The Top Ten SCEA Home Value Items for April
by Kassadee Marie, HSM team writer
These are the items that I consider are the best value for the month and I’ll tell you why I think so, for each item or package. This isn’t a list of my favorite things for the month; some of them I didn’t purchase and won’t for various reasons. Some things I bought aren’t on this list. They’re not always the least expensive item(s), either. For example, a $4.99 estate that’s just another pretty box – and does nothing and has nothing extra – is less of a value than a $9.99 estate that may include furniture or a game or other features, such as EOD or the ability to swim or fly, or a variety of these attributes. By the way, I’m not including free items as their worth is more than obvious. Although these items are numbered, it’s not meant to be a top value to least value list, but rather my value choices for the month overall. I also didn’t try to choose one of each type of item, such as estate, locomotion, furniture pack, clothing item, etc. If I had this would have been a somewhat different list.
1. nDreams’ Mega Animation Bundle for $8.99. We’re still not over our love affair with new gestures, poses, and dances on Home and we never may be. For so long we were stuck with the same automated gestures and the few dances and poses – which actually weren’t all great – that we hungered for new poses and movements. Now we’re being offered and eating up new ones up every week, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look for value. The nDreams bundle brought out early in the month has a lot in it, including four dance packs and two gestures packs which were sold separately for $2.99 per bundle. The dance packs include two world dance packs, a famous dance pack and a retro dance pack, while the gestures include love and rude packs (male and female). This is quite a savings from the total of the individual dance packs.
2. Granzella’s Wind & Earth Clothing Set for $2.49. Surprisingly, these Native American-influenced packs are not offered to us from an American developer. These sets offer value, great style, separate pieces, and color choices. We love choices! The packs have seven-pieces and are offered in four colors (brown, red, black and white) for males and females. Each set has headdresses, boots, tops, bottoms, and wrist items. The male bundle has two headdresses – the smaller in two sizes – and the female has a headdress in two sizes and two skirts in two different lengths. The longer length is more traditional, but the shorter length will appeal to those who like a more modern flair.
3. nDreams’ Plush Ponies Bundle for $4.99. The name says it all; they really do look like a child’s plush toy – with legs that have been a little flattened out by being sat upon. These three locomotion items are not for everyone, but if you’re a kid at heart and love silly fun and the unusual, you may very well enjoy owning and riding one or more of these plush pony locomotion items. The pack has all three of the ponies, offered in candy floss pink, pastel sprinkles and bright rainbow hues, and they are sold separately for $1.99 each, which is a great individual price, too.
4. nDreams’ Choppers Ultimate Bundle for $6.49. On the opposite end of the spectrum from plush ponies, nDreams offers some serious looking motorcycle muscle with their new “choppers” line. And they offer us choices in styles and colors again. Choose between Original in Camouflage, Flame or Black and Red; High Rise in Flame, Stripes or Yellow; and Lo-Rider in Flame, Patriot or – wait for it ladies – Pink! Oh, yah!
5. VEEMEE ‘s Grow Home Bundle for $5.49. Home used to be fairly static for the most part, except for our avatars. Almost anything on Home that offers change is welcome. Movement (especially clouds), diurnal control, weather changes, growth, different wallpaper, wall paint or floors – we love it and want it all. This new little bundle offers change and beauty with decorating items for your spaces. Here’s your chance to grow five different potted plants from “seeds” to blossoms. At $1.99 each, these items would be close to $10.00, purchased separately. The pack has a sunflower bush which is my favorite; white jasmine which makes you wish you could smell them; cherry blossoms which are perfect for any Asian space; blue delphinium which the guys might appreciate especially; and beautiful red poinsettias which are very nice for Winter time. I suggest you grow them one plant at a time to enjoy the experience fully.
6. nDreams’ nGear Cars Ultimate Bundle for $8.99. This bundle includes eleven car locomotions that your avatar can sit in and drive, which are sold for either $1.99, $2.99 or $4.99 individually. This makes the pack a great value, but rather a lot of vehicles for one person. However, a multitude people have been wanting car locomotions and this pack does offer a lot of choices for the auto aficionado. The pack includes four convertibles in dark purple, yellow (yay!), teal and scarlet; four sport cars in orange, green, red and yellow (yay again!); and three premium sports car in orange, gray and turquoise, which include sounds for the owner. I wish they had done three packs, one for each of their lines, though.
7. Konami’s Auras – Shards Locomotion Item for $0.99. Konami is now offering their 11 awesome auroras as locomotion items and they have added three more, also. The advantage to having these auras as locomotions is that they are no longer hand items and you can wear them with any clothes, including full body outfits. They can be worn by either gender and they also offer a speed boost, for just under a dollar. The three new auras are called Shards, Energywave and Stardust Locomotions and are very interesting. More choices – yes!
8. VEEMEE’s MyGym Equipment Bundle for $4.99. This little bundle of three active items – running machine, cycling machine and rowing machine – offers the opportunity to earn tokens by reaching new “fitness” levels. These tokens can be spent at the MyGym Token store for rewards such as sports clothing and animations. Similarly to the UFC gym, tokens are earned by rhythmically pressing the correct symbol buttons. Individually these items are priced at $2.49 each and be warned they take up 22 furniture slots each. Setting up a gym in a small space, such as your Harbor Studio apartment, should lessen the impact of this, though, and would be a fun place to invite friends to.
9. Konami’s Angel Wings or Succubus Wings for $.99. Locomotions are fun, whether they’re clothing items or ride-on items or animations that change our avatars movement(s) without any additional visible items to indicate them. Clothing items add to our avatars’ look of course, but they add to the statement you’re making about your mood at the time, also. For under a dollar you can let people know if you’re feeling angelic or devilish or for under two dollars you can change your wings to suit your feelings that day. By the way, Konami’s flying broom is only $.99, also.
10. Peakvox’s Seasons-themed room for $5.99. The seasons are visible from the balcony or through the sliding glass-doors from the interior. They aren’t perfect looking, as the colors of some seasons are over-bright, but season-control is an incredible idea that deserves kudos and this estate deserves consideration for one your monthly purchases. The space is nicely done with several “purposed” rooms, such as the bathroom and kitchen areas and very it’s similar to (although a bit smaller) than Granzella’s “City of Flower’s Penthouse”. You can change through all four seasons at any time, but note any guests will be scooted back to the arrival point when you do so.
It’s no surprise that bundles make the majority of the best values each month and nDreams really shone in this arena in April. Developers usually take the opportunity to sell a little more, by pricing a bundle for less that the total of the individual items in the pack added together. This is just like the real world, of course. And, as you would in the real world, compare the prices of bundles and separate items. As an example, if a pack of three items has only one item in it that you like, it’s not a bargain for you. If you like two of the items and buying the pack would be cheaper than buying the two items individually, you know what to do. Happy – and careful – shopping to you!
May 1st, 2013 by Kassadee Marie | 2 comments
Home is endlessly entertaining to this California girl. Kassadee has been in Home for about four years, and loves almost everything about it (with a few notable exceptions). She spends way too much money there, and perhaps too much time... Someday she will travel the world and write about the people she meets and the places she sees.
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I bought a few of these items this month, one of the cars and the Native American outfits, but I found the others to be kind of redundant in terms of choices. I know several people who bought the motorcycle bundles though.
The apartment is okay, but the outside scenery is a bit too cartoonish compared to other places recently offered, and the booting back to the door is a bit weird.
I love the concept of the growing things packs, but I am not sure I want to give up ten slots in many of my apartments to use them. The furniture slots are always a consideration when buying actives and ten is a lot to sacrifice unless the space id very small to begin with. Like the new apartment you mentioned, there it might work.
Nice job as always Kass.
A big plus for the Peakvox seasons-themed apartment is that it’s sized to furnish within the 100-item limit. The very nice bath area is a big help with this, and It has a mirro which *truly reflects!*. Yes, there are other spaces with better scenery but so big that I usually end up furnishing only a part. This one is very satisfying. Since I can set the season of choice, I can also furnish seasonally and then change for each season. Yes, as Kass noted, the lighting varies seasonally. I’m very happy to have a nice space that I *can* furnish to my satisfaction.