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Do you think that The Sims is 'back on track' now?
king_of_simcity7
Posts: 25,102 Member
So the last few days have been interesting, obviously the release of toddlers has had a huge impact, not just on gameplay but it has shown that the development team are very capable of putting something out that player's would enjoy and have proven that they have taken feedback into account.
This has changed a lot of player's perspective on the development team. No longer is there any 'they are not listening' and 'they don't care' and instead a lot of support and praise. You would think that we were in the TS3 area with the way things are looking.
Of course I still like to see things from different angles. Was this just a one off? Will the next releases be disappointing? We have seen what happened to the apartments, would that same level of restriction fall onto Pets or onto Seasons?
I actually have always had a lot of support for the dev team, even during the dark days and even though I had no interest in TS4 early on. This was the same dev team who put out fine games in the past so I always hoped that there would be a time when they could do that again. There has also been that scary 'rumour' that 'if TS4 does not sell, there would be no TS5'
Ok, well if sales where to pick up after players are more satisfied with toddlers, and that future criticism is not likely to be as heavy (most but not all criticism was due to lack of toddlers and family play ahead of anything else) it could seem very possible that there will be a TS5 and if lessons have been learnt from before (Olympus) and feedback is taken into account then who is to say that TS5 would not be a very successful game either. The devs have proven their worth, they know what the are capable of doing and what they should not be doing and if they keep this idea up then I think that in a few years time we would see a base game that finally matches up to the 'classics' rather than being a controversial release covered by a so called 'vision' (does anyone even use that word anymore) and instead finally take The Sims back to it it's routes, a Simulation game with hours of entertainment.
What do you all think? Is The Sims series finally back on track or are the recent evens merely a one off?
Be nice
This has changed a lot of player's perspective on the development team. No longer is there any 'they are not listening' and 'they don't care' and instead a lot of support and praise. You would think that we were in the TS3 area with the way things are looking.
Of course I still like to see things from different angles. Was this just a one off? Will the next releases be disappointing? We have seen what happened to the apartments, would that same level of restriction fall onto Pets or onto Seasons?
I actually have always had a lot of support for the dev team, even during the dark days and even though I had no interest in TS4 early on. This was the same dev team who put out fine games in the past so I always hoped that there would be a time when they could do that again. There has also been that scary 'rumour' that 'if TS4 does not sell, there would be no TS5'
Ok, well if sales where to pick up after players are more satisfied with toddlers, and that future criticism is not likely to be as heavy (most but not all criticism was due to lack of toddlers and family play ahead of anything else) it could seem very possible that there will be a TS5 and if lessons have been learnt from before (Olympus) and feedback is taken into account then who is to say that TS5 would not be a very successful game either. The devs have proven their worth, they know what the are capable of doing and what they should not be doing and if they keep this idea up then I think that in a few years time we would see a base game that finally matches up to the 'classics' rather than being a controversial release covered by a so called 'vision' (does anyone even use that word anymore) and instead finally take The Sims back to it it's routes, a Simulation game with hours of entertainment.
What do you all think? Is The Sims series finally back on track or are the recent evens merely a one off?
Be nice
Simbourne
15
Comments
It's going to be a buggy mess.
The good thing is, if there is a TS5, it will most definitely have all life stages present. There is no way EA would ever dream of doing this again.
And, if it happens again, it will be an insta-flop.
Really, whether you like TS4 or hate it, one thing is undeniable; TS5 will need to go above and beyond.
Sometimes, I think the developers and gurus are in an awkward place. Obviously quality content cannot be developed overnight, and some content (such as toddlers) are supposed to be kept secret. So in the development period of such content, the developers really can't confirm or deny anything, leading to the perception that they either don't listen or don't respond.
But to answer your question, it really depends on what you mean by "back on track."
The Sims, as a series, is not ready for the 5th installment, regardless if TS4 is doing well or poorly at this stage. It's much more economical for EA to simply develop TS4 further and add more content, instead of developing a whole new game engine, bear more advertisement costs, etc etc. It was also said that TS4 will not follow the traditional ~5 year development cycle of the Sims series, and will run for longer. So I suppose it's not really on track to releasing the next game in the series. It also doesn't make a lot of sense from a player perspective. Why would I leave a game that is lacking content for a new game that contains even LESS content, while having to rebuy more expansions / stuff packs?
In terms of TS4, I enjoyed the game even before the addition of toddlers. However, the addition of toddlers proved that it is possible to add more life states. This is huge, because this also opens up the possibility of pets (as already found in the game code), supernatural creatures (other than vampires, which are confirmed), and perhaps even stuff life pre-teens, middle-age, etc.
With the addition of vampires, we will get a world that is apparently permanently night time, or at least having longer nights. This also shows it is possible to alter day / night times with the current game engine. So very likely, it will also be possible to add things like weather, opening many possibilities such as seasons, or more vacation worlds.
I think toddlers are testament to three things:
1) The Sims really needs proper development and funding to be successful. When a feature is thoroughly conceptualized and implemented, it's, of course, going to be better than otherwise. Had they never considered the original idea of TS4 being an online game, I really feel TS4 would trump all previous iterations with no contest.
2) Fans crave, and are generally happier with, systems and features that promote high replayability, over objects which promote the very little of such.
3) The more EA gives with The Sims, the more they will get. Be generous with content in the game and expansions, and we will be generous with our wallets.
I am sorry to see that you are disapointed in the patch and that it broke your game when you where not evn asking for toddlers anyway
Yes my points as well.
I doubt they would make the same mistakes twice and at the same time, I hope they follow more feedback to realise that a lot of players want an Open World
Seriously, they tried to tell us multiple times they wanted to do toddlers but we never listened.
I myself had given up.
On another note,. Sims 4 is definitely doing well, we just don't know how well.
The reason why is EA is not a charity, they've had no problem shutting down popular franchises when they weren't doing well before, remember 's simcity? We wouldn't be getting all this dlc if they weren't selling well
I expect toddlers really pushed sales though.
But not overnight when toddlers were thrown at my head like this without a short notice or anything. They disappointed me for two years so I need at least to be 'impressed' and not 'not disappointed'.
Some links that helped me a lot:
Missing Store Stencils / Free Kiddy Stuff / Daily Deals / Daily Deals Spreadsheets / The Gifting Directory
The first thing you said; I totally hear you. However, I'll say nothing more on that.
I wish I knew how to 'close' a certain thread of mine, on THAT topic lol. I never knew stating a differing opinion could cause so many to turn mean lol.
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I think we'll have a better idea by the end of the year.
The addition of toddlers has probably boosted the number of players by... a LOT.
And this year looks promising, with Vampires, and probably pets, and maybe seasons.
As has been said, bugs are an issue, but will they be enough of an issue to stop people from playing?
If anything, the boost in player numbers might put things on track for ts5, it also gives the company a cash injection at an odd time. (time to start on ts5 development?)
I guess time will tell, bump this thread again in the middle of the year, and again at the end, see how peoples thoughts on this change over the next 12 months.
over two years without todds is quite a history, isn't it ?
there was even a thread where a player wanted disabled them cause their got used to the game without todds, i can understand that
TS4 has a Life Service, which means constant updates, which can turn the entire game on its head
it's like i know it from mobile apps
but realistically imo, what can be done to get TS4 back on track ?
cars won't appear either at all (CL's FX cars don't look like it) or it will take quite a long time
apartment houses are not buildable, CL introduced that limitation, builders are already unhappy, i too
traits of all sims except for todds are still a joke & had to be remade completely, will it happen at all ? & if, how long will it take ?
shops are useless cause sims don't need to really buy anything, it's a pretend game which makes for less gameplay
restaurants's & shops employees are prechosen, which reduces gameplay as well
the cities & work facilities are also more of a lala land than anything real, but well ...
edit - culling ?
people still miss terrain tools, ocean & water is FX & not swimable
sims don't dance, run or jog really together, new complex animations needed
CASt is rather very improbable, they had to remake E V E R Y single texture now in game, that would be more work than the transgender meshes update, not impossible, but incredibly lots of work
i think updated traits of all sims would improve the game to at least an attractive status
lively sims would make a more attractive game
i still didn't update the game & didn't play todds, i just watched some let's plays & as some players here in the forum already wrote, the other sims, the non-toddler sims are way less fleshed out as personalities than toddlers
i wish, every sim could have a lively personality, one according to what the player wants the sim to be
i hope, yeah, the devs are working on that
vampires or pets or seasons are flashy stuff to buy packs, but every pack, no matter the theme will be boring without lively personality of all sims - the personality of sims is the foundation where this game stands on or falls & TS4 falls so far very deep because those emotions let sims just have psychological instability issues & not displaying interesting lively personality
memories would of course also add to personality, but i doubt those will be ever added to this game
i would be already happy if those sims could just behave more according to better traits
i would also prefer traits remade like GT's clubs, this would be a dream come true for me, as todds were for many players, but i rather doubt it, the devs will do that, this is also not impossible to make & it would improve this game a lot but the development of TS4 was so far very disappointing, todds is rather a wonder & i prefer to wait out, what will come in the next months, if something of similiar quality will be introduced or not - meantime nothing really surprises me about the development of TS4, for bad & for good
anyway
i am still happy todds were now included
even if it doesn't improve my gameplay & my playstyle at all
I agree, especially with bugs.
The Sims 4 gets patches often, and that's awesome, I never want to see that change. I do think better testing is needed though. It seems a bit strange how a bug that prevents Sims from moving their mouths could possibly get pushed out without being noticed. Maybe they should open testing to more players, and NDA protect it.
I love how adult this version is compared with 2&3. It reminds me of TS1. I think 2&3 went teenybopper on us. I was sick of that. I'll know when we get vampires. If they can only bite friends and can't kill strangers... grow plasma or buy it... I will be done. If vampires can just buy it, then what makes them vampires? They are just sims with a different taste for things, like a vegan. Not impressive.
Same here.
When I played the Free Trial last year I did notice how stake The Sims acted. It seems strange that after everything, it is now toddlers that have more personality than other age groups. Don't get me started on the adult teens
But let's just imagine if you took toddlers out again, but you have all the packs, would the game still be that awesome? I know a lot of people say that the game isn't that in-depth (before the toddler release). So, my guess is that even with very in-depth toddler gamplay but not so in-depth expansion and game packs; these aren't gonna make the game great and be right on track overall cuz the game doesn't only revolve around toddlers. There's other aspects in the game that are just as important.
So coming back to my main point, I feel like it's a bit too early for us to tell if the game is going to be right on track or no. I will have to see the gameplay in future packs. That being said, if the future game packs are going to be as awesome and fleshed out as toddlers, then The Sims 4 is gonna be right on track and might even be more fun than previous games.
Also, I'm very excited to see how the coming Vampires GP is going to be like and see what y'all are going to say about it. I've never really played with vampires in previous games so I won't be able to tell the difference but I would like to read you guys' experiences.
Very much agreed with both of you!
Some links that helped me a lot:
Missing Store Stencils / Free Kiddy Stuff / Daily Deals / Daily Deals Spreadsheets / The Gifting Directory