Happy Musings Thursday my friends! After a 1 week hiatus, I have some thoughts for you. Now that Game of Games is officially over I thought I’d spend today musing about the multi-event as a whole. You know I’ve got some thoughts, so let’s get to ’em…
-Game of Games was the first “big” event in TSTO since Love, Springfieldian Style back in February. After a 4 month wait, it feels like it was a bit of a letdown. I know many players were hoping they were using the downtime to retool things and make the game even better. Instead, we got a multi-event that, aside from the subject matter, could have been released months ago.
It’s like waiting and waiting for Christmas morning only to open your presents. The Christmas morning comes and you tear open all the paper only to find out you just got socks and underwear. Yea, it’s still nice to get presents but where the hell are the toys?!
-That being said there still are a lot of positives to take away from Game of Games. Aside from the awesome dialogue, the prizes were really good. There were 20 actual prizes for this event. No land tokens (as valuable as they are to some players) or crafting currency in the prize track. Instead, we earned actual prizes for Springfield. Buildings, decorations, and a bunch of new (full) characters. (Not an NPC in the bunch! (sorry Brooders))
Sure, some of the decorations are…meh. And going to be a struggle to fit into Springfield (hello inventory…), but getting 4 new full characters and 2 costumes softens the blow.
-The premium items for this one were fairly priced. With the exception of the ridiculously priced Blocko Angelica Button, everything else was at a fair price point premium wise. And the game wasn’t overwhelmed with a ton of premium content. Only 4 new premium items were offered for this event, 1 per week, which was a nice balance to the prize track/free items earned.
-One interesting note about the premium items. EA didn’t offer a “Last Chance” sale on the premium items like they have in the past. Which is fine, if the items have a timer we should stick to the timer but it’s just interesting to note that the items didn’t hit stores again. Perhaps this means we’ll be seeing them again soon in another Mystery Box?
-Speaking of Mystery Boxes…why does EA keep reintroducing content for donuts that’s already available in the Yearbook Mystery Box? Why spend 175 donuts on the Yard Work Simulator and CHUM when you can spend 30/try in the Yearbook box? (and at most spend 150 donuts) Seems a little strange to me. Either eliminate the Yearbook Box or don’t bring back content that’s inside the box.
-4th of July was a bit of a letdown huh? No new president this year. Kind of a bummer. Maybe they feel like 6 is enough? I know they could have added Bush 41, but I (personally) think it’s still too soon after his passing to add him to the game. However, they could have added JFK, FDR…all characters from the show. Heck, Ike (who’s in TSTO) wasn’t really a character in the show just had his picture shown or mentioned…they could add a whole slew of Presidents that were mentioned or pictured. A big let down in my opinion.
-As far as a grading scale, I’d give this event a C-.
All in all, I think Game of Games was nice, but not a hit by any means. Great dialogue, good prizes, but a letdown in gameplay.
And that’s it, guys my wrap up on the latest event in TSTO. After 4 months of waiting EA gave us a slightly less than average event. Nothing spectacular, nothing that’s a complete failure…just basic. It’s like EA has tried to “dumb down” TSTO so much lately with no thought required. Hey EA, we’re not idiots. We appreciate a challenge!
Given that it’ll probably be, at least, another week until new content hits our games it’s time to have some more fun around here! 🙂
Thoughts? Care to share your own musings on Game of Games? Sound off below, you know we love hearing from you!
Overall, I enjoyed the event. The dialogue was some of the best I’ve seen. While some of the prizes were duds as they were nothing but useless decorations at least they kept to the theme. Once I figured out why I at times was falling behind, this event went smoothly for me. I’m going to use the down time on organization but hope to have a new event within the next two weeks.
This event was just another letdown. Lately seems like I’m just goin thru the motions…for sure, the love affair is over. Maybe a re-kindle in the future (if things get a little spicier) but for now have been giving all my tapping love to another game. As Donald would say…”sad” 😔
Why you fickle, brazen, trollop! After all of the years of dedicated fun, you kick us to the curb when the passion flickers?
OK…so maybe I feel pretty much the same. But, in it’s old age, TSTO is still “part of the family.” Maybe we need some counseling?
Still checking the blog every day, but kinda backing off the game. Becoming a Roller Coaster Tycoon is taking most of my time. It’s not as fun as TSTO used to be, but it’s lots more fun than waiting 4 weeks at a time for something(anything!) to happen, and then being offered a somewhat dismal event.
Checking in to the game even once a day now is just a chore…no fun involved, so probably going to let it go for a while. Will still chat here, just to see what’s going on…and to keep in touch with all my wonderful crazy neighbors. You can’t get rid of me that easily. 😁
I will continue to vandalize ur town the best i can. Just to keep the dream alive……
Ooh! Ooh!
Friend me too so that I also may have the opportunity to wield spray paint in your town!
Sure! Whats ur name on there? I tried the one u use on here with no luck….
What’s your game moniker?🧐
Ha! Ha!
1ltwoody920
Done 📬
Rats!
Now I need to dig deep and cleanup my lazy town building efforts. 😂
I didn’t get the very last prize… ☹️ I got wrapped up in Wizards Unite and didn’t check in to tap as often as I should have. ☹️ Bless me Father, for I have sinned……………
I tried playing that but can’t figure it out
Regarding YBMB: If you start a new game do you have access to it? If not, maybe that is why. But then again, you can get Lard Lads, Vans and Billboards a lot cheaper in the Burns Mystery Box than in the store.
Any chance we’ll see the Golden Goose Reality available in the future…I stupidly missed it and would love to expand my town more than two or three sections in two months…
I’m struggling to stay interested in the game. The magic is gone. I’m tapping out of habit now, nothing else.
How to say…. it was something we got, but i can’t say WOW. To me also a C-. I guess they switched too much from long, hard events to this format. Most didn’t like crafting because crafting was too hard. Why not introduce some easier crafting?
In the past they did some wonderfull things with friends interaction (some even with non friends, can’t remember right now which event that was), I would ask EA to bring that back, that was really good.
The past year, maybe more, is just about logging in every 4 hours and tap. Or if you have enough donuts (most of the long time players don’t lack donuts now), just speed the thing up so you have more Real free time.
I wish the next ‘big’ event gives us some more things to do, just make it ‘easy’ enough that we don’t have to log in like 5 times a day
It wasn’t amazing and had a plot hole or two, but overall it was still good. I am okay with the newer mini-event format, for now. I started a day late and didn’t buy Blocko Angela so week one was a close one to finish on time. But otherwise not to difficult. But I don’t play TSTO for the challenge, that’s what I have my PS4 for. I will now return to my regular farming scheduled yearbook purchases.
Well, I will say that I play TSTO to be entertained, laugh and relax. So I like the events that don’t take a lot of grinding. That said, a change up would be nice. It seems they can do better than Game of Games. I can put the buildings in a gaming area, but they do take up a lot of space. Dialogue was funny. Thought the characters were decent – at mostly better price points. I would give the event a C+.
I’m curious if they’ll add additional content to the yearbook or save it for new mystery boxes. I’m kicking myself for not picking up Young Homer, etc when I had the chance.
Would have been nice to try and finish all the quest, too bad it stopped working on my phone on the last day and cant get in.
Hi everybody !
Please don’t tell ’em to drop de Yearbook Mystery Box : only been playing for 7 months, so it’s a really good deal for me, as I am not a farmer (yet).
Event is not that bad, always happy to have new playable characters, costumes are cool, even if some decorations are not that good. Let’s say it’s between a C+ and a B-, or 9 or 11 out of 20.
Well,
I’ve got to the point where there’s nothing more to buy and I can farm thousands of bonuts – if I can be bothered. This last event I just burned through with bonuts. Not sure i’ve got much tapping left in me.
On the plus side, i’ve Used the time to brush up my French on Duolingo and I truth, isn’t that a better use of time?
Nope…Maybe Spanish or Chinese, but no…French was a waste of your time….lol
I still struggle to call this an event. It’s was 4mini events back to back. No unique way to create a themed area via craftables, no tapping on NPCs, and no friend interaction. The prizes we’re good and the story was good but. Meh.
Compared to other classic events, it was a dud. No one will see my “game of games” area because there isn’t one. 🙁
I Will reserve judgement on this update. To me, it is more important what we get in future updates.
– are the available on a predictable pattern?
– are the formats varied (the old style mini events, the new multi mini event, the old crafting style event, show tie in, etc)
Like others I really didn’t like the radio silence for what seemed a life time.
I am hoping that EA has had a ‘reset’ and has their house in order and that we will see more communication about anticipated down time between events.
They were able to add Bill Clinton to the game. Every time it appears in the series, it’s fun. As for the event, I found it fun, although I have not seen the episode on which it is based mainly.
Agreed but I would personally prefer they reserve Clinton (& Dole) for Kang & Kodos costumes, having them walking around exchanging protein strings.
Anyone else suddenly lose access to their friends’ towns? My friends list still exists, but when it says x person has never played the game, including my wife who is sitting beside me with her game open.
Anyone else suddenly lose their friends? Technically my friends list still exists, but when I click on someone (like my wife, sitting beside me with her game open) it says the person has never played.
This type of incident appears to be roving, intermittent ‘glitch’.
This too, shall pass.
I’m not surprised at no new President.
#1, there never are ‘new’ presidents, only rehash of tired, old ones.
#2, there won’t be a new president for another 18 months or so.
(Enough of poor puns)
I am still confused with the Splash Screen — I didn’t see a close tie in to the Event.i know I’m missing something.
(Yes, I’m missing a lot)
Game of Games was better than Love, Springfieldian Style due to the Prizes available (and most of the Premiums), but was it worth the wait ? Nope! And some of the Prizes are 💩 getting put into inventory!
I wonder if more Tappers are beginning to join my “zero expectations” philosophy regarding EA (it makes sense, you have no expectations from them, so you can’t be let down as hard as you’re used to (lol!) 🤔
I also I wonder if some of you decided Farming for Premiums was more rewarding than 4-Hour Tasking for new Prizes (believe me, back-to-back 💩 Prizes does not motivate when to Tap!) 🙄
I will give EA the A for writing (funny dialogue) / affordable Premiums
I will give EA the l’EA’zy (pronounced lazy) C for Prizes that weren’t worth it
I will give EA a FAIL for ignoring 4th of July (c’mon, even a Dan Quayle would have been welcomed!) 😅
2019 is almost done!
It’s a given that we will get Halloween / Christmas Events!
We will be lucky if we get one Event before those 2!
I have “zero expectations” but if EA doesn’t deliver (although you could say they do by keeping a Mystery Box) I won’t be surprised if more Tappers bail on the Game App! 😯
Agree with most of this but I would give this event a D overall.
As I had on my report card many a time :
Can do much better than this, must try harder ( EA ).
Kindle fire still not running TSTO.
Yeah, the event was a big “meh” for myself, as well. Prizes were kind of useless, characters were okay – other than that stupid Mr. Dirt, which I have made my feelings known about – but it was better than nothing, of course.
Not that I would know if we have another update, mind you. I have a Samsung S10, and apparently being able to log into the game to begin with is apparently too much to ask…
The only gripes I had about the event was the lack of land tokens (non GGR player here), not a lot of returning stuff, no new 4th July stuff (or new returning stuff such as the Fireworks Factory which could’ve worked with 4th July) or pride stuff which could still be added this month.
There are also some nitpicks I had with the event which were the buildings’ tasks not using the same tenses as other buildings (mainly lacking the “ing”) so Blockoland currently has the task saying “Block You from Non-Rectangular Life” which should say “Blocking You From Non-Rectangular Life” and the elf farm saying “Enforce Happiness” which should be “Enforcing Happiness”. Another one was all the 4 hour tasks involved and I don’t mean for the currency but for the quests and the main questline which could’ve had 1,2,3,6,8,10,12,16, or even 24 hour one time jobs instead of just 4.
I didn’t mind the lack of neighbour interactions, decorations (as long as they had a good sound or animation) and the premiums though BAB (Blocko Angelica Button) could’ve been a gil deal or helped with the whole event. The dialogue was good and easy to follow while the event did tie in to the actual E4 and it did seem a bit like an episode tie in to “E My Sports” and the first five minutes to “The Food Wife” with the content and dialogue.
I really loved the continuous music in the background, the characters and the buildings to some extent. Previous music in events only lasted several seconds and was very short. The characters were decent with some of the prizes being better than the premiums for their tasks and when they appeared in the show. The buildings had a good design and can fit together or apart with other items. It was also great that some of the prize characters had 24 hour tasks at the prize buildings which is an improvement from previous prize buildings only being used for 4 hours by characters like Lisa, Homer or Willie who have many, many 4 hour tasks already.
Overall, it was an ok event which I give it a B or C overall, not the best but not the worst either. The Yearbook Mystery Box still needs tweaking if EA re-releases old content in the store either for events by removing the old content from the mystery box if it gets added to the store or by not adding to the store at all. That’s my musings for this event. Hopefully some unreleased stuff gets added this year which could be an interesting musings post on what didn’t get released. The Flanders event can be another idea to talk about though I could see Grandma Flanders getting added out of all the Flanders.
Thanks for this post Alissa and keeping us all informed about TSTO and other things outside of it. Also thanks to anyone who read my own lengthy musings comment. 🙂
Santos
The music cue for this Event gets an A (the best since Halloween 2018!) 👍
Your review for Game of Games was very accurate (EA delivered, but they could do better – and they should next time without the loooong wait)
I was behind the eight ball from the beginning because the event didn’t appear in my store until a full day after the event started. I appreciated that EA gave us some extra time yesterday, but I still never got the last prize. Oh well. Maybe it will appear in a mystery box later on. I’m always happy when we have new events, so I’m not complaining. Although I enjoyed playing, it wasn’t my favorite. Nothing will ever top the Stonecutters event. That was epic!
Which happened…June 3rd, 2014. Yikes. If that was the apex, that is a LOT of downhill sliding since then.
tippietippie
I think that maybe the biggest obstacle for EA – how do you top some of the best Events ever over the years (it’s impossible, unless you have the dedicated staff to do it, and it feels like EA has scaled back) 🙄
I like that the event actually stuck to a single Theme throughout the update (hello Bart Battle Royal)
Some of the decorations did seem meh, was going to throw them in inventory but found a place in KrustyLand for most of them.
Everyone complains about crafting but I miss real major events ……… this series of mini-events doesn’t do it for me.
I agree with your grade for the event. I was thinking a C. New characters were nice. Other than that, something was better than nothing. Hoping the next event isn’t too long away…guess we’ll wait and see. Have a good day everyone!
I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere, but has anyone else not been able to log in the last few days? I play on a samsung galaxy s10, and it went through an update to android earlier this week. Since then, when i try to open the game it just stops after 10 seconds, before i can actually get into the game.
I tried uninstalling, but the same thing happens when i reinstalled. Emails to EA haven’t received a response. I know its affecting others because there are a bunch of bad reviews on google play with people complaining about the same thing.
Almost glad to hear somebody else has the same problem since the S10 security update. Luckily I have a Fire tablet and can still run the game there although painfully slow compared to my Galaxy phone.
Started a ticket with EA and the last guy wants me to accept a rollback to a full month ago as he thinks it is a corrupt save file that he can’t prove. If other people are having the problem on the S10 since the OS update I say nix and he needs to try harder.
Same issue with my S10
Really missing tappables in game play…
My favourite part of events was logging in whenever I wanted to find and tap npcs that were often offered for purchase afterwards.
Love NCPS ❤ as you know 😊
Perhaps EA could re-release some of the very first events allowing everyone to enjoy remembering them and getting anything you missed first time round and newer players to experience the olden days of challenges and how different gameplay was back then. Heck I would even like to see the wheel of hell return at this point! 😉
Enjoy reading your musings posts Alissa.
Long may they continue! 👌
I don’t understand the hate on NPCs. They’re always visible. If you’re sending playables to task they’re out of sight 60% of the time.
Thanks for your musings, Alissa! I agree on the letdown after the months-long wait, but I’d say this event was good.
I still haven’t forgiven EA for the mislead on Blocko AB, which (I guess) some players bought thinking they could skip premium-earning new characters in the other acts. That was completely uncalled for.
The dialogues were great, no doubt. I also liked most prizes, still no clue as to how embed them in the design (btw thanks for the showoff!).
Now we’ll just have to wait and see!
Gameplay was a bit of a letdown. However, I was down to the wire time wise in my B game. I appreciated the countdown warning box saying there was 11 hours until the event ended so I should pick up the pace. I also liked that my last task would still earn event currency instead of reverting to game cash like the past. That’s what helped me finish in time!