Happy Musings Thursday my friends! I’m back with another musings post. I’ve got some thoughts, so let’s get to ’em…
So, it’s snowing in Springfield. Much like real life, snow is great. But only for so long. How long until we’re all sick of snow in Springfield? From the comments point of view…we usually hear from players the day after Christmas that they’re sick of the snow. Funny how a game mimics life…
Personally, I’m good with the snow in Springfield right up until the middle of January. At that point, I’m over it and just want my green grids back. Until then I just enjoy the novelty of it…as it only comes around once a year.
And I’d tell you to take a picture of your Springfield, to remember what it looks like in the snow…but the town portrait button has gone missing! An in-game update was just released and the town portrait button has been restored. So take a picture of your Springfield to commemorate the snow!
Anyway, enough about snow. I’m getting sick of talking about it. Let’s talk about Abe’s in Toyland…
Insert collective groan from many in the Addicts Community
Yea, yea. I get it. You guys aren’t thrilled with the unimaginative Multi-Event concept. And I agree, after a year…it’s getting old. We’ve been begging EA for a while to change it up…and the only change they brought was not releasing an update for months. Not the kind of change any of us want.
So, if you love TSTO and your pocket-sized Springfields, I guess we’re stuck with this for a while.
And no, don’t worry, I’m not going to give another written lecture about the benefits of a Multi-Event. Those of you who don’t like the Multi-Events, don’t need to hear it from me. And, quite frankly, I’m getting sick of saying it.
So, while I choose to stay positive about things, and generally try to be optimistic about TSTO, let’s forget about the multi-event concept for right now. Let’s dive into the specifics of this Christmas Event.
Since 2012, Christmas has been one of the marquee events in TSTO. So my initial thoughts on this year’s marquee TSTO event? Meh.
Yes, usually optimistic Alissa said this event so far is “Meh”.
The reasoning? Where the heck is the Christmas? Or any holiday for that matter?!
Looking at the prizes, and premium items, for all 4 Acts, forgetting for a moment that there are only 3 real prizes for each Act, the most Christmas we get is the Elves and the Gingerbread Couch in Act 1. After that, it’s buildings and characters from Grandpa’s past.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve read ahead. I know how the dialogue and the story play out. Once again, it’s a GREAT storyline from the writers. But damn it, where’s the good content?!
This event feels like it would have been better cast as a Valentine’s Day Event. Retelling stories about Grandpa’s past loves. I know Hallmark movies are super popular (some of my favorite), but those are FULL of Christmas! The prizes with this event scream hodge-podge of items from the Simpsons, not holidays. And certainly not Christmas.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the characters that are included with this. I love the story they’re trying to tell. I love the other prize track items. But damn it, it’s not Christmas! This doesn’t scream Marquee Event…this screams “alternate to Love Springfieldian Style”!
I’d take Pagan Christmas again over this. At least that had more Christmas trees (Even if they were on fire). And those cool singing rocks that sang “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”.
You guys know I try to be optimistic, and it’s not all bad. I do like the tokens in the prize track concept. It would be better if they lead to a mystery box full of NEW stuff to win. But it’s a new idea. So I’ll give them that.
Anyway, those are just my initial thoughts. As I usually do (and ask you all to do), I’ll wait to reserve full judgment until the event itself is over. I’ll see how things play out before giving my final review. But for now…good event content, good story, but would have made more sense at Valentine’s Day.
That’s it for this Thursday. I’ll be back next week with some warmer thoughts about Christmas…
Thoughts? How would you grade the events? Sound off below, you know we love hearing from you!
Started playing earlier this year and quickly dropped other games that were occupying my mind. I was really looking forward to the Christmas update so that I could really beautify the town with the lights that my neighboureeno’s had up and running for weeks in their towns. As soon as the update arrived I invested in the Lights Plunger only to realise that no lights were available for me, just a vandalised Christmas Tree, a box of Prezzies and some Carol Singers…….. I want decorations for all of the town, not just isolated bits of it. Come on EA……. pretty please ?
Mine it’s just a theory, but I had the feeling for a while that EA is repurposing scrapped bits of old events…. There! I finally said it.
Just want to say I called it ahead of time……..
Worst Xmas update ever 🤪
I like the event so far… the dialogue is fun, the content is good, new and old players get something out of it… the mini-event format is ok, they could mix it up one and one, but you’ll still have people complaining… as far as being not so Christmas-y and more Pagan-y* … it’s all pagan-y… again I would say :” know thy religious history”. .. TSTO related, its a nice event.. on the other hand and onto more serious matters… what’s the difference between a Burrito and a Taco…. describe each!!! talk about the same content in different format..
As a pretty long-time player, I’m ok with the event. I get that things have changed, but I think we have to move with the change, rather than constantly pine over the past. I think your post did a good job of subtly saying that. Yes, we know the event could be better (and more Christmas-y), but it’s still a new event, during a time we always got a new event. It has mostly old content (great for not so long-time players), but some new ones. It’s got a decent storyline, which, let’s be honest, that’s the biggest part of any event, right? The content is great but so many people are constantly complaining about having too much stuff or not enough land. People are willing to pack their towns with 1,000 walls or tennis courts (myself included), but then complain about characters that they don’t know….I mean, I think I have about 350 characters – how many more do I really need? At this point, I’m playing more for stories than I am for new stuff (though it’s fun to get new stuff – like GOD!).