Testing if High School Years is still awful (SPOILER ALERT: It is)

[@mrfalleo]

the thing about high school years, is that it never has any new students. you always end up with the same person for prom.

[@SigmaRho2922]

This can be changed with several mods.

[@juliakoreman4022]

@@SigmaRho2922 thanks for the tip but i think its valid that this commenter was mad about the fact this problem is in the actual game and you shouldnt need mods to fix it

[@chrisjuliette]

@@juliakoreman4022 real, some people play on consoles and cant download mods, we as players shouldnt have to rely on mods for an enjoyable game

[@mrfalleo]

@@SigmaRho2922 yeah, there are probably are mods would like some suggestions, however on console they don't have mods. like high school years has some teens some as quite small. And with the basegame there is only two teens. Cassandra Goth, and Malcom Landgraab. thats around 6 to 10 sims for a entire class. Of the same 6 to 10 sims, every new game sure, you could add teen sims. but half of them won't be at the actual school. thats just with high school years and the basegame. but, I understand what you mean.

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

Do you have aging on? because the original class does age out if you keep playing forward in time and the game will pull whatever teens are available to replace them from your population and also replace any staff at the school with Townies who fit the bill (and if it can’t find anyone, it will spawn someone random). Also, if you start a new save and just delete the Copperdale families, it’ll pull replacement from your world population…or spawn them so if you are unhappy with another round of the standard set in a new save you can just delete them. Same thing with University, if aging is on people do grow up/get older and move on. But you have to have a save more than a few gens old. All worlds default back into their original form in a new save. And if aging is off for unplayed or everyone, no one will age/leave h.s. But that’s with every new map for every single pack anyway, if you start new saves it will always revert back to the packs starter families in all cases, not just Copperdale. If you wanna replace the h.s. Lot with new faces, age them (so the game needs to pull different teens) or delete them (so the game needs to spawn new teens) and maybe pull some teens from the gallery …no mods needed.

[@cwb1400]

What frustrates me is it sends the same Sims to school over and over and none of them are the teenage Sims that I’ve made in other lots.

[@waynonawaynona]

Yes, I hate that situation 😑

[@Melissa-sx9vh]

Same! Or I have two teen siblings but I only control one of them during the school day and the other one doesn't even go to school, they just disappear into a rabbithole...

[@yuripiIIed]

i know that there's a mod to fix this, but we shouldn't need a mod for that

[@waynonawaynona]

@@yuripiIIed EA should fix It! 😑

[@Jellybeansatdusk]

@@Melissa-sx9vhyes!!!!! Why do my twin sims go to different high schools apparently 😂

[@derpy_j]

The Sims 4 : Play Pretend Edition

[@LeaB-uz8md]

That's just The Sims 4 in general

[@B3lph3g0r]

this is literally summing it up for the whole game. you have to PRETEND that there is any gameplay when there simply is not cause the actions are non existence and the rabbit holes are also just placeholders for pretending as if its gameplay. i wish and hope inzoi will push ea so much to their limits, that they will update all the bad dlcs for free and making the content worth it (less rabbit holes, more interactions, more gameplay)

[@julesauburn8713]

I made a high school that has all the activities available but it’s one level and small. I couldn’t stand all the WALKING.

[@rockettcassia]

The base game one is big for no reason lol

[@melon7854]

Can I find it on gallery?

[@maplepainttube8158]

Oh yeah, I made mine smaller and most things are one one floor, except the cafeteria which I added more tables to, and there is a second floor, but it’s entirely a giant library which I only have sims use if they stay after school for homework or studying

[@julesauburn8713]

@@maplepainttube8158 that sounds cool! I never thought of that

[@ciciciciciclala]

If only they put halve as much effort in this pack as they did in compiling a list of banned words extensive enough to include "beef curtains"

[@panonymousbloom5405]

Right? Why is it even needed? I understand that swearwords are not appropriate but the way they're banning shit, you would think a child would get permanently traumatized by reading the word "penis" or something. 😭

[@ciciciciciclala]

@@panonymousbloom5405 my guess it's the parents who get traumatized for having to explain to their children what a penis is 😂 God forbid they have to, like, perform basic parent duties

[@Fete_Fatale]

I tried uploading some crap to gallery and it got rejected because "Boof" was in the name.

[@gvtterslag]

@@Fete_Fatale its so funny to me that the word boof was manually not allowed in the game

[@Fete_Fatale]

@@gvtterslag yea, that was a weird one. Just think, EA has a whole department that does nothing but scour Urban Dictionary looking for new words and phrases that may have once bothered Agnes Crumplebottom.

[@AlejandraElisabet]

the fact that it is, i’m pissed. i really wanted to love it.

[@justaliltumbleweed]

Same...I haven't bought it yet because I've heard so many bad things about it but I have wanted deeper teen gameplay for SO LONG!!! Right now, my teens are just Young Adults with school instead of work lol.

[@mihaelapaksica8630]

@@justaliltumbleweed don't buy, use DLC unlocker. Save money for something good!

[@lydiayeonnie]

The people need a sims 3 university gameplay 🙏🏻

[@christabelle__]

Honestly, I need him to do a video where he does HSY gameplay and then in the same video shows people TS3 University gameplay, so they see why so many people were expecting so much more.

[@ViceCityExtra]

I am a the people!!

[@lorrainethomas241]

Yes!

[@nathanbentley1939]

Heck, even TS4's university pack has more to do than High School Years.

[@carrinwhitehurst7397]

Yeah it's so much fun!!!! You do more there in a class than you do in high-school years😅

[@m.arseneault418]

There actually is a staff room, but the teachers and principal are NEVER IN IT. You'd think they'd be coded to be drinking a ton of coffee during their breaks.

[@granujja]

I lost my taste for Sims since I realized most of the game is about clicking on things and wait animations to play and everything stays the same

[@Ilivepuppys]

did you play sims 1, 2, 3 and 4 thats the point of the game, its like a point and click but meant to be better (sims 4 I will say isn't better)

[@SyntheticGoth]

Yup. The environment never changes. You can have ten different save files all with different Sims and everything would be exactly the same.

[@granujja]

​@@SyntheticGoth I mean, yes, you can change/build neighborhood (which I find more fun), try different sims personalities and aesthetics but at the end the outcomes feel all the same if you're not pretending to follow a imaginary plot

[@granujja]

@@Ilivepuppys I did yeah, back in the 00's maybe because I was a naive teenager or video games standards in general were different back then... for me It wasn't an issue till those last years where I found myself staring animation after animation and wondering where I lost the magic with this video game xD Maybe It's no longer the kind of game for me or maybe the formula is obsolete or maybe fifty-fifty

[@Ilivepuppys]

@@granujja that doesn't change anything, the game genre is what it is and people like it. just because YOU don't like that kind of game doesn't mean its bad. You can play ANimal crossing its a simar ish game but you control your character if you don't have a switch I recommand Dinkum its very simar to Animal crossing except its on steam and its human npcs and not animals.

[@gwynnethweinrich2612]

A random horse, pregnent "celebrity", kitchen fires, all happening in a random cottage in a werewolf forest? Seems like a normal preprom party to me...🤷

[@kreeg2932]

My sim has been to prom four times…

[@99rainingflame]

I play a long time with my sims. I normally gauge my sims ages by how many times they go to sleep. Normally around 150/180 times I will age up to young adult. So in game I can play easy 8 weeks or more depending on what I’m doing. It’s so annoying the constant pop ups and even if you early graduate you still get to go every week to prom… 😮😮😮😮

[@Mojo_Jojo9869]

That’s actually kinda realistic if they were very popular. Our school could go to prom as a freshman, sophomore if a jr or senior asked you to go. I went to prom 3 times not my freshman year though. Their life cycle just feels too fast though. Side note the fact they let freshman go with seniors is very weird. I was 13 as a freshman and I remember a 17 year old senior really liking me looking back on it was very creepy.

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

@@99rainingflameI just pretend prom is a bi-weekly “dance” and not senior prom. Biweekly, because Kuttoe has a mod that makes it biweekly instead of weekly and I play on long lifespan.

[@99rainingflame]

@@TheDawnofVanlife i just pretend it doesn’t exist because I hit skip lol

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

@@99rainingflame😂😂😂

[@momos_gone_mad]

This pack was the last straw for me. I haven't purchased a single thing from Sims since.

[@CustardCream22]

👏👏👏

[@faskowerowe]

Same

[@staciii]

Dang you tolerated a lot before then 😭

[@jupiterthree5228]

horse ranch was it for me. I uninstalled since then. It's just so boring. I really only bought new packs for the build items. So I uninstalled to keep from buying packs just for build items.

[@theimpossiblemary]

For me it was for rent

[@Finn4thewinn]

The way everywhere is just devoid of sims is so eerie 😅

[@disgust4941]

Very much a dying industrial town vibe 😅

[@wastelanderone]

Game fully can't do autonomy for one sim never mind a crowd of them lmao

[@nnekaplummer8683]

One of my biggest gripes about this pack is prom happening once a week, and on top of that, there's no prom committee club. They should have added multiple dances in the game (that we could customize by making it love, easter, halloween themed etc.) and had a prom committee, and in the prom committee club you're able to customize prom. (change the time prom starts and finishes, change the venue of prom, change the date and how frequent it happens so its not scheduled every Sat)

[@lumi05]

the lunch lady in my sims game just stopped showing up/glitched out of the game so all the sims can’t order food anymore. They all eat apples for lunch lmao. Also, with as many sims as I’ve had in high school, none of them have had a graduation even tho it’s apparently supposed to be a feature? Definitely one of the most boring packs

[@Melissa-sx9vh]

My sims never had a graduation either! I thought it was only in my game because they can still talk about graduation or finish highschool early but they never get a real graduation. And the teachers glitched too, my sims went to class and took notes as if there was a teacher but there were none...

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

Did you age to young adult. Because Sims time is days based and you could just keep being a teen eternally graduation invites happen randomly (or should) maybe a week or so after going from teen to young adult. As then the game knows you are moving on. The problem is by then you could have started playing college or have an adult job for your Sim.

[@lumi05]

@@TheDawnofVanlife nope, never happened even when they aged up. i got the invitation but it was just never apart of my game 💁🏽‍♀️

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

@@lumi05 Been awhile since I had a teen graduate and its boring anyway, boring as career day. But if you got the invitation graduation should have been on your calender the Sunday at 6 pm after aging up to YA. I know it was not straightforward first time I did it. And if you age up on Sunday or close to Sunday sometimes it glitches out and pushes it to another week later, which is enough time in Sims to get married and start your own family, lol. Its a glitchy pack overall as I had a prom occur with just me and my date and it was weird. but I know some people wait for graduation to happen to teens and it never will. Also, if you graduate early btw there is no graduation. Which feels like a punishment not a reward so I always say no.

[@kynaras]

Even the lunch lady has had it with the xpac.

[@tinytigertamer]

Yes! The window is so annoying! I tried to get it to work on a two story build. I wanted my teen sim to be able to sneak out onto the roof and then use the vine ladder item to get down to the ground. I was never able to get it to work even after removing a bunch of clutter from around the window, turning move objects off, and even locking the door. My sim would either manage to get through the window, but get stuck on the roof, or just refuse to use the window entirely.

[@alicjadrazkiewicz3383]

It was the opposite for me, random sims kept on climbing up the roof and entering house via teenage bedroom as if it was the front door 😅

[@kindacrazy7610]

In EA's defense, the school does look absolutely miserable, so that's realistic. /s

[@whosaffraidofthelittleoldme]

This would be fine for a Game Pack or even a Stuff Pack since theres barely gameplay in it anyways

[@samb3209]

I was thinking yeah this makes much more sense as a game pack

[@WhisperTraining]

Definitely agree…I don’t have it yet but probably will buy it mostly for the build mode stuff cuz I really like the style. I wish they would have actually included more unique gameplay if they were gonna make it an expansion pack.

[@UniqueWithATwist]

Not the horse turning up to the High-School pre-prom get-together, in the Werewolves world 🤣 how does EA get away with making money off this awful pack?

[@robinchesterfield42]

My own experience with Sims 4 prom, involved everybody there looking MISERABLE the whole time, and then at the afterparty, my mermaid character completely ignored the amusement park that they were at, to go jump in the bay and almost freeze to death. Also somebody stole and shorted out her laptop computer. Yep. :P

[@luaah3918]

The Highschool **Tears** Pack

[@bookswmadi]

I can't be the only one who remembers that school mod that came out with Get to Work? It did this but 100 times better❤

[@jheyjuneice]

The 'Go to School' mod?

[@bookswmadi]

@@jheyjuneice yeah

[@christabelle__]

As far as I'm aware, you don't die from 'opening your locker'. The new death was from setting up the stinkbomb prank - if your mischief is low, you as the prank-setter can die while setting it up. And promposals were popular for a while, and were all over social media... but I think they fell out of popularity pretty quick? The random sim dressed like a celebrity is because... that's a celebrity perk. You can pick a perk and your fans will start dressing like you. I think the Trendi thing also has that feature? Popular looks you'll see on more people? I don't use it ever. HSY is for the Build and Buy only, lol, I use mods to make school (all levels) better. "And of course, the horse ran into the house to look at the fire." Yeah...*yeah.* xD

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

Yeah much like EA took T posing and made it a feature, it also made too much of prom-posals which was a dying fad even by pack release.

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

The biggest fairlure for me in h.s. Years is the actvities and graduation. Quite frankly “classes” could have been a rabbit hole and I would have been fine with it. They got it the wrong way around. Prom every week is stupid, but since sims age in days not years and there are 3 different lifespans to choose from (plus the option to have aging off) I get the “choice”. I do not understand why they built a whole football field to have it be unusable decor!!! TS2 did such a good job with Graduation as an event in their university pack and to me TS3 even failed to match it. TS4 has failed at graduation twice. First with uni, then worse with HSY.

[@themoonmogwai]

The little hangout spot, if I have a family in that neighborhood I make a club and make them go there. I used the TOOL mod to add a game table, boom box, dancing mat, beer keg, and cooler and made all the club activities related to those thing so they stay there. It’s really fun…but yes, took a lot of my own effort and modder effort.

[@yuripiIIed]

to be able to sneak out, im pretty sure you need to set a curfew with the parenthood item you get. which is just so stupid

[@rinoafantasy1368]

Satch's laugh gives me so much joy 😂

[@nancypennyworth]

This feels so unfinished, like they just started building the high school and coding the interactions, but then they had to release it in such an awful state! As a follow up to this, would you be willing to showcase mod? adeepindigo has Dynamic Teen Life (and Delinquent Teens) which add so much gameplay for teenagers! It's everything I wanted HSY to be, and more.

[@evynmartin2679]

my fav part of highschool years is the custodian and teacher that are elders die at the school every single time i play

[@marta9854]

Omg it’s wild you can’t name YOUR sims anything you want?! What the heck…

[@heyheyhello3733]

exactly like it’s a single player game i don’t understand the point of restricting it.

[@Jellybeansatdusk]

Bc they can put it on the gallery, but like, just exclude it from the gallery and let people pick their names

[@gaymiens]

It's extra messed up because I was trying to tweak the Caliente family to make them lore-accurate to the Sims 2 (not weirdly whitewashed like they are in TS4). the twins' mother "Katrina" was originally a middle eastern woman named Nighat Caliente (née al Mahmoud). But the game interpreted "Nighat" (a real Arabic name!!! That has featured in the Sims!!!) as an attempt to say the n word???? The filter is so broken.

[@Narangarath]

@@Jellybeansatdusk The filter should kick in only if you try to upload the sim to the gallery, IMO. Censoring people's _single player games_ directly is so damn invasive and patronizing.

[@iamsocoolz]

I tried to make a household of the Gribbles from koth but they wouldn't let me use Hicks for Nancy (her name is Nancy Hicks-Gribble but Hicks is a banned word even though it IS a real name that I've seen in real life before)

[@jayla1151]

personally i hate that in this pack and in the base game all students from every world go to the same schools. someone from a beach town is not going to the same school as someone from a snowy mountain irl let’s be so fr

[@bearandthings4807]

it just sucks so much how excited I was for this pack and it ended up being such a disappointment. it is THE definition of check the reviews before buying smh. so glad I didn’t buy it 🙏🏾

[@Jay_and_Meeka]

Imagine they had animations for dissections, and depending on what you chose with that pop up the ainmations differed? That would have been awesome.

[@karip4676]

it honestly wouldnt even be much harder to just do this lol. ea is the epitome of laziness

[@nanihime]

LMAOOO i love how accurate this video is. at least your staff showed up - my principal and my teachers never show up except for the janitor lol

[@najjmahal]

I was invited to a party by Sidney once in my game once but was never able to sneak out.

[@iscon6894]

So glad im not a family gameplayer, and I will never need the HS Years EP. Only tried family gameplay in Sims 3 with Teens, and they were superior.

[@lorrainethomas241]

Generations was SUCH a good pack!

[@pianoneko9279]

Imagine having a profanity filter in an offline game. I can understand when sharing on the gallery but when you're just playing your own families? Guess it might have allowed Beef Kurtan

[@keiko431]

Besides the glitches and how lackluster it is highschool years will always have a special place in my heart because of the incest glitch it was so funny seeing people asking what the hell was happening and why there was romantic interactions between their families I'm so thankful I didn't buy that pack (even if I can't use the social bunny or the infinite money clothes)

[@SigmaRho2922]

High School Years was a pack I bought in December 2022 and the BB and CAS was great. The high school related gameplay can only be properly done with the Education Overhaul mod and any mod that changes the high school classmates, as well as the Immersive Social Bunny mod. The blandness of the high school was the main reason why I had to redecorate it.

[@OrigamiAhsoka]

THE WHAT GLITCH 😭

[@Thoughtso573]

@@OrigamiAhsokaincest glitch

[@Phatooine]

2:17 about the road randomly cutting off. Come to America sometime Satch and see for yourself how some places are here.

[@kerim.peardon5551]

True story: I was going to a campsite and was unsure where my BF was, as he had arrived first. The campground area ended at woods, but I didn't have a place to turn around. Assuming the road would come out at another road, or end in where I could turn around, I continued down it. The next thing I saw, coming out of the woods, was a golf course. The road turned into the freaking golf cart track. There were no signs or warnings at all. Even in my small car, it took me several attempts to get turned around and headed back.

[@anastasiasteinbeck3498]

I see roads like that all the time in Iowa

[@SteamyPMcGee]

I downloaded a new high school mads by Shnuck and its beautiful, she also has on the gallery a matching auditorium in 4 different versions for prom, graduation, career day and default. Makes a huge difference.😊

[@wiktoriajurkiewicz3144]

In Sims 3 University when your sims attends lectures you can make them write notes, sleep or ask questions so it's shame they didn't do that in Sims 4.

[@casimit2469]

TS4 team is great at building liminal spaces.

[@justaliltumbleweed]

Love that "beefcurtains" is disallowed HAHA. I don't exactly know what it means but I have an idea.

[@myrkflinn4331]

The downstairs area be like

[@rockettcassia]

Long labia majoras lol just google it c and turn the filter off😂

[@Cumulusly]

Usually is a derogatory word for a woman's longer lab1as that protrude out of the first lips. 🥲

[@Narangarath]

Thems be the lower love lips 😝

[@Farleythefloof]

crazy how at ~ 8:00 theres a sim literally stuck t-posing in the hallway

[@OrigamiAhsoka]

The way she spins around a little like “please help me”

[@LittleMigi]

i think its a high school activity, i dont think this particular thing is a bug

[@Farleythefloof]

@@LittleMigi fair! Just thought it was funny! :) then again a few years ago teens definitely were just standing around t-posing because of memes (my sibling would)

[@cozy.matcha]

oh no, thats the t-pose challenge that came with HSY, your sims can join to it and it's needed for one of the teen aspirations

[@heatherlicious8224]

My lunch lady stopped showing up in the cafeteria. 2 times now.

[@Narangarath]

I mean, fair. That schools is super depressing, I'd probably have to take off too.

[@Sp1tfire_5316]

Doing exercises is part of US schooling called physical education or P.E. for short if my class wasn't running laps we were in the weight room. The best part is that on days when we did weights I had to sit in the hallway lifting hand weights bc the weight room was downstairs and I'm in a wheelchair

[@hazmatproductions1998]

I think for the Window to sneak out you need to set a curfew from parenthood pack (?) and then get invited to a party by a friend. Only then can you sneak out of the house using the window, if your door is lock. I’m not too sure of the details it’s quite confusing. But basically its kinda pointless or too difficult to trigger or you need parenthood curfew board (dlc for dlc)

[@Ilivepuppys]

you don't need the curfew board, if anything the parents wouldn't even see it as curfew and still let the teen go out if they asked (so no, your wrong and I haven't played this pack in years)

[@cozy.matcha]

I've tried to do that for an aspiration, my sim was punished to not leave the house, had curefew, the door was closed, she had this window in the room but when she got invited to this pre-prom party it didn't count for the aspiration wtf is this party where sims should escape to? does even anyone had this aspiration done without cheatsю

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

There’s a rabbit hole party you can get invited to (its super glitchy) and if you sneak out to it, it ticks off the aspiration. You can use the window, but you can also sneak out your front door. The window works more like a door with a custom animation than a window and nothing matches it, so even if you place it right, you have to match placement

[@Ilivepuppys]

@@cozy.matcha its rabbit hole parties, a random teen will invite you to a party (if the window is on your lot) and its a low chance, but only rabbit hole parties work.

[@Ilivepuppys]

@@TheDawnofVanlife plus if you lock your door to keep parents out of your room if they annoy you and have the window, the parents will CLIMB through the window to look at you (more when the infant glitched happened and adults went to look at their kids as they were still marked as infants in game) but still happens and you can't lock the window to allow just your teen sim through just lock it for the household.

[@kemurikurosagi5826]

personally I call that expansion pack : Incest years

[@imjakedeason]

this and university is so bad in the sims 4

[@Kualinar]

At least, University is playable and not to buggy. That is, as long as your Sim DO NOT live on campus.

[@SigmaRho2922]

I had to reconfigure the high school to add extra features including a proper cafeteria with appliances, a proper art room with archaeology tables, a music room with a full rock band setup and pianos, proper computer club and chess club rooms with a motion gaming rig and a microscope, a proper library with research computers, a proper fitness center with a large workout area, a swimming pool, and a gymnasium for cheerleading practice, a buildable rocket ship, and even a playable fountain and wishing well. I also expanded the classroom capacity to 16 students and recolored the high school to a white and black theming with luxury furniture. This would enable the students to learn and have the fun need filled at the same time. Making food on the cafeteria stove instead of ordering food from the cafeteria worker is fun, but you had to remember that I put the stove and refrigerator in for safety purposes and not to allow my sims to cook meals (the rare exception is if someone is celebrating their birthday and a cake has to be cooked at the school). For the prom I have to add a table that would accommodate a birthday cake. More food options are available at prom if Luxury Party Stuff and My Wedding Stories are installed.

[@MissLadyMaam]

I just recently started playing again after a loooooooong hiatus (stopped playing around the time eco-living launched). I was originally excited to see that Horse Ranch, Cottage Living, and High School years had been added. I bought Cottage Living and left the rest on my to-do list, but I am SO *MASSIVELY* DISAPPOINTED with the High School pack that I don't think I'm going to bother with it at all. Even the game-play add-ons, like social bunny and the thrift store are entirely undesirable. Social bunny doesn't sync up to the already existing social media features and the thrift store does not operate like any thrift store I've ever heard of. You go in and create an outfit in CAS and then try and sell it to other Sims by wearing it and talking about it, etc - and whatever style happens to be "trending" makes all the NPCs dress in the exact same outfit. In what universe does anything even remotely close to that situation happen at a thrift store and what the hell does it have to do with teens and/or high school?! Not to mention it's NEVER other teens showing up to the thrift store in the latest "E girl" trend, it's always someone like Bob Pancakes or Nancy Landgrabb which just destroys the game play ENTIRELY. From the looks of it, the only thing in the High School pack that has _anything at all_ to do with High School is prom, cheerleading, and actually going to school... all of which are lackluster and entirely broken features. What a bummer. This could have been such a cool add-on but, as usual, they clipped its wings before it could even flutter a few feet from the nest. 😢

[@meganlister3084]

You’re my favorite Sims KZbinr 😆 I always laugh watching your vids. The Sims 4 could never.

[@Kualinar]

I've seen actual paved roads cut to dirt like that IRL. Also cut to gravel. Need a spell caster cast repairio at that couch. That's the only way to repair it. Given that the scout and acting club after school activities are actually careers that DO count for the Polyvalent Sim aspiration goal of reaching level 3 in 3 careers, I'm not surprised that those activities are also careers. In fact, I'd be surprised it that was not the case. Those classes are rabbit holes disguised as active events. Until the mid 1980's, the ONLY proms that I've ever heard of where University and professional college proms. Proms for the end of academic life and start of professional life. Then, we got proms for kindergarten, primary 3, primary 6, secondary 2 and 5, college and university. That was stupid and crazy. High School Years is STILL on my Do NOT Get list, and will probably remains there for ever.

[@MissLadyMaam]

I have so many questions... Like, what is the "polyvalent sim" aspiration. Is it a pack-aspiration? I have an aspiration where you're supposed to reach level 3 in 3 careers but I think it's either under the "Renaissance Sim" or the "Nerd Brain" aspiration. Also... Where do you live that they have Prom for kindergarten or primary school students? Is it just that you refer to all dances as "a prom" (As in "a promenade")? I also find the concept of a University Prom interesting. In America, I do not believe we have University proms at all. At least, I've never heard of it before. We also don't do Prom for primary school. Our schools are separated into 3 stages. Elementary (or primary) is K-6th or K-5th depending on your region. It it's K-6th you move on to "Jr. High School" which is 7th & 8th grade. If your primary school was K-5th you'll move on to "Middle School" which is the same as Jr. High but is for grades 6th-8th. After 8th grade all kids move on to "High School" which is 9th-12th, or as we call them here: Freshman Year (9th), Sophomore Year (10th), Junior Year (11th), and Senior Year (12th). Our Jr. Highs & Middle Schools do have school dances for the kids, but they do not have a "Prom" specifically. (In America "Prom" is a label that is *_only_* used for one very specific event which occurs at the end of your senior year, while all other dances are just generically referred to as "a dance," except for one other specifically labeled dance which we call "Homecoming" but I digress). I have never heard of school dances for primary school kids so I'm curious if this is commonplace where you are?

[@Kualinar]

@@MissLadyMaam I play in French. Some aspirations have quite liberal translations that do not translate back into their original English names. Filthy rich → Incroyablement riche. Real estate tycoon → Barron de l'immobilier. Those kindergarten proms, and the other, where just a passing fad that lasted about 3 years in the 1990's. Now, proms are only to celebrate the last day of academia and entrance into the work force. Where I live, it's primary/elementary (both are used interchangeably) 6 years in two cycles (1..3 and 4..6), then secondary, 5 years, also in two cycles (1,2 and 3..5), with the second cycle having a professional option, that is equivalent to trade school. Then, CEGEP : General, 2 years leading to the university, and professional, 3 years, for the technicians. Then, university leading to baccalaureate/bachelor, master and doctorate.

[@MissLadyMaam]

@@Kualinar Oh. My. Goodness. Wow. I mean... I knew our garbage education system was greatly failing our kids, but I never knew how or why it was failing our kids. I see it now. Your kids are FAR better prepared for life. There is ZERO work-force related preparation for our kids. We force all kids to attend K-9th (kids can legally drop out without parent consent when they are 16 despite the fact they are still legally minors). If a kid does actually graduate from 12th grade, they can choose to enter the workforce right away at an entry level, minimum wage job (though most already have part time jobs while still in high school bc you can legally work at 14 with parent consent or at 16 regardless). They can also choose to apply for college or trade school. Getting into a trade school is easier than getting into college, and leaves you with a valid skill, but still requires the same student loan/tuition process that a college does. When the kid gets out of trade school the they can enter that field at a minimum wage, entry level position (which is why most just chose to work right away and sort of be an informal apprentice, learning the trade while getting paid). Huh. That was pretty interesting! Thanks for responding and teaching me something new today! 😊

[@Kualinar]

@@MissLadyMaam List of the French names for the aspirations of the knowledge category, (and the back translation to English) : Sim aux multiples talents (Multi-talented Sim) Érudit en archaeology (Erudite in archaeology) Génie de l'informatique (Informatics genius) Cerveau exceptionnel (Exceptional brain or Brainiac) Sorts et sorcellerie (Spells and sorcery) Études universitaires (University studies)

[@autumnsimmer7930]

I Love your laugh and if I haven’t told you before I’m so glad you include it even if it’s repetitive. If I heard it in a loop I would just crack up. You make me smile and that doesn’t happen often.

[@LavenderCastles13]

no but I completely lost it when the horse randomly popped up at the party and in the werewolf city like help I can’t that was way too funny

[@mahogany1923]

Don’t be rude, the horse is valedictorian

[@xgreydovex]

And this is why while although they have built a team to fix the bugs, I still have little faith in the future of the franchise. Shallow gameplay unbugged is still shitty, shallow gameplay.

[@autismeister]

The party before the prom was hilarious LOL. The horse had me in stitches.

[@KangaRhrew]

I was so disappointed, I just play the sims 2 and 3 now.

[@jupiterthree5228]

I've been thinking of reinstalling the game, but you changed my mind. Reminded me of why I uninstalled it to begin with.

[@robinchesterfield42]

The first time I tried actually playing through Prom, it was super-short, everybody there looked MISERABLE, and the party was deemed a disaster. However, the AFTERparty was much more fun--and wonderfully Simsish. We went to the amusement park...where it was raining. This seemed to stop absolutely nobody however, as everyone was (briefly) attempting to play computer games, busk with accoustic guitars, and eat hot dogs--in the rain. Meanwhile my own character disappeared, and when I found her again, she and her appeared-out-of-nowhere sister were both marching down towards the docks in their swimsuits, so they could mermaid out in the bay...where they almost froze. Mountain lakes in late fall are not the same as Sulani's oceans, guys. Then, after I saved them from dying, we went back to the main amusement park area and ate mint ice-cream cones with our date. 10/10, would ACCIDENTALLY have a great time due to the game's own goofiness, again. But yeah, the actual High School itself leaves something to be desired. One time I followed a character to school, and she was constantly trying to fall asleep, since she was a werewolf and had been up all night before (if you're seeing a pattern here with supernatural Sims: yes). The most amusing thing about it was that she SOMEHOW managed to make it through all her classes with flying colors...and then before I could send her home, she collapsed onto the girls' locker room floor to sleep in the curled-up-puppy position. And then somebody came along and did the T-Pose Challenge right in front of her, which made it look as if she had a freakin' GUARD. XD So basically my fun experiences with High School Years come down less to the pack's actual features, and more to it stumblingly trying to interact with all the other packs I have. :P

[@mollymollie6048]

Why don’t they let you do “real” things you did in high school in class? Fly paper airplanes, shoot spitballs, pass notes to friends, actually raise your hand (could be a choice to see if you answer correctly) have the teacher chew out students for talking, have the student study, put the bad student in the corner with the dunce cap. There’s a ton of simple interactions that could make it actually fun. Also, if you can do cheerleading and passing the football on “football day”, why can’t you go to cheerleading for real after school, and skip the practice at home? (Same with football, go pass the ball and kick the ball.) That school needs to be ⅓ of the size that it is. You spend all of your time walking from place to place. All this does is make me sad for Sims 3 Generations and how sneaking out and such was like in that. Also, why not have a private school you have to “earn” your way into, like Britechester and Foxbury. Maybe they could pick an interest…like college prep, artistic pursuits, vocational like car repairs, science/tech like you can in high school (or some anyway.) Don’t own the pack and have no intention of getting it. I’d rather find a mod that does a better job or go play Sims 3.

[@NightSong897]

To explain this 13:33 has I have the pack and you need to be friends with a teen sim to get invited to a R rated movie or a party which you can click under the window and you will get a option to “sneak out to R rated movie” or “sneak out to party” but it only happens if you are invited to something

[@Sandrilyonaify]

You get the moodlets and small events if you go on the rides with somebody, there's also a photo booth on the pier. My high school sims usually go to the pier for the graduation afterparty for pretty screenshots, but yeah, it's not that exciting. As for the school, the original building is so ugly I demolished it and places lilsimsie's build) her school is my default school in every game)

[@SinopecM]

I saw your reviews on these DLCs but didn't see you playing them, love it

[@ruminationstation4200]

The streaming thing bugs me because its literally already a career field for adults except it works the way it should (can do whenever you want). So they clearly put ZERO thought into it. None of the packs are integrated with one another at all. Its very annoying

[@em01455]

9:03 I wish there was a pass note or throw paper airplane option during class

[@CyberCervine]

This whole 'making things simpler for console' is such a dumb excuse. Sims 3 had separate games for console so they didn't have to worry about making pc Sims 3 expansion builds empty.

[@g0ingh0st]

I mean i believe satch did do a few gameplay things wrong like the window and stuff but it should be made more obvious on how to do it. I also like the aspirations, the concept of all four makes sense to me but the execution of the actual goals could be better.. And even then the lack of actual gameplay is disappointing.. i really wish it was better cause going to school with a teen sim actually sounds really fun.

[@ineedvyvanse3493]

Why did I laugh so hard at “welcome to copperdale high Ms. Beef”😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@pathogenofdecay]

I stopped using Social Bunny after it crashed the game, then I read that it's a known issue that Maxis may never fix as many of us know, so I deactivate Social Bunny on every sim I can now.

[@NickyMorris]

It definitely isn’t as good as it could be but you also just don’t understand how certain aspects of the game work or how they’re intended to work and calling them broken or glitches is as frustrating as the pack being barren.

[@ZachPizazz]

18:04 I am crying, Sophia just falling out of the closet 😂😂😂 happy pride I guess lmao

[@kyriedoll7581]

I might be an oddball. I seem to LOVE all the packs that others hate. Get famous, high school, get to work.. I love to play a famous sim, and building police stations, schools etc..

[@giversinner971]

People love those packs. They’re just not well-executed in TS4. I love famous sims, but the game system can be intrusive. Get to Work is better than many of the others, tho.

[@SemiIocon]

The point of the sneaking out window is, according to forum sites I read about it, that sometimes other teens will call you for an illegal party at night and then you gotta sneak out like that, it's one of the Aspiration goals as well in one of the teen ones. I have a lot of teens in my town and this hasn't happened a single time in all my plays with this pack.

[@SwissMiss_Noreen]

I once put that window in a random house and all my sims stopped using the door, they would all just keep going through that window 😂

[@chrisjuliette]

where i live in california you dont SEE a lot of foundations, we KNOW were on one but you hardly ever actually see it. i think thats one of the things i really dislike ab the foundations in the sims. theyre SO prominent, i actually prefer using a platform instead cause imo that looks more like an actual foundation. ALSO WHY DONT THE P,ATFORM AND FOUNDATION SWATCHES EVER MATCH. they dont match ANYTHING, and its so hard to find an actuall good swatch bc again, the trims are sooooo big for no reason. when i wanna use the lattice foundation but not have the house too high i cant bc itll only how the insanely THICK foundation trim

[@TheElegantNinja]

You need to place the window on the 2nd floor for it to work. But there needs to be a trellis or a ladder of some sort for them to get down a flat roof or platform AFAIK.

[@wastelanderone]

Going to talk to Mei while a Sim is T-posing outside classic Sims 4.

[@Alexandria.J.Barmer]

This is why I like discover university they should have just made it more like that or had both high school years and university in one pack or something idk

[@99rainingflame]

I think this was one of the first expansions I got for sims 4. I remember I was disappointed by the world being so full. There were not that many open lots to build. It took me some time to realize that the Sims 4 is not like past games with empty lots and being able to place them where I want my myself. I don’t care for how the lots near the Farris wheel boardwalk area work. It’s cool at first that my sims can leave their house and go there and play. But it slows my game down and makes it hard when my sim has to leave for work or any sim goes to leave the lot they have to walk from my sims house all the way through the boardwalk to leave. In game once took an hour and a half. One sim froze to death on the way. If your bladder is low forget it. The actual gameplay with prom EVERY week and the notifications EVERY SINGLE WEEK is so annoying! Even if you don’t have a teen sim it still pops up. I hate how my sims crushes get a bad sentiment if you don’t ask before prom EVERY WEEK! I hate that if you mess up and go to a gathering before prom with friends that after you go to whatever random house it takes you too then you don’t get to go to prom. Or when you do get to go to prom there isn’t enough time to do anything before 11pm and then my game gets stuck on Building Mode screen. The actual going to school part is okay. It’s just like going to work with your sims. I feel like I can never delete the bubble tea place cause I get that pop up every week too. I do use a lot of the objects and build items that came with this expansion. Even though I hate a lot of the things in this expansion I don’t not want to have it… ugh 😑

[@sage1313131313]

I have a mod that adds more students, and you can choose the teens who attend and also the faculty. I made Agnes crumplebottom the principal. It's fun to try and make romantic interactions while running away from her.

[@alicjadrazkiewicz3383]

Brilliant! I'll be doing the same for my cottage living save. What's the name of the mod?

[@samb3209]

Im a newer sims player and I’ve been considering buying this pack and you’ve just saved me $40 😂😂

[@BrightWulph]

Last time I played with HS years, I had Wicked Whims installed...I must have had the teen switch on and well, my teen sim and two of her classmates got knocked up by the same guy. It was hilarious. 😅

[@D0G0N0G]

Am I the only one who doesn’t have a problem with high school years? I just like the pack idk 😭

[@-Zikade-]

I think it's objectively bad and most definitely not worth the full price (then again, no TS4 pack is, always buy on sale). HOWEVER, I kinda still enjoy HSY because I had my expectations low and got it for one specific purpose: to give teenagers more identity. Because they were seriously lacking some. Heck, before I got this pack my teenagers often went through the whole life stage without ever interacting with other teens.

[@aila1821]

No I like it as well. I just hate that they go to prom every week but I love the build/buy and cas

[@arlenblooms841]

Cas is gorgeous and I can't complain abt building items but they are right abt gameplay 😔

[@Mojo_Jojo9869]

I used the window to sneak out. My sim walked out of her room past her parents walked outside then went through her window to get in her room then went back out to the window to sneak out. Like why!!! It broke my immersion so hard.

[@SyntheticGoth]

It broke my immersion when all visitors just kept coming inside the house through the window, especially ones that were never invited. Literally just casual B&E. 🙄

[@Mojo_Jojo9869]

@@SyntheticGoth yes! They need to have a setting to set it as a window not a door like the sink type. Or just make it only when using the sneak out option.

[@lirpa2300]

This pack was a gamepack marketed as an expansion pack. I knew it the first time I saw the trailer. Most of these expansion packs are really gamepacks. How they decide to have an expansion pack dedicated to teens and school but completely ignore elementary and middle school? Then the pack is missing so many things, no new full-time interactive careers either as a teacher, guidance counselor or principal, no school colors, no mascot, no yearbook, no senior trip, the classes aren't interactive, the after school activities could have been interactive, no tattoo or piercing chair so teens could ask permission or sneak to get a tattoo or piercing, a pointless football field with a track that you can't even run on, career day is buggy, graduation barely works and the prom every week is annoying, Also, the cheerleaders and their tryouts are pointless because the school has no sports teams to cheer for because the game only came with ONE school and we can't have multiple schools, so there's no school rivalries or games to go to. The half functional carnival and the bobba tea thrift store doesn't even fit with the high school years theme and seems to be just added in to fill out this already empty, lackluster pack. They could have added night classes or even an online feature for students who didn't want to go to the actual school or couldn't go for personal reasons. And the online and night classes could have been extended to other life stages who could get their high school diploma. Lastly, I wish the genius trait would allow children to get to go to high school, same with teens with the genius trait, they should be able to go to college as teens. That would be interesting and different gameplay added to the game.

[@vingedheart]

High School Years is sooo boooring.... I hardly ever use it. But this video was so entertaining and I haven't laughed that much in a while - so thank you!

[@veronicafalcon0411]

That “business headshot” made me spit my drink out 😂

[@rutyyy6476]

I've placed that window in my house to complete one of the teen aspirations. I didn't work then, but now random townies enter my house from the outside.

[@susususuellenbraganca7747]

Honestaly the thing that irritate me when I played with this expansion is that if you go to school you don't have time for NOTHINH your sim is always tired, always hungry and always unhappy. Is VERY hard you have a teenager single teenager living a good life

[@OrigamiAhsoka]

Next you should test dine out and my wedding stories to see if they’re still broken…

[@linneahulten405]

Total chaos 😂 nice how you can make these tragedies of packs into something funny! Skills!

[@LexTime89]

They really need to do something about objects on non-lot areas. Either they need to be unbreakable or they need to allow quick repair to objects not owned by the active sim. I had a broken laptop that was sitting on a picnic table in a public area and I couldn’t do anything about it because my sim didn’t own it, so it was just there. FOREVER.

[@JustJane-gh9te]

I think the aspirations are ok. Teens in high school do in fact have some irrational aspirations. However, all those rabbit holes, uffda! If you do play and make a circle of friends (the OP social bunny is your friend), some interactions open and at least you can take pictures in those rabbit holes with your friend. Those prom parties are the worst, but if you go and tell everyone a joke and then leave, as long as you don't vote for a prom queen and/or king, you will win that title. Prom goes so fast though, you enter the only gameplay provided at lightening speed. 😊😊

[@pathogenofdecay]

They really did need to make it so that Eco Master was an NPC job like the librarian and bartender jobs are so that you wouldn't find Knox and others like him in other random NPC jobs, since at least Knox Greenburg starts out unemployed. Maybe they could've put in him the Eco Innovator career or whatever that Eco Lifestyle career was called.

[@nedrane297]

Thing is some of those pop-ups might have been fun if they had come up in Sims 3 while they were in class and you couldn't see that they are just sitting there. I'm thinking the treadmill thing is for Physical Education? No, we don't go running on a treadmill in US high schools. They're wearing the same outfit because its "on trend"

[@abandoned__]

made my sims and the day they were made they went to prom alone. won prom queen though !

[@nunyaluv8193]

Yes, gym machines in schools is a weird American school thing.

[@oliviaoverboard]

They honestly could have made the school a third smaller

[@klow6685]

The fact that this pack sucks so bad makes me so sad. There was so much potential for a Highschool/Teen pack but they completely screwed everyone over.