TS4: Realm of Magic in The Sims

Better late than never, eh?

Would I buy this at full price? Never. I was expecting more. The vampire pack was spectacular. The problem is most of the rewards are things you can already do in game with mixtures that come from a number of different packs. All they did was recycle old animations. There’s barely any new game play and I was really hoping for some decent witch clothes. Very disappointed.

Some potions and spells that did NEW things for the game would have been nice. They’ve been recycling so much in this version of The Sims. The other three incarnations recycled every now and then but for the most part it was new content and animations for every pack. Some GPs have been great (Vampires, Jungle Adventure & Outdoor Retreat) but then you get a bomb.

None of the other game packs sucked as badly as this though. I do really like the town that came with the pack and the characters are okay. Glimmerbrook is beautiful to look at though. But pretty scenery does not make up for the fact that the game play isn’t anything special or even particularly fun. I’m just glad I bought it on sale for 50% off. I wasn’tpaying $25 + tax for it!

Also a really small annoyance is that they didn’t call them witches, they’re called spellcasters. That’s a bloody mouthful when witch is so much easier! They clearly had Harry Potter fan in mind so why not just go with witches/wizards? Instead we get this garbled gender-neutral name. Don’t get me wrong, I normally LOVE gender-neutral terms but this just sounds dumb.

“Hey, I’m a ghost. What are you?”
“An alien!”
“Cool! And what are you?”
“Oh, I’m a vampire!”
“That’s a scary term! And what are you there?”
“A spellcaster.”
awkward silence

The one character I'm in love with is Grace Anansi which is why she's my new main character. That makes 12 or 13 now. I remember when I only had 5. There are 179 other characters that I've created or reimagined. I can only play one main character per save because my max amount of protected characters (meaning they don't do anything like move or have children etc) is 200.

Her outfits which most are either new clothing or contain a new piece of clothing. The lipstick that came with this pack has quickly become my favourite.

Grace has a familiar called Creedence. He is the very rare mutation of domestic short hair cat called the Lykoi. The breed has been around for about 20 years. They are called the werewolves of the cat world because of their very strange appearance. I thought this breed would be perfect for my (gag me) spellcaster.

The outside of her house is really boring but using all the new stuff from the pack the inside turned out really well in my opinion. The living room.

Kitchen/dining room.

Bedroom.

The basement is where she does her witch stuff. "Never conjure where you carve." as the witch from Brave says. She conjures in the basement & lives in the upstairs part. Although her computer desk is down there too. I wish you could lock stairs for visitors so they can't go into the conjuring room. I could take the stairs away & teleport in but then the cat can't follow her.

A new spellcaster should always head through the portal into the Magic Realm.

Grace meets the Sage of Untamed Magic, Morgyn Ember. After making friends Grace asks to be made a spellcaster. Sages are teachers of magic. You can learn spells & potions from them, get a Glimmer Stone from them (allows you to travel to the Magic Realm from any place or world), ask to me made a spellcaster/ask to give up magic or challenge them to duels.

Next she meets Sage of Mischief Magic, Elphaba Thropp. They've become good friends.

As I said this pack is CLEARLY aimed at Harry Potter fans. Where you get all your supplies (brooms, crystals, familiars & books) is called Caster's Alley (Diagon Alley). The Realm of Magic is VERY pretty too. None of these buildings are accessible though, they're just decoration.

"Unfortunately, Caster's Alley is slowly being pulled apart by the swirling vortex surrounding it. The only thing that is keeping it together is the balance between the three houses of magic. Each house has a Sage that is the master in their respective style. If any imbalance is ever struct between these Sages the entire realm could collapse."

There are 3 stalls and they're all manned by an Astral Projection Vendor. They look like ghosts but they aren't actually ghosts. This is the broom & crystal stall.

She bought a nice broom and went out for her first spin. She failed.

Not failing!

Reading one of the magical tomes she bought at Caster's Alley.

Using her new marble wand to do some magic.

I thought it was hilarious that you can use the GIANT cauldron to make mac & cheese. This is heaven for a cheese lover right now. I've always found Sims food so tasty looking.

Forgot to mention there are three types of magic you can pursue, Untamed, Practical & Mischief. These are the symbols/runes for the types of magic. They appear on the arch whenever it's active. I prefer practical magic. Hehehe.

Grace has made lots of new friends and one of her good ones is a neighbour who's a witch. Her name is Emilia and she lives with her fiance, Darrel and his mother & sister.

A photo of Grace's parents (before their demise) and a clock she received from her class as she's a substitute teacher in the education career.

Doing some grading outside in her yard (in her work clothes) on a gorgeous summer day. Apparently grading is REALLY fun for her. I never looked that happy when I graded. LOL!

Saw this little guy hanging with Grace's friend, Emilia. It's her familiar. I didn't give one to Grace because quite frankly they're boring. They don't really DO anything, they're just cute or pretty and they float next you wherever you go. I think you get a positive mood buff but that's it.

The magic headquarters (where you can meet with sages or duel other spellcasters).

And the gardens of the Magic Realm.

When one of Grace's potions goes badly wrong she gets knocked out & wakes up like this.

After she's back to normal someone sets her picnic bench on fire so she has to put it out with magic! She's using her new wooden wand from the Sylvan Forest. You can go to Sylvan Glades in Willow Creek through a magic tree. I assume the Sylvan Forest is in Sylvan Glades.

Did I mention that I gave Grace a cute little gap in her teeth? You can't always see the gap in game which is why I took her into CAS so you can really see it.

Last image is just because I thought his expression was funny while he shit in the litter box!

That's it for now! Until next time, happy simming!

Last updated March 03, 2021