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The Sims 4 - Time Management
muzickmage
Posts: 986 Member
About a week or so ago I decided to get back into the sims 4 game (due to the latest sims sales on Origin)... and was quickly re-introduced to one of the reasons why I stopped playing the game in the first place. The very annoying time management system.
..... It doesn't take long to figure out that its best you keep your sims apart during meal times. (for example) My sims can eat a bowl of cereal in 20 game minutes, but, if my sims gets into a conversation (the amazing multitask feature that I pretend to love very much) then it takes my sims 90+ minutes to eat that bowl of cereal.
(and) Don't even get me started on the 15 minute walk from the living room to the bathroom lol. In reality... I can walk from my living room, out of the building, down the street, and be standing inside of the grocery store in 10 minutes.... but it takes my sims 15 minutes to get from the living room to the bathroom. I mean... OMG its not that big of an apartment.
I started a restaurant a couple days ago, and noticed that once I click the "open" button... it took my staff a total of 90 minutes to finally get into the building and to their stations, and another 90 minutes to finally serve that first customer. So a total of 3 hours after opening the restaurant my first customer is finally served. (seriously?)
In the sims game, we are provided the options/opportunites to.. go to festivals, start businesses, go to work with our sims, search for a very long list of items, go camping, dating, bar hopping and other social club activies, AND look after our sims at home......
..... this all sounds great... until you realize that it takes you at least a quarter of the day just trying to get your sim from their bed to the front door. First they have to pee before leaving the house. That will take a half an hour. A shower can easily take 60+ minutes. And that bowl of cereal (stand them in a corner by themselves) or you may be looking at perhaps canceling your outing... because remember. Once they finally let go of that bowl, it will take your sims about 30 more minutes to finally get out that door from where ever he/she is standing.
Did I mention as well the 5 things that are programmed to break down EVERY TIME your sim has a day off?
Basically... IMO ... the game's time management system is past being just annoying. It makes it difficult to enjoy the game's many opportunites without feeling like you're constantly participating in a Final Jeopardy speed round.
..... It doesn't take long to figure out that its best you keep your sims apart during meal times. (for example) My sims can eat a bowl of cereal in 20 game minutes, but, if my sims gets into a conversation (the amazing multitask feature that I pretend to love very much) then it takes my sims 90+ minutes to eat that bowl of cereal.
(and) Don't even get me started on the 15 minute walk from the living room to the bathroom lol. In reality... I can walk from my living room, out of the building, down the street, and be standing inside of the grocery store in 10 minutes.... but it takes my sims 15 minutes to get from the living room to the bathroom. I mean... OMG its not that big of an apartment.
I started a restaurant a couple days ago, and noticed that once I click the "open" button... it took my staff a total of 90 minutes to finally get into the building and to their stations, and another 90 minutes to finally serve that first customer. So a total of 3 hours after opening the restaurant my first customer is finally served. (seriously?)
In the sims game, we are provided the options/opportunites to.. go to festivals, start businesses, go to work with our sims, search for a very long list of items, go camping, dating, bar hopping and other social club activies, AND look after our sims at home......
..... this all sounds great... until you realize that it takes you at least a quarter of the day just trying to get your sim from their bed to the front door. First they have to pee before leaving the house. That will take a half an hour. A shower can easily take 60+ minutes. And that bowl of cereal (stand them in a corner by themselves) or you may be looking at perhaps canceling your outing... because remember. Once they finally let go of that bowl, it will take your sims about 30 more minutes to finally get out that door from where ever he/she is standing.
Did I mention as well the 5 things that are programmed to break down EVERY TIME your sim has a day off?
Basically... IMO ... the game's time management system is past being just annoying. It makes it difficult to enjoy the game's many opportunites without feeling like you're constantly participating in a Final Jeopardy speed round.
17
Comments
With the current setting: 1 second in reality = 1 minute game time. That means, 1 sim day passes every 24 minutes in reality. Now subtract from that all that things you need to do before commanding your sim out the front door, you're lucky if you have 10 reality minutes to explore for frogs (or whatever) before your sim is in great need of yet another sleep.
...... Just saying. Playing the sims is like participating in the Final Jeopardy speed round.
add to that, an action being in the queue for several minutes to sometimes hours before it moves down to be executed, and it really bites. if i had a penny for every sim minute wasted in the game, i'd be a very, very rich man.
The only way I can play is by ignoring the time and just doing what needs to be done.
Small houses help a lot and I always get the best furniture and appliances. It's amazing how much the expensive shower shortens the the time needed for that activity.
I even stump up the 12 grand for the Princess Cordelia bed.
So essentially you're talking about another motives nerf.
Time management in the Sims is the only thing that provides the game with a sense of urgency and real challenge.
Without this element it truly does become a digital dollhouse.
I happen to think the gameplay is pretty well balanced in this iteration.
Many of the rewards and items in the game increase the available time in the day for a reason.
Better beds means they need to sleep less, better fridges means they need to eat less, better showers means faster showers.
Aspiration rewards such as steel bladder...are also incentives to actually play the game and do something about it.
The last thing the Sims needs is another easy button.
Over the years they have bent over backwards to accomodate the sheer sandbox players.
Enough is enough.
If motive decay is that much of an issue for you...then simply cheat around it
I think what bothers me the most is when a Sim travels and everyone else left behind becomes unproductive. You can queue up the action to write a book, and when that traveling Sim returns I guarantee that Sim won't be writing a book. I didn't particularly care how in TS2 time froze for traveling Sims....you could leave at 2pm, go out and party until 3am and return home & it still be 2pm. I was able to get a lot of stuff done but it was a bit unrealistic. TS3 did it best, as the world was open and you could manage all your Sims at once.
I've just tried to adapt as best as I can to TS4 until hopefully they find a work around with some of the time management issues. My poor Sims...I let their needs just fail. I push them to finish what I want them to finish. It's like the only way to get crap done
I agree. We really need a mod like relativity for sims 4. I like taking my sims out for a full day out, but by the time things actually happen, they've taken care of needs and went to a restaurant which by the time they are served their meal, only one course btw, they are hungry again and it's midnight and time to go home. You can only do one thing on a "day out" cause it takes so long to do everything, either that or you spend no time at each location. "Well, we went to the Spa and sit in the sauna for 30 minutes, time to head to the bowling alley! Oh, we bowled for 30 minutes, time for the park! Hi neighbor, bye neighbor, time to go watch that movie!" I'd like my sims to be able to enjoy being away from the house since it's so annoying to leave the house in the first place but they only get to enjoy one activity before time to head home.
I do have a mod for faster eating and showering so that's not quite so annoying to me. But we should have a way to make a sim day take longer. It just flies by as it is.
Actually no. I am NOT talking about another movites' nerf. And the time management system doesn't offer players with a sense of "urgency" and "real challenge" (as you suggest) as much as it acts instead as dominant deterent.
Already in the few posts above people are explaining how they don't bother playing different ideas in the game because of the time management factor....
When I think of game challenge, I think of ideas like finding all the frogs, or all the globes. To me, a challenge is going to work with your sim and completing activities to level up.
A challenge (IMO) isn't waiting an hour and a half for my restaurant staff to finally get inside the building, and another hour and a half to finally serve that first customer. A challenge isn't spending 5 game hours trying to take your sim out to a restaurant to get served 1 meal. These are not challenges. These are deterrents that act to discourage people from enjoying the full benefits of the Sims 4 game.
If you wish to use the term "easy" button.... how about the idea of being able to purchase the globes, instead of actually having to go out and look for them? I'm sure we can come up with some better example of the word "easy"... and it won't include our asking for more time in a sim day to adopt more challenges per that day.
huh? Animation play times are lightening fast in this iteration.
The three exceptions are cooking showering and eating.
They don't make their beds... they don't drag butt in the morning, they don't need to get into a car to go anywhere, they don't need to shop for books or groceries, they don't even need to feed the fish.
I'm glad they take their time to eat. Family meals were near impossible in TS3.
Mealtimes are also a great way to handle multiple tasks at the same time, be they releated to personal relationships, needs or skilling.
Showers are the only other thing that run a bit longer than previous iterations...and there are objects and options available to shorten that down to nothing as well.
I just don't see a valid complaint here, people asked for the return of Sims actually sitting down and eating together like they did in TS2.
And, you can take comfort in your opinion when you limit it to just household stuff like eating and showering. If you read the blog posts, the complaint isn't limited to going for a pee.
Also, if I may add... are you saying that there "isn't" a valid complaint here because you don't see one? Do you have to agree with our opinion's before the rest of us have a valid thought?
It's a valid complaint for "us".
If your issue is that Dining out isn't properly optimized, that's an entirely different issue than a system wide time expansion..which anyway you slice it directly translates to a motives nerf.
No. Its NOT a motive's nerf. That's just your misconception.
For it to be a "motive nerf" a "motive" itself would have to be nerfed. lol. Giving people enough time to actually "USE" the motives... to play the game in a way that doesn't make us feel like we are constantly stuck in someone april fools' example of a speed round.... encourages people to start adopting activities that currently they are ignoring because of the time management factor.
Currently, people on this blog are explaining that they are not playing particular parts of the sims 4 game because of the time factor. I, myself gave up on the restaurant thing. I got tired of hours speeding by just waiting for my first customer to be served. This wasn't fun. This wasn't an example of something I want to run to do again. Because of the time management I couldn't relax and enjoy what should be a really cool and fun element in the sims 4 game.
I will be the first to admit that I get a bit defensive when it comes to this topic.
Yes I'm saying in my opinion the poeple who could never handle or accept the fact that this was once a game have pushed the strartegic plate juggling aspect so far into the background that it's barely even recognizable as a game anynmore.
So yes it gets my back up a bit when I see people try and push the envelope clear off the edge of the table.
ETA Sorry I keep seeing your additions...
It's not a misconception...it's hardcore reality.
If you stretch out the day, but leave motives the same it is exactly the same as a motive nerf.
Well, look at it this way. If you want a more difficult game, or a game with more challenges... then we need more time in a sims day to adopt these challenges.
IMO, the reason why the game is so easy, is because the game is setup so people only have to compromise the time limits to just doing a few things per sim day. And... how difficult and challenging is that?
I vote.. slow down the sim day and give us more time to really rack up the queve line. Now that's more challenging. Personally I think you already have the "easy" button.
You never have played the Original have you?
I have to assume you never did...becuase I'm telling you they have already done what you've asked many times in the past.
It's to the point that there is very little meat on the bone for strategic players like myself.
I happen to agree with you that the Dining out experience could use some optimization...but a system wide time expansion/motive nerf isn't the answer here.
It's not the answer for... "you".
What hasn't been done in the past is a time management option in the options section. If you want 1 second (reality) = 1 minute (game time), fair enough. Then simply click that option and play your game. If I want 2 seconds (reality) = 1 minute (game time), then fair enough. I can choose that option in the options menu and simply play my game.
IMO, that would be a better resolve than trying to find 1 time speed to fit all.
Some of Sims 4 activities take a long time due to multitasking in my opinion. They admitted as much with bowling and why Sims cannot talk and bowl. I rather they shortened the rounds and allowed Sims to communicate with each other. Bowling doesn't even feel like a group activity anymore in my opinion.
Some ways to help us out *shrugs*
Maybe in the eco pack they can add quick shower\bath to shorten bathing. They definitely need to cook faster. I think if cooking was faster, it would solve a few issues with Dine Out at the very least. Eating should be faster when they are eating alone. If Sims are eating and conversing, then it can take a little longer. I hated how fast Sims ate dinner in Sims 3 so I hope they don't bring that back. Sims 3 had the best holidays and seasons ever and I wanted my families to eat together and chat for hours with a roast on the table, just saying.
Time only becomes an issue for me in active careers like scientist, where your schedule may ask you to chat with a specific workmate, then collect some resources for the lab, then use the microscope, then look for aliens, etc., and all those activities are so far apart that you'll spend most of your time walking from one place to another. But then again, there's always a new day tomorrow, and unlike the real me, my simself doesn't really age, so... I feel like I really do have all the time in the world in this game.
Something wicked this way comes!
I don't use MCCC.
My hardest time with time management was with Sims going to college in Sims 2. There was not a enough time in the day for me to figure out how to accomplish an student goals without needs going down quickly and I had to cheat on the needs dept to get my Sims through school but over all I still had fun with it. I managed as time went on to get my Sims through without cheating I had to prioritize their goals. In university in Sims 3 it was not hard at all like it was with Sims 2 so I guessed they nerfed some of goals in university in Sims 3 but I was okay with it. In Sims 4 you have make compromises like in the other iterations. I just kept in mind the goals and did what I could.