Just like any video game and DLC, The Sims 4 Snowy Escape went through various different production stages and features that have been considered and added to the game. However, various different reasons during the game’s development may lead to reconsidering such features – whether it’s from community feedback or just coming to conclusion that a certain feature just doesn’t fit in.
After playing The Sims 4 Snowy Escape I’ve noticed there have been a few things modified compared to the Snowy Escape Early Alpha version that I played a few weeks ago thanks to the EA Game Changers program. Here are some of the features that some community members and I’ve noticed that have been changed and / or removed from the final version of The Sims 4 Snowy Escape!
New Roof Trim
During the very early production stages of The Sims 4 Snowy Escape, The Sims Team considered adding a new roof brick trim. You can check out what it looked like below:
This image was uncovered by the community from one of the EA Game Changers’ who had a chance to build the official lots for Mt. Komorebi. As explained by the Game Changers, they would get a new version of Snowy Escape every week or so containing some new objects that they can use on their builds. It seems that the Roof Trim seen above was one of them – but unfortunately it wasn’t included in the final version of the game. There could be several different reasons why the roof trim hasn’t made to the final cut – the texture, not fitting in into the rest of the catalogue or simply because of the fact that it wasn’t really matching completely with the new roof tiles.
Taking Selfies with the Mt. Komorebi Tombstones
In the Senbamachi neighborhood there’s a graveyard area with two interactable tombstones. Your Sims are also able to take a stop at the graveyard during their hike and view the tombstones. However, during the Early Alpha days I’ve noticed that my Sim had approached one of the tombstones and started taking selfies. That’s when I’ve discovered that there was a whole “Take A Selfie” interaction available on one of the two tombstones.
I really couldn’t believe it at first on why would The Sims Team make a decision to implement an interaction like this, until I’ve noticed that the game itself warned me that this wasn’t the best idea, making my Sim embarassed for acting inappropriately.
Honestly, I liked the whole concept of the “Irresponsible Tourist” that Snowy Escape tried to bring with this feature. It lowkey reminded me of the whole Logan Paul fiasco that happened in early 2018.
However, in the final version of the game your Sims can’t perform this interaction as it’s been completely removed.
Festival of Lights Outfit Modification
In Early Alpha the Festival of Lights outfit had stripes on top of the fan patterns that were scattered throughout the outfit mesh. The stripes had been removed in the final version:
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but I noticed the files for Snowy Escape have both the original and the changed version made after the controversy in the FullBuild and the DeltaBuild. Here’s a comparison of what they both look like. pic.twitter.com/WYcvYICwRQ
— thejamescake1 (@lowpolypancake) November 13, 2020
Shrine Bowing
The ability to bow in front of the new shrines in Mt. Komorebi has been removed in the final version of the game. The decision of this feature being removed and the Festival of Light outfit modification was announced by SimGuruGraham, just 3 weeks before the pack’s release:
Hi, Simmers! We modified the reveal trailer for The Sims 4 Snowy Escape and have made changes to the pack to respect our Korean players. I want you to know that those changes will be in-game when Snowy Escape launches.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) October 23, 2020
We aim to be inclusive. We involve others both within and outside of our team, and we listen to them as representatives of the cultures that we draw inspiration from. We’re unwavering in our commitment to representing more of our player’s lives in an authentic and respectful way.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) October 23, 2020
Both of the last two features listed can still be found in Snowy Escape’s game files – they’ve just been disabled in the code.
wait they completely removed the option to bow to shrines? thats such bull lmao. koreans.. why
still dont understand why they even bothered to build a pack cemtered around japanese culture just to not even do it correctly. next time you want to remove a part of someones culture just because some people find it offensive, dont even bother making the pack in the first place. japanese simmers ate them up for this and it was deserved.
I don’t care about anything until I can play without it crashing every ten minutes. I bought the digital version on PlayStation, had fun the first night then go on the next day and it crashes twice I’m not gonna bother playing until it’s fixed
From what I saw some people were saying a guru (Nick?) said it was an issue regarding sound so there is a workaround on Twitter. They’re supposed to patch it next week.
They also changed these yukata patterns. No clue as to why.
https://twitter.com/lowpolypancake/status/1327168620795887617
https://twitter.com/lowpolypancake/status/1327168344978386944
The fan stripped patter was likely changed because it invoked the old Japanese imperial flag, the one used by the country when it committed unspeakable war crimes against Korea.
The problem is, it wasn’t the rising sun flag, but a fan pattern. I think it was totally obvious as it was yellow and green, and not white and red, but as we can see Koreans’ve found another way to remove something japanese because they hate Japan so much ¯_(ツ)_/¯
They also changed these yukata patterns. No clue as to why.
https://twitter.com/lowpolypancake/status/1327168620795887617
https://twitter.com/lowpolypancake/status/1327168344978386944
EA only listened to the opinions of radical patriots and released this with complete disregard for the opinions of both Japanese and Korean simmers. Ridiculous correction.
Why did they remove the new roof trim? The roofs in the final cut look kinda weird with the default chunky roof trims.
I do think EA will likely stay away from worlds inspired by a specific Asian country moving forward due to the frequent back and forth with tensions and historical impacts of several of the countries not just Japan. It’s unfortunate. As one would expect you would typically go to someone (or a group) to get insight into their specific culture and usually that doesn’t consist about asking other people outside of that for their viewpoints or concerns. In other words it wouldn’t have made sense for them to have Korean input on a Japanese inspired pack just like it wouldn’t make sense for the reverse or asking a white person about Japan instead of a Japanese person. It is a sore spot to have an “outsider” to someone’s culture come in like some expert.
Since the bowing at the shrine is still in the code, I wonder if someone can figure out how to re-enable it. They really should have just put in a game option to allow simmers to turn it on and off.
Someone has made a mod that re-enables the bowing at shrines. But I agree that the Gurus should of added an option if people wanted the bowing in their game or not.
Since the bowing at the shrine is still in the code, I wonder if someone can figure out how to re-enable it. They really should have just put in a game option to allow simmers to turn it on and off.