" method of creating them would have had to be altered. While isolated in my opinions on this board, I think they missed out on alien design. Love the UFO, hate the green alien sim. That might have worked better in UL, where your young, barely adult sim could be up studying at night, get abducted as though in some sleep deprived nightmare, and return home bloated, only to deliver a butt baby. A degree, a higher paying job, and a butt delivery, fulfilling the dreams of higher education.

Almost every EP I have bought was at least sixty bucks ($59.99). I guess it depends on where you live.

And like I said, "to each his own". If you want vamps and humans (sims) living happily together (yeah, right), then have at it. We all know that in real life that would not be possible. First, because vamps don't exist. Second, every sim would be vamp food because of the existing vamps' hunger for blood (or whatever blood is called in the sims). Now, demonic possessions, on the other hand, would be nice. And exorcisms. And evil spirits. And loony bins. But, that would be too much for teens.

If it don't happen in real life, it don't happen in my game. That's all.

I'm honestly surprised. US prices are $39.99 for the LE edition on the day of release. Same on pre-orders from Origin or Amazon. Obviously lower if you wait for them to go on sale. IIRC, I think the base game was $49.99 when it first came out. SPs are $19.99 US on release as well.

I like being to create SNs in CAS. My first reaction was negative, since it was like EA just avoided the issue of having to create a specfic way to become a SN by just putting in CAS. But to be perfectly honest, if they hadn't I know for a fact I would have never used any of them. I hardly play them as it is, and the only one I've had a normal sim become is a witch. I've never actually played a Simbot and never truly owned a Unicorn in the year I had Pets installed.

My opening bid is; YMMV, in most cases. I love SN, even if some things could be better. I appreciate having lifestates in CAS, because spending a week or more turning my wolfman character into an actual wolfman holds little appeal. But I'm greedy and I also wish we had the in-game mechanics the OP mentioned - quests for turning human sims, in addition to the elixirs.

Yes, zombies should be tweaked. The plant eating could have been a clever alternative to keep it T-rated, if there weren't so many other things wrong with them. They shouldn't be temporary. They shouldn't be able to do normal sim interactions, like using community lot equipment. 'Attack!' should turn the victim into a zombie, and all spawned zombies should travel in groups. There should be an electric fence or similar that prevents them from spawning within a fenced area.

I didn't get the Seasons-> aliens choice, since they've announced a Futuristic EP. Elemental sims in SE would have been more their style. The aliens do have the nifty new genetics, but there could have been a lifestate placeholder for CAS - maybe simply 'Non-Human', to keep the continuity for future occults like aliens and mermaids and plantsims.
Speaking of plantsims - I thought that tie-in was great. All the new science gear with UN makes the invention of a plant hybrid more fun.
In short, I'm easily bored, but gathering all the occults together in Moonlight Falls to play a challenge is still crazy entertainment. Even with all their faults.

This is the most baffling post to me. If you're so fixated on keeping realism in your game (which is fair, as you say, each to their own) then why would you get an expansion called Supernatural? It was obvious from the start that it wasn't going to be realistic in regards to lifestates so I don't understand why you'd buy it. No wonder you found it a waste of money.

I can't speak for other lifestate, but I had Sim get a quest to become a fairy while 'searching for fairies' in the fairy arboretum. It was a pretty simple quest, you had to find gems like a sun and moonstone. I don't know if that was all there was to it because I didn't go turn in the gems. I didn't want to turn my Sim into a fairy. I don't know how often you can get that quest to pop up either, I've only seen it once. But I also don't send my Sims questing for fairies in the arboretum that often, either.

I came here to say that. Like... why the heck would you buy a pack that's very clearly oriented towards people who like Supernatural aspects to things? For that matter, even if you hate the supernaturals, why not turn them off, but keep the items and interactions that came with it, but ignore anything supernatural-specific? If you hate 'that BS', though, it's stupid to invest in it in the first place. Or at least wait until the thing's on sale and not pay full price for something you knew you'd dislike.

Realism is boring to some of us. That's fine. You like realism. That's fine too. But I hate holier-than-thou attitudes that come with liking or disliking certain things.

/csb

Exactly. Even if it's just to get the new items, like beds, decor etc, and none of the alchemy related stuff, to spend sixty bucks on just that seems...well...silly, to put it mildly.

Instead of throwing a game away, there's always ebay :P

I am not a fan of supernaturals, but since many people are fond of them, it is not bad that EA made a lot of them. however, many belong to wrong EPs. LN and SHT should have nbeen one EP (because they have features that should 've complemented each other), without vampires, since they planned to make SN and put vampires into it. Verevolves could 've come with Pets. Unicorns are no fun, IMHO. Plantsims or fairies belong to Seasons (I actually like fairies more, for plantsims look weird). Aliens could fit onto the futuristic EP they're going to make. Hell, that game is so full of supernaturals, what will they create for that EP then? We already have simbots and aliens, what else could fit there? Mersims and IP belong together, it's ok, but plantsims and uni... I see no connection. And i agree with OP about making supernaturals in CAS - not that I dislike it being too easy to create a supernatural, but they seem to spawn randomly as townies, which is annoying. I sent my sim to Uni, and there were 3 fairies in her dorm, lol. Besides, creating a ghost is somewhat stupid - a sim has to die to become a ghost, like it was in basegame. And zombies - ugh, I hate them, i had to set a fixed lunar cycle to disable full moon and all that zombie mayhem.

Being able to create supernaturals in CAS is not related to them being used as townies. In LN, you wre not able to create vampires in CAS, but without a mod to stop it, the game would turn random townies into vamps for you. like it or not.
I would assume that since SN gave us the ability to turn off most supes that it would work for Uni. If not, that does suck. I still use Nraas Story Progression to take care of that for me. And a mod that stops zombies from spawning, too, since EA gave us no control over that.

As for ghosts, I don't think it's stupid that you can create them in CAS. You can create an elder, after all, and it's not like it was born an elder, you just kind of make up a story in your head that this elder, or adult, or whatever age above infant, was born and was once child etc, and lived a life before you started the game. So, if you create a ghost to play, you probably have some story about how this Sim lived and died before becoming a ghost.

I do agree with you, then again, as I've said, supernatural COULD have been the final expansion for the Sims 3, that would have nicely wrapped up the series because no sims 3 expansion has gone by without a new lifestate. Besides, the CAS treatment only applies to 7 types Human/Ghost/Vampire/Werewolf/Fairy/Witch/Genie. What happened to the mummy/simbot/unicorn/plantsim/alien/mermaid? What if, according to you, I want an ancient town full of mummies? Or that a futuristic Lunar Lakes with only aliens? On the contrary, it's almost impossible to have a town without supernatural or with only you being supernatural as the game randomly spawns vampires/fairies/werewolves EVERYEFFINGWHERE, not just Moonlight falls. It's half baked and thoughtless.On campus, I just discovered that 6/8 of my dormmates are not human.

Turn off supernaturals in the options, and/or get a SP mod that doesn't randomly create them. Then they don't appear all over the place, even with SN installed.

Methinks there is a one word answer to all these concerns... and here it is in convenient link form. NRaas

However, Seasons is one of my favorite expansions, and it came after SPN. :lovestruc

I can only speak for myself, but Plantsims are my favorite supernatural. I enjoy gardening in The Sims (& in real life,) so Plantsims are the most practical for my gameplay. Considering my town is more science and nature based, they don't look out of place. I'm too old to have gotten into Twilight & too young to have been into the Anne Rice vampires...so, yeah, Plantsims (& Ghosts) are really the only supernaturals even interesting to me. I also tend to like Plant people in other video games, so I suppose a preference in supernatural is somewhat reflective of your real life interests. Though, I do realize I'm in the minority of my Plantsim love.