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A Taste of Toddlers
annkat23
Posts: 38 Member
Hello, all!
Currently (as in, as I'm writing this post) there is a thread raging against two groups of simmers: those who are fine without toddlers in TS4, and those who are not. I, like a majority of people, am in the latter group. I desperately miss toddlers and feel like my game is really lacking without them. But this thread isn't to debate toddlers vs. no toddlers.
I have an idea that could bring a piece of toddlers to TS4 without having to actually add them into the game. Now, that doesn't mean I never want to see them actually added, but at this rate I don't think that we're going to get any kind of definite answer or information on toddlers anytime soon. Definitely not anytime this year, and I'm even doubtful of next year if things keep on going the way they currently are. I don't want this "instead of" toddlers. But, in the meantime...
I'm picturing a dialogue/text pop-up that displays when a baby ages up into a child. This pop-up contains a game-generated story about this particular baby's toddler-hood; the things we missed seeing before they aged up into a child. Maybe they caught a bad case of llama fever but overcame it! Maybe their favorite food was chocolate ice cream. Maybe they liked one parent more than the other. Maybe mom or dad...uh...forgot to teach them their ABCs. Maybe their parents caught them eating glue...a little too close to their birthday. You know, fun toddler stuff.
I feel that some depth could be added to these stories if certain options were available. I'm thinking back to the premise of "aging up well" in previous games. For example, if the toddler phase (story) was negative overall, good luck picking a good trait when your child ages up! Options to adjust this could be in the form of some kind of slider or checkbox, so simmers could choose that they wanted generally positive toddler stories as to not affect the child negatively, some may pick generally negative to make gameplay a bit more difficult, or some may choose for it to be completely random.
Or, for the players who do not miss toddlers at all, "Toddler Tales" could be completely turned off. The dialogue box can also be X-ed out of pretty much instantly if a player doesn't feel like reading.
I know for me personally, this would help me connect more to my child sims. Interactions with babies are pretty limited, so there is no "remember when..." with child-aged sims. There is no glimpse of a personality or funny moment to remember, (unless you enjoy thinking "Ah, yes, I remember when my sim cuddled this child sim 13 times in a row when they were a baby..."), and by the time you make memories with child-aged sims, it's time for them to age up. These stories would add some details that fill in those gaps that many players feel, even if we didn't actually see these things happen.
I feel like this is a relatively simple addition (in comparison to actually adding toddlers into the game, of course) that would bring a little joy to those of us who really miss those toddlers.
Thoughts?
Currently (as in, as I'm writing this post) there is a thread raging against two groups of simmers: those who are fine without toddlers in TS4, and those who are not. I, like a majority of people, am in the latter group. I desperately miss toddlers and feel like my game is really lacking without them. But this thread isn't to debate toddlers vs. no toddlers.
I have an idea that could bring a piece of toddlers to TS4 without having to actually add them into the game. Now, that doesn't mean I never want to see them actually added, but at this rate I don't think that we're going to get any kind of definite answer or information on toddlers anytime soon. Definitely not anytime this year, and I'm even doubtful of next year if things keep on going the way they currently are. I don't want this "instead of" toddlers. But, in the meantime...
I'm picturing a dialogue/text pop-up that displays when a baby ages up into a child. This pop-up contains a game-generated story about this particular baby's toddler-hood; the things we missed seeing before they aged up into a child. Maybe they caught a bad case of llama fever but overcame it! Maybe their favorite food was chocolate ice cream. Maybe they liked one parent more than the other. Maybe mom or dad...uh...forgot to teach them their ABCs. Maybe their parents caught them eating glue...a little too close to their birthday. You know, fun toddler stuff.
I feel that some depth could be added to these stories if certain options were available. I'm thinking back to the premise of "aging up well" in previous games. For example, if the toddler phase (story) was negative overall, good luck picking a good trait when your child ages up! Options to adjust this could be in the form of some kind of slider or checkbox, so simmers could choose that they wanted generally positive toddler stories as to not affect the child negatively, some may pick generally negative to make gameplay a bit more difficult, or some may choose for it to be completely random.
Or, for the players who do not miss toddlers at all, "Toddler Tales" could be completely turned off. The dialogue box can also be X-ed out of pretty much instantly if a player doesn't feel like reading.
I know for me personally, this would help me connect more to my child sims. Interactions with babies are pretty limited, so there is no "remember when..." with child-aged sims. There is no glimpse of a personality or funny moment to remember, (unless you enjoy thinking "Ah, yes, I remember when my sim cuddled this child sim 13 times in a row when they were a baby..."), and by the time you make memories with child-aged sims, it's time for them to age up. These stories would add some details that fill in those gaps that many players feel, even if we didn't actually see these things happen.
I feel like this is a relatively simple addition (in comparison to actually adding toddlers into the game, of course) that would bring a little joy to those of us who really miss those toddlers.
Thoughts?
Post edited by annkat23 on
1
Comments
Yeah, I don't get these "would you be ok with this instead of toddlers?". Heck, no! I want toddlers. Period. There isn't a reason why they can't be added to the game, unless the engine limitations won't make it possible, which I find it doubtful, otherwise how is it going to support more complex expansions like Seasons or Pets? If they can't add toddlers for some reason, then this just proves that TS4 is not going to be a game for me, because the content released in the future will still be shallow stuff on top of a shallow game.
This idea is not meant to be an "instead of" toddlers. It's meant to be more of a stepping stone or supplement until they do come out. I thought I made that pretty clear. I agree that if they can't add toddlers then the game is very flawed, but I'd like for this idea topic to stay on topic and not morph into a criticism post. There are plenty of those out there.
I won't be surprised if we get no information about toddlers for over a year with how communications have been lately and with how clear the team has been about how they have NO information about them. So I would like to at least have something until we get some information. This feature could even be removed if/when actual toddlers are added to the game.
If you are fine with nothing at all until toddlers come out, that's fine.
Edit: I'm updating the title so that people will not think that this idea supports not adding toddlers to the game. I want to see actual toddlers more than just about anything, and I think something like this could be a stepping stone in the right direction.